Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
U.S. Ambassador to Japan visits QZSS-HP Site
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.NASA/Jason Richard The group toured the south Mississippi NASA center on March 19, learning how NASA Stennis operates as NASA’s primary, and America’s largest, rocket propulsion test site to serve the nation and commercial sector with its unique capabilities and expertise.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.NASA/Jason Richard The day included tours of test stands and facilities hosted by NASA Stennis test complex personnel. Visits included the Fred Haise Test Stand, where NASA Stennis tests RS-25 engines to help power NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond; the Thad Cochran Test Stand, where NASA Stennis will test NASA’s exploration upper stage for future Artemis missions; the E Test Complex, where NASA Stennis supports agency and commercial propulsion test activity; and the L3Harris Technologies (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne) Engine Assembly Facility, where RS-25 engines are produced.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.NASA/Jason Richard The group also received overviews from site personnel on the Rocket Propulsion Test Program Office located at NASA Stennis, on lessons learned from testing at the E Test Complex, and on the NASA Data Acquisition System developed onsite.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.NASA/Jason Richard The Rocket Test Group originally formed in response to a congressional demand for an ongoing working group crossing agency and company boundaries. It is a volunteer organization intended to allow rocket test facility operators to come together to recommend solutions for difficult testing problems; lower testing costs by reducing time spent on solving critical issues and eliminating duplicate programs; facilitate the activation of new facilities; learn from each other by viewing different methods and touring various facilities; provide a networking opportunity for testing advice and problem solving support; and allow test facility operators to stay informed on the newest developments.
NASA Stennis partnered with Mississippi Enterprise for Technology to host more than 100 members of the 57th Rocket Test Group on March 18-19.L3Harris TechnologiesView the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Marking another step towards new insights into Earth’s forests and their role in the carbon cycle, ESA’s groundbreaking Biomass satellite has arrived at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, to be prepared for liftoff on a Vega-C rocket at the end of April.
View the full article
-
By Space Force
Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman visited Air Forces Southern (AFSOUTH) headquarters Feb. 27, reinforcing the increasing role of space-based capabilities in the Western Hemisphere.
View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar image shows Tokyo and its metropolitan area, the largest urban agglomeration in the world. View the full article
-
By NASA
Before Apollo astronauts set foot upon the Moon, much remained unknown about the lunar surface. While most scientists believed the Moon had a solid surface that would support astronauts and their landing craft, a few believed a deep layer of dust covered it that would swallow any visitors. Until 1964, no closeup photographs of the lunar surface existed, only those obtained by Earth-based telescopes.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed the Ranger program, a series of spacecraft designed to return closeup images before impacting on the Moon’s surface. Ranger 7 first accomplished that goal in July 1964. On Feb. 17, 1965, its successor Ranger 8 launched toward the Moon, and three days later returned images of the Moon. The mission’s success helped the country meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of a human Moon landing before the end of the decade.
Schematic diagram of the Ranger 8 spacecraft, showing its major components. NASA/JPL The television system aboard Ranger 8 showing its six cameras.NASA/JPL. Launch of Ranger 8. NASA. Ranger 8 lifted off from Cape Kennedy, now Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 17, 1965. The Atlas-Agena rocket first placed the spacecraft into Earth orbit before sending it on a lunar trajectory. The next day, the spacecraft carried out a mid-course correction, and on Feb. 20, Ranger 8 reached the Moon. The spacecraft’s six cameras turned on as planned, about eight minutes earlier than its predecessor to obtain images comparable in resolution to ground-based photographs for calibration purposes. Ranger 8 took its first photograph at an altitude of 1,560 miles, and during its final 23 minutes of flight, the spacecraft sent back 7,137 images of the lunar surface. The last image, taken at an altitude of 1,600 feet and 0.28 seconds before Ranger 8 impacted at 1.67 miles per second, had a resolution of about five feet. The spacecraft impacted 16 miles from its intended target in the Sea of Tranquility, ending a flight of 248,900 miles. Scientists had an interest in this area of the Moon as a possible landing zone for a future human landing, and indeed Apollo 11 landed 44 miles southeast of the Ranger 8 impact site in July 1969.
Ranger 8’s first image from an altitude of 1,560 miles.NASA/JPL. Ranger 8 image from an altitude of 198 miles, showing craters Ritter and Sabine.NASA/JPL. Ranger 8’s final images, taken at an altitude as low as 1,600 feet. NASA/JPL. One more Ranger mission followed, Ranger 9, in March 1965. Television networks broadcast Ranger 9’s images of the Alphonsus crater and the surrounding area “live” as the spacecraft approached its impact site in the crater – letting millions of Americans see the Moon up-close as it happened. Based on the photographs returned by the last three Rangers, scientists felt confident to move on to the next phase of robotic lunar exploration, the Surveyor series of soft landers. The Ranger photographs provided confidence that the lunar surface could support a soft-landing and that the Sea of Tranquility presented a good site for the first human landing. A little more than four years after the final Ranger images, Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the Moon.
Impact sites of Rangers 7, 8, and 9. NASA/JPL. The Ranger 8 impact crater, marked by the blue circle, photographed by Lunar Orbiter 2 in 1966.NASA/JPL. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the Ranger 8 impact crater, taken in 2012 at a low sun angle.NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University. The impacts of the Ranger probes left visible craters on the lunar surface, later photographed by orbiting spacecraft. Lunar Orbiter 2 and Apollo 16 both imaged the Ranger 8 impact site at relatively low resolution in 1966 and 1972, respectively. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the crash site in greater detail in 2012.
Watch a brief video about the Ranger 8 impact on the Moon.
Explore More
5 min read 60 Years Ago: Ranger 7 Photographs the Moon
Article 7 months ago 8 min read 55 Years Ago: Apollo 11’s One Small Step, One Giant Leap
Article 7 months ago 4 min read NASA’s Artemis II Crew Uses Iceland Terrain for Lunar Training
At first glance, it seems like a scene from an excursion on the Moon’s surface…except…
Article 5 months ago 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.