Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 435

Elon Musk held an AMA or "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit, where he answered questions strictly related to SpaceX, and not his other companies. The session came almost a month after his presentation at the International Astronautical Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico on September 27th, where he gave details about SpaceX's plans for the colonization of Mars.

Many users wanted to know about the rockets that SpaceX will use to get first people to Mars and Interplanetary Transport System. Musk pointed out that the ITS is designed for a maximum acceleration of 20 Gs, but the spaceship would be limited to around 5 G's nominal, but able to take peak loads 2 to 3 times higher without breaking up.

Musk also believes that the Falcon 9 rockets will be used indefinitely.

Elon Musk will host an AMA or "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit today, October 23rd, at 6 PM EDT (3 PM PDT). Standard subreddit rules will apply in the AMA thread and the users have been warned to follow the rules and not to ask questions already submitted.

The questions and answers will be on the SpaceX subreddit, meaning you can ask questions related to SpaceX, and not Tesla Motors or SolarCity. Musk also pointed out that he will be answering SpaceX related questions.

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos have arrived at the International Space Station after a two-day trip.

Their Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft docked with the Station's Poisk module at 5:52 AM EDT. When hatches between the Soyuz and Space Station opened at 8:20 AM EDT, the three crew members joined Expedition 49 Commander Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Kate Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, who have been aboard ISS since July. The International Space Station now has six occupants.

Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, and Borisenko will spend a little more than four months aboard the Space Station, and their return to Earth is scheduled for late February. The crew members will contribute to more than 250 research experiments ongoing aboard the space station, in diverse fields such as biology, Earth Science, human research, physical sciences and technology development.

After more than 12 years studying Saturn, its rings and moons, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has entered the final year of its epic voyage. The conclusion of the historic scientific odyssey is planned for September 2017.

Now, the Cassini spacecraft revealed dramatic seasonal changes in the atmospheric temperature and composition of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The images show a vortex in the upper atmosphere over the south pole. Cassini also discovered gasses in this vortex that are otherwise quite rare in Titan's atmosphere.

Athena Coustenis, a member of Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer team at the Observatoire de Paris, explained the importance of this discovery.

The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), which is in Mars' orbit, received the data sent from Schiaparelli lander, the ESA confirmed on Wednesday. However, the fate of the Schiaparelli lander, named after the Italian astronomer from the 19th century, is currently still unknown.

Early indications from both the radio signals captured by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), an experimental telescope array located near Pune, India, and from orbit by ESA's Mars Express, suggested the module had successfully completed most steps of its 6-minute descent through the Martian atmosphere. But the signals stopped shortly before the module was expected to touch down on the surface. It is still unclear if the Schiaparelli lander survived the landing or crashed.

"Following yesterday's events we have an impressive orbiter around Mars ready for science and relay support for the ExoMars rover mission in 2020," said Jan Wörner, ESA's Director General.

The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) of ESA's ExoMars 2016 has successfully performed the long 139-minute burn required to be captured by Mars and entered an elliptical orbit around the Red Planet.

The TGO is now on its planned orbit around Mars, accompanied by the 13-year old Mars Express orbiter.

Two Chinese astronauts arrived at the space lab Tiangong-2 and began the longest Chinese mission in space. Astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will spend 30 days in space, conducting many experiments.

The spacecraft Shenzou-11 has successfully docked with the uncrewed Tiangong-2 space lab on Tuesday at 3:24 p.m. EDT, at an altitude of 393 kilometers (244 miles), after Monday's launch from the Jiuquan space center managed by the Chinese army on the border with the Gobi desert.

The Chinese state television broadcast a three-hour live video showing the landing and astronauts floating trough a meter long and 80 centimeters wide passenger passage which they had to go trough in order to get to the space lab. Haipeng and Dong will spend the next 30 days doing experiments, and their return to Earth is scheduled for November 14th.

The Soyuz MS-02 successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 4:05 AM EDT Wednesday, October 19. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are now safely in orbit.

Over the next two days, they will orbit the Earth 34 times before docking to the Space Station's module on Friday, October 21. The two cosmonauts and an astronaut are a part of ISS Expedition 49, and upon their arrival at the Station, they will be welcomed by the rest of the members - Anatoli Ivanishin, Kathleen Rubins and Takuya Onishi, who arrived at the Station in July.

Orbital ATK successfully launched their Antares rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station on Monday evening. The initial launch was set for October 16th, but it was postponed due to a ground support equipment (GSE) cable that did not perform as expected during the pre-launch checkout.

This is the first flight on the upgraded Antares 230 launch vehicle, and the first launch from Wallops since an Antares rocket and its Cygnus spacecraft were lost in October 2014, when the rocket failed, and the vehicle and payload were destroyed causing $15 million in damage.

"It's great to see launches to the International Space Station happening again from the Virginia coast - and it shows what can be accomplished with a close partnership of federal and state agencies, along with the U.S. industry, all working together," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Astronaut Reid Wiseman spent 165 days in space, on the International Space Station. Wiseman took part in his first spaceflight as part of the crew of Expedition 40/41, which launched to the International Space Station on May 28, 2014, and returned on November 10, 2014.

In the latest video, published by NASA, Wiseman responded to numerous questions about his experience in space. The video lasts only one minute, but in it Wiseman answers some very interesting questions about life 400 kilometers above Earth.

Weisman discovered where astronauts go to the toilet, how much they exercise, wash their laundry and what was his favorite food. Check the full video below.