NASA’s Orion spacecraft will take astronauts further into deep space than ever before – beyond even the International Space Station and towards Moon and Mars. Orion was designed to withstand the rigorous environment of outer space with its heat shield and in-space propulsion system, radiation sensors, vibration monitoring instruments and accelerometers. Spacecraft Overview Orion spacecraft…
Orion was designed to send humans on missions further than ever before, flying from Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. Aerojet Rocketdyne developed its Launch Abort System jettison motor, designed to separate crew capsule from service module during an emergency launch or ascent and land under parachutes. Aerojet Rocketdyne Aerojet…
NASA spacecraft names are as symbolic as their missions are effective. While NASA follows certain guidelines when selecting mission names, creativity can still come into play here. Motherboard reports that the process for naming began in the early ’60s with the creation of the Project Designation Committee. Voyager NASA originally designed two spacecraft as part…
Unmanned spacecraft include satellite communications, weather and military surveillance satellites as well as telescopes. Landing on Mars can be an enormously complex challenge. NASA’s Curiosity rover demonstrated how difficult this task could be in 2012 by performing flawlessly through an incredibly complex sequence, including successfully deploying an elaborate sky crane system to lower itself onto…
NASA’s Pioneer 10, 11 and Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft have captured amazing flyby footage of Jupiter. Previous encounters showed its intense magnetism, volatile weather patterns and impressive collection of moons. Juno will come closer than any of those missions to Jupiter than any previous spacecraft; its orbit will allow it to observe both its…
