Space Junk: A Threat To Human Spaceflights
Since the first satellite launch (Sputnik 1) in 1957, thousands of space probes, satellites and telescopes have been sent into space. Just as we have created rubbish mountains on Earth, we’ve also accumulated a blanket of junk around the Earth.
Debris around the Earth. (credit: ESA)
In 2008 – when ESA (European Space Agency) published the image above, showing how much trash there was in orbit – this subject became a concern to many countries around the world. Seven years ago, two American researchers, Donald Kessler and Philip Anz-Meador, said that by 2020 it might be not possible to perform space operations near the Earth.
Today, our planet is surrounded by around 50 thousand objects, but less than 7 thousand of these are more than 20 centimetres in size. It means, these objects are, in fact, debris of our spacecraft rather than natural moons\captured asteroids. Although most of the debris in Earth Orbit is small, it’s travelling extremely fast. Below altitudes of 2,000 km, the average relative impact speed is 36,000kmph (or 21,600 mph). A crash involving even one piece can be a major disaster.
In an attempt to solve this problem, the United States president Barack Obama added a section in the new National Space Policy (USA) dedicated to the protection of the space environment and draws attention to the dangers of space debris.
“The policy seeks to minimize the creation of new debris and also to research operations for removing debris with other countries, and so you can see how international cooperation would be a very important foundation for this aspect of the policy,” Barry Pavel, senior director for defense policy and strategy at the White House National Security Council, said during a June 28 conference call with reporters.
Despite the concern expressed by the U.S. government, no one knows exactly how and when the cleaning of the Earth’s neighbourhood will be done.
The End of an Era
President Bush said all the way back in 2004 that the space shuttle program would end in 2010. Most people said, “Ok, let’s move on and get back to flight after Columbia.” However, now reality is finally starting to sink in. The year is now 2010, and the program will now, actually, be ending in 2011. However, that’s still just right around the corner, and everywhere you look, you’re reminded of both what the shuttle has done, and how the end is being portrayed.
The new Lego Shuttle Adventure kit released in mid-2010. Credit: Lego
As I type this blog post, I am currently working on building the new Lego space shuttle. Why is it becoming a big seller? Not just because it’s considered a rare item, or has 1204 pieces, but because the shuttle program is ending, and everybody wants their last bit of memorabilia. Do you think Lego hasn’t done this before? While doing research, I discovered that there have been at least 3 or 4, probably even more, attempts at the Lego space shuttle. How successful were they? Well, how many of them have you seen or even heard of? Prior to this new set, I had never heard of one of them.
On top of the $100 per kit Lego corporation is making off of the shuttle retirement, the shuttle has done such good for us here on Earth. No, not just Velcro and tang! How are your tires? I can tell you they’re improved after working on the shuttle’s landing gear. You know how certain things don’t catch fire in your house suddenly? How about Kevlar and other similar materials. You’re outside and it’s freezing cold out. What would most people do? Put on a warm jacket. Thank you for using the materials in the spacesuits used on the shuttle during EVAs in our jackets here on Earth.
The list just goes on and on and on! Not only have we had the numerous spin-offs, but we’ve learned a lot from the shuttle. What do I mean by that? The Hubble Space Telescope wasn’t launched in any ordinary rocket. The space shuttle Discovery launched it in 1990, and all 5 servicing missions were performed using the beautiful birds. What about long duration space flight? True the shuttle can’t fly to the moon, but it can bring up nodes and astronauts to the International Space Station, helping perform scientific activities, bringing up useful supplies, and returning some back to our home planet.
The Earth's atmosphere with a full moon as taken by the crew of STS-35 aboard the shuttle Columbia in 1990. Credit: NASA
Plus, some of the most amazing photography of our very own planet, our blue marble Earth, have been taken from the space shuttle. When you see a picture from out the window and see how small of an atmosphere protects us here on Earth, it makes you think twice about what we’re doing to our planet.
Originally, and to this day, thought of as a huge waste of money that’s dangerous, the space shuttle is now getting the credit it finally deserves…30 years too late. With the best manned safety record, the space shuttle was America’s low earth orbit dream realized. It was a beautiful machine, and it’s going to be tough to say goodbye. However, the space shuttle will always remain in history, and in the hearts of those who were alive to witness its beauty.
The Apollo Program
Here at YA we really love astronomy, but we also really like spaceflight. for the next couple of months I’ll be posting (hopefully) once a week about the missions of one of my favorite human spaceflight programs. It is (as you might have already guessed from the title) the Apollo Program.
Apollo Program Patch
On each post, I plan on writing an overview of the mission, the crew, the objectives, what they did, some fun facts, and maybe something else, we’ll see…
I guess I’ll start next week, and it will be going on for a while. I’m really looking forward to it. I hope you are too!
China Maxes Out on Rocket Power
As China continues to emerge as one of the worlds superpowers and reach for the stars, it’s only natural that they reach out and develop new rockets. The current rocket in development is Long March 5. A prototype should be ready by 2012 with test flights the following year. The rocket will be ready to carry humans, modules and satellites to LEO and to geostationary orbit.
Li Tongyu who is the general manager of the marketing department at the China Academy of Launch vehicle Technology (CALT), says that engineers there are currently studying a rocket engine that is capable of generating 600 pounds of thrust. Long March 5 will only produce 120 pounds of thrust.
Li Tongyu says that rockets capable of 600 pounds of thrust are justifiable only for carrying humans to the moon.
It was also mentioned earlier in March that the next Chinese heavy launch vehicle could produce 300 pounds of thrust. This would look like Long March 5 but on a bigger scale, with one main thruster in the middle and four straps on boosters.
No one knows for sure where we will end up and weather we will explore as separate nations or as a planet. And that is what the Young Astros was set up for – to unite the next generation of space scientists throughout the world and to teach everyone to work and live in peace.
Apollo-Soyuz: The Historic Meeting
35 years ago, a historic meeting happened in Earth’s orbit. Two craft – Apollo (from United States) and Soyuz (from Soviet Union) – made a linkage in the space. This was the first joint mission between the American and Soviet space agencies.
Artistic impression of Apollo-Soyuz linkage (Credit: Robert McCall)
During the Cold War, United States and then-Soviet Union began a competition for the space supremacy known as Space Race: which started with the Sputnik Soviet satellite launch (in 1957) and finished with the Apollo landings on Moon (between 1969 and 1972). But after the competition came the cooperation.
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project sent NASA astronauts Tom Stafford, Deke Slayton and Vance Brand in an Apollo Command and Service Module to meet Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Leonov and Valeriy Kubasov in a Soyuz capsule. This test had the main objective of showing that two dissimilar craft could dock in orbit.
The Apollo-Soyuz crew (Credit: NASA)
On July 17, 1975 – two days after its lauch – the spacecraft were connected. The astronaut Deke Slayton reported, “it’s been a great experience. I don’t think there’s any way anybody can express how beautiful it is up here.” They exchanged gifts and worked together until July 19, when the separation occurred.
The Apollo-Soyuz mission was very important in bringing down the barriers between the nations and in opening the door to other international missions, such as the Shuttle-Mir program and the International Space Station.
Sailing On Sunshine
Ever dreamt of traversing the stars on spaceships with glittering sails, gliding effortlessly through the void between stars? well that dream may be nearer than you think.
On the 21st of May the Japanese space agency JAXA launched the IKAROS spacecraft which stands for, Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun, it pretty much does what it says on the tin. The IKAROS space craft was launched on H-2A rocket along with another Japanese probe Akatsuki which is heading towards Venus to carry out observations of the planet.
During the first stage of deployment the solar sails were drawn out of the container in four arm-like bundles. Credit: JAXA
The IKAROS spacecraft is a small metal disk with 4 solar sails attached to it, at first the sails were packed away to prevent damage from dust and bits of smashed up satellites as it left earths orbit, when the spacecraft reached 5000000 miles from earth which is about 8046800 Km the sails were deployed. 0.5kg weights were attached at the end of each ‘arm’ and these pulled the sails out of the canister because of the centrifugal force generated by the craft spinning at 25 rpm, this was a very tense point in the deployment of the sails as they had no solid support frames and were prone to snagging on the craft as they were released and at only 7.5 micrometers thick, 13 times thinner than a human hair, if the sails caught on any part of the craft they could tear very easily.
The final stage of deployment was when holders constraining the sails were commanded to release enabling the sails to extend to their full size which is 14 metres wide. This was a very critical part in the mission as once the sails were released a camera was ejected to take images of the sails so people on the ground could check for damage to the sails as any damage would mean that the mission would not be able to operate effectively.
Credit: JAXA
Fortunately the sails were intact and small solar cells on the sails have started to produce electricity. For the remainder of its flight towards Venus the craft will be testing the maneuverability and effectiveness of a space craft propelled by solar sails.
The next mission involving solar sails is a follow up mission also developed by JAXA which will consist of a larger probe with a sail 50 metres wide and an ion engine for extra speed, this probe will be heading to Jupiter and the Trojan asteroids and will be launched late this year.
The Mission to Mars
As we progress further into space we need to know what is up there to prepare for it. As Mars appears to be next on the destination list, this is where we are preparing to go to. One of the ways we are preparing for this is the ‘mars 500’ study which is taking place in a training centre in Moscow, Russia. The 5 crewmates Sukhrob Kamolov and Alexander Smoleevskiy of Russia, the two Europeans Diego Urbina of Italy and Romain Charles of France and Wang Yue of china. Wang is the youngest of the crew, only 26 years of age and has a “day job” of training taikonauts (Chinese Astronauts). Both Russian crewmembers have medical backgrounds and the two European crewmembers are both engineers by trade. The simulated mission to mars officially began on the 3 June 2010; the crew will ‘arrive on mars’ on 8 February 2011 and begin surface operations. After 30 days on the ‘surface’ the crew will begin the return journey home and will arrive back on earth November 5th 2011. This is when isolation will end. Everything is as it would be on an actual mars mission; they have limited food supplies of the same food and drink available on the ISS. There is a delay in communications and email, and it’s the only contact with family. They also have to do 2 hours of physical activity a day. However it is not all work as they also need to relax, on board there is a TV (but they can only watch pre-recorded TV and DVD’s, which means no world cup), and for when they are feeling musical there is a Nintendo Wii with the game “Guitar Hero”. The only thing which cannot be simulated on earth is the microgravity of space.
Modern Space Race
Soyuz is a Russian expendable launch vehicle or back in english that means it can only be used once. Soyuz because of its size can only carry small payloads such as astronauts or cosmonauts as they known as in Russia. Both NASA’s manned missions to the moon and RSA’s space stations
provided technology which we use in our everyday lives. Both had to
develop smaller and smarter tech to take with them to keep weight to a minimum and fuel costs down and also as much of this had to be
reusable and there were so many new things that no one was ever
completely certain that they would work though they had been pushed to extremes in testing.
The advantage the modern space racers have is that the technology is
already there is just needs to adapted and developed further before it is ready for spaceflight. when the Soviet Union began to fall in the late 1980,they passed on their technology to their ally, China. China then developed the aerospace technology or their own needs and called it their own tech.
likewise when Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) fell with the Soviets they passed
on their aircraft to the Chinese company Chengdu, who
make the Russian MiG’s into Chinese jian (fighter) aircraft. India
have mainly British and US technology to work with, though are
as good as each other there is no major difference between them.
already there is just needs to adapted and developed further before it is ready for spaceflight. when the Soviet Union began to fall in the late 1980,they passed on their technology to their ally, China. China then developed the aerospace technology or their own needs and called it their own tech.
likewise when Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) fell with the Soviets they passed
on their aircraft to the Chinese company Chengdu, who
make the Russian MiG’s into Chinese jian (fighter) aircraft. India
have mainly British and US technology to work with, though are
as good as each other there is no major difference between them.
Chinese Rocket Long March Credit: NASA; CNSA
Personally I think that China will make it to the moon first as they
are heading on the right direction with their own rocket and space
station “tiangong” meaning “heavenly palace” to be launched next year.
But as for mars I do not know it could be anyone, maybe by then NASA will have rejoined the race but will it be too late by then?
Chinese Rocket Long March Credit: NASA; CNSA
are heading on the right direction with their own rocket and space
station “tiangong” meaning “heavenly palace” to be launched next year.
But as for mars I do not know it could be anyone, maybe by then NASA will have rejoined the race but will it be too late by then?
ULA Delta IV Launch Scrubbed – Again
For the third time the United Launch Alliance has had to “scrub” their launch of their Delta IV rocket carrying the Air force’s “next generation of GPS Satellites”. On the first launch attempt (Friday, May 21) the problem was with the telemetry signal from the satellite. This time the problem was with the rocket.“During the final seconds of the launch countdown, an anomalous data signature with the thrust vector control system on one of the two solid rocket motors mounted to the Delta IV booster was detected.,” ULA & Air force said in a joint statement late Monday night. The TVCS (Thrust Vector Control System) is used to steer the rockets SRM’s (Solid Rocket Motors) during flight. If launched the rocket could have suffered near fatal damages.
The new launch attempt will have to wait until after Shuttle Atlantis’ landing, Wednesday morning at 08:48EDT. So Thursday is being targeted with the launch window being from 23:00 -23:19EDT
United Launch Alliance Delta 349 Launch Update Site -http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/pages/Launch.shtml#/8/
STS-131
Launched on April 5th from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Discovery had onboard the US experiment module Leanardo, batteries to power the station and then Canadarm which was used during the three spacewalks performed by the astronauts.
The mission was the 162nd US manned flight, 38th flight of Discovery, 33rd shuttle mission to the ISS (International Space Station) 106th post-Challenger huttle mission and the 38th since Columbia, 35th night launch and the 22nd night launch from pad 39A. It was alos the first time 4 women were in orbit together and the first time 2 JAXA astronauts were in orbit also.
