Missing spacecraft discovered on Mars 11 years later

Britain's "Beagle 2" spacecraft, once dubbed "a heroic failure" by the nation's Astronomer Royal, was re-branded "a great success" on Friday for being found on Mars 11 years after it was originally launched in 2003.
Beagle 2, part of a European Space Agency's Mars Express mission searching for extraterrestrial life, had been due to land on Mars on Christmas Day of 2003, but disappeared on December 19, 2003. Until now, nothing had been heard from it. But at a packed news conference at London's Royal Society scientific institution on Friday, space experts said the tiny Mars lander had been found on the surface of the red planet.

"Beagle 2 is no longer lost," said David Parker, chief executive of UK Space Agency. He said recent images from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showed "good evidence" that the spacecraft landed on Mars on the date it was due, but only partially deployed and failed to report its location to the home base.
Reuters
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/902376.shtml
16/1/15
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• The UK-led Beagle-2 Mars lander, which hitched a ride on ESA’s Mars Express mission and was lost on Mars since 2003, has been found in images taken by a NASA orbiter at the Red Planet.

Beagle-2 was released from its mother craft on 19 December 2003 and was due to land six days later. But nothing was heard from the lander after its scheduled touchdown, and searches by Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Odyssey mission were fruitless. 

Now, over a decade later, the lander has been identified in images taken by the high-resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. 

 The lander is seen partially deployed on the surface, showing that the entry, descent and landing sequence worked and it did indeed successfully land on Mars on Christmas Day 2003.................http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Beagle-2_lander_found_on_Mars
16/1/15
 

Service module of China's lunar orbiter enters moon's orbit

The service module of China's unmanned test lunar orbiter successfully decelerated, allowing it to enter an 8-hour orbit on Sunday, according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

Following instructions from the center, the service module conducted the braking at around 3 a.m. and entered the 8-hour elliptical moon orbit with a perilune of about 200 km and an apolune of about 5,300 km.

The spacecraft has sustained balanced energy and is in a sound condition, according to the center, adding that the center exercised timely and stable control and tracing of the service module and relevant tests had been carried out smoothly.

The module will make its second and third braking in the early hours of Jan. 12 and 13 respectively to enable it to enter the target 127-minute orbit for tests to prepare for the next lunar probe mission, Chang'e-5, said center's chief engineer Zhou Jianliang.

"The first braking is the most crucial," Zhou said. "Precise braking must be performed at perilune to prevent it from flying away from the moon."

The lunar orbiter was launched on Oct. 24. The service module was separated from the orbiter's return capsule on Nov. 1, which returned to Earth on Nov. 1 after circling the moon during its eight-day mission.

The service module reached the Earth-Moon second Lagrange Point (L2) in late November and left the L2 point on Jan. 4 after completing all preset scientific detection tasks.

The orbiter is a test run for the final chapter of China's three step lunar program -- orbiting, landing and returning.

The obtaining data and validating re-entry technology will inform the development of Chang'e-5, which is slated for launch around 2017. 
[xinhuanet.com]
11/1/15
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Related:

• China's unmanned lunar orbiter returns home, first in nearly four decades

 

• Reusable moon lander 

• China releases photos taken by Chang'e-3

• Lander and rover ready to perform exploration tasks.

• Full video: Journey to the moon: Yutu separates from lander (3 video)

• China launches probe and rover to moon (video cctvnews)

• China to launch Chang'e-3 lunar probe early Monday (video cctvnews)

Russia to build its own space station

During the coming years, Russia may begin deploying its own high-latitude space station, Kommersant newspaper wrote with reference to a source close to the administration of the Central Research Institute of Machine Engineering. The construction of the station in orbit, the newspaper wrote, is a key aspect of the project for the development of manned space exploration for the period up to 2050. 

At first, an anonymous source in the Federal Space Agency denied the information, saying that there was neither technical nor financial possibility for the realization of the idea. Later, however, deputy head of the agency Denis Lyskov said that there were "various options" considered. 

The project of the Federal Space Program does not provide for the deployment of a new space station in the years 2017-2019. Roscosmos will not be able to provide resources for such a project while implementing obligations under the project of the International Space Station (ISS), Interfax said with reference to a source in the space agency. "This is simply unfeasible both technically and financially," the source told the agency.

However, deputy head of the Federal Space Agency, Denis Lyskov, told TASS that Roscosmos was indeed considering various options to create a new national space station that could replace the ISS. "We are looking at different options, without being attached to one particular option," he said. Lyskov did not unveil any details of the project.

 

The Kommersant said that the Russian station would be built in the period from 2017 to 2019. The initial configuration will be formed on the basis of a multi-purpose laboratory and node modules, spacecraft OKA-T. Soyuz-MS and MS-Progress will maintain the operation of the station. In 2020-2024, energy and transformed modules used in the lunar program would be developed, the article said. According to Interfax, some orbital modules mentioned in the article were designed to supplement the Russian segment of the ISS.

"Roscosmos, as its leaders have repeatedly stated, is interested in extending the operation of the ISS at least before 2020. The resources for the Russian side to abide by obligations under the ISS program are stipulated in the Roscosmos budget. The project of a separate space station will require a much larger allocation of funds. The fact that they will be assigned in today's tense financial situation is unlikely," said the source......................http://english.pravda.ru/science/tech/17-11-2014/129053-russia_space_station-0/

17/11/14

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Related:

• Manned Space Capsule With Three ISS Astronauts Lands in Kazakhstan

• Περιπλανώμενα διαστημικά σκουπίδια απείλησαν τον Διαστημικό Σταθμό

Manned Space Capsule With Three ISS Astronauts Lands in Kazakhstan

A manned space capsule of Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft with a crew of three astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) has landed in Kazakhstan, the Russian Mission Control Center told RIA Novosti Monday.

Maksim Suraev (Roskosmos), Reid Wiseman (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and Alexander Gerst (European Space Agency) have returned to the Earth and are currently being evacuated from the descent vehicle.

"Space generation" of fruit flies will land together with the crew. They were raised as part of the study on the impact of zero gravity on the development of highly organized forms of life and are of particular value for science.

Soyuz spacecraft carrying a trio of crew members docked automatically with the International Space Station on May 29. A Soyuz-FG rocket carrying the Soyuz TMA-13M capsule blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

During their 167-day stay on board the ISS, the astronauts carried out spacewalks and scientific experiments.
(RIA Novosti)
10/11/14
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Related:

• The landing module of the manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-13M with the crew from the International Space Station (ISS) on board landed in Kazakhstan’s steppe at 06:58 a.m. Moscow Time (03:58 a.m. UTC), the Moscow Region-based Mission Control Center said Monday...

One killed, 1 injured in crash of Virgin Galactic spacecraft. More than 800 people have paid or put down deposits to eventually fly aboard the spaceship

A suborbital passenger spaceship being developed by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic company crashed during a test flight on Friday at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, killing one crew member and seriously injuring the other, officials said.
The crash of the vehicle, undergoing its first powered test flight since January over the Mojave Desert, 95 miles (150 km) north of Los Angeles, came days after another commercial space company, Orbital Sciences Inc, lost a rocket in an explosion in Virginia moments after liftoff.

Television footage of the Virgin Galactic crash site showed wreckage of the spacecraft lying in two large pieces on the ground, and the company said the spacecraft was destroyed.
The co-pilot of the spaceship was killed in the crash, while the pilot, who ejected, was injured, Kern County Sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said. The pilot was found at the scene and taken to a local hospital, he said.

More than 800 people have paid or put down deposits to eventually fly aboard the spaceship, which is carried to an altitude of about 45,000 feet and released. The spaceship then fires its rocket motor to catapult it to about 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, giving passengers a view of the planet set against the blackness of space and a few minutes of weightlessness.

The vehicle is based on a prototype, SpaceShipOne, which 10 years ago won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for becoming the first privately developed manned spacecraft to fly in space.
"During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo," Virgin said in a tweet, adding: "We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident and provide updates ASAP."
The crash was the second accident this week involving a commercial US space company. On Tuesday, an Antares rocket built and launched by Orbital Sciences exploded 15 seconds after liftoff from Wallops Island, Virginia, destroying a cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.

In May, Virgin Galactic and spaceship developer Scaled Composites, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp, switched to an alternative plastic-type of fuel grain for the hybrid rocket motor.

The crash was a major setback for Virgin Galactic, a U.S. offshoot of billionaire Branson's London-based Virgin Group. SpaceShipTwo, a six-passenger, two-pilot spacecraft is aiming to make the world's first commercial suborbital space flights.

Other companies developing passenger suborbital spacecraft include privately owned XCOR Aerospace, which is building a two-person spaceplane called Lynx, and Blue Origin, a startup space company owned by Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos.
Virgin Galactic also plans to use its White Knight Two carrier jets to launch small satellites and payloads into orbit.
 [buenosairesherald.com]
31/10/14
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Related:

• One person was killed and a second person seriously injured on Friday in the crash of a Virgin Galactic passenger spaceship during a test flight in the Mojave Desert in California, CNN and CNBC reported, citing the California Highway Patrol...

• U.S. rocket explodes seconds after launch (video)

U.S. rocket explodes seconds after launch (video)

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The Antares rocket carrying the company's Cygnus spacecraft blew up seconds after its liftoff at 6:22 p.m. EDT (2222 GMT) from U.S. space agency NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia.


"There has been a vehicle anomaly. We will update as soon as we are able," Orbital tweeted.

TV footage showed flames rising into the sky. The cause of the explosion remains unclear.

Orbital Sciences Corp. said no one was believed to have been injured and the damage seems to be limited to the facilities.

Cygnus is carrying 5,050 pounds (2,290 kilograms) of supplies for its third cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.
[cntv.cn]
29/10/14
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•  La capsule Cygnus doit partir lundi pour ravitailler l'ISS...

• Unmanned US rocket Antares explodes during launch ...