1.
Arianespace
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Arianespace SA is a French multinational company founded in 1980 as the worlds first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane programme, the main launch vehicles offered by the company are the Ariane 5, the Soyuz-2 as a medium-lift alternative, and the Vega as a lighter one. As of 2008, more than 240 commercial launches have occurred since May 22,1984, Arianespace states that the total number of launch contracts signed since Ariane launches commenced operations in 1984 is 285. Arianespace uses the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana as a launch site and it has its headquarters in Courcouronnes, Essonne, France, near Évry. On 21 October 2011 Arianespace launched the first Soyuz rocket ever from outside former Soviet territory, the payload was two Galileo navigation satellites. Arianespace primary shareholders are its suppliers, in the nations of the European Union. In 2004, Arianespace held more than 50 percent of the market for boosting satellites to geostationary transfer orbit. According to an Arianespace managing director, Its quite clear theres a significant challenge coming from SpaceX. Therefore things have to change … and the whole European industry is being restructured, consolidated, rationalised and streamlined, in early 2014, Arianespace requested additional subsidies from European governments to face the competition from SpaceX and unfavorable changes in the Euro-Dollar exchange rate. Overall Arianespace signed 11 contracts in 2014 until September, with two additional being in a stage of negotiations. Currently Arianespace operates 3 launch vehicles, including two versions of Ariane 5, Additionally Arianespace offers optional back-up launch service on H-IIA through Launch Services Alliance, new Ariane 6 vehicle is in development. It would be wise in league of Ariane 5 and has tentatively its first test flight in 2020 as of 2016. The Arianes Cup is a competition organized on behalf of the Industrials participating in the Ariane programme. Europa rocket NewSpace Comparable Launch Provider Company United Launch Alliance International Launch Services Space Exploration Technologies Antrix Corporation
2.
Vega (rocket)
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Vega is an expendable launch system in use by Arianespace jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency. Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012, Arianespace has ordered launchers covering the period till at least the end of 2018. It is designed to launch small payloads —300 to 2,500 kg satellites for scientific and Earth observation missions to polar, the reference Vega mission is a polar orbit bringing a spacecraft of 1,500 kilograms to an altitude of 700 kilometers. The upper module is a rocket called AVUM. The technology developed for the P80 program will also be used for future Ariane developments, Italy is the leading contributor to the Vega program, followed by France. Other participants include Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Arianespace indicates a Vega launcher is able to carry 1,500 kilograms to a circular polar orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometres. Arianespace is marketing Vega as a system tailored for missions to polar. In its qualification flight VEGA put its payload of 386.8 kg. Vegas payload fairing is designed and manufactured by RUAG Space of Switzerland and it has a diameter of 2.6 meters, a height of 7.8 meters and a mass of 400 kg. The first three stages are solid propellant engines produced by Avio, that is Prime Contractor for the Vega launcher through its company ELV. Each of the three engine types intended for the three stages of the Vega had to be commissioned with two test-firings – one for evaluation and one in the final flight configuration. The first engine completed was Zefiro 9, the third stage engine, the first test firing was carried out on 20 December 2005, at the Salto di Quirra Inter-force Test Range, on the Mediterranean coast in southeast Sardinia. The test was a complete success, after a critical design review based on the completed first test firings, the second test-firing of the Zefiro 9 took place at Salto di Quirra on 28 March 2007. After 35 seconds, there was a drop in the motors internal pressure. No public information is available for this sudden drop of internal pressure, on 23 October 2008 an enhanced version of the Zefiro 9 with a modified nozzle design, the Zefiro 9-A, was successfully tested. On 28 April 2009, the qualification test firing of Zefiro 9-A took place at the Salto di Quirra Interforce Test Range in Sardinia. The development of the Zefiro motor was initiated by Avio, partially funded by the company, a Zefiro 23 forms the second stage of Vega. Its carbon-epoxy case is filament-wound and its carbon phenolic nozzle includes a carbon-carbon throat insert, the propellant loading is 23 tons
3.
Ariane 5
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Ariane 5 is a European heavy lift launch vehicle that is part of the Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit. Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency, airbus Defence and Space is the prime contractor for the vehicles, leading a consortium of other European contractors. Ariane 5 is operated and marketed by Arianespace as part of the Ariane programme, the rockets are launched by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. Ariane 5 succeeded Ariane 4, but was not derived from it directly, Ariane 5 has been refined since the first launch in successive versions, G, G+, GS, ECA, and most recently, ES. ESA originally designed Ariane 5 to launch the Hermes spaceplane, two satellites can be mounted using a SYLDA carrier. Three main satellites are possible depending on size using SPELTRA, up to eight secondary payloads, usually small experiment packages or minisatellites, can be carried with an ASAP platform. As of July 2015 Arianespace has signed contracts for Ariane 5 ECA launches up till 2023, on 14 February 2017, Ariane 5 performed its 77th consecutive successful mission since 2003. Ariane 5’s cryogenic H173 main stage is called the EPC. It consists of a large tank 30.5 metres high with two compartments, one for liquid oxygen and one for hydrogen, and a Vulcain 2 engine at the base with a vacuum thrust of 1,390 kilonewtons. The H173 EPC weighs about 189 tonnes, including 175 tonnes of propellant, after the main cryogenic stage runs out of fuel, it can re-enter the atmosphere for an ocean splashdown. Attached to the sides are two P241 solid rocket boosters, each weighing about 277 tonnes full and delivering a thrust of about 7,080 kilonewtons and they are fueled by a mix of ammonium perchlorate and aluminum fuel and HTPB. They each burn for 130 seconds before being dropped into the ocean, the most recent attempt was for the first Ariane 5 ECA mission. One of the two boosters was successfully recovered and returned to the Guiana Space Center for analysis, prior to that mission, the last such recovery and testing was done in 2003. The French M51 SLBM shares a substantial amount of technology with these boosters, in February 2000 the suspected nose cone of an Ariane 5 booster washed ashore on the South Texas coast, and was recovered by beachcombers before the government could get to it. The second stage is on top of the stage and below the payload. The Ariane 5 G used the EPS, which is fueled by monomethylhydrazine and it also has 10 tonnes of storable propellants. The EPS was improved for use on the Ariane 5 G+, GS, Ariane 5 ECA uses the ESC, which is fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The EPS upper stage is capable of multiple ignitions, first demonstrated during flight V26 which was launched on 5 October 2007 and this was purely to test the engine, and occurred after the payloads had been deployed
4.
Geostationary orbit
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A geostationary orbit, geostationary Earth orbit or geosynchronous equatorial orbit is a circular orbit 35,786 kilometres above the Earths equator and following the direction of the Earths rotation. An object in such an orbit has a period equal to the Earths rotational period and thus appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky. Using this characteristic, ocean color satellites with visible and near-infrared light sensors can also be operated in geostationary orbit in order to monitor sensitive changes of ocean environments, the notion of a geostationary space station equipped with radio communication was published in 1928 by Herman Potočnik. The first appearance of an orbit in popular literature was in the first Venus Equilateral story by George O. Smith. Clarke acknowledged the connection in his introduction to The Complete Venus Equilateral, the orbit, which Clarke first described as useful for broadcast and relay communications satellites, is sometimes called the Clarke Orbit. Similarly, the Clarke Belt is the part of space about 35,786 km above sea level, in the plane of the equator, the Clarke Orbit is about 265,000 km in circumference. Most commercial communications satellites, broadcast satellites and SBAS satellites operate in geostationary orbits, a geostationary transfer orbit is used to move a satellite from low Earth orbit into a geostationary orbit. The first satellite placed into an orbit was the Syncom-3. A worldwide network of operational geostationary meteorological satellites is used to provide visible and infrared images of Earths surface, a geostationary orbit can only be achieved at an altitude very close to 35,786 km and directly above the equator. This equates to a velocity of 3.07 km/s and an orbital period of 1,436 minutes. This ensures that the satellite will match the Earths rotational period and has a footprint on the ground. All geostationary satellites have to be located on this ring. 85° per year, to correct for this orbital perturbation, regular orbital stationkeeping manoeuvres are necessary, amounting to a delta-v of approximately 50 m/s per year. A second effect to be taken into account is the longitude drift, there are two stable and two unstable equilibrium points. Any geostationary object placed between the points would be slowly accelerated towards the stable equilibrium position, causing a periodic longitude variation. The correction of this effect requires station-keeping maneuvers with a maximal delta-v of about 2 m/s per year, solar wind and radiation pressure also exert small forces on satellites, over time, these cause them to slowly drift away from their prescribed orbits. In the absence of servicing missions from the Earth or a renewable propulsion method, hall-effect thrusters, which are currently in use, have the potential to prolong the service life of a satellite by providing high-efficiency electric propulsion. This delay presents problems for latency-sensitive applications such as voice communication, geostationary satellites are directly overhead at the equator and become lower in the sky the further north or south one travels. At latitudes above about 81°, geostationary satellites are below the horizon, because of this, some Russian communication satellites have used elliptical Molniya and Tundra orbits, which have excellent visibility at high latitudes
5.
Sun-synchronous orbit
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A Sun-synchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit that combines altitude and inclination in such a way that the satellite passes over any given point of the planets surface at the same local solar time. Such an orbit can place a satellite in constant sunlight and is useful for imaging, spy, more technically, it is an orbit arranged in such a way that it precesses once a year. The surface illumination angle will be nearly the same time that the satellite is overhead. This consistent lighting is a characteristic for satellites that image the Earths surface in visible or infrared wavelengths. For example, a satellite in sun-synchronous orbit might ascend across the twelve times a day each time at approximately 15,00 mean local time. This is achieved by having the orbital plane precess approximately one degree each day with respect to the celestial sphere, eastward. Typical sun-synchronous orbits are about 600–800 km in altitude, with periods in the 96–100 minute range, riding the terminator is useful for active radar satellites as the satellites solar panels can always see the Sun, without being shadowed by the Earth. The dawn/dusk orbit has been used for solar observing scientific satellites such as Yohkoh, TRACE, Hinode and PROBA2, Sun-synchronous orbits can happen around other oblate planets, such as Mars. A satellite around the almost spherical Venus, for example, will need an outside push to be in a sun-synchronous orbit.696 deg. Note that according to this approximation cos i equals −1 when the semi-major axis equals 12352 km, the period can be in the range from 88 minutes for a very low orbit to 3.8 hours. If one wants a satellite to fly over some given spot on Earth every day at the same hour, it can do between 7 and 16 orbits per day, as shown in the following table. When one says that a Sun-synchronous orbit goes over a spot on the earth at the local time each time. The Sun will not be in exactly the same position in the sky during the course of the year, very often a frozen orbit is therefore selected that is slightly higher over the Southern hemisphere than over the Northern hemisphere. ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat of European Space Agency as well as the MetOp spacecraft of EUMETSAT are all operated in Sun-synchronous, orbital perturbation analysis Analemma Geosynchronous orbit Geostationary orbit List of orbits Polar orbit World Geodetic System Sandwell, David T. The Gravity Field of the Earth - Part 1 Sun-Synchronous Orbit dictionary entry, centennial of Flight Commission NASA Q&A Boain, Ronald J. The A-B-Cs of Sun Synchronous Orbit Design, List of satellites in Sun-synchronous orbit
6.
Soyuz-2
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Soyuz-2, GRAU index 14A14, is the collective designation for the new version of the Russian Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a carrier rocket for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. The first-stage boosters and two core stages feature uprated engines with improved injection systems, compared to the versions of the Soyuz. Soyuz-2 is often flown with a stage, which allows it to lift payloads into higher orbits, such as Molniya. The upper stage is equipped with independent flight control and telemetry systems from those used in the rest of the rocket, the NPO Lavochkin manufactured Fregat is the most commonly used upper stage. Commercial Soyuz-2 flights are contracted by Starsem, and have launched from Site 31 at Baikonur and ELS, the Soyuz-2 version ST-B can deliver 3,250 kg to geostationary transfer orbit from this equatorial site. In 2016 the new Vostochny Cosmodrome started operating Soyuz-2 flights as well, tsSKB-Progress has halted production of Soyuz-U in April 2015, the final flight of a Soyuz-U rocket took place on February 22,2017, carrying Progress MS-05 to the International Space Station. Soyuz-2 family includes 2. 1a,2. 1b and 2. 1v, the first two variants are modifications to the Soyuz-U launcher. The latter is a version without side boosters. The 2. 1a version includes conversion from analog to digital control system and uprated engines on the booster. The new digital control and telemetry systems allow the rocket to launch from a fixed rather than angled launch platform. A digital control system enables the launch of larger commercial satellites with wider and longer payload fairings such as the ST-type fairing. These fairings introduce too much aerodynamic instability for the old system to handle. This stage continues to use the RD-0110 engine, the 2. 1a/ST version is sometimes called Soyuz ST-A. The first launch, from Guiana, was a success, the 2. 1b version adds an upgraded engine with improved performance to the second stage. First launch took place from Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 on 26 July 2008 with classified military payload, the 2. 1b/ST version is sometimes called Soyuz ST-B. The first launch, from Guiana, was a success, for the first two Galileo IOV satellites, the first draft of the 2. 1v version was finished in 2009. It is a version of the Soyuz-2 without the side boosters
7.
R-7 (rocket family)
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The R-7 family of rockets is a series of rockets, derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka, the worlds first ICBM. More R-7 rockets have been launched than any family of large rockets. When Soviet nuclear warheads got lighter, the R-7 turned out to be impractical as a ballistic missile and it was not necessary to launch such heavy payloads in a military application. The rockets remained useful in the Soviet and then Russian space programmes with long term development, the R-7 family consists of both missiles and orbital carrier rockets. Derivatives include the Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz rockets, which as of 2014 have been used for all Soviet, the type has a unique configuration where four break-away liquid-fueled engines surround a central core. The core acts as, in effect, a stage after the other four engines are jettisoned. Later modifications were standardised around the Soyuz design, the Soyuz-U, Soyuz-FG and Soyuz-2 are currently in use. The Soyuz-U and FG are to be retired over the few years. R-7 rockets are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Guiana Space Centre, all the R-7 family rockets are listed here by date of introduction. Most of the early R-7 variants have been retired, active versions are shown in green. The Korolev cross is an effect observed in the smoke plumes of the R-7 series rockets during separation of the four liquid-fueled booster rockets attached to the core stage. As the boosters fall away from the rocket, they pitch over symmetrically due to forces acting on them. The effect is named after Sergey Korolev, who designed the R-7, when the rocket is launched into clear skies, the effect can be seen from the ground at the launch site. 1957 in spaceflight List of R-7 launches Comparison of orbital launchers families Rocket R-7 from S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, a Russian rocket and space contractor
8.
Guiana Space Centre
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The Guiana Space Centre or, more commonly, Centre Spatial Guyanais is a French and European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana. The European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES, and this was the spaceport used by the ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station using the Automated Transfer Vehicle. The location was selected in 1964 to become the spaceport of France, in 1975, France offered to share Kourou with ESA. Commercial launches are bought also by non-European companies, ESA pays two thirds of the spaceports annual budget and has also financed the upgrades made during the development of the Ariane launchers. Since April 4,2017, the centre has been occupied by 30 labor union leaders in the midst of the 2017 social unrest in French Guiana, Kourou is located approximately 500 kilometres north of the equator, at a latitude of 5°10. The near-equatorial launch location provides an advantage for launches to low-inclination Earth orbits compared to launches from spaceports at higher latitude, the proximity to the equator also makes maneuvering satellites for geosynchronous orbits simpler and less costly. Originally built in the 1960s under the name of CECLES, the ELV pad located at 5. 236°N52. 775°W /5.236, one Europa-II was launched from the site, before the programme was cancelled. The pad was demolished, and subsequently rebuilt as the first launch complex for Ariane rockets, renamed ELA, it was used for Ariane 1 and Ariane 2 and 3 launches until being retired in 1989. It was again refurbished for the Vega with the first launch performed on 13 February 2012, the ELA2 pad, located at 5. 232°N52. 776°W /5.232, -52.776 had been used for Ariane 4 launches until 2003. ELA3 has been active for Ariane 5 launches since 1996 and this facility is located at 5. 239°N52. 768°W /5.239, -52.768 and covers an area of 21 square kilometres. ESA has built ELS at 5. 305°N52. 834°W /5.305, the first Soyuz launch from ELS was postponed several times, but launched on October 21,2011. ELS is located on the territory of Sinnamary commune,27 km from Kourou harbor and it is 10 km north of the site used for the Ariane 5 launches. Russia will use the Guiana Space Centre in addition to Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Guiana location has the significant benefit of greatly increased payload capability, owing to the near equatorial position. A Soyuz rocket with a 1.7 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit performance from Baikonur, the ELS project is being co-funded by Arianespace, ESA, and the European Union, with CNES being the prime contractor. The project has a projected cost of approximately €320 million, where €120 million are allocated for modernizing the Soyuz vehicle, the official opening of the launch site construction occurred on 27 February 2007. Excavation work however, had begun several months beforehand. By October 2010,18 launch contracts had been signed, Arianespace has ordered 24 launchers from Russian industry. On October 21,2011, two Galileo IOV-1 & IOV-2 satellites were launched using a Soyuz-ST rocket, in the first Russian Soyuz vehicle ever launched from Europes Spaceport in French Guiana, astrium assembles each Ariane 5 launcher in the Launcher Integration Building
9.
RD-107A
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The RD-107 and its sibling, the RD-108, are a type of rocket engine initially used to launch R-7 Semyorka missiles. RD-107 engines were used on space launch vehicles based on the R-7. As of 2015, very similar RD-107A and RD-108A engines are used to launch the Soyuz FG, Soyuz-2. 1a and Soyuz-2. 1b, the RD-107 was designed under the direction of Valentin Glushko at the Gas Dynamics Laboratory-Experimental Design Bureau between 1954 and 1957. It uses liquid oxygen and kerosene as propellants, operating in a gas generator cycle, as was typical by all the descendants of the V-2 rocket technology, the turbine is driven by steam generated by catalytic decomposition of H2O2. The steam generator uses solid F-30-P-G catalyst and these are based on variable sized pellet covered in an aqueous solution of potassium permanganate and sodium as active catalyst. Each engine uses four fixed main combustion chambers, the RD-107 has an additional two vernier combustion chambers that can gimbal in a single plane, to supply thrust vectoring. The RD-108 has four of such vernier combustion chambers to supply vector control to the Blok-A stage. The single-axle turbopump unit includes the steam turbine, an oxidizer pump, a fuel pump. One important innovation of this engine was the capability to use variable mixture ratio between fuel and oxidizer, the natural variations in manufacturing between each engine meant that without an active propellant consumption control, each boosters would deplete oxygen and fuel at different rates. This might result in as much as tens of tonnes of propellant near the end of their burn and it would generate enormous strains on the structure and control authority due to the mass imbalance. Thus, the engines and the system was developed to ensure the simultaneous consumption of propellant mass among the four R-7 boosters. The RD-107 and RD-108 engines are produced at the JSC Kuznetsov plant in Samara, Russia, under the supervision of the Privolzhskiy branch of NPO Energomash, the Privolzhsky branch was organized as a branch of OKB-456 in 1958, specifically for the manufacture of RD-107 and RD-108 engines. The branch was led by Y. D, solovjev until 1960, then by R. I. Zelenev until 1975, then by A. F. Udalov until 1978, and is currently led by A. A. Modifications to the RD-107 design have led to production of several versions of the engine, RD-107. Used on the R-7, Sputnik, Vostok and Voskhod, rD-107K, Improved version of the 8D74. RD-107ММ, Increased thrust over the 8D74K by 5%, used on the Molniya-M and Soyuz. Used on the Soyuz-U and Soyuz-U2, rD-107А, Improved version of the 11D511 with new injector design that eliminated the high frequency combustion instabilities. Used on the Soyuz-FG, Soyuz-STA and Soyuz-STB, rD-107А, Chemical ignited version of the 14D22
10.
