#orbital flight

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Map of Outer Space. Newspaper section from the July 9th edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer - 1961.

[beyondcloverbed]

Mission Log 2: First Artificial Moon

A momentous breakthrough! For the first time in history, an artificial moon is currently in orbit around our planet! The satellite, designated “Probe 1” during construction, was a comparatively complex design using several experimental ideas for its creation. However, the mission profile has exposed some rather serious concerns for future missions.

Above: Probe 1 in assembly building.

Probe 1 was built, quite simply, as an experiment to see how an object in orbit would behave; as the atmosphere tends to restrict how freely one can build, the only real way to test these effects was to launch something and see what would happen. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Probe 1 was built with several simple experiments:

A geiger counter, to take a radiation reading above the atmosphere.

A container filled with blue ice cream. We don’t know where it came from, or who wanted to eat it, but we figured it would be safer to send it as far away as possible.

A built-in reaction-control system, using a hypergolic fuel formerly used in rocket-powered aircraft. This would test the probes ability to maneuver and orient itself.

A camera, with which to take the first pictures from outer space, as well as visually record the experiments.

Simple transmission-and-reception antennae, to test the capability and effectiveness of radio communications.

Above: Q7 on the Woomerang launchpad, moments before launch. Probe 1 is housed in the bulbous fairing atop the rocket. The yellow grids at the base are clamps in place to hold the rocket steady until launch.

With the probe ready for launch, we assembled a new Q7 rocket as our launch vehicle. This rocket, larger than any assembled before, was set to test both a more efficient dual-motor rocket engine as well as our first attempt at building a 2-stage design. With a 2-stage rocket, there are essentially two different rockets built into the same frame; the bottommost rocket launches the vehicle on an escape trajectory, while the upper stage would put the payload - the probe - into orbit.

Above: The first picture of our planet and the Sun from space, taken by Probe 1.

Q7’s launch profile, while adequate enough to reach orbit, exposed a serious problem: the probe and rocket were so far away, radio control was lost because the probe had moved out of range. For almost half the time inbetween liftoff and orbit insertion, the rocket was almost completely uncontrolled, save for engine activation. Unfortunately, most of Probe 1’s fuel reserves had to be used to further push itself into a properly stable orbit around the planet, so the maneuvering tests were unable to be performed; however, the probe did successfully enter orbit, and was able to transmit pictures from space when it came back in range.

This leads to problem number two: power and battery life. Probe 1 had enough electrical charge to stay active for a day, at most, but had simplistic solar panels installed on its sides to keep it active for longer. While these panels functioned adequately, they did encounter problems when passing behind the planet. With no sunlight, the probe came dangerously close to shutting down before ti was able to enter sunlight again. Further missions will need a much better reinforced power supply, to maintain activity and radio communication for longer periods.

Despite these challenges, the achievement is nothing to shirk at. The first manmade satellite in orbit, and our first pictures from beyond the atmosphere...

[stone-cold-groove]

The Amoco Map of Space Mysteries. Promotional poster provided by Amoco - 1958.

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Manned Space Flight. Informational poster provided by General Electric - 1961.

[stone-cold-groove]

Spacecraft U.S.A. Promotional poster from Westinghouse Electric Corporation - 1960.

[bytetrending]

Starship: Latest Updates, Development & Future Plans

Inside a Historic Moment: Starship’s 10th Flight Test Achieves Full Success Olá, Entusiasta !A SpaceX alcançou nesta terça-feira (26) um dos mais importantes marcos no desenvolvimento do seu sistema de transporte espacial Starship/Super Heavy. No décimo voo de teste, realizado a partir da base de lançamentos da empresa em Boca Chica, no sul do Texas, o veículo conseguiu, pela primeira vez…

Starship: Latest Updates, Development & Future Plans

[newsfind]

Rocket Production Announcements : orbital flight

Rocket Production Announcements : orbital flight

SpaceX stated that it intends to increase rocket production as it will attempt to reach its goal of bringing the Starship into orbital flight before the end of 2020. The announcement came from the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, who was speaking about the organization’s progress. Musk also stated that if the company will complete its orbital flight goals, it will need to be continuously producing new…

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[wildwoman22]

Bright Light of Humanity over the Edge of Space! How calm, quiet and beautiful there is... You see how horizon curves itself? The next time some idiot on the internet will be argued, that yet the Earth is flat ... Hit his head in wall for me, maybe he/she wakes up.