Posts tagged NASA

Video 63
Notes
Posted 4 months ago

In November, NASA launched the Mars Curiosity Rover, also known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). This video shows how it is going to gently touch down on the Martian surface. Curiosity is about the size of an SUV, so it needs a slightly gentler landing than Spirit and Opportunity’s slow bounce (which you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiEoGUHEobo from 1m onwards).

Later today, MSL’s spacecraft will perform some engine burns to properly target Gale Crater, the rover’s landing site.

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Posted 9 months ago

Nose to nose

Endeavour and Discovery, swapping places in the decommissioning process, passed each other by this week at the Kennedy Space Centre.

It’s a shame that these multi-billion dollar pieces of technology will never fly again, except on the back of NASA’s Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Looking forward to getting to see one in a museum, though.

More images here.

Quote 1998
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Posted 9 months ago

First of all, let’s clarify what the NASA budget is. Do you realize that the $850 billion dollar bailout, that sum of money is greater than the entire 50-year running budget of NASA?

And so when someone says, “We don’t have enough money for this space probe,” I’m asking, no, it’s not that you don’t have enough money, it’s that the distribution of money that you’re spending is warped in some way that you are removing the only thing that gives people something to dream about tomorrow.

You remember the 60s and 70s. You didn’t have to go more than a week before there’s an article in Life magazine, “The Home of Tomorrow,” “The City of Tomorrow,” “Transportation of Tomorrow”. All of that ended in the 1970s. After we stopped going to the Moon, it all ended. We stopped dreaming.

And so I worry that the decision that Congress makes doesn’t factor in the consequences of those decisions on tomorrow. Tomorrow’s gone. They’re playing for the quarterly report, they’re playing for the next election cycle, and that is mortgaging the actual future of this nation, and the rest of the world is going to pass us by.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (via david)

(Source: kateoplis)

via david
Photo 82
Notes
Posted 9 months ago
ckck: Still from a video of Apollo 16’s Lunar Module Orion taking off from the moon on April 22nd, 1972. Whenever I see this, I always think it looks like a party on the moon. I think it’s actually just an artefact of the camera. All the debris kicked off from the ascent module’s booster move so fast, it seems to be caught in different “passes” of the camera, so the red, green and blue elements are seen as clearly separate. There’s a big chunk going to the right of the module, heading off the screen, and you can see it caught in all three colours. Also, it’s worth noting how much easier it is to make orbit from the moon. On Earth, a three-man capsule needs a big rocket with a dedicated launch pad underneath it to get to orbit, with months of preparation. Here, the launch pad is the fragile landing legs of the Lunar Module, and a single small engine is enough to get the ascent module up into orbit.

ckck:

Still from a video of Apollo 16’s Lunar Module Orion taking off from the moon on April 22nd, 1972.

Whenever I see this, I always think it looks like a party on the moon. I think it’s actually just an artefact of the camera. All the debris kicked off from the ascent module’s booster move so fast, it seems to be caught in different “passes” of the camera, so the red, green and blue elements are seen as clearly separate. There’s a big chunk going to the right of the module, heading off the screen, and you can see it caught in all three colours.

Also, it’s worth noting how much easier it is to make orbit from the moon. On Earth, a three-man capsule needs a big rocket with a dedicated launch pad underneath it to get to orbit, with months of preparation. Here, the launch pad is the fragile landing legs of the Lunar Module, and a single small engine is enough to get the ascent module up into orbit.

via ckck
Photo 8
Notes
Posted 10 months ago
T-38 training jets, and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft overfly OV-101 Enterprise, at Edwards Air Force base. Zoom

T-38 training jets, and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft overfly OV-101 Enterprise, at Edwards Air Force base.

