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sciencespies · 5 years ago

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SpaceX's Mars rocket prototype set off a fireball, but Musk says it's still working

https://sciencespies.com/space/spacexs-mars-rocket-prototype-set-off-a-fireball-but-musk-says-its-still-working/

SpaceX's Mars rocket prototype set off a fireball, but Musk says it's still working

SpaceX filled the South Texas air with the roar of a Raptor engine on Tuesday night. However, Elon Musk’s rocket company also set off a fireball that briefly engulfed the rocket ship that the engine was attached to.

The rocket, called Starhopper, is a squat, six-story prototype of a larger interplanetary launch system known as Starship that’s being designed to take people to and from Mars. That system (and its prototypes) will use a new rocket engine called Raptor.

Tuesday’s test-firing was meant to set the stage for Starhopper’s first big “hop and hover” launch, which was scheduled for Wednesday. But that launch has now been delayed.

“Aiming for hover test next week,” Musk tweeted on Thursday afternoon.

The engine test-firing started at 11:24 p.m. ET (10:24 p.m. CT) on Tuesday and lasted about five seconds, throwing up a cloud of flames, dust, and fumes in the process. The test seemed to work aside from a couple of lingering flames.

But a few minutes later, a giant fireball erupted and briefly swallowed the vehicle.

A neighbour of SpaceX’s rudimentary launch site, which is at the southern tip of Texas, recorded the incident during a live video feed (below).

(Dave Mosher/Business Insider)

If you turn on the sound, you can hear one of the announcers say, “Oh my god, it caught fire.”

The video shows a fire suppression system – essentially a robotic firehose – starting to douse Starhopper and its launch pad with a stream of water. The system was ostensibly used to put out some flames coming from the rocket’s side.

But as soon as water touched the vehicle, the fireball erupted, shooting flames more than 100 feet into the air. (The vehicle is fuelled by liquid methane, a main ingredient in natural gas, and turns into a volatile and highly flammable gas when it’s exposed to air.

Tim Dodd, who runs the Everyday Astronaut channel on YouTube, was also recording the event on-site. His video, shown below, captures both the test and fireball in ultra-high-resolution, slow-motion video.

youtube

Starhopper’s first big launch has been pushed back

In the wake of the fireball, SpaceX has postponed the big launch of Starhopper until next week.

When the launch does happen, it’s expected to send the rocket about 65 feet (20 meters) into the air, where the vehicle would hover, move sideways, and then land back on its launchpad, as Musk tweeted last week.

Starhopper is made of a rugged steel that’s similar to the kind used in pots and pans. It was initially unclear whether the rocket had been significantly damaged by the incident, but Musk said on Thursday that methane fuel had somehow leaked out yet caused “no major damage.”

“Big advantage of being made of high strength stainless steel: not bothered by a little heat!” Musk added.

People who visited the company’s launch site the morning after the fireball posted detailed pictures of the vehicle, and the images appeared to show a relatively undamaged Starhopper.

The “hop” test now planned for next week won’t be the vehicle’s first lift-off. The company fired up Starhopper in April, but those tests tethered the rocket ship to the pad via bike-chain-like metal ropes on its legs.

The company may eventually launch Starhopper to a height of about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers), according to its government licence.

A spokesperson for SpaceX previously told Business Insider that the next Starhopper launch will be “one in a series of tests designed to push the limits of the vehicle as quickly as possible to learn all we can, as fast as we safely can.”

They added (prophetically): “As with all development programs, the schedule can be quite dynamic and subject to change.”

This story has updated with new information. It was originally published on July 17, 2019.

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

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#Space

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sparkofsurreal-blog · 8 years ago

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Rainbow Moonbeam.

It was the summer of 1970 and Rainbow Moonbeam had a purpose: to fight for peace. In the town park were people shouting their beliefs and agendas loud enough to attract small crowds of like-minded listeners. Today it was Rainbow’s turn. She climbed up on her home-made pedestal and boldy raised her voice. “People, we must rise up against the totalitarian facist military agenda and show them the way of peace.” Sure enough people gathered round to hear her ideas. “We must stop the wars and the testosterone fuelled Generals who conduct them. Little boys who play big men with dangerous toys, boys who think they’re macho with their nuclear bombs and rockets, a phallic symbol of oppression.” This raised a slight chukle from the crowd. Mostly because Moonbeam said “phallic” but two older gentlemen roared with laughter. ‘What’s so funny?” Asked Moonbeam angrily. “The assumption that rockets are phallic as a show of male oppression.” The gentleman holding an open bottle of port scoffed, then took a loutish swig and burped. “My dear” said the man messily eating hard boiled quails eggs, “They are only shaped like that due to an aerodynamic neccessity, rest assured little lady, if female genitalia could fly then the sky would be full of poontang.” The other man swigged from his bottle of port and let out another cacophonous belch, “Why don’t you spend less time worrying about rocket shape and more time worrying whether dinner is going to be overcooked.” This time the whole crowd laughed, all at Moonbeam’s expense. This triggered Moonbeam, who had stormed off home. “Why can’t the sky be full of vagina’s?” Moonbeam said to herself. “if the sky had more vaginas then people would be able to admire nature’s most beautiful structure. This gave Moonbeam an idea. The very next day, she enrolled in as many universities as possible that offered courses in Aerospace Engineering. Finally after what seemed to be an eternity a university accepted her. Moonbeam found that she actually had a talent for rocket science and had graduated top of her class. After many years working as a rocket scientist for a certain space exploration company, Moonbeam had aquired her own aircraft hanger and was working on her own project. The hardest part of the project wasn’t building it, as she had begged, borrowed, stolen or fabricated the parts herself. Moonbeams biggest challenge was finding like-minded individuals with the same ability to perform the tasks. On July 31st 1979 operation “Sky Vagina” launched. The enormous aircraft hanger doors slid open and out of it hovered a 50 foot vagina shaped aircraft. Dubbed the “No Means No” the aircraft boasted a powerful array of rocket engines which kept it aloft all powered by the methane expulsion of cows. It had a large rocket booster at the front seated in what would be the birth canal, meaning it could stop in an instant purely by queefing. The craft had no weapon system but did have storage tanks holding thousands of gallons of viscous red fluid. No one knew what it was (no one dared to ask). This “fluid” could be purged out from the aircraft onto unsuspecting victims. Moonbeam and her crew travelled the country protesting, annoying and gunging every sawmill, laboratory and factory they could find. Very soon they had the attention of some very high up authorities. “Mr. President sir” the Gunnery Sargent Major General Grenade Launcher said, medals of all shapes and sizes clinking and threatening to tear off a sizeable patch of his uniform. “These people pose a threat to our economy and should be treated as terrorists.” “Terrorists, eh?” said the President thoughtfully. “Do what you have to do.” “Sir yessir!” the ridiculously decorated General barked with great enthusiasm. In the town park a small crowd had gathered, listening intently to a speakers ideology. At the back of the crowd, waiting patiently to laugh and humiliate the speaker, a well dressed man stood eating hard boiled quail eggs. He was on his own as his friend was in hospital following a brutal, drunken punch-up over which polo team was the best. Suddenly a shadow creeper over the the crowd as a giant vulva shaped aircraft loomed overhead. As the crowd quickly dispersed, the egg eating man looked up in shock and awe. “A little red sauce with those eggs?” Moonbeam shouted into the loudspeaker. “Oh fark” the posh man exclaimed. Seconds later he was doused from head to toe in an unknown red goo. As the aircraft turned to fly towards its next target 5 tanks, 3 hummers with .50 calibre machine guns and a small infantry pulled up and the overly decorated General climbed out of a jeep. “Moonbeam” the General shouted into a megaphone. “Your actions against the manufacturing industry and the economy have deemed you a terrorist and you must be punished accordingly like.” “Over my dead body.” Moonbeam shouted. “Glad you could see it my way.” the General said with a malicious smile. “Fire at will boys, aim for the clitoris.” “Where's the clitoris?” one soldier asked. “Just FIRE!” Every tank, machine gun, rocket Launcher and pistol fired at once. The explosion was magnificent, the red fluid evaporated and added a nice hue to the fire ball. The last piece of wreckage to fall out of the sky was a huge, completely intact clitoris

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scienceworm · 7 years ago

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Cassini-Huygens project in a nutshell:

Cassini-Huygens project was made with the collaboration of NASA, ESA (European Space agency) and Italian Space agency in order to study the huge ringed planet Saturn and its moons more thoroughly. It was launched on 15th October 1997. After completing its 7 year journey through space it reached Saturn system in 2004 and started its core mission.

Titan- IV rocket liftoff (onboard Cassini orbiter and Huygens probe) from Cape Canavarel on 15th October 1997.

The Huygens probe landed on Titan (one of the Saturn’s moons) in 2005 which gave more clear idea about its atmosphere and composition. It also helped shed light on the seas present on Titan which are basically composed of liquid Methane and Ethane and its prebiotic chemistry. Cassini project was a huge success in studying the ice-covered ocean bearing moon Enceladus.

Discoveries:

The Cassini orbiter conducted several dives (between Saturn and its rings- approx. 2000 km wide gap), flybys through Titan and Enceladus and transmitted useful data back to earth. It also discovered the liquid water jets gushing out from Enceladus with the help of its Magnetometer and studied its composition by literally passing through them and tasting them, hence conforming it to be habitable. Also it discovered 6 named moons of Saturn (Methone, Pallene, Daphnis, Anthe, Rhea, Aagaeon) and many more. It also revisited ‘The Hexagon‘ a raging storm at the Saturn’s north pole which was first discovered by Voyager-1.

‘The Hexagon’ located at the North pole of Saturn.

Cassini helped to determine Saturn’s magnetosphere more precisely. The evidence of liquid water beneath surface of Enceladus have made scientists think about ‘Habitability in inhabitable zone’.

The Last Days:

Cassini-Huygens mission was extended the second time in 2010 for 7 years. In its last 5 months it was driven to perform daring dives- a series of 22 orbits. During this span it came closer to the Saturn like never before and collected valuable data of Saturn’s atmosphere. It skimmed through the Saturn’s rings and analysed the icy particles funneled by Saturn’s magnetic field. During its whole mission Cassini captured many amazing images of Saturn its rings and moons, but during its final days it took some ultra-close images of Saturn’s rings, clouds, Enceladus and Titan.

Rings- behind one of Saturn’s moons Tethys

Enceladus setting behind Saturn

As Cassini orbiter was running out of fuel its safe disposal became a crutial matter. NASA’s JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) situated at Pasadena, California which is the epicenter of radio signal receiver have some great think tanks like Earl Maize (Cassini Program Manager), Linda J. Spilker (Project Scientist) and the entire team. As the moons like Enceladus are expected to have at least prebiotic conditions, it was necessary to protect it from the microbes on Cassini from contaminating it and also from its RTG’s (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators) which work on the principle of radioactive decay used for orbiter’s fuelling. Hence the team decided to dispose it by its controlled entry into Saturn.

The Grand Finale:

Everybody were eagerly waiting for Cassini’s Grand Finale which was estimated on 15th September 2017. At JPL each and every radio signal of the orbiter was monitored (through DSN- Deep Space Network) carefully. The spacecraft flew past Titan on 11th September which was referred as ‘The Goodbye Kiss‘ by the mission engineers. The last moments were of the utmost importance, on 15th September in its last orbit Cassini passed through the Saturn’s atmosphere. During its entry into the atmosphere the engineers had a crutial task to perform- they had to constantly keep the orbiter aligned so that its antenna was pointing towards Earth and this was done using the thrusters. Finally the satellite plunged into Saturn and became one with it.

This last image from Cassini shows the region where it plunged and disintegrated.

But still the mission on earth was not yet over, everyone were waiting for the last signals (which requires 84 mins to reach Earth) which had a heap of scientific data such as it made precise gravity maps of Saturn, also it sent key measurements from its Mass Spectometer. The spacecraft lost it’s contact with Earth as predicted at 4.55 am PDT, and it was successfull declared as the end of the mission. Infact Cassini-Huygens was a thrilling 20 year long journey of space exploration which came to an end.

“You’ve done exactly what you wanted to do. You’re in the middle of nowhere without gas.”

– Earl Maize, Cassini Program Manager

Earl Maize (left) and Julie Webster (right) ends the mission with a warm hug.

