Orbiter.ch Space News

vendredi 10 décembre 2021

China Space Station - Shenzhou-13 crew space lecture highlights

CMS - China Manned Space logo.

Dec. 10, 2021

Shenzhou-13 crew, Wang Yaping, Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu

The Shenzhou-13 astronauts (taikonauts), Wang Yaping, Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu, delivered a lecture for schoolchildren from the China Space Station, on 9 December 2021.

Shenzhou-13 space lecture highlights

Shenzhou-13 (神舟十三) is the first six-month mission on the China Space Station (中国空间站). The experiments were performed in the Tianhe Core Module (天和核心舱).

Related articles & link:

China Space Station - Shenzhou-13 astronauts complete first spacewalk
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/china-space-station-shenzhou-13.html

China Space Station - Astronaut Wang Yaping begins first spacewalk
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/china-space-station-astronaut-wang.html

What’s next for the China Space Station (CSS)
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/10/whats-next-for-china-space-station-css.html

China Space Station (CSS) - Shenzhou-13 hatch opening
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/10/china-space-station-css-shenzhou-13.html

China Space Station - Shenzhou-13 mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/10/china-space-station-shenzhou-13-mission.html

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

Image, Video, Text, Credits: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

CASC - Long March-4B launches Shijian-6 05

CASC - China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation logo.

Dec. 10, 2021

Long March-4B carrying Shijian-6 05 liftoff

A Long March-4B launch vehicle launched a group of Shijian-6 05 satellites from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu Province, northwest China, on 10 December 2021, at 00:11 UTC (08:11 local time).

Long March-4B launches Shijian-6 05

According to official sources, the satellites (实践六号05) have entered the planned orbit successfully and will be used for space exploration and new technology test. The launch marked the 400th mission of the Long March series of launch vehicles.

Shijian-6 05 satellite

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

Images, Video, Text, Credits: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

jeudi 9 décembre 2021

New Visitors Adapt to Station During Space Biology, Physics Research

ISS - Expedition 66 Mission patch.

Dec. 9, 2021

Three individuals are adapting to life aboard the International Space Station following Tuesday’s launch and docking aboard a Russian crew ship. The seven-member Expedition 66 crew is back on science duty today while helping the new space travelers get up to speed with station systems and safety procedures.

10 people are living on the orbiting lab today after the arrival of three space travelers on Wednesday. Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin commanded the Soyuz MS-20 crew ship flanked by spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano during its six-hour and 2-minute trip from Kazakhstan to the orbiting lab’s Poisk module. The station guests will stay in space until Dec. 19 when they will undock from Poisk, reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and parachute to a landing back in Kazakhstan.

Image above: The Soyuz MS-20 crew ship, carrying cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano, approaches the space station. Image Credit: Roscosmos.

The seven station crew members, comprised of four NASA astronauts, an ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts, joined their guests just before lunchtime to review emergency roles and responsibilities. All 10 lab residents spent an hour going over evacuation routes, communication procedures and other activities in response to different emergency scenarios.

Today’s microgravity research incorporated biomedical science and space physics. NASA Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron kicked off the day with blood and urine sample collections. At the end of the day, ESA Flight Engineer Matthias Maurer scanned the eyes of Thomas Marshburn from NASA using the orbiting lab’s Ultrasound 2 device. Vande Hei also set up the Fluids Integrated Rack for a space physics study that may improve thermal systems for Earth and other planetary environments.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA Launches New Mission to Explore Universe’s Most Dramatic Objects

SpaceX - Falcon 9 / NASA IXPE Mission patch.

Dec. 9, 2021

NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission launched at 1 a.m. EST Thursday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Image above: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft onboard from Launch Complex 39A, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The IXPE spacecraft is the first satellite dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources, such as black holes and neutron stars. Launch occurred at 1 a.m. EST. Image Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky.

A joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, the IXPE observatory is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from the most extreme and mysterious objects in the universe – supernova remnants, supermassive black holes, and dozens of other high-energy objects.

IXPE launch and Falcon 9 first stage landing (mission control audio)

“IXPE represents another extraordinary first,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Together with our partners in Italy and around the world, we’ve added a new space observatory to our fleet that will shape our understanding of the universe for years to come. Each NASA spacecraft is carefully chosen to target brand new observations enabling new science, and IXPE is going to show us the violent universe around us – such as exploding stars and the black holes at the center of galaxies – in ways we’ve never been able to see it.”

IXPE separation

The rocket performed as expected, with spacecraft separation taking place 33 minutes into flight. Approximately one minute later, the spacecraft unfurled its solar arrays. IXPE entered its orbit around Earth’s equator at an altitude of approximately 372 miles (600 kilometers). About 40 minutes after launch, mission operators received the first spacecraft telemetry data.

“It is an indescribable feeling to see something you’ve worked on for decades become real and launch into space,” said Martin Weisskopf, IXPE’s principal investigator at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Weisskopf came up with the idea for the spacecraft and has conducted seminal experiments in X-ray astronomy since the 1970s. “This is just the beginning for IXPE. We have much work ahead. But tonight, we celebrate!”

Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Image Credit: NASA

IXPE carries three state-of-the-art space telescopes with special polarization-sensitive detectors. Polarization is a property of light that holds clues to the environment from which the light originates. The new mission builds on and complements the scientific discoveries of other telescopes, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA’s flagship X-ray telescope. First light operations are scheduled to begin in January.

The Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE): technical overview. Image Credit: NASA

NASA Marshall manages the IXPE mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate as a project of the NASA’s Explorers Program. IXPE is an international collaboration between NASA, the Italian Space Agency, along with partners and providers in 12 other countries. Marshall built the three X-ray telescopes. The Italian Space Agency contributed IXPE’s polarization detectors. Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, provided the spacecraft and manages spacecraft operations at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Explorers Program.

For more information about the IXPE mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/ixpe

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Karen Fox/Liz Landau/Marshall Space Flight Center/Molly Porter/NASA TV/SciNews.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Join our online ESA-NASA Advanced Manufacturing conference

Dec. 9, 2021

Next year’s 1st International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing for Air, Space and Land Transportation, co-organised by ESA and NASA, is moving online.

Bringing together the space, aeronautics and land transportation engineering and manufacturing communities, the conference includes a special session on promising ‘immature technologies’ for Advanced Manufacturing. Want to take part? The deadline to submit abstracts has been moved to 15 December.

Filter 3D printed in silicon carbide

On Earth we have ‘Industry 4.0’ – the application of increased connectivity, intelligence, flexible automation and advanced manufacturing techniques to the industrial landscape. Meanwhile off the planet, the era of ‘Space 4.0’ has begun, with many new nations and private sector actors reaching out to space, with a corresponding growth in commercialisation and competitiveness.

Flax composite satellite panel

The conference covers the combination of the two: how smart and advanced manufacturing technologies – including 3D printing, virtual testing, big data-driven and quality control processes – can alter the manufacturing supply chain for the increasingly competitive space arena, progressively increasing customer value and supply chain efficiency.

ESA’s Advanced Manufacturing initiative

Within ESA, the Advanced Manufacturing cross-cutting initiative has focused on this overlap. The initiative homes in on emerging manufacturing technologies that overcome the limitations imposed by traditional manufacturing techniques, in the process opening up new industrial possibilities in terms of design freedom, streamlined production stages and reduced cost and increased performance.

Since the start of the initiative, more than 100 technology development activities have been kicked-off with the European space industry, covering technology maturation in the area of materials and processes.

3D printing, as long as you like

These include surface engineering; shaping; additive manufacturing; composite manufacturing; joining; virtual manufacturing; embedded sensors; process modelling and simulation.

The initiative has brought together industrial and institutional partners from all sectors of the manufacturing and design domain of space, and has assisted in the development and industrialisation of manufacturing processes in Europe.

Join us on our journey

3D-molded interconnect devices

The aim of the 1st International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing for Air, Space and Land Transportation – taking place on 7-11 March 2022 – is to promote and facilitate discussion and exchange of experience among members of various engineering disciplines; covering design, development, assembly, integration and verification aspects. By bringing the community closer together the conference will facilitate cross-fertilisation opportunities and promote an inter-sectorial technical and commercial exchange worldwide.

Special focus on ‘immature technology’

As part of the conference, a special event on 11 March dedicated to ‘immature technology’, will give students and researchers the chance to present their ideas to the advanced manufacturing community consisting of representatives from leading space agencies, industries and academia. The best contributions will be voted for and proposed for future collaboration with ESA.

3D printing in hard plastic

The Immature Technology day aims to raise awareness of the International aerospace community of technologies that are still in their infancy with all associated issues, but holding plenty of future promise.

Register for the conference

Join us for our online event on 7-11 March 2022: https://atpi.eventsair.com/icam22/

The conference’s international committee took the decision to move to an online event in view of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, to ensure a safe environment for the event.

website

Submit your abstract to the 1st International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing for Air, Space and Land Transportation and the Immature Technology Day before our 15 December 2021 deadline.

