First Landing Site Workshop for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover mission to Mars. The workshop will be held May 31st through June 2nd, 2006, in Pasadena, CA.
Look for life but don't bring any of your own.
- LRK -
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http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/msl/First_MSL_Landing_Site_Workshop_Annoucement_1-18-06.htm
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Planetary Protection Considerations:
The MSL project has been assigned to Category IVc by NASA’s Planetary Protection Office with constraints on the landing site and regions accessed from it. Specifically, MSL is limited to landing sites not known to have extant water or water-ice within one meter of the surface. Later access to “special regions” defined in NPR 8020.12C (regions where terrestrial organisms are likely to propagate, or interpreted to have a high potential for the existence of extant martian life forms) is permitted only in the vertical direction through use of sterilized sampling hardware. The above are general guidelines for site selection; compliance of specific landing sites and nearby regions will be determined through discussions with the Planetary Protection Office during the site selection process.
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It takes time to plan an outing on Mars. Only 3 years to go for launch and folks are considering interesting places to visit.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/#0605
Snip
May 31-Jun 02 - 1st Landing Site Workshop For the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory, Pasadena, California http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/msl/First_MSL_Landing_Site_Workshop_Annoucement_1-18-06.htm
First Landing Site Workshop For the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory May 31st - June 2, 2006 Pasadena, CA
Snip
An Overview of Workshop Objectives:
The purpose of the Landing Site workshop is to identify and evaluate potential landing sites best suited to achieving stated mission science objectives within the constraints imposed by engineering requirements, planetary protection requirements, and the necessity of ensuring a safe landing. A NASA-appointed Landing Site Steering Committee and the Mars Science Laboratory Project will use the results of the workshop as the basis for narrowing the list of potential landing sites under consideration. Community consensus with respect to high priority sites will also be solicited. In addition, the workshop will provide a means for identifying potential landing sites as targets for imaging by the MGS, Odyssey, MRO, and perhaps other orbital assets. Note: the number of potential landing sites is high because MSL entry, descent, and landing capabilities enable a small landing error ellipse (20km diameter), high landing site altitude (<2km), and wide latitudes (±60°).
Mission Science Objectives:
The primary scientific goal of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is to assess the present and past habitability of the martian environments accessed by the mission. Habitability is defined as the potential of an environment to support life, as we know it. Such assessments require integration of a wide variety of chemical, physical, and geological observations. In particular, MSL will assess the biological potential of the regions accessed, characterize their geology and geochemistry at all appropriate spatial scales, investigate planetary processes that influence habitability, including the role of water, and characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation. To enable these investigations, MSL will carry a diverse payload capable of making environmental measurements, remotely sensing the landscape around the rover, performing in situ analyses of rocks and soils, and acquiring, processing, and ingesting samples of rocks and soils into onboard laboratory instruments. A candidate landing site should contain evidence suggestive of a past or present habitable environment. To the extent that it can be determined with existing data, the geological, chemical, and/or biological evidence for habitability should be expected to be preserved for, accessible to, and interpretable by the MSL investigations.
An overview of the MSL mission can viewed at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/overview .
A summary of NASA’s Mars exploration strategy is at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mep/mslides/index.html
[note: link above doesn't work - LRK - try http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html ]
and additional information can be viewed at http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports/index.html .
Web tools for visualizing and analyzing relevant Mars data as well as an archive of previously proposed and selected landing sites are available at http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/ and http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/ , which also includes a web based GIS interface for relevant Mars data. Web sites for MSL landing site selection activities are http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/
and the USGS PIGWAD site, where workshop announcements, program, and abstracts can be accessed along with more detailed descriptions of the MSL mission, science objectives and investigations, and instruments.
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http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/msl.html
Mars Science Laboratory
Spacecraft
Planned Launch: Fall, 2009
Arrival: October, 2010
Building on the success of the two rover geologists that arrived at Mars in January, 2004, NASA's next rover mission is being planned for travel to Mars before the end of the decade. Twice as long and three times as heavy as the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Science Laboratory would collect martian soil samples and rock cores and analyze them for organic compounds and environmental conditions that could have supported microbial life now or in the past. The mission is anticipated to have a truly international flavor, with a neutron-based hydrogen detector for locating water provided by the Russian Federal Space Agency, a meteorological package provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, and a spectrometer provided by the Canadian Space Agency.
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http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/mars_science_lab_040211.html
Next Generation Rover: The Mars Science Laboratory By Leonard David Senior Space Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
11 February 2004
PASADENA, Calif. -- While the Spirit and Opportunity rovers wheel themselves into the history books of Mars exploration, get ready for the next giant leap in rolling across the red planet.
The Mars Science Laboratory is an all-terrain, all-purpose machine, akin to an extraterrestrial Sport Utility Vehicle.
To be rocketed toward Mars in 2009, this long-range, long-duration robot is a trend setter. It will scope out Mars like never before to assess that puzzling planet as a potential habitat for life -- past or present -- and help verify if human explorers could exist there in the future.
Imaginative engineering
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory
This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the event approaches and more information becomes available.
The Mars Science Laboratory (or MSL for short) is a NASA rover scheduled to launch in December 2009 and perform a precision landing on Mars in October 2010. This rover will be three times as heavy and twice the width of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) that landed in 2004. It will carry more advanced scientific instruments than any other mission to Mars. The international community will provide most of these instruments. The MSL rover will be launched by an Atlas V or Delta IV medium class booster. Once on the ground, MSL will analyze dozens of samples scooped up from the soil and cores from rocks. MSL will be expected to operate for at least 1 martian year (~2 Earth years) as it explores with greater range than any previous Mars rover. It will investigate the past or present ability of Mars to support life.
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http://www.nuclearspace.com/a_2009_Rover.htm
2009 Mars Rover will be Nuclear Powered
- compiled by James C. Foster
The NASA Mars Exploration Program (MEP) will launch a spaceflight mission to Mars in late 2009 that will land a nuclear powered roving Mars Science Laboratory on the surface of the planet.
The long duration rover will be equipped to perform many scientific studies of Mars. The primary scientific objectives of the mission will be to assess the biological potential of at least one target area, characterize the local geology and geochemistry, investigate planetary processes relevant to habitability, including the role of water, and to characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation. The mission is planned to last at least one martian year (687 days). The landing site has not been chosen, but will be selected based on an assessment of its capacity to sustain life.
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http://www.marsnews.com/newswire/mars_science_laboratory/
January 18, 2006
Mars Science Laboratory: Big Wheels on A Red Planet Make way Spirit and Opportunity - big daddy is coming! The next wheels on the red planet will belong to the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) a huge step in how that planet is further poked, probed, and more fully plumbed for new information. MSL is a huge chunk of machinery. At liftoff in September 2009, it will carry the largest, most advanced set of instruments for on-the-spot science duties ever dispatched to the martian surface. The nuclear-powered rover is being designed to assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
May 30, 2006 - 35th Anniversary (1971), Mariner 9 Launch (USA Mars Orbiter)
- 40th Anniversary (1966), Surveyor 1 Launch (USA Moon Lander)
My how time flies.
1966 - gas $0.32 - :-)
http://www.1960sflashback.com/1966/Economy.asp
- LRK -
JPL Space Calendar helps with the memories.
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1966-045A
Surveyor 1 was the first spacecraft launched in the Surveyor program and the first soft landing on the Moon by the United States.
Launch Date/Time: 1966-05-30 at 14:41:00 UTC On-orbit Dry Mass: 294.3 kg
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http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1971-051A
The Mariner Mars 71 mission was planned to consist of two spacecraft to orbit Mars on complementary missions, but due to the failure of Mariner 8 to launch properly, only one spacecraft was available.
Launch Date/Time: 1971-05-30 at 22:23:00 UTC On-orbit Dry Mass: 558.8 kg Nominal Power Output: 500 W
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Notice the mass of the spacecraft these two early spacecraft compared to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
- LRK -
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter
snip
The craft's total mass is less than 2,180 kg (4,806 lb) with an unfueled dry mass less than 1,031 kg (2,273 lb)
Snip
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/mission/sc.html
-------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/
-------------------------------------------------------------
# May 30 - Asteroid 4628 Laplace Closest Approach To Earth (1.577 AU)
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?des=4628
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# May 30 - 35th Anniversary (1971), Mariner 9 Launch (USA Mars Orbiter) http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1971-051A
Mariner 9
NSSDC ID: 1971-051A
Image associated with mission
Other Names
* Mariner Mars '71
* Mariner-I
* 05261
Launch Date/Time: 1971-05-30 at 22:23:00 UTC On-orbit Dry Mass: 558.8 kg Nominal Power Output: 500 W Description
The Mariner Mars 71 mission was planned to consist of two spacecraft to orbit Mars on complementary missions, but due to the failure of Mariner 8 to launch properly, only one spacecraft was available. Mariner 9 combined mission objectives of both Mariner 8 (mapping 70 % of the Martian surface) and Mariner 9 (a study of temporal changes in the Martian atmosphere and on the Martian surface). For the survey portion of the mission, the planetary surface was to be mapped with the same resolution as planned for the original mission, although the resolution of pictures of the polar regions would be decreased due to the increased slant range. The variable features experiments were changed from studies of six given areas every 5 days to studies of smaller regions every 17 days. Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.
Spacecraft and Subsystems
The Mariner 9 spacecraft was built on an octagonal magnesium frame, 45.7 cm deep and 138.4 cm across a diagonal. Four solar panels, each 215 x 90 cm, extended out from the top of the frame. Each set of two solar panels spanned 6.89 meters from tip to tip. Also mounted on the top of the frame were two propulsion tanks, the maneuver engine, a 1.44 m long low gain antenna mast and a parabolic high gain antenna. A scan platform was mounted on the bottom of the frame, on which were attached the mutually bore-sighted science instruments (wide- and narrow-angle TV cameras, infrared radiometer, ultraviolet spectrometer, and infrared interferometer spectrometer). The overall height of the spacecraft was 2.28 m. The launch mass was 997.9 kg, of which 439.1 kg were expendables. The science instrumentation had a total mass of 63.1 kg. The electronics for communications and command and control were housed within the frame.
Spacecraft power was provided by a total of 14,742 solar cells which made up the 4 solar panels with a total area of 7.7 square meters. The solar panels could produce 800 W at Earth and 500 W at Mars. Power was stored in a 20 amp-hr nickel-cadmium battery. Propulsion was provided by a gimbaled engine capable of 1340 N thrust and up to 5 restarts. The propellant was monomethyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Two sets of 6 attitude control nitrogen jets were mounted on the ends of the solar panels. Attitude knowledge was provided by a Sun sensor, a Canopus star tracker, gyroscopes, an inertial reference unit, and an accelerometer. Passive thermal control was achieved through the use of louvers on the eight sides of the frame and thermal blankets.
Spacecraft control was through the central computer and sequencer which had an onboard memory of 512 words. The command system was programmed with 86 direct commands, 4 quantitative commands, and 5 control commands. Data was stored on a digital reel-to-reel tape recorder. The 168 meter 8-track tape could store 180 million bits recorded at 132 kbits/s. Playback could be done at 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1 kbit/s using two tracks at a time.
Telecommunications were via dual S-band 10 W/20 W transmitters and a single receiver through the high gain parabolic antenna, the medium gain horn antenna, or the low gain omnidirectional antenna.
Mission Profile
Mariner 9 was launched on a 398 million km direct ascent trajectory to Mars by an Atlas-Centaur SLV-3C booster (AC-23). Separation from the booster occurred at 22:36 UT (6:36 p.m. EDT), 13 minutes after launch. The four solar panels were deployed at 22:40 UT. The sensors locked onto the Sun at 23:16, shortly after the spacecraft left the Earth's shadow and Canopus acquisition was achieved at 02:26 UT 31 May. A planned midcourse maneuver was executed on 5 June. Mariner 9 arrived at Mars on 14 November 1971 after a 167 day flight. A 15 minute 23 second rocket burn put the spacecraft into Mars orbit, making Mariner 9 the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.
The insertion orbit had a periapsis of 1398 km and a period of 12 hr, 34 min. Two days later a 6 second rocket burn changed the orbital period to just under 12 hours with a periapsis of 1387 km. A correction trim maneuver was made on 30 December on the 94th orbit which raised the periapsis to 1650 km and changed the orbital period to 11:59:28 so that synchronous data transmissions could be made to the Goldstone 64-m DSN antenna.
Imaging of the surface of Mars by Mariner 9 was delayed by a dust storm which started on 22 September 1971 in the Noachis region. The storm quickly grew into one of the largest global storms ever observed on Mars. By the time the spacecraft arrived at Mars no surface details could be seen except the summits of Olympus Mons and the three Tharsis volcanoes. The storm abated through November and December and normal mapping operations began.
The spacecraft gathered data on the atmospheric composition, density, pressure, and temperature and also the surface composition, temperature, gravity, and topography of Mars. A total of 54 billion bits of scientific data were returned, including 7329 images covering the entire planet. After depleting its supply of attitude control gas, the spacecraft was turned off on 27 October 1972. Mariner 9 was left in an orbit which should not decay for at least 50 years, after which the spacecraft will enter the martian atmosphere.
The Mariner 9 mission resulted in a global mapping of the surface of Mars, including the first detailed views of the martian volcanoes, Valles Marineris, the polar caps, and the satellites Phobos and Deimos. It also provided information on global dust storms, the triaxial figure of Mars, and the rugged gravity field as well as evidence for surface aeolian activity.
Total research, development, launch, and support costs for the Mariner series of spacecraft (Mariners 1 through 10) was approximately $554 million.
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# May 30 - 40th Anniversary (1966), Surveyor 1 Launch (USA Moon Lander) http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1966-045A
Surveyor 1
NSSDC ID: 1966-045A
Image associated with mission
Other Names
* Surveyor I
* Surveyor-A
* 02185
Launch Date/Time: 1966-05-30 at 14:41:00 UTC On-orbit Dry Mass: 294.3 kg Description
Surveyor 1 was the first spacecraft launched in the Surveyor program and the first soft landing on the Moon by the United States. The mission was considered a complete success and demonstrated the technology necessary to achieve landing and operations on the lunar surface. The primary objectives of the Surveyor program, a series of seven robotic lunar softlanding flights, were to support the coming crewed Apollo landings by: (1) developing and validating the technology for landing softly on the Moon; (2) providing data on the compatibility of the Apollo design with conditions encountered on the lunar surface; and (3) adding to the scientific knowledge of the Moon.
The specific primary objectives for this mission were to: (1) demonstrate the capability of the Surveyor spacecraft to perform successful midcourse and terminal maneuvers, and to achieve a soft landing on the Moon; (2) demonstrate the capability of the Surveyor communications system and Deep Space Network to maintain communications with the spacecraft during its flight and after a soft landing; and (3) demonstrate the capability of the Atlas/Centaur launch vehicle to inject the Surveyor spacecraft on a lunar intercept trajectory. Secondary objectives were to obtain engineering data on spacecraft subsystems used during cruise, descent and after landing.
Tertiary objectives were to obtain postlanding TV pictures of a spacecraft footpad, the surface material immediately surrounding it and the lunar topography, and to obtain data on radar reflectivity and bearing strength of the lunar surface and on spacecraft temperatures.
