NASA says Artemis I Mission is proceeding as per plan

The Orion spacecraft, which is at the core of NASA’s historic Artemis I mission, reached its farthest distance from Earth. It shattered the earlier record for the maximum distance a spacecraft designed to carry humans has ever traveled. NASA confirmed that the Orion capsule had reached about 270,000 miles from Earth. This is the midpoint of its uncrewed mission around the moon. This distance is more than 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the moon. Apollo 13 mission in 1970 holds the previous record for the farthest a human-rated spacecraft has traveled. That mission had humans on board and it had stretched out to 248,655 miles from our home planet. The goal of the present Artemis I mission is to test the Orion capsule to its limits. The objective is to ensure that the vehicle is ready to host humans. The trial run is part of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since the 1970s. In a program of this nature, there could be problems and these have not posed any problems. Orion Program Manager Howard Hu said the spacecraft’s performance has been “outstanding.” In fact, the spacecraft is outperforming expectations in some respects. An example is producing about 20 percent more power than needed. NASA’s Orion spacecraft reaches record-breaking distance from Earth on Artemis I mission. The satisfactory progress of work impressed NASA. It plans to add seven additional mission objectives. These will gather additional data about the spacecraft’s capabilities and performance.

The spacecraft will swoop back toward the moon before firing its engines exit its current trajectory and head back toward Earth. The Orion capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on December 11. Experts will keep a watch on the behavior of the heat shield. After landing, Orion must safely deploy parachutes to ensure a gentle ocean splashdown. A NASA recovery ship will be ready to haul the Orion capsule to safety. The success of Artemis I mission will mean NASA will proceed to choose a crew to fly on the Artemis II mission. This could take off as soon as 2024. Its mission would be to fly around the moon but not land on its surface. That will be mission of Artemis III in 2025. It will be unique because it will include the first woman and the first person of color to achieve such a milestone.

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NASA shelves Artemis I unmanned mission to the moon and back while China tries to keep abreast of America

China is becoming Asia’s rapidly growing space power. It is progressing on its own program to put both robotic and crewed spacecraft on the lunar surface. It wants to keep pace with NASA-led achievements. Ambitious plans of China include sample-return missions from the Moon, landings at the South Pole and sending astronauts there on a short-term visit. In 2024, there are plans to collect rock samples from the far side of the moon. Incidentally, in 2019, China became the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon. Subsequently, Chang’e-5 mission in 2020 carried out the first sampling of lunar material in over four decades. It brought 1.731 grams of lunar rocks to Earth. Then Chang’e-6 plans to collect fresh samples. China’s Moon Missions Shadow NASA Artemis’s Pace. Study of these samples could provide answers to the geological past of the Moon. That is what a planetary scientist of the University of Manchester, England.

The next mission would be Chang’e-6 in 2024. It will focus on the lunar south pole where NASA plans to land Artemis 3 crewed mission. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the country’s main space contractor. It is developing a new rocket that will be specifically meant for launching astronauts beyond low Earth orbit. NASA is leading humanity’s journey to the moon, but China is not too far behind. It is gradually accumulating capabilities for its long-term ambitions.

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Russia could vacate International Space Station by 2024

The International Space Station launched in 1998 has been in operation since 2000. Scientists and astronauts from different countries have worked in this sky lab located 250 miles above Earth. In spite of difference in policies and ideologies, this space lab is a venture where the USA and Russia joined hands with a common objective to promote space research. They have carried out studies on various aspects of working in space in order to evaluate the effects of alien environments on humans. They worked on animals, plants, other living organism, and as many as nine countries worked on the ISS. Over the past more than two decades, they have conducted space walks, repaired portions of the space station from the outside and have participated in festivals like Christmas.

It seems Russia has taken a decision to dissociate itself from the International Space Station after 2024. It wants to focus on creating its own orbital outpost. This has been reported in the media. Russia to quit International Space Station ‘after 2024.’ Obviously, the cooperative program between Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada, and Japan would no longer exist. In the course of an ISS conference for NASA in Washington, an official said they did not want the US-Russia space relationship to end. Space agencies all over the world are trying to break new frontiers in space. They have the Moon and Mars on their radars. With a combination of robotics and artificial intelligence at their command, they want to explore unknown territories – they are in search of natural resources available on other planets.

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Russian Soyuz space capsule back on Earth with three astronauts from the ISS

A Russian Soyuz space capsule has brought back three astronauts from the ISS and has landed in Kazakhstan. The three astronauts who have come back to Earth are from the United States, Japan and Russia and they are back from a 115-day mission aboard the International Space Station.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 31 October 2016.

The landing happened near Dzhezkazgan on the treeless Central Asian steppes. The three who returned are Kate Rubins of NASA, Japan's Takuya Onishi and Anatoly Ivanishin of Russia. They were removed from the capsule and then sat on the steppes still in their capsule seats as they gradually readjusted to the forces of gravity after nearly four months in weightless conditions. Subsequently, they were shifted to a nearby medical tent for initial examination.
With their return, the three who remain on the ISS are Andrei Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhykov of Russia and NASA astronaut Robert Shane Kimbrough. They have arrived on October 22 after a two-day voyage.
Incidentally, the trip back to Earth was much quicker for the three returnees today - it took about 3 1/2 hours from undocking until landing. It landed upright and that made the extraction of the astronauts quicker than when capsules land on their sides.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to sow lettuce

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), have taken to farming in preparation of Mars mission at a future date. They have made a beginning by planting their third on-orbit crop of red romaine lettuce. It was done by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough who initiated the Veg-03 experiment. This is one of his first science assignments as a new crew member aboard the orbiting laboratory.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 26 October 2016.

The astronauts are making use of plant growth system called 'Veggie' for their experiment. The Veg-03 crop will be the the team's first on-orbit attempt at a new, repetitive harvest technique termed ‘Cut-and-Come-Again'. As explained by Nicole Dufour, NASA's Veggie project manager, once the plants are approximately four weeks old, a selection of leaves can be harvested for a bit of fresh lettuce and possibly science samples. Some leaves will be left in as-is condition along with the core of the plant, and it will continue to grow and produce more leaves.
The experiment will, in the long run, increase the on-orbit crop yield, and allow for more opportunities to supplement the diet of astronauts with fresh, nutritious food from the same plants. This is an important goal of the ‘pick-and-eat' food concept.
Astronauts on future long-duration space missions will have to grow their own food to supplement their diets.
Incidentally, using the Veggie plant growth facility aboard the station, Veg-03 builds on the successes of previous studies, including Veg-01, which resulted in the first-ever on-orbit harvest and sampling of fresh produce during the summer of 2015. Various techniques that will emerge from Veggie crops will assist NASA to prepare for the Journey to Mars.


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President Barack Obama vows to help send people to Mars in the next 15 years

Colonization of Red Planet Mars is being talked about and President Barack Obama has vowed to help send people to Mars within the next 15 years. He has indicated that the U.S. government would link up with private companies 'to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space.'
He has set a tentative goal of sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth. The ultimate objective is to remain there for an extended time.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 11 October 2016.

President Obama also went on to say that the US is working with its commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration Mars mission in deep space. Such missions will help learn how humans can live far away from Earth - that is something that will be vital for the long journey to Mars.
Already the California-based SpaceX, headed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, also has plans to send people to Mars in the coming years. But, it has recently faced an unsuccessful launch last month that cost the company a $200-million satellite.
anyway, a journey to Mars would take about nine months, depending on rocket velocity. A high-speed trip could take as little as 130 days. But, the issue of taking enough food and water into space to feed astronauts on a months or years-long mission to deep space is going to be a major logistical problem.


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NASA receives 18,300 applications for a handful of astronauts of the future

NASA is on a recruitment mission and has received a total of 18,300 applications from Americans of various backgrounds - the numbers have smashed the previous record of 8,000 set back in 1978, and is almost three times the number of applications received in 2012 when the space agency last put out the call.
This has been reported in digitaltrends.com dated 22 February 2016.

The window for applications had remained open for nine weeks before closing last Thursday and it will now be an 18-month process through which NASA will identify between eight and fourteen highly competent candidates to undertake assignments of an astronaut.
Beginning 2017, the final selection of hopefuls will have to undergo nearly two years of initial training on spacecraft systems, spacewalking skills and teamwork, Russian language, and other requisite skills. Those who complete the training program will be given technical duties at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Later thy would be assigned to either the International Space Station, NASA’s Orion spacecraft for deep space exploration (Orion’s first manned space flight beyond the moon could happen in 2023), or one of two American-made commercial crew spacecraft currently in development – Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner or the SpaceX Crew Dragon.
It is expected that a few of these talented men and women will become the astronauts who will once again launch to space from U.S. soil on American-made spacecraft. Right now with the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet five years ago, NASA has to rely on Russian rockets to get its astronauts into space. The U.S. is now getting ready to return to the fold with manned launches from home soil.


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British astronaut Major Tim Peake to go for a six and half hour spacewalk out of the ISS

#spacewalk #astronauts #timpeake British astronaut 43-year-old Major Tim Peake is going for a six hour spacewalk out the International Space Station - it will be the first ever spacewalk by a Britisher. His task is to repair a faulty power unit and, along with him would be Tim Kopra. They will face a race against the clock to conduct the repair in brief moments of darkness as the space station hurtles around the Earth.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 15 January 2016.

Major Peake is an astronaut of the European Space Agency and Britain's first official astronaut on the ISS. He and Flight Engineer Kopra will have just 31 minute windows to install a new sequential shunt unit in total darkness outside the ISS.
Once outside the ISS, they will be hurtling at 17,227mph above the surface of the Earth. It takes 93 minutes for the ISS to orbit Earth once, therefore, the astronauts would get to experience 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every day. The spacewalk, in scientific terms, is known as Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) and, Major Peake has revealed that among the tools that they will take with them outside ISS to help install the new power unit is a modified toothbrush to help clean the connections.
Major Peake and Flight Engineer Kopra would be spending nearly six and a half hours outside the ISS during the EVA. Even though the repair of the power unit is expected to take around 15 minutes if all goes smoothly, they will spend the rest of the time laying new power cables and doing other work outside the ISS. All the necessary tools are either clipped onto their spacesuit’s ‘Mini Work-Station’ or stowed inside tool bags in the order that they would be needed.

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Canadian Space Company awarded patent for Space elevator to carry astronauts 20-Km up into space

With every passing day, new ideas are opening up in the field of space exploration and the space elevator is the latest entrant. Once a concept, it could very soon become a reality because a Canadian space company has recently been awarded a patent for just that.
Its space elevator could reach up to 20-Km above the Earth's surface and, once operational, astronauts would take off for space missions from this elevator. It is, no doubt, in the conceptual stage but have been billed as a cheaper alternative to rocket launches. This would be especially true when it comes to sending heavy objects or people into space.
This has been reported in space.com dated 17 August 2015.

As explained by Thoth Technology Inc., the company that has been awarded the patent, the space elevator would be 30 percent cheaper than the fuel required by a conventional rocket. Moreover, it would be a fully reusable system and that would reduce the costs still further.
The sequence of events would be - astronauts would ascend to 20 km by electrical elevator and from the top of the tower, space planes will launch in a single stage to orbit. They will return to the top of the tower for to refuel and take off again.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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How to protect Mars from contamination by germs from planet Earth

#planetmars #curiosityrover #astronauts #apollomission The search for life on the Red Planet Mars has been taken up by various agencies and the time has now come to work out methods of how to protect the environment of Mars from contamination by germs from our planet Earth. This is a major task as reported in space.com dated 11 February 2015 because life on the alien plane would be mostly of microbes and contamination could prove disastrous.
The questions that would naturally arise are - how can it be ensured that microbes from Earth do not hitchhike to the Red Planet and spread there? Obviously, it would be necessary to ensure that once a spacecraft is there on the surface of Mars, there must be mechanisms to protect the environment from changes that could hurt any existing Martian life.
At the other extreme is the question – if we do come across some form of life on Mars, how would it affect us humans? As biologist John Rummel, currently a visiting scholar at McGill University, has put it – no one would want to contaminate what we want to study. And, in case there is any life out there, how safe would it be to bring it back to Earth either robotically, or through Mars astronauts returning to Earth.
The problem would mostly arise in habitable locations on Mars - Curiosity rover mission, which landed on Mars in 2012, has come across a probable site around Gale Crater. There was ample evidence of past water in the form of an ancient stream bed. Obviously, these are danger prone areas where contamination could occur and which must be kept in check.
Incidentally, during the Apollo missions, when astronauts returned to Earth, they were placed under quarantine for 21 days.