NASA dixit:
“The sun emitted a trio of mid-level solar flares on April 2-3, 2017. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured images of the three events.”
Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein
Music credit: A Waltz into Darkness by Joseph Bennie
NASA dixit:
“July 22, 1997. Flight mechanics from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., lower the Cassini spacecraft onto its launch vehicle adapter in KSC’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The adapter will later be mated to a Titan IV/Centaur expendable launch vehicle that will lift Cassini into space. Scheduled for launch in October, the Cassini mission, a joint US-European four-year orbital surveillance of Saturn’s atmosphere and magnetosphere, its rings, and its moons, seeks insight into the origins and evolution of the early solar system. It will take seven years for the spacecraft to reach Saturn. JPL is managing the Cassini project for NASA.”
“After almost 20 years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft begins the final chapter of its remarkable story of exploration: its Grand Finale. Between April and September 2017, Cassini will undertake a daring set of orbits that is, in many ways, like a whole new mission. Following a final close flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan, Cassini will leap over the planet’s icy rings and begin a series of 22 weekly dives between the planet and the rings.
No other mission has ever explored this unique region. What we learn from these final orbits will help to improve our understanding of how giant planets – and planetary systems everywhere – form and evolve.
On the final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, sending back new and unique science to the very end. After losing contact with Earth, the spacecraft will burn up like a meteor, becoming part of the planet itself.
Cassini’s Grand Finale is about so much more than the spacecraft’s final dive into Saturn. That dramatic event is the capstone of six months of daring exploration and scientific discovery. (And those six months are the thrilling final chapter in a historic 20-year journey.)”
Image credit: NASA
JAXA dixit:
“The H3 Launch Vehicle is a large-size next-generation launch vehicle whose maiden flight is scheduled in Japan Fiscal Year 2020 from the Tanegashima Space Center. H3 is under development to be a successor to the H-IIA Launch Vehicle, the current mainstay launch vehicle, in order to maintain Japan’s autonomous access to space.
Recently, many satellites that are closely related to our lives have been transported to space, thus utilizing space has become part of our daily lives. Under such a progressive society, H3 is aiming to become a launch vehicle that attracts people’s attention not only in Japan but also globally as an easy-to-use space transportation system.
For H3 to succeed, JAXA will modernize the overall launch vehicle based on our experience cultivated through the development and operation of H-IIA. In that sense, we face technological challenges including the development of a new large liquid engine (LE-9) and solid rocket boosters (SRB-3). Technologies developed for H3 will be applied to the Epsilon Launch Vehicle.
JAXA and related companies will make active use of Japanese technologies in various fields to develop the new launch vehicle.”
Video credit: JAXA
NASA dixit:
“February 21, 1997. Julie Webster, Cassini’s manager of spacecraft operations (kneeling, right), and the rest of the mission’s assembly, test and launch operations (ATLO) team pose with the spacecraft outside the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Space Simulator.”
“After almost 20 years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft begins the final chapter of its remarkable story of exploration: its Grand Finale. Between April and September 2017, Cassini will undertake a daring set of orbits that is, in many ways, like a whole new mission. Following a final close flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan, Cassini will leap over the planet’s icy rings and begin a series of 22 weekly dives between the planet and the rings.
No other mission has ever explored this unique region. What we learn from these final orbits will help to improve our understanding of how giant planets – and planetary systems everywhere – form and evolve.
On the final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, sending back new and unique science to the very end. After losing contact with Earth, the spacecraft will burn up like a meteor, becoming part of the planet itself.
Cassini’s Grand Finale is about so much more than the spacecraft’s final dive into Saturn. That dramatic event is the capstone of six months of daring exploration and scientific discovery. (And those six months are the thrilling final chapter in a historic 20-year journey.)”
Image credit: NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Caltech / Bob Brown
ESA dixit:
“This unedited video without sound lasts over five hours and shows almost all of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s spacewalk outside the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Thomas left the International Space Station airlock 24 March 2017 on their second spacewalk together. Thomas and Shane worked separately throughout their sortie.
Thomas was tasked to inspected the Station’s cooling system for leaks. He took photos and videos as he patted and prodded the cooling pipes to see if any coolant leaked out. This video starts when he turns on the camera used to record cooling system inspection for analysis by ground control.
Thomas’ second task was to maintain the multipurpose robotic hand Dextre – he had the laborious job of applying lubricant. After setting up a foot restraint to allow him to work with both hands, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson moved Dextre into position using the controls inside the Station.
The video ends with Thomas returning to the Quest airlock – the spacewalk lasted six hours and 34 minutes in total with time spent in the airlock included.
Thomas is spending six months on the International Space Station as part of his Proxima mission. During Proxima, Thomas will perform around 50 scientific experiments for ESA and France’s space agency CNES as well as take part in many research activities for the other Station partners.
The mission is part of ESA’s vision to use Earth-orbiting spacecraft as a place to live and work for the benefit of European society while using the experience to prepare for future voyages of exploration further into the Solar System.”
Video credit: ESA
NASA dixit:
“After almost 20 years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft begins the final chapter of its remarkable story of exploration: its Grand Finale. Between April and September 2017, Cassini will undertake a daring set of orbits that is, in many ways, like a whole new mission. Following a final close flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan, Cassini will leap over the planet’s icy rings and begin a series of 22 weekly dives between the planet and the rings.
No other mission has ever explored this unique region. What we learn from these final orbits will help to improve our understanding of how giant planets – and planetary systems everywhere – form and evolve.
On the final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, sending back new and unique science to the very end. After losing contact with Earth, the spacecraft will burn up like a meteor, becoming part of the planet itself.
Cassini’s Grand Finale is about so much more than the spacecraft’s final dive into Saturn. That dramatic event is the capstone of six months of daring exploration and scientific discovery. (And those six months are the thrilling final chapter in a historic 20-year journey.)
At times, the spacecraft will skirt the very inner edge of the rings; at other times, it will skim the outer edges of the atmosphere. While the mission team is confident the risks are well understood, there could still be surprises. It’s the kind of bold adventure that could only be undertaken at the end of the mission.
Cassini’s final images will have been sent to Earth several hours before its final plunge, but even as the spacecraft makes its fateful dive into the planet’s atmosphere, it will be sending home new data in real time. Key measurements will come from its mass spectrometer, which will sample Saturn’s atmosphere, telling us about its composition until contact is lost.
While it’s always sad when a mission comes to an end, Cassini’s finale plunge is a truly spectacular end for one of the most scientifically rich voyages yet undertaken in our solar system. From its launch in 1997 to the unique Grand Finale science of 2017, the Cassini-Huygens mission has racked up a remarkable list of achievements. “
Video credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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