home epics Heavy interplanetary ships for long-