Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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March 17th, 2021
Credit: Astroscale
Core technologies for a space debris removal scenario are to be showcased by the End-of-Life Services by Astroscale (ELSA) program.
The ELSA-d mission, licensed by the UK Space Agency, is ready for liftoff from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Saturday, March 20, at 6:07 am (UTC). It will launch on a Soyuz rocket operated by GK Launch Services.
Servicer and Client
ELSA-d is comprised of two satellites: the “Servicer” and the “Client.”
Credit: Astroscale
The ‘Servicer’ is equipped with optical sensing instruments and a capture mechanism which will attach to a docking plate on the ‘Client’ satellite. The Servicer and Client will then de-orbit together, burning up as they re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
Credit: Astroscale
“This is an incredible moment, not only for our team, but for the entire satellite servicing industry, as we work towards maturing the debris removal market and ensuring the responsible use of our orbits,” said Nobu Okada, Astroscale Founder and CEO in a press statement.
Resources
Go to this informative press kit on the mission at:
https://astroscale.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ELSA-d-Launch-Press-Kit-2021-ENG.pdf
Also, take a look at this video detailing the upcoming mission at:
Posted in 
Credit: S.A. Lavochkin
At Russia’s S.A. Lavochkin, a media briefing featured updates on two main planetary projects now underway at the company: The Luna-25 lunar lander mission and the ExoMars-2022 project.
On March 17, 2021, Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of the Roscosmos State Corporation, held a meeting with journalists at S.A. Lavochkin.
Credit: S.A. Lavochkin
The Luna-25 space project is developing basic soft landing technologies in the circumpolar region and conduct contact studies of the Moon’s South Pole. The launch of Luna 25 is scheduled for this year, October 2021.
Russian-provided landing platform, “Kazachok” – translates as “Little Cossack.”
Credit: ESA
Mars landing platform
Meanwhile, work on Russia’s key contributions for the ExoMars-2022 mission continues.
It is a large joint project of the Roscosmos State Corporation and the European Space Agency.
JSC “NPO Lavochkina” is the main contractor and coordinator of the work on the Russian side, as well as the developer and manufacturer of the landing module and landing platform “Kazachok”.
The launch of the mission to the Red Planet is scheduled for the Earth-Mars window in September-October 2022.
Curiosity’s Location as of Sol 3049. Distance driven 15.46 miles/24.88 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater has just started Sol 3061 assignments.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image acquired on Sol 3060, March 16, 2021.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The rover is continuing its drill campaign at “Nontron” and preparing the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite to study a new specimen later this week reports Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3060, March 16, 2021.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
While that’s ongoing, Guzewich adds, the robot’s Mastcam will take a sure-to-be-spectacular 360° mosaic and the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) will study the Mont Mercou cliff in front of the rover, including a target called “Font de Gaume.”
“Font de Gaume cave in France is home to stunning paleolithic cave art of bison, reindeer, and other Ice Age wildlife painted 19-27,000 years ago,” Guzewich explains. “Even that length of time, at least 15,000 years before the pyramids were built in Egypt, is barely 0.0005% of the time back to when Gale Crater formed on Mars.”
Curiosity Mast Camera Right image taken on Sol 3059, March 15, 2021.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Eons of time
The mind of humans don’t easily comprehend the vast eons of time that separate us from the places we explore in space with robots like Curiosity, Guzewich writes. “Our minds are designed to think in terms of hours, days, seasons, and years, extending up to a duration of our lifetime and perhaps those a few generations before us,” he adds.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo acquired on Sol 3060, March 16, 2021.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
“When we explore Mars, we’re roving over rocks that formed billions of years ago and many of which have been exposed on the surface for at least tens or hundreds of millions of years. It’s a gap of time that we can understand numerically, but there’s no way to have an innate feel for the incredible ancientness of the planet and Gale Crater,” Guzewich concludes.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3060, March 16, 2021.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA
One of the major messages from Project Apollo is that lunar dust was a significant challenge for moonwalkers due to its strong adhesive and abrasive nature.
