[Cabeça de Martelo]

NASA preps revolutionary ‘flying saucer’ test flight

NASA will conduct an ambitious test flight of its revolutionary 'flying saucer' technology Tuesday as scientists lay the foundations for future Mars missions.

The high altitude test at the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, will use a huge balloon to carry the 15-foot wide, 7,000-pound test flying saucer to high altitude. The balloon, roughly the size of three football fields, will lift the flying saucer to 120,000 feet, at which point the vehicle will be released. A booster rocket will then transport the saucer at Mach 4, four times the speed of sound, to a height of 180,000 feet.

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After reaching a height of 180,000 feet, a doughnut-shaped airbag will inflate around the saucer for its descent to earth. “That airbag helps it slow down by adding more area and drag,” Steve Jurczyk, NASA space technology mission directorate associate administrator told FoxNews.com. “Then we deploy a supersonic parachute about 100 feet in diameter.”

Slowed down by the airbag and parachute, the saucer is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii about 2 hours and 15 minutes after launch.

Launch is expected to be between 1:30 p.m. ET and 3 p.m. ET Tuesday, according to NASA.

The saucer, part of NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project, which aims to develop landing vehicles for future missions, underwent a “spin test” on a table at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. on March 31.

Jurczyk explained that taking the saucer to an altitude of 180,000 provides a crucial test ahead of future missions to Mars. “We go to that high altitude because it simulates the atmospheric conditions on Mars,” he said. “Mars has a very thin atmosphere.”

With current space technologies, NASA can land about 1 metric tonne, or 2,200 pounds on the surface of Mars, roughly equivalent to the Curiosity Rover’s weight.

 “With this LDSD technology we hope to land about five metric tonnes, that will enable more capable robotic missions,” said Jurczyk, noting that a ‘sample return’ vehicle could even be used to return Mars samples to earth.

NASA, which is planning to conduct a demonstration mission to Mars in 2024, says that the technology could eventually be used on human missions to the Red Planet.

NASA conducted a dress rehearsal for Tuesday’s mission on May 29 at the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility.

This is the second flight test for the flying saucer technology. Last year an LDSD test in Hawaii was deemed a success by engineers, despite the vehicle’s huge parachute apparently failing to deploy properly, according to Space.com.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

  http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/06/ ... st-flight/

[Lusitano89]

Japão vai enviar sonda às duas luas de Marte


Programa espacial japonês teve luz verde do executivo esta quarta-feira. Detalhes ainda não foram divulgados. Rússia tentou operação semelhante em 2011 mas a sonda não conseguiu alcançar o alvo.

Agência Aeroespacial nipónica (JAXA) planeia enviar em 2022 uma sonda às duas luas de Marte com o objetivo de recolher as primeiras amostras destes satélites que permitam investigar o planeta vermelho, revelou hoje a imprensa japonesa.

Este programa espacial tem luz verde do Executivo desde hoje e o seu sucesso resultaria na primeira missão que atingiria os dois satélites naturais de Marte, Fobos e Deimos, cuja órbita é muito próxima do planeta.

Os detalhes técnicos da sonda e o método de lançamento ainda não foram determinados, mas serão baseados no atual programa Hayabusa da JAXA, o primeiro programa que conseguiu trazer para Terra amostras de um asteroide, salienta o diário Nikkei.

Para a JAXA, as amostras que possam ser recolhidas nos satélites de Marte irão proporcionar novas pistas sobre a origem do planeta vermelho e o seu estado atual.
A Rússia tentou, em 2011, uma operação semelhante, mas a sua sonda não conseguiu alcançar os satélites de Marte.

O programa nipónico tem um orçamento de 30.000 milhões de ienes (231 milhões de euros) a partir de 2016, mas a verba tem de ser ainda aprovada pelo parlamento japonês.

Lusa

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O modelo 3D do planeta-anão Ceres construido com as imagens obtidas pela sonda Dawn.

[Lusitano89]

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Está quase!  

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Uma mini missão a Marte.

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[Luso]

RUSSIA wants an examination and investigation of the Apollo Moon landings!

Vale a pena ver.

[mafets]

Tem mais a ver com a NASA  mas optei por colocar aqui.  
http://defence-blog.com/?p=6308

Earlier this month, SpaceX carried out a successful test of the Crew Dragon’s Launch Abort System (LAS), which would carry the capsule to safety in the event of an emergency. This is no doubt a great comfort to future space travelers, but what about the ground crew or if the astronauts aren’t inside the capsule when an emergency occurs? To help protect them and speed them away from danger, NASA is testing a 45,000 lb (20,412 kg) MRAP armored vehicle as an evacuation carrier for upcoming manned missions.

A rocket that’s about to explode is a terrifying thing. Since a rocket is basically a giant bomb, the best place to be in an emergency is nowhere near it, which is why launch control, even if it’s only someone with a battery and a couple of wires, is always located in a heavy bunker or as far away from the launch area as possible. For the ground crew, on the other hand, it’s a matter of running like hell for the nearest blockhouse, safety trench, or foxhole before the fireworks kick-in.

This was bad enough when the rockets being sent up were V2s and WAC Corporals, but the beginning of the US manned space program added a new twist. The rockets were getting bigger and bigger, and getting astronauts into their capsules meant having crowd crews on the gantry closer to launch time (and the fully fueled rocket) than was particularly comfortable.

Over the past half century, a number of evacuation systems have been used by NASA. On Alan Shepherd’s Mercury Redstone 3 mission a crane and basket was used, and a more elaborate evacuation system was installed on the gantry on the Apollo launch pads. NASA estimated that if the Saturn V exploded, it would be twice as devastating as the Soviet N-1 Moon rocket that blew up on July 3, 1969, or the equivalent a half-kiloton atomic bomb. This would have produced a fireball a quarter of a mile wide and a blast would have killed everything for miles around.

Getting away wasn’t an option, so a 200-ft (61-m) slide leading to a rubber-lined room 40 ft (12 m) below the Saturn V launch pad was installed. Behind this was a 6-in (15-cm) steel door, which sealed off a steel, concrete, and sand bunker set on massive springs and furnished with heavily padded, safety-harness-equipped chairs for 20 people and enough food, water, and air to keep them alive and comfortable for 24 hrs while rescuers dug them out.

For the Space Shuttle, NASA adopted a slide-wire basket system, which could carry the astronauts and crew out of the blast zone, where they would be caught by a set of bungee cords sprayed with fire-retardant foam, then bundled into a modified Vietnam-era M113 armored personnel carrier, which would (hopefully) get them to safety.

For the planned Crew Dragon and CST-100 launches expected to begin in 2017 and, eventually, the Space Launch System and Orion, NASA is reviving the Shuttle evacuation plan to carry the evacuees 1,300 ft (396 m), but has decided to upgrade the evacuation vehicle with an ex-Department of Defense Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle. Built for the Iraq War, these vehicles are specially designed to withstand blast damage from IEDs and other threats, but are faster and more responsive than the old M113, with cruising speeds of up to 50 mph (80 km/h).

The idea is that the MRAPs will be standing by at the bottom of the slide wire on launch day and, if anything goes wrong, the astronauts and crew can either shelter inside or, more likely, drive out of the danger zone to a helipad or hospital. The MRAPs have been specially modified by NASA’s Ground Systems Development and Operations Program and painted white. Speed is key to surviving a blast, so the the steps for entering the rear of the MRAP are being replaced with a ramp to allow evacuees to run inside instead of climb.

The MRAPs are currently undergoing timing tests at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Involving engineers from Boeing, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, United Launch Alliance, and Special Aerospace Service, the tests are to determine the speed and maneuverability of the vehicles, as well as trialling the primary and secondary evacuation routes. NASA says that so far, the MRAP has proven faster and quieter than expected, but more simulations and analysis will be needed before scheduling a full dress rehearsal.

“Knowing how long it takes to get a person from the pad to where it will be safe is critical in our risk reduction for the crew,” says Steve Payne of Commercial Crew, a former shuttle test director. “You can draw lines on a map all you want, but until you get out and run the course in real-life conditions, you don’t know. You think you know, but you don’t know.”

Cumprimentos

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A futura missão a Marte: ExoMars.
Parceria entre a ESA e a russa Roscosmos.

Lançamento em 2016 e em 2018 o rover começará a furar o solo de Marte até 2 metros, em busca de algo que dê lucro, ou como eles dizem, em busca de sinais de vida.

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Para breve o lançamento de um satélite que nos irá influenciar em Portugal.