 |
| Credits: Michael Carroll |
Carnival of Space #116 is hosted by Daniel Sims a.k.a. Aron Sora at Habitation Intention.
This week you can read a review of Further Reflections on a Golden Era by Paul Haney, read about the odd orbit of WASP-17, problems with a terraformed Mars, and the demotivating news that the Augustine Commission delivered to the space community, see new images released by HiRISE camera, and much more.
 |
| Credits: NASA |
The Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) is a mission that will measure the lunar gravity field in unprecedented detail. The twin spacecraft will orbit the Moon in tandem and collect scientific data for several months.
The GRAIL mission will cost $375 million and launch in 2011 as part of NASA’s Discovery Program. The window for the launch is 26 days long and opens on September 8, 2011.
After a dual launch aboard a Delta II 2920-10, the spacecraft will spend three to four months cruising on a low-energy trans-lunar trajectory. The two spacecraft will orbit the moon on 50 km, near-circular polar orbits, with a spacecraft separation of 175 – 225 km. The science phase of the mission will take 90 days, and it will be followed by a 12-month science data analysis.
The technique used by GRAIL for collecting scientific data was also used for the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission, launched in 2002. Small changes in the distance that separates the two spacecraft are translated in variations of the lunar gravity field.
The GRAIL spacecraft are based on the Lockheed Martin XSS-11 bus. The XSS-11 (Experimental Small Satellite 11) is the result of research done at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in the field of agile and affordable micro-satellites. Interesting to mention here is that there were speculations that XSS-11 could also be used as the base for the development of a kinetic anti-satellite weapon (ASAT).
The spacecraft is a rectangular composite structure. Two non-articulated solar arrays and lithium ion battery provides power. The attitude control system, the power management system, and the telecommunications system are also inherited from the XSS-11 bus.
The payload consists of a Ka-band Lunar Gravity Ranging System (LGRS), which is derived from the instrument carried by the GRACE spacecraft.
The spacecraft flight operations will be conducted from Lockheed Martin’s Denver facility. Science Level 0 and 1 data processing will be done at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Level 2 data processing at JPL, the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The final scientific data will be delivered by MIT.
While missions like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will find safe landing sites, locate potential resources, and take measurements of the radiation environment of the lunar surface, GRAIL will explore the moon from crust to core, and determine the moon’s internal structure and evolution.
More information about GRAIL is available on the GRAIL mission page on MIT’s web site.
 |
| Credits: Carter Roberts/NASA |
Carnival of Space #115 is hosted by Mike Davey at New Frontier News.
This week you can read about the calibration and testing of Kepler telescope, the International Astronomical Union meeting and the politics around Pluto, Despina – one of Neptune’s moons, anomalous findings in the Solar System and their uses, photonic propulsion, Mars sample return missions, suborbital missions from Wallops, the annual CubeSat Developer’s Workshop, and much more.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched on August 12, 2005. MRO reached Martian orbit on March 10, 2006, and, after five months of aerobraking, it entered its final science orbit and began its primary science phase.
One important variation of the typical ATV mission is the Advanced Re-entry Vehicle (ARV). The ARV configuration will consist of a large cargo capsule capable of bringing back on Earth hundreds of kilograms of cargo and valuable experiment results. ARV would be able to dock to the US side of the ISS that has larger docking ports and would make possible the transfer of complete payload racks.
Atmospheric re-entry is not a new challenge for ESA engineers. Past programs – like the Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator – and future programs – like the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV) – will help validate models used for the simulation of the re-entry phase and also provide a solid base in designing materials for the thermal protection system.
 |
| Credits: James Gitlin |
Carnival of Space #114 is hosted at CHEAP ASTRONOMY.
This week you can read about doomsday scenarios of 2012, solar oscillations in some red giants in NGC 6397, the celebration of the first ten years of discovery by the Chandra Space Telescope, the space elevator games, and much more.
Subscribe to blog posts using RSS