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LADEE
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE; ) was a NASA lunar exploration and technology demonstration mission. It was launched on a Minotaur V rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on September 7, 2013. During its seven-month mission, LADEE orbited the Moon's equator, using its instruments to study the lunar exosphere and dust in the Moon's vicinity. Instruments included a dust detector, neutral mass spectrometer, and ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, as well as a technology demonstration consisting of a laser communications terminal. The mission ended on April 18, 2014, when the spacecraft's controllers intentionally crashed LADEE into the far side of the Moon, which, later, was determined to be near the eastern rim of Sundman V crater. Planning and preparations LADEE was announced during the presentation of NASA's budget in February 2008. It was initially planned to be launched with the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) satellite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minotaur V
Minotaur V is an American expendable launch system derived from the Minotaur IV, itself a derivative of the retired LGM-118 Peacekeeper Intercontinental ballistic missile, ICBM. Minotaur V was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now absorbed into Northrop Grumman) and made its maiden, and to date only, flight on 7 September 2013 carrying the LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) spacecraft for NASA. Although Minotaur V is still offered for launch services, no further flights are scheduled as of 2025. Design Minotaur V is a five-stage launch vehicle designed by Orbital Sciences (now owned by Northrop Grumman) to place up to of payload into a geosynchronous transfer orbit or on a trans-lunar injection, trans-lunar trajectory. It is derived from the Minotaur IV rocket and is essentially a Minotaur IV#Minotaur IV+, Minotaur IV+ with an added fifth stage to improve performance to highly-elliptical orbits. Minotaur V's first stage SR118 motor provides of thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modular Common Spacecraft Bus
The Modular Common Spacecraft Bus (MCSB) is a fast-development, low-cost, general purpose spacecraft platform. Its modular design is intended to reduce the cost, complexity, and lead time on missions by providing a reliable, well-characterized system that can carry a variety of payloads. According to NASA, "the spacecraft is roughly one tenth the price of a conventional uncrewed mission and could be used to land on the Moon, orbit Earth, or rendezvous with near-Earth objects." History The MCSB supervisor, Alan Weston, obtained from NASA Ames Research Center $4 million in internal funding to get the project started. Using that money, the prototype was built in about 15 months during 2007–2008. The fast concept development time is due in part to the preliminary use of repurposed SCUBA air tanks and an engine that uses cold gas, in place of a conventional rocket engine. This allowed the team to perform indoor flight tests as fast as every 40 minutes in their laboratory, rather ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sundman (crater)
Sundman is a Lunar craters, lunar impact crater that lies just past the western limb of the Moon. Although it lies on the Far side (Moon), far side from the Earth, this part of the surface is brought into view during periods of favorable libration and illumination. Sundman lies to the southwest of the walled plain Einstein (crater), Einstein, and to the west of the Vallis Bohr cleft. It was named after Finnish mathematician and astronomer Karl F. Sundman. Description This crater lies in the midst of the skirt of ejecta that surrounds the Mare Orientale impact basin. Both the crater and its surroundings have been modified by this enormous amount of material, and the surface displays an uneven pattern that is generally radial to the basin, which is located to the north. The crater forms a shallow depression in the surface, with small craters along the southeastern and southwestern rim. Satellite craters By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the lett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmosphere Of The Moon
The atmosphere of the Moon is a very sparse layer of gases surrounding the Moon, consisting only of an exosphere. For most practical purposes, the Moon is considered to be surrounded by vacuum. The elevated presence of atomic and molecular particles in its vicinity compared to interplanetary medium, referred to as "lunar atmosphere" for scientific objectives, is negligible in comparison with the gaseous envelopes surrounding Earth and most planets of the Solar System, and comparable to their exospheres. The pressure of this small mass is around , varying throughout the day, and in total mass less than 10 metric tonnes. Otherwise, the Moon is considered not to have an atmosphere because it cannot absorb measurable quantities of radiation, does not appear layered or self-circulating, and requires constant replenishment due to the high rate at which its gases are lost into space. Roger Joseph Boscovich was the first modern astronomer to argue for the lack of atmosphere around the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virginia, United States. It is owned and operated by the Virginia Spaceport Authority. Background The Virginia General Assembly created the political subdivision Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA), also known as Virginia Space, in 1995 to promote the development of the commercial space flight industry, economic development, aerospace research, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education throughout the Commonwealth. This initiative was done from the recommendations of the Batten College at Old Dominion University, with Dr. Billie Reed, a longtime professor at the University, installed as its Executive Director. In 1997, Virginia Space entered into a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Launch Pad 0
Launch Pad 0 (LP-0), also known as Launch Complex 0 (LC-0), or Launch Area 0 (LA-0), is a launch complex at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia, in the United States. MARS is located right next to the NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), which had run the launch complex until 2003. WFF still provides support services to MARS launches under a contract with the Commonwealth of Virginia. The launch complex consists of three individual launch pads, LP-0A, LP-0B, and LP-0C, referred to by Rocket Lab as Launch Complex 2 (LC-2). Additionally, there is a fourth pad, LP-0D (referred to by Rocket Lab as Launch Complex 3 or LC-3), that is currently under construction. Launch Pads Pad 0A LP-0A (located at ) was first built for the failed Conestoga rocket program. The original launch tower was subsequently demolished in September 2008. A new pad facility was built from 2009 to 2011 for Orbital Sciences ''Taurus II'', now renamed Antares. Pad modifica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnetic Field Of The Moon
image:Magnetic field strength of the Moon (linear and logarthmic scales).png, 300px, Total magnetic field strength 30 km above the surface of the Moon using a linear (upper) and logarithmic (lower) color scale. The nearside and farside hemispheres are on the left and right, and grid lines are plotted every 30 degrees of latitude and longitude. The magnetic field map is based on measurements from the Lunar Prospector and Kaguya spacecraft. The magnetic field of the Moon is very weak in comparison to Earth's magnetic field, that of the Earth; the major difference is the Moon does not have a Dipole, dipolar magnetic field currently (as would be generated by a geodynamo in its core), so that the magnetization present is varied (see picture) and its origin is almost entirely crustal in location; so it's difficult to compare as a percentage to Earth. But, one experiment discovered that lunar rocks formed 1 - 2.5 billion years ago were created in a field of about 5 microtesla (μT), comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar day) that is synchronized to its orbital period (Lunar month#Synodic month, lunar month) of 29.5 Earth days. This is the product of Earth's gravitation having tidal forces, tidally pulled on the Moon until one part of it stopped rotating away from the near side of the Moon, near side, making always the same lunar surface face Earth. Conversley, the gravitational pull of the Moon, on Earth, is the main driver of Earth's tides. In geophysical definition of planet, geophysical terms, the Moon is a planetary-mass object or satellite planet. Its mass is 1.2% that of the Earth, and its diameter is , roughly one-quarter of Earth's (about as wide as the contiguous United States). Within the Solar System, it is the List of Solar System objects by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ames Research Center
The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laboratory. That agency was dissolved and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958. NASA Ames is named in honor of Joseph Sweetman Ames, a physicist and one of the founding members of NACA. At last estimate NASA Ames had over US$3 billion in capital equipment, 2,300 research personnel and a US$750 million annual budget. Ames was founded to conduct wind-tunnel research on the aerodynamics of propeller-driven aircraft; however, its role has expanded to encompass spaceflight and information technology. Ames plays a role in many NASA missions. It provides leadership in astrobiology; small satellites; robotic lunar exploration; the search for habitable plane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other government customers. In 2014, Orbital merged with Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to create a new company called Orbital ATK, which in turn was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018. Orbital was headquartered in Dulles, Virginia and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol ORB. Orbital's primary products were satellites and launch vehicles, including low Earth orbit (LEO), geosynchronous Earth orbit and planetary spacecraft for communications, remote sensing, scientific and defense missions; ground- and air-launched launch vehicles that delivered satellites into orbit; missile defense systems that were used as interceptor and target vehicles; and human-rated space systems for Earth orbit, lunar and other missions. Orbital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollo 17 Twilight Ray Sketch
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and more. One of the most important and complex of the Greek gods, he is the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. He is considered to be the most beautiful god and is represented as the ideal of the ''kouros'' (ephebe, or a beardless, athletic youth). Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as ''Apulu''. As the patron deity of Delphi (''Apollo Pythios''), Apollo is an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Pythia, Delphic Oracle and also the deity of ritual purification. His oracles were often consulted for guidance in various matters. He was in general seen as the god who affords help and wards off e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermal Vacuum Chamber
A thermal vacuum chamber (TVAC) is a vacuum chamber in which the radiative thermal environment is controlled. Typically the thermal environment is achieved by passing liquids or fluids through thermal shrouds for cold temperatures or through the application of thermal lamps for high temperatures. Thermal vacuum chambers are frequently used for testing spacecraft or parts thereof under a simulated space environment. Examples Thermal vacuum chambers can be found at: * NASA's Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center * NASA's Space Power Facility, Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility and Cryogenic Propellant Tank Facility (K-Site) at the Glenn Research Center * NASA's Space Environment Simulator at Goddard Space Flight Center * NASA's DynaVac 36" T/V Chamber * The ESA Large Space Simulatorhttps://www.esa.int/esaTQM/1082551446328_facilitiesestec_0.html See also *Vacuum engineering Vacuum engineering is the field of engineering that deals with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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