Spacecraft and Subsystems
The basic Surveyor spacecraft structure consisted of a tripod of thin-walled aluminum tubing and interconnecting braces providing mounting surfaces and attachments for the power, communications, propulsion, flight control, and payload systems. A central mast extended about one meter above the apex of the tripod. Three hinged landing legs were attached to the lower corners of the structure. The legs held shock absorbers, crushable, honeycomb aluminum blocks, and the deployment locking mechanism and terminated in footpads with crushable bottoms. The three footpads extended out 4.3 meters from the center of the Surveyor. The spacecraft was about 3 meters tall. The legs folded to fit into a nose shroud for launch.
A 0.855 square meter array of 792 solar cells was mounted on a positioner on top of the mast and generated up to 85 Watts of power which was stored in rechargeable silver-zinc batteries.? Communications were achieved via a movable large planar array high gain antenna mounted near the top of the central mast to transmit television images, two omnidirectional conical antennas mounted on the ends of folding booms for uplink and downlink, two receivers and two transmitters. Thermal control was achieved by a combination of white paint, high IR-emittance thermal finish, polished aluminum underside. Two thermally controlled compartments, equipped with superinsulating blankets, conductive heat paths, thermal switches and small electric heaters, were mounted on the spacecraft structure. One compartment, held at 5 - 50 degrees C, housed communications and power supply electronics. The other, held between -20 and 50 degrees C, housed the command and signal processing components. The TV survey camera was mounted near the top of the tripod and strain gauges, temperature sensors, and other engineering instruments are incorporated throughout the spacecraft. One photometric targets was mounted near the end of a landing leg and one on a short boom extending from the bottom of the structure. Other payload packages, which differed from mission to mission, were mounted on various parts of the structure depending on their function.
A Sun sensor, Canopus tracker and rate gyros on three axes provided attitude knowledge. Propulsion and attitude control were provided by cold-gas (nitrogen) attitude control jets during cruise phases, three throttlable vernier rocket engines during powered phases, including the landing, and the solid-propellant retrorocket engine during terminal descent. The retrorocket was a spherical steel case mounted in the bottom center of the spacecraft.
The vernier engines used monomethyl hydrazine hydrate fuel and MON-10 (90% N2O2, 10% NO) oxidizer. Each thrust chamber could produce 130 N to 460 N of thrust on cammand, one engine could swivel for roll control. The fuel was stored in spherical tanks mounted to the tripod structure. For the landing sequence, an altitude marking radar initiated the firing of the main retrorocket for primary braking. After firing was complete, the retrorocket and radar were jettisoned and the doppler and altimeter radars were activated. These provided information to the autopilot which controlled the vernier propulsion system to touchdown.
No instrumentation was carried specifically for scientific experiments, but considerable scientific information was obtained. Surveyor 1 carried two television cameras - one mounted on the bottom of the frame for approach photography, which was not used, and the survey television camera. Over 100 engineering sensors were on board. Surveyor 1 had a mass of 995.2 kg at launch and 294.3 kg at landing.
Mission Profile
Surveyor 1 was launched on 30 May 1966 at 14:41:00 UT (9:41 EST) on an Atlas/Centaur from Complex 36-A of the Eastern Test Range directly into a lunar impact trajectory. After a midcourse correction at 06:45 UT on 31 May the spacecraft reached the Moon about 63 hours after launch. At an altitude of 75.3 km and a velocity of 2612 m/s the main retrorocket, signaled by the altitude marking radar, ignited for a 40 second burn and was jettisoned at an altitude of roughly 11 km having slowed the spacecraft to 110 m/s.
Descent continued with the vernier engines under control of the altimeter and doppler radars. Engines were turned off at a height of 3.4 m above the lunar surface and the spacecraft fell freely from this height. Surveyor 1 landed on the lunar surface on 2 June 1966 at 6:17:36 UT (1:17:36 a.m. EST) at about 3 m/s. The landing site was at 2.45 S, 316.79 E (selenographic) on a flat area inside a 100 km crater north of Flamsteed Crater in southwest Oceanus Procellarum.
Surveyor 1's first hour on the Moon was spent performing engineering tests.
Photography sessions were then initiated throughout the remainder of the lunar day. The television system transmitted pictures of the spacecraft footpad and surrounding lunar terrain and surface materials. Some 10,338 photos were returned prior to nightfall on June 14. The spacecraft also acquired data on the radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, bearing strength of the lunar surface, and spacecraft temperatures for use in the analysis of the lunar surface temperatures. Surveyor 1 was able to withstand the first lunar night and near high noon on its second lunar day, July 7, photos again were returned. On 13 July at 7:30 UT (2:30 a.m. EST), after a total of 11,240 pictures had been transmitted, Surveyor 1's mission was terminated due to a dramatic drop in battery voltage just after sunset.
Engineering interrogations continued until January 7, 1967. All mission objectives were accomplished. The Surveyor program involved building and launching 7 Surveyor spacecraft to the Moon at a total cost of $469 million.
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
- 40th Anniversary (1966), Surveyor 1 Launch (USA Moon Lander)
My how time flies.
1966 - gas $0.32 - :-)
http://www.1960sflashback.com/1966/Economy.asp
- LRK -
JPL Space Calendar helps with the memories.
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1966-045A
Surveyor 1 was the first spacecraft launched in the Surveyor program and the first soft landing on the Moon by the United States.
Launch Date/Time: 1966-05-30 at 14:41:00 UTC On-orbit Dry Mass: 294.3 kg
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-------------------------------------------------------------
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1971-051A
The Mariner Mars 71 mission was planned to consist of two spacecraft to orbit Mars on complementary missions, but due to the failure of Mariner 8 to launch properly, only one spacecraft was available.
Launch Date/Time: 1971-05-30 at 22:23:00 UTC On-orbit Dry Mass: 558.8 kg Nominal Power Output: 500 W
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Notice the mass of the spacecraft these two early spacecraft compared to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
- LRK -
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter
snip
The craft's total mass is less than 2,180 kg (4,806 lb) with an unfueled dry mass less than 1,031 kg (2,273 lb)
Snip
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/mission/sc.html
-------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/
-------------------------------------------------------------
# May 30 - Asteroid 4628 Laplace Closest Approach To Earth (1.577 AU)
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?des=4628
Snip
=============================================================
# May 30 - 35th Anniversary (1971), Mariner 9 Launch (USA Mars Orbiter) http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1971-051A
Mariner 9
NSSDC ID: 1971-051A
Image associated with mission
Other Names
* Mariner Mars '71
* Mariner-I
* 05261
Launch Date/Time: 1971-05-30 at 22:23:00 UTC On-orbit Dry Mass: 558.8 kg Nominal Power Output: 500 W Description
The Mariner Mars 71 mission was planned to consist of two spacecraft to orbit Mars on complementary missions, but due to the failure of Mariner 8 to launch properly, only one spacecraft was available. Mariner 9 combined mission objectives of both Mariner 8 (mapping 70 % of the Martian surface) and Mariner 9 (a study of temporal changes in the Martian atmosphere and on the Martian surface). For the survey portion of the mission, the planetary surface was to be mapped with the same resolution as planned for the original mission, although the resolution of pictures of the polar regions would be decreased due to the increased slant range. The variable features experiments were changed from studies of six given areas every 5 days to studies of smaller regions every 17 days. Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.
Spacecraft and Subsystems
The Mariner 9 spacecraft was built on an octagonal magnesium frame, 45.7 cm deep and 138.4 cm across a diagonal. Four solar panels, each 215 x 90 cm, extended out from the top of the frame. Each set of two solar panels spanned 6.89 meters from tip to tip. Also mounted on the top of the frame were two propulsion tanks, the maneuver engine, a 1.44 m long low gain antenna mast and a parabolic high gain antenna. A scan platform was mounted on the bottom of the frame, on which were attached the mutually bore-sighted science instruments (wide- and narrow-angle TV cameras, infrared radiometer, ultraviolet spectrometer, and infrared interferometer spectrometer). The overall height of the spacecraft was 2.28 m. The launch mass was 997.9 kg, of which 439.1 kg were expendables. The science instrumentation had a total mass of 63.1 kg. The electronics for communications and command and control were housed within the frame.
Spacecraft power was provided by a total of 14,742 solar cells which made up the 4 solar panels with a total area of 7.7 square meters. The solar panels could produce 800 W at Earth and 500 W at Mars. Power was stored in a 20 amp-hr nickel-cadmium battery. Propulsion was provided by a gimbaled engine capable of 1340 N thrust and up to 5 restarts. The propellant was monomethyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Two sets of 6 attitude control nitrogen jets were mounted on the ends of the solar panels. Attitude knowledge was provided by a Sun sensor, a Canopus star tracker, gyroscopes, an inertial reference unit, and an accelerometer. Passive thermal control was achieved through the use of louvers on the eight sides of the frame and thermal blankets.
Spacecraft control was through the central computer and sequencer which had an onboard memory of 512 words. The command system was programmed with 86 direct commands, 4 quantitative commands, and 5 control commands. Data was stored on a digital reel-to-reel tape recorder. The 168 meter 8-track tape could store 180 million bits recorded at 132 kbits/s. Playback could be done at 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1 kbit/s using two tracks at a time.
Telecommunications were via dual S-band 10 W/20 W transmitters and a single receiver through the high gain parabolic antenna, the medium gain horn antenna, or the low gain omnidirectional antenna.
Mission Profile
Mariner 9 was launched on a 398 million km direct ascent trajectory to Mars by an Atlas-Centaur SLV-3C booster (AC-23). Separation from the booster occurred at 22:36 UT (6:36 p.m. EDT), 13 minutes after launch. The four solar panels were deployed at 22:40 UT. The sensors locked onto the Sun at 23:16, shortly after the spacecraft left the Earth's shadow and Canopus acquisition was achieved at 02:26 UT 31 May. A planned midcourse maneuver was executed on 5 June. Mariner 9 arrived at Mars on 14 November 1971 after a 167 day flight. A 15 minute 23 second rocket burn put the spacecraft into Mars orbit, making Mariner 9 the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.
The insertion orbit had a periapsis of 1398 km and a period of 12 hr, 34 min. Two days later a 6 second rocket burn changed the orbital period to just under 12 hours with a periapsis of 1387 km. A correction trim maneuver was made on 30 December on the 94th orbit which raised the periapsis to 1650 km and changed the orbital period to 11:59:28 so that synchronous data transmissions could be made to the Goldstone 64-m DSN antenna.
Imaging of the surface of Mars by Mariner 9 was delayed by a dust storm which started on 22 September 1971 in the Noachis region. The storm quickly grew into one of the largest global storms ever observed on Mars. By the time the spacecraft arrived at Mars no surface details could be seen except the summits of Olympus Mons and the three Tharsis volcanoes. The storm abated through November and December and normal mapping operations began.
The spacecraft gathered data on the atmospheric composition, density, pressure, and temperature and also the surface composition, temperature, gravity, and topography of Mars. A total of 54 billion bits of scientific data were returned, including 7329 images covering the entire planet. After depleting its supply of attitude control gas, the spacecraft was turned off on 27 October 1972. Mariner 9 was left in an orbit which should not decay for at least 50 years, after which the spacecraft will enter the martian atmosphere.
The Mariner 9 mission resulted in a global mapping of the surface of Mars, including the first detailed views of the martian volcanoes, Valles Marineris, the polar caps, and the satellites Phobos and Deimos. It also provided information on global dust storms, the triaxial figure of Mars, and the rugged gravity field as well as evidence for surface aeolian activity.
Total research, development, launch, and support costs for the Mariner series of spacecraft (Mariners 1 through 10) was approximately $554 million.
Snip
=============================================================
# May 30 - 40th Anniversary (1966), Surveyor 1 Launch (USA Moon Lander) http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1966-045A
Surveyor 1
NSSDC ID: 1966-045A
Image associated with mission
Other Names
* Surveyor I
* Surveyor-A
* 02185
Launch Date/Time: 1966-05-30 at 14:41:00 UTC On-orbit Dry Mass: 294.3 kg Description
Surveyor 1 was the first spacecraft launched in the Surveyor program and the first soft landing on the Moon by the United States. The mission was considered a complete success and demonstrated the technology necessary to achieve landing and operations on the lunar surface. The primary objectives of the Surveyor program, a series of seven robotic lunar softlanding flights, were to support the coming crewed Apollo landings by: (1) developing and validating the technology for landing softly on the Moon; (2) providing data on the compatibility of the Apollo design with conditions encountered on the lunar surface; and (3) adding to the scientific knowledge of the Moon.
The specific primary objectives for this mission were to: (1) demonstrate the capability of the Surveyor spacecraft to perform successful midcourse and terminal maneuvers, and to achieve a soft landing on the Moon; (2) demonstrate the capability of the Surveyor communications system and Deep Space Network to maintain communications with the spacecraft during its flight and after a soft landing; and (3) demonstrate the capability of the Atlas/Centaur launch vehicle to inject the Surveyor spacecraft on a lunar intercept trajectory. Secondary objectives were to obtain engineering data on spacecraft subsystems used during cruise, descent and after landing.
Tertiary objectives were to obtain postlanding TV pictures of a spacecraft footpad, the surface material immediately surrounding it and the lunar topography, and to obtain data on radar reflectivity and bearing strength of the lunar surface and on spacecraft temperatures.
Spacecraft and Subsystems
The basic Surveyor spacecraft structure consisted of a tripod of thin-walled aluminum tubing and interconnecting braces providing mounting surfaces and attachments for the power, communications, propulsion, flight control, and payload systems. A central mast extended about one meter above the apex of the tripod. Three hinged landing legs were attached to the lower corners of the structure. The legs held shock absorbers, crushable, honeycomb aluminum blocks, and the deployment locking mechanism and terminated in footpads with crushable bottoms. The three footpads extended out 4.3 meters from the center of the Surveyor. The spacecraft was about 3 meters tall. The legs folded to fit into a nose shroud for launch.
A 0.855 square meter array of 792 solar cells was mounted on a positioner on top of the mast and generated up to 85 Watts of power which was stored in rechargeable silver-zinc batteries.? Communications were achieved via a movable large planar array high gain antenna mounted near the top of the central mast to transmit television images, two omnidirectional conical antennas mounted on the ends of folding booms for uplink and downlink, two receivers and two transmitters. Thermal control was achieved by a combination of white paint, high IR-emittance thermal finish, polished aluminum underside. Two thermally controlled compartments, equipped with superinsulating blankets, conductive heat paths, thermal switches and small electric heaters, were mounted on the spacecraft structure. One compartment, held at 5 - 50 degrees C, housed communications and power supply electronics. The other, held between -20 and 50 degrees C, housed the command and signal processing components. The TV survey camera was mounted near the top of the tripod and strain gauges, temperature sensors, and other engineering instruments are incorporated throughout the spacecraft. One photometric targets was mounted near the end of a landing leg and one on a short boom extending from the bottom of the structure. Other payload packages, which differed from mission to mission, were mounted on various parts of the structure depending on their function.