Specific impulse
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Specific impulse is a measure of the efficiency of rocket and jet engines. By definition, it is the total impulse delivered per unit of propellant consumed and is equivalent to the generated thrust divided by the propellant flow rate. If mass is used as the unit of propellant, then specific impulse has units of velocity, if weight is used instead, then specific impulse has units of time. Multiplying flow rate by the gravity before dividing it into the thrust. In rockets, this means the engine is more efficient at gaining altitude, distance and this is much less of a consideration in jet engines that employ wings and outside air for combustion to carry payloads that are much heavier than the propellant. Specific impulse includes the contribution to impulse provided by air that has been used for combustion and is exhausted with the spent propellant. Jet engines use air, and therefore have a much higher specific impulse than rocket engines. The specific impulse in terms of propellant mass spent is in units of distance per time and this is higher than the actual exhaust velocity because the mass of the combustion air is not being accounted for. Actual and effective exhaust velocity are the same in rocket engines not utilizing air, Specific impulse is inversely proportional to specific fuel consumption by the relationship Isp = 1/ for SFC in kg/ and Isp = 3600/SFC for SFC in lb/lbf-hr. The amount of propellant is normally measured either in units of mass or weight, however, if propellant weight is used, an impulse divided by a force turns out to be a unit of time, and so specific impulses are measured in seconds. These two formulations are both used and differ from each other by a factor of g0, the dimensioned constant of gravitational acceleration at the surface of the Earth. Note that the rate of change of momentum of a rocket per unit time is equal to the thrust, the higher the specific impulse, the less propellant is needed to produce a given thrust during a given time. In this regard a propellant is more efficient the greater its specific impulse and this should not be confused with energy efficiency, which can decrease as specific impulse increases, since propulsion systems that give high specific impulse require high energy to do so. It is important that thrust and specific impulse not be confused, the specific impulse is a measure of the impulse produced per unit of propellant expended, while thrust is a measure of the momentary or peak force supplied by a particular engine. In many cases, propulsion systems with high specific impulses—some ion thrusters reach 10,000 seconds—produce low thrusts. When calculating specific impulse, only propellant that is carried with the vehicle use is counted. Air resistance and the inability to keep a high specific impulse at a fast burn rate are why all the propellant is not used as fast as possible. If an engine weighs more in order to gain a specific impulse, it may not be as efficient in gaining altitude, distance
11.
Liquid oxygen
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Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen. Liquid oxygen has a blue color and is strongly paramagnetic. Liquid oxygen has a density of 1.141 g/cm3 and is cryogenic with a point of 54.36 K. Because of its nature, liquid oxygen can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle. Liquid oxygen is also a powerful oxidizing agent, organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen. Further, if soaked in liquid oxygen, some such as coal briquettes, carbon black, etc. can detonate unpredictably from sources of ignition such as flames. Petrochemicals, including asphalt, often exhibit this behavior, the tetraoxygen molecule was first predicted in 1924 by Gilbert N. Lewis, who proposed it to explain why liquid oxygen defied Curies law. Modern computer simulations indicate that there are no stable O4 molecules in liquid oxygen, O2 molecules do tend to associate in pairs with antiparallel spins. Conversely, liquid nitrogen or liquid air can be oxygen-enriched by letting it stand in air, atmospheric oxygen dissolves in it. In commerce, liquid oxygen is classified as a gas and is widely used for industrial and medical purposes. Liquid oxygen is obtained from the oxygen found naturally in air by fractional distillation in an air separation plant. Liquid oxygen is a cryogenic liquid oxidizer propellant for spacecraft rocket applications, usually in combination with liquid hydrogen. Liquid oxygen is useful in this role because it creates a specific impulse. It was used in the very first rocket applications like the V2 missile and Redstone, R-7 Semyorka, Atlas boosters, many modern rockets use liquid oxygen, including the main engines on the now-retired Space Shuttle. U. S. Army has long recognized the importance of liquid oxygen. In 1985 it started a program of building its own facilities at all major consumption bases. By 1845, Michael Faraday had managed to liquefy most gases then known to exist, six gases, however, resisted every attempt at liquefaction and were known at the time as permanent gases. They were oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, in 1877, Louis Paul Cailletet in France and Raoul Pictet in Switzerland succeeded in producing the first droplets of liquid air
12.
Kerosene
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Kerosene, also known as paraffin, lamp oil and coal oil, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum, widely used as a fuel in industry as well as households. Its name derives from Greek, κηρός meaning wax, and was registered as a trademark by Abraham Gesner in 1854 before evolving into a genericized trademark and it is sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage. Liquid paraffin is a more viscous and highly refined product which is used as a laxative, paraffin wax is a waxy solid extracted from petroleum. Kerosene is widely used to power jet engines of aircraft and some rocket engines, in parts of Asia, where the price of kerosene is subsidized, it fuels outboard motors on small fishing boats. World total kerosene consumption for all purposes is equivalent to about 1.2 million barrels per day, to prevent confusion between kerosene and the much more flammable and volatile gasoline, some jurisdictions regulate markings or colorings for containers used to store or dispense kerosene. For example, in the United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requires that portable containers used at retail service stations be colored blue and it is miscible in petroleum solvents but immiscible in water. The American Society for Testing and Materials standard specification D-3699-78 recognizes two grades of kerosene, grades 1-K and 2-K, regardless of crude oil source or processing history, kerosenes major components are branched and straight chain alkanes and naphthenes, which normally account for at least 70% by volume. Aromatic hydrocarbons in this range, such as alkylbenzenes and alkylnaphthalenes. Olefins are usually not present at more than 5% by volume, the flash point of kerosene is between 37 and 65 °C, and its autoignition temperature is 220 °C. The pour point of kerosene depends on grade, with aviation fuel standardized at −47 °C. 1-K grade kerosene freezes around -40 °C, heat of combustion of kerosene is similar to that of diesel fuel, its lower heating value is 43.1 MJ/kg, and its higher heating value is 46.2 MJ/kg. In the United Kingdom, two grades of heating oil are defined, BS2869 Class C1 is the lightest grade used for lanterns, camping stoves, wick heaters, and mixed with gasoline in some vintage combustion engines as a substitute for tractor vaporising oil. BS2869 Class C2 is a heavier distillate, which is used as heating oil. Premium kerosene is sold in 5 or 20 liter containers from hardware, camping. Standard kerosene is usually dispensed in bulk by a tanker and is undyed, National and international standards define the properties of several grades of kerosene used for jet fuel. Flash point and freezing point properties are of particular interest for operation and safety, the process of distilling crude oil/petroleum into kerosene, as well as other hydrocarbon compounds, was first written about in the 9th century by the Persian scholar Rāzi. In his Kitab al-Asrar, the physician and chemist Razi described two methods for the production of kerosene, termed naft abyad, using an apparatus called an alembic, one method used clay as an absorbent, whereas the other method used ammonium chloride. The distillation process was repeated until all most of the volatile hydrocarbon fractions had been removed, Kerosene was also produced during the same period from oil shale and bitumen by heating the rock to extract the oil, which was then distilled
13.
RD-107
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The RD-107 and its sibling, the RD-108, are a type of rocket engine initially used to launch R-7 Semyorka missiles. RD-107 engines were used on space launch vehicles based on the R-7. As of 2015, very similar RD-107A and RD-108A engines are used to launch the Soyuz FG, Soyuz-2. 1a and Soyuz-2. 1b, the RD-107 was designed under the direction of Valentin Glushko at the Gas Dynamics Laboratory-Experimental Design Bureau between 1954 and 1957. It uses liquid oxygen and kerosene as propellants, operating in a gas generator cycle, as was typical by all the descendants of the V-2 rocket technology, the turbine is driven by steam generated by catalytic decomposition of H2O2. The steam generator uses solid F-30-P-G catalyst and these are based on variable sized pellet covered in an aqueous solution of potassium permanganate and sodium as active catalyst. Each engine uses four fixed main combustion chambers, the RD-107 has an additional two vernier combustion chambers that can gimbal in a single plane, to supply thrust vectoring. The RD-108 has four of such vernier combustion chambers to supply vector control to the Blok-A stage. The single-axle turbopump unit includes the steam turbine, an oxidizer pump, a fuel pump. One important innovation of this engine was the capability to use variable mixture ratio between fuel and oxidizer, the natural variations in manufacturing between each engine meant that without an active propellant consumption control, each boosters would deplete oxygen and fuel at different rates. This might result in as much as tens of tonnes of propellant near the end of their burn and it would generate enormous strains on the structure and control authority due to the mass imbalance. Thus, the engines and the system was developed to ensure the simultaneous consumption of propellant mass among the four R-7 boosters. The RD-107 and RD-108 engines are produced at the JSC Kuznetsov plant in Samara, Russia, under the supervision of the Privolzhskiy branch of NPO Energomash, the Privolzhsky branch was organized as a branch of OKB-456 in 1958, specifically for the manufacture of RD-107 and RD-108 engines. The branch was led by Y. D, solovjev until 1960, then by R. I. Zelenev until 1975, then by A. F. Udalov until 1978, and is currently led by A. A. Modifications to the RD-107 design have led to production of several versions of the engine, RD-107. Used on the R-7, Sputnik, Vostok and Voskhod, rD-107K, Improved version of the 8D74. RD-107ММ, Increased thrust over the 8D74K by 5%, used on the Molniya-M and Soyuz. Used on the Soyuz-U and Soyuz-U2, rD-107А, Improved version of the 11D511 with new injector design that eliminated the high frequency combustion instabilities. Used on the Soyuz-FG, Soyuz-STA and Soyuz-STB, rD-107А, Chemical ignited version of the 14D22
14.
RD-0124
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The RD-0124 is a rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and kerosene in a staged combustion cycle. RD-0124 engines are used on the Soyuz-2. 1b and Soyuz-2-1v, a slight variation of the engine, the RD-0124A, is used on the Angara rocket family URM-2 upper stage. RD-0124 is developed by Khimavtomatiki Design Bureau, RD-0124 engines use a multi-stage turbopump powered by pre-combustion of the engine propellants in the preburner. The kerosene fuel is used for cooling of the engine. Vehicle attitude control during ascent is provided by gimbaling the engine in two planes, four combustion chambers are fed by a single turbopump system. The engine operates at a chamber pressure and, for the type of propellants used. The inaugural flight of a vehicle using an RD-0124 engine took place on December 27,2006. Orbital Sciences considered using the RD-0124 in the High Energy Second Stage for their Antares rocket and it would have replaced the Castor 30B second stage. This upper stage engine has been adapted to two different launch vehicles, the Soyuz-2-1b/v and the Angara family, as such, there are different versions, RD-0124. It is the version for the Soyuz-2-1b and Soyuz-2-1v Blok-I and it is the first liquid rocket engine designed in Russia after the Soviet period. It is the version that powers the Angara URM-2, both the 1.2 and the bigger 5 versions and it differs on the base model in having an extended burn time of 424 seconds and, at 548 kg, being 24 kg lighter. Version developed between 2008 and 2013 for the Soyuz-2-3 project and it would differ from the base version in the implementation of a throttled point of 176.6 kN with a reduced chamber pressure of 9.5 MPa and a specific impulse of 347s. The throttling capability meant a redesign of the preburner and the combustion chamber, single nozzle version of the RD-0124A, it is planned as an upgrade for the Angara URM-2. It would enable the use of engines, which would enhance performance and reduce launch cost. Probably only planned for the Angara-5 URM-2, which is bigger than the Angara-1. 2s, Soyuz-2-1b — first launch vehicle to use it. Soyuz-2-1v — second launch vehicle to use it, Angara — third launch vehicle to use it
15.
Fregat
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Fregat is an upper stage developed by NPO Lavochkin in the 1990s, which is used in some Soyuz and Zenit rockets. Its liquid propellant engine uses UDMH and N2O4, Fregat upper stage is designed for injecting large payloads into a low, medium-height or high geosynchronous orbit. Fregat is an upper stage, in addition to orbital insertion. Fregat stages are used as the fourth stage of some Soyuz launch vehicles. The stage can be restarted up to 25 times, NPO Lavochkin has built many interplanetary probes, the main part of the stage is six intersecting spheres placed on a single plane, four of which contain propellants. The remaining two contain the control equipment, the main engine is placed between the spheres, so Fregat is a tightly-packed stage with a diameter much larger than its height. The Arianespace-operated flight of a Fregat MT ended in failure on 22 August 2014 after the vehicle deposited two EU/ESA Galileo navigation satellites into the wrong orbit, the lift off at 1227 GMT from the Sinnamary launch site near Kourou, French Guiana, appeared to go well. However, a failure was only apparent later when, after the firing of the Fregat MT upper stage had taken place. The Independent Inquiry Board formed to analyze the causes of the announced its definitive conclusions on October 7,2014 following a meeting at Arianespace headquarters in Évry. The failure occurred during the flight of the Fregat fourth stage and it occurred about 35 minutes after liftoff, at the beginning of the ballistic phase preceding the second ignition of this stage. This orientation error was the result of the loss of inertial reference for the stage and this failure was due to a temporary interruption of the joint hydrazine propellant supply to these thrusters. The interruption in the flow was caused by freezing of the hydrazine, the freezing resulted from the proximity of hydrazine and cold helium feed lines, these lines being connected by the same support structure, which acted as a thermal bridge. Ambiguities in the design allowed the installation of this type of thermal bridge between the two lines. In fact, such bridges have also seen on other Fregat stages now under production at NPO Lavochkin. The design ambiguity is the result of not taking account the relevant thermal transfers during the thermal analyses of the stage system design. The root cause of the failure of flight VS09 is therefore a shortcoming in the system thermal analysis performed during stage design, fregat-M/Fregat-MT tanks have ball-shaped additions on the tops of the tanks. These additions increase the capability of the propellant from 5,350 kilograms to 6,640 kilograms. A version called Fregat-SB can be used with Zenit-2SB rocket and this version is a variation of Fregat-M with a block of drop-off tanks which makes increased payload capability possible
16.
Dinitrogen tetroxide
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Dinitrogen tetroxide, commonly referred to as nitrogen tetroxide, is the chemical compound N2O4. It is a reagent in chemical synthesis. It forms a mixture with nitrogen dioxide. Dinitrogen tetroxide is an oxidizer that is hypergolic upon contact with various forms of hydrazine. Dinitrogen tetroxide could be regarded as two nitro groups bonded together and it forms an equilibrium mixture with nitrogen dioxide. The molecule is planar with an N-N bond distance of 1.78 Å, the N-N distance corresponds to a weak bond, since it is significantly longer than the average N-N single bond length of 1.45 Å. Unlike NO2, N2O4 is diamagnetic since it has no unpaired electrons, inevitably, some dinitrogen tetroxide is a component of smog containing nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen tetroxide is made by the oxidation of ammonia, steam is used as a diluent to reduce the combustion temperature. The gas is essentially pure nitrogen dioxide, which is condensed into dinitrogen tetroxide in a brine-cooled liquefier, dinitrogen tetroxide can also be made through the reaction of concentrated nitric acid and metallic copper. This synthesis is more practical in a setting and is commonly used as a demonstration or experiment in undergraduate chemistry labs. The unstable species further react to form nitrogen dioxide which is purified and condensed to form dinitrogen tetroxide. Nitrogen tetroxide is used as an oxidizer in one of the more important rocket propellants because it can be stored as a liquid at room temperature and it became the storable oxidizer of choice for many rockets in both the United States and USSR by the late 1950s. It is a propellant in combination with a hydrazine-based rocket fuel. One of the earliest uses of this combination was on the Titan family of rockets used originally as ICBMs and then as launch vehicles for many spacecraft. Used on the U. S. Gemini and Apollo spacecraft and also on the Space Shuttle, it continues to be used as stationkeeping propellant on most geo-stationary satellites, and many deep-space probes. It now seems likely that NASA will continue to use this oxidizer in the next-generation crew-vehicles which will replace the shuttle and it is also the primary oxidizer for Russias Proton rocket. When used as a propellant, dinitrogen tetroxide is usually referred to simply as Nitrogen Tetroxide, most spacecraft now use MON instead of NTO, for example, the Space Shuttle reaction control system used MON3. On 24 July 1975, NTO poisoning affected the three U. S. astronauts on board the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project during its final descent, one crew member lost consciousness during descent
17.
European Space Agency
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The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states, dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a staff of about 2,000. The main European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching, after World War II, many European scientists left Western Europe in order to work with the United States. The meeting was attended by representatives from eight countries, including Harrie Massey. The Western European nations decided to have two different agencies, one concerned with developing a system, ELDO, and the precursor of the European Space Agency. The latter was established on 20 March 1964 by an agreement signed on 14 June 1962, from 1968 to 1972, ESRO launched seven research satellites. ESA in its current form was founded with the ESA Convention in 1975, ESA has 10 founding member states, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. These signed the ESA Convention in 1975 and deposited the instruments of ratification by 1980, during this interval the agency functioned in a de facto fashion. ESA launched its first major scientific mission in 1975, Cos-B, ESA joined NASA in the IUE, the worlds first high-orbit telescope, which was launched in 1978 and operated very successfully for 18 years. A number of successful Earth-orbit projects followed, and in 1986 ESA began Giotto, its first deep-space mission, to study the comets Halley and Grigg–Skjellerup. Hipparcos, a mission, was launched in 1989 and in the 1990s SOHO, Ulysses. Recent scientific missions in co-operation with NASA include the Cassini–Huygens space probe, as the successor of ELDO, ESA has also constructed rockets for scientific and commercial payloads. Ariane 1, launched in 1979, brought mostly commercial payloads into orbit from 1984 onward, the successor launch vehicle of Ariane 5, the Ariane 6 is already in the definition stage and is envisioned to enter service in the 2020s. The beginning of the new millennium saw ESA become, along with agencies like NASA, JAXA, ISRO, CSA and Roscosmos, one of the major participants in scientific space research. Although ESA had relied on co-operation with NASA in previous decades, especially the 1990s, changed circumstances led to decisions to rely more on itself, a 2011 press issue thus stated, Russia is ESAs first partner in its efforts to ensure long-term access to space. ESA maintains its scientific and research projects mainly for astronomy-space missions such as Corot, launched on 27 December 2006 and this is the reason space exploration is an integral part of overall space activities. It has always been so, and it will be more important in the future. ESA describes its work in two overlapping ways, For the general public the various fields of work are described as Activities, Member states participate to varying degrees in the mandatory and optional space programmes
18.
Roscosmos
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The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, commonly known as Roscosmos, is the governmental body responsible for the space science program of Russia and general aerospace research. The Corporation was established on the basis of the now-defunct Federal Space Agency on December 28,2015, Roscosmos was previously known as the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. The headquarters of Roscosmos are located in Moscow, while the main Mission Control space center is located in the city of Korolev. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center is in Star City, the Launch facilities used are Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and Vostochny Cosmodrome being built in the Russian Far East in Amur Oblast. The current Director since January 2015 is Igor Komarov, in 2015 the Russian government merged Roscosmos with the United Rocket and Space Corporation, the re-nationalized Russian space industry, to create the Roscosmos State Corporation. The Soviet space program did not have central executive agencies, instead, its organizational architecture was multi-centered, it was the design bureaus and the council of designers that had the most say, not the political leadership. The creation of a central agency after the separation of Russia from the Soviet Union was therefore a new development, Russian Space Agency was formed on February 25,1992, by a decree of President Yeltsin. Yuri Koptev, who had worked with designing Mars landers at NPO Lavochkin. In the early years, the agency suffered from lack of authority as the design bureaus fought to protect their own spheres of operation. For example, the decision to keep Mir in operation beyond 1999 was not taken by the agency, instead, another example is that the decision to develop the new Angara rocket was rather a function of Khrunichevs ability to attract resources than a conscious long-term decision by the agency. The 1990s saw serious financial problems because of decreased cash flow and this resulted in Roscosmos leading role in commercial satellite launches and space tourism. In March 2004, director Yuri Koptev was replaced by Anatoly Perminov, the Russian economy boomed throughout 2005 from high prices for exports, such as oil and gas, the outlook for future funding in 2006 appeared more favorable. The budget for 2006 was as high as 25 billion rubles, under the current 10-year budget approved, the budget of the Space Agency shall increase 5–10% per year, providing the space agency with a constant influx of money. In addition to the budget, Roscosmos plans to have over 130 billion rubles flowing into its budget by other means, such as industry investments and it is around the time US-based The Planetary Society entered a partnership with Roscosmos. In 2011, the government spent 115 billion rubles in the space programs. The proposed project core budget for 2013 to be around 128.3 billion rubles, the budget for the whole space program is,169.8 billion rubles. By 2015, the amount of the budget can be increased to 199.2 billion rubles, priorities of the Russian space program include the new Angara rocket family and development of new communications, navigation and remote Earth sensing spacecraft. The GLONASS global navigation system has for many years been one of the top priorities and has been given its own budget line in the federal space budget
19.
