More than half a million chunks of space trash surround our planet and it poses a serious threat to space travel as we know it. But Europe has a plan.
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Category: space travel – Page 409
What is the RS −25 Engine
Posted in space travel
Engine test! 🔥 🚀 At Stennis Space Center, we’re about to fire up the RS-25 engine for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which will power missions to the Moon and Mars. Tune in at https://go.nasa.gov/2Q9LmFc
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This breaks the record set by the German-American Helios 2 mission in April 1976. The spacecraft will continue to break its own records, achieving a top speed of about 430,000 miles per hour in 2024. Catch up: https://go.nasa.gov/2qjOraI
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ParkerSolarProbe became the closest-ever spacecraft to the Sun when it passed within 26.55 million miles of the Sun’s surface. Find out more: https://go.nasa.gov/2Q4QB9p
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Systems are a go for NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope after the successful recovery of a backup gyroscope replaced one that failed earlier this month.
The spacecraft entered safe mode on Oct. 5, remaining in a stable configuration for three weeks; HST returned to normal operations late on Friday.
It completed science observations the next day, using the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument to capture infrared wavelengths of a distant, star-forming galaxy.
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SpaceX has confirmed that the two large propellant tanks now present at its Boca Chica, Texas facilities will likely to be the last major ground tanks needed to enable the first test flights of the upper stage of its next-gen BFR rocket, known as the Big Falcon Spaceship (BFS).
Expected to begin as soon as late 2019, SpaceX executives have recently reiterated plans for a campaign of hop tests for the first full-scale spaceship prototype, in which the ship will follow in the footsteps of its Falcon 9-based Grasshopper and F9R predecessors.
SpaceX Project Making Progress at Boca Chica Beach Site http://www.krgv.com/story/39360667/spacex-project-making-pro…sw.twitter
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Nuclear engine (aka YaEDU):
A key component of Russia’s future nuclear space propulsion system, which may revolutionize long-range exploration of the solar system, has been successfully tested, RIA Novosti reported.
Since at least 2009, Russian space and atomic engineers have been developing a special space propulsion system, which uses a 1 megawatt nuclear fusion reactor as source of energy. According to a work competition report, published on a website tracing public spending in Russia and reviewed by the news agency, one of the crucial elements of the system, which is responsible for cooling down the reactor, has been successfully tested.
The nuclear engine, which is known by its abbreviation YaEDU (Nuclear Propulsion and Power Engine System) consists of a small fast-neutron nuclear reactor, an electricity generator fed by the reactor’s heat and space thrusters powered by the generator.
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The Mars Society is holding a special contest called The Mars Colony Prize for designing the best plan for a Mars colony of 1000 people. There will be a prize of $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second and $2500 for third. In addition, the best 20 papers will be published in a book — “Mars Colonies: Plans for Settling the Red Planet.”
The Mars colony should be self-supporting to the maximum extent possible – i.e. relying on a minimum mass of imports from Earth. In order to make all the things that people need on Earth takes a lot more than 1000 people, so you will need to augment both the amount and diversity of available labor power through the use of robots and artificial intelligence. You will need to be able to both produce essential bulk materials like food, fabrics, steel, glass, and plastics on Mars, and fabricate them into useful structures, so 3D printing and other advanced fabrication technologies will be essential. The goal is to have the colony be able to produce all the food, clothing, shelter, power, common consumer products, vehicles, and machines for 1000 people, with only the minimum number of key components, such as advanced electronics needing to be imported from Earth.
As noted, imports will always be necessary, so you will need to think of useful exports – of either material or intellectual products that the colony could produce and transport or transit back to Earth to pay for them. In the future, it can be expected that the cost of shipping goods from Earth to Mars will be $500/kg and the cost of shipping goods from Mars to Earth will be $200/kg. Under these assumptions, your job is to design an economy, cost it out, and show that after a certain initial investment in time and money, that it can become successful.
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