A Sun sensor, Canopus tracker and rate gyros on three axes provided attitude knowledge. Propulsion and attitude control were provided by cold-gas (nitrogen) attitude control jets during cruise phases, three throttlable vernier rocket engines during powered phases, including the landing, and the solid-propellant retrorocket engine during terminal descent. The retrorocket was a spherical steel case mounted in the bottom center of the spacecraft.
The vernier engines used monomethyl hydrazine hydrate fuel and MON-10 (90% N2O2, 10% NO) oxidizer. Each thrust chamber could produce 130 N to 460 N of thrust on cammand, one engine could swivel for roll control. The fuel was stored in spherical tanks mounted to the tripod structure. For the landing sequence, an altitude marking radar initiated the firing of the main retrorocket for primary braking. After firing was complete, the retrorocket and radar were jettisoned and the doppler and altimeter radars were activated. These provided information to the autopilot which controlled the vernier propulsion system to touchdown.
No instrumentation was carried specifically for scientific experiments, but considerable scientific information was obtained. Surveyor 1 carried two television cameras - one mounted on the bottom of the frame for approach photography, which was not used, and the survey television camera. Over 100 engineering sensors were on board. Surveyor 1 had a mass of 995.2 kg at launch and 294.3 kg at landing.
Mission Profile
Surveyor 1 was launched on 30 May 1966 at 14:41:00 UT (9:41 EST) on an Atlas/Centaur from Complex 36-A of the Eastern Test Range directly into a lunar impact trajectory. After a midcourse correction at 06:45 UT on 31 May the spacecraft reached the Moon about 63 hours after launch. At an altitude of 75.3 km and a velocity of 2612 m/s the main retrorocket, signaled by the altitude marking radar, ignited for a 40 second burn and was jettisoned at an altitude of roughly 11 km having slowed the spacecraft to 110 m/s.
Descent continued with the vernier engines under control of the altimeter and doppler radars. Engines were turned off at a height of 3.4 m above the lunar surface and the spacecraft fell freely from this height. Surveyor 1 landed on the lunar surface on 2 June 1966 at 6:17:36 UT (1:17:36 a.m. EST) at about 3 m/s. The landing site was at 2.45 S, 316.79 E (selenographic) on a flat area inside a 100 km crater north of Flamsteed Crater in southwest Oceanus Procellarum.
Surveyor 1's first hour on the Moon was spent performing engineering tests.
Photography sessions were then initiated throughout the remainder of the lunar day. The television system transmitted pictures of the spacecraft footpad and surrounding lunar terrain and surface materials. Some 10,338 photos were returned prior to nightfall on June 14. The spacecraft also acquired data on the radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, bearing strength of the lunar surface, and spacecraft temperatures for use in the analysis of the lunar surface temperatures. Surveyor 1 was able to withstand the first lunar night and near high noon on its second lunar day, July 7, photos again were returned. On 13 July at 7:30 UT (2:30 a.m. EST), after a total of 11,240 pictures had been transmitted, Surveyor 1's mission was terminated due to a dramatic drop in battery voltage just after sunset.
Engineering interrogations continued until January 7, 1967. All mission objectives were accomplished. The Surveyor program involved building and launching 7 Surveyor spacecraft to the Moon at a total cost of $469 million.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
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Saturday, May 27, 2006
SATMEX 6 & THAICOM 5 placed in geostationary transfer orbits - May 27, 2006
The launch of SATMEX 6 and THICOM 5 to geostationary transfer orbit was successful today.
Watched the count-down at:
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http://www.videocorner.tv/index.php?langue=en
Snip
For its second launch of the year, Arianespace will launch two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: Satmex 6 for Mexico and Thaicom 5 for Thailand.
Snip
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Arianspace http://www.arianespace.com/site/index2.html
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/releases/06_05_24_release_index.html
The Ariane 5 flight carried a record-setting payload mass, with the Thaicom 5 and Satmex 6 satellites' combined weight totaling nearly 8,200 kg.
Now the teams for the respective satellites will work on the final positioning of their satellites to geostationary orbit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_orbit
They will join other satellites that are looking down at Earth from the equator.
http://www.satsig.net/sslist.htm
List of Satellites in Geostationary Orbit
And when you look up. :-)
http://www.satsig.net/geopics.htm
This is a photograph of several closely spaced geostationary orbit satellites around 259E/101W orbit longitude.
http://celestrak.com/columns/v04n07/
Basics of the Geostationary Orbit
By Dr. T.S. Kelso
More questions?
http://www.tech-faq.com/geostationary-satellite.shtml
What is a geostationary satellite?
TechFAQ
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/sub_main_news_missionupdate.html
MISSION UPDATE
May 27, 2006
Ariane 5 enters the record books with another outstanding heavy-lift performance
Arianespace's Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher logged another flawless performance that delivered a record-setting dual-satellite payload into geostationary transfer orbit today.
Lifting off at the start of a 45-min. launch window that opened at 6:09 p.m., the vehicle climbed into the cloudy skies over Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana and completed its mission 32 minutes later.
The combined weight of Ariane 5's two satellite payloads -- Thaicom 5 and Satmex 6 - was 8,200 kg., marking a new record for satellite mass delivered into orbit. With this success, Arianespace has launched more than 230 satellites since the company pioneered the commercial launch services industry.
Despite the rainy conditions at liftoff, Ariane 5's ascent through the lower cloud layers was clearly visible as the Arianespace vehicle climbed out under the power of its cryogenic main engine and two solid rocket boosters.
Satmex 6 was deployed by Ariane 5 first, with its release occurring at 27 min. into the flight. It was followed five minutes later by the separation of Thaicom 6.
The second Ariane 5 ECA heavy-lift success in 2006
Today's success was Arianespace's second heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA mission in 2006, and the 23rd successful flight for the Ariane 5 launcher family. In just over nine months, a total of six Ariane 5s have been used by Arianespace to deliver a total of 11 satellites into geostationary transfer orbit.
Thaicom 5 was the fifth satellite orbited by Arianespace for Shin Satellite Public Company Limited, Thailand's private telecommunications operator. Thaicom 1 was launched in 1993, and was followed by the orbiting of the series' three subsequent spacecraft during 1994, 1997 and 2005.
To be located at an orbital position of 78.5 degrees East, the 2,760-kg. Thaicom 5 will be used for Ku-band and C-band telecommunications and television services throughout the Asia/Pacific region.
The Ariane 5 mission today also marked the fourth time that Mexico has relied on Arianespace to orbit communications satellites for the country. In addition to Satmex 6, Arianespace launched the Satmex 5 satellite in December 1998, along with Solidaridad 1 and 2 in November 1993 and 1994, respectively.
Snip
Launch Kit
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/sub_main_news_launchkit.html
Mission Update Archive
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/sub_main_news_missionarchive.html
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The Ariane 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_5
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ariane 5 is an European expendable launch system designed to deliver satellites into geostationary transfer orbit and to send payloads to low earth orbit.
It is manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency (ESA) with EADS SPACE Transportation as prime contractor, leading a consortium of sub-contractors. The rocket is operated and marketed by Arianespace as part of the Ariane programme. EADS SPACE Transportation builds the rockets in Europe and Arianespace launches them from a space port at Kourou in French Guiana.
It succeeded Ariane 4, but does not derive from it directly. Its development took 10 years and cost €7 billion. The ESA originally designed Ariane 5 to launch the manned mini shuttle Hermes, and thus intended it to be "human rated" from the beginning. After the ESA cancelled Hermes, the rocket became a purely commercial launcher.
Two satellites can be mounted using a Sylda carrier. Three main satellites are possible depending on size. Up to eight secondary payloads, usually small experiment packages or minisatellites, can be carried with an ASAP (Ariane Structure for Auxiliary Payloads) platform.
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
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The launch of SATMEX 6 and THICOM 5 to geostationary transfer orbit was successful today.
Watched the count-down at:
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.videocorner.tv/index.php?langue=en
Snip
For its second launch of the year, Arianespace will launch two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: Satmex 6 for Mexico and Thaicom 5 for Thailand.
Snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
Arianspace http://www.arianespace.com/site/index2.html
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/releases/06_05_24_release_index.html
The Ariane 5 flight carried a record-setting payload mass, with the Thaicom 5 and Satmex 6 satellites' combined weight totaling nearly 8,200 kg.
Now the teams for the respective satellites will work on the final positioning of their satellites to geostationary orbit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_orbit
They will join other satellites that are looking down at Earth from the equator.
http://www.satsig.net/sslist.htm
List of Satellites in Geostationary Orbit
And when you look up. :-)
http://www.satsig.net/geopics.htm
This is a photograph of several closely spaced geostationary orbit satellites around 259E/101W orbit longitude.
http://celestrak.com/columns/v04n07/
Basics of the Geostationary Orbit
By Dr. T.S. Kelso
More questions?
http://www.tech-faq.com/geostationary-satellite.shtml
What is a geostationary satellite?
TechFAQ
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/sub_main_news_missionupdate.html
MISSION UPDATE
May 27, 2006
Ariane 5 enters the record books with another outstanding heavy-lift performance
Arianespace's Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher logged another flawless performance that delivered a record-setting dual-satellite payload into geostationary transfer orbit today.
Lifting off at the start of a 45-min. launch window that opened at 6:09 p.m., the vehicle climbed into the cloudy skies over Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana and completed its mission 32 minutes later.
The combined weight of Ariane 5's two satellite payloads -- Thaicom 5 and Satmex 6 - was 8,200 kg., marking a new record for satellite mass delivered into orbit. With this success, Arianespace has launched more than 230 satellites since the company pioneered the commercial launch services industry.
Despite the rainy conditions at liftoff, Ariane 5's ascent through the lower cloud layers was clearly visible as the Arianespace vehicle climbed out under the power of its cryogenic main engine and two solid rocket boosters.
Satmex 6 was deployed by Ariane 5 first, with its release occurring at 27 min. into the flight. It was followed five minutes later by the separation of Thaicom 6.
The second Ariane 5 ECA heavy-lift success in 2006
Today's success was Arianespace's second heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA mission in 2006, and the 23rd successful flight for the Ariane 5 launcher family. In just over nine months, a total of six Ariane 5s have been used by Arianespace to deliver a total of 11 satellites into geostationary transfer orbit.
Thaicom 5 was the fifth satellite orbited by Arianespace for Shin Satellite Public Company Limited, Thailand's private telecommunications operator. Thaicom 1 was launched in 1993, and was followed by the orbiting of the series' three subsequent spacecraft during 1994, 1997 and 2005.
To be located at an orbital position of 78.5 degrees East, the 2,760-kg. Thaicom 5 will be used for Ku-band and C-band telecommunications and television services throughout the Asia/Pacific region.
The Ariane 5 mission today also marked the fourth time that Mexico has relied on Arianespace to orbit communications satellites for the country. In addition to Satmex 6, Arianespace launched the Satmex 5 satellite in December 1998, along with Solidaridad 1 and 2 in November 1993 and 1994, respectively.
Snip
Launch Kit
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/sub_main_news_launchkit.html
Mission Update Archive
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/sub_main_news_missionarchive.html
=============================================================
The Ariane 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_5
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ariane 5 is an European expendable launch system designed to deliver satellites into geostationary transfer orbit and to send payloads to low earth orbit.
It is manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency (ESA) with EADS SPACE Transportation as prime contractor, leading a consortium of sub-contractors. The rocket is operated and marketed by Arianespace as part of the Ariane programme. EADS SPACE Transportation builds the rockets in Europe and Arianespace launches them from a space port at Kourou in French Guiana.
It succeeded Ariane 4, but does not derive from it directly. Its development took 10 years and cost €7 billion. The ESA originally designed Ariane 5 to launch the manned mini shuttle Hermes, and thus intended it to be "human rated" from the beginning. After the ESA cancelled Hermes, the rocket became a purely commercial launcher.
Two satellites can be mounted using a Sylda carrier. Three main satellites are possible depending on size. Up to eight secondary payloads, usually small experiment packages or minisatellites, can be carried with an ASAP (Ariane Structure for Auxiliary Payloads) platform.
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
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Thursday, May 25, 2006
It is Wednesday, May 25, 2006 here in the USA.
There is to be an Arianespace launch the night of May 26.
- LRK -
You can watch the count-down at
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http://www.videocorner.tv/index.php?langue=en
Snip
For its second launch of the year, Arianespace will launch two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: Satmex 6 for Mexico and Thaicom 5 for Thailand.
Snip
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Arianspace http://www.arianespace.com/site/index2.html
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/releases/06_05_24_release_index.html
Now if you don't live in Mexico or Thailand you might not be interested in the launch.
OR - you might be interested in how the satellite launch industry is doing
OR - you might be interested in the politics revolving around communications satellites.
There is money to be made or lost in beaming information.
Do you get the channels free, pay a subscription, or hack the encryption?
http://www.thaicom.net/
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http://satellite.information.in.th/general-news.html
News clippings about Satellite TV in Thailand in particular Thaicom 5 getting ready
Shin Satellite announced the shipment of Thaicom 5 to Guiana Space Port in French Guiana, where it will be prepared for launch. Thaicom 5 was constructed by Alcatel Alenia Space and will be launched by Arianespace aboard an Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle.
Snip
[You may find the whole page interesting as you look back through some of the history of launches for this part of the world. - LRK -]
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And just who holds the purse strings can be questioned as well.
- LRK -
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http://www.thaicom.net/eng-financial/html/faq.html
Frequently Asked Questions
New - Shin Satellite FAQ Feb 21, 2006
1. Is Shin Satellite (SATTEL) still a Thai company now that foreigners have bought shares in Shin Corp?
The key is that no one bought shares in the company directly. Only 1.61% (as of the time of the transaction) of our shares are held directly by foreigners, and most of that is in the form of non-voting depository receipts (NVDR). See SATTEL's Company Profile at http://www.set.or.th to calculate the amount of shares held by foreigners on any day. Foreigners who buy through local nominees are not counted (the shares are actually local shares held by local trustee companies). Even so, the Company's Articles of Association state that foreigners may not hold more than 40%. The only time they could hold more is if we sell new shares to a strategic partner, but even then, they are not allowed to hold more than 49.99% (and under the Telecom law this would be restricted to 49% anyway).
Snip
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Do you care if it rains a lot or who is beaming at you?
- LRK -
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http://satjournal.tcom.ohiou.edu/issue8/pers_setiyanto.html
It is time to use the Ku-band in Indonesia
By Prima Setiyanto Widodo
Satellite Communications Systems are infrastructures that can be used for broadband multimedia applications. In the communication satellite field, the C-band (4-6 GHz) frequencies have been used since the beginning and are now saturated. The Ku-band (11-18 GHz) has been used also for communication satellite systems, because with this frequency a bigger bandwidth can be applied. The Ku-band has other advantages, such as avoidance of interference with terrestrial microwave systems that often use the C-band frequency.
However, for Indonesia, the use of the Ku-band needs a thorough examination because frequencies above 10 GHz are vulnerable to rain, especially heavy rain that often occurs in Indonesia. This article examines the possibility of using the Ku-band for satellite communication systems in Indonesia.
Snip
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In the USA, Space Systems/Loral has an interest in how the Satmex 6 launch goes.
- LRK -
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http://www.ssloral.com/html/aboutssl/history.html
http://www.ssloral.com/
[Website loaded slowly for me. - LRK -
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Satellite owner's change and companies that build them have a history too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Systems/Loral
If you want to go to the Moon and Mars in a commercial way, then watching who is launching down here may be of interest.
Put a few more links to the above folks, below.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
THE LAUNCH READINESS REVIEW (RAL) took place in Kourou on Thursday, May 25,
2006 and authorized count-down operations for the SATMEX 6 & THAICOM 5.
For its second launch of the year, Arianespace will launch two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: Satmex 6 for Mexico and Thaicom 5 for Thailand.
It will be launched from the Ariane launch complex N° 3 (ELA3), in Kourou, French Guiana.
THE ARIANE 5 "ECA" LAUNCHER LIFT-OFF for this Flight is scheduled during the night of May 26, 2006 as soon as possible within the following launch
window:
>> KOUROU: From 06:09pm to 06:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> GMT: From 09:09pm to 09:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> PARIS: From 11:09pm to 11:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> WASHINGTON: From 05:09pm to 05:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> MEXICO: From 04:09pm to 04:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> BANGKOK: From 04:09am to 04:54am on May 28, 2006.
Follow the launch live on the internet:
http://www.videocorner.tv/index.php?langue=en
(Starting 20 minutes before lift-off).
Video streaming will be available in RealMedia and WindowsMedia formats.
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La Revue d’Aptitude au Lancement (RAL) s’est déroulée le jeudi 25 mai à Kourou et a autorisé les opérations de chronologie pour le Vol Ariane 5 ECA
- SATMEX 6 et THAICOM 5.
Pour son deuxième lancement de l’année, Arianespace mettra en orbite de transfert géostationnaire les satellites de télécommunications mexicain SATMEX 6 et thaïlandais THAICOM 5.
Le lancement sera effectué depuis l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane n° 3 (ELA
3) à Kourou en Guyane française.
Le décollage du lanceur Ariane 5 ECA est prévu le plus tôt possible dans la fenêtre de lancement suivante :
>> KOUROU : De 18h09 à 18h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> GMT : De 21h09 à 21h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> PARIS : De 23h09 à 23h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> WASHINGTON : De 17h09 à 17h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> MEXICO : De 16h09 à 16h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> BANGKOK : De 04h09 à 04h54, le 28 mai 2006.
Suivez le lancement en direct sur Internet :
http://www.videocorner.tv/index.php?langue=fr
(Diffusion à partir de H-20 mn).
Des flux aux formats RealMedia et WindowsMedia seront disponibles.
Snip
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http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/thaicom-3.htm
Thaicom-3 is a three-axis stabilized spacecraft with a payload capacity of
25 C-Band and 14 Ku-Band transponders. Global beam coverage on Thaicom-3 spans over four continents and can service users in Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa. The high-powered Ku-Band transponders, with both spot and steerable beams, are ideally suited to Digital DTH services for Thailand and other countries in the region.
Thaicom-3 satellite experienced an anomaly in its power system in 2003. This has caused temporary outages in some of the customers' services. Reportedly, the root cause of the failure is a short circuit in the solar array drive mechanism. These problems will force an early retirement of the spacecraft, which will be replaced in 2006 by Thaicom 5
Thaicom-4 was ordered, but later sold to Agrani as Agrani 2. After Agrani cancelled the purchase of Agrani 2, it was reordered as Thaicom-5 in June 2005. The contract covers the on ground delivery of the satellite, the launch campaign, the support of LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) and IOT (In Orbit Test). It is dedicated to replace Thaicom 1 and Thaicom 2, which are due to be retired in 2008 and 2009 respectively. It will support Shin Sat satellite operation at 78.5°E and will allow the operator to expand its Ku-Band channels offering over Thailand as well as in the neighbouring countries. It will provide high quality, broadcasting, telecommunication and broadband services. With a launch mass of around 2.8 tons, a power of around 5 kW (end of life), it will be equipped with 14 Ku-Band transponders and 24 C-Band transponders. Thaicom 5 will be integrated and assembled in the Alcatel Space clean rooms in Cannes for a delivery scheduled the second quarter of 2006.
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http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=17335
Thaicom 5 will be the second satellite provided by Alcatel Space to Thailand and the 2nd Spacebus Satellite ordered in 2005
PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Source: Alcatel
Alcatel Space, a subsidiary of Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Shin Satellite Inc. of Thailand, a major satellite operator, today announced the signature of a contract for the construction of the Thaicom 5 communications satellite.
The contract covers the on ground delivery of the satellite, the launch campaign, the support of LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) and IOT (In Orbit Test). It is dedicated to replace Thaicom 1 and Thaicom 2, which are due to be retired in 2008 and 2009 respectively. It will support Shin Sat satellite operation at 78.5°E and will allow the operator to expand its Ku-Band channels offering over Thailand as well as in the neighbouring countries. It will provide high quality, broadcasting, telecommunication and broadband services.
Thaicom 5 satellite is based on the highly reliable design of the Spacebus family, which benefits from a large experience in orbit. With a launch mass of around 2.8 tons, a power of around 5 kW (end of life), it will be equipped with 14 Ku-Band transponders and 24 C-Band transponders.
Thaicom 5 will be integrated and assembled in the Alcatel Space clean rooms in Cannes for a delivery scheduled the second quarter of next year. This new contract with Shin Satellite enables Alcatel Space to reinforce its longstanding cooperation with the operator.
About Alcatel Space
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http://www.satmex.com/english/flota/satmex6.php
Satmex 6 is a Space Systems/Loral FS-1300X capable of generating 14.1 kW (BOL), with a total of 60 transponders: 36 C-Band transponders for CONUS, South America and Continental coverage, and 24 Ku-Band transponders serving the USA, Mexico and Continental regions, with a hot spot over the major cities in South America.
It offers additional benefits: antenna size reduction, linealizer in each channel, one single continental footprint for the Americas, switchable coverage in both C and Ku bands and high-power coverage of South America and the Caribbean.
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http://www.spaceandtech.com/spacedata/logs/2003/satmex6_sum.shtml
Satmex 6 - Summary
space.gif (43 bytes)
The 5700 kg (12563 lbm) Satmex 6 satellite, being built by Space Systems/Loral, will be positioned at 109.2°W. The spacecraft will carry 36 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders.
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http://dev.space.com/spacenews/satellitecomm/Satmex_071105.html
Satmex, Loral Reach Agreement on Satmex 5 and 6
By PETER B. de SELDING
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 11 July 2005
01:25 pm ET
PARIS — Bankrupt satellite operator Satmex has reached an agreement with shareholder and supplier Loral under which Loral will return the Satmex 6 satellite from its South American launch site — where it has been in storage for 21 months — to Loral’s factory to recertify its flight-worthiness.
In return, Loral will continue to use three transponders aboard the orbiting Satmex 5 satellite.
More importantly, Loral will have exclusive use of four transponders on Satmex 6, whose launch could occur in early 2006, according to Loral’s statements to the bankruptcy court.
The Satmex 6 capacity — two transponders in Ku-band and two in C-band — will be used by Loral to re-enter the North American transponder-lease market. As part of its billion-dollar sale of its North American satellite fleet to Intelsat Ltd. of Washington in March 2004, Loral agreed to a no-compete clause that keeps it out of the direct transponder-lease market in North America for two years. Loral can return to the market in March 2006.
The Loral-Satmex agreement is subject to the approval of both Loral’s and Satmex’s bankruptcy courts. Satmex on July 8 told a New York bankruptcy court that the company has filed for bankruptcy protection in Mexico and that, despite bondholder objections, it would not be seeking protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
There is to be an Arianespace launch the night of May 26.
- LRK -
You can watch the count-down at
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.videocorner.tv/index.php?langue=en
Snip
For its second launch of the year, Arianespace will launch two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: Satmex 6 for Mexico and Thaicom 5 for Thailand.
Snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
Arianspace http://www.arianespace.com/site/index2.html
http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/releases/06_05_24_release_index.html
Now if you don't live in Mexico or Thailand you might not be interested in the launch.
OR - you might be interested in how the satellite launch industry is doing
OR - you might be interested in the politics revolving around communications satellites.
There is money to be made or lost in beaming information.
Do you get the channels free, pay a subscription, or hack the encryption?
http://www.thaicom.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://satellite.information.in.th/general-news.html
News clippings about Satellite TV in Thailand in particular Thaicom 5 getting ready
Shin Satellite announced the shipment of Thaicom 5 to Guiana Space Port in French Guiana, where it will be prepared for launch. Thaicom 5 was constructed by Alcatel Alenia Space and will be launched by Arianespace aboard an Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle.
Snip
[You may find the whole page interesting as you look back through some of the history of launches for this part of the world. - LRK -]
-------------------------------------------------------------
And just who holds the purse strings can be questioned as well.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.thaicom.net/eng-financial/html/faq.html
Frequently Asked Questions
New - Shin Satellite FAQ Feb 21, 2006
1. Is Shin Satellite (SATTEL) still a Thai company now that foreigners have bought shares in Shin Corp?
The key is that no one bought shares in the company directly. Only 1.61% (as of the time of the transaction) of our shares are held directly by foreigners, and most of that is in the form of non-voting depository receipts (NVDR). See SATTEL's Company Profile at http://www.set.or.th to calculate the amount of shares held by foreigners on any day. Foreigners who buy through local nominees are not counted (the shares are actually local shares held by local trustee companies). Even so, the Company's Articles of Association state that foreigners may not hold more than 40%. The only time they could hold more is if we sell new shares to a strategic partner, but even then, they are not allowed to hold more than 49.99% (and under the Telecom law this would be restricted to 49% anyway).
Snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
Do you care if it rains a lot or who is beaming at you?
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://satjournal.tcom.ohiou.edu/issue8/pers_setiyanto.html
It is time to use the Ku-band in Indonesia
By Prima Setiyanto Widodo
Satellite Communications Systems are infrastructures that can be used for broadband multimedia applications. In the communication satellite field, the C-band (4-6 GHz) frequencies have been used since the beginning and are now saturated. The Ku-band (11-18 GHz) has been used also for communication satellite systems, because with this frequency a bigger bandwidth can be applied. The Ku-band has other advantages, such as avoidance of interference with terrestrial microwave systems that often use the C-band frequency.
However, for Indonesia, the use of the Ku-band needs a thorough examination because frequencies above 10 GHz are vulnerable to rain, especially heavy rain that often occurs in Indonesia. This article examines the possibility of using the Ku-band for satellite communication systems in Indonesia.
Snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
In the USA, Space Systems/Loral has an interest in how the Satmex 6 launch goes.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ssloral.com/html/aboutssl/history.html
http://www.ssloral.com/
[Website loaded slowly for me. - LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite owner's change and companies that build them have a history too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Systems/Loral
If you want to go to the Moon and Mars in a commercial way, then watching who is launching down here may be of interest.
Put a few more links to the above folks, below.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
THE LAUNCH READINESS REVIEW (RAL) took place in Kourou on Thursday, May 25,
2006 and authorized count-down operations for the SATMEX 6 & THAICOM 5.
For its second launch of the year, Arianespace will launch two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: Satmex 6 for Mexico and Thaicom 5 for Thailand.
It will be launched from the Ariane launch complex N° 3 (ELA3), in Kourou, French Guiana.
THE ARIANE 5 "ECA" LAUNCHER LIFT-OFF for this Flight is scheduled during the night of May 26, 2006 as soon as possible within the following launch
window:
>> KOUROU: From 06:09pm to 06:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> GMT: From 09:09pm to 09:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> PARIS: From 11:09pm to 11:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> WASHINGTON: From 05:09pm to 05:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> MEXICO: From 04:09pm to 04:54pm on May 27, 2006.
>> BANGKOK: From 04:09am to 04:54am on May 28, 2006.
Follow the launch live on the internet:
http://www.videocorner.tv/index.php?langue=en
(Starting 20 minutes before lift-off).
Video streaming will be available in RealMedia and WindowsMedia formats.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Revue d’Aptitude au Lancement (RAL) s’est déroulée le jeudi 25 mai à Kourou et a autorisé les opérations de chronologie pour le Vol Ariane 5 ECA
- SATMEX 6 et THAICOM 5.
Pour son deuxième lancement de l’année, Arianespace mettra en orbite de transfert géostationnaire les satellites de télécommunications mexicain SATMEX 6 et thaïlandais THAICOM 5.
Le lancement sera effectué depuis l'Ensemble de Lancement Ariane n° 3 (ELA
3) à Kourou en Guyane française.
Le décollage du lanceur Ariane 5 ECA est prévu le plus tôt possible dans la fenêtre de lancement suivante :
>> KOUROU : De 18h09 à 18h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> GMT : De 21h09 à 21h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> PARIS : De 23h09 à 23h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> WASHINGTON : De 17h09 à 17h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> MEXICO : De 16h09 à 16h54, le 27 mai 2006.
>> BANGKOK : De 04h09 à 04h54, le 28 mai 2006.
Suivez le lancement en direct sur Internet :
http://www.videocorner.tv/index.php?langue=fr
(Diffusion à partir de H-20 mn).
Des flux aux formats RealMedia et WindowsMedia seront disponibles.
Snip
=============================================================
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/thaicom-3.htm
Thaicom-3 is a three-axis stabilized spacecraft with a payload capacity of
25 C-Band and 14 Ku-Band transponders. Global beam coverage on Thaicom-3 spans over four continents and can service users in Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa. The high-powered Ku-Band transponders, with both spot and steerable beams, are ideally suited to Digital DTH services for Thailand and other countries in the region.
Thaicom-3 satellite experienced an anomaly in its power system in 2003. This has caused temporary outages in some of the customers' services. Reportedly, the root cause of the failure is a short circuit in the solar array drive mechanism. These problems will force an early retirement of the spacecraft, which will be replaced in 2006 by Thaicom 5
Thaicom-4 was ordered, but later sold to Agrani as Agrani 2. After Agrani cancelled the purchase of Agrani 2, it was reordered as Thaicom-5 in June 2005. The contract covers the on ground delivery of the satellite, the launch campaign, the support of LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) and IOT (In Orbit Test). It is dedicated to replace Thaicom 1 and Thaicom 2, which are due to be retired in 2008 and 2009 respectively. It will support Shin Sat satellite operation at 78.5°E and will allow the operator to expand its Ku-Band channels offering over Thailand as well as in the neighbouring countries. It will provide high quality, broadcasting, telecommunication and broadband services. With a launch mass of around 2.8 tons, a power of around 5 kW (end of life), it will be equipped with 14 Ku-Band transponders and 24 C-Band transponders. Thaicom 5 will be integrated and assembled in the Alcatel Space clean rooms in Cannes for a delivery scheduled the second quarter of 2006.
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=17335
Thaicom 5 will be the second satellite provided by Alcatel Space to Thailand and the 2nd Spacebus Satellite ordered in 2005
PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Source: Alcatel
Alcatel Space, a subsidiary of Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Shin Satellite Inc. of Thailand, a major satellite operator, today announced the signature of a contract for the construction of the Thaicom 5 communications satellite.
The contract covers the on ground delivery of the satellite, the launch campaign, the support of LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) and IOT (In Orbit Test). It is dedicated to replace Thaicom 1 and Thaicom 2, which are due to be retired in 2008 and 2009 respectively. It will support Shin Sat satellite operation at 78.5°E and will allow the operator to expand its Ku-Band channels offering over Thailand as well as in the neighbouring countries. It will provide high quality, broadcasting, telecommunication and broadband services.
Thaicom 5 satellite is based on the highly reliable design of the Spacebus family, which benefits from a large experience in orbit. With a launch mass of around 2.8 tons, a power of around 5 kW (end of life), it will be equipped with 14 Ku-Band transponders and 24 C-Band transponders.
Thaicom 5 will be integrated and assembled in the Alcatel Space clean rooms in Cannes for a delivery scheduled the second quarter of next year. This new contract with Shin Satellite enables Alcatel Space to reinforce its longstanding cooperation with the operator.
About Alcatel Space
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.satmex.com/english/flota/satmex6.php
Satmex 6 is a Space Systems/Loral FS-1300X capable of generating 14.1 kW (BOL), with a total of 60 transponders: 36 C-Band transponders for CONUS, South America and Continental coverage, and 24 Ku-Band transponders serving the USA, Mexico and Continental regions, with a hot spot over the major cities in South America.
It offers additional benefits: antenna size reduction, linealizer in each channel, one single continental footprint for the Americas, switchable coverage in both C and Ku bands and high-power coverage of South America and the Caribbean.
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.spaceandtech.com/spacedata/logs/2003/satmex6_sum.shtml
Satmex 6 - Summary
space.gif (43 bytes)
The 5700 kg (12563 lbm) Satmex 6 satellite, being built by Space Systems/Loral, will be positioned at 109.2°W. The spacecraft will carry 36 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders.
Snip
=============================================================
http://dev.space.com/spacenews/satellitecomm/Satmex_071105.html
Satmex, Loral Reach Agreement on Satmex 5 and 6
By PETER B. de SELDING
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 11 July 2005
01:25 pm ET
PARIS — Bankrupt satellite operator Satmex has reached an agreement with shareholder and supplier Loral under which Loral will return the Satmex 6 satellite from its South American launch site — where it has been in storage for 21 months — to Loral’s factory to recertify its flight-worthiness.
In return, Loral will continue to use three transponders aboard the orbiting Satmex 5 satellite.
More importantly, Loral will have exclusive use of four transponders on Satmex 6, whose launch could occur in early 2006, according to Loral’s statements to the bankruptcy court.
The Satmex 6 capacity — two transponders in Ku-band and two in C-band — will be used by Loral to re-enter the North American transponder-lease market. As part of its billion-dollar sale of its North American satellite fleet to Intelsat Ltd. of Washington in March 2004, Loral agreed to a no-compete clause that keeps it out of the direct transponder-lease market in North America for two years. Loral can return to the market in March 2006.
The Loral-Satmex agreement is subject to the approval of both Loral’s and Satmex’s bankruptcy courts. Satmex on July 8 told a New York bankruptcy court that the company has filed for bankruptcy protection in Mexico and that, despite bondholder objections, it would not be seeking protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Snip
=============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Caught the tail end of the movie "Race To Space" on TV.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=262093
Race To Space
2002-USA-Animal Picture
PLOT DESCRIPTION
A chimp helps bring together a boy and his father -- as well as putting America in the lead of the space race -- in this drama, which was inspired by the true story of the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission in 1961. Dr. Wilhelm von Huber (James Woods) is a German expatriate scientist living in the United States in the early '60s who has been hired by the fledging National Aeronautics and Space Administration to help America launch its newly formed space program. Von Huber is recently widowed, and his son, Wilhelm II (Alex D. Linz) -- known as Billy to most of his friends -- is still dealing with the loss of his mother. The often cold and exacting Dr. von Huber is having trouble reaching out to his son, and Billy is having a hard time making friends at his new school in Florida. One day, while dropping by NASA's labs to visit his father, Billy discovers a secret: NASA has previously been using unmanned missiles in their tests, but before taking the giant step of sending a man into space, they're going to try an experimental mission with a chimpanzee on board to get a better idea of how people might be affected by space travel. Dr. Donni McGuinness (Annabeth Gish), NASA's head veterinarian, makes a deal with Billy: If he promises not to tell anyone about NASA's secret project, she'll give him a part-time job helping to train Mac the Chimp for his big flight. Billy soon becomes quite attached to his new friend Mac, and discovers it's harder than he imagined to send him into space without knowing if he'll come back safely. Race to Space also features William Atherton and William Devane, while Tyler the chimp appears as Mac. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
-------------------------------------------------------------
It wasn't an easy start.
http://www.thespacesite.com/space/history/spacerace.php
Maybe a few clips about the real Mercury-Redstone 2 mission are worth considering as we continue to work in space. See below.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/Exhibits/AirAndSpace/HumansInSpace/MercuryRedstone2/MercuryRedstone2.php
Mercury-Redstone 2 Space Capsule
...the flight of this craft tested the rocket, the capsule and the ability to work in space and return safely, in preparation for the first American astronaut's journey into space. Mercury-Redstone 2 carried a chimpanzee named Ham and helped to confirm that humans could safely make the trip
Snip
Mercury-Redstone 2 Specs
Launch date: January 31, 1961
Passenger: a four-year-old chimpanzee named Ham Maximum altitude: 262 km (157 miles) Downrange distance: 679 km (422 miles) Duration of flight: 16 minutes, 39 seconds Weightless time: 6 minutes, 36 seconds Maximum speed: 9,762 km/hour (5,857 mph) Maximum G forces: 14.7
Weight: 1,450 kg (3,200 pounds)
External Dimensions: 1.89 meters (6.2 feet) diameter Internal Dimensions: 3.72 meters (40 square feet) - "about the size of a coffin"
Launch vehicle: Redstone rocket
Capsule control: Mercury missions did not require sophisticated control and the basic maneuvers for sub-orbital and orbital flights could be controlled automatically. Many of the instruments inside the capsule were from airplane cockpits.
Materials: Hull made from titanium 0.01 inches thick, blanketed by fiberglass insulation and covered with blackened heat radiating shingles. On the conical sides, shingles are made of a nickel-steel alloy. The cylindrical nose needed protection for higher temperatures, so shingles were made of beryllium. Beryllium heat shield (lost on recovery) to absorb heat on reentry. Plasticized fabric landing bag.
Manufacturer: McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis in conjunction with the Space Task Group, formed by NASA and operating out of Langley, Virginia.
Snip
Ham Stats
Weight: 16.78 kg (37 pounds)
Age at launch: 4 years old
Birthplace: French Cameroon (now Cameroon), Africa Homes after flight: National Zoo in Washington D.C.; chimpanzee colony in North Carolina
Died: 1983, of natural causes
Could Ham see out of the capsule? No, but he experienced microgravity. A window was added to later capsule designs so the astronauts could look out.
Snip
=============================================================
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/mercury/mercury.htm
Program Overview
=============================================================
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/ch10-3.htm
MR-2: Ham Paves the Way
[310] By the end of January 1961, the technical outlook for Project Mercury was much improved. The end of the qualification flight tests was in sight, if only the Little Joe, Redstone, and Atlas boosters would cooperate. First priority was to make sure the Mercury-Redstone combination was prepared for the first manned suborbital flights. Now, according to the progressive buildup plan, the reliability of the system required demonstration by the second Mercury-Redstone (MR-2) flight, with a chimpanzee aboard, as a final check to man-rate the capsule and launch vehicle.
Preparations for the MR-2 mission had begun long before the actual flight.
Between manufacturing the capsule and flight readiness certification, several months of testing and reworking were necessary at the McDonnell plant, at Marshall Space Flight Center, and at Cape Canaveral. Capsule No. 5, designated for the MR-2 flight, had been near the end of its manufacturing phase in May 1960. When it was completed, inspectors from the Navy Bureau of Weapons stationed at St. Louis, in cooperation with STG's liaison personnel at McDonnell, watched it go through a specified series of tests, and the contractor corrected all detected deficiencies. After capsule systems tests and factory acceptance tests, capsule No. 5 was loaded into an Air Force cargo plane and shipped to Marshall Space Flight Center on September 3, 1960. At Huntsville, Wernher von Braun's team hurried through its checkouts of the compatibility of capsule No. 5 with Redstone booster No. 2, and had finished well before its 16-day time limit. On October 11, 1960, the capsule arrived by air at the Cape, where the first checkout inspections, under the direction of F. M. Crichton, uncovered more discrepancies, raising to 150 the total of minor rework jobs to be done.
Because of the complexities of the stacked and interlaced seven miles of wiring and plumbing systems in the Mercury capsule, however, each minor discrepancy became a major cost in the time necessary for its correction.
Checkout work in Hangar S required 50 days for systems tests and 60 days for rework. The capsule designated for the first manned space flight, No. 7, also had arrived at the Cape for preflight checkouts, but the launch vehicle for MR-2 was delivered to the Cape by air freight on December 20, 1960, the day after MR-1A was launched. It too had undergone exhaustive reliability testing in the shops and on the stands in the hills west of Huntsville, Alabama. When Joachim P. Kuettner, representing von Braun, transferred the MR-2 booster to Emil P. Bertram, representing Kurt H. Debus' Launch Operations Directorate, their confidence in this particular booster of the "Old Reliable" series was high but not towering.
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/toc.htm
This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury By Loyd S. Swenson Jr.
James M. Grimwood
Charles C. Alexander
Published as NASA Special Publication-4201 in the NASA History Series, 1989.
Page numbers from the original publication are included within the text within square brackets.
Table of Contents
Snip
=============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redstone_rocket
Redstone (rocket)
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
First launched in 1953, the American Redstone rocket was a direct descendant of the German V-2. It was used for the first live nuclear missile tests by the United States. It was also known as the Redstone MRBM (medium range ballistic missile).
A product of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama, under the leadership of Wernher von Braun, it was designed as a surface-to-surface missile for the U.S. Army and was first deployed in 1958. A total of four mobile launchers and equipment, with one reload each, (a total of 8 Redstone MRBM missiles) were deployed in West Germany until 1963. The Redstone was capable of flights up to 200 miles (300 km). It burned alcohol and liquid oxygen.
Snip
=============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=262093
Race To Space
2002-USA-Animal Picture
PLOT DESCRIPTION
A chimp helps bring together a boy and his father -- as well as putting America in the lead of the space race -- in this drama, which was inspired by the true story of the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission in 1961. Dr. Wilhelm von Huber (James Woods) is a German expatriate scientist living in the United States in the early '60s who has been hired by the fledging National Aeronautics and Space Administration to help America launch its newly formed space program. Von Huber is recently widowed, and his son, Wilhelm II (Alex D. Linz) -- known as Billy to most of his friends -- is still dealing with the loss of his mother. The often cold and exacting Dr. von Huber is having trouble reaching out to his son, and Billy is having a hard time making friends at his new school in Florida. One day, while dropping by NASA's labs to visit his father, Billy discovers a secret: NASA has previously been using unmanned missiles in their tests, but before taking the giant step of sending a man into space, they're going to try an experimental mission with a chimpanzee on board to get a better idea of how people might be affected by space travel. Dr. Donni McGuinness (Annabeth Gish), NASA's head veterinarian, makes a deal with Billy: If he promises not to tell anyone about NASA's secret project, she'll give him a part-time job helping to train Mac the Chimp for his big flight. Billy soon becomes quite attached to his new friend Mac, and discovers it's harder than he imagined to send him into space without knowing if he'll come back safely. Race to Space also features William Atherton and William Devane, while Tyler the chimp appears as Mac. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
-------------------------------------------------------------
It wasn't an easy start.
http://www.thespacesite.com/space/history/spacerace.php
Maybe a few clips about the real Mercury-Redstone 2 mission are worth considering as we continue to work in space. See below.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/Exhibits/AirAndSpace/HumansInSpace/MercuryRedstone2/MercuryRedstone2.php
Mercury-Redstone 2 Space Capsule
...the flight of this craft tested the rocket, the capsule and the ability to work in space and return safely, in preparation for the first American astronaut's journey into space. Mercury-Redstone 2 carried a chimpanzee named Ham and helped to confirm that humans could safely make the trip
Snip
Mercury-Redstone 2 Specs
Launch date: January 31, 1961
Passenger: a four-year-old chimpanzee named Ham Maximum altitude: 262 km (157 miles) Downrange distance: 679 km (422 miles) Duration of flight: 16 minutes, 39 seconds Weightless time: 6 minutes, 36 seconds Maximum speed: 9,762 km/hour (5,857 mph) Maximum G forces: 14.7
Weight: 1,450 kg (3,200 pounds)
External Dimensions: 1.89 meters (6.2 feet) diameter Internal Dimensions: 3.72 meters (40 square feet) - "about the size of a coffin"
Launch vehicle: Redstone rocket
Capsule control: Mercury missions did not require sophisticated control and the basic maneuvers for sub-orbital and orbital flights could be controlled automatically. Many of the instruments inside the capsule were from airplane cockpits.
Materials: Hull made from titanium 0.01 inches thick, blanketed by fiberglass insulation and covered with blackened heat radiating shingles. On the conical sides, shingles are made of a nickel-steel alloy. The cylindrical nose needed protection for higher temperatures, so shingles were made of beryllium. Beryllium heat shield (lost on recovery) to absorb heat on reentry. Plasticized fabric landing bag.
Manufacturer: McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis in conjunction with the Space Task Group, formed by NASA and operating out of Langley, Virginia.
Snip
Ham Stats
Weight: 16.78 kg (37 pounds)
Age at launch: 4 years old
Birthplace: French Cameroon (now Cameroon), Africa Homes after flight: National Zoo in Washington D.C.; chimpanzee colony in North Carolina
Died: 1983, of natural causes
Could Ham see out of the capsule? No, but he experienced microgravity. A window was added to later capsule designs so the astronauts could look out.
Snip
=============================================================
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/mercury/mercury.htm
Program Overview
=============================================================
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/ch10-3.htm
MR-2: Ham Paves the Way
[310] By the end of January 1961, the technical outlook for Project Mercury was much improved. The end of the qualification flight tests was in sight, if only the Little Joe, Redstone, and Atlas boosters would cooperate. First priority was to make sure the Mercury-Redstone combination was prepared for the first manned suborbital flights. Now, according to the progressive buildup plan, the reliability of the system required demonstration by the second Mercury-Redstone (MR-2) flight, with a chimpanzee aboard, as a final check to man-rate the capsule and launch vehicle.
Preparations for the MR-2 mission had begun long before the actual flight.
Between manufacturing the capsule and flight readiness certification, several months of testing and reworking were necessary at the McDonnell plant, at Marshall Space Flight Center, and at Cape Canaveral. Capsule No. 5, designated for the MR-2 flight, had been near the end of its manufacturing phase in May 1960. When it was completed, inspectors from the Navy Bureau of Weapons stationed at St. Louis, in cooperation with STG's liaison personnel at McDonnell, watched it go through a specified series of tests, and the contractor corrected all detected deficiencies. After capsule systems tests and factory acceptance tests, capsule No. 5 was loaded into an Air Force cargo plane and shipped to Marshall Space Flight Center on September 3, 1960. At Huntsville, Wernher von Braun's team hurried through its checkouts of the compatibility of capsule No. 5 with Redstone booster No. 2, and had finished well before its 16-day time limit. On October 11, 1960, the capsule arrived by air at the Cape, where the first checkout inspections, under the direction of F. M. Crichton, uncovered more discrepancies, raising to 150 the total of minor rework jobs to be done.
Because of the complexities of the stacked and interlaced seven miles of wiring and plumbing systems in the Mercury capsule, however, each minor discrepancy became a major cost in the time necessary for its correction.
Checkout work in Hangar S required 50 days for systems tests and 60 days for rework. The capsule designated for the first manned space flight, No. 7, also had arrived at the Cape for preflight checkouts, but the launch vehicle for MR-2 was delivered to the Cape by air freight on December 20, 1960, the day after MR-1A was launched. It too had undergone exhaustive reliability testing in the shops and on the stands in the hills west of Huntsville, Alabama. When Joachim P. Kuettner, representing von Braun, transferred the MR-2 booster to Emil P. Bertram, representing Kurt H. Debus' Launch Operations Directorate, their confidence in this particular booster of the "Old Reliable" series was high but not towering.
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/toc.htm
This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury By Loyd S. Swenson Jr.
James M. Grimwood
Charles C. Alexander
Published as NASA Special Publication-4201 in the NASA History Series, 1989.
Page numbers from the original publication are included within the text within square brackets.
Table of Contents
Snip
=============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redstone_rocket
Redstone (rocket)
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
First launched in 1953, the American Redstone rocket was a direct descendant of the German V-2. It was used for the first live nuclear missile tests by the United States. It was also known as the Redstone MRBM (medium range ballistic missile).
A product of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama, under the leadership of Wernher von Braun, it was designed as a surface-to-surface missile for the U.S. Army and was first deployed in 1958. A total of four mobile launchers and equipment, with one reload each, (a total of 8 Redstone MRBM missiles) were deployed in West Germany until 1963. The Redstone was capable of flights up to 200 miles (300 km). It burned alcohol and liquid oxygen.
Snip
=============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Friday, May 19, 2006
The shuttle has begun its roll out for a July launch and an engine design for the core stage of the heavy lift cargo launch vehicle has been selected.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/may/HQ_06226_RS-68_ENGINE.html
NASA has chosen the RS-68 engine to power the core stage of the agency's heavy lift cargo launch vehicle intended to carry large payloads to the moon.
The announcement supersedes NASA's initial decision to use a derivative of the space shuttle main engine as the core stage engine for the heavy lift launch vehicle.
The cargo launch vehicle will serve as NASA's primary vessel for safe, reliable delivery of resources to space. It will carry large-scale hardware and materials for establishing a permanent moon base, as well as food, fresh water and other staples needed to extend a human presence beyond Earth orbit.
Snip
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/may/HQ_06226_RS-68_ENGINE.txt
-------------------------------------------------------------
Slowly, ever so slowly. http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/sts_rollout.htm
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://nasaspaceflight.com/
LIVE: Discovery Rollout
http://nasaspaceflight.com/content/?id=4508
Shuttle Discovery has begun to roll out of the VAB (Vehicle Assembly
Building) for the four mile trip down the Kennedy Space Center crawlerway, en route to her final destination, launch pad 39B for the July launch target of STS-121.
NASASpaceflight.com is covering the rollout as a live event, with images, video and debate - links provided inside this article.
-------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to see what the Apollo missions recorded.
- LRK
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html
The World-Wide Web's most extensive collection of high-quality Apollo images, featuring images scanned for Eric Jones' Apollo Lunar Surface Journal.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/
Many photographs on this website are courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, specifically the NASA History Office, Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center, with special thanks to Steve Garber, Margaret Persinger and Mike Gentry for their invaluable assistance. All scans by Kipp Teague except where noted. Appreciation is also extended to J.L. Pickering and Ed Hengeveld for their extensive contributions to the Gallery.
Snip
List of Yahoo Groups and mailing lists associated with the Project Apollo Archive. http://www.apolloarchive.com/aparch_listserv.html
-------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2006/05/clv_engine_chan.html
May 12
CaLV Engine Changes
Modification to a Previous NASA Notice: Cargo Launch Vehicle Core Stage Engine
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=20593
"This is a modification to the synopsis entitled "CARGO LAUNCH VEHICLE CORE STAGE ENGINE", which was posted on February 23, 2006. You are notified that the following changes are made: The requirement is hereby cancelled."
NASA MSFC Solicitation: Cargo Vehicle Core Stage Engine (original notice):
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=19725
"NASA/MSFC has baselined the use of a lower cost version of the Space Shuttle Main Engine as the Core Stage Engine (CSE) for the proposed Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV). At this time, special studies are needed to evaluate and assess the processes and requirements necessary to develop and certify the CSE for the CaLV. The Core Stage Engine will be a highly affordable, expendable engine derived from the current Space Shuttle Main Engine (RS-25)."
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/may/HQ_06226_RS-68_ENGINE.html
May 18, 2006
Dolores Beasley
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-1753
Kim Newton
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(256) 544-0034
RELEASE: 06-226
NASA'S EXPLORATION SYSTEMS PROGRESS REPORT
NASA has chosen the RS-68 engine to power the core stage of the agency's heavy lift cargo launch vehicle intended to carry large payloads to the moon.
The announcement supersedes NASA's initial decision to use a derivative of the space shuttle main engine as the core stage engine for the heavy lift launch vehicle.
The cargo launch vehicle will serve as NASA's primary vessel for safe, reliable delivery of resources to space. It will carry large-scale hardware and materials for establishing a permanent moon base, as well as food, fresh water and other staples needed to extend a human presence beyond Earth orbit.
Recent studies examining life-cycle cost showed the RS-68 is best suited for NASA's heavy-lift cargo requirements. The decision to change the core stage engine required an increase in the size of the core propulsion stage tank, from a 27.5-foot diameter tank to 33-foot diameter tank, to provide additional propellant required by the five
RS-68 engines.
The RS-68 is the most powerful liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen booster in existence, capable of producing 650,000 pounds of thrust at sea level. In contrast, the space shuttle main engine is capable of producing 420,000 pounds of thrust at sea level. The RS-68, upgraded to meet NASA's requirements, will cost roughly $20 million per engine, a dramatic cost savings over the shuttle main engine.
The prime contractor for the RS-68 engine is Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is the same company that manufactures the shuttle main engine.
The RS-68 is used in the Delta IV launcher, the largest of the Delta rocket family developed in the 1990s by the U.S. Air Force for its evolved expendable launch vehicle program and commercial launch applications.
The cargo launch vehicle effort includes multiple project element teams at NASA centers and contract organizations around the nation and is led by the Exploration Launch Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
The project office is part of the Constellation Program led by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Constellation is a key program of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.
For information about NASA's exploration efforts, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home
-end-
-------------------------------------------------------------
>NASA press releases and other information are available automatically
>by
sending a blank e-mail message to hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov.
>To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a blank e-mail message to
hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov.
Snip
=============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/may/HQ_06226_RS-68_ENGINE.html
NASA has chosen the RS-68 engine to power the core stage of the agency's heavy lift cargo launch vehicle intended to carry large payloads to the moon.
The announcement supersedes NASA's initial decision to use a derivative of the space shuttle main engine as the core stage engine for the heavy lift launch vehicle.
The cargo launch vehicle will serve as NASA's primary vessel for safe, reliable delivery of resources to space. It will carry large-scale hardware and materials for establishing a permanent moon base, as well as food, fresh water and other staples needed to extend a human presence beyond Earth orbit.
Snip
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/may/HQ_06226_RS-68_ENGINE.txt
-------------------------------------------------------------
Slowly, ever so slowly. http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/sts_rollout.htm
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://nasaspaceflight.com/
LIVE: Discovery Rollout
http://nasaspaceflight.com/content/?id=4508
Shuttle Discovery has begun to roll out of the VAB (Vehicle Assembly
Building) for the four mile trip down the Kennedy Space Center crawlerway, en route to her final destination, launch pad 39B for the July launch target of STS-121.
NASASpaceflight.com is covering the rollout as a live event, with images, video and debate - links provided inside this article.
-------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to see what the Apollo missions recorded.
- LRK
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html
The World-Wide Web's most extensive collection of high-quality Apollo images, featuring images scanned for Eric Jones' Apollo Lunar Surface Journal.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/
Many photographs on this website are courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, specifically the NASA History Office, Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center, with special thanks to Steve Garber, Margaret Persinger and Mike Gentry for their invaluable assistance. All scans by Kipp Teague except where noted. Appreciation is also extended to J.L. Pickering and Ed Hengeveld for their extensive contributions to the Gallery.
Snip
List of Yahoo Groups and mailing lists associated with the Project Apollo Archive. http://www.apolloarchive.com/aparch_listserv.html
-------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2006/05/clv_engine_chan.html
May 12
CaLV Engine Changes
Modification to a Previous NASA Notice: Cargo Launch Vehicle Core Stage Engine
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=20593
"This is a modification to the synopsis entitled "CARGO LAUNCH VEHICLE CORE STAGE ENGINE", which was posted on February 23, 2006. You are notified that the following changes are made: The requirement is hereby cancelled."
NASA MSFC Solicitation: Cargo Vehicle Core Stage Engine (original notice):
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=19725
"NASA/MSFC has baselined the use of a lower cost version of the Space Shuttle Main Engine as the Core Stage Engine (CSE) for the proposed Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV). At this time, special studies are needed to evaluate and assess the processes and requirements necessary to develop and certify the CSE for the CaLV. The Core Stage Engine will be a highly affordable, expendable engine derived from the current Space Shuttle Main Engine (RS-25)."
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/may/HQ_06226_RS-68_ENGINE.html
May 18, 2006
Dolores Beasley
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-1753
Kim Newton
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(256) 544-0034
RELEASE: 06-226
NASA'S EXPLORATION SYSTEMS PROGRESS REPORT
NASA has chosen the RS-68 engine to power the core stage of the agency's heavy lift cargo launch vehicle intended to carry large payloads to the moon.
The announcement supersedes NASA's initial decision to use a derivative of the space shuttle main engine as the core stage engine for the heavy lift launch vehicle.
The cargo launch vehicle will serve as NASA's primary vessel for safe, reliable delivery of resources to space. It will carry large-scale hardware and materials for establishing a permanent moon base, as well as food, fresh water and other staples needed to extend a human presence beyond Earth orbit.
Recent studies examining life-cycle cost showed the RS-68 is best suited for NASA's heavy-lift cargo requirements. The decision to change the core stage engine required an increase in the size of the core propulsion stage tank, from a 27.5-foot diameter tank to 33-foot diameter tank, to provide additional propellant required by the five
RS-68 engines.
The RS-68 is the most powerful liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen booster in existence, capable of producing 650,000 pounds of thrust at sea level. In contrast, the space shuttle main engine is capable of producing 420,000 pounds of thrust at sea level. The RS-68, upgraded to meet NASA's requirements, will cost roughly $20 million per engine, a dramatic cost savings over the shuttle main engine.
The prime contractor for the RS-68 engine is Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is the same company that manufactures the shuttle main engine.
The RS-68 is used in the Delta IV launcher, the largest of the Delta rocket family developed in the 1990s by the U.S. Air Force for its evolved expendable launch vehicle program and commercial launch applications.
The cargo launch vehicle effort includes multiple project element teams at NASA centers and contract organizations around the nation and is led by the Exploration Launch Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
The project office is part of the Constellation Program led by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Constellation is a key program of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.
For information about NASA's exploration efforts, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home
-end-
-------------------------------------------------------------
>NASA press releases and other information are available automatically
>by
sending a blank e-mail message to hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov.
>To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a blank e-mail message to
hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov.
Snip
=============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Good afternoon.
A year has gone by since the DART mission failed to automatically find and acquire its target spacecraft, then approach it in a manner that would allow for a safe link up/abort.
This was to be test case for the software that would allow for automatically docking with the ISS. Glad the Russians are doing a better job of it or the re-supplies might not have gone as well as they have.
- LRK -
When I read the information that was supplied by the links from spaceref.com I was not pleased and when I looked again at the pdf file at the NASA links I just got madder.
Somewhere back in my college software programming courses it was drummed into my feeble head that one was supposed to define the problem, define the solution, and then check your programming solution to ensure it fulfilled the task of doing what it was asked to do.
It looks like in this case that neither the problem was defined correctly nor was the solution checked well enough for it to even complete the task as it was defined.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
NASA has completed its assessment of the DART MIB report, which included a classification review by the Department of Defense. The report was found to be NASA-sensitive, but unclassified, because it contained information restricted by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). As a result, the DART mishap investigation report was deemed not releasable to the public. The following provides an overview of publicly releasable findings and recommendations regarding the DART mishap.
Snip
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/148072main_DART_mishap_overview.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------
Links at NASA - See the pdf file for the source of the quote above. - LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dart/main/index.html
Summary of DART Accident Report
NASA released a summary on May 15, 2006, of the findings about why its Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft did not complete its mission and collided with the intended rendezvous satellite on April 15, 2005.
+ Read the Summary (87 Kb PDF)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/148072main_DART_mishap_overview.pdf
The spacecraft was to autonomously rendezvous with and perform a series of maneuvers in close proximity to a communications satellite no longer in use.
The NASA spacecraft performed nominally during the first eight hours of the mission ― launch, checkout, and rendezvous phases. It accomplished all objectives up to that point, though ground operations personnel noticed some anomalies with the craft's navigation system.
Snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
Please don't hold it against me but Orbital Sciences Corp. was my employer while at NASA Ames for Lunar Prospector.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2003/03-145.html
NASA NEWS
For release: 08/22/03
Release #: 03-145
Space flight demonstrator completes design certification
The Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, or DART, has completed its design certification review for the Orbital Space Plane program - a NASA-wide initiative to develop a crew rescue and transfer vehicle to and from the International Space Station. DART is a flight demonstrator designed to test technologies required for a spacecraft to locate and rendezvous with other craft in space. The DART mission will provide a first-ever autonomous rendezvous capability for the U.S. space program. The DART project is managed at the Marshall Center.
The Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft, recently completed design certification review for the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program. The OSP is a NASA initiative to develop a crew rescue and transfer vehicle for the International Space Station.
DART is a space flight demonstrator designed to test technologies required for the OSP to locate and rendezvous with the Station. The DART is designed for autonomous operations. DART is controlled by computers, and it does not have a pilot. DART is NASA's first completely computer controlled, rendezvous capable spacecraft.
The design certification review is a lengthy technical analysis to verify the vehicle design with regard to safety, performance and functional requirements. The review evaluates the results of the project's planning and analysis throughout manufacturing, integration, and testing. The review is conducted when the vehicle design and drawings are complete.
"The review is a key accomplishment for the DART team," said Jim Snoddy, DART program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "The team is pressing ahead to ready the vehicle for a 2004 launch.
DART's demonstration of autonomous rendezvous technologies will be key for the development of the OSP and future reusable launch vehicles," Snoddy said.
Developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., the DART will be launched on a Pegasus rocket from an L-1011 jet aircraft. At approximately 40,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean, the Pegasus will be released with the DART spacecraft.
Once the DART vehicle is launched, some of the hardware and software tested will enable it to travel from a parking orbit around the Earth to rendezvous, or maneuver close to, a target satellite in space. When DART reaches the satellite, it will perform several close proximity operations.
The entire 24-hour mission will be performed without a human pilot.
The DART is the first of three flight-testing demonstrators. Other demonstrators for the OSP program include the X-37 flight demonstrator developed by Boeing Expendable Launch Systems of Huntington Beach, Calif., and the launch pad abort demonstrator developed by Lockheed Martin Corporation of Denver.
For information about NASA's OSP Program on the Internet, visit
http://www.ospnews.com/ [link no longer works - LRK -]
-------------------------------------------------------------
The ospnews link doesn't work, that is the Orbital Space Plane link doesn't work, but then that was a link that dated back to 2003 and things have changed since then. [Even the WayBack Machine doesn't like me looking.
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ospnews.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20040627023757/www2.msfc.nasa.gov/errors/forbidden.html
Then again, the Orbital Space Plane was scrapped in favor of the Crew Exploration Vehicle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Space_Plane
And when you read the accident review you will see that even if you survive the budget/political ax you still may not have the resources to do the job right - if you need an excuse to for not thinking the task through well enough.
I sure hope that whoever programs the software to run the rovers and automatic mining machinery on the new Lunar Outpost has figured out that powdered glass might make for high torque spikes and know how to adjust for changing environmental conditions.
Close the door behind you and check for leaks. A hair in the door lock can make the seal to vacuum not so good, at least if you are trying to keep that newly liberated hydrogen inside the storage tank.
My Scientific American magazine came today and has an article entitled "Dependable Software by Design", June 2006, p. 69, by Daniel Jackson.
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID
_CHAR=296496CD-2B35-221B-6EAA6BE12FD49C7C
Dependable Software by Design; June 2006; Scientific American Magazine; by Daniel Jackson; 8 Page(s)
An architectural marvel when it opened 11 years ago, the new Denver International Airport's high-tech jewel was to be its automated baggage handler. It would autonomously route luggage around 26 miles of conveyors for rapid, seamless delivery to planes and passengers. But software problems dogged the system, delaying the airport's opening by 16 months and adding hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns. Despite years of tweaking, it never ran reliably. Last summer airport managers finally pulled the plug--reverting to traditional manually loaded baggage carts and tugs with human drivers. The mechanized handler's designer, BAE Automated Systems, was liquidated, and United Airlines, its principal user, slipped into bankruptcy, in part because of the mess.
The high price of poor software design is paid daily by millions of frustrated users. Other notorious cases include costly debacles at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (a failed $4-billion modernization effort in 1997, followed by an equally troubled $8-billion updating project); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (a $170-million virtual case-file management system was scrapped in 2005); and the Federal Aviation Administration (a lingering and still unsuccessful attempt to renovate its aging air-traffic control system).
-------------------------------------------------------------
Oh well, just $110 million. Closed within 300 feet and then ran out of fuel, or was it that it bumped its target and didn't know that it still had fuel left?
And what do you do to a driver of a car that gets you in his cross hairs and then forgets to put on the brake? Will we need a space version of "Mothers Against Drunks - MAD"? [Space Autopilot Dumb - SAD]
Thanks for looking up with me. Would you check out that re-supply ship please, seems to be coming in a bit fast?
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
-------------------------------------------------------------
=============================================================
-- NASA Releases DART Accident Report Summary
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=19838
-- NASA Report: Overview of the DART Mishap Investigation Results - For Public Release
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=20605
"The MIB noted cases where the DART team failed to fully use the resources of available subject matter experts. Both the insight and peer review processes provide mechanisms for ensuring that adequate technical expertise is supplied to the project. ... The MIB concluded that internal checks and balances used by DART's prime contractor failed to uncover issues that led to the mishap ..."
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dart/main/index.html
Summary of DART Accident Report
NASA released a summary on May 15, 2006, of the findings about why its Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft did not complete its mission and collided with the intended rendezvous satellite on April 15, 2005.
+ Read the Summary (87 Kb PDF)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/148072main_DART_mishap_overview.pdf
The spacecraft was to autonomously rendezvous with and perform a series of maneuvers in close proximity to a communications satellite no longer in use.
The NASA spacecraft performed nominally during the first eight hours of the mission ― launch, checkout, and rendezvous phases. It accomplished all objectives up to that point, though ground operations personnel noticed some anomalies with the craft's navigation system.
During proximity operations, the spacecraft began using more propellant than expected. Approximately 11 hours into the mission, the craft detected its propellant supply was depleted and began a series of maneuvers for departure and retirement. Although not known at the time, it made contact with and boosted the rendezvous satellite's orbit 1.2 nautical miles higher. The rendezvous satellite was not damaged.
Both satellites are in low-Earth orbits that will not be a hazard to other spacecraft. They will eventually burn up upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
-------------------------------------------------------------
MISSIONS NEWS
04.16.05 - On Orbit Anomaly Ends DART Mission Early The Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft that was successfully launched Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., experienced an on orbit anomaly late Friday.
+ Read More
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dart/media/05-051.html
04.15.05 - DART Successfully Launched April 15 The Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft has successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
+ Read More
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dart/media/05-049.html
04.11.05 - DART Spacecraft to Launch on Pegasus XL Rocket April 15 NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology to launch during a 7-minute launch window which extends from 10:21:49 - 10:28:49 a.m. PDT.
+ Read More
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/releases/2005/32-05.html
=============================================================
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sfn_dart_launch_050415.html
SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2005
NASA's $110 million high-risk, high-tech demonstration of a space autopilot for future human spaceships and robotic cargo craft closed within 300 feet of its target Friday night, then inexplicably ran out of fuel to the dismay of helpless engineers on the ground. Read our full story.
1829 GMT (2:29 p.m. EDT)
NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft ran out of fuel as it approached its target satellite for autopilot tests last night, the program manager told reporters in a news conference a short time ago. It is not clear why DART used substantially more thruster propellant than envisioned, but officials saw the craft was fighting some guidance errors earlier in the mission.
DART was designed to perform two series of maneuvers around the target satellite, plus featured a 30 percent fuel margin, Jim Snoddy said. But the satellite safed itself at a distance of 92 meters from the MUBLCOM satellite instead of closing within five meters and later performing the flyaround demonstrations.
Sensing it didn't have enough fuel to continue with the mission, DART backed away and began its "retirement" procedures. The craft is supposed to fire engines and deplete its hydrazine fuel in the next half-hour or so, thereby moving into a disposal orbit and formally concluding the $110 million flight.
Check back later for a complete report.
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2005/04/dart_news_black.html
April 18, 2005
DART Mission: Partial Success/Partial Failure
On Orbit Anomaly Ends NASA DART Mission Early, NASA HQ
"After a successful rendezvous, acquisition of the target spacecraft, and approach to within approximately 300 feet, DART placed itself in the retirement phase before completing all planned proximity operations, ending the mission prematurely. NASA is convening a mishap investigation board to determine the reason for the DART spacecraft anomaly."
NASA Launches DART Spacecraft to Demonstrate Automated Rendezvous Capability
Editor's update: The reason why no images were released - is because there were none. Getting the images was a balance between ground station coverage, DART's position, and its mission phase. Had an image been received, it would have not shown anything due to the events that had transpired. As for releasing data and updates, the problems with DART happened around 11 hours into the mission - late at night and they happened fast. NASA says that it got the information out - around 7:00 am local time the next day - as soon as people knew what had happened. Prior to the sudden shift by DART into retirement mode, everything had been going more or less smooth and and NASA's project manager said that there would have been little to report other than "things are going smooth".
Editor's earlier note: Why has there been no issuance of status reports on DART by NASA? I have looked at MSFC, HQ, Orbital websites - nothing - no reports after initial launch. No photos, videos, nothing. Go figure: a very cool, enabling mission and no one can tune in as it happens. Indeed, you'd think ESMD would be embracing this as the first mission on the way to implementing VSE.
Reader Comments (send yours to nasawatch@reston.com)
With regard to: "there would have been little to report other than "things are going smooth".
Nonsense.
They could have said:
"The second HAPS burn went off on time at 0055 GMT, within one minute of the planned timeline. DART is now in a circular orbit 40 km behind MUBLCOM. DART has achieved its initial stationkeeping 3 km from MUBLCOM, at 0100 GMT."
... and so on and so on, throughout the afternoon. That would have been exciting. "things are going smooth".. but in a rendezvous mission like this, times and orbits always differ a little from what was in the press kit, which didn't have a very detailed timeline anyway. So we could have had an increasing sense of the *degree* to which things were happening as planned, which would have worked in NASA's favor as instead of our first postlaunch news being "We failed", we'd have got a sense of 'ok, all these different things worked just fine, and then oh dear later on things went wrong'. So I think it was a big mistake that they didn't keep the public in the loop.
Feel free to repost this
Jonathan McDowell
"Why has there been no issuance of status reports on DART..."
Because when you hear "low budget" it really does mean low budget, very low, like so low that there is no-one to write a release...When are we every going to learn that these low budget missions more often turn into low budget screw ups.
Reason you don't see anything posted on the MSFC website about the DART mission is because we're all too busy running ISO exercises, changing our IT passwords every 15 days (mind you that 99.9% of us have no sensitive material to secure, other than an occasional porno jpg which can sometimes be found on a supervisors computer (ref. a current disciplinary action)) or doing some other useless "work" while we continue to charge to the
"TRANSITIONAL WORKFORCE " charge code. Transitional workforce is a
buzzword management uses for the 30% of us that they can't figure out what to do with, even though popular opinion says we're going to the Moon and Mars any day now.
NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST
Snip
=============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
A year has gone by since the DART mission failed to automatically find and acquire its target spacecraft, then approach it in a manner that would allow for a safe link up/abort.
This was to be test case for the software that would allow for automatically docking with the ISS. Glad the Russians are doing a better job of it or the re-supplies might not have gone as well as they have.
- LRK -
When I read the information that was supplied by the links from spaceref.com I was not pleased and when I looked again at the pdf file at the NASA links I just got madder.
Somewhere back in my college software programming courses it was drummed into my feeble head that one was supposed to define the problem, define the solution, and then check your programming solution to ensure it fulfilled the task of doing what it was asked to do.
It looks like in this case that neither the problem was defined correctly nor was the solution checked well enough for it to even complete the task as it was defined.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
NASA has completed its assessment of the DART MIB report, which included a classification review by the Department of Defense. The report was found to be NASA-sensitive, but unclassified, because it contained information restricted by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). As a result, the DART mishap investigation report was deemed not releasable to the public. The following provides an overview of publicly releasable findings and recommendations regarding the DART mishap.
Snip
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/148072main_DART_mishap_overview.pdf
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Links at NASA - See the pdf file for the source of the quote above. - LRK -
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dart/main/index.html
Summary of DART Accident Report
NASA released a summary on May 15, 2006, of the findings about why its Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft did not complete its mission and collided with the intended rendezvous satellite on April 15, 2005.
+ Read the Summary (87 Kb PDF)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/148072main_DART_mishap_overview.pdf
The spacecraft was to autonomously rendezvous with and perform a series of maneuvers in close proximity to a communications satellite no longer in use.
The NASA spacecraft performed nominally during the first eight hours of the mission ― launch, checkout, and rendezvous phases. It accomplished all objectives up to that point, though ground operations personnel noticed some anomalies with the craft's navigation system.
Snip
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Please don't hold it against me but Orbital Sciences Corp. was my employer while at NASA Ames for Lunar Prospector.
- LRK -
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http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2003/03-145.html
NASA NEWS
For release: 08/22/03
Release #: 03-145
Space flight demonstrator completes design certification
The Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, or DART, has completed its design certification review for the Orbital Space Plane program - a NASA-wide initiative to develop a crew rescue and transfer vehicle to and from the International Space Station. DART is a flight demonstrator designed to test technologies required for a spacecraft to locate and rendezvous with other craft in space. The DART mission will provide a first-ever autonomous rendezvous capability for the U.S. space program. The DART project is managed at the Marshall Center.
The Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft, recently completed design certification review for the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program. The OSP is a NASA initiative to develop a crew rescue and transfer vehicle for the International Space Station.
DART is a space flight demonstrator designed to test technologies required for the OSP to locate and rendezvous with the Station. The DART is designed for autonomous operations. DART is controlled by computers, and it does not have a pilot. DART is NASA's first completely computer controlled, rendezvous capable spacecraft.
The design certification review is a lengthy technical analysis to verify the vehicle design with regard to safety, performance and functional requirements. The review evaluates the results of the project's planning and analysis throughout manufacturing, integration, and testing. The review is conducted when the vehicle design and drawings are complete.
"The review is a key accomplishment for the DART team," said Jim Snoddy, DART program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "The team is pressing ahead to ready the vehicle for a 2004 launch.
DART's demonstration of autonomous rendezvous technologies will be key for the development of the OSP and future reusable launch vehicles," Snoddy said.
Developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., the DART will be launched on a Pegasus rocket from an L-1011 jet aircraft. At approximately 40,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean, the Pegasus will be released with the DART spacecraft.
Once the DART vehicle is launched, some of the hardware and software tested will enable it to travel from a parking orbit around the Earth to rendezvous, or maneuver close to, a target satellite in space. When DART reaches the satellite, it will perform several close proximity operations.
The entire 24-hour mission will be performed without a human pilot.
The DART is the first of three flight-testing demonstrators. Other demonstrators for the OSP program include the X-37 flight demonstrator developed by Boeing Expendable Launch Systems of Huntington Beach, Calif., and the launch pad abort demonstrator developed by Lockheed Martin Corporation of Denver.
For information about NASA's OSP Program on the Internet, visit
http://www.ospnews.com/ [link no longer works - LRK -]
-------------------------------------------------------------
The ospnews link doesn't work, that is the Orbital Space Plane link doesn't work, but then that was a link that dated back to 2003 and things have changed since then. [Even the WayBack Machine doesn't like me looking.
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ospnews.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20040627023757/www2.msfc.nasa.gov/errors/forbidden.html
Then again, the Orbital Space Plane was scrapped in favor of the Crew Exploration Vehicle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Space_Plane
And when you read the accident review you will see that even if you survive the budget/political ax you still may not have the resources to do the job right - if you need an excuse to for not thinking the task through well enough.
I sure hope that whoever programs the software to run the rovers and automatic mining machinery on the new Lunar Outpost has figured out that powdered glass might make for high torque spikes and know how to adjust for changing environmental conditions.
Close the door behind you and check for leaks. A hair in the door lock can make the seal to vacuum not so good, at least if you are trying to keep that newly liberated hydrogen inside the storage tank.
My Scientific American magazine came today and has an article entitled "Dependable Software by Design", June 2006, p. 69, by Daniel Jackson.
