Tech & Astronomy

2022-02-07 08:16:58 Since the existence of humans in this part of the universe, only natural satellites have continued to orbit the sun and earth.

However, Soviet Union changed the game when they launch the first satellite on October 4th, 1957.

From 1957 to date, we have sent thousands of satellites into space.

These satellites in space has provided us with more accurate weather reports, track records of climate change and other numerous services.

Companies like SpaceX StarLink and One Webb are already working on building great satellite Constellations in the future.

If we succeed in reaching this milestone, we can all enjoy a powerful and faster internet connectivity in the future.

We are just getting started to studying Earth and space with high tech artificial satellites. Open / Comment

2022-02-02 17:34:22 Part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will be crashing into the moon in March this year—an unintended lunar collision that is likely the first of its kind. 
The piece is a booster from a Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX launched in February 2015 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The rocket carried NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite on what was supposed to be SpaceX’s first deep space mission. While DSCOVR made it to its target—a point thousands of miles from Earth that provides a stable orbit for the observatory—Falcon 9 faltered at its second stage. 

After releasing its satellite, Falcon 9 was originally supposed to return to Earth. But the rocket went too high and lacked the energy to escape Earth’s atmosphere. It is currently space junk, and has been circling Earth in a chaotic orbit since then.  Open / Comment

2022-01-28 14:47:12 Why do launch vehicles fly exclusively in an arc?

To escape the Earth's gravity, rockets are launched in an arc whose curvature increases with height. But why don't these vehicles fly vertically upward throughout the ascent?

In order to move steadily in orbit, the speed of the spacecraft must be equal to the speed with which it falls to Earth. This will prevent the ship from crashing, nor will it move too far away from the planet. However, below about 100 km, this is practically impossible, because air resistance will slow the ship down too quickly.

But above this boundary of space, or, as it is called, the Karman line, the ship can accelerate to a fairly high speed - more than 7 km per second. Due to this, after the engine is turned off, the device will drift in space at the same speed with which it falls, and, therefore, will rotate around the Earth.

Objects in orbit have the same mass as on Earth. They still have the same inertia and are also affected by the gravitational pull of the planet. They fall, but if they move away at the same rate as they fall, they will never fall to the surface of the Earth.

Launch vehicles are launched along an arcuate trajectory for the correct entry of the apparatus into orbit. At the first stage, the spacecraft moves upward, overcoming air resistance, and when the atmosphere becomes sufficiently rarefied above 100 kilometers, the rocket changes its trajectory in order to reach the desired orbit with minimal fuel consumption. If the launch vehicle is launched immediately at an angle to the horizon, the air resistance will be stronger and it is not certain that it will be able to overcome it and enter a stable orbit. Open / Comment

2022-01-28 14:47:10 Open / Comment

2022-01-23 06:28:40 The longest way in the world on foot without the need to cross the ocean or any other significant barrier is from Cape Town (South Africa) to Magadan (Russia).

There is no need for planes or boats and there are bridges. The total distance is 21,808 km and it takes an average of 4,310 hours to walk. It would be 187 days walking non-stop, or 561 days walking 8 hours a day. Along the way, you pass through 17 countries, six time zones and all seasons. Open / Comment

2022-01-23 06:27:01 This Is The Oldest Known Quasar!
After more than 13 billion years, the light radiating across the universe from its accompanying quasar has illuminated the black hole’s presence in negative space. Researchers, in a paper published this month in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, named the quasar J0313-1806 and write that its animating black hole dates back to just 670 million years after the Big Bang —20 million years older than what is now the second oldest black hole ever found.

This oldest and thus most distant quasar and others like it “are crucial for understanding how the earliest black holes formed and for understanding cosmic reionization—the last major phase transition of our universe," says Xiaohui Fan, an astronomer at the University of Arizona.

J0313-1806’s black hole is 1.6 billion times the mass of the sun and 10 trillion times as bright.

Credits: NASA, Hubble. Image by Science Photo Library. Open / Comment

2022-01-20 08:10:42 NASA's Space Launch System and Orion Spacecraft in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building today at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Teams are are getting closer and closer to rolling this enormous Moon rocket and spacecraft out to Launch Pad 39B for the first time— next month! #Artemis Open / Comment

2022-01-12 23:20:32 Open / Comment

2022-01-09 07:43:58 Open / Comment

2022-01-09 07:43:51 #NASAWebb is fully deployed!

With the successful deployment and latching of the last mirror wing, that's:
50 major deployments, complete.
178 non-explosive actuators, released.
20+ years of work, realized!

Here's what took place yesterday as to unfolded Webb's final mirror wing from mission control at the Space Telescope Science Institute:
- First, it was fired the last 4 of Webb's 178 release mechanisms, or pins — all of which had to work perfectly for the unfolding to take place. These 4 released the restraints that held Webb's mirror wing safely in place during launch.
- Second, the team made some small motor movements, ensuring the wing was ready to go. Around 10:30 a.m. ET on Jan. 8, the final wing was deployed!
- Then came the hard part: latching the mirror wing in place, which was a multi-hour process that was marked complete at 1:17 p.m. ET.

And now Webb is ready for its next steps! After it reaches its destination of Lagrange point 2 in a few weeks, Webb will take about 5 months to cool down, align its mirrors, and calibrate its instruments before the science begins. Open / Comment