Category Archives: Space Systems

Living in Space, Space Systems

Video: ‘Space to Ground’ report on the ISS – Oct.2.15

The latest NASA report on activities related to the Int. Space Station:

Asteroids & Comets, Space Science, Space Systems

Video: ESA AIM will watch NASA DART smack into an asteroid

An earlier post described the European Space Agency’s Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), which in 2020 will send a probe to the Didymos binary asteroid system. AIM will initially “perform high-resolution visual, thermal and radar mapping of the moon”, i.e. the smaller of the two asteroids, “to build detailed maps of its surface and interior structure”.

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Two years later, NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft will reach Didymos and collide into the moon while observed by AIM. The goal is to measure the amount of deflection of the asteroid and record the effects of the collision on the surface structure of the asteroid. This joint mission is called the Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) study.

Here is a video about the AIM plan:

Pluto and beyond, Space Science, Space Systems

New Horizons: High-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto

Check out the latest high-resolution image of Pluto made by the New Horizons probe during its fly-by in August: The Rich Color Variations of Pluto = NASA

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NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto on July 14, 2015. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC). Pluto’s surface sports a remarkable range of subtle colors, enhanced in this view to a rainbow of pale blues, yellows, oranges, and deep reds. Many landforms have their own distinct colors, telling a complex geological and climatological story that scientists have only just begun to decode. The image resolves details and colors on scales as small as 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometers).  The viewer is encouraged to zoom in on the full resolution image on a larger screen to fully appreciate the complexity of Pluto’s surface features. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

For the full details, see the

 

Living in Space, Space Systems, SpaceCasts

Video: ‘Space to Ground’ report on the ISS – Sept.25.15

Here’s this week’s Space to Ground report on activities related to the Int. Space Station:

Contests and Games, Space participation, Space Systems

NASA opens student competition for designs of inflatable heat shields

An announcement from NASA:

NASA Seeks Big Ideas from Students for Inflatable Heat Shield Tech

NASA is giving university and college students an opportunity to be part of the agency’s journey to Mars with the Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge.

NASA’s Game Changing Development Program (GCD), managed by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) are seeking innovative ideas for generating lift using inflatable spacecraft heat shields or hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD) technology.

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Artist’s rendering of a hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator technology concept. Credits: NASA
“NASA is currently developing and flight testing HIADs — a new class of relatively lightweight deployable aeroshells that could safely deliver more than 22 tons to the surface of Mars,” said Steve Gaddis, GCD manager at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “A crewed spacecraft landing on Mars would weigh between 15 and 30 tons.”

The NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover is the heaviest payload ever landed on the Red Planet — weighing in at only one ton. To slow a vehicle carrying a significantly heavier payload through the thin Martian atmosphere and safely land it on the surface is a significant challenge. NASA is addressing this challenge through the development of large aeroshells that can provide enough aerodynamic drag to decelerate and deliver larger payloads. HIAD technology is a leading idea because these kinds of aeroshells can also generate lift, which would allow the agency to potentially do different kinds of missions.

Interested teams of three to five undergraduate and/or graduate students are asked to submit white papers describing their concepts by Nov. 15. Concepts may employ new approaches such as shape morphing and pneumatic actuation to dynamically alter the HIAD inflatable structure.

Selected teams will continue in the competition by submitting in the spring of 2016 full technical papers on the concept. Up to four teams will present their concepts to a panel of NASA judges at the BIG Idea Forum at Langley in April 2016.

Each finalist team will receive a $6,000 stipend to assist with full participation in the forum. BIG Idea Challenge winners will receive offers ofpaid internships with the GCD team at Langley, where they can potentially work toward a flight test of their concept.

For more information about the challenge, and details on how to apply, visit the BIG Idea website at:

http://bigidea.nianet.org

For more information about NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, go to:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

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