1.
NASA
–
President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
2.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
–
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in La Cañada Flintridge, California and Pasadena, California, United States. The JPL is managed by the nearby California Institute of Technology for NASA, the laboratorys primary function is the construction and operation of planetary robotic spacecraft, though it also conducts Earth-orbit and astronomy missions. It is also responsible for operating NASAs Deep Space Network and they are also responsible for managing the JPL Small-Body Database, and provides physical data and lists of publications for all known small Solar System bodies. The JPLs Space Flight Operations Facility and Twenty-Five-Foot Space Simulator are designated National Historic Landmarks, JPL traces its beginnings to 1936 in the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology when the first set of rocket experiments were carried out in the Arroyo Seco. Malinas thesis advisor was engineer/aerodynamicist Theodore von Kármán, who arranged for U. S. Army financial support for this GALCIT Rocket Project in 1939. In 1941, Malina, Parsons, Forman, Martin Summerfield, in 1943, von Kármán, Malina, Parsons, and Forman established the Aerojet Corporation to manufacture JATO motors. The project took on the name Jet Propulsion Laboratory in November 1943, during JPLs Army years, the laboratory developed two deployed weapon systems, the MGM-5 Corporal and MGM-29 Sergeant intermediate range ballistic missiles. These missiles were the first US ballistic missiles developed at JPL and it also developed a number of other weapons system prototypes, such as the Loki anti-aircraft missile system, and the forerunner of the Aerobee sounding rocket. At various times, it carried out testing at the White Sands Proving Ground, Edwards Air Force Base. A lunar lander was developed in 1938-39 which influenced design of the Apollo Lunar Module in the 1960s. The team lost that proposal to Project Vanguard, and instead embarked on a project to demonstrate ablative re-entry technology using a Jupiter-C rocket. They carried out three successful flights in 1956 and 1957. Using a spare Juno I, the two organizations then launched the United States first satellite, Explorer 1, on February 1,1958, JPL was transferred to NASA in December 1958, becoming the agencys primary planetary spacecraft center. JPL engineers designed and operated Ranger and Surveyor missions to the Moon that prepared the way for Apollo, JPL also led the way in interplanetary exploration with the Mariner missions to Venus, Mars, and Mercury. In 1998, JPL opened the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA, as of 2013, it has found 95% of asteroids that are a kilometer or more in diameter that cross Earths orbit. JPL was early to employ women mathematicians, in the 1940s and 1950s, using mechanical calculators, women in an all-female computations group performed trajectory calculations. In 1961, JPL hired Dana Ulery as their first woman engineer to work alongside male engineers as part of the Ranger and Mariner mission tracking teams, when founded, JPLs site was a rocky flood-plain just outside the city limits of Pasadena. Almost all of the 177 acres of the U. S, the city of La Cañada Flintridge, California was incorporated in 1976, well after JPL attained international recognition with a Pasadena address
3.
Orbital Sciences Corporation
–
It was headquartered in Dulles, Virginia and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol OA. Orbital also provided satellite subsystems and space-related technical services to government agencies and laboratories, on April 29,2014, Orbital Sciences announced that it would merge with Alliant Techsystems to create a new company called Orbital ATK, Inc. The merger was completed on February 9,2015 and Orbital Sciences ceased to exist as an independent entity, Orbital was founded and incorporated in 1982 by three friends who had met earlier while at Harvard Business School—David W. Thompson, Bruce Ferguson and Scott Webster. In 1985, Orbital procured its first contract for providing up to four Transfer Orbital Stage vehicles to NASA, in 1987, the seeds for the ORBCOMM constellation were planted when Orbital began investigating a system using Low Earth orbit satellites to collect data from remote locations. In 1988, Orbital acquired Space Data Corporation in Arizona- one of the leading suppliers of suborbital rockets- thereby broadening its rocket business. This was followed by the opening of a new facility in Chandler, in 1990, the company successfully carried out eight space missions, highlighted by the initial launch of the Pegasus rocket, the worlds first privately developed space launch vehicle. Shortly following the successful Pegasus launch, Orbital conducted an IPO in 1990, in 1993, Orbital established its current headquarters in Dulles, Virginia followed by the acquisition of Fairchild Space and Defense Corporation in 1994. In the same year, Orbital successfully conducted the launch of the Taurus rocket. In the early 2000s, Orbital continued expanding its missile defense systems business with a $900 million award to develop, build, test and support interceptor booster vehicles. In 2006 Orbital conducted its 500th mission since the founding with a diverse portfolio of products that included satellites, launch vehicles. Orbital is currently on-track to deliver on this contract with its Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket following the success of Cygnus Orb-D1, the new company will be called Orbital ATK, Inc. and will serve U. S. Orbital was a provider of small- to medium-class satellites, since the companys founding in 1982, Orbital has delivered 150 spacecraft to commercial, military and civil customers worldwide. To date, these spacecraft have amassed well over 1000 years of on-orbit operations, the Communications & Imaging Satellites developed by Orbital are smaller and more affordable. Earth imagery and high resolution digital imaging satellites such as the OrbView series are developed and manufactured by Orbital. In the last 10 years, Orbital has built more scientific, Orbitals space launch vehicles are considered the industry standard for boosting small payloads to orbit. The Minotaur ground-launched rockets combine Pegasus upper stages with either government-supplied or commercially available first-stage rocket motors to boost larger payloads to orbit, Minotaur IV combines decommissioned Peacekeeper rocket motors with proven Orbital avionics and fairings to provide increased lifting capacity for government-sponsored payloads. With the development of the Antares space launch vehicle, Orbital is extending its capabilities to provide launch services for U. S. government. The inaugural launch of Antares occurred on April 21,2013 from Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Orbital is also a major provider of suborbital target and interceptor launch vehicles for the U. S. missile defense systems
4.
Delta II
–
Delta II is an American expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II is part of the Delta rocket family and entered service in 1989, Delta II vehicles included the Delta 6000, and two Delta 7000 variants. In the early 1980s, all United States expendable launch vehicles were planned to be phased out in favor of the Space Shuttle, production of Delta, Atlas-Centaur, and Titan 34D had ended. McDonnell Douglas, at time the manufacturer of the Delta family. These were intended to launch a series of GPS Block II satellites, the Air Force exercised additional contract options in 1988, expanding this order to 20 vehicles, and NASA purchased its first Delta IIs in 1990 for the launch of three Earth-observing satellites. The first Delta II launch occurred in 1989, with a Delta 6925 boosting the first GPS Block II satellite into a 20,000 km high orbit, the first Delta II 7000-series flew in 1990, replacing the RS-27 engine of the 6000-series with the more powerful RS-27A. Additionally, the steel-cased Castor 4A solid boosters of the 6000 series were replaced with the composite-cased GEM40, all further Delta II launches except three were of this upgraded configuration, and the 6000-series was retired in 1992. McDonnell Douglas began Delta III development in the mid-90s as increasing satellite mass required more powerful launch vehicles, the upgraded boosters would still find use on the Delta II, leading to the Delta II Heavy. In total, the Delta II family has launched 153 times, no one was injured, and the launch pad itself was not seriously impacted, though several cars were destroyed and a few buildings were damaged. In 2007, Delta II completed its 75th consecutive successful launch, with the launch of SMAP in 2015, the Delta II has enjoyed 98 consecutive successful launches, with two more scheduled in 2017 and 2018. Should these launches be successful, the Delta II would achieve an unprecedented 100 consecutive launch successes, the first stage of the Delta II is propelled by a Rocketdyne RS-27 main engine burning RP-1 and liquid oxygen. This stage is referred to as the Extra-Extended Long Tank Thor. The RS-27 used on the 6000-series Delta II produced 915 kN, the stage is 26 meters long and 2.4 meters wide, weighs over 100 t when fueled, and burns for 260 seconds. In addition, two LR101-NA-11 vernier engines provide guidance for the first stage, for additional thrust during launch, the Delta II uses solid boosters. For the 6000-series, Delta II used Castor 4A boosters, while the 7000-series uses Graphite-Epoxy Motors manufactured by ATK, the vehicle can be flown with three, four, or, most commonly, nine boosters. The second stage of Delta II is the Delta-K, powered by a restartable Aerojet AJ10-118K engine burning hypergolic Aerozine-50 and these propellants are highly toxic and corrosive, and once loaded the launch must occur within approximately 37 days or the stage will have to be refurbished or replaced. This stage also contains a combined platform and guidance system that controls all flight events. The Delta-K stage is 6 meters long and 2.4 meters wide, contains up to 6 t of propellant, for low Earth orbit, Delta II is not equipped with a third stage
5.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
–
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Commands 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida, CCAFS is the primary head of Americas Eastern Range with three launch pads currently active. The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip provides a 10, 000-foot runway close to the launch complexes for military airlift aircraft delivering heavy, a number of American space exploration firsts were launched from CCAFS, including the first U. S. Earth satellite, first U. S. astronaut, first U. S. astronaut in orbit, first two-man U. S. spacecraft, first U. S. unmanned lunar landing, and first three-man U. S. spacecraft. The CCAFS area had used by the United States government to test missiles since 1949. On June 1,1948, the U. S. Navy transferred the former Banana River Naval Air Station to the U. S. Air Force, with USAF renaming the facility the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base on June 10,1949. On October 1,1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base was transferred from the Air Materiel Command to the Air Force Division of the Joint Long Range Proving Ground. On May 17,1950, the base was renamed the Long Range Proving Ground Base, in 1951, the Air Force established the Air Force Missile Test Center. Early American sub-orbital rocket flights were achieved at Cape Canaveral in 1956 and these flights occurred shortly after sub-orbital flights launched from White Sands Missile Range, such as the Viking 12 sounding rocket on February 4,1955. Following the Soviet Unions successful Sputnik 1, the US attempted its first launch of a satellite from Cape Canaveral on December 6,1957. However, the rocket carrying Vanguard TV3 blew up on the launch pad, NASA was founded in 1958, and Air Force crews launched missiles for NASA from the Cape, known then as Cape Canaveral Missile Annex. The row of Titan and Atlas launch pads along the coast came to be known as Missile Row in the 1960s, nASAs first manned spaceflight program was prepared for launch from Canaveral by U. S. Air Force crews. Mercurys objectives were to place a spacecraft in Earth orbit, investigate human performance and ability to function in space. Suborbital flights were launched by derivatives of the Armys Redstone missile from LC-5, Orbital flights were launched by derivatives of the Air Forces larger Atlas D missile from LC-14. The first American in orbit was John Glenn on February 20,1962, three more orbital flights followed through May 1963. Flight control for all Mercury missions was provided at the Mercury Control Center located at Canaveral near LC-14 and he had also convinced Gov. C. Farris Bryant to change the name of Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy and this resulted in some confusion in public perception, which conflated the two. This name was used through the Gemini and early Apollo programs, however, the geographical name change proved to be unpopular, owing to the historical longevity of Cape Canaveral
6.
9969 Braille
–
It was discovered in 1992, by astronomers at Palomar observatory and later named after Louis Braille, the inventor of the writing system for the blind. It was photographed in closeup by the spacecraft Deep Space 1 in 1999, but a malfunction resulted in indistinct images. Discovered on May 27,1992, by E. F. Helin and K. J. Lawrence working at the Palomar observatory as part of NASAs Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey, it was given the provisional designation 1992 KD. Later, it was renamed Braille in honour of Louis Braille as suggested by Kennedy Space Center software engineer Kerry Babcock in The Planetary Societys contest titled Name That Asteroid, naming citation was published on 28 July 1999. Braille has an inclined orbit, and belongs to the somewhat rare class of asteroids known as Mars-crossing asteroids. Simulations of its orbit by scientists of the Deep Space 1 project predict that it will evolve into an Earth-crossing orbit in about 4000 years, Braille is a Q-type asteroid, composed mostly of olivine and pyroxene. Early ground-based observations had suggested that it could have been a V-type asteroid with similarities of composition between it and the much larger 4 Vesta, the asteroid is irregularly shaped, measuring approximately 2.1 km ×1 km ×1 km. By the time Deep Space 1 reached Braille, its ultraviolet spectrometer had failed, however, although the probe came within 26 km of Braille, the images and spectra were taken from an approximate distance of 14000 km, due to problems with the tracking system. The main purpose of the Deep Space 1 mission was technology testing, no lone asteroid as small as Braille had previously been observed from such a short distance
7.
19P/Borrelly
–
Comet Borrelly or Borrellys Comet is a periodic comet, which was visited by the spacecraft Deep Space 1 in 2001. The comet last came to perihelion on May 28,2015, the comets nucleus, seen in the image on the right, is particularly notable for being shaped like a bowling pin. The comet was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly during a search for comets at Marseilles. On September 21,2001 the spacecraft Deep Space 1, which was launched to test new equipment in space and it was steered toward the comet during the extended mission of the craft, and presented an unexpected bonus for the mission scientists. Despite the failure of a system that determine its orientation, Deep Space 1 managed to send back to Earth what were, at the time. Http, //jcometobs. web. fc2. com/pcmtn/0019p. htm 19P – Gary W. Kronks Cometography Elements and Ephemeris for 19P/Borrelly – Minor Planet Center
8.
Spacecraft
–
A spacecraft is a vehicle, or machine designed to fly in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, on a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space and then returns to the surface, without having gone into an orbit. For orbital spaceflights, spacecraft enter closed orbits around the Earth or around other celestial bodies, robotic spacecraft used to support scientific research are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around a body are artificial satellites. Only a handful of interstellar probes, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, orbital spacecraft may be recoverable or not. By method of reentry to Earth they may be divided in non-winged space capsules, Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, the launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments, while the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age. Apart from its value as a technological first, Sputnik 1 also helped to identify the upper atmospheric layers density and it also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Pressurized nitrogen in the satellites false body provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection, Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No. 1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR. The satellite travelled at 29,000 kilometers per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete an orbit and this altitude is called the Kármán line. In particular, in the 1940s there were several test launches of the V-2 rocket, as of 2016, only three nations have flown manned spacecraft, USSR/Russia, USA, and China. The first manned spacecraft was Vostok 1, which carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961, there were five other manned missions which used a Vostok spacecraft. The second manned spacecraft was named Freedom 7, and it performed a sub-orbital spaceflight in 1961 carrying American astronaut Alan Shepard to an altitude of just over 187 kilometers, there were five other manned missions using Mercury spacecraft. Other Soviet manned spacecraft include the Voskhod, Soyuz, flown unmanned as Zond/L1, L3, TKS, China developed, but did not fly Shuguang, and is currently using Shenzhou. Except for the shuttle, all of the recoverable manned orbital spacecraft were space capsules. Manned space capsules The International Space Station, manned since November 2000, is a joint venture between Russia, the United States, Canada and several other countries, some reusable vehicles have been designed only for manned spaceflight, and these are often called spaceplanes. The first example of such was the North American X-15 spaceplane, the first reusable spacecraft, the X-15, was air-launched on a suborbital trajectory on July 19,1963. The first partially reusable spacecraft, a winged non-capsule, the Space Shuttle, was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarins flight
9.
Asteroid
–
Asteroids are minor planets, especially those of the inner Solar System. The larger ones have also been called planetoids and these terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not show the disc of a planet and was not observed to have the characteristics of an active comet. As minor planets in the outer Solar System were discovered and found to have volatile-based surfaces that resemble those of comets, in this article, the term asteroid refers to the minor planets of the inner Solar System including those co-orbital with Jupiter. There are millions of asteroids, many thought to be the remnants of planetesimals. The large majority of known asteroids orbit in the belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, or are co-orbital with Jupiter. However, other orbital families exist with significant populations, including the near-Earth objects, individual asteroids are classified by their characteristic spectra, with the majority falling into three main groups, C-type, M-type, and S-type. These were named after and are identified with carbon-rich, metallic. The size of asteroids varies greatly, some reaching as much as 1000 km across, asteroids are differentiated from comets and meteoroids. In the case of comets, the difference is one of composition, while asteroids are composed of mineral and rock, comets are composed of dust. In addition, asteroids formed closer to the sun, preventing the development of the aforementioned cometary ice, the difference between asteroids and meteoroids is mainly one of size, meteoroids have a diameter of less than one meter, whereas asteroids have a diameter of greater than one meter. Finally, meteoroids can be composed of either cometary or asteroidal materials, only one asteroid,4 Vesta, which has a relatively reflective surface, is normally visible to the naked eye, and this only in very dark skies when it is favorably positioned. Rarely, small asteroids passing close to Earth may be visible to the eye for a short time. As of March 2016, the Minor Planet Center had data on more than 1.3 million objects in the inner and outer Solar System, the United Nations declared June 30 as International Asteroid Day to educate the public about asteroids. The date of International Asteroid Day commemorates the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroid impact over Siberia, the first asteroid to be discovered, Ceres, was found in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi, and was originally considered to be a new planet. In the early half of the nineteenth century, the terms asteroid. Asteroid discovery methods have improved over the past two centuries. This task required that hand-drawn sky charts be prepared for all stars in the band down to an agreed-upon limit of faintness. On subsequent nights, the sky would be charted again and any moving object would, hopefully, the expected motion of the missing planet was about 30 seconds of arc per hour, readily discernible by observers
10.
Comet
–
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to evolve gasses, a process called outgassing. This produces an atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are due to the effects of radiation and the solar wind acting upon the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei range from a few hundred metres to tens of kilometres across and are composed of collections of ice, dust. The coma may be up to 15 times the Earths diameter, if sufficiently bright, a comet may be seen from the Earth without the aid of a telescope and may subtend an arc of 30° across the sky. Comets have been observed and recorded since ancient times by many cultures, Comets usually have highly eccentric elliptical orbits, and they have a wide range of orbital periods, ranging from several years to potentially several millions of years. Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper belt or its associated scattered disc, long-period comets are thought to originate in the Oort cloud, a spherical cloud of icy bodies extending from outside the Kuiper belt to halfway to the nearest star. Long-period comets are set in motion towards the Sun from the Oort cloud by gravitational perturbations caused by passing stars, hyperbolic comets may pass once through the inner Solar System before being flung to interstellar space. The appearance of a comet is called an apparition, Comets are distinguished from asteroids by the presence of an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere surrounding their central nucleus. This atmosphere has parts termed the coma and the tail, however, extinct comets that have passed close to the Sun many times have lost nearly all of their volatile ices and dust and may come to resemble small asteroids. Asteroids are thought to have a different origin from comets, having formed inside the orbit of Jupiter rather than in the outer Solar System, the discovery of main-belt comets and active centaur minor planets has blurred the distinction between asteroids and comets. As of November 2014 there are 5,253 known comets, however, this represents only a tiny fraction of the total potential comet population, as the reservoir of comet-like bodies in the outer Solar System is estimated to be one trillion. Roughly one comet per year is visible to the eye, though many of those are faint. Particularly bright examples are called Great Comets, the word comet derives from the Old English cometa from the Latin comēta or comētēs. That, in turn, is a latinisation of the Greek κομήτης, Κομήτης was derived from κομᾶν, which was itself derived from κόμη and was used to mean the tail of a comet. The astronomical symbol for comets is ☄, consisting of a disc with three hairlike extensions. The solid, core structure of a comet is known as the nucleus, cometary nuclei are composed of an amalgamation of rock, dust, water ice, and frozen gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ammonia. As such, they are described as dirty snowballs after Fred Whipples model
11.
New Millennium Program
–
New Millennium Program was a NASA project with focus on engineering validation of new technologies for space applications. Funding for the program was eliminated from the FY2009 budget by the 110th United States Congress, the spacecraft in the New Millennium Program were originally named Deep Space and Earth Observing. With a refocussing of the program in 2000, the Deep Space series was renamed Space Technology, Deep Space 1 – standalone spacecraft testing solar electric propulsion, autonomous operation etc. New Millennium Program site at Jet Propulsion Laboratory
12.
Deep Space 2
–
Deep Space 2 was a NASA probe part of the New Millennium Program. It included two highly advanced miniature space probes that were sent to Mars aboard the Mars Polar Lander in January 1999, the probes were named Scott and Amundsen, in honor of Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen, the first explorers to reach the Earths South Pole. The mission was declared a failure on March 13,2000, each probe weighed 2.4 kg and was encased in a protective aeroshell. They rode to Mars aboard another spacecraft, the Mars Polar Lander, on impact, each shell was designed to shatter, and its grapefruit-sized probe was to punch through the soil and separate into two parts. The lower part, called the forebody, was designed to penetrate as far as 0.6 meters into the soil. The upper part of the probe, or aftbody, was designed to remain on the surface in order to radio data to the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in orbit around Mars. The Mars Global Surveyor would act as a relay in order to send the data collected back to Earth, the two sections of the probe were designed to remain connected via a data cable. The probes reached Mars apparently without incident, but communication was never established after landing and it is not known what the cause of failure was. The crash review board suggests several possible causes for failure, the radio equipment had a low chance of surviving the impact. The probes may simply have hit ground that was too rocky for survival, the batteries on the probes, which had been charged prior to launch almost a year earlier, might not have retained sufficient power. Exploration of Mars Deep Space 1 List of missions to Mars Schiaparelli EDM lander List of spacecraft powered by non-rechargeable batteries Michael C, hidden in Plain Sight, Finding Martian Landers. Deep Space 2 website at JPL
13.
Mars Polar Lander
–
It formed part of the Mars Surveyor 98 mission. On December 3,1999, however, after the descent phase was expected to be complete, as part of the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, a lander was sought as a way to gather climate data from the ground in conjunction with an orbiter. NASA suspected that a quantity of frozen water may exist under a thin layer of dust at the south pole. In planning the Mars Polar Lander, the water content in the Martian south pole was the strongest determining factor for choosing a landing location. The Mars Polar Lander carried two small, identical impactor probes known as Deep Space 2 A and B. The probes were intended to strike the surface with a velocity at approximately 73°S 210°W, to penetrate the Martian soil. However, after entering the Martian atmosphere, attempts to contact the probes failed, the spacecraft measured 3.6 meters wide and 1.06 meters tall with the legs and solar arrays fully deployed. The base was constructed with an aluminum honeycomb deck, composite graphite epoxy sheets forming the edge. During landing, the legs were to deploy from stowed position with compression springs and absorb the force of the landing with crushable, each of these components included redundant units in the event that one may fail. Orientation of the spacecraft was performed using redundant Sun sensors, star trackers, during descent, the lander used three clusters of pulse modulated engines, each containing four 266-newton hydrazine monopropellant thrusters. The lander was launched with two tanks containing 64 kilograms of propellant and pressurized using helium. Each spherical tank was located at the underside of the lander and provided propellant during the cruise, during the cruise stage, communications with the spacecraft were conducted over the X band using a medium-gain, horn-shaped antenna and redundant solid state power amplifiers. For contingency measures, a low-gain omni-directional antenna was also included, the lander was originally intended to communicate data through the failed Mars Climate Orbiter via the UHF antenna. Alternatively, Mars Global Surveyor could be used as a using the UHF antenna at multiple times each Martian day. However the Deep Space Network could only receive data from, and not send commands to, the direct-to-Earth medium-gain antenna provided a 12. 6-kbit/s return channel, and the UHF relay path provided a 128-kbit/s return channel. Communications with the spacecraft would be limited to events, constrained by heat-buildup that would occur in the amplifiers. The number of events would also be constrained by power limitations. The cruise stage included two gallium arsenide solar arrays to power the system and maintain power to the batteries in the lander
14.
Ion thruster
–
An ion thruster is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. It creates thrust by accelerating ions with electricity, the term refers strictly to gridded electrostatic ion thrusters, but may more loosely be applied to all electric propulsion systems that accelerate plasma, since plasma consists of ions. Ion thrusters are categorized by how they accelerate the ions, using either electrostatic or electromagnetic force, electrostatic thrusters use the Coulomb force and accelerate the ions in the direction of the electric field. Electromagnetic thrusters use the Lorentz force, in either case, when an ion passes through an electrostatic grid engine, the potential difference of the electric field converts to the ions kinetic energy. Ion thrusters have an input power need of 1–7 kW, exhaust velocity 20–50 km/s, thrust 25–250 millinewtons, the Deep Space 1 spacecraft, powered by an ion thruster, changed velocity by 4.3 km/s while consuming less than 74 kilograms of xenon. The Dawn spacecraft broke the record, with a velocity of 10 km/s, applications include control of the orientation and position of orbiting satellites and use as a main propulsion engine for low-mass robotic space vehicles. The ion thruster is not the most promising type of electrically powered spacecraft propulsion, an ion drive would require two days to accelerate a car to highway speed. The technical characteristics, especially thrust, are inferior to the prototypes described in literature. Ion thrusters create small thrust levels compared to chemical rockets. The power imparted to the exhaust increases with the square of exhaust velocity while thrust increase is linear, conversely, chemical rockets provide high thrust, but are limited in total impulse by the small amount of energy that can be stored chemically in the propellants. Given the practical weight of power sources, the acceleration from an ion thruster is frequently less than one thousandth of standard gravity. However, since they operate as motors, they convert a greater fraction of input power into kinetic exhaust power. Chemical rockets operate as heat engines, and Carnots theorem limits the exhaust velocity, Ion thrust engines are practical only in the vacuum of space and cannot take vehicles through the atmosphere because ion engines do not work in the presence of ions outside the engine. Besides, the engines minuscule thrust would not matter when air resistance comes into play, spacecraft rely on conventional chemical rockets to initially reach orbit. The first person to mention the idea publicly was Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1911, however, the first document to consider electric propulsion is Robert H. Goddards handwritten notebook in an entry dated September 6,1906. The first experiments with ion thrusters were carried out by Goddard at Clark University from 1916–1917, the technique was recommended for near-vacuum conditions at high altitude, but thrust was demonstrated with ionized air streams at atmospheric pressure. A working ion thruster was built by Harold R. Kaufman in 1959 at the NASA Glenn Research Center facilities and it was similar to a gridded electrostatic ion thruster and used mercury for propellant. Suborbital tests were conducted during the 1960s and in 1964, the engine was sent into a flight aboard the Space Electric Rocket Test 1
15.
NASA Deep Space Network
–
It also performs radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe, and supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. DSN is part of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, similar networks are run by Europe, Russia, China, India, and Japan. DSN currently consists of three deep-space communications facilities placed approximately 120 degrees apart around the Earth and they are, the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex outside Barstow, California. Each facility is situated in semi-mountainous, bowl-shaped terrain to shield against radio frequency interference. All DSN antennas are steerable, high-gain, parabolic reflector antennas, the antennas and data delivery systems make it possible to, acquire telemetry data from spacecraft. Perform Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations, measure variations in radio waves for radio science experiments. Monitor and control the performance of the network, the antennas at all three DSN Complexes communicate directly with the Deep Space Operations Center located at the JPL facilities in Pasadena, California. In the early years, the control center did not have a permanent facility. It was a setup with numerous desks and phones installed in a large room near the computers used to calculate orbits. In July 1961, NASA started the construction of the permanent facility, the facility was completed in October 1963 and dedicated on May 14,1964. In the initial setup of the SFOF, there were 31 consoles,100 closed-circuit television cameras, currently, the operations center personnel at SFOF monitor and direct operations, and oversee the quality of spacecraft telemetry and navigation data delivered to network users. Tracking vehicles in space is quite different from tracking missions in low Earth orbit. Deep space missions are visible for long periods of time from a portion of the Earths surface. These few stations, however, require huge antennas, ultra-sensitive receivers, Deep space is defined in several different ways. According to a 1975 NASA report, the DSN was designed to communicate with spacecraft traveling approximately 16,000 km from Earth to the farthest planets of the solar system. JPL diagrams state that at an altitude of 30,000 km and this definition means that missions to the Moon, and the Earth–Sun Lagrangian points L1 and L2, are considered near space and cannot use the ITUs deep space bands. Other Lagrangian points may or may not be subject to rule due to distance. NASA was officially established on October 1,1958, to consolidate the separately developing space-exploration programs of the US Army, US Navy, the DSN was given responsibility for its own research, development, and operation in support of all of its users
16.
Global Positioning System
–
The Global Positioning System is a space-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Air Force. The GPS system operates independently of any telephonic or internet reception, the GPS system provides critical positioning capabilities to military, civil, and commercial users around the world. The United States government created the system, maintains it, however, the US government can selectively deny access to the system, as happened to the Indian military in 1999 during the Kargil War. The U. S. Department of Defense developed the system and it became fully operational in 1995. Roger L. Easton of the Naval Research Laboratory, Ivan A, getting of The Aerospace Corporation, and Bradford Parkinson of the Applied Physics Laboratory are credited with inventing it. Announcements from Vice President Al Gore and the White House in 1998 initiated these changes, in 2000, the U. S. Congress authorized the modernization effort, GPS III. In addition to GPS, other systems are in use or under development, mainly because of a denial of access. The Russian Global Navigation Satellite System was developed contemporaneously with GPS, GLONASS can be added to GPS devices, making more satellites available and enabling positions to be fixed more quickly and accurately, to within two meters. There are also the European Union Galileo positioning system and Chinas BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, special and general relativity predict that the clocks on the GPS satellites would be seen by the Earths observers to run 38 microseconds faster per day than the clocks on the Earth. The GPS calculated positions would quickly drift into error, accumulating to 10 kilometers per day, the relativistic time effect of the GPS clocks running faster than the clocks on earth was corrected for in the design of GPS. The Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, two American physicists, William Guier and George Weiffenbach, at Johns Hopkinss Applied Physics Laboratory, decided to monitor Sputniks radio transmissions. Within hours they realized that, because of the Doppler effect, the Director of the APL gave them access to their UNIVAC to do the heavy calculations required. The next spring, Frank McClure, the deputy director of the APL, asked Guier and Weiffenbach to investigate the inverse problem — pinpointing the users location and this led them and APL to develop the TRANSIT system. In 1959, ARPA also played a role in TRANSIT, the first satellite navigation system, TRANSIT, used by the United States Navy, was first successfully tested in 1960. It used a constellation of five satellites and could provide a navigational fix approximately once per hour, in 1967, the U. S. Navy developed the Timation satellite, which proved the feasibility of placing accurate clocks in space, a technology required by GPS. In the 1970s, the ground-based OMEGA navigation system, based on comparison of signal transmission from pairs of stations. Limitations of these systems drove the need for a more universal navigation solution with greater accuracy, during the Cold War arms race, the nuclear threat to the existence of the United States was the one need that did justify this cost in the view of the United States Congress. This deterrent effect is why GPS was funded and it is also the reason for the ultra secrecy at that time
17.
Deep Impact (spacecraft)
–
Deep Impact was a NASA space probe launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 18,47 UTC on January 12,2005. It was designed to study the composition of the comet Tempel 1. At 05,52 UTC on July 4,2005, the impactor successfully collided with the comets nucleus, the impact excavated debris from the interior of the nucleus, forming an impact crater. Photographs taken by the spacecraft showed the comet to be more dusty, the impact generated an unexpectedly large and bright dust cloud, obscuring the view of the impact crater. Previous space missions to comets, such as Giotto and Stardust, were fly-by missions and these missions were able to photograph and examine only the surfaces of cometary nuclei, and even then from considerable distances. The Deep Impact mission was the first to eject material from a surface, and the mission garnered large publicity from the media, international scientists. Upon the completion of its mission, proposals were made to further utilize the spacecraft. Consequently, Deep Impact flew by Earth on December 31,2007 on its way to a mission, designated EPOXI, with a dual purpose to study extrasolar planets. By observing the composition of the comet, astronomers hoped to determine how comets form based on the differences between the interior and exterior makeup of the comet, observations of the impact and its aftermath would allow astronomers to attempt to determine the answers to these questions. The missions Principal Investigator was Michael AHearn, an astronomer at the University of Maryland, the Flyby spacecraft is about 3.2 meters long,1.7 meters wide and 2.3 meters high. It includes two panels, a debris shield, and several science instruments for imaging, infrared spectroscopy. The spacecraft also carried two cameras, the High Resolution Imager, and the Medium Resolution Imager.05 to 4.8 micrometres and it has been optimized for observing the comets nucleus. The MRI is the device, and was used primarily for navigation during the final 10-day approach. It also has a wheel, with a slightly different set of filters. The Impactor section of the spacecraft contains an instrument that is identical to the MRI, called the Impactor Targeting Sensor. Its dual purpose was to sense the Impactors trajectory, which could then be adjusted up to four times between release and impact, and to image the comet from close range, the final image taken by the impactor was snapped only 3.7 seconds before impact. The impactors payload, dubbed the Cratering Mass, was 100% copper, including this cratering mass, copper formed 49% of total mass of the impactor, this was to minimize interference with scientific measurements. Since copper was not expected to be found on a comet, instead of using explosives, it was also cheaper to use copper as the payload
18.
Fresnel lens
–
A Fresnel lens is a type of compact lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses. The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass, a Fresnel lens can be made much thinner than a comparable conventional lens, in some cases taking the form of a flat sheet. A Fresnel lens can capture more light from a light source. The idea of creating a thinner, lighter lens by making it with separate sections mounted in a frame is attributed to Georges-Louis Leclerc. The Marquis de Condorcet proposed grinding such a lens from a thin piece of glass. French physicist and engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel is most often given credit for the development of the lens for use in lighthouses. According to Smithsonian magazine, the first Fresnel lens was used in 1823 in the Cordouan lighthouse at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, scottish physicist Sir David Brewster is credited with convincing the United Kingdom to adopt these lenses in their lighthouses. The Fresnel lens reduces the amount of material required compared to a lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. An ideal Fresnel lens would have many such sections. In each section, the thickness is decreased compared to an equivalent simple lens. This effectively divides the surface of a standard lens into a set of surfaces of the same curvature. In some lenses, the surfaces are replaced with flat surfaces. Such a lens can be regarded as an array of prisms arranged in a fashion, with steeper prisms on the edges. In the first Fresnel lenses, each section was actually a separate prism, single-piece Fresnel lenses were later produced, being used for automobile headlamps, brake, parking, and turn signal lenses, and so on. In modern times, computer-controlled milling equipment might be used to more complex lenses. Fresnel lenses are made of glass or plastic, their size varies from large to medium to small. In many cases they are thin and flat, almost flexible. Modern Fresnel lenses usually consist of all refractive elements, however many of the lighthouses have both refracting and reflecting elements, as shown in the photographs and diagram
19.
Silicone
–
They are typically heat-resistant and rubber-like, and are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking utensils, and thermal and electrical insulation. Some common forms include silicone oil, silicone grease, silicone rubber, silicone resin, more precisely called polymerized siloxanes or polysiloxanes, silicones consist of an inorganic silicon-oxygen backbone chain with organic side groups attached to the silicon atoms. So, silicones are polymers constructed from inorganic-organic monomers, Silicones have in general the chemical formula n, where R is an organic group such as alkyl groups, or phenyl groups. In some cases, organic side groups can be used to two or more of these -Si-O- backbones together. By varying the -Si-O- chain lengths, side groups, and crosslinking, silicones can be synthesized with a variety of properties. They can vary in consistency from liquid to gel to rubber to hard plastic, the most common siloxane is linear polydimethylsiloxane, a silicone oil. The second largest group of materials is based on silicone resins. F. S. Kipping and Matt Saunders coined the word silicone in 1901 to describe polydiphenylsiloxane by analogy of its formula, Ph2SiO, with the formula of the ketone benzophenone, Ph2CO. Kipping was well aware that polydiphenylsiloxane is polymeric whereas benzophenone is monomeric and noted that Ph2SiO, Silicone is sometimes mistakenly referred to as silicon. The chemical element silicon is a crystalline metalloid widely used in computers, polysiloxanes are among the many substances commonly known as silicones. Molecules containing silicon-oxygen double bonds do exist and are called silanones, despite this, silanones are important as intermediates in gas-phase processes such as chemical vapor deposition in microelectronics production, and in the formation of ceramics by combustion. Most common are materials based on polydimethylsiloxane, which is derived by hydrolysis of dimethyldichlorosilane and this dichloride reacts with water as follows, n Si2Cl2 + n H2O → n + 2n HCl The polymerization typically produces linear chains capped with Si-Cl or Si-OH groups. Under different conditions the polymer is a cyclic, not a chain, for consumer applications such as caulks silyl acetates are used instead of silyl chlorides. The hydrolysis of the produce the less dangerous acetic acid as the reaction product of a much slower curing process. This chemistry is used in consumer applications, such as silicone caulk. Branches or cross-links in the chain can be introduced by using organosilicon precursors with fewer alkyl groups. Ideally, each molecule of such a compound becomes a branch point and this process can be used to produce hard silicone resins. Similarly, precursors with three groups can be used to limit molecular weight, since each such molecule has only one reactive site
20.
Glenn Research Center
–
Its director is Janet L. Kavandi. Glenn Research Center is one of ten major NASA field centers, whose mission is to develop science and technology for use in aeronautics. As of May 2012, it employed about 1,650 civil servants and 1,850 support contractors located on or near its site, in 2010, the formerly on-site NASA Visitors Center moved to the Great Lakes Science Center. It was initially named the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory after funding approval was given in June 1940 and it was renamed the Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory in 1947, the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in 1948 (after George W. Lewis and the NASA Lewis Research Center in 1958. On March 1,1999, the Lewis Research Center was officially renamed the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field after John Glenn, within NASA, the Glenn Research Center is often referred to by the initialism GRC. As early as 1951, researchers at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory were studying the processes in liquid rocket engines. The 6, 400-acre Plum Brook field station near Sandusky, Ohio is also part of Glenn and it is located about 50 mi. from the main campus. It specializes in very large-scale tests which would be hazardous within the confines of the main campus.5 million, the Space Power Facility houses the worlds largest space environment vacuum chamber. An icing tunnel is capable of simulating atmospheric icing condition to test the effect of ice accretion on aircraft wings, the Zero Gravity Research Facility is a vertical vacuum chamber used for microgravity experiments. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985, the facility uses vertical drop tests in a vacuum chamber to investigate the behavior of components, systems, liquids, gases, and combustion in such circumstances. The facility consists of a shaft,28 feet in diameter. An aluminum vacuum chamber,20 feet in diameter and 470 feet high, is contained within the concrete shaft, the pressure in this vacuum chamber is reduced to 13.3 newtons per square meter before use. After the closing of the Japan Microgravity Centre, the NASA Zero-G facility is the largest microgravity facility in the world, another, smaller drop tower remains in use. That tower has a free time of 2.2 seconds. Aeronautics science and technology NASA Glenn does significant research and technology development on jet engines, producing designs that reduce energy consumption, pollution, the chevrons it invented for noise reduction appear on many commercial jet engines today, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. A Glenn-derived ion engine was used on the successful NASA probe Deep Space 1 and it provides internships for high school students, college students, and high school teachers. The high school program is an 8-week internship for sophomores and juniors with interests in science, technology, engineering, math, the college level consists of a 10-week internship and is open to college students at all levels, from graduating high school seniors to PhD candidates. Only residents of the Cleveland area are eligible for high school LERCIP, interns work closely with their NASA mentors and are involved in the day-to-day activities of the Center
21.
NASA Solar Technology Application Readiness
–
The NASA Solar Technology Application Readiness is a type of spacecraft ion thruster called electrostatic ion thruster. It is a highly efficient low-thrust spacecraft propulsion running on electrical power generated by solar arrays and it uses high-voltage electrodes to accelerate ions with electrostatic forces. The purpose of NSTAR program was to develop an ion propulsion system for deep space missions. The NSTAR electrostatic ion thruster was developed at NASAs Glenn Research Center and manufactured by Hughes, the feed system development was a collaborative effort between JPL and Moog Inc. In 1996, the prototype engine endured 8000 hours of operation in a vacuum chamber that simulates conditions of outer space. The results of the prototyping were used to define the design of hardware that was built for Deep Space 1 probe. One of the challenges was developing a compact and light weight power processing unit that converts power from the solar arrays into the kwtages needed by the engine, the engine achieves a specific impulse of one to three thousand seconds. This is an order of magnitude higher than traditional space propulsion methods and this leads to much lighter and less expensive launch vehicles. Although the engine produces just 92 millinewtons thrust at maximum power, the NSTAR ion thruster was first used on the Deep Space 1 spacecraft, launched on 24 October 1998. The Deep Space mission carried out a flyby of asteroid 9969 Braille and it produced 2.3 kW and was the primary propulsion for the probe. The second interplanetary mission using NSTAR engine was the Dawn spacecraft, Dawn is the first NASA exploratory mission to use ion propulsion to enter and leave more than one orbit. NASA engineers state that NSTAR engines, in the 5-kilowatt and 0.04 pound-thrust range, are candidates for propelling spacecraft to Europa, Pluto, and other small bodies in deep space
.png)
