#Manned Spacecraft Operations Building

[lonestarflight]

The Apollo 14 Lunar Module (LM-8) Antares (right) undergoes checkout with Apollo 15's LM-10 Falcon (left) in the background.

Date: October 16, 1970

NASA ID: KSC-70PC-537

#Apollo 14 #LM-8 #Antares #H-type mission #Apollo 15 #Lunar Module #LM-10 #Falcon #NASA #Apollo Program #J-type mission #Assembly #Manned Spacecraft Operations Building #MSOB #Kennedy Space Center #KSC #Florida #October #1970 #my post

[arbiterlexultionis]

Shoot for the moon, wind up amongst the Stars

So, obviously Danny loves space. Exploring it, experiencing all it has to offer, being among the first humans to step foot on other worlds, taking off in a rocket on a mission to take one small step for man has been his dream ever sense he was old enough to even know what it meant to dream. Danny is also a Fenton, and regardless of what his grades may say he’s smart, really Really smart. To an absurd degree, even for a Fenton, especially in matters of engineering. Blueprints were his picture books, college textbooks his bedtime stories and his parents old recordings of their Ivy League college engineering courses his Saturday morning cartoons. Even if he didn’t have the actual strength neccisary to do it he practically knew how to pull apart an engine before he had a good enough comprehension the the English language to give a half decent explanation of what an engine is. Each and every part known and understood on the deepest level possible, moving in his mind exactly as they should before he could even spell their names. A six year old Jazz damn near had a stroke when she found her two year old brother that she promised to protect from her parents weird Sci-Ance pulling apart the microwave and figuring out how to use the magnetron to send signals that he could detect on the family computer. By the time Danny was in “real” classes in elementary and moving onto middle school he was more than capable of helping his parents pull apart thrown away technology too piece together wonderful machines, and the only reason he didn’t was because he preferred to work on his own projects(It took Jazz nearly three hours to convince him that taking his homemade 7300 mW laser to school to make Dash stop shoving Tucker into lockers was a bad idea).

One night, Danny’s in phantom form flying through the sky’s of amity starring up into the endless inky black and blue of the night. Taking in the countless new details his enhanced physiology lets see, experience even without the aid of a telescope. Reminiscing about the dream he lost when he lost half his life. Mourning both those losses. Sure, he’s been to space but it’s not the same. He just sheds the pull of gravity and lets himself rise, it’s a magical experience in and of itself but it’s not the same as strapping himself into the spacecraft of his own design and embarking on a journey to the stars. It’s cheating. But it’s not like he’ll ever get the chance to experience the real deal, even if he could pass the physical there’s no way he could make it to NASA now that all his grades were in the toilet. And it’s not like he could achieve it in some other way, random civilians can’t just build spaceships in their basem…..

Danny stops mid air. He thinks. The specter speeder. Jack and Maddie built the specter speeder in their basement. Jack and Maddie built an honest to god spaceship in their basement. It could survive in the vacuum of space and under the weight of the ocean, operate in and out of atmosphere with or without gravity. It was a spaceship in every way that mattered, and they just Built It because they felt like it. And Danny was more than capable of producing technology of a similar level. He could do it, he could build a spaceship with his own two hands and let it carry him to the stars, to his dreams.

Danny’s rushing home before he even realizes he’s moving, a whirlwind around his room gathering up all his old designs, empty blueprints and reference materials. He spends more than an hour in a hyper focused state drawing up a slightly modernized, very Fentonized version of a Saturn V rocket. He’s barely a quarter of the way through the spitballing process of coming up with the design when he realizes he may or may not have over looked a very important part of the whole “screw it, I’ll do it myself” approach to getting to space, materials. There’s a limit to how many resources can go missing from his parents lab and how many charitable donations Vlad can generously(unknowingly) make to the cause before they all notice and start asking questions. So his designs are, unfortunately, put aside for the time being. He is disheartened for a moment, and in an attempt to cheer himself up he reaches for the nearest space themed entertainment he has, a Star Wars comic. The he stops, looks at the freighter on the cover of the comic. A lot of sci-fi ships are pretty small. Small enough to build without getting asked to many questions.

He spends the next several weeks tearing through as much sci-fi comics, movies and TV shows as he can, binge watching YouTube lore videos about Star Wars, Halo and who knows what else. After that, it’s time to get to work.

Weeks later, Lancer is standing on his porch on a nice, quite Saturday morning. It’s a habit he got into years ago, taking in the peace of his small little town in the early hours of the morning before it’s had a chance to wake up and start a ruckus, coming to appreciate and enjoy it even more now that ghost have been causing havoc and partaking in a little bit of bird watching while he’s at it. Slowly taking sips of his still far to hot cup of coffee, he stairs into the sunrise, taking in the countless colors and artfully blended shades. This is it. This is what he loves about his city. The quite beauty of it, so easy to miss and even easier to adore. What he loves about his job, the beauty of a new day, of the future, and all the possibilities it holds. Even if he does far to much work for far to little pay, it will all be worth it if even one of those students he has helped grow and learn go on to become doctors, police and engineers, saving lives and building the prosperous future they all deserve to live in. He breathes in, and then out. He is content.

A black spec appears on the horizon, undoubtably a flock of birds. Excellent. He begins to look through his binoculars, mentally trying to guess what species they’ll be when taking into account the time of year and day. He search’s through the sky for a moment, before going absolutely still. He lowers his binoculars and takes a long, long sip of his still scolding my hot coffee. It burns, he can feel pain, so he’s probably not dreaming. He looks back at the black spec in the distance, takes a long, hard look at it through his binoculars. It is still very much not a flock of birds. His is now 99% positive that it is exactly what it looks like. He breaths in, breathe out. He is no longer content.

Ten seconds later the easily identifiable UFO flys directly over his house, the iconic and extraordinarily loud screech of an imperial TIE fighter following it. His car’s alarm blares, as do the alarms of nearly every other car on the street, which is almost loud enough to mask the sound of alarms going off on the neighboring streets. He turns around, and walks back inside. Stops at the whiteboard he has hung on the wall by the door.

‘Note to self- give Mr. Fenton detention on Monday. P.S. bring a pack of disposable face masks and warn him of the dangers of flying a high tech spaceship where federal agents can look through the cockpit window and see him piloting it.’

At the very least he needs to tint the windows. Maybe make the window a one way mirror, and add some chrome detailing while painting the rest of the craft vanta black? That would surely look. (he glances at the guide to being hip for the unhip he has laying on his counter still open from last nights reading) Sick? Yes, it would surly look sick. He should also probably try and talk him into adding some cameras and such to the thing, that dome window has to have terrible visibility. At least a backup camera so he can parallel park and keep and eye out for any fighters trying to line up shots behind him.

#danny fenton #danny phantom #fic prompt #dp au #story prompt #writing prompt #danny phantom au #dp #Danny’s one smart cookie #engineere!Danny #inventor Danny #Lancer is trying his best #the next day he goes for a nice Sunday drive around the school trying to find somewhere for Mr Fenton to park his vehicle #Danny’s a menace. #Lancer’s just happy he’s finally useing his smarts #and has a creative outlet #even if that outlet is rather loud

[tinyozlion]

Howard: Wastin’ Away Again in Margaritaville, Some People Claim a Mobile Suit Is to Blame 

In light of the recent passing of Jimmy Buffett, let us pay our respects by talking about Howard:

The man, the myth, the fashion icon; part of the first generation of mobile suit engineers, designer of the Tallgeese and the Peacemillion, rocket scientist, honorary member of the Five Doctors Polycule, weed guy to Duo and OZ’s best, a man so thoroughly chill he brought Island Time (and his sunglasses) with him into space. 

Howard is one of those brilliant people who was in the unenviable position of working in a field where their discoveries and advancements are often co-opted for use by militaries looking for any kind of technological or strategic edge– that’s most fields, by the way. The entertainment industry gets scooped by the military. Even paleontology¹ sometimes gets scooped by the military. But Howard is an aerospace engineer and robotics expert, and those lend themselves to being exploited more than most, particularly because they often rely on the kind of big-budget funding that only the military industrial complex can provide.

“Mobile Suits are nearly as old as the colonies themselves. When man took his first steps into space and started building new structures in the heavens, it was clear that new tools would be needed to perform the construction. Mobile Suits evolved from early motorized spacesuits and spacecraft manipulator arms. [...]Whether humanoid or pod-shaped, early mobile suits were any mechanized craft or suit that had the ability to perform complex manipulations. While Mobile Suits were originally intended for use in space, it was soon discovered that their versatility was easily adapted for terrestrial use as well. The new Earth-bound MS became more humanoid in shape, as ‘legs’ allowed the large machines to become truly all-terrain.” –Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Technical Manual

(I was so excited when I noticed these guys. There they are! The original MS! Of the get-your-hands-off-her-you-bitch Xenomorph-punching variety!)

