ISRO RLV LEX - Reusable Launch Vehicle lands successfully

 

ISRO - Indian Space Research Organisation logo.

April 2, 2023

ISRO RLV LEX landing

According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) was successfully conducted on 2 April 2023. 

 

 ISRO RLV LEX - Reusable Launch Vehicle lands successfully

 

 The Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) was released from an altitude of 4.5 km and successfully performed approach and completed an autonomous landing on the runway of the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka, at 07:40 local time.

The space agency also said that in a first in the world, a winged body has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by helicopter and released for carrying an autonomous landing on a runway.

According to ISRO the configuration of RLV-TD is similar to that of an aircraft and combines the complexity of both launch vehicles and aircraft.

 

 “The winged RLV-TD has been configured to act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies, namely, hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, and powered cruise flight. In the future, this vehicle will be scaled up to become the first stage of India’s reusable two-stage orbital launch vehicle,” ISRO said.

RLV-TD consists of a fuselage (body), a nose cap, double delta wings, and twin vertical tails. It also features symmetrically placed active control surfaces called Elevons and Rudder.

 

 RLV-TD description

RLV-TD was successfully flight tested on May 23, 2016, from Sriharikota validating the critical technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance and control, reusable thermal protection system, and re-entry mission management.

During this mission the vehicle landed on a hypothetical runway over the Bay of Bengal.

Sunday’s early morning landing experiment is the second in the series of experimental flights of the programme.

One of the key objectives of mastering the RLV technology is to achieve low cost access to space.

- ISRO) on Sunday successfully carried out the landing experiment of the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD) programme at the Aeronautical Test Range in Challakere, Chitradurga.

- The space agency also said that in a first in the world, a winged body has been carried to an altitude of 4.5 km by helicopter and released for carrying an autonomous landing on a runway.

- One of the key objectives of mastering the RLV technology is to achieve low cost access to space.

Related link:

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO): https://www.isro.gov.in/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)/The Hindu/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

 

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

A Failure to Launch Appears to Sink Virgin Orbit

 

Virgin Orbit logo.

April 1, 2023

(This article is unfortunately not an April Fool's Day joke)

Richard Branson’s satellite launch company, which hasn’t recovered since a January mishap in Britain, has laid off nearly all its employees.

The failure in January of what was to be the first launch of a satellite from Britain was a mighty disappointment for a fledgling British space program. Now, it seems like the botched flight may lead to the demise of Virgin Orbit, the launch company.

In a U.S. securities filing on Thursday, the California company, part of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, said it was laying off 675 employees, or about 85 percent of its work force. Virgin Orbit said it was acting because of “inability to secure meaningful funding.”

Launch of LauncherOne rocket (Illustration). Image Credit: Virgin Orbit

Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit’s chief executive, had been scrambling to find additional money since the company’s rocket failed to reach orbit after its launch from Cornwall, England.  A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment beyond the filing.

Virgin Group has apparently decided against further major funding of the company, although it is covering most severance payments. Some Virgin Orbit employees may find jobs at Virgin Galactic, Mr. Branson’s other space company.

The company’s stock, whose value has largely evaporated in recent months, plummeted 40 percent on Friday.

Virgin Orbit’s woes may raise doubts about the company’s unusual method of putting satellites in orbit. The company used a converted Boeing 747 aircraft that would carry aloft a satellite-packed rocket under its wing. Once airborne, the rocket would detach and fire its engine, climbing upward into orbit before releasing the satellites.

This launch format had the advantage of being more flexible and cheaper than vertical rocket launchers because it could operate from airstrips around the world. For that reason, it is likely to remain of interest to governments including the United States, some analysts say.

“I can’t believe the whole idea of horizontal launch will go away,” said John Beckner, chief executive of Horizon Technologies, a Reading, England, company that lost a satellite in January’s launch.

Still, the method so far has failed to establish itself as reliable. Virgin Orbit’s underwing rocket also had less capacity than more conventional systems like Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It was always likely to be more of a niche product than those of competitors.

Virgin Orbit's "Cosmic Girl" Boeing 747 during a test flight. Image Credit: Virgin Orbit

Virgin Orbit’s woes leave a hole in Britain’s ambitions to be a space power. Britain has a robust satellite-manufacturing industry that has felt hampered by the lack of a launching site at home.

The company’s troubles also may be a hard blow for the fledgling space industry taking shape around Virgin Orbit’s launch site in Cornwall, in southwest England. Investments of 21 million pounds (about $26 million) had been made at the Newquay airport so that satellites could be loaded onto rockets there. But there are other sites under development in Britain for launching satellites.

The January launch was a high-profile event in Britain that was enthusiastically supported by the country’s space community. Britain’s satellite builders were delighted that they would no longer need to go to New Zealand or Kazakhstan to launch their vehicles.

The 747 took off successfully, but after the 70-foot rocket was launched and climbed higher, the second-stage engine suffered an “anomaly” about 110 miles above the earth and failed to reach orbit. The nine satellites on board were lost, a blow to their owners. An investigation has been underway. Virgin Orbit has not issued a full disclosure of the causes of the crash, although a malfunctioning fuel filter appears to have played a key role.

Virgin Orbit’s previous launches had been from the Mojave Desert in California, and four out of five had been successful. But the failed launch in Cornwall wound up being disastrous for the company. Along with being a poor advertisement for prospective future customers and funders, the launch crew, normally based in California, spent far longer than they anticipated in Britain, burning up slim financial resources.

Related articles:

Virgin Orbit Update on UK Mission Anomaly
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/virgin-orbit-update-on-uk-mission.html

Virgin Orbit - Failure of a historic space mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/01/virgin-orbit-failure-of-historic-space.html

Virgin Orbit - LauncherOne launches “Start Me Up”
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/01/virgin-orbit-launcherone-launches-start.html

Related link:

Virgin Orbit: https://virginorbit.com/

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: Virgin Orbit/The New York Times/By Stanley Reed.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

UAE Mars orbiter creates stunning new map of the Red Planet

 

Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) - Hope probe patch.

March 31, 2023

The map reveals stunning geological features on Mars in three dimensions.

A new map of Mars shows the Red Planet in stunning detail, revealing a wealth of fascinating geological features as seen from orbit.

Image above:  The United Arab Emirates' Hope mission orbits Mars on a elliptical orbit that provides the spacecraft with unique views. Image Credit: NYU Abu Dhabi.

The high-resolution map could help scientists answer a number of pressing questions about Mars including how it came to be a dry, arid, and barren landscape despite once being abundant with liquid water.

The Martian map was created by a team of scientists led by New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Center for Space Science (opens in new tab). The researchers used data collected from orbit around Mars by the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), also known as Hope or Al-Amal.

The map shows the Red Planet through the eyes of Hope's state-of-the-art onboard imaging system, the Emirates Exploration Imager (EXI), and is a testament to the growing influence of the UAE in science. In a statement, NYUAD wrote (opens in new tab) that it hopes the new Mars map will motivate young people in the UAE to pursue careers in STEM disciplines.

"We plan to make our map available to the entire planet, as part of the new and more advanced Atlas of Mars, which we have been working on, and will be available in both English and Arabic once published," NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) group leader and research scientist Dimitra Atri said in the statement. "The hope is that this accessibility will make it a great tool for researchers, and also students to learn more about Mars, and showcase the possibilities that the space sector in the UAE can offer."

To create the map, Atri and the team took over 3,000 observations from EXI taken over one Mars year,a period equivalent to two years here on Earth, and stitched them together to build a color composite. The resultant map shows many of the major geological features of the Red Planet in high resolution. 

Mars: As seen with the Hope probe

The map reveals polar ice caps, mountains, and long inactive volcanoes, as well as remnants of ancient rivers, lakes, and valleys that around 3.5 billion years ago overflowed with liquid water. As such, the map could help planetary scientists better understand how the climate of Mars has changed over billions of years resulting in the dry and barren world we observe today.

"The complete Mars map also brings the UAE and the Arab world another step closer to achieving EMM's ambitious mission goal to provide a complete global picture of the Martian climate," Atri added. "More than 30 previous spacecraft have only managed to capture a snapshot of the Mars weather, whilst EMM will follow the seasonal changes throughout a Martian year."

By allowing scientists to study the distribution of impact craters across the planet's arid surface, the map also reveals the history of early asteroid bombardment of Mars. As such the composite of EXI images could also help researchers better understand the conditions in the tumultuous early solar system when space rock impacts were far more common than today.

Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) - Hope probe. Image Credit: NYUAD

The Hope orbiter is the first interplanetary mission from the UAE and from the Arab world as a whole. Commissioned by UAE leaders in 2014, the spacecraft was launched from Japan on July 20, 2020. After a journey of around seven months, Hope reached orbit around Mars on February 9, 2021.

"The Hope probe is helping researchers to create this global image of the planet due to its strategic position," Atri said. "Hope circles Mars in an elliptical orbit that allows it to observe from much further away than any other spacecraft. This strategic position is helping researchers to create a global image of the planet."

Related links:

NYUAD statement: https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/news/latest-news/science-and-technology/2023/april/new-mars-map.html

Center for Space Science - NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD): https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/research/faculty-labs-and-projects/center-for-space-science.html

Emirates Mars Mission (EMM): https://www.space.com/hope-mars-mission-uae

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: Center for Space Science - NYU Abu Dhabi/Space.com/By Robert Lea.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

CASC - Long March-4C launches Yaogan-34-04

 

CASC - Long March-4C / Yaogan-34-04 (遥感三十四号04星) patch.

March 31, 2023

Long March-4C carrying Yaogan-34-04 liftoff

A Long March-4C launch vehicle launched the fourth Yaogan-34 remote-sensing satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu Province, China, on 31 March 2023, at 06:27 UTC (14:27 local time). 

Long March-4C launches Yaogan-34-04

According to official sources, the remote sensing satellite Yaogan-34-04 (遥感三十四号04星) entered its predetermined orbit and “will be used in areas such as land resources survey, urban planning, crop yield estimation, and disaster prevention and mitigation”.

For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), visit: http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html
 
Image, Video, Text, Credits: China Central Television (CCTV)/China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Cardiac Study, Robotics Work, and Light Duty Day for Astronauts

 

ISS - Expedition 69 Mission patch.

March 31, 2023

Heart research and robotics were the top objectives for the Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station on Friday. Cargo work and lab maintenance also kept the orbital residents busy despite a light-duty day for some of the crew members.

One of the orbiting lab’s newest experiments is looking at how microgravity affects cardiac cells and the drugs that may protect astronaut health. Flight Engineers Frank Rubio of NASA and Sultan Alneyadi of UAE (United Arab Emirates) took turns on Friday servicing heart cell and tissue samples for the Cardinal Health 2.0 study recently delivered aboard the newest SpaceX Dragon cargo mission. Results could help identify and prevent the cardiovascular risks of living in space as well as treat heart ailments on Earth.

Image above: The SpaceX Dragon resupply ship approaches the station above the Indian Ocean near Madagascar on March 16, 2023. Image Credit: NASA.

The duo also continued unpacking some of the 6,200 pounds cargo the Dragon resupply ship delivered to the crew on April 16. In the midst of the science and cargo work, Rubio and Alneyadi also managed to relax for half-a-day on the orbiting lab.

NASA Flight Engineers Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg had the day off at the end of the week following a busy week of science activities. However, Bowen did spend a few moments after lunchtime reviewing procedures and gathering hardware for the Foam and Emulsions physics study that may benefit commercial Earth-bound and space industries.

Image above: The Prichal docking module is attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module, both recent additions to the International Space Station from Roscosmos, in this photograph from the orbiting lab as it soared 266 miles above a cloudy southern Indian Ocean. Image Credit: NASA.

The European robotic arm saw action on Friday as Roscosmos Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev trained on and tested its operations while attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin worked throughout Friday on life support maintenance tasks. At the end of the day he spent a few moments studying how international crews and mission controllers from around the world can communicate better with each other. Commander Sergey Prokopyev spent his day working on batteries, ventilation gear, and orbital plumbing components.

Related links:

Expedition 69: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition69/index.html

Cardinal Health 2.0: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8800

Foam and Emulsions: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8455

Nauka multipurpose laboratory module: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/nauka/

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/Mark Garcia.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Hubble Views an Intriguing Active Galaxy

 

NASA / ESA - Hubble Space Telescope (HST) patch.

March 31, 2023

This luminous image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows Z 229-15, a celestial object that lies about 390 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. Z 229-15 is one of those interesting celestial objects defined as several different things: sometimes as an active galactic nucleus (an AGN); sometimes as a quasar; and sometimes as a Seyfert galaxy. Which of these is Z 229-15 really? The answer is that it is all these things all at once, because these three definitions have significant overlap.

An AGN is a small region at the heart of certain galaxies (called active galaxies) that is far brighter than just the galaxy’s stars would be. The extra luminosity is due to the presence of a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s core. Material sucked into a black hole doesn’t fall directly into it, but instead is drawn into a swirling disk, from where it is inexorably tugged towards the black hole. This disk of matter gets so hot that it releases a large amount of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, and that’s what makes AGNs appear so bright.

Quasars are a particular type of AGN; they are typically both extremely bright and extremely distant from Earth – several hundred million light-years is considered nearby for a quasar, making Z 229-15 positively local. Often an AGN is so bright that the rest of the galaxy cannot be seen, but Seyfert galaxies are active galaxies that host very bright AGNs (quasars) while the rest of the galaxy is still observable. So Z 229-15 is a Seyfert galaxy that contains a quasar, and that, by definition, hosts an AGN. Classification in astronomy can be a challenge!

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

For more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

https://esahubble.org/

Text Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA/Andrea Gianopoulos/Image, Animation Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Barth, R. Mushotzky.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Space Station Science Highlights: Week of March 27, 2023

 

ISS - Expedition 69 Mission patch.

March 31, 2023

Crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific investigations during the week of March 27 that included studying how cardiovascular and respiratory adaptations to space affect blood pressure regulation, analyzing fluid flow through membranes in microgravity, and evaluating in-space bioprinting of knee cartilage tissue.

Image above: A storm brews in the South Pacific as the International Space Station orbits 230 miles above. Image Credit: NASA.

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

Under Pressure

Changes that astronauts experience in their cardiovascular and respiratory systems during spaceflight can affect their ability to maintain adequate blood pressure when standing after return to Earth. CARDIOBREATH, an investigation from CSA (Canadian Space Agency), studies how cardiovascular and respiratory adaptations to spaceflight affect blood pressure regulation. Results could provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of these adaptations and support development of ways to assess cardiovascular and respiratory effects on blood pressure before and after spaceflight. These changes parallel many associated with aging and this research could contribute to better health care and improved quality of life for the elderly on Earth. During the week, crew members wore the bio-monitor during multiple exercise sessions for the investigation.

Making Medicines in Microgravity

Animation above: NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg works on Ampli Space Pharmacy, an investigation sponsored by the ISS National Lab that studies the chemical reactions of fluids flowing through membranes in microgravity. Results could support development of a platform for producing pharmaceuticals in space. Animation Credit: NASA.

Ampli Space Pharmacy, sponsored by the ISS National Lab, studies the chemical reactions of fluids flowing through membranes in microgravity. Results could lead to a better understanding of how microgravity affects this fluid flow and could support development of a lightweight, passive, modular platform for producing pharmaceuticals. Crews could use such a platform to create medications on future space missions, freeing up cargo space used to store a supply of drugs that the crew may never use. Such a tool also could provide medicines to those in isolated or underdeveloped areas on Earth. Crew members performed sample operations for the investigation during the week.

Custom Cartilage Capabilities

Image above: NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg works on BFF-Meniscus-2, an investigation that evaluates using the station’s BioFabrication Facility (BFF) to 3D print a meniscus, or knee cartilage tissue. Image Credit: NASA.

BFF-Meniscus-2 evaluates using the station’s BioFabrication Facility (BFF) to 3D print a meniscus-like construct, similar to knee cartilage tissue, and assess its mechanical properties compared to one bioprinted on Earth. Musculoskeletal injuries, including tears in the meniscus, are a leading health issue in the U.S. military, and the capability to bioprint tissue such as knee cartilage also could benefit crew members who experience musculoskeletal injuries on future missions. Demonstration of further capabilities for tissue fabrication in space also supports continued and expanded commercial use of the space station as a facility for tissues and organs that are needed for transplant on the ground. The investigation is sponsored by the ISS National Lab. During the week, crew members inserted tissue cassettes for printing operations.

Other Investigations Involving the Crew:

- Vascular Aging, an investigation from CSA, monitors changes to the arteries of astronauts during spaceflight. Results could help assess risk to astronaut health and point to mechanisms for reducing that risk and provide insight into prevention and treatment for the aging population on Earth.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7644

- Engineered Heart Tissues-2, sponsored by the ISS National Lab, assesses human cardiac function in microgravity and tests new therapies to prevent potentially harmful changes that can occur during spaceflight. Results could help protect crew members on future missions and support diagnosis and treatment of cardiac dysfunction on Earth.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8801

- Rhodium DARPA Biomanufacturing 01 sponsored by the ISS National Lab, examines gravity’s effect on production of drugs and nutrients from bacteria and yeast. Results could help improve biomanufacturing in space to supply future missions.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8854

- Cardinal Heart 2.0, sponsored by the ISS National Lab, tests drugs to reduce changes in heart cell function in space. Results could support development of effective drug combinations to improve the health of astronauts and patients on Earth.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8800

Image above: Sample exchange for Foam Coarsening, an investigation from ESA (European Space Agency) that investigates bubble size and arrangement dynamics for wet foams. Image Credit: NASA.

- Foam Coarsening, an investigation from ESA (European Space Agency), investigates bubble size and arrangement dynamics for wet foams, which have potential applications such as firefighting and water cleaning systems in space and in industry on the ground.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7934

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

Space to Ground: Setting the Stage: March 31, 2023

The space station, a robust microgravity laboratory with a multitude of specialized research facilities and tools, has supported many scientific breakthroughs from investigations spanning every major scientific discipline. The ISS Benefits for Humanity 2022 publication details the expanding universe of results realized from more than 20 years of experiments conducted on the station.

The ISS Benefits for Humanity 2022: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/benefits/index.html

Related links:

Expedition 69: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition69/index.html

CARDIOBREATH: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8597

Ampli Space Pharmacy: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8049

BioFabrication Facility (BFF): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=7599

BFF-Meniscus-2: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8743

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), Animation (mentioned), Video (NASA), Text, Credits: NASA/Carrie Gilder/John Love, ISS Research Planning Integration Scientist Expedition 69.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch