Two More Kepler Planets Confirmed

Hot on the heels of confirming one Kepler planet, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope announces the confirmation of another planet. Another observatory, the Nordic Optical Telescope, confirms its first Kepler planet as well, this one as part of a binary system and providing new insights that may force astronomers to revisit and revise estimations on properties of other extrasolar planets.


The first reported of these planets was the announcement from the Nordic Optical Telescope of the confirmation of Kepler 14b. The team estimates the planet to be eight times the mass of Jupiter. It orbits its parent star in a short 7 days, putting this object into the class of hot Jupiters. As noted above, the star is in a binary system with the second star taking some 2,800 years to complete one orbit.

In the announcement the team analyzed the data taking into consideration an effect that has been left out of previous studies of extrasolar planets. The team found that the glare from the nearby star in the binary orbit spilled over onto the image of the star around which the planet orbited. This extra light would dilute the eclipse caused by the planet and subsequently, changed the estimations of the planets properties. The team reported that not correcting for this light pollution, “leads to an underestimate of the radius and mass of the planet by 10% and 60%, respectively.” While this consideration would only apply for planets orbiting stars that were in binary systems, or line of sight double stars, the Kepler 14 system did not appear to be a binary system without high resolution imaging from the Palomar Observatory. This begs the question of whether or not any of the other 500+ known extrasolar planets are in similar systems that have not yet been resolved and whether their parameters may need revision.

The next planet, reported at the end of July, has been dubbed Kepler 17b. Again, this planet falls into the category of Hot Jupiters, although this one is only two and a half time times the mass of Jupiter. It orbits a star very similar the Sun in mass and radius, although expected to be somewhat younger. The observations of the star outside of planetary transits revealed a good deal of activity with temporary dips that did not persist on a regular basis like the signal from the planet. Such variance is likely due to stellar activity and Sunspots and allowed the team to reveal more information about the planet.

Because the planet could also eclipse starspots, it created a stroboscopic effect and the team confirmed the planet orbits in the same direction as the star spins. This is notable since several planets are known to have retrograde orbits.

NASA's Juno Spacecraft Launches to Jupiter

            An Atlas V rocket launches with the Juno spacecraft payload from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday, August 5, 2011.
 NASA's Juno mission lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:25 a.m. PDT (12:25 p.m. EDT) Friday to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter.

    Juno's detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter's origin and evolution. As the archetype of giant gas planets, Jupiter can help scientists understand the origin of our solar system and learn more about planetary systems around other stars.
     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        An Atlas V rocket launches with                                                                                                                    the Juno spacecraft payload from                                                                                                                      Space Launch Complex 41 at                                                                                                                            Cape Canaveral Air Force Station                                                                                                                      in Florida on Friday, August 5,                                                                                                                          2011.



     "Today, with the launch of the Juno spacecraft, NASA began a journey to yet another new frontier," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "The future of exploration includes cutting-edge science like this to help us better understand our solar system and an ever-increasing array of challenging destinations."



                                                                                                                    An Atlas V rocket launches with                                                                                                                     the Juno spacecraft payload from                                                                                                                       Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape                                                                                                                   Canaveral Air Force Station in                                                                                                                           Florida on Friday, August 5, 2011.
                                                                                                                NASA's Juno mission lifts off from                                                                                                                     Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in                                                                                                                 Florida.


     After Juno's launch aboard an Atlas V rocket, mission controllers now await telemetry from the spacecraft indicating it has achieved its proper orientation, and that its massive solar arrays, the biggest on any NASA deep-space probe, have deployed and are generating power.

     "We are on our way, and early indications show we are on our planned trajectory," said Jan Chodas, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We will know more about Juno's status in a couple hours after its radios are energized and the signal is acquired by the Deep Space Network antennas at Canberra."

    Juno will cover the distance from Earth to the moon (about 250,000 miles or 402,336 kilometers) in less than one day's time. It will take another five years and 1,740 million miles (2,800 million kilometers) to complete the journey to Jupiter. The spacecraft will orbit the planet's poles 33 times and use its collection of eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover to learn more about its origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.

   With four large moons and many smaller moons, Jupiter forms its own miniature solar system. Its composition resembles that of a star, and if it had been about 80 times more massive, the planet could have become a star instead.

    "Jupiter is the Rosetta Stone of our solar system," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "It is by far the oldest planet, contains more material than all the other planets, asteroids and comets combined, and carries deep inside it the story of not only the solar system but of us. Juno is going there as our emissary -- to interpret what Jupiter has to say."

    Juno's name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature.

The NASA Deep Space Network -- or DSN -- is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions.

      JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. Launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Rocket Systems

 Rocket Systems 

The following results were achieved in the course of S.P.Korolev RSC Energia's launch vehicle development efforts:

•  The first launch of A-4 rocket assembled on the basis of components and assemblies of German rocket V-2;
   
• Missiles systems with ballistic missiles R-1, R-2, R-9, RT-1, RT-2, RT-2P (RT-1, -2 are solid-propellant rockets) were developed and subsequently put into service;
   
• Strategic missile R5 and tactical missile R-11 were developed;
   
• The latter was modified for launches from submarines and was indexed as R-11FM;
   
• Two-stage intercontinental ballistic missiles R-7 and R-9, three-stage Vostok launch vehicle (consisting of R-7 and upper stage Block E as a third stage) for missions to the Moon, and four-stage Molniya launch vehicle for launching payloads to Venus and Mars (consisting of R-7 and upper stages Block I and Block L) were developed;
   
• A considerable amount of experience was accumulated during development under the lunar program of the multi-stage multi-purpose launch vehicle N1;
   
• A unique rocket and space system Energia-Buran was developed;
   
• Multi-purpose standardized upper stages Block D and Block DM were developed as stage IV for Proton launch vehicle, and Block DM-SL was developed as stage III of integrated launch vehicle Zenit-3SL;
   
• Based on the developed elements a number of advanced launch vehicle projects was developed, new rocket and space systems (Avrora, etc.) are under development;
   
• Emergency crew rescue system installed on Soyuz launch vehicle was developed and proved its efficiency.
   

First missile systems - the foundation
of our country's nuclear-missile shield
14 strategic missile systems were developed, out of which 11 entered service.

Entry into service:

• 1950 - the first ballistic missile R-1
   
• 1952 - R-2 with detachable warhead
   
• 1955 - R-11 for ground forces
   
• 1956 - R-5M with a nuclear charge
   
• 1958 - R-11M a mobile missile
   
• 1959 - R-11FM for submarines
   
• 1960 - the first intercontinental ballistic missile R-7
   
• 1960 - R-7A
   
• 1965 - R-9A
   
• 1968 - RT-2 a solid-propellant rocket
   
• 1972 - RT-2P

Space launch vehicles

•  1957 - 1958 - Launch vehicle - Sputnik - Earth artificial satellites-1, -2, -3
   
• 1958 - 1991 - Vostok -Luna robotic spacecraft and manned spacecraft
   
• since 1960 - Molniya - communications, exploration of the Moon, Mars, Venus
   
• 1963 - 1976 - Voskhod - manned spacecraft and Zenit SC
   
• since 1966 - Soyuz - manned and logistics spacecraft, exploration of the Moon
   
• 1969 - 1972 - Launch vehicle system N1-LЗ
   
• 1987 - 1988 - Reusable space transportation system Energia-Buran
   
• с1999 - Space launcher system Sea Launch
  
  
  462 rockets, 3400 liquid propulsion engines and more than 400 upper stages have been built. 31 end products have been handed over for serial production to factories in various cities (Samara, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Voronezh, Kiev, etc.)

Hybrid Rockets History

A Brief History of Hybrid Rocket TechnologyHybrid rocket propulsion has been studied and experimented with since the 1930's and possibly earlier. This document aims to give a brief, non-comprehensive overview of the history of hybrid rockets.
Early History (1932-1960)

1932-1933: GIRD-9 (Soviet)- Liquid oxygen (LOX)/Gellified gasoline 60lbf. thrust motor. Built by Tikhonravov and the Korolev group. First flight August, 1933.

1937: Coal/Gaseous Nitrous Oxide hybrid motor (Germany). 2,500lbf. thrust.

1938-1939: LOX/Graphite (Germany) - built by H. Oberth.

1938-1941: Coal/GOX (USA) - built by California Rocket Society.

1947: Douglas Fir/LOX (USA) - built by Pacific Rocket Society.

1951-1956: Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)/Polyethylene (USA) - GE initiates investigation into hybrids.