Mobile Suits weren’t always war machines; they had a perfectly respectable start as construction exo-suits designed for Colony building and other elements of space infrastructure. Plenty of engineers and scientists who would have been involved in developing Colony tech and space exploration would also probably have been involved with Mobile Suit design; when those projects came under Alliance control, those same engineers would find themselves making weapons, and whatever other notable human advancements they might have been working on– interstellar travel, Mars terraforming, nanotech etc., would be shelved for the foreseeable future.

But that wouldn’t necessarily be huge bummer news for people like Howard or the Gundam scientists– working for an unscrupulous organization might go against their conscience, but who doesn’t love a cool robot? Howard, like many people in the After Colony timeline and our own, is a Mobile Suit nerd who is just as fascinated by the idea of a big damn hero machine with a beam sword and rockets as the rest of us. 

That’s just the duality of Man, man. 

Luckily for everyone, once OZ started mass production of Mobile Suits, Howard and the five Gundam scientists who had been working on the Tallgeese project all took their ball and went home. The others left for the Colonies to start building OZ’s worst nightmare, gundanium Mobile Suits that would outclass anything that had been built on earth; Howard, on the other hand, took the route of passive resistance. VERY passive resistance.

…Well, he’d LIKE it to be this relaxed all the time, but Howard nevertheless finds himself helping wayward Gundam pilots and rehabilitating ex-OZ aces whenever they drop by, using his crane-operating salvage ship as an unofficial mobile base for the resistance. Later, Peacemillion serves the same function in space, eventually housing ALL the Gundams and their allies in their fight against White Fang. 

So Howard ends up being pretty busy for a retired guy who just wants to crack open a cold one with the boys and watch the sunset off shore of Key West. But who better to remind a crew of hyper-vigilant, stressed out pilots to chill out once and a while?

Take it from a man in a hot pink Hawaiian shirt: slow down and get some rest. Remember, if you don't schedule time for maintenance, your equipment (or your body) will schedule it for you.

_ ______________________ _

1) Hadrosaur dental batteries are apparently so weird and unique that they have material science applications that the DoD was interested in. I’m going out on a limb here because this is apparently unpublished stuff as of writing this, but HEY it’s an opportunity to plug The Skeleton Crew– who do NOT typically talk about the military industrial complex, but are in fact very cool professional paleontologists who make excellent dinosaur content videos. And now, back to the giant robots. 2) If you’re reading this, you’re a NERD.

#gundam wing #tallgeese #Mobile Suits #HOWARD #parsing post #tinyozlion pgw

[c1qfxugcgy0]

Quirks and features of the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a ten billion dollar space telescope that weighs 14,000 pounds, is the size of a bus, and took decades to construct. It's been in the news recently, you might have heard about it.

The development, launch and deployment of the JWST were fraught with unexpected setbacks, terror and frights, 344 "single-point failures", any one of which that, if they failed during deployment, could doom the entire spacecraft to uselessness, since it orbits far out beyond where any current manned spacecraft could even attempt a repair job.

The fact that it came online as smoothly as it did was something of a surprise to the people in charge. Given the miracle of it making it to space at all, the press coverage of JWST has focused on the positives. But a stroll through the JWST user documentation by a curious reader reveals much that is interesting, or interestingly broken. Such as..

Fun and games with infrared

Specifically, the JWST is an infrared telescope, designed to collect light that's redder than red. The two dedicated imaging instruments are the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) collecting light from 0.6 micrometers to 5.0 micrometers and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) collecting light from 5.6 micrometers to 25.5 micrometers. (Though with significant light collected past 25.5 um by filter F2550W)

The wonderful thing about infrared astronomy is that everything emits blackbody radiation, and the hotter it is the more infrared it emits. The unfortunate thing about infrared astronomy is that everything emits blackbody radiation, including your telescope, and self-emission from your telescope can swamp the faint signal from astronomical sources. (Like building a camera out of glowsticks.)

The equilibrium temperature for an object in Earth orbit is about 300 Kelvin. (26C) Everything on the other side of the sunshield passively cools down to 40K, and MIRI is actively cooled by the cryocooler down to a chilly 6K (-267C, -449F) This extends MIRI's seeing range deeper into infrared.

But the mirror is still warm! At the far end, MIRI is significantly compromised by thermal self-emission: (Note log scale!)

This is more graphically illustrated by one of the MIRI commissioning images:

Check out that background glare!

(This is somewhat unfair: the calibration target here is a star, which emits comparatively little light in far-infrared. MIRI is really meant for nebulae and extra-galactic high-redshift objects)

("Why not actively cool the mirror?" Mechanical cryocoolers operate on the very limit of what heat engines are capable of. The MIRI cryocooler draws a fat 180 watts to move 78 milliwatts of heat. Previous infrared telescopes used a fixed amount of expendable coolant (liquid helium or solid hydrogen) to cool the entire instrument package... at the cost of a much smaller primary mirror and a telescope that flat out just stopped working when it ran out of coolant.)

There's something else you might notice about the above series of photographs...

Thanks a lot, Lord Rayleigh

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh was a typical early physicist in that he has a great big pile of "discoveries" by virtue of being the first person to 1) notice something and 2) actually write it down. One of them is the fundamental theorem for the angular resolution of an optical system, the Rayleigh criterion. It is dead simple:

Resolution is roughly equal to 1.22 times the wavelength of the light you're looking at, divided by the diameter of the aperture. Bigger the opening at the front of light bucket, the higher the resolution. Smaller the wavelength of light, the higher the resolution.

(Fun fact: the former Arecibo radio observatory, once the largest single telescope in the world with a 305 meter wide dish, had about the same angular resolution in radio waves as the human eye does in visible light.)

You can imagine the effect this has on an infrared telescope. And sure enough, in the user documentation for the two imaging sensors, it states a pixel scale of 0.031 arcseconds for 0.6 to 2.3 micrometers light wavelength, 0.063 arcsec/px for 2.4-5.0 µm, and a squishy 0.11 arcsec/px for 5.6-25.5 µm.

But this is just how many pixels are on the detector. The resolution gets much worse at long wavelengths, as you can see in the commissioning image, where the extra pixels oversample a progressively vaguer blob. The Rayleigh criterion holds that the 6.5 meter wide JWST primary mirror should manage 0.206 arcsec at 5.32 µm, falling to 0.42 arcsec at 10.85 µm, 0.747 arcsec at 19.29 µm, and an unfortunate 1.014 arcsec at 26.2 µm. One wonders why the designers went to heroic lengths to cool MIRI down to 7 kelvin, instead of using that cryocooler mass and power budget for more detector surface area.

Knowing this, you can spot how the JWST's press team works around the limitations of the telescope. Like how a "look at how good our infrared telescope" commissioning photo happens to use the 7.7 µm mode:

Or how if you browse the photos on the webbtelescope.org site, you will see lots of NIRcam output in the "oooh, ah, new desktop background" category, but not so much MIRI.

(Another amusing detail of MIRI is that bright objects leave afterimages ("latents") on the sensor, so once a week they warm the sensor up to a tropical 20 kelvin before cooling it down again, a "MIRI anneal". You can see when anneals are performed, as well as what the telescope is looking at right now, by viewing the public schedule.)

But this is Webb operating right up to its full specifications. How about something that's actually broken?

NIRSpec my beloved

The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument takes incoming light and runs it through a diffraction grating to produce a spectrum. When scientists say that the Sun is 0.77% oxygen, 0.29% carbon, etc, it's not because someone flew a spacecraft over to it and collected a bucket of solar plasma, it's because you can look at the absorption lines in the spectra to figure out its composition.

Spectrometry is also used to measure redshift, a close proxy to distance. When a press release says that a galaxy is "ten million lightyears away", it's not because NASA has a really long tape measure they haven't told anyone about, it's because a spectrometer measured how much cosmological redshift has moved a spectrum line. Naturally, it's not quite as easy as pointing a sensor at a object and getting back a single, unambiguous result. Distant objects are also dim objects, so the spectra will be noisy and chewed up by dust and other contamination its endured in the millions of years its traveled to arrive at our telescopes. Bleeding edge astronomy is thus the practice of designing statistical models to fit to noisy, fragmented data, and then arguing with other astronomers about r^2.

In any event, it's a handy thing to have on a telescope. Naturally, JWST has more than one. In fact every instrument has a spectroscopy mode. Besides the dedicated NIRISS and NIRSpec instruments, both NIRcam and MIRI include diffraction gratings in their filter wheels that smear out incoming light, like looking through a prism:

Pointing the JWST at an object is relatively expensive, since it requires rotating ("slewing") the entire darn spacecraft, and an amusingly complex alignment procedure with the fine guidance sensor and fine steering mirror. Considering how long it would take to shoot a hundred spectra with a conventional fixed slit rigidly mounted to the telescope frame, you can see the appeal of gathering a hundred spectra in a single exposure with "slitless" spectroscopy.

(Longtime space telescope nerds might hear the word "slewing" and involuntarily twitch, recalling that the reaction wheels and gyroscopes were a problem point on the Hubble, requiring several servicing missions, and also significantly affecting operations on the Kepler space telescope. Fortunately, JWST switched to a gyroscope type that has no moving parts, and used some mass budget to install six reaction wheels, up from Hubble's four, giving it three spares.)

You can also see the big downside in the image above, which is there's a hard tradeoff between how long a spectrum can be (and thus its resolution!) before it'll overlap its neighbors and be useless. Most of the slitless modes therefore have two gratings at two different angles, (GRISMR and GRISMC above) but wouldn't it great if you could just block out all that other light?

Thus, the Micro Shutter Array, as seen above. The best of both worlds! Capture many spectra at the same time, while blocking off light you don't want from contaminating the field, using a configurable array of nearly a quarter million microscopic, individually actuated moving shutters. Lots and lots and lots of tiny little moving parts, installed in the guts of a spacecraft that's orbiting out past the Moon, impossible to access or replace.

Yeah, a bunch of them broke:

When it was handed over to NASA for installation into Webb in 2007, the MSA already had 150 shutters that no longer responded to opening commands in just one of the four submodules.

By the time JWST emerged from commissioning and was declared fully operational in 2022, 15,893 shutters, 7% of the total, had "failed closed." Amusingly enough 904 of those failed during on-orbit testing, and the authors of that paper note that if you tell 100 shutters to close, 4 of them will jam shut and no longer work.

This is unfortunate, but fairly easy to work around. What's worse are the shutters that are stuck open:

These permanently open shutters then compromise big chunks of the sensor. Commissioning testing jammed two more of them open, taking the total up to 22. A few dozen more of those and the MSA won't be useful for much!

And this, right here, sums up the essentially "interim" nature of JWST. After all, it was only supposed to cost $500 million and take a mere nine years from design to launch. All becomes clear in that light. Why give it a shutter array that falls apart in use? Why have the mirror exposed to space, where it gets hit with micrometeoroids? Why only design it to carry ten years worth of fuel? Because it was supposed to be half the price of Hubble!

The 90s was the era of "faster, better, cheaper". JWST was going to be an incremental improvement on a long series of previous infrared telescopes, and a stepping stone to the next one. It wasn't supposed to be an eternal monument to Science, and a financial black hole consuming NASA's entire budget.

So what went wrong?

We shouldn't have built one JWST.

Those 344 single points of failure. Any single one of them can end the mission. There's just one telescope, no backups, no trying again. Bureaucrats are harshly punished for failure, lightly rewarded for success. It's always easier to wait, do more tests, delay the schedule a bit more at a hint of trouble. Engineers can get you to 90% reliable no problem, but getting to 99% reliable takes another decade and nine billion more dollars.

Our techne is just bad at producing flawless machines first try. For the price of one reliable JWST we could have put twenty into orbit... and the first five would have been embarrassing failures. Spars sticking in place, sunshields jamming, thrusters misfiring. To save the shame of $0.5 billion wasted, NASA happily spent $9.5 billion. Why not? Money spent is invisible, but failure is painfully apparent.

A critical third party can draw unflattering parallels. The crowning achievement of NASA, the Moon Landing... required eleven Apollo launches and twenty Surveyor launches before a single man set foot on lunar regolith! Quite a few of those spacecraft pancaked into the Moon and exploded on the launchpad before we figured out this "space" thing. Three men died! But NASA was on a hard deadline, with a fixed budget, and the only way to get a home run is to take a lot of swings at the ball.

Another comparison is the Space Launch System, NASA's attempt to make the Saturn V again. So far $27 billion has been lit on fire to put exactly one test load into orbit, with the primary contractor now desperate to get out of its contact. Slow, careful, incremental development has completely failed to produce a working launch system.

Meanwhile, SpaceX produced a series of public, embarrassing failures... resulting in the world's only reusable launch system, and as a result has put far more mass into orbit than any country in the world.

The only way to develop a flight system is flight tests.

Space telescope deploy mechanisms meant to work in zero gravity can't be tested on the ground.

They can only be tested in space.

NASA administrators who didn't work during Apollo are too stupid to understand this. Fire them all!

These old men have thrown away our future in order to play it safe and secure an easy retirement. Do we want 15 risky JWST telescopes by 2010, or do we want one reliable one by 2022? The answer is obvious!

For the money we wasted making Webb more reliable, we could have launched a space telescope far outside the disk of dust in the inner solar system, allowing it to see deeper into space than Webb ever could. ESA put an astrometry space telescope just outside Earth orbit, measuring angles between stellar objects, the only way to directly measure the distance to the stars. Great first step. The obvious next step is to send more of these telescopes out past Neptune's orbit, to capture better observations with a vastly larger baseline, something that can never be done by an Earthly observatory. Are there any plans to do this? No!

Space exploration is paralyzed by boomers, stuck in the 1970s, where each gram to orbit is terribly expensive and has to be counted on punched cards and summed with slide rules. Meanwhile, SpaceX Starship is on its way to orbit, and each one can carry sixteen JWSTs with room to spare.

The old paradigm is done. Telescopes don't need folding mirrors and exotic materials, they need to be mass produced. There is no excuse not to have a hundred more JWST-class telescopes lined up next to the Texas launch pad waiting for Starship to come online. But as far as I know not a single space mission even mentions it-- that's how afraid these old men are of risk!

#james webb space telescope #jwst

[silverslipstream]

Hi Jeb!

I'm curious about Kat from White Sky; what kind of science does she do and does it tie into the crime she's framed for? Did she flee into outer space or was it exile? Also did she make the rocket to space? What does it look like?

-HD

Hello, Hyper Discourse, and thanks for the ask! I was really pleasantly surprised to see such a tailored question of specific interest about Kat, so you should know that it was greatly appreciated :))))) Kat's actual job back on Earth was a junior propulsion systems designer for German rocketry corporation Langersprung Developments (English: Long jump: refers to the 'long jump' between Earth's surface and outer space). She was headhunted by Langersprung after winning a national youth design competition and joined them straight out of high-school. She joined a 'residency' at their science park in Munich, which basically amounts to a four-year long think tank before young prospects join the company in an official capacity. It's kind of like a university degree, except you get paid for your studies. The actual crime is somewhat of a mystery in the story itself: Kat didn't exactly have a lot of warning before the German police and ELTO burst onto campus and started hunting for her. All she knows is that someone framed her for viewing and stealing top-secret information related to the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the huge spacecraft being built in lunar orbit for the first manned mission to Saturn. It was definitely 'fleeing' in that regard; she managed to get out of the park and the city, but upon seeing her face all over national news, she resigned herself to going on the run in outer space, which is considerably less regulated than Earth. Kat didn't build the Dowager Caroline, she's an 'old tub', built in the late 2030s (more than fifty years before the story begins) by Mitsubishi in Japan. The Caroline runs on chemical propellants instead of more modern nuclear/fusion fuel, and it's a debris hauler: it collects and recovers space junk and abandoned craft for recovery contracts or to sell them as scrap for refineries and smelters. I haven't really sketched out the actual design of the Caroline in my head (zero artistic talent lmao), but in my mind it's very much a 'realistic space RV': think ISS/Mir modules, mostly white and grey colours, bulky and somewhat rounded. It's not meant for atmospheric operation (to get back to Earth, the Caroline would need to dock at an orbital station and the crew would take a separate shuttle down to Earth's surface. I've attached a few photos of design inspirations below so you can see where I'm coming from.

Again, thanks for the questions!

#writeblr #writeblr community #writers community #wip: white sky #wip asks

[luxurypropertiesworld]

Gaganyaan Mission

Overview:

The Journey of Gaganyaan: The Story of Building India's First Manned Spacecraft.

India's space exploration efforts have reached a major turning point with the launch of the ambitious Gaganyaan mission. The creation of the spaceship and its building have been enormous undertakings as the country gets ready to launch its first astronauts into space. The Gaganyaan project has been molded by technological hurdles, creative solutions, and cooperative efforts. We explore these aspects of the construction of India's first human spaceship in this article.

India's current effort, called the Gaganyaan Mission, aims to send a three-day manned mission with a crew of three people into 400 km of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and return them safely to Earth.

The Government of India has approved two unmanned and one manned mission as part of this program.

It is anticipated that the first manned spaceflight will occur in 2024. If the Gaganyaan Mission is successful, India will join the US, China, and Russia as the only countries with the capability of human space flight.

  About:

The Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO) is working on a project called Gaganyaan.

Three flights are scheduled to be sent into orbit under the Gaganyaan schedule.

 •        One human spaceflight and two unmanned flights are planned.

•        Three Indian astronauts, one of whom is a woman, will be on board the Gaganyaan system module, also known as the Orbital           Module.

•        It will spend five to seven days traveling in a low-Earth orbit 300–400 kilometers above the planet.

  Payloads:

•        The Crew Module, or spacecraft transporting people, will make up the cargo.

•        Powered by two liquid propellant engines is the Service Module.

•        It will have emergency mission abort and escape capabilities.

  Launch:

Gaganyaan will be launched by the three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle GSLV Mk III, also known as the LVM-3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-3), since it is equipped with the required payload capacity.

  Design and Architecture:

The crew module and the service module are the two primary parts of the Gaganyaan spacecraft in terms of design and architecture. A safe and livable environment is provided for the duration of the flight by the crew module, which can accommodate up to three astronauts. It has all the necessary systems, including navigation, communication, and life support. The spacecraft's propulsion, power generation, and other auxiliary systems required for space operation are housed in the service module in the meantime.

  Technological Innovations:

State-of-the-art engineering and cutting-edge technology are needed to develop a manned spacecraft. In order to design and construct the Gaganyaan spacecraft, ISRO's scientists and engineers pushed the limits of space technology. Every component of the spacecraft, from sophisticated propulsion systems to lightweight materials, has been painstakingly designed to guarantee dependability and safety throughout the trip.

  Safety and Reliability:

In human spaceflight, maintaining the safety and dependability of the spacecraft is crucial. Strict quality control procedures and testing guidelines have been applied at every stage of the spacecraft's development. Before the spacecraft is certified for flight, extensive ground testing, simulation exercises, and component-level testing have been carried out to identify and mitigate any potential issues.

  Astronaut Integration and Training:

As spacecraft development proceeds, ISRO has been working with many international space organizations to provide the astronauts chosen for the Gaganyaan mission with the necessary training. Numerous exercises, including survival training, simulated space flights, and physical fitness tests, are part of astronaut preparation. In addition, one of the most important ways to guarantee astronaut performance and comfort throughout the mission has been to incorporate human aspects into spacecraft design.

  Collaboration:

Several parties, including ISRO's own centers, research institutes, and industry partners, have worked together to create India's first manned spacecraft. International cooperation with space agencies like Roscosmos has also been crucial in sharing knowledge, resources, and technology for the Gaganyaan mission.

  SUMMARY:

In conclusion, ISRO and the Indian space community have accomplished a great deal with the construction of Gaganyaan, the country's first manned spacecraft. The spacecraft, the result of years of study, development, and cooperation, represents India's ambitions to discover new space frontiers. India is getting ready to become one of the countries that can send people into space, and the entire world is watching with excitement as the countdown to launch approaches.

#Gaganyaan Mission #Gaganyaan #outer space #planet

[datadiscoveriesdaily]

Space Mining Market Size Growth Set to Surge Significantly during 2024-2031

Overview:

The Space Mining market has emerged as a dynamic and promising sector, positioned at the intersection of space exploration and resource extraction. This futuristic endeavor involves the extraction of valuable minerals and resources from celestial bodies, such as asteroids and the Moon, opening up new frontiers for human economic activity beyond Earth. As technological advancements continue to propel space exploration, the Space Mining market is gaining traction as a viable and potentially lucrative industry.

Click Here for In-Depth Insights: Download the Sample Report @ https://www.sanglobalresearch.com/enquiry/space-mining-market

Drivers:

Several factors are driving the growth of the Space Mining market. Firstly, the increasing demand for rare minerals on Earth, coupled with dwindling terrestrial resources, has spurred interest in extra-terrestrial mining. The potential availability of precious metals, such as platinum and gold, in asteroids presents a compelling economic incentive. Moreover, the burgeoning space exploration industry, driven by both governmental space agencies and private enterprises, is fostering a conducive environment for the development of space mining technologies. The prospect of accessing vast quantities of resources in space without the environmental constraints associated with terrestrial mining further amplifies the appeal of space mining.

Furthermore, advancements in space technology and robotics are overcoming the challenges of operating in the harsh conditions of outer space. Automation and artificial intelligence are playing pivotal roles in developing autonomous mining systems capable of navigating and extracting resources from celestial bodies. As these technologies mature, the feasibility of space mining operations becomes increasingly realistic, propelling the market forward.

Restraints:

Despite the promising outlook, the Space Mining market faces significant challenges and restraints. One of the foremost hurdles is the high upfront investment required for space mining missions. The development of advanced spacecraft, robotic systems, and mining equipment demands substantial financial resources. This financial barrier may hinder the entry of smaller players into the market, limiting the competitive landscape and innovation.

Moreover, regulatory uncertainties and the absence of a comprehensive legal framework for space mining pose additional challenges. The international community is yet to establish clear guidelines regarding property rights and ownership of extracted resources from celestial bodies. This lack of legal clarity could impede investment and stall the progress of space mining projects. Striking a balance between encouraging private investment and ensuring responsible and sustainable practices is crucial for the long-term success of the Space Mining market.

Growth Factors:

Several factors contribute to the growth prospects of the Space Mining market. The increasing global awareness of the finite nature of Earth's resources is driving the search for alternative sources. Space mining offers a potential solution to address resource scarcity on Earth by tapping into the vast reservoirs available in space.

Additionally, collaborations between governmental space agencies and private entities are fostering innovation and accelerating the development of space mining technologies. Joint ventures and partnerships enable the sharing of expertise and resources, mitigating some of the challenges associated with the industry's infancy.

Furthermore, the successful demonstration of space mining capabilities through unmanned missions is instilling confidence in investors and stakeholders. As these missions prove the feasibility of extracting resources from space, it builds momentum for larger-scale, manned operations in the future.

In conclusion, the Space Mining market represents a paradigm shift in resource acquisition, with the potential to redefine the global economy. While challenges exist, the convergence of technological advancements, economic incentives, and a growing interest in space exploration positions space mining as a transformative industry with far-reaching implications for humanity's future beyond Earth. As the sector continues to evolve, navigating the complexities of regulation and investment will be critical in unlocking the full potential of the Space Mining market.

Market segment by players, this report covers

    ConsenSys (Planetary Resources)

    Bradford Space (Deep Space Industries)

    Moon Express

    Ispace

    Asteroid Mining Corporation

    Trans Astronautica Corporation

    OffWorld

    SpaceFab

Market segmentation

Space Mining market is split by Type and by Application. For the period 2024-2031, the growth among segments provide accurate calculations and forecasts for revenue by Type and by Application. This analysis can help you expand your business by targeting qualified niche markets.

Market segment by Type, covers

    C-Type Carbonaceous Asteroids

    S-Type Silicaceous Asteroids

    M-Type Metallic Asteroids

Market segment by Application, can be divided into

    Fuel

    Construction

    3D Printer

By Geography

North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico)

Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, U.K., Russia, and Rest of Europe)

Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, Australia, and Rest of Asia Pacific)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, and Rest of South America)

Middle East & Africa (South Africa, UAE, and Rest of ME&A)

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About Us:

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#Space Mining Market

[spacenutspod]

The third and final crewed mission to the Skylab space station, Skylab 4, got underway on Nov. 16, 1973, with a thunderous launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Docking eight hours later, astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue began a planned 56-day mission that program managers extended to a record-breaking 84 days. During their first month, as they adjusted to weightlessness and their new surroundings, they completed the first of four spacewalks. They began an extensive science program, investigating the effects of long-duration spaceflight on human physiology, examining the Sun, conducting observations of the Earth, as well as technology and student-led experiments. They began their systematic observations of recently discovered Comet Kohoutek as it approached the Sun. Left: Crew patch of the third and final crewed mission to Skylab. Middle: Official photo of the Skylab 4 crew of Gerald P. Carr, left, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue. Right: The Skylab 4 backup crew of Vance D. Brand, left, William B. Lenoir, and Don L. Lind. In January 1972, NASA announced the astronauts it had selected for the Skylab program. For Skylab 4, the third crewed mission and at the time planned to last 56 days, NASA named Carr as commander, Gibson as science pilot, and Pogue as pilot to serve as the prime crew, the first all-rookie prime crew since Gemini VIII in 1966. For the backup crew, NASA designated Vance D. Brand, William B. Lenoir, and Don L. Lind, who also served as the backup crew for Skylab 3. Brand and Lind would serve as the two-person crew for a possible rescue mission. Left: The S-IB first stage for the Skylab 4 mission’s SA-208 Saturn IB rocket arrives at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Middle: The two S-IVB second stages for the Skylab 4 SA-208 rocket, right, and the SA-209 Skylab rescue rocket sit side by side in the VAB. Right: Workers in the VAB stack the second stage onto the first stage for the Skylab 4 Saturn IB. Preparations at KSC for the Skylab 4 mission began on Nov. 4, 1971, with the arrival of the S-IVB second stage of the SA-208 Saturn IB rocket. Workers placed it in long-term storage in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The rocket’s S-IB first stage arrived on June 20, 1973. Workers in the VAB mounted it on Mobile Launcher 1 on July 31, adding the second stage later that same day. Left: The arrival of the Skylab 4 Command Module (CM), front, and Service Module, partly hidden at left, in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Middle left: The Skylab 4 astronauts conduct an altitude test aboard their CM in the MSOB. Middle right: Rollout of the Skylab 4 vehicle from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B. Right: Workers at Launch Pad 39B replace the eight stabilization fins on the Saturn IB rocket’s first stage. Meanwhile, Command and Service Module-118 (CSM-118) for the mission arrived in KSC’s Manned Spacecraft and Operations Building (MSOB) on Feb. 10, 1973, where engineers placed it inside a vacuum chamber. The prime and backup crews conducted altitude tests of the CSM in early August. With the thruster problems aboard the Skylab 3 spacecraft docked to the space station, managers accelerated the processing flow for the Skylab 4 vehicle to enable a launch as early as Sept. 9 in case they had to implement a rescue mission. Workers mated CSM-118 to the Saturn rocket on Aug. 10 and rolled the stack to Launch Pad 39B four days later. By this time, the need for a rescue had diminished and the processing flow readjusted to enable a launch on need within nine days until the Skylab 3 splashdown on Sept. 25. Normal processing then resumed for a planned Nov. 9 launch, later adjusted to Nov. 11. Carr, Gibson, and Pogue entered their preflight health stabilization plan quarantine on Oct. 20. On Nov. 6, workers found hairline cracks in the mounting brackets of the Saturn IB’s stabilizing fins, requiring a slip of the launch date to Nov. 16 to complete their replacement at the pad. The Skylab 4 countdown began on Nov. 14, the day after the astronauts arrived at KSC. Left: Skylab 4 astronauts William R. Pogue, left, Edward G. Gibson, and Gerald P. Carr training in the Skylab training mockup. Middle: Gibson, left, Carr, and Pogue display a model of the Skylab space station at the conclusion of their preflight press conference. Right: Gibson, left, Carr, and Pogue pose in front of a T-38 Talon aircraft at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston prior to their departure for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the launch. Left: Skylab 4 astronauts William R. Pogue, left, Edward G. Gibson, and Gerald P. Carr enjoy the traditional prelaunch breakfast. Middle: Carr, front, Gibson, and Pogue test the pressure integrity of their spacesuits before launch. Right: Carr, front, Gibson, and Pogue exit crew quarters to board the transfer van for the ride to Launch Pad 39B. Liftoff of Skylab 4! The third and final mission to the Skylab space station got underway on Nov. 16, 1973, with a thunderous liftoff from KSC’s Launch Pad 39B. Although officially planned as a 56-day mission for several years, mission managers had confidence of an extension to 84 days and planned accordingly, with the astronauts bringing additional food, supplies, and science experiments. Left: Skylab during the rendezvous and docking. Right: Left by the Skylab 3 crew before their departure from the station, three astronaut manikins wear the Skylab 4 crew’s flight overalls. Eight hours after launch, and following two unsuccessful attempts, Carr hard docked the spacecraft to the space station. Pogue, who on Earth appeared resistant to all forms of motion sickness, developed a case of space motion sickness during the crew’s first evening, requiring several days to fully recover. This incident along with an overly packed timeline caused the astronauts to fall behind in accomplishing their tasks as they adjusted to weightlessness and learned their way around the large space station. The astronauts spent their first night in space aboard the Command Module, opening the hatch the next morning to begin reactivating Skylab. To their surprise, the station appeared to already have three occupants. As a joke, before they left the station in September, the Skylab 3 crew stuffed their successors’ flight suits with used clothing and left them in strategic places throughout the workshop. Carr, Gibson, and Pogue began settling into the routine aboard Skylab, preparing meals, exercising, and starting the large number of experiments. They continued the science program begun by the previous two Skylab crews, including biomedical investigations on the effects of long-duration space flight on the human body, Earth observations using the Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP), and solar observations with instruments mounted on the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM). With the prediction earlier in the year that newly discovered Comet Kohoutek would make its closest approach to the Sun in late December, scientists added cometary observations to the crew’s already busy schedule. The astronauts brought a Far Ultraviolet Electronographic Camera, the backup to the instrument deployed on the Moon during Apollo 16, to Skylab especially for observations of the comet, and used it for cometary photography during two spacewalks added to the mission. Left: Edward G. Gibson, left, William R. Pogue, and Gerald P. Carr prepare a meal in the Skylab wardroom. Middle: Carr uses the Thornton treadmill to exercise. Right: Carr “weighs” himself in weightlessness using the body mass measurement device. One of the lessons learned from the first two Skylab missions indicated that the onboard bicycle ergometer alone did not provide enough exercise to maintain leg and back muscle mass and strength. To remedy this problem, physician and Skylab support astronaut Dr. William E. Thornton designed a makeshift treadmill that the third crew brought with them to the station. The treadmill device consisted of a teflon-coated aluminum plate bolted to the floor of the workshop. Bungee cords attached to the floor and to the ergometer harness supplied the downward force for the back and leg muscles with the astronauts sliding over the teflon-coated plate while walking or jogging in stocking feet. Because the exercise provided quite a strenuous workout, the crew dubbed it “Thornton’s revenge.” They also increased the overall amount of time they spent exercising. Left: William R. Pogue replaces film in the Apollo Telescope Mount during the mission’s first spacewalk. Middle: Gerald P. Carr flies the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. Right: Overall view showing the large volume of the Skylab Orbital Workshop. In addition to the heavy science experiment load, the astronauts spent the first week in orbit preparing for the first spacewalk of the mission. On Nov. 22, their seventh day in space and also Thanksgiving Day, Gibson and Pogue suited up and stepped outside the space station with Gibson exclaiming, “Boy, if this isn’t the great outdoors.” During this six-hour 33-minute spacewalk, they replaced film canisters in the ATM and deployed an experiment package on the ATM truss. They took photographs with a camera that had originally been intended for the airlock now blocked by the sunshade that the first crew deployed in May to help cool the station. Gibson and Pogue accomplished all the tasks planned for this first spacewalk. Back inside the station, the astronauts settled in for the first Thanksgiving meal in space. For their dinner, Carr selected prime rib, Gibson went with traditional turkey, and Pogue chose chicken. Left: The S-IB first stage for Saturn-IB SA-209, the Skylab 4 rescue mission, arrives at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Middle left: The S-IVB second stage for SA-209 inside the VAB. Middle right: Workers stack the Command and Service Module CSM-119, the Skylab 4 rescue spacecraft, atop SA-209. Right: The Skylab 4 rescue vehicle at Launch Pad 39B. The inclusion of two docking ports on the Skylab space station enabled an in-flight rescue capability for the first time in human spaceflight history. In case a failure of the docked CSM stranded the onboard three-person crew, a two-person crew would launch in a second Apollo spacecraft specially configured with two extra couches to return all five astronauts. For the first two Skylab missions, the rocket and spacecraft for the subsequent mission served as the potential rescue vehicle. The failure of two Service Module thruster groups during Skylab 3 nearly required the rescue capability. Since Skylab 4 was the final mission, NASA procured an additional Saturn IB rocket, SA-209, and Apollo spacecraft, CSM-119, for the rescue role. The spacecraft arrived at KSC on May 2, 1973, and workers placed it in storage in the MSOB. In September, the backup crew of Brand, Lenoir, and Lind completed altitude chamber tests with the CSM, although only Brand and Lenoir would fly any the rescue mission. The S-IVB second stage for Saturn IB SA-209 arrived at KSC on Jan. 12, 1972, and workers placed it in storage in the VAB. The S-IB first stage arrived on Aug. 20, 1973. Because only one Mobile Launcher included the milkstool to launch a Saturn IB, assembly of the rescue vehicle had to await its return from the launch pad the day after the Skylab 4 liftoff. Assembly of the rocket in the VAB began on Nov. 26, and workers topped the rocket off with the spacecraft four days later. The stacked vehicle rolled out to Launch Pad 39B on Dec. 3 where engineers prepared the vehicle so that after Dec. 20, it could support a launch within nine days, should the need arise. The vehicle remained at the pad until Feb. 14, 1974, six days after the Skylab 4 splashdown. Left: Gerald P. Carr monitors Edward G. Gibson during a lower body negative pressure test of his cardiovascular system. Middle: Gibson works out on the bicycle ergometer during a test of his cardiopulmonary function. Right: Gibson in the rotating chair to test his vestibular system. To add to their packed timeline, one of the station’s three control moment gyros (CMGs) failed the day after the first spacewalk. Skylab used CMGs to control the station’s attitude without expending precious attitude control gas, a non-renewable resource heavily depleted early in the station’s life. Engineers on the ground worked out a plan to control the station’s attitude using only the two working CMGs, thereby enabling completion of the remaining science, especially the Earth resource passes and comet Kohoutek observations. Pogue made the first measurements of Comet Kohoutek on Nov. 23 from inside the station using a photometric camera brought to Skylab especially to observe the comet. The astronauts practiced flying the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit, a precursor of the Manned Maneuvering Unit used during the space shuttle program to retrieve satellites, inside the large dome of the workshop. Left: Edward G. Gibson at the controls of the Apollo Telescope Mount. Right: William R. Pogue, left, and Gerald P. Carr at the control panel for the Earth Resources Experiment package inside the Multiple Docking Adapter. Left: Image of a massive solar flare taken by one of the Apollo Telescope Mount instruments. Middle: Earth Resources Experiment Package photograph of the San Francisco Bay area. Right: Crew handheld photograph of a cyclone in the South Pacific. On Dec. 13, the mission’s 28th day, program officials assessed the astronauts’ performance and the status of the station and fully expected that they could complete the nominal 56-day mission and most likely the full 84 days. Despite being overworked and often behind the timeline, Carr, Gibson, and Pogue had already accomplished 84 hours of solar observations, 12 Earth resources passes, 80 photographic and visual Earth observations, all of the scheduled medical experiments, as well as numerous other activities such as student experiments, and science demonstrations. The astronaut’s major concern centered around the timelining process that had not given them time to adjust to their new environment and did not take into account their on-orbit daily routine. Despite the crew sending taped verbal messages to the ground asking for help in fixing these issues, the problem persisted. Skylab 4 Lead Flight Director Neil B. Hutchinson later admitted that the ground team learned many lessons about timelining long duration missions during the first few weeks of Skylab 4. For more insight into the Skylab 4 mission, read Carr’s, Gibson’s, and Pogue’s oral histories with the JSC History Office. To be continued … With special thanks to Ed Hengeveld for his expert contributions on Skylab imagery. Explore More 12 min read 55 Years Ago: Eight Months Before the Moon Landing Article 7 mins ago 7 min read 65 Years Ago: NASA Formally Establishes The Space Task Group Article 1 week ago 3 min read Halloween on the International Space Station Article 2 weeks ago

#space #astronomy #news #science

[myfixx]

The History and Future of Space Exploration Technology

The History and Future of Space Exploration Technology From a technological perspective, it is hard to think of an industry that has had more dramatic growth than the space exploration sector. The remarkable accomplishments of the past century’s space efforts have transformed our view of ourselves and our place in our universe. From iconic photos of our planet as a blue marble to the discovery of signs that life may have existed on Mars, space exploration has provided us with powerful and symbolic images for the entire human race.

The technology used to build, operate, and maintain the machines of space exploration has also dramatically changed our lives on Earth. A few examples include satellites for global communication, weather surveillance and prediction, navigation systems that have replaced the need to navigate by paper maps, and remote sensing systems that allow us to detect fires, chemicals, or even the hole in Earth’s ozone layer.

As a result of the rapid progress in space technology, national governments have given high priority to science done in and from outer space. This has led to the development of massive robotic programs like the Curiosity rover on Mars and the Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn and its moons, as well as major space-based astronomical observatories like the Hubble Telescope.

One of the most significant advances in space exploration has been the invention of liquid-fuel rockets, which allowed large payloads to be sent into orbit for techogle.co both military and scientific purposes. Originally developed by Robert Goddard in 1926, these rockets were refined into long-range ballistic missiles that helped the United States win World War II. After the war, these technologies were refined further to create the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.

While the rate of progress in space exploration slowed toward the end of the last century, many important achievements were made, including the launch of six Apollo lunar missions and unmanned robotic programs that have mapped our Solar System, including the discovery of asteroids and even landing on a comet. These developments have greatly increased the knowledge and appreciation of our extraordinary planet and its finite resources.

With the advent of private spaceflight companies and commercial space stations, it is likely that a new, accelerated phase of human space exploration will begin within this decade. The development of spacecraft for manned trips to Mars and other destinations is already underway. The technology needed for space travel includes not only the power-generating hardware to reach the destination but also life support systems, cargo tech website resupply capabilities, and tools to maintain and repair the vehicle in case of any malfunctions. Many of the essential technologies necessary for space travel were first created by NASA and then adapted by other industries. For example, the image processing techniques used in CAT scans and radiography were both developed by NASA to enhance the visibility of objects in deep space. Similarly, the mouse and keyboard used on modern computers were both first developed for use by astronauts in their work in space.

[hobbyspacer]

Videos: “Space to Ground” & other space habitat reports – July.3.2023

Here is the latest episode in NASA's Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station: https://youtu.be/-CGKqO0x1wQ ** Expedition 69 SpaceX Dragon CRS-28 Cargo Ship Departs International Space Station June 29, 2023 - NASA Video Loaded with scientific experiments and supplies, the unpiloted SpaceX Dragon undocked from the International Space Station June 29, completing a three-week-long mission to the outpost for the company’s 28th commercial resupply services mission for NASA. The SpaceX spacecraft undocked from the zenith port of the Harmony module, headed for a splashdown off the coast of Florida June 30 to complete its flight that delivered several tons of experiments and hardware to the station. https://youtu.be/64c6-sGyFFA ** Watch SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship undock from ISS for return trip - VideoFromSpace The SpaceX Dragon CRS-28 cargo ship undocked from the International Space Station on June 29, 2023. Full Story: https://www.space.com/spacex-dragon-c... It a parachute-aided splashdown off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida on Friday (June 30) at around 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT), NASA officials said https://youtu.be/syqzEv3SGGc ** Expedition 69 Space Station Crew Talks with WBTS-TV Boston, AccuWeather June 29, 2023 - NASA Video Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Woody Hoburg and Steve Bowen of NASA discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview June 29 with WBTS-TV (NBC, Boston) and AccuWeather. Hoburg and Bowen are in the midst of a long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars. https://youtu.be/cAEkR1ilWa8 ** Latest update - Gravitics Inc Six months of incredible engineering and fast prototyping. We’re just getting started. pic.twitter.com/EjuuyY3aRI — Gravitics (@GraviticsInc) July 1, 2023 **  What is MMOD Shielding? - Gravitics Inc Gravitics MMOD Shielding tests were a success. In this video you can learn more about what goes into building the outer shell of a spacecraft, complete with solar cells, electrical harnessing, heat radiators, and protection against debris and radiation. https://youtu.be/2_vA81o73hE ** China's Space Station Complex to Adopt New Configurations: Agency - CCTV Video News Agency China's space station complex will adopt other new configurations beyond the current "three modules and three spacecraft" configuration in the coming months, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). https://youtu.be/yVKsDg4JKi8 See also: China Space Station: New Configurations in Coming Months - Leonard David. ** Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) - NASA Watch live video from the International Space Station, including inside views when the crew aboard the space station is on duty. Views of Earth are also streamed from an external camera located outside of the space station. During periods of signal loss due to handover between communications satellites, a blue screen is displayed. The space station orbits Earth about 250 miles (425 kilometers) above the surface. An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the station, and it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It's a microgravity laboratory where science, research, and human innovation make way for new technologies and research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3CkVtC8 Did you know you can spot the station without a telescope? It looks like a fast-moving star, but you have to know when to look up. Sign up for text messages or email alerts to let you know when (and where) to spot the station and wave to the crew: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov https://www.youtube.com/live/xAieE-QtOeM?feature=share ====

ISS after undocking of STS-132 === Amazon Ads === Lego Ideas International Space Station 21321 Toy Blocks, Present, Space, Boys, Girls, Ages 16 and Up ==== Outpost in Orbit: A Pictorial & Verbal History of the Space Station  Read the full article

[lonestarflight]

"Apollo 17 Commander Eugene A. Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison H. Jack Schmitt are preparing the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) and the Communications Relay Unit (LCRU) mission simulation. Support Team Astronaut Gordon Fullerton, standing, left, discusses test procedures to be performed in the High Bay of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB). The Lunar Module Ascent and Descent stages also receive preflight checkout in preparation for the sixth U.S. manned lunar landing mission."

Date: August 8, 1972

NASA ID: 72PC-0412

#Apollo 17 #LM-12 #Lunar Module #Challenger #NASA #Apollo Program #J-type mission #August #1972 #Lunar Roving Vehicle #Lunar Rover #LRV #Manned Spacecraft Operations Building #MSOB #Kennedy Space Center #KSC #Florida #my post

[bedlomo]

Kerbal space program 2 modes

Kerbal space program 2 modes how to#

Kerbal space program 2 modes mod#

Kerbal space program 2 modes mods#

Kerbal space program 2 modes free#

You can also earn science by scanning these celestial bodies.Īdds new types of orbital laboratories and experiments which can be done in orbit.

Kerbal space program 2 modes mods#

Modifies the stock tech tree to accomodate community mods by adding new branches and extending existing ones.Īdds an advanced resource system comparable to stock, primarily for spacecraft to create their own fuel when landed on other celestial bodies.Īllows satellites to create maps of the celestial bodies they are orbiting, including biomes and easter eggs. This tool helps keeping track of the experiments performed and science collected across all bodies and biomes. Travel futher with less Delta-V!Īdds game features relating to gathering information about the environment and earning science. Helps planning an optimal interplanetary transfer window to maximize resource efficiency. Useful to land space shuttles and other spacecraft in a precise manner. Makes easier to land ships and build usable VTOL spacecraft.ĭisplays accurate trajectory predictions by accounting atmospheric drag and lift. Continuation of the original RPM mod.Įnhanced the altitude control of a ship by manipulating the output of its engines and thrusters. Can work in partnership with some mods by default. Merged into stock game as of 1.6.Ī set of automatic pilot systems which can precisely perform various maneuvers, as well as display more detailed information about a craft or orbit than the base game.ĭisplays multi-purpose interactive screens on various IVA sections of ships.

Kerbal space program 2 modes mod#

These mods add in features that make tasks easier.Ī resource panel mod with advanced features such as low resource alarms and consumption rates.Ī small widget to show the alignment of two docking ports to each other.Īllows the game to schedule alarms and notifications for future events (such as a ship's arrival at a new SOI).ĭisplays the TWR and delta-v of spacecraft under construction in the VAB. Adds realistic limits to deep-space communications.Īdds life-support requirements and resource limitations to manned missions. Overhaul of the stock parachute system with several new drag and drogue parachutes.Ī group of mods that change KSP to make it more realistic. It allows you write small programs that automate specific tasks. Continuation of the original Ferram Aerospace mod. Updates the aerodynamics model to one much more accurate to the real world. These mods add more realism to the game, moving it closer to real-world space operations while often making it more difficult to play in some ways.įerram Aerospace Research Continued (FAR) Fully compatible with DMagic Orbital Science, Kerbal Inventory System and many life support mods. Modular parts mod for building custom service modules. Successor to the original KW Rocketry mod.Īctually 6 separate mods instead of a single mod, these mods add numerous high-tech features such as advanced electric engines, nuclear reactors, solar panels, large building pieces, and much more.Īdds a vanilla-friendly life support system and penalties, with consumables (Snacks) and different parts to store and produce them.Ī collection of assorted spaceship and rocket parts inspired by the soviet space program. Parts which can be used to help build remote outposts on other bodies.Ī parts collection for rockets, many inspired by real-life designs. Works with vanilla and integrates well with Near Future TechnologiesĪ set of parts for linking together spacecraft or moving parts around on them during missions.Īdds an inventory system and parts of different sizes to transport objects and parts on.

Kerbal space program 2 modes free#

A good free substitute for the Breaking Ground expansion.Įxpands the tech tree to cover more exotic types of energy and propulsion.Įxpands the nuclear-powered propulsion roster by adding eight new engines, which come in different standard sizes. This mod provides pretty optimistic but generally viable spacecraft technologies.Ī collection of parts for creating fighter planes and especially biplanes.įlexible joints and articulation which allow spacecraft to contain moving parts and change during missions. These mods add new components for building vehicles.Ī collection of parts for building large spaceplanes.

: Those mods are well integrated into the Career Mode tech tree.

This incomplete list contains some major mods or addons for Kerbal Space Program.

Kerbal space program 2 modes how to#

For an exhaustive list, see here on the forums.įor instructions on how to install these mods and addons, please refer to the addon page. This incomplete list is not intended to be exhaustive.

#Kerbal space program 2 modes

[pinerwars]

Nasa space shuttle sale

We would have to conduct new tests and simulations. We would have to spend a few years re-developing the expertise. It changes the capabilities of the vehicle. It changes the mass, it changes the stresses and strains, it changes the interactions. "We would have to substitute modern materials. We don't have the expertise to operate the vehicle," Frost said. We don't have the expertise to understand how the real vehicle differed from the drawings. If we wanted to build another Saturn V rocket or Apollo CSM/LM today, this would be almost impossible, despite huge advances in technology. Over time, some of the materials used became obsolete." The technicians, engineers, scientists, and flight controllers moved on to other jobs. "So, when the Apollo program ended, the factories that assembled those vehicles were re-tasked or shut down. "An individual person cannot contemplate the scale of detail needed to assemble and operate those vehicles, Frost said. Meanwhile, the command and service modules (CSM) and lunar module (LM) contained millions of additional parts. The Saturn V rocket that was used in the Apollo program had over three million parts. The vehicle cannot be built or operated without that expertise," Frost said in a post on Quora. "The development and operations teams acquire expertise that no one else on the planet has. Because of this, thousands of hours go into testing and tweaking, according to Robert Frost, an instructor and flight controller at NASA. Photo by NASA/LiaisonĪside from this, the people that were behind the Apollo technology and the expertise they had retired long ago, Matt Siegler, a research scientist at Southern Methodist University and the Planetary Science Institute, who is participating in several new NASA missions, told Newsweek.īuilding a launch vehicle and spacecraft capable of going to the moon is an extremely challenging task because there is very little scope for imprecision and error. NASA discarded much of the Apollo hardware in the years since. flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. Hank Pernicka, a professor of aerospace engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, told Newsweek that much of the hardware used in the Apollo missions was discarded or shared with museums, although some was used in the Skylab space station that flew in the early 1970s.Ībove, astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin poses next to the U.S. The mission comes five decades after NASA dismantled the Apollo program, shedding its capability to go to the moon. The mission is the first step in the Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon and establish a sustainable presence on the lunar surface, paving the way for future manned missions to Mars.Īrtemis I will serve as a test of NASA's next-generation Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System-the most powerful rocket ever built. NASA is now targeting the launch of Artemis I for September 3 after engine issues caused the first attempt to be scrapped. Now, the space agency is preparing to go to the moon again but experts told Newsweek that just because we've been before, doesn't necessarily mean that we can get there again. Fifty years ago, the pioneering Apollo program, which landed astronauts on the moon for the first time, ended and NASA subsequently discarded much of the hardware that was used.

#Nasa space shuttle sale

[technologistsinsync]

NASA Is Scheduled To Launch Artemis 1 To The Moon On September 27.

Despite a major storm forming in the Caribbean, the space agency is still planning to launch Artemis 1 from Florida's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Tuesday, September 27.

The Space Coast may be in its sights as that storm has the potential to become a hurricane.

A Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will launch an unmanned Orion spacecraft on the first mission of NASA's Artemis moon exploration program, Artemis 1, on a voyage to lunar orbit and return.

  Technical difficulties, the second of which was a leak of liquid hydrogen fuel at a contact between the SLS and its mobile launch tower, prevented NASA from launching the mission earlier on Aug. 29 and Sept. 3.

According to NASA officials, the leak has been corrected after the mission crew successfully loaded fuel into the Artemis 1 stack on Wednesday (Sept. 21).

Brad McCain, vice president and general manager at Jacobs Space Operations Group, the lead contractor for NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Program at KSC, stated on a call with reporters today, "All in all, it was a terrific day" (Sept. 23).

The crew is prepared to go on, and we have high hopes for our next launch attempt on Tuesday, McCain said.

According to NASA officials, the Artemis 1 team has also obtained the necessary permission from the U.S. Space Force, which regulates rocket launches on the Eastern Range, to extend the certification time for the mission's flight termination system (FTS).

If the SLS deviates from its intended path during launch, the FTS is designed to obliterate it. The system had been approved for use for a period of 25 days, but that certification expired earlier this month.

  However, the Space Force has officially given the FTS approval for the Tuesday launch attempt and the fallback date of October 2, according to NASA officials.

The FTS waiver, which Artemis 1 has now gotten twice (the first being an earlier extension from 20 to 25 days), is a significant development. Artemis 1 would have had to roll off Launch Pad 39B back to KSC's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), which is the only location the FTS can be recertified, if the Space Force had refused to give it.

However, Artemis 1 could still need to roll back to the VAB to get refuge from an approaching storm.

  Tropical Depression 9 is a raging storm that might end up barreling near KSC. It is intensifying in the Caribbean.

At today's briefing, Exploration Ground Systems program manager Mike Bolger said that the launch will proceed as planned on September 27.

  If we were to implement Plan B, it would take us a few days to change our tanking test or launch configuration, carry out the rollback, and return to the VAB's protection.

According to Bolger, the mission team is constantly monitoring the weather and will reevaluate its preparations this evening when the most recent weather models are released.

  He said, "no later than perhaps tomorrow morning or very early afternoon," a decision regarding whether to stay on the pad or roll back is expected to be made.

According to Bolger, Artemis 1 may remain on the launch pad as long as peak winds don't exceed 74 knots (85 mph, or 137 kph). 

And while there is probably some wiggle space in that figure, rollback to the VAB may safely proceed under persistent winds of up to 40 knots (46 mph, or 74 kph).

Mission team members said on today's call that if Artemis 1 rolls back to the VAB in the next days, the team will use the chance to work on the vehicle, such as changing the FTS battery.

  The mission would surely miss the launch window on September 27 in that scenario, and it's not clear whether the backup date of October 2 would also be ruled out due to the long rewind procedure. There are also some more issues with the upcoming liftoff.

On launch day, whenever that may be, the weather must be favorable. Additionally, on October 3 the nearby KSC Launch Pad 39A will serve as the launch pad for SpaceX's Crew-5 manned mission for NASA. Just have to wait and see how everything turns out.

~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan

Find Jai on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

#NASA #Artemis 1 #artemis 1 launch #Kennedy Space Center #NASA's Artemis program #Space Launch System #SLS #Orion spacecraft #US Space Force

[ricmlm]

China launched a rocket on Sunday with three Chinese astronauts aboard for its space station, under construction, according to images broadcast by public television CCTV. The Long March 2F rocket, with the Shenzhou-14 mission capsule, took off at 10:44 (03:44 in Lisbon) from the Jiuquan space center, in the Gobi desert (northwest). The objective of this mission is to complete the work on the Chinese space station Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”), including the connection of two laboratory modules to the Tianhe module, launched in April last year. China intends to finish construction of the station this year and officials had announced plans to send Tiangong "two experimental modules, two manned spacecraft and two cargo spacecraft". The 70-tonne station is expected to remain in operation for 15 years, orbiting around 400 kilometers from the Earth's surface. The decision to build a space station came after the United States refused to let China participate in the International Space Station (ISS). The Chinese space program put the first astronaut into orbit in 2003, making China the third country to do so, with its own resources, after the former Soviet Union and the United States. The country has already landed probes on the Moon and Mars. https://www.instagram.com/p/Ceb2GvXDJeA/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[spacenutspod]

The China National Space Agency (CNSA) has drawn a lot of attention to its space programs in recent years. In addition to their Tiangong space station and crewed missions to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), there’s also been a lot of buzz surrounding the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) and its Human Lunar Space Program. The high points have included the announcement of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) – a joint operation with Roscosmos – and shared concept art for their next-generation spacecraft and lunar lander. As always, what we know about China’s plans for space exploration is limited to snippets of news, public statements, and the occasional video, which are the direct result of state-controlled media and tight secrecy regarding the country’s space program. The latest is a bootleg video that recently appeared online, which shows a video presentation that provides some insight into China’s long-term plans for crewed lunar exploration. The video is captioned with the words “China’s lunar space station and development of lunar molten cave base plan,” and it certainly lives up to that description! The video presents several familiar elements of lunar exploration, which have been hinted at in the past by the CMSA and the Manned Lunar Deep Exploration Project Office. These include a modular station in lunar orbit, robotic missions exploring the surface to scout resources and locate a base site, lunar landers, and facilities that will grow food, provide power, and facilitate crewed missions to explore the surface. In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and using robots equipped with additive manufacturing (3D printers) are also alleged from the imagery alone. Lunar Base in Orbit The video, uploaded by YouTube user Chen Junlong, opens with a spacecraft rendezvousing with an orbiting lunar habitat. Immediately, this tells us that China hopes to create an orbital platform that will rival NASA’s Lunar Gateway, which has been hinted at in the ILRS mission architecture. This includes the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) Guide for Partnership released in 2021, which describes the ILRS as “a complex experimental research [facility] to be constructed with [the] possible [involvement] of partners on the surface and/or in orbit of the Moon.“ An orbital element is further detailed in Section 1 (“Facilities Description”), where there is the mention of a Cislunar Transportation Facility in addition to a Long-term Support Facility on the Lunar Surface. According to the guide, the former will “support cislunar round-trip transfer between the Earth and the Moon, lunar orbiting, soft landing, ascending on [the] lunar surface and re-entry to the Earth.” Whereas the Gateway will be placed in a “halo orbit” around the Moon (orbiting from pole to pole), the Chinese facility is shown orbiting the lunar equator. Lava Tube Habitat In the video, this habitat is also a staging area for creating a subsurface habitat – the “lunar molten cave base.” For years, NASA has researched the possibility of building bases inside these tubes since they are accessible via “skylights” (holes in the surface) and are large enough to accommodate entire bases. They can also maintain comfortable room temperature conditions inside and provide natural shielding against radiation. China has also indicated that they are exploring the possibility of building a base inside lunar lava tubes. At the 10th CSA-IAA Conference on Advanced Space Technology in September, representative Zhang Chongfeng from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology presented a study that detailed fieldwork where his colleagues and planetary geologists explored several lava caves in China. According to Zhang, this research could lead to bases constructed in Mare Tranquillitatis (the Sea of Tranquility), where the Apollo 11 astronauts landed, and Mare Fecunditatis (the Sea of Fertility), both of which are located in the eastern half of the visible side of the Moon. However, rather than using a natural skylight, Chinese explorers created one in the video using a penetrator launched from the station. Once the debris is cleared and the robots explore the cave below, we then see the core module of the lunar base deploying from the orbiting habitat. It then lands in the artificial skylight and deploys infrastructure into the cave, including inflatable cabin sections that appear to be a greenhouse and a research module. Meanwhile, the core deploys another inflatable module on the surface around the artificial skylight, which a robotic 3D printer proceeds to fashion a dome over. Both modules are equipped with double-layer airlocks, providing the crew access to the surface and subsurface. This is followed by the creation of a solar array and other platforms that accommodate radio receivers, a vehicle bay (Lunar Transportation and Operation Facility in the ILRS guide), and a landing pad for lunar landers. The remaining footage details the allocation of space inside the habitat for different operations (research, sleeping, exercise) and how a central elevator connects the surface and subsurface sections. We also get a brief glimpse at what operations taikonauts will perform, which includes growing plants, conducting EVAs on the surface, and exploring =lunar caves. Lunar Landers This brings up another key element of China’s lunar program, which is the lander that will transport crews to and from the surface. However, the lander featured here does not resemble the one China recently unveiled, which will be used to send the first taikonauts to the lunar surface by 2030. But from the footage, this lander is clearly not reusable either, consisting of a descent and ascent module – similar to the lunar landers used by the Apollo astronauts. The video also hints (very briefly) at the end that these lunar facilities will enable future missions to Mars. This is similar to what NASA has stated about the Artemis Program and the “Moon to Mars” mission architecture that preceded it. In previous statements, China has indicated that it intends to send crewed missions to Mars starting in 2033, the same timeline proposed by NASA. Under the circumstances, it makes sense that they would be adopting a similar Moon-to-Mars architecture with the ILRS. This constitutes the most detailed vision of China’s proposed lunar program to date. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds in the coming years! Author’s note: The origin and authenticity of the video are unclear, which is exacerbated by the fact that it is a recording of a video presentation (i.e. a bootleg). Nevertheless, the content certainly looks authentic and aligns with a lot of previous statements by the CNSA. Take it with a grain of salt! The post China Showcases its Lunar Exploration Plans appeared first on Universe Today.

#space #astronomy #news #science