The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) is a series of remote sensing satellite instruments used to study the chemical composition of Earth’s atmosphere. Specifically, SAGE has been used to study the Earth’s ozone layer and aerosols at the troposphere through the stratosphere. The SAGE instruments use solar occultation measurement technique to determine chemical concentrations in the atmosphere. Solar occultation measurement technique measures sunlight through the atmosphere and ratios that measurement with a sunlight measurement without atmospheric attenuation. This is achieved by observing sunrises and sunsets during a satellite orbit. Physically, the SAGE instruments measure ultraviolet/visible energy and this is converted via algorithms to determine chemical concentrations. SAGE data has been used to study the atmospheres aerosols, ozone, water vapor, and other trace gases.
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, carried atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on November 21, 2020. Launch occurred at 9:17 a.m. PST (12:17 p.m. EST). The mission is an international collaboration between NASA and several partners, and it will collect the most accurate data yet on global sea level and how our oceans are rising in response to climate change. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center was responsible for launch management.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission gets underway with the successful liftoff of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Launch occurred November 15, 2020, at 7:27 p.m. EST from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew-1 is the first regular crew mission of a U.S. commercial spacecraft with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
On Saturday, October 24, 2020, SpaceX completed its 100th successful flight since Falcon 1 first flew to orbit in 2008. Over the course of these flights, SpaceX landed Falcon’s first stage booster 63 times and re-flew boosters 45 times.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will power NASA’s next-generation Moon missions through the agency’s Artemis program. NASA’s iconic “Worm” logo is depicted on the side of each of the SLS rocket’s solid rocket boosters. The letters are 8.3 feet tall with the entire worm logo stretching 28.7 feet from end to end on the boosters, which are taller than the Statue of Liberty. The simple, red logo was first introduced to the public in 1975. The original NASA insignia — nicknamed “the meatball” — rides to space on the top of the SLS rocket. The worm marking also appears on the Orion spacecraft riding atop the SLS rocket.
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable two-stage-to-orbit medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX in the United States. It is powered by Merlin engines, also developed by SpaceX, burning cryogenic liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) as propellants. Its name is derived from the fictional Star Wars spacecraft, the Millennium Falcon, and the nine Merlin engines of the rocket’s first stage. The rocket evolved with versions v1.0 (2010–2013), v1.1 (2013–2016), v1.2 “Full Thrust” (2015–present), including the Block 5 Full Thrust variant, flying since May 2018. Unlike most rockets, which are expendable launch systems, since the introduction of the Full Thrust version, Falcon 9 is partially reusable, with the first stage capable of re-entering the atmosphere and landing vertically after separating from the second stage. This feat was achieved for the first time on flight 20 with the v1.2 version in December 2015.
Falcon 9 can lift payloads of up to 22,800 kilograms (50,300 lb) to low Earth orbit, 8,300 kg (18,300 lb) to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) when expended, and 5,500 kg (12,100 lb) to GTO when the first stage is recovered. The heaviest GTO payloads flown have been Intelsat 35e with 6,761 kg (14,905 lb), and Telstar 19V with 7,075 kg (15,598 lb). The latter was launched into a lower-energy GTO orbit achieving an apogee well below the geostationary altitude, while the former was launched into an advantageous super-synchronous transfer orbit.
In 2008, SpaceX won a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) using the Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule. The first mission under this contract launched on October 8, 2012. Falcon 9 has been human-rated for transporting NASA astronauts to the ISS as part of the NASA Commercial Crew Development program. Falcon 9 has been certified for the National Security Space Launch program and NASA Launch Services Program as “Category 3”, which can launch the priciest, most important, and most complex NASA missions. Falcon 9 has been considered as the world’s most advanced space launch vehicle by various sources.
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