NASA G2

[JasonJ]

4 hours ago, Ssnake said:

Like I wrote in my correction, there will be video.

Oh great, should be good

[sunday]

Starship SN10 just managed to land on her tail, as God and Robert Heinlein intended!

[rmgill]

Spoiler!!!! 😉 

I'm just watching it now. 

[rmgill]

And it looks like they re-light all THREE engines and dialed back once they had the good thrust. Looks like Musk's "we were stupid" response to the question about lighting 3 vs 2 was taken to heart. 

Good show!

[rmgill]

And then....

[sunday]

Bummer.

Or Boommer...

[rmgill]

Sudden URD. 

I wonder if that was their range safety that pulled that or not. The extra flames post landing seemed to be something of an issue. And I'm sure the FAA is going to again be annoyed with SpaceX. 
 

[DKTanker]

3 hours ago, sunday said:

Starship SN10 just managed to land on her tail, as God and Robert Heinlein intended!

Buck Rogers approves this message.

[Yama]

I saw the flames and noticed they seemed to be spraying water, but thought it was maybe just something at the platform burning and went to sleep after few mins and missed the kaboom. Looked like rocket was also leaning just a bit? Well, first soft landing is still progress.

[RETAC21]

14 hours ago, sunday said:

Starship SN10 just managed to land on her tail, as God and Robert Heinlein intended!

Must instill confidence on the atronaut corps: "we made it, we are the first men in Mars!"... BOOOM!

[sunday]

Well, being eager to sit on top of several hundred tons of highly flammable, very noxius, and barely stable rocket fuel is a prerequisite for the astronaut job.

Edited March 4, 2021 by sunday

[Josh]

If watch closely, SN10 bounced on landing. I think it came down too hard or else had a landing leg failure of some kind that crumpled the bottom the ship, causing the lean and a major methane leak. The fire was the methane leak burning as it existed, and the explosion was probably a build of up unburnt methane under the skirt that ignited and ruptured any fuel remaining in the tank. But it was pretty close to a successful landing. SN11 I belive is already built and ready to be rolled out.

[DB]

there's some excellent 4k closeup video of the landing legs not locking into place. There's evidence of an abnormal shutdown of the second of the three engines - hence the flames out the side before and after landing. 

Scott Manley provides good analysis as usual.

 

[BansheeOne]

Quote

China and Russia unveil joint plan for lunar space station

Russian space agency Roscosmos and Chinese counterpart CNSA to develop research facilities on surface of moon or in its orbit

Staff and agencies

Tue 9 Mar 2021 20.19 EST

Russia and China have unveiled plans for a joint lunar space station, with the Russian space agency Roscosmos saying it has signed an agreement with China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) to develop a “complex of experimental research facilities created on the surface and/or in the orbit of the moon”.

The CNSA, for its part, said the project was “open to all interested countries and international partners” in what experts said would be China’s biggest international space cooperation project to date.

The Roscosmos chief, Dmitry Rogozin, wrote that he had invited the CNSA chief, Zhang Kejian, to the launch of Russia’s first modern lunar lander, Luna 25, scheduled for 1 October. It is Russia’s first lunar lander since 1976.

[...] 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/10/china-and-russia-unveil-joint-plan-for-lunar-space-station

[BansheeOne]

Quote

NASA delays Mars helicopter Ingenuity's 1st flight to April 14

By Meghan Bartels 16 hours ago

The little chopper was grounded after a test ended early.

NASA has delayed the first flight of its Mars helicopter Ingenuity after the vehicle's last test ended earlier than planned.

Ingenuity will now remain planted firmly on the Red Planet's surface until at least Wednesday (April 14), according to a statement from the agency. The delay comes in response to an anomaly during a test that was meant to see the helicopters blades reach flight-like speeds of 2,400 revolutions per minute.

"During a high-speed spin test of the rotors on Friday, the command sequence controlling the test ended early due to a 'watchdog' timer expiration," NASA officials wrote in a statement today (April 10). "This occurred as it was trying to transition the flight computer from 'Pre-Flight' to 'Flight' mode. The helicopter is safe and healthy and communicated its full telemetry set to Earth."

The statement adds that helicopter engineers are still reviewing data from the little chopper to understand precisely what occurred, but that the team hopes to reschedule the failed test.

Ingenuity arrived on the surface of Mars on Feb. 18, ferried to the Red Planet as a technology demonstration project by NASA's car-sized Perseverance rover. After the rover got situated at its landing site in Jezero Crater, it set about looking for an airfield for the helicopter's historic flight. After arriving there, the rover set about the careful process of unfolding and deploying the 4-lb. (1.8 kilograms) helicopter.

Ingenuity then had to notch several milestones, including surviving the cold Martian night on its own, powered by energy its solar panels harvested. Engineers also unlocked the helicopter's blades and tested them at a low speed, just 50 revolutions per minute.

On Friday (April 9), the helicopter attempted to test its blades at full speed, the final precursor to taking flight, but that was the procedure that the watchdog timer cut short.

"The watchdog timer oversees the command sequence and alerts the system to any potential issues," NASA officials wrote in the statement. "It helps the system stay safe by not proceeding if an issue is observed and worked as planned."

https://www.space.com/nasa-mars-helicopter-flight-delay

[BansheeOne]

Quote

SpaceX wins contract to build lunar lander for NASA astronauts

By Chelsea Gohd 11 hours ago

The company beat out competitors Blue Origin and Dynetics.

It's official: SpaceX will be building the spacecraft that will land NASA astronauts on the moon. 

In 2020, NASA awarded contracts to three commercial teams — SpaceX, Dynetics and Blue Origin — for the agency's Human Landing System (HLS) program. They asked each of these companies to develop an innovative landing system to be used under the Artemis program to ferry astronauts down to the lunar surface. 

On Friday (April 16), NASA announced that SpaceX had beat out the other two competitors, winning the $2.9 billion contract to build the Artemis lunar lander. 

"We have awarded SpaceX to continue the development of our integrated human landing system," Lisa Watson-Morgan, HLS program manager, said during a news conference Friday (April 16). "We're confident in NASA's partnership with SpaceX to help us achieve the Artemis mission and look forward to continuing our work toward landing astronauts on the moon, to prepare for the next giant leap towards Mars."

[...]

https://www.space.com/spacex-wins-nasa-artemis-moon-lander-contest

[BansheeOne]

It flies! 

Quote

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter achieves historic powered flight on Mars

The first flight on Mars opens up new possibilities for planetary exploration

By Joey Roulette 

on April 19, 2021 6:53 am

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter nailed a successful debut test flight on Mars, engineers confirmed early Monday morning. The tiny spacecraft lifted itself 10 feet off the Martian surface for 39 seconds, marking the first powered flight on another world. The historic demonstration opens up tantalizing possibilities for a new mode of planetary travel that could send future rotorcraft far beyond the reach of traditional rovers.

The four-pound Ingenuity helicopter lifted its tissue box-sized body at 12:34PM Mars time (3:34AM ET, Earth time), spinning its twin rotor blades to achieve its first flight in the ultrathin atmosphere of Mars. Those blades spun faster than 2,500 rpm — much faster than the roughly 500 rpm helicopters need to fly on Earth. The craft hovered for about 30 seconds above the surface before descending for touchdown, concluding a fully autonomous 39.1-second flight test, NASA said.

[...] 

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/19/22391496/nasa-ingenuity-helicopter-mars-flight-success

 

[BansheeOne]

Quote

NASA extracts oxygen from Mars in extraterrestrial first

3h ago

The conversion could pave the way to sustaining human life on Mars. It marks the first time that a resource was extracted from another planet for use by humans.

NASA converted carbon dioxide from Mars' atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, marking another extraterrestrial first for the space agency, NASA officials said. 

The Perseverance rover extracted the oxygen using a toaster-sized device called MOXIE, marking the first time that a resource was extracted from another planet for use by humans.

"This is a critical first step," Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said in a statement. "MOXIE has more work to do, but the results from this technology demonstration are full of promise as we move toward our goal of one day seeing humans on Mars."

The six-wheeled NASA rover landed on Mars on Feb. 18 after a seven-month journey from Earth, bringing the MOXIE converter, the Ingenuity mini-helicopter, and various other high-tech devices to the red planet. In its first use, MOXIE, short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, produced about 5 grams of oxygen. This is enough for one astronaut to breathe for about 10 minutes, NASA said.

In the future, the device will be able to generate up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour, and scientists plan to run the machine at least another nine times over the next two years under different conditions and speeds, according to the agency.

[...] 

https://m.dw.com/en/nasa-extracts-oxygen-from-mars-in-extraterrestrial-first/a-57283167

[Soren Ras]

Nice. So now we just need to build a scaled-up moxie that can build another moxie from the available materials on Mars, send a couple on the next rocket to Mars, and sit back and wait.

And wait.

This is more like the 21st Century I was expecting...

--

Soren

[Stuart Galbraith]

I still want the flying cars and the Sean Young Replicant. Lets not soft pedal them, they still got work to do.

[BansheeOne]

Quote

SpaceX lifts off for ISS in recycled rocket

5h ago

Four astronauts have lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida for a 23-hour flight to the International Space Station. The crew, who met with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk before takeoff, will spend six months on the ISS.

