NASA dixit:

"The unpiloted Russian ISS Progress 60 cargo craft arrived at the International Space Station July 5, carrying more than three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the Expedition 44 crewmembers on the orbital outpost. The Progress automatically docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment on the Russian segment of the station, two days after its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan."

Video credit: NASA / Roscosmos

Posted: 2015-07-05 15:11:55 GMT

NASA dixit:

"Carrying more than 6,100 pounds of food, fuel, and supplies for the International Space Station crew, the unpiloted ISS Progress 60 cargo craft launched at 12:55 a.m. EDT (10:55 p.m. local time in Baikonur) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. At the time of launch, the International Space Station was flying about 249 miles over northwestern Sudan, near the border with Egypt and Libya. Less than 10 minutes after launch, the resupply ship reached preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned. The Russian cargo craft will make 34 orbits of Earth during the next two days before docking to the orbiting laboratory at 3:13 a.m. Sunday, July 5. Beginning at 2:30 a.m."

Video credits: Roscosmos

Posted: 2015-07-04 15:42:08 GMT

NASA dixit:

"The SpaceX CRS-7 Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying a Dragon spacecraft on the seventh commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 10:21 a.m. EST. After liftoff, an anomaly occurred."

SpaceX:

"Following a nominal liftoff, Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown, resulting in loss of mission. Preliminary analysis suggests the vehicle experienced an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank approximately 139 seconds into flight. Telemetry indicates first stage flight was nominal and that Dragon remained healthy for some period of time following separation. Our teams are reviewing data to determine root cause and we will be able to provide more information following a thorough fault tree analysis."

NASA Administrator Statement on the Loss of SpaceX CRS-7

"We are disappointed in the loss of the latest SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. However, the astronauts are safe aboard the station and have sufficient supplies for the next several months. We will work closely with SpaceX to understand what happened, fix the problem and return to flight. The commercial cargo program was designed to accommodate loss of cargo vehicles. We will continue operation of the station in a safe and effective way as we continue to use it as our test bed for preparing for longer duration missions farther into the solar system.

A Progress vehicle is ready to launch July 3, followed in August by a Japanese HTV flight. Orbital ATK, our other commercial cargo partner, is moving ahead with plans for its next launch later this year.

SpaceX has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its first six cargo resupply missions to the station, and we know they can replicate that success. We will work with and support SpaceX to assess what happened, understand the specifics of the failure and correct it to move forward. This is a reminder that spaceflight is an incredible challenge, but we learn from each success and each setback. Today's launch attempt will not deter us from our ambitious human spaceflight program."

Video credits: NASA

Posted: 2015-07-01 18:37:36 GMT

SpaceX dixit:

"[...] These landing attempts move us toward our goal of producing a fully and rapidly reusable rocket system, which will dramatically reduce the cost of space transport.A jumbo jet costs about the same as one of our Falcon 9 rockets, but airlines don't junk a plane after a one-way trip from LA to New York. Yet when it comes to space travel, rockets fly only once—even though the rocket itself represents the majority of launch cost.

The Space Shuttle was technically reusable, but its giant fuel tank was discarded after each launch, and its side boosters parachuted into corrosive salt water every flight, beginning a long and involved process of retrieval and reprocessing. So, what if we could mitigate those factors by landing rockets gently and precisely on land? Refurbishment time and cost would be dramatically reduced.

Historically, most rockets have needed to use all of their available fuel in order to get their payload into space. SpaceX rockets were built from the beginning with reusability in mind—they have enough built-in fuel margin to deliver a Dragon to the space station and return the first-stage to Earth. That extra fuel is needed to reignite the engines a few times to slow the rocket down and ultimately land the first stage after it has sent the spacecraft on its way.

In addition to extra fuel, we’ve added a few critical features to our Falcon 9 first stage for reusability’s sake. Our rocket has small, foldable heat-resistant wings called grid fins needed for steering the first-stage as it plummets from the edge of space through Earth’s atmosphere, cold-gas thrusters on the top of the first-stage that are used to flip the rocket around as it begins its journey back to Earth, and strong but lightweight carbon fiber landing legs that deploy as it approaches touchdown. All of these systems, while built and programmed by humans, are totally automated once the rocket is launched—and are reacting and adjusting their behavior based on incoming, real-time data.

So, what have we learned from the most recent landing attempts?

The first attempt to land on a drone ship in the Atlantic was in January, and while we came close, the first stage prematurely ran out of the hydraulic fluid that is used to steer the small fins that help control the rocket’s descent. The vehicle has now been equipped with much more of that critical fluid for steering purposes.

Our second attempt was in April, and we came close to sticking this landing. Check out this previously unreleased, longer video from our tracking camera. It shows the stage’s descent through the atmosphere, when the vehicle is traveling faster than the speed of sound, all the way to touchdown.

