Crew-1 Undocks From Station and Heads for Splashdown

 

SpaceX & NASA - Dragon Crew-1 Mission patch.

May 1, 2021

Image above: SpaceX Crew-1: “Resilience” Crew Dragon Undocking. Image Credits: NASA TV/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft with astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker of NASA, and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) inside undocked from the space-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 8:35 p.m. EDT to complete a six-month science mission.

SpaceX Crew-1: “Resilience” Crew Dragon Undocking and Departure

Two very small engine burns separated Crew Dragon from the station, and the spacecraft is slowly maneuvering away from the orbital laboratory into an orbital track that will return the astronaut crew and its cargo safely to Earth.

Once flying free, Crew Dragon Resilience will autonomously execute four departure burns to move the spaceship away from the space station and begin the flight home.

Image above: May 1, 2021: International Space Station Configuration. Four spaceships are attached to the space station including the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour, the Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft, and Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 crew ship and ISS Progress 77 resupply ship. Image Credit: NASA.

The return timeline with approximate times in EDT is:

May 1

    8:35 p.m.            Departure burn 0
    8:40 p.m.            Departure burn 1
    9:28 p.m.            Departure burn 2
   10:14 p.m.           Departure burn 3

May 2

    1:58 a.m.            Trunk jettison
    2:03 a.m.            Deorbit burn begins
    2:57 a.m.            Crew Dragon splashdown

NASA will continue to provide live coverage until Resilience splashes down off the coast of Florida and the Crew-1 astronauts are recovered from the Gulf of Mexico.

Crew Dragon splashdown. Animation Credit: NASA

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission launched Nov. 15, 2020, on a Falcon 9 rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The astronauts named the spacecraft Resilience, in honor of their families, colleagues, and fellow citizens and highlighting the dedication displayed by the teams involved with the mission and demonstrating that there is no limit to what humans can achieve when they work together. Crew Dragon Resilience docked to the Harmony module’s forward port of the space station Nov. 16, nearly 27 hours after liftoff.

Related links:

Crew-1: https://www.nasa.gov/crew-1

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Video, Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/NASA TV/SciNews.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

CASC - Long March-4C launches Yaogan-34

 

CASC - Long March-4C / Yaogan-34 Mission patch.

May 1, 2021

Long March-4C launches Yaogan-34

A Long March-4C launch vehicle launched the Yaogan-34 remote-sensing satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu Province, northwest China, on 30 April 2021, at 07:27 UTC (15:27 local time).

Long March-4C launches Yaogan-34

According to official sources, the optical remote sensing satellite Yaogan-34 (遥感三十四) will be used for the survey of land resources, urban planning, the confirmation of land rights, road network design, crop yield estimation, and disaster prevention and reduction.

Yaogan satellite

For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC): http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html

Images, Video, Text, Credits: CASC/China Central Television (CCTV)/SciNews/Gunter's Space Page/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

How Does Spaceflight Change Food Appeal?

 

NASA & CSA-ASC - Deep Space Food Challenge logo.

May 1, 2021

Imagine eating the same meals every day for weeks, maybe months. Even the most appetizing dishes may start to lose their appeal.

Image above: Snacks float freely aboard the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA.

In space, menu fatigue can have serious consequences. Lost appetites could result in astronauts not eating enough food, which may lead to body mass loss, nutritional deficiencies, and other health issues.

Because the effects of menu fatigue could likely worsen as mission durations increase, NASA turns to researchers like Dr. Grace Douglas, lead scientist for the Advanced Food Technology project at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Douglas heads a study that probes how eating the same menu items changes the appeal of those foods during long-duration spaceflight.

“This is the first time we are systematically collecting food acceptability data in real-time throughout the spaceflight mission, which will provide insights into the use of the system, onset of menu fatigue, and strategies for exploration food system design,” Douglas explained.

For the investigation, selected astronauts aboard the International Space Station take a weekly survey in which they rate the acceptability of the food and beverage items consumed during mealtimes. The overall acceptability of food is determined by several considerations, including appearance, flavor, texture, aroma, and other factors. Douglas and her team seek to analyze the responses of at least 13 astronauts for the study.

Patterns found and insight gained from completed questionnaires will help NASA build strategies to improve the design of current and future space food systems for multi-year missions. On Earth, the results of the study could help improve the nutritional intake of the elderly in residential homes and patients in hospitals.

Vacuum Packed Space Food: It’s What’s For Dinner. Image Credit: NASA

“Collection is ongoing,” Douglas said. “Initial results support that personal preference is important, but variety in general is key.”

Curbing menu fatigue is one of many challenges tied to designing food systems for longer and farther spaceflight missions. To help, NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge calls on innovators to generate viable ideas that can provide safe, nutritious, and delicious food to astronauts headed to the Moon and Mars.

NASA's Human Research Program, or HRP, is dedicated to discovering the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. HRP enables space exploration by reducing the risks to astronaut health and performance using ground research facilities, the International Space Station and analog environments. This leads to the development and delivery of an exploration biomedical program focused on several goals: informing human health, performance, and habitability standards; developing countermeasures and risk-mitigation solutions; and advancing habitability and medical-support technologies. HRP supports innovative, scientific human research by funding more than 300 research grants to respected universities, hospitals and NASA centers to over 200 researchers in more than 30 states.

