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The personal blog of me, Tim Trott. What I get up to, photography, news and so on.
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Monday 7th May 2007
When I first heard about this new rocket I thought, Meh! just another rocket that we won’t see again. That was until I saw the movie of the test firing - WOW! Thats COOL!
It’s only a small clip, but its worth watching. You can download it from the NASA website:
.After seeing the video I read a bit more about the engine, and this is defiantly a rocket that we’ll be seeing again soon.
Conventional rocket engines burn liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, or some other solid fuel. These require lots of storage space (look at the size of the fuel tank on the space shuttle!) In any manned space flight with conventional engines you would need to carry your fuel to the destination and enough for the return trip. That is a lot of fuel.
Here is the exciting bit: This new engine uses Methane (CH4) as a fuel, a chemical that can be found in abundance on planets such as Mars, Jupiter and Titan. This means that any spacecraft leaving Earth will be able to refuel at the destination. This dramatically decreases launch mass, operational costs and the need for such massive fuel tanks.
This is only a proof of concept design very early in development cycle, but even so this little rocket engine generated 7500 pounds of thrust. For comparison, a Harrier Jump Jet produces 21,000 pounds and the Space Shuttle SRB’s about 2,800,000 pounds each.
A lot of work is still needed for this to be a viable rocket for space travel, but it does look extremely promising.
View the complete NASA press release here.
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This post is filed under NASA by Lonewolf at 4:38pm
Monday 23rd April 2007
NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) satellites have provided the first three-dimensional images of the sun. For the first time, scientists will be able to see structures in the sun’s atmosphere in three dimensions. The new view will greatly aid scientists’ ability to understand solar physics and there by improve space weather forecasting.
The STEREO spacecraft were launched October 25, 2006. On January 21 they completed a series of complex maneuvers, including flying by the moon, to position the spacecraft in their mission orbits. The two observatories are now orbiting the sun, one slightly ahead of Earth and one slightly behind, separating from each other by approximately 45 degrees per year. Just as the slight offset between a person’s eyes provides depth perception, the separation of spacecraft allow 3-D images of the sun.
STEREO’s first 3-D images are being provided by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and can be viewed on the NASA website. You will need some 3d glasses to get the best experience. The glasses need to be Red on the left, blue on the right in case you wish to make your own.
This image is a smaller version of one of the images that can be found on the NASA website.
Attached Thumbnails
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This post is filed under Astronomy, Astrophotography, NASA by Lonewolf at 5:25pm
