Notícias Espaciais (mundo afora)

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Japão lança foguete e coloca 7 satélites em órbita
Publicado em 18 de janeiro de 2019, em Sociedade

A JAXA desenvolveu a série Epsilon com a meta de colocar pequenos satélites em órbita a baixo custo.


O Epsilon-4 foi lançado na manhã desta sexta-feira de Kagoshima (NHK)

O foguete Epsilon-4 do Japão colocou em órbita sete pequenos satélites que foram desenvolvidos por companhias do setor privado e universidades.
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A JAXA- Agência de Exploração Aeroespacial do Japão lançou o foguete de 26 metros de comprimento carregando os satélites na manhã desta sexta-feira (18), do Centro Espacial Uchinoura na província de Kagoshima, no sudoeste do arquipélago.

O foguete colocou o maior dos satélites em órbita a uma altitude de 514Km 54 minutos após o lançamento. Os outros seis foram então lançados um a um como planejado.


Os satélites em animação da JAXA (NHK)

A JAXA desenvolveu a série Epsilon com a meta de colocar pequenos satélites em órbita a baixo custo. O Epsilon-1 foi lançado há seis anos.

Um dos sete satélites testarão equipamento de transmissão e câmeras feitas de peças comerciais e um outro tentará criar estrelas cadentes artificiais.

A agência espacial está arcando com o custo de lançamento do Epsilon 4 de 5,5 bilhões de ienes, ou cerca de 50 milhões de dólares, em uma tentativa de encorajar a exploração espacial por parte do setor privado. Essa é a primeira vez que um foguete Epsilon foi usado para transportar satélites.

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Lunar Exploration – ESA's missions

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Europe wants to mine the moon by 2025: European Space Agency reveals plan that could spark a new space race

European Space Agency revealed it has signed up rocket maker ArianeGroup to develop plans
Project will 'examine the possibility of going to the Moon before 2025 and starting to work there'
Aim is to mine mine regolith on the lunar surface, which could be used to create rocket fuel
ESA says 'In the longer term, resources in space may even be used on Earth.'

lans for a European base on the moon have taken a major step forward.

The European Space Agency revealed it has signed up rocket maker ArianeGroup to develop plans for a moon base that could be used to mine material from the lunar surface.

The project will 'examine the possibility of going to the Moon before 2025 and starting to work there' - and could trigger a new space race as countries rush to harness lunar resources.


The European Space Agency revealed it has signed up rocket maker ArianeGroup to develop plans for a moon base that could be used to mine material from the lunar surface. The project will 'examine the possibility of going to the Moon before 2025 and starting to work there'. Industrial partners including renowned architects Foster+Partners have already worked with ESA to test the feasibility of 3D printing using lunar soil to create moon bases.

The one-year contract aims to eventually mine regolith on the lunar surface.

'As ESA and other agencies prepare to send humans back to the Moon – this time to stay – technologies that make use of materials available in space (in-situ resource utilisation) are seen as key to sustainability, and a stepping stone in humankind's adventure to Mars and farther into the Solar System,' the space agency said.

'In the longer term, resources in space may even be used on Earth.'

'Regolith is an ore from which it is possible to extract water and oxygen, thus enabling an independent human presence on the Moon to be envisaged, capable of producing the fuel needed for more distant exploratory missions, ESA says.

'The use of space resources could be a key to sustainable lunar exploration and this study is part of ESA's comprehensive plan to make Europe a partner in global exploration in the next decade - a plan we will put to our Ministers for decision later this year at the Space19+ Conference.' added Dr. David Parker; Director, Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA.

The mission will pit Europe against the US, Russia and China, all of whom are developing moon missions.

Last year NASA revealed plans to take America back to the moon - but will rely on private firms to run the missions.

The space agency plans to work with nine private firms, ranging from small startups to giants like Lockheed Martin, to develop robotic landers and systems to mine the natural resources on the moon.

This will help develop the technology need for eventual manned missions, and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine pledged to have a manned lunar base within a decade.

