Astronomy General Space Discussion

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Venus and Jupiter will be kissing in this evening's night sky.

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Fo those of you slightly disappointed with how 'non-cool' or 'spacey!' most satellites look....

NAVIGATION TECHNOLOGY SATELLITE – 3 (NTS-3) – Air Force Research Laboratory

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Not sure where to put this, but has anyone read, Satellite Communication Systems Engineering or Space Mission Analysis Design? I want to learn more about Satellite software.
 
The SpaceX Starship just blew up. I opened Youtube and the launch happened to be minutes away so I saw it live. It was the first test of both the Super Heavy booster and Starship in the same flight. It successfully launched, and at two minutes into the flight, the rocket started flipping end-over-end when the first stage was supposed to separate. The explosion that destroyed the rocket appeared to be deliberate from the range safety officer to prevent the spacecraft flying uncontrollably.

The live stream commentators were talking it up as s success, with anything after clearing the tower as icing on the cake, but it's a disappointment. Your rocket exploding is not a good test. They'll learn from it though.
 
This is a great video talks about the problems with Starships first launch.



It may be that some of the engine failures were due damage sustained during launch. Bad decision to not to use a thrust divertor.

Added - Eric Berger at Ars waxes lyrically about the launch.

arstechnica.com

So what was that? Was Starship’s launch a failure or a success?

SpaceX's development process is messier, but it's also much faster.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
 
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CD Xbow said:
This is a great video talks about the problems with Starships first launch.



It may be that some of the engine failures were due damage sustained during launch. Bad decision to not to use a thrust divertor.

Added - Eric Berger at Ars waxes lyrically about the launch.

arstechnica.com

So what was that? Was Starship’s launch a failure or a success?

SpaceX's development process is messier, but it's also much faster.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
Click to expand...


So the debris hitting the rocket on launch might have mostly caused the problems? The lack of thrust from the damaged engines affected the trajectory. It never reached the planned separation altitude and there was also a prerequisite that the main engines needed to be shut down - so the separation command was never given. Space X hit the self destruct button. I wonder if they had the option to shut down the main engines and separate anyway. Almost for the LOLZ and gathering more data.
 
sorted said:
So the debris hitting the rocket on launch might have mostly caused the problems? The lack of thrust from the damaged engines affected the trajectory. It never reached the planned separation altitude and there was also a prerequisite that the main engines needed to be shut down - so the separation command was never given. Space X hit the self destruct button. I wonder if they had the option to shut down the main engines and separate anyway. Almost for the LOLZ and gathering more data.
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Looking at the video it would certainly appear that's a likely cause, with a series of cascading failures following the concrete damage. Then the kaboom! I don't know if separation can be undertaken at lower speeds and altitudes.
 

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CD Xbow said:
Looking at the video it would certainly appear that's a likely cause, with a series of cascading failures following the concrete damage. Then the kaboom! I don't know if separation can be undertaken at lower speeds and altitudes.
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If that's the case it sounds like launching using a thrust diverter should fix most of the problems. Landing on the moon and relaunching would be much easier now than in the Apollo days.

But landing on Mars on an unprepared surface with a ship big enough to carry people is another level of challenge. The idea of taking off from Mars for returning people to Earth might have been set back by the problems with this latest Space X launch.
 
sorted said:
If that's the case it sounds like launching using a thrust diverter should fix most of the problems. Landing on the moon and relaunching would be much easier now than in the Apollo days.

But landing on Mars on an unprepared surface with a ship big enough to carry people is another level of challenge. The idea of taking off from Mars for returning people to Earth might have been set back by the problems with this latest Space X launch.
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Yes. The destructiveness depends on the amount of thrust and Starship is a big beastie, in fact the biggest when it's all stacked up. How that works out on other celestial surfaces we will have to wait and see. Mars dust is allegedly very fine, with only one third G it's liable to whip up a dust storm.
 
NASA has asked for tenders to reposition the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Due to atmospheric drag its orbit has fallen 30km over the 30+ years it has been in orbit. If this continues it will start to become unstable in the 2030s.
www.gizmodo.com.au

There's a New Plan to Relocate Hubble Space Telescope and Extend Its Lifespan

Like any satellite in Earth orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope is sinking, and it’s been doing so for the past 33 years. A proposed solution from two space startups offers an intriguing strategy for safely boosting Hubble’s orbit, allowing NASA to extend the lifespan of its storied observatory...
www.gizmodo.com.au www.gizmodo.com.au
 
This one is a downer for space cadets. The brains ventricles expand over time in microgravity. The health significance of this is unknown, but it's made the space docs recommend 3 years between long duration space trips. .

www.forbes.com

Astronaut’s Brains Need Three Years Off Between Trips, Say Scientists

Researchers studied 30 astronauts before and after space travel and found that it takes about three years between flights for the ventricles in the brain to recover.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com

Having some form of artificial gravity, which at the present time can only be from centrifugal forces, would presumably prevent this.

Another potential problem that artificial gravity might prevent is thrombosis of the internal jugular vein (IJV), a problem rarely seen on Earth, but has occurred in one astronaut who had no medical reason for having it. Follow up ultrasound studies done on the ISS showed significant blood flow reduction in the left IJV in astronauts but less so on the right. A few astronauts exhibited reverse flow of the IJV, which may be the precursor to the thrombosis.

Add to it the significant bone loss and muscle wasting with microgravity, means a trip to Mars may not be the most healthy thing for the crew. I'm cancelling my trip and asking for my deposit back. Some form of rotating compartment/centrifuge may be necessary to maintain astronauts health on trips to Mars. I don't think Mr Musk is planning for this, but perhaps should.

Then there is the radiation, but that's another story.
 
Brian May (yes, the one from Queen) is an astrophysicist who was involved in the asteroid recovery mission Osiris Rex. He has written a book about the project. The asteroid, Bennu, was basically rubble held together by feeble gravity. This presented problems because they found piles of rubble, up to 10m covered the surface leaving very few places for the craft to land. His role was to geneate stereoscopic images of the surface using non stereoscopic images.

www.space.com

Queen legend Brian May helped NASA ace its asteroid-sampling mission, new book reveals

Asteroid Bennu proved a trickster for NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid explorer, rewriting everything scientists had thought about space rocks.
www.space.com www.space.com

You can read more about Osiris Rex mission at the NASA site. The first material is going to be returned a bit later this year before it heads off for another asteroid.

OSIRIS-REx

OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to collect an asteroid sample in 2020, delivered the sample to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
 
Troubled about the meaning of life, the universe and everything? You're not alone, here is the 'Cosmic Question Mark' as seen by the James Web telescope in the near infrared.

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gizmodo.com.au

Cosmic Question Mark Spotted in Deep Space Suggests the Universe Is Stumped

The James Webb Space Telescope captured the eerie punctuation mark, found buried within an image of Herbig-Haro 46/47—a tightly bound pair of actively forming stars located 1,470 light years from Earth. The high-resolution near-infrared image, captured by the Webb Space Telescope, a project from...
gizmodo.com.au gizmodo.com.au
 
CD Xbow said:
Troubled about the meaning of life, the universe and everything? You're not alone, here is the 'Cosmic Question Mark' as seen by the James Web telescope in the near infrared.

3024d1b7eecba319fd0c7a239173a640.png


gizmodo.com.au

Cosmic Question Mark Spotted in Deep Space Suggests the Universe Is Stumped

The James Webb Space Telescope captured the eerie punctuation mark, found buried within an image of Herbig-Haro 46/47—a tightly bound pair of actively forming stars located 1,470 light years from Earth. The high-resolution near-infrared image, captured by the Webb Space Telescope, a project from...
gizmodo.com.au gizmodo.com.au
Click to expand...
Oh man the UFOlogists will have a field day.
 
Chief said:
Oh man the UFOlogists will have a field day.
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It's pretty amazing. But given enough data, you'll find everything. I've been looking through the Webb images and so far I've seen 3 Mother Theresa's, Elvis, and Peta Credlin stirring a cauldron.
 
CD Xbow said:
It's pretty amazing. But given enough data, you'll find everything. I've been looking through the Webb images and so far I've seen 3 Mother Theresa's, Elvis, and Peta Credlin stirring a cauldron.
Click to expand...
I'm waiting for the 42 Galaxy
 
NASA has lost contact with Voyager 2 after a command caused it to misposition itself and lose communication with Earth.

theconversation.com

Voyager 2 has lost track of Earth. Only one antenna in the world can help it ‘phone home’

The Voyager 2 spacecraft is 20 billion kilometres away and has lost track of Earth. A radio dish near Canberra is the only channel for re-establishing communication.
theconversation.com theconversation.com

All communication with Voyager 2 is via NASA’s Deep Space Station 43, the 70-metre radio dish at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex operated by CSIRO. They seem reasonably confident they will, one way or another regain control. The Voyager missions were designed to last 12 years but has continued on for nearly 4x as long as they journey beyond the solar system. Lets hope an alien intelligence doesn't find them, upgrade one, send it back and result in a really bad Star Trek movie.
 
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