That controlled descent was successful, but about 10 seconds before landing, a valve controlling the rocket’s engine power (thrust) temporarily stopped responding to commands as quickly as it should have. As a result, it throttled down a few seconds later than commanded, and—with the rocket weighing about 67,000 lbs and traveling nearly 200 mph at this point—a few seconds can be a very long time. With the throttle essentially stuck on “high” and the engine firing longer than it was supposed to, the vehicle temporarily lost control and was unable to recover in time for landing, eventually tipping over.

Last-second tilt aside, the landing attempt happened pretty much exactly as planned. Shortly after stage separation (when the second stage leaves the first stage behind and goes on to carry Dragon to orbit), cold gas thrusters fired to flip the stage to reorient it for reentry. Then, three engines lit for a “boostback burn” that slows the rocket and brings it toward the landing site.

The engines then re-lit to slow the stage for reentry through Earth’s atmosphere, and grid fins (this time with much more hydraulic fluid) extended to steer the lift produced by the stage. Our atmosphere is like molasses to an object traveling at Mach 4, and the grid fins are essential for landing with precision. The final landing burn ignited, and together the grid fins, cold gas thrusters and steerable engines controlled the vehicle, keeping the stage within 15 meters of its target trajectory throughout the landing burn. The vehicle’s legs deployed just before it reached our drone ship, “Just Read the Instructions”, where the stage landed within 10 meters of the target, albeit a bit too hard to stay upright.

Post-launch analysis has confirmed the throttle valve as the sole cause of this hard landing. The team has made changes to help prevent, and be able to rapidly recover from, similar issues for the next attempt, which will be on our next launch—the eighth Falcon 9 and Dragon cargo mission to the space station, currently scheduled for this Sunday.

Even given everything we’ve learned, the odds of succeeding on our third attempt to land on a drone ship (a new one named “Of Course I Still Love You”) are uncertain, but tune in here this Sunday as we try to get one step closer toward a fully and rapidly reusable rocket."

Credit: SpaceX

Posted: 2015-06-27 22:58:50 GMT

NASA dixit:

"The New Horizons mission will help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of the dwarf planet Pluto and by venturing deeper into the distant, mysterious Kuiper Belt – a relic of solar system formation. Following a January 2006 launch, New Horizons is currently about 2.95 billion miles from home; the spacecraft is healthy and all systems are operating normally. APL designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. SwRI leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2015-06-21 15:59:34 GMT

NASA dixit:

"At 6:20 a.m. June 11, NASA’s Terry Virts and Flight Engineers Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency) and Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos undocked their Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft from the International Space Station to return back to Earth and land in Kazakhstan at 9:43 a.m. (7:43 p.m. Kazakh time). Their return wraps up 199 days in space, during which they traveled more than 84 million miles since their launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Nov. 24. Their return date was delayed four weeks to allow Roscosmos to investigate the cause of the loss of the un-piloted Progress 59 cargo ship in late April."

Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

Posted: 2015-06-13 02:00:25 GMT

A tribute to Stanley Kubrick. To those of you who watched 2001: A Space Odyssey, this will look very familiar.

Credit: SpaceX

Posted: 2015-06-07 01:22:52 GMT

SpaceX dixit:

"This will be the first flight test of SpaceX’s revolutionary new launch abort system, and the odds of encountering delays or issues are high. Fortunately the test doesn’t need to be perfect to be valuable—our primary objective is to capture as much data as possible as the data captured here will be key in preparing Crew Dragon for its first human missions in 2017.

A Pad Abort Test is a trial run for a spacecraft’s launch abort system (sometimes called a launch escape system). This system is designed to quickly get the crew and spacecraft away from the rocket in the event of a potential failure. It is similar to an ejection seat for a fighter pilot, but instead of ejecting the pilot out of the spacecraft, the entire spacecraft is “ejected” away from the launch vehicle.

Previous launch abort systems have been powered by a rocket tower mounted on top of the spacecraft. During an emergency, the tower would ignite and essentially pull the spacecraft to safety. This works well while the spacecraft is on the launch pad and for a few minutes into ascent, but once the vehicle reaches a certain altitude, the system is no longer useful and must be discarded. SpaceX’s launch abort system, however, is integrated directly into the spacecraft. This means Crew Dragon will have launch escape capability from the launch pad all the way to orbit.

Instead of a separate rocket tower mounted on top of the spacecraft, SpaceX’s launch abort system leverages eight SuperDraco rocket engines built into the walls of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The SuperDracos are capable of producing 120,000 lbs of axial thrust in under a second, which results in transporting the Crew Dragon spacecraft nearly 100 meters (328 ft) in 2 seconds, and more than half a kilometer (1/3 mi) in just over 5 seconds."

Credit: SpaceX

Posted: 2015-05-15 00:28:10 GMT

NASA dixit:

"Russian flight controllers are continuing to troubleshoot issues with the ISS Progress 59 cargo craft that was launched at 3:09 a.m. EDT (1:09 p.m.local time in Baikonur) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft made another pass over Russian ground stations and continued to experience telemetry problems regarding the deployment of navigational antennas and the pressurization of the manifolds in the propulsion system. Flight controllers also confirmed that the vehicle had entered into a slow spin and have issued commands to attempt to control it."

Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

Posted: 2015-04-29 01:48:15 GMT

Rocket science is hard!

Credit: SpaceX

Posted: 2015-04-22 02:44:15 GMT

SpaceX dixit:

"After six successful missions to the International Space Station, including five official resupply missions for NASA, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are set to liftoff from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, for their sixth official Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission to the orbiting lab. Liftoff is targeted for Monday April 13, 2015, at 4:33pm EDT. If all goes as planned, Dragon will arrive at the station approximately two days after liftoff. Dragon is expected to return to Earth approximately five weeks later for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of southern California. Dragon is the only operational spacecraft capable of returning a significant amount of supplies back to Earth, including experiments."

Credits: SpaceX

Posted: 2015-04-15 00:41:16 GMT

NASA dixit:

"After launching earlier in the day in their Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 43 Flight Engineer Scott Kelly of NASA, Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) docked at the International Space Station on March 27 U.S. time (March 28 Kazakh time) following a four-orbit, six-hour rendezvous."

Credit: NASA / Roscosmos

Posted: 2015-03-29 00:37:59 GMT

NASA dixit:

"Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Commander Barry Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts of NASA conducted a spacewalk Feb. 21 to begin rigging cables and other equipment as the precursor to the installation of new docking ports to which U.S. commercial crew vehicles will link up to in the years ahead. The docking ports, called International Docking Adapters, will be delivered to the station later this year on SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicles for attachment to Pressurized Mating Adapters 2 and 3. The spacewalk was the 185th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the second in Wilmore’s career and the first for Virts."

"Working outside the International Space Station for the second time in four days, Expedition 42 Commander Barry Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts of NASA [...] completed the deployment of the final cables to provide power and data for the new docking adapters that will begin arriving at the station later this year."

"Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Commander Barry Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts of NASA conducted their third spacewalk [...] to install antennas and communications gear that will be used to provide rendezvous and navigational information to visiting vehicles approaching the complex in the future, including the new U.S. commercial crew vehicles. Wilmore and Virts installed about 400 feet of cable along the truss of the station as part of the new Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles (C2V2) system."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2015-03-03 02:17:32 GMT

NASA dixit:

"The unpiloted Russian ISS Progress 58 cargo ship launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Feb. 17 to deliver more than three tons of food, fuel and supplies to the residents aboard the International Space Station. Six hours after it launched, the Progress coasted in for an automatic docking to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module where it will remain until late August. The Progress was loaded with 1,940 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water and 3,333 pounds of spare parts and hardware for use on the orbital laboratory."

Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

Posted: 2015-02-20 20:32:59 GMT

ESA dixit:

"Time-lapse movie showing the departure of ATV Georges Lemaître from the ISS on Saturday, 14 February 2015."

Credit: NASA/ESA

Posted: 2015-02-15 18:21:43 GMT

NASA dixit:

"After spending a month at the International Space Station, the U.S. unpiloted SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft was unberthed from the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module and released from the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm Feb. 10 by Expedition 42 Flight Engineers Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency and Terry Virts of NASA, headed for a deorbit and parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Loaded with almost two tons of vital scientific experiments and station hardware, Dragon was aiming for a splashdown about 259 statute miles southwest of Long Beach, California, to complete the fifth commercial resupply mission to the station for SpaceX under its contract with NASA. Dragon was launched to the station atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, Jan. 10 and arrived at the station Jan. 12."

Credit: NASA / SpaceX

Posted: 2015-02-11 13:11:56 GMT

SpaceX dixit:

"When Falcon Heavy lifts off later this year, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. Thrust at liftoff is equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft operating simultaneously."

Credit: SpaceX

Posted: 2015-02-05 20:04:21 GMT

They will always be remembered...