Related links:

Douglas study: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7562

Deep Space Food Challenge: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/deep-space-food-challenge

Human Research Program (HRP): https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Kelli Mars/Human Research Program/Nathan Cranford/Jennifer L. Turner.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Exodus of civilization into space - Comparison of plans of NASA and Roscosmos. Part 14

 

NASA and ROSCOSMOS logos.

May 1, 2021

Preamble

Here the fourteen article of a series of articles by Ph.D. Morozov Sergey Lvovich, expert in chronology and calendar systems, as well as space biology and medicine, Parliamentarian of Asgardia (AMP) the first space Nation.

Ph.D. Morozov Sergey Lvovich

Exodus of civilization into space - Creation of a space industry on the Moon - Comparison of plans of NASA and Roscosmos. Part 14

The industrialization of space is the way to save the earthly civilization in the Universe.

I. NASA has chosen the Moon as the site for the construction of the first ever "space plant" for the production of long structures

The mission is being developed by employees of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense (DARPA).

Image above: NASA has chosen the Moon as the site for the construction of the first "space plant" in history. Image Credit: pixabay.com.

Today the question of the exploration of the Moon among the leading countries of the world has become one of the most important. Sending and landing on the moon of a person - can be made by Russia, China, the United States and the European Space Agency.

NASA's plant on the moon should appear as a result of a three-phase program. The duration of each phase will be 18 months [total: 54 months or 4.5 years]. During this time, equipment for the construction of "space factories" will be sent to the Earth satellite.

After that, raw materials and materials necessary for the production of complex and dimensional structures will begin to flow to the moon. Since the Moon does not have an atmosphere, it will be much easier to launch ready-made elements from its surface into orbit.

The program was officially named New Orbital and Lunar Manufacturing, Materials and Mass Efficient Design (NOM4D). Its essence lies in the assembly of modules, produced not on Earth, but directly in space.

It is assumed that the necessary materials will be sent from the ground, and then used on site for the construction of large-sized objects. We can talk, for example, about antennas and solar panels. Moreover, they will be much lighter and more maneuverable than those that were assembled on Earth.

The first phase of the program involves achieving efficiency for a 1 megawatt solar array.

The second phase will focus on risk mitigation and technical development of a 100 meter wide RF reflector.

During the third stage, it is planned to build a structure that reflects infrared radiation for a long-wave telescope.

According to the program, it will help solve the problem of launching large objects into orbit, which cannot yet be realized due to the small payload of existing launch vehicles.

In this American program for the exploration of the moon, nothing is said about the participation of people in this grandiose space construction. Will artificial gravity systems be used for long-term human habitation in outer space and on the Moon? Or will it be short-term rotational visits of builders to the Moon for a period not exceeding 180 days, as is the case on the ISS today in the harmful conditions of microgravity?

II. Russia returns to the moon

The centerpiece of Roscosmos's lunar exploration project is a transport system designed to carry out manned flights to the lunar orbit. [Used materials from the publication: “Russia is returning to the moon. This time precisely and with a concrete plan ”].

The Angara-A5 launch vehicle will play a key role in the manned launch scheme; the assembly of these missiles has been moved to the city of Omsk in Western Siberia. And in the Far East, a new launch pad is being created at the Russian civilian cosmodrome "Vostochny" in the Amur Region.

The Angara A5 launch vehicle will, separately, launch both the lunar take-off and landing complex and the Eagle spacecraft itself to the Moon. The first honorary right to fly to a natural satellite of the Earth will receive the take-off and landing complex.

Having reached the moon in a short time, the lunar take-off and landing complex will await the arrival of the "Eagle" from Earth. The height of the waiting orbit above the Moon will be 100 km.

After half a year, the second Angara-A5 launch vehicle with the Oryol spacecraft will be launched from the Earth, with a crew on board. After docking and transfer of the required number of astronauts on board the take-off and landing complex, a phased descent and soft landing on the lunar surface will take place.

The landing site will be selected by the scientists in advance, and the take-off and landing complex itself will land in automatic mode. After a certain time of work on the lunar surface, the take-off module starts together with the crew and docks with the Oryol spacecraft in the lunar orbit. The cosmonauts will board the Eagle.

Russian Eagle spaceship. Image Credit: Roscosmos

The takeoff module will undock and, over time, will fall to the surface of the Moon. The "Eagle" will start to gain speed to return to Earth. Upon arrival at Earth, the lander will enter the Earth's atmosphere twice. The first time it will go tangentially. Here it will partially decelerate, extinguish its speed and again go out of the atmosphere, and then, for the second time, it will enter the Earth's atmosphere and enter the near-earth orbit, from which, having accurately calculated the landing trajectory, will specifically land on the Earth's surface on the territory of Russia.

RSC Energia is actively developing a special cargo module that will transport cargo between the Moon and the Earth. The ship will not fly alone, it will include a cargo module. In addition, this module will be able, separately from the ship, to land on the moon and take off from its surface.

That is, in fact, the cargo module is the third link in the flight to the moon. And thus, the load on the rocket itself is reduced. In fact, this is the best solution. Here, the scientists of Roskosmos are clearly different from the Americans, who are going to fly to the moon using a super-heavy rocket.

Several types of spacesuits are being actively developed: this is the rescue spacesuit (Sokol-M), which will be used in the Orel spacecraft, and the spacesuit for work in open space (the new generation of Orlan spacesuits).

