OrbitalHub

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

NASA dixit:

“The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has now captured nearly seven years worth of ultra-high resolution solar footage. This time lapse shows that full run from two of SDO’s instruments. The large orange sun is visible light captured by HMI. The smaller golden sun is extreme ultraviolet light from AIA and reveals some of the suns atmosphere, the corona. Both appear at one frame every 12 hours. SDO’s nearly unbroken run is now long enough to watch the rise and fall of the current solar cycle. The graph of solar activity shows the sunspot number, a measurement based on the number of individual spots and the number of sunspot groups. In this case, the line represents a smoothed 26-day average to more clearly show the overall trend.”

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

NASA dixit:

“The U.S. commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo craft was released from the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm in the early hours of March 19, after spending more than three weeks at the orbital outpost. During that time, the crew onboard transferred onto the station several tons of supplies and scientific investigations delivered by Dragon. Expedition 50 crew members Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) and Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA bid farewell to Dragon as the resupply craft moved to a safe distance away from the complex for its deorbit engine firing and a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific. Dragon is returning critical science experiments for investigators back on the Earth.”

Video credit: NASA

Wikipedia dixit:

“Carrying several tons of supplies and scientific experiments, the unpiloted SpaceX Dragon cargo craft arrived at the International Space Station on February 23 following its launch atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the refurbished Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Following the arrival […], the station crew used the Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture the Dragon. Ground controllers then sent commands for the robot arm to maneuver the vehicle to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module where it was installed and bolted into place. The Dragon will spend about a month at the space station while the crew unloads the almost 5,500 pounds of supplies and scientific experiments delivered by the Dragon.”

Video credit: NASA

Wikipedia dixit:

“SpaceX CRS-10, also known as SpX-10 or simply CRS-10, is a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The mission was contracted by NASA and was launched by SpaceX aboard a Dragon spacecraft on 19 February 2017. The mission is currently active, with the Dragon spacecraft in orbit adjusting and preparing for docking to the ISS, which is expected between 21 February and 22 February 2017. CRS-10 is part of the original order of twelve missions awarded to SpaceX under the Commercial Resupply Services contract. As of June 2016, a NASA Inspector General report had this mission manifested for November 2016. The launch was put on hold pending investigation of the pad explosion in September 2016, with a tentative date no earlier than January 2017, subsequently set for 18 February.

CRS-10 was launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 Pad A, the first launch from the complex since STS-135 on 8 July 2011, the last flight of the Space Shuttle program; this complex is also where the Apollo missions were launched. On 12 February 2017, SpaceX successfully completed a static fire test of the Falcon 9 engines on Pad 39A. An initial launch attempt on 18 February 2017 was scrubbed 13 seconds before its 15:01 UTC launch due to a thrust vector control system issue, resulting in a 24-hour hold for launch no earlier than 19 February at 14:38:59 UTC.

Following the successful Launch on 19 February, the first stage returned and landed safely in landing Zone 1.

NASA has contracted for the CRS-10 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date/time of launch, and orbital parameters for the Dragon space capsule. CRS-10 is expected to carry 1,530 kg (3,373.1 lb) of pressurized mass and 960 kg (2,116.4 lb) unpressurized. External payloads on the CRS-10 spacecraft are the SAGE III Earth observation experiment and its Nadir Viewing Platform (NVP), and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Test Program H5 (STP-H5) package, including the Raven navigation investigation and the Lightning Imaging Sensor. Some science payloads include ACME, LMM Biophysics, ZBOT, and CIR/Cool Flames.”

Video credit: SpaceX

NASA JPL dixit:

“Dawn delves into the unknown and achieves what’s never been attempted before. A mission in NASA’s Discovery Program, Dawn orbited and explored the giant protoplanet Vesta in 2011-2012, and now it is in orbit and exploring a second new world, dwarf planet Ceres.

Dawn’s goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of its earliest history by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formation. Ceres and Vesta reside in the main asteroid belt, the extensive region between Mars and Jupiter, along with many other smaller bodies. Each followed a very different evolutionary path, constrained by the diversity of processes that operated during the first few million years of solar system evolution. When Dawn visits Ceres and Vesta, the spacecraft steps us back in solar system time.”

Video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA