Space engineering

From Apollo to Artemis
Astronomy and planetary sciences, Space engineering

From Apollo to Artemis

50 years after the final Apollo landing, we started another era of lunar exploration Author: Danny Tjokrosetio, James Perry, Leonardo Times Editors Artist’s rendering of a lunar EVA as part of the Artemis program "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.” Gene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, spoke the last words on the Moon 50 years ago [1].  We are returning - this time to stay. Tension and excitement built around the Kennedy Space Center as hundreds of thousands of people gathered to watch a momentous rocket launch. Plumes beneath a skyscraper-sized structure ignited the night sky. The colossus rose above the ground, trailed by blazes so bright, it appeared as if a celestial bein...
Revival of Voyager 1 after 37 years
News, Operations, Propulsion, Space engineering, Space flight, Uncategorized

Revival of Voyager 1 after 37 years

The backup thrusters on the Voyager 1 spacecraft fired up after staggering 37 years. It took 19h and 35 min through space for the signal to reach an antenna in Goldstone, California, US, which is a part of NASA’s Deep Space Network. Voyager 1 was launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2. Both these spacecraft are a part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System. On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to cross the heliosphere and thereby making it the farthest a man-made object has ever traveled.  Voyager 1 traveling past the edge of the Solar System. Source: https://www.nasa.gov/ After staying in dormant for 13 billion miles, on November 28, the spacecraft’s four backup Trajectory Course Manoeuvring thrusters were...
ExoMars: Journey of the Unknown
Space engineering, Space flight

ExoMars: Journey of the Unknown

Author: Nora Sulaikha, Editor at Leonardo Times, TU Delft Article published in Leonardo Times Magazine, Edition of January 2017.  Space exploration may be considered a relatively new venture, having gone into full speed only a little over fifty years ago. However, the knowledge that a great unknown existed outside of what human beings can see with their bare eyes is timeless. From our small world, we have gazed upon the cosmic oceans for untold centuries. In 750 BC, the Babylonians invented the first ever almanac-tables that charted the movements of the Sun, the Moon, and other planets. Science flourished during the renaissance, and in the 17th century, astronomers pointed a new device called the “telescope” at the heavens and made discoveries that made them realize we were all ...
The Airbus Zephyr
Aviation, Propulsion, Space engineering, Space flight

The Airbus Zephyr

Authors: Rens van der Zwaard & Max Aalberse, MSc Students Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft Article published in Leonardo Times Magazine, Edition of January 2017.  The Zephyr 8 is a compromise between Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and satellites. It has the ability to fly autonomously in the stratosphere, above all weather and air traffic, the advantage being that it can perform its functions without having to take unexpected weather changes into account. Its endurance at this altitude is in the order of weeks. Therefore, the Zephyr can do the job of a satellite while flying sufficiently close to the surface to make high-resolution images and is inexpensive to use, relative to developing and launching a satellite. Another advantage is that the Zephyr can always stay focused on th...
SpaceX relaunches a used rocket making history
News, Space engineering, Space flight

SpaceX relaunches a used rocket making history

On March 30, 2017, SpaceX made spaceflight history by reusing a rocket that was used for a previous launch. Their Falcon-9 rocket that was previously used for a mission eleven months earlier, was used to launch the SES-10 satellite. This satellite is intended to provide TV, internet, telephone and radio coverage for South America. The rocket, once launched at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, deployed its payload successfully about half an hour later. Following this, it was autonomously guided back to a droneship called “Of Course I Still Love You” that was stationed in the Atlantic and landed safely. SpaceX has been on the path toward using reusable rockets and this launch marked a milestone for them. In the past year, they have managed to recover the first stage of nine o...
Boeing X-37 Mystery Mission
News, Space engineering, Space flight

Boeing X-37 Mystery Mission

The U.S. Air Force's unmanned space plane X-37 is one of the most mysterious spacecraft ever. It is known as the Orbital Test Vehicle and its primary objective is to test advanced spacecraft technologies. The program is classified, therefore it remains a secret what the tested technologies are. The X-37B was launched on 20 May 2015, this is the fourth X-37 mission and it is still in progress. The X-37B space plane has been in orbit for almost two years now and broke an orbital record when it hit 675 days in orbit around Earth on March 25th 2017.   Concept of U.S. Air Force's X-37B in orbit [NASA Marshall Space Flight Center]   The X-37 program began as a NASA project in 1999 after which it was transferred to the U.S. Department of Defence in 2004. The X-37B spacecraft...
NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge: Interview with Jason Kessler
Astronomy and planetary sciences, Interview, Space engineering, Space flight, Specials

NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge: Interview with Jason Kessler

The narrative around asteroids has largely been one of ‘Impact-Threat Science’. The concept that asteroids are a threat has lead to a push in reconfiguring astronomy as ‘interventionist science’, ultimately suggesting militaristic endings. Many other asteroid scientists suggest contrasting innovative solutions. We caught up with Jason Kessler, Program Executive of NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge at the Border Sessions Festival in The Hague, where he was one of the speakers. NEOO, ARM and AGC: In 1998, NASA initiated Near Earth Objects (NEO) Observations programs with the aim to discover 90% of the NEOs larger than one kilometer in diameter and in 2005, Congress extended that goal to include 90% of the NEOs larger than 140 meters. The programs have been remarkably successful at achiev...
Emerging Victorious: The LISA Pathfinder
Astronomy and planetary sciences, Space engineering, Space flight

Emerging Victorious: The LISA Pathfinder

The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) Pathfinder is a research spacecraft of the European Space Agency (ESA) and was launched in December 2015. The main purpose of the LISA Pathfinder mission is to test certain technologies for future space observatories to detect gravitational waves from large astronomical bodies (e.g. stars) around us. The LISA Pathfinder uses extremely sophisticated technology to observe the "path" taken by two cubes located in the heart of the spacecraft when subjected to pure gravitational free-fall. It is also ensured that the cubes act under the influence of gravity alone and hence, the LISA Pathfinder shields these two cubes from external disturbances like solar wind and/or pressure. Therefore, you have two cubes in pure gravitational free-fall insid...
News, Space engineering, Space flight

Galileo 13 & 14 Launched and In Orbit

    Galileo 13 & 14 have successfully been delivered into space, via a good old Soyuz 3-stager. The Galileo program is ESA’s 24-satellite constellation aimed at delivering a global satellite positioning system to Europe. The program started as a response to the Selective Availability (SA) of the Global Positioning System (GPS), meaning that the Unites States, who control the GPS network, can reduce the accuracy and precision of their positioning system selectively. Although SA was abolished in 2000, the European Union wanted a neutral platform that would be available to anyone, with improved precision and reliability. This week’s launch marks an important milestone, as half of the satellites needed for the system to be complete are placed in orbit. The service wi...
News, Space engineering, Space flight

NASA’s Space Balloon is Ready For Deployment

  In a 4-hour process that will broadcast live from the ISS on the morning on May 26th, NASA’s astronauts will begin to deploy the ‘BEAM’. Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, is essentially an inflatable room. It is designed such that it takes up less room to be transported and can then expand to 5 times its original size when inflated. Roughly the size of a small bedroom, this module will be accessible from the ISS’s Tranquility module. Inflatable rooms are thought to play a key role in future space missions to Mars & beyond. The ISS astronauts are first scheduled to enter the module on the 2nd of June 2016. However, they will not stay inside for extended periods of time as BEAM’s viability has to be analyzed first. BEAM is planned to stay deployed at the IS...