NASA – Leonardo Times

14Jun

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

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...

SpaceX relaunches a used rocket making history

1Apr

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

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...

30Mar

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

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...

22Mar

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Astronomy and planetary sciences, News, Space flight

NASA’s EO-1 Retires After 17 Years

Earth Observing-1 (EO-1), one of NASA’s pathfinder Earth satellites, was launched back in 2000 as part of their New Millennium Program. Its original mission was designed to last one year and it was designed to operate for about 1.5 times that duration. Seventeen years later, we can safely say that it has far exceeded expectations. Now EO-1 is finally set to retire on March 30, 2017. Some of its achievements include being the first to map active lava flows, track re-growth in the Amazon and measure a methane leak at a facility from space. During its operation, more than 1500 papers were published based on EO-1 research. Fig. Methane emissions detected by EO-1’s Hyperion (Source: earthobservatory.nasa.gov) Two of the instruments on board the EO-1 that made this possible are the Adva...

5Jul

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Astronomy and planetary sciences, News, Space flight

“Juno, welcome to Jupiter”

After 2.7 billion kilometers and almost 5 years, Juno successfully entered Jupiter's orbit in the early hours of today morning. Subsequent to NASA's Galileo mission (1995), Juno is only the second to have accomplished this feat. While in orbit, the Juno mission aims to better understand the gas giant in the following 20 months of its science phase. Juno also happens to be the fastest ever craft built by humans, travelling at speeds of over 260,000 kilometers per hour (74 km/s). To arrive at Jupiter, Juno took an elliptical heliocentric orbit through the Solar System involving an Earth fly-by two years after launch. This fly-by provided Juno with a further boost of around 3.9 km/s, enabling Juno to reach Jupiter in just under 5 years. "Juno, welcome to Jupiter" were the words heard throu...

25May

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

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...