New research into the issue may give lunar dust the boot – that is, a new design called Sole Morphing Astronaut Boots (SMABs).
Cleat of foot
A research paper presented this week at the virtual 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2021 notes that the boot design strives for two goals:
Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawing of sole morphing astronaut overboot.
Credit: S. Lanctot, et al.
— The first is to minimize surface area contact with the Moon’s surface by elevating the astronaut on an extended cleat-like design to reduce the amount of dust kicked off the ground.
— The second goal will focus on improving the stability and enhancing the sense of foot feel for the astronauts.
Lead author of The Sole Morphing Astronaut Boots paper is Sara Lanctot, a mechanical and aerospace engineering student at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, New Mexico.
Clingy and cloggy
The Apollo moonwalking boot had its fair share of issues in the lunar dust, Lanctot and her colleagues explain.
“The dust is clingy and clogged up the treads of the boots. Astronauts commented on how slippery the boots would get, especially on the ladder. Furthermore, the abrasive nature of lunar regolith acting on a standard soled shoe was able to wear through the sole within a single day’s worth of activity on the lunar surface.”
Apollo 17 helmets and dusty spacesuits stuffed inside lunar lander following the last human treks on the Moon in December 1972.
Credit: NASA
The multi-layered Sole Morphing Astronaut Boots (SMAB) incorporate an adaptive design with replaceable studs to allow for maintenance and to reduce the general problem of “gouging” out dust from the lunar surface.
Spring in your step
The sole of the shoe will contain thirteen studs located where the foot holds the most weight: the heel and balls of the feet.
Each stud has what’s called a shock-absorption mechanism (SAM), similar to a shock absorber found in an automobile. This mechanism is intended to make the studs both shock absorbent and surface conforming.
View of stud CAD modeling and components. Credit: S. Lanctot, et al.
By literally putting a spring into your step via SMABs, the result is reducing dust clouds and aiding astronauts with their lunar treks. Secondly, Moon strutting crews wearing SMABs will receive firm and stabilizing footing as they walk over the uneven lunar surface, littered with rocks and small craters, the research team reports.
Haptic sock
The insole of the SMAB are outfitted with four piezoelectric ceramic disks that are placed strategically in the posterior metatarsal, heel (hind foot), great ball and little ball of the foot – these are common pressure points of the human foot.
The right shows the placement of the stubs on
the foot. The left foot indicates the corresponding placements of the piezoelectric ceramic sensors.
Credit: S. Lanctot, et al.
A “haptic sock” consists of about six vibrational motors each housed in a memory foam padding. Haptic relates to or is based on the sense of touch. Aluminum pins, when vibrated by the motors, provide the wearer with simulated tactile sensory information.
Lanctot and her colleagues have put together a test program to evaluate the effectiveness of the SMAB prototype in comparison to previous lunar mission boots both in regards to dust kick-up and overall traction.
“A large part of our proposed verification testing will be the development of the piezoelectric-haptic-system. While the haptic system is already being researched for use in gloves of EVA suits of astronauts aboard the ISS, this concept has not yet been transferred to the boots of the astronauts to improve gait and balance,” Lanctot and associates explain in their LPSC paper
Credit: ISS/NASA
The Moon’s south pole is increasingly seen as the “go to” locale by multiple nations.
This week, experts virtually attending the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) 2021 are providing new detailed looks of that southern polar region, a setting with concentrations of hydrogen in the lunar topside and the likely presence of ground ice lurking within Sun-shy craters. Toss in for good measure areas that receive copious solar energy and are visible from Earth.
Using local resources on the Moon can help make future crewed missions more sustainable and affordable.
Credit: RegoLight, visualization: Liquifer Systems Group, 2018
This convergence of favorable factors bodes well for extending and sustaining a human presence on the Moon.
But as more data about the lunar south pole is collected — tightly focused on the “best of” Moon spots — will there be a concentration and crowding for prime real estate?
Credit: via Roscosmos
China’s agenda
The Moon’s south pole is increasingly becoming a place of high interest for both robotic and human missions.
Last week, for instance, China rolled out a Moon exploration program that includes the retrieval of lunar samples from the south pole by a future Chang’e-6, a detailed survey of the Moon’s south pole resources by Chang’e-7, and the testing of key technologies in preparation for the construction of a lunar research station by Chang’e-8. Indeed, a recent memorandum of understanding signed between China and Russia is designed to formulate a roadmap for the construction of an international lunar research station.
Credit: Roscosmos
Unique landing spot
Additionally, the European Space Agency and Russia are working together on a Russian-led Luna-27 mission targeting the south polar region of the Moon.
In development by ESA to be toted by Luna-27 is the Package for Resource Observation and in-Situ Prospecting for Exploration, Commercial exploitation and Transportation – mercifully shortened to PROSPECT.
Meanwhile, NASA is pressing forward on its Artemis initiative to return humans to the Moon.
NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover.
Credit: NASA
Future robotic and crewed landings on the Moon – like NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER in 2023, followed by Artemis III astronauts – could be headed for the Shackleton-de Gerlache ridge at the lunar South Pole.
Credit: JAXA/NHK/Paul Spudis
According to an LPSC paper by Hannes Bernhardt and Mark Robinson of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, the Shackleton-de Gerlache ridge has been identified as a potential landing site due to the unique proximity of permanently shadowed regions and peaks of extended (greater than 70 percent between 2024 and 2026) Sun and Earth visibilities.
Crowding and interference?
Does all this multi-nation Moon machinery plopping down at the Moon’s south pole mean concentration and crowding for lunar sites?
Signing of the Outer Space Treaty. Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin,
UK Ambassador Sir Patrick Dean, US Ambassador Arthur J. Goldberg, US President
Lyndon B. Johnson and others observe as US Secretary of State Dean Rusk signs the
Outer Space Treaty on January 27, 1967 in Washington, DC
Source: UNOOSA.
“The large number of lunar missions planned for the next decade are likely to target a relatively limited number of small sites with concentrated resources on the Moon’s surface, creating risks of crowding and interference at these locations,” explains Martin Elvis, a Harvard University astrophysicist, and lead author of an LPSC paper.
“Real situations, where significant resources are at stake, will require adjudication to resolve disputes,” Elvis and colleagues write. “Unlike the Antarctic Treaty on which it was based, the Outer Space Treaty has no mechanism for adjudicating disputes.”
In the LPSC paper, Elvis and his co-authors urge that now is an appropriate time to begin developing a “governance framework” guided by lessons drawn from Earth. “Efforts at managing forthcoming disputes are most likely to succeed if they are undertaken before vested interests gain too firm a foothold,” they conclude.
Encapsulated X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle for U.S. Space Force-7 mission, now in Earth orbit.
Credit: Boeing
That secretive U.S. military X-37B space plane has just chalked up more than 300 days in Earth orbit.
The Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-6), also called USSF-7 for the U.S. Space Force, was launched on May 17, 2020 by an Atlas-V 501 booster.
OTV-6 is the first to use a service module to host experiments. The service module is an attachment to the aft of the vehicle that allows additional experimental payload capability to be carried to orbit.
Credit: Boeing
Onboard experiments
One experiment onboard the space plane that was announced pre-launch is from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), an investigation into transforming solar power into radio frequency microwave energy. The experiment itself is called the Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module, PRAM for short.
Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has pioneered “sandwich” modules that are far more efficient for space solar power.
Credit: NRL/Jamie Hartman
Along with toting NRL’s PRAM into Earth orbit, the X-37B also deployed the FalconSat-8, a small satellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy and sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory to conduct several experiments on orbit.
The FalconSat-8 is an educational platform that will carry five experimental payloads for the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) to operate.
In addition, two NASA experiments are also onboard the space plane to study the effects of the space environment on a materials sample plate and seeds used to grow food.
X-37B handout.
Credit: Boeing
Delta 9
The X-37B program is under the wing of a newly established U.S. Space Force unit called Delta 9.
