“At Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, everything is being prepared to accommodate Europe’s newest launcher, Ariane 6. A new launch pad is under construction and the mobile gantry protecting the launcher will soon be visible. The new assembly building dimensions can now be fully seen as the outer shell is almost complete.
Ariane 6 will guarantee Europe’s independent access to space and should consolidate Arianespace’s leading role on the satellites launch market. The first Ariane 6 launch is scheduled for July 2020.”
“The first hot firing of Ariane 6’s Vulcain 2.1 main engine was performed in January 2018 at the DLR German Aerospace Center test facility in Lampoldshausen, Germany.
The engine, developed by ArianeGroup, has a simplified and more robust nozzle, a gas generator made through additive manufacturing, and an oxygen heater for oxygen tank pressurisation. These features lower the cost of the engine and simplify manufacturing.”
“GOES-17 (formerly GOES-S) is the second of the next generation of weather satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The next satellites of the series (GOES-16, -17, -T, and -U) will extend the availability of the GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system) until 2036 for weather forecast and meteorology research. The satellite was built by Lockheed Martin, was based on the A2100A platform, and will have an expected useful life of 15 years (10 years operational after five years of standby as an on-orbit replacement).
NOAA’s GOES-R series of satellites is designed to improve the forecasts of weather, ocean, and environment by providing faster and more detailed data, real-time images of lightning, and advanced monitoring of solar activities and space weather. GOES-17 can collect three times more data at four times image resolution, and scan the planet five times faster than previous probes.
GOES-17 has the same instruments and capabilities as GOES-16 (currently serving as GOES-East), and will complement its work by scanning a different area of the world. GOES-17 will become GOES-West and cover the west Coast of US, Alaska, Hawaii, and much of the Pacific Ocean. These two satellites are expected to monitor most of the Western Hemisphere and detect natural phenomena, like hurricanes, wildfires, and fog in almost real time.”
“The first task for spacewalkers Mark Vande Hei and Norishige Kanai is to move a Latching End Effector (LEE), or hand, for the Canadian-built robotic arm, Canadarm2, from a payload attachment on the station’s Mobile Base System rail car to the Quest airlock. This LEE was replaced during an Expedition 53 spacewalk in October 2017 and will be returned to Earth to be refurbished and relaunched to the orbiting laboratory as a spare.
Once they have completed that activity, they will move an aging, but functional, LEE that was detached from the arm during a January 23 spacewalk and move it from its temporary storage outside the airlock to a long-term storage location on the Mobile Base System, which is used to move the arm and astronauts along the station’s truss structure.”
“The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is one of ten National Aeronautics and Space Administration field centers. Since December 1968, Kennedy Space Center has been NASA’s primary launch center of human spaceflight. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources, and even own facilities on each other’s property.
Though the first Apollo flights, and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from CCAFS, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.
Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and In-Situ Resource Utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.
There are about 700 facilities grouped across the center’s 144,000 acres. Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525 ft tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA’s largest rockets, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronaut crew quarters, and 3-mile-long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site.”
“Even if rovers, balloons, and airplanes continuously move around and near the surface of Mars one day, we should never judge a planet by its cover. Today’s desert-like Martian surface likely hides the presence of water below ground. To “follow the water” to where it is today, we must go beneath the surface of the planet with subsurface explorers. The subsurface of Mars may resemble some of the colder parts of Earth. For example, in Antarctica or Iceland, we know that water is stored in a layer of permafrost and beneath that, as liquid groundwater. Even if the ancient surface water on Mars evaporated, there may still be substantial reservoirs of water, in either liquid or frozen form, in the subsurface.
The very first subsurface exploration of Mars for NASA will be in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) in their Mars Express mission. This spacecraft carries a subsurface radar instrument that will use a 40-meter (130-foot) antenna to detect and map subsurface water. Electric signals will be sent down the antenna, creating low-frequency radar waves. The radar waves will penetrate the Martian surface as deep as five kilometers (three miles) and will be reflected back to the spacecraft by different subsurface features, including water. This data will give us a three-dimensional understanding of where and how much water may be distributed in the Martian subsurface.
A lander on Mars Express called Beagle 2 will also carry the first robotic mole. Mimicking the behavior of the small furry earth-bound creatures that burrow into the ground, robotic moles will drill underground by pulverizing rock and soil, avoiding the need for a complex drill stem. Beagle 2’s mole will only have the ability to penetrate less than a meter (less than 3 feet) below the surface.
A much more capable mole is under development in NASA’s technology program. Weighing about 20 kilograms (44 pounds), it will be capable of drilling hundreds of meters (hundreds of yards) into the ground and possibly deeper at a rate of 10-20 meters (33 – 66 feet) a day. Excavated soil would be moved to the back of the mole and a small tube leading to the surface would help alleviate the pressure from the growing mounds of soil. The tube would also send soil samples back to the surface and carry power to the robotic mole. The samples sent up to the surface would be studied for scientific data such as mineral content and oxidation levels of subsurface soil. A mole drilling at the polar cap would study the layers of ice that tell the story of its history, much like the rings of a tree reveal many things from its past. All of this data would provide clues in the search for ancient, or possibly current, life.
Once we know in more detail where the water lies, the next step is to drill in those locations. To get to the zone where frozen water–and possible dormant life–might be present, we will probably need to drill to a depth of 200 meters (656 feet). Liquid groundwater will be even deeper. That’s no easy feat, but it’s critical for understanding the possibility of past or present life on Mars and for confirming that water resources are available for future human explorers.
Deep subsurface access on Mars will have unique challenges. First of all, unlike on Earth, we will not be able to use a drill to go through mud, water, or probably even gas pressure to carry the cuttings away from the bit. We will need new systems for fluidless drilling. Second, we will need an effective means of keeping the hole open while the drilling proceeds. On Earth, this task is normally done with steel casing, which is very heavy. Engineers are actively seeking alternative ways that don’t require us to send heavy equipment to Mars given the expense. Finally, we will have to develop systems that allow the drill to make operational decisions for itself. On Earth, drills can get stuck very quickly, so a Mars robotic drill or subsurface explorer must know how to recognize, avoid, and solve problems on its own.”
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