Author Topic: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless  (Read 176916 times)

kato

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #870 on: 09 November 2017, 12:13:34 »
United Nation's space program selected Dream Chaser, but their final decision was suppose to have been made by November 1st.
Was extended to Nov 15th a while ago. The deadline is for submission of payload proposals, not for any sort of decision on their part. Payload selection is supposed to be "in early 2018" (at least according to the 2016 announcement of the mission).

ESA itself as far as spacecraft are concerned is somewhat concentrating on Space Rider right now. PDR in 2018, CDR in 2019, planned first flight 2020.

Wrangler

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #871 on: 10 November 2017, 11:09:38 »
Space Rider?
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kato

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #872 on: 10 November 2017, 12:16:29 »
Space Rider is the reusable space plane that is being developed based on IXV - basically it's a revamped IXV with a payload bay that uses the AVUM+ 4th stage of Vega-C as its in-orbit service module. Main space agency in Europe behind it is ASI in Italy.



Basically a somewhat smaller X-37 equivalent. Launches on cheap Vega-C, brings 800 kg of payload into orbit, stays there for a few months and then brings the payload back down. Landing would occur in the Azores using a parafoil, though the exact landing method is still in development (either mid-air retrieval or fitting the landing gear from X-38).
Initial planning is for the first Space Rider to be reused for six flights within the next 3-5 years, with a decision then used on whether to built additional units. ASI and Thales Alenia of course are confident that will be the case and that Arianespace will operate a small fleet of Space Riders within ten years  ::)

The idea seems to be mostly that Space Rider could possibly replace research currently being done on ISS, the 800 kg downmass is probably somewhere around what ESA members launch and retrieve from ISS annually in experiments; the design orbit for Space Rider is the same as for ISS. The concept holds a number of advantages over ISS, such as deciding the retrieval point without depending on the next cargo flight back down and - with landings in Europe - being able to immediately retrieve the payload for further studies - which isn't possible with the current downmass options for ISS.

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #873 on: 10 November 2017, 13:47:05 »
Good grief, not many space agencies trust the commercial companies.  The Dream Chaser is already made and ready to go! Sheesh.  :-X

They already showed that costs of the Shuttle vs commercial operated flights were very big cheaper. I don't know if the Ares/Orion would been cheaper but their only 1-shot boosters their using. Same as far I know that Vega's suppose to have been using.  I've heard of the guilder, but "Space Rider" is new name on me.

NASA Orion Costs vs Commercial.
« Last Edit: 10 November 2017, 14:51:56 by Wrangler »
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kato

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #874 on: 10 November 2017, 14:15:23 »
The key to it is cost and flexibility.

Space Rider is extremely cheap to develop from IXV hardware (around 50 million total; 32 million to CDR have been funded), and will launch for around 35-40 million per flight. DreamChaser will cost at least 100 million per flight, more in the region of 120 million - which is quite okay too comparing the effective payload.

It is extremely likely DreamChaser will be tied into some sort of flight plan regime for ISS though, even for a "DC4EU" version. That means flights from the US, to the US, on a predefined schedule, with orbital operations of experiments typically then also requiring installing them on ISS (like today).

Minor role is also internal politics. ESA after all is dominated by only three national space agencies: DLR of Germany, ASI of Italy and CNES of France.

DC4EU is mostly pushed by DLR, Space Rider is a ASI project - with CNES sitting on the fence. CNES pushes Ariane for everything, ASI Vega - with DLR on the fence. CNES and DLR both push for cooperation with China on manned flights, ASI is kinda sitting that one out. And so on.

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #875 on: 10 November 2017, 14:58:40 »
Here something interesting, a Supernova that explodes more than once.
Phys.org Reports the star appears to have survive it's own explosion and 50 years later explodes a 2nd time.
The brightness from this star appears to be twice as bright than any known Supernova.
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Kit deSummersville

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #876 on: 10 November 2017, 15:46:07 »
Here something interesting, a Supernova that explodes more than once.
Phys.org Reports the star appears to have survive it's own explosion and 50 years later explodes a 2nd time.
The brightness from this star appears to be twice as bright than any known Supernova.

Someone should call that a Zombie Star.
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kato

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #877 on: 10 November 2017, 17:09:30 »
Same as far I know that Vega's suppose to have been using
Vega and all its submodels are all-solid, which makes them cheaper than anything liquid by default. Vega currently represents the cheapest in-use commercial option to send any meaningful payload into space (overall, not per weight; price-wise it's tied with Soyuz, at 2/3rds the price of a F9(R)) - with a 100% launch success record. Its only real competitor for light LEO/SSO among commercial launchers is Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne, and that hasn't flown so far.

Vega-C is redesigned to use the same unit as first stage as Ariane 62/64 uses for boosters - to simplify production (the same booster can literally be used for either launcher, and the production run is set up like that too).


ANS Kamas P81

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #878 on: 11 November 2017, 15:43:43 »
Someone should call that a Zombie Star.
It's actually exploded another five times in the last two years based on brightening and dimming.  They're thinking it's a monster that's doing a particle/antiparticle pair instability cycle, but IIRC it's a little too small to functionally make that happen.  Zed One is definitely a weird one.
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worktroll

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #879 on: 12 November 2017, 03:09:45 »
This is what I love. it's not that it's 'breaking' physics, it's showing us new aspects of physics in conditions we couldn't hope to achieve on a desk. Not only stranger than we imagine ...
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marauder648

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #880 on: 16 November 2017, 05:30:25 »
Planet 9 from outerspace is real! Apparently. 

Quote
Turns out there may be a ninth planet* after all.

No, it’s not Pluto, but lurking in the dark outer reaches of our solar system, twenty times farther from the Sun than Neptune, is what NASA claims is a large ninth planet. On October 4, 2017, NASA issued a press release claiming that a massive, invisible planet best explains gravitational and orbital anomalies in the outer solar system. Planets don’t emit their own light, and because Planet Nine is so far away, it’s too dark to view directly. “There are now five different lines of observational evidence pointing to the existence of Planet Nine,” said Caltech planetary astrophysicist Konstantin Batygin, who along with Caltech astronomer Mike Brown, co-authored a 2016 study of Kuiper Belt objects. The Kuiper Belt contains trillions of leftover objects from the formation of our solar system, such as comets and dwarf planets like Pluto and Sedna (which are also known as “trans-Neptunian” objects). It’s shaped like a disc and lies beyond the orbit of Neptune.

https://secondnexus.com/science/nasa-9th-planet-super-earth/

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HobbesHurlbut

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #881 on: 16 November 2017, 08:58:50 »
Planet Nemesis?
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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #882 on: 16 November 2017, 09:01:00 »
Planet Nemesis?

We should call it Vulcan.
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Lazarus Jaguar

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #883 on: 16 November 2017, 09:02:16 »
Yuggoth
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kato

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #884 on: 16 November 2017, 09:58:20 »
Didn't they already call a couple places on Pluto Yuggoth?

marauder648

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #885 on: 16 November 2017, 10:23:25 »
Didn't they already call a couple places on Pluto Yuggoth?

I know they called one area Mordor :D
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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #886 on: 16 November 2017, 23:34:49 »
Ultra.  Space:1999 called it over 40 years back and I remember my science teacher telling us that the whole idea was feeble scifi.   #P

Professor Bergman called it! :P

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #887 on: 17 November 2017, 00:13:36 »
Hmm, didnt Exosquad call it too?
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ANS Kamas P81

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #888 on: 18 November 2017, 21:24:36 »
Planet Nemesis?
Sounds like a confirm to me.  She's deep enough to be in the theory's range, and a long enough orbit as well.

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REAL SOON!
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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #889 on: 20 November 2017, 13:28:13 »
SLS delayed again until 2019/2020. Slow goings.

