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Topic: Space Thread (Read 517502 times)
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Jade Falcon
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Posts: 175
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wow very cool shot.
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IainC
Developers
Posts: 6538
Wargaming.net
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Really cool animation of the Falcon Heavy launch scheduled for tomorrow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk338VXcb24Some interesting stats (from the video info): When Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb)---a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel--Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost.
Falcon Heavy's first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft.
Following liftoff, the two side boosters separate from the center core and return to landing sites for future reuse. The center core, traveling further and faster than the side boosters, also returns for reuse, but lands on a drone ship located in the Atlantic Ocean.
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Mandella
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Posts: 1236
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Really cool animation of the Falcon Heavy launch scheduled for tomorrow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk338VXcb24Some interesting stats (from the video info): When Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb)---a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel--Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost.
Falcon Heavy's first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft.
Following liftoff, the two side boosters separate from the center core and return to landing sites for future reuse. The center core, traveling further and faster than the side boosters, also returns for reuse, but lands on a drone ship located in the Atlantic Ocean. In the interest of managing expectations, Musk is still reminding people that he seriously only gives this first test flight of the FH a 50/50 chance of success. But as long as all the sensors don't fail and they get good reading on why it failed that will be a success. Might be an Earth shattering kaboom, is what I'm saying. And that will be all right, as long as it doesn't blast the pad or actually land on anybody.
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Chimpy
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Posts: 10619
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Musk saying it only has a 50/50 chance means it is more like a 20% or less chance of success.
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'Reality' is the only word in the language that should always be used in quotes.
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Mandella
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Posts: 1236
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Musk saying it only has a 50/50 chance means it is more like a 20% or less chance of success.
Yeah well you know their welds are pretty sloppy.
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calapine
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Posts: 7352
Solely responsible for the thread on "The Condom Wall."
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Musk saying it only has a 50/50 chance means it is more like a 20% or less chance of success.
Hah, no. That's intentional sandbagging to make a successful flight a bigger deal. There is no reason to believe this will be significantly riskier than any other first flight. And he changed his tune already anyway: "Musk: if we’re successful, offer near super-heavy-lift for little more than Falcon 9. “Game over” for all other heavy-lift rockets." He really is an arrogant prick. I am sure Jeff Bezos is already busy shutting down Blue Origin....
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Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
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Jeff Kelly
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Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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In his first interview a few weeks ago he stated that he considers the launch a success if the rocket clears the launch facility before it blows up so that it doesn’t cause any damage to the pad.
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Abagadro
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Posts: 12227
Possibly the only user with more posts in the Den than PC/Console Gaming.
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Holy shit. That was incredible.
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"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
-H.L. Mencken
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01101010
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Posts: 12003
You call it an accident. I call it justice.
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So much for blowing up on the pad...
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Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Jeff Kelly
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Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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The synchronized landing of the side boosters, the don’t panic sign on the dash board of a fucking electric roadster and life on mars by Bowie playing in the background.
If this were a movie we’d say that it was a bit much.
Holy shit was that awesome though.
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IainC
Developers
Posts: 6538
Wargaming.net
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The simultaneous side booster landing was just surreal. If you saw that sequence in a movie, you'd think they'd fucked up the special effects. No drama, no fuss. Just straight down and stop.
One thing that annoyed me though was that the announcers kept talking about David Bowie's Starman, but it was Life on Mars that was playing during the video.
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01101010
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12003
You call it an accident. I call it justice.
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The synchronized landing of the side boosters, the don’t panic sign on the dash board of a fucking electric roadster and life on mars by Bowie playing in the background.
If this were a movie we’d say that it was a bit much.
Holy shit was that awesome though.
Yeah, the tandem booster landings in sync was just amazing. I do think Musk is a bit of an arrogant ass, but damn the man puts on a good show. I could do without the infomercial announcers, but meh...
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Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Shannow
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Posts: 3703
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I think I need some alone time and a box of tissues to watch those vids again.
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Someone liked something? Who the fuzzy fuck was this heretic? You don't come to this website and enjoy something. Fuck that. ~ The Walrus
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calapine
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Posts: 7352
Solely responsible for the thread on "The Condom Wall."
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Looks good:
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Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
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Abagadro
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Posts: 12227
Possibly the only user with more posts in the Den than PC/Console Gaming.
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The simultaneous side booster landing was just surreal. If you saw that sequence in a movie, you'd think they'd fucked up the special effects. No drama, no fuss. Just straight down and stop.
One thing that annoyed me though was that the announcers kept talking about David Bowie's Starman, but it was Life on Mars that was playing during the video.
Star man in the nickname of the guy in the Dragonsuit.
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"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
-H.L. Mencken
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calapine
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Posts: 7352
Solely responsible for the thread on "The Condom Wall."
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I think I like this one even more:
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Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
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Tale
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Posts: 8562
sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sʞןɐʇ
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What happens to the Tesla now? Live video seems to show it still attached to the Falcon Heavy, orbiting the Earth. Does it separate in a slingshot towards Mars at some point?
