Archive for April, 2022
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April 6th, 2022
Credit: SpinLaunch
The innovative SpinLaunch company has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA.
Through this partnership, SpinLaunch will develop, integrate, and fly a NASA payload on the company’s Suborbital Accelerator Launch System to provide information to NASA for potential future commercial launch opportunities.
The Space Act Agreement is part of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program.
SpinLaunch will manifest and fly the first NASA payload on a developmental test flight later this year and provide means for post-flight recovery of payload back to NASA. The two organizations will work jointly to analyze the data and assess the system for future flight opportunities. After full review, NASA and SpinLaunch will publish all non-proprietary launch environment information from the test flight.
Artist’s view of futuristic launch facility for hurling satellites into Earth orbit.
Credit: SpinLaunch
Orbital flight
SpinLaunch’s Orbital Accelerator will accelerate a launch vehicle containing a satellite up to 5,000 miles per hour using a rotating carbon-fiber-arm within a 300-ft diameter steel vacuum chamber. By doing so, over 70 percent of the fuel and structures that make up a typical rocket can be eliminated.
Credit: SpinLaunch
In October 2021, SpinLaunch’s first test flight successfully propelled a test vehicle at supersonic speeds and ended with the recovery of the reusable flight vehicle. Since then, the suborbital system has conducted regular test flights with a variety of payloads at speeds in excess of 1,000 miles per hour at Spaceport America, located in New Mexico. First orbital test launches are planned for 2025.
For more information on this company and its novel launch concept, go to:
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These photos were acquired on April 3, 2022 (Sol 398 of the Perseverance rover mission) – the date of the NASA helicopter’s 24th flight.
The Ingenuity Mars rotorcraft acquired these images using its navigation camera. This camera is mounted in the helicopter’s fuselage and pointed directly downward to track the ground during flight.
On this latest flight, the device flew for 69.5 seconds, traveling roughly 154 feet and reached a maximum altitude of around 33 feet.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/USGS
Extended flight
NASA has extended flight operations of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter through September. In the months ahead, the rotorcraft will support the Perseverance rover’s upcoming science campaign exploring the ancient river delta of Jezero Crater. Along the way, it will continue testing its own capabilities to support the design of future Mars air vehicles.
Ingenuity’s new area of operations is entirely different from the modest, relatively flat terrain it has been flying over since its first flight in April 2021.
Several miles wide and formed by an ancient river, the fan-shaped delta rises more than 130 feet (40 meters) above the crater floor.
Perseverance Rover location and current whereabouts of the Mars Helicopter.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Dry river channels
Filled with jagged cliffs, angled surfaces, projecting boulders, and sand-filled pockets that could stop a rover in its tracks (or upend a helicopter upon landing), the delta promises to hold numerous geologic revelations – perhaps even the proof necessary to determine that microscopic life once existed on Mars billions of years ago.
NASA’s robotic Holy Grail mission, a Mars sample return effort to bring back to Earth Martian collectibles.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Upon reaching the delta, Ingenuity’s first orders will be to help determine which of two dry river channels Perseverance should take when it’s time to climb to the top of the delta.
See you at the delta
Ben Morrell, Ingenuity Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports: “With Flight 24 in our log book, it is now time to look forward to our upcoming effort that charts a course out of Séítah. Flight 25 – which was uplinked yesterday – will send Ingenuity 704 meters to the northwest (almost 80 meters longer than the current record – Flight 9). The helicopter’s ground speed will be about 5.5 meters per second (another record) and we expect to be in the rarefied Martian air for about 161.5 seconds.
Along with routing assistance, data provided by the helicopter will help the Perseverance team assess potential science targets. Ingenuity may even be called upon to image geologic features too far afield (or outside of the rover’s traversable zone), or perhaps scout landing zones and caching sites for the future Mars Sample Return program.
Credit: CCTV/CGTN
Given the tensions between Russia and the West due to heavy sanctioning sparked by the Ukrainian conflict, Russian space cooperation with China may be stepped up.
Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Roscosmos, underscored that prospect during his appearance on several China television outlets.
Rogozin told China Global Television Network (CGTN) and China Central Television (CCTV) that Russia’s role in space exploration is indispensable.
ExoMars 2022 mission was a joint ESA/Roscosmos project. Shown is rover ready to depart Russia-provided landing module and science landing platform.
Credit: Thales Alenia Space/Master Image Programmes
ExoMars 2022
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced in mid-March that it is suspending its collaboration with Russia on the ExoMars 2022 program.
“The problem is when someone does it on its own, it costs a lot of money. It will be a huge burden on the budget. In the construction of ExoMars, the main element is the landing module. The Mars research rover is not the essential element. I think we can make this mission happen with another partner like China or someone else,” Rogozin said.
The Russian Kazachok platform was destined to land on the Red Planet as part of the ExoMars 2022 mission, shown here being shipped to Europe for final assembly and testing.
Credit: Roscosmos
“It’s a cooperative mission. If Russia doesn’t join, Europe won’t go ahead with the mission, because Russia’s contribution to the mission is huge. It is not only about the heavy rockets that send these instruments into orbit and to Mars, it’s also about the landing vehicles. These vehicles must help achieve a soft landing on Mars or the research rovers. The module itself is a research station. We have been waiting so long to realize this mission. If it is delayed, it will never happen. They may change Russia’s landing module, but that decision could take a lot of time and money,” said Rogozin.
Launch of the ExoMars 2022 mission had been slated for September 20 (the opening of a 12-day launch window); lifting off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan atop a Proton booster.
That mission involved the ESA-led rover and a Roscosmos-led surface landing/science platform named “Kazachok.”
ISS mosaic created with imagery from Expedition 66.
Credit: NASA/Roscosmos
International Space Station
Rogozin also said the Russia-U.S. cooperation on the International Space Station (ISS) will collapse as a result of the sanctions. If the U.S. stops cooperation, the 500-ton ISS will go out of control, he said.
“Russia’s role is vital. Only Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft can transport American, European, Canadian, Japanese astronauts and their guests. Soyuz is irreplaceable, because America doesn’t have any such spacecraft,” Rogozin said.
“Russia helps the ISS avoid space rubbish and maintain orbital correction. The ISS is in a low earth orbit. It helps deliver fuels to the station. These are the main contributions from Russia and Roscomos in particular. So working without Russia is impossible, just like working without America. If they pull us out of this, the ISS wouldn’t exist anymore,” said Rogozin.
Credit: Roscosmos
“We work well with our Chinese friends,” Rogozin emphasized.
The Russian space chief noted the International Lunar Research Station. “We have signed all the necessary documents with our Chinese friends. Regarding China’s space station, we can talk about creating new modules. To be friends in space, we must be friends on Earth. Russia and China are friends on Earth. I think China and Russia can work together in manned cosmonautics,” Rogozin said.
To view Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s space program known as Roscosmos, go to these videos at:
Shenzhou-13 crew.
Credit: CCTV Video News Agency/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-13 astronauts — Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu — are preparing for their mid-April return to Earth.
The crew arrived in the core module of the in-construction Tiangong station on October 16, embarking on their six-month journey – the longest-ever duration in the country’s human spaceflight program.
China’s space station to be completed by end of 2022.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Upcoming launches
Six launches will be made this year to wrap up piecing together the Chinese space station.
- Shenzhou-14 and the Shenzhou-15 piloted missions
- Tianzhou 4 and 5 robotic cargo spaceships for refueling and resupply operations
- Two large space labs to dock with the station: Wentian, or Quest for the Heavens, and Mengtian, or Dreaming of the Heavens
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Tiangong station
Upon its completion at the end of this year, Tiangong will consist of three main components — a core module attached to two space labs — and will have a combined weight of nearly metric 70 tons. The station is scheduled to operate for 15 years in a low-Earth orbit.
Go to these recent videos that focus on preparations for the Shenzhou-13 crew to return to Earth, at:
