Spacecraft thermal control systems (TCSs) ensure that a spacecraft remains within temperature limits that are appropriate to its orbit, power demand and operation. Equipment utilized includes radiators, Multi Layer Insulation blankets, two-phase devices such as heat pipes or capillary pumped loops as well as mechanical louvers and thermal switches. These systems channel heat from spacecraft…
If you are in search of a custom RV, there are numerous companies to choose from. They specialize in everything from large travel trailers to 57-foot semi-trailers featuring features like fiberglass ceilings, front kitchens, large holding tanks and “possum belly” basements with commercial air ride suspension systems. At this year’s Florida RV SuperShow, a 54-foot…
Spacecraft buses or satellite platforms form the core of satellites, handling essential functions like power, propulsion, communication and attitude control. The Webb telescope’s Spacecraft Bus was an octagonal structure constructed to house its engineering subsystems. Powered by software commands sent from Earth via radio signals, its main purpose was to perform multiple functions for operations…
Every year, Earth and Mars align in the sky, offering space agencies an ideal opportunity to launch probes to investigate this red planet. In 1996, Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor missions demonstrated airbag landing techniques suitable for larger rovers. Mars Pathfinder featured several experiments like camera mast, weather station and high gain antenna that…
Spaceship thrusters are essential engines that propel spaceships forward at tremendous speeds, changing their course or making minor corrections to its trajectory. Thrust is determined by specific impulse, while propellant mass plays an inverse relationship to this equation. Performance specifications of propulsion systems depend on specific impulse, exhaust velocity and power-to-mass ratio as primary measurements…
After Mariner 10, it took until 2004 for another spacecraft to orbit Mercury: the MESSENGER mission (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging). MESSENGER successfully completed an exhaustive map of Mercury’s surface as well as confirmed water ice in polar craters. Europe and Japan’s joint BepiColombo probe is gearing up for its seven-year journey to…
Christa McAuliffe was America’s first schoolteacher to travel into space. On Jan. 28, 1986, as the space shuttle Challenger lifted off for orbit 73 seconds later, its crew cheered loudly when it suddenly disintegrated and exploded in fiery destruction. This tragedy fundamentally altered NASA’s space operations; it ended plans to send civilians as passengers into…
At sea, in a faraway corner of the Pacific Ocean lies an extraordinary graveyard of spacecraft known as “The Spacecraft Cemetery”. Here can be found hundreds of decommissioned satellites and other spacecraft that were carefully guided here once their lifespans ended. To minimize the chance that debris might accidentally land in an urban center, this…
Most space missions require rockets to be launched at high speeds to overcome Earth’s gravity and reach their destination. All launch vehicles, with the exception of partially reusable space shuttles, are expendable launch vehicles (ELV). Propellers make up the bulk of a rocket’s mass; fuel and oxidizer must combine to power its flight upward. What…