Airbus
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Airbus SAS is a division of the multinational Airbus Group SE that manufactures civil aircraft. It is based in Blagnac, France, a suburb of Toulouse, with production and manufacturing facilities mainly in France, Germany, Spain, China, United Kingdom, Airbus began as a consortium of aerospace manufacturers, Airbus Industrie. After a protracted sales process BAE sold its shareholding to EADS on 13 October 2006, Airbus has sixteen key sites in four countries, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Final assembly production is based at Toulouse, France, Hamburg, Germany, Seville, Spain, Tianjin, China, Airbus has subsidiaries in the United States, Japan and India. The company produces and markets the first commercially viable digital fly-by-wire airliner, the Airbus A320, and the worlds largest passenger airliner, Airbus Industrie began as a consortium of European aviation firms formed to compete with American companies such as Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Lockheed. While many European aircraft were innovative, even the most successful had small production runs, in the mid-1960s, tentative negotiations commenced regarding a European collaborative approach. The same year Hawker Siddeley teamed with Breguet and Nord to study airbus designs, the Hawker Siddeley/Breguet/Nord groups HBN100 became the basis for the continuation of the project. By 1966 the partners were Sud Aviation, later Aérospatiale, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Airbus, later Deutsche Airbus, a request for funding was made to the three governments in October 1966. On 25 July 1967 the three agreed to proceed with the proposal. In the two years following this agreement, both the British and French governments expressed doubts about the project, the MoU had stated that 75 orders must be achieved by 31 July 1968. With concerns at proposal of the A300B proposal in December 1968, and fearing it would not recoup its investment due to lack of sales, West Germany took this opportunity to increase its share of the project to 50%. Given the participation by Hawker Siddeley up to point, France. Thus the British company was allowed to continue as a privileged subcontractor, Hawker Siddeley invested GB£35 million in tooling and, requiring more capital, received a GB£35 million loan from the West German government. Airbus Industrie was formally established as a Groupement dIntérêt Économique on 18 December 1970 and it had been formed by a government initiative between France, West Germany and the UK that originated in 1967. Its initial shareholders were the French company Aérospatiale and the West German company Deutsche Airbus, Aérospatiale and Deutsche Airbus each took a 36. 5% share of production work, Hawker Siddeley 20% and the Dutch company Fokker-VFW 7%. Each company would deliver its sections as fully equipped, ready-to-fly items, in October 1971 the Spanish company CASA acquired a 4. 2% share of Airbus Industrie, with Aérospatiale and Deutsche Airbus reducing their stakes to 47. 9%. In January 1979 British Aerospace, which had absorbed Hawker Siddeley in 1977, the majority shareholders reduced their shares to 37. 9%, while CASA retained its 4. 2%. The Airbus A300 was to be the first aircraft to be developed, manufactured and marketed by Airbus, by early 1967 the A300 label began to be applied to a proposed 320 seat, twin engined airliner
20.
Thales Group
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Thales Group is a French multinational company that designs and builds electrical systems and provides services for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security markets. Its headquarters are in La Défense, and its stock is listed on the Euronext Paris, the company changed its name to Thales from Thomson-CSF in December 2000 shortly after the £1.3 billion acquisition of Racal Electronics plc, a UK defence electronics group. It is partially state-owned by the French government, and has operations in more than 56 countries and it has 64,000 employees and generated €14.9 billion in revenues in 2016. The Group is ranked as the 475th largest company in the world by Fortune 500 Global and it is also the 10th largest defence contractor in the world and 55% of its total sales are military sales. The CEO of Thales Group is Patrice Caine since December 2014, Thales predecessor, Thomson-CSF, evolved from Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston, which was established in 1893. However Thomson-CSF itself was established in 1968 when Thomson-Brandt merged its electronics arm with that of Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie Sans Fil, Thales formed a joint venture with Raytheon in June 2001 to combine their radar and communications systems divisions. Named ThalesRaytheonSystems, the firm is 50% owned by parent companies. In 2002 Thales set up the joint venture company Armaris with the French shipbuilder DCN to offer a total bottom up shipbuilding capability, in 2002, Thales Broadcast Multimedia, a former subsidiary of Thales, provided China with standard short-wave radio-broadcasting equipment designed for general public radio broadcasting. Although the contract was not at all for the purpose of jamming foreign radio stations broadcasting to China, in 2003 Thales UKs design won the competition for the Royal Navy Future Carrier and the company now participates in an alliance company with BAE Systems and the UK Ministry of Defence. This Thales design may form the basis of the Future French aircraft carrier which the company has agreed to build with DCN, in 2006 Thales acquired Australian Defence Industries, a major manufacturer of military equipment such as smokeless gunpowder and the Bushmaster IMV. The French government would also decrease its ownership in Thales to 27.1 percent from 31.3 percent as part of the acquisition, the deal would also include the Systems Integration activities. In December 2008, Alcatel agreed to sell a 20. 8% stake in French engineering group Thales SA to Dassault Aviation SA for €1.57 billion. As of 31 December 2014, Thales Group was owned 26. 4% by the Government of France,25. 3% by Dassault Aviation, and 48. 3% float, including employee ownership of 2%. Thales Group has made many devices and equipment used by the French Armed Forces from its past as Thomson-CSF, including the SPECTRA helmet for the army. It has worked with Dassault Aviation on the Rafale and made its SPECTRA defensive aids, Thales often worked with DCNS and designed the electronics used on French ships, and it is involved in the construction of both the Horizon and FREMM programs. Thales, as Thomson-CSF, was involved in the Taiwan frigates scandal and it is also present in Eurosam as Thomson-CSF was a founder of the consortium along Aérospatiale and Alenia Aeronautica. In February 2004, Thales was awarded a contract for a new command and control system for the French Navy, the SIC21, additionally, the Future French aircraft carrier involved Thales as the main designer of the ship. Thales is also working on X-ray imaging, finances, energy, by 2012 the company is mainly composed of five branches, Defense, Security, Space, Aerospace and Ground transportation
21.
Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz
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The Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz, is a launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou/Sinnamary, French Guiana. It is used by Soyuz-ST rockets, modified versions of the Soyuz-2 optimised for launch from Kourou under Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre programme. The first launch to use the complex occurred on 21 October 2011, the sites equatorial latitude allows a greater payload mass to be delivered into geosynchronous transfer orbit compared to existing Soyuz launch facilities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. ELS is fifteen kilometres north-west of the facilities used by Ariane rockets. It consists of a launch pad, with a horizontal assembly and processing facility, or MIK. As with the Soyuz launch complexes at Baikonur and Plesetsk, the pad is connected to the MIK by means of a gauge railway. The tower shrouds the rocket during integration, but is moved back to a safe prior to launch. ELS also differs in having a fixed mount, rather than one which can be rotated. Earlier rockets in the R-7 family were incapable of rolling, so their launch complexes were built to allow launch azimuth to be adjusted before launch
22.
Service structure
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A service structure, or supply tower or launch tower, is a structure built on a rocket launch pad to facilitate fueling and loading of cargo and crew into a spacecraft. A supply tower also includes an elevator which allows maintenance. In contrast with launch towers, service structure towers do not guide rockets as they lift off, service structures generally consist of fixed components and mobile ones. That structure is rotated out of the way several hours prior to the launch while the fixed service structure remains in place at all times. Unmanned and manned rockets such as the Delta, Saturn V also used fixed, the Saturns fixed service structure, however, was formally called the launch umbilical tower and was fixed to a Mobile Launcher Platform. The White Room is the area used by NASA astronauts to access the spacecraft. The room takes its name from the white paint, first used in Project Gemini, its use and white color continued to be included on supply towers through subsequent programs up to and including the Space Shuttle program. Rooms are located at the end of the walkway extended from the service structure. In this room astronauts make final preparations before entering the spacecraft such as donning parachute packs, putting on helmets, similarly, Soviet-and Russian-designed service structures such those at the Baikonur Cosmodrome stand while servicing the vehicle. The entire structure pivots outward and downward out of the way at launch time
23.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
24.
Range safety
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Not all national space programs utilize flight termination systems on launch vehicles. At NASA, the range safety goal is for the public to be as safe during range operations as they are in their normal day-to-day activities. RSOs are also present in the hobby of model rocketry, in this case, they are usually responsible for ensuring a rocket is built correctly, using a safe engine/recovery device, and launched correctly. Some launch systems use flight termination for range safety, in these systems the RSO can remotely command the vehicle to self-destruct to prevent the vehicle from traveling outside prescribed safety zone. This allows as-yet-unconsumed propellants to combust at altitude, rather than upon the reaching the ground. To assist the RSO in making a flight termination decision, there are many indicators showing the condition of the vehicle in flight. These included booster chamber pressures, vertical plane charts, and height, supporting the RSO for this information were a supporting team of RSOs reporting from profile and horizontal parallel wires used at lift-off and telemetry indicators. After initial lift-off, flight information is captured with X and C-band radars, at the Eastern Test Range, S and C-Band antennas were located in the Bahamas and as far as the island of Antigua, after which the space vehicle finished its propulsion stages or is in orbit. Two switches were used, ARM and DESTRUCT, the ARM switch shut down propulsion for liquid propelled vehicles, and the DESTRUCT ignited the primacord surrounding the fuel tanks. In the case of manned flight, the vehicle would be allowed to fly to apogee before the DESTRUCT was transmitted and this would allow the astronauts the maximum amount of time for their self-ejection. The primary action performed by RSO charges is rupturing the propellant tanks down the middle to spill out their contents, on boosters with hypergolic propellants, the opposite happens--mixing is encouraged as these propellants burn on contact rather than mix and then explode. In addition, the toxicity of hypergolic propellant means that it is desirable to have them burn up as fast as possible, the RSO system used on these boosters works by rupturing the common tank bulkhead so the oxidizer and fuel immediately contact and burn. Just prior to activation of the charges, the engine on the booster stage are also shut down. On Mercury/Gemini/Apollo launches, the RSO system was designed to not activate until three seconds after engine cutoff to give the Launch Escape System time to pull the capsule away. American rockets have always included a Range Safety destruct system ever since the very first launch conducted from Cape Canaveral in 1950. As of 2016, a total of 32 US orbital launch attempts have ended in an RSO destruct, the first being Vanguard TV-3BU in 1958, a less destructive type of range safety system allows the RSO to remotely command the vehicle to shut down its propulsive rocket engines. The thrust termination concept was proposed for the Titan III-M launch vehicle which would have used in the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. Unlike the US program, Russian rockets do not employ a true RSO destruct system, if a launch vehicle loses control, ground controllers may either issue a manual shutdown command or the onboard computer can perform it automatically
25.
