Qualification testing of VIKAS Engine for Gaganyaan Programme
Today, January 20, 2022, High Thrust VIKAS Engine for Gaganyaan programme has successfully undergone qualification test for a duration of 25 seconds at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.
With regard to the Vikas engine qualification for the Gaganyaan Programme, two engines have already undergone tests under nominal operating conditions for a total duration of 480 seconds.
The test carried out today is to verify the robustness of the engine by operating beyond its nominal operating conditions (fuel-oxidiser ratio and chamber pressure). 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.
Further, three more tests are planned for a cumulative duration of 75 seconds under varying operating conditions. Subsequently, another high thrust Vikas engine will undergo a long-duration test for 240 seconds to complete the Vikas engine qualification for Gaganyaan Programme.
China builds 'artificial moon' for gravity experiment
Chinese scientists have
built an "artificial moon" research facility that will enable them to
simulate low-gravity environments using magnetism.
The facility, slated for official launch this year, will use powerful magnetic fields inside a 2-foot-diameter (60 centimeters) vacuum chamber to make gravity "disappear." The scientists were inspired by an earlier experiment that used magnets to levitate a frog.
Li Ruilin, a geotechnical engineer at the China University of Mining and Technology, told the South China Morning Post that the chamber, which will be filled with rocks and dust to imitate the lunar surface, is the "first of its kind in the world" and that it could maintain such low-gravity conditions for "as long as you want."
SpaceX launches 49 Starlink Satellites into Orbit
SpaceX's Starlink internet megaconstellation keeps growing.
A two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topped with 49 Starlink satellites lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida today (Jan. 18) at 9:02 p.m. EST (0203 GMT on Jan. 19).
About nine minutes later, the rocket's first stage came down to Earth for a pinpoint touchdown on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
Russian Spacewalk conducted on ISS to ready new Russian Docking port
Russia's new multi-port docking module at the International Space Station is now ready to receive its first spacecraft after two cosmonauts completed a seven-hour spacewalk.
Anton Shkaplerov, commander of the space station's Expedition 66 crew, and Pyotr Dubrov, both of Roscosmos, exited the orbiting outpost on Wednesday (Jan. 19) to run cables to and configure the new Prichal module to be used by future Soyuz crew spacecraft and Progress cargo vehicles. The spacewalk began at 7:17 a.m. EST (1217 GMT) as the two cosmonauts opened the hatch of the Poisk mini-research module on the space-facing side of the station's Russian segment.
Once outside, Shkaplerov and Dubrov deployed the Strela telescoping boom, a 46-foot-long (14 meters) manually operated crane, which they both used to traverse Poisk and the multi-purpose laboratory module Nauka to reach their worksite beside Prichal. The new module, which adds five open docking ports, was launched to the International Space Station and attached to Nauka in November.
Radian Aerospace raises $27.5 million for new orbital space plane
Washington-based Radian Aerospace emerged from "stealth mode" Wednesday (Jan. 19), announcing that it has raised $27.5 million in seed funding. The money will aid the development of Radian One, a crew-carrying orbital space plane that Radian hopes will transform spaceflight as well as travel here on Earth.
"We believe that widespread access to space means limitless opportunities for humankind," Radian CEO and co-founder Richard Humphrey said in a statement.
Axiom's 1st private crew launch to space station delayed to March
Houston-based Axiom Space now plans to launch its first space mission to the International Space Station on March 31, more than one month later than its initial target.
NASA quietly made the announcement Tuesday (Jan. 18) at the bottom of an International Space Station blog post otherwise focused on a recent Russian spacewalk at the Prichal docking module, and a forthcoming SpaceX Dragon cargo undocking.
"Axiom Mission 1, the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, is now targeting to launch March 31 to account for additional spacecraft preparations and space station traffic," the agency stated in the update.
Hubble telescope spots a black hole fostering baby stars in a dwarf galaxy
Black holes can not only rip stars apart, but they can also trigger star formation, as scientists have now seen in a nearby dwarf galaxy.
At the centers of most, if not all, large galaxies are supermassive black holes with masses that are millions to billions of times that of Earth's sun. For instance, at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy lies Sagittarius A*, which is about 4.5 million solar masses in size.
Astronomers have previously seen giant black holes shred apart stars. However, researchers have also detected supermassive black holes generating powerful outflows that can feed the dense clouds from which stars are born.
All the mirrors on James Webb Space Telescope have been deployed
After nearly a full month in space, the James Webb Space Telescope, also known as JWST or Webb, is nearly at the end of its deployment work. The complicated series of deployments has seen the telescope transform from its tightly-folded launch configuration to what looks like a real observatory, although science observations remain months away.
"Just in from the @NASAWebb team: All 18 primary mirror segments and the secondary mirror are now fully deployed!" NASA Administrator Bill Nelson wrote in a tweet posted on Wednesday (Jan. 19). "Congratulations to the teams that have been working tirelessly since launch to get to this point. Soon, Webb will arrive at its new home, L2!"
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