lecture 5

Question 1

Europa mission

what it is, how long, purpose, what it will launch on,

Answer 1

• will be a 6 year journey; 2030
• is enroute to jupiter to examine europa
• europa clipper is designed to examine europa for life under icy surface
  
  • looking for the precursors of life (amino acids, dna stuff)
• clipper is as big as a basketball court
  
  • need to be this big because its very far and requires need a lot of energy → electricty to power spacecraft
  • launch will be on a spacex falcon heavy rocket
  • biggest launch in history

Question 2

Characteristics of Europa

Answer 2

• one of the four Gallilean moons orbiting Jupiter; smallest of the four
• close in size with our moon
• europa is covered in ice; being heated (water) beneath causing cracks on surface
• more water in europa then the entirety of earth
• believed to contain a warm, sub-surface ocean
  
  • 2 - 3 x more voluminous and warmer bc of tidal heat (friction)
  • tidal effects come from jupiter

Question 3

challenges of getting to/near jupiter

Answer 3

• jupiter has a very harsh amount radiation
  
  • cooks electronics; must be space hardened to get there
  • keplers second law;closer to sun=faster
    
    • applies to satellites
    • satelite will be very squashed
      
      • spend a min amt of time near the radiation field
      • protects electronics
      • will do this the whole time its there; pass by europa multiple times
      • have not done this in years (juno)
  • also launching juice(?) to explore europa to find life

Question 4

Earths rings?

Answer 4

• terrestrial planets (earth) were thought to not able to have rings
  
  • maybe earth had a small ring system for 466 million years
  • didnt think earth was strong enough
  • they are now thinking this happened to earth; obviously did not last, de orbited
  • likely a small asteroid (15km) that was gravitationally disrupted, and its debris when into orbit
    
    • it lasted for 40 million years
    • the evidence
      
      • unusually large numbers of cratering events occurred on earth around the equator over a 40 million year period
      • minor planets can possess rings
        
        • are centuarus with orbits between saturn and uranus

Question 5

How are rings made anyway?

Answer 5

• a ring is created when an asteroid gets torn apart my gravity + debris went into orbit
  
  • if u get a small rock that goes into orbit; gets torn apart by differential gravitational force
  • debris of these asteroids circle the planet making rings
  • happens often with jupiter and saturn
• moons gravity creates tides

Question 6

what was the space age?

when it began, what it is, why it happened

Answer 6

• 1957-1970s ish
• soviet union vs. USA; race to moon
• materials required were being collected by both countries
• needed to learn more about the moon
  
  • how solid surface was in order to understand if landing was possible
  • Arthur Clarke highlights this concern in his book “a fall of moondust”

Question 7

What are the main lunar missions?

Answer 7

• Luna (soviet)
• Ranger (USA)
• Surveyor (NASA)
• Lunar Orbiter (NASA)
• APOLLO 12 and SURVEYOR 3
  - returned space stuff to earth from the moon
  - firgured out the moon was solid

Question 8

Spin-offs

what is it, what are they?

Answer 8

• basically during the process of developing hardward for LEO, other things on earth improved aswell
  
  • telecommunication satellites; geostationary orbit + worldwide communication was becoming easier
  • weather was being predicted (weather satellites)
  • we now know how important mass is
    
    • more mass = more energy
  • computers were being downsized; was necessary for space, and benefited us (phones, and computers)

Question 9

2 instinces of space race casualties

Answer 9

• APOLLO 1; mid 1960s (NASA)
  
  • rocket containts a lot amount of fuel; energy
  • finally wanted to test drive people in LEO; needed more powerful rockets
  • first apollo mission (1967)
    
    • dress rehearsal on the ground
    • a fire broke out during this; entire cabin was full of O2
      
      • took 2 min to open capusle
      • first casualties of space race
      • all 3 astronauts died without seconds
        
        • Gus Grissom
        • Ed White
        • Roger Chaffee
• SOYUZ 1 (Soviet union)
  
  • had problems coming back from orbit (1967)
    
    • ; cosmonaut died on impact after malfunctions
    • first space flight fatality

Question 10

Final ‘lap’ of space race

Answer 10

• the tragic events (deaths) lead to significant changes
  
  • Apollo 7 launched 1986 (first crewed mission)
  • Soyuz 3 launched
• soviet union did not have the capabilities to reach moon
  
  • the return of human spaceflight (apollo 7)
  • USA automatically won; had saturn v
  • landed on moon in 1969
    -

Question 11

Saturn v rocket

what it was, who made it, what are its properites

Answer 11

• 1967-1973
• • flew 13 times
    
    • flew perfectly
• 3-stage, liquid fueled rocket
• only rocket that carried humans beyond earths orbit
  
  • most powerful until recently
• Soviets union equivelent to saturn v (N1)
  
  • never flew successfully
  • was cancelled mid 1970s
• only part that comes back is the crew part
• stoof 111m tall, 10m diameter
  
  • weighed 2.9 million kg
• 3million N (7.5 million lb)
• delivers 140,000kg into LEO, 43k into lunar orbit
• only launcher to date that carried humans beyond earths orbit

Question 12

First humans on the moon

Answer 12

• humans have walked on the moon, and will happen again soon
• 6 successful missions that had 12 people be on moon
  
  • Apollo 11
    
    • Neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, and micheal collins
    • they were told to sleep for 8 hours before walking on moon
      
      • they ignored it

Question 13

what was the Apollo Legacy (11-17)?

Answer 13

• left instruments on the moon to study the moon
  
  • brought rocks back for analysis
  • detected solar wind
    
    • auroral activity
  • Apollo 13 was supposed to get to moon but failed
    
    • service module blew up; o2 tanks smth happened; fire boom
    • NASAS most successful failure
• Apollo 17 had a geologist fly to moon and walk on it
• NASA was going to create a settlement; will occur soon
  
  • we have not gone back to moon since 1972 with humans

Question 14

What did the soviet union do first?

Answer 14

• sample return mission
  
  • steal excitement from apollo (get things from moon to analyze)
  • LUNA 15 crashed into moon
  • LUNA 16 successfully returned to earth with lunar soil in 1970
• soviet union was good at launching rovers to moon and bringing samples back
• were not crewed missions
  
  • LUNA 17
    
    • delivered lunokhod 1 to moons surface
    • operated for 322 days travelled 10.5 km
  • LUNA 21
    
    • delivered lunokhod 2 to moons surface
    • operated for 122 days, and travelled 14 km

Question 15

overview of venus’ planetary exploration

Answer 15

• started sending uncrewed vehicles to mars and venus
• soviet union very interested in venus
  
  • flew many things to venus
  • was expected to be like earth; its comparable in size
    
    • surface of venus was 475 degrees, and pressure of 90x earths, and full of CO2
    • covered in clouds
• first succesful soft landing was with venera 7; survived 53 minutes
• very few missions over the more recent decades