Archive for March, 2024
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March 31st, 2024
Image credit: Sanctuary On The Moon Project
There’s a new mission to the Moon – one that intends to deliver a time capsule via NASA’s multi-pronged Artemis program for “rebooting” the human exploration of Earth’s celestial companion.
Announced in Paris on March 21, the effort is called “Sanctuary On The Moon” and has been launched by French engineer Benoit Faiveley and a team of international scientists, researchers, designers and artists.
Benoit Faiveley, founder, inspecting one of the genome disc. Image credit: Sanctuary On The Moon/Benedict Redgrove
The project’s countdown is targeted for a 2027 sendoff and consists of 24 sapphire discs engraved with “the very essence of humanity,” the initiative declares.
Repository of knowledge
In order to weather the hash climes of the Moon, a durable, vault-like container is to be designed, one that meets the space certification requirements of NASA.
“We are delighted to take Sanctuary to the Moon”, remarks Joel Kearns, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “We believe that this internationally curated repository of knowledge on the Moon will serve as an inspiration today and for many generations to come,” according to a Sanctuary to the Moon website posting.
The Sanctuary team looking at the ‘Life’ disc. Image credit: Sanctuary On The Moon/Benedict Redgrove
Cosmic hello
Sanctuary will be delivered to the Moon’s surface using an automatic space probe from NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
In a statement, Faiveley explains that Sanctuary “will constitute a ‘cosmic hello’ to our descendants or perhaps even visitors from elsewhere. It will be a variegated portrait of our species engraved in micropixels – up to 7 billion per disc.”
The discs are currently being engraved at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
Faiveley adds that narrative threads by way of text, images, diagrams and data representation are an aspect of the engraving, “important examples from astrophysics, particle physics, astronomy and planetary science.”
Genomenauts
Sanctuary’s archival time capsule team is made up of a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, astrophysicists, paleontologists, cosmologists and artists.
Along with NASA, Sanctuary has also received the support of organizations such as CNES, the French space agency, as well as UNESCO.
Image credit: Sanctuary On The Moon
The discs will not only include examples of mathematics, culture, paleontology, art and science but also the human genome.
“For the first time in history, the collective human ‘recipe’ in the form of male and female genomes will be taken to another world,” the Sanctuary website adds.
The sequencing was done in Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at BC Cancer in Vancouver.
The ‘Genomenauts’ were chosen through a double-blind selection process.
French engineer Benoit Faiveley.
Image credit: Sanctuary On The Moon
Our world, our epoch
Part of the time capsule will be dedicated to UNESCO’s designated sites such as World Heritage and Biosphere reserves, as well as to key international UNESCO declarations on bioethics and the human genome.
“The Sanctuary project is a message for the very long term. We want future explorers to step back in time and join us in our exploration of ourselves, our world and our epoch,” Faiveley concludes.
Over the next few years, the Sanctuary team will include additional original content that will also be exploited in different exhibitions, conferences and documentaries.
For more about Sanctuary On The Moon, go to:
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Image credit: NASA
Let’s face it. Looking at all those “free-floaters” inside the multi-billion dollar International Space Station it must be a cool experience.
Unchained from the tug of Earth gravity, astronaut antics in microgravity are a way to take the edge off all those on-the-clock duties.
But now new research shows that space travelers, free from the pull of gravity, gain an uncanny ability to orient themselves and gauge distance travelled within the confines of their orbital home-away-from-home.
Image credit: NASA
Dozen astronauts
Björn Jörges of the Center for Vision Research at York University in Canada led the research work.
The findings of the study – “The effects of long-term exposure to microgravity and body orientation relative to gravity on perceived traveled distance” – has been published in the journal npj Microgravity. It was done in collaboration with a dozen ISS astronauts.
Written informed consent from all participants was acquired. The investigation was approved by the local ethics committee at York University as well as by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Image credit: NASA
Explicit goal of project
“As space flight programs start to move past some of their biases in astronaut recruitment — like the fact that NASA only selected young, white, male astronauts during its first 20 years — it becomes increasingly important that microgravity studies ensure representative participant samples,” states supplemental data attached to the primary research paper.
“As a small step in this direction, one of the explicit goals of the VECTION project, funded by the Canadian Space Agency, was to assess whether exposure to microgravity affected male and female astronauts differently.
Go to this video on the VECTION project at:
Self-motion
The way people move about is more like flying, says co-investigator, Laurence Harris of York University, an expert on vision and the perception of motion. He also heads up the Multisensory Integration Lab and is the former director of the Center for Vision Research at York.
“It has been repeatedly shown that the perception of gravity influences perceptual skill,” York explains in a university statement.
“The most profound way of looking at the influence of gravity is to take it away, which is why we took our research into space,” York added.
Image credit: NASA
Open question
It is an open question, the research paper points out, how exactly visual, vestibular and other cues are integrated to develop the perception of self-motion – particularly when self-motion is evoked purely by optic flow.
Based on research findings, York said that it seems as though humans are surprisingly able to compensate adequately for the lack of an Earth-normal environment using vision.
“People have previously anecdotally reported that they felt they were moving faster or further than they really were in space, so this provided some motivation to actually record this,” York explains.
The research explains that astronauts’ performance of their estimate of the distance of self-motion, either in terms of accuracy or precision, did not change significantly in response to microgravity exposure.
A screenshot from the hallway in which the post-flight participants were immersed. B The target is shown at the beginning of each trial.
Image credit: Jörges, B., et al
Crew safety
The study contrasted the performance of six men and six women before, during, and after their stints onboard the ISS.
It was found that the astronaut sense of how far they travelled remained largely intact. That has implications for crew safety in space and could potentially give clues to how aging affects people’s balance systems here on Earth.
“On a number of occasions during our experiment, the ISS had to perform evasive maneuvers,” Harris recalls. “Astronauts need to be able to go to safe places or escape hatches on the ISS quickly and efficiently in an emergency. So, it was very reassuring to find that they were actually able to do this quite precisely.”
Astronauts are unlikely to be exposed to dangers due to an unusual perception of traveled distance when in space, the paper points out, such as when sensitive equipment and machinery must be operated manually and in a visually guided fashion in the absence of gravity.
Image credit: Jörges, B., et al
First of three papers
The study, a decade in the making, represents the first of three papers that will emerge from investigating the effects of microgravity exposure on different perceptual skills including the estimation of body tilt, travelled distance, and object size.
York said that this newly published work finds that self-motion is largely unaffected, suggesting the balance issues that frequently come from old age may not be related to the vestibular system.
Image credit: NASA
“It suggests that the mechanism for the perception of movement in older people should be relatively unaffected, and that the issues involved in falling may not be so much in terms of the perception of how far they’ve moved, but perhaps more to do with how they’re able to convert that into a balance reflex,” York states in the university statement.
To view the full paper – “The effects of long-term exposure to microgravity and body orientation relative to gravity on perceived traveled distance” – go to:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-024-00376-6
Also, go to this tool used in the study at:
Curiosity at Gale crater as of Sol 4139. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 4142 tasks.
Reports Conor Hayes, a graduate student at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the rover is producing stunning photos as it drives up along the side of the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge “and the pile of phenomenal images we have of this area will continue to grow.”
A Navcam image looking back towards the northern rim of Gale Crater. “Now that we’re nearing the peak of the dusty season on Mars, it can sometimes be challenging to see the crater rim through all of the dust in the atmosphere,” reports Conor Hayes, a graduate student at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Curiosity Right Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4137, March 26, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In the plan for Sols 4139-4140, Curiosity continued to inspect the bedrock in its workspace, first getting Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) observations of “Rainbow Falls” and then five Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) shots at “Crystal Turret.”
Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo acquired on Sol 4141, March 30, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Fascination Turret
The robot’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) was scheduled to then turn its eye to Fascination Turret, which it has imaged from other angles in previous plans, taking two long-distance Remote Micro-Imager (RMI)mosaics.
