OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dixit:

“The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope developed in collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency that will be the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The JWST will offer unprecedented resolution and sensitivity, and will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology. One of its major goals is observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe, such as the formation of the first galaxies. These types of targets are beyond the reach of current ground and space-based instruments. Other goals include understanding the formation of stars and planets, and direct imaging of exoplanets and novas.

The JWST’s primary mirror is composed of 18 hexagonal mirror segments made of gold-coated beryllium that combine to create a mirror with a diameter of 6.5 meters (21 ft 4 in) – a large increase over the Hubble’s 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) mirror. The telescope will be deployed in space near the Earth–Sun L2 Lagrangian point, and a large sunshield made of five sheets of silicon- and aluminum-coated Kapton will keep JWST’s mirror and four science instruments below 50 K (−220 °C; −370 °F). Unlike the Hubble—which observes in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra—the JWST will observe in the long-wavelength (orange to red) visible light through the mid-infrared (0.6 to 27 μm) range. This will allow the JWST to observe high redshift objects that are too old and too distant for the Hubble and other earlier instruments to observe.

In development since 1996, the telescope is named after James E. Webb, the American government official who was the administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1968 and played an integral role in the Apollo program. The project has had numerous delays and cost overruns, and underwent a major redesign during 2005. In December 2016, NASA announced that construction of the JWST was complete and that its extensive testing phase would begin. In March 2018, NASA delayed the JWST’s launch an additional year after the telescope’s sunshield ripped during a practice deployment and the sunshield’s cables did not sufficiently tighten. It was further delayed on June 27, 2018 based on recommendations by an Independent Review Board. The JWST is scheduled to launch on March 30, 2021.”

Credits Video: NASA/Northrop Grumman

Wikipedia dixit:

“The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope developed in collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency that will be the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The JWST will offer unprecedented resolution and sensitivity, and will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology. One of its major goals is observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe, such as the formation of the first galaxies. These types of targets are beyond the reach of current ground and space-based instruments. Other goals include understanding the formation of stars and planets, and direct imaging of exoplanets and novas.

The JWST’s primary mirror is composed of 18 hexagonal mirror segments made of gold-coated beryllium that combine to create a mirror with a diameter of 6.5 meters (21 ft 4 in) – a large increase over the Hubble’s 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) mirror. The telescope will be deployed in space near the Earth–Sun L2 Lagrangian point, and a large sunshield made of five sheets of silicon- and aluminum-coated Kapton will keep JWST’s mirror and four science instruments below 50 K (−220 °C; −370 °F). Unlike the Hubble—which observes in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra—the JWST will observe in the long-wavelength (orange to red) visible light through the mid-infrared (0.6 to 27 μm) range. This will allow the JWST to observe high redshift objects that are too old and too distant for the Hubble and other earlier instruments to observe.

In development since 1996, the telescope is named after James E. Webb, the American government official who was the administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1968 and played an integral role in the Apollo program. The project has had numerous delays and cost overruns, and underwent a major redesign during 2005. In December 2016, NASA announced that construction of the JWST was complete and that its extensive testing phase would begin. In March 2018, NASA delayed the JWST’s launch an additional year after the telescope’s sunshield ripped during a practice deployment and the sunshield’s cables did not sufficiently tighten. It was further delayed on June 27, 2018 based on recommendations by an Independent Review Board. The JWST is scheduled to launch on March 30, 2021.”

Credits Music: Expanding Time and Space by Daniel jay Nielsen

Credits Video: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Sophia Roberts

NASA dixit:

“Orbital ATK’s vision for the next step toward human space missions to Mars employs our flight-proven Cygnus advanced maneuvering spacecraft as a human habitat in cislunar space, the region between the Moon and Earth. In the early 2020s we would launch the initial habitat on NASA’s SLS rocket. Featuring a modular design, the habitat would serve both as a destination for crewed missions and as an unmanned testbed to prove-out the technologies needed for long-duration human space missions. The habitat is also envisioned as a base for lunar missions by international partners or commercial ventures. With additional habitation and propulsion modules, the habitat could be outfitted for a Mars pathfinder mission.”

Credits Video: NASA

ESA dixit:

“Spacecraft in orbit and on Mars’s surface have made many exciting discoveries, transforming our understanding of the planet and unveiling clues to the formation of our Solar System, as well as helping us understand our home planet. The next step is to bring samples to Earth for detailed analysis in sophisticated laboratories where results can be verified independently and samples can be reanalysed as laboratory techniques continue to improve.

Bringing Mars to Earth is no simple undertaking—it would require at least three missions from Earth and one never-been-done-before rocket launch from Mars.

A first mission, NASA’s 2020 Mars Rover, is set to collect surface samples in pen-sized canisters as it explores the Red Planet. Up to 31 canisters will be filled and readied for a later pickup – geocaching gone interplanetary.

In the same period, ESA’s ExoMars rover, which is also set to land on Mars in 2021, will be drilling up to two meters below the surface to search for evidence of life.

A second mission with a small fetch rover would land nearby and retrieve the samples in a Martian search-and-rescue operation. This rover would bring the samples back to its lander and place them in a Mars Ascent Vehicle – a small rocket to launch the football-sized container into Mars orbit.

A third launch from Earth would provide a spacecraft sent to orbit Mars and rendezvous with the sample containers. Once the samples are safely collected and loaded into an Earth entry vehicle, the spacecraft would return to Earth, release the vehicle to land in the United States, where the samples will be retrieved and placed in quarantine for detailed analysis by a team of international scientists.”

Video Credit: NASA/ESA

Orbital ATK dixit:

“The OmegA rocket is one of Orbital ATK’s largest strategic investments. A new, American intermediate-and large-class space launch vehicle, OmegA is capable of launching the full range of national security mission required by the U.S. Air Force, as well as science and commercial payloads for other customers. OmegA’s design leverages commonality and automation to provide speed, reliability, performance and affordability. Already, approximately 500 Orbital ATK employees are working on OmegA, and that number is expected to grow to approximately 1,000 over the next 24 months. Hundreds of other jobs are also being created in our extensive supply chain.

OmegA uses all-American propulsion and other flight-proven technologies, and will be ready to fly in just three years. Like other Evolvable Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs), OmegA will operate from both east and west coast launch facilities. OmegA will share common propulsion, structures and avionics systems with current and future programs. In addition, OmegA will leverage current in-production programs that already are staffed with a skilled and highly experienced workforce, and will use existing facilities, supplier relationships and available subsystems for the new launch system’s development and production. Because OmegA shares so many common elements with other programs, the system is affordable for the Air Force while also providing savings of approximately $600 million to other government agencies over 10 years.”

Video Credit: Orbital ATK

Wikipedia dixit:

“The New Glenn is a privately funded orbital launch vehicle in development by Blue Origin. It is expected to make its initial test launch in 2020. Design work on the vehicle began in 2012. The high-level specifications for the vehicle were publicly announced in September 2016. New Glenn is described as a 7-meter-diameter (23 ft), two- or three-stage rocket. Its first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 engines that are also being designed and manufactured by Blue Origin.

Like the New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle that preceded it, the New Glenn’s first stage is designed to be reusable for up to 100 missions, and will land vertically, a technology previously developed by Blue Origin and tested in 2015–2016 on its New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle. The second stage will share the same diameter as the first and use two BE-3U vacuum optimized engines. It will use hydrogen/oxygen as propellant and will be expendable. The optional third stage will use one BE-3U engine. This engine is manufactured by Blue Origin and has already been used on the New Shepard, as the BE-3 sea-level-optimized version. The company has revealed the planned payload capacity of the 2-stage version of New Glenn as 13,000 kg (29,000 lb) to GTO and 45,000 kg (99,000 lb) to LEO.

Launches of the New Glenn are planned to be made from Spaceport Florida Launch Complex 36, which was leased to Blue Origin in 2015. New Glenn will also be available for space tourism flights, with priority given to customers of New Shepard.”

Video Credit: Blue Origin