almost lucid thoughts

space-culture:

Just over 46 years ago (April 24, 1967) cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed on landing after returning from a 1 day trip in Earth orbit. He was the first person killed during a space mission. His flight, Soyuz-1, was marred by trouble from the moment he entered orbit. Unfortunately, a lot of speculation, rumor, and outright crazy theories still characterize popular notions about this terribly tragic mission. Komarov’s death is like the JFK assassination in U.S. culture; everybody has a theory about why it happened and no one believes the official version. Actually the ‘official’ version is probably the most plausible and likely account. Basically, there were serious problems in the packing of his parachutes (both the primary and the backup chutes) and they both failed to perform properly upon deployment when the capsule was falling through the atmosphere after reentry. Without a working parachute, the capsule smashed into the Earth about 65 kilometers east of the town of Orsk, a town near the southern tip of the Ural Mountain range in southern Russia. The capsule basically flattened like a pancake and exploded upon impact (due to 30 kilograms of hydrogen peroxide which was to have been used for the actual landing but was never used). Komarov may have already been unconscious by the time of impact although we will never know exactly. There was a tape recorder on board to record the cosmonaut during reentry but the tape recorder was found completely melted. Komarov’s body was basically burned to a pulp.

Komarov was 40 years old at the time of his death and probably one of the most accomplished men in cosmonaut corps. He had already flown on the very risky Voskhod mission in 1964 and was the first cosmonaut to fly a second space mission. He was survived by his wife, Valentina, and two children Yevgeniy and Irina who were 16 and 9 at the time of their father’s death.

For a detailed account of his mission, see here [pdf].

For a recent interview with his daughter (in Russian), see here.

space-culture

Virgin Galactic demonstrates it has the Right Stuff

SpaceshipTwo, Virgin Galactic’s rocket powered space vehicle, broke the speed of sound in its first rocket-powered test flight. The test, conducted by teams from Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic, officially marks Virgin Galactic’s entrance into the final phase of vehicle testing prior to commercial service from Spaceport America in New Mexico. Virgin Galactic is the world’s first commercial spaceline owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s aabar Investments PJS.

“The first powered flight of Virgin Spaceship Enterprise was without any doubt, our single most important flight test to date,” said Virgin Galactic Founder Sir Richard Branson, who was on the ground in Mojave to witness the occasion. “For the first time, we were able to prove the key components of the system, fully integrated and in flight. Today’s supersonic success opens the way for a rapid expansion of the spaceship’s powered flight envelope, with a very realistic goal of full space flight by the year’s end. We saw history in the making today and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone involved.”

The test began at 7.02am local time when SpaceShipTwo took off from Mojave Air and Space Port mated to WhiteKnightTwo, Virgin Galactic’s carrier aircraft. Piloting SpaceShipTwo were Mark Stucky, pilot, and Mike Alsbury, co-pilot, who are test pilots for Scaled Composites, which built SpaceShipTeo for Virgin Galactic. At the WK2 controls were Virgin Galactic’s Chief Pilot Dave Mackay, assisted by Clint Nichols and Brian Maisler, co-pilot and flight test engineer, respectively, for Scaled Composites.

Upon reaching 14,326 metres altitude and approximately 45 minutes into the flight, SpaceShipTwo was released from WhiteKnightTwo. After cross-checking data and verifying stable control, the pilots triggered ignition of the rocket motor, causing the main oxidizer valve to open and igniters to fire within the fuel case. At this point, SpaceShipTwo was propelled forward and upward to a maximum altitude of 16,764 metres. The entire engine burn lasted 16 seconds, as planned. During this time, SpaceShipTwo went supersonic, achieving Mach 1.2.

“We partnered with Virgin Galactic several years ago with the aspiration to transform and commercialize access to space for the broader public,” said His Excellency Khadem Al Qubaisi, Chairman of aabar Investments PJS. “Today’s test is another key milestone in realizing that aspiration. Our partnership goes from strength to strength, and is an excellent example of aabar’s desire to participate in the development of world class technologies that are commercially viable and strategically important, both for the company, its shareholders, and for Abu Dhabi.”

