OrbitalHub

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

ESA dixit:

“Each of the SENTINEL-2 satellites weighs approximately 1.2 tonnes, and is designed to be compatible with small launchers like VEGA and ROCKOT. The satellite lifespan is 7.25 years, which includes a 3 month in-orbit commissioning phase. Batteries and propellants have been provided to accommodate 12 years of operations, including end of life de-orbiting manoeuvres.

Two identical SENTINEL-2 satellites will operate simultaneously, phased at 180° to each other, in a sun-synchronous orbit at a mean altitude of 786 km. The position of each SENTINEL-2 satellite in its orbit will be measured by a dual-frequency Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. Orbital accuracy will be maintained by a dedicated propulsion system.

The SENTINEL-2 satellite system is being developed by an industrial consortium led by Astrium GmbH (Germany). Astrium SAS (France) is responsible for the MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI).

The MSI works passively, by collecting sunlight reflected from the Earth. New data is acquired at the instrument as the satellite moves along its orbital path. The incoming light beam is split at a filter and focused onto two separate focal plane assemblies within the instrument; one for Visible and Near-Infra-Red (VNIR) bands and one for Short Wave Infra-Red (SWIR) bands . The spectral separation of each band into individual wavelengths is accomplished by stripe filters mounted on top of the detectors.”

Video credit: ESA

ESA dixit:

“SmallGEO is a multipurpose satellite platform capable of accommodating a wide range of commercial telecommunications payloads and missions, from TV broadcasting to multimedia applications, Internet access and mobile or fixed services in a wide range of frequency bands.

Its new, modular and flexible design boosts European industry’s ability to play a significant role in commercial satcoms by easing entry into the lower-mass telecom satellite market.

The platform was developed by OHB System (DE) under ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunication Systems (ARTES) programme. SmallGEO is the first ESA programme with OHB System AG as the industrial prime. Its first flight and in-orbit demonstration will be with the Hispasat 36W-1 telecom satellite.”

Video credit: ESA

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

ESA dixit:

“ESA and European industry are currently developing a new-generation launcher: Ariane 6. This follows the decision taken at the ESA Council meeting at Ministerial level in December 2014, to maintain Europe’s leadership in the fast-changing commercial launch service market while responding to the needs of European institutional missions.

This move is associated with a change in the governance of the European launcher sector, based on a sharing of responsibility, cost and risk by ESA and industry. The participating states are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The overarching aim of Ariane 6 is to provide guaranteed access to space for Europe at a competitive price without requiring public sector support for exploitation. Different concepts have been examined for Ariane 6 such as single- and dual-payloads, solid or cryogenic propulsion for the main stage, and the number of stages (three or more), all to cover a wide range of missions: GEO, either directly or through intermediate orbits, in particular GTO and LEO, Polar/SSO, MEO or MTO.

The targeted payload performance of Ariane 6 is over 4.5 t for polar/Sun-synchronous orbit missions at 800 km altitude and the injection of two first-generation Galileo satellites. Ariane 6 can loft a payload mass of 4.5–10.5 tonnes in equivalent geostationary transfer orbit.

The exploitation cost of the Ariane 6 launch system is its key driver. Launch service costs will be halved, while maintaining reliability by reusing the trusted engines of Ariane 5. The first flight is scheduled for 2020.

Ariane 6 has a ‘PHH’ configuration, indicating the sequence of stages: a first stage using strap-on boosters based on solid propulsion (P) and a second and third stage using cryogenic liquid oxygen and hydrogen propulsion (H).

Ariane 6 provides a modular architecture using either two boosters (Ariane 62) or four boosters (Ariane 64), depending on the required performance. Two or four P120 solid-propellant boosters will be common with Vega C, an evolution of the current Vega launcher.

The main stage containing liquid oxygen and hydrogen is based around the Vulcain 2 engine of Ariane 5.

The upper stage of Ariane 6 builds on developments for the Adapted Ariane 5 ME, and cryogenic propulsion using the Vinci engine. It will be restartable and have direct deorbiting features to mitigate space debris.

Flexibility is a design characteristic for A64 and A62. The launcher responds to different market needs by varying the number of boosters in the configuration.

The A62, with two P120 solid boosters, will be used mainly in single-launch configurations, while the A64 – with four P120 solids – will enable double launch of medium-class satellites over 4.5–5 t, mainly for commercial market needs.

The main characteristics of the Ariane 6 concept are: the total length of the vehicle is about 62 m; the cryogenic main stage holds about 150 t of propellants, the upper stage holds about 30 t; the external diameter of the cryogenic main stage and upper stages including the part that connects the fairing is about 5.4 m.”

Video credit: ESA/David Ducros

NASA dixit:

“Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency conducted a spacewalk in U.S. spacesuits to upgrade the system for the 1A power channel of the orbital laboratory’s starboard 4 (S4) truss solar arrays. Moving adapter plates and batteries, Kimbrough completed the work to hook up electrical connections for the last three of six new lithium-ion batteries recently delivered to the station, and to move the last of the old nickel-hydrogen batteries that will be stored on the station. It was the second spacewalk in a week for Kimbrough and the fourth of his career, and the first for Pesquet in the refurbishment of two of the station’s eight power channels. On Jan. 6, Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson of NASA conducted similar work for the 3A power channel of the station’s S4 solar arrays.”

Video credit: NASA