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Mars Base

SpaceX's First Mission to the Space Station: How It Will Work | Dragon COTS 2/3 Flight ... - 0 views

www.space.com/agon-space-station-flight.html

scibyte47 SpaceX iss PrivateSpaceTravel

shared by Mars Base on 16 May 12 - No Cached
  • SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule is due to deliver food, supplies and science experiments
  • SpaceX is one of two companies with NASA contracts for robotic cargo delivery flights (Virginia's Orbital Technologies Corp. is the other), but is the first to actually try a launch
  • Here's how the robotic mission is expected to play out:
  • ...50 more annotations...
  • Step 1: Launch
  • from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. SpaceX has use of the facility's Space Launch Complex 40
  • The initial ascent is powered by Falcon 9's first stage, consisting of nine SpaceX Merlin 1C rocket engines
  • Step 2: Main Engine Cut Off/Stage Separation
  • At a little before 180 seconds into the flight, the Falcon 9's first stage engines will cut off, and the first stage will drop off, falling back to Earth
  • the booster's second stage engines should start, further propelling the vehicle into orbit.
  • Step 3: Payload Separation
  • Around 9 minutes into the flight, the Dragon capsule should separate from Falcon 9's second stage and orbit on its own
  • capsule will deploy its solar arrays to start soaking up energy from the sun
  • Dragon is on its own and must maneuver using its onboard thrusters
  • Step 4: Orbital Checkouts
  • Dragon will begin a series of checkouts to make sure it's functioning as designed and ready to meet up with the station
  • test out its abort system to prove it can terminate its activities and move away from the space station if something goes wrong.
  • demonstrate its performance in free drift phase, with thrusters inhibited
  • Teams on the ground will lead the vehicle through tests of
  • Absolute GPS (AGPS) system, which uses global positioning system satellites to determine its location in space
  • Step 5: Fly-Under
  • fire its thrusters to perform a fly-under of the International Space Station
  • to 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) below the outpost
  • make radio contact with the station using a system called the COTS Ultra?high frequency Communication Unit to communicate.
  • Dragon will also test a secondary locator system called the relative GPS system, which uses the spacecraft's position relative to the space station to establish its coordinates
  • the six-person crew inside the orbiting laboratory will be monitoring their new visitor
  • use a crew command panel onboard the station to communicate with the capsule and send it a command to turn on a strobe light.
  • After completing the fly-under, Dragon will loop out in front, above and then behind the space station to position itself for docking.
  • Step 6: Rendezvous
  • during Dragon's fourth day of flight, the spacecraft will fire its thrusters again to bring it within 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) of the space station
  • there, NASA's Mission Control team in Houston will run through a "go-no go" call to confirm all teams are ready for rendezvous
  • If everyone is "go," Dragon will inch closer, to about 820 feet (250 meters) away from the space station.
  • series of final checkouts will be performed to make sure all of Dragon's location and navigation systems are accurate
  • If all looks good, Dragon's SpaceX control team on the ground will command the vehicle to approach the space station
  • When it reaches 720 feet (220 meters), the astronauts onboard the outpost will command the capsule to halt.
  • After another series of "go-no go" checks
  • approach to 656 feet (200 meters), and then 98 feet (30 meters), and finally 32 feet (10 meters), the capture point.
  • Step 7: Docking
  • Mission Control will tell the space station crew they are "go" for capturing Dragon
  • astronaut Don Pettit will use the station's robotic arm to reach out and grab Dragon, pulling it in to the bottom side of the lab's Harmony node, and then attaching it.
  • The next day, after more checkouts, the crew will open the hatch between Dragon and the station.
  • Over the coming weeks, the astronauts will spend about 25 hours unpacking the 1,014 pounds (460 kilograms) of cargo that Dragon delivers
  • none of the cargo is critical (since this is a test flight),
  • capsule will arrive bearing food, water, clothing and supplies for the crew.
  • Step 8: Undocking
  • Dragon is due to spend about 18 days docked at the International Space Station.
  • the station astronauts will use the robotic arm to maneuver the capsule out to about 33 feet (10 meters) away, then release it. Dragon will then use its thrusters to fly a safe distance away from the laboratory.
  • Step 9: Re-entry
  • About four hours after departing the space station, Dragon will fire its engines to make what's called a de-orbit burn
  • will set the capsule on a course for re-entry through Earth's atmosphere
  • spacecraft is equipped with a heat shield to protect it from the fiery temperatures of its 7-minute re-entry flight.
  • Step 10: Landing
  • due to splash down in the Pacific Ocean to end its mission
  • There, recovery crews will be waiting to collect the capsule about 250 miles (450 kilometers) off the West Coast of the United States
  • Mars Base on 21 May 12
     
    Mission Overview
Mars Base

World Largest Heat Shield Attached to NASA's Orion Crew Capsule for Crucial Fall 2014 T... - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...-crucial-fall-2014-test-flight

scibyte133 orion

shared by Mars Base on 01 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • technicians at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida have attached the world’s largest heat shield to a pathfinding version of NASA’s Orion crew capsule
  • test flight later this Fall on a crucial mission dubbed Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1)
  • One of the primary goals of NASA’s eagerly anticipated Orion EFT-1 uncrewed test flight is to test the efficacy of the heat shield in protecting the vehicle – and future human astronauts
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • A trio of parachutes will then unfurl to slow it down for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean
  • Orion is NASA’s next generation human rated vehicle now under development to replace the now retired space shuttle
  • “The Orion heat shield is the largest of its kind ever built. Its wider than the Apollo and Mars Science Lab heat shields,” Todd Sullivan
  • heat shield senior manager
  • The heat shield measures 16.5 feet in diameter
  • It is constructed from a single seamless piece of Avcoat ablator
  • The ablative material will wear away as it heats up during the capsules atmospheric re-entry thereby preventing the 4000 degree F heat from being transferred to the rest of the capsule
  • The Delta IV Heavy is the only rocket with sufficient thrust to launch the Orion EFT-1 capsule and its attached upper stage to its intended orbit of 3600 miles altitude above Earth
  • 15 times higher than the International Space Station (ISS) and farther than any human spacecraft has journeyed in 40 years
  • At the conclusion of the two-orbit, four- hour EFT-1 flight, the detached Orion capsule plunges back and re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere at 20,000 MPH (32,000 kilometers per hour).
  • “That’s about 80% of the reentry speed experienced by the Apollo capsule after returning from the Apollo moon landing missions,” Scott Wilson, NASA’s Orion Manager of Production Operations
  • The big reason to get to those high speeds during EFT-1 is to be able to test out the thermal protection system
  • Numerous sensors and instrumentation have been specially installed on the EFT-1 heat shield and the back shell tiles to collect measurements of things like temperatures, pressures and stresses during the extreme conditions of atmospheric reentry
  • data gathered during the
  • flight will aid in confirming. or refuting, design decisions and computer models as the program moves forward to the first flight
  • in late 2017 on the EM-1 mission and more human crewed missions thereafter
Mars Base

Orion Crew Capsule Targeted for 2014 Leap to High Orbit - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...ed-for-2014-leap-to-high-orbit

scibyte39 orion

shared by Mars Base on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • highest leap in human spaceflight in nearly 4 decades when an unmanned Orion crew capsule blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a high stakes, high altitude test flight in early 2014.
  • narrated animation (see below) released by NASA depicts the planned 2014 launch of the Orion spacecraft on the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission to the highest altitude orbit reached by a spaceship intended for humans since the Apollo Moon landing Era.
  • launch atop a Delta 4 Heavy booster rocket
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • capsule will then separate from the upper stage, re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at a speed exceeding 20,000 MPH
  • trio of huge parachutes and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of California.
  • altitude 15 times higher than the International Space Station (ISS) circling in low orbit some 250 miles above Earth and provide highly valuable in-flight engineering data that will be crucial for continued development of the spaceship.
  • Lockheed Martin is nearing completion of the initial assembly of the Orion EFT-1 capsule
  • first integrated launch of an uncrewed Orion is scheduled for 2017 on the first flight of NASA’s new heavy lift rocket
Mars Base

SpaceX capsule back on solid ground after flight - 0 views

phys.org/...psule-solid-ground-flight.html

scibyte50 SpaceX dragon

shared by Mars Base on 06 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Dragon spacecraft is back on solid ground
  • SpaceX capsule arrived by barge at the Port of Los Angeles on Tuesday.
  • Dragon is now headed to the company's rocket factory in McGregor, Texas, for unloading
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • station astronauts filled the capsule with 1,400 pounds (635 kilograms) of old equipment
Mars Base

Private Manned Space Capsule Passes Big Review | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ace-capsule-design-review.html

scibyte54 SpaceX

shared by Mars Base on 14 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • The crewed version of SpaceX's Dragon space capsule has passed a key design review, moving one step closer to carrying astronauts into orbit, NASA officials announced
  • July 12).
  • company officials gave NASA details about every phase of a potential crewed Dragon mission to the International Space Station
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • outlined how it plans to modify its launch pads to support such a mission
  • discussed the Dragon capsule's docking capabilities, living arrangements, weight and power requirements and potential ground landing sites
  • designed to carry seven astronauts
  • also presented studies that showed how its launch abort system, which is known as SuperDraco, would perform if an emergency occurred shortly after liftoff
  • company told NASA how it would attempt to safeguard astronauts if something unexpected occurred on the way to orbit, in space or during the trip home
  • ready to move on to the next phase and on target to fly people into space aboard Dragon by the middle of the decade
  • SpaceX is one of four companies — along with Blue Origin, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp. — to receive funding over the last two years from NASA's Commercial Crew Program. CCP
  • NASA hopes at least two of these firms can have vehicles up and running by 2017
Mars Base

New Deep Space Capsule Passes NASA Chief's Inspection NASA & Orion Multipurpose Crew Ve... - 0 views

www.space.com/cv-spacecraft-exploration.html

scibyte29 NASA Orion capsule multimedia

shared by Mars Base on 13 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • engineers have completed a suite of structural, acoustic and vibration tests on key components of the spaceship
  • Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle
  • stacked hardware stretching 53 feet (16 meters)
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • unmanned 2014 EFT-1 mission will blast Orion into space aboard a Delta 4-Heavy rocket. The capsule will orbit Earth twice while climbing to an altitude of several thousand miles, then rocket back in a high-speed plunge to validate its heat shield and other systems.
  • Artist's rendering of the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle on a deep space mission.CREDIT: NASA
  • Acoustic testing
  • recent acoustic testing of the Orion crew module/launch abort system structure involved hundreds of sensors planted throughout the hardware.
  • subjected it to the flight environment
  • chamber gets up to 150 decibels…like a rifle shot right next to your ear. It's pretty loud. All that sound…it's like a really loud rock concert
  • Huge heat shield
  • underside of Orion's crew module is the heat shield
  • measuring 16.5 feet (5 m) in diameter
  • Thermal Protection System advances heritage materials from the NASA's space shuttle and Apollo programs to create a next-generation system that can withstand the extreme environments of piloted deep space missions.
Mars Base

Danish Rocketeers Launch Private Space Capsule Test | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/st-copenhagen-suborbitals.html

scibyte59 GrabBag

shared by Mars Base on 14 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • A Danish non-profit organization launched its homemade space capsule
  • Aug. 12
  • Copenhagen Suborbitals
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • capsule
  • blasted off from a floating platform in the Baltic Sea
  • The flight was designed to see how well the LES
  • Launch Escape System (LES
  • various parachutes would work in the event of a serious launch mishap
  • results were a bit mixed,
  • LES spinning out of control and cutting Beautiful Betty loose at an altitude too low for the capsule's parachutes to deploy properly. Betty slammed hard into the ocean
  • Still, the
  • was pleased.
  • The ultimate goal
  • , is to launch people into suborbital space on the cheap
  • The group relies on private donations and money from sponsors to fund its activities.
  • working fulltime to develop a series of suborbital space vehicles — designed to pave the way for manned spaceflight on a micro size spacecraft
Mars Base

Inside The New Dragon Spacecraft | Popular Science - 0 views

www.popsci.com/...inside-new-dragon-spacecraft

scibyte133 SpaceX

shared by Mars Base on 31 May 14 - No Cached
  • the previous version of the Dragon capsule was flightworthy enough to deliver supplies, its life support system wasn’t reliable for human passengers
  • Dragon V2, on the other hand, will be able to carry seven astronauts for seven days.
  • When the capsule reaches the ISS, it will dock with the station autonomously. Unlike its predecessor, it won’t need the ISS’s robotic arm to reach out and grab it
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • To land back on Earth, version one slowed its speed with parachutes before splashing into the ocean
  • This is now a backup technique for the new capsule
  • V2 can use its engines to land propulsively
  • “You’ll be able to land anywhere on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
  • The Dragon V2’s landing ability will make it quickly reusable
  • According to Ars Technica, NASA pays Russia about $71 million per astronaut for trips to the ISS. Musk thinks he can drop that number to $20 million or less.
Mars Base

SpaceX's capsule arrives at ISS - 0 views

phys.org/...013-03-spacex-capsule-iss.html

scibyte84 dragon

shared by Mars Base on 03 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • 5:31 am EST (1031 GMT)
  • The capsule named Dragon was captured
  • The craft,
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • will now be inspected via cameras, brought to the Earth-facing port of the ISS's Harmony module and bolted into place by commands from mission control
  • SpaceX says it has 50 launches planned—both NASA missions and commercial flights—totaling about $4 billion in contracts
  • NASA also has a $1.9 billion resupply contract for the station with Orbital Sciences Corporation, which will launch the first test flight of its Antares rocket from a base in Virginia in the coming weeks
Mars Base

SpaceX company fixes Dragon capsule problem - 0 views

phys.org/...ny-dragon-capsule-problem.html

scibyte84 dragon

shared by Mars Base on 02 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • The problem may have been caused by a stuck valve or a line blockage
  • An hour later, the Dragon was raised with the thrusters to a safe altitude.
  • It was the first serious trouble to strike a Dragon in orbit.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • None of the four previous unmanned flights had any thruster issues
  • appeared to be a glitch versus a major concern.
  • Engineers for both SpaceX and NASA plan an exhaustive study before allowing the rendezvous to take place.
  • fresh fruit as well for the six station astronauts
  • Falcon 9 rocket performed "really perfectly" and that the thruster problem was isolated to the Dragon
  • On the previous flight in October, one of nine first-stage engines on the Falcon rocket shut down too soon
  • The capsule is designed to return to Earth with just two good sets of thrusters and, in "a super worst case situation," conceivably just one although it would be "a bit of a wobbly trip."
  • The newest Dragon is scheduled to spend more than three weeks at the space station before being cut loose by the crew
  • SpaceX plans to launch its next Dragon to the station in late fall.
Mars Base

Station-Bound Dragon Spacecraft's Mission Patch Unveiled | | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ace-capsule-mission-patch.html

scibyte66 SpaceX

shared by Mars Base on 05 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • The first of NASA's contracted cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station now has its own mission patch, courtesy of the company launching the spacecraft.
  • The flight, referred to as Commercial Resupply Services-1 (CRS-1), is the first of a dozen resupply flights for which NASA is paying SpaceX $1.6 billion to fly.
  • The CRS-1 mission patch, which borrows its shape from the Dragon capsule, shows the solar-powered spacecraft grappled by the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm as it is being brought in to connect with the orbiting outpost's Harmony module
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Almost camouflaged with the patch's green-colored North American continent is a four leaf clover. The symbol for luck, the clover has become a regular feature on SpaceX's insignias since the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company's first successful Falcon 1 launch in September 2008
  • Based on pre-launch photos, the CRS-1 emblem does not appear on the Falcon 9 rocket or the Dragon capsule
  • embroidered versions of the patch may fly to the space station and back as part of the mission's Official Flight Kit (OFK) of mementos to be presented to NASA and SpaceX team members for a job well done.
Mars Base

SpaceX Dragon Capsule Splashes Down in Pacific, Ending Historic Test Flight | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/n-capsule-landing-pacific.html

scibyte49 SpaceX dragon PrivateSpaceTravel

shared by Mars Base on 01 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • SpaceX Dragon capsule made a water landing off the coast of Baja California, Mexico at 11:42 a.m. EDT (1542 GMT)
  • began its return to Earth in earnest at 10:51 a.m. EDT (1451 GMT) with a nine minute, 50 second de-orbit engine burn.
Mars Base

March 1 - Today in Science History - Scientists born on March 1st, died, and events - 0 views

todayinsci.com/3_01.htm

scibyte121 LookingBackMar

shared by Mars Base on 21 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Soviet spacecraft reaches Venus surface
  • In 1966, the mission of the Soviet Union's unmanned spacecraft Venera 3 (Venus 3) was a partial success when it reached Venus and automatically released a small landing capsule intended to explore the planet's atmosphere during a parachute descent. However, contact had been lost since 16 Feb 1966. Although no data was returned before the capsule impacted, it became the first man-made object to touch the surface of another planet. The Soviet Union issued a commemorative stamp to mark the achievement. Venera 3 was launched on 16 Nov 1965. The landing capsule (0.9-m diam., about 300-kg) had been designed to collect data on pressure, temperature, and composition of the Venusian atmosphere. Failure is believed due to overheating of internal components and the solar panels
Mars Base

Supersonic Skydive's 5 Biggest Risks: Boiling Blood, Deadly Spins, and Worse - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...sound-barrier-joseph-kittinger

scibyte66 RedBullStratos

shared by Mars Base on 06 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • history's largest helium balloon—55 stories tall and as wide as a football field
  • s team estimates the Austrian sky diver and helicopter pilot will reach Mach 1.2—roughly 690 miles (1,110 kilometers) an hour
  • Originally scheduled for Monday but postponed due to projected high winds
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • atmosphere above 12 miles, or 63,000 feet (19,200 meters)
  • is so thin that, if not protected, human blood will literally boil
  • , Baumgartner's airtight suit and the capsule around him will be continuously pressurized to create a personal atmosphere that isolates him from the void surrounding him
  • The smallest crack in this protective layer would cause almost immediate death
  • It is assumed this is what occurred on previous attempts to break Kittinger's record. Russian Pyotr Dolgov (1962) and American Nick Piantanida (1966) both died, most likely due to depressurization at extreme altitude
  • Baumgartner's balloon will be stressed by the cold, constructed as it is from plastic film just 0.0008 inch (0.02 millimeter) thick, to optimize weight-to-lift ratio
  • his balloon and capsule will pass through an atmospheric layer called the tropopause
  • Wind Could Blow Baumgartner off Course
  • Baumgartner Could Spin Uncontrollably, Even Fatally
  • flat-spin risk can be mediated with a technology first developed for Kittinger: a stabilization parachute to prevent further increase in rotation, deployed on command, or automatically if -3.5 G's are achieved.
  • Baumgartner has his eyes on a new speed record
  • won't open automatically
  • he will assume a rigid aerodynamic body position for the entire free fall—head first, arms at sides—and hope for the best.
  • Sonic Boom Could Do Unknown Damage
  • If Baumgartner becomes the first human to achieve supersonic speed with just his body—and without breaking his body—he will break new scientific ground.
Mars Base

SpaceX Aborts Launch of Private Space Capsule to Space Station | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/pace-capsule-launch-abort.html

scibyte47 SpaceX PrivateSpaceTravel iss

shared by Mars Base on 21 May 12 - No Cached
  • countdown reached zero and the engines of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying Dragon ignited, only to be cut off seconds later because of an excessive pressure reading in one of the engines
Mars Base

SpaceX May Try to Launch Private Spacecraft Tuesday | SpaceX Dragon | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/-space-capsule-launch-2nd.html

scibyte47 SpaceX PrivateSpaceTravel iss

shared by Mars Base on 21 May 12 - No Cached
  • engine glitch on its Falcon 9 rocket in the last second before liftoff forced an abort
  • Engineers traced the issue to a failed check valve in the engine,
  • Mars Base on 21 May 12
     
    SpaceX Hopes to Launch Private Spacecraft to Space Station Tuesday
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