NASA MISSION UPDATE
PASADENA, Calif.—NASA’s Cassini mission is closing one chapter of its journey at Saturn and embarking on a new one with a two-year mission that will address new questions and bring it closer to two of its most intriguing targets—Titan and Enceladus.
On June 30, Cassini completes its four-year prime mission and begins its extended mission, which was approved in April of this year.
Among other things, Cassini revealed the Earth-like world of Saturn’s moon Titan and showed the potential habitability of another moon, Enceladus. These two worlds are primary targets in the two-year extended mission, dubbed the Cassini Equinox Mission. This time period also will allow for monitoring seasonal effects on Titan and Saturn, exploring new places within Saturn’s magnetosphere, and observing the unique ring geometry of the Saturn equinox in August of 2009 when sunlight will pass directly through the plane of the rings.
“We’ve had a wonderful mission and a very eventful one in terms of the scientific discoveries we’ve made, and yet an uneventful one when it comes to the spacecraft behaving so well,” said Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “We are incredibly proud to have completed all of the objectives we set out to accomplish when we launched. We answered old questions and raised quite a few new ones and so our journey continues.”
Continue reading ‘Cassini Begins Teen Years With Brand New Mission, Bitchin’ Attitude’
NASA MISSION UPDATE
After more than 17 years of pioneering solar science, a joint NASA and European Space Agency mission to study the sun will end on or about July 1.
The Ulysses spacecraft has endured for almost four times its expected lifespan. However, the spacecraft will cease operations because of a decline in power produced by its onboard generators. Ulysses forever has changed the way scientists view the sun and its effect on the surrounding space. Mission results and the science legacy it leaves behind were reviewed today at ESA Headquarters in Paris.
“The main objective of Ulysses was to study, from every angle, the heliosphere, which is the vast bubble in space carved out by the solar wind,” said Ed Smith, Ulysses project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “Over its long life, Ulysses redefined our knowledge of the heliosphere and went on to answer questions about our solar neighborhood we did not know to ask.”
Ulysses ends its career after revealing that the magnetic field emanating from the sun’s poles is much weaker than previously observed. This could mean the upcoming solar maximum period will be less intense than in recent history.
Continue reading ‘Ulysses Solar Spacecraft to Shutdown After Near 18 Years’
Speaking in Paris, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin urged European space officials and executives to build on the success of the Automated Transfer Vehicle to develop a human space vehicle, the Associate Press reports.
“We welcome the development of independent European capabilities in space to provide redundant systems in the event of failure of any one partner’s capabilities,” Griffin said, referring to the International Space Station.
NASA will retire the space shuttle in 2010; it could be five years before its replacement, Orion, will be ready to fly with astronauts. In the meantime, the Russian Soyuz will be the only vehicle capable of carrying humans to ISS. There is great concern in the United States about being too dependent on Russia.
Interestingly enough, any European human space program could increase dependence on the Russians. ESA and Russia are considering whether to jointly develop a new vehicle, which might fly on a new Russian booster, Flightglobal.com reports.
“The Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Centre’s in-development Angara rocket could launch the proposed Russian-European Space Agency Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS) spacecraft, according to the head of Russia’s Federal Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov.”
Europe is studying several options for human spaceflight. It also has a vehicle, Ariane 5, that could be used to launch the new vehicle. No decision is expected at least until European space ministers meet this Fall.
Mars500 Habitat (Credit: ESA TV)
ESA PRESS RELEASE
Last week, 32 talented candidates gathered at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, with the hope of becoming part of a unique study that will act as a platform for human exploration of the Solar System. The study, called Mars500, is a ground-based simulation of a mission to Mars and back.
Two of the candidates, together with four Russian volunteers, will be sealed in an isolation chamber for a total of 105 days starting in October. This is followed by the full isolation period with another two European candidates, which lasts for 520 days starting early in 2009. Part of the chamber simulates the spacecraft that would transport them on their journey to and from Mars and another part will simulate the landing module that would transfer them to and from the Martian surface.
Continue reading ‘ESA Evaluating Candidates for 105- and 520-Day Mars Mission Simulations’
Rob Coppinger takes a look at developments in human spaceflight over at his Hyperbola blog, including:
- Virgin Galactic’s plan to roll out its White Knight carrier aircraft in about two months’ time;
- EADS-Astrium’s proposal for an ATV-derived capsule, with photos of a mockup unveiled at the Berlin Air Show (the BBC also has a story);
- a six-person capsule being jointly studied by Europe and Russia for possible launch on the Zenit;
- Mitsubuishi Heavy Industries‘ reusable space plane roadmap;
- a proposal for ESA to assist European companies in developing space tourism.
In related news, Virgin Galactic and the National Space Society have announced a new Space Ambassadors program. The program will train people to go forth and spread the word about the great benefits of space exploration, NSS and Virgin Galactic in their communities. One lucky ambassador will get to fly into space aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. Virgin and NSS have not decided how the winner will be chosen.
The Russian space agency Roskosmos said on Wednesday that it will be teaming with the European Space Agency to build a new spacecraft capable of carrying up to six astronauts to low Earth orbit and the moon. Reuters reports that test flights of the winged vehicle would begin in 2015, with the first human mission three years later.
European officials confirmed that such a plan was being considered, but said that nothing had been decided yet. ESA’s space ministers will meet late this year at The Hague to map out the agency’s future direction.
“This is factually correct in the sense that indeed this is the outline of the system,” ESA spokesman Franco Bonacina told Reuters. “But we haven’t decided upon anything yet. … It’s too premature. It’s still at the level of studies. In November, at a ministerial meeting, it’s not taken for granted this option will be the one that finally takes shape.”
There are several plans being considered in Europe, including building a human-rated capsule for use on ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, which currently is used to ferry supplies to the International Space Station.
EADS Astrium and the German Space Agency (DLR) have proposed modifying Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle to carry three astronauts into orbit, the BBC reports.
“The ATV, which ferried just under five tonnes of supplies to the orbiting platform in April, is packed with sophisticated navigation, rendezvous and docking technologies. It also has a pressurised section that is ‘human rated’ in the sense that, once docked to the 340km-high station, astronauts can move around inside it safely in just T-shirts.
“But the ATV was not built with the intention of transporting humans across space, and a fit-for-purpose capsule would have to be developed to take the place of the current cargo section.”
If the project is approved, EADS and DLR officials believe they could conduct test flight beginning in 2013, with human flights coming four or five years later. The project will likely be considered by European space ministers at a meeting in November.
A couple of brief updates on ESA’s search for its next generation of astronauts….
European Space Agency searching for Astronerds rather than Astronauts
Times of London
When European space chiefs begin sifting thousands of applications in a search for four new astronauts, they will not be interested in the kind of daredevil who pioneered space exploration. Instead they will be looking for scientists and engineers who display “team competence, empathy and emotional stability”. The European Space Agency wants astronerds rather than astronauts.
“We are not interested in the Right Stuff; we want the right staff,” a spokesman said.
Woman hopes to be Britain’s first astronaut
The Telegraph
There are currently eight ESA astronauts, all of whom are men from France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden, but many are now retiring and need to be replaced. Dr. Tracey Dickens, 29, an astrophysicist at Leicester University, is one of the British women who is applying to replace them.
She said: “Since I was 12 years old, I have wanted to be the next British born astronaut. I could never understand why there have never been any more British females and I have always felt that if all those men can do it, then why can’t I?”
Taylor Dinerman examines the current state of the reusable launch vehicle industry over at The Space Review. He is particularly intrigued by a test of a sub-scale space plane that Lockheed Martin conducted in New Mexico last December.
Rob Coppinger of Flight Global takes a look at the success of SpaceX, the El Segundo, Calif. rocket company that has secured a NASA launch services contract that could be worth up to $1 billion without ever having launched anything into orbit. The contract involves the company’s Falcon 1 vehicle, which has failed in its only two launch attempts, and the larger Falcon 9, which has yet to fly.
Coppinger also examines new rocket and spacecraft concepts under consideration by Japan and Europe on his Hyperbola blog. JAXA is considering a VTOL concept that looks a lot like the vehicle that Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is working on. Meanwhile, ESA and Russia are jointly examining various designs for a crew transport.
A major initiative has been launched to improve quality control for the Proton launcher, which has suffered two failures in eight months, Coppinger reports. Russia’s Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and its partner, International Launch Services, will be working closely with subcontractors to prevent future problems.
In American space news, the Rocketsandsuch blog has a new post claiming that costs on NASA’s Orion program have risen again by about $3 billion.
Four brief updates on developments in the UK, courtesy of Rocketeers.co.uk….
UK-based Worldview Spaceflight is offering astronaut training in collaboration with Rocketplane Global. “We can offer the full package, from trainee to astronaut, Worldview will take you through every step of your training and your eventual spaceflight in 2010,” Worldview says. Rocketplane, based in Oklahoma, will apparently fly from bases in Europe.
The N-prize is offering a £9,999.99 prize to any group capable launching a satellite between 9.99 and 19.99 grams into orbit for no more than £999.99. The spacecraft must complete at least 9 orbits in order to win the prize, which seems awkwardly named (to American ears, anyway). The “N” stands for “Nanosatellite” or “Negligible Resources,” BTW.
The Space ‘08 conference will be held at the Barbican Conference Centre in London on 4th September 2008. The conference “will identify and examine the key rationales” of the British National Space Centre’s Civil Space Strategy 2008-2012.
ESA will conduct the Space Station Design Workshop in collaboration with the Institute of Space Systems of the Universitaet Stuttgart on July 13-18, 2008. The event - held at ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands - is open to university students (up to Masters level or equivalent) from ESA member states. The ESA website has more information.
