Space News thread

[Simon43]

Signals from space - world's oldest satellite



In 1964 NASA launched Transit 5B-5, one of a group of early navigation satellites. Well, this particular bird stopped working after only 19 days, and was destined to orbit the Earth probably in perpetuity, since it's orbit path was higher than modern LEO satellites, and therefore the Earth's gravitational pull was too weak to 'pull it down'.

However, one of the telemetry (TM) radio transmitters did not die, and can still be heard today on 136.658 MHz, but only during sunlit hours, since presumably the batteries on this satellite have failed and therefore electrical power is only available from the solar panels.

Anyway, since this bird was due to pass over me this morning, I cranked up my receiving gear and was rewarded with a strong signal, as displayed on my laptop software. The actual signal is 'rubbish', in that no useful TM data is received, since presumably (again), the relevant data collection circuitry is (technical term here), 'all fcuked up' after 60 years......

[harrybarracuda]

What if it's in Alien though?

[Simon43]

Well, I did listen to the audio - have a listen to this audio clip off the web of this satellite, could definitely be Alien language

Transit 5B-5 (Military Navigation) from 1964 - Clyp

[Salsa dancer]

That's been out there a long time; it's a wonder it hasn't been taken out by meteoroids. I guess it is too high to be affected by much space debris from other satellites that have broken up.

[Takeovers]

Just came back from a tour with our annual Raumcon Treff meeting, this time in Bremen, which has plenty of space companies. Very interesting for me.

I watched the second flight of ULA Vulcan. It is a certification flight. If it is performed successfully, Vulcan can now fly all payloads for the US military.

The rocket did reach the target trajectory. ULA CEO Tory Bruno said, it was a successful certification flight.

However there was an anomaly with one of the two solid rocket boosters. It lost its nozzle in flight. But the booster and second stage were able to compensate. I wonder if the military will actually see that as successful certification.

[Takeovers]

Something about my first day in the excursion. Visiting the Bremen University Drop Tower. It was much more interesting and exciting than I had thought it would be. The tower is about 120m high. All the air can be pumped out. If you drop something, it takes just over 4 seconds until it hits a bucket full of small styrofoam balls for braking. To double that time, you can push it up with a hydraulic catapult. The experiment capsule then spends 4 seconds up, reverses direction at the top due to gravity, then falls down for another 4 seconds. That buys you 8 seconds of microgravity. To my surprise we were told microgravity is much better in the drop tower than on the ISS. On the ISS all kinds of disturbances happen. Astronauts moving, the whole ISS shaking. Very little but still disturbing microgravity.

Organizations from all over the world book experiment time there. Including Japan, India, China.

A video about the drop tower. It gives you a quite good overview.



A link, if you want to read up a little more.

ESA - The ZARM drop tower in Bremen

[DrWilly]

That’s pretty cool.

[Takeovers]

Remember the NASA Dart mission? NASA sent a probe to Asteroid Dimorphos

The probe impacted Dimorphos and gave it a small nudge. Not much but if you know years early that an asteroid could impact Earth it takes very little to deflect it enough so it would miss Earth. Both NASA and ESA observe a quite large number of asteroids that could potentially impact Earth. They would know many years before the impact and take action.

Goals	Demonstrate asteroid deflection with a kinetic impactor
Launch	10:21 p.m. PST, Nov. 23, 2021, (1:21 a.m. EST, Nov. 24), aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
Science Targets	Asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos
Type	Impact on Sept. 26, 2022
Funding Agency	NASA
Related Websites	DART Mission Website NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office NASA Space Science DATA Coordinated Archive: DART

Yesterday ESA launched the Hera probe as a follow up mission. Hera will observe Dimorphos, watch what the impact did to it. It will give us additional information about the structure of asteroids. We recently learned that at least some asteroids are just collections of rubble, not solid hunks of rock. Dimorphos is one of them.

Hera was built by OHB Systems in Bremen, Germany. Just by coincidence I visited OHB last week as part of our excursion. Of course Hera was mentioned. Hera is a car sized probe that will observe the two asteroids. It will carry 2 cubesats, that go closer to Dimorphos and finally even land on it. They will send data and pictures to Hera, which will transmit them to Earth with its much larger transmitter and antenna.

ESA - Planetary defence mission Hera heading for deflected asteroid


The launch was done by SpaceX yesterday. Initially it was supposed to be sent by ESA Ariane 6 rocket, but after delays of Ariane 6 development they switched to SpaceX Falcon 9.

[Takeovers]

A little more info about the Hera launch and a NASA mission to Jupiter Moon Europa. It was a real nailbiter. The launch window is very small and a Hurricane is approaching Florida. It was launch yesterday or a major delay until after the Hurricane passed. It is a quite high energy launch and SpaceX had to expend the Falcon 9 booster to achieve that trajectory. Not land it for reuse as they usually do. But this booster had already done more than 20 launches and was approaching end of its life.

The launch window is so small because the probe goes to Mars for a swingby to gain more speed.

