space exploration Archives

Excitement and Despair

Posted on August 23, 2023August 23, 2023 by Bob

In the past week, we have seen two extremes with respect to the exploration of the moon. We have seen despair from Russia when it’s Luna 25 Spacecraft crash-landed on the moon. And, we have seen excitement from India when it’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully landed on the moon. For Russia, it will be the end of the mission, and all that is left is trying to figure out what went wrong. For India, it is the start of a period of exploration with the rover that is designed to traverse the lunar surface. Both countries were hoping for the best, but it does not always work out that way. Although a serious disappointment for Russia, there are valuable lessons that will be learned, even from failure.

The Space Environment is very harsh, and any miscalculation in that environment can have very serious consequences.

Tom Zurbuchen, former NASA head of science, tweeted that no one in the industry “wishes bad onto other explorers.” He continued “We are reminded that landing on any celestial object is anything by easy and straightforward. Just because others managed to do it decades ago, does not guarantee success today.”

Although our spacecraft may have become more advanced over the decades, the space environment remains a very hostile place where anything can happen, even to more advanced spacecraft.

To learn more about how adverse interactions between the space environment and a spacecraft may lead to a degradation of spacecraft subsystem performance and possibly even loss of the spacecraft itself, consider enrolling in the upcoming 2-day ATI course Space Environment: Implications for Spacecraft Design. You can learn more about the course, and register for it here.

Mission Excitement Leads to Disappointment

Posted on April 25, 2023April 25, 2023 by Bob

It is uncommon for events to line up as they did for me this morning. At a 10:00 ATI Staff Meeting, I was asked to write a Blog to market our upcoming course entitled Space Environment: Implications for Spacecraft Design. In this course, students will learn about how adverse interactions between the space environment and […]

It is uncommon for events to line up as they did for me this morning.

At a 10:00 ATI Staff Meeting, I was asked to write a Blog to market our upcoming course entitled Space Environment: Implications for Spacecraft Design. In this course, students will learn about how adverse interactions between the space environment and a spacecraft may lead to a degradation of spacecraft subsystem performance and possibly even loss of the spacecraft itself. This two-day course will present an introduction to the space environment and its effect on spacecraft. Emphasis is placed on problem solving techniques and design guidelines that will provide the student with an understanding of how space environment effects may be minimized through proactive spacecraft design.

I began blogging, as I always do, by looking for ways to make this topic relevant to things that are happening today. I did a search for spacecraft with upcoming missions which may be worthy of discussion.

I am ashamed to admit that I was totally unaware that only an hour later, a bold Japanese mission was to be putting a lunar lander on the moon. How could I have been so uninformed? I immediately went looking for their live feed.

The lander,built by Japanese firm Ispace launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 11. The spacecraft then made a three-month trek to enter orbit around the moon, which lies about 239,000 miles (383,000 kilometers) from Earth, using a low-energy trajectory. Overall, the journey took the lander about 870,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) through space. Landing was scheduled for about 60 minutes after I learned about this mission.

I watched the live feed excitedly, only to learn that the mission failed after the expected touch down, and the lander is presumed to have crashed on the surface of the moon.

Although a serious disappointment for all involved in this mission, there are valuable lessons that were learned, not the least of which is that the Space Environment is very harsh, and any miscalculation in that environment can have very serious consequences.

The Value of Short-Course Technical Training

Posted on February 10, 2023February 10, 2023 by Bob

I could not imagine living in a house that does not have a basement. While most people would simply discard anything that doesn’t fit in the main level of their house, I simply move it to the basement. So, my basement is quite full of junk. Sometimes, I need to find something in my basement, and I search endlessly, and eventually give up and declare the item “missing”. In the process of searching, however, I often find things that had previously been declared “missing”. So, I have come to learn that nothing is ever “missing”, it simply is waiting for a later time to be found.

I thought about my basement when I read about a recent discovery by scientists studying data received from the James Webb Space Telescope. This telescope is the largest optical telescope in space. It’s high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments make it capable of viewing objects too distant or too faint for the Hubble Telescope. This telescope has been in space for only a little more than a year, and it is already sending back data and images that are simply amazing.