Baikonur Cosmodrome
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Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport located in southern Kazakhstan. It is the worlds first and largest operational space launch facility, the spaceport is located in the desert steppe of Baikonur, about 200 kilometres east of the Aral Sea and north of the river Syr Darya. It is near the Tyuratam railway station and is about 90 metres above sea level, currently leased by the Kazakh Government to Russia until 2050, the spaceport is managed jointly by the Roscosmos State Corporation and the Russian Aerospace Forces. The shape of the area leased is an ellipse, measuring 90 kilometres east–west by 85 kilometres north–south, with the cosmodrome at the centre and it was originally built by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s as the base of operations for the Soviet space program. Under the current Russian space program, Baikonur remains a busy spaceport, with commercial, military. All manned Russian spaceflights are launched from Baikonur, both Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, and Vostok 1, the first manned spaceflight, were launched from Baikonur. The launch pad used for missions was renamed Gagarins Start in honor of Russian Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, pilot of Vostok 1. The Soviet government issued the decree for Scientific Research Test Range No.5 on 12 February 1955 and it was actually founded on 2 June 1955, originally a test center for the worlds first intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7 Semyorka. NIIP-5 was soon expanded to include facilities for space flights. The site was selected by a led by Gen. Vasily Voznyuk, influenced by Sergey Korolyov, the Chief Designer of the R-7 ICBM. It had to be surrounded by plains, as the control system of the rocket required receiving uninterrupted signals from ground stations hundreds of kilometres away. Additionally, the trajectory had to be away from populated areas. Also, it is an advantage to place a space launch site closer to the equator, taking these constraints into consideration, the commission chose Tyuratam, a village in the heart of the Kazakh Steppe. A supporting town was built around the facility to provide housing, schools and it was raised to city status in 1966 and named Leninsk. The American U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane found and photographed the Tyuratam missile test range for the first time on 5 August 1957, there are conflicting sources about origins of the name Baikonur. Other sources state that Baikonur was name of the Tyuratam region even before the cosmodrome existed, the main cosmodrome-supporting town Leninsk was renamed to Baikonur on 20 December 1995 by Boris Yeltsin. In 1997, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation changed the path and removed the ejected rocket stages near Nyurbinsky District. Scientific literature collected enough data that confirmed adverse effects of rockets on environment, heptyl, or UDMH, a fuel used in Russian rocket engines, is considered to be highly toxic
26.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
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Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk, dates from 1957. Originally developed as an ICBM site for the R-7 missile, it served for numerous satellite launches using the R-7. With the end of the Soviet Union, Baikonur became foreign territory, consequently Plesetsk has seen considerably more activity since the 2000s. It is situated in a region of taiga, or flat terrain with boreal pine forests, the Soyuz rocket, Cosmos-3M, Rockot, Tsyklon, and Angara are launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The heavy Proton and Zenit rockets can only be land-launched from Baikonur, on 11 January 1957 the Soviet government passed the resolution about the foundation of special military object with secret name Angara. This secret object had to be situated in Plesetsk District, Arhangelsk Oblast and it was named after the town of Plesetsk. The first Soviet Combat formation of intercontinental ballistic missiles R-7 of general designer Sergei Korolev had to be located in that place, the official birthday of the proving ground was 15 July 1957. That day Colonel Gregorjev assumed his post as the unit commander. By 15 July 1961, four missile complexes for R-7 ICBMs were at combat status, in the summer of 1963, the leadership of the state is decided on the use of launch facilities in Plesetsk for launching spacecraft. In September 1963 the Council of Ministers of the USSR 3rd ALM, three test management, employees of combat duty, tests of rocket and space complexes, holding and processing of telemetry and trajectory measurements. And from 1964 on the basis of rocket connection started the establishment of research proving ground missiles and space weapons. Such conversion were the geographical location and a significant number of systems already deployed by the end of 1964 were on duty, four launchers R-7A, seven PU P-16U. Since then, the landfill has developed in two directions, rocket and space,17 March 1966 was the space birthday of Plesetsk. That day was the first missile launching of the rocket booster Vostok with space vehicle Cosmos 112, since that time the rocket base Angara has become cosmodrome Plesetsk. Construction started in 1957 and it was declared operational for R-7 rockets in December 1959, the urban-type settlement of Plesetsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast had a railway station, essential for the transport of missile components. A new town for the support of the facility was named Mirny, Russian for peaceful. By 1997, more than 1,500 launches to space had made from the site, more than for any other launch facility. Meteor 1-2 satellite launch from Plesetsk on 6 October 1969 was one of the earliest launches observed and photographed from Finland
27.
Payload fairing
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A payload fairing is a nose cone used to protect a spacecraft against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. More recently, a function is to maintain the cleanroom environment for precision instruments. Outside the atmosphere the fairing is jettisoned, exposing the payload, at this moment mechanical shocks and a spike in acceleration might be observed. The standard payload fairing is typically a combination, due to aerodynamic considerations. The type of fairing which separates into two halves upon jettisoning is called a clamshell fairing by way of analogy to the shell of a clam. In some cases the fairing may enclose both the payload and the stage of the rocket, such as on Atlas V. Since fairing is an part of a launch vehicle, being able to reuse them will lower the cost of launches. On March 30,2017, SpaceX successfully retrieved a fairing for the first time in history, failure of the fairing to separate in these cases may cause the craft to fail to reach orbit, due to the extra mass. The Augmented Target Docking Adapter, to be used for the Gemini 9A manned mission, was placed into orbit by an Atlas SLV-3 in June 1966. But when the Gemini crew rendezvoused with it, they discovered the fairing had failed to open and separate, two lanyards, which should have been removed before flight, were still in place. The cause was determined to be a crew error. In 1999, the launch of the IKONOS-1 Earth observation satellite failed after the payload fairing of the Athena II rocket did not open properly, the same happened to the Naro-1, South Koreas first carrier rocket, launched on 25 August 2009. During the launch half of the fairing failed to separate, and as a result. The satellite did not reach a stable orbit, on March 4,2011 NASAs Glory satellite launch failed to reach orbit after liftoff due to a fairing separation failure on the Orbital Sciences Taurus XL Launch Vehicle, ending up in the Indian Ocean. This failure represented the second failure of a fairing on an Orbital Sciences Taurus XL vehicle. NASA subsequently decided to switch the vehicle for the Orbiting Carbon Observatorys replacement, OCO-2
28.
Ariane 6
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The Ariane 6 is a launch vehicle under development by the European Space Agency, with a first test flight scheduled for 2020. If development is completed, it become the newest member in the Ariane launch vehicle family. The final design was selected by the ESA ministerial-level meeting in December 2014, Ariane 6 will come in two variants. Ariane 62, with two P120 solid boosters, will weigh around 500 tonnes at liftoff and is intended mainly for government and it will be capable of launching up to 5,000 kg into GTO. Ariane 64, with four P120 boosters, will have a weight of around 800 tonnes and is intended for commercial dual-satellite launches of up to 10,500 kg to GTO. Ariane 6 will be made up of three major structural and propellant-carrying components, the Lower Liquid Propulsion Module, is Ariane 6s first stage and will burn liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant. It will be powered by an updated version of Ariane 5s Vulcain 2 engine. The LLPM will be 5.4 m in diameter and contain approximately 150 t of propellant, additional thrust for the first stage will be provided by either two or four P120 Solid rocket boosters, known within the Ariane 6s nomenclature as Equipped Solid Rocket. These boosters will each contain approximately 120 t propellant and will deliver up to 3,500 kN thrust, additionally, the P120 is intended to be used on an upgraded Vega launcher. The Upper Liquid Propulsion Module will be the Ariane 6s upper stage, as the LLPM, it will also be 5.4 m in diameter and burn hydrogen and oxygen as propellant. It will be powered by a Vinci engine providing 180 kN thrust and it will contain approximately 30 t of LH2 and LOX propellant. Following detailed definition studies in 2012, the ESA announced the selection of the PPH configuration for Ariane 6 in July 2013. This design would be composed of three P145 solid rocket motors as a first stage, a single P145 motor as a stage. It would be capable of launching up to 6,500 kg to GTO, development was projected to cost €4 billion as of May 2013. A2014 study concluded that development cost could be reduced to about 3 billion Euros by limiting contractors to five countries, in June 2014 Airbus and Safran surprised the ESA by announcing a counter proposal for the Ariane 6. They also announced a 50/50 joint venture to develop the rocket and this joint venture would also involve buying out the French governments interest in Arianespace. This proposed launch system would come in two variants, the Ariane 6.1 and the Ariane 6.2. The Ariane 6.1 would have the ability to launch two electrically powered satellites at once, while the Ariane 6.2 was intended mostly for government payloads, proposed launch prices of 85 million € for Ariane 6.1 and 69 million € for Ariane 6
29.
Safran
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Safran S. A. is a French multinational aircraft engine, rocket engine, aerospace-component, defense, and security company. It was formed by a merger between the aircraft and rocket engine manufacturer and aerospace component manufacturer group SNECMA and the security company SAGEM in 2005 and its headquarters are located in Paris. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, the name Safran was chosen from 4,250 suggestions. As a holding company for many subsidiaries the name was deemed suitable for the suggestion of direction, movement, Safran translates as rudder blade and as saffron, which the company highlights as one of the catalysts for early international trade. In 1905 Louis Seguin created the company Gnome, production of the first rotary engine for airplanes, the Gnome Omega, started in 1909. This company merged with the Le Rhône, a company created in 1912 by Louis Verdet, Gnome & Rhône was nationalized in 1945, creating Snecma. In 2000, this gave its name to the “Snecma Group”. Sagem was created in 1924 by Marcel Môme, in 1939, Sagem entered the telephone and transmissions market by taking control of Société anonyme des télécommunications. It acquired Société de Fabrication d’Instruments de Mesure, a measurement instrument specialist, however, by 2008 Sagem Mobile and Sagem Communications had been sold. Sagem Mobile became Sagem Wireless in January 2009, the Safran Group was created on May 11,2005, with the merger of Snecma and Sagem SA. In June 2014, Arianespace CEO Stephane Israel announced that European efforts to remain competitive in response to SpaceXs recent success have begun in earnest and this included the creation of a new joint venture company from Arianespaces two largest shareholders, the launch-vehicle producer Airbus Group and engine-producer Safran. By May 2015, Safran had created a division as well called Airbus Safran Launchers. This entity is currently developing the Ariane 6 launch vehicle for initial flights in the 2020s
30.
