Cassini - Plunge into Saturn

Cassini Mission to the Final Stage:

        Cassini has begun transmitting data -- including the final images taken by its imaging cameras -- in advance of its final plunge into Saturn on 15th September 2017. The spacecraft is in the process of emptying its onboard solid-state recorder of all science data, prior to re-configuring for a near-real time data relay during the final plunge. Unprocessed raw images are available here. The communications link with the spacecraft from now through the end of mission.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft is on final approach to Saturn, following confirmation by mission navigators that it is on course to dive into the planet's atmosphere on Friday, 15th September 2017.

Cassini is ending its 13-year tour of the Saturn system with an intentional plunge into the planet to ensure Saturn's moons - in particular Enceladus, with its subsurface ocean and signs of hydrothermal activity - remain pristine for future exploration. The spacecraft's fateful dive is the final beat in the mission's Grand Finale, 22 weekly dives, which began in late April, through the gap between Saturn and its rings. No spacecraft has ever ventured so close to the planet before.

The mission's final calculations predict loss of contact with the Cassini spacecraft will take place on 15th Sept at 7:55 am. Cassini will enter Saturn's atmosphere approximately one minute earlier, at an altitude of about 1,195 kilometers above the planet's estimated cloud tops. During its dive into the atmosphere, the spacecraft's speed will be approximately 113,000 kilometers per hour. The final plunge will take place on the day side of Saturn, near local noon, with the spacecraft entering the atmosphere around 10 degrees north latitude.

When Cassini first begins to encounter Saturn's atmosphere, the spacecrafts attitude control thrusters will begin firing in short bursts to work against the thin gas and keep Cassini's saucer-shaped high gain antenna pointed at Earth to relay the mission's precious final data. As the atmosphere thickens, the thrusters will be forced to ramp up their activity, going from 10 percent of their capacity, the thrusters can do no more to keep Cassini stably pointed , and the spacecraft will begin to tumble.

When the antenna points just a few fractions of a degree away from Earth, communications will be severed permanently. The predicted altitude for loss of signal is approximately 1,500 kilometers above Saturn's cloud tops. From that point, the spacecraft will begin to burn up like a meteor. Within about 30 seconds following loss of the signal, the spacecraft willbegin to come apart; within a couple of minutes, all remnants of the spacecraft are expected to be completely consumed in the atmosphere of Saturn.

Due to the travel for radio signals from Saturn, which changes as both Earth and the ringed planet travel around the Sun, events currently take place there 83 minutes before they are observed on Earth. This means that, although the spacecraft will begin to tumble and go out of communication at 6:31 am at Saturn, the signal from that event will not be received at Earth until 83 minutes later.

More Information:

Unprocessed Raw Images of Cassini available at : https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/raw-images

Discoveries of Cassini at : https://www.nasa.gov/ebooks

Cassini Final Plunge into Saturn : https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/grandfinale

Cassini Grand Finale in Twitter : https://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn

Cassini Grand Finale in Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/NASACassini

Know more about Cassini-Huygens Mission : https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/

Credits: Text and Image - National Aeronautics Space Administration

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Re-discovery of Water on Moon Surface

Distribution of Water on Moon:

     Scientists, using the data from instrument which flew aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft, have created the first map of Water trapped in the uppermost layer of the moon's soil. The study , published in the journal Science Advances, builds on the initial discovery in 2009 of water and a related molecule - Hydroxyl, which consists of one atom each of hydrogen and oxygen - in the lunar soil.

Scientists from Brown University in the United States used a new calliberation of data taken from an instrument Moon Mineralogy Mapper of Chandrayaan-1, which flew aboard moon in 2008, to quantify how much water is present in Global Scale.The signature of water is present nearly everywhere on the lunar surface, not limited to the polar regions as previously reported, said Shuai Li, a former Ph.D scholar at Brown University.

The amount of water increases toward the poles and does not show significance difference among district compositional terrains, said Mr.Li, who is now a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Hawaii. The water concentration reaches a maximum average of around 500 to 750 parts per million in the higher latitudes. That is less than what is found in the sand of Earth's driest deserts, researchers said.

This is a road map to where water exists on the surface of the moon, said Ralph Milliken, an associate professor at Brown University. Now that we have these quantitative maps showing where the water is and in what amounts, we can start thinking about whether or not it could be worthwhile to extract, either as drinking water for astronauts or to produce fuel,"said Mr. Milliken.

Solar Wind Impact:

     The researchers said that the water is distributed across the moon gives clues about its source.The distribution is largely uniform rather than splotchy, with concentration gradually decreasing towards the equator.That pattern is consistent with implantation via solar wind - the constant bombardment of protons from the sun.

Although the bulk of the water mapped in this study could be attributed to solar wind, there were expectations. For example: the researchers found higher than average concentration of water in lunar volcanic depositions near the moon's equator, where background water in the soil is scarce. Rather than coming from solar wind, the water in those localised deposits likely comes from deep within the moon's mantle and erupted to the surface in lunar magma.

The study also found that the concentration of water changes over the course of the lunar day latitudes lower than 60 degrees, going from wetter in the early morning and evening to nearly bone dry around lunar noon. The fluctuation can be as much as 200 parts per million.

"This raises the possibility that water may re-accumulate after extraction, but we need to better understand the physics of why and how this happens to understand the timescale over which water may be renewed. (statement said by Mr. Milliken)

Image Credit : Indian Space Research Organisation

Text Credit    : The Hindu | News Paper | India

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SRM Satellite

SRM Satellite:

     The SRMSat is a nano-satellite developed by the students and faculty of SRM University to address the problem of Global Warming and pollution levels in the atmosphere by monitoring Carbon dioxide (CO2) and Water Vapour (H2O). The satellite uses a grating Spectrometer, which will absorb spectrum over a range of 900 nano-meter to 1700 nano-meter infrared range.

Spacecraft Details:

• It is a 10.4 kilogram spacecraft
• The total cost to built this satellite is 1.5 crore rupee
• It was designed to operate for One Year, but worked until October 2015
• It can be tracked easily on n2yo.com

Launch:

     The SRMSat was launched by Indian Space Research Organisation from Sriharikota on October 2011, which is the second launch pad in Satish Dhawan Space Center.  The Spacecraft was carried by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C18). The launch was a multi-payload mission shared with Megha-Tropiques, VesselSat-1 and Jugnu.

Technical Details:

• For Communications its Ultra High Frequency range is 28.8 MHz with downlink at 437.5 MHz
• It has data transmission speed at the rate of 2.4 kbit/sec and an uplink at 145.9 MHz with 1 kbit/sec.
• Attitude control is via Solar Cell management system
• On-board Magnetometer and Global Positioning System receiver that provide data for magnetoquer coils which interact with Earth's magnetosphere to change the satellite's orientation.

More Information:

SRM Satellite by ISRO : http://www.isro.gov.in/Spacecraft/srmsat-1

SRM Sat Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRMSAT

SRM University Sat : http://www.srmuniv.ac.in/content/srm-launch-micro-satellite-isro

SRMSat Official Website : https://www.teamsrmsat.in/

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Sathyabama Satellite

About Satellite:

     Satyabama is a micro experimental satellite designed and developed by the students and faculty of Satyabama University in Chennai. The project on Satyabama Satellite begins in 2009, when Indian Space Research Organisation signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with this university. 

Objectives:

      The primary mission of Satyabama Satellite is to collect data on Green House Gases (Water vapour, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, Methane and Hydrogen fluoride). And also to provide development experience of compact space systems to students.

Design:

     At Initiative, a technology research centre was established to carry out preliminary studies on project and advanced research in rocketry, satellites and space applications. Many ISRO scientists helped students to built this small satellite.The satellite weighs 1.5 kilograms.

Launch:

     Satyabama satellite was launched along with Indian Satellite Cartosat-2C and the spacecraft was carried out by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C34) on 22nd June 2016 from Sriharikotta, second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Center. One more satellite Swayam from Engineering college of Pune was launched along with this.

Payloads:

• Infrared Spectrometer - to measure the densities of the green house gases
• Antenna - to send data when it crosses the ground station points

More Information:

     To get further information on Satyabama satellite, refer the links below

ISRO satyabama satellite : www.isro.gov.in/spacecraft/sathyabamasat

Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sathyamabaSat

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Swayam Satellite

Swayam Satellite:

     Swayam is a small picosatellite ( otherwise called Cubesat ) developed by the undergraduate students of Pune College of Engineering. The Cubesat has 1-U flight model weighing 990 grams which was successfully assembled by the students under the guidance of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in January 2015.

Design:

     Structural design, electronic and control systems as well as the manufacturing of the satellite was fully carried out by the Indian Students. 200 students took 8 years to complete the Cubesat project.

Launch:

     The satellite was successfully launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 22nd June 2016 along with the Indian Satellite Cartosat-2C. These satellites were carried by indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C34) from Sriharikotta, second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Center, India. The satellite was placed at an attitude of 515 kilometer in low earth orbit around the Earth.

Objectives:

     To provide point to point messaging between HAM Community.

Satellite Components: 

   The satellite consists of

• Amplifiers - to amplify the received signals
• A Dipole Antenna - for communication systems
• Texas Transceiver - Ref.No: CC1120 RF Travsceiver
• Microchip - PIC micro-controller is interfaced with Transceiver

Technical Details:

• Uplink and Downlink bands are 435 MHz and 145 MHz
• Micro-controller --- AT91SAM7 with 512 MB of RAM
• Lithium-ion Batteries and DC to DC circuits were used to regulate power supplies
• Thermal Management and Control - Thermal control of satellite was managed by Insulating tapes, white paints, black tape and Optical Solar Reflector.

Achievements:

     The team published more than 15 research papers in International Conferences  for last Seven Years.

More Informations:

ISRO official Page : www.isro.gov/spacecraft/swayam

Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swayam

Official Swayam Page : http://www.coep.org.in/csat

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Cassini - Mission to End

     NASA's Cassini spacecraft is headed toward its 15 September 2017 plunge into Saturn, following a final distant flyby of the planet's giant Titan.

The spacecraft made its closest approach to Titan today at 12:04 p.m. at an altitude of 119,049 kilometers above the moon's surface. The spacecraft is scheduled to make contact with Earth on 12 September at about 6:19 p.m. Images and other science data taken during the encounter are expected to begin  streaming to Earth soon after. Navigators will analyse the spacecraft trajectory following this downlink to confirm that Cassini is precisely on course to dive into Saturn at the planned time, location and altitude.

The distant encounter is referred to informally as "the goodbye kiss" by mission engineers, because it provides a gravitational nudge that sends the spacecraft toward its dramatic ending in Saturn's upper atmosphere. The geometry of the flyby causes Cassini to slow down slightly in its orbit around Saturn. This lowers the altitude of its flight over the planet so that the spacecraft goes too deep into Saturn's atmosphere to survive, because friction with the atmosphere will cause Cassini to burn up.

Cassini has made hundreds of passes over Titan during its 13-year tour of the Saturn system - including 127 precisely targeted encounters - some at close range and some like more distant.

Cassini has been in a long term relationship with Saturn's moon Titan, with a new rendezvous nearly every month for more than a decade, said Cassini Project Manager Earl Maize at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "This  final encounter is something of a bittersweet goodbye, but as ut has done throughout the mission, Titan's gravity is once again sending Cassini where they needed to go.

Cassini is ending its 13-year tour of Saturn system with an intentional plunge into the planet to ensure Saturn's moons - in particular Enceladus, with its Subsurface ocean and signs of hydrothermal activity - remain pristine for future exploration. The spacecraft's fateful dive is the final beat in the mission's Grand Finale, 22 weekly dives through the gap between Saturn and its rings. No spacecrafts has ever ventured so close to the planet before.

ABOUT CASSINI MISSION:

     The Cassini spacecraft was launched in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in 2004. During its time there, Cassini has made numerous dramatic discoveries, including a global ocean with indicators of hydrothermal activity within the icy moon Enceladus, and liquid methane seas on another moon Titan.

     The Cassini - Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration), ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.

Saturn Grand Finale Plunge available at https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/grandfinale

More Information about Cassini at           https://www.nasa.gov/cassini

                                                                     https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Credits:

Text and Image Credit : National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA)

Tags: Cassini | NASA Saturn Mission | Cassini - Huygens

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New Horizon Plan for 2019 Flyby

     

     NASA's New Horizon mission has set the distance for its New Year's Day 2019 flyby of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, aiming to come three times closer to MU69 than it famously flew past Pluto in 2015.

That milestone will mark farthest planetary encounter in history - some one billion miles beyond the Pluto and more than four billion miles from Earth. If all goes as planned, New Horizons will come to within just 2,175 miles of MU69 at closest approach, peering down on it from celestial north. The alternate plan, to be employed in certain contigency situations such as the discovery of debris near MU69, would take New Horizons within 6,000 miles - still closer than the 7,800 miles flyby distance to Pluto.

If the closer approach is executed, the highest resolution camera on New Horizons, the telescopic Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) should be able to spot details as small as 230 feet across, for example: compared to nearly 600 feet on Pluto

On Reaching the 2014 MU69 object and seeing it as actual new world, will be another historic exploration achievement, said "Helene Winters", the New Horizon project manager from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.The New Horizon team is excited about the challenges and opportunities of a voyage to this faraway frontier.

Credits:

Text and Image Credit : NASA

Tags: New Horizon | Pluto & Charon Flyby | MU69 Object Flyby

More Information : New Horizon 2019 Flyby Plan

What is MU69 Object : 2014 MU69 Object

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Dragon Spacecraft

DRAGON SPACECRAFT :

     

     Dragon is a free-flying spacecraft designed to deliver both cargo and people to the orbit. Dragon made its history in the year 2012, when it became the first commercial spacecraft in history to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and safely return cargo to Earth. A feast previously achieved only by governments. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to earth.

Currently Dragon carries cargo to space, but it was designed from the beginning to carry humans. Under an agreement with National Aeronautics Space Administration, Space-X is now developing the refinements that will enable Dragon to fly crew. Dragon's first manned test flight is expected to take place as early as 2018.

DRAGON OVERVIEW:

OWNER                                                Space X

TOTAL LAUNCH PAYLOAD MASS       6,000 kg

TOTAL LAUNCH PAYLOAD VOLUME  25 cu.meter

TOTAL RETURN PAYLOAD MASS       3,000 kg

TOTAL RETURN PAYLOAD VOLUME  11 cu.meter

SPACECRAFT PAYLOAD VOLUME     11 cu.meter

TRUNK PAYLOAD VOLUME                14 cu.meter

ORBIT DURATION                                2 Years

SIDEWALL ANGLE                               15 degree

DIAMETER                                            3.7 meter

HEIGHT WITH TRUNK                          7.2 meter

FIRST SUCCESS                                  2012

CARRYING ROCKET                            Falcon 9

MANUFACTURER                                 Space-x

PRESSURIZED SECTION:

     The pressurized section of the spacecraft, also referred to as the capsule, is designed to carry both cargo and humans into space. Towards the base of the capsule but outside the pressurized structure are the Draco thrusters, Dragon's guidance navigation and control (GNC) bay and Dragon's advanced heat shield.

  

SPACECRAFT TRUNK:

     Dragon's Trunk supports the spacecraft during ascent to space, carries unpressurized cargo and houses Dragon's solar arrays. The trunk and solar arrays remain attached to dragon until shortly before reentry to Earth's atmosphere, when they are jettisoned.

INSIDE THE SPACECRAFT :

    The Dragon spacecraft has three configurations to meet a variety of needs : cargo, crew and Dragonlab. To ensure a rapid transition from cargo to crew capability, the cargo configurations of Dragon are almost identical. This commonality simplifies the human rating process, allowing systems critical to crew and space station to be fully tested on unmanned cargo flights. With DragonLab, essentially the same spacecraft can be used as a platform for  in-space technology demonstrations and experiments.

RE-SUPPLY THE SPACE STATION:

01.DELIVERY AND RETURN SERVICES:

     Dragon is the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and currently the only cargo spacecraft flying capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. Dragon accommodates pressurized cargo in the capsule as well as unpressurized cargo in its trunk.

02.VERSATILE CARGO RACKS:

     The racks are a honeycomb carbon-aluminium construction designed for efficient packing in a zero-gravity environment. They accomodate a variety of standard-size NASA cargo bags as well as freezers for carrying materials such as biological samples.

Credits:

Image Credit : Space-X

Text    Credit : Space-X

Tags: Dragon Spacecraft | Falcon 9 | Space-X

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X-ray Telescope

X-RAY TELESCOPE:

     X-rays are absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, so one has to climb above the atmosphere to see them. National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA's) Uhuru 1970 and the United Kingdom's Ariel V 1974 were spin-stabilized satellites that discovered around 400 bright X-ray sources. Astronomers realized that X-rays provide vital clues to the death throws of stars, specifically supernova explosions and the final transitions to white dwarf, neutron star and black hole states. X-rays are a vital component of the radiation coming from energetic events such as solar flares.

FIRST X-RAY TELESCOPE:

     Two technical advances helped the development of space telescopes. One was the construction of advanced confocal mirror systems and the other was the development of two dimensional X-ray imaging gas scintillation proportional counters. Using these, these United States launched the first orbiting satellite containing a fully imaging X-ray Telescope, the High Energy Astrophysical Observatory-2 (HEAO-2), in November 1978.

HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY-2

     HEAO-2 was renamed Einstein when it was in orbit and operating correctly. Einstein discovered that nearly all astronomical bodies emit X-rays. Also the angular resolution (few seconds of arc) and the sensitivity was such that accurate maps could be made of objects such as Cygnus loop supernova remnant. The Einstein instruments were a thousand times more sensitive than those on Uhuru.

OTHER X-RAY TELESCOPES:

 

     Einstein remained operational until April 1981. Other space telescopes have followed, such as Exosat, Rosat, Chandra and XXM Newton, and all have continued the quest for ever higher detail and sensitivity. In addition to new sources being discovered, it has been found that many X-rays are being emitted as material falls into the black holes at the center of active galactic nuclei.

QUOTES:

" For NASA, space is still a high priority....If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure"

                                                                                               -Dan Quayle, U.S vice-president.

Credit: The Internet Age | 1001 Invention that changed the world |  

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ISRO Rare Rocket Launch Videos

     This Video Contains Rare Video Footage of  Launches of Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV - Rocket), Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV - Rocket) and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV - Rocket) - This video footage is taken from Indian Diplomacy Video of India In Space. Watch and Subscribe our channel for More videos on Space and Science.

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OSIRIS-REx Mission NASA

ASTEROID SAMPLE RETURN MISSION:

     NASA's asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and security - Regolith Explorer), passed about 17,000 kilometers above Earth just before 12:52 p.m EDT on Friday, September 22. Using Earth as single shot, the spacecraft will receive an assist to complete its journey to the asteroid Bennu.

BENNU ASTEROID:

     OSIRIS-REx is undertaking a challenging mission to visit the near Earth asteroid, survey the surface collect samples and deliver them safely back to Earth. This is the first NASA mission to attempt such an undertaking. The spacecraft is halfway through its two-year outbound journey, and now OSIRIS-REx needs an extra boost to successfully rendezvous with Bennu asteroid.

ASTEROID ORBIT:

     Bennu orbit around the Sun is titled six degrees in comparison to Earth's. The gravity assist will change OSIRIS-REx's trajectory to put the spacecraft on a course to match the asteroid's path and speed.

GRAVITY ASSIST:

     The Earth gravity Assist is a clever way to move the spacecraft onto Bennu's orbital plane using Earth's own Gravity instead of expending fuel, said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

     The team has already made multiple adjustments to the spacecraft's path since launch on September 8, 2016. The largest was a deep space maneuver on 28 December 2016, that changed the speed and path of the spacecraft to target Earth for the flyby. There have also been three trajectory correction maneuvers - one on 7 October 2016, one on 18 January 2017, and another on 23 August 2017 (30 days before the gravity assist)- that further refined the spacecraft trajectory in preparation for the flyby.

Text Credit : NASA by Jordan Rice

Image Credit : NASA Image Archieve

More Information on OSIRIS-REx Mission available at www,nasa,gov/osiris-rex

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Megamaster Galaxy

Microwaves are emitted by various astrophysical sources in the Universe. Stronger microwaves are emitted by megamasters and the centers of the galaxies. Especially intense and luminous galactic centres are knoen as active galactic nuclei. They are in turn thought to be driven by the presence of supermassive blackholes, which drag surrounding material inwards and spit out bright jets and radiation as they do so.

Image Details:

    The two galaxies shown here imaged by NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope are named as MCG0138004 (The upper one) and MCG0138005 (the lower one). They are the special kind of megamasters, the galaxy pumps huge amount of energy which stimulates clouds of surrounding water, Water's constituent atoms of hydrogen and oxygen are able to absorb some of this energy and re emit it as specific wavelengths, one of which falls in microwave regime. This megamaster is invisible to Hubble but, it can be detected by Microwave Telescopes. MCG0138005 is also known as Water Megamaster.

   Astronomers use the microwave emission from megamasters to calculate the Hubble Constant and to determine the rate of expansion of the Universe. The Hubble Constant was named after the astronomer whose discovery is responsible for the expansion of the Universe. And the Hubble Space Telescope was named after the astronomer, Edwin Hubble.

Credits:

Text     : NASA Blog

Image  : NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope

More Information available at Hubble/Megamaster

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Voyager Spacecraft 40th Anniversary

      NASA and the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum will celebrate 40 years of the Voyager 1 & 2 Spacecraft  humanity's farthest and longest lived mission with public event at 12:30 p.m EDT Tuesday on September 5.

Activities:

• Live Telecast on NASA Television and streamed agency's website
• Discussions about Voyager's Creation and mission history
• Images of New discovery 
• And discussions on how the spacecraft inspired countless scientists
• A Galactic message transmitted toward the Voyager 1 spacecraft by a celebrity guest.

Prime Mission of Voyager Spacecraft:

     The prime mission of the Voyager spacecraft was to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Now the twin spacecrafts are far beyond the solar system, and NASA still continues its communication to discover and explore the frontier where interstellar space begins.

Participants in the events:

• Thomas Zurbuchen (Associate administrator of NASA Mission Directorate)
• Ed Stone (Voyager Project Scientist)
• Suzanne Dodd (Voyager Project Manager)
• Gary Flandro (Voyager Mission grand tour creator)
• Alan Cummings (Voyager Mission Researcher)
• Ann Druyan ( Golden Record Visionary)
• Morgan Cable ( Researcher at JPL)
• Eric Zimstein (researcher )
• Matthew Shindell (Curator) 

Download Posters on NASA Voyager Celebration

More Information on Voyager. Visit https://www.nasa.gov/voyager

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Geostationary Communication Satellite 1964

The Hughes Aircraft company facilitates phone calls between continents.

Geostationary Communication Satellites:

      In 1945, in an article entitled Extra-Terrestrial Relays British novelist Arthur C.Clarke described a way to bounce information off orbiting satellites so one side of the earth could communicate with other almost instantly. Although the idea had been put forward previously by Russian Scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, it was Clarke's detailed description that caught the attention of Harold Rosen of Hughes Aircraft Corporation. In 1961 the project, called The Synchronous Communications Satellite Program was given funding to make it happen.

Synchronous Communications Satellite Program:

      A mere seventeen months later the satellite Syncom I was launched, but it stopped sending signals before it reached the orbit. Syncom II, which followed in 1963, achieved a geosynchronous orbit ( it traveled at an inclined angle, so was not stationary above one spot) but nevertheless proved the concept with a two-way satellite call between President Kennedy in the United States and Prime Minister Abubakar Balewa in Nigeria. Syncom III finally achieved a true geostationary orbit in 1964 and transmitted live television coverage of the Tokyo Olympic Games to North America and Europe.

Geostationary Orbit:

      Today, due to the proliferation of satellite-building worldwide, establishing a satellite in geostationary orbit is not simply a matter of launching spacecrafts as required. Satellites traveling at the same speed as Earth in geostationary orbit must all occupy a single ring 35,800 km above the equator. The satellite have to be spaced apart, so the number in geostationary orbit is naturally restricted. Those countries wishing to maintain satellites in the skies above their longitude, as well as those wanting to control airspace above the equator, are governed by International Allocation Mechanism.

Quotes:

 " In the long run ... the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative"

                                                                                       -Arthur C.Clarke, novelist and writer.

Text Credit : Inventions that changed the World

Tags: Satellite Radio Communication | Scramjet | Space Probe | Geostationary Communication Satellite

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Scramjet 2002

The University of Queensland and Qinetiq develop hyper-sonic travel:

Travel Faster:

     In the twenty first century, speed seems to be of paramount importance. As well as improving the simple but inefficient turbine based engine systems that drive rockets and planes, scientists have developed Supersonic Combustion Ramjet engines (Scramjet) to allow much faster travel.

Scramjet Developmemnt:

     Scramjets improve on ordinary engines by eliminating the need to carry fuel oxidant. Instead of using oxidant fuel, they use atmospheric oxygen to burn out the fuel, making them more efficient and extremely fast. Scramjets have long been a theoretical possibility, but in 2002 Scientists at the University of Queensland, Australia and at the UK defense company Qinetiq successfully completed the first flight of scramjet vehicle. Although the test simply demonstrated the technology and not a practical engine system, the vehicle reached Mach 7, which is seven times the speed of sound.

NASA in Scramjet:

     Since then, the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) has been working on its Hyper-X program to develop scramjets into a practical technology, able to provide the thrust to propel a craft. It is believed the technology could eventually allow vehicles to reach Mach 15, reducing an eighteen hour flight from New York to Tokyo to just two hours.

Joint Project for Scramjet:

     In 2007 a joint project between the U.S Defense Advanced Project Agency (DARPA) and the Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO) launched a flight that succeeded in reaching the hypersonic speed of Mach 10. the imminent arrival of these hypersonic airplanes will make the world a much smaller place.

Achievement:

     In 2004 the NASA X-43A Scramjet achieved a record of Mach 9.6, nearly 7,000 miles per hour (11,265 kph).

Quotes:

     "We..believe that a hypersonic airplane could be a reality in the not too distant future."

                                                             -Dr.Steven Walker, DARPA Tactical Technology Office 

Text Credit : The Internet Age | Scramjet | 1001 Inventions that changed the World

Science in History - Scramjet | Satellite Radio Communication 2001

 

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Space Probe 1959

The Soviet boost our knowledge of space

Space Probe:

     A Space probe is a satellite that leaves the grip of Earth's gravity and moves off to flyby, or orbit, another solar system body. The first target was the Moon. There were three U.S attempts in 1958 | Pioneer-1 | Pioneer-2 | Pioneer-3 | which all failed. The U.S.S.R had the first three success in January 1959 with the Luna-1 probe, which was launched with the objective of impacting the lunar surface. It flew by, missing by 5,590 km but at least it got three. The U.S's Pioneer 4 flew past at a miss distance of 60,000 km.

Successful Space Probes:

    The greatest early successes were Luna-2 in September 1959 and Luna-3 in October 1959, the first hitting the moon just east of the sea of Serenity and the second imaging the far side of the moon for the first time. The 1960s saw a host of lunar missions that was to culminate in the first moon landing.

First Successful Planetary Probe:

     The first successful planetary space probe reached Venus in 1962 and the USSR's Venera-7 probe soft landed there in 1970. In June and August 1976 the US's Viking-1 & Viking-2 probes achieved the first successful landings on Mars and returned images from the planet's surface. Voyager-1 & Voyager-2 have since become interstellar space probes and are on their way to the stars.

Quotes:

     "We have your satellite. If you want it back send twenty billion in Martian Money"

                                                                - Graffiti at NASA Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Text Credit : Inventions that Changed the World

Science in History : Space Probe | Scramjet | Satellite Radio Communication

Tags : Voyager-1 | Voyager-2 | Luna-1 | Luna-2 | Luna-3 | Pioneer-1 | Pioneer-2 | Pioneer-3 |

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