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Heavy-lift Launch Vehicle
A heavy-lift launch vehicle, HLV or HLLV, is an orbital launch vehicle capable of lifting between (by NASA classification) or between (by Russian classification) into low Earth orbit (LEO).50t payloads" , operational heavy-lift launch vehicles include the Ariane 5, the Long March 5, the Proton-M and the Delta IV Heavy. In addition, the Angara A5, the Falcon 9 Full Thrust, and the Falcon Heavy are designed to provide heavy-lift capabilities in at least some configurations but have not yet been proven to carry a 20-tonne payload into LEO. Several other heavy-lift rockets are in development. An HLV is between medium-lift launch vehicles and super heavy-lift launch vehicles. Rated launch vehicles See also * Comparison of orbital launch systems * List of orbital launch systems * Comparison of orbital rocket engines * Comparison of space station cargo vehicles * Medium-lift launch vehicle, capable of lifting between 2,000 and 20,000 kg (4,400 to 44,100 lb) of p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delta IV Heavy
The Delta IV Heavy (Delta 9250H) is an expendable heavy-lift launch vehicle, the largest type of the Delta IV family. It is the world's third highest-capacity launch vehicle in operation, behind NASA's Space Launch System and SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and closely followed by CASC's Long March 5. It is manufactured by United Launch Alliance (ULA) and was first launched in 2004. ULA will retire the Delta IV Heavy in 2024. , two flights remain. The Delta IV Heavy consists of a central Common Booster Core (CBC), with two additional CBCs as liquid rocket boosters instead of the GEM-60 solid rocket motors used by the Delta IV Medium+ versions. At lift off, all three cores operate at full thrust, and 44 seconds later the center core throttles down to 55% to conserve fuel until booster separation. The boosters burn out at 242 seconds after launch and are separated as the core booster throttles back up to full thrust. The core burns out 86 seconds later, and the second stage completes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Low Earth Orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never more than about one-third of the radius of Earth. The term ''LEO region'' is also used for the area of space below an altitude of (about one-third of Earth's radius). Objects in orbits that pass through this zone, even if they have an apogee further out or are sub-orbital, are carefully tracked since they present a collision risk to the many LEO satellites. All crewed space stations to date have been within LEO. From 1968 to 1972, the Apollo program's lunar missions sent humans beyond LEO. Since the end of the Apollo program, no human spaceflights have been beyond LEO. Defining characteristics A wide variety of sources define LEO in terms of altitude. The altitude of an object in an elliptic orbit can vary significantly along the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orion (spacecraft)
Orion (officially Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed Martin and the European Service Module (ESM) manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. Capable of supporting a crew of six beyond low Earth orbit, Orion can last up to 21 days undocked and up to six months docked. It is equipped with solar panels, an automated docking system, and glass cockpit interfaces modeled after those used in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. A single AJ10 engine provides the spacecraft's primary propulsion, while eight R-4D-11 engines, and six pods of custom reaction control system engines developed by Airbus, provide the spacecraft's secondary propulsion. Although compatible with other launch vehicles, Orion is primarily intended to launch atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with a tower launch escape system. Orion was original ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Launch Alliance
United Launch Alliance (ULA), legally United Launch Alliance, LLC, is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth, and to other bodies in the Solar System and beyond. The company, which is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security, was formed in December 2006. Launch customers of the United Launch Alliance include the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, and other organizations. ULA provides launch services using expendable launch systems Delta IV Heavy and Atlas V, and until 2018 the medium-lift Delta II. The Atlas, Delta IV Heavy and the recently retired Delta IV launch systems have launched payloads including weather, telecommunications, and national security satellites, scientific probes and orbiters. ULA also launches commercial satellites. , the company is developing the Vulcan Centaur, a successor to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Lemaître ATV
The ''Georges Lemaître'' ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 5 (ATV-5), was a European uncrewed cargo spacecraft, named after the Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître. The spacecraft was launched during the night of 29 July 2014 (23:44 GMT, 20:44 local time, 30 July 01:44 CEST), on a mission to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with propellant, water, air, and dry cargo. It was the fifth and final ATV to be built and launched. ''Georges Lemaître'' was constructed in Turin, Italy, and Bremen, Germany. Cargo loading was completed in Guiana Space Center on 23 July 2014. ''Georges Lemaître'' was launched on an Ariane 5ES rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The launch was conducted by Arianespace on behalf of the European Space Agency. Artist Katie Paterson sent artwork to the International Space Station aboard ATV-5. Mission payload ''Georges Lemaître'' ferried 6.6 tonnes of experiments, spare parts, clothing, food, fuel, air, o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arianespace
Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme. The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy-lift Ariane 5 for dual launches to geostationary transfer orbit, the Soyuz-2 as a medium-lift alternative, and the solid-fueled Vega for lighter payloads. , Arianespace had launched more than 850 satellites in 287 launches over 41 years. The first commercial flight managed by the new entity was Spacenet F1 launched on 23 May 1984. Arianespace uses the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana as its main launch site. Through shareholding in Starsem, it can also offer commercial Soyuz launches from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. It has its headquarters in Évry-Courcouronnes, Essonne, France. History The formation of Arianespace SA is closely associated with the desire of several European nations to pursue joint collaboration in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Space Agency
, owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (12052189474).jpg , size = , caption = , acronym = , established = , employees = 2,200 , administrator = Director General Josef Aschbacher , budget = €7.2 billion (2022) , language = English and French (working languages) , website = , logo = European Space Agency logo.svg , logo_caption = Logo , image_caption = European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) Main Control Room The European Space Agency (ESA; french: Agence spatiale européenne , it, Agenzia Spaziale Europea, es, Agencia Espacial Europea ASE; german: Europäische Weltraumorganisation) is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airbus Defence And Space
Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the corporate restructuring of European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), and comprises the former Airbus Military, Astrium, and Cassidian divisions. It is the world's second-largest space company after Boeing and one of the top ten defence companies in the world. Airbus Defence and Space has its corporate headquarters in Taufkirchen, Germany and is led by chief executive officer Michael Schoellhorn. The company has four core arms: * Military Aircraft, managed from Spain and led by Alberto Gutiérrez * Space Systems, managed from France and led by Jean-Marc Nasr * Communication-Intelligence-Security, managed from Germany and led by Evert Dudok * Unmanned Aerial Systems, also managed from Germany and led by Jana Rosenmann. With its pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Earth Orbit
A high Earth orbit is a geocentric orbit with an altitude entirely above that of a geosynchronous orbit (). The orbital periods of such orbits are greater than 24 hours, therefore satellites in such orbits have an apparent retrograde motion – that is, even if they are in a prograde orbit (0° ≤ inclination < 90°), their orbital velocity is lower than al speed, causing their to move westward on Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical objec ...
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Geosynchronous Orbit
A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital period means that, for an observer on Earth's surface, an object in geosynchronous orbit returns to exactly the same position in the sky after a period of one sidereal day. Over the course of a day, the object's position in the sky may remain still or trace out a path, typically in a figure-8 form, whose precise characteristics depend on the orbit's inclination and eccentricity. A circular geosynchronous orbit has a constant altitude of . A special case of geosynchronous orbit is the geostationary orbit, which is a circular geosynchronous orbit in Earth's equatorial plane with both inclination and eccentricity equal to 0. A satellite in a geostationary orbit remains in the same position in the sky to observers on the surface. Commu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit. Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step for reaching their final orbit. A GTO is highly elliptic. Its perigee (closest point to Earth) is typically as high as low Earth orbit (LEO), while its apogee (furthest point from Earth) is as high as geostationary (or equally, a geosynchronous) orbit. That makes it a Hohmann transfer orbit between LEO and GSO. Larson, Wiley J. and James R. Wertz, eds. Space Mission Design and Analysis, 2nd Edition. Published jointly by Microcosm, Inc. (Torrance, CA) and Kluwer Academic Publishers (Dordrecht/Boston/London). 1991. While some GEO satellites are launched direct to that orbit, often the launch vehicle lacks the power to put both the rocket and the satellite into that orbit. Instead extra fuel is added to the satellite, the launch vehicle l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medium Earth Orbit
A medium Earth orbit (MEO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an altitude above a low Earth orbit (LEO) and below a high Earth orbit (HEO) – between above sea level.''Catalog of Earth Satellite Orbits'' NASA Earth Observatory. 4 September 2009. Accessed 2 May 2021. The boundary between MEO and LEO is an arbitrary altitude chosen by accepted convention, whereas the boundary between MEO and HEO is the particular altitude of a geosynchronous orbit, in which a satellite takes 24 hours to circle the Earth, the same period as the Earth’s own rotation. All satellites in MEO have an |
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