Editor's Note:

For our friends who are on Earth, you have the possibility of offering yourself 3D printing services thanks to the company Orbiter 3D, our limit: Your imagination! We also sell Ender brand 3D printers. https://www.impresion3d.shop/

Related links:

1st International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing for Air, Space and Land Transportation and the Immature Technology Day: https://atpi.eventsair.com/icam22/

Advanced Manufacturing cross-cutting initiative: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Advanced_Manufacturing

Space Engineering & Technology: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology

Images, Animation, Video, Text, Credits: ESA/TIWARI Scientific Instruments/Bcomp/BEEVERYCREATIVE/ESA/Art of Technology AG.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

A Saarland space feast sprinkled with science

ESA - Cosmic Kiss Mission patch.

Dec. 9, 2021

In brief

European food has always been out of this world, but this week ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer shared a taste of his home region, Saarland – with a serving of science – during a space-based Saint Nicholas feast.

A floating feast

In-depth

St. Nikolaus Day is widely celebrated in Germany and other parts of Europe every year on 6 December. This year it provided Matthias with the perfect occasion to share two two-course menus from his home in Saarland with his crewmates on the International Space Station.

The first of these menus was created by SR television and star chef Cliff Hämmerle and consisted of "Geheirade", a type of flour dumplings and boiled potatoes in sauce, and Rostige Ritter (French toast) for dessert. The second menu came from the winner of an online voting competition that the Saarland Tourist Board announced in 2020, in which 10 chefs proposed dishes.

The winner of this competition was the owner and chef of the Taverne Roemische Villa Borg in Saarland, Christian Heinsdorf. His menu consisted of a cream of potato soup and venison stew with creamed wild mustard and hoorische, a type of potato dumpling. ESA then worked with certified catering company LSG Group to prepare and preserve both menus for space.

Image above: ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer holds a package of space food from Saarland on the International Space Station.

“We ate all four cans per person for dinner,” Matthias says. “Everyone indulged fully in the culinary highlights of my home region. I also invited them to Saarland to try out more dishes. I hadn’t actually tried the space-versions of these dishes either because I wanted to have the full surprise in orbit, and I have to admit the chefs did a great job!

“The potato soup was a bit less liquid than on the ground but that was on purpose to avoid spilling the soup out of the can in 0 g. The Geheirade and the Rostige Ritter tasted as I remember them. The potato soup and venison were new to me, but I look forward to trying the originals at Taverne Roemische Villa Borg when I return to Earth.”

Clever cutlery

Food was not the only touch of Saarland present at the festive feast. The astronauts also ate with special spoons made of stainless steel and copper. These spoons are part of an investigation into the antimicrobial properties of laser-structured surfaces.

Matthias Maurer holds an antimicrobial spoon designed for a Saarland space feast

Principal investigators Ralf Möller of the Institute of Space Medicine, German Aerospace Center, Cologne and Frank Mücklich from the Institute for Functional Materials, Saarland University have been jointly investigating the antimicrobial effect of laser-structured surfaces for use during space travel since 2017. Though the antimicrobial effect of some metals has been known for a while, modern laser surface structuring is thought to result in up to 80% less bacterial adhesion and could significantly reduce the transmission of harmful germs both in space and here on Earth.

Ralf and Frank describe the aim of the spoons experiment as “to find out how efficiently spoons with surfaces made of stainless steel or copper and additionally defined periodic, microscopically fine laser structures prevent the accumulation of microorganisms or even kill them, when they adhere to them, and how robust the structured surfaces are in everyday use.”

Matthias and his crew mates were asked to use the spoons as much as possible, with only a light cleaning between individual use before they are returned to Earth for analysis.

Image above: ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer enjoys potato soup from his home region on the International Space Station.

Though they hope the spoons will help shed light on the best materials for safer surface, Ralf says the subject of whether food tastes better on Saarland cutlery could remain up for debate.

“We will ask Matthias after the flight whether the food tastes better with the Saarland high-tech spoons. But here we may encounter some bias,” he jokes.

In his initial reports Matthias says, “The small surface treated test areas on the spoons didn’t change any eating sensation – on the contrary, using these surface treated spoons made the eating event even more special.”

Safer surfaces in space and on Earth

The Saarland spoon study is one of a number looking at the development of more hygienic surfaces and Frank says it acts as a “scientific bridge” a number of other investigations underway during the Cosmic Kiss mission. These include an experiment called Biofilms, also developed by the aerospace microbiology research group at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Aerospace Medicine and the Chair of Functional Materials at Saarland University.

Running in a temperature-controlled incubator for studying biological samples in Europe’s Columbus module known as Kubik, Biofilms tests the antimicrobial properties of laser-structured metal surfaces such as steel, copper and brass under microgravity conditions.

Touching surfaces experiment

Recently, Matthias also posted images of a technology demonstration called Touching Surfaces, where nano-structures applied with a laser to novel surfaces made of copper and brass will be examined for their antimicrobial effect.

