Space exploration news

[lenaitch]

Following the flight around the Moon, Canada shall be the second country in the world to have its flag planted on the Moon directly by a human.

Yes, we beat the Soviets (and even their successors, Putin's Russia) on this one.

Not just that, but a Canadian astronaut would drop a maple leaf on the Moon to disprove any Moon landing conspiracies, just like when David Scott dropped a falcon feather (and a hammer) on the Moon during the Apollo 15 mission.

File:Apollo 15 feather and hammer drop.ogv - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

Both the feather and the hammer landed simultaneously

We could do like we do on Hans Island but I think a glass bottle of Canadian Club would probably freeze and break.

Hans Island - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Johnny Au]

We could do like we do on Hans Island but I think a glass bottle of Canadian Club would probably freeze and break.

Hans Island - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That could work, except that NASA, which is the host agency (and the CSA works closely with NASA), forbids astronauts from bringing alcoholic beverages to the Moon under any circumstance.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Lots happened over the past few months - but here is something else:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/canada-moon-mission-1.6041214

AoD

 

[someMidTowner]

Lots happened over the past few months

For those who haven't been following (I sure have) here are some of the big things we've seen recently
- Starship (SN15) makes first successful landing
- Starbase Texas quickly taking shape, including an insane orbital launch tower that will also catch landing rockets. This is being built with a massive LTM 11200-9.1 - the largest Liebherr mobile crane there is, and the scale is just immense
- Blue Origin/Bezos is still a joke, and might be dead in the water after SpaceX beat them out on NASA's lunar lander contract
- China's Long March 9 rocket re-enters the atmosphere with apparently no regard for human life
and so many more things that I don't even have time to get into

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

For those who haven't been following (I sure have) here are some of the big things we've seen recently
- Starship (SN15) makes first successful landing
- Starbase Texas quickly taking shape, including an insane orbital launch tower that will also catch landing rockets. This is being built with a massive LTM 11200-9.1 - the largest Liebherr mobile crane there is, and the scale is just immense
- Blue Origin/Bezos is still a joke, and might be dead in the water after SpaceX beat them out on NASA's lunar lander contract
- China's Long March 9 rocket re-enters the atmosphere with apparently no regard for human life
and so many more things that I don't even have time to get into

More just off the top of my head:

Unmanned spaceflight:
Al-Amal (Hope - UAE) orbiter safely entered Mars orbit
Mars 2020 Perseverance (US) rover safely landed on Mars
Tianwen 1/Zhurong (China) rover safely entered Mars orbit and landed on Mars.
Ingenuity helicopter completed 5 flights on Mars (first ever powered flight in another planetary atmosphere)
Osiris-Rex departed Bennu for return to Earth leg of the sample return mission

Manned spaceflight:
Launch of Crew-2 to ISS
Return of Crew-1 from ISS back to Earth
Canada got a seat on Artemis-2 - first human orbital fight around the moon since the last Apollo mission in the 70s.

Did you see the plans for the Superheavy-Starship orbital test flight? Also @someMidTowner - wonder if you know local Nathan Barker - photographer for NSF?

AoD

 

[someMidTowner]

More just off the top of my head:



Did you see the plans for the Superheavy-Starship orbital test flight? Also @someMidTowner - wonder if you know local Nathan Barker - photographer for NSF?

AoD

Yes, I can't wait to see the full stack with the first stage. Taller than the Saturn V. Unreal.
Nathan Barker has some amazing launch photos. I know of him but not personally

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Speaking of space news - Ingenuity just completed the 6th flight, but not without an anomaly:

Surviving an In-Flight Anomaly: What Happened on Ingenuity’s Sixth Flight

On the 91st Martian day, or sol, of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter performed its sixth flight.

mars.nasa.gov

It's always a software problem...

AoD

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

2 new Discovery missions to Venus:

NASA Selects 2 Missions to Study ‘Lost Habitable’ World of Venus

NASA has selected two new missions to Venus, Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor.

www.nasa.gov

AoD

 

[Admiral Beez]

Speaking of space news - Ingenuity just completed the 6th flight, but not without an anomaly:

Surviving an In-Flight Anomaly: What Happened on Ingenuity’s Sixth Flight

On the 91st Martian day, or sol, of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter performed its sixth flight.

mars.nasa.gov

It's always a software problem...

AoD

I'd completely forgotten about the Mars helicopter. I thought it was incredible at first, now I'm m'eh.

 

[lenaitch]

I'd completely forgotten about the Mars helicopter. I thought it was incredible at first, now I'm m'eh.

I still think it's pretty fascinating. Beyond the engineering required to develop controlled flight in the thinner atmosphere, I'm impressed for its ability to conduct autonomous flight after receiving the flight parameter command instructions.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I still think it's pretty fascinating. Beyond the engineering required to develop controlled flight in the thinner atmosphere, I'm impressed for its ability to conduct autonomous flight after receiving the flight parameter command instructions.

9th flight completed

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity sails through 9th flight on the Red Planet

Ingenuity tested out some new tricks on its ninth flight.

www.space.com

Not bad for a little solar-powered drone that was expected to do 5 flights - if that.

AoD

 

[SubHuman]

If weather conditions permit, the second test flight of Boeing's Starliner could launch later today. (Edit: Now scrubbed until at least tomorrow.)
https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/08/02/atlas-5-starliner-oft-2-mission-status-center/

File:Apollo 15 feather and hammer drop.ogv - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

I saw something a few days ago mentioning it had been 50 years since Apollo 15, the fourth of the six moon landings, and the first of the three J missions that each spent three days on the moon and had a lunar rover.
In The Mountains Of The Moon, 28-minute documentary from 1971 -

and a 97-minute documentary put together more recently. -

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Starliner is fine - but last gen. Not nearly as exciting as this:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1422608233995382791

Absolute gamechanger once they've worked out all the bugs.

AoD

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From Reuters:

Telesat closer to financing satellite network after Canada investment

Telesat took a major step toward financing its low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation that aims to provide high-speed broadband after Canada on Thursday said it would invest C$1.44 billion ($1.2 billion) in the project.

www.reuters.com

AoD

 

[SubHuman]

Unmanned spaceflight:
... Mars 2020 Perseverance (US) rover safely landed on Mars ...
... Osiris-Rex departed Bennu for return to Earth leg of the sample return mission ...

Sample from asteroid Bennu will be landing on Sunday.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-finalizes-coverage-for-first-us-asteroid-sample-landing

Samples being collected on Mars by the Perseverance rover are intended to eventually be delivered to Earth. The latest concept involved using "2 Ingenuity-class helicopters" but the proposed budget and schedule have been determined to be unrealistic.