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[Starver]

Double-post rather than re(re)edit. (Or was a DP when I started.)

Plan: Drift slowly onto Bennu, Sample, Drift slowly away, Photo sampler head, Stop drift away, Spin to check mass, if not enough mass (60g) then drift back for another go (maybe at alternate site), if enough then get around to stowing sample in return-capsule, checking, disconnect collector head and stow arm, set off back to Earth.

Actuality: Drift, Sample, Photo, ...cancel away-drift-stop and spin... sample stowed and checked, and the rest.


@McTraveller: It's got to be green gas. Bright green flare (combustion? Copper compound?) drawing a green mist behind it (could be anything, including uncoloured mist still lit by the remains of the flare compounds).

[Dostoevsky]

@McTraveller: It's got to be green gas. Bright green flare (combustion? Copper compound?) drawing a green mist behind it (could be anything, including uncoloured mist still lit by the remains of the flare compounds).

The chances of anything coming from Mars, were a million to one, he said...

[Starver]

(Sample door closed. Mark 24/Sep/2023 in your diaries. If Utah still exists.)

[Starver]

..talking of samples, Chang'e 5 (Chinese sample-return mission to the Moon) has been launched.

((Well, it makes a change from SpaceX stuff, although I also held off double-posting on several other things of note I now forget about. So obviously not of note.))

(edit: Lander/re-ascender now on the surface. Seems the Chinese media/officials were cautious about its success and only announced it later rather than blitzing with live news.)

[Jopax]

Speaking of space, F for the Arecibo telescope. What was left of it collapsed earlier today, before they could do a controlled thing. Fairly unlikely it'll be restored anytime soon, if ever.

[delphonso]

F

[Duuvian]

..talking of samples, Chang'e 5 (Chinese sample-return mission to the Moon) has been launched.

((Well, it makes a change from SpaceX stuff, although I also held off double-posting on several other things of note I now forget about. So obviously not of note.))

(edit: Lander/re-ascender now on the surface. Seems the Chinese media/officials were cautious about its success and only announced it later rather than blitzing with live news.)

From what I've heard on the radio, this landing is in an area of the moon much younger in astronomical terms than the portions landed on in the manned missions. I don't know if they are the first unmanned craft to touch down in that area as well, but either way the achievements of a science mission are generally worthy of congratulations in my opinion should it be successful.

[Starver]

That's my impression of the plans. (And it'll never be bad to get a broader cross-section of the selenology than before.)

Interestingly, it was a couple of hours after I posted my edit update (a chance spot of an obscure news site, but already an hour or so old) before the App I was trying out that (annoyingly[1], at times!) announces *every* *single* *rocket-launch* bothered to let me know it had happened.


On the Arecibo, it was a technological marvel in its day and I rue its demise. We'll probably not see another like it (without some need unfilled I can't currently imagine) with synthetic aperture technology and 'dish the size of the planet[2]' signal recombination. Though my thoughts have long been turning to what to do with the end of the garden. Perhaps I could try a very small-scale rockery version?



[1] "24 hours ahead, less hours ahead... 5 minutes to go... Watch Live Now!" At least when weather delays don't reset the whole thing, or a planned SpaceX hopper has to be defuelled for 'reasons'.

[2] Which will probably evolve to 'dish the size of an orbit', and '...the Moon's orbit' if/when they can get some of the bandwidth issues (sneakernet?) easily fulfilled.

[LordBaal]

I will laugh from wherever I am in 200 years when some agressive aliens show up replying to the arecibo message and find the thing in ruins.

[Starver]

Just a note, as nobody else bothered to update with it yet, that Chang'e 5 has returned with bits of the Moon.  (And we have confirmed bits of asteroid from Hayabusa 2.)

I'm also quite a bit intetested in the Capella Sequoia satellite radar imagery of Earth. 50cm squares (or even better resolution, maybe 5cm-ish, for US government purposes), day or night, cloudy or clear. The sample images of human structures (buildings, ships, etc) have, obviously I suppose, an 'X-ray' quality, which will make even 'cut and cover' installations that much less covert. Built-in countermeasures will be troublesome and possibly even attract attention[1], if I read it correctly, though of course it won't easily pick up people. And not the only such synthetic-aperture system going/gone up around now.




[1] I'm tempted to lay out some aluminium foil in large letters in my loft, or maybe some wire mesh under my garden, as an easter-egg. I suppose with the right configuration and material one could 'augment' something into a less suspicious form.

[TomJo]

Speaking of space, F for the Arecibo telescope. What was left of it collapsed earlier today, before they could do a controlled thing. Fairly unlikely it'll be restored anytime soon, if ever.

https://spacenews.com/puerto-rico-government-supports-rebuilding-arecibo/

Here's some pretty good news for you. The restoration decree was signed on December 28. So Arecibo has a chance to return. Although if you read the news carefully ...
It says that it may be a new version of the radio telescope with improved performance. This definitely makes sense. I think this will take a long time. But it is still possible that there will be something even better than Arecibo.

[Starver]

I already spent some time considering how I'd rebuild the structure.

Design-item #1, have more than three suspension pylons/linkages. Four is possible (but edgy), five would suffice, six would be optimal. It allows for the detensioning and (if necessary) restringing or even re-towering in the event of any single important failure, while still supported (if not quite as stabilised for high-precision reception/transmission).

The four-tower option would require two opposite legs to be capable of enduring the load as the counter-opposite ones were slackened (temporary swing-proofing anchorages set up just for lateral support). Six would be the best though.

And modern materials and hardware (and bridge-deck design experience in real/virtual wind-tunnels) ought to make the receiver platform lighter, stabler and less of a stress on the whole structure as well. A sleaker, more versatile and significantly more weatherproof design. A covered access walkway (as unused as it normally would be) might be handy, too.

And a set of smaller outlier dishes (that can be planned, but not funded until there's enough further slack in the funding if necessary) can directly be slaved in for VLBI/MERLIN-like purposes or retasked in pairs for binocular use, or singly for less fine sideline tasks like additional simultaneous Deep Space Network transeiving[1] tasks. But that's more wish-list than naturally assumed improvements and refining of the old infrastructure.


[1] A proper DTN link could easily involve a different antenna(-combination) setting up to retrieve a Newer Horizons-type craft's return signal from the one(s) that sent a schedule update to it in the first place.

[TomJo]

I already spent some time considering how I'd rebuild the structure.

Design-item #1, have more than three suspension pylons/linkages. Four is possible (but edgy), five would suffice, six would be optimal. It allows for the detensioning and (if necessary) restringing or even re-towering in the event of any single important failure, while still supported (if not quite as stabilised for high-precision reception/transmission).

The four-tower option would require two opposite legs to be capable of enduring the load as the counter-opposite ones were slackened (temporary swing-proofing anchorages set up just for lateral support). Six would be the best though.

And modern materials and hardware (and bridge-deck design experience in real/virtual wind-tunnels) ought to make the receiver platform lighter, stabler and less of a stress on the whole structure as well. A sleaker, more versatile and significantly more weatherproof design. A covered access walkway (as unused as it normally would be) might be handy, too.

And a set of smaller outlier dishes (that can be planned, but not funded until there's enough further slack in the funding if necessary) can directly be slaved in for VLBI/MERLIN-like purposes or retasked in pairs for binocular use, or singly for less fine sideline tasks like additional simultaneous Deep Space Network transeiving[1] tasks. But that's more wish-list than naturally assumed improvements and refining of the old infrastructure.


[1] A proper DTN link could easily involve a different antenna(-combination) setting up to retrieve a Newer Horizons-type craft's return signal from the one(s) that sent a schedule update to it in the first place.

An interesting plan. After a while, we will see if the real plan matches yours. And will there be any work in this direction?
Today it would probably be more relevant to discuss something that took off about half an hour ago. For the 8th time. How many satellites will we receive in total this year? Almost every day satellites are launched in one or another part of the planet.

[Starver]

Ok, for the other stuff going up there[1] in recent days, I thought I'd missed my chance (without double-posting, once I remembered) to mention that LauncherOne was finally successful for Virgin, the other day. Plane-to-Orbit commercial rocket platform... Coming to Cornwall soon?

While the Shetland isles (opposite end of the UK, 60°N vs the above possible 50°N and the freedom to fly down to lower latitudes) have just submitted their much heralded proposal for a spaceport of their own, for ground-launches. I'm envisaging wildlife concerns might nix that, though.


But back with the big guys, the early SLS static test abort was put down to 'conservative' test parameters sending an abort from the hydraulic system, and apparently no damage done... Whether that means they can reprep for a new multi-minute test burn without entirely tearing down and rebuilding for the next go, I haven't heard yet.


There's also movement in the development of the SNs, and even the NS, for the Musk/Bezos fans out there, but I'm seeing more noise than action at the moment.


[1] Of particular, non-'routine' note. I only just dismissed a whole lotta 'normal' satellite launch notifactions...

[TomJo]

A whole bunch of satellites. Which will have to be removed from orbit or serviced. There have been more non-working satellites in orbit than working ones for a long time. As recently as last year, this caused security concerns among specialists. In various interviews, it was mentioned that the greatest danger is not even the fragments, but the explosions of the remnants of fuel and batteries that are onboard.
I have seen a lot of news that space tugs and other similar equipment are under development to solve this problem. But does any of this work?