Romalar
3151
The solar sailing nanosat is a success:
After a few tweaks, LightSail 2 began raising its orbit around the Earth. In the past 4 days, the spacecraft has raised its orbital high point, or apogee, by about 2 kilometers. The perigee, or low point of its orbit, has dropped by a similar amount, which is consistent with pre-flight expectations for the effects of atmospheric drag on the spacecraft. The mission team has confirmed the apogee increase can only be attributed to solar sailing, meaning LightSail 2 has successfully completed its primary goal of demonstrating flight by light for CubeSats.
The milestone makes LightSail 2 the first spacecraft to use solar sailing for propulsion in Earth orbit, the first small spacecraft to demonstrate solar sailing, and just the second-ever solar sail spacecraft to successfully fly, following Japan’s IKAROS, which launched in 2010. LightSail 2 is also the first crowdfunded spacecraft to successfully demonstrate a new form of propulsion.
fire
3154
Today is the 7th anniversary of the landing of Curiosity, also known as Mars Science Laboratory. I remember staying up late to watch the landing on TV while my toddler slept, and being blown away by the engineering feat of what I saw. The NASA short film called Seven Minutes of Terror was made to explain entry, descent, and landing, and the Mars in a Minute cartoon series started around the same time to quickly explain the basics of planetary travel, communication, and robotic exploration.
I joined the mission about 1,100 sols (or 3 years) ago a member of the engineering team. It’s been a wild ride, and I’m delighted each day by the strength and longevity of our little girl, as well as by the team’s ability to work together to accomplish good science, overcome obstacles, and figure out solutions together.
Happy landing, MSL!
Oh I’m glad somebody bumped this thread because it reminded me that there’s a SpaceX launch today (hopefully).
Edit: Just read what you wrote, @fire. Congrats, that’s so cool!
schurem
3157
So what about that copter I saw they want to drop on Titan come 2026. Is there any reality to that?
antlers
3158
Yes, that got funded as Nasa’s next big solar system mission.
Well, hot damn, that’s pretty cool!
Romalar
3160
Also today, Rocket Lab announced they’re starting a project to get in on the reusability train with Electron, but they sound like they’re closer than the rest of the field (except SpaceX of course.) However, since they have a very small rocket, they think drogue chutes, parasails, and helicopters will work. ULA is planning something similar for their future Vulcan rocket, but since that’s much bigger (roughly 100X the Electron’s LEO payload) they plan to only grab the engines mid-air and dump the rest of the first stage in the ocean as usual.
I think Rocket Lab will beat the others since they’ve already started gathering operational aerodynamic data from the Electron for this and since it’s so light. They did talk about how fast it comes down though, so who knows.
That’s a big boat. How much does a brand new fairing cost SpaceX?
Also HTF is Rocket Lab supposed to catch a rocket with a helicopter? o.O
jpinard
3162
Congrats Fire and Curiosity! Both of your Rock!
BTW dirty rockets on the launchpad are the new sexy cause you know it’s been used before :)
And, pink champagne on ice.
-xtien
Lucky for you, that’s what I like, that’s what I like
Am I doing it right?
schurem
3165
Dirty rocket on a launchpad sounds like an elaborate cocktail and snack combination you can order at the bar.
Romalar
3166
I think SpaceX has estimated that a fairing is about 6 million USD, but I’ve heard numbers as high as that much per fairing half.
The Rocket Lab Electron is very small comparatively to what we usually talk about. I imagine that’s the difference. I believe the entire first stage (when empty) may be less massive than just the engine section that ULA is planning to catch by helicopter from their rocket in the mid-2020s. The Electron first stage may also be smaller than SpaceX’s fairing, as well.
More specifically, the video shows an animation of a helicopter with a wide hook latching onto the Electron’s parachute cords, I think above the main chute but below some kind of drogue chute or something.
An explosion the size of Earth just happened on Jupiter
So happy we have Big J as the solar system’s goalkeeper
