Perché spendiamo un sacco di soldi per andare nello spazio? (Nuove affascinanti immagini)

[Albe89]

Non mi pare che nessuno stia mettendo in dubbio nulla  

erano solo curiosità... 

[TONI]

certo avere i soldi per andare sulla luna e poi fare i tirchi sui nastri di registrazione fa un pò sorridere

[Wilhem275]

Tra due giorni finisce il viaggio di Cassini

 

A me è scesa la lacrimuccia

 

 

 

 

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/grand-finale-orbit-guide/#Final_Orbit

 

Cita

Orbit 293 - The Final Plunge - September 12 - 15

Event Date Spacecraft Time (UTC) Local Time (PDT) Notes Apoapse Sep 12 5:27 a.m. 10:27 p.m. (Sep 11) The start of Cassini's final plunge into Saturn. The spacecraft will downlink to the Deep Space Network at the end of the day. Atmospheric Entry Sep 15 10:31 a.m. 3:31 a.m. Thrusters will maintain attitude control for about a minute. Estimated Earth Received Time (ERT) for Cassini’s final signal (end of mission) is approximately 4:55 a.m. PDT on September 15. (Times are subject to change. See updated times here.)

• During this partial orbit, when Cassini is three and half hours from its expected end of mission, data from the spacecraft’s Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS), and magnetospheric and plasma science instruments are transmitted to Earth in nearly real time, just seconds after each observation is made. Cassini usually holds onto those data for hours or days before turning its high-gain antenna toward Earth to transmit them.
• Unlike the preceding orbits, where the Cassini’s lowest altitudes were chosen to avoid tumbling, the spacecraft trajectory on this orbit intentionally continues all the way into Saturn.
• Cassini continues transmitting as long as possible until the force of Saturn’s atmosphere overpowers the spacecraft’s thrusters and Cassini can no longer point its antenna precisely enough to maintain contact with Earth.
• When the spacecraft’s signal is lost, the Cassini mission comes to an end.

 

Fine segnali prevista per le 13:55 di venerdì (ora europea).

 

Cita

Sept 14
3:58 pm EDT (12:58 pm PDT)	Scheduled time when the final image will be taken by Cassini's cameras
4:22 pm EDT (1:22 pm PDT)	Spacecraft turns antenna to Earth; communications pass begins for final playback from Cassini's data recorder, including final images. Communications link is continuous from now to end of mission (~14.5 hours)	5:45 pm EDT (2:45 pm PDT)
11:15 pm EDT (8:15 pm PDT)	Deep Space Network station in Canberra, Australia, takes over tracking Cassini to end of mission
Sept 15
1:08 am EDT (10:08 pm PDT - Sept. 14)	High above Saturn, Cassini crosses the orbital distance of Enceladus for the last time
3:14 am EDT (12:14 am PDT)	Spacecraft begins a 5-minute roll to point instrument (INMS) that will sample Saturn's atmosphere and reconfigures systems for real-time data transmission at 27 kilobits per second (3.4 kilobytes per second). Final, real-time relay of data begins	4:37 am EDT 1:37 am PDT
3:22 am EDT (12:22 am PDT)	High above Saturn, Cassini crosses the orbital distance of the F ring (outermost of the main rings) for the last time
6:31 am EDT (3:31 am PDT)	Atmospheric entry begins; thrusters firing at 10% of capacity	7:54 am EDT (4:54 am PDT)
6:32 am EDT (3:32 am PDT)	Thrusters at 100% of capacity; high-gain antenna begins to point away from Earth, leading to loss of signal	7:55 am EDT (4:55 am PDT)

Pinpointing a Moment

As Cassini heads for its Sept. 15 plunge into Saturn, the mission team will continue to update their predicted time for loss of signal. This is the predicted time during Cassini's dive into Saturn when the spacecraft is expected to begin tumbling due to increasing atmospheric density, permanently severing the spacecraft's radio link with Earth. At this point the spacecraft's mission is over.

The predicted time for loss of signal changes because of effects from Saturn's atmosphere on each of the spacecraft’s final five orbits. On these passes, Cassini dips briefly into Saturn’s upper atmosphere, which causes drag. This drag alters Cassini’s velocity, which in turn affects when the spacecraft will reach Saturn’s atmosphere on the mission’s final day. More drag makes the spacecraft slow down in its orbit, which can move the end-of-mission time slightly earlier, by seconds or even minutes. The time could move forward slightly if the atmosphere turns out to be less dense than expected based on the previous passes.

Cassini’s flight team reviews the trajectory after each pass to see how the spacecraft's course was affected by the atmosphere. They use the new information to update their prediction of how the remaining passes will further alter the trajectory, and from these predictions they generate an updated time for loss of signal.

 

Modificato 13 Settembre 2017 da Wilhem275

[Cosimo]

che galoppata la cassini. 

 

[ISO-8707]

 

[ISO-8707]

Cita

Metal 3D Printing Capabilities Readied For ISS

 

HOUSTON—Made In Space (MIS), the Silicon Valley 3D printing startup, is fashioning a metal fabrication capability for the in-space production of aluminum, stainless steel and titanium components.

 

The Vulcan Advanced Hybrid Manufacturing System is one of several additive manufacturing advances the company is working on with grants issued through NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. It could be integrated with the company’s Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in March 2016 for the production of polymer parts and components.

 

“Vulcan is unique in that it’s a hybrid additive and subtractive system,” said Andrew Rush, the company’s CEO, in a Nov. 10 phone interview. “We can additively manufacture a metal part to our desired shape. Then we have a subtractive milling head on the same system. It’s a robotic head that will go back and machine out the part to really, really precise tolerances. This allows us to provide some really precise, high-quality and useful objects in space.”

 

So far, the ISS-based AMF has manufactured more than 170 parts, roughly 3 by 5 by 3 in. in size, though the operation could be scaled up to 18 in. on a side. Earlier this year, the seven-year-old company made a third polymer feed stock available to the ISS AMF, polyetherimide/polycarbonate, or PEI/PC, a high-performance aerospace feed stock.

 

MIS, which has been working on Vulcan in its California lab for about two years, is also at work on an in-space metal casting as well as other metal production capabilities that could play an important role in NASA’s human deep-space exploration aspirations, including the proposed human-tended, lunar-orbiting Deep Space Gateway (DSG). The casting technology has been tested in brief zero gravity conditions attained in parabolic aircraft flight, Rush said.

 

“As a company focused on bringing many different techniques and materials to manufacturing in space, we would like to really emphasize the breadth and scope of the different applications and approaches that we have under development,” he said.

 

It is not yet certain when Vulcan might launch to the station.

 

As it matures, additive manufacturing promises to diminish costly resupply missions and requirements to initially launch and provide enclosed storage volumes for critical spares parts aboard spacecraft developed for human deep-space missions.

 

“In terms of how this integrates, we are in a kind of unique position in that we are doing manufacturing in space on a weekly basis aboard the ISS,” Rush said. “So a lot of the concepts of operation and operational cadence that we have developed on the ISS as well as the unique environmental control system we have developed are fusing into the design and development of Vulcan.”

 

At home in the station’s Destiny lab module, the AMF must be operated in ways that don’t allow waste particles to contaminate the cabin atmosphere, a capability that becomes even more essential as Made In Space moves into the production, casting and milling of metal components.

 

If 3D hardware were to become a feature of the DSG, or one of the commercial space station concepts that might succeed the ISS, it could be operated at times when astronauts are not aboard to assure mission planners their spacecraft are sufficiently stocked with critical components.

 

MIS also is working on an upgrade to the space station’s AMF, which will robotically remove 3D parts from their build tray, allowing production to continue when astronauts are not present or busy with other duties.

 

“There’s a really big use case for these innovations,” Rush said. “On the ISS with commercial resupply, there are mass considerations certainly and there are operating considerations. But when you start talking Deep Space Gateway and Mars missions in the future, every gram has to be precise. Being able to stock things by sending their design rather than the items themselves will be just a huge boon and we think a very important shift in the way we do mission planning.”

 

NASA’s space technology directorate also is working with MIS on Archinaut, a development effort to internally equip a spacecraft bus with 3D printing technologies integrated with external robotics. Archinaut would shoulder the in-space production and assembly of large space structures such as trusses, radiators and large phased-array radars, some perhaps in configurations to0 fragile or complex to launch from Earth.

 

Earlier this year, MIS joined with Houston-based Axiom Space, which plans a commercial space station successor to the ISS, to announce plans for the in-space production of optical fibers for terrestrial high-tech applications.

http://aviationweek.com/space/metal-3d-printing-capabilities-readied-iss

 

[ISO-8707]

 

 

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/wheels/

[ISO-8707]

Lancio al tramonto.

 

 

A 3' si può vedere la separazione del 1° stadio e la sua inversione nella scia del secondo.

 

A 4' appaiono le carenature

 

A 6' 40" un'ulteriore accensione del 1° stadio durante il rientro.

 

 

Altro punto di vista.  Qui si nota meglio l'emissione di azoto da parte del RCS per controllare l'assetto

 

 

 

Modificato 23 Dicembre 2017 da ISO-8707

[ISO-8707]

 

[ISO-8707]

L’astronauta dell’ESA Luca Parmitano sarà comandante della Stazione nel suo prossimo volo

 

 

Cita

31 MAGGIO 2018

 

 

Il prossimo anno l’astronauta dell’ESA Luca Parmitano tornerà sulla Stazione Spaziale Internazionale per la sua seconda missione, ed avrà il ruolo di comandante dell’avamposto di ricerca nello spazio durante la seconda parte del volo.

Luca è stato il primo degli astronauti ESA selezionati nel 2009 a volare, nel 2013, sulla Stazione Spaziale Internazionale, dove è rimasto 166 giorni. Durante la sua missione, denominata Volare, Luca ha effettuato due uscite extra veicolari e raccolto dati per molti esperimenti che sono ancora in corso oggi.

Luca ha commentato così la notizia: “Sono onorato che il programma della Stazione Spaziale mi abbia scelto per questo ruolo, ed allo stesso tempo sono toccato da questo compito.”

 

“Essere il comandante delle persone più addestrate e preparate dentro e fuori dalla Terra può essere impegnativo” prosegue Luca, “mi vedo come un facilitatore, il mio scopo sarà di mettere tutti nella condizione di lavorare al meglio delle proprie capacità. In definitiva, però, sono responsabile per la sicurezza dell’equipaggio e della Stazione, e per il successo della missione in generale.”

Sono stato abbastanza fortunato, nella mia esperienza, da lavorare con capigruppo di cui avere ammirazione: farò del mio meglio per seguire il loro esempio e i loro insegnamenti per raggiungere questi obiettivi” conclude Luca.

L’astronauta si sta preparando per il suo secondo volo nello spazio ripassando simulazioni ed allenandosi con i nuovi esperimenti a cui prenderà parte. Al momento è in addestramento in Russia con la navetta Soyuz che lo porterà nello spazio insieme all’astronauta della NASA Andrew Morgan ed all’astronauta della Roscosmos Alexander Skvortsov.

Il trio farà parte della Spedizione 60/61 sulla Stazione Spaziale. È la prima volta che un astronauta italiano sarà comandante della Stazione Spaziale e soltanto la terza per un astronauta ESA nei 18 anni di attività dell’avamposto in orbita. L’astronauta dell’ESA Alexander Gerst è pronto ad assumere la carica di comandante della Stazione Spaziale durante la seconda metà della sua missione Horizons quest’anno.

Luca Parmitano dorme nel suo alloggio sulla ISS. Fonte: NASA

 

“Con due astronauti ESA come comandanti della Stazione Spaziale in un anno, questo è un grande momento per il volo spaziale europeo ed un esempio del carattere internazionale della nostra collaborazione nello spazio”, ha detto il Direttore ESA dell’Esplorazione Abitata e Robotica, David Parker.

“Sono orgoglioso dell’eccellente lavoro fatto dagli astronauti e dai loro istruttori tale da ottenere la responsabilità dell’avamposto abitato nello spazio.”

Orbitando il pianeta a 28.800 km/h, la Stazione Spaziale Internazionale offre spazio per sei astronauti per portare avanti esperimenti per conto di ricercatori di tutto il mondo in condizioni di microgravità, e di testare e dimostrare tecniche necessarie per esplorare ulteriormente il nostro Sistema Solare.

Seguite Luca nei preparativi di missione tramite la pagina lucaparmitano.esa.int

https://www.astronautinews.it/2018/05/31/lastronauta-dellesa-luca-parmitano-sara-comandante-della-stazione-nel-suo-prossimo-volo/