The entire rocket-powered flight test lasted just over 10 minutes, culminating in a smooth landing for SpaceShipTwo in Mojave at approximately 8am local time.

“The rocket motor ignition went as planned, with the expected burn duration, good engine performance and solid vehicle handling qualities throughout,” said Virgin Galactic President & CEO George Whitesides. “The successful outcome of this test marks a pivotal point for our program. We will now embark on a handful of similar powered flight tests, and then make our first test flight to space.”

In the coming months, the Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites test team will expand the spaceship’s powered flight envelope culminating in full space flight, which the companies anticipate will take place before the end of 2013.

“I’d like to congratulate the entire team,” said President of Scaled Composites Kevin Mickey. “This milestone has been a long time coming and it’s only through the hard work of the team and the tremendous support of Virgin Galactic that we have been able to witness this important milestone. We look forward to all our upcoming tests and successes.”

sagansense:

Swiss Company to Launch Robotic Mini-Shuttle in 2017

A Swiss company has unveiled an ambitious plan to build a privately built robotic rocket plane by 2017 in order launch satellites into orbit.

The company Swiss Space Systems (S3) plans to loft the unmanned suborbital shuttle from the back of an Airbus A300 jetliner to serve as a commercial satellite launch platform. The Payerne, Switzerland-based firm unveiled the satellite launch concept on March 13 and is expected to reveal the supplier of its shuttle rocket engine in April.

“S3 aims to develop, build, certify and operate suborbital space shuttles dedicated to launching small satellites, enabling space access to be made more democratic thanks to an original system with launching costs up to four times less than at present,” the company announced in a statement. “The first test launches will be carried out by the end of 2017.”

S3 officials said they plan to build a mock up of the unmanned mini-shuttle by 2014, then open the a commercial spaceport in Payerne in 2015. The first flightworthy spacecraft prototype is slated to be built by in 2016, with the initial test flights following a year later. If all ges well, commercial satellite launches would begin in 2018. [Photos: Swiss Robotic Mini-Shuttle Concept Unveiled]

The unmanned satellite launches may be just the beginning, S3 officials said.

“Our first priority is the launch of small satellites until 2018,” Gregoire Loretan, S3’s head of communications, told SPACE.com in an email. “And the goal for S3 is to establish certification process and standards to help the development of manned flight afterwards.”

A new rocket plane rises
According to S3’s flight plan, the company plans to launch its robot rocket plane from an altitude of about 33,000 feet (10,000 meters). After separating from the carrier plane, the rocket plane will fire a liquid oxygen and kerosene rocket engine to reach an altitude of nearly 50 miles (80 kilometers).

S3 officials have dubbed the vehicle a space plane, though technically the rocket-powered craft will not fly high enough to cross the recognized the boundary of space, about 62 miles (100 km). But the 50-mile target altitude is high enough to launch a satellite into orbit. [Space Plane Evolution Explained (Infographic)]

At that height, the robotic shuttle will open its cargo bay doors to deploy a satellite equipped with its own rocket engine, a third stage, to launch the 550-pound (250 kilograms) satellite into an orbit about 434 miles (700 km) above Earth. The mini-shuttle should then glide back to Earth and land at its home spaceport.

The total development cost for the launch system is estimated to be about 200 million Swiss Francs, or $211 million. Another 50 million Francs ($53 million) will pay for a Swiss spaceport, S3 officials said.

“The overall budget is 250 millions [Swiss Francs], this includes one spaceport. A large part of this budget is already covered by private investors and our partners,” Loretan said.

The S3 rocket plane will be able to launch small satellites, as well as tiny cubesats, he added. Loretan also states that the shuttle’s satellite dispenser is “adaptative,” meaning S3 can mix the types of spacecrafts the vehicle will launch during a mission.

S3 already has four launch agreements with one of its partner organizations, Belgium’s Von Karman Institute, a fluid dynamics research center. The cost per launch is predicted to be $10.5 million.

