Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
Ignite your potential! Apply now to the ESA Student Internship Programme
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
Peru’s Vice Minister of Defense Policies for Ministry of Defense César Medardo Torres Vega, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and Director of Peru’s National Commission for Aerospace Research and Development (CONIDA) Maj. Gen. Roberto Melgar Sheen meet in Lima, Peru, Nov. 14, 2024, where the U.S. and Peru signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to study a potential sounding rocket campaign.Credit: U.S. Embassy Peru NASA and Peru’s National Commission for Aerospace Research and Development (CONIDA) laid the groundwork for a potential multi-year scientific rocket launch campaign in the South American country.
Both countries signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding Thursday that includes safety training, a joint feasibility study for the potential campaign, and technical assistance for CONIDA on sounding rocket launches. Sounding rockets are small, low-cost rockets that provide suborbital access to space.
“We are excited to look at the possibility of once again launching sounding rockets from Peru,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who signed on behalf of the United States. “This agreement deepens our international partnership with Peru and the scientific research we conduct because of the country’s location along the magnetic equator. Together we will go farther.”
Maj. Gen. Roberto Melgar Sheen, head of CONIDA, signed on behalf of Peru. Brian Nichols, assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs for the U.S. State Department, and Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath, U.S. ambassador to Peru, also participated, among other Peruvian officials. The event took place during the week of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum beginning Nov. 9 in Lima.
During his visit to Peru, Nelson also discussed the importance of international partnerships and collaboration in space and celebrated Peru’s signing of the Artemis Accords earlier this year.
The United States and Peru have a long history of space cooperation. NASA conducted sounding rocket campaigns at CONIDA’s Punta Lobos launch base in 1975 and 1983.
NASA uses sounding rockets to carry scientific instruments into space on suborbital flights to collect important science data and test prototype instruments. They yield invaluable data that enhance our understanding of Earth’s atmosphere and weather, our solar system, and the universe, and test equipment for deeper space travel.
Understanding our Earth’s atmosphere and how it is influenced by the Sun is crucial to protecting ground and space-based assets that we rely on every day, from the power grid to weather data and even navigation.
For more information about NASA’s international partnerships, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/oiir
-end-
Meira Bernstein / Elizabeth Shaw
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
meira.b.bernstein@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.shaw@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Nov 14, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Office of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR) Sounding Rockets View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Today, the European Space Agency signed six contracts that will help position Greece as a key player in the field of Earth observation.
View the full article
-
-
By NASA
4 Min Read Student-Built Capsules Endure Heat of Re-entry for NASA Science
The five capsules of the KREPE-2 mission are pictured on Earth prior to flight. Credits: University of Kentucky. In July 2024, five student-built capsules endured the scorching heat of re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere as part of the second Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Experiment (KREPE-2). Scientists are now analyzing the data from the KREPE-2 experiments, which could advance the development of heat shields that protect spacecraft when they return to Earth.
The mission was designed to put a variety of heat shield prototypes to the test in authentic re-entry conditions to see how they would perform. These experimental capsules, which were built by students at the University of Kentucky and funded by the NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) within NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, all survived more than 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit during descent.
The football-sized capsules also successfully transmitted valuable data via the Iridium satellite network along their fiery journey. The trove of information they provided is currently being analyzed to consider in current and future spacecraft design, and to improve upon designs for future experiments.
“These data – and the instruments used to obtain the data – assist NASA with designing and assessing the performance of current and new spacecraft that transport crew and cargo to and from space,” said Stan Bouslog, thermal protection system senior discipline expert at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston who served as the agency’s technical monitor for the project.
Taking the Plunge: Communicating Through a Fiery Descent
“The only way to ‘test like you fly’ a thermal protection system is to expose it to actual hypersonic flight through an atmosphere,” Bouslog said.
The self-contained capsules launched aboard an uncrewed Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft in January 2024 along with other cargo bound for the International Space Station. The cargo craft detached from the space station July 12 as the orbiting laboratory flew above the south Atlantic Ocean. As the Cygnus spacecraft began its planned breakup during re-entry, the KREPE-2 capsules detected a signal – a temperature spike or acceleration – to start recording data and were released from the vehicle. At that point, they were traveling at a velocity of about 16,000 miles per hour at an altitude of approximately 180,000 feet.
The University of Kentucky student team and advisors watched and waited to learn how the capsules had fared.
As the capsules descended through the atmosphere, one group watched from aboard an aircraft flying near the Cook Islands in the south Pacific Ocean, where they tracked the return of the Cygnus spacecraft. The flight was arranged in partnership with the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, and the University of Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany. Alexandre Martin, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Kentucky and the principal investigator for the experiment, was on that flight.
“We flew in close to the re-entry path to take scientific measurements,” Martin said, adding that they used multiple cameras and spectrometers to observe re-entry. “We now have a much better understanding of the break-up event of the Cygnus vehicle, and thus the release of the capsules.”
Meanwhile, members of the University of Kentucky’s Hypersonic Institute had gathered at the university to watch as KREPE-2 data arrived via email. All five successfully communicated their flight conditions as they hurtled to Earth.
“It will take time to extract the data and analyze it,” Martin said. “But the big accomplishment was that every capsule sent data.”
Members of the University of Kentucky student team have begun analyzing the data to digitally reconstruct the flight environment at the time of transmission, providing key insights for future computer modeling and heat shield design.
An artist’s rendering of one of the KREPE-2 capsules during re-entry. A. Martin, P. Rodgers, L. Young, J. Adams, University of Kentucky Building on Student Success
The mission builds on the accomplishments of KREPE-1, which took place in December 2022. In that experiment, two capsules recorded temperature measurements as they re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and relayed that data to the ground.
The extensive dataset collected during the KREPE-2 re-entry includes heat shield measurements, such as temperature, as well as flight data including pressure, acceleration, and angular velocity. The team also successfully tested a spectrometer that provided spectral data of the shockwave in front of a capsule.
“KREPE-1 was really to show we could do it,” Martin said. “For KREPE-2, we wanted to fully instrument the capsules and really see what we could learn.”
KREPE-3 is currently set to take place in 2026.
The ongoing project has provided valuable opportunities for the University of Kentucky student team, from undergrads to PhD students, to contribute to spaceflight technology innovation.
“This effort is done by students entirely: fabrication, running simulations, handling all the NASA reviews, and doing all the testing,” Martin said. “We’re there supervising, of course, but it’s always the students who make these missions possible.”
Related links:
EPSCoR Space Station Research Explorer: Kentucky Re-entry Probe Experiment-2 Science Launches to Space Station on NASA’s 20th Northrop Grumman Mission Big Goals, Small Package: Enabling Compact Deliveries from Space Keep Exploring Discover More STEM Topics From NASA
For Colleges and Universities
Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
About STEM Engagement at NASA
Learning Resources
View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Space startups and SMEs can meet ESA’s SME Office at Space Tech Expo, a space technology trade fair and conference in Bremen, Germany from 19–21 November.
View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.