It's too bad Musk's Heavy had issues. Hopefully the test flight will pan out for them.
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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #890 on: 23 November 2017, 12:11:35 »
We're all on a great cosmic road trip...
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ANS Kamas P81

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #891 on: 23 November 2017, 15:05:16 »
So it seems our recent interstellar speeding ticket receiver got a hell of a lot more interesting.  40 meters wide, 400 meters across, and it was red.  (They do go fasta!)  Yeah, it really is about ten times longer in one direction than it is in the others, highly elongates and with a significant red coloration to the material making up its photographed surface.

Idly it strikes me as being about 50% bigger than an Essex-class carrier in all dimensions and overall shape.  Or maybe, if you want a better comparison, about 25% longer than the Enterprise-A....
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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #892 on: 23 November 2017, 15:33:28 »
Hmm... That's almost exactly the dimensions of a BC in Galactic Starfire...

Or given its length/width ration, a CV. ;)

kato

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #893 on: 23 November 2017, 15:53:47 »
From the Kuiper Belt outwards most stuff in the solar system is actually red - the only exceptions are high-inclination "hot" objects below the Kuiper Cliff which tend to be blue.

The reason for that are tholins, basically nitrogen and methane - you don't get much other base materials out there - that are ionized by cosmic radiation and form simple organic compound molecules. They don't really exist much in the inner solar system due to its infestation with oxygen (... and lack of surface nitrogen or methane deposits to get irradiated, courtesy of all that heat).

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #894 on: 04 December 2017, 15:42:40 »
The Voyager 1 fired its Thrusters for the first time since 1980. The probe is now in interstellar space and they needed to correct angle of the probe to keep it aligned with Earth.   The ground controllers dug out their old manuals to try get the TCM MR-103 thrusters to kick on.  Which they succeeded in on November 28th. 

Their really small thrusters, to nudge the probe around.  Unfortunately, they had to turn on one of the heaters to keep TCM functional as their going to switch to them full time as the primary thrusters are wearing out. 

Pretty nice sign old tech still can hang in there under extreme conditions of interstellar space.
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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #895 on: 04 December 2017, 15:53:30 »
I believe I was not online when they announced this.....Elon Musk said the test payload for the Falcon Heavy rocket will be his personal red Tesla Roaster....

Yes this is real apparently, the target is mars.  I don't think this is a serious attempt to this. This just to see if the rocket works or not.  Elon in the past had said he didn't have high hopes the rocket won't launch successfully for some technical challenges their expect to be facing.  Also it was written that if the "car" makes it without exploding after it ascent into space, for it to enter orbit mars, it likely would need some kind of additional thrusters to allow it to enter orbit.

I still find this mildly amusing he doing this. 
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ANS Kamas P81

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #896 on: 04 December 2017, 18:11:39 »
I'm still laughing at 'most mileage on a single charge' myself.
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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #897 on: 05 December 2017, 08:00:49 »
The Voyager 1 fired its Thrusters for the first time since 1980. The probe is now in interstellar space and they needed to correct angle of the probe to keep it aligned with Earth.   The ground controllers dug out their old manuals to try get the TCM MR-103 thrusters to kick on.  Which they succeeded in on November 28th. 

Their really small thrusters, to nudge the probe around.  Unfortunately, they had to turn on one of the heaters to keep TCM functional as their going to switch to them full time as the primary thrusters are wearing out. 

Pretty nice sign old tech still can hang in there under extreme conditions of interstellar space.
Some good news with that though is they can turn the heaters on NOW for Voyager 2 to preserve the regular RCS and have them still around when RTG depletion forces them to turn the heaters off again.

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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #898 on: 14 December 2017, 08:39:59 »
https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientists-investigate-cigar-shaped-asteroid-213217190.html

Very unusual asteroid in that it's cigar-shaped and that it originated from another system.
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Re: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - The Universe is Timeless
« Reply #899 on: 14 December 2017, 09:17:32 »
I'm still laughing at 'most mileage on a single charge' myself.

If the folks that designed that part ever want to branch out into the private sector, the marketing campaign writes itself. :)
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