Ariane is hoping Ariane 64, the 4-booster version of Ariane 6, would enable this European mission to carry the equipment needed for a Moon landing.

It is also working with a German start-up, PTScientists, which will provide the lunar lander, and a Belgian SME, Space Applications Services, which will provide the ground control facilities, the communications and the associated service operations.

WHAT ARE EUROPE'S PLAN FOR A MOON BASE?
In 2016, the head of the ESA elaborated on plans to build a village on the moon, designed by London firm Foster + Partners.

'The future of space travel needs a new vision,' said Jan Woerner.


The concept is a base for lunar exploration by humans and robots, which would act as a stopover for spacecraft, and become a 'village' with mining and even tourism.


Multi-dome lunar base being constructed, based on the 3D printing concept. Once assembled, the inflated domes are covered with a layer of 3D-printed lunar regolith by robots to help protect the occupants against space radiation and micrometeoroids

'Right now we have the Space Station as a common international project, but it won't last forever,' said Woerner.

'If I say Moon Village, it does not mean single houses, a church, a town hall and so on. No, that would be misleading.

'My idea only deals with the core of the concept of a village: people working and living together in the same place.

'And this place would be on the moon.

'In the Moon Village we would like to combine the capabilities of different spacefaring nations, with the help of robots and astronauts.


Structures for a lunar base could be built by robots sent ahead of human astronauts. Experts said 3D printing technology can currently construct an entire building in around a week

'The participants can work in different fields, perhaps they will conduct pure science and perhaps there will even be business ventures like mining or tourism.'

Woerner said the village could even help man get to Mars.

'The Moon Village would also act as a 'pit stop' for the further exploration of the Universe,' he said.

'Esa is eager to fly to Mars as well.


For ESA's 3D-printed lunar base concept, Foster+Partners devised a weight-bearing ‘catenary’ dome design with a cellular structured wall to shield against micrometeoroids and space radiation, incorporating a pressurised inflatable to shelter astronauts

'For more than a decade, we have had a very successful spacecraft orbiting there. And now, with ExoMars, two unmanned missions are aiming at martian orbit and the surface.

'Yes, the Americans want to send astronauts to Mars one day, but today's technology isn't prepared for this trip yet.

'For example, we must develop countermeasures against the cosmic radiation that endangers the health of humans on long space trips. And we have to learn how to endure longer periods of time in space, not only in low orbit as on the Space Station.

'This is where our Moon comes into play – it is the perfect stepping stone to Mars.'

The space agency has been touting the permanent lunar colony as a replacement for the orbiting International Space Station, which is due to be decommissioned in 2024

A new facility in the works at ESA's Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany will soon serve as a three-part moon analogue environment on Earth, the agency announced this month.

There, scientists will simulate lunar soil and a moon habitat, powered by systems that could one day be used to support a real base on the moon.

The new facility will be known as Luna, and will take up 1,000 square meters at the Astronaut Centre.

This will pave the way for future explorations to the surface of the moon, which numerous agencies around the world are now working to achieve.

'The moon is a major focus for ESA and the next step for human exploration,' said ESA project manager for strategic planning and future development, Andreas Diekmann.

'Developed in partnership with DLR, Luna will help us build our expertise, prepare for missions to the moon and provide a platform for researchers across Europe to test technology and procedures.'

Researchers are creating a lunar dust substitute from volcanic powder produced by eruptions at the nearby Eifel volcanic region 45 million years ago.

The moon habitat known as FlexHab (Future Lunar Exploration Habitat) is intended to be operational by the end of this year.

Once it's finished, astronauts will live and work there, in a space roughly the size of a shipping container.

The space agency is currently eyeing solar energy as the most sustainable way to power operations on the moon.

'During the lunar day, energy from the Sun will be used directly via photovoltaic panels, but it will also be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen,' ESA says.

These two elements will then be stored separately before being recombined in a fuel cell for use during the two-week-long lunar nights.'