Apollo 1 (January 27, 1967)
Virgil "Gus" Grissom - Commander, Edward White - Command Pilot, Roger Chaffee - Pilot

STS-51 L (January 28, 1986)
Francis R. Scobee - Commander, Michael J. Smith - Pilot, Judith A. Resnik - Mission Specialist 1, Ellison Onizuka - Mission Specialist 2, Ronald E. McNair - Mission Specialist 3, Gregory B. Jarvis - Payload Specialist 1, Sharon Christa McAuliffe - Payload Specialist 2

STS-107 (February 1, 2003)
Rick D. Husband - Commander, William C. McCool - Pilot, Michael P. Anderson - Payload Commander, David M. Brown - Mission Specialist 1, Kalpana Chawla - Mission Specialist 2, Laurel Clark - Mission Specialist 3, Ilan Ramon - Payload Specialist 1

Posted: 2015-01-28 17:19:15 GMT

NASA dixit:

"SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and its unpiloted Dragon cargo craft launched in pre-dawn darkness from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Jan. 10, bound on a two-day journey to deliver more than two tons of supplies and science experiments to the Expedition 42 crew aboard the International Space Station. About 10 minutes after launch, Dragon separated from the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket and deployed its solar arrays to begin the rendezvous to reach the station on Jan. 12, where it will be grappled by station Commander Barry Wilmore of NASA and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency using the station’s Canadian-built robotic arm from the orbiting laboratory’s cupola. [...]

Two days after its launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, the unpiloted U.S. SpaceX Dragon cargo craft arrived at the International Space Station Jan. 12 with more than two tons of supplies and science experiments for the Expedition 42 crew. The station crew grappled the Dragon supply ship with the station’s robotic arm and ground controllers at Mission Control, Houston maneuvered Dragon to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Harmony module, where it was installed and bolted into place for a month-long stay."

Credit: NASA / SpaceX

Posted: 2015-01-14 15:48:31 GMT

ESA dixit:

"On 18 December 2014, Soyuz flight VS10 lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana and carried four O3b Networks satellites into orbit."

Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace - Optique Video du CSG

Posted: 2014-12-19 18:11:43 GMT

ESA dixit:

"Decided upon in Luxembourg by the European Space Agency Council Meeting at Ministerial Level, Ariane 6 is a modular three-stage launcher (solid–cryogenic–cryogenic) with two configurations using: four boosters (A64) or two boosters (A62)."

Credit: ESA

Posted: 2014-12-08 13:46:45 GMT

NASA dixit:

"NASA's Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean approximately 600 southwest of San Diego. The recovery team from NASA, the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin will perform initial recovery operations, including safing the crew module and towing it into the well deck of the USS Anchorage, a landing platform-dock ship."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-12-06 18:23:49 GMT

NASA dixit:

"NASA’s Orion spacecraft launched successfully atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket Dec. 5 at 7:05 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Orion’s Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), is the first flight test for NASA’s new deep space capsule and is a critical step on NASA's journey to Mars. The 4.5 hour flight is scheduled to conclude with the splashdown of Orion in the Pacific Ocean."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-12-05 17:23:27 GMT

NASA dixit:

"Orion's journey to the pad for its first flight test began about two years ago, when the vehicle first arrived at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Inside this building, the Orion team of NASA and Lockheed Martin engineers and technicians spent countless hours and days building up the spacecraft, putting it through a series of tests, installing the heat shield, stacking it atop the service module, fueling it and installing the Launch Abort System. Then it made the trek to the Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-12-03 18:26:28 GMT

SpaceX dixit:

"Spanning nearly 1 million square feet, the SpaceX factory currently produces more rocket engines than any other U.S. manufacturer, and will eventually produce 40 rocket cores annually."

Credit: SpaceX

Posted: 2014-11-28 18:04:52 GMT

ESA dixit:

"The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft approaches the International Space Station. The spacecraft lifted off at 20:59 GMT on 23 November (21:59 CET; 02:59 local time 24 November) and reached orbit nine minutes later.

Their spacecraft docked as planned at 02:49 GMT (03:49 CET), and the hatch to their new home in space was opened at 05:00 GMT (06:00 CET).

For more information about Samantha’s Futura mission online, visit http://www.esa.int/Futura"

Credit: ESA/Roscosmos

Posted: 2014-11-24 15:38:41 GMT

ESA dixit:

"This animation shows changes in Earth's magnetic field from January to June 2014 as measured by ESA's Swarm trio of satellites.

The magnetic field protects us from cosmic radiation and charged particles that bombard Earth, but it is in a permanent state of flux. Magnetic north wanders, and every few hundred thousand years the polarity flips so that a compass would point south instead of north.

Moreover, the strength of the magnetic field constantly changes -- and it is currently showing signs of significant weakening.

The field is particularly weak over the South Atlantic Ocean -- known as the South Atlantic Anomaly. This weak field has indirectly caused many temporary satellite 'hiccups' (called Single Event Upsets) as the satellites are exposed to strong radiation over this area.

More about Swarm: http://www.esa.int/swarm"

Credit: ESA/Dot2Dot

Posted: 2014-11-22 06:13:24 GMT

NASA Goddard dixit:

"This supercomputer simulation shows one of the most violent events in the universe: a pair of neutron stars colliding, merging and forming a black hole. A neutron star is the compressed core left behind when a star born with between eight and 30 times the sun's mass explodes as a supernova. Neutron stars pack about 1.5 times the mass of the sun — equivalent to about half a million Earths — into a ball just 12 miles (20 km) across.