In addition to all this, Russia returns to the moon not only with people, but also with lunar rovers. The newest lunar rover weighing 1.3 tons is being developed, which will go to the moon in 2028. It will be delivered there by an extreme expedition at the Luna-29 station.

The first in October 2021 to launch to the Moon from the Baikonur cosmodrome is the Russian automatic probe Luna-25, which is included in the Russian lunar program and is its integral starting part.

The probe will be launched into orbit by the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle. The purpose of the flight will be to test the technology of landing on the moon. In addition, the probe is exploring the lunar surface in the region of the Moon's South Pole.

LV "Angara-A5" [Yandex pictures]

However, a full-fledged industrialization of the Moon is impossible without a super-heavy rocket. Therefore, after 2030, the Yenisei super-heavy rocket project will be launched, which will be needed to create a Russian orbital lunar station, as well as a base on the lunar surface.

The characteristics of the Oryol spacecraft are already known. This ship will be in two versions: near-earth and circumlunar. The launch mass of the circumlunar "Eagle" will be 20 tons. The ship will be able to return, in addition to the crew itself, 100 kg of payload to Earth. The creation of artificial gravity in the ship is not provided.

The flight is planned to be short-term, its duration will not exceed 180 days [6 months], as on the ISS today. This period is optimal for work in space in the harmful conditions of microgravity [without systems with artificial gravity]. The spacesuits that will be used for the flights will be ultralight. The manned flight itself is scheduled for 2029-2030.

The first stage of the Russian lunar program [Yandex pictures]

But in the end, the first colonies of "space" earthlings should appear on the Moon and in space, living in the Universe permanently (indefinitely) with an obligatory system of artificial gravity inside the colonies of the Homeostatic Arks [GC].

These "space" earthlings will physically reside either on stationary GC [s-GC] on the Moon, Mars, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, etc., or on fleets of specially adapted spacecraft - mobile Homeostatic Ark [m-GC] located in open space and providing transport of goods and people between stationary objects in open space.

III. Salvation of earthly civilization in the Universe

"Space" man on the Moon and other stationary objects of the Universe, as well as in open space at long-term stations with artificial gravity.

The beginning of the second new stage of manned space exploration under artificial gravity conditions on the Homeostatic Arks.

The author of the term "space" man [2020] is cosmonaut-researcher SV Krichevsky. (Publication: S. Krichevsky. "Space" man: ideas, technologies, projects, experience, prospects // Aerospace. - 2020. - No. 1. - P. 26-35. DOI: 10.30981 / 2587-7992 -2020-102-1-26-35). 

https://www.vesvks.ru/public/wysiwyg/files/VKS-1(102)-2020(1)-26-35.pdf

The term "Homeostatic Ark" [2018] was first introduced by Sergey Lvovich Morozov in articles and in the monograph:

Homeostatic ark as the main tool in space exploration strategy. [Journal "Aerospace Sphere" (VKS) №3 (96), 2018, pp. 28-37]
https://www.vesvks.ru/public/wysiwyg/files/BKC-3(96)2018-for-WEB-28-37.pdf

The ideology of space expansion. [Journal "Aerospace Sphere" (VKS) №1 (98), 2019, p. 50-61]
https://www.vesvks.ru/public/wysiwyg/files/VKS-1(98)-2019-zam_compressed-50-61.pdf

Standard 13-month I. Medler - D.I. Mendeleev - S.L. Morozov reference calendar and its application for the industrialization of space society. [Monograph - M .: LLC "VASH FORMAT", 2019. - 260 p. (Rus). ISBN 978-5-907092-99-0]
http://www.cemi-ras.ru/dissertation/defense/morozov/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%A1%D0%A2%D0%90%D0%9D%D0%94%D0%90%D0%A0%D0%A2%D0%9D%D0%AB%D0%99-13-%D0%9C%D0%95%D0%A1%D0%AF%D0%A7%D0%9D%D0%AB%D0%99.pdf

Starting with the manned exploration of the Moon, most likely, a "space" man on the GC will gradually begin to form in space, as a new "space" species of man, permanently residing in space on the GC of two types:

- On a stationary GC on the planet or on a satellite [s-GC],

- On a mobile GC [m-GC] in open space.

A variant of a stationary Homeostatic Ark on the Moon was first proposed to be built in 2019 in his publication "Long-term lunar base with artificial gravity and minimum structure mass" by A.O. (Alexander O. Mayboroda. A Long-term lunar base with artificial gravity and minimum weight design. Aerospace Sphere Journal (ASJ), 2019, vol. 100, 3, pp. 36-43. [Rus]).
https://www.vesvks.ru/public/wysiwyg/files/VKS-3(100)-2019-web-36-43.pdf

Output

It is important to emphasize that human civilization will never become a polyplanetary species without mastering the systems of the Homeostatic Arks [GK] - in their two basic types: stationary [s-GK] and mobile [m-GK].

Without the creation of these two basic systems of the GC, the salvation of the terrestrial civilization in the Universe is impossible.

Related articles:

The ideology of space expansion - The question of pregnancy and childbirth in zero gravity. Part 17.4
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-ideology-of-space-expansion.html

Colonization of the Moon - The source of the power, wealth and power of civilization in the Universe. Part 17.3
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/colonization-of-moon-source-of-power.html

Space manned industrialization of the XXI century - the golden age of civilization. Part 17.2
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/space-manned-industrialization-of-xxi.html

Exodus of civilization into space - Humanity's strategy to create stationary and mobile Homeostatic arks. Part 17.1
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/exodus-of-civilization-into-space_21.html

Exodus of civilization into space - Tsiolkovsky Galactic State. Part 9
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/exodus-of-civilization-into-space_19.html

Exodus of civilization into space - Symbol of the End of the XXI century. Part 8
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/exodus-of-civilization-into-space_16.html

Exodus of civilization into space - Stopping the process of increasing value added. Part 7
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/exodus-of-civilization-into-space_14.html

Exodus of civilization into space - The sixth socio-economic formation of civilization. Part 6
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/exodus-of-civilization-into-space-sixth.html

Exodus of civilization into space - Space man. Part 5
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/exodus-of-civilization-into-space-space.html

Exodus of civilization into space - Biological End of the World. Part 4
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/exodus-of-civilization-into-space_7.html

Exodus of civilization into space - Geochronological Ice Ages, periods, eras. Part 3
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/exodus-of-civilization-into-space_5.html

Exodus of civilization into space - Astrophysical End of the World. Part 2
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/exodus-of-civilization-into-space.html

The ideology of space expansion - Space calendar. Part 1
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-ideology-of-space-expansion-space.html

Related links:

About Ph.D. Morozov Sergey Lvovich: https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5fbb90753e3ad265054f930a/ob-avtore-kanala-5fbd2bf80b4af80149fb12c2

Original article in Russian on Zen.Yandex:
https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5fbb90753e3ad265054f930a/ishod-civilizacii-v-kosmos-chast-14--sozdanie-kosmicheskoi-industrii-na-lune-sravnenie-planov-nasa-i-roskosmosa-603367a6a332dd737323881b

Asgardia website: https://asgardia.space/

Author: Ph.D. Morozov Sergey Lvovich / Zen.Yandex. Editor / Translation: Roland Berga. 

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Sunday Splashdown Set for Crew-1 During Light Day on Station

 

ISS - Expedition 65 Mission patch.

April 30, 2021

Four SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts are making final preparations ahead of their return to Earth this weekend. Some of the Expedition 65 crew members staying behind on the International Space Station are relaxing today while others are focusing on science and lab maintenance.

Mission managers have decided to send Crew Dragon Resilience and its four astronauts back to Earth on Sunday. Resilience will undock from the Harmony module’s space-facing international docking adapter during an automated maneuver on Saturday at 8:35 p.m. EDT. It will splashdown about six-and-a-half hours later in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.

Image above: From left, are the SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi. Image Credit: NASA.

Hatch closure of the Resilience will be on Saturday at 6:20 p.m. with NASA TV beginning its broadcast at 6 p.m. Live continuous coverage of the undocking and splashdown activities starts at 8:15 p.m.

Resilience Commander Michael Hopkins and Pilot Victor Glover are finishing packing up personal items and emergency hardware inside Resilience today. They were assisted by Crew-1 Mission Specialists Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi who also loaded science freezers filled with research samples inside the Crew Dragon. When the Crew-1 astronauts land they will have spent 168 days in space since launching to the station on Nov. 15 last year.

The newest crew aboard the orbital lab, the four SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts, are relaxing today. Station Commander Akihiko Hoshide and Flight Engineers Megan McArthur, Thomas Pesquet and Shane Kimbrough had their schedules cleared on Friday ahead of Saturday night’s Crew-1 undocking.

SpaceX Dragon Crew undocking from ISS. Animation Credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who rode to space aboard the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship, processed samples for the Food Physiology experiment amidst a mostly slow day for him. Glover finalized his science work early Friday as he collected and stowed his blood and urine samples for later analysis.

The station’s two cosmonauts, Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, stayed focused on maintenance in the orbiting lab’s Russian segment. The duo worked on power connections, ventilation systems and computer hardware throughout Friday.

Related article:

NASA Updates Live Coverage of Agency’s SpaceX Crew-1 Return to Earth
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-updates-live-coverage-of-agency-s-spacex-crew-1-return-to-earth

Related links:

Expedition 65: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition65/index.html

SpaceX Crew-1: https://go.nasa.gov/38QJ2PI

SpaceX Crew-2: https://go.nasa.gov/32JyqOm

Soyuz MS-18 crew ship: https://go.nasa.gov/3d5fKPb

Harmony module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/harmony

Food Physiology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7870

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to Begin New Demonstration Phase

 

NASA - Ingenuity Mars Helicopter logo.

April 30, 2021

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has a new mission. Having proven that powered, controlled flight is possible on the Red Planet, the Ingenuity experiment will soon embark on a new operations demonstration phase, exploring how aerial scouting and other functions could benefit future exploration of Mars and other worlds.

Image above: NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover in this image taken April 6, 2021, the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument, located at the end of the rover's long robotic arm. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

This new phase will begin after the helicopter completes its next two flights. The decision to add an operations demonstration is a result of the Perseverance rover being ahead of schedule with the thorough checkout of all vehicle systems since its Feb 18 landing, and its science team choosing a nearby patch of crater bed for its first detailed explorations. With the Mars Helicopter’s energy, telecommunications, and in-flight navigation systems performing beyond expectation, an opportunity arose to allow the helicopter to continue exploring its capabilities with an operations demonstration, without significantly impacting rover scheduling.

“The Ingenuity technology demonstration has been a resounding success,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Since Ingenuity remains in excellent health, we plan to use it to benefit future aerial platforms while prioritizing and moving forward with the Perseverance rover team’s near-term science goals.”

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter aerial terrain study. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The operations demonstration will begin in about two weeks with the helicopter’s sixth flight. Until then, Ingenuity will be in a transitional phase that includes its fourth and fifth forays into Mars’ crimson skies. Flight four will send the rotorcraft about 436 feet (133 meters) south to collect aerial imagery of a potential new landing zone before returning to land at Wright Brothers Field, the name for the Martian airfield on which Ingenuity’s first flight took place. This 873-foot (266-meter) roundtrip effort would surpass the range, speed, and duration marks achieved on the third flight. Ingenuity was programmed to execute a fourth flight Friday, with a takeoff to take place at 10:46 a.m. EDT (7:46 a.m. PDT, 12:30 p.m. local Mars time) and first data to be returned at 1:39 p.m. EDT (10:39 a.m. PDT). The fifth flight would send Ingenuity on a one-way mission, landing at the new site. If Ingenuity remains healthy after those flights, the next phase can begin.

Change of Course

Ingenuity’s transition from conducting a technology demonstration to an operations demonstration brings with it a new flight envelope. Along with those one-way flights, there will be more precision maneuvering, greater use of its aerial-observation capabilities, and more risk overall.

The change also means Ingenuity will require less support from the Perseverance rover team, which is looking ahead for targets to take rock and sediment samples in search of ancient microscopic life. On April 26 – the mission’s 66th sol, or Martian day – Perseverance drove 33 feet (10 meters) with the goal to identify targets.

“With the short drive, we have already begun our move south toward a location the science team believes is worthy of investigation and our first sampling,” said Ken Farley, project scientist for the Perseverance rover from Caltech in Pasadena, California. “We’ll spend the next couple of hundred sols executing our first science campaign looking for interesting rock outcrop along this 2-kilometer (1.24-mile) patch of crater floor before likely heading north and then west toward Jezero Crater’s fossil river delta.”

With short drives expected for Perseverance in the near term, Ingenuity may execute flights that land near the rover’s current location or its next anticipated parking spot. The helicopter can use these opportunities to perform aerial observations of rover science targets, potential rover routes, and inaccessible features while also capturing stereo images for digital elevation maps. The lessons learned from these efforts will provide significant benefit to future mission planners. These scouting flights are a bonus and not a requirement for Perseverance to complete its science mission.

Perseverance Rover watch Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The cadence of flights during Ingenuity’s operations demonstration phase will slow from once every few days to about once every two or three weeks, and the forays will be scheduled to avoid interfering with Perseverance’s science operations. The team will assess flight operations after 30 sols and will complete flight operations no later than the end of August. That timing will allow the rover team time to wrap up its planned science activities and prepare for solar conjunction – the period in mid-October when Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the Sun, blocking communications.

“We have so appreciated the support provided by the Perseverance rover team during our technology demonstration phase,” said MiMi Aung, project manager of Ingenuity at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. “Now we have a chance to pay it forward, demonstrating for future robotic and even crewed missions the benefits of having a partner nearby that can provide a different perspective – one from the sky. We are going to take this opportunity and run with it – and fly with it.”

More About Ingenuity

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages this technology demonstration project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science, Aeronautics, and Space Technology mission directorates. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity’s development. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. Lockheed Space in designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System.

At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program executive for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. At JPL, MiMi Aung is the project manager and J. “Bob” Balaram is chief engineer.

For more information about Ingenuity:

https://go.nasa.gov/ingenuity-press-kit and https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter

More About Perseverance

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

https://nasa.gov/perseverance and https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Image (mentioned), Animations (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Alana Johnson/Karen Fox/JPL/DC Agle.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Hubble Views a Dazzling Cosmic Necklace

 

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

April 30, 2021

The interaction of two doomed stars has created this spectacular ring adorned with bright clumps of gas ­– a diamond necklace of cosmic proportions. Fittingly known as the “Necklace Nebula,” this planetary nebula is located 15,000 light-years away from Earth in the small, dim constellation of Sagitta (the Arrow).

A pair of tightly orbiting Sun-like stars produced the Necklace Nebula, which also goes by the less glamorous name of PN G054.203.4. Roughly 10,000 years ago, one of the aging stars expanded and engulfed its smaller companion, creating something astronomers call a “common envelope.” The smaller star continued to orbit inside its larger companion, increasing the bloated giant’s rotation rate until large parts of it spun outwards into space. This escaping ring of debris formed the Necklace Nebula, with particularly dense clumps of gas forming the bright “diamonds” around the ring.

The pair of stars which created the Necklace Nebula remain so close together – separated by only several million miles – that they appear as a single bright dot in the center of this image. Despite their close encounter, the stars are still furiously whirling around each other, completing an orbit in just over a day.

Image above: (Previous release) The Necklace Nebula is located 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagitta (the Arrow). In this composite image, taken on July 2, 2011, Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 captured the glow of hydrogen (blue), oxygen (green), and nitrogen (red). Image Credits: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

Hubble previously released (above) an image of the Necklace Nebula, but this new image uses advanced processing techniques to create an improved and fresh view of this intriguing object. The composite image includes several exposures from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

For more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

http://www.spacetelescope.org/

Text Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA/Lynn Jenner/Image, Animation Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Space Station Science Highlights: Week of April 26, 2021

 

ISS - Expedition 65 Mission patch.

April 30, 2021

During the week of April 26, crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted research on self-assembling colloid structures, the role of gravity in controlling human movement, and flame behavior in microgravity.

Image above: The approaching SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour carrying Crew-2 is visible through a window of the docked SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience, which brought Crew-1 to the station in Nov., 2020. Image Credit: NASA.

The space station has been continuously inhabited by humans for 20 years, supporting many scientific breakthroughs. The orbiting lab provides a platform for long-duration research in microgravity and for learning to live and work in space, experience that supports Artemis, NASA’s program to go forward to the Moon and on to Mars.

Here are details on some of the microgravity investigations currently taking place:

From tiny colloids to complex structures

Image above: Hardware for the ACE-T-2 investigation examining the self-assembly of complex structures from colloids, which could be the building blocks of new materials with a variety of potential applications. Image Credit: NASA.

ACE-T-2 examines using colloids, mixtures of tiny particles suspended in a liquid, for the self-assembly of complex structures. Part of the Advanced Colloids Experiments (ACE) series of investigations coordinated through NASA’s Glenn Research Center, ACE-T-2 uses temperature to control particle interactions and structure growth. Complex colloidal structures are common in nature and living matter, and results could lead to a better understanding of self-assembly processes and better ways to grow complex materials. Such materials have potential applications ranging from the food and drug industries to consumer products and electronic devices. Studying colloids on Earth is complicated by gravity, but microgravity makes possible research that can lead to better product design. During the week, the crew changed out the module inside the Light Microscopy Module (LMM) for ACE-T-2 runs.

Motion in Microgravity

To control the movement and position of our bodies and evaluate the distance between our bodies and other things, humans combine what we see, feel, and hear with information about movement from the inner ear or vestibular system. VECTION, a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) investigation, looks at how changes in gravity affect these abilities, which could affect mission activities. Data collection at multiple time points during flight and after return to Earth allows researchers to investigate how astronauts adapt to and recover from these effects The investigation also could help drivers, pilots, and robotic manipulators while controlling vehicles in low-gravity environments. During the week, crew members performed sessions for the investigation.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credits: NASA

Observing flames

The Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) include six independent studies of flames that seek to improve fuel efficiency and reduce pollution from combustion on Earth and help prevent fires in spacecraft. ACME investigations are conducted in the space station’s Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR), which includes a combustion chamber, gas bottles, and five cameras for observing flames. The research aimed at spacecraft fire prevention examines different materials, including how to put them out when burning, conditions needed for a material to continue burning, and the effectiveness of existing methods to screen and select materials for spacecraft. The crew replaced controllers for ACME during the week.

Space to Ground: Endeavour and Resilience: 04/30/2021

Other investigations on which the crew performed work:

- GRIP studies how spaceflight affects a person’s ability to regulate the force of their grip and the trajectory of upper limbs when manipulating objects. It is an ESA (European Space Agency) investigation.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1188

Image above: ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet sets up for a session of the GRIP investigation, which examines how spaceflight affects a person’s ability to regulate the force of their grip and the trajectory of upper limbs when manipulating objects. Image Credit: NASA.

- The ESA GRASP investigation examines how the central nervous system integrates information from the senses to coordinate hand movement and visual input and whether gravity is a frame of reference for control of this movement.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2038

- Phospho-aging, an investigation from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), examines the molecular mechanism behind aging-like symptoms, such as bone loss and muscle atrophy, that occur more rapidly in microgravity. This could lead to countermeasures for astronauts and therapeutic interventions on Earth.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8278

- Vascular Echo, a CSA experiment, examines changes in blood vessels and the heart during flight and upon return to Earth. Results could provide insight into potential countermeasures to help maintain crew member health and improve quality of life on Earth as well.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1664

- Antimicrobial Coatings tests a coating to control microbial growth on several different materials that represent high-touch surfaces. Some microbes change characteristics in microgravity, potentially creating new risks to crew health and spacecraft.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8352

Image above: NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins packs components of the RTPCG experiment for return and analysis on Earth. The study demonstrates new methods for producing high-quality protein crystals in microgravity, which could identify possible targets for drugs to treat diseases on Earth. Image Credit: NASA.

- RTPCG-2 demonstrates new methods for producing high-quality protein crystals in microgravity for analysis on Earth to identify possible targets for drugs to treat disease.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8073

- Standard Measures collects a set of core measurements from astronauts before, during, and after long-duration missions to create a data repository to monitor and interpret how humans adapt to living in space.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7711

- Food Physiology examines the effects of an enhanced spaceflight diet on immune function, the gut microbiome, and nutritional status indicators, with the aim of documenting how dietary improvements may enhance adaptation to spaceflight.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7870

- ISS Ham Radio provides students, teachers, parents, and others the opportunity to communicate with astronauts using HAM radio units. Before a scheduled call, students learn about the station, radio waves, and other topics, and prepare a list of questions on topics they have researched.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=337

Related links:

Expedition 65: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition65/index.html

Commercial Crew: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html

ACE-T-2: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7433

Light Microscopy Module (LMM): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=531

VECTION: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7484

Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1651

Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=317

ISS National Lab: https://www.issnationallab.org/

Spot the Station: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Video (NASA), Text, Credits: NASA/Michael Johnson/John Love, ISS Research Planning Integration Scientist Expedition 65.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

In a First, Scientists Map Particle-Laden Rivers in the Sky

 

NASA - MERRA-2 Mission patch.

Apr 30, 2021

Windy regions high in the atmosphere can transport pollutants like dust or soot thousands of miles around the world and disrupt everyday life for thousands of people.

Animation above: An atmospheric river carrying dust particles blows across the North Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Caribbean in July 2018. Animation Credits: Suomi/NPP satellite images from NASA Worldview website. Animation by climate.gov.

Last summer, “Godzilla” came for the Caribbean and the U.S. Gulf Coast. This particular monster wasn’t of the sci-fi variety, but, rather, a massive dust storm kicked up by winds from the Sahara Desert and carried an ocean away. The dust storm was an extreme example of a phenomenon that happens regularly: the global transport of dust, soot, and other airborne particles, collectively known as aerosols, by jets of winds in the atmosphere. The result is the formation of what are called aerosol atmospheric rivers.

Gaining a better understanding of how these particles are transported around the globe is important because certain aerosols can nourish rainforest soil, help or hinder cloud formation, reduce visibility, or affect air quality – which can impact human health. But studies of aerosol transport have tended to focus on single events in a particular part of the world. There wasn’t really a way of looking at them in a holistic, global way.

In a first, a recent study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters does just that. Five types of aerosols are of particular interest to researchers: dust, two kinds of carbon particles (soot and organic carbon), sulfate (emitted during events like volcanic eruptions or the burning of fossil fuels), and sea salt. The authors identified where aerosol atmospheric rivers tend to occur and how often extreme events, similar to the Godzilla dust storm, happen each year. To do this, they took a computer program they previously developed to detect atmospheric rivers around the world that move water vapor and produce precipitation, and they modified it to detect aerosol atmospheric rivers instead.

The shift from using atmospheric rivers to study the movement of water vapor to using them to study aerosol transport was something of a revelation, because researchers only started to use the global detection framework of atmospheric rivers to look at the movement of extreme amounts of water vapor about six years ago. The concept of atmospheric rivers is only about 20 years old.

“It took scientists time to recognize and leverage atmospheric rivers as a concept,” said Duane Waliser, one of the study’s co-authors and an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. And it wasn’t until Waliser was speaking to his colleague, Arlindo da Silva, an aerosol researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, about the atmospheric river concept that a light went on for both of the researchers. “‘We should take our algorithm and apply it to your aerosol dataset,’” Waliser said.

Location, Location, Location

After modifying the atmospheric river algorithm for aerosol atmospheric rivers, the study’s authors applied it to a state-of-the-art reconstruction of Earth’s atmosphere called the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) from NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office. It incorporates datasets from satellites, airborne instruments, and sensors on the ground from 1980 to the present to produce a representation of the structure of Earth’s atmosphere every six hours.

MERRA-2 enabled the researchers to look back in time to analyze the location and frequency of aerosol atmospheric rivers around the world from 1997 to 2014. The study authors found that regions including the Sahara, Patagonia, Asian deserts, and Namibia are big sources of dust aerosol atmospheric rivers, while areas like the eastern U.S., the southern Amazon and Africa, and northern India tend to produce ones dominated by soot resulting from wildfires and the burning of fossil fuels.

The analysis also showed these atmospheric rivers tend to move large amounts of aerosols in a limited number of extreme events instead of in a steady stream throughout the year.

“We were astonished to find that a few major events a year can transport between 40% to 100% of the aerosols moved by the atmosphere,” said Sudip Chakraborty, an atmospheric scientist at JPL and a study co-author.

Now that scientists have a way of looking at aerosol atmospheric rivers globally, the framework gives them a way to study how these particle-laden rivers in the sky affect Earth’s climate. This includes how aerosols interact with clouds to potentially supercharge storms, how they trap or reflect heat in the atmosphere, and whether phenomena like El Niño and La Niña affect atmospheric aerosol river pathways and frequency.

The new approach also gives researchers insight into how aerosol atmospheric rivers could affect communities around the world, through their impacts on air quality and visibility and their ability to move plant pathogens that can affect crops. “When you realize a lot of the transport is happening in just a few big events, then you know to focus on those big events,” said da Silva.

Related links:

Geophysical Research Letters: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020GL091827

Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2): https://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/reanalysis/MERRA-2/

Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/JPL/Jane J. Lee/Ian J. O'Neill.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Top Things to Know about Space Station Crew Handovers

 

ISS - International Space Station patch.

April 29, 2021

Where astronauts sleep during crew handovers and more

The International Space Station is our home in low-Earth orbit. Humans have been living and working continuously on the station for more than 20 years. Astronauts and cosmonauts visiting the space station have arrived on the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz, and now, the SpaceX Crew Dragon, with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner to be added to the mix. With these new flights on U.S. commercial spacecraft, the station is transitioning from indirect to direct crew handovers. What does this mean? Read below to find out.

1. What’s the difference between a direct and indirect handover?

A handover is the period between the start of one space station crew’s time on the station, and the end of a separate crew’s time. From the end of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011, until the first Commercial Crew flights with astronauts in 2020, teams typically performed an indirect handover. All crews traveled to and from the orbiting laboratory on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. with one Soyuz crew departing the space station before a new crew launched and arrived.

When one crew of three reached the end of their mission, they would undock their Soyuz and return to Earth, temporarily leaving the station with three crew members aboard. A new crew of three would launch days or weeks later, returning the space station to a total number of six crew members.

Image above: NASA Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Michael Hopkins install temporary sleeping quarters inside the Columbus laboratory module from the European Space Agency. The new Crew Alternate Sleep Accommodation, which can also be converted to a cargo storage rack, will allow extra space for the short period when 11 crew members occupy the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA.

Now that the Commercial Crew Program has begun flying crews of four on U.S. commercial spacecraft, the full crew of the station has expanded to seven people. We now see what is called a direct handover. To ensure that the station is continuously staffed with astronauts and cosmonauts, a new crew launches and arrives at station before the prior crew returns to Earth. This results in a short period of time when there are more crew than usual aboard the station.

2. What’s the most amount of people who have stayed on the International Space Station at one time?

During the Space Shuttle Program, the International Space Station had a total of 13 people aboard three different times, when a shuttle launched with seven astronauts aboard and docked with the space station with six crew aboard for a long duration mission: STS-127 in July 2009, STS-128 in August 2009, and most recently STS-131 in April 2012. That’s the largest number of crew members at one time living on station, which is about the size of a five-bedroom home.

The launch and arrival of four astronauts on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission resulted in 11 people living aboard the station during the direct handover period before the departure of Crew-1. This direct handover is the first time 11 long-duration crew members have lived aboard station. The last time exactly 11 people were aboard was in 2010; the station’s crew size was temporarily reduced to five during Expedition 22, and the six-person space shuttle Endeavour crew on the STS-130 mission came for a visit from Feb. 9-19.

3. What do crew members do during handovers?

Crew activities are largely the same whether the handover is direct or indirect. When a new crew arrives in space, they spend several days doing orientation tasks to familiarize themselves with their new home. They also take part in data collection for several Human Research Program studies, to establish baseline data to help scientists track how their bodies adapt to living and working in space. Crew members preparing to return to Earth spend time packing cargo for the flight home, doing refresher training for landing or splashdown operations, and collecting any final samples for human research projects. The combined crew continues to support science and maintenance, and all crew members continue to exercise approximately two hours every day.

4. Where do astronauts sleep while on the International Space Station during handover periods?

As of April 2021, the International Space Station has seven permanent crew quarters, or personal spaces for astronauts to sleep and work during their stay on station. Each location provides a small pocket of privacy for astronauts and cosmonauts during their stay on orbit.

There are currently:

- Four crew quarters in the U.S Harmony Module (also known as Node 2)
- One crew quarter in the European Columbus Module
- Two crew quarters in the Russian Zvezda Module (also known as the Service Module)

Image above: NASA astronaut and Crew-1 Commander Michael Hopkins shared this image of his sleeping quarters aboard the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft, docked to the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA.

When there are more astronauts aboard station than crew quarters, the crew members work with flight controllers to identify temporary “campout” locations for crew to sleep during the short handover period. These are typically located in modules with the least activity during the handover period, like the U.S. Quest Airlock or the Japanese Kibo Module, and can include docked spacecraft. For example, NASA’s Mike Hopkins slept inside the Crew Dragon Resilience during his entire six-month stay aboard the station.

5. How often could we see crew handovers on the space station?

With NASA’s Commercial Crew Program now regularly delivering astronauts to the space station, in conjunction with continued flights of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, we expect to see four handovers a year. This will include two Soyuz handovers spaced approximately six months apart, and two U.S. commercial spacecraft handovers spaced approximately six months apart.

Crew Quarters Tour Inside the Space Station

Video above: Japanese astronaut and Expedition 38 Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata narrates a video tour of the crew quarters inside the International Space Station's Harmony node. Video Credit: NASA.

Related links:

Expedition 65: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition65/index.html

Commercial Crew: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Sarah Loff.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

CASC - Long March-5B Y2 launches the Tianhe Core Module

 

CASC - China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation logo.

April 29, 2021

Long March-5B Y2 launches the Tianhe Core Module

The Long March-5B Y2 launch vehicle launched the Tianhe Core Module, the first component of the China Space Station, from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, Hainan Province, China, on 29 April 2021, at 03:23 UTC (11:23).

Long March-5B Y2 launches the Tianhe Core Module

The Tianhe Core Module (天和核心舱) is the first component of the China Space Station (中国空间站), China’s new space station intended for long-term habitation.

The Tianhe core module of the China Space Station

The Tianhe Core Module is the first and main component of the China Space Station (中国空间站).

The Tianhe Core Module (天和核心舱)

The Tianhe Core Module (天和核心舱) was launched by the Long March-5B Y2 launch vehicle from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, Hainan Province, China, on 29 April 2021, at 03:23​ UTC (11:23).

China Space Station

A Chinese Long March 5B rocket launches Tianhe 1, the core module for a Chinese space station low Earth orbit.

For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), visit: http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html

For more information about China National Space Administration (CNSA), visit: http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/

Images, Videos, Text, Credits: China Central Television (CCTV)/CASC/China National Space Administration (CNSA)/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch