Niska Orbita

[bigvlada]

Za sada je sve u redu, čačkaće ga dve godine. 

 

[bigvlada]

Rešili konačno da penzionišu Progres. Autor drži sajt russianspaceweb i veoma je upućen u dešavanja u ruskoj kosmonautici. 

 

A First Peek at Russia's New Space Cargo Ship  

​Roskosmos needs a new spacecraft if it's going to keep three cosmonauts on the International Space Station. Here's what it might look like.

 

 

Russian engineers are finishing the design of a brand new space freighter that would replace the veteran Progress cargo ships supplying the International Space Station (ISS) with propellant, food, water and other goods, industry sources tell Popular Mechanics.

The new vehicle will be about a ton heavier than its predecessor and will feature a radical new design. If it's actually built, the next-generation cargo ship will allow Russia to reduce the number of annual cargo shipments to the ISS from four to three while still delivering all necessary provisions for three people to live more or less permanently aboard the ISS.

 

Not coincidently, all of these ISS problems have acquired added political significance this year. Faced with latest economic problems, and the need to reduce the number of Progress cargo launches, Russia's space agency Roskosmos made plans to cut the permanent crew of ISS cosmonauts from three to two people. However the full international crew on the ISS is supposed to include six people with half of it reserved for Russia.

To resolve this supply problem, Roskosmos ordered RKK Energia, its key contractor responsible for human spaceflight, to prepare a preliminary design of a bigger cargo ship by the end of this month. Engineers quickly put together this proposal that would combine off-the-shelf hardware with new technology.

NASA

Since 1978, seven-ton Progress cargo ships have been flying one-way supply missions to the Soviet and Russian space stations. They were instrumental in setting many long-duration records in space by Russian cosmonauts in the 1980s and 1990s. From the turn of this century, Progress have continuously supplied international crews on the ISS, including the recent "Year-in-Space" mission. After delivering their cargo, Progress ships are filled with trash and sent on a destructive reentry into the Earth atmosphere.

Over the years, Progress went through several rounds of modest upgrades, while several more radical versions were also proposed, including those that would not only deliver but also return cargo back to Earth. (The cargo return capability is now provided on ISS by the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.) The most important new feature of the proposed cargo ship will be the six-tank cluster to carry more than 1.8 tons of propellant to the station. It will simultaneously serve as a tanker for the space station while also feeding the ship's own propulsion system. As a result, the new design provides significant mass savings in comparison to the current Progress ships, which need two separate sets of tanks for refueling and maneuvering.

The main engine for the new cargo ship will be borrowed from an existing satellite. Meanwhile, 28 small thrusters for orbit correction and maneuvering will be copied practically unchanged from the Progress.

A pressurized cargo section with an internal volume of around 18 cubic meters will accommodate around 2.4 tons of food, clothes, and other supplies for cosmonauts, including 400 kilograms of water and more than 50 kg of air. It will be connected by a lattice structure to the tanker section, which will operate in the vacuum of space. Various electronics will be spread between both compartments.

The new ship will be able to remain at the ISS up to a year and fly solo missions lasting up to a month. For its ascent to orbit, the new ship will take advantage of the most powerful version of the Russian Soyuz rocket known as Soyuz-2-1b. The three-stage booster is capable of delivering nearly 8.2-ton vehicles into orbit.

Even with all the shortcuts and the streamlined design, the new ship is not expected not reach the launchpad until at least 2020. In the meantime, the Russian crew aboard the ISS is expected to go down to two people beginning next March. In 2018, the Russian crew might go back to three people temporarily, when cosmonauts are expected to conduct extensive work outside the station to integrate the new multi-purpose module slated for launch at the end of next year.

In addition to the latest design, Russian engineers were also considering a concept of an even larger cargo vehicle, which would need Russia's new-generation Angara rocket for launch.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a22477/russia-new-cargo-space-ship/

Edited August 25, 2016 by bigvlada

[Korki]

Кинези са новом ракетом

 

 

 

Кинески планови за Марс

 

[bigvlada]

Tiangong-1 Space Lab Will Fall to Earth Next Year, China Says

 

By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | September 19, 2016 06:30am ET

 

 

 

 

 

Artist's illustration of China's 8-ton Tiangong-1 space lab, which is expected to fall to Earth late next year, unless it's boosted to a higher altitude.

Credit: CMSE

China's first-ever space lab will die a fiery death in Earth's atmosphere toward the end of next year, Chinese officials said.

 

The 9.4-ton (8.5 metric tons) Tiangong-1 spacecraft is currently intact and orbiting Earth at an altitude of 230 miles (370 kilometers), according to Wu Ping, deputy director of China's Manned Space Engineering office. That's a bit lower than the International Space Station, which usually stays about 250 miles (400 km) above the planet's surface.

 

Tiangong-1 will likely fall back to Earth in the second half of 2017, and its demise shouldn't cause problems here on the ground, Wu said. [Gallery: Tiangong 1, China's First Space Laboratory]

 

"Based on our calculation and analysis, most parts of the space lab will burn up during falling," she said during a news conference Wednesday (Sept. 14), according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

 

China is monitoring Tiangong-1 (whose name means "Heavenly Palace" in Mandarin) closely and will issue the appropriate warnings if the space lab threatens to hit a satellite, Wu added. She said that China will release a forecast of Tiangong-1's fall to Earth "if necessary," according to Xinhua.

 

The update from Wu seems to confirm speculation that China is no longer in control of the 34-foot-long (10.3 meters) Tiangong-1, which launched in September 2011 to test out docking technologies and other skills that China will need to build its planned space station in the early 2020s. 

 

After all, if operators were still controlling the space lab, they could steer it to a guided re-entry over an empty stretch of ocean at a specified time.

 

 

Three spacecraft docked with Tiagong-1 during its operational life — Shenzhou-8 in November 2011, Shenzhou-9 in June 2012 and Shenzhou-10 in June 2013. The latter two missions were crewed, each carrying three Chinese "taikonauts" up to the space lab.

 

Tiangong-1 stopped sending data back to Earth in March 2016, officially ending the space lab's mission. But its successor is now aloft: Tiangong-2 launched atop a Long March 2F rocket on Sept. 15 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

 

Two taikonauts are scheduled to arrive at Tiangong-2 in mid- to late October for a 30-day stay, Chinese officials have said. (The Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 crews spent eight and 12 days aboard Tiangong-1, respectively.)

 

China is not part of the multinational consortium, led by the United States and Russia, that operates the 440-ton (400 metric ton) International Space Station. China aims to have its own 60-ton (54 metric tons) space station up and running in Earth orbit by 2022 or so.

 

http://www.space.com/34089-tiangong-1-fall-earth-2017.html

[bigvlada]

Pažljivi čitaoci (ako ima takvih :)) će se setiti da sam na temi o kosmičkom pravu pominjao odsek Ujedinjenih Nacija koji se bavi svemirom. Ovo je jedna lepa inicijativa sa njihove strane. 

 

 

Dream Chaser: The Spacecraft That Will Transform Humanity’s Access to Space The United Nations is set to launch a revolutionary global space program

By Robin Seemangal • 10/03/16 3:44pm

 

A Model of the Dream Chaser space shuttle on display at the IAC in Guadalajara, Mexico Ailyn Hernandez

GUADALAJARA, MEXICO—The UN has commenced a remarkable initiative that will enable developing nations to have access to space. To do so, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs has partnered with private space firm Sierra Nevada Corporation to utilize the company’s unique Dream Chaser vehicle for affordable unmanned scientific missions to low-Earth orbit that will begin in 2021.

According to the announcement made at the International Astronautical Congress, these missions will promote the peaceful use of outer space and foster collaboration between nations without space programs. To learn about the Dream Chaser’sdevelopment and the possibilities that will emerge because of the UN’s partnership with SNC, the Observer sat down with, Mark Sirangelo, the Colorado-based company’s Vice President and the pioneer behind this groundbreaking project.

What is Dream Chaser and why is it such a special spacecraft?

Dream Chaser is essentially the next version of the Space Shuttle and we started developing it about 10 years ago while the Shuttle was still flying. We realized at some point that program would stop and wondered what would be next or what would become Space Shuttle 2.0.

The Shuttle was a big moving van. If you were moving from New York to Los Angeles you would need a big van with a small cab up front and a large cargo area in the back. Similarly, the Space Shuttle was used to build the infrastructure in space, mainly the International Space Station. Now that it’s built, you don’t really need a moving van. You probably want a good SUV to get you around.

So we set out to build what we call a Space Utility Vehicle that would be convertible to do many different things like taking up cargo to keep the space station running, and taking up several passengers. It’s about having something that’s much less expensive, reusable like the shuttle, and can be multiple vehicles in one.

We started development of the Dream Chaser in 2005 and for the first five years we did it on our own. We then began getting the attention of NASA who would partner with us. After losing five different contracts, we eventually won a long-term contract to be NASA’s spacecraft that will deliver supplies to the International Space Station.

It’s a pretty cool vehicle in a lot of ways. It’s a green vehicle in the sense that it doesn’t have any hazardous materials on board. We can actually land at airports around the world. We can land anywhere a 737 can land. In fact, there are at least a dozen different airports looking at getting qualified to be a landing airports for space.  

What is the process to become qualified?

They have to go through the FAA, it’s like qualifying to be an airport. Interesting enough, two have gone through most of the process. One is in Houston, Texas and the other is in Huntsville, Alabama—a commercial airport. We realized that we’ve got something special because we’re the only vehicle that can do this.

That’s when we began looking beyond NASA to see what else we could do with theDream Chaser. We asked ourselves, what can we do for business? And what can we do for the good of humanity? So we started looking at ways for providing the vehicle.

NASA or the US Government does not own the vehicle, so we can do other things with it. We could contract it out to other countries who would like to have a space program, other space agencies, companies that may want to do manufacturing in space. So one of the ideas we came up with to show how Dream Chaser could do good for the world was our new partnership with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

SNC Vice President Mark Sirangelo and UNOOSA Director Simonetta Di Pippo announce the new space program at the IAC. Ailyn Hernandez

What sparked this new relationship between the UN and Sierra Nevada Corporation?

I met the very progressive leader of UNOOSA, Simonetta Di Pippo, and we sat down to discuss an idea. It was pretty simple: Dream Chaser can be a floating laboratory in low-Earth orbit, so why don’t we offer it to countries that don’t have access to space?

Dream Chaser is about the size of a 50-75 passenger regional Jet and with that space we could have about 25-30 laboratory slots. We proposed that UNOOSA could act as the organizer of this and create an opportunity for countries who don’t have a space program to get access to a laboratory aboard the vehicle.

We thought it would take years for the UN to approve the program but it took only six months. It’s moved rapidly because of the positive mission and it’s something to show the world is moving forward. This was also a way to create some excitement about space exploration.

An opportunity like this for a country that’s never had access to space could be the biggest thing that country does for that year. Some young man or woman who lives in that nation, could be inspired by this. This program could promote the peaceful use of space and could also benefit a lot of young people around the world who could potentially have their experiments flown to space on Dream Chaser.

What would be the process for a developing nation to fly a mission on Dream Chaser?

The UN would put together a high-level scientific panel that could review applications from different nations. Sierra Nevada would give them a set of parameters for what can actually be done in space aboard the Dream Chaser. Nations would come to us with what they would like to do. The idea is to open the program to the global community and we hope it will be successful.

We are targeting 2021 for the first mission, 5 years from now. It sounds like a long time but for the space industry but it’s not. Dream Chaser is already built so we don’t have to spend money to get it in operation for this program. We just have to adjust it to house the laboratory. Remember, it won’t go to the International Space Station, it will remain in orbit as a floating lab.

What other ways could a nation benefit from utilizing this program?

When people send experiments to space, they don’t usually come home. Just the data does. And that’s because there isn’t a vehicle with the ability to do that. Dream Chaser would come home with the scientific hardware it takes up. This means that countries that invest in their experiments would be able to retrieve it and be able to update or fix it and we can fly it again. It’s a very unique concept. Plus, landing anywhere in the world could be a big deal for a developing nation—to have scientific experiments from space land in your home country.

 

Robin Seemangal focuses on NASA and advocacy for space exploration. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, where he currently resides. Find him on Instagram for more space-related content: @nova_road.

http://observer.com/2016/10/dream-chaser-the-spacecraft-that-will-transform-humanitys-access-to-space/

Edited October 5, 2016 by bigvlada

[bigvlada]

Umetanje videa ne radi, moraćete da idete na sajt. Ovo je fascinantan uspeh. Testiran je scenario kada kapsula mora da se odvoji od rakete pre nego što je dostignut kosmos, scenario koji se završio tragično u slučaju Čelendžera i srećno kada je u pitanju Sojuz 18a (preživeli su 21G). Uspeli su da meko prizemlje i kapsulu i raketu (predviđano je da će mlaz motora kapsule toliko pomeriti raketu da će pasti i eksplodirati). Za razliku od SpaceX-a koji tek treba da ponovo upotrebi prvi stepen rakete, ova raketa je letela pet puta, bez ikakvih problema. Mogu da se kladim da su generacije inženjera Daglasa, Krajslera i MekDonela osetili veliko zadovoljstvo, jer je neko uspeo da decenije njihovog rada na SSTO (single stage to orbit) letelicama pretvori u stvarnost (DC-X je bio na putu da to ispuni pre neobjašnjivog prekida programa).  

 

 

 

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Space Capsule Aces Dramatic In-Flight Escape Test

 

By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | October 5, 2016 12:30pm ET

 

 

Blue Origin just took another big step toward flying people to space.

The private spaceflight company, which is run by billionaire Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, conducted a critical "in-flight escape test" of its crew-carrying New Shepard system today (Oct. 5) — and everything appears to have worked just as expected.

New Shepard consists of a rocket and a capsule, both of which are reusable. Blue Origin is developing the duo to fly people and scientific experiments to and from suborbital space. (The system is named after Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space during a suborbital jaunt in May 1961.) [In Photos: Blue Origin's In-Flight Abort Launch & Landing]

New Shepard blasted off from Blue Origin's test range in west Texas at 11:36 a.m. EDT (1536 GMT), kicking off today's uncrewed test. About 45 seconds into flight, at an altitude of 16,000 feet (5,000 meters), the capsule fired its onboard "escape motor" for 2 seconds, blasting itself hundreds of feet clear of the booster.

This dual screen view from a Blue Origin webcast shows the company's New Shepard crew capsule rocketing away from its booster (which is visible in the inset at lower right) during an in-flight abort test over West Texas on Oct. 5, 2016.

Credit: Blue Origin

The in-flight escape motor on Blue Origin's New Shepard space capsule will get an in-flight test on Oct. 5, 2016.

Credit: Blue Origin Twitter (@blueorigin)

That's just what should happen in the event of a real-life launch emergency. Blue Origin had tested the escape system multiple times on the ground, and even used the escape motor to launch the New Shepard capsule in October 2012, during a "pad escape test" in west Texas.

But today's flight was the toughest trial yet, because it forced the capsule to "traverse twice through transonic velocities — the most difficult control region — during the acceleration burn and subsequent deceleration," Bezos wrote last month in a blog post about today's test.

At 11:41 a.m. EDT (1541 GMT), the New Shepard capsule landed softly under parachutes in the Texas desert as planned, raising a huge plume of dust as it hit the ground. And then, about 3 minutes later, the booster came in for its own touchdown, landing vertically on the launch pad.

Blue Origin's New Shepard crew capsule floats back to Earth under its main parachutes after a dramatic in-flight launch abort test over West Texas on Oct. 5, 2016.

Credit: Blue Origin

The rocket's landing was a something of a surprise. Bezos predicted a fiery death for the rocket in his blog post last month, writing that the thrust from the escape motor would likely knock the booster off-kilter, causing it to crash and die in a massive fireball. 

But that's not what happened.

"There you go, New Shepard! Look at her! What a test!" Blue Origin launch commentator Ariane Cornell said moments after the rocket touched down, exhiliration evident in her voice. "I'm going be raising a glass to both the booster and the crew capsule this evening."

Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard rocket lands safely on its West Texas pad after a successful in-flight crew capsule abort test on Oct. 5, 2016.

Credit: Blue Origin

Today's test marked the fifth and final flight for this particular New Shepard rocket. In November 2015, the booster became the first ever to land after a space mission, and it has now repeated the feat four more times. In his blog post last month, Bezos outlined the booster's fate.

"If the booster does manage to survive this flight — its fifth — we will in fact reward it for its service with a retirement party and put it in a museum," Bezos wrote.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us@Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

http://www.space.com/34302-blue-origin-space-capsule-escape-test.html

 

 

[Prospero]

[Ayatollah]

Na današnji dan: 03. novembar - tužna priča o jednom psu

 

Na današnji dan, 1957. u svemir je poleteo prvi živi sisar, keruša Lajka. Bio je to velik korak na putu osvajanja svemira i strašan, tragičan kraj života jednog divnog psa. Danas tako nešto bi naišlo na osudu čitave svetske javnosti, ali u ono vreme zahuktale trke u osvajanju svemira, prošlo je prilično ne zapaženo.

Sredinom prošlog veka malo se znalo o uticaju boravka živih organizama u svemiru, bez gravitacije, u skučenom prostoru kabine letelice koja kruži oko Zemlje. Neki naučnici su verovali da čovek i nije u stanju da preživi lansiranje. Neki su smatrali da bi u kabini vasionskog broda putnik izgubio normalnu percepciju prostora i da, jednostavno, ne bi mogao da se održi u životu tamo gore. Zbog toga su vršeni eksperimenti na životinjama. Amerikanci su radili sa šimpanzama, rusi sa psima.

U to vreme oštrih političkih sukoba između dva vojna bloka i dva društvena uređenja između SSSR-a i SAD-a prvi koraci u osvajanju svemira bili su dominantno političko pitanje. U Sovjetskom savezu na najvišem političkom nivou donesena je odluka da SSSR načini spektakularan kosmonautski podvig i da pošalje psa u orbitu oko Zemlje. Velika vest je trebala da zapanji svet na veliku, 40. godišnjicu Boljševičke revolucije.

I tako, po Moskvi su pohvatani neki ulični psi za budući veliki podvig kosmonautike. Smatralo se da su ti psi naučili da prežive oštre zime i vruća leta te da su u tom smislu otporniji za ekstremne uslove tokom leta u svemir. Tako je Lajka, sa još nekim psima dospela u svemirski centar.

Trenirano je više pasa. Oni su obučavani da žive u skučenom prostoru, da se naviknu na želatinoznu hranu, prolazili su testove u centrifugalnoj mašini.

A za to vreme pripremana je letelica Sputnjik 2. Uređen je prostor za psa, sa sistemom za održavanje života koji se sastojao od generatora kiseonika i naprava za izbegavanje trovanja kiseonikom i apsorpciju ugljen dioksida. Instaliran je i ventilator, koji je programiran da se uključuje svaki put kada temperatura u kabini premaši 15 °C. Obezbeđeno je i dovoljno hrane (u obliku želea) za sedmodnevni let psa. U kabini pas je bio ograničen na stajanje, sedenje i ležanje i nije bilo prostora za okretanje. Elektrokardiogram je pratio otkucaje srca, a ostali instrumenti beležili su brzinu disanja, maksimalni krvni pritisak i pokrete psa.

Konačno, donesena je odluka da u svemir poleti Lajka. Lajka je bila pas mešanac, delom verovatno haski. Američka štampa ju je nazvala Muttnik, što dolazi od reči mutt (mešanac) i nik (od sufiksa naziva letelice Sputnik). Lajka je izabrana jer je od svih drugih pasa bila najmirnija i najpitomija.

Uoči leta jedan od naučnika koji su bili zaduženi za čitav projekat slanja Lajke u orbitu, dr Vladimir Jazdovski, odveo je Lajku svojoj kući da se poigra sa njegovom decom. Kasnije je napisao: „Želeo sam da uradim nešto lepo za nju: Ostalo joj je još tako malo vremena da živi“. Jer, taj let je bio let bez povratka. Letelica Sputnjik nije imala ugrađen sistem za povratak putnika na Zemlju. Ruski naučnici su zato nameravali se nad Lakom izvrši eutanazija poslednjim obrokom.

Prema raspoloživoj dokumentaciji Lajka je stavljena u satelit 31. oktobra, tri dana pre početka misije – iz tehničkih razloga. Tokom lansiranja precizno je praćeno njeno zdravstveno stanje. Njoj je u samom startu naglo skočio puls, disanje se ubrzalo tri do četiri puta. Otkucaji srca su takođe skočili sa 103 na 240 u minuti tokom lansiranja….

Dugo se nije znalo kako je Lajka okončala svoj život. U početku niko nije to pitanje ni postavljao, bar ne glasno. Važan je bio jedino osvojen politički poen. Jedno vreme se ponegde govorilo da je Lanka uspavana, zatim da je umrla od nedostatka kiseonika kada su se pokvarile neke baterije. Istina će se saznati tek oktobra 2002. Tada je Dmitrij Malašenkob, jedan od naučnika misije Sputnjik 2 otkrio da se rashladni uređaj u kabini pokvario i da je Lajka umrla u agoniji pet do sedam sati nakon lansiranja usled previsoke temperature i stresa.

Sputnjik 2 je obleteo planetu 2570 puta i zatim sagoreo, zajedno sa beživotnim telom Lajke u atmosferi.

***

11. aprila 2008. u Moskvi, u blizini vojno-istraživačke ustanove u kojoj je Laka pripremana za let u svemir, podignut joj je spomenik. Lik Lajke se nalozi na više poštanskih maraka raznih zemalja sveta. NASA je deo Marsovog tla u blizini krater Vostok nazvala po Lajki tokom misije Mars Exploration Rover. Lik Lajke je isklesan u Komemoracionoj ploči koja se nalazi u Zvezdano gradu.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Ayatollah

[bigvlada]

Obe supersile su slale pse, majmune i miševe na podorbitalne i orbitalne letove i mnogo njih nije preživelo usled kvarova ili nedovoljno dobre procedure prihvatanja i nalaženja kapsula. Zahvaljujući njihovim žrtvama let u svemir je danas relativno bezbedna operacija. 

 

 

Inače, malo zapažena vest je da je Šenžu 11 pristao uz novu orbitalnu stanicu Tiangong 2. 

 

[bigvlada]

Uspešno prvo lansiranje Dugog Marša 5. Kina sada ima raketu koja se po nosivosti (25 tona za LEO) može meriti sa matorim Protonom i Deltom IV. 

 

 

 

Modularna kineska kosmička stanica je sada realan scenario.

 

 

 

[bigvlada]

Avangarda

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ayatollah]

Spejs šatl napuštva atmosferu. Da budem iskren, meni slika ne izgleda realno, više kao maketa, ali ja nisam ekspert za te stvari...

 

[Skyhighatrist]

Spejs šatl napuštva atmosferu. Da budem iskren, meni slika ne izgleda realno, više kao maketa, ali ja nisam ekspert za te stvari...

Filteri, kontrast, oštrina... Evo ga oriđiđi:

 

Ova mi je vrh, split second:

 

 

Iznad oblaka mir i tišina, a ispod živi pakao, potisak par desetina hiljada tona po m²...

Par minuta kasnije, šiba 8km/sec  :smoris: 

[Skyhighatrist]

Meh...

 

 

“The picture of the sky and clouds was taken by me from an airplane,” Silver wrote on his website, “and the shuttle is a picture from NASA. Then the assembly was done in Photoshop & Lightroom.”

Edited November 25, 2016 by Skyhighatrist

[namenski]

Meh...

 

 

Fuckin' science.

;)