Era of Enlightenment (1960-1980)

Important research was done at several large aerospace companies in the 1960's including:

Chemical Systems Division of UTC - Testing up to 40 klbf., Li/LiH/PBAN/FLOX motor developed 400s measured Isp, significant modeling efforts.

LPC: Lockheed Propulsion Company.

SRI: Stanford Research Institute.

ONERA (France)

Between 1964 and 1984, several flight systems developed including:

 Target drone programs by Chemical Systems Division of UTC (Sandpiper, HAST, Firebolt).

LEX Sounding Rocket (ONERA, France).
                                                                                                        CSD's Li/LiH/PBAN-F2/O2 Hybrid                                                                                                                          Measured Isp=400 sec
FLGMOTOR Sounding Rocket (Sweden).





Recent History (1981-Present)

1981-1985: Starstruck company developed and sea launched the Dolphin sounding rocket (35 klbf. thrust).

1985-1995: AMROC Continuation of Starstruck.
Tested 10, 33 and 75 klbf. thrust sub-scale motors.
Developed and tested H-1800, a 250 klbf LOX/HTPB motor.

1990's: Hybrid Propulsion Development Program (HPDP).
Successfully launched a small sounding rocket.
Developed and tested 250klbf. thrust LOX/HTPB motors.

1998: First firing of paraffin-based hybrid at Stanford University.

2002: Lockheed developed and flight tested a 24-inch LOX/HTPB sounding rocket called HYSR (60 klbf. thrust).

2003: Scaled Composites and SpaceDev developed 20klbf. Nitrous oxide/HTPB hybrid motor for the sub-orbital manned vehicle SpaceShipOne.

SPACE AND ROCKET TECHNOLOGY: Planetary Science Institute Selects XCOR To Fly ATSA Suborbital Observatory

SPACE AND ROCKET TECHNOLOGY: Planetary Science Institute Selects XCOR To Fly ATSA Suborbital Observatory

Planetary Science Institute Selects XCOR To Fly ATSA Suborbital Observatory

The Lynx spacecraft will fly to space on a customized flight trajectory and will be capable of precision pointing, allowing the Atsa system with its operator to acquire the desired target and make the planned observations.

     The Planetary Science Institute (PSI) and XCOR Aerospacehave signed a Memorandum of Understanding that lays the groundwork for flying the human-operated Atsa Suborbital Observatory aboard XCOR's Lynx spacecraft.

The Atsa project will use crewed reusable suborbital spacecraft equipped with a specially designed telescope to provide low-cost space-based observations above the contaminating atmosphere of Earth, while avoiding some operational constraints of satellite telescope systems.

"The XCOR vehicle design and capabilities work well for hosting the kind of observing facility we are developing," said PSI Senior Scientist Faith Vilas, the Atsa Project Scientist.

The Atsa Suborbital Observatory was invented by Vilas and Luke Sollitt, a PSI affiliate scientist who is a professor at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. Vilas, who leads the Atsa project, is a long-time planetary astronomer who recently retired as director of the MMT Observatory (a joint facility of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona) before joining PSI. Sollitt, the Atsa Deputy Project Scientist, was formerly staff scientist at Northrop Grumman Corp.

"NASA has been flying suborbital observatories for decades, on unmanned, disposable rockets. The new manned, reusable commercial platforms will allow us to make repeated observations with a single instrument, but without the need to refurbish it between flights," Sollitt said. "In addition, the short turn-around means we can do many observations or targets."

Atsa means "eagle" in the Navajo language. The facility is optimized for observing solar system objects near the Sun that are difficult to study from orbital observatories such as Hubble and ground-based telescopes.

"These are natural targets for instruments on suborbital rockets to observe, but a human-tended facility using the kind of reusable launch vehicle offered by XCOR offers significant cost savings," said Mark Sykes, CEO and Director of PSI, who is also a long-time planetary astronomer and is training to be an Atsa operator.

The Lynx spacecraft will fly to space on a customized flight trajectory and will be capable of precision pointing, allowing the Atsa system with its operator to acquire the desired target and make the planned observations.

"We are being approached by many potential customers who are interested in supporting observations of the inner solar system," Vilas said. "We will also be able to support target of opportunity observations for newly discovered objects and other phenomena."

"We're looking forward to flying PSI's Atsa system on Lynx, it will be a groundbreaking experience. The rapid and flexible operations of the Lynx will enable scientists to pick specific targets of interest and the same day fly multiple tailor made observation missions quickly and inexpensively when they want them to be flown," said Khaki Rodway McKee, XCOR's Program Manager.

"We are entering into a new era in the human exploration of space, where private companies like XCOR and PSI will begin to play leading roles in certain areas, beginning with suborbital flight - harkening back to the days of NASA's Mercury program," Sykes said.

Andrew Nelson, XCOR's Chief Operating Officer, said, "Much like the early days of the Internet, mobile communications and social networking revolutions saw new and innovative applications drive commercial multi-billion dollar marketplaces, so we are seeing privately funded efforts like PSI's Atsa as a key early adopter signaling a robust future for suborbital reusable launch vehicles."

Public investment still plays a critical role in shaping the future of humans beyond Earth.

"NASA is still the tip of the spear," Sykes said. "There are basic questions regarding expanding Earth life to different gravities and the availability and usability of space resources that require NASA to answer. Together, private enterprise and the public sector can realize our dreams of a future in space."

Astrium signs up for Next Gen Launcher High Thrust Engine

Astrium signs up for Next Gen Launcher High Thrust Engine

File image.

     Astrium, Europe's leading space company, continues to prepare Europe's future propulsion technology by signing a euros 60 million rider with the European SpaceAgency (ESA) and its partners of the joint propulsion team consortium, Avio SpA (Italy) and SNECMA (SAFRAN Group) (France).

The contract is part of ESA's Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP). The activities were started back in 2007 and have accumulated a value of more than euros 100 million.

Following the successful system requirements review in May 2011, this rider covers further important development steps towards engine and subsystems preliminary design reviews for the Next Generation Launcher (NGL) first stage engine demonstrator to be reached by mid-2013. The engine demonstrator is focused on maximizing the implementation of key enabling technologies which are being developed by 14 companies from nine European countries.

Astrium is responsible for the thrust chamber assembly and jointly with SNECMA for the pre-burner design of the demonstrator. All principal combustion device technologies have already been subjected to first experimental tests over the previous years.

Within the current euros 60 million contract rider, the final demonstrator design configuration shall now be hot fire tested on an advanced subscale level by Astrium. The completion of these tests will assure a successful closure of the combustion device subsystems preliminary design reviews planned for mid-2013.

The NGL project is part of ESA's Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP), designed to prepare a proposal combining all the technical and organisational aspects of the programme for presentation at the next ESA ministerial conference in 2012.

Earth's Second Moon

Earth's Second Moon

Astronomers say that the Earth may have once had two moons, until the current moon devoured the other.

A new study by planetary scientists at the University of California - Santa Cruz said that the far side of the moon, known as the lunar farside highlands, may be the remains of a collision with a similar companion moon.

The near side of the moon is low and flat, while the far side is mountainous with a thicker crust.

The new study suggests that Earth's once second moon eventually fell back onto the current moon and coated one side with an extra layer of solid crust miles thick.

"Our model works well with models of the moon-forming giant impact, which predict there should be massive debris left in orbit about the Earth, besides the moon itself. It agrees with what is known about the dynamical stability of such a system, the timing of the cooling of the moon, and the ages of lunar rocks," Erik Asphaug, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, said in a press release.




The team used computer simulations of an impact between the moon and a smaller companion to study the dynamics of the collision and track the evolution and distribution of lunar material in its aftermath.

The researchers said most of the colliding material is piled onto the impact hemisphere as a thick new layer of solid crust, forming a mountainous region comparable in extent to the lunar farside highlands.

Asphaug and his colleagues believe the companion moon was initially trapped at one of the gravitationally stable "Trojan points" sharing the moon's orbit, and became destabilized after the moon's orbit had expanded far from Earth.

"The collision could have happened anywhere on the moon," UCSC postdoctoral researcher Martin Jutzi said in a press release. "The final body is lopsided and would reorient so that one side faces Earth."

The model could explain the composition of the moon's crust, which is dominated by potassium, rare-earth elements, and phosphorous.

"The fact that the near side of the moon looks so different to the far side has been a puzzle since the dawn of the space age, perhaps second only to the origin of the moon itself," Francis Nimmo, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences, said.

"One of the elegant aspects of Erik's article is that it links these two puzzles together: perhaps the giant collision that formed the moon also spalled off some smaller bodies, one of which later fell back to the Moon to cause the dichotomy that we see today."

The study will be published in the August 4 issue of Nature and was supported by NASA's Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program..