CNET News reports that NASA said Wednesday a pair of rotorcraft inspired by the Ingenuity helicopter “will be a key component of a mission to bring pristine Martian rock samples from the Jezero Crater to Earth.” The Mars Sample Return project “was going to involve a rover that could fetch the samples but would’ve required its own lander. The change to helicopters was made during the conceptual design phase of the mission.” NASA’s Perseverance rover is “gathering up small samples of Mars rocks and stashing them in tubes for safekeeping. The Mars Sample Return mission, or MSR, is a complex and ambitious project that’ll involve landing on Mars, picking up the tubes, rocketing them off the planet and delivering them to a spacecraft in orbit. NASA is working with the European Space Agency on the program.”
Full Story (CNET News)
Tag: enginering
NASA Releases Footage of Ingenuity Helicopter Flight
SPACE reported that NASA “has just unveiled incredible new footage of its helicopter Ingenuity on a record-breaking flight on the Red Planet last month.” The video “shows the tiny Red Planet chopper as it flew across a distance of 2,310 feet (704 meters) at a speed of 12 mph (19 kph), with a view of Red Planet sands whirring by below.”
Full Story (SPACE)
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Captures Video of Flight (NASA JPL via YouTube)
SpaceX Launches Transporter-5 Mission from Cape Canaveral
Florida Today reports that SpaceX launched its Transporter-5 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40 at 2:35 p.m. EDT Wednesday. The Transporter-5 mission was carried out by a Falcon 9 rocket carrying around 59 satellite payloads. SpaceX’s launch “came just one minute before Boeing undocked its high-profile Starliner capsule mission from the International Space Station.”
Full Story (Florida Today)
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Launch of the Transporter-5 Mission (SpaceX via YouTube)
AIAA Statement on Successful Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) Mission
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2022 – Reston, Va. –The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:
“Congratulations to the NASA and Boeing team on the successful Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, including the beautiful launch of the Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. We applaud their combined efforts to deliver this uncrewed cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The OFT-2 mission is a major step on the path to further realize the potential of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to safely and reliably fly humans to and from low Earth orbit (LEO). We are encouraged to see human spaceflight capability to the ISS from the United States increase, as the aerospace industry continues opening access to space for more people as part of building the space economy.
New spacecraft programs like Starliner rely on a highly qualified team of partners. We recognize the countless AIAA members involved in all aspects of the supply chain in this endeavor, including those who have helped design, build, and test this new spacecraft. We salute everyone involved for their important contributions to this much needed new capability.”
Video
Boeing Starliner Launches to the International Space Station on Atlas V (Boeing via YouTube)
Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cellAbout AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.