Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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December 18th, 2014
Liftoff of India’s next generation booster – GSLV Mk-III.
Credit: ISRO
India’s next generation booster – GSLV Mk-III – flew successfully on its first experimental flight.
The rocket departed the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota on December 18.
The suborbital shot had a two-fold agenda:
— Test the vehicle performance during its critical atmospheric phase of its flight carrying a non-functional cryogenic upper stage.
— Fly the over four ton (3,775 kg) Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE) – to a height of over 75 miles (126 km).
Bobbing in the Bay of Bengal – India’s Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE)
Credit: ISRO
The CARE separated from the upper stage of rocket and re-entered the atmosphere, plopping down in the Bay of Bengal under its parachutes.
The flight lasted about 20 minutes 43 seconds, from lift-off to splashdown.
Go to this website to see the impressive test flight:
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China’s recent robotic circumlunar test flight snapped this image of the Moon with Earth in the distance.
Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Even before the first launch of China’s Long March 5, rocket builders in that country are eyeing the Long March 9 – a super-heavy booster reportedly intended to support human missions to the Moon.
Li Tongyu, head of aerospace products at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, is quoted in the State-owned China Daily, that Long March 9 “will mostly be determined by a host of factors, including the government’s space plan and the nation’s overall industrial capability, as well as its engine’s development.”
The Long March 9’s diameter and height, Li said, will be far larger than those of the Long March 5 – and a brand new engine will provide greater thrust.
The China Daily story also carries comments by Li Jinghong, deputy chief designer of the Long March 3A at the academy, stating that estimates show the Long March 5 would have to use four launches to fulfill a manned mission to the moon while the Long March 9 will need only one. In addition, the senior engineer said that manned lunar missions will not be the sole use of the Long March 9, suggesting that other deep-space exploration projects will also need the super-heavy launcher.
Deputy chief designer Li said that the diameter of the Long March 9 should be 8 to 10 meters. Weight of the booster is anticipated to be at least 3,000 metric tons, he said.
An earlier report by China News Service, said that Liang Xiaohong, deputy head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, has indicated that the Long March 9 is planned to have a maximum payload of 130 tons and its first launch will take place around 2028.
Credit: NASA
Here’s a video that highlights key moments in space exploration, from humanity’s early fascination with stars to recent work in private space tourism.
A Brief History of Space Exploration was shown at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California on November 13, 2014 as part of the kickoff to RAND’s biennial Politics Aside event.
Take a look at:
http://www.rand.org/multimedia/video/2014/11/21/history-space-exploration.html
Bonus viewing:
Matt Miller, columnist, author, and host of the radio program Left, Right and Center moderated a panel, which included Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs; George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic; and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman.
Topics ranged from the future of commercial space exploration and the feasibility of humans visiting Mars, to policy questions such us the militarization of space and the importance of space sustainability.
To drop in on the conversation, go to:
http://www.rand.org/blog/2014/11/space-talk-launches-politics-aside.html
Image of China’s Chang’e 3 lunar lander taken by Yutu rover.
Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese space officials have spotlighted the year-long scientific work of the still operating Chang’e 3 lander.
The spacecraft touched down on the Moon’s surface on December 14, 2013. It carried the Yutu rover that was deployed from the stationary lander to roam freely across the lunar terrain.
The state-owned news agency, the People’s Daily, quotes Cui Yan, chief designer of the Chang’e-3 lunar program at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).
During its year on the lunar surface, which included 13 dormancies on lunar nights and awakenings on lunar days, the Chang’e 3 lunar lander endured the extreme cold environment and carried out more than 30 radio surveys, Cui says, adding that the lander will continue to carry out additional tasks.
“The Chang’e 3 lander has accomplished all its scheduled tasks in its expected lifetime,” Cui said. “But given its good condition, we plan to conduct further experiments to accumulate more technical experience for China’s deep space exploration.”
August 2013 artist’s impression of James Webb Space Telescope.
Credit: Northrop Grumman
A new study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has taken a look at the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project.
JWST is one of NASA’s most complex and expensive projects, at an anticipated cost of $8.8 billion.
The GAO has found that with just less than 4 years until its planned launch in October 2018, the JWST project reports the effort remains on schedule and budget.
However, the GAO reports, technical challenges with JWST elements and major subsystems have diminished the project’s overall schedule reserve and increased risk.
During the past year, the GAO reports that delays have occurred on every element and major subsystem schedule — especially with the cryocooler — leaving all at risk of negatively impacting the overall project schedule reserve if further delays occur.
The cryocooler chills an infrared light detector on one of JWST’s four scientific instruments.
The GAO report assesses, among other issues, the extent to which (1) technical challenges are impacting the JWST project’s ability to stay on schedule and budget, and (2) budget and cost estimates reflect current information about project risks.
For your own review of the report, go to:
James Webb Space Telescope: Project Facing Increased Schedule Risk with Significant Work Remaining. GAO-15-100, December 15.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-100
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/667527.pdf
Enhanced color image of a hill in the Candor Colles region of Candor Chasma, Mars. Image is 1 km (0.62 miles) across.
