Solar Powered vehicle by Omer Sagiv
Posted by brandoniswrite on February 13, 2012
Omer Sagiv based in London is the designer of the SPV concept, a Solar powered vehicle made out of aluminum structure with flexible thin-film modules fixed to it.
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Orion hoping for success with second generation parachute system
Posted by brandoniswrite on February 12, 2012
Orion teams are in the final stages of preparing for the first Generation II Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV2) airdrop at the end of this month. Following the failure of the last Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) test, the new system will be hoping for a successful outcome, when the vehicle is deployed out of the back of a C-17 aircraft over the US Army Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
Orion Parachute Tests:
The tests – which had included testing the giant parachutes for since-cancelled Ares I first stage recovery – were enjoying a good amount of success until an Orion PTV (first generation) suffered a failure back in 2008, resulting in the vehicle crashing into the ground.
Although the boilerplate Orion mock up vehicle and PTV system consisted of eight parachutes, another 10 parachutes were required to drag the test vehicle out of the C-17 aircraft via a sledge or pallet system at 25,000 feet, providing the correct orientation, altitude and speed, whilst also allowing for the pallet to land safely on the ground under its own dedicated parachutes.
When the programmer chute failed to inflate after deployment, the correct test conditions were not met – critically including the requirement for the vehicle’s descent rate to be slowed down and to be correctly orientated for drogue chute deployment – resulting in the vehicle falling upside down at high speed.
With the increased velocity, when the two drogue chutes deployed, they were ripped off almost immediately due to the higher loads. The three main parachutes then deployed – again subjected to the higher loads – ripping two of them away from the vehicle.
The one remaining parachute valiantly remained attached, but was obviously unable to stop the vehicle crashing to Earth at high speed on its own, resulting in the destruction of most of the test hardware.
Another failure in 2010 was believed to be the fault of the pallet system itself, which allows the test vehicle to slide out of the back of the C-17.
The pallet apparently remained attached to the test vehicle, causing the duo to crash into the ground, again destroying most of the hardware.
However, this test was not officially recorded as a CPAS-related exercise, with the 2008 failure shown as the last CPAS PTV test – and failure.
“A quick heads up that the Orion test drop failed. Looks like the extraction system failed to release so the Orion chute system never deployed,” noted the memo acquired on the day of the 2010 failure via L2. “Still saving the remains but expecting minimal hardware recovery.”
Another Constellation-related parachute failure was suffered in 2007, when a Drop Test Vehicle (DTV) with an Ares I pilot parachute suffered a fault with the riser connecting the parachute to the DTV.
The vehicle – dropped from a C-130 at 17000 feet – was destroyed, with parts of the DTV needing to be extracted from depths of up to 30 feet below the surface.
The 2010 parachute test failure occurred during the period Orion was being cancelled by President Obama’s FY2011 budget proposal, prior to being fully reinstated, primarily as a Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) vehicle, by the 2010 Authorization Act.
Click here for Orion articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/orion/
Orion PTV Mark II:
With Orion back into full operations, teams are preparing for a new test, involving a small-scale boilerplate Orion and a second generation CPAS (L2 Link to CPAS Gen II Hi Res Images).
“The Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) team continues preparation activities for the first Generation II Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV2) airdrop,” noted a February 2012 update presentation – available on L2 – Link to document).
“Some recent accomplishments include delivery of PTV avionics systems and main parachutes to Yuma, parachute compartment avionics and camera installations, and the start of panel and main parachute installation.
“Additional work over the next month will include drogue parachute packing and integration, parachute rigging on the CPAS PTV Separation System (CPSS) and installation of pyros. The first airdrop test opportunity is scheduled for February 29.”
The changes made for the Generation II PTV have not been published. However, an overview presentation for the CPAS system (available on L2 – Link to Document) did note changes were already in the pipeline, partly related to the 2008 failure.
These changes included the volume and shape of Main Deployment Bags – which are trapezoidal in design and have a new gusset system.
The improvements were based upon data collected during the failed July, 2008 drop test, along with numerous analytical/computer models relating to what was an ever-changing Orion capsule.
Orion’s design changes were mainly caused by Ares I’s insistence that the capsule should lose mass, a request sent numerous times during the days of the Constellation Program, resulting in fallout on the CPAS team, who noted in the aforementioned presentation that one of the Orion designs they had to work did not even contain the “volume” necessary for the main parachute system.
