Chinese Shenzhou craft launches on key space mission

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent,
BBC News

The Shenzhou 8 spacecraft is lifted into orbit by a Long March 2F rocket

China has taken the next step in its quest to become a major space power with the launch of the unmanned Shenzhou 8 vehicle.

The spacecraft rode a Long March 2F rocket into orbit where it will attempt to rendezvous and dock with the Tiangong-1 lab, launched in September.

It would be the first time China has joined two space vehicles together.

The capability is required if the country is to carry through its plan to build a space station by about 2020.

The Long March carrier rocket lifted away from the Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert at 05:58, Tuesday (21:58 GMT Monday). TV cameras relayed the ascent to orbit.

 

It will be a couple of days before Shenzhou 8 is in a position to attempt the docking

 

Shenzhou separated from the rocket's upper-stage about nine minutes into the flight. Confirmation that its solar panels had been deployed was received a short while after.

It will be a couple of days before Shenzhou is in a position to attempt the docking, which will occur some 340km above the Earth.

The vehicles will be using radar and optical sensors to compute their proximity to each other and guide their final approach and contact.

The pair will then spend 12 days circling the globe together before moving apart and attempting a re-docking. Finally, Shenzhou 8 will detach and its return capsule will head back to Earth.
 
This will allow experiments carried into orbit to be recovered for analysis. The German space agency has supplied an experimental box containing fish, plants, worms, bacteria and even human cancer cells for a series of biological studies.

• Tiangong-1 was launched in September on a Long March 2F rocket
• The unmanned laboratory unit was put in a 350km-high orbit
• Shenzhou 8 will will try to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1
• The project will test key technologies such as life-support systems
• China aims to start building a 60-tonne space station by about 2020

Assuming the venture goes well, two manned missions (Shenzhou 9 and 10) are likely to try to make similar dockings in 2012.

 

Shenzhou 8 carries experiments developed with the German space agency

 

Chinese astronauts - yuhangyuans - are expected to live aboard the conjoined vehicles for up to two weeks. There is speculation in the Chinese media that one of these missions could also include the country's first female yuhangyuan.

The 10.5m-long Tiangong-1 module was launched on 29 September and has been operating well, according to Chinese officials.

Its orbit has been lowered slightly and the vehicle turned 180 degrees in preparation for its upcoming union with Shenzhou 8.

Beijing sees the Tiangong and Shenzhou dockings as the next phase in its step-by-step approach to acquiring the skills of human spaceflight operations.

It is a learning curve China hopes will eventually lead to the construction of a space station, starting at the end of the decade.

At about 60 tonnes in mass, this future station would be considerably smaller than the 400-tonne international platform operated by the US, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan, but its mere presence in the sky would nonetheless represent a remarkable achievement.

 

Tiangong-1 was launched in September

Concept drawings describe a core module weighing some 20-22 tonnes, flanked by two slightly smaller laboratory vessels.

Officials say it would be supplied by freighters in exactly the same way that robotic cargo ships keep the International Space Station (ISS) today stocked with fuel, food, water, air, and spare parts.

China is investing billions of dollars in its space programme. It has a strong space science effort under way, with two orbiting satellites having already been launched to the Moon and a third mission expected to put a rover on the lunar surface.

Next week should see its first Mars orbiter - Yinghuo-1 - begin its journey to the Red Planet.

The Asian country is also deploying its own satellite-navigation system known as BeiDou-Compass.
Bigger rockets are coming, too. The Long March 5 will be capable of putting more than 20 tonnes in a low-Earth orbit. This lifting muscle, again, will be necessary for the construction of a space station.

SpaceX readies November launch to International Space Station

Matthew Lynley

From: http://venturebeat.com/

inShare

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), run by Tesla Motors chief executive and PayPal mafioso Elon Musk, is looking at a November launch for its second private space flight to the International Space Station.
It’s one of the first of several launches for the company as part of a 12-flight cargo mission to supply the International Space Station now that the U.S. space shuttle program has ended. SpaceX secured $1.6 billion in funding to run the mission.

“I think it’s a really exciting time for space, because for the first time in several decades we had a very real prospect of fielding multiple human space vehicles,” Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides told VentureBeat. “That’s good for the U.S., it encourages innovation and also provides more than one option, which means it’s more reliable.”

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently discussing developing an in-line, disposable space vehicle that would put between 70 and 130 tons of cargo into orbit. Those rockets are primarily planned for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, Whitesides said. But there’s plenty of room for a company to handle cargo missions and sub-orbital travel, he said.

