Space News and Discussions

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weatheriscool
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China plans to inhabit a space station on the moon by 2030
https://www.earth.com/news/china-plans- ... n-by-2030/
ByEric Ralls
Earth.com staff writer
China, despite its late entry into the realm of space exploration, has recently unveiled an ambitious vision that could potentially make it the first nation to establish a lunar base on the moon.

With aspirations of putting Chinese astronauts on the moon’s surface within the next seven years, Beijing may even outpace the United States in creating a permanent lunar outpost.

NASA has disclosed plans for its own Artemis Base Camp, aiming for establishment in the 2030s. This timeline sets up the tantalizing prospect of an intense 21st-century space race between the two countries. Wu Weiren, the physicist leading China’s moon mission, shared with state media that Beijing’s goal is to build a lunar research station before the end of the decade.
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China plans full reusability for its super heavy Long March 9 rocket
Andrew Jones April 27, 2023
https://spacenews.com/china-plans-full- ... -9-rocket/
HELSINKI — China is planning to make a fully reusable version of a rocket designed to launch infrastructure and deep space missions.

Presentations at events marking China’s national space day in the city of Hefei, Anhui province this week reveal that plans for the Long March 9 rocket include developing an apparently Starship-inspired fully reusable version.

China is now targeting 2033 for first flights of a three-stage Long March rocket powered by numerous full flow staged combustion methane engines on the first stage, capable of carrying 50 tons to lunar transfer orbit, or 35 tons when the first stage is recovered.

The rocket is being developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). The initial version will be 114 meters long, have a mass at liftoff of 4,400 tons and generate 6,100 tons of thrust.

This will be followed by a two-stage variant capable of carrying 150 tons of payload to low Earth orbit (LEO), or 100 tons when landing the first stage. A fully reusable, 80 tons to LEO variant will be the ultimate objective, expected to fly in the 2040s.
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NASA's Voyager will do more science with new power strategy
https://phys.org/news/2023-04-nasa-voya ... ategy.html
by Calla Cofield, NASA

The plan will keep Voyager 2's science instruments turned on a few years longer than previously anticipated, enabling yet more revelations from interstellar space.

Launched in 1977, the Voyager 2 spacecraft is more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from Earth, using five science instruments to study interstellar space. To help keep those instruments operating despite a diminishing power supply, the aging spacecraft has begun using a small reservoir of backup power set aside as part of an onboard safety mechanism. The move will enable the mission to postpone shutting down a science instrument until 2026, rather than this year.

Voyager 2 and its twin Voyager 1 are the only spacecraft ever to operate outside the heliosphere, the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields generated by the Sun. The probes are helping scientists answer questions about the shape of the heliosphere and its role in protecting Earth from the energetic particles and other radiation found in the interstellar environment.

"The science data that the Voyagers are returning gets more valuable the farther away from the Sun they go, so we are definitely interested in keeping as many science instruments operating as long as possible," said Linda Spilker, Voyager's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission for NASA.
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https://www.space.com/saturns-rings-dis ... -telescope

Hopefully as more measurements are released we will be able to update the timeline
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Russia's decision to remain on ISS til 2028 saves it from early demise
By David Szondy
May 02, 2023
https://newatlas.com/space/russia-remain-iss-til-2028/
NASA has announced that Russia will remain a participant aboard the International Space Station (ISS) until 2028, ensuring the station's safe operation until it is finally vacated by all 15 international partners in 2030 before its deorbiting.

In July 2022, as relations with Russia and the West reached a new low over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Roscosmos Chief Yury Borisov caused a major stir in space circles when he declared that his country would no longer be a part of the ISS partnership after 2024.

Citing costs and the safety of Russian cosmonauts as the primary reason, the decision was not just one that further damaged East/West diplomacy, it also put the ISS in peril because Russia is a major contributor of hardware to the space station and Russian Progress cargo ships provide the thrust needed to keep it in the proper orbit. In addition, Russia's Zvezda module contains the station's primary life support systems.

Another concern was that Russia would follow its abandoning of the ISS by removing its modules to build a new station of its own – a risky operation at best. In the worst-case scenario, Russia leaving the 15-nation partnership might have resulted in the ISS being deorbited and burning up in a controlled reentry five years earlier than planned.

Though the unstable geopolitical situation makes the remainder of the ISS's lifespan about as secure as that of a salmon at a bear convention, the recent decision does introduce an element of hope.
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Rocket Lab launches NASA’s TROPICS satellites from New Zealand

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/05 ... -launch-1/
written by Justin Davenport May 7, 2023
NASA’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) constellation, having switched launch vehicles after losing two satellites aboard an Astra Rocket 3.3 last year, has launched — this time aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket on a mission titled “Rocket Like A Hurricane” from Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) in Mahia, New Zealand. Liftoff from LC-1B was on schedule at 13:00 NZST (1:00 UTC) on May 8.

Electron and TROPICS were originally set to launch during the week prior to the May 8th launch attempt. However, inclement weather delayed the launch to the following week.

The flight lofted the two TROPICS cubesats to a 550 km circular low Earth orbit inclined 32 degrees to the Equator. Therefore, Electron followed a trajectory slightly inclined to the northeast of the Mahia Peninsula. First-stage engine cutoff and separation occurred at around two minutes and 33 seconds after liftoff. Electron’s first stage was not recovered following stage separation.

The two TROPICS satellites and the Curie kick stage deployed at around nine minutes and 31 seconds after liftoff, with the kick stage igniting its engine just after T+30 minutes. The two satellites then deployed at T+33 minutes.
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China’s mystery reusable spaceplane lands after 276 days in orbit
Andrew Jones May 8, 2023
https://spacenews.com/chinas-mystery-re ... -in-orbit/
HELSINKI — China’s secretive reusable spaceplane completed its second mission Monday, landing after 276 days in orbit.

China state media and the spacecraft’s maker, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), announced the spacecraft had landed late May 8 Beijing time.

The apparently successful mission was stated to be an important breakthrough in the country’s research on reusable spacecraft technology. No images, landing time nor location were revealed by the terse announcements.

The project will provide a more convenient and inexpensive way to access space for the peaceful use of space in the future, according to the statement.
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