1. Qualification testing of Cryogenic Engine for Gaganyaan Programme.
Today, January 12, 2022, ISRO successfully conducted the qualification test of Cryogenic Engine for Gaganyaan programme for a duration of 720 seconds at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu. The performance of the engine met the test objectives and the engine parameters were closely matching with the predictions during the entire duration of the test.
This successful long-duration test is a major milestone for the Human Space Programme – Gaganyaan. It ensures the reliability and robustness of the cryogenic engine for induction into the human-rated launch vehicle for Gaganyaan. Further, this engine will undergo four more tests for a cumulative duration of 1810 seconds. Subsequently, one more engine will undergo two short-duration tests & one long-duration test to complete the cryogenic engine qualification for Gaganyaan Programme.
2. NASA’s new asronaut candidates report to Houston to begin training.
The four women and six men, who were chosen from a pool of more than 12,000 applicants, are starting their new careers as future space station crew members and possible moonwalkers on Monday (Jan. 10). They are NASA's 23rd class of trainees and the 22nd to based at Johnson Space Center in Houston since 1962.
"NASA's Johnson Space Center is the home of our nation's human spaceflight program. This past November, we celebrated our 60th anniversary here in Houston, a tremendous milestone in the history of the U.S. space program," said Vanessa Wyche, director of Johnson Space Center, at the Dec. 6 ceremony that revealed the new astronaut candidates. "Our astronaut corps puts the 'human' in human spaceflight."
3. Shri. S. Somanath assumes charge as Secretary, DOS.
Shri. Somanath assumed charge after a stint of four years as the Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananathapuram. He also served as the Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Valiamala, for two and half years.
Shri. Somanath obtained B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, and Masters in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, specializing in Structures, Dynamics, and Control with a Gold Medal. He joined VSSC in 1985 and was a team leader for the Integration of PSLV during the early phases.
Shri. Somanath is an expert in the area of system engineering of Launch vehicles. His contributions in PSLV and GSLV MkIII were in their overall architecture, propulsion stages design, structural and structural dynamics designs, separation systems, vehicle integration, and integration procedures development.
He is the recipient of the ‘Space Gold Medal’ from the Astronautical Society of India. He received the ‘Merit Award” and ‘Performance Excellence award’ from ISRO and a ‘Team excellence award’ for GSLV Mk-III development. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), a Fellow of the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), Astronautical Society of India (ASI), and a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). He is in the bureau of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and a recipient of the National Aeronautics Prize from the Aeronautical Society of India (ASI).
He has published papers in journals & seminars in structural dynamics and control, dynamic analysis of separation mechanisms, vibration & acoustic testing, launch vehicle design, and launch services management.
4. Satellites reveal record high methane concentrations despite reduction pledges.
Concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere continued to rise in 2021 in spite of climate pledges and the economic slowdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, satellite data reveal.
Methane concentrations in particular showed a worrying trend, rising to a new maximum of nearly 1,900 parts per billion (ppb), according to the European Earth observation program Copernicus.
Methane, which is released naturally by decaying matter but also by the agriculture and energy industries, is 80 times more potent in warming the climate than carbon dioxide. The gas is a target of a global emissions reduction pledge announced at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021.
5. Moon ‘mystery hut’ is just a rabbit-shaped rock, Chinese Rover finds.
After driving for nearly two lunar days (each lasting around two weeks on Earth and separated by a two-week night), the solar-powered Yutu 2 got close enough to get clear images of the object.
The new images, published by Ourspace, a Chinese language science outreach channel affiliated with the China National Space Administration (CNSA,) reveal a small rock near the rim of a crater, with Yutu 2's drive team describing it as a "jade rabbit" (玉兔/yutu) for its resemblance to a rabbit about to eat. Jade Rabbit is a figure from Chinese mythology that lives on the moon with Chang-e, the goddess of the moon. China's moon exploration missions are named for Chang'e and its two lunar rovers for Jade Rabbit.
6. Powerful European Earth-Observation Satellite suffers anomaly in orbit
The Sentinel-1B radar satellite, part of the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation program, hasn't beamed home any data since suffering an anomaly on Dec. 23. And the problem appears to be relatively serious.
"Following the previous news on the Sentinel-1B anomaly that occurred on 23 December 2021, the resuming of the operations was carefully prepared, including the onboard configuration changes preventing the anomaly to occur again," Copernicus team members wrote in an update Monday (Jan. 10).
7. Sun used to have rings like Saturn
Those rings of dust may have prevented Earth from growing into a "super-Earth" — a type of planet that is about twice the size of Earth and up to 10 times its mass, according to NASA. Astronomers have discovered super-Earths orbiting about 30% of sun-like stars in our galaxy.
The occurrence of super-Earths in so many other solar systems left astronomers with some unanswered questions: namely, "if super-Earths are super-common, why don't we have one in the solar system?" André Izidoro, an astrophysicist at Rice University in Houston, Texas, said in a statement. To find out, Izidoro and his colleagues created a computer simulation model of the formation of the solar system, which emerged from the ashes of a collapsed cloud of dust and gas known as a solar nebula, Live Science previously reported.
8. China’s Chang’e 5 Lunar Lander is first to find water on the moon up close
Chang'e 5 found water at its landing site near Oceanus Procellarum on the moon's near side, using an instrument that detects water by determining spectral reflectance measurements of regolith (soil) and rocks.
Water was first definitively detected on the moon from orbit, by India's Chandrayaan-1 mission using NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument (following several tentative detections beforehand by other missions and telescopes). The Chandrayaan-1 findings were announced in September 2009, and water has since been extensively mapped from orbit by missions such as NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been operating at the moon since 2009.
9. James Webb Space Telescope begins lining up its golden mirrors
Engineers are beginning alignment procedures for the recently unfolded 18-segment massive golden mirror. The work will eventually get these individual reflectors working as a single focusing device, NASA officials wrote in a blog update posted on Wednesday (Jan. 12).
The procedure began with engineers commanding 132 actuators that will move and position the primary mirror segments and the secondary mirror, just to make sure everything was responded as expected. The team also ensured the actuators are working to guide Webb's fine steering mirror, which will be used during the image stabilization process.
10. Virgin Orbit sends 7 satellites to orbit in fourth mid air launch
Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket lofted seven small satellites for three different customers today (Jan. 13), marking the third straight successful mission for the California-based company.
Cosmic Girl, Virgin Orbit's modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, lifted off from Mojave Air and Space Port in Southern California today at 4:39 p.m. EST (2139 GMT; 1:39 p.m. local California time) with LauncherOne beneath its wing.
11. SpaceX launches 105 small satellites into orbit, nails rocket landing
The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off into a clear blue sky at 10:25 a.m. EST (1525 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station here in Florida, carrying dozens of small satellites.
Approximately nine minutes after the rocket leapt off its launch pad, the first stage returned to the Cape, touching down on a landing pad just miles away from where it launched.
Comments
Post a Comment