International Spaceflight Museum

Image : Courtesy NASA

Today (10th November 2008), communication was lost with the Mars lander Phoenix. The mission operations centre believe it has finally succumbed to the extreme cold of the Martian winter. The mission, which went way beyond its original operational time of 90 days, cost nearly $500 million but everyone involved with the mission believes what was gained was worth so much more. Over the time Phoenix has been in operation it has sent back terabytes of data including approximately 25,000 images of the Martian terrain, detailed images of the area around and under the lander and performed some groundbreaking (literally) experiments. Many with unexpected results. The data from the mission will take many years to fully analyse.

On the 22^nd October, the Indian moon probe Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft launched from a southern Indian launch pad. Aboard it is a special camera, called an X-ray spectrometer (C1XS). This camera was developed in the UK at the Rutherford Appleton Laboroatory in Oxfordshire . The samples of the moon collected by the Apollo missions only tell us what the surface composition is like in a few places. It is like deducing the surface composition of the Earth by sampling soil in Boise, Idaho, Manchester England and Bhopal, India!  

PSLV on the way to the launch pad (Photo: ESA/ISRO).

The Indian probe will orbit the Moon and gather information about it’s surface, including its composition, using C1XS. Of particular interest is the level of Magnesium it will find on the surface. This would be a good indicator of whether the moons surface was Molten at some time in its life (Magnesium would float to the surface). The ratios of Iron to Magnesium will also indicate its post molten history.

In addition to C1XS, other instruments will map the moons magnetic anomolies, produce 3 dimensional maps of the surface and drop a probe that will impact in the surface. The probe carries a video camera, mass spectrometer and and an altimeter. It will produce images of the decent along with data about the atmospheric composition of the moon as it plummets towards the surface.

Chandrayaan-1 was launched using a modified version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle , A model of this vehicle is included at the ISM.

The Voyager spacecraft have far exceeded their original goals of studying the outer planets and gone on to feedback some important data about the region called the “Termination Shock”. This is where the Solar wind slows considerably from around 1 million miles per hour to a quarter of a million miles per hour. It is the start of the outer boundary where the Suns influence start to give way to Inter stellar space.

Now, the ibex probe has been launched to investigate some of the phenomena discovered by the Voyager spacecraft and go on to investigate what the Voyager spacecraft can expect to encounter when they reach the Heliopause.  This is the point at which the influence of the Sun is perfectly balanced with the influence of the Inter stellar medium.

The launch of ibex was unusual. Rather than being launched at ground level, it was dropped from a jet and then propelled into Earth orbit aboard a Pegasus rocket.

It makes Enceladus a prime candidate for life beyond Earth. Yet gaining funding to find out for sure is difficult. A mission to investigate potential under-ice liquid water lakes is risky. However, future exploratory missions have been suggested and are in concept stage. If any of them get accepted, it will be at least 2015 before anything concrete is on the table. In the meantime, keep track of Cassini’s current position.

Cassini today - 20081007, 2 Days to Enceladus!

Perhaps Mars Phoenix has been the most media savvy Mars lander ever. Throughout the mission, Phoenix has been twittering to interested subscribers about the day to day goings on during its time on the “red planet”. So successful has been this venture that the lander won a “Twitties” award as the Smartest tweet. Other missions are now following in Phoenix’s tracks (OK, Phoenix has no tracks but that shouldn’t stop the puns), such as Cassini and the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

Phoenix has arguably been one of the most successful missions to Mars ever.  It has far exceeded its original goal of operation for 90 days (Martian days that is).  But as the environment on Mars steadily gets colder, the lander will spend more of its precious energy keeping its instruments warm.  Well before the 3 month period next April when the sun will not rise at the poles on Mars, it will fall silent and the world will miss its day to day escapades.

Today (29th September 2008), after a successful first mission, the Jules Verne freighter (also known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle – ATV), will fire its engines on two separate occasions to decay its current orbit and plunge towards the Pacific Ocean. On board, months of trash from the International Space Station. 4 more missions are currently planned for the $1bn price tag freight container. No one is really sure how much of the spacecraft will reach the Pacific ocean. Most of it should burn up as it re-enters the atmosphere at a whopping 27,360 km/h. There is a small chance though that the craft will reach the ocean, although in pieces. For this reason, an exclusion zone for air and sea traffic has been put around the possible landing area. A model of the ATV is on show at the ISM and a copy of the model is available for purchase in the ISM gift shop.

[Here's one YouTube vid of the spectacular reentry firestreak

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=bvfANdWKJio&feature=PlayList&p=8330EFB431CFDF08&index=3 ]

-Paradox

Congratulations to the Chinese Space Administration for successfully completing its first ever EVA.  Zhai Zhigang, at 42 years old, exited the Forward Orbital Module of the Chinese Shenzhou VII spacecraft today.  The hazardous space walk was completed within 15 minutes of its start and Zhai Zhigang waved the Chinese flag proudly with a shot of Earth in the background.  

A landmark feat for this fledgling space fairing nation.  China is only the third country to mount a manned space mission.  Congratulations from everyone at the ISM.

Watch some of the walk.

[EVA = Extra-Vehicular Activity, or "spacewalk."]

The ISM truly deserves to include the word “International” in its title. For example, in a few days time, China will launch it’s 3rd manned space flight and will include a space walk for the first time. The Shenzhou 7 mission will firmly put China on the map as world class player in the manned spaceflight arena. What’s more, China is so confident of the success of the mission that they have agreed to broadcast live for the whole world to see. If a fraction of the expertise shown by them in organising the recent Olympics is evident, it will be a spectacular event. The fireworks of the opening ceremony will be equalled by the awesome launch of the Long March 2F Rocket.

You haven’t seen the rocket?  Well then you better take a fresh look at the ISM. All the Chang Zheng [Long March] rockets, including the Long March 2F (known as CZ-2F) are on display. You could also be a part of the history by sponsoring one of them!  Want a taste of what it will be like?  Watch the launch of Shenzhou 7.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX-iGLG0gE4