Spacecraft for Sale

With $42 million to spare, if you have enough for an outright spaceship purchase you could own, Sotheby’s is holding an auction featuring 173 items such as an Apollo 11 lunar sample return bag flown during its mission and Vostok 3KA-2 capsule that sent Cosmonaut Gagarin on the inaugural human orbital flight. Space Shuttle Orbiters …

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A Spacecraft to Neptune and Triton Could Reveal More of What Neptune and Its Moon Triton Are All About

An international mission to Neptune and Triton has long been overdue; such an expedition could shed more light on what these ice giants represent. Like Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are ice giants; planets with only trace amounts of hydrogen or helium present. But unlike Jupiter, their orbital periods are short enough for missions to Uranus …

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Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook

Spacecraft equipment must operate within an acceptable temperature range to complete its mission successfully, doing this by either absorbing or rejecting heat from its environment. Hardware available to accomplish this includes multilayer insulation systems to shield equipment from excessive solar and planetary heating, thermal paints and coatings that change optical properties (such as solar absorptance …

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Why is the Sky Not Blue?

As soon as sunlight hits our atmosphere, its rays scatter, creating what is known as Rayleigh scattering, named for 19th century physicist Lord Rayleigh. Shorter wavelength light such as blue and violet scatters more than long wavelength light; hence why our sky appears bluer. This phenomenon was named for Lord Rayleigh’s 19th century experiment on …

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The Spacecraft Bus

A spacecraft bus serves as the main structure and support mechanism for satellite payloads, providing power, commanding, telemetry and an appropriate thermal environment. Spacecraft buses or platforms designed with sophisticated capabilities have enabled the deployment of more powerful communications antennas, high resolution remote sensing/meteorological sensors, and precise navigational payloads. Structures and Mechanics Subsystem A spacecraft …

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