Photo 121
Notes
Posted 10 months ago
planetpic: Space Shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center July 21, 2011 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Atlantis was the shuttle final mission for NASA, ending the 30 years of the shuttle program.  (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Revolutionary. Complicated. Adaptable. Flawed. Indispensable. Just plain cool. Those are a few ways I would describe the space shuttle. Very sad to see its time pass. Zoom

planetpic:

Space Shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center July 21, 2011 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Atlantis was the shuttle final mission for NASA, ending the 30 years of the shuttle program.  (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Revolutionary. Complicated. Adaptable. Flawed. Indispensable. Just plain cool.

Those are a few ways I would describe the space shuttle. Very sad to see its time pass.

via planetpic
Text 4
Notes
Posted 10 months ago

STS-135

Space shuttle Atlantis will be making her final ascent today, weather permitting. Watch the action here in HD via UStream. Launch is scheduled for 1126 EDT, 1526 GMT. Weather is currently at 30% go, meaning there’s every chance this launch could be taking place sometime over the weekend.

If you’ve been living under a rock, or are not a space nerd, this is the final launch of the US Space Shuttle program.

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Posted 12 months ago

Endeavour: A round 25

Endeavour is being rolled back to an orbiter processing facility after completing her 25th and final mission.

The US sections of the ISS are now complete, and the alpha magnetic spectrometer (AMS), the main reason this mission was approved, is working great. Other mission highlights included a chat with the Pope, the installation of another Express Logistics Carrier, and a couple of chats with American schools.

The process of removing Endeavour’s critical systems and engines has begun, but instead of testing and reinstalling them, Endeavour will be sent to California for museum display.

Endeavour is the newest of the space shuttle fleet, constructed to replace the lost Challenger. Structural spares from Discovery and Atlantis’ construction were used to reduce costs. Her first launch was in 1992.

Endeavour's final landing. (NASA, Image of the Day)

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Posted 1 year ago

Discovery has flown her last

39 missions, including three return-to-flight missions, the deployment of Hubble, Ulysses, and three vital TDRS satellites vital for keeping in constant communication with orbiting spacecraft : that’s just a tiny part of the legacy of Discovery, NASA’s oldest remaining orbiter.

And today, at 1557GMT, her wheels made contact with the runway at Kennedy Space Center for the last time. The spot where her nose wheels came to rest has been recorded in preparation for the placement of a marker alongside the runway showing where she came to rest for the last time.

The process of decommissioning now begins, where her main engines will be removed, and the orbiter herself will eventually be displayed at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Discovery's final crew. Credit: NASA TV

This is the beginning of the end of the shuttle program, with only two more missions left, one each for Endeavour and Atlantis. I’ve already covered a brief history of Atlantis during her first “final” mission last year (STS-135 has since been added to the manifest as a full mission). I’ll post one for Discovery in the coming days. Until then, keep an eye on NASA TV for the rollout of Endeavour tomorrow.

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Posted 1 year ago

Apollo 1: 44 years ago today

The Apollo 1 astronauts pose in a photo that supposedly expressed their concern about the reliability of the command module. Source: NASA

The Apollo 1 astronauts pose in a photo that supposedly expressed their concern about the reliability of the command module.

NASA lost its first astronauts on this day in 1967. Roger Chaffee, Gus Grisson and Ed White died in a fire during a test of the Apollo command module.

During the test, the module was pressurised with pure Oxygen, as it would be during the flight. The increased pressure was partially intended to prevent the hatch from being opened in any way. However, a spark from some unshielded wiring inside the capsule caused a fire to break out. The oxygen-rich air allowed the fire to spread rapidly. The heat increased the pressure inside the capsule further, making it impossible to open the hatch. Communication with the capsule was lost with 17 seconds of the fire breaking out.

The astronaut’s bodies were initially unable to be recovered. The extreme heat melted the their space suits, fusing them to the capsule.

Substandard plumbing and wiring, as well as the use of a pure oxygen atmosphere contributed to the accident. The Apollo 1 fire was the catalyst for NASA to rethink the design of the Apollo command module, as well as its own decision making and design policies.

It would be 19 years and one day later before another group of astronauts would lose their lives in a NASA spacecraft.