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New twin BeiDou-3 navigation satellites launched in Sichuan
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=17662&stc=1
"China on Sunday sent twin satellites into space via a single carrier rocket, entering a period with unprecedentedly intensive launches of BeiDou satellites.
The Long March-3B carrier rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan Province 9:48 am, the 281st mission of the Long March rocket series.
The twin satellites are the 33rd and 34th of the BeiDou navigation system.
They entered orbit more than three hours after launch.
After a series of tests, they will work together with eight BeiDou-3 satellites already in orbit, said the launch service provider.
A basic system of 18 BeiDou-3 satellites orbiting will be in place by the year's end and will serve countries participating in the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative.
Named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper, the BeiDou system started serving China in 2000 and the Asia-Pacific region in 2012. It will be the fourth global satellite navigation system after the US' GPS system, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.
The BeiDou-3 satellites can send signals compatible with other satellite navigation systems and provide satellite-based augmentation as well as search and rescue services in accordance with international standards. The positioning accuracy is 2.5 to 5 meters.
In the past five years, the system has helped rescue more than 10,000 fishermen. More than 40,000 fishing vessels and about 4.8 million commercial vehicles in China have been equipped with BeiDou, said BeiDou spokesman Ran Chengqi.
The satellites and the rocket for Sunday's launch were developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, respectively"
New twin BeiDou-3 navigation satellites launched in Sichuan - Global Times
Info on the satellites can be found here:
Beidou 3 ? Spacecraft & Satellites
NASA’s newest exoplanet-hunting spacecraft has started taking scientific data as of last week, according to a NASA release.
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=17702&stc=1
TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is a two-year-long mission tasked with surveying the skies for planets around other stars. After launching this past April and delivering an incredible first image of the sky, the real hunt has begun.
Earth-orbiting TESS will use its instruments to measure 200,000 stars within 300 light-years of our Sun. It can peep more and brighter stars than its predecessor, Kepler and K2 (two missions, one spacecraft). It will also be better at imaging exoplanets orbiting in the habitable zones of red dwarf stars like TRAPPIST-1 and nearby Proxima Centauri. Some scientists have speculated that those strange worlds could be home to extraterrestrial life.
The spacecraft’s four 16.9-megapixel CCD cameras each image an area of the sky about the size of an average constellation, according to the NASA release—the schedule is here. TESS will monitor each region for 27 days,then move on to the next, ultimately mapping 85 percent of the sky—that’s 350 times more sky than Kepler observed. The first data will come in August, and then every subsequent 13.5 days (every orbit).
TESS is mainly a survey mission. It will create a catalog of nearby stars whose light dims periodically, signaling the presence of an orbiting planet. These stars will be candidates for follow-up observations by other telescopes, which will be able to determine their masses and other properties, like the compositions of their atmospheres.
The upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will begin to study these exoplanets. Life-hunting scientists are more interested in finding potential biosignatures, characteristic light emissions from molecules that could be indicative of life—things like organic compounds and water. We’ll likely have to wait until the 2040s, when a future telescope will have the capabilities to make observations like those.
Finding a habitable exoplanet will be a long process, but it’s a process that’s now in full swing, thanks to TESS.
https://gizmodo.com/nasas-tess-space...way-1827966959
SpaceX CRS-15 Dragon has come back to earth from the ISS. Both the Dragon and the Falcon 9 booster have flown for the second time on this mission.
Dragon being released from the ISS
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18021&stc=1
Dragon on the way down
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18022&stc=1
Shortly before touchdown into the sea. I am not sure they have not used a stock photo for this but it would look this way.
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18023&stc=1
Dragon recovered from the sea and on the way to deliver science and tech items to NASA.
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18024&stc=1
The NASA Commercial Crew program is slowly moving into its final phase. There was a presentation with the names of the Astronauts for the demo mission and for the first crew rotation flight to the ISS for both Boeing and SpaceX.
Mockups of the SpaceX Dragon 2 spaceship and the Boeing CST-100 Spaceliner. The external sight is only superficial similar but the inside is very much final. They are used for Astronaut training and need to be very lifelike.
SpaceX is planned to launch the unmanned mission in November and the manned demo mission in April next year. Despite delays and the risk they may not be able to fly Astronauts when needed NASA delays SpaceX. Their Dragon is ready to go late this month, or early next month. But NASA gives them a launch slot in November at the convenience of the ISS visiting vehicles schedule. One could think they give Boeing time to catch up. But of course NASA would never do something like this, would they?
Boeing launch is much less clear. They had a mishap in June. Preparations for the pad abort went wrong and presently it is unclear how much this will delay their time table. Pad abort was supposed to happen in April this year but was already delayed before the mishap, spilling toxic propellant over the test stand and the Starliner test vehicle after 4 valves in the Starliner service module failed to close.
The SpaceX Dragon
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18092&stc=1
The Boeing Starliner
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18093&stc=1
Dragon interior
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18094&stc=1
Starliner interior
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18095&stc=1
Boeing looks cluttered and untidy compared to Dragon. Elon Musk is behind it. He wants things not only functional but looking sleek and advanced.
The Dragon capsule as presented on the initial presentation. No paneling back then, just the machined aluminium pressure vessel. But interesting for the technically oriented.
The seats are basically the same design, except the flight version is no longer genuine leather made by Tesla.
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18096&stc=1
^Chalk and cheese. The Dragon crew adjacent the capsule, the Boeing crew adjacent the camera.:)
The new Boeing and SpaceX space suits.
These suits are not full space suits as used by Astronauts when doing outside work at the ISS. They are to be worn during flight in the capsule and protect in case of pressure loss. They need to be comfortable when not pressurized but mostly to keep the Astronauts alive in case of pressure loss.
The Boeing space suit
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18107&stc=1
The SpaceX space suit
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18108&stc=1
Spacesuits from left to right
Space Shuttle suit, russian Soyuz suit, Boeing suit, SpaceX suit
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18109&stc=1
Comment by Astronauts trying them is that thanks to newer materials and design both Boeing and SpaceX suits are more comfortable and usable than the old ones. They avoided giving comparisons between Boeing and SpaceX.
A reminder on this post by David.
https://teakdoor.com/the-teakdoor-lou...ml#post3744315
Launch of the Parker Solar Probe is coming up on August 11. A very exciting flagship mission.
Launch vehicle is a Delta IV Heavy. For some extremely high delta-v trajectories like this one it is more powerful than the Falcon Heavy. Even then the probe needs an additional solid kickstage, a Star 48 BV. Getting near the sun is very hard. But it is still not enough. The probe will take 7 Venus flybys to get even closer to the sun.
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18210&stc=1
The Delta IV Heavy getting ready for launch.
Earlier there was a different plan for the solar probe. The probe would have used a slight detour, going to Jupiter first, before descending towards the sun. Using Jupiter for a flyby would have enabled the probe to reach a polar orbit instead of an orbit in the ecliptic of the solar system. That way they could have studied more of the suns magnetic field. A pity they have dropped this mission plan.
A video on the instruments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL94_emVbWw
Studying the magnetic and electric fields is the main aim of this probe.
Has the combination of rockets and boosters been tried before, successfully?
The 3 core Delta IV Heavy has been used occasionally, not very much because it is very expensive but it never failed. They use Atlas V instead, if they can. The solid booster has probably not been used with the Delta, because it is already so powerful. But it is a standard off the shelf boost stage, very reliable. No reason to think it won't work. It is seen more as a part of the payload rather than the rocket.Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
So no interaction of control systems "concerns" then? Are both items SpaceX components?
It is not a SpaceX mission. The rocket is ULA, the probe is NASA. I am not sure if the solid booster is part of the launch vehicle or the probe.Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
My apologies for not being aware. Has NASA launched these two launchers together in the past?
I don't know. If I had to guess I would say very likely not. Delta IV Heavy is a very capable system. I don't think there was ever a probe that would have needed it before. I am not worried about the combination. Both D IV Heavy and the Star 48 solid booster are well known and very reliable systems.Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
Probably most people don't realise how extreme this mission is. It is harder to get that near to the sun from Earth than to leave our solar system completely. Though leaving takes a lot longer.
A nice video explaining how extreme the trajectory of the Parker Solar Probe is and how hard it is to get there. But the probe itself is also quite extreme. Very hard to keep it functioning that close to the sun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhDD2KaflSU
Thanks, I hope you don't mind these questions from one inexperienced in the nuts and bolts of space travel.
:)
I sure don't mind. Much of it I have to look up too. I just happen to know where and what to look for.
Always happy to have some people interested.
That you answer questions politely and informatively is sometimes missing here on TD, occasionally.
thanks for that!Quote:
Originally Posted by Takeovers
good stuff here
My very inquisitive 4 1/2 yo twin boys (who have just discovered Star Wars) caught me watching the Sun video and had a million questions.
So, we watched this for a brief explanation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd6nLM2QlWw
They got through to Saturn before the fidgeting and the call of Darth Vader and the Millennium Falcon beckoned them away https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2018/08/1087.jpg
Quote:
Originally Posted by Takeovers
That's great. Hope they will remain interested. Way too few are.Quote:
Originally Posted by David48atTD
Anybody wants to watch the launch of Parker Solar Probe live? Coverage begins on NASA TV in 55 minutes. Pre reporting is already running.
https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public
Delta IV Heavy launches are always somewhat spectacular. The boosters burn hydrogen and some of it leaks during the startup sequence. As a result that leaked hydrogen burns up once the engines start running. The rocket is engulfed in flames and gets scorched somewhat before it lifts off.
If anyone watched it on NASA TV you experienced a typical day on the pad. Several attempts and finally a scrub for the day. Another attempt the same time tomorrow.
You know how the kids of Astronauts counted down in the Mercury and Gemini era?
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, shit.
^ That's more like watching my Bank Balance.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, oh-shit :)
---
NASA twins Scott and Mark Kelly are not quite as identical as they used to be
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?a...id=18348&stc=1
Mark and Scott Kelly are the only identical astronauts in history.
One twin went to space, the other stayed on Earth — and the year they spent apart seems to have left its mark on their DNA.
Key points:
- Scott Kelly's cognitive performance was slower than his brother's when he returned to earth
- NASA's Twins Study was created to identify risks for astronauts
- Compared to his brother, Scott's patterns of gene expression remained altered even months after landing
As part of NASA's Twins Study, astronaut Scott Kelly was sent to the International Space Station while his identical brother
Mark, also an astronaut, stayed on Earth.
NASA created the study to research how one year in space could affect the human body.
Researchers took biological samples from Scott before, during and after his mission and then compared them to Mark's samples.
NASA says it will publish the results in a formal study later this year. But the space agency has released some intriguing preliminary insights.
In particular, while the activity of a few thousand genes was altered during Scott's space station sojourn — no great surprise, given the
stress placed on his body — some 7 per cent of those genes did not return to normal expression levels, even six months after landing.
NASA has also learned that Scott's chromosomes lengthened during his time in space. Inside his white blood cells, the protective caps or "telomeres"
at the end of each chromosome expanded.
He also returned to earth five centimetres taller.
At the time, NASA spokesman Jeff Williams told CNN that astronauts got taller in space as the spine elongated.
"But they return to pre-flight height after a short time back on Earth," he said.
---
It's a long and informative news item. Search ABC twins-separated-by-outer-space-no-longer-identical/9553134
live now
Watch out for the ball of fire engulfing half the rocket at liftoff.
All seemed to be OK. The commentary and lack of onboard cameras need to be addressed. The manager says it was boring event, just what he likes. NASA is missing the excitement that the Spacex operations.
And I think this is a serious issue...make these launches exciting to get the public interested thus willing to spend tax money on them.Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
SpaceX is working hard to make their launches boring as well. Except for the better presentation with on board cameras.
One thing I noted. Yesterday launch was scrubbed because helium pressure was out of spec. They adressed the issue by changing specs. I remember on early launches SpaceX used to make some specs very tight, causing some scrubs. With increasing confidence they losened the specs and launches were rarely scrubbed. The Old Space people were up in arms about the recklessnes of the approach, calling it unacceptable. Now ULA is doing the same with a rocket that is supposed to be mature and limits well established. I don't hear a word of criticism. Should I be surprised? No that is just how it is.
Some neat film and graphics at the link
NASA's Parker Solar Probe rockets toward sun for closest look yet - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Quote:
NASA's Parker Solar Probe rockets toward sun for closest look yetUpdated about an hour ago
The Mobile Service Tower is rolled back to reveal the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket
PHOTO: A last-minute technical problem on Saturday delayed NASA's unprecedented flight to the sun. (AP: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
RELATED STORY: NASA's unprecedented trip to the sun halted minutes before Parker probe launchRELATED STORY: NASA is about to plunge a probe into the sun's atmosphere. Here's whyRELATED STORY: NASA readies spacecraft for 'mission to touch the Sun'
A NASA spacecraft has rocketed toward the sun on an unprecedented quest to get closer to our star than anything ever sent before.
Key points:
NASA's Parker Solar Probe will be the first spacecraft to "touch" the sun
The spacecraft is protected by a revolutionary new carbon heat shield
It will make 24 close approaches to the sun on the seven-year, $1.5 billion undertaking
The Parker Solar Probe will fly straight through the wispy edges of the corona, or outer solar atmosphere, that was visible during last August's total solar eclipse.
It eventually will get within 6 million kilometres of the sun's surface, staying comfortably cool despite the extreme heat and radiation, and allowing scientists to vicariously explore the sun in a way never before possible.
Saturday morning's launch attempt was foiled by last-minute technical trouble and postponed by a day.
But what better day to launch to the sun than Sunday, as NASA noted.
"Fly baby girl, fly!!" project scientist Nicola Fox of Johns Hopkins University tweeted just before lift-off. She urged it to "go touch the sun!"
NASA
✔
@NASA
3-2-1… and we have liftoff of Parker #SolarProbe atop @ULAlaunch’s #DeltaIV Heavy rocket. Tune in as we broadcast our mission to “touch” the Sun: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1LyGBQjABdbKN
3:34 PM - Aug 12, 2018
11.5K
6,094 people are talking about this
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Protected by a revolutionary new carbon heat shield and other high-tech wonders, the spacecraft will zip past Venus in October.
That will set up the first solar encounter in November.
Altogether, the Parker probe will make 24 close approaches to the sun on the seven-year, $1.5 billion undertaking.
Space probe's 91-year-old namesake attends launch
Eugene Parker attends a news conference
PHOTO: The spacecraft is named after astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who proposed the existence of solar wind 60 years ago. (AP: Kim Shiflett/NASA)
For the second straight day, thousands of spectators jammed the launch site in the middle of the night as well as surrounding towns, including 91-year-old astrophysicist Eugene Parker, for whom the spacecraft is named.
He proposed the existence of solar wind — a steady, supersonic stream of particles blasting off the sun — 60 years ago.
Parker Solar Probe in a clean room at Astrotech Space Operations
PHOTO: The Parker Solar Probe is the size of a small car and weighs well under a ton. (AP: Whitman/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA)
It was the first time NASA named a spacecraft after someone still alive, and Parker wasn't about to let it take off without him.
"I'm just so glad to be here with him," said NASA's science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen.
"Frankly, there's no other name that belongs on this mission."
It was the first rocket launch ever witnessed by Parker, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago.
He came away impressed, saying it was like looking at the Taj Mahal for years in photos and then beholding "the real thing" in India.
"I really have to turn from biting my nails in getting it launched, to thinking about all the interesting things which I don't know yet and which will be made clear, I assume, over the next five or six or seven years," Parker said on NASA TV.
The Delta IV Heavy rocket thundered into the pre-dawn darkness, thrilling onlookers for miles around.
NASA needed the mighty 23-story rocket, plus a third stage, to get the Parker probe — the size of a small car and well under a ton — racing toward the sun.
From Earth, it is 150 million kilometres to the sun, and the Parker probe will be within 4 per cent of that distance. That will be seven times closer than any previous spacecraft.
Parker will start shattering records this fall. On its very first brush with the sun, it will come within 25 million kilometres, easily beating the current record set by NASA's Helios 2 spacecraft in 1976.
By the time Parker gets to its 22nd orbit of the sun, it will be even deeper into the corona and traveling at a record-breaking 690,000 kilometres per hour.
Nothing from Planet Earth has ever hit that kind of speed.
Even Ms Fox has difficulty comprehending the mission's derring-do.
"To me, it's still mind-blowing," she said. "Even I still go, really? We're doing that?"
Media player: "Space" to play, "M" to mute, "left" and "right" to seek.
VIDEO: NASA details how it plans to touch the sun (Image supplied: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory) (ABC News)
'Finally go up and touch the sun'
Mr Zurbuchen considers the sun the most important star in our universe — it's ours, after all — and so this is one of NASA's big-time strategic missions.
By better understanding the sun's life-giving and sometimes violent nature, Earthlings can better protect satellites and astronauts in orbit, and power grids on the ground, he noted.
In today's tech-dependent society, everyone stands to benefit.
With this mission, scientists hope to unlock the many mysteries of the sun, a commonplace yellow dwarf star around 4.5 billion years old.
Illustration of solar space probes planned timeline
INFOGRAPHIC: The space probe will use Venus to help control its trajectory and speed. (Supplied: NASA)
Among the puzzlers: Why is the corona hundreds of times hotter than the surface of the sun and why is the sun's atmosphere continually expanding and accelerating, as the University of Chicago's Mr Parker accurately predicted in 1958?