Credit: USGS/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Want to stroll around on the Red Planet?
If so, you may put in your backpack a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geologic map of Mars, billed as the most detailed representation of the Red Planet to date.
This new map provides geologic and structural information on layered sedimentary rocks at a scale comparable to what a field geologist would see on Earth, including a precise illustration of a portion of the “Grand Canyon of Mars,” or Valles Marineris.
The map provides new targets for continued scientific investigation of past potentially habitable environments on Mars.
The just released USGS geologic and structural map uses the highest-resolution, orbiter-based images currently available for Mars – data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on board the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The area analyzed, called western Candor Chasma, is one of the largest canyons in the Valles Marineris canyon system. The resulting map provides the most detailed information of the geology of Mars at a human scale over a broad area of terrain.
A unique feature of this map is that its resolution, or scale, is sufficiently detailed that USGS cartographic standards used in terrestrial, Earth-based geologic and structural maps were used. And that’s a first for a map of another planet.
The project was funded by the NASA Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program.
It’s available from the USGS for download online at:
After releasing a test return capsule, the service module is headed for Moon orbit.
Credit: China Space Website
China is prepared to move a spacecraft into lunar orbit next month – the service module involved in the country’s successful circumlunar return capsule test in November.
After the separation of the return capsule that parachuted into Inner Mongolia, the larger service module continued its mission back to the vicinity of the Moon.
Following two key maneuvers it arrived in a Lagrangian Point (L2) in late November.
Now that service module is slated to leave L2 at the beginning of January and head for the Moon, braking into lunar orbit in mid-January.
China’s Chang’e 5 mission is slated for 2017 and will land, collect, and return to Earth lunar samples.
Credit: China Space Website
The orbiter is outfitted with GPS, a high-resolution camera and a star sensor, among other equipment. That camera gear can survey areas where a follow-on Moon mission – Chang’e 5 – is to land, gather lunar surface samples, and then return the specimens to the Earth.
Chang’e 5 is reportedly headed for a 2017 liftoff.
As reported in the state-owned China Daily, Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the China National Space Administration said:
“To take maximum advantage of the capacity of the service module to test relevant technologies for Chang’e 5, we are conducting a series of experiments on the service module, including circling the Lagrangian Point L2 and carrying equipment for experiments in orbit.”
December 10, 2014 marks the 60th anniversary of Col. John P. Stapp’s record-breaking experiment at the Holloman High Speed Test Track.
Credit: U.S. Air Force/Courtesy Photo
It has been 60 years since Col. John P. Stapp sailed down a test track, strapped in tight onboard Sonic Wind Rocket Sled 1.
That pioneering ride on Dec. 10, 1954 earned Stapp the title, “The Fastest Man on Earth” – a speedy rocket-powered trip that propelled him to a rate of 632 miles per hour and subjected the test subject to more than 40 g’s given the rocket sled’s 1.4 second stop in motion.
The site of his adventure was the Holloman High Speed Test Track in New Mexico, an experiment to ascertain the impact on a pilot ejected at 35,000 feet at twice the speed of sound.
Full stop! A pioneering rocket sled ride. Even in black & white it hurts.
Credit: US Air Force
Stapp sustained bruises, blisters and temporary blindness.
Images of that experiment were publicized around the world. And for aspiring space cadets it was an early, albeit scary, introduction to rocket travel and g-force face time!
Sled on display
Visitors to the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, New Mexico can view the Sonic Wind Rocket Sled 1.
The sled is on display within The John P. Stapp Air & Space Park, named after International Space Hall of Fame Inductee and aeromedical pioneer.
Photo courtesy of NMMSH/The John P. Stapp Air & Space Park
Stapp retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1970 as a colonel and died at his home in Alamogordo, N.M. in 1999.
This image taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover just north of the “Kimberley” waypoint shows beds of sandstone inclined to the southwest toward Mount Sharp and away from the Gale Crater rim.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover continues on its 5 mile (8 kilometer) journey from its landing site in August 2012 to its current work site at the base of Mount Sharp.
The robot has uncovered clues about the changing shape of the crater floor during an era of lakes, according to research scientists.
Curiosity currently is investigating the lowest sedimentary layers of Mount Sharp, a section of rock 500 feet (150 meters) high, dubbed the Murray formation. Rivers carried sand and silt to the lake, depositing the sediments at the mouth of the river to form deltas similar to those found at river mouths on Earth. This cycle occurred over and over again.
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image on December 11, 2014 using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Meanwhile, attention is also being paid to the wear and tear on the rover’s set of wheels. Damage to the wheels due to drives over rough terrain is carefully monitored.
This map shows the route driven by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to the “Pahrump Hills” outcrop, which is part of the basal layer of Mount Sharp.
The traverse line covers drives completed through the 817th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s work on Mars (Nov. 23, 2014).
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Credit: ShareSpace Foundation
Foo Fighting Friends:
Apollo 11 moonwalker, Buzz Aldrin, and Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters front-man.
Shirts can be purchased at:
The proceeds for the sales of the shirts will go directly to the ShareSpace Foundation at:
Credit: ShareSpace Foundation
