SpaceX Big Falcon Rocket Ascending from Mars

Big Falcon Rocket Ascending from Martian Surface    Image Source: Spacex official Site

Picture of the Day: SpaceX's Big Falcon Rocket (Mars Spaceship) Ascending from the surface of Mars

Image Source : Spacex official website

Image Credit: Elon Musk | SpaceX | Falcon BFR

Tags: BFR Ascending from Mars  | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Saturn and Its Four Moons

Image of Saturn and its four Moons around it. Image Source : Cassini Spacecraft and European Space Agency

Picture of the Day: Saturn and its Four Moons. Image processed and taken by Cassini Spacecraft of European Space Agency and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Image Source : Cassini | European Space Agency

Image Credit : ESA/ NASA

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ASTROSAT India Data Released

Astrosat - Indian Astronomical Satellite data released

ASTROSAT INDIA

Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation Dr.K.Sivan released AstoSat Data for public use on 26 September 2018. Most of the data can be downloaded from ISRO Science Data Archive

The site can be located at https://www.astrobrowse.issdc.gov.in

This data release provides a great opportunity to use Astrosat data for studying the cosmos using Ultraviolet and X-Rays across the world.

AstroSat is the first Indian X-Ray based Astronomical Satellite launched on 28 September 2015 for studying the Cosmos. It carried five payloads onboard.

Downloads:

• AstroSat Handbook
• AstroSat Proposal Red Book
• AstroSat

Tags: Space Downloads | Fornax Space Missions

About AstroSat:

     ASTROSAT is India's first multi-wavelength space observatory. This satellite is intended for study and gather information about our universe. One of the special feature of this satellite is, it can do simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various adtronomical objects in the universe. Some of the Payloads were

• Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
• Large Area X-Ray Proportional Counter
• Soft X-Ray Telescope
• Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager
• Scanning Sky Monitor

It was launched by ISRO with PSLV-C30 with mass of 1513 kg into 650km orbit.

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ESA's 100th Successful Ariane 5 Launch

Ariane 5 lift-off from Kourou, French Guiana    Credit: Ariane Space

     European Space Agency celebrates its 100th launch of Ariane 5 Rocket. On 26 September 2018, Ariane 5 delivered Horizon-3e and Intelsat-38 telecom satellites into their orbits.

     The lift-off took place at 22:38 GMT from Kourou, French Guiana. The mission duration was about 42 minutes. Horizons-3e had a launch mass of 6441 kilograms and the Intelsat-38 was about 3500 kilograms.

     Upon success, ESA reached a milestone of achieving 100 launches of Ariane 5 launch vehicle. To make this event remarkable, ESA released 100 limited-edition T-Shirts via ESAshop.

     Hats-off for great excellence of achieving 100 successful launches of Ariane 5 launch vehicle.

References:

• Information was retrieved from ESA's official site https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Transportation/Ariane_5_100_and_counting on 28 September 2018.

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Spacex's Moon Base Alpha - Elon Musk

SPACEX'S MOON BASE ALPHA - A CONCEPT OF ESTABLISHING PERMANENT BASE ON MOON BY ELON MUSK

Picture of the Day: Artist's Concept of Moon Base Alpha on Moon | Spacex vision to establish permanent base on Moon

Picture Credit : SpaceX

Tags : Moon-Base-Alpha | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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PSLV-C42 Rocket Launch from SHAR

POLAR SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE (PSLV-C42) | PSLV LAUNCH VEHICLE LIFT-OFF FROM SDSC | SHAR | ISRO | INDIA

Picture of the Day - PSLV-C42 Launch Footage from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 16th September 2018 Carrying NovaSAR and S-14 Satellite, Sriharikotta, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Picture Credit: Indian Space Research Organisation | Onboard Camera

Image Source : ISRO PSLV-C42 Mission

Tags: PSLV-C42 | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Japanese Rovers Successfully landed on Asteroid Ryugu

Blurry image sent by MINERVA rovers after successful landing on Asteroid Ryugu on 21 September 2018
Image Credit: Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency

On 22nd September 2018 Japanasese Aerospace Exploration Agency announced the successful landing of two mini rovers MINERVA-II1 on an asteroid called Ryugu. The rovers were in good condition and sent photographs to earth.

     The two mini rovers are the part of Hayabusa-2 asteroid sample return mission commissioned by JAXA. It two rovers named 1a and 1b together called MINERVA-II1. Scientists and Engineers deployed the two rovers on the surface of asteroid Ryugu on 21 September 2018 and confirmed the mission status on 22nd September 2018. The landing was successful and the transmitted image is shown below.

Image sent by MINERVA Rovers from asteroid Ryugu  Credits: JAXA

    The agency has two more rovers to deploy in October next year. It will deploy MASCOT and a small Hopper to accomplish the mission goal. It is aimed to bring asteroid samples to earth and analyze in laboratories.

Tags:Space Updates  | Fornax Space Missions 

Related Posts:

     Dust Storms in Titan " Saturn's one of the moon" | ISRO launches a PSLV | Mangalyaan Four Year Successful Operation | Parkaer Solar Probe | Discovery of a new Exoplanet

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Europa Report Full Movie

Cover photo of Europa Report Full Movie 2013

Movie Name    Europa Report
Release Date   27 June 2013
Country           United States
Duration          90 minutes (1 Hour 30 minutes 25 Seconds)
Movie Type     Drama | Mystery | Science-Fiction | Thriller
Director           Sebastian Cordero
Story Writer    Philip Gelatt
Production      Start Motion Pictures
Cast/ Starring Christian Camargo; Anamaria Marinca; Michael Nyqvist; Daniel Wu; Karolina           Wydra; Sharlto Copley; Embeth Davidtz; Dan Fogler; Isiah Whitlock


Story line:

     The world comes to know that "Europa" one of the moon of Saturn has water after the discovery by hundreds of scientists. Then, Private Space Agency funds and prepare for a human mission to Europa called Europa One. 

     The Crew members started their voyage to Europa while enjoying the views of Mars and Jupiter. They prevented their spaceship from Jupiter's huge gravity. Finally they reached Europa. The mission was to find "Is there any life behind the icy surface of Europa?". The mission continues, the very next day of the mission they found some creature hitting their probe under the ocean of Europa. 

     The different creature harmed all the crews one by one. Inspite of having trouble, all the crew members sacrificed their life to stay the mission active and send collected data to Earth. The different creature killed all the onboard crew members and melted water destroyed the whole spaceship.

     Finally, the mission agency announced that after having a continuous attempt to establish communication between us and Europa One, they got a single video clip showing a different kind of creature which killed all the crew members. And they stated never to make any attempt to go there and explore Europa. 

Scientific Views to Learn:

      This scientific views of this movie are

• Production of Artificial gravity onboard Spaceship
• Hazardous of Space and Planetary Radiations
• Hazards of creatures and contaminations
• Risk of careless space accidents
• Danger of Jupiter's gravity to pull spaceship towards it.
• Difficulty in lifting-off from planetary surface
• To have biologist, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and mission controller for this kind of mission
• Delay in transmission of signals ( Example: shutdown of cameras in this movie)

Watch this movie online:


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* Please reply us regarding any changes and troubles in this content. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.  

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Dust Storms in Third Solar System Body

NASA's artist concept of dust storms in Saturn's largest moon Titan

Cassini Spacecraft data has found giant dust storms in equatorial regions of Saturn's moon Titan. Researchers have published a paper on this dust storms on 24 September 2018 in Nature Geoscience. After this tremendous discovery Titan occupies third body of the solar system to have dust storms after our Earth and Mars. It's aiding scientists to understand the dynamical environment of largest moon of Saturn.

These results were captured from Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer. The Cassi-Huygens is a collaborative mission between NASA and ESA including Italian Space Agency. It also landed a small planetary probe into the Saturn which discovered a small amount of organic wind during aerodynamic brake. The spacecraft was designed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California ' A part of California Institute of Technology'.

• More Information about Cassini can be found at https://www.nasa.gov/cassini
• JPL official site for Cassini space probe is at https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/
  

Credits:

Image credit: NASA

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ISRO launches two foreign satellites NovaSAR and S1-4 from Sriharikota

PSLV-C42 Launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR

Indian Space Research Organization successfully launched two foreign satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) located at Sriharikota Range on 16 September 2018. It was aimed to launch two Earth Observation Satellites named NovaSAR and S1-4 ( a total mass of about 889 kilograms). This satellites were from United Kingdom and the launch was a commercial arrangement from Antrix Corporation Limited, Department of Space, India.

PSLV-C42 successfully injected both the satellites into Sun Synchronous Orbit after its launch. NovaSAR is a S-Band Synthetic Aperture Rader Satellite intended for forest mapping, ice covering and disaster monitoring. S1-4 is a high resolution EOS (Earth Observation Satellite) intended for surveying resources and environmental monitoring.

Credits:

Image Credit : ISRO

Information Source: PSLV-C42/ISRO

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Mangalyaan - Four Year of Successful Operation in Mars Orbit

Mangalyaan- Mars Orbiter Mission

Four Year Completion of Successful Operation in Mars Orbit
Download this full article in PDF

Congratulations to ISRO for Successful Operation in Mars Orbit (Mangalyaan)

Introduction:

     Mangalyaan is the first interplanetary mission of India to explore space beyond Earth and Moon system. India and its Mangalyaan (Mars Craft) is the world's first spacecraft to achieve success in its first attempt whereas NASA got victory in second attempt, ESA got partial success in first attempt and Russia got no success out of 19 attempts. After its successful orbital insertion, India became fourth nation to reach Mars after Russia, America and Europe. India places the first nation among Asian continent to reach Mars. After this successful victory China referred India's Mangalyaan "Pride of Asia". This article explains a brief journey of India to the Red planet and their major challenge. This article is specially dedicated to Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) in memory of four year completion of successful operation in Mars orbit from 24 September 2014 to 24 September 2018.

Highlights:

• Exploration of Mars around Four years in operation around Mars
• Major challenges and attempts made behind Mangalyaan to maintain active state
• Achievement and Honor of Mars Orbiter Mission
• Future vision of ISRO and India towards Mars and Interplanetary Mission

Mission Overview:

     Mangalyaan is an active spacecraft orbiting and investigating Mars since 24-Sep-2014. India became the fourth nation to reach Mars after the successful launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL) on 05 November 2013. MOM was launched from first launch pad Satish Dhawan Space Center located near Sriharikotta range in Andhra Pradesh. It was placed in orbit during October-2013 launch window.

     MOM is a "Technology demonstrator probe" intended for future advancement of design and planning for interplanetary mission. It carried five instruments for surface topography studies. This spacecraft is being monitored by (ISTRAC) ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network located at Bangalore with aid from India Deep Space Network antenna and additional support from NASA Deep Space Network.

History and Origin of Spacecraft:

     India have been interestingly taking part in space exploration since 1970s. Its first science mission was Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon in October 2008 which ultimately created history by finding water on the Lunar Surface. After the successful achievement of Chandrayaan, India's vision towards Mars was first publicly announced on 23 November 2008 by ISRO's chairman Dr. Madhavan Nair. Following the announcement design and feasibility begin in 2010 by Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in Trivandrum. Prime minister of India Dr.Manmohan Singh approved the Mangalyaan project and accepted for funding for whole mission design and study. Based on the economic prospect, ISRO completed the whole mission within 450 crore approximately.

     On 05 August 2013, assembly of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL or PSLV-C25). After the completion of spacecraft designs, it was shipped to Sriharikotta SHAR for the integration with PSLV launch vehicle. The design and integration was completed within 15 months of record. Following this NASA approved to provide communication support from NASA Deep space network during black out phase on 05 October 2013. After this stage, MOM set to fly into cosmos on 05 November 2013 setting proud to the Indian nation and inspiring  millions of space enthusiastic students.

Launch:

     Mangalyaan was officially scheduled to launch in 28th October 2013. But, the launch was postponed to 05th November 2013 due to the delay in ISRO's spacecraft tracking ships to take positions in the Pacific Ocean. This happened due to the bad weather in Ocean. Finally, MOM was lifted-off from Satish Dhawan Space Center at SHAR range on 05 November 2013 at 09:08 UTC. It was aimed to launch with Geosynchronous Satellite Launch vehicle, but due to continuous failure of two launches in 2010, it was switched to launch by PSLV.

Launch Challenges:

     PSLV-XL opted for launch is not powerful enough to place Mangalyaan in trans-Mars trajectory. Despite this concerns, ISRO placed MOM in high elliptical orbit around Earth and used its powerful thrusters over multiple perigee burns to place itself on a trans-Mars trajectory towards Mars. After the successful launch antenna and solar panels were successfully deployed for continuous active communication between Earth and ISRO command center. Following this operation, progressive checking of spacecraft system were also succeeded.

Trans-Mars Injection and Mars Orbital Insertion:

       After seven orbital raising maneuver burns, Mangalyaan was finally placed in Trans-Mars injection on 30 November 2013 at 19:19 UTC.After that a 23-minute engine firing was initiated to move MOM away from earth towards Mars. After travelling 780,000,000 kilometers of distance, it was successfully inserted into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014 at 02:11:46 UTC.During the travel four trajectory correction were made to correct path.

Spacecraft Design:

     The spacecraft design was similar to I-Ik structure of Chandrayaan-1 moon probe with some upgradation and modification. The spacecraft is designed with Aluminum and composite fibre reinforced with plastic sandwich construction . Power was afforded by 7.56 sq.m area of solar panels generating 840 watts of power in Mars Orbit. This energy is stored in 36 Ah Lithium-ion Battery.

     For orbital raising maneuver and orbital insertion into Mars orbit was powered by 440 newtons of liquid fuel engine. it also has eight 22 newton thrusters for attitude control. Its propellant mass is about 852 kg and the total mass of the spacecraft is 1337.2 kg.

Scientific Instruments:

1. LAP - Lyman Alpha Photometer (1.97 kg)
2. MSM - Methane Sensor for Mars (2.94 kg)
3. MENCA - Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (3.56kg)
4. TIS - Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (3.20 kg)
5. MCC - Mars Colour Camera (1.27 kg)

     LAP and MSM were used for atmospheric studies; MENCA was used for particle environment studies; TIS and MCC were used for surface imaging studies.

Scientific Objective of the Mission:

• Primary - Technology demonstration for the purpose of designing, planning, management and operations for interplanetary mission.
• Secondary - Explore Mars surface, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.
• Tertiary - Explore the Mars surface features like topography, mineralogy, atmosphere, Methane and CO2 detection using remote sensing detection, dynamics of upper atmosphere, effect of solar wind and radiation, escape of volatile atmosphere to outer space.

Pursuing Challenges: 

     Inspite of having low powerful launch vehicle “MOM” reached Mars by injecting itself in Trans-Mars trajectory towards Mars using continuous orbital maneuvering propulsion.  Survived in Black out phase when Mars lacked sunlight (It lost most of its fuel during this concern and moved away from blackout for power production).  Loss of capability for Methane detection of MCC (Mars Color Camera) made scientists to switch for albedo mapping applications.  This mission is planned for 6 months, but it survived more than 4 years and expected to continue its observations till 2020s.

Honors and Awards:

• Upon successful orbital insertion on 24 September 2013. NASA and their scientist congratulated ISRO and Mars scientist including whole team.   
• Google also celebrated the one-month successful operation of Mangalyaan around Mars.
• In 2014,China referred India's MOM as "Pride of Asia".
• MOM and theirs scientists won "US-National Space Society's 2015 Space Pioneer Award" in science and engineering category of which NSS stated "The award was given for successfully executing Mars Mission in its first attempt".
• One of the image of Mangalyaan's spacecraft is printed in Rupee 2000 currency note of India
• An image from Mars Color Camera (Mangalyaan) was printed as cover photo of 2016 November issue " National Geographic Magazine"

Future vision and follow up mission:

• ISRO plans for a follow up mission Mangalyaan-2" (MOM-2) with greater scientific payload by 2020s.
• It may include a Rover and a Orbiter which is scheduled to launch after Chandrayaan-2 in January 2019.

Results and Publications:

[1] Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft and its Challenges " S.Arunan and R.Satish" Special Issue. Current Science.

[2] "On the evening time Exosphere of Mars : Results from MENCA aboard Mars Orbiter Mission" by A.Bhardwaj.

[3] Interplanetary missions India Mars " V Adimurthy"

Additional References and Supplementary Data:

• Mangalyaan - MOM - ISRO
• Mars Orbiter Mission - Wikipedia
• An Overview - Mars Orbiter Mission
• Mission Objectives
• MOM First Year Data Release
• MOM Mission Objectives
• Illustrated Book of Mars Mission
• Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) ISRO.PDF
• MENCA - Space Physics Laboratory

References:

[1] Mars Orbiter Mission “ I n d i a n S p a c e R e s e a r c h O r g a n i z a t i o n ” Retrieved from https://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c25-mars-orbiter-mission.html on 22 September 2018.

[2] S. Arunan and R. Satish “ Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft and its Challenges ”. Special Issue published in Current Science.

[3] Mangalyaan (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved September 18, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangalyaan.

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Parker Solar Probe

Parker Solar Probe  Image Credit: NASA

      National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Parker Solar Probe mission will change the perspective view and understanding of the Sun, where major changing condition happens in outer sphere of sun propagate into solar system affecting our earth and planetary systems. It will be the first spacecraft to travel too closer to the Sun's atmosphere after MESSENGER spacecraft facing enormous heat and radiation condition. It will provide a closer view of nearest star to the observers.

     Parker Solar Probe is estimated to unlock all the mysteries of Sun, in order to achieve this intent, it will use Venus gravity assist to gradually travel near to the sun during seven days of flyby around Venus. It is estimated approach to sun is about 3.8 million miles ( within the orbit of Mercury) and seven times closer than any spacecraft has ever attempted.

     Parker Solar Probe was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force station on 12th August 2018 strapped with Delta IV-Heavy class launch vehicles. Now the spacecraft is in the trajectory phase to Sun. It will fly first into the outer part of the sun (Corona) and will start its experiments and imaging. The experimental result will help us to expand our knowledge about the origin and evolution of solar wind in sun's atmosphere. The winds affects the technological spacecrafts around earth and damage to life systems on Earth.

     Parker Solar Probe will perform extreme level scientific investigations and studies in a hazardous condition around the region where there is extreme heat and radiation. The spacecraft will fly close to the sun by crossing extreme sun's particles. Instruments will be protected from heat by a 4.5 inch thick carbon wall to maintain stable temperature and to perform investigations.

    Parker Solar Probe is a part of NASA's Living with a Star exploration  program and its operations were managed by Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt. The John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel is responsible for design and building of spacecraft and mission operation.

More Information About Parker Solar Probe:

• Parker Solar Probe - NASA
• Space.Com - Parker Mission to Sun
• Parker Solar Probe Mission Details - Wikipedia
• John Hopkins University of Applied Physics Laboratory - Parker Probe
• Milestone to Sun - Parker Mission - Spaceflightnow
• Parker Solar Mission - Description-one | Description-two
• Contractor - United Launch Alliance
• Manufacturer - Applied Physics Laboratory
• NASA Blog - Parker Probe
• Track Speed of Parker Probe
• Living With a Star Program

Parker Solar Probe Launch - Delta IV-Heavy Rocket:


Credits:

Image Credit: NASA
Video Credit : NASA

References:

[1] Parker Mission " NASA"  Retrieved from url https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe on 10 September 2018

[2] Parker Speed "NASA". Retrieved from url https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/ on 10 September 2018.

[3] Parker Mission Updates "NASA". Retrieved from url https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/programs/living-with-a-star on 10 September 2018.

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