There’s also room for companies that specialize in space tourism, like Virgin Galactic. That company sells tickets for flights in sub-orbital paths above the Earth for around $200,000, while there are companies in Russia that sell tickets for orbital flights for around $65 million each ticket.

“My sense is that we’ll (Virgin Galactic) be the next american company that sends humans into space,” he said. “Obviously it’s sub-orbital versus orbital, but I think our general expectation whether it’s sub-orbital or orbital is that over time prices will come down.”

SpaceX is one of two companies NASA has contracted to fly cargo missions to the International Space Station now that the shuttle program has ended. NASA has also contracted Orbital Sciences to launch cargo missions to the space station.

SpaceX has raised $500 million from investors and $300 million in funding from NASA. The company was the first to send a private space capsule into orbit and bring it back to Earth in December.

SpaceX Reveals The Falcon Heavy, The Most Powerful Rocket Since The Mighty Saturn V

by Matt Burns
from http://www.crunchgear.com/

SpaceX teased the world last week with some rocket pr0n that hinted that the company was finally ready to reveal its Falcon Heavy mega rocket. Well, that’s what the company did minutes ago in a Washington DC press conference. World, meet the Falcon Heavy. She might take us back to the Moon.






The Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful and capable launch platform. At 52,000 kg the payload capability is nearly double that of the current heavy lifter, the Space Shuttle and its 24,400 kg carrying capacity. This super strength is thanks to a three banks of nine engines that combine to generate 17 MN (3,800,000 lb) of thrust at liftoff. SpaceX claims that the three core design makes the Falcon Heavy as powerful as a three stage rocket. (Like the Saturn V) Cross-feeding propellant from the side boosters leaves the center core the majority of the fuel even after the two boosters separate. This function is optional and can be disabled for lower-mass launches.

While impressive, it’s still half as powerful as the 44-year old Saturn V’s 7,648,000 lb record. Still, SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk stated that it’s powerful enough to send man back to the Moon and it very well do just that since the the Falcon Heavy complies with NASA’s human rating standards. The Falcon Heavy is expected to blast off for the first time in 2012. Space just got exciting again. [SpaceX]

25 Pictures Of Rockets Being Launched

From: http://www.bannedinhollywood.com/

The title is a little deceptive in that there are certainly other weapons being fired in some of these images. Nonetheless, I found these images stunning, and the title, fitting enough.

No comedy today folks… enjoy these 20 mindbending images.

Testing Largest Solid Rocket, NASA Outdoes All Homemade Flamethrower Videos

Posted by videodrome

From: http://motherboard.tv/

Today, on a hillside in Promontory, Utah, NASA and its contractor ATK Aerospace Systems successfully completed a two-minute, full-scale test of the largest and most powerful solid rocket motor ever designed for flight.

But the motor has nowhere to go. Borrowed from the nearly extinct Space Shuttle system, which uses solid rocket boosters to get to space, the latest rocket was originally intended for the Constellation program, whose future has been cast in doubt by the Obama administration. And now critics are raising more questions than ever about the wisdom of using solid rockets, which are considered expensive and inapplicable to other uses.

But they are generally lighter than liquid fuel, and they’re proven to work. As the New York Times explains, solid rockets have a long history, dating back to the gunpowder-packed rockets invented by the Chinese perhaps a millennium ago. Solid rocket fuel is a mix of aluminum, ammonium perchlorate, a polymer called polybutadiene acrylonitrile, epoxy and iron oxide poured into cylindrical steel casings 12 feet wide, where it hardens into the consistency of a pencil eraser. Burning the fuel expels hot gases that generate thrust. A lot of thrust.

And for a moment, all of these crazy kids shut up.

The World's Largest Amateur Rocket Is Almost as Tall as a V-2

From: http://gizmodo.com/

Unlike wood-based models, the Heat 1X is a real metal rocket. At more than 9 meters high, it's also the largest amateur rocket in the world. The guys building it are planning one almost as large as the V-2.

They call themselves Copenhagen Suborbitals, and they operate from an abandoned shipyard in the outskirts of the Danish capital. This group of nutters rolled out their Heat 1X engine last Sunday. The image above puts it next to their planned beasts and the first ballistic missile ever: The German V-2.

These are the same guys who built a submarine last year, which makes me fear they are probably planning to build a cruise missile and pacify some hostile territory. Like New Jersey. [Something Awful]

Send an email to Jesus Diaz, the author of this post, at jesus@gizmodo.com.