Loretan added that details of the satellite release procedure are still being developed.

“We are discussing with a robotic company for the opening of the payload bay and the satellite release mechanism. At the moment, the solution is not defined,” he said.

Partners building on experience
S3 has teamed up with several industry partners for the suborbital rocket plane project. They include the Belgian aerospace engineering company Sonaca; the UK engineering firm Meggit; the Belgian technology firm Space Application Systems (SAS; Spain’s Deimos Space aerospace company; French aerospace specialist Dassault Aviation; and Belgium’s Von Karman Institute.

“These partners, technical advisors and sponsors all contribute to our project, with technical support, material support, financial support, human resources and the heritage of already developed and certified technologies,” Loretan said.

The Swiss watch manufacturer Breitlingis S3’s main sponsor and has a historical association with spaceflight. A Breitling watch was worn in space by NASA Mercury 7 astronaut Scott Carpenter during his 1962 Aurora 7 orbital flight.

For the mini-shuttle, Deimos is working on guidance, navigation and control and mission analysis; Sonaca, the vehicle’s structures; Meggitt is providing the sensors; SAS, the software; and Dassault Aviation, the aviation systems.

Dassault officials said “the S3 project is directly derived” from its hypersonic reusable aircraft project VEHRA, which was designed to launch small satellites of up to 300kg into low-Earth orbit.

Video animations of a VEHRA space plane being launched by an Airbus airliner have been available online since at least 2007. In those simulations, the VEHRA craft are seen using a robotic arm to deploy payloads.

“We have been collaborating with Dassault since 2005,” Loretan said. “S3 launching system concept is based on VEHRA’s concept, but the shape, structure, propulsion engine, systems architecture , third stage development, mechanization and robotics, software and systems are all different.”

Certification and landing site hurdles
While Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, the country is a member state of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the EU’s version of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

“We want to certify our launching systems, and we are already working in collaboration with the EASA rule makers for these new rules (we already took part to several workshops and meetings in Brussel),” Loretan explained. “This is a priority for our company to invest in the development of these rules.”

Compared to the United States, continental Europe is a densely populated area. While the A300 could launch the S3 mini-shuttle from a site over the Atlantic Ocean or other unpopulated region, the rocket plane’s glide range is much shorter than that of its carrier aircraft, so returning to continental Europe after a satellite launch may not be possible.

To solve that problem, S3 officials have reached out to the government of Morocco and Spaceport Malaysia as partners. The Swiss company is working with them to have safe launch areas.

“Morocco wants to build a spaceport in their country, and this is definitely an interesting location to have our first flights,” Loretan said. “We will sign a [memorandum of understanding] with this country as we already did with Malaysia, with the same scope of collaboration. We want to operate [in Malaysia] by 2018, but we could also make flight tests over there earlier.”

But before any S3 launches liftoff from Morocco or Malaysia, S3 will develop its $53 million spaceport at Payerne airport. S3 and its 25 employees are located in Payerne city, which is in a western area of Switzerland, about 30 miles east of France.

“We are already discussing this [spaceport] project with local and federal authorities, and we plan to pursue these discussions in the next couple of months,” Loretan said.

Because of its large local populace, flights from Payerne would only be during civilian air traffic hours. Typically in Europe that is between 6 a.m. and midnight, Loretan added.

50 years of space exploration - incredible infographic

This is an amazing infographic. Not sure where it originated.

zenpencils:

CHRIS HADFIELD An astronaut’s advice

A great pictorial on ISS Commander Hadfield’s career advise - brilliant and so straight forward!

zenpencils.com

Moon mining a step closer with new lunar soil simulant

By Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation

Australian researchers have developed a substance that looks and behaves like soil from the moon’s surface and can be mixed with polymers to create ‘lunar concrete’, a finding that may help advance plans to construct safe landing pads and mines on the moon.

Valuable rare earth minerals, hydrogen, oxygen, platinum and the non-radioactive nuclear fusion fuel Helium-3 (He-3) are abundant on the moon. NASA and other space agencies have shown interest in lunar mining but the US is yet to ratify a 1984 treaty that would strictly regulate moon resource extraction.

However, even if moon mining was allowed, lunar conditions are so different to Earthly conditions that new machinery may have to be invented to develop resources found there.

Furthermore, the cost of transporting materials made on Earth would be prohibitive, forcing scientists to come up with ways to build certain equipment using material only found on the moon’s surface.

A research team led by Dr Leonhard Bernold, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of New South Wales, has created a new lunar soil simulant that closely resembles samples brought back by the Apollo astronauts.

Dr Bernold said such a simulant is essential to test lunar mining systems on Earth and may help researchers develop ways to create a waterless concrete using lunar dust, a component of the moon surface material known as regolith.

“We now know a lot about the mechanical properties of the regolith on the moon so we can create something that simulates it. We have tried to match it as close as we can,” said Dr Bernold.

Dr Bernold’s lunar soil simulant is made up primarily of very fine basalt particles taken from a quarry in Kulnura on the NSW Central Coast.

“These particles are a byproduct of crushing the basalt to serve aggregates for making concrete or asphalt, but are too tiny to be useful and have to be thrown away,” said Dr Bernold.

“On the moon, those small particles are abundant, having being created by small meteorites hitting the lunar surface at high speed over millions of years, thus breaking larger stones down into tiny particles.

As well as providing a substance on which Earthly mining techniques can be tested, the simulant soil can also be mixed with polymers to create a lunar concrete, said Dr Bernold.

“So, for example, we can find ways to create an in-situ resource utilisation material to build a landing pad for rockets on the moon. When rockets are landing, they blow away fine soil and it’s like a sandblaster blasting everything around,” he said, adding that a proper landing pad on the moon would reduce the dangerous sandblaster effect.

“Everything we ship from Earth will cost a lot of money, so we want to do as much as we can from the material that’s available there on the moon in abundance.”

Dr Bernold, who said NASA had shown interest in his findings, is presenting his simulant this week at the Off Earth Mining Forum hosted by UNSW.

Professor Andrew Dempster, Director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at the University of New South Wales said a lunar soil simulant would help researchers better understand the properties of moon dust.

“The main value in this work is to do with the soils on the moon being so different to the type of soil on the earth and the type of soil most mining machinery is dealing with,” he said.

International treaties and special space laws would be needed to work out who had ownership rights to material mined from the moon, said Dr Dempster.

“I understand there’s an environmental argument around it too but if you were to mine the moon or an asteroid or other planets, there’s not going to be the environmental impact that local mining would have on the local biosphere. It’s a way of mining such that the mining process itself doesn’t produce any negative environmental impact,” he said.

“Obviously, however, you need to produce a lot of energy to go and do it.”

Students working with Dr Bernold are studying methods for harvesting and storing solar heat energy on the moon in a ‘lunar battery’ using materials found on the moon.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article.

Interstellar travel: how to spot a ‘starman’ going by

by Kevin Orrman-Rossiter

Massive objects moving at near light speeds do not occur naturally in the universe as we know it. If we detect such objects it is a reasonable to assume they are artificial artifacts from advanced intelligent life. This according to Garcia-Escartin and Chamorro-Posada, authors of a recent paper, is a low-cost, sure-fire way of searching for intelligent life outside earth.

Searching for life beyond earth is a grand and varied enterprise.

For a start we can look for exoplanets that fall inside the habitable zone of a star. A planet found in this zone may fulfill the requirements for life: liquid water, energy, elements and other nutrients, and appropriate physical conditions. Though we have located many exoplanets in recent times they are far from earth - many light years distant. For example one star system, Gliese 581, is 20.3 light years away (192,048,720,000,000 kilometres). With three planets in its habitable zone, we know nothing about conditions on them. The techniques used to find them can tell us nothing about their ecology - if any. being in a habitable zone does not guarantee life. It is only in recent years that we have realised how inhospitable Venus and Mars are to life - despite being in our habitable zone.

