Chinese lunar rover and lander prepare for 14 days of frigid night on the moon

China has been successful so far in its first mission to the moon. The Chinese launched their moon mission, which landed on the moon on December 14. Both the Yutu Rover and the Chang'e-3 lander have functioned as designed so far. One of the biggest tests for both the pieces of Chinese equipment is set to begin soon.


Night on the moon is very harsh and a full lunar night lasts 14 earth days. The temperatures on the moon can get as low as -180 degrees during the lunar night. The problem is that temperatures that cold can damage the sensitive electronics inside the Chinese lander and rover.

To help prevent any damage from the frigid lunar night, the Chinese equipment will go into hibernation mode. The lander and the rover went into hibernation mode shortly after landing to avoid damage from direct solar radiation, and survived. The Chinese tested the rovers to the best of their ability while on Earth, but the real challenge comes in the incredibly cold temperatures on the surface of the moon during the lunar night.

The only way to know if the Chinese probes have made it through the cold lunar night, is if they start back up when it's over. To help keep the sensitive electronics from getting too cold, both the lander and the rover have a radioisotopic heat source inside a sealed compartment to keep the electronics at a temperature of 40C. Both probes should start back up on January 12, 2014.




SOURCE: InventorSpot

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HD cameras installed on ISS for Russia/Canada study

The International Space Station is seeing quite a bit of activity this Christmas week, with today’s action surrounding the installation of two high-fidelity cameras. This installation was initiated under Expedition 38 and executed by Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). This mission happens just three days after a US-based expedition (as seen in the hero image of this article) to replace faulty water pumps on the station.

While no images taken with these high fidelity cameras have yet been shared by the groups, it’s suggested that a commercial arrangement between Roscosmos and a Canadian company are behind the push. This installation of two cameras has been made to downlink Earth observation imagery.

This Russian mission is the last of six Russian spacewalks planned for the year 2013. Mike Hopkins, Expedition 38 Flight Engineer, took part in the faulty water pump replacement along with NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio. You’ll see Mastracchio in the reflection on the shield of the helmet of Hopkins in the image attached to this article.

According to Roscosmos, Kotov is walking through space for his fifth time while Ryazanskiy is walking for his second time. Together they’re installing one medium resolution camera (MRC) and one high resolution camera (HRC) as well as holding photographing screen-vacuum thermal insulation to the outer surface of the ISS.





VIA: NASA, ROSCOSMOS

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'NASA' orders urgent spacewalk to repair space station

NASA has ordered up a series of urgent spacewalks to fix a broken cooling line at the International Space Station, a massive repair job that could stretch to Christmas Day.

Station managers decided Tuesday to send two American astronauts out as soon as possible to replace a pump with a bad valve. The task will require two and possibly three spacewalks on Saturday, Monday and next Wednesday — Christmas Day.

"The next week will be busy with spacewalks so not much tweeting from here," NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio said from space via Twitter soon after the decision was announced.

The spacewalks are taking priority over the launch of a supply ship from Virginia. The commercial delivery had been scheduled for this week, but is now delayed until at least mid-January.

U.S.-led spacewalks have been on hold since July, when an Italian astronaut almost drowned because of water that leaked into his helmet.

NASA hopes to wrap up the pump swap in two spacewalks and not have to do a third on Christmas Day. Astronauts have ventured outside of their spaceship on Dec. 25 only once, way back in 1973 during Skylab, America's first space station. Shuttle astronauts finished a series of spacewalks on the Hubble Space Telescope on Christmas Eve 1999.


Half of the space station's cooling system shut down last Wednesday, forcing the six-man crew to turn off all nonessential equipment, including some science experiments. Because of the valve failure, one of the two cooling lines became too cold.

The cooling system, which runs ammonia through the lines, is critical for dispelling heat generated by on-board equipment.

While the astronauts are safe and comfortable, NASA wants the system back up to full strength, in case of another failure that could leave the orbiting outpost even more vulnerable than it is right now.

Flight controllers tried in vain to fix the valve remotely, then came up with a plan to use another valve to regulate the temperature. Some success was reported, and for a while, engineers thought the space station could limp along with this short-term solution. But on Tuesday, managers opted for spacewalks right now. Spare pumps are on board.

This is the same pump — a bulky 780-pound bundle — that was replaced by spacewalking astronauts in 2010. Three spacewalks were needed then. The lessons learned may enable Mastracchio and astronaut Michael Hopkins to finish the job more quickly.

Mastracchio, a veteran spacewalker, and Hopkins, a first-time space flier, trained for just such a repair before rocketing into orbit. They have been prepping all week, just in case of just such a decision.

"Have not looked out the window in 4 days," Mastracchio said in a tweet. "Too busy building space suits. Where did I put my gloves?"

The investigation into last summer's suit mishap continues; the problem is believed to be linked to a component in the cooling system for the suit. Other suits will be used for the upcoming spacewalks.

Orbital Sciences Corp., meanwhile, will stand down from its planned Thursday night launch of its Cygnus cargo ship from Wallops Island, Va.

Thes pace station crew includes three Russians and one Japanese, aside from the two Americans. An unrelated Russian spacewalk planned for Dec. 27 remains on track.



SOURCE: NBC News

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China's Jade 'Rabbit Moon' rover sends back first photos

China’s Chang’e-3 lander and Jade Rabbit rover launched Dec. 1 and landed on the moon yesterday without incident, and now we’re getting footage of the event. The photos and videos show the moon up close and personal. We’re also seeing shots of both robots on the moon, apparently in full working order.

Chang’e-3 soft-landed on the lunar surface yesterday evening at 9:00 p.m. Beijing time. Below is a video of the lander’s controlled descent from the top-down perspective. Each pockmark of the moon is visible.

The pair waited a few hours before the rover rolled out at 4:35 a.m. Beijing time. Its exit was slow and careful as per the mission design. Check out the video footage below. The audio is keyed into mission control, where you can hear their applause of the team near the end of the reel.

The robots took some photos of each other for your higher-resolution enjoyment. The top image of this article is of the lander as taken by the rover. The one below is the reverse case. The images were released by China’s Beijing Aerospace Control Center today. They come to us here by way of the BBC.



SOURCE: BBC

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NASA’s ISS 'Robonaut' 2 will soon have a pair of legs

Robots might not be at a Terminator level of sophistication, but the technology is growing rapidly, and NASA has revealed what it calls “another milestone” in humanoid space robotics: legs for the Robonaut 2, more commonly called R2. The agency’s engineers are presently working on the climbing legs, which will give the robot a new degree of mobile freedom, enabling it to perform more tasks than currently possible.

For now, the Robonaut 2 is attached to a support pillar, which you can see in the image above, giving it a degree of mobility while it is tested on the International Space Station, where it has been since early 2011. The new legs, which appear similar in design to the arms and don’t so much have feet as they do forward-flexing appendages, will allow the robot to do more both inside and outside of the ISS.

The development is being funded by the space agency’s Human Exploration and Operations and Space Technology mission directorates. Lending a bit of functionality akin to that of its partial namesake, the foot-like appendages have end effectors, which allow it to utilize sockets both inside and outside of the ISS, as well as handrails. The legs have a total span of 9-feet, and each leg has seven joints.

Said NASA’s associate administrator for space technology in Washington Michael Gazarik: “NASA has explored with robots for more than a decade, from the stalwart rovers on Mars to R2 on the station. Our investment in robotic technology development is helping us to bolster productivity by applying robotics technology and devices to fortify and enhance individual human capabilities, performance and safety in space.”



SOURCE: NASA
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