“As an aside, ‘long-distance’ is definitely a relative term here,” Hayes adds. “The part of Fascination Turret we’re imaging is about 25–30 meters away, which feels like nothing compared to the RMI mosaics of the northern rim of Gale that we’ve taken in the past, which is over 30 kilometers away!”
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera on Sol 4141, March 31, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Drive target
The plan called for post-ChemCam use of Curiosity’s Mastcam to shine with documentation images of Cristal Turret post-LIBS, a mosaic of our eventual drive target “Hinman Col,” as well as context imaging of the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge, Hays reports, to help Mars researchers choose targets in the future and two color images of the areas captured in the RMI mosaics earlier.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera on Sol 4141, March 30, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“After we’re finished taking a look around us, we’ll turn back to our workspace for one last time, taking MAHLI [Mars Hand Lens Imager] photos of Rainbow Falls and ‘Rancheria Falls,’” Hayes notes, then drive away towards Hinman Col, taking Mastcam images to assist operators build the next few plans for the rover to carry out.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 4141, March 31, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Power nap
“Overnight, we take a nice long rest to help recharge our batteries before waking up in the early morning to take another Mastcam mosaic of Fascination Turret,” Hayes observes, noting that it’s definitely living up to its name. The mosaic will be taken this time under different illumination conditions than what Curiosity captures in the midsol or afternoon.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera on Sol 4141, March 31, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“After a quick one hour power nap, we’ll wake up again for some more remote sensing science. As is typical after a drive, we let ChemCam choose its own post-drive target with AEGIS before moving into some environmental science,” Hayes reports.
AEGIS stands for Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science) – a software suite that permits the rover to autonomously detect and prioritize targets.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera on Sol 4141, March 30, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Dust-focused
“We’re rapidly nearing the peak of the dusty season, so the environmental science team’s observations are very dust-focused,” Hayes adds. “We begin by using Navcam to take some images of the northern crater rim to observe the amount of dust between the rover and the rim.”
There is quite a bit of dust in the air at the moment, Hayes observes. “You really have to squint to just barely make out the crater rim!”
Also in the plan is taking “deck monitoring” imagery to see how the wind and the rover’s motion as it drives affects the sand that has gathered on top of the rover deck since landing.
After that, the recently scripted plan includes surveying the area around us for dust devils and taking a “Suprahorizon Movie.”
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera on Sol 4141, March 30, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“The Suprahorizon Movie is usually used to look for clouds over Gale,” Hayes reports, “but we’ve adjusted the direction that it points to look over a large sand patch that we drove past about 260 sols ago so that it can pull double-duty to hunt for wind-driven sand lifting or dust devils in addition to clouds.”
Curiosity was slated to sleep the rest of the plan away, briefly waking up several times to send data back to Earth.
The robot will carry out ongoing tasks via the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), and the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) throughout this plan “to monitor the weather and radiation environment and look for hydrated minerals in the subsurface,” Hayes concludes.
(Left) Image credit: Roscosmos/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Space technicians are readying the first test flight of Russia’s Angara A5 launch vehicle from the Vostochny.
This flight development test from the Amur space rocket complex signals the projected start of future operations of the heavy-lift rocket system from this cosmodrome.
Image credit: Roscosmos/Inside Outer Space screengrab
According to Roscosmos, liftoff of the Angara-A5 with an Orion upper stage and a mass simulator payload from Cosmodrome Site 1A is targeted for an April 6 to April 10 time period.
Image credit: Roscosmos/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Cosmodrome chaos
Angara, developed by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, is slated to replace the venerable Russian Proton booster. The Orion belongs to the DM family of upper stages.
Image credit: Roscosmos/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Over the years, development of the Vostochny launch site has been besieged by escalating cost, corruption and embezzlement issues, along with worker pay delays.
The Vostochny Cosmodrome is situated above the 51st parallel north in the Amur Oblast, in the Russian Far East, built to help reduce Russia’s dependency on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Vostochny also launches Soyuz boosters, doing so on February 19, boosting into orbit an Iranian satellite and 18 Russian satellites.
Image credit: Roscosmos/Inside Outer Space screengrab
SLIM shot after 2nd awakening.
Image credit: JAXA/SLIM
From the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has reawakened from another dose of lunar night that extends for some 14 days.
“Last night, we received a response from SLIM, confirming that the spacecraft made it through the lunar night for the second time! Since the sun was still high and the equipment was still hot, we only took some shots of the usual scenery with the navigation camera.”
Image taken shortly after landing, the Ultra-small SORA-QI photo of SLIM in nose-down mode. Image credit: JAXA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Repeat temperature swings
On March 1, the Sun had set on the Shioli Crater and SLIM re-entered a period of dormancy. “Although the probability of a failure increases with the repeated severe temperature cycles, SLIM operation will attempt to resume when the sun rises,” the JAXA/SLIM group said at that time.
“According to the acquired data,” a JAXA/SLIM statement explains, “some temperature sensors and unused battery cells are starting to malfunction, but the majority of functions that survived the first lunar night was maintained even after the second lunar night!”
SLIM made its lunar landing on January 19, 2024 making Japan the fifth country to soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon.
Wait a minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
In classic “wait a minute” style, for ConkSat where there’s will, there’s a way – with X postings offering some challenging marketing concepts.
“For years, spaceflight companies have discussed means for reducing the amount of space junk in low Earth orbit (LEO). As visionaries at ConkSat, we have never been satisfied with the status quo – and that means going against popular thinking. That’s why we’re announcing the first spacecraft dedicated to increasing the amount of space junk in LEO,” explains a ConkSat posting.
“FragSat is more than a satellite – it’s a cloud of over 70 billion steel ball bearings packed into a payload fairing. Say goodbye to your competitor’s megaconstellations with FragSat, guaranteed to increase the rate of collisions in orbit by orders of magnitude. Taking advantage of the increase in payload to orbit offered by new launchers, we’re planning on up to twenty launches per year of pure steel, rendering entire families of orbits unusable for centuries,” continues the posting from ConkSat.
“Just another way we’re bringing space down to Earth.”
Image credit: ConkSat
Quality Unassurance
Another X posting from ConkSat spotlight they fired their entire quality assurance team.
“How are we going to keep our rockets, satellites, and missiles at the quality expected of the ConkSat brand? Simple – we aren’t. We can’t let quality assurance hold us back from true innovation. From this point forward, we aren’t keeping lengthy or dated records. We won’t be “doing critical maintenance.” Our engineers will be motivated by the desire to push humanity forward, and by the fact that we required them to live downrange of the launch site.”
Bringing space down to Earth. At high speed.
Image credit: ConkSat
What’s the point?
“People called us crazy. People called us names. Some hurtful. People told us we were “violating federal regulations” and would be “shut down immediately.” But you don’t become a leading defense contractor without stepping on a few toes.”
Image credit: ConkSat
“Let’s be honest. Everybody’s worst nightmare is dumping $1bn in seed money into a rocket startup, only to have them churn out an ugly looking launch vehicle with weird fins at the top. If you’re embarrassed to release the promotional hype video, what’s the point? That’s why we at ConkSat recognize the importance of a smooth profile. Our launch vehicles are guaranteed to be 100% smooth with no protrusions or ugly changes in diameter that could render your investment silly.”
Artificial intelligence
“At ConkSat, we know AI is the future. Everything we do is powered by AI – every email, every spreadsheet, and every piece of code is created 100% by ChatGPT. Our launch vehicles are guided completely by onboard neural networks: even we don’t know where our rockets will land! Curious about how we’ll create the future of spaceflight? So are we! Hopefully we figure it out before our investors do.”
Thank you ConkSat for all that you do! — Leonard David
Image credit: CNSA
The Moon has gained a new companion – China’s lunar relay satellite, the Queqiao-2.
Following roughly 112 flight hours after launch, the spacecraft performed a near-Moon braking procedure, placing it in circumlunar orbit, reported the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Monday.
Upcoming is for the relay craft to adjust its altitude and inclination and enter its target elliptical orbit around the Moon.
Pre-launch photo of lunar relay satellite.
Image credit: CCTV/CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Test satellites
Meanwhile, two communication and navigation technology test satellites, Tiandu-1 and Tiandu-2, also completed near-moon braking on the same day and entered their circumlunar orbits.
Tiandu-1 and Tiandu-2 subsatellites are to trial-run lunar communications technology.
Image credit: DSEL
The separation of the two satellites will be carried out as planned, the CNSA said.
Technicians prepare lunar relay satellite for launch.
Image credit: CCTV/CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Communication services
Queqiao-2, which translates to “magpie bridge 2,” was launched on March 20 to provide Earth-Moon communication services, a key duty given the upcoming launch, likely in May, of China’s Change’-6 lunar lander.
Image credit: CGTN
That probe is slated to sit down softly on the farside of the Moon, collect specimens, then launch that treasure trove of bits and pieces from the lunar south pole back to the Earth.
Queqiao-2 is designed to serve as a relay platform for the fourth phase of China’s lunar exploration program, providing communications services for the already landed Chang’e-4 lander/rover on the farside, along with the Chang’e-6, Chang’e-7, and Chang’e-8 Moon missions.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Go to this informative video at:
Odysseus captured this image less than 100 feet (30 meters) above the lunar surface while his main engine throttled down
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Mum’s the word from Odysseus – that Intuitive Machines lunar lander that plopped down on the Moon in February.
Odysseus — also dubbed “Odie” — arrived at the Malapert-A crater area on February 22, making a rough and tumble landing, tipping over at the site compromising its ability to perform all its duties.
This privately-built craft was sponsored by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
The Intuitive Machines (IM-1) lander officially ended seven days after landing – but with a hopeful caveat.
Image credit: ILOA/Steve Durst
Call home
While not designed to survive the super-chilly temperatures of the lunar night, ground controllers had hoped the solar paneled Odysseus may spring back to life.
“Before its batteries were depleted, flight controllers tucked Odie into a configuration that could call home if various systems outperformed manufacturer expectations,” states Intuitive Machines.
Ground teams began listening for the lander’s wake-up signal on March 20, anticipating there might be enough sunlight reaching Odysseus to possibly perk up the lander’s power system and turn on its radio system.
Rough and tumble landing of Odysseus Moon lander, damaging its landing gear in the process.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Radio silence
“As of March 23rd at 1030 A.M. Central Standard Time, flight controllers decided their projections were correct, and Odie’s power system would not complete another call home,” Intuitive Machines has announced.
“This confirms that Odie has permanently faded after cementing its legacy into history as the first commercial lunar lander to land on the Moon,” the statement concludes.
Take a look at my new Scientific American story – “In NASA’s Push for the Moon, Commercial Partners Soar—And Stumble: NASA’s partnership with private industry to accelerate the U.S.’s return to the Moon is delivering lunar payloads—and mixed results” – at:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/whats-behind-nasas-commercial-lunar-hits-and-misses/
Also, go to my recent Space.com story – “Astrobotic readies next lunar lander following failed Peregrine moon mission” – at:
https://www.space.com/astrobotic-next-lunar-lander-failed-peregrine-mission
Image from International Lunar Observatory Association’s ILO-X wide field-of-view imager taken on February 22, 2024 about 4.2 minutes prior to Odysseus touchdown. It shows craters in the Moon’s south pole region as well as the IM-1 Odysseus lunar lander.
Image credit: ILOA Hawai’i
Drilling down deep for ice on Mars via RedWater technology.
Image credit: Honeybee Robotics
Things are looking up for digging deep on Mars. Progress is palpable on how best to extract subsurface ice to yield made-on-Mars drinkable water, rocket fuel, and other useful resources.
But boring down from the topside of Mars to reach available icy reservoirs is no slam dunk.
Tackling that future desire is Honeybee Robotics, dubbing their approach the RedWater concept.
RedWater system undergoes end-to-end testing in the company’s cold chamber to simulate super-cold conditions on Mars.
Image credit: Honeybee Robotics
Cold shoulder
Meanwhile, there’s the work of the Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM) on Mars project team, busily charting the whereabouts of water ice on the Red Planet.
Then there’s the fact that Mars is going to give us the cold shoulder. That is, drilling even one meter in ice on that world can be hard to do!
For more information, go to my new Space.com story – “Drilling for water ice on Mars: How close are we to making it happen?” at:
https://www.space.com/mars-water-ice-drill-honeybee-robotics
Image credit: CCTV/CGTN/Inside Outer Space
China’s commercial launch activity in Wenchang is on the upswing, evident in launch pad construction that involves “cutting-edge” technologies and the ability to handle different types of rockets.
Reportedly, by using modular steel structure compared with traditional launch pads, construction time has been cut in half.
Launch Pad No. 1 construction began in July 2022 and was completed at the end of 2023.
The building of Launch Pad No. 2 is now underway with on-site equipment installation to be finished by the end of May 2024.
The No.2 launch pad can accommodate 19 models of nine rocket companies. “That means these rockets can all be launched on this launch pad,” Guo Qiang, deputy secretary of the Party branch in Hainan International Commercial Spacecraft Launch Center told China Central Television (CCTV).
Pad technologies
“The construction of Launch Pad No. 1 marks the implementation of several cutting-edge technologies for the first time,” said Ge Lixin, head of Equipment Department of the Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co., Ltd.
Ge told China Global Television Network (CGTN) that the pad uses a cone exhaust guide and extrusion water spray system for cooling and noise reduction processes.
“The construction of this launch pad began in July 2022 and has now entered the final stages of equipment installation, nearing completion,” Ge said.
Image credit: CCTV/CGTN/Inside Outer Space
Economies of scale
Both Launch Pad No. 1 and Launch Pad No. 2 have been designed to accommodate over ten different types of rockets from nine manufacturers, said Bian Pengfei, project manager, Launch Pad 2 for Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co., Ltd.
“By maximizing the number of rocket launches, economies of scale can be achieved, leading to lower overall costs per launch,” Bian said. “To optimize efficiency, both launch pads have been specifically designed to facilitate up to 16 launches per year, ensuring the maximum utilization of the facilities.”
According to CGTN, citing launch experts, the number of Chinese commercial satellites in orbit is projected to exceed 1,200 within the next five years. This surge is reflected by the substantial increase in launch demands.
Last month, the annual blue paper released by state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said a new milestone this year is attaining roughly 100 orbital launches.
Kang Yonglai, chief executive officer, Space Pioneer.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space
SpaceX-like rocket
Meanwhile, a Chinese private rocket company is readying its SpaceX-like “Falcon 9 equivalent” for a first launch.
As reported by China’s Global Times, Space Pioneer, a Chinese private rocket company, is eyeing July for the maiden flight of its new large liquid-propellant reusable rocket model TL-3 (Tianlong-3) – specially designed for China’s low-orbit satellite internet constellation construction.
Image credit: Space Pioneer
The first stage of the TL-3 will have the ability for autonomous return and reusability. Furthermore, according to the Global Times, the rocket includes “stainless steel 3D printed engines, liquid nitrogen vaporization pressurization, gas injection accumulators, triple redundant computers, nine-engine parallel configuration, full carbon fiber fairings, single-layer common bottom storage tanks and non-pyrotechnic separation, significantly enhancing cost-effectiveness.”
The power system of TL-3 is the Tianhuo-12 rocket engine with the rocket able to toss more than 30 satellites into orbit at once, according to the Space Pioneer firm.
