OrbitalHub

NASA dicit:

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a world between the sizes of Mars and Earth orbiting a bright, cool, nearby star. The planet, called L 98-59b, marks the smallest found by TESS yet.

Two other worlds orbit the same star. While all three planets’ sizes are known, further study with other telescopes will be needed to determine if they have atmospheres and, if so, which gases are present. The L 98-59 worlds nearly double the number of small exoplanets — that is, planets beyond our solar system — that have the best potential for this kind of follow-up.

L 98-59b is around 80 Earth’s size and about 10 smaller than the previous record holder discovered by TESS. Its host star, L 98-59, is an M dwarf about one-third the mass of the Sun and lies about 35 light-years away in the southern constellation Volans. While L 98-59b is a record for TESS, even smaller planets have been discovered in data collected by NASA’s Kepler satellite, including Kepler-37b, which is only 20 larger than the Moon.

The two other worlds in the system, L 98-59c and L 98-59d, are respectively around 1.4 and 1.6 times Earth’s size. All three were discovered by TESS using transits, periodic dips in the star’s brightness caused when each planet passes in front of it.

Video Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA): producer and lead animator/Jeanette Kazmierczak (UMCP): Science Writer

Wikipedia dicit:

The Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25, otherwise known as the Space Shuttle main engine (SSME), is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA’s Space Shuttle. NASA is planning to continue using the RS-25 on the Space Shuttle’s successor, the Space Launch System (SLS).

Designed and manufactured in the United States by Rocketdyne (later known as Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and Aerojet Rocketdyne), the RS-25 burns cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants, with each engine producing 1,859 kN (418,000 lbf) of thrust at liftoff. Although the RS-25 can trace its heritage back to the 1960s, concerted development of the engine began in the 1970s, with the first flight, STS-1, occurring on April 12, 1981. The RS-25 has undergone several upgrades over its operational history to improve the engine’s reliability, safety, and maintenance load.

The engine produces a specific impulse (Isp) of 452 seconds (4.43 km/s) in a vacuum, or 366 seconds (3.59 km/s) at sea level, has a mass of approximately 3.5 tonnes (7,700 pounds), and is capable of throttling between 67% and 109% of its rated power level in one-percent increments. The RS-25 operates at temperatures ranging from −253 °C (−423 °F) to 3300 °C (6000 °F).

The Space Shuttle used a cluster of three RS-25 engines mounted in the stern structure of the orbiter, with fuel being drawn from the external tank. The engines were used for propulsion during the entirety of the spacecraft’s ascent, with additional thrust being provided by two solid rocket boosters and the orbiter’s two AJ-10 orbital maneuvering system engines. Following each flight, the RS-25 engines were removed from the orbiter, inspected, and refurbished before being reused on another mission.

Video Credit: Aerojet Rocketdyne

Wikipedia dicit:

Delta IV is a group of five expendable launch systems in the Delta rocket family introduced in the early 2000s. Originally designed by Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security division for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, the Delta IV became a United Launch Alliance (ULA) product in 2006. The Delta IV was and is primarily a launch vehicle for United States Air Force military payloads, but has also been used to launch a number of U.S. government non-military payloads and a single commercial satellite.

The Delta IV originally had two main versions which allowed the family to cover a range of payload sizes and masses: the retired Medium (which had four configurations) and Heavy. As of 2019, only the Heavy remains active, with payloads that would previously fly on Medium moving to either the existing Atlas V or the forthcoming Vulcan. Retirement of the Delta IV is anticipated in 2024.

Delta IV vehicles are built in the ULA facility in Decatur, Alabama. Final assembly is completed at the launch site by ULA: at the Horizontal Integration Facility for launches from SLC-37B at Cape Canaveral and in a similar facility for launches from SLC-6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Video Credit: ULA

Wikipedia dicit:

The Soyuz launcher was introduced in 1966, deriving from the Vostok launcher, which in turn was based on the 8K74 or R-7a intercontinental ballistic missile. It was initially a three-stage rocket with a Block I upper stage. Later a Molniya variant was produced by adding a fourth stage, allowing it to reach the highly elliptical molniya orbit. A later variant was the Soyuz-U. While the exact model and variant designations were kept secret from the west, the Soyuz launcher was referred to by either the United States Department of Defense designation of SL-4, or the Sheldon designation of A-2 (developed by Charles S. Sheldon, an analyst with the Library of Congress). Both systems for naming Soviet rockets stopped being used as more accurate information became available.

The production of Soyuz launchers reached a peak of 60 per year in the early 1980s. It has become the world’s most used space launcher, flying over 1700 times, far more than any other rocket. Despite its age and perhaps thanks to its simplicity, this rocket family has been notable for its low cost and high reliability.

Video Credit: Roscosmos

NASA dicit:

As humans plan expeditions to places such as the Moon and Mars, biomining could offer a way to obtain needed materials on other planetary bodies rather than bringing them from Earth. However, microbes and rocks interact differently outside of Earth’s gravity, potentially affecting output from extraterrestrial biomining. A new investigation on the International Space Station is studying how microbes grow on and alter planetary rocks in microgravity and simulated Martian gravity.

Video Credit: NASA Johnson

Copenhagen Suborbitals dicit:

Adrian guides you through his project of a Reaction Control System for our crewed Spica space capsule. This system will enable our spacecraft to orient and stabilize itself in the vacuum of space.

Copenhagen Suborbitals is the world’s only manned, amateur space program, 100% crowdfunded and nonprofit. In the future, one of us will fly to space on a home built rocket.

Video Credit: Copenhagen Suborbitals