OrbitalHub

NASA dixit:

“The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 45 crew members Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, departed the International Space Station on Dec. 11 for the return trip to Earth. The returning crew was scheduled to land hours later in Kazakhstan to wrap up 141 days in space.”

Video credit: NASA/Roscosmos

NASA dixit:

“On Dec.6, Orbital ATK’s enhanced Cygnus spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to the International Space Station, on a mission to deliver more than 7,000 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory. This is Orbital ATK’s fourth contracted mission to the station under the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.”

From Orbital ATK news release:

“Orbital ATK has named the OA-4 Cygnus the “S.S. Deke Slayton II,” upholding the tradition of naming each Cygnus in honor of astronauts and individuals who contributed to the United States’ commercial space program.

“With the naming of this spacecraft, we continue our commitment to honor the late Donald ‘Deke’ K. Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts and a champion of America’s commercial space program and leadership in space,” said Frank Culbertson, President of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group. “We are pleased that the enhanced Cygnus that bears his name will be able to provide up to 53 percent more in cargo weight to the International Space Station than our previously flown standard version.”

Cygnus, like most Orbital ATK spacecraft, is compatible with multiple launch vehicles, enabling the use of ULA’s Atlas V launch vehicle on this mission. The enhanced Cygnus has several new features, including lightweight UltraFlexTM solar arrays, a mass optimized Service Module structure and a lighter weight propulsion system. In addition to food, clothing, crew supplies, spare parts and equipment, the Cygnus spacecraft is carrying science experiments to expand the research capability of the Expedition 45 and 46 crew members aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Orbital ATK has three CRS missions scheduled in 2016 to support NASA’s ISS cargo needs. A second Cygnus/Atlas V launch will take place next spring from Florida, followed by the return of operations to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in mid-2016 where the company will continue CRS missions atop the upgraded Antares rocket.

Under the CRS contract with NASA, Orbital ATK will deliver approximately 62,000 pounds (28,000 kilograms) of cargo to the ISS over 10 missions through 2018. The partnership is changing the way NASA does business, helping build a strong American commercial space industry and freeing the agency to focus on developing the next-generation rocket and spacecraft that will enable humans to travel farther in space than ever before.”

Video credit: NASA/Orbital ATK

ESA dixit:

“Liftoff of Vega VV06 carrying LISA Pathfinder from Europe’s Spaceport, French Guiana, at 04:04 GMT/05:04 CET on 3 December 2015. Vega will place LISA Pathfinder into an elliptical orbit around our planet. Then, the spacecraft will use its own propulsion module to raise the highest point of the orbit in six stages. The last burn will propel the spacecraft towards its operational orbit, around a stable point called L1, some 1.5 million km from Earth towards the Sun.

Once on its final orbit, LISA Pathfinder will test key technologies for space-based observation of gravitational waves. These ripples in the fabric of spacetime are predicted by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity but have not yet been directly detected.

To demonstrate the fundamental approach that could be used by future missions to observe these elusive cosmic fluctuations, LISA Pathfinder will realize the best free-fall ever achieved in space. It will do so by reducing all the non-gravitational forces acting on two cubes and monitoring their motion and attitude to unprecedented accuracy.”

Video credit: ESA/Arianespace

NASA dixit:

“Dr. Joe Gurman of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center provides commentary on selected shots from SOHO’s 20 years in space.

After 20 years in space, ESA and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, is still going strong. Originally launched in 1995 to study the sun and its influence out to the very edges of the solar system, SOHO revolutionized this field of science, known as heliophysics, providing the basis for nearly 5,000 scientific papers. SOHO also found an unexpected role as the greatest comet hunter of all time—reaching 3,000 comet discoveries in September 2015.

When SOHO was launched on Dec. 2, 1995, the field of heliophysics looked very different than it does today. Questions about the interior of the sun, the origin of the constant outflow of material from the sun known as the solar wind, and the mysterious heating of the solar atmosphere were still unanswered. Twenty years later, not only do we have a much better idea about what powers the sun, but our entire understanding of how the sun behaves has changed.”

Video credit: NASA Goddard

Arianespace dixit:

“Arianespace successfully launched two satellites [on November 10]: Arabsat-6B (BADR-7) for the operator Arabsat, and GSAT-15 for ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). The company’s tenth launch of the year from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), and sixth with the Ariane 5 heavy launcher, took place on November 10 at 6:34 pm local time in Kourou, French Guiana. Through this mission, the 69th successful launch in a row by Ariane 5, Arianespace is proud to deliver reliable, sustainable solutions to Arabsat and ISRO, two loyal customers for over 30 years.

Arabsat is the leading regional satellite telecommunications operator in the Middle East and Africa. Arabsat-6B (BADR 7) is the ninth satellite orbited by Arianespace for this operator since the launch of Arabsat-1A in 1985. This satellite is the first of the sixth generation of satellites in the Arabsat fleet. It will provide telecommunications and direct- to-home (DTH) TV broadcast services for the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. In 2012 Arabsat also confirmed its goal of bolstering its position in the Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) zone by acquiring the company Hellasat. Arianespace will be launching another Arabsat satellite, Hellasat-4.

GSAT-15 is the 19th satellite to be launched by Arianespace for ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). It will provide telecommunications services for the country, along with dedicated navigation-aid and emergency services. Arianespace has launched 91% of ISRO’s geostationary satellites that used non-Indian launch systems, dating back to the launch of the country’s experimental satellite APPLE on Flight L03 in 1981. The favored relationship between Arianespace and ISRO reflects the exemplary collaboration in the space sector between France and India, a partnership that will help ISRO realize its aim of using space to foster the development of the Indian sub-continent through a full range of satellite applications, for Earth observation, telecommunications, science and navigation.”

Video credit: ESA

Wikipedia dixit:

“LISA Pathfinder will place two test masses in a nearly perfect gravitational free-fall, and will control and measure their relative motion with unprecedented accuracy. The test masses and their environment will be the quietest place in the Solar System.

LISA Pathfinder is a proof-of-concept mission to prove that the two masses can fly through space, untouched but shielded by the spacecraft, and maintain their relative positions to the precision needed to realize a full-up gravitational wave observatory later. The primary objective is to measure deviations from geodesic motion. Much of the experimentation in gravitational physics requires measuring the relative acceleration between free-falling, geodesic reference test particles.

In LISA Pathfinder, precise inter-test-mass tracking by optical interferometry will allow scientists to assess the relative acceleration of the two test masses, situated about 38 cm apart in a single spacecraft. The science of LISA Pathfinder consists of measuring and creating an experimentally-anchored physical model for all the spurious effects – including stray forces and optical measurement limits – that limit the ability to create, and measure, the perfect constellation of free-falling test particles that would be ideal for the eLISA follow up mission. In particular, it will verify: drag-free attitude control of a spacecraft with two proof masses, the feasibility of laser interferometry in the desired frequency band (which is not possible on the surface of Earth), and the reliability and longevity of the various components—capacitive sensors, microthrusters, lasers, and optics.

For the follow-up mission, eLISA, the test masses will be 2 kg cubes housed in two separate spacecraft one million kilometers apart.”

Video credit: ESA