How Space Shuttles Work" In its nearly 30-year history, the space shuttle program has seen exhilarating highs and devastating lows. The fleet has taken astronauts on dozens of successful missions, resulting in immeasurable scientific gains. But this success has had a serious cost. In 1986, the Challenger exploded during launch. In 2003, the Columbia broke up during re-entry over Texas. Since the Columbia accident, the shuttles have been grounded pending redesigns to improve their safety. In this article, we examine the monumental technology behind America's shuttle program, the mission it was designed to carry out, and the extraordinary efforts that NASA has made to return the shuttle to flight. First, let's look at the parts of the space shuttle and a typical mission. The space shuttle consists of the following major components: two solid rocket boosters (SRB) - critical for the launchexternal fuel tank (ET) - carries fuel for the launchorbiter - carries astronauts and payload The space shuttle flight path.
Mars, Mars Information, Red Planet Facts, News, Photos The Red Planet Mars is a small rocky body once thought to be very Earthlike. Like the other terrestrial planets—Mercury, Venus, and Earth—its surface has been changed by volcanism, impacts from other bodies, movements of its crust, and atmospheric effects such as dust storms. It has polar ice caps that grow and recede with the change of seasons; areas of layered soils near the Martian poles suggest that the planet's climate has changed more than once, perhaps caused by a regular change in the planet's orbit. Martian tectonism, the formation and change of a planet's crust, differs from Earth's. Where Earth tectonics involve sliding plates that grind against each other or spread apart in the seafloors, Martian tectonics seem to be vertical, with hot lava pushing upwards through the crust to the surface. Periodically, great dust storms engulf the entire planet. Water on Mars? Scientists believe that 3.5 billion years ago, Mars experienced the largest known floods in the solar system.
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity Lands On Mars - Key Facts | Itechwik NASA’s Mars science rover Curiosity landed safely on the Red Planet Mars. Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed Curiosity, a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012 at 05:14:39 UTC. After years of hard work and seven minutes of terror, workers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory let out their tears of joy. It took more than 8 months for the Curiosity to make the journey from Earth to Mars. Almost immediately upon landing early Monday, the Curiosity craft transmitted to Earth a series of photographs showing its own wheels safely on the surface of Gale Crater near the equator of Mars. Specifications Spacecraft The entire spacecraft weighs 3,893 kg (8,580 lb) at launch, consisting of 899 Kg (1,982 lb.) rover; 2,401 kg (5,290 lb) entry, descent and landing system (aeroshell plus descent stage + 390 kg (860 lb) of landing propellant); and 539 kg (1,190 lb) fueled cruise stage. Rover
Mars500 Crew 'Lands' on Mars, Begins Spacewalking the Martian Surface If you consider a meticulously curated sandpit in a Moscow suburb a destination, then the Mars500 team has finally arrived. After more than 250 days confined to a wood-paneled simulated space capsule, the international crew put down its landing craft on the "Martian" surface over the weekend and, donning Russian Orlan spacesuits, executed its first walk on the red planet today. "Today, looking at this red landscape, I can feel how inspiring it will be to look through the eyes of the first human to step foot on Mars," Italian Diego Urbina said as he began his spacewalk along with Russian Alexandr Smoleevskiy. "I salute all the explorers of tomorrow and wish them godspeed." A third crew member, China's Wang Yue, remained in the landing craft that he, Urbina, and Smoleevskiy began piloting to the Martian surface on February 8. Three more of their shipmates remain aboard the orbiting mothership, which is actually just downstairs from the lander.
Mars Exploration Rover Mission: The Mission SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Remains Silent at Troy More than 1,300 commands were radiated to Spirit as part of the recovery effort in an attempt to elicit a response from the rover. No communication has been received from Spirit since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010). The project concluded the Spirit recovery efforts on May 25, 2011. Total odometry is unchanged at 7,730.50 meters (4.80 miles). Spirit Update Archive OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Further Southwest on 'Murray Ridge' Opportunity is exploring 'Murray Ridge,' part of the west rim of Endeavour Crater. On Sol 3617 (March 28, 2014), the rover continued further to the southwest on Murray Ridge with a 68-foot (20.8-meter) drive. As of Sol 3621 (April 1, 2014), the solar array energy production was 661 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.433 and a solar array dust factor of 0.868.
Natural resources The Earth's natural resources are vital to the survival and development of the human population. These resources are limited by the Earth's capability to renew them. Although many effects of overexploitation are felt locally, the growing interdependence of nations, and international trade in natural resources, make their demand and sustainable management a global issue. Natural resources and waste — Environmental regulation and eco-innovation have increased resource efficiency through a relative decoupling of resource use, emissions and waste generation from economic growth in some areas. Biodiversity and the ecosystem services upon which we all depend are inextricably linked. Soil is a largely non-renewable natural resource that underpins a range of vital ecosystem services. Certain regions of Europe are affected by soil salinisation, acidification, landslides or desertification, with considerable economic and environmental consequences.
Mars Animation of Mars' rotation from the vantage of an observer who moves south, then north, to hover over both poles, showing the planet's major topographic features. Mars is currently host to five functioning spacecraft: three in orbit – the Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – and two on the surface – Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity and the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity. Defunct spacecraft on the surface include MER-A Spirit and several other inert landers and rovers such as the Phoenix lander, which completed its mission in 2008. Observations by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars.[25] In 2013, NASA's Curiosity rover discovered that Mars' soil contains between 1.5% and 3% water by mass (about two pints of water per cubic foot or 33 liters per cubic meter, albeit attached to other compounds and thus not freely accessible).[26] Physical characteristics Size comparison of Earth and Mars. Soil
Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity’s Seven... Video description Team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory share the challenges of the Curiosity Mars rover’s final minutes to landing on the surface of Mars. Curiosity is scheduled to land on August 5. You can follow Curiosity’s journey on Twitter or Facebook. Learn more about the mission. Video transcript Music Adam Steltzner: When people look at it… uhhh, it looks crazy. Sometimes when we look at it, it looks crazy. It is the result of reasoned, engineering thought. But it still looks crazy. From the top of the atmosphere, down to the surface- It takes us seven minutes. It takes 14 minutes or so for the signal from the spacecraft to make it to Earth- that’s how far Mars is away from us. So, when we first get word that we’ve touched the top of the atmosphere, the vehicle has been alive… or dead, on the surface, for at least seven minutes. (music crescendos- dark pounding drums) Tom Rivellini: Entry, descent and landing, also known as EDL, is referred to as the ‘7 minutes of terror’.
Lifting SAM Instrument for Installation into Mars Rover Lifting SAM Instrument for Installation into Mars Rover The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, largest of the 10 science instruments for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, will examine samples of Martian rocks, soil and atmosphere for information about chemicals that are important to life and other chemical indicators about past and present environments. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., built SAM. The 40-kilogram (88-pound) instrument includes three laboratory tools for analyzing chemistry, plus mechanisms for handling and processing samples. In this photograph, technicians and engineers inside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., prepare to install SAM into the mission's Mars rover, Curiosity. The analytical tools in SAM are a mass spectrometer built by NASA Goddard, a gas chromatograph built by French partners supported by France's national space agency in Paris, and a laser spectrometer built by JPL.
Nature Publishing Group : science journals, jobs, and information Nuclear generator powers Curiosity Mars mission When the Curiosity rover touched down on Mars yesterday, a specially designed nuclear generator kicked into action. Previous Mars missions have relied on solar panels to power the rovers, but exploration was slowed down by dust build-up on the solar panels or short winters days with little sunlight. The Curiosity Rover, which is as big as a large car, is also significantly larger and ten times heavier than previous Martian rovers. Enter the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTP, an energy source that relies on the heat generated by decaying plutonium dioxide to run Curiosity. It’s designed to run at least one Martian year, which is almost two Earth years. The Curiosity is essentially a robotic science lab, equipped with sophisticated instruments for taking ground samples and analyzing their chemical make-up in the search for signs of life. Nuclear power has been used in 26 previous space missions over the past 50 years.
Mars orbiter catches pic of Curiosity on its way down! This is truly astonishing: the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped what may turn out to be the Space Picture of the Year: Curiosity descending to Mars under its parachutes! Holy. Haleakala. The rover is safely tucked inside the backshell, suspended underneath its huge parachute. This image was taken just moments after Curiosity’s speed had dropped from thousands of kilometers per hour to just hundreds. Shortly after that, rockets underneath took over the job of slowing it further, so that the sky crane could lower Curiosity safely to the Martian surface. This took incredible skills in calculations, engineering, and a just a wee pinch of good timing. The simple and sheer amazingness of this picture cannot be overstated. The news these days is filled with polarization, with hate, with fear, with ignorance. It’s what we can do, and what we must do. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Related Posts: - Humans send their Curiosity to Mars!
Welcome | Virgin Galactic Something Even More Amazing Than Curiosity on Mars There is now a new rover on the surface of mars. It’s the size of a small SUV and has capabilities that surpass all planetary lander that came before. With a suite of high power cameras, computers and transmitters, Curiosity can capture images of unprecedented resolution and even record high definition video, with the ability to cache images and video to two gigabytes of on board storage before transmitting them back to earth. The rover is also equipped with a suite of analytical instruments, capable of determining the composition of surface materials or drilling and digging for deeper samples. All of this is made possible by the 125 watt nuclear heat source, the latest generation of plutonium-238 radioisotope thermal generators. So what could be a more amazing technical feat than the rover Curiosity? On January4, 2003, the rover Spirit touched down on mars. In reality, the rovers functioned for several years. As of the most recent updates, Opportunity remains in good overall function.