Red Tires and Rockets: 1928 Opel Motoclub is awesomely insane

from: http://www.autoblog.com/

by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Back in the early 1900s, Fritz von Opel, grandson of Opel founder Adam Opel, was enamored with rocket propulsion. As the company's director of testing and the man in charge publicity, Opel had quite an outlet to fulfill his rocket-powered fantasies. Hence, the 1928 Opel Motoclub you see above.

The example showcased so beautifully here doesn't happen to have rockets attached to it, but a number of Motoclubs apparently did, as seen on the right. The 500cc single-cylinder engine could reportedly push the silver-and-red Opel motorcycle up to about 75 miles per hour, after which a foot pedal lit the rockets, sending the bike to a calculated top speed of 132 mph.

Sadly (or perhaps fortunately?), the German government forbade Opel from conducting a world-record top speed attempt, fearing that such a run on two wheels couldn't possibly be safe. The good news, though, is that decent examples of the Opel Motoclub can still be found from time to time, minus the six solid-fuel rockets, of course. Sounds like a good DIY weekend project, no?

[Source: Bike EXIF]

Chinese Rocket Fly-by

Chinese Rocket Fly-by - Watch more Funny Videos

A Chinese made rocket is launched within just a few miles of this commercial airliner and is caught on tape by one of the passengers.

Defiant N Korea launches rocket

North Korea's neighbours have strongly condemned the rocket launch

North Korea has defied international warnings and gone ahead with a controversial rocket launch.

State media said a satellite had been put into orbit and was transmitting data and revolutionary songs.

But there has been no independent confirmation so far. The US, Japan and South Korea suspect the launch was a cover for a long-range missile test.

They strongly condemned the launch. The US president told Pyongyang to "refrain from further provocative actions".

See satellite images of North Korea's launch pad

"North Korea broke the rules once more by testing a rocket that could be used for a long-range missile," Mr Obama told a crowd in the Czech capital, Prague.

"This provocation underscores the need for action - not just this afternoon at the UN Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons."

Obama condemns North Korea launch

Japan called the move "extremely regrettable", while South Korea said it constituted a clear breach of a United Nations resolution.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said North Korea's actions were not conducive to regional stability, as did the European Union.

China and Russia both called on all sides to act with restraint, while the UK urged North Korea to immediately halt all missile-related activity.

The UN Security Council has approved a Japanese request for an emergency session.

Washington, Tokyo and Seoul regard the launch as a clear violation of Security Council resolution 1718 adopted in October 2006, which bans North Korea from carrying out ballistic missile activity.

No intercept

North Korea announced several weeks ago that it planned to send what it called an "experimental communications satellite" into space from the Musudan-ri launch site in the north-east.

The three-stage rocket blasted off just before midday local time, within a pre-announced launch window.

North Korea's missile programme Reaction to North Korea launch

It flew over Japan towards the Pacific, with two booster stages dropping into the ocean to the east and west of Japan, Tokyo said.

Japan said it had not tried to intercept the rocket. It had indicated it would do so if the rocket threatened its territory.

North Korea says the launch is part of what it calls peaceful space development.

"Our scientists and engineers have succeeded in sending satellite 'Kwangmyongsong-2' into orbit by way of carrier rocket 'Unha-2'," state news agency KCNA reported.

It added that it was transmitting data and the "Song of General Kim Il-sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong-il" - references to the late founder of North Korea and his son, the current leader.

HAVE YOUR SAY

For those of you who claim that North Korea has the right to test rockets... O.K... but how you feel about one coming over your country without permission being given... get real!

Richard, Kobe, Japan

In a previous satellite launch attempt in 1998, North Korea said it was sending up a device that would orbit the world transmitting revolutionary melodies.

It claimed this was also successful but the launch is believed to have been a failure as no trace of the satellite was ever found.

Earlier on Sunday, an unidentified South Korean official told Yonhap news agency that the rocket did appear to be carrying a satellite.

If confirmed, North Korea will see this as a major propaganda victory, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul.

A White House spokesman said there would be an assessment by defence and intelligence officials later in the day.

US within range?

But of more concern to Pyongyang's neighbours is the potential military use of the launch vehicle, our correspondent says.

They believe the real aim of the launch was to test long-range missile technology; specifically the Taepodong-2.

They believe it could put parts of the US within the communist nation's military reach.

North Korea first tested a Taepodong-2 in July 2006. It failed less than a minute after lift-off.

Three months later, Pyongyang carried out a nuclear test.

International talks involving the US, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China on an aid-for-nuclear disarmament deal are currently stalled.