As the simulation begins, we view an unequally matched pair of neutron stars weighing 1.4 and 1.7 solar masses. They are separated by only about 11 miles, slightly less distance than their own diameters. Redder colors show regions of progressively lower density.

As the stars spiral toward each other, intense tides begin to deform them, possibly cracking their crusts. Neutron stars possess incredible density, but their surfaces are comparatively thin, with densities about a million times greater than gold. Their interiors crush matter to a much greater degree densities rise by 100 million times in their centers. To begin to imagine such mind-boggling densities, consider that a cubic centimeter of neutron star matter outweighs Mount Everest.

By 7 milliseconds, tidal forces overwhelm and shatter the lesser star. Its superdense contents erupt into the system and curl a spiral arm of incredibly hot material. At 13 milliseconds, the more massive star has accumulated too much mass to support it against gravity and collapses, and a new black hole is born. The black hole's event horizon — its point of no return — is shown by the gray sphere. While most of the matter from both neutron stars will fall into the black hole, some of the less dense, faster moving matter manages to orbit around it, quickly forming a large and rapidly rotating torus. This torus extends for about 124 miles (200 km) and contains the equivalent of 1/5th the mass of our sun. The entire simulation covers only 20 milliseconds.

Scientists think neutron star mergers like this produce short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Short GRBs last less than two seconds yet unleash as much energy as all the stars in our galaxy produce over one year.

The rapidly fading afterglow of these explosions presents a challenge to astronomers. A key element in understanding GRBs is getting instruments on large ground-based telescopes to capture afterglows as soon as possible after the burst. The rapid notification and accurate positions provided by NASA's Swift mission creates a vibrant synergy with ground-based observatories that has led to dramatically improved understanding of GRBs, especially for short bursts.

The scientific paper this simulation is a part of can be found here: http://arxiv.org/abs/1001.3074"

Credit: David Link/Luciano Rezzolla/Michael Koppitz

Posted: 2014-11-20 02:31:47 GMT

NASA dixit:

"NASA’s Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

On December 4, 2014, Orion will launch atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex Flight Test on the Orion Flight Test: a two-orbit, four-hour flight that will test many of the systems most critical to safety.

The Orion Flight Test will evaluate launch and high speed re-entry systems such as avionics, attitude control, parachutes and the heat shield. In the future, Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System. More powerful than any rocket ever built, SLS will be capable of sending humans to deep space destinations such as an asteroid and eventually Mars. Exploration Mission-1 will be the first mission to integrate Orion and the Space Launch System."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-11-14 19:19:26 GMT

ESA dixit:

"This short movie tells the story of Rosetta’s journey through the Solar System and its exploration of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko so far, through the voices of some of the many people involved in this exciting mission.

ESA's Rosetta spacecraft was launched in March 2004 and has chased down the comet for 10 years, reaching it on 6 August 2014. It is the first space mission to orbit a comet and to attempt a soft landing. It will also be the first mission to journey with a comet as they swing around the Sun throughout 2015.

In the last 10 years Rosetta has made three flybys of Earth and one of Mars, and passed by and imaged asteroids Steins and Lutetia. In June 2011, Rosetta was placed into deep-space hibernation as it cruised nearly 800 million kilometres from the warmth of the Sun, close to the orbit of Jupiter. This was necessary because not enough energy could be generated by the solar panels to keep all the spacecraft systems operating. On 20 January 2014, Rosetta woke up from hibernation and continued its journey towards the comet.

Rosetta first viewed its target from a distance in 2011. After the wake-up, the first sight of the comet came in March 2014. Since then, Rosetta scientists have been following the comet’s activity, studying it with various instruments on board. As Rosetta drew closer and closer in July, the complex shape of this double-lobed object was revealed.

After Rosetta arrived at the comet in August, it started mapping the surface in greater detail, leading to the selection of a target for the lander, Philae, in September 2014. The site, now named Agilkia after an island on the Nile river, is located on the smaller lobe of the comet.

Rosetta is scheduled to release Philae on 12 November and, seven hours later, the lander is expected to reach the comet’s surface.

Acknowledgements: The images of the comet were taken with the OSIRIS camera (ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA) and with the navigation camera (ESA/Rosetta/NavCam) on Rosetta; the self-portraits were taken with the CIVA instrument on Philae (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA); the ground-based images of the comet were taken using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The images of asteroids Steins and Lutetia were also taken with the OSIRIS camera."

Credit: ESA

Posted: 2014-11-10 15:31:39 GMT

ESA dixit:

"Could astronauts one day be printing rather than building a base on the Moon? In 2013 ESA, working with industrial partners, proved that 3D printing using lunar material was feasible in principle. Since then, work continues to investigate the technique. The shielding against radiation provided by a 3D-printed block of simulated lunar regolith was measured, providing important inputs for next-stage designs... Soon the Agency is due to investigate another lunar 3D printing method, harnessing concentrated sunlight to melt regolith rather than using a binding liquid.

But how might lunar 3D printing one day be used in practice? Foster+Partners, contributing architectural concepts for the original study, put together this outline of a hypothetical mission to 3D-print an entire a lunar base, illustrating the design factors that steered them in their work. The rim of Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole was chosen for the base location. The Moon’s rotation is such that the Sun only grazes its poles at low angles. The result is a near-constant ‘peak of eternal light’ along the rim of Shackleton Crater, beside regions of permanent shadow. Building in the vicinity of such a site would offer plentiful solar power, and relief from the extremes of heat and cold found across the rest of the Moon.

In reality any lunar base remains firmly on the drawing board, but each small step forward in research makes future lunar colonisation a little more feasible. In November 2014 more than 350 experts came together for a two-day Additive Manufacturing for Space Applications workshop at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. They discussed the potential of 3D printing – also known as Additive Manufacturing – to transform the way the space industry operates and begin preparing common standards for its use."

Read more about 3D-printing using Lunar soil...

Credit: ESA/Foster+Partners

Posted: 2014-11-06 23:27:58 GMT

NASA dixit:

"The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 3:01 p.m. EDT on Oct. 2, 2014. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun 24-hours a day, captured images of the flare. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

This flare is classified as an M7.3 flare. M-class flares are one-tenth as powerful as the most powerful flares, which are designated X-class flares".

Music: “No Comment Before Sunset" by Lars Leonhard, courtesy of the artist and BineMusic.

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-11-04 16:12:58 GMT

NASA dixit:

"Filled with more than 3,700 pounds of hardware and critical science experiments, the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft left the International Space Station, headed for a deorbit and a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California. Dragon arrived at the station on Sept. 23 on the fourth resupply mission to the outpost for the U.S. commercial firm. Dragon is the only cargo vehicle servicing the space station that can return cargo and scientific experiments back to Earth intact for researchers to retrieve for post-flight analysis."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-10-27 03:28:55 GMT

SpaceX dixit:

"After four successful missions to the International Space Station, including three official resupply missions for NASA, SpaceX is set to launch its fourth official Commercial Resupply (CRS) mission to the orbiting lab. The SpaceX CRS-4 mission is targeting launch at 06:14 UTC Saturday, September 20 from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. If all goes as planned, Dragon will arrive at the station on Monday, September 22 for an expected four-week visit. Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth in mid-October for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of southern California. Dragon is the only operational spacecraft capable of returning a significant amount of supplies back to Earth, including experiments."

Credit: SpaceX / NASA

Posted: 2014-09-22 01:30:54 GMT

NASA dixit:

"An international team of astronomers has developed a 3D model of a giant cloud ejected by the massive binary system Eta Carinae during its 19th century outburst. Eta Carinae lies about 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina and is one of the most massive binary systems astronomers can study in detail. The smaller star is about 30 times the mass of the sun and may be as much as a million times more luminous. The primary star contains about 90 solar masses and emits 5 million times the sun's energy output. Both stars are fated to end their lives in spectacular supernova explosions.

Between 1838 and 1845, Eta Carinae underwent a period of unusual variability during which it briefly outshone Canopus, normally the second-brightest star. As a part of this event, which astronomers call the Great Eruption, a gaseous shell containing at least 10 and perhaps as much as 40 times the sun's mass was shot into space. This material forms a twin-lobed dust-filled cloud known as the Homunculus Nebula, which is now about a light-year long and continues to expand at more than 1.3 million mph (2.1 million km/h).

Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and its X-Shooter spectrograph, the team imaged near-infrared, visible and ultraviolet wavelengths along 92 separate swaths across the nebula, making the most complete spectral map to date. The researchers have used the spatial and velocity information provided by this data to create the first high-resolution 3D model of the Homunculus Nebula.

The shape model was developed using only a single emission line of near-infrared light emitted by molecular hydrogen gas. The characteristic 2.12-micron light shifts in wavelength slightly depending on the speed and direction of the expanding gas, allowing the team to probe even dust-obscured portions of the Homunculus that face away from Earth."

Credit: NASA Goddard

Posted: 2014-09-08 00:39:50 GMT

NASA dixit:

"This supercomputer simulation shows one of the most violent events in the universe: a pair of neutron stars colliding, merging and forming a black hole. A neutron star is the compressed core left behind when a star born with between eight and 30 times the sun's mass explodes as a supernova. Neutron stars pack about 1.5 times the mass of the sun — equivalent to about half a million Earths — into a ball just 12 miles (20 km) across.

As the simulation begins, we view an unequally matched pair of neutron stars weighing 1.4 and 1.7 solar masses. They are separated by only about 11 miles, slightly less distance than their own diameters. Redder colors show regions of progressively lower density.

As the stars spiral toward each other, intense tides begin to deform them, possibly cracking their crusts. Neutron stars possess incredible density, but their surfaces are comparatively thin, with densities about a million times greater than gold. Their interiors crush matter to a much greater degree densities rise by 100 million times in their centers. To begin to imagine such mind-boggling densities, consider that a cubic centimeter of neutron star matter outweighs Mount Everest.

By 7 milliseconds, tidal forces overwhelm and shatter the lesser star. Its superdense contents erupt into the system and curl a spiral arm of incredibly hot material. At 13 milliseconds, the more massive star has accumulated too much mass to support it against gravity and collapses, and a new black hole is born. The black hole's event horizon — its point of no return — is shown by the gray sphere. While most of the matter from both neutron stars will fall into the black hole, some of the less dense, faster moving matter manages to orbit around it, quickly forming a large and rapidly rotating torus. This torus extends for about 124 miles (200 km) and contains the equivalent of 1/5th the mass of our sun. The entire simulation covers only 20 milliseconds.

Scientists think neutron star mergers like this produce short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Short GRBs last less than two seconds yet unleash as much energy as all the stars in our galaxy produce over one year.

The rapidly fading afterglow of these explosions presents a challenge to astronomers. A key element in understanding GRBs is getting instruments on large ground-based telescopes to capture afterglows as soon as possible after the burst. The rapid notification and accurate positions provided by NASA's Swift mission creates a vibrant synergy with ground-based observatories that has led to dramatically improved understanding of GRBs, especially for short bursts."

Credit: NASA Goddard

Posted: 2014-08-26 02:04:03 GMT

ESA dixit:

"Rosetta will come to within about 10 km of the nucleus to deploy Philae, which will take several hours to reach the surface. Because of the comet’s extremely low gravity, landing gear will absorb the small forces of landing while ice screws in the probe’s feet and a harpoon system will lock the probe to the surface. At the same time a thruster on top of the lander will push it down to counteract the impulse of the harpoon imparted in the opposite direction. Once it is anchored to the comet, the lander will begin its primary science mission, based on its 64-hour initial battery lifetime. The animation then shows five of Philae’s 10 instruments in action: CIVA, ROLIS, SD2, MUPUS and APXS. Rosetta’s Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI."

Credit: ESA

Posted: 2014-08-19 02:41:49 GMT

ESA dixit:

"This short animation explains the relative sizes of the Rosetta spacecraft and comet 67P/Churyumov--Gerasimenko. Rosetta is 32 m from tip to tip of the solar wings. Assuming the comet measures about 4 km across, that's 125 times the width of Rosetta. Unlike typical artist's impressions, this image is scaled to convey the vast difference in size between Rosetta and the comet, even when the spacecraft is in a close 10 km orbit, as depicted here. Rosetta arrives at the comet at an altitude of 100 km in the first week of August, and will move progressively closer over the following two months, with the intention to orbit at an altitude of just 10 km, depending on the comet's activity. For Philae's deployment in November, Rosetta will come to within a few kilometres of the surface. The comet depicted in this animation is an artist's impression."

Credit: ESA

Posted: 2014-08-08 11:55:16 GMT

ESA dixit:

"Liftoff of an Ariane 5 launcher from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana with ESA’s last Automated Transfer vehicle to the Space Station. The fifth and final mission of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle got off to a flying start with its launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, heading for the International Space Station. Georges Lemaître is the fifth ATV built and launched by ESA as part of Europe’s contribution to cover the operational costs for using the Space Station. Named after the Belgian scientist who formulated the Big Bang Theory, ATV Georges Lemaître lifted off at 23:47 GMT on 29 July (01:47 CEST 30 July, 20:47 local time 29 July) on an Ariane 5 ES rocket. The vehicle will deliver 6561 kg of freight, including 2628 kg of dry cargo and 3933 kg of water, propellants and gases."

Credit: ESA / CNES / Arianespace

Posted: 2014-08-02 14:47:37 GMT

NASA dixit:

"The historic 1964 Ranger 7 mission was the first true success in the United States' early quest to explore the moon. The JPL-built spacecraft launched July 28. Three days later, it made a targeted impact on the moon, sending back more than 4,300 photos along the way."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-07-31 02:46:38 GMT

NASA dixit:

"Just six hours after its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the unpiloted Russian ISS Progress 56 cargo craft automatically docked to the International Space Station July 23, delivering almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the Expedition 40 crew on board. The Progress will remain docked to Pirs until late October."

