Tag: Perseverance Mars Rover

Space News for August 2020.

Without doubt the big news for this month is the successful conclusion of the Space X crew demo 2 manned mission. The mission of astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley began back on the 30th of May 2020 as their Space X Dragon capsule blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The very next day the spacecraft followed up its successful launch by docking at the International Space Station (ISS). For the last two months Behnken and Hurley have served as regular members of the ISS crew with Behnken even participating in two EVAs.

Splashdown of Space X’s demo1 capsule. The safe return of astronauts Behnken and Hurley completes the first manned space mission by a commercial company. (Credit: Space News)
The Demo1 capsule safely aboard the recovery ship. Space X intends to reuse their capsules as a part of their program to reduce the cost of space travel. (Credit: Space.com)

The mission of Space X crew demo 2 however was to demonstrate the ability of the Dragon capsule to take astronauts into, and back from space. So in order to complete their mission on the first of August Behnken and Hurley climbed back aboard their capsule and undocked from the ISS. The next day the Dragon fired its retro-rockets to slow its orbital speed so that it could reenter the atmosphere.

The whole operation went without a hitch; the capsule endured its fiery descent caused by friction with the atmosphere before first a pair of drogue parachutes and then four big main chutes brought the capsule velocity to less than 15kph. The most notable part of the whole reentry procedure was that this was the first American manned splashdown in 45 years. (The space shuttle you may recall, landed like an airplane on a runway).

So what’s next for the Space X Crew Dragon spacecraft? Well remember this mission was actually the last of the demonstration missions required by NASA to qualify the Dragon for taking their astronauts back and forth to the ISS. The next mission will officially begin NASA’s Commercial Crew Program with a mission to the ISS. That launch, the commercial crew 1 mission is currently scheduled for 23 October 2020. NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker will be joined by Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi for a full six-month tour aboard the ISS.

Official poster for the upcoming Space X commercial Crew 1 mission to the ISS. (Credit: Reddit)

And NASA and Space X have also just announced the crewmembers for the commercial crew 2 mission scheduled for the spring of 2021. NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur will serve as mission commander and pilot respectively. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European astronaut Thomas Pesquet will join Kimbrough and McArthur as mission specialists.

And the Space X corporation has even more news to celebrate, on August the 4th the SN5 prototype of Space X’s planned Starship rocket successfully completed its first short powered flight. Now Space X has had its share of problems in previous attempts at this first test flight. While one of the earlier prototype simply collapsed under its own weight several others actually exploded in spectacular fashion. But engineering is trial and error and eventually Space X got it right. Now this first test was only a short 150m hop but if you follow the link below to the youtube video below you’ll see that the rocket was under complete control the entire flight.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1HA9LlFNM0

It sure doesn’t look much like a rocket but it sure flew with more control than any rocket ever! (Credit: New Atlas)

Still, this is only the beginning, the final starship rocket envisioned by Space X founder Elon Musk is projected to be 120m in height, four times that of its SN5 prototype. So there’s still a lot of work still to do before Space X can even begin its long term plans for using the starship rocket for the colonizing of the Moon and Mars.

Artist’s impression of Space X’s eventual starship rocket for travel to the Moon and Mars. (Credit: Techcrunch)

Believe it or not there is some space news that doesn’t deal with Space X. On July 30th NASA launched its latest rover on a mission to Mars. Perseverance will reach the red planet in February, landing in the Martian crater Jezero. Perseverance is the first rover vehicle designed to be able to look for signs of ancient life on Mars. The rover also carries with it a small helicopter as a demonstration model which if successful would become the first man made aircraft to fly anywhere outside of the Earth.

Launch of the Perseverance rover on its way to Mars. (Credit: BBC.com)

 Finally there’s good news in the preparations of the Lucy space probe for its mission to the Trojan asteroids scheduled for launch in October of 2021. Despite problems caused by the Covid-19 virus on 27 July the mission planners passed their System Integration Review. This will now allow assembly of the space probe to begin at Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems facility in Littleton, Colorado, where all of the mission systems are to be integrated onto the spacecraft’s main bus. Once assembly is completed testing of the entire probe can then begin.

NASA has to have a patch to commemorate every mission, here’s Lucy’s. (Credit: Twitter)

The schedule is tight, the mission planners are hoping to use a flyby of Mars as a gravity boost to speed Lucy on its 12 year mission so if they miss their October 2021 deadline they’ll have to wait another two years to launch. During its mission Lucy will visit as many as seven different asteroids making it in many ways the most complex mission ever attempted.

Space News for April 2020.

Like everything else nowadays even developments in space exploration are being impacted by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. With the disease spreading like wildfire even NASA hasn’t been spared with personnel at both Cape Kennedy and the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston having been tested as positive for the virus. In fact the need for ‘Social Distancing’ by the space agency’s personnel has seriously affected, if not actually brought to a halt the work on nearly every NASA program.

This includes the final tests and preparations for the James Webb space telescope, which was due to be launched just a year from now in March of 2021. The space telescope itself is currently in California where it had been undergoing its final assembly and testing. However California’s governor has ordered that all ‘non-essential’ workers remain at home so the entire effort on NASA’s largest unmanned program has come to a complete halt. How much of a delay this will add to the already behind schedule launch of the Webb telescope is impossible to say at present.

Shortly after this last unfolding test of the main mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope all work was halted due to the threat of Covid-19. (Credit: Space News)

However there are other programs that simply cannot be put on hold for one reason or another. The new Mars rover, recently given the name ‘Perseverance’ is perhaps the best example of this. You see the spacecraft’s launch window, the period of time when Mars is in the right position relative to Earth in the Solar system for a spacecraft to reach it, is only open during July and August of this year. If Perseverance doesn’t launch during that time frame then the mission will have to be delayed for a full 26 months until the next window opens in late 2022.

Technicians in Florida working on the Perseverance Mars rover can’t stop work. The rover has to launch in July or August! (Credit: CNN.com)

Because of that hard deadline NASA personnel are working around the clock on the final preparations for the spacecraft’s launch. Fortunately Perseverance has already been delivered to Cape Kennedy and is now undergoing prelaunch assembly but there’s still a considerable amount of work remaining. And even with the threat of a covid-19 shutdown looming over their work the technicians at Kennedy still have to do a meticulous, almost perfect job, anything less could compromise the success of the entire mission.

Part of the preparations for Perseverance’s launch included the last test here on Earth of the little drone helicopter that will accompany Perseverance down to the Martian surface. Before being packed into the rover vehicle for its long trip the helicopter’s two rotor blades were spun at 50 RPM on a test stand, the last time they will spin before they do so in the thin Martian atmosphere. While the helicopter is not considered an integral part of the Perseverance mission, officially it is referred to as a technology demonstration, if successful the little drone will take the first flight of any manmade object on another planet.

Final test of the little Helicopter that will travel to Mars aboard the Perseverance Rover. It’s now got to be packed up and made ready to go! (Credit: NASA JPL)

Another mission that could be delayed because of Covid-19 is Space X’s long anticipated first manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was only a few weeks ago that Space X announced that this long awaited first manned mission of their Dragon capsule would take place the second week of May. That time frame however could very well put the mission right at the peak of the pandemic in Florida! Since this first mission of NASA’s commercial crew program is already more than two years behind schedule perhaps the wisest course at present would be to just delay the mission until well after the pandemic has run its course, until September or even later.

An unmanned Space X crew Dragon docking at the ISS. The first manned mission is scheduled for May but will Covid-19 cause a delay? (Credit: Space News)

Speaking of the ISS, what happens to the astronauts who are aboard the station if Cape Kennedy has to be shut down because of the pandemic?  While the astronauts themselves may be safe from Covid-19 their supply chain is definitely threatened by the situation here on Earth. All of the countries that are capable of resupplying the ISS are dealing with severe coronavirus outbreaks that may limit their ability to launch unmanned supply ships.

The Crew aboard the ISS may be safe from any viruses but what about their supply link with Earth? (Credit: NASA)

No doubt if the supply situation on the ISS should become critical then either the US or Russia would certainly, and ‘carefully’ assemble a resupply mission, but what if that launch should fail? In any case there is certainly a great risk that the normal operations of the ISS will be curtailed because of the virus.

The expedition 63 crew to the ISS was just launched from Russia after a prolonged quarantine period to make certain they weren’t infected with Covid-19 (Credit: NASA)

All of this is just another sign of how much the coronavirus outbreak is now dominating almost every aspect of human life, and not just here on Earth.