Tag: Astronautical engineering

Finish Line for Dream Chaser Now in Sight

Ars Techica reports, “There is still some work to do to prepare Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane for its first mission, but the company says the winged resupply craft for the ISS will soon ship to its launch site in Florida. The Dream Chaser will take off on top of a ULA Vulcan rocket to head for the space station. A spokesperson for Sierra Space told Ars the spaceplane’s launch is scheduled for the third or fourth quarter of this year.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

NASA and Rocket Lab Launch Solar Sail

The New Zealand Herald reports, “NASA has launched its new solar sail mission from Mahia Peninsula. Once at a Sun-synchronous orbit, about 1000 km above Earth, the spacecraft will deploy its sails and use the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, instead of rocket fuel. If the microwave oven-sized CubeSat is successfully deployed, the operation would be a precursor to larger-scale missions to the Moon and Mars, NASA said.”
Full Story (New Zealand Herald)

SLIM Moon Lander Powers Back on

Space News reports that Japan’s SLIM moon lander “has resumed operations more than a week after its imperfect yet historic lunar landing.” The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) “confirmed contact had been reestablished with the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft late Jan. 28.” The development “comes just days ahead of a likely mission-ending sunset.” The large SUV-sized spacecraft “was forced to power down just two over hours after landing Jan. 19 due to its solar cell not generating electricity.” SLIM finally “powered up again as the position of the sun in the sky changed, finally illuminated SLIM’s solar cell.”
Full Story (Space News)

NASA Says Hubble Telescope Will Resume Operation Following Gyroscope Issue

SPACE reports that following a “string of setbacks concerning one of its directional instruments, the Hubble Space Telescope will get back to its job of capturing deep space images soon enough, NASA says.” It all “began on Nov. 19, when one of the iconic observatory’s three gyroscopes (a trio that live on from an original set of six) began providing faulty readings.” In general, gyroscopes “are devices that use either circulating beams of light or rapidly spinning wheels to help scientists make sure an object is facing the direction they want it to face.” Incorrect gyroscope readings “on the Hubble Telescope, as you might imagine, can therefore drastically affect science measurements.” To image a specific spot “in deep space with this Earth-orbiting telescope, you’d have to make sure it’s actually facing that spot in deep space.”
Full Story (SPACE)

NASA Working to Resolve Hubble Space Telescope Gyroscope Issue

SPACE reports NASA on Wednesday confirmed that the Hubble Space Telescope “automatically entered safe mode on Nov. 23.” The reason behind the interruption “lies with issues concerning one of the observatory’s gyroscopes.” Mission scientists said “that they’re working to resolve the issue and bring Hubble back on again.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Tool Bag Dropped During ISS Spacewalk

CNN reports that NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara “marked their first spacewalk this month with a tool bag floating through space.” The pair “concluded their maintenance work outside the International Space Station (ISS) in six hours and 42 minutes, according to the space agency.” The spacewalk on November 1 “saw Moghbeli and O’Hara complete works on the station’s solar arrays, which track the sun, but they ran out of time to remove and stow a communications electronics box.” Leaving this task “for a future spacewalk, the pair instead conducted an assessment of how the job could be done.” During the mission, a tool bag “gave them the slip and was ‘lost,’ NASA said, with flight controllers spotting it using the ISS’ external cameras.” Fortunately, the tools “were not required for the remainder of their tasks.” According to EarthSky, “a website tracking cosmic events, the tool bag is currently orbiting Earth ahead of the ISS, and can potentially be spotted from Earth with a pair of binoculars during the next few months until it disintegrates in our planet’s atmosphere.”
Full Story (CNN)

FAA May Grant Launch License for Starship by October

CNN reports that the FAA says it is “optimistic” that it “could allow SpaceX to launch its mega rocket, Starship, by the end of October.” Starship has been “grounded since its inaugural test flight in April ended when the rocket – the most powerful launch vehicle ever built – exploded over the Gulf of Mexico.” Last week, the FAA “said it had completed its safety investigation into the explosion and laid out 63 corrective actions SpaceX must take to obtain a launch license from the agency.” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “posted on social media on Sunday that the company had completed and documented 57 ‘required’ actions out of a list of 63.” He also has “posted pictures of the rocket fully stacked and ready on the launchpad, which lies due east of Brownsville, Texas, on the state’s southernmost tip.” The FAA “said the corrective actions also must pass an environmental review.”
Full Story (CNN)

Sierra Space Powers Up Dream Chaser in its Assembly Facility for First Time

Space News reports Sierra Space announced May 31 that it has powered up its Dream Chaser spaceplane “in its assembly facility for the first time [in a key test], feeding electrical power into the vehicle that, in space, would be generated by its solar panels and turning on flight computers and other components.” Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice said in a statement that “this is a milestone that points to the future and is a key moment in a long journey for Dream Chaser.” According to Space News, the “test comes as the company prepares to ship the first Dream Chaser, called Tenacity, to NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio, the former Plum Brook Station. There, the spacecraft will go through thermal vacuum tests before shipping to Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations.”
Full Story (Space News)