Author Topic: Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - Houston, we are go for launch!  (Read 117509 times)

Rainbow 6

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Really good to see, also the only launch i've seen whilst on a holiday in Florida.

rebs

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Seems the Hubble Space Telescope has been largely repaired and NASA scientists have it headed toward full functionality.  The HST is quite the war horse.

Edit: Here's a link to an impeccable article by NPR:

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/16/1016953132/hobbled-hubble-telescope-springs-back-to-life-on-its-backup-system
« Last Edit: 19 July 2021, 18:29:47 by rebs »
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Wrangler

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Hopefully, one those space tugs they've been talking about could be used ferry it to ISS to repair someday.
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rebs

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I'm hoping we see the James Webb ST soon.  Is this year too much to ask?
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Wrangler

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In the meantime,  perhaps future most powerful rockets has done it's test fire.  SpaceX's Superheavy Rocket, Boost 3 done first static fire.

It's part their rapid tests see if their design works.  It's amazing how head-on they are doing these tests.

Picture is from BocaChica Gal Mary of the NASASpaceflight team.

Its said they may attempt mount 9 Raptor engines verses the three they just tested fired today.

So your aware who may not follow development, this thing 70 m (230 ft) tall, 9 meters (30 feet) wide
« Last Edit: 19 July 2021, 21:12:43 by Wrangler »
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
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rebs

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Ingenuity, the helicopter on Mars, has been up to recon as of late.  It is the ultimate scout for its parent rover, spying terrain that would be impassable, as well as the way to their next destination.

Read more about it here...

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/07/19/world/ingenuity-helicopter-mars-features-scn/index.html
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rebs

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A disembodied tail of a comet is drifting around in orbit of the sun.  The comet that made it broke up and ceased to be last year, leaving behind a dusty tail.

Very recently, an ESA spacecraft flew through and took pictures and video in the following link...

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-spacecraft-flew-through-the-dusty-tail-of-an-exploded-comet/amp
« Last Edit: 20 July 2021, 17:13:50 by rebs »
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rebs

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NASA's InSight lander has completed a map of Mars' interior, complete with a larger than previously thought iron/nickel core. 

Read more about it here...

https://www.engadget.com/nasas-insight-reveals-the-first-detailed-look-at-the-interior-of-mars-071812860.html
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Wrangler

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I'm curious how the larger core affects things. Mars is such a different kind of world then we thought it was.

Maybe it's core being so different is part of the reason why it's magnetic fields are not strong enough to protect the planet from radiation which ultimately in theory stripped the atmosphere.
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
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rebs

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I don't know what it means... but Mars may be the solution to despoiling our planet too much.  We can despoil Mars instead.

And asteroids.   
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Sharpnel

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I don't know what it means... but Mars may be the solution to despoiling our planet too much.  We can despoil Mars instead.

And asteroids.
The costs would be astronomical (pun intended) even after the proper technologies are developed.
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rebs

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Using a combination of older and new datasets,  Hubble scientists have detected water vapor in the atmosphere of Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon.  The vapor occurs when water sublimates from solid to gas.

Link courtesy of NASA and Hubble. 

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/hubble-finds-first-evidence-of-water-vapor-at-jupiter-s-moon-ganymede
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rebs

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The costs would be astronomical (pun intended) even after the proper technologies are developed.

This would take a multinational effort.  And several generations to mature.  But the asteroids, or even our moon, could be easily be be exploited. 

This also assumes orbital manufacturing and refining facilities. 
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rebs

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The largest comet ever detected will soon be visible.  At closest approach, it will still require an amateur telescope to view properly.

Read more about it here...

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/07/26/world/largest-comet-discovery-scn/index.html

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"Thou shalt not create a machine in the image of the human mind." ~ The Orange Catholic Bible, Dune, Frank Herbert

Wrangler

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The new Nauka space module docked with the ISS over the weekend.  It was experiencing some problems.   Initially it had some issues getting into orbit related to it's propulsion system.  Then after it had docked, the Nauka seemed to have forgotten it was already docked and began firing it's thrusters.  Other modules close to counter balancing the station drift kicked in essentially trying fight Nauka from screwing up the station.

Eventually the Russian flight contollers seemed to have gotten it undercontrol and dumped the fuel remaining in it. 

I'm just glad the malfunction didn't cause structural damage (so far anyways) to the station as modules seem to have been tug of war with one another almost.

Originally posted on SpaceNews (Picture & Story) and NASASpaceflight weekly youtube video.

"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
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rebs

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NASA's Lucy mission is entering the launch preparation stage, and will actually launch in late October of this year.  Lucy will be a very busy robotic probe, visiting 7 major asteroids before settling in the Jupiter family of Trojan asteroids.  Asteroids in the Outer Solar System, here we come!

I've personally been waiting for this mission for years!

Read more about it here:

https://scitechdaily.com/launch-preparations-underway-for-nasas-first-mission-to-the-trojan-asteroids/amp/
« Last Edit: 04 August 2021, 14:21:28 by rebs »
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Daryk

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Matt Ferrell has a good take on asteroid mining: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yarhdh0I4A

kato

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ESA will do a "double flyby" of Venus next week.

