[ad_1]
Yesterday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a Crew Dragon capsule with four astronauts to the International Space Station, the second flight of a manned Crew Dragon and the first official operational flight (as in, not a test) of the spacecraft. This is a big deal, not only because it represents the first private, commercially developed, orbital spacecraft for regular use, but because it allows NASA to do what it was truly born to do: explore.
The Crew Dragon is, truly, a space taxi. I’m not saying this to minimize it – you attack “space” in front of anything and it becomes a million times more complex.
The dragon capsule, called Resilience, it ferried Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and a Japanese astronaut, Soichi Noguchi into orbit. He is doing a job that until recently we were paying Russian Soyuz capsules to do (at about $ 90 million (A $ 123) per seat). It is also a job that NASA was doing with the large and complex Space Shuttles.
Getting people to and from orbit is still a difficult, exciting non-trivial task, but it’s still just a bounce back and forth between Earth and low Earth orbit. When the Commercial Crew Program started in 2010, the whole point was to free NASA to do other things.
Now, finally, everything is happening.
But there is a strange twist in all of this. Thanks to the powerful media presence of Elon Musk and SpaceX, most audiences seem to have the idea that SpaceX is everything. it’s happening in American human space travel and exploration, and that’s not the truth at all.
I am not going to pretend that I have conducted exhaustive formal surveys, as interesting as it seems to me, but in informal interviews with intelligent and generally well-informed people, I was surprised to find that most of the non-painful geeks I spoke to were not. aware that we are at the height of an exciting new era of space exploration.
None of the people I spoke to were aware of the big things that were about to happen, so I’m writing this for those people. I suspect a large part of our regular audience is actually aware of this, so if so, pass it on to your friends who think the only person now looking at the stars is Elon, because again that’s not the case.
Also, I feel that an article like this is necessary because a certain president of a certain group of states that appear to be both US and US recently tweeted this:
A great launch! @NASA it was a closed mess when we took over. It is now the hottest, most advanced space center in the world again, by far! https://t.co/CDCGdO74Yb
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020
Just to be very, very clear, NASA was by no means a “closed disaster” when Trump took office in 2017. The commercial crew program that made yesterday’s launch possible began six years before he took office. and all the other Big Things I’m about to tell you about were well underway in 2017.
Also, the whole point of this launch was that it used spacecraft not developed by NASA, so to say any of those tweets don’t make sense and – oh, fuck it. Let me remind you what NASA is doing.
To keep things simple, I just want to talk about three big projects that NASA is working on right now, projects that are all in the actual construction hardware phase, and have long since moved on to the “wouldn’t it be nice if” stages.
Here are the three things:
1. A large rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA
Ban all–new with crew spaceship, the first manned spacecraft designed to go beyond the orbit of the moon
Γ. The first manned space station to be placed in lunar orbit; in fact, the first space station to be located anywhere other than low Earth orbit
Collectively, all of this stuff is known as the Artemis program.
NASA has made a nice animated video explaining the goals of the Artemis program, which includes a return to the moon, this time done in a sustainable way that will allow for permanent lunar bases, and then eventually to Mars.
Here, look:
The first component, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, is important because it is an absolute monster. It’s derived from the launch systems of the Space Shuttle era, which is why you might notice some basic similarities, including the use of side-mounted solid rocket boosters (SRBs) and that distinctive orange center tank.
Graphics: NASA
This new rocket will be more powerful than a Saturn V, producing 11.9Nm compared to about 10.3 for a Saturn V. That means you can launch a lot of things to the moon or beyond.
Now, as you can imagine, there is a lot of talk about how SpaceX’s upcoming spaceship will make the SLS look like a dinosaur. But the SLS is quite a bit further in development: the hardware has already been built and the first flight is scheduled for about a year from now. And it’s based on proven components and methods, while Starship’s much more ambitious design (reusability and in-orbit refueling, for example) is still untested and untested.
Perhaps along the way Starship will make the SLS obsolete. Maybe it won’t. If that happens, it will be an exciting matter to address, but until then we might as well finish our nice big-ass rocket.
Graphics: NASA
Then there is Orion. You should be excited about Orion because it is humanity’s first spacecraft designed to take humans to the solar system, beyond the moon, to Mars or even into the asteroid belt.
Sure, it looks like a bizarre version of the Apollo capsules from the 1960s, but that’s because we learned a lot from the Shuttle program: making space planes isn’t really the best way to get out of Earth’s orbit, and simpler capsules make the most sense.
Orion will be at least partially reusable, will have much more internal volume than an Apollo and, of course, will have the advantage of half a century of technical development.
Graphics: NASA
The first Orion has been built and is in preparation for the unmanned Artemis I test mission that will take it around the moon:
Whatever quibbles Internet pundits may have with any number of elements of the project, the point is that NASA is once again building spacecraft to take humans where they have never gone before. It’s a big problem.
And finally, we have the Lunar Gateway:
Graphics: NASA
A completely new space station would be a big deal in itself, but a space station far from Earth is even bigger.
The Lunar Gateway will be smaller than the current ISS and will use the established TinkerToy-like construction method. Technically, it is more evolutionary than revolutionary, but its position in the lunar orbit changes everything.
Ideally, the Gateway will allow for long-term lunar missions, with the ability to refuel spacecraft, change orbit to allow for a variety of landing sites, refueling missions, and more.
No one has ever operated a space station like this before. It could be the crucial piece needed for a prolonged life off the planet, or we could ruin it completely. I’m optimistic, but we won’t know until we try. And we will try.
That’s all, of course, the simplest overview of what’s going on. But I think at this point, it’s really very important to take a moment and look beyond all the (deserved!) Attention that SpaceX and Crew Dragon are getting and seeing. because those trading companies are doing it in the first place.
It’s not because NASA he could not just do it. It’s because NASA did it better shit to do.
NASA belongs to every American. It is not a bargain; the goal is not to make money. The goals are scientific, to learn, to explore, perhaps even to extend the habitat of humanity, because it is just something that we as humans do.
And it’s something that makes me proud to be one of these soft, dripping, fuzzy human beings, and I think these projects are things that everyone should be aware of and, if you’re that prone, feel aroused.
Because they are real, they are happening and I think we could all use some things to get excited about right now.
[ad_2]
Source link