SpaceX also has another mission coming for this Mars window. The very important, very expensive Europa Clipper mission to the Jupiter Moon Europa. It too has a swingby of Mars to gain speed. It initially was mandated by Congress to fly on their SLS rocket. But NASA argued, the SLS solid boosters cause too much vibration on launch which Europa Clipper could not survive. Europa Clipper is unusual in another aspect too. It was promoted and pushed through by a single Congress Senator. If Congress favors a mission it is usually for jobs in some important Senators district. But this mission was actually pushed because the Senator had a purely scientific interest. No jobs in his district involved. He is now retired. Unfortunately I don't remember his name.

[Simon43]

ISS sends out TV pictures for the first time in about 3 years:

ISS used to send out TV images on VHF frequencies a few years ago, and I posted some of those images at the time. The radio transmitter then broke down and it was hardly of primary importance to replace it. Finally, the Russians sent up a new transmitter and this week they are testing it out. So naturally I fired up my radio gear to see if I could receive any pictures.

The images will be sent for about 1 week, starting today (Wednesday). Of course, I only have a chance to receive these images when the ISS passes over my location. Anyway, I was happy to receive images today - here's the best one for today.



I've added the pass times onto my calendar for this week, so will be up early tomorrow for the next image

[Edmond]

That comet should be showing up the next few days just after sunset. Would be cool if it was also beaming down TV images.

[Salsa dancer]

I think we just found a new name for you, Eduardovich.

I'm looking forward to any close-ups of that comet. Will the James Webb be focusing on it ?

[Edmond]

Eduardovich

*googling*

Will the James Webb be focusing on it ?

Unlikely. It's only around 60 million km away, so too close to the JWST to focus on it. Though it may be able to beam down episodes of Mork and Mindy. Nanu Nanu.

[Edmond]

[Edmond]

Taken from NZ 2 weeks ago.

[Salsa dancer]

*googling*

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky 17 September [ 5 September] 1857 – 19 September 1935) was a Russian rocket scientist who pioneered astronautics. Along with Hermann Oberth and Robert H. Goddard, he is one of the pioneers of space flight and the founding father of modern rocketry and astronautics. His works later inspired Wernher von Braun and leading Soviet rocket engineersSergei Korolev and Valentin Glushko, who contributed to the success of the Soviet space program.

Tsiolkovsky spent most of his life in a log house on the outskirts of Kaluga, about 200 km (120 mi) southwest of Moscow. A recluse by nature, his unusual habits made him seem bizarre to his fellow townsfolk.




They got the last part right.


Actually, if you read about him, he was quite an innovator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky

[harrybarracuda]

Probably went unnoticed: NASA managed to send a laser signal 290 million miles to the Psyche spacecraft.

NASA spacecraft receives laser signal from 290 million miles away in major scientific breakthrough - The Mirror US

[Takeovers]

A launch of Falcon Heavy for Europa Clipper is scheduled for Sunday. I wonder if they can have it ready on such a short notice after Hurricane Milton has barely passed the Cape today.

SpaceX also has another mission coming for this Mars window. The very important, very expensive Europa Clipper mission to the Jupiter Moon Europa. It too has a swingby of Mars to gain speed. It initially was mandated by Congress to fly on their SLS rocket. But NASA argued, the SLS solid boosters cause too much vibration on launch which Europa Clipper could not survive. Europa Clipper is unusual in another aspect too. It was promoted and pushed through by a single Congress Senator. If Congress favors a mission it is usually for jobs in some important Senators district. But this mission was actually pushed because the Senator had a purely scientific interest. No jobs in his district involved. He is now retired. Unfortunately I don't remember his name.

[aging one]

Starship launch today in just about an hour and a half. All going smoothly during the pre launch segment. 7pm Thai time is the launch. Just spoke to the daughter and she is in at work at Hawthorne to view the launch. This is the one where they are going to try and catch it upon reentry.

[Takeovers]

Did you see your daughter in the Hawthorne crowd?

[aging one]

No, sadly but she would have not been in the front. Damn I dont even believe it. Beyond belief!!! First try, the very first try. I am sure she and the whole place are just over the moon.

[harrybarracuda]

I wondered what those bits on the top were for.

Moment SpaceX successfully catches returning rocket booster | News UK Video News | Sky News

[Takeovers]

I think you talk about the 4 grid fins?

They help steering on the way down. Important for precision targeting of the landing point. Falcon 9 have them. Starship booster has them, too, a somewhat different design. Grid fins work from very high supersonic speed to subsonic speed.

This video mixes a few details, switching between Falcon 9 and Starship, but give a genera idea, how they work.

[Edmond]

Have any TDers actually seen this comet?

Amazing photos from lots of locations all over the globe. Thailand included.

We've gone out at the right time for 4-5 days now, sky map apps up and pointing, and ain't seen shiz. Just too hazy/cloudy up from the horizon. :/ -_-

[Takeovers]

Europa Clipper was launched successful on Falcon Heavy. It is so heavy that they needed to expend all 3 boosters. The heaviest deep space probe beyond Mars.On the way to a Mars flyby, then back to Earth for another flyby, then on to Jupiter. Cheers in the NASA control room. They have communication with the probe.

This was the second SpaceX launch in the direction of Mars within a week. Both probes for flyby, not Mars as destination.

Europa Clipper at Jupiter Moon Europa.