Delta 9, a component of the U.S. Space Force, was established and activated July 24, 2020.
“Delta 9 Detachment 1 oversees operations of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, an experimental program designed to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Space Force,” according to a fact sheet issued by Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. Delta 9 consists of three active duty squadrons headquartered at Schriever.
“The mission of Delta 9 is to prepare, present, and project assigned and attached forces for the purpose of conducting protect and defend operations and providing national decision authorities with response options to deter and, when necessary, defeat orbital threats,” the fact sheet explains. “Additionally, Delta 9 supports Space Domain Awareness by conducting space-based battlespace characterization operations and also conducts on-orbit experimentation and technology demonstrations for the U.S. Space Force.”
Go to this video of the U.S. military space plane pass on March 13, 2021, as recorded by satellite spotter, Kevin Fetter, at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI-buuCoCPA&feature=youtu.be
Credit: XinhuaVideo/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Lunar south pole – future Moon base location?
Credit: NASA
China has wrapped up feasibility studies of the fourth phase of the country’s lunar exploration ambitions, and is investigating the future establishment of an international research station at the Moon’s south pole.
There may be more than 180 consecutive days of light at the Moon’s south pole, enabling crews to conduct research within this area.
Fourth phase
Wu Weiren, the chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, told China Space News, that three missions are planned for the fourth phase of the lunar exploration program.
The program includes the retrieval of lunar samples from the south pole by Chang’e-6, a detailed survey of the Moon’s south pole resources by Chang’e-7, and the testing of key technologies in preparation for the construction of the lunar research station by Chang’e-8.
Credit: via Roscosmos
Roadmap formulation
According to the Xhinua news agency, Wu addressed the recent memorandum of understanding signed between China and Russia to jointly formulate a roadmap for the construction of an international lunar research station.
That MOU calls for close cooperation between the two countries in the planning, demonstration, design, development, implementation and operation of the project, Wu noted.
It will be a long-term lunar stay at the research post for Chinese astronauts, not short-term, Wu said.
As spelled out in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), Wu added, China is moving forward in promoting the development of heavy launch vehicles and achieve breakthroughs in rocket body sizes and engine thrust to support deep space exploration.
Go to this new GLOBALink video: “China plans to build research station on Moon’s south pole: chief designer” at:
Chang’e-5 leg of lunar lander.
Credit: CNSA/CLEP
Lunar samples returned to Earth by China’s Chang’e-5 mission are undergoing intensive study and offer revealing details about the Moon.
China’s Chang’e-5 (CE-5) mission was the first robotic Earth-Moon round-trip collection of lunar bits and pieces since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.
Regional context of the Chang’e-5 Moon landing site (green triangle).
Credit: Yuqi Qian, et al.
A new research paper indicates that samples returned by the Chinese Moon sample mission will address fundamental questions such as lunar chronology, thermal evolution, as well as provide key calibration for lunar and planetary chronologies and remote sensing data.
The paper – “China’s Chang’e-5 landing site: Geology, stratigraphy, and provenance of materials” – has been published in the Earth and Planetary Science Letters journal. Lead author of the paper is Yuqi Qian of the State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Planetary Science Institute, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, China.
NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s powerful LROC system captured these images. Left: Chang’e 5 spacecraft before departure of ascent stage. Right: After departure of ascent stage. Both images sampled at 1.2 meter pixels, north is up. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Topside and subsurface samples
China’s highly successful Chang’e-5 lunar mission retrieved about 4 pounds (1,731 grams) of samples from the basaltic plains of Northern Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”). Its lander-ascender combination touched down on the near side of the Moon on December 1, 2020, collecting samples from both the lunar surface and beneath.
Chang’e-5 cannister holding lunar specimens is carefully removed by technicians.
Credit: National Astronomical Observatories, CAS
The ascender later rocketed the specimens off the Moon for transfer to an orbiter/returner for transport back to Earth.
A return capsule containing the lunar collectibles landed in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the early hours of December 17, 2020.