"The only way we can do that is to finally go up and touch the sun," Mr Fox said.
"We've looked at it. We've studied it from missions that are close in, even as close as the planet Mercury. But we have to go there."
'I'll bet you 10 bucks it works'
Eugene Parker stand in front of the launch site with fellow astrophysicists
PHOTO: Astrophysicist Eugene Parker, centre, stands with NASA mission cheif Thomas Zurbuchen, left, and United Launch Alliance President and CEO Tory Bruno. (AP: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The spacecraft's heat shield will serve as an umbrella, shading the science instruments during the close, critical solar junctures.
Sensors on the spacecraft will make certain the heat shield faces the sun at the right times.
The spacecraft that will touch the Sun
Read more about the Parker Solar Probe and how it will survive getting closer to the sun than ever before.
If there's any tilting, the spacecraft will correct itself so nothing gets fried.
With a communication lag time of 8 minutes each way, the spacecraft must fend for itself at the sun. The Johns Hopkins flight controllers in Laurel, Maryland, will be too far away to help.
A mission to get close up and personal with our star has been on NASA's books since 1958.
The trick was making the spacecraft small, compact and light enough to travel at incredible speeds, while surviving the sun's punishing environment and the extreme change in temperature when the spacecraft is out near Venus.
Pause GIF0.3 MBSettings
GIF: Corona and solar wind Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Lisa Poje
"We've had to wait so long for our technology to catch up with our dreams," Mr Fox said.
"It's incredible to be standing here today."
More than 1 million names are aboard the spacecraft, submitted last spring by space enthusiasts, as well as photos of Mr Parker, the man, and a copy of his 1958 landmark paper on solar wind.
"I'll bet you 10 bucks it works," Mr Parker said.
The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket launches NASA's Parker Solar Probe to the sun from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 12, 2018
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2018/08/546.jpg
Scientists confirm water ice has been spotted at the moon's poles
The researchers believe that the water could be used as a resource for any long-term expeditions to the moon.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2018/08/441.jpg
A team of scientists has confirmed that water ice exists in the darkest and coldest parts of the moon's poles.
The team has "directly observed definitive evidence" of ice deposits on the surface of the moon using a scientific instrument that measures how molecules absorb light.
Led by Shuai Li of the University of Hawaii and Brown University, and including Richard Elphic from NASA's Ames Research Center, the team used data from NASA's "Moon Mineralogy Mapper" (M3) to spot the ice.
M3 is an instrument developed by NASA and placed aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which was launched in 2008 by the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Now, the researchers believe that if there is enough ice sitting at the surface of the moon - within the top few millimetres - the water could be accessible as a resource for expeditions.
https://news.sky.com/story/scientist...poles-11479083
It caused some excitement. High time to send a rover to check on the ground. But there is no move in that direction. Maybe they want to leave it to the Chinese.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luigi
Good find, would be the purest water known to Man, or might contain some unknown bacteria/pollutants that could lead to further research and a major rethink of what we thought we knew.
Amusing Pictures Ripped From The Net...
A photo taken from the International Space Station by the astronaut Ricky Arnold shows Hurricane Lane in the early morning hours near Hawaii on August 22, 2018
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2018/08/216.jpg
Pictures of large cloud formations from tropical storms are in the amazing category, really.
But note on the right side a really good photo of the Soyuz spaceship, with the orbital module, the service section and on top the reentry capsule also.
Hey TO, what's the current ETA of humans going to Mars? Still on track for the early 2020's?
Only yesterday Paul Wooster of SpaceX had a presentation at the Mars Society annual convention. He is the man at SpaceX responsible for planning Mars surface activities and facilities. He reconfirmed the plan laid out a year ago. 2 unmanned cargo BFS to Mars in 2022. 2 cargo and 2 crew BFS in 2024. But this time table is still very much aspirational. We will know more one year from now. By then the BFS, the ship is expected to do suborbital test flights. If they can meet this schedule, their aspiration becomes more realistic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Luigi
But even then there are so many difficulties to overcome that everybody expect some slips.
Fun fact on the side. I as a total lay man am sometimes in discussion with experts. I have maintained that despite the system being fully reusable I expect that the first ships, at least 2, probably 6, will never return to Earth and was much critisized for it. Yesterday Wooster for the first time confirmed my expectation. Sometimes the experts don't see the forest for all the trees. :) That does not change the fact though, that they know a hundred times more about these things than I do.