The Space Race

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Going to the moon wasn't valuable science? Also, USA is super rich so going on a trip to the moon is like blowing a wad in Vegas to us.

As much was learned from probes, orbiters and landers as was from the manned lunar missions at a lot less cost, men died remember.

Arrogance also played a large part in men landing on the Moon.

 

[dorsetknob]

Arrogance also played a large part in men landing on the Moon.

Arragance was the main reason America put a man on the moon

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. A number of political factors affected Kennedy's decision and the timing of it. In general, Kennedy felt great pressure to have the United States "catch up to and overtake" the Soviet Union in the "space race." Four years after the Sputnik shock of 1957, the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first human in space on April 12, 1961, greatly embarrassing the U.S. While Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, he only flew on a short suborbital flight instead of orbiting the Earth, as Gagarin had done. In addition, the Bay of Pigs fiasco in mid-April put unquantifiable pressure on Kennedy. He wanted to announce a program that the U.S. had a strong chance at achieving before the Soviet Union. After consulting with Vice President Johnson, NASA Administrator James Webb, and other officials, he concluded that landing an American on the Moon would be a very challenging technological feat, but an area of space exploration in which the U.S. actually had a potential lead. Thus the cold war is the primary contextual lens through which many historians now view Kennedy's speech.

from the NASA Archives
http://history.nasa.gov/moondec.html

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

quoted from Oxford Universiity Press

http://blog.oup.com/2014/07/apollo-11-moon-landing/

sending men to the moon in 1969 did not make sense to a majority of Americans in the first place, let alone continuing with an ambitious effort to send astronauts on to Mars or permanent space colonies, as advocates urged. In fact, with the exception of a brief period following Apollo 11, poll after poll in the late 1960s revealed a public that disapproved of the high cost of the moon race, the rush to complete it before 1970, and the misplaced priorities it represented. Beneath all the celebratory rhetoric and vague notions that Apollo somehow changed everything was a realization that it really had not changed much at all. It certainly did not inaugurate any “new era” in history, as many assumed it would. Instead, Americans grew indifferent to the program shortly after the first landing, as the rapid dismissal of Armstrong from the national consciousness indicated. In 1970, the final three planned Apollo missions — what would have been Apollos 18, 19, and 20 — were cancelled, and few Americans complained.



40 Years After Moon Landing: Why Is It So Hard to Go Back?

http://www.space.com/7015-40-years-moon-landing-hard.html

 

[Drone]

The Orion spacecraft service module stacking assembly interface ring and stack holding stand are secured on a special transportation platform and are being loaded into NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

 

[Easy Rhino]

As much was learned from probes, orbiters and landers as was from the manned lunar missions at a lot less cost, men died remember.

Arrogance also played a large part in men landing on the Moon.

Going to the moon was about beating Russia there. Like I said, it didn't matter if it made financial sense, we just wanted to show that we could do it. But going to the moon has actually been a very important learning experience now that many are pushing to put people on Mars.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

On June 30, 2015, debt held by the public was $13.08 trillion or about 74% of the previous 12 months of GDP.[5][6][7][8] Intragovernmental holdings stood at $5.07 trillion, giving a combined total gross national debt of $18.15 trillion or about 102% of the previous 12 months of GDP.[7] $6.2 trillion or approximately 47% of the debt held by the public was owned by foreign investors, the largest of which were the People's Republic of China and Japan at about $1.3 trillion and $1.2 trillion respectively for the two countries.

from wilki

I'm going to do something radical here, and ask for you to review your own posts for logical consistency.

You've compared an apple, an orange, and a banana here. Your conclusion is therefore that a banana is a crap apple, which is a true but useless statement.


1) In the 1970's the US had a National debt.
2) Said national debt of 2015 bears no weight on our debt in the 1970's.
3) The space race was about the US measuring up to Soviet Union.
4) Science completed on the moon, during all of our visits, has been vital to the understanding of our universe.
5) Human life, in this context, is not nearly as valuable as one would like to imagine.

Let's start with the national debt. Here's a good pictographic source:
http://goldsilverworlds.com/money-s...-gold-price-ratio-long-term-charts-till-2012/

It seems like we've been operating with a debt for longer than anyone here has been alive (assuming you aren't 70+ years old). Despite this, the US has managed to amass great wealth and power. I'm not saying that arrogance hasn't come back to bite us, but we've effectively managed to place ourselves in a situation where forcing us the pay that debt back would destroy us and our debtors. Nothing quite like MAD (mutually assured destruction) to make pushing the button look like a bad idea to everyone. I'm not saying this is great, but it is a thing.


The science done for the missions is amazing. We had to advance rocketry (read: why we can launch satellites now), we developed new technologies (microwaves, velcro, and tang are pretty awesome in my book), and most importantly we did science. How do we know that the moon is traveling away from the Earth; that's bouncing light off of a mirror an measuring travel time to get accurate distance. How do we know what the surface composition is (lunar regolith); that's samples brought back from those astronauts. Why can't we get back there now; unfortunately that's because of rovers. It's a fraction of the cost to send a rover somewhere, they can stay there longer, and they can do all of that without potential contamination. NASA's great problem is monetary, and the simple fact that their rovers have become such a monetary boon that nobody wants to risk sending the, significantly more costly and less effective, astronauts. Seriously, money is the biggest motivation here.


Finally, to the point of human life I'd suggest you reevaluate. This is going to be callous, but how many people died in early planes? What about early automobile accidents? How about voyages across the ocean to find "the new world." Heck, what about those who died when the Europeans brought their diseases to the new world? I'm sorry, but you're going to need to do better here. As callus as it sounds, we are a relatively fast breeding and numerous species. Losing even a few hundred represents a statistical anomaly. More humans are killed in their bathrooms every year than the space program has lost in its entire existence. Sorry, but until I see you claiming that we need bathroom guards your point is irrelevant.

 

[dorsetknob]

No Need to review my post
Easy Rhino said

Also, USA is super rich

Grammar tense = Present = USA is super rich
Grammar tense = Past = USA was super rich
Grammar tense = Future = USA will be broke

My post related to the present as referred to by Easy Rhino and as such needs no review

2) Said national debt of 2015 bears no weight on our debt in the 1970's.

For all your maths (Meaningless) the debt of the 70's has rolled and Accumulated into the Debt of 2015

That's the way it works Debt from one year is carried over into the next year and the next + accumulated interest on that DEBT pay the total debt off and sure then it does not get carried over to the next year

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

But going to the moon has actually been a very important learning experience now that many are pushing to put people on Mars.

We should learn that putting men on other planets is too expensive.

 

[dorsetknob]

We should learn that putting men on other planets is too expensive.

Yes Expensive
BUT there is Some Need for Grunts on the Ground
Situations will arise where said grunts will need to make decisions no machine can make in the time window available for such decisions to be made

Need i point out it was the 3 grunts that made instant decisions on Apollo 12 that...................well we know the rest

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

No Need to review my post
Easy Rhino said


Grammar tense = Present = USA is super rich
Grammar tense = Past = USA was super rich
Grammar tense = Future = USA will be broke

My post related to the present as referred to by Easy Rhino and as such needs no review

There's a reason that I asked for logical consistency, rather than pedantic conjugation (though you are right on that point). Here's the logic.

The race to put man on the moon was pretty much fruitless, grossly expensive (and one sided) as was proved by the US missions there, golf, really?

The race to build habitable space stations and do valuable science? well, read the thread and thank the USSR.

Or are you saying the US "won" the Moon at no cost ?

Spoiler

This is what was being responded to. In that context, the US is rich. It was one of the world's two super powers (at the time). It did things that were immeasurably costly, instead of simply (the US spent money developing a zero G pen, while the Russians simply used a pencil). We were competing to see who had the largest e-peen, before there was a thing such as the internet. In the context of the original space race, this is what was happening.

You've taken what was perhaps very poorly worded, and you've made it a statement about today. A today in which the USSR doesn't exist (but had to exist for the conversation), and the next manned moon mission is likely to be from China.


I don't argue that the US is likely past our glory days. Hell, our country managed to dig a gigantic debt hole without even providing our citizens with healthcare like the EU. Let's be really honest though, this is about space. Our country could theoretically stop all war efforts, shrink the army by 98%, reduce foreign aide, and subsequently erase national debt in the next two decades, but that wouldn't revitalize the space program. It definitely wouldn't suddenly increase the amount of manned missions to the moon. That's why I cited 3 different things for comparison. National debt, the propensity for manned space flights, and the US's massive ego are three separate issues. You've conflated the three, without really understanding them.

I don't honestly blame you here. It's easier to cite debt as a motivation for a lack of funding to NASA. The reality is that it isn't debt which limits us. We proved that even with debt, we would rise to a challenge. At the same time, the rest of the world "needing" military intervention so the US can feel safe (read: something I thoroughly don't subscribe to) has drained our need to compete with anyone else, especially when its something we've already done. I cite logical consistency because you've conflated debt with a lack of space missions, whereas it's ego which would trump any debts to revitalize our space program.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

@lilhasselhoffer you have a very confusing way of confusing a simple matter, confated or otherwise.



Space Race News

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/11/super-strypi-spark-inaugural-launch/

Super Strypi conducts inaugural launch – Fails during first stage

Developed by a partnership of Sandia National Laboratories, Aerojet Rocketdyne and the University of Hawaii, the Super Strypi – which is also known as the Spaceborne Payloads Assist Rocket Kauai, or SPARK – forms part of the Low Earth Orbiting Nanosatellite Integrated Defense Autonomous System (LEONIDAS) program to develop a low-cost system to place small payloads into orbit for the US Department of Defense at relatively short notice.

 

[Easy Rhino]

We should learn that putting men on other planets is too expensive.

I do not disagree!

Also to dorsetknob, the USA is super rich. Super in debt but still super rich

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

No Need to review my post
Easy Rhino said


Grammar tense = Present = USA is super rich
Grammar tense = Past = USA was super rich
Grammar tense = Future = USA will be broke

My post related to the present as referred to by Easy Rhino and as such needs no review


For all your maths (Meaningless) the debt of the 70's has rolled and Accumulated into the Debt of 2015

That's the way it works Debt from one year is carried over into the next year and the next + accumulated interest on that DEBT pay the total debt off and sure then it does not get carried over to the next year

1) I will apologize for misunderstanding. Apparently Easy Rhino wasn't referring to the historical context. I made an error, by assuming when I tried to understand their position.


2) I don't think you respect math because you don't seem to be able to do it. This point extends to reading graphs. I'm being blunt here, because you seem to have a kindergarten grasp of economics and math in general. Especially the fact that debt rolls over as a matter of course. As you seem to hate numbers so, allow me to twist the knife. The US budget last year was $3.18 Trillion. That would pay for a hell of a lot of missions if we were so inclined.

National debt indicates how much more we spend, versus that which we take in. It can be nullified or added to with each budget. Yes, the US is in debt but not a paralyzing one such as you seem to propose. Most certainly not one that would view a couple of trips to the moon as any real expense.

As to your inability to read a graph, I'll make this simple. We had a national debt when the first astronauts landed on the moon. It didn't stop us then. This is immensely hard to miss, assuming you took even a cursory glance at the graph. If not, then let me be even more plain, running a national debt has never stopped the US from buying a single bomb or gun. If the race to get back to the moon mattered we'd find the monetary means to do it. As I said earlier, we could make that national debt disappear is we gave everyone else in the world the finger. Even if we did, and it took 20 years, the simple truth is that in year 21 we wouldn't have a huge push to do anything. There definitely wouldn't be a push for manned exploration. To conjecture that debt is a direct influence on this shows such a fundamental misunderstanding of politics and economics as to warrant question to the validity of any of your assertions.



Every time I justify something with numbers you issue the same challenge. You issue a distaste for thought. I'm getting tired of the joke, because ignorance is the only thing you seem to pedal. "The US national debt is high, therefore the US must not have a lot of economic power" is you attempting to use a number incorrectly to justify an idea. I'm going to issue the same challenge you continue to issue me. If you cannot think clearly, then stop talking. You comment on US economics, without a grasp of them. You comment that math is not something you need to prove a point, then when you attempt to use it fail because you don't understand what the numbers mean. Help me understand, what is it that you've brought to the conversation? It isn't a fact based opinion. It isn't an understanding of US economic. It isn't even anything more than a trollish comment that the US is poor. Help me here, what's the end game. Other than a banner for ignorance I'm not seeing the point.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Nasa give SpaceX its first contract to send astronauts to the International Space Station.

Elon Musk's rocket manufacturing company was given the green light to send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming years.
The announcement was a formal step in a process that began earlier this year when Boeing was given the nod by NASA to send crew to the orbiting outpost by late 2017.

The announcement of $4.2 billion for Boeing and $2.6 billion for SpaceX was made in September 2014.
Boeing announced in January that it would be the first, sending a piloted mission aboard its CST-100 Starliner capsule by late 2017.
However, NASA said that 'determination of which company will fly its mission to the station first will be made at a later time.'
SpaceX is already flying cargo missions to the ISS, and is working on a crew version of its Dragon capsule to carry astronauts.
The announcement marked the 'second in a series of four guaranteed orders NASA will make under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts,' the US space agency said.
'The Boeing Company of Houston received its first crew mission order in May.'

The ISS is expected to remain operational until 2024.

Since the shuttle program ended in 2011, the world's astronauts have relied on Russia's Soyuz capsules for transport at a pice of some $70 million per seat.
'The authority to proceed with Dragon's first operational crew mission is a significant milestone in the Commercial Crew Program and a great source of pride for the entire SpaceX team,' said Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating office of SpaceX.
'When Crew Dragon takes NASA astronauts to the space station in 2017, they will be riding in one of the safest, most reliable spacecraft ever flown. We're honored to be developing this capability for NASA and our country.'

Crew Dragon will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida from NASA’s historic Launch Pad 39A where American astronauts shot to space and the Moon atop America’s Saturn V Moon rockets and the Space Shuttle orbiters.

At a later date NASA will decide which company will fly the first commercial crew rotation mission to the ISS.

Both the CST-100 and Crew Dragon will typically carry a crew of four or five NASA or NASA-sponsored crew members, along with some 220 pounds of pressurized cargo. Each will also be capable of carrying up to seven crew members depending on how the capsule is configured.

SpaceX Crew Dragon will blast off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for missions to the International Space Station. Pad 39A is undergoing modifications by SpaceX to adapt it to the needs of the company’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which are slated to lift off from the historic pad in the near future. A horizontal integration facility (right) has been constructed near the perimeter of the pad where rockets will be processed for launch prior of rolling out to the top of the pad structure for liftoff. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com


Restoring America’s ability to once again launch US astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) from US soil on US rockets took another significant step forward when NASA ordered the first the agency’s firstcommercial crew rotation mission from the Hawthorne, California based-company SpaceX. NASA and SpaceX hope that the blastoff with a crew of up to four astronauts will take place by late 2017.
The new Nov. 20 award from NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) office to launch the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule follows up on an earlier commercial crew rotation mission award this past May to the Boeing Company of Houston to launch its CST-100 Starliner astronaut crew capsule to the ISS.

First view of the Boeing CST-100 ‘Starliner’ crewed space taxi at the Sept. 4, 2015 Grand Opening ceremony held in the totally refurbished C3PF manufacturing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. These are the upper and lower segments of the first Starliner crew module known as the Structural Test Article (STA) being built at Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF) at KSC. Credit: Ken Kremer /kenkremer.com

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

The Amazon.com entrepreneur Jeff Bezos has claimed success on the second flight of his New Shepard spaceship.

VIDEO
https://www.blueorigin.com/#youtube9pillaOxGCo

Both parts of New Shepard - the capsule and its propulsion unit - landed safely, Mr Bezos' company said.

On the maiden outing in April, the propulsion module was lost on the way down because of a hydraulic failure.

True to his way of working, the US billionaire gave no specific notice of the flight, stating last week only that another mission would occur "very soon".

This means all the video and information about the event have come out directly from Mr Bezos' space operation, Blue Origin.

New Shepard has the capability to transport six individuals to just above 100km in altitude. It reached this mark during Monday's test, ascending to 329,839ft (100.5km).

Its propulsion unit is designed to take off and land vertically so that it can be used time and time again.

Following the test flight, that unit touched down just 4.5ft (1.4m) off the centre of the target pad.

The pressurised passenger capsule separates from this booster at high altitude, its momentum carrying it into space, before it too comes back to make a soft touchdown via a set of parachutes.

The astronaut vessel would also be put back into service.

The idea of a fully re-usable space vehicle has been a hard one to realise.

A number of concepts have been tried, with varying degrees of success. But nobody has yet taken a design to full commercial exploitation - something Mr Bezos aims to change.

New Shepard's astronaut module, unmanned at this stage, landed safely via parachutes

The propulsion unit also landed safely, lowering itself vertically

New Shepard is likely to fly in the first instance as a platform for science, allowing researchers to run experiments during the few minutes of weightlessness experienced in the capsule at the top of its arc. This commercial offering could start as early as next year.

These unmanned missions would help prove the vehicle's readiness to carry fare-paying passengers.

The business model being proposed is similar to that of Virgin Galactic and Xcor - two other American companies that are also developing sub-orbital vehicles.

Their offering differs in that they will be flying rocket planes that take off and land from a conventional runway.

Despite his somewhat secretive approach, Mr Bezos has announced a number of major space initiatives of late.

His company Blue Origin will provide the engines for the next generation of the rocket that today launches Nasa's interplanetary probes and many of America's national security missions.

Blue Origin has also taken control of one of the historic launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Mr Bezos wants this to be the home of a big re-usable rocket that could deliver people and satellites into orbit.

Last week, the self-confessed space geek put on display a refurbished Saturn V rocket engine.

The power unit, which helped hurl the Apollo 12 mission off Earth in 1969, had been recovered by the entrepreneur from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin_New_Shepard

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Unashamedly replaying this video because it is so brilliant,

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Boeing 747 'Cosmic Girl' will be the mothership for LauncherOne

Future missions of Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne satellite carrier will see it 'piggybacking' on a 747 jumbo jet.

The Boeing plane, nicknamed Cosmic Girl, will be used to carry the firm's craft to high altitude before the craft blasts into space.

The 747-400 will be modified so the LauncherOne can be mounted underneath its wing, meaning the launcher has an increased maximum payload capacity of up to 881lbs (400kg). The rocket will be mounted to the carrier aircraft under the left wing, near to where a fifth engine on the jet can be carried. Rather than launching from a traditional spaceport, by 'piggybacking' on the Boeing jet, LauncherOne could be deployed from commercial airports. It will be released at an altitude of approximately 35,000ft (10,668 metres).

Once released from the jet, the LauncherOne rocket will fire up its single main stage engine, a 73,500 lbf, LOX/RP-1 rocket engine called the 'NewtonThree.' Typically, this engine will fire for approximately three minutes.

After stage separation, the single upper stage engine, a 5,000lbf LOX/RP-1 rocket engine called the 'NewtonFour' will carry the satellite into orbit.

This second stage will burn multiple times for almost six minutes.

Both the NewtonThree and the NewtonFour have been designed, tested and built by Virgin Galactic.

At the end of this sequence, LauncherOne will deploy the on-board satellite into its orbit.

Both stages of LauncherOne will be safely deorbited, and the carrier aircraft will return to a predetermined airport, where it can be prepared for its next flight.


Initial inspections and tests of Cosmic Girl have already been completed and, prior to the start of the wing modification, a regularly scheduled maintenance check will be conducted by VT San Antonio Aerospace.

According to the company's engineers, the 747-400 is an 'ideal' launchpad because of its rocket carrying capacity.

It also has long range and all-weather capability, and most importantly, can take off from most commercial airports.

LauncherOne is described by the company as 'an affordable dedicated ride to orbit for small satellites'.

It is aimed at commercial and government customers and cost under $10 million (£6.6 million).

Virgin Galactic boss George Whitesides added: 'Air launch enables us to provide rapid, responsive service to our satellite customers on a schedule set by their business and operational needs, rather than the constraints of national launch ranges.

'Selecting the 747 airframe provides a dedicated platform that gives us the capacity to substantially increase our payload to orbit without increasing our prices.'

Virgin Galactic founder said .

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

After Weather Cooperates, Atlas Rocket Launches Cygnus Cargo Craft to ISS

it took four tries for the weather to cooperate, but on Sunday afternoon, a Cygnus cargo spacecraft loaded with 3.3 metric tons of critical crew supplies launched toward the International Space Station. Riding to orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for the very first time, Cygnus lifted off right at the start of a 30-minute window at 4:44 p.m. EST (21:44 UTC). This is the first Cygnus to reach orbit following the destruction of an Antares rocket in October 2014.

"The countdown was exceptionally smooth, said Vern Thorp, the NASA mission manager for United Launch Alliance. "It was one of those countdowns that makes it look kind of boring."

Three consecutive launch attempts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday were called off due to high winds, clouds and precipitation at Cape Canaveral, Florida. A bleak forecast yesterday prompted controllers to scrub several hours ahead of launch time in order to give ground crews extra rest.

Today, Air Force forecasters predicted a 70 percent chance of favorable weather, and winds at launch time were within acceptable limits.

"We're done talking about the winds for the week, Thorp said. "We've been talking about winds all week, and that's enough."

Following liftoff, the Atlas quickly disappeared into cloud cover. But NASA TV viewers were treated to stunning live views courtesy of cameras aboard the rocket. A shot from the Centaur upper stage showed the sun slowly dipping toward Earth's horizon as the vehicle crossed the Atlantic Ocean into nightfall.

Centaur-Cygnus sunset
The sun dips lower on the horizon as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V Centaur upper stage pushes an ISS-bound Cygnus supply spacecraft across the Atlantic Ocean.

At the time of liftoff, the International Space Station was near Bermuda. The crew, including current station commander Scott Kelly, viewed the launch from the station's window-filled Cupola:




A couple of Raspberry Pis are on the way to the International Space Station at last, after a resupply launch delayed three times due to bad weather finally hauled itself into orbit.

Raspberry's Astro Pi space case
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/astro-pi-flight-case/

The original launches suffered rain last Thursday and high winds on Friday and Saturday, but things finally went smoothly Sunday evening for the Cygnus launcher.

The Raspberry Pis are joining Brit astronaut Tim Peake, with students last year offered a competition to have some of their code run in space under the Astro Pi competition.

As Raspberry explained back in May, the space-bound Pis needed some fairly dramatic case-mods for the space environment.

“There is a rule that any surface, that the crew can touch, must not reach or exceed 45 degrees Celsius. Our Jonathan Bell and SSTL’s Nimal Navarathinam did extensive thermal simulations to work out the requirements”, the company says.

Without gravity, convection isn't as efficient on the ISS as on Earth (it relies solely on fan-driven air-flow). Having an all-over heatsink helps avoid any part of the case exceed that 45°C upper limit

The successful launch also broke an altitude record for the devices, as the company later Tweeted

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

China's dream of leading the way in space technologies took a giant leap forward as its revolutionary 'near-space' airship successfully took to the skies for the first time over Inner Mongolia.

The blimp, called 'Yuanmeng', is billed by the Chinese media as the world's first airship to be built equipped with sustainable energy panels and whose flight can be controlled remotely, according to a report by People's Daily Online.

The ship, which will be able to carry out data relay, communication, high-def observation and spatial imaging functions, flew for 22 hours at a peak of 65,000ft during its first test flight in mid-October before returning to earth.

The project to design and launch the 60,000 cubic feet behemoth - the same volume as ten professional swimming pools - was jointly developed by Nanjiang Space and Beijing University of Astronautics and Aeronautics (BeiHang).

The bright silver craft, which was lifted into the skies using helium, runs on the solar energy it generates through its panels during orbit and can carry up to around 660 lbs of weight on board.

'Near-space' is a region of the Earth's atmosphere between 65,000 ft and 328,000 ft, and is too high for traditional aircraft to penetrate safely.

'The biggest challenge for the near-space airship is the big temperature difference in the day and night,' said Yu Quan, an academic from the Chinese Academy of Engineering - an issue that the new craft is trying to solve.

Liu Dongxu, associate manager of Nanjiang Space, said: 'Near space offers a bridge between aviation and space exploration.'

'We had little previous experience to draw upon in terms of the environment we are dealing with. It has very specific requirements for the material and the overall performance of the aircraft.'

Finding precisely the right material to allow the craft to reach near-space has been a challenge for scientists over recent years, but it appears that the problem is nearing a solution.

Interestingly, given China's recent history of purely designing space technologies for military uses, it has been announced that the new craft will be used for civilian purposes as well.

China has made no secret of its desire to innovate in the field of space exploration, crystallised in the promise made by President Xi Jinping to pursue to 'space dream of the Chinese nation' in 2013.

Expert scientists have previously estimated that China spends over $1 billion dollars (roughly $6 billion yuan) on its space programme every year.


The first portion of China's long awaited space station, Tiangong 2, could be launched as early as next year, as well plans for three more blimp test flights to be sent into near space during 2016.

The purported success of the appropriately-named 'Yuanmeng' - which translates as 'to fulfill a dream' in English - may come as a surprise to NASA, which launched a contest to design and build a similar craft at the end of 2014.

Entries for the agency's '20-20-20 Airship contest' were meant to be submitted by January this year, but no results or updates from the contest's organisers have so far been announced.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014AAS...22441805K

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

For the first time an ISS crew has landed after dark and only the sixth in the history of the Soyuz

Their return to Earth comes just days before Britain's first official astronaut Tim Peake
will blast off for the ISS from Kazakhstan with American Tim Kopra and Russian Yuri Malenchenko. 15/12.15

Recovery crews quickly removed the astronauts from the capsule before they were carried to waiting all terrain vehicles (pictured)

The 141 day mission to the International Space Station was Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui's first mission into space, yet he looked happy to be back safely on Earth




I saved the best pic till last

Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA captured this image from aboard the International Space Station, of the Dec. 11, 2015 undocking and departure of the Soyuz TMA-17M carrying home Expedition 45 crew members Kjell Lindgren of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) after their 141-day mission on the orbital laboratory. They landed safely in Kazakhstan at approximately 8:12 a.m. EST (7:12 p.m. Kazakhstan time).

Expedition 46 continues operating the station, with Kelly in command. Along with Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos, the three-person crew will operate the station for four days until the arrival of three new crew members. NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) are scheduled to launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Dec. 15.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

All the best Tim

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Launch embiggens Galileo satnav fleet

http://livestream.com/ESA/galileo11-12/videos/107207642

Europe is now two satellites closer to firing up its Galileo satnav system following the launch today of Galileos 11 and 12.

The pair blasted off from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, atop a Soyuz rocket at 11:51 GMT. While the Russian lifter hoisted the satellites into low orbit, the final task of getting them to their final Medium Earth Orbit at an altitude of roughly 23,500km is a job for the restartable, autonomous Fregat upper stage.

The satellites and Fregat (right) separate from the Soyuz upper stage (left). Artist's impression by ESA/J.Huart

The Galileo project kicked off in earnest back in October 2011, with the launch of two operational satellites as part of the In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase of the programme. Two further IOV satellites were sent heavenwards in October 2012, before the "Full Operational Capability" (FOC) launches commenced.

With today's lift-off, the Galileo FOC fleet aloft now comprises eight satellites. Galileos 5 and 6 launched in August 2014. Galileos 7 and 8 departed planet Earth back in March 2015, followed by Galileos 9 and 10 in September.

The full-fat system, comprising 24 operational satellites and six orbiting spares, is due to be up and running by 2020, offering one-metre accuracy. The European Space Agency says: "The Galileo navigation signals will provide good coverage even at latitudes up to 75 degrees north, which corresponds to Norway's North Cape - the most northerly tip of Europe - and beyond.

"The large number of satellites together with the carefully optimised constellation design, plus the availability of the three active spare satellites per orbital plane, will ensure that the loss of one satellite should have no discernible effect on the user.


BIG BUT

The US military has announced that if ...
Galileo doesn't comply / match the US GPS system crippling regimes, such as over a war zone - which might be the whole world - they will destroy Galileo satellites.

Meanwhile we have the Russian GLONASS system - currently GLONASS-K - GLONASS compatible GPS receivers can acquire satellites up to 20% faster than devices that rely on US-GPS alone. It is less accurate than the US-GPS system but now covers the world. GLONASS has better performance in dense urban areas.

Many smartphones sold in the Far East are Glonass ready. GARMIN has dual system receivers (see their web site) but activating GLONASS may require changing the Satellite System setting to GPS+GLONASS from the Setup System menu.

The standard-precision GLONASS signal offers horizontal positioning accuracy within 5–10 metres, vertical positioning within 15 metres (49 ft), a velocity vector measuring within 10 centimetres per second (3.9 in/s), and timing within 200 ns, all based on measurements from four first-generation satellites simultaneously - the minimum required by receivers.
The Chinese Beidou system - whose name translates as "Big Dipper" - the system is able to pinpoint locations to within 33 feet (10 m). The US' GPS system currently relies on 24 satellites, China aims to have 35 in the constellation by 2020.

Thankyiu @dorsetknob for feeding my head with this.

 

[Finners]

Anyone watching the spacex launch and attempted landing right now?

 

[dorsetknob]

yes at space.com
nice clean first stage landing (successful )

 

[Finners]

Impressive indeed!

What happens to the second stage now? Is that recovered?