Paris Air Show
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The Paris Air Show claims to be the worlds calendar-oldest air show. Established in 1909, it is held every odd year at Le Bourget Airport in north Paris. The 2015 Paris Air Show, from 15–21 June 2015, became the 51st, the format is similar to the Farnborough International Airshow in Britain and the ILA Berlin Air Show, both of which are staged in alternate years to the Paris show. The Paris event starts with four days closed to the general public. The Paris Air Show is organised by the French aerospace industrys primary representative body, according to GIFAS, the 2011 Paris show attracted 151,500 professional visitors and 204,000 members of the general public, and 3,250 journalists from 80 countries. It is a commercial event, with a major purpose being to demonstrate military. It claims to be the most prestigious aircraft exposition in the world, major aircraft sales contracts are announced by manufacturers during the show. All major international manufacturers, as well as representatives of the forces of many countries. The Paris Air Show traces its history back to the first decade of the 20th century, in 1908 a section of the Paris Motor Show was dedicated to aircraft. The following year, an air show was held at the Grand Palais from 25 September to 17 October, during which 100,000 visitors turned out to see products. There were four further shows before the First World War, the show restarted in 1919, and from 1924 it was held every two years before being interrupted again by the Second World War. It restarted again in 1946 and since 1949, has held in every odd year. The air show continued to be held at the Grand Palais, in 1953, the show was relocated from the Grand Palais to Le Bourget. Since the 1970s, the show emerged as the international reference of the aeronautical sector. Among major accidents, there were two crashes of Convair B-58 Hustler bombers, in 1961 and 1965, at the Paris Air Show on June 3,1973, the second Tupolev Tu-144 production aircraft crashed during its display. It stalled while attempting a rapid climb, the cause of this accident remains controversial. A Mikoyan MiG-29 crashed during a flight with no loss of life. The then Soviet space shuttle Buran and its aircraft the Antonov An-225 were displayed
31.
Galileo (satellite navigation)
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The €5 billion project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. The use of basic Galileo services will be free and open to everyone, the higher-precision capabilities will be available for paying commercial users. Galileo is intended to provide horizontal and vertical measurements within 1-metre precision. Galileo is to provide a new search and rescue function as part of the MEOSAR system. Satellites will be equipped with a transponder which will relay distress signals from emergency beacons to the Rescue coordination centre, which will then initiate a rescue operation. At the same time, the system is projected to provide a signal and this latter feature is new and is considered a major upgrade compared to the existing Cospas-Sarsat system, which does not provide feedback to the user. The first Galileo test satellite, the GIOVE-A, was launched 28 December 2005, as of December 2016 the system has 18 of 30 satellites in orbit. Galileo started offering Early Operational Capability on 15 December 2016 and is expected to reach Full Operational Capability in 2019, the complete 30-satellite Galileo system is expected by 2020. In 1999, the different concepts of the three main contributors of ESA for Galileo were compared and reduced to one by a joint team of engineers from all three countries. The first stage of the Galileo programme was agreed upon officially on 26 May 2003 by the European Union, the system is intended primarily for civilian use, unlike the more military-orientated systems of the United States, Russia, and China. The European system will only be subject to shutdown for military purposes in extreme circumstances and it will be available at its full precision to both civil and military users. On 17 January 2002, a spokesman for the stated that, as a result of US pressure and economic difficulties. A few months later, however, the situation changed dramatically, European Union member states decided it was important to have a satellite-based positioning and timing infrastructure that the US could not easily turn off in times of political conflict. The European Union and the European Space Agency agreed in March 2002 to fund the project, the starting cost for the period ending in 2005 is estimated at €1.1 billion. The required satellites were to be launched between 2011 and 2014, with the system up and running and under control from 2019. The final cost is estimated at €3 billion, including the infrastructure on Earth, the plan was for private companies and investors to invest at least two-thirds of the cost of implementation, with the EU and ESA dividing the remaining cost. The base Open Service is to be available without charge to anyone with a Galileo-compatible receiver, by early 2011 costs for the project had run 50% over initial estimates. Galileo is intended to be an EU civilian GNSS that allows all users access to it, initially GPS reserved the highest quality signal for military use, and the signal available for civilian use was intentionally degraded
32.
Saint Petersburg
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
33.
Thales Alenia Space
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The company is Europes largest satellite manufacturer. Alcatel Alenia Space was established on June 1,2005 by the merger of Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio and was owned by Alcatel-Lucent, the creation of the company was concurrent with the creation of Telespazio Holding. This too was a merger of Finmeccanica and Alcatel businesses, on April 5,2006 Alcatel agreed to sell its share of Alcatel Alenia Space to Thales Group. The European Union agreed in this operation on April 10,2007. The company built the Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules, which was used to transport cargo inside the Space Shuttle orbiters and they also built several modules for the International Space Station, those modules are Cupola, Columbus, Harmony, Tranquility and Leonardo. They currently build the vessels for the Automated Transfer Vehicle. In the mid-1990s, the United States stopped issuing licenses to companies to allow them to launch on Chinese launch vehicles out of fear that this would help Chinas military. In the face of this, Thales Alenia Space built the Chinasat-6B satellite with no components from the United States whatsoever and this allowed it to be launched on a Chinese launch vehicle without violating U. S. ITAR restrictions. The launch, on a Long March 3B rocket, was conducted on July 5,2007. Cannes Mandelieu Space Center Official website
34.
Medium Earth orbit
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Medium Earth orbit, sometimes called intermediate circular orbit, is the region of space around the Earth above low Earth orbit and below geostationary orbit. The most common use for satellites in this region is for navigation, communication, the most common altitude is approximately 20,200 kilometres ), which yields an orbital period of 12 hours, as used, for example, by the Global Positioning System. Other satellites in medium Earth orbit include Glonass and Galileo constellations, communications satellites that cover the North and South Pole are also put in MEO. The orbital periods of MEO satellites range from about 2 to nearly 24 hours, telstar 1, an experimental satellite launched in 1962, orbits in MEO. The orbit is home to a number of artificial satellites
35.
CNES
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The Centre national détudes spatiales is the French government space agency. Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and it operates from the Toulouse Space Center and Guiana Space Centre, but also has payloads launched from space centres operated by other countries. The president of CNES is Jean-Yves Le Gall, CNES is member of Institute of Space, its Applications and Technologies. CNES benefits from the second largest national budget allocated to space, CNES was established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961. CNES was responsible for the training of French astronauts, until the last active CNES astronauts transferred to the European Space Agency in 2001. As of January 2015, CNES is working with Germany and a few governments to start a modest research effort with the hope to propose a LOX/methane reusable launch vehicle by mid-2015. If built, flight testing would not start before approximately 2026. Hammaguir missile range built in Algeria,1963 Cats launched into space via Véronique rockets. 1965 First French satellite put in orbit,1969 French Guiana Space Centre completed. Commercial competition in space is fierce, so launch services must be tailored to space operators’ needs, the new versions of Ariane 5 can launch large satellites or perform dual launches while the Vega and Soyuz-2 are small and medium-lift launchers. CNES is taking part in the Galileo navigation programme alongside the European Union, in addition to Spot and the future Pleiades satellites, CNES is working for the defence community as prime contractor for the Helios satellites. France’s contribution to the International Space Station is giving French scientists the opportunity to perform experiments in microgravity. The CNES is studying formation flying, a technique whereby several satellites fly components of a much heavier, CNES is collaborating with other space agencies in a number of projects. Joint missions with NASA result in PARASOL and CALIPSO satellites, CNES plays a major role in the construction and operation of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite. In December 2006, CNES announced that it would publish its UFO archive online by late January or mid-February, most of the 6,000 reports have been filed by the public and airline professionals. Jacques Arnould, an official for the French Space Agency, said that the data had accumulated over a 30-year period and that they were often reported to the Gendarmerie. In the last two decades of the 20th century, France was the country whose government paid UFO investigators, employed by CNESs UFO section GEPAN, later known as SEPRA. On March 22,2007, CNES released its UFO files to the public through its website, the CNES has several tracking stations
36.
Orbital inclination
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Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an objects orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Earth directly above the equator, the plane of the orbit is the same as the Earths equatorial plane. The general case is that the orbit is tilted, it spends half an orbit over the northern hemisphere. If the orbit swung between 20° north latitude and 20° south latitude, then its orbital inclination would be 20°, the inclination is one of the six orbital elements describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit. It is the angle between the plane and the plane of reference, normally stated in degrees. For a satellite orbiting a planet, the plane of reference is usually the plane containing the planets equator, for planets in the Solar System, the plane of reference is usually the ecliptic, the plane in which the Earth orbits the Sun. This reference plane is most practical for Earth-based observers, therefore, Earths inclination is, by definition, zero. Inclination could instead be measured with respect to another plane, such as the Suns equator or the invariable plane, the inclination of orbits of natural or artificial satellites is measured relative to the equatorial plane of the body they orbit, if they orbit sufficiently closely. The equatorial plane is the perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the central body. An inclination of 30° could also be described using an angle of 150°, the convention is that the normal orbit is prograde, an orbit in the same direction as the planet rotates. Inclinations greater than 90° describe retrograde orbits, thus, An inclination of 0° means the orbiting body has a prograde orbit in the planets equatorial plane. An inclination greater than 0° and less than 90° also describe prograde orbits, an inclination of 63. 4° is often called a critical inclination, when describing artificial satellites orbiting the Earth, because they have zero apogee drift. An inclination of exactly 90° is an orbit, in which the spacecraft passes over the north and south poles of the planet. An inclination greater than 90° and less than 180° is a retrograde orbit, an inclination of exactly 180° is a retrograde equatorial orbit. For gas giants, the orbits of moons tend to be aligned with the giant planets equator, the inclination of exoplanets or members of multiple stars is the angle of the plane of the orbit relative to the plane perpendicular to the line-of-sight from Earth to the object. An inclination of 0° is an orbit, meaning the plane of its orbit is parallel to the sky. An inclination of 90° is an orbit, meaning the plane of its orbit is perpendicular to the sky
37.
Orbital eccentricity
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The orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is an orbit, values between 0 and 1 form an elliptical orbit,1 is a parabolic escape orbit. The term derives its name from the parameters of conic sections and it is normally used for the isolated two-body problem, but extensions exist for objects following a rosette orbit through the galaxy. In a two-body problem with inverse-square-law force, every orbit is a Kepler orbit, the eccentricity of this Kepler orbit is a non-negative number that defines its shape. The limit case between an ellipse and a hyperbola, when e equals 1, is parabola, radial trajectories are classified as elliptic, parabolic, or hyperbolic based on the energy of the orbit, not the eccentricity. Radial orbits have zero angular momentum and hence eccentricity equal to one, keeping the energy constant and reducing the angular momentum, elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic orbits each tend to the corresponding type of radial trajectory while e tends to 1. For a repulsive force only the trajectory, including the radial version, is applicable. For elliptical orbits, a simple proof shows that arcsin yields the projection angle of a circle to an ellipse of eccentricity e. For example, to view the eccentricity of the planet Mercury, next, tilt any circular object by that angle and the apparent ellipse projected to your eye will be of that same eccentricity. From Medieval Latin eccentricus, derived from Greek ἔκκεντρος ekkentros out of the center, from ἐκ- ek-, eccentric first appeared in English in 1551, with the definition a circle in which the earth, sun. Five years later, in 1556, a form of the word was added. The eccentricity of an orbit can be calculated from the state vectors as the magnitude of the eccentricity vector, e = | e | where. For elliptical orbits it can also be calculated from the periapsis and apoapsis since rp = a and ra = a, where a is the semimajor axis. E = r a − r p r a + r p =1 −2 r a r p +1 where, rp is the radius at periapsis. For Earths annual orbit path, ra/rp ratio = longest_radius / shortest_radius ≈1.034 relative to center point of path, the eccentricity of the Earths orbit is currently about 0.0167, the Earths orbit is nearly circular. Venus and Neptune have even lower eccentricity, over hundreds of thousands of years, the eccentricity of the Earths orbit varies from nearly 0.0034 to almost 0.058 as a result of gravitational attractions among the planets. The table lists the values for all planets and dwarf planets, Mercury has the greatest orbital eccentricity of any planet in the Solar System. Such eccentricity is sufficient for Mercury to receive twice as much solar irradiation at perihelion compared to aphelion, before its demotion from planet status in 2006, Pluto was considered to be the planet with the most eccentric orbit
38.
European Space Operations Centre
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The European Space Operations Centre serves as the main mission control centre for the European Space Agency and is located in Darmstadt, Germany. ESOCs primary function is the operation of unmanned spacecraft on behalf of ESA, ESOC is responsible for developing, operating and maintaining ESAs European Tracking Network of ground stations. The core network comprises 9 stations in seven countries, Kourou, Maspalomas, Villafranca and Cebreros, Redu, Santa Maria, Kiruna, Malargüe, operators are on duty at ESOC24 hours/day, year round, to conduct tracking passes, uploading telecommands and downloading telemetry and data. In addition to pure mission operations, a number of activities take place at the Centre. Flight dynamics, A team is responsible for all orbital calculations and its role was to provide satellite control for the European Space Research Organisation, which is today known as its successor organisation, the European Space Agency. These were augmented by mission control staff transferred from ESTEC to operate satellites and manage the ESTRACK tracking station network. Within just eight months, ESOC, as part of ESRO, was operating its first mission, ESRO-2B, a scientific research satellite and the first of many operated from ESOC for ESRO. By July 2012, ESOC had operated over 56 missions spanning science, Earth observation, orbiting observatories, meteorology, ESOC is located on the west side of the city of Darmstadt, some 500 m from the main train station, at Robert-Bosch-Straße 5. In 2011, ESA announced the first phase of the ESOC II modernisation and expansion project valued at €60 million, the new construction will be located across Robert-Bosch-Straße, opposite the current centre. At ESOC, ESA employs approximately 800, comprising some 250 permanent staff, staff from ESOC are routinely dispatched to work at other ESA establishments, ESTRACK stations, the ATV Control Centre, the Columbus Control Centre and at partner facilities in several countries
39.
OHB SE
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OHB SE is a European multinational technology corporation. Headquartered in Bremen, Germany, the corporation consists of the two business divisions Space Systems and Aerospace + Industrial Products, a key product of the corporation is fully integrated spacecraft. At present OHB is the third largest corporation in Europes space sector, the company OHB System AG is a major constituent of the OHB corporation. This company was founded in 1958 as a marine systems outfitter, however the activities of the company shifted toward space technology in the 1980s after the couple Christa Fuchs and Manfred Fuchs took over ownership of the company. The company has been working on numerous prestigious national German and international projects related to small satellites, manned space flight as well as security, examples of OHB microgravity facilities are the International Space Station racks Fluid Science Laboratory and European Physiology Modules. Fourteen satellites will be built at a cost of 566m euros, the first two are expected to be ready in October 2012. In February 2012, an order of eight satellites was awarded to OHB Systems for €250M. Thus bringing the total to 22 FOC satellites, in 2014/2015, OHB was in talks with OneWeb as part of a potential joint venture to open a new facility for manufacturing approximately 900200 kg -small Internet-delivery satellites. OHB is just one of five European and US manufacturers competing to build these sub-US$500,000 satellites
40.
Angular velocity
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This speed can be measured in the SI unit of angular velocity, radians per second, or in terms of degrees per second, degrees per hour, etc. Angular velocity is usually represented by the symbol omega, the direction of the angular velocity vector is perpendicular to the plane of rotation, in a direction that is usually specified by the right-hand rule. The angular velocity of a particle is measured around or relative to a point, called the origin. As shown in the diagram, if a line is drawn from the origin to the particle, then the velocity of the particle has a component along the radius, if there is no radial component, then the particle moves in a circle. On the other hand, if there is no cross-radial component, a radial motion produces no change in the direction of the particle relative to the origin, so, for the purpose of finding the angular velocity, the radial component can be ignored. Therefore, the rotation is completely produced by the perpendicular motion around the origin, the angular velocity in two dimensions is a pseudoscalar, a quantity that changes its sign under a parity inversion. The positive direction of rotation is taken, by convention, to be in the direction towards the y axis from the x axis, if the parity is inverted, but the orientation of a rotation is not, then the sign of the angular velocity changes. There are three types of angular velocity involved in the movement on an ellipse corresponding to the three anomalies, in three dimensions, the angular velocity becomes a bit more complicated. The angular velocity in case is generally thought of as a vector, or more precisely. It now has not only a magnitude, but a direction as well, the magnitude is the angular speed, and the direction describes the axis of rotation that Eulers rotation theorem guarantees must exist. The right-hand rule indicates the direction of the angular velocity pseudovector. Let u be a vector along the instantaneous rotation axis. This is the definition of a vector space, the only property that presents difficulties to prove is the commutativity of the addition. This can be proven from the fact that the velocity tensor W is skew-symmetric, therefore, R = e W t is a rotation matrix and in a time dt is an infinitesimal rotation matrix. Therefore, it can be expanded as R = I + W ⋅ d t +122 +, in such a frame, each vector is a particular case of the previous case, in which the module of the vector is constant. Though it just a case of a moving particle, this is a very important one for its relationship with the rigid body study. There are two ways to describe the angular velocity of a rotating frame, the angular velocity vector. Both entities are related and they can be calculated from each other, in a consistent way with the general definition, the angular velocity of a frame is defined as the angular velocity of each of the three vectors of the frame
41.
Reaction control system
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A reaction control system is a spacecraft system that uses thrusters to provide attitude control, and sometimes translation. An RCS is capable of providing small amounts of thrust in any desired direction or combination of directions, an RCS is also capable of providing torque to allow control of rotation. RCS systems often use combinations of large and small thrusters, to different levels of response. Because spacecraft only contain an amount of fuel and there is little chance to refill them. For stationkeeping, some spacecraft use high-specific-impulse engines such as arcjets, ion thrusters, to control orientation, a few spacecraft, including the ISS, use momentum wheels which spin to control rotational rates on the vehicle. The Mercury space capsule and Gemini re-entry module both used groupings of nozzles to provide attitude control, the thrusters were located off their center of gravity, thus providing a torque to rotate the capsule. The Gemini capsule was also capable of adjusting its re-entry course by rolling, the Gemini spacecraft was also equipped with a hypergolic Orbit Attitude and Maneuvering System, which made it the first manned spacecraft with translation as well as rotation capability. In-orbit attitude control was achieved by firing pairs of eight 25-pound-force thrusters located around the circumference of its adapter module at the aft end. Lateral translation control was provided by four 100-pound-force thrusters around the circumference at the end of the adaptor module. The Apollo Command Module had a set of twelve hypergolic thrusters for attitude control, the Apollo Service Module and Lunar Module each had a set of sixteen R-4D hypergolic thrusters, grouped into external clusters of four, to provide both translation and attitude control. The clusters were located near the centers of gravity, and were fired in pairs in opposite directions for attitude control. A pair of translation thrusters are located at the rear of the Soyuz spacecraft and these act in pairs to prevent the spacecraft from rotating. The thrusters for the directions are mounted close to the center of mass of the spacecraft. Those for pitch and yaw are located in the nose, forward of the cockpit and those for roll are located at the wingtips. The X-20, which would have gone into orbit, continued this pattern, unlike these, the Space Shuttle Orbiter had many more thrusters, as it was required to carry out docking maneuvers in orbit. Shuttle thrusters were grouped in the nose of the vehicle and on each of the two aft Orbital Maneuvering System pods. No nozzles interrupted the heat shield on the underside of the craft, instead, the nose RCS nozzles which control positive pitch were mounted on the side of the vehicle, the downward-facing negative pitch thrusters were located in the OMS pods mounted in the tail/afterbody. The International Space Station uses electrically powered reaction control gyroscopes for attitude control, with RCS thruster systems as backup
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Izvestia
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Izvestia is a long-running high-circulation daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. It was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union from 1917 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the word izvestiya in Russian means delivered messages, derived from the verb izveshchat. In the context of newspapers it is translated as news or reports. The newspaper began as the News of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers Deputies on 13 March 1917 in Petrograd, initially, the paper expressed Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary Party views. In August 1917 it took the title News of the Central Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies. By October 1917 it became News of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Working and Military Deputies, after the Second All-Union Congress of Soviets, Izvestia became an official newspaper of the Soviet government. The full name was Izvestiya Sovetov Narodnykh Deputatov SSSR, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Izvestia now describes itself as an all-national newspaper of Russia. The newspaper was owned by a vast holding company of Vladimir Potanin which had ties with the government. A controlling stake in Izvestia was purchased by state-owned Gazprom on 3 June 2005, other sources informed that Potanin had asked him to leave for fear the Kremlin would be riled by the explicit photographs of the massacre published by Izvestia. As of 2005, the circulation of Izvestia was 240,967 and its 2007 circulation certified by TNS Gallup Media was 371,000 copies. Until his death on 1 October 2008, the chief artist was Boris Yefimov, in 2008, Gazprom Media sold Izvestia to National Media Group. The newspaper was relaunched in D2 format after that and adopted a new slogan, the papers old business section, Finansovye Izvestia, was closed, and Marker Weekly was launched instead in September 2011, distributed with Izvestia on Mondays. The Friday appendix Nedelya, devoted to culture and leisure activities, was relaunched as well, merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. The worlds great dailies, profiles of fifty newspapers pp 170-76 Official site, in Russian English translations of Izvestia articles at nonprofit WorldMeets. US
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