Solar Orbiter (ESA/NASA) will pass by Venus at about 8000 km altitude next monday at 4:42 UTC. 33 hours later the BepiColombo space train (ESA/JAXA) will swing by Venus at only 550 km altitude on tuesday at 13:48 UTC.  During this flyby now both will also dive beneath the relatively high orbit of Akatsuki (JAXA) around Venus btw.

Two engineering cameras on the outside of BepiColombo's MTM propulsion module will take some photos. In total 23 scientific instruments (out of 32) across all three spacecraft will be available and active during the flybys. Solar Orbiter can not bring all instruments to bear as its primary orientation is always sun-facing, BepiColombo has some of its instruments hidden under a protective shield that will only be jettisoned later in its mission.

The two spacecraft will pass each other at a safe - but in orbital terms still close - 575,000 km separation near Venus, also headed in opposite directions - BepiColombo is making its way towards Mercury for a flyby in October, Solar Orbiter towards Earth for a flyby in November. The two will not be meeting each other again after this due to their different heliocentric orbital regimes. BepiColombo aims to synchronize its orbit with Mercury for orbital insertion, Solar Orbiter will be raising its inclination through successive Venus flybys to observe the Sun's polar regions.
« Last Edit: 04 August 2021, 15:46:14 by kato »

rebs

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An interesting article about black holes.  Complete with a size comparison chart for various known black holes...

https://nerdist.com/article/biggest-black-holes-size-comparison/?amp
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Garrand

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An interesting article about black holes.  Complete with a size comparison chart for various known black holes...

https://nerdist.com/article/biggest-black-holes-size-comparison/?amp

Great video!

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rebs

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For the last 50 years,  scientists noted and pondered over a Jovian phenomenon that they called Jupiter's Energy Crisis.  That there is not enough energy from the sun to account for the temperatures noted in the upper atmosphere of the great planet.

Ponder no more! 

Courtesy of NASA, JAXA, and the W. M. Keck observatory.   Read more in the following link.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/juno-jupiter-auroral-heating
« Last Edit: 05 August 2021, 22:27:23 by rebs »
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Daryk

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Interesting indeed!  Thanks for the link!  :thumbsup:

rebs

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You're welcome.   :thumbsup:

Here is an Astronomy.com article about the Oort Cloud, and whether it actually exists, as well as what it manifests as.

https://astronomy.com/news/2021/08/mysteries-of-the-oort-cloud-at-the-edge-of-our-solar-system
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rebs

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Supernovas are a tough thing to predict, but now we have definitive observational datasets from other observers, such as Kepler,  and a recent study conducted by the Royal Astronomical Society, etc. The elusive rebound shock temperature drop of a collapsing star was observed for the first time in a supernova whose light reached us 4 years ago.

Read more here...

https://www.iflscience.com/space/earliest-moments-of-a-supernova-captured-in-detail-for-first-time/
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rebs

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https://astronomy.com/news/2018/08/free-range-planet?utm_source=asyfb&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=asyfb

The above link is to an article about a massive rogue planet discovered in 2016.  Originally thought to be a brown dwarf,, it has a mean temperature of 1,500 f, and a measured magnetic field about 4 million times as strong as the earth's magnetic field.   

Very interesting article.
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kato

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Originally thought to be a brown dwarf,, it has a mean temperature of 1,500 f, and a measured magnetic field about 4 million times as strong as the earth's magnetic field.   .
There's nothing there that empirically stops it from "being" a brown dwarf in the sense of definition. It's simply at the lower edge of brown dwarf possibilities, just about at the point where it could fuse deuterium. Due to its mass of 12.7+-1.0 M_Jupiter (below the IAU-standardized rule of thumb of 13 M_Jupiter, although that's contested and often stated as "12-13") it was relegated from a Class T2.5 brown dwarf to an "object of planetary mass" in 2017.

The temperature (1089K) is based on its bolometric luminosity (and standard models deriving it from that), and is entirely in line with a deuterium-fusing brown dwarf. For scale: If one derives a temperature proportionality to pressure, i.e. to r³ then it's only about 30% hotter than Jupiter.

There are some non-star-system (free-floating) objects of similar dimensions close to us with lower temperature, such as UGPS J072227.51−054031.2 or WISE J085510.83−071442.5[, but there has overall been relatively little observation spent on such objects.

The magnetic field strength interestingly at 200 times the dipole moment strength of Jupiter is about the same as measured for LSR J1835+3259, another brown dwarf about the same distance from us.

rebs

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Sadly, it seems the Indian space program has experienced a catastrophic setback as their latest launch failed in a late stage well after liftoff.

https://news.yahoo.com/indian-rocket-fails-launch-observation-093712133.html
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Daryk

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Bummer... and being a geostationary satellite, that was EXPENSIVE.

rebs

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In 2026, NASA will launch a robotic drone-like helicopter probe (called Dragonfly) and send it to Saturn's moon, Titan.  It will reach there in 2034, and obviously will be capable of testing multiple sites for prebiotic conditions on a baseline 2.7 year mission.  And of course, this probe will be taking spectacular pictures of Titan's icy landscape.

Read more here, courtesy of NASA.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasas-dragonfly-will-fly-around-titan-looking-for-origins-signs-of-life
« Last Edit: 13 August 2021, 21:11:26 by rebs »
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Wrangler

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I posted about that couple pages ago, Reb.  Did they change something like the carrier their using? NOthing beyond project was announced last time.
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
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