Credit: NASA / Roscosmos

Posted: 2014-07-30 01:11:34 GMT

NASA dixit:

"Carrying more than 3,000 pounds of food, supplies, spare parts and experiments, Orbital Sciences Corporation's Cygnus cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station July 16, where it was grappled by Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson backed up by European Space Agency Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst. The pair operated the Canadarm2 robotic arm from the station's cupola to snag Cygnus before robotic ground controllers atmission control in Houston initiated its installation onto the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module where it would be bolted in place for a month-long stay. Cygnus was launched July 13 atop Orbital's Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Launch Pad 0A at Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia for the second contracted commercial resupply flight for the U.S. firm."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-07-28 01:59:43 GMT

NASA dixit:

"NASA marks the 45th anniversary of the first moon landing this month while it takes the steps needed for America's next giant leap to send astronauts to Mars. Mission Video shown is as aired in July 1969 depicting the Apollo 11 astronauts conducting several tasks during extravehicular activity (EVA) operations on the surface of the moon as well as pre-lauch preparations and post launch activities and celebrations."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-07-19 13:20:59 GMT

NASA dixit:

"Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo craft launched from Wallops Flight Facility on the Orbital-2 mission -- the company's second operational resupply mission to the International Space Station, under its Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The Cygnus spacecraft, which is carrying almost 3,300 pounds of supplies -- including a host of experiments, is targeted to rendezvous with the ISS on July 16."

Credit: NASA/Orbital Sciences

Posted: 2014-07-14 01:48:00 GMT

NASA dixit:

"NASA's first spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. OCO-2 will be collecting a great number of high-resolution measurements, which will provide a greater spatial distribution of CO2 over the entire globe, in short, a bigger, clearer, more complete picture of global CO2. These measurements will be combined with data from the ground-based network to provide scientists with the information that they need to better understand the processes that regulate atmospheric CO2 and its role in the carbon cycle."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-07-04 01:46:22 GMT

NASA dixit:

"[...] the four spacecraft fly in a tetrahedron formation. This complex arrangement enables scientists to gather data about magnetic reconnection in 3D.

On its journey, MMS will observe a little-understood, but universal phenomenon called magnetic reconnection, responsible for dramatic re-shaping of the magnetic environment near Earth, often sending intense amounts of energy and fast-moving particles off in a new direction. Not only is this a fundamental physical process that occurs throughout the universe, it is also one of the drivers of space weather events at Earth. Truly understanding the process requires four identical spacecraft to track how such reconnection events move across and through any given space."

Credit: NASA

Read more about the MMS mission...

Posted: 2014-07-01 17:04:42 GMT

SpaceX dixit:

"Video of Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) during a 1000m test flight at our rocket development facility in McGregor, TX. This flight was our first test of a set of steerable fins that provide control of the rocket during the fly back portion of return. The fins deploy approximately a minute and 15 seconds into the flight, and return to their original position just prior to landing. The F9R testing program is the next step towards reusability following completion of the Grasshopper program last year. Early flights of F9R will take off with legs fixed in the down position, however we will soon transition to liftoff with legs stowed against the side of the rocket with leg extension just before landing. Future test flights of F9R at our New Mexico facility will include higher altitudes, allow us to prove unpowered guidance and to prove out landing cases that are more flight-like."

Credit: SpaceX

Posted: 2014-06-25 02:55:04 GMT

SpaceX dixit:

"SpaceX has completed qualification testing for the SuperDraco thruster, an engine that will power the Dragon spacecraft's launch escape system and enable the vehicle to land propulsively on Earth or another planet with pinpoint accuracy.

The SuperDraco is an advanced version of the Draco engines currently used by SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to maneuver in orbit and during re-entry. SuperDracos will be used on the crew version of the Dragon spacecraft as part of the vehicle's launch escape system; they will also enable propulsive landing on land. Each SuperDraco produces 16,000 pounds of thrust and can be restarted multiple times if necessary. In addition, the engines have the ability to deep throttle, providing astronauts with precise control and enormous power.

The qualification testing program took place over the last month at SpaceX's Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas. The program included testing across a variety of conditions including multiple starts, extended firing durations and extreme off-nominal propellant flow and temperatures."

Credit: SpaceX

Posted: 2014-06-08 16:35:10 GMT

NASA dixit:

"A month after delivering more than 2.5 tons of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station, the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft departed the orbital outpost May 18 and headed for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near Baja, California. Dragon's departure marked the end of the third commercial resupply flight for SpaceX to the station."

Credit: NASA

Posted: 2014-05-31 20:57:37 GMT

NASA dixit:

"After launching earlier in the day in their Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 40/41 Soyuz Commander Max Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman and Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency docked at the International Space Station on May 29 following a six-hour rendezvous."

Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

Posted: 2014-05-30 01:38:31 GMT