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Abagadro
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Posts: 12227
Possibly the only user with more posts in the Den than PC/Console Gaming.
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Yes. Will be on a heliocentric elliptical orbit that will swing it by both earth orbit and mars orbit over and over for around a billion years.
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"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
-H.L. Mencken
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23626
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The upper stage the roadster is still attached to needs to travel for a few more hours through the Van Allen radiation belts before it reaches the point where it can launch the roadster into it's final orbit.
Edit: assuming everything survives that trip
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« Last Edit: February 06, 2018, 03:27:17 PM by Trippy »
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Teleku
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Posts: 10510
https://i.imgur.com/mcj5kz7.png
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Curse you time zone differences!!!
Yeah, seeing if their equipment can survive the radiation interfearance of the Van Allen belt is the next big test.
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"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor." -Stephen Colbert
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23626
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Teleku
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Posts: 10510
https://i.imgur.com/mcj5kz7.png
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"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor." -Stephen Colbert
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Hawkbit
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Posts: 5531
Like a Klansman in the ghetto.
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I'm happy with the idea that in the year 3792 Klax Gragnon will smash his space semi into an antiquated Tesla somewhere just past Mars, and none of it will be covered as considered 'act of God' by Space Farm insurance.
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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So it won’t be V‘ger but T‘sla that returns to earth in Star Trek 1?
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calapine
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Posts: 7352
Solely responsible for the thread on "The Condom Wall."
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Some non-SpaceX news ( ) DreamChaser Date of it's first mission to the ISS now has been announced for 2020: Of the currently active cargo transporters - Progress, HTV, Dragon, Cygnus - I think it's really the technically most interesting vehicle. And more ISS news:Today is the 10th birthday of the ESA ISS laboratory module Columbus. Built by Thales-Alenia Space Turin, Italy. (Outfited by Airbus DS, Bremen.) Launched On This Day 2008 by Space Shuttle Atlantis. Below it being loaded into the Atlantis cargo bay: Funfact: To pay for the transport ESA built the 'Harmony' module free of charge for NASA. (Again by Thales-Alenia in Turin). Seen below: I don't know the cost of Harmony, but seems like a good deal for NASA. A module for single launch. Harmony houses (some of) the life-support systems of the stations. It's second purpose is as connection hub. Attached are: Columbus (the birthday kid), Destiny (the US laboratory), Kibo (the Japanese labortary) and IDA-2 (International Docking Adapter 2). To come back to SpaceX anyway:IDA-2 was delivered to the ISS by Falcon-9/Dragon. IDA-1 doesn't exist. It was cargo on Falcon-9 CRS-7 mission that blew up. And to come back to Columbus:When you see Orbital ATK Cygnus transporter docking at the ISS: It's pressurised module (the part after the service module) is built in Turin. By Thales-Alenia Space And is (partly) based on Columbus heritage. (I hope that was somewhat interesting. No point in trying to duplicate what professional news reports, so I try to focus on the details.)
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« Last Edit: February 07, 2018, 03:40:41 PM by calapine »
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Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
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Mandella
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Posts: 1236
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Well, for all I know the "Z" key stuck, but it looks like they decided to do a burn-to-completion and empty out the propellant tanks instead of a precise orbit. This was a demo test flight after all, and boiloff was a serious concern. They weren't certain they'd even have enough remaining after the long coast to do the Mars crossing orbit, but it turns out they had over 1 kps delta-V to spare. That's pretty good. As for other posters mentioning sandbagging, I actually agree more with Chimpy despite my snark. SpaceX has *never* had a successful first flight of a rocket design before, and arguably hasn't yet. They lost the center core, which was the most modified/changed part of the stack, and it failed to land properly. Something pretty big went wrong (lack of TEA-TEB igniter fluid, apparently), and landing recovery is supposed to be one of those "solved problems" to SpaceX by now. Going to be interesting to see what shakes out from this. And as for Elon being an arrogant prick, he also said this: "...but I think it's going to open up a sense of possibility. I think it's going to encourage other companies and countries to say hey, if SpaceX which is a commercial company can do this, and nobody paid for Falcon Heavy, this was paid for by internal funds, then they can do it too.
So I think it's going to encourage other companies and countries to raise their sights and say "hey, we can do bigger and better", which is great. We want a new space race.
[pause...big smile...]
Races are exciting!"I'm pretty sure Bezos agrees.
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Viin
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- Viin
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Tale
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sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sʞןɐʇ
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I believe Iron Man is real.
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Sir T
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Posts: 14223
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Meh. totally fake. they ran the reel in reverse for that, right?
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Hic sunt dracones.
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calapine
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Posts: 7352
Solely responsible for the thread on "The Condom Wall."
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Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
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IainC
Developers
Posts: 6538
Wargaming.net
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Jesus, that's a lovely photo. You'd have to know exactly what settings to dial in ahead of time for that, no time for chimping!
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calapine
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Posts: 7352
Solely responsible for the thread on "The Condom Wall."
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Jesus, that's a lovely photo. You'd have to know exactly what settings to dial in ahead of time for that, no time for chimping!
That was the photographer's setup:
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Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
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IainC
Developers
Posts: 6538
Wargaming.net
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This is the dude's Instagram.Sony A7rII at ƒ/14, ISO 100 and 1/8000s. Triggered by sound (the big orange box on the left) because it's ~400m from the rocket and you aren't allowed to stand that close.
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Strazos
Greetings from the Slave Coast
Posts: 15542
The World's Worst Game: Curry or Covid
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Pffft, cool guys don't look at explosions.
Though, it really is a nice photo.
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Fear the Backstab! "Plato said the virtuous man is at all times ready for a grammar snake attack." - we are lesion "Hell is other people." -Sartre
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calapine
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Solely responsible for the thread on "The Condom Wall."
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Remember ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, reaching Mars in in late 2016? This probe: What has it been up to? A: Aerobreaking Aerobraking, no E. damit 953 orbits, each time breaking a little bit in the atmosphere. From 98 000 x 200 km to 1050 x 200 km, which was reached last night. More detail: We started on the biggest orbit with an apocentre (the furthest distance from Mars during each orbit) of 33 200 km and an orbit of 24 hr in March 2017, but had to pause last summer due to Mars being in conjunction.
We recommenced aerobraking in August 2017, and are on track to finish up in the final science orbit in mid-March 2018. As of today, 30 Jan 2018, we have slowed ExoMars TGO by 781.5 m/s
For comparison, this speed is more than twice as fast as the speed of a typical long-haul jet aircraft.
On Tuesday this week at 15:35 CET, the spacecraft was where the red dot is, coming out of pericentre passage (passing through the point of closest approach over the surface – where Mars’ thin, uppermost atmosphere drags on the craft the most to give the braking effect).
The blue line is the current orbit, which takes only 2 hrs and 48 min and with the apocentre reduced to 2700 km; the red shows the final aerobraking orbit we expect to achieve later in March. Then, we will use the thrusters to manoeuvre the spacecraft into the green orbit (roughly 400 km circular) – the final science and operational data relay orbit.
We have to adjust our pericentre height regularly, because on the one hand, the martian atmosphere varies in density (so sometimes we brake more and sometimes we brake less) and on the other hand, martian gravity is not the same everywhere (so sometimes the planet pulls us down and sometimes we drift out a bit). We try to stay at about 110 km altitude for optimum braking effect.
To keep the spacecraft on track, we upload a new set of commands every day – so for us, for flight dynamics and for the ground station teams, it’s a very demanding time!
When TGO skims through the atmosphere, it has to adopt a specific orientation to optimise the braking effect and to make sure it stays stable and does not start to spin madly, which would not be optimal.
We are basically using the solar panels as ‘wings’ to slow us down and circularise the orbit.
The main challenge at the moment is that, since we never know in advance how much the spacecraft is going to be slowed during each pericentre passage, we also never know exactly when it is going to reestablish contact with our ground stations after pointing back to Earth.
We are working with a 20-min ‘window’ for acquisition of signal (AOS), when the ground station first catches TGO’s signal during any given station visibility, whereas normally for interplanetary missions we have a firm AOS time programmed in advance.
With the current orbital period now just below 3 hrs, we go through this little exercise 8 times per day! Which can be tricky. See this event: Almost a month later, on 19 September, TGO’s operators faced, for the first time, a situation that violated the peak acceleration limits on the spacecraft, which then triggered an autonomous ‘flux reduction manoeuvre.’
During this operation, the propulsion system operated to raise the pericentre height (the point in the orbit where the spacecraft is closest to the planet) by 3 km, so that the next time the spacecraft passed through the atmosphere, the aerodynamic drag was reduced. Another explantion: FRM together with the so-called ‘Popup’ manoeuvre are the spacecraft’s automatic responses meant to save it from critical conditions that could cause damage, such as excessive heat or deceleration.
They both trigger the propulsion system to bring the spacecraft out of a current (problematic) orbit into a higher orbit. The FRM raises the orbit by just a little so that aerobraking can continue with reduced drag.
If circumstances become more severe, the spacecraft can automatically perform the ‘Popup’ manoeuvre. This operation brings the satellite into a much higher orbit and sets it into a special safe mode while aerobraking is interrupted. Luckily, so far, there has been no need for it to perform this manoeuvre. Now the science part starts. Focused on Trace Gases, as the name says. Secondly, it will serve as a data relay for Opportunity, Curisoty and the ExoMars2020 rover. As can be seen here in this most professional graphic: Sources: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Surfing_completehttp://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/2017/12/06/keeping-up-with-tgo/http://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/2017/10/19/exomars-successful-flux-reduction-manoeuvre/
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« Last Edit: February 22, 2018, 04:43:05 AM by calapine »
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Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!
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