Category Archives: Space Systems

DIY space, Rockets, Space Systems

Copenhagen Suborbitals: Preparing for Heat-2X and 2X-capsule launch in 2014 + Space suit testing video

Copenhagen Suborbitals posts an update on their current work, which is focused on preparations to launch the Heat-2X rocket with the 2X-capsule next summer: 2X-Capsule Design for Download and Suggest a Name – Wired Science

In short, the HEAT2X-launch vehicle will take the 2X-capsule to app 70+ km (apogee kind of changes every week). HEAT2X is our pressure-fed LOX/Alcohol Bi-propellant engine and the total diameter of the rocket is app 640 mm. The complete engine is being tested live ultimo December – this year. Hold on to your hats and trousers.

The 2X-capsule has been chosen to meet certain requirements and to perform certain tests – which we are not capable of doing elsewhere.

They are also requesting suggestions for a name for the capsule

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And here is a video about their space suit testing in a freefall wind chamber:

Caption:

During the visit at Copenhagen Suborbitals by DIY space suit guys Cameron Smith and John Haslett we performed freefall testing donned the suit. This procedure must be rehearsed in the case of emergency bail-out during capsule descent.

Astronomy, Events, Space Systems

Juno gravity assist successful despite safe mode + Amateurs image the flyby

The Juno spacecraft successfully ricocheted from earth yesterday to set itself on course to Jupiter (see earlier posting) : Juno goes into safe mode during Earth flyby – Spaceflight Now.

It went into safe mode, some time around closest approach to earth. In safe mode a spacecraft shuts most everything down except the most essential services and prepares to reboot on command from mission control. It’s a way of dealing with potential computer problems that might otherwise put the system into a permanent hanged state.

Despite this glitch, it looks like everything went well.

Amateur observers around the world were able to track and image the spacecraft during its visit: Amateur Images Show Juno’s ‘Slingshot’ Around Earth Was a Success – Universe Today

Space Radio, Space Science, Space Systems

Juno Flyby today – Hams to send messages to the Jupiter spacecraft

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Today is Say ‘HI’ to Juno! Day in which amateur radio operators can send a message to the Mission Juno probe:

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will fly past Earth on October 9, 2013 to receive a gravity assist from our planet, putting it on course for Jupiter. To celebrate this event, the Juno mission is inviting amateur radio operators around the world to say “HI” to Juno in a coordinated Morse Code message. Juno’s radio & plasma wave experiment, called Waves, should be able to detect the message if enough people participate. So please join in, and help spread the word to fellow amateur radio enthusiasts!

This animation shows how Juno uses the earth’s gravity to get an assist

And this video has a description of the flyby from Juno team members:

The  JunoCam on the spacecraft is also taking pictures of the earth.

Update: Bill Nye of the Planetary Society gives a his explanation of how the probe uses the earth to get a boost to Jupiter:

Update 2: The fly-by may help solve a mystery: ESA and NASA stumped by cosmic mystery / Operations – ESA

Engineers hope that the new measurements will unravel the decades-old ‘flyby anomaly’ – an unexplained variation in spacecraft speeds detected during some swingbys.

“We detected the flyby anomaly during Rosetta’s first Earth visit in March 2005,” says Trevor Morley, flight dynamics expert at ESA’s ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

“Frustratingly, no anomaly was seen during Rosetta’s subsequent Earth flybys in 2007 and 2011. This is a real cosmic mystery that no one has yet figured out.”

Exoplanets, Future space, Space Systems

Video: Interstellar flight on the SciShow

Hank Green gives his take on interstellar flight:

From the caption:

You like space exploration, and we like space exploration. So why aren’t we investigating our closest to galactic neighbor, the triple star system Alpha Centauri? Is it time to give interstellar travel a shot? How would we do it? Hank explains our options, and lays out the challenges. Short version: You’re gonna have to be patient!