Today's Headlines - 09 August 2023
Nuclear-powered rocket cut travel time to Mars
GS Paper - 3 (Energy)
In less than three years, NASA could be testing a nuclear rocket in space. The space agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced that Lockheed Martin had been selected to design, build and test a propulsion system that could one day speed astronauts on a trip to Mars. The program is named DRACO, short for the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations.
What if a spacecraft could get to Mars in half the time it currently takes?
Every 26 months or so, Mars and Earth are close enough for a shorter journey between the worlds. But even then it is a pretty long trip, lasting seven to nine months. For most of the time, the spacecraft is just coasting through space.
But if the spacecraft could continue accelerating through the first half of the journey and then start slowing down again, the travel time could be slashed.
Current rocket engines, which typically rely on the combustion of a fuel like hydrogen or methane with oxygen, are not efficient enough to accomplish that; there is not enough room in the spacecraft to carry that much propellant.
But nuclear reactions, generating energy from the splitting of uranium atoms, are much more efficient.
The DRACO engine would consist of a nuclear reactor that would heat hydrogen from a chilly minus 420 degrees Fahrenheit to a toasty 4,400 degrees, with the hot gas shooting from a nozzle to generate thrust. Greater fuel efficiency could speed up journeys to Mars, reducing the amount of time astronauts spend exposed to the treacherous environment of deep space.
Nuclear propulsion could also have uses closer to home, which is why DARPA is investing in the project. The technology may allow rapid maneuvers of military satellites in orbit around Earth.
Flashback
Nuclear propulsion for space is not a new idea. In the 1950s and 1960s, Project Orion — financed by NASA, the Air Force and the Advanced Research Projects Agency — contemplated using the explosions of atomic bombs to accelerate spacecraft.
At the same time, NASA and other agencies also undertook Project Rover and Project NERVA, efforts that aimed to develop nuclear-thermal engines similar in concept to those now being pursued by the DRACO program.
A series of 23 reactors were built and tested, but none were ever launched to space. Until the end of this program in 1973, NASA had contemplated using nuclear reactors to propel space probes to Jupiter, Saturn and beyond, as well as to provide power at a lunar base.
The technical capabilities, including early safety protocols, remain viable today, Tabitha Dodson, the DRACO project manager, said in a news briefing on 2 August 2023.
A key difference between NERVA and DRACO is that NERVA used weapons-grade uranium for its reactors, while DRACO will use a less-enriched form of uranium. The reactor would not be turned on until it reached space, part of the precautions to minimize the possibility of a radioactive accident on Earth.
#upsc #news #headline #nuclear #rocket #travel #mars #energy #space #propulsion #system #trip #darpa #astronauts #DRACO #demonstration #agile #cislunar #spacecraft #earth #journey #engines #hydrogen #methane #fuel #oxygen #uranium #DARPA #technology #NERVA
Nuclear-powered rocket cut travel time to Mars
GS Paper - 3 (Energy)
In less than three years, NASA could be testing a nuclear rocket in space. The space agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced that Lockheed Martin had been selected to design, build and test a propulsion system that could one day speed astronauts on a trip to Mars. The program is named DRACO, short for the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations.
What if a spacecraft could get to Mars in half the time it currently takes?
Every 26 months or so, Mars and Earth are close enough for a shorter journey between the worlds. But even then it is a pretty long trip, lasting seven to nine months. For most of the time, the spacecraft is just coasting through space.
But if the spacecraft could continue accelerating through the first half of the journey and then start slowing down again, the travel time could be slashed.
Current rocket engines, which typically rely on the combustion of a fuel like hydrogen or methane with oxygen, are not efficient enough to accomplish that; there is not enough room in the spacecraft to carry that much propellant.
But nuclear reactions, generating energy from the splitting of uranium atoms, are much more efficient.
The DRACO engine would consist of a nuclear reactor that would heat hydrogen from a chilly minus 420 degrees Fahrenheit to a toasty 4,400 degrees, with the hot gas shooting from a nozzle to generate thrust. Greater fuel efficiency could speed up journeys to Mars, reducing the amount of time astronauts spend exposed to the treacherous environment of deep space.
Nuclear propulsion could also have uses closer to home, which is why DARPA is investing in the project. The technology may allow rapid maneuvers of military satellites in orbit around Earth.
Flashback
Nuclear propulsion for space is not a new idea. In the 1950s and 1960s, Project Orion — financed by NASA, the Air Force and the Advanced Research Projects Agency — contemplated using the explosions of atomic bombs to accelerate spacecraft.
At the same time, NASA and other agencies also undertook Project Rover and Project NERVA, efforts that aimed to develop nuclear-thermal engines similar in concept to those now being pursued by the DRACO program.
A series of 23 reactors were built and tested, but none were ever launched to space. Until the end of this program in 1973, NASA had contemplated using nuclear reactors to propel space probes to Jupiter, Saturn and beyond, as well as to provide power at a lunar base.
The technical capabilities, including early safety protocols, remain viable today, Tabitha Dodson, the DRACO project manager, said in a news briefing on 2 August 2023.
A key difference between NERVA and DRACO is that NERVA used weapons-grade uranium for its reactors, while DRACO will use a less-enriched form of uranium. The reactor would not be turned on until it reached space, part of the precautions to minimize the possibility of a radioactive accident on Earth.
#upsc #news #headline #nuclear #rocket #travel #mars #energy #space #propulsion #system #trip #darpa #astronauts #DRACO #demonstration #agile #cislunar #spacecraft #earth #journey #engines #hydrogen #methane #fuel #oxygen #uranium #DARPA #technology #NERVA
Today's Headlines - 18 August 2023
Chandrayaan-3 lander separates from propulsion module
GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)
The Chandrayaan-3 lander, which carries within it the 26kh rover, separated from the propulsion module on 17 August 2023 for its onward journey to the surface of the moon on 23 August 2023. The lander module will descend further down from the current near-circular orbit of 153 x 163 km after a de-boosting manoeuvre.
What is Propulsion module
The propulsion module, meanwhile, will continue orbiting the moon and studying the spectral signatures of Earth using a payload that was tacked on to the mission in addition to the science experiments carried on board its predecessor.
By studying Earth from the moon, the Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) will help scientists understand the markers of life on exoplanets.
Although the planned mission life for the propulsion module – which was added to the mission in place of the orbiter to help carry the lander rover to the moon – was three to six months, it is likely to keep functioning beyond that. Meanwhile, the Propulsion Module continues its journey in the current orbit for months/years.
Since the orbiter of Chandrayaan-2 had functioned normally and the instruments on board carried out all the observations and experiments as intended, there was no need to include an orbiter component to Chandrayaan-3.
More about lander module
However, the lander module still needed to be transported to lunar orbit, and the propulsion module had this limited task to perform.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission has been designed to achieve what Chandrayaan-2 could not – soft landing and roving on the surface of the moon.
After the separation, the instruments on board the lander, including the three scientific payloads, will be activated and tested to check whether everything is functioning normally.
The lander will carry out two orbit-reduction manoeuvres on its own, first getting into the circular 100 x 100 km orbit, and then further closer to the moon in the 100 x 30 km orbit.
This powered descent was described as “fifteen minutes of terror” by the previous Isro chief K Sivan.
Flashback
Chandrayaan-2 had crash-landed just kilometres from its intended landing spot due to flaws in the algorithm of the onboard navigation software.
The software did not provide for an immediate error-correction step when the engines produced a higher-than-intended thrust.
The algorithm was designed to make the corrections after performing a few other urgent tasks. But this allowed the errors to accumulate and become unmanageable.
#upsc #news #headline #chandrayaan #lander #propulsion #module #spacetechnology #moon #journey #signatures #earth #orbit #mission #softlanding #playloads #manoeuvres #terror #crashlanded #kilometres #error #correction #unmanagable
Chandrayaan-3 lander separates from propulsion module
GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)
The Chandrayaan-3 lander, which carries within it the 26kh rover, separated from the propulsion module on 17 August 2023 for its onward journey to the surface of the moon on 23 August 2023. The lander module will descend further down from the current near-circular orbit of 153 x 163 km after a de-boosting manoeuvre.
What is Propulsion module
The propulsion module, meanwhile, will continue orbiting the moon and studying the spectral signatures of Earth using a payload that was tacked on to the mission in addition to the science experiments carried on board its predecessor.
By studying Earth from the moon, the Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) will help scientists understand the markers of life on exoplanets.
Although the planned mission life for the propulsion module – which was added to the mission in place of the orbiter to help carry the lander rover to the moon – was three to six months, it is likely to keep functioning beyond that. Meanwhile, the Propulsion Module continues its journey in the current orbit for months/years.
Since the orbiter of Chandrayaan-2 had functioned normally and the instruments on board carried out all the observations and experiments as intended, there was no need to include an orbiter component to Chandrayaan-3.
More about lander module
However, the lander module still needed to be transported to lunar orbit, and the propulsion module had this limited task to perform.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission has been designed to achieve what Chandrayaan-2 could not – soft landing and roving on the surface of the moon.
After the separation, the instruments on board the lander, including the three scientific payloads, will be activated and tested to check whether everything is functioning normally.
The lander will carry out two orbit-reduction manoeuvres on its own, first getting into the circular 100 x 100 km orbit, and then further closer to the moon in the 100 x 30 km orbit.
This powered descent was described as “fifteen minutes of terror” by the previous Isro chief K Sivan.
Flashback
Chandrayaan-2 had crash-landed just kilometres from its intended landing spot due to flaws in the algorithm of the onboard navigation software.
The software did not provide for an immediate error-correction step when the engines produced a higher-than-intended thrust.
The algorithm was designed to make the corrections after performing a few other urgent tasks. But this allowed the errors to accumulate and become unmanageable.
#upsc #news #headline #chandrayaan #lander #propulsion #module #spacetechnology #moon #journey #signatures #earth #orbit #mission #softlanding #playloads #manoeuvres #terror #crashlanded #kilometres #error #correction #unmanagable
Today's Headlines - 19 August 2023
JWST discovered Earendel
GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)
Astronomers have embarked on an extraordinary journey, utilizing the powerful gaze of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), to measure the most distant star ever observed - Earendel. This celestial entity came into the scientific spotlight after its discovery by the Hubble Space Telescope in the previous year.
Earendel and history of the universe
The awe-inspiring expansion of the universe since the Big Bang has propelled Earendel's residence to a colossal 28 billion light-years from Earth.
This revelation underscores the dynamic and evolving nature of the cosmos, where space itself unfurls over immense timescales.
Earendel's presence in the distant reaches of the universe was initially pinpointed through the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, a phenomenon where the gravitational pull of a massive foreground object acts like a lens, bending and amplifying the light of a more distant celestial body. This allowed Hubble to identify Earendel's distant glow.
What is Earendel?
Earendel is a distant star that holds the distinction of being the most distant star ever detected.
It was first discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope and has recently been studied further using the James Webb Space Telescope.
Earendel's light has taken approximately 12.9 billion years to reach Earth, meaning that it was shining not long after the universe's creation following the Big Bang.
This star is of significant interest due to its extreme distance and the insights it can provide about the early universe.
JWST's exploration of Earendel
The James Webb Space Telescope, with its unique vantage point and ability to observe in infrared light, built on Hubble's observations.
Employing a similar strategy of gravitational lensing, JWST used the gravitational influence of a cluster named WHL0137-08 to further explore Earendel's mysteries.
The telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) provided captivating insights, revealing Earendel to be a massive B-type star, boasting a temperature more than twice that of our sun and shining with a luminosity a million times greater.
What is JWST?
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a powerful astronomical observatory developed by NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
It is designed to be the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and is set to provide unprecedented views of the universe in infrared light.
#upsc #news #headline #JWST #discovered #earendel #spacetechnology #telescope #hubble #space #telescope #bigbang #universe #colossal #earth #dynamic #cosmos #history #gaze #journey #billion #massive #gravitational #exploration #NIRcam #influence #cluster #temperature #astronomical #canadian #light #sun
JWST discovered Earendel
GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)
Astronomers have embarked on an extraordinary journey, utilizing the powerful gaze of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), to measure the most distant star ever observed - Earendel. This celestial entity came into the scientific spotlight after its discovery by the Hubble Space Telescope in the previous year.
Earendel and history of the universe
The awe-inspiring expansion of the universe since the Big Bang has propelled Earendel's residence to a colossal 28 billion light-years from Earth.
This revelation underscores the dynamic and evolving nature of the cosmos, where space itself unfurls over immense timescales.
Earendel's presence in the distant reaches of the universe was initially pinpointed through the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, a phenomenon where the gravitational pull of a massive foreground object acts like a lens, bending and amplifying the light of a more distant celestial body. This allowed Hubble to identify Earendel's distant glow.
What is Earendel?
Earendel is a distant star that holds the distinction of being the most distant star ever detected.
It was first discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope and has recently been studied further using the James Webb Space Telescope.
Earendel's light has taken approximately 12.9 billion years to reach Earth, meaning that it was shining not long after the universe's creation following the Big Bang.
This star is of significant interest due to its extreme distance and the insights it can provide about the early universe.
JWST's exploration of Earendel
The James Webb Space Telescope, with its unique vantage point and ability to observe in infrared light, built on Hubble's observations.
Employing a similar strategy of gravitational lensing, JWST used the gravitational influence of a cluster named WHL0137-08 to further explore Earendel's mysteries.
The telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) provided captivating insights, revealing Earendel to be a massive B-type star, boasting a temperature more than twice that of our sun and shining with a luminosity a million times greater.
What is JWST?
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a powerful astronomical observatory developed by NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
It is designed to be the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and is set to provide unprecedented views of the universe in infrared light.
#upsc #news #headline #JWST #discovered #earendel #spacetechnology #telescope #hubble #space #telescope #bigbang #universe #colossal #earth #dynamic #cosmos #history #gaze #journey #billion #massive #gravitational #exploration #NIRcam #influence #cluster #temperature #astronomical #canadian #light #sun