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID
_CHAR=296496CD-2B35-221B-6EAA6BE12FD49C7C
Dependable Software by Design; June 2006; Scientific American Magazine; by Daniel Jackson; 8 Page(s)
An architectural marvel when it opened 11 years ago, the new Denver International Airport's high-tech jewel was to be its automated baggage handler. It would autonomously route luggage around 26 miles of conveyors for rapid, seamless delivery to planes and passengers. But software problems dogged the system, delaying the airport's opening by 16 months and adding hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns. Despite years of tweaking, it never ran reliably. Last summer airport managers finally pulled the plug--reverting to traditional manually loaded baggage carts and tugs with human drivers. The mechanized handler's designer, BAE Automated Systems, was liquidated, and United Airlines, its principal user, slipped into bankruptcy, in part because of the mess.
The high price of poor software design is paid daily by millions of frustrated users. Other notorious cases include costly debacles at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (a failed $4-billion modernization effort in 1997, followed by an equally troubled $8-billion updating project); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (a $170-million virtual case-file management system was scrapped in 2005); and the Federal Aviation Administration (a lingering and still unsuccessful attempt to renovate its aging air-traffic control system).
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Oh well, just $110 million. Closed within 300 feet and then ran out of fuel, or was it that it bumped its target and didn't know that it still had fuel left?
And what do you do to a driver of a car that gets you in his cross hairs and then forgets to put on the brake? Will we need a space version of "Mothers Against Drunks - MAD"? [Space Autopilot Dumb - SAD]
Thanks for looking up with me. Would you check out that re-supply ship please, seems to be coming in a bit fast?
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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-- NASA Releases DART Accident Report Summary
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=19838
-- NASA Report: Overview of the DART Mishap Investigation Results - For Public Release
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=20605
"The MIB noted cases where the DART team failed to fully use the resources of available subject matter experts. Both the insight and peer review processes provide mechanisms for ensuring that adequate technical expertise is supplied to the project. ... The MIB concluded that internal checks and balances used by DART's prime contractor failed to uncover issues that led to the mishap ..."
Snip
=============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dart/main/index.html
Summary of DART Accident Report
NASA released a summary on May 15, 2006, of the findings about why its Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft did not complete its mission and collided with the intended rendezvous satellite on April 15, 2005.
+ Read the Summary (87 Kb PDF)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/148072main_DART_mishap_overview.pdf
The spacecraft was to autonomously rendezvous with and perform a series of maneuvers in close proximity to a communications satellite no longer in use.
The NASA spacecraft performed nominally during the first eight hours of the mission ― launch, checkout, and rendezvous phases. It accomplished all objectives up to that point, though ground operations personnel noticed some anomalies with the craft's navigation system.
During proximity operations, the spacecraft began using more propellant than expected. Approximately 11 hours into the mission, the craft detected its propellant supply was depleted and began a series of maneuvers for departure and retirement. Although not known at the time, it made contact with and boosted the rendezvous satellite's orbit 1.2 nautical miles higher. The rendezvous satellite was not damaged.
Both satellites are in low-Earth orbits that will not be a hazard to other spacecraft. They will eventually burn up upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
-------------------------------------------------------------
MISSIONS NEWS
04.16.05 - On Orbit Anomaly Ends DART Mission Early The Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft that was successfully launched Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., experienced an on orbit anomaly late Friday.
+ Read More
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dart/media/05-051.html
04.15.05 - DART Successfully Launched April 15 The Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft has successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
+ Read More
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dart/media/05-049.html
04.11.05 - DART Spacecraft to Launch on Pegasus XL Rocket April 15 NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology to launch during a 7-minute launch window which extends from 10:21:49 - 10:28:49 a.m. PDT.
+ Read More
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/releases/2005/32-05.html
=============================================================
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sfn_dart_launch_050415.html
SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2005
NASA's $110 million high-risk, high-tech demonstration of a space autopilot for future human spaceships and robotic cargo craft closed within 300 feet of its target Friday night, then inexplicably ran out of fuel to the dismay of helpless engineers on the ground. Read our full story.
1829 GMT (2:29 p.m. EDT)
NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft ran out of fuel as it approached its target satellite for autopilot tests last night, the program manager told reporters in a news conference a short time ago. It is not clear why DART used substantially more thruster propellant than envisioned, but officials saw the craft was fighting some guidance errors earlier in the mission.
DART was designed to perform two series of maneuvers around the target satellite, plus featured a 30 percent fuel margin, Jim Snoddy said. But the satellite safed itself at a distance of 92 meters from the MUBLCOM satellite instead of closing within five meters and later performing the flyaround demonstrations.
Sensing it didn't have enough fuel to continue with the mission, DART backed away and began its "retirement" procedures. The craft is supposed to fire engines and deplete its hydrazine fuel in the next half-hour or so, thereby moving into a disposal orbit and formally concluding the $110 million flight.
Check back later for a complete report.
Snip
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http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2005/04/dart_news_black.html
April 18, 2005
DART Mission: Partial Success/Partial Failure
On Orbit Anomaly Ends NASA DART Mission Early, NASA HQ
"After a successful rendezvous, acquisition of the target spacecraft, and approach to within approximately 300 feet, DART placed itself in the retirement phase before completing all planned proximity operations, ending the mission prematurely. NASA is convening a mishap investigation board to determine the reason for the DART spacecraft anomaly."
NASA Launches DART Spacecraft to Demonstrate Automated Rendezvous Capability
Editor's update: The reason why no images were released - is because there were none. Getting the images was a balance between ground station coverage, DART's position, and its mission phase. Had an image been received, it would have not shown anything due to the events that had transpired. As for releasing data and updates, the problems with DART happened around 11 hours into the mission - late at night and they happened fast. NASA says that it got the information out - around 7:00 am local time the next day - as soon as people knew what had happened. Prior to the sudden shift by DART into retirement mode, everything had been going more or less smooth and and NASA's project manager said that there would have been little to report other than "things are going smooth".
Editor's earlier note: Why has there been no issuance of status reports on DART by NASA? I have looked at MSFC, HQ, Orbital websites - nothing - no reports after initial launch. No photos, videos, nothing. Go figure: a very cool, enabling mission and no one can tune in as it happens. Indeed, you'd think ESMD would be embracing this as the first mission on the way to implementing VSE.
Reader Comments (send yours to nasawatch@reston.com)
With regard to: "there would have been little to report other than "things are going smooth".
Nonsense.
They could have said:
"The second HAPS burn went off on time at 0055 GMT, within one minute of the planned timeline. DART is now in a circular orbit 40 km behind MUBLCOM. DART has achieved its initial stationkeeping 3 km from MUBLCOM, at 0100 GMT."
... and so on and so on, throughout the afternoon. That would have been exciting. "things are going smooth".. but in a rendezvous mission like this, times and orbits always differ a little from what was in the press kit, which didn't have a very detailed timeline anyway. So we could have had an increasing sense of the *degree* to which things were happening as planned, which would have worked in NASA's favor as instead of our first postlaunch news being "We failed", we'd have got a sense of 'ok, all these different things worked just fine, and then oh dear later on things went wrong'. So I think it was a big mistake that they didn't keep the public in the loop.
Feel free to repost this
Jonathan McDowell
"Why has there been no issuance of status reports on DART..."
Because when you hear "low budget" it really does mean low budget, very low, like so low that there is no-one to write a release...When are we every going to learn that these low budget missions more often turn into low budget screw ups.
Reason you don't see anything posted on the MSFC website about the DART mission is because we're all too busy running ISO exercises, changing our IT passwords every 15 days (mind you that 99.9% of us have no sensitive material to secure, other than an occasional porno jpg which can sometimes be found on a supervisors computer (ref. a current disciplinary action)) or doing some other useless "work" while we continue to charge to the
"TRANSITIONAL WORKFORCE " charge code. Transitional workforce is a
buzzword management uses for the 30% of us that they can't figure out what to do with, even though popular opinion says we're going to the Moon and Mars any day now.
NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
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Friday, May 12, 2006
Both Larry Klaes and Google mentioned the Discovery Channel's "Race to Mars," planed for debut in the fall of 2007, so I think I should mention it to you as well.
Will be interesting to see where we are come 2030.
- LRK -
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"Race to Mars" is set in the near future — 2030, to be exact — with China surging ahead of the United States and other nations in Mars exploration.
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12743183/
The Discovery Channel's "Race to Mars," shown here during filming in Canada, tells the story of a Mars mission in a three-hour miniseries set to air in the autumn of 2007.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Hope they do a good job.
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
Check out both links - LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
Google Alert for: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Report of the NASA Advisory Council Planetary Science Subcommittee Space Ref - USA http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=20590
... be planned for the scientific analysis of data to be obtained by ongoing and future lunar missions, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and missions by ...
Race the red planet: Production begins on Mars mission mini-series USA Today - USA http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-05-11-mars-mini-series_x.htm?POE=TECISVA
... human spaceflight successes and lofty space station and lunar plans—also ... A new Martian satellite – NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – arrived in orbit ...
-------------------------------------------------------------
This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.
Snip
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Race to Mars, the Miniseries - Passed by Larry Klaes - LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Race to Mars", a 3-hour miniseries on The Discovery Channel about a manned mission to the Red Planet in the year 2030. Apparently the US and a few other nations were spurred on by China's space ambitions. The series comes out in 2007.
Read more here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12743183/
Quotes of note:
The $18.1 million ($20 million Canadian) production — which covers "Race to Mars," an added one-hour faux-documentary retrospective by the flight’s “astronauts,” plus "Mars Rising" and the Web site — is being billed by Discovery Channel as the most expensive science television project under way in 2006, though program managers are hoping its realism and detail will prove worthwhile. More than two years were spent in preparation for filming, including meetings with Mars and spaceflight experts, Lewis said.
“One of the important goals, frankly, for us was to see if we could start to generate public interest, public excitement about human exploration of space again,” Lewis said. “It’s obviously something that really hasn’t fired people’s imaginations for a long time. … Our feeling is people are willing to be inspired again.”
Snip
=============================================================
Another snip from note passed by Larry Klaes - LRK -
Should be worth a smile. :-)
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bobpark.org/
>Subject: [BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday May 12, 2006
>Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 16:21:46 -0400
>
>WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 12 May 06 Washington, DC
Snip
3. SPACE: THE ONLY THING IN NASA THAT STILL GOES UP IS THE COST.
Michael Griffin told his science advisory committee this week that he could not keep the commitment he made a year ago not to shift money from science to human space flight. I wasn't on the committee, but I tried to imagine how it might have gone if I had been. MG: The problem is the ISS. RP: What problem? MG: We have to finish it by 2010. RP: Why is that a problem? MG: Because the shuttle doesn't work. RP: If we fix the shuttle and finish the ISS, what do we do next? MG: We drop the ISS in the ocean. RP: Why don't we do that now? MG: Because we must honor our commitment to our ISS partners first. RP: But what about your commitment to space science? MG: That will have to wait until we get back from Mars. RP: We're going to Mars? MG: When we get back from the moon. RP: We're going to the moon? MG: Just as soon as we build a new spacecraft. RP: What's holding that up? MG: The problem is the ISS.
Snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/bob.html
Robert L. Park is a professor of physics and former chair of the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland. He divides his time between the University and the Washington, DC office of the American Physical Society, which he opened in 1982. Author of more than a hundred technical papers on the structure and properties of single-crystal surfaces, Professor Park now devotes himself to helping the public distinguish genuine scientific advances from foolish and fraudulent claims. A frequent guest on news programs, he posts a provocative and widely-read weekly column on the internet, and is the author of Voodoo Science: the Road from Foolishness to Fraud.
=============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
Will be interesting to see where we are come 2030.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Race to Mars" is set in the near future — 2030, to be exact — with China surging ahead of the United States and other nations in Mars exploration.
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12743183/
The Discovery Channel's "Race to Mars," shown here during filming in Canada, tells the story of a Mars mission in a three-hour miniseries set to air in the autumn of 2007.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Hope they do a good job.
Thanks for looking up with me.
Larry Kellogg
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
Check out both links - LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
Google Alert for: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Report of the NASA Advisory Council Planetary Science Subcommittee Space Ref - USA http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=20590
... be planned for the scientific analysis of data to be obtained by ongoing and future lunar missions, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and missions by ...
Race the red planet: Production begins on Mars mission mini-series USA Today - USA http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-05-11-mars-mini-series_x.htm?POE=TECISVA
... human spaceflight successes and lofty space station and lunar plans—also ... A new Martian satellite – NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – arrived in orbit ...
-------------------------------------------------------------
This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.
Snip
=============================================================
Race to Mars, the Miniseries - Passed by Larry Klaes - LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Race to Mars", a 3-hour miniseries on The Discovery Channel about a manned mission to the Red Planet in the year 2030. Apparently the US and a few other nations were spurred on by China's space ambitions. The series comes out in 2007.
Read more here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12743183/
Quotes of note:
The $18.1 million ($20 million Canadian) production — which covers "Race to Mars," an added one-hour faux-documentary retrospective by the flight’s “astronauts,” plus "Mars Rising" and the Web site — is being billed by Discovery Channel as the most expensive science television project under way in 2006, though program managers are hoping its realism and detail will prove worthwhile. More than two years were spent in preparation for filming, including meetings with Mars and spaceflight experts, Lewis said.
“One of the important goals, frankly, for us was to see if we could start to generate public interest, public excitement about human exploration of space again,” Lewis said. “It’s obviously something that really hasn’t fired people’s imaginations for a long time. … Our feeling is people are willing to be inspired again.”
Snip
=============================================================
Another snip from note passed by Larry Klaes - LRK -
Should be worth a smile. :-)
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bobpark.org/
>Subject: [BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday May 12, 2006
>Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 16:21:46 -0400
>
>WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 12 May 06 Washington, DC
Snip
3. SPACE: THE ONLY THING IN NASA THAT STILL GOES UP IS THE COST.
Michael Griffin told his science advisory committee this week that he could not keep the commitment he made a year ago not to shift money from science to human space flight. I wasn't on the committee, but I tried to imagine how it might have gone if I had been. MG: The problem is the ISS. RP: What problem? MG: We have to finish it by 2010. RP: Why is that a problem? MG: Because the shuttle doesn't work. RP: If we fix the shuttle and finish the ISS, what do we do next? MG: We drop the ISS in the ocean. RP: Why don't we do that now? MG: Because we must honor our commitment to our ISS partners first. RP: But what about your commitment to space science? MG: That will have to wait until we get back from Mars. RP: We're going to Mars? MG: When we get back from the moon. RP: We're going to the moon? MG: Just as soon as we build a new spacecraft. RP: What's holding that up? MG: The problem is the ISS.
Snip
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/bob.html
Robert L. Park is a professor of physics and former chair of the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland. He divides his time between the University and the Washington, DC office of the American Physical Society, which he opened in 1982. Author of more than a hundred technical papers on the structure and properties of single-crystal surfaces, Professor Park now devotes himself to helping the public distinguish genuine scientific advances from foolish and fraudulent claims. A frequent guest on news programs, he posts a provocative and widely-read weekly column on the internet, and is the author of Voodoo Science: the Road from Foolishness to Fraud.
=============================================================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
=============================================================
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