For the fifth time in two years Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has had computer problems.
For the fifth time in two years Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has gone into safe mode because of a computer reboot.
Tag: engineering
An update on SpaceX’s Falcon 9, with pictures
Here’s a good inside look, with pictures, at the preparations for the October 23 launch of the second Falcon 9 rocket.
Earliest Kodak color tests
An evening pause: Though this sequence of shots from a 1922 Kodak test of Kodachrome film (possibly the earliest in existence) is hardly the stuff of drama, it is fascinating nonetheless, as it gives as an honest glimpse into the culture of its time. As you watch the different women pose for the camera, ask yourself: Has anything changed?
Second Falcon 9 rocket passes fuel test
The second Falcon 9 rocket passes fuel test in anticipation of an October 23 launch.
Europe to the Moon
First spacecraft to use Earth-Moon L2 point
The U.S. is doing its own satellite maneuvers, placing for the first time a spacecraft into the Earth-Moon L1 and L2 points.
China continues satellite maneuvers
China is continuing the mysterious maneuvers of the two satellites that might have actually touched earlier this month. Key quote:
The maneuvers, which appear to involve rendezvous operations between the SJ-06F satellite and the more recently launched SJ-12 craft, could amount to practice for space station dockings or coordinated satellite observations from orbit. Few folks would have a problem with that. But they also could be aimed at developing the expertise for lurking near someone else’s satellte and eavesdropping, or even knocking that satellite out of commission in the event of a crisis. That’s the worrisome part.
Building a lunar vegetable garden on Earth
University of Arizona scientists have built a hydroponic lunar vegetable garden on Earth. More information here. Key quote:
The membrane-covered module can be collapsed to a four-foot-wide disk for interplanetary travel. It contains water-cooled sodium vapor lamps and long envelopes that would be loaded with seeds, ready to sprout hydroponically.
Government high speed railroad and elections
The federal government’s very expensive and probably unnecessary project to build a high speed railroad line between two cities in Wisconsin — using stimulus money — is having a significant influence on the elections there. Key quote:
With the U.S. economy in shambles and our national debt strangling the country, it doesn’t bode well for Feingold that he supported the wildly unpopular health-care bill, which [challenger] Johnson wants repealed, as well as last year’s big clunker, the stimulus bill. Feingold’s support for the unfunded and bottomless money pit of [high speed rail] doesn’t appear to be working for him either. If an entrenched insider like Feingold loses, it could have serious ramifications for the future of high-speed rail across the country. [emphasis mine]
Space Makes Polymers Hard
The harsh environment of space, normally hostile to most materials, acts beneficially to cure certain epoxy resins. Key quote:
“You don’t have to take it up there in the shape that you eventually want,” said University of Sydney physicist Marcela Bilek, a co-author of the new study. “You can take something in a packaged form, all folded up, and then inflate it in space and have it cure into a mechanically solid structure.”
Read the research paper here.
The pain of spacesuit gloves
The number one injury reported by astronauts appears to be fingernail and hand injuries resulting from the use of spacesuit gloves. Key quote:
A previous study of astronaut injuries sustained during spacewalks had found that about 47 percent of 352 reported symptoms between 2002 and 2004 were hand related. More than half of these hand injuries were due to fingertips and nails making contact with the hard “thimbles” inside the glove fingertips. In several cases, sustained pressure on the fingertips during EVAs caused intense pain and led to the astronauts’ nails detaching from their nailbeds, a condition called fingernail delamination.
Dawn’s status as it heads to Vesta
All systems go! The project engineer of the Dawn mission has posted a very detailed update (as of August 30), describing the spacecraft’s status in its journey to the asteroid Vesta.
WhiteKnightTwo back in the air
Good news for private space! Scaled Composites put WhiteKnightTwo back in the air today, only three weeks after one of its landing gears failed during a landing. You can read the test flight logs here.
ISS’s life expectancy
Engineers are reviewing the life expectancy of the International Space Station, in light of the desire of politicians to keep it operating through the 2020s. Intriguing quote:
Airlines and airplane contractors commonly inspect aircraft for such fractures, but with the space station out of reach more than 200 miles up, engineers rely on complex models to predict their growth in orbit.
Boeing and Space Adventures team up
Boeing, which is now building its own private space capsule, and Space Adventures, the company that flies tourists to space, are apparently teaming up. More details will be announced at a press conference is scheduled for next week.
Scientists develop tractor beam
Scientists develop first tractor beam, although it can only move tiny objects less than two yards. Worse, “because this technique needs heated gas to push the particles around, it can’t work in the vacuum of outer space like the tractor beams in Star Trek.”
Shuttle launchpad to close
Launchpad 39B, where 53 shuttle launches took place, is about to be torn down.
Hair dryer scrubs Danish launch
The reason the Danish privately funded suborbital rocket did not launch on Sunday was because the power had accidently been cut off to an ordinary hair dryer, purchased at a Danish supermarket and installed in the rocket to keep the valve from freezing.
Ares I first stage test firing
An evening pause: One week ago today the rocket company ATK test fired the first stage solid rocket motor of the Ares I rocket. At the moment, no one knows if this rocket will even be built, as the Obama administration opposes it while Congress argues a variety of options. Regardless, watch this video of the test and you will understand why it is fun ito build rockets.
Danish launch scrubbed
The first test launch of that privately funded Danish suborbital rocket had to be scrubbed on Sunday when a valve jammed.