Similar to my basement adventures, scientists were recently looking for one thing using the James Webb Space Telescope, and they discovered something entirely different. NASA scientist were looking for a previously-discovered asteroid, but were unable to find it due its brightness and an offset in the telescope’s direction. While they could not see the asteroid they were looking for, they did discover another asteroid which had never been seen before. The new asteroid was very small, demonstrating that the James Webb Telescope was capable of finding asteroids smaller than anything which was previously discoverable with Hubble. The mission had been declared a failure, but was now declared a great success.

I found this story particularly interesting because in addition to reminding me of my cluttered basement, it also made me think about how many different scientists, and how many different disciplines, and how many different engineering achievements were necessary to ultimately find this asteroid. It was not a single person, or even a single team of people that got us here. Designing and building the Telescope was the first task at hand, and that required massive amounts of Systems Engineering and manufacturing expertise. Launching the Space Telescope into space with a Ariane 5 Rocket was also a huge feat, which required the skills of another team. Daily operations of the telescope and managing the data from the telescope require even more attention from a completely different set of scientists. There is huge number of people that had their hands on this discovery, and the future discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope.

To be a well-rounded scientist or engineer, one should have a basic level of understanding of each of the disciplines that contribute to his or her area of expertise. Short-Course Technical Training like what is offered by Applied Technology Institute is a great way to acquire that basic level of understanding. ATI can not replace the intensive training a scientist acquired in his or her field of expertise; there is no way a 4-day short course can substitute for a long and rigorous college education. ATI short-courses can, however, offer a way for a scientist or engineer to become more aware of the many disciplines which work in unison with their field of expertise. And, even within a scientist’s field of expertise, short-courses can help refresh certain areas of their training.

A complete list of upcoming ATI short-courses, as well a complete list of available short-courses can be found at the ATI homepage ( www.aticourses.com ). We hope to see you in an upcoming ATI short-course, or an upcoming ATI Free-Session soon.

Psyched for Mission PSYCHE

Posted on January 26, 2023January 26, 2023 by Bob

NASA’s Psyche Mission is similar to other NASA missions in some ways, but different in other ways. Psyche is similar in that bold and innovative technologies are being used to push the boundaries of deep-space exploration. Psyche is different however, in that the launch has been pushed forward for one year due to a delay […]

Psyche will be launched from Earth using a SpaceX Heavy Falcon Rocket. This launch system has been used before, and should be effective for its purpose. Once in deep space, however, an alternate method will be required for propelling Psyche to its ultimate destination, the Comet Psyche. As explained by NASA, “The unique, metal-rich Psyche asteroid may be part of the core of a planetesimal, a building block of rocky planets in our solar system. Learning more about the asteroid could tell us more about how our own planet formed and help answer fundamental questions about Earth’s own metal core and the formation of our solar system.”

Once beyond the orbit of the moon, Psyche will use solar electric propulsion for its 1.5 billion ( with a B ) mile trip to the asteroid Psyche which will conclude in 2026. This will be the first spacecraft to use “Hall-Effect Thrusters” for propulsion. As explained by NASA, this thruster technology “traps electrons in a magnetic field and uses them to ionize onboard propellant, expending much less propellant than equivalent chemical rockets.”

As a secondary mission for this spacecraft, Psyche will be used to demonstrate and test Deep Space Optical Communications. This capability will become increasingly important as future missions are planned for areas so deep in space that current communication methods may become infeasible.

As spacecraft and space missions become more complex, the rockets that propel them will also need to become more complex. Rocket advances must keep up with Spacecraft advances, and the Psyche Mission is one indication that Rocket scientists are up to the challenge.

If you want to learn more about Rocket Science, consider taking ATI’s upcoming course on the subject. You can learn more about the course, and register for it, at Rockets & Launch Vehicles – Selection & Design

This four-day course provides an overview of rockets and missiles, including a fourth day covering advanced selection and design processes. The course provides a wide practical knowledge in rocket and missile issues and technologies.

The course is right around the corner in May, so if you are interested, register today.

And, as always, if want to see the full list of courses offered by ATI, you can find that, and other interesting information at www.aticourses.com

Artemis I Mission Success, Bring on Artemis II

Posted on December 14, 2022December 14, 2022 by Bob

Mankind has always been fascinated with exploring the Moon, and that will probably always be the case. At first, in the time leading up to the famous first moon landing in 1969, the goal was simply to reach the moon, and spend a short time looking around, and return to earth safely. Now, 50 years later, the goal is more ambitious since technology can support so much more. The first objective today is to reach the moon, and stay there. The next goal would be to use the moon as a landing pad to support exploration of things beyond the moon, most notably Mars. The NASA Artemis Missions will be the way these objectives are accomplished.

The Artemis Mission is comprised of six projects which together will allow NASA to accomplish its goals of reaching the moon, staying on the moon for long term exploration, and getting closer to the ultimate goal of being able to send men and women beyond the moon. The six projects include:

Ground Systems – Upgrading Earth ground systems to support the larger rockets which will be needed

Space Launch System – The new and more powerful rocket that will launch man toward the moon and beyond

Orion – The spacecraft that will bring astronauts to the moon’s orbit, and return them to earth from the moon’s orbit

Gateway – The outpost spacecraft which will orbit the moon and be living quarters for the astronauts when they are not on the moon surface

Lunar Landers – The spacecraft which will transfer astronauts between the Gateway and the moon Surface, and

Space Suits – The new and improved suits that the astronauts will need to carry out their mission.

The timeline for this mission has three major milestones, namely:

Artemis I – a now-complete unmanned flight to test the Space Launch System and Orion

Artemis II – a planned manned flight to test the Space Launch System and Orion

Artemis III – A planned manned flight to the moon that will return man to the moon.

Artemis I, the mission whose goal was an unmanned flight of Orion to the moon, is now successfully completed. The Launch was flawless in mid-November, showing the advanced capabilities of the Space Launch System. Orion reached the moon on November 25 without any issues and orbited the moon. On December 1, 2022, Orion will started its trip back to earth, and on Dec 11, the Artemis I mission ended with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Although Artemis I is now one for the history books, there are additional Artemis missions being planned, and we hope that they will all be as spectacular and as successful as Artemis I.

ATI offers a plethora of courses which relate to Space exploration. Check out our list of Space related courses here. If you are interested in the legal aspects of Space exploration, you can express interest in our Astropolitics Seminar which will be offered in conjunction with the 2023 Space Symposium.

Although the author thinks Space Exploration is exciting and important, and I fully endorse all of the goals of the Artemis Mission, I can’t help but wonder why the Government is not spending at least as much money on exploration of the deep oceans. I would challenge the US to start investing more money in Ocean Exploration, but not at the expense of Space Exploration. Both are important. I am curious what readers think about this issue, please leave your comments below.

And, if you are interested in Ocean Exploration, ATI has a few courses which may be of interest to you too. Please check out our full list of offerings here.

And if you simply want to learn more about the Artemis Mission, you can go to the NASA Artemis site that describes the mission in more detail.

Artemis I Mission Being Accomplished

Posted on December 2, 2022December 2, 2022 by Bob

Ground Systems – Upgrading Earth ground systems to support the larger rockets which will be needed

Space Launch System – The new and more powerful rocket that will launch man toward the moon and beyond

Orion – The spacecraft that will bring astronauts to the moon’s orbit, and return them to earth from the moon’s orbit

Gateway – The outpost spacecraft which will orbit the moon and be living quarters for the astronauts when they are not on the moon surface

Lunar Landers – The spacecraft which will transfer astronauts between the Gateway and the moon Surface, and

Space Suits – The new and improved suits that the astronauts will need to carry out their mission.

The timeline for this mission has three major milestones, namely:

Artemis I – an unmanned flight to test the Space Launch System and Orion

Artemis II – a manned flight to test the Space Launch System and Orion

Artemis III – A manned flight to the moon that will return man to the moon.

Artemis I, the mission whose goal was an unmanned flight of Orion to the moon, is now in progress. So far, the mission has been wildly successful. The Launch was flawless in mid-November, showing the advanced capabilities of the Space Launch System. Orion reached the moon on November 25 without any issues and has been orbiting the moon since then. On December 1, 2022, Orion will start its trip back to earth.

As of December 1, 5681 pounds of propellant have been used, a bit less than scientists had expected.

The trip back to earth will have include more tests than had originally been planned, and indication that NASA scientists are feeling good about the trip.

This is a truly ambitious mission, and an even more ambitious schedule for missions that follow.