It is also likely the pallet system will have been modified based on the previous issues.
(Images: Via L2 and NASA). L2′s new Orion and Future Spacecraft specific L2 section includes, presentations, videos, graphics and internal updates on Orion and other future spacecraft.
(L2 is – as it has been for the past several years – providing full exclusive future vehicle coverage, available no where else on the internet. To join L2, click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/)
Related posts:
- Orion PDR delay could stretch into 2010 The requirement to carry out an additional Design Analysis Cycle…
- Saving spaceship Orion – Zero Base Vehicle task complete NASA Constellation and Lockheed Martin engineers have completed the first…
- Orion weight saving refinements continue – focus on ISS access The Lockheed Martin Orion spacecraft has received a new set…
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Tags: Generation, hoping, Orion, parachute, second, Success, System
Party dresses to make you brighter in parties
Posted by brandoniswrite on February 11, 2012
Some dresses for women may be pleasant but may be not appropriate for a woman’s skin tone. Some others may be good-looking to wear but may be out of the fashion. Now evening gowns are very common and several women adore them. They give enormous materials of ranges for women to prefer anything they like. Here are some instructions about how to prefer a dress for party.
When selecting party dresses, women must fully think their own skin tone. Women must select the dresses which can make their skin tones appear brighter not darker. Pick the color of the dresses which are darker than women’s skin tones, which will accomplish a fine result and make the skin appear brighter.
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Ariane 5 Takes Edoardo On Top (Launch)
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[SatNews] This marks one of the final steps in preparation for the liftoff…
Satnews.com — Worldwide Satellite News
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JAXA to build on the past success for future exploration goals
Posted by brandoniswrite on February 10, 2012
As NASA continues to struggle with gaining a clear direction for the future of human space exploration, the U.S. space agency’s international counterparts are wasting no time setting exploration goals for themselves. Specifically, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is aiming to capitalize off past success to enable further human and robotic exploration of the solar system in the coming decades.
Determining the scope of the project:
As determined in 2009 and presented at the recent Exploration Gateways Conference, JAXA has created a comprehensive overview of their strategy for developing their space program both in the manned and unmanned arenas.
Capitalizing off their success with the Kibo lab complex (two pressurized, habitable modules and an external experiment pallet), the HTV transfer vehicle, Hayabusa, and three (3) residency stays on the International Space Station – with at least two more upcoming in 2012 and 2013/14, Japan is looking to make their space program more robust – an approach that began in 2009 with the Space Basic Plan.
Under this plan, JAXA aimed to understand and enhance their Land, Sea Observing Satellite system coverage in the Asian region, their Earth Environment, Weather Observing Satellite systems, their Advanced Communication Satellite system, their positioning satellite system, and their National Security Satellite system.
A Program Research and Development group also set out to enhance JAXA’s Space Science, Manned, and Space Solar Power System (SSPS) programs.
To accomplish the task of enhancing their Space Science and Manned programs, JAXA conducted “a one year study of [their] strategy for lunar exploration by robotic and possibly human” activity.
Seeking to capitalize from their recent exploration of the moon – a field of study for Japan which greatly increased from 2007 to 2009 with the SELENE (or Kaguya) lunar orbiter mission, the one year lunar exploration study group – comprised of members from the industry, jurists, academics, astronauts, and sociologists – created three main objectives for the one year study.
These objectives included the clarification of the exploration objectives and roadmap for technological development; the proposal of a “concrete plan for robotic lunar exploration for science and utilization, foreseeing manned lunar exploration afterward;” and the establishment of a strategy for international cooperation.
For this study, the group was organized under the Minister of State for Space Policy. The group worked on the study from August 2009 to July 2010 before issuing their report.
Since the filing of that report in July 2010 until the Exploration Gateways Conference later in the year, budget requests for the implementation of the proposals from the report were not forthcoming.
Nevertheless, the proposal itself recommended a three phased approach to JAXA’s lunar exploration program.
The proposal would begin in 2015 with the launch and initial operations of the SELENE-2 mission – a direct follow-up to the SELENE mission from 2007-2009.
