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Category: space travel – Page 140

The launch of Artemis I is within touching distance.

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is almost ready for launch. The U.S. space agency’s big new rocket reached Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at approximately 07:30 am EDT after a 10-hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).

NASA recently announced an August 29 launch date for its Artemis I mission, which will see SLS launch the agency’s Orion capsule on a trip to the moon and back. This came after the space agency successfully completed a much-delayed wet dress rehearsal in June, during which it filled SLS with fuel and performed a simulated countdown that stopped just short of launch.

Around 7:30 a.m. EDT the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission arrived atop Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a nearly 10-hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Continue reading “Artemis I Moon Rocket Arrives at Launch Pad Ahead of Historic Mission” | >

It’s happening.

Historically, Launch Complex B has been used to launch missions to the Moon, including Apollo 10, which involved an orbital flight around the Moon.

When will Artemis I launch?

If all goes well in the next 12 days, the countdown to liftoff will begin on Monday, August 29, as early as 8:33 a.m. Eastern. NASA’s engineers will have a two-hour window for launch that morning, so it is possible the rocket could be on the pad as late as 10:30 a.m. Eastern that day before take off.

Continue reading “Behold! NASA’s Artemis I is on the launch pad, ready for the Moon” | >

Arrays of lasers can be used to push light weight solar sails to other stars. This has been funded with over $100 millon and it builds upon the technology of the $600 billion laser and photonics industry. A recent paper looks at how different technological improvements will make it more feasible and improve the costs. Integrated photonics and mass production of most of the modular systems will be fundamentally necessary to afford the full-scale realization of this vision. Researchers have derived an analytical cost model which is driven by the fundamental physics of the proposed system. This allows us to make economically informed decisions and create a logical path forward to interstellar flight.

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We’re talking fuels and fertilizers required for the development of life-support systems on the Red Planet.

In 2015, Vasco Guerra, from the University of Lisbon, happened to attend a lecture by Professor Dava Newman, director of the MIT Media Lab and a former deputy administrator of NASA, on space exploration and the forthcoming NASA missions. Back then, Guerra was leading a project on plasma reforming of carbon dioxide on Earth — how CO2 could be a potential raw material to produce fuels with the help of green energy.

Scientists have been working on plasma technologies to split CO2 into oxygen and carbon monoxide, primarily prompted by the persistent problems of climate change. international team of researchers have introduced a plasma-based method that could convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and produce fuels on Mars.

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Wikimedia Commons.

The Elon Musk space company may be popular for ferrying astronauts and cargo missions on its reusable rockets, but its satellite internet services have also made a mark in recent times. When Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, it also tried to break the communication chain inside the country by attacking its fiber optic network. However, SpaceX’s terminals were flown in, and connectivity was restored in a matter of days.

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SpaceX ignited engines on both the first and second stages of its Starship launch system on Wednesday, signaling that it is getting closer to a test flight of the massive rocket later this year.

On Monday evening at 5:20 pm local time in South Texas, engineers ignited a single Raptor engine on the Super Heavy booster that serves as the rocket’s first stage. This is the first time the company has conducted a static fire test of the booster, which will ultimately be powered by 33 Raptor rocket engines.

About three hours later, on a separate mount at its “Starbase” facility in Texas, SpaceX ignited two engines on the Starship upper stage of the rocket. The company later shared a short video on Twitter of the evidently successful test.

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I find the following interesting because Firefly Aerospace is just a few miles from my house plus it is an example of one more company pulling out of Russia for good. Russia’s economy will be much weaker by the time this war is over and their space industry will be decimated.

Northrop Grumman is moving production of the engines and structures for its Antares rockets to the U.S. from Russia and Ukraine, a move that will have cascading effects throughout the space industry.

The aerospace giant said Monday it will move Antares production fully to the U.S. through a partnership with Texas-based Firefly Aerospace. Northrop Grumman had purchased Russian RD-181 engines to power the Antares 230+ series, and the rocket’s main body was manufactured by Ukraine’s Yuzhmash State Enterprise.

The new arrangement mainly resolves the break in Antares manufacturing caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. But in addition to salvaging the Antares rocket series, the cost-sharing deal also helps ensure NASA’s cargo missions to the International Space Station keep flying regularly and brings muscle to Firefly’s plan to build a larger rocket called Beta.

Continue reading “Northrop Grumman moves Antares rocket work to U.S. from Russia and Ukraine with Firefly partnership” | >

South Korea’s Moon mission

The mission will circle the Moon for about a year at about 100 kilometers above the surface, searching for possible landing sites for future missions, conducting scientific research on the lunar environment, and testing space internet technology, South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT said in a statement. This mission will help prepare the country’s small space program for future exploration, as they hope to send a lander to the Moon by 2030.

If it successfully goes into orbit at the Moon, South Korea will become the seventh nation to undertake lunar exploration.

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