Related links:

Cosmic kiss: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Cosmic_kiss

Human and Robotic Exploration: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration

Images, Text, Credits: ESA/M. Maurer/NASA.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

mercredi 8 décembre 2021

Elon Musk tells SpaceX employees that Starship engine crisis is creating a ‘risk of bankruptcy’

SpaceX - Starship (unofficial) patch.

Dec. 8, 2021

- Elon Musk described a dire situation with SpaceX’s development of Raptor rocket engines the day after Thanksgiving in a companywide email, a copy of which was obtained by CNBC.

- “The Raptor production crisis is much worse than it seemed a few weeks ago,” Musk wrote.

- Raptor engines power the company’s Starship rocket, with Musk adding that SpaceX faces “genuine risk of bankruptcy if we cannot achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year.”

Elon Musk is angry with the lack of progress SpaceX has made in developing the Raptor engines that power its Starship rocket.

He described a dire situation the day after Thanksgiving in a companywide email, a copy of which was obtained by CNBC.

Image above: Musk warms SpaceX needs more launches to keep company afloat. Image Credit: CNBC.

“The Raptor production crisis is much worse than it seemed a few weeks ago,” Musk wrote.

“We face genuine risk of bankruptcy if we cannot achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year,” Musk added later.

Starship is the massive, next-generation rocket SpaceX is developing to launch cargo and people on missions to the moon and Mars. The company is testing prototypes at a facility in southern Texas and has flown multiple short test flights. But to move to orbital launches, the rocket prototypes will need as many as 39 Raptor engines each – necessitating a sharp ramp in engine production.

Musk’s email to SpaceX employees provides more context to the significance of the departure of former Vice President of Propulsion Will Heltsley earlier this month. Heltsley had been taken off Raptor development before he left, CNBC reported, with Musk noting in his email that the company’s leadership has been digging into the program’s problems since then – and discovering the circumstances “to be far more severe” than Musk previously thought.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. Heltsley did not respond to CNBC requests for comment.

The SpaceX founder and CEO’s email was first reported by Space Explored, a subset of technology blog 9to5Mac.

Raptor engine program is ‘a disaster’

Image above: A closer look under the base of Super Heavy Booster 4 at the 29 Raptor engines. Image Credit: SpaceX.

Musk wrote in the email that he planned to take the long Thanksgiving holiday off. But, after discovering the Raptor situation, Musk said he would personally work on the engine production line through Friday night and into the weekend.

“We need all hands on deck to recover from what is, quite frankly, a disaster,” Musk wrote.

The billionaire founder has repeatedly described production as the most difficult part of creating SpaceX’s mammoth rocket. The company has steadily built up its Starship production and testing facility in Boca Chica, Texas, with multiple prototypes in work simultaneously.

The company’s next major step in developing Starship is launching to orbit.

Image above: A Starship prototype test fires its six Raptor rocket engines on November 12, 2021 in Boca Chica, Texas. Image Credit: SpaceX.

Musk on Nov. 17 said SpaceX will “hopefully launch” the first orbital Starship flight in January or February, pending regulatory approval by the FAA as well as technical readiness.

SpaceX wants Starship to be fully reusable, with both the rocket and its booster capable of landing after a launch and to be recovered for future flights. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets are partially reusable. The company can regularly land and relaunch the boosters but not the upper portion, or stage, of the rocket.

Musk said earlier this month that he wasn’t sure if Starship would successfully reach orbit on the first try, but emphasized that he is “confident” that the rocket will get to space in 2022. He also noted at the time that Starship development “is at least 90% internally funded thus far,” with the company not assuming “any international collaboration” or external funding.

Image above: SpaceX is a leader in rocket launches, but Starlink is its golden ticket. Image Credit: CNBC.

SpaceX has raised billions in funding over the past several years, both to for Starship and its satellite internet project Starlink, with the company’s valuation recently hitting $100 billion.

But, while SpaceX has launched about 1,700 Starlink satellites to orbit so far, Musk said the first version of the satellite “is financially weak.” The company has been steadily growing Starlink’s user base, with about 140,000 users paying for service at $99 a month.

Earlier this year SpaceX outlined improvements for the second version of the satellite, with Musk saying in his email that “V2 is strong” but can only be launched effectively by its Starship rockets.

To date SpaceX has launched Starlink satellites with its Falcon 9 rockets, but Musk outlined that those rockets do not have the mass or volume needed to effectively deploy the second-generation satellites. That means the success of the Raptor engine program is also critical to the long-term financial stability of SpaceX’s Starlink service, which Musk has talked about spinning off in an IPO.

Notably, SpaceX is currently ramping up production of its Starlink antennas “to several million units per year,” Musk said in the email, but those will be “useless otherwise” if Raptor does not succeed.

SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: CNBC/Jay Leno's Garage.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch