OrbitalHub

Northrop Grumman dicit:

“We completed the second qualification test for the launch abort motor for NASA’s Orion Spacecraft. The motor fired for 5 seconds with a force of just under 370,000 pounds and will be used to pull the crewed capsule away from NASA’s Space Launch System in the event of an emergency on the launch pad or during ascent. The next major milestone for the motor will be the Ascent Abort-2 Flight Test (AA-2) that will take place in 2019.”

Video Credit: Northrop Grumman

NASA dixit:

“NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and private industry partners, Boeing and SpaceX, will make history in 2019 with the return of human spaceflight launches to the International Space Station from U.S. soil. Get ready for the rocket rumble!”

Video Credit: NASA Kennedy

Lockheed Martin dixit:

“Human spaceflight, some consider the ultimate test. There is only one chance to do it right, no room for error. To prepare for this challenge, we expose the system to the same environments as they would be exposed to in flight. This approach of ‘Test Like You Fly’ is critical to the safety and success of Orion. Come learn about Orion and the testing campaign to prove out the safest system for human spaceflight.”

Video Credit: Lockheed Martin

Wikipedia dixit:

“InSight is a robotic lander designed to study the interior of the planet Mars. The mission launched on 5 May 2018 and is expected to land on the surface of Mars at Elysium Planitia on 26 November 2018, where it will deploy a seismometer and burrow a heat probe. It will also perform a radio science experiment to study the internal structure of Mars.

The mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA. The lander was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space Systems and was originally planned for launch in March 2016. The name is a backronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.

InSight’s objective is to place a stationary lander equipped with a seismometer called SEIS produced by the French space agency CNES, and measure heat transfer with a heat probe called HP3 produced by the German space agency DLR to study the planet’s early geological evolution. This could bring new understanding of the Solar System’s terrestrial planets — Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars — and the Earth’s Moon. By reusing technology from the Mars Phoenix lander, which successfully landed on Mars in 2008, it is expected that the cost and risk will be reduced.”

The mission countdown clock is displayed on the InSight Mars home webpage https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/.

Video Credit: NASA

Wikipedia dixit:

“InSight is a robotic lander designed to study the interior of the planet Mars. The mission launched on 5 May 2018 and is expected to land on the surface of Mars at Elysium Planitia on 26 November 2018, where it will deploy a seismometer and burrow a heat probe. It will also perform a radio science experiment to study the internal structure of Mars.

The mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA. The lander was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space Systems and was originally planned for launch in March 2016. The name is a backronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.

InSight’s objective is to place a stationary lander equipped with a seismometer called SEIS produced by the French space agency CNES, and measure heat transfer with a heat probe called HP3 produced by the German space agency DLR to study the planet’s early geological evolution. This could bring new understanding of the Solar System’s terrestrial planets — Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars — and the Earth’s Moon. By reusing technology from the Mars Phoenix lander, which successfully landed on Mars in 2008, it is expected that the cost and risk will be reduced.”

Video Credit: Lockheed Martin

ESA dixit:

“The space industry demands the most rigorous vibration testing in the world. The first two minutes of a satellite’s space flight are the toughest, as it experiences the extreme vibration of launch. It is essential to test satellites and their component parts in advance of the launch to ensure they will not be shaken to pieces.

The multi-axis vibration test facility HYDRA complements the Electrodynamic shakers, increasing the spectrum of vibration testing available to ESTEC Test Centre customers. It is capable of generating vibrations equivalent to an earthquake of 7.5 on the Richter scale.”

Video Credit: ESA