The mission would represent the first lunar landing for Japan and would be classed as a short-term investigations mission. At this time, a 2015 launch date is still possible – but only if funding materializes quickly.
This SELENE-2 mission would, under the recommendations of the study participants, lead to the SELENE-X mission in 2020 – a robotics exploration mission based on the assemblage of a base on the south polar region of the moon for long-term investigation and sample return.
This mission would require a lunar robot capable of collecting samples from the lunar surface and a sample return craft.
Together, these two proposed missions would allow Japan to fulfill the third part of the phased approach for the robotics side of the lunar exploration proposal: demonstrating leadership in the international collaboration arena.
But the lunar robotic exploration missions were not the only recommendations brought forth by the study group. Human space exploration approaches were also highlighted, including the research and development of “basic technologies for human transportation systems by around 2020.”
This basic technology includes safety enhancement of rocket engines, the study and incorporation of emergent escape technologies, the development of a human-rated reentry system, and the development of Environment Control and Life Support System (ELCSS) technologies.
These emergent technologies would enable the leveraging of other JAXA space activities, including robotic lunar exploration, H-IIA/B launch operations, and ISS utilization and operation for technology demonstration – thus fulfilling the usefulness of the International Space Station as a test-bed for future missions beyond Low Earth Orbit.
Importantly, for this phase of the project, the JAXA study team emphasized, as did the presentation panel at the Exploration Gateways Conference, that “International cooperation is mandatory for human space exploration!” – again pointing out the need to come together for the betterment of all (the ISS as the shining example) than to try to attempt things on our own.
Implementing the proposals - Building from past success:
In addition to the proposed/recommended process by the study group, the roadmap for space exploration for JAXA also includes desires for the exploration of what are labeled “primitive bodies.”
Building on the success of Hayabusa at an S-type asteroid, Nozomi at Mars, Ikaros (the solar sail craft), and Planet-C (the in-progress Venus Climate Orbiter mission which will enter orbit of Venus later this decade), JAXA is looking to continue its asteroid sample return success with the Hayabusa-2 and Hayabusa-Mk2 missions – the first of which would be to a C-type asteroid and the second to a D-type asteroid.
Also on the table for consideration is the BepiColombo mission in conjunction with ESA (European Space Agency) for the exploration of Mercury. The MELOS mission, a Martian orbiter, and a currently-unnamed Jupiter and Trojan asteroids exploration mission – classed as a joint international mission – are also under consideration.
Of the five missions outlined as potentialities for JAXA, only Hayabusa-2 has a proposed launch date (July 2014 with a June 2018 arrival at an asteroid and a December 2020 Earth Return date). No launch dates or proposed theoretical mission execution dates for the other four missions are available at this time as funding is not in place.
The Exploration Gateways Conference presentation also revealed that JAXA will – as always expected – continue its fervent commitment to the International Space Station via crewmembers Hoshide in 2012 and Wakata in 2013/2014.
The presentation also showed the rough launch schedule for the remaining five (5) HTVs – with HTVs 3-7 all represented with flights from 2012 through 2015.
After that, JAXA does list the possibility of further HTVs as TBD (To Be Determined) through the end of the Station’s lifetime – something that will be greatly dependent on US and Russian funding commitments past the 2020 life extension already granted by the Congress of the United States.
Technology development drive:
To foster this more robust space program, one that will hopefully include human-flight capabilities, certain and specific technological development scenarios will have to be realized – the first of which would be the development of human reentry and return capabilities.
“Thermal protection and lifting flight control of human vehicle during the atmosphere re-entry,” will need to be developed, notes the Exploration Gateways Conference presentation from JAXA.
“Slow descent, soft and precision land at the predetermined area of the earth,” will also be of high priority in the technological arena.
In fact, JAXA hopes to have an HTV-R (H-IIb Transfer Vehicle with return capability) by the middle of the decade – a vehicle which would demonstrate and prove the new technologies needed for human reentry and return processes.
In the long term, JAXA hopes to develop a true human-rated spaceship sometime in the late 2020s.
For this new spaceship, a new human-rated launcher will need to be developed.
“The human safety technologies are key for human launch vehicle,” notes the JAXA presentation. “Simple, reliable, and low cost cryogenic engine, FDIR (fault detection, isolation & recovery) technologies, Launch abort system for emergency escape,” are all of paramount importance.