Stratigraphic assessment
Regolith and rock fragments sampled by Chang’e-5, the paper explains, “come from some of the youngest mare basalts on the Moon, near Rima Sharp [the longest sinuous rille on the Moon] and from the center of the globally anomalous Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT), hypothesized to be responsible for the generation of the young volcanism.”
A detailed geologic map and stratigraphic assessment of the landing site of Chang’e-5 has been created. The stratigraphy consists of ancient highland materials, local silica-rich volcanism, overlain by a sequence of mare basalts, capped by post-mare bombardment ejecta from distant sources, mainly from Harpalus (a young lunar impact crater), Copernicus (one of the most prominent craters on the Moon) and Aristarchus (one of the most geologically complex areas on the Moon).
Credit: Yuqi Qian, et al.
Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects specimens from the Moon brought back by the return sample mission.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Different layers
There are at least 9 different layers in the Chang’e-5 landing site, the paper explains, including impact ejecta, regolith, moderate- titanium (Ti) basalts, paleo-ejecta, paleo-regolith, low-Ti mare basalts, and Procellarum KREEP Terrane crust, which can be tested by the Lunar Penetrating Radar carried onboard the Chang’e-5 lunar lander. That radar provided information support for lunar drilling and sampling.
The mare basalts whisked back to Earth by the Chang’e-5 mission, “have enormous potential for improving our understanding of the recent thermal evolution and impact history of the Moon,” the research paper notes. Soil and rock fragments returned are to be carefully studied in laboratories using cutting-edge techniques.
To access the paper — “China’s Chang’e-5 landing site: Geology, stratigraphy, and provenance of materials” – go to:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012821X2100114X
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is readying for launch the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter from a natural airfield in Jezero Crater.
Underneath the Mars Perseverance rover, the location of the mini-helicopter. Images taken by the SHERLOC WATSON Camera located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. Images acquired on March 12, 2021 (Sol 21).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
As planned, the rover is to drive to the center of a selected “helipad,” then release the lock on the Mars Helicopter Delivery System. That’s followed by slow rotation of the helicopter down to the surface, deployment of the helicopter’s legs, along with charging of vehicle’s batteries to 100%, and then the gentle drop of 6 inches (15 centimeters) to the surface.
After the drop, Perseverance is to wheel away to expose Ingenuity to the Sun so the helicopter can recharge its batteries.
The craft weighs about 4.0 pounds (1.8 kilograms) on Earth, and about 1.5 pounds (0.68 kilograms) on Mars.
Perseverance will monitor the takeoff of the Ingenuity craft.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Flight test goals
When given the go, Mars Flight Test No. 1 is scheduled to launch at about 11 a.m. local time on Mars, when winds in the area are expected to be lightest and the battery will be at an adequate state of charge.
The goals of Flight Test No. 1: lift off, climb, hover, and land.
Ingenuity will be tasked with climbing at about 3 feet per second (1 meter per second) to an altitude of about 10 feet (3 meters). Then it is expected to hover for about 20 seconds and descend at about 3 feet per second (1 meter per second) until touchdown.
The Ingenuity team will attempt up to five flight tests during its 30-sol experiment window.
Image from Mars Perseverance Right Navigation Camera located high on the rover’s mast. Image acquired on March 12, 2021 (Sol 21).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Future human Mars expeditions may use aerial vehicles to enlarge their exploration zones.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
As a technology demonstration, NASA has invested about $85 million to build the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, accommodate it on Perseverance, and operate the helicopter on Mars.
Check out this informative video detailing the up-coming helicopter release sequence:
Launch control for China’s Long March-7A.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China has successfully flown a modified version of the Long March-7 rocket, a booster that represents a new generation of the country’s medium-sized high-orbit rocketry. The launcher adds to the tool kit of available rocket power to sustain and enhance China’s budding agenda of putting in place their own space station, as well as shoulder robotic and human sojourns to the Moon and beyond.
The Long March-7A Y2 carrier rocket lifted off early Friday morning (Beijing time) from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s island province of Hainan. The maiden flight of the CZ-7A back in March 2020 ended in failure.
Credit: LC-123/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Atop the modified booster was the Shiyan-9 satellite, primarily used for in-orbit tests of new technologies including space environment monitoring, according to Chinese news accounts.
Meet the demand
China’s Xinhua news agency reports that, along with Long March-3A and Long March-5 carrier rockets, the Long March-7A will undertake the country’s high-orbit missions.
The Long March-3A rocket can carry payloads of 5.5 tons to GTO, and the Long March-5 can send payloads of 14 tons to GTO.
Meng Gang, chief director of the rocket project, said the Long March-7A is expected to carry out three to five missions annually before 2025 reports Xinhua. Upgrades of the launch vehicle are scheduled to meet the demand for sending satellites and deep-space probes to explore the Moon, Mars and asteroids.
Core module of China’s space station.
Credit: CMS/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Space station module
In the meantime, China is pressing forward on its space station construction plans.
In a few months, China will launch the Tianhe core module, the foundational element of their orbital facility slated to be completed in 2022. It will start the construction of the nation’s largest space-based asset, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
China’s Tianwen1 now in Mars orbit, ready to unload a lander/rover in May-June.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China appears to be on the verge of a one-two punch in both the country’s human space flight program as well as its robotic planetary exploration plans.
Before the end of June, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) notes it anticipates the lofting of the 20-metric-ton core module. China is also targeting an attempted landing on Mars in May-June with the Tianwen-1’s lander/rover – the country’s first independent mission to the Red Planet.
China’s space station expected to be completed around 2022.
CMS/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Multi-type rockets
To piece together China’s space station in rapid fashion, the nation will sequentially launch the Tianhe core capsule, Wentian and Mengtian lab modules.
In addition, four Shenzhou crew-carrying spacecrafts and four Tianzhou cargo spacecrafts will also be lofted to establish a rotation of astronauts to work on the space station and supply goods to sustain station operations.
“This is the first time that we will launch multi-type Long March rockets to build a manned space station. The carrier rocket Long March-5B will launch the core module of the space station. Then the Long March-7 carrier rocket will launch the cargo spacecraft. Later, the Long March-2F carrier rocket will carry our astronauts to our space station,” said Mou Yu, director of the General Design Department of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology explained in a recent China Central Television (CCTV) interview.
China’s space station agenda also includes lofting an optical module that carries a space telescope, touted as having a better field angle than the NASA Hubble space telescope.
Credit: China Manned Space (CMS)/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Hubble rival
Upon commissioning the space station, China will also loft an optical module that carries a space telescope, touted as having a better field angle than the NASA Hubble space telescope. Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program, said that the telescope with resolution ratio equivalent to the Hubble telescope will have a 2-meter diameter lens with a field of view 300 times that of the Hubble telescope.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“The telescope will be set up in an optical module that can fly independently in orbit for a higher efficiency of space probe. Meanwhile, we will make it fly approximately in common orbit with the future space station,” Zhou told CCTV. “This will help us refuel the telescope and carry out in-orbit upgrade for it, so as to always keep it on the level of an international frontier.”
The orbiting telescope can survey large areas in space in the coming 10 years, Zhou added. “We will explore the mysteries of the stars and very deep space, including the origin and evolution of the cosmos, as well as the important scientific frontier issues including dark holes, dark matter and dark energy.”
Credit: ISS/NASA
Boots on the Moon
As chief designer of China’s manned space program Zhou said that the country plans to send astronauts to the Moon for scientific exploration. The space station will lay the ground for China’s further manned space exploration, such as future crewed lunar missions, he said.
“We are in the process of deepening the assessment of manned lunar exploration and tackling key technical problems. We have the determination and the hardworking spirit to achieve manned lunar exploration for Chinese people,” Zhou told CCTV. “Moreover, we have set our goal higher than merely setting foot on the Moon, meaning that we will be using modern technology and conducting scientific exploration when our astronauts reach the Moon.”
Go to this CCTV video describing the Long March-7A at:
