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Mars Base

Astronomer urges researchers everywhere to study Venus transit - 0 views

phys.org/...nomer-urges-venus-transit.html

scibyte48 venus transit

shared by Mars Base on 17 May 12 - No Cached
  • during this transit, our sun will be displaying sun spots
  • allows for comparing changing light patterns of suspected exoplanets with those that occur much closer to home
  • Information gathered during the transit, he points out, could very well reveal pertinent information later on
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • regardless of area of interest
  • more people studying the transit the better, in as many ways as possible, even if there doesn’t seem to be any immediate payoff
Mars Base

Solar Scientists to Watch June's Historic Venus Transit from Alaska | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/-solar-researchers-alaska.html

venus transit scibyte48

shared by Mars Base on 14 May 12 - No Cached
  • NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite will watch from space as Venus crosses the sun's face on June 5 (June 6 in the Eastern Hemisphere)
  • some SDO scientists are headed to Alaska to watch the seven-hour event in its entirety.
  • For the United States, only Hawaii and Alaska will see the entire transit
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • NASA plans to webcast live footage of the transit from SDO, whose images should be spectacular.
Mars Base

How One Faulty Nitrogen-Purge Valve Forced SpaceX to Abort | Autopia | Wired.com - 0 views

www.wired.com/...cex-nitrogen-purge-valve-abort

scibyte47 SpaceX PrivateSpaceTravel iss

shared by Mars Base on 22 May 12 - No Cached
  • SpaceX engineers were able to trace the high-pressure problem to a valve that controls the flow of nitrogen used to purge the engine before ignition
  • check valve that allows the nitrogen purge prior to ignition in the Merlin engine was stuck open just before launch
  • stuck valve allowed “liquid oxygen to flow from the main injector [for the rocket engine itself] into the gas generator injector
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • stuck valve meant the liquid oxygen flowed into the gas generator injector, which led to the high pressure in engine five’s combustion chamber. The high pressure caused the flight computer to shutdown the engines, aborting the launch
  • the Falcon 9 may have been okay even if it had launched with the high pressure
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

SpaceX Engineers Race to Repair Engines for May 22 Launch - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...pair-engines-for-may-22-launch

scibyte47 SpaceX PrivateSpaceTravel iss

shared by Mars Base on 21 May 12 - No Cached
  • Mars Base on 21 May 12
     
    SpaceX Engineers Race to Repair Engines for May 22 Launch
Mars Base

SpaceX Replaces Faulty Rocket Valve for Space Station Flight | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ate-rocket-engine-repairs.html

scibyte47 SpaceX PrivateSpaceTravel iss

shared by Mars Base on 21 May 12 - No Cached
  • engineers have replaced a faulty engine valve
  • aborted its launch attempt a half-second before liftoff
  • Software did what it was supposed to do, aborted engine five, and we went through the remaining engine shutdown
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Technicians went out to the rocket's launch pad at the Air Force station's Complex 40 Saturday to examine the engines for signs of the issue's root cause
  • During rigorous inspections of the engine, SpaceX engineers discovered a faulty check valve on the Merlin engine
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
Mars Base

SpaceX Launching Student Experiments & Emblems on ISS Flight | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/aunch-student-experiments.html

scibyte47 SpaceX dragon iss PrivateSpaceTravel

shared by Mars Base on 17 May 12 - No Cached
  • then the 15 experiments comprising "Aquarius"
  • will be among the first payloads delivered to the station on a commercial cargo craft.
  • competition among students to fly experiments
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • to design their mission patches
  • A total of 779 student teams submitted proposals for the 15 science slots and nearly 5,000 students offered 2,299 insignia ideas from which just 22 were chosen.
  • Ironically, none of the almost two dozen student mission patches that were selected to fly depict the vehicle that their experiments are riding on.
  • The designs, which range from crayon-colored creations to computer-assisted drawings, also include representations of the Earth, moon and Mars and the American flag.
  • Aquarius, which utilizes liquid mixing tube assemblies that function similar to commercial glow sticks
  • two similar student flight opportunities
  • on NASA's final two space shuttle missions
  • was first slated to fly on a Soyuz spacecraft.
  • When the students' experiments were re-manifested, they went from launching on the Russian rocket to the SpaceX Dragon.
  • The Aquarius package will stay in space for just under six weeks before coming back to Earth on Soyuz TMA-03M, the same spacecraft returning three ISS crew members on July 1.
  • The students' patches will also make the round trip, and will be embossed with a certification stating that they flew in space.
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