Key technological develop is expected to continue through the 2010 decade, leading to a debut of the “next primary launch vehicle” in the early 2020s and full capabilities for human launch by the 2027/28 timeframe.
Likewise, ELCSS development will continue through the mid-2010s on the ground before moving up the ISS for in-space demonstrations of air and water revitalization equipment. CO2 removal, water recovery, and toilet and shower technology development will begin shortly thereafter and continue into 2021 before human spaceship, lander, and pressurized rover development begins.
JAXA is also aiming to develop new human orbital transfer technologies for low boil-off cryogenic propulsion technologies to be used for an orbital transfer vehicle set to debut in the late 2020s.
A pre-breathe-less spacesuit is also under development at this time, as is space medicine technologies to “verify medical safety techniques needed for human presence and establishment of long duration stay on the lunar surface.”
Specifically, a space radiation monitor, regolith and lunar dust control, mental and psychological support, telemedicine care, and space food are being drawn-up/analyzed.
For this space medicine part of JAXA’s development, two tech demos are scheduled on the ISS – one in approximately 2015 and the second in 2021.
(Images via JAXA)
Related posts:
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- Japanese H-2A vehicle launches with Ibuki satellite Japan has launched a satellite that will be used to observe…
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Enceladus backlit by Saturn
Posted by brandoniswrite on
This moon is shining by the light of its planet. Specifically, a large portion of Enceladus pictured above is illuminated primarily by sunlight first reflected from the planet Saturn.
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Virtual Star Party – Feb. 8, 2012
Posted by brandoniswrite on February 9, 2012
Here was the virtual star party that we held last night on Google+. We’ve actually been holding 1-2 of these star parties every week as we figure out the best way to organize and coordinate all the telescopes streaming into the Hangout. I don’t normally post them all on Universe Today, but last night was particularly special, with amazing views of the Rosette Nebula approximately one hour into the broadcast. A big thanks to Gary Gonella for sharing his telescope view with us.
If you’re interested in watching future livestreamed telescope virtual star parties, make sure you circle me on Google+.
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Spirit Lander – 1st Color Image from Mars Orbit
Posted by brandoniswrite on
1st Color image of Spirit lander and Bonneville Crater from Mars orbit
Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove off in January 2004. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
See more images of Spirit’s lander from orbit and her Traverse Map below
What did Spirit see from the lander ? – look below
The Lander platform for NASA’s Spirit rover has been photographed in stunning high resolution color for the first time from Mars orbit – just over 8 years after the now legendary robot survived the scorching atmospheric heat of the 6 minute plunge through the Martian atmosphere and bounced to a stop inside Gusev Crater on January 3, 2004.
Spirit’s three petaled landing pad was finally imaged in color by NASA’s powerful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft just days ago on January 29, 2012 at 3:04 p.m. local Mars time.
The MRO spacecraft was soaring overhead and captured the image of Spirit’s lander (…)
Read the rest of Spirit Lander – 1st Color Image from Mars Orbit (421 words)
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Phoenix Lander Still Visible in New HiRISE Images from Mars
Posted by brandoniswrite on February 8, 2012
The Phoenix lander still visible at Mars north polar region, nearly 4 Earth years and 2 Mars years after the spacecraft landed on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
I spy Phoenix! said the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter! This new image acquired on January 26, 2012 shows that the Phoenxi lander and its backshell are still visible from Mars’ orbit, but not the parachute or the dark halo around the lander which are both likely covered by dust, said HiRISE Principal Investigator, Alfred McEwen. This is one of a series of images to monitor frost patterns at the Phoenix landing site. McEwen added that this is the same appearance to the hardware as 1 Mars years ago, in 2010. See larger versions of this image at the HiRISE website.
See below for comparison images from orbit from 2008, shortly after Phoenix landed and 2010, after the mission had ended.
(…)
Read the rest of Phoenix Lander Still Visible in New HiRISE Images from Mars (143 words)
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Silica Pond, Iceland
Posted by brandoniswrite on
A hot-water pond, charged with silica, is one of the highlights of the interior of Iceland. The pond is glowing in the middle of nowhere. Photographer David Remacle
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