OrbitalHub

 

NASA dixit:

“After launching earlier in the day in their Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 40/41 Soyuz Commander Max Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman and Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency docked at the International Space Station on May 29 following a six-hour rendezvous.”

Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

NASA dixit:

“A mid-level flare, an M6.5, erupted from the sun on April 2, 2014, peaking at 10:05 a.m. EDT. This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the flare in a blend of two wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light: 171 Angstroms and 304 Angstroms, colorized in yellow and red, respectively.”

Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA dixit:

“The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft arrived at the International Space Station April 20, delivering almost 5,000 pounds of scientific experiments and supplies for the Expedition 39 crew. Dragon was launched atop the commercial company’s Falcon 9 rocket April 18 from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on the third commercial resupply mission to the station for SpaceX. After a two-day rendezvous to catch up to the orbital laboratory, Dragon was grappled by Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio and berthed to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module using the station’s Canadian-built robot arm, where it will remain until it departs the outpost on May 18 for a parachute-assisted return to Earth and a splashdown in the Pacific west of Baja California.”

Credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“Approximately 2.4 tons of NASA science investigations and cargo were launched to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. The launch aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rocket took place from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday, April 18 at 3:25 p.m. EDT. Dragon’s cargo will support more than 150 experiments that will be conducted during space station Expeditions 39 and 40. Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station May 18 for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California, bringing with it about 3,500 pounds of science and research, hardware, crew supplies and spacewalk tools from the space station.”

Read more about SpaceX…

NASA dixit:

“The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 is NASA\’s first spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide in Earth\’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the main human-produced driver of climate change. The Observatory will collect hundreds of thousands of measurements each day, providing a global description of the atmospheric carbon dioxide distribution with unprecedented coverage and resolution. OCO-2 will provide new insights into the sources emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and the processes at Earth\’s surface that absorb this gas.”

Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Credits: NASA/JPL

Juno is a NASA spacecraft scheduled to start its journey to Jupiter in a few days. Juno will help scientists understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. While the dense cover of clouds helps Jupiter keep its secrets away from Earth observers, Juno will get close enough to Jupiter so that fundamental processes and conditions characteristic to the early solar system will be revealed.

First, Juno will try to determine if Jupiter has a solid planetary core. While this is an important piece of the puzzle, it might also help determine how Jupiter’s magnetic field is generated (by the way, scientists are still unclear how Earth’s magnetic field is generated, and there are several theories trying to explain it). Juno will also map Jupiter’s magnetic field, study the auroras, and determine the amount of water and ammonia in the atmosphere.

The launch vehicle to lift off with Juno is the most powerful Atlas rocket ever built, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551. In this configuration, an Atlas V launch vehicle can lift 18,810 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 8,900 kg to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). However, the Atlas V 551 is not powerful enough to put Juno on a direct trajectory to Jupiter. In order to get as far as Jupiter’s orbit, Juno has to perform a gravity assist maneuver.

Juno will orbit Jupiter in a polar orbit and get as close as 5,000 km above the planet’s top clouds. This will allow the spacecraft to do science below the radiation belt of the planet and allow for a complete coverage of the planet. The low altitude will allow for a detailed analysis of the planet’s atmosphere. The orbit will also allow Juno to take a very close look at the auroras that are forming at the north and south Jovian poles.

The scientific payload carried by Juno includes a gravity/radio science system, a microwave radiometer, a vector magnetometer, particle detectors, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers, and a color camera to capture images of the Jovian poles.

One interesting feature of the spacecraft is the electronics vault. Even if Juno’s highly elliptical orbit avoids the deadly radiation belts by approaching the planet at the north pole, skimming the clouds below the radiation belts, and exiting over the south pole, as an additional protection measure the onboard electronics are protected by a radiation shielded vault. This will ensure that the computers will not malfunction due to single events, and that the electronics will meet the requirements for the mission lifespan.

While the previous missions to the Jovian system have been powered by Radio Thermal Generators (RTGs), Juno will benefit from advances in solar power cell design. The cells used for Juno’s solar panels are far more efficient and radiation tolerant than the cells available to space systems engineers decades ago. Three solar panels that extend more than 10 meters from the hexagonal body of the spacecraft will provide the power required by the scientific instruments.

The mission is scheduled for launch on August 5, 2011. After coasting for more than two years, in October 2013, Juno will swing by Earth. The gravity assist maneuver will provide the delta V necessary for the spacecraft to reach Jupiter’s orbit. Juno will arrive at Jupiter in July 2016. After performing the Jupiter Orbital Insertion (JOI) maneuver, the spacecraft will start to collect and send back home scientific data.

Juno will send back science and telemetry data through the Deep Space Network (DSN), a network of powerful antennas located in Madrid, Spain; Barstow, California; and Canberra, Australia.

At the end of the mission, planned for October 2017, and after 33 complete revolutions around Jupiter, Juno will fire up its thrusters and decrease its velocity, enter the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, and get incinerated. Why such a tragic end to the Juno mission? Remember the Prime Directive? While the Prime Directive is known only to Star Trek fans… and it might get serious consideration only from Star Fleet officers, the possibility of having Juno crashing on one of the Jovian satellites (especially Europa) has to be eliminated. NASA scientists take contamination of other worlds very seriously.

You can find out more about the Juno mission on NASA’s dedicated web site. The Juno mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The Principal Investigator for the Juno mission is Dr. Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The spacecraft was designed and built by Lockheed Martin of Denver, Colorado.