NASA & World Space Exploration...News, Views, Photos & videos

jackliu

Banned Idiot
Re: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

It tells me that NASA wanted more people in orbit for research. If the rocket is that great in payload capacity how come there's only 3 crew members the max? Meanwhile the shuttle can take up to 6 crew members or more easily. The shuttle is more mission flexible as the cargo bay area can be used as space lab while in LEO and carrying robotic arm to bring in satellites that needs fixing. Can't do that with a space capsule could ya (no don't count docking modules)?

You are talking about Soyuz and SZ craft, which can only hold 3 people because that is the way it is designed, however the Dragon capsule of SpaceX holds up to 7 people and it is shaped very much like traditional Soyuz design. And there is nothing prevent it sending up a dozen people using conventional ball shape design.

What you describing is nothing more than the feature of Space Shuttle, but everything that Shuttle can do, a more cheaper and safer design can do as well, there is really nothing about shuttle can do and a conventional cheaper design can't. It is very possible to develop high thrust rocket that have 2 or more payloads, with the manned capsule at the top, and other payload at bottom, they would separate when in space and it would take a few orbit to align them together if spacewalk is needed.

Or they can just send up the crew rocket and payload in two different system, and it will still be WAY cheaper and safer than Space Shuttle.
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
Re: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

You are talking about Soyuz and SZ craft, which can only hold 3 people because that is the way it is designed, however the Dragon capsule of SpaceX holds up to 7 people and it is shaped very much like traditional Soyuz design. And there is nothing prevent it sending up a dozen people using conventional ball shape design.

What you describing is nothing more than the feature of Space Shuttle, but everything that Shuttle can do, a more cheaper and safer design can do as well, there is really nothing about shuttle can do and a conventional cheaper design can't. It is very possible to develop high thrust rocket that have 2 or more payloads, with the manned capsule at the top, and other payload at bottom, they would separate when in space and it would take a few orbit to align them together if spacewalk is needed.

Or they can just send up the crew rocket and payload in two different system, and it will still be WAY cheaper and safer than Space Shuttle.

In space flight there is no such thing as cheaper and/or safer forever, just risks and rewards. So before the Dragon Capsule gets done, was there any other rocket that can compete with the space shuttle crew capacity? How many rockets throughout man's history of space flight did you see has cargo bay for a robotic arm and for loading and launching satellites all without a need for module docking?
 

jackliu

Banned Idiot
Re: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

In space flight there is no such thing as cheaper and/or safer forever, just risks and rewards. So before the Dragon Capsule gets done, was there any other rocket that can compete with the space shuttle crew capacity? How many rockets throughout man's history of space flight did you see has cargo bay for a robotic arm and for loading and launching satellites all without a need for module docking?

The better question is, is there anything that space shuttle can do that anything else can't? Answer is NO.

A even better question is, instead of developing the space shuttle, can NASA use the fund to develop a system much cheaper than Space shuttle and get the job done? Answer is YES.

Your argument is that Shuttle have such and such features, and others does not, therefore it makes the shuttle superior, my argument is that shuttle over promised on it is feature, cost and safety factor, which cannibalize many other opportunity that would have been done if Shuttle was not developed.

Even the head of NASA had something to say about the Space shuttle.

NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin argued in a 2007 paper that the Saturn program, if continued, could have provided six manned launches per year — two of them to the moon — at the same cost as the Shuttle program, with an additional ability to loft infrastructure for further missions:

If we had done all this, we would be on Mars today, not writing about it as a subject for “the next 50 years.” We would have decades of experience operating long-duration space systems in Earth orbit, and similar decades of experience in exploring and learning to utilize the Moon.

Go read all of this page then we'll talk, or I feel like we are going in circles.

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Equation

Lieutenant General
Re: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

The better question is, is there anything that space shuttle can do that anything else can't? Answer is NO.

A even better question is, instead of developing the space shuttle, can NASA use the fund to develop a system much cheaper than Space shuttle and get the job done? Answer is YES.

Your argument is that Shuttle have such and such features, and others does not, therefore it makes the shuttle superior, my argument is that shuttle over promised on it is feature, cost and safety factor, which cannibalize many other opportunity that would have been done if Shuttle was not developed.

Even the head of NASA had something to say about the Space shuttle.

NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin argued in a 2007 paper that the Saturn program, if continued, could have provided six manned launches per year — two of them to the moon — at the same cost as the Shuttle program, with an additional ability to loft infrastructure for further missions:

If we had done all this, we would be on Mars today, not writing about it as a subject for “the next 50 years.” We would have decades of experience operating long-duration space systems in Earth orbit, and similar decades of experience in exploring and learning to utilize the Moon.

Go read all of this page then we'll talk, or I feel like we are going in circles.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The shuttle is superior in orbiting missions, meanwhile the Saturn V rocket types are for lunar missions. If I were NASA I would want to keep both. One will always need a space plane type for orbital docking to transport of people and cargo, meanwhile the rockets could be use to colonized the moon and transportation of goods and construction equipment. Basically I wanted to point out is that the rocket can't be a substitute for the shuttle, and vice versa.
 

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
Re: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

The shuttle is superior in orbiting missions, meanwhile the Saturn V rocket types are for lunar missions. If I were NASA I would want to keep both. One will always need a space plane type for orbital docking to transport of people and cargo, meanwhile the rockets could be use to colonized the moon and transportation of goods and construction equipment. Basically I wanted to point out is that the rocket can't be a substitute for the shuttle, and vice versa.

Yeah, its easy to be criticle of the shuttle, when one resorts to applying all the hindsight in the world.
 

Franklin

Captain
Re: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

This story is cute.

Israel, The Third Nation on the Moon?

Won't Israels neighbors be jealous? but what else is new............

If all goes according to plan, by December 2012 a team of three young Israeli scientists will have landed a tiny spacecraft on the moon, explored the lunar surface, and transmitted live video back to earth, thereby scooping up a $20 million prize (the Google Lunar X Prize), revolutionizing space exploration, and making the Jewish State the third nation (after the U.S. and Russia) to land a probe on the moon. And they’re doing it in their spare time.

The three engineers – Yariv Bash (electronics and computers), Kfir Damari (communication systems), and Yonatan Winetraub (satellite systems) all have high-level day jobs in the Israeli science and technology world, and also both teach and study. They all had heard of the Google Lunar X Prize independently, before being introduced by mutual friends who, as Yonatan puts it “thought we were all crazy enough to do it, so we should meet each other.”

By the end of November 2010 they had sketched together a novel plan to win the prize and submitted it to organizers. Only on December 21 (10 days before the December 31 deadline) did they set about raising the $50,000 entry fee. “Like good Israelis we left it to the last minute,” Yonatan laughs.

Since then they’ve recruited around 50 volunteers from across the Israeli science and technology community and have gained support from academic institutions, including the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science (founded in 1933 by Chaim Weizmann, himself a successful chemist who went on to become Israel’s first president). They’re operating as a non-profit (“we’re looking for stakeholders,” says Project Coordinator Ronna Rubinstein), and any winnings will be invested in promoting science among Israeli youth.

The X Prize’s organizers say their competition is intended to attract “mavericks” who “take new approaches and think creatively about difficult problems, resulting in truly innovative breakthroughs.” They see the moon as a largely untapped resource, and believe that “inexpensive, regular access to the Moon is a critical stepping stone for further exploration.”

Maverick and creative thinkers the Israeli trio appear to be: According to the X Prize organizers, the 29 competing teams will spend between $15 million and $100 million on the project, with the earliest launch not scheduled until 2013. The Israelis aim to spend less than that (around $10 million) and to launch before 2013.

“One of reasons that we’re able to do this,” Kfir (who started programming aged six and wrote his first computer virus aged 11) explains, “is because of our different perspective. Most space missions aim to last many years and so have to be built in a certain way. Ours doesn’t have to last as long. This saves cost.”

Another way the team intends to keep costs down involves utilizing existing technology that just hasn’t previously been linked up for this purpose, rather than spending a new fortune. Naturally the team isn’t releasing specific details of the technology they’re using, but they’re confident that they’ve got what they need.

And once they’re on the moon? “The actual robot will be something the size of a coca-cola bottle,” says Yonatan. “Think about it – a cell phone has most of the capabilities necessary for communication and imaging, and to that we need to add a hopper” to move around the moon. “Simple” really. And the impact of this? “Once we do this it will break the glass ceiling,” Yonatan adds, “and show that space exploration doesn’t have to be expensive.”

As to why they got involved? “Three reasons,” say Yonatan, “Creating national pride, really putting Israel on the map as a start-up nation by doing something only the superpowers have done, and reigniting Israeli interest in science.” And it’s the third – rejuvenating interest among Israeli youth in science – that’s closest to these young scientists’ hearts.

In the 1960s and 1970s, they say, many young Israelis pursued careers in science, in part inspired by the American space program. Today that isn’t the case, and the number of high school seniors majoring in science is constantly declining. “We want to show that science isn’t just about sitting in a lab all day,” says Kfir.

In 1919 French hotelier Raymond Orteig offered $25,000 for the first non-stop flight between New York City and Paris. Eight years later Charles Lindbergh, considered an underdog, won the prize by making the crossing in his “Spirit of St. Louis.” That not only changed the way people saw flying, but how they saw the world.

The X Prize was inspired by the Orteig Prize, and if the “Spirit of Israel” is successful they can certainly count on changing how young Israelis see science and how others see Israel. They may also change how we all see the universe.

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bladerunner

Banned Idiot
Re: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

Daydreaming beyond the solar system with warp field mechanics

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By Catherine Ragin Williams


.. the Red Planet or an asteroid are enticing destinations, but what if one day we wanted to go really, really far out? With the technology we have today, it’s not in the realm of possibility. But it could be … and the Eagleworks Laboratories at Johnson Space Center are doing the mathematics and physics required to find the answers that defy traditional Newtonian laws.


It’s the same space, and the same standard of time, but if we can theoretically manipulate it for our purposes, interstellar flight could be an option on a future technology roadmap.
“The first question you might start with is, ‘How hard is interstellar flight?’” said Dr. Harold “Sonny” White, Advanced Propulsion Team lead. “The Voyager 1 spacecraft is sometimes lifted up as our first interstellar spacecraft. It’s not a very big fella—it’s just a little bit under a metric ton, and it’s been going on now for about 33 years, headed straight out away from our solar system about as fast as it can go.”
If you stuck a measuring stick out to it, it’s about 119 astronomical units (AU) away from the sun. (An AU is the distance from the sun to the Earth.)

“It’s one of the highest energy objects that’s been launched to date,” White said. “Nothing that we’ve launched will catch up with it or has comparable energy levels. But if you wanted to predict how long it would take to get to the nearest star system, like Alpha Centauri, it would take around 75,000 years to get there.”

In terms of our galactic neighborhood, Alpha Centauri is right around the corner at 4.3 light years (271,931 AUs), so 75,000 years would not be ideal—especially for a human crew. But if you threw a bunch of power and propulsion behind it, then what?
Back in the 1970s, the British Interplanetary Society looked into what it would take to send a robotic probe to reach Barnard’s Star, about 6 light years (or 380,000 AU) away, within 50 years. Oh, just a 54,000-thousand-metric-ton spacecraft—92 percent of which is fuel. And, if you’re curious, that mass is well over 100 times the mass of the International Space Station.
“When somebody comes with this study result telling me it takes 54,000 metric tons to go and do something interstellar within 50 years, that just tells me we need to be looking at some other loopholes in physics to see if we can find some other ways to make it a little bit more tractable,” White said.

The loopholes, amazingly, can be found in mathematical equations. Those equations are tested using an instrument called the White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer.

“We’ve initiated an interferometer test bed in this lab, where we’re going to go through and try and generate a microscopic instance of a little warp bubble,” White said. “And although this is just a microscopic
instance of the phenomena, we’re perturbing space time, one part in 10 million, a very tiny amount.”
By harnessing the physics of cosmic inflation, future spaceships crafted to satisfy the laws of these mathematical equations may actually be able to get somewhere unthinkably fast—and without adverse effects.
“The math would allow you to go to Alpha Centauri in two weeks as measured by clocks here on Earth,” White said. “So somebody’s clock onboard the spacecraft has the same rate of time as somebody in mission control here in Houston might have. There are no tidal forces, no undue issues, and the proper acceleration is zero. When you turn the field on, everybody doesn’t go slamming against the bulkhead, (which) would be a very short and sad trip.”
When you think space warp, imagine raisins baking in bread.
“When you put dough in a pan there’s little raisins in the bread. As you cook the bread, the bread rises and those raisins move relative to one another,” White said. “That’s the concept of inflation in a terrestrial perspective, except in astrophysics it’s just the actual physical space itself that’s changing characteristics.”

But for futuristic space travel, we aren’t going to be a passive player.
“We’re trying to do something locally so that we compress the space in front of us and expand the space behind us in such a way that allows us to go wherever we want to go really fast while observing the 11th commandment, ‘Thou shall not exceed the speed of light,’” White said.
While we are trying to reach neighbors within our solar system for the time being, we cannot help it if visions of distant star systems exist in our daydreams. Perhaps a “Star Trek” experience within our lifetime is not such a remote possibility.
 

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
Re: World News Thread & Breaking News!!

50 Years of Incredible Space Images From the European Southern Observatory


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The link below leads to some interesting aspects of the cassini voyage while the artile itself has sub links to some very interesting photoes of Titan. imo its well worth a look.


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New Roles Eyed For Europe’s Versatile Cargo Tug

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