By looking for alien signals or transmissions, as in the SETI programme, we extend our search from ‘possible life’ to intelligent life. For advanced civilisations we look for artificial illumination or interstellar probes.

Let’s face it though, to know we are not alone will require quite good proof for most of us (apart from the misguided minority of UFO believers), and especially for the skeptical scientists.

The intriguing proposition of Garcia-Escartin and Chamorro-Posada is based on three ideas. The first is that anything travelling faster than 3.3% of light speed (5,935,890 kilometres per hour) is artificial. All known natural objects travel slower than this speed, as do our current space probes. This speed was chosen as it is the estimated speed of the nuclear propulsion ship proposed by Freeman Dyson in the Orion project. Although the propulsion technology is feasible today the technological and economic hurdle of creating such a craft is way beyond our current means. Although it is certainly not inconceivable to achieve such interstellar travel in the next 100 years.

You are possibly thinking about now; “Doesn’t the mass of an object increases massively as its speed approaches light speed?” You would be correct, this consequence of Einstein’s theory of special relativity is demonstrated quite satisfactorily in particle accelerators around the world. To cover this the authors next identify a consequence of relativity theory: relativistic effects amplify the light reflected from a body travelling at near light speed - in some key situations. Allowing for the detection of ‘small’ objects.

This brings in the authors third criteria. Interstellar travel will be from one star system to another. The reflected-light magnifying effect would be greatest for the cases where earth is almost in line with the departure stellar system and the destination stellar system.

The authors propose to limit the first search to star systems that are reasonably close to each other (no further than 10 light years apart) to maximise the probability of stellar travel opportunities. Considering that Gliese 581, for example, is greater than 20 light years distance from us, I suggest that this criteria is too limiting.

The paper is an interesting, if not compelling, proposition. The authors do calculate what size an artifact would need to be, travelling at their minimum speed (3.3% light speed), to be detected at the distance of one of our closer stellar neighbours. Could such an artifact be detected by the Hubble or James Webb space telescopes, for example? What is the probability of success of such an experiment, compared to say the SETI experiments?

One idea I did find interesting is by focusing on detecting light reflected from ships, we do not need to assume any intention by the interstellar travellers to communicate with us. The ‘signal’ is independent of alien psychology. It is also independent of propulsion technology - we aren’t looking for any ‘signature’ of any particular technology, known or unknown.

It is an interesting paper. I’m not sure they have presented a compelling enough case to convince a funding body - yet.

This article was first posted on Australian Science you can read it here.

for-all-mankind:

Exploration of the solar system: what we’ve built, where it’s going, and where it is.

vintagelunchboxarchive:

1969 The Astronauts Lunch Box (front)

What else would you carry your Moon Race playing cards in?

Distances Driven on Other Worlds (Infographic) by Karl Tate, SPACE.com Infographics Artist

Source Space.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

If you thought driving on Earth is a chore, you haven’t tried off-roading on another planet. So far, robotic rovers have reached out to the moon and Mars, with astronauts actually driving a lunar car on the moon during NASA’s Apollo program. Those missions amount to what could be the first interplanetary road race. See how the endurance drives on other worlds stack up in the SPACE.com infographic above.

Leading the pack is an oldie of a space mission: the Soviet-era Lunakhod 2. This huge moon rover drove 23 miles (37 kilometers) on the moon during its 1973 mission and is currently the world champion for off-world driving, winning the gold medal.

In second place with silver is NASA’s Apollo 17 moon rover, which was driven by astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in 1972. The astronauts drove 22.3 miles (35.89 km) during their mission, which was the last moon landing of NASA’s Apollo program.

The bronze medal for space driving goes to NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity, which has been driving across the plains of Meridiani Planum on the Red Planet since 2004. Opportunity has driven more than 22.03 miles (35.46 km) and is still going today.

The latest to enter the race is Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity, which is just getting started with only 0.4 mile (0.7 km) traveled so far.