A sorrow moment for the Mission engineers

Cassini’s overall contributions.

It was just one of the exploration mission which came to an end, but still science has so much to reveal and we humans have so much to explore.

Bibliography credits: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Image credits: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/images/

End Of A 20 Year Long Space Odyssey! Cassini-Huygens project in a nutshell: Cassini-Huygens project was made with the collaboration of NASA, ESA (European Space agency) and Italian Space agency in order to study the huge ringed planet…

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spaceexploration02-blog · 8 years ago

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How are we going to make Mars inhabitable?

Once Mars is inhabitable, how are going provide recourses for the people who are going to live there?

We can grow crops in the soil from mars, the soil in mars contains everything to grow a plant. If we can grow crops and grass we can also try to send domesticated animals to Mars to provide meat to feed the inhabitants. The soil contains water too, the scientists invented a truck which heats the soil up so the water evaporates so that's how they can create the necessarily water.

Sources:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/can-plants-grow-with-marssoil

http://www.mars-one.com/faq/health-and-ethics/will-the-astronautshave-enough-water-food-and-oxygen

How are we going to make traveling to Mars affordable?

During a conference in Mexico Elon Musk made his plans on cheaper space traveling to Mars, the Interplanetary Transport System. Elon Musk says traveling to Mars with todays resources will cost a single person ten billion dollars. He wants to make this 5 million times less, to about the cost of a normal house. Elon Musk wants to realise this by making the strongest rocket humans have ever made, but that's not all, the rocket needs to be reusable. It also needs to be fuelled in space, so the rocket can launch with only enough fuel to get out of the atmosphere and then get fuelled in space, because less fuel means less cost. Once on Mars, the rocket needs to be fuelled ass well to make a return to earth possible. SpaceX, Elon Musk's company, wants to build a factory on Mars where he can produce his special rocket fuel. The engine of the rocket uses a fuel made out of methane and oxygen. The prices of a ticket will be the price of a house, about 200.000 thousand dollars. Elon Musk eventually wants the price to be under 100.000 dollars.

Source:

https://www.scientias.nl/spacex-onthult-interplanetair-ruimteschip-om-mars-koloniseren/

Now back to the main question:

How can we make Mars inhabitable?

Making Mars inhabitable has been a dream for many scientists but yet it is a very difficult thing to accomplish. Although there are multiple ways to make Mars inhabitable many of these ideas and concepts are nearly impossible to achieve but Elon Musk proposed a new idea that hasn't been shown to the world yet. One of the essential things on a planet to stimulate life is water and a good temperature. Elon Musk wants to create climate change and global warming on planet Mars. If you can change the temperature and let the ice melt pm the ice caps of Mars then you can make it inhabitable and more attractive for human beings. Changing a planet like this is called 'Terraforming'. There are many ways too warm up Mars but most of them have very slow procedures and would cost a lot of money in the upcoming years of the process. Elon Musk proposed to drop thermonuclear bombs on the ice caps to cause climate change. And yes that sounds crazy, throwing nukes on a planet but there is some science behind it. Thermonuclear bombs ( also known as Hydogen Bombs) spread a lot of heat rapidly. If you bomb the ice poles of Mars with a lot of thermonuclear bombs, you could let water melt and increase temperatures. Not only h2o will be created but also CO2 will be released. And in theory all the CO2 being released after bombing the poles it could create a much thicker atmosphere on Mars which would let water be it's actual form as a liquid. With all of this warming up the planet it could create a greenhouse effect. With the greenhouse effect the temperatures and melting would increase even more. With all of the effects it would become a place that is suitable for life. And not just life but also for human beings. But there is only one problem with this super effective method. Dropping one thermonuclear bomb won't really do that much. You would be needing the entire stockpile of Russia and the United States to let this be possible. And the USA and Russia aren't really going to give all their nuclear bombs to Elon Musk so he can bomb the crap out of Mars to create life and make it inhabitable. So the big question is whether we will see if this method will be used anytime soon.

Source:

http://www.iflscience.com/space/elon-musk-says-we-could-terraform-mars-droppingthermonuclear-bombs-it/

#answers

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