NASA has also recently ramped up its efforts to get astronauts back to the moon, decades after the final landing of the historic Apollo missions.

The space agency is currently planning to get humans on the lunar surface no later than the 2020s, and set up an orbiting outpost by 2023.

These goals rely on recent advances in commercial space operations and the upcoming Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.

'This will be the first chance for the majority of people alive today to witness a Moon landing – a moment when, in awe and wonder, the world holds its breath,' NASA said earlier this year.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech ... er1SSYNaU8

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China vai lançar satélite português “Infante” em 2021

A China vai lançar para o espaço o satélite português “Infante”, com data prevista para 2021, no quadro da sua participação no laboratório tecnológico STARlab, uma parceria luso-chinesa, avançou este sábado um dos parceiros.

Em declarações à agência Lusa, o presidente da empresa aeroespacial portuguesa Tekever, Ricardo Mendes, adiantou que o envolvimento da China no satélite “Infante” passa pelo seu lançamento e pelo desenvolvimento de alguns sensores.

A colaboração da China na construção e no lançamento do satélite de observação da Terra, “totalmente português”, é feita ao abrigo do STARlab, que resulta de uma parceria entre entidades públicas e privadas portuguesas e chinesas.

A Tekever é um dos parceiros e lidera o consórcio de empresas e universidades responsável pelo desenvolvimento do satélite “Infante”, que irá recolher dados marítimos e da superfície terrestre.

Ricardo Mendes espera que o “Infante”, que tem um custo de cerca de 10 milhões de euros, cofinanciado por fundos europeus, possa ser a antecâmara para o fabrico de novos satélites em Portugal.

Em outubro, o Instituto de Soldadura e Qualidade (ISQ), que faz parte do consórcio de construção do satélite, anunciou que o “Infante” será o precursor de outros satélites a lançar até 2025 para observação da Terra e comunicações, com foco em aplicações marítimas.

Direcionado para a produção de pequenos satélites e a observação dos oceanos, o STARlab está em fase de instalação em Portugal.

Para breve, disse o presidente da Tekever, sem precisar prazos, está a criação de um polo de investigação em Matosinhos, no CEiiA – Centro de Engenharia e Desenvolvimento de Produto, outro dos parceiros portugueses e que tem projetos na área da vigilância marítima e exploração do mar profundo.

O anunciado polo de Peniche do laboratório transitou para as Caldas da Rainha, onde a Tekever tem instalações, adiantou Ricardo Mendes, acrescentando que o STARlab será constituído como uma associação sem fins lucrativos, entre os parceiros públicos chineses e os privados portugueses.

Em novembro, em declarações à Lusa, o ministro da Ciência, Tecnologia e do Ensino Superior, Manuel Heitor, afirmou que o STARlab estaria a funcionar em pleno em março deste ano e teria dois polos em Portugal, um em Matosinhos e outro em Peniche.

Para Ricardo Mendes, o que tem demorado mais tempo é a harmonização entre a legislação portuguesa e a chinesa para formalizar a constituição do laboratório.

O STARlab vai candidatar-se a fontes de financiamento nacional, comunitário e chinês, estimando investir, em cinco anos, 50 milhões de euros, montante repartido em partes iguais entre Portugal e China, país que tem crescido no setor da construção e do lançamento de microssatélites.

O laboratório luso-chinês está também envolvido em projetos de robótica subaquática (veículos e sensores) e na produção e no lançamento de uma constelação de pequenos satélites para validar “tecnologias de posicionamento” de satélites no espaço.

O STARlab resulta da colaboração entre a Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, a Tekever, o CEiiA – Centro de Engenharia e Desenvolvimento de Produto, do lado português, e a Academia de Ciências Chinesa, através dos institutos de microssatélites e de oceanografia.

De acordo com o Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e do Ensino Superior, o laboratório deverá incentivar a abertura de centros científicos e tecnológicos em Portugal e na China, neste caso em Xangai.

https://jornaleconomico.sapo.pt/noticia ... 021-438195

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Jeff Bezos wants floating colonies in space with weather like Maui all year long — here's what he thinks they'll look like



https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-be ... wN65Dq4NrQ

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Russian space sector plagued by astronomical corruption



Analysts say Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin, a former deputy prime minister known for his anti-Western statements, is struggling to deal with the industry's problems
With millions of dollars missing and officials in prison or fleeing the country, Russia's space sector is at the heart of a staggering embezzlement scheme that has dampened ambitions of recovering its Soviet-era greatness.



For years, Moscow has tried to fix the industry that was a source of immense pride in the USSR. While it has bounced back from its post-Soviet collapse and once again become a major world player, the Russian space sector has recently suffered a series of humiliating failures.

And now, massive corruption scandals at state space agency Roscosmos have eclipsed its plans to launch new rockets and lunar stations.

"Billions (of rubles) are being stolen there, billions," Alexander Bastrykin, the powerful head of Russia's Investigative Committee—Russia's equivalent of the FBI—said in mid-May.

Investigations into corruption at Roscosmos have been ongoing "for around five years and there is no end in sight," he added.

In the latest controversy, a senior space official appears to have fled Russia during an audit of the research centre he headed.

Yury Yaskin, the director of the Research Institute of Space Instrumentation, left Russia for a European country in April where he announced his resignation, the Kommersant paper reported.

He feared the discovery of malpractice during an inspection of the institute, according to the newspaper's sources.

Roscosmos confirmed to AFP that Yaskin had resigned but did not clarify why. His Moscow institute is involved in developing the Russian satellite navigation system GLONASS designed to compete with the American GPS system.

Stopping corruption 'primary goal'

Corruption has particularly affected Russia's two most important space projects of the decade: GLONASS and the construction of the country's showpiece cosmodrome Vostochny, built to relieve Moscow's dependence on Baikonur in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan.

Almost all major companies in the sector, including rocket builders Khrunichev and Progress, have been hit by financial scandals that have sometimes led to prison sentences for large-scale fraud.

Russia's Audit Chamber, a parliamentary body of financial control, said financial violations at Roscosmos in 2017 stood at 760 billion rubles (around $11.7 billion), accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total irregularities in the entire economy that year.



Roscosmos told AFP that "eradicating corruption" is one of its "primary goals", adding that it regularly cooperates with investigations by the authorities.

In mid-April, President Vladimir Putin stressed the need to "progressively resolve the obvious problems that slow down the development of the rocket-space sector."

"The time and financial frameworks to realise space projects are often unjustified," the Russian leader said.

More money, more corruption

Rebooting the space sector is a matter of prestige for the Kremlin. It symbolises its renewed pride and ability to be a major global power, especially in the context of increased tensions with the United States.

Almost destroyed in the 1990s, the sector stayed afloat thanks to foreign commercial contracts.

But independent space expert Vitaly Yegorov told AFP there were still "executives of a very high professional level" at that time and fewer accidents during launches.

The first module of the International Space Station (ISS), Zarya, was manufactured in Russia and launched in 1998 despite a major financial crisis at the time.

Paradoxically, the situation deteriorated in the early 2000s, when the Russian economy was growing. The influx of public funds fuelled fraud, and space research stopped advancing, experts say.

"Today, the space sector works like this: give us money and we will launch something—one day," Yegorov said.

Only the ISS continues to be "an unshakeable ivory tower", he said, since it plays a "political role" aimed at maintaining international cooperation.

Analysts say Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin, a former deputy prime minister known for his anti-Western statements, is struggling to deal with the industry's problems.

Russia's scientific community has criticised Rogozin, who is a journalism graduate, for his lack of knowledge of the space sector.

"He probably would have made an excellent spokesman for Roscosmos," joked Yegorov, adding: "Even Superman could not handle this avalanche of problems."

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-05-russian ... uKGu9dw4sk

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Home/News/NASA announces contractor for first stage of Lunar Gateway

NASA announces contractor for first stage of Lunar Gateway

Maxar Technologies will build the propulsion system of the planned Moon-orbiting space station, which will be key to NASA's larger plan to return humans to the Moon by 2024.
By Korey Haynes



The power and propulsion system for the Lunar Gateway will be built by Maxar.
Courtesy of Business Wire
In a talk at the Florida Institute of Technology on Thursday, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced that Maxar Technologies will build the first stage of NASA’s planned Lunar Gateway.

The Gateway, part of NASA’s larger Artemis program to return to the Moon, is meant to be a waystation of sorts placed in a long orbit around the Moon. It will provide a habitat for astronauts while they prepare to embark on longer missions, including Moon landings, and serve as a place to assemble the components of rockets and other equipment in space.

The first element to be built and tested is a propulsion system, to move it between orbits and make sure it doesn’t drift away. Maxar (a new company formed from several veteran space industry players) is being awarded up to $375 million to build the system, which will convert solar power to electrical energy to power the Gateway, as well as provide propulsion, communication, and docking capabilities.

Getting the first stage of the Lunar Gateway into place is an important pre-requisite for NASA’s plans to land humans on the Moon by 2024.

Moving forward

Following on a directive from the White House to return America to to the Moon, Bridenstine also laid out NASA’s detailed plans for the next five years of launches culminating with a Moon landing in 2024. That includes three launches as part of the newly-named Artemis program. The first will be an uncrewed test flight for the still-to-be-completed SLS rocket and Orion crew capsule, the second a crewed flight to lunar orbit, and a third to dock with the Gateway and land humans on the Moon.

Fellow space companies Blue Origin and Draper will aid Maxar in developing the system, with Blue Origin providing expertise in systems that will affect human explorers, and Draper handling navigation and orbital trajectories.

Maxar will build their system on solar electric propulsion (SEP), which turns solar energy into both electrical and propulsive power. Solar panels turn sunlight into electricity, which is stored in batteries, just as in other solar arrays.

But the system turns that sunlight into propulsion as well. Rather than rely on chemical propellants, which add significant weight and is explosive by nature, SEP feeds energy into Hall thrusters. These futuristic engines use electricity to ionize gases like xenon or argon, shooting them out the back of the spacecraft to provide thrust.

As part of the SEP system, Maxar has already developed a Roll Out Solar Array (ROSA) that, as its name implies, rolls out like a carpet instead of the more traditional accordion-like unfolding of most space-based solar arrays.

The thrusters will be critical to Gateway’s ability to move from one orbit to another. NASA’s ultimate goal for the station is to enable travel not just to the Moon, but to Mars and other deep-space destinations. Those missions would require it to fly at different orbits depending on where the astronauts might be going.

Multiple Moon missions

And while the Gateway is being built up, NASA will also be relying on commercial partners to develop and deliver refueling, landing and ascent vehicles that can be waiting when Orion docks with the Gateway in 2024. The agency recently announced 11 companies that will be vying to deliver those spacecraft.

NASA also plans a slew of smaller launches, as part of the CLPS program, with payloads in the 15-20 pound range, delivering science experiments to the lunar surface as soon as next year. These projects will fly commercially, and test systems ranging from manufacturing to communications to power on the lunar surface, to prepare for the human explorers who will follow.

NASA is leaning hard on private contractors to deliver technology for most parts of Artemis. While SLS and Orion are NASA-led projects (although also built and delivered by contractors), the lander, ascent, and now power and propulsion systems are all being built independently. NASA hopes to transition to a model where it’s no longer owning hardware, but buying services when it comes to some elements of space travel, Bridenstine emphasized. That means relying on outside vendors to develop fully capable spacecraft.

The administration asked for an additional $1.6 billion to jump-start the Artemis program, but has not yet specified a total cost. The budget that emerged from the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday did not allocate these additional funds, though they did restore other money the administration had cut for education and various science missions. The budgeting process is still underway, and the Senate must still deliver its own version of the budget. It’s unclear what will happen to NASA’s 2024 plans without the funding to support them.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/05/n ... A-rendered