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Thursday, January 21, 2021
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Luxembourg Goes Hunting For Asteroids

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"Luxemburg Goes Hunting For Asteroids"

The space program is to be called LuxIMPULSE.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – This little country isn’t one you hear about every day, but as Luxembourg goes hunting for asteroids now, it might grow popular. This small nation has teamed up with Deep Space Industries, a US company, to become the first spacefaring European nation.

The space program is to be called LuxIMPULSE. This partnership between the two far-apart countries aims to build a small spacecraft. It is going to be named Prospector-X and will measure 30 cm in length. Prospector-X is going to be built in Europe, at Deep Space Industries’ new headquarters in Luxembourg. The small spacecraft will consist of three CubeSat units and solar panels. A navigational system made out of two cameras will operate close to the space targets. Additionally, electrothermal thrusters and radiation-tolerant avionics are to be built in.

This tiny spacecraft is to be sent into low Earth orbit sometime in the upcoming years. If the mission gains success, further asteroid-mining spacecrafts will be sent out in space after the year 2020. Their mission will be to search for water and minerals.

This sudden interest in asteroids is due to a controversial bill signed by US President Barack Obama. The bill gives ownership of the extracted asteroids materials to the US companies who conducted the space missions.

The tiny nation of Luxembourg now wants to show the world that space isn’t just for the biggest world powers. But it does help having an American partner while you’re making your entry in the space discovery game.

For those that wonder what the ultimate goal of the mission is, you should know that the American company has big plans ahead. Deep Space Industries’ goal is to build huge structures in outer space. These structures should be able to house thousands of humans. But in order to get to that futuristic point, Daniel Faber, CEO of Deep Space Industries, says that asteroids extracting is essential in order to make resources available.

There is a constant thirst for information about the Universe. The quest for development beyond the limits of the Earth is also an increasing desire for scientists. As Luxembourg goes hunting for asteroids and enters the race for space, it may give an impulse to other small nations to involve themselves in space missions. After all, opportunities are not lacking for those who want to make the most of them.

IMAGE SOURCE: DeviantART

New Engine Design could Take Astronauts to Mars in 3 Days

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"New Engine Design could Take Astronauts to Mars in 3 Days"

If NASA manages to pull this off, then a trip to Mars shouldn’t last longer than 3 days.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Are you tired of being called out a landlubber? Then here’s a chance to earn your reputation among the stars. Ever dream about drifting in space or walk on the surface of Mars? It takes a while to get there, of course, but NASA’s got a plan to shorten the trip. According to the space agency, the new engine design could take astronauts to Mars in 3 days.

It’s no big news that NASA’s planning a trip to the Red Planet. But before we can even think about embarking on probably the most awing adventure in the history of mankind, we should probably pause for a brief moment to gather our stuff.

According to the NASA, or the big chief when it comes to space travel, given the technical advances made in the last decades, the length of a trip to the Red Planet has been reduced from a few years to a couple of months. Still, with all the gizmos we have right now, a trip to Mars will take about 6 to 12 months. And that’s not even the beginning.

Apart from the length of the journey, we should also take into account what we need in order to reach the planet safe and sound. A stout spacecraft is the first item on the list, followed by lots of fuel and oxygen. Moreover, we should also be concern about what we eat on the way to Mars.

All of these necessities add extra weight to the spacecraft, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that extra weight means less speed. Presently, NASA’s working on improving the existing propulsion system, most of them working on chemical fuels.

But, you don’t get to be number one in a profession if you don’t know how to stay ahead of the competition. Naturally, NASA’s got a backup plan, but whether this plan will work or not, remains to be seen.

The space agency announced that, theoretically, the new engine design could take astronauts to Mars in 3 days. How is this possible you ask? With high-power lasers. Currently, NASA’s working on a plan to construct a functional laser propulsion engine. According to their plan, such a propulsion system could reduce the time it takes the shuttle to reach Mars from a year to 3 days.

How does it work? The spacecraft will use electromagnetic acceleration instead of chemical acceleration. This means that the craft will be outfitted with the intense light source system, which will slingshot the craft into interstellar space.

Trouble is that the technology is currently under research and the costs associated with such an endeavor are too great. Another limitation of this project is the spacecraft’s design. Even if NASA came up with the blueprints for such an Asimovian propulsion system, the spacecraft will have to be redesigned from scratch.

And based on the technology’s potential, the laser propulsion system will only be able to launch very light shuttles into space. NASA estimates that the system could theoretically send a 100-kilo shuttle to Mars in three days.

Unfortunately, given our know-how, the propulsion system in very tricky to build and it requires a heap load of money. Whether or not NASA will stick to the traditional chemical acceleration, remains to be seen.

Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org

Juno Prepares to Set Course to Jupiter

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"Juno Prepares to Set Course to Jupiter "

The spacecraft will arrive near Jupiter on the 4th of July at approximately 8.18 pm.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT –It would seem that space is not the final frontier after all. This is what the intrepid spacecraft Juno wants to demonstrate. Recently, the ground control from NASA announced that the flying space lab will soon pack up its stuff in order to head on over to Jupiter. Juno prepares to set course to Jupiter, where it is expected to arrive on the 4th of July.

The intrepid spacecraft shouted “Anchors aweigh!” and is now preparing to set on yet another voyage of discovery. Presently, Juno, the flying space lab, that is also a record holder, is stationed at approximately 492 million miles from Earth.

As the spacecraft prepares for the long journey ahead, ground control has begun to fine-tune the spacecraft. For this reason, NASA is presently conducting engine burns and course correction. According to Scott Bolton, Juno’s father, so to say, according to their calculations, the space lab will enter into a standard orbit with the largest planet in our Solar System on the 4th of July, at approximately 8:18 p.m.

We stated the fact that Juno is also a record holder. NASA’s spacecraft actually managed to snag the prize from ESA’s Rosetta last year, when it was crowned the first solar-power spacecraft that got so far inside the Solar System.

Historically speaking, the space lab was launched on the 5th of August 2011, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The massive space lab packs three 30-foot-long solar panels, which contain no more than 18.698 individual solar cells. Also, Juno is the first spacecraft which makes use of solar panels instead of radioisotope thermoelectric generators.

And here’s another fun fact about the space lab. Although the spacecraft managed to snag many prizes, when it comes to Jupiter, it would seem that someone managed to beat him to it. The first man-made craft that orbited around Jupiter was Galileo.

The space probe which came before Juno was used to analyze Jupiter’s surface between 1995 and 2003. With the old timer retired, Juno the junior is free to proceed with its missions.

According to NASA, once the space lab arrives, it will orbit Jupiter 33 times. It would seem that on its closest approach to the planet’s surface (3.100 feet), the space lab will be able to capture HQ pictures of the Jovian cloud tops.

As Juno prepares to set course to Jupiter, ground control still argues on the space lab’s mandate. According to their declarations, once Juno arrives near Jupiter it will be used to study the plant’s composition as well as its gravitational field.

 Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org

Musk’s Crew Dragon Passed the Parachute Test with Flying Colors

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"Musk’s Crew Dragon Passed the Parachute Test with Flying Colors"

Crew Dragon uses 4 main parachutes and special drague parachutes.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Recently, Elon Musk and his company, SpaceX, wrote another page in the history book of space exploration. According to NASA, Musk’s Crew Dragon passed the parachute test with flying colors. If all goes well, we should see the Crew Dragon transporting astronauts to the ISS by the end of 2017.

Since NASA decided that space travel could be made feasible if civilian constructors are employed, everyone went over their head in order to secure a contract with the space agency. Although NASA had lots of contestants to oversee, it would seem that only two companies were selected to participate in the upcoming space project.

Boeing managed to raise some Hell with its space capsule, but it seems that Musk’s project take the cake, so to speak. What is Musk’s view on space travel? Sustainability and a very low price. According to the scientist, who is also the head of SpaceX, once we figure out how to reuse our space gear, we can look forward to more space missions.

This is what Elon Musk wanted to prove when he first began to talk about the Crew Dragon shuttle, a new type of spacecraft which will be carried into space by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Moreover, despite the fact that even the carrier rocket is an impressive feat of engineering, it looks like Crew Dragon is by far the most impressive piece of technology.

Musk, the head of SpaceX, declared that in order to talk about crew safety, new fail-safe systems for shuttles and rockets must be designed. His company made the first step towards making the journey safe into space, by introducing a parachute system to the Crew Dragon space shuttle.

The parachute system is not an entirely new approach to landing protocols, as SpaceX introduced this concept over two years ago. However, since it was first introduced, the space company made extensive modifications to the deployment system and its sensibility.

A new test performed on the 27th of January, 2016, proved that SpaceX means business. Musk’s Crew Dragon passed the parachute test with flying colors. The space module features drogue-type parachutes which work alongside the 4 main parachutes. Here’s the video on Crew Dragon’s successful drop using the parachute system.

Apart from the parachute landing system, Musk is also experimenting with another type of engine, dubbed the SuperDraco hover engine. The tests began in November, last year, and the numbers look good. According to Musk, the hover engine will prove to be an asset for the astronauts who will attempt to land on Mars.

Musk’s Crew Dragon passed the parachute test with flying colors. If all goes well, Musk’s rockets will be space-ready by 2017, when they are scheduled to bring a full crew complement aboard the ISS.

Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org

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