A SpaceX rocket blasted off towards the International Space Station on Friday. It is the firm's third NASA-crewed voyage this year.

"Endeavour launches once again — four astronauts from three countries on Crew-2, now making their way to the one and only International Space Station," an announcer said as the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at 5:49 am local time (0949 GMT, 1149 CET) from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The crew included Spacecraft commander Shane Kimbrough and NASA's Megan McArthur, France's Thomas Pesquet and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide.

"Glad to be back in space," Kimbrough radioed once the capsule was safely in orbit.

They will embark upon a six-month mission on the ISS. They will replace a second set of astronauts, who will return to Earth next Wednesday in their own SpaceX capsule.

[...] 

What kind of ship are they using?

For the first time, SpaceX used a recycled Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule for a crew launch.

The company has been helping NASA fly Astronauts to space after the agency's shuttles retired in 2011. 

Boeing, NASA's other designated taxi service, isn't expect to launch astronauts until early next year.

https://m.dw.com/en/spacex-lifts-off-for-iss-in-recycled-rocket/a-57310409

[BansheeOne]

On 4/19/2021 at 5:49 PM, BansheeOne said:

It flies! 

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/19/22391496/nasa-ingenuity-helicopter-mars-flight-success

Video!

 

[BansheeOne]

First aerial stills by Ingenuity. 

https://scitechdaily.com/nasa-releases-first-aerial-color-image-of-mars-captured-by-the-ingenuity-helicopter/amp/

 

[BansheeOne]

Quote

China launches first Tiangong space station module

5h ago

China has launched the main module of a permanent space station, marking another milestone for the country's extraterrestrial ambitions. The launch is the first of 11 missions needed to construct and supply the station.

The core module for China's first permanent space station, set for completion by the end of next year, blasted off from Earth on Thursday.

The launch represents the latest success for the country's rapidly advancing space program.

Liftoff from island launch base

Chinese state television showed lift-off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the southern island of Hainan aboard a Long-March 5B rocket.

The craft carried the Tianhe (Heavenly Harmony) module, the first of at least three sections that will make up the Tiangong (Heaven's Palace) space station.

[...] 

What happens next?

The core module already contains the living quarters and life support equipment for China's "taikonauts."

A further 10 launches will send up two more modules — where the crews will carry out experiments — four cargo supply shipments and four missions with crews on board.

The other two modules, Wentian (Quest for the Heavens) and Mengtian (Dreaming of the Heavens)' will provide space for the crew to carry out scientific experiments.

It's expected that the next two launches will follow in close succession, including a blast-off for the cargo spacecraft Tianzhou 2 (Heavenly Ship 2) in May. The first crewed mission, Shenzhou-12, is expected to be launched by June.

A three-person crew is to live there onboard the station — which has an expected life span of about 10 years — for six months at a time.

At least 12 astronauts are training to fly to and live on Tiangong, including veterans of previous spaceflight flights. There will also be female taikonauts.

How does Tiangong compare to the ISS?

The T-shaped space station's three modules weigh about 66 metric tons, which makes Tiangong considerably smaller than the International Space Station (ISS) at about 420 tons. It could, however, be expanded to as many as six modules.

The station will be about the same size as the US Skylab space station of the 1970s and the former Soviet/Russian Mir, which operated from 1986 to 2001.

[...] 

https://m.dw.com/en/china-launches-first-tiangong-space-station-module/a-57369206

[BansheeOne]

Quote

Date 30.04.2021

NASA extends helicopter mission on Mars

Ingenuity, the first ever human-built aircraft to fly on another planet, has gotten a reprieve after successfully completing four out of five planned flights.

NASA announced on Friday that its helicopter, Ingenuity, is getting at least an extra month on Mars to assist in searching for past signs of microbial life.

The four-pound (1.8 kilogram) mini chopper was set to wrap up flight tests at the beginning of May. Instead, it will serve as a scout for its companion rover, Perseverance.

If all goes well, Ingenuity's mission could go even longer, NASA officials said. 

The helicopter is due to "embark on a new operations demo phase, exploring how aerial scouting & other functions might benefit future exploration," NASA said on Twitter.

What is the goal for Ingenuity's mission?

"We're going to gather information on the operational support capability of the helicopter while Perseverance focuses on its science mission," Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, told reporters Friday.

Perseverance will take priority, scoping out the rocks around the February 18 landing site.The two spacecraft must be within a kilometer (half-mile) of one another for communication relay.

The operations could scope out the best paths for explorers to cross, reaching locations that aren't otherwise possible.

[...]

https://www.dw.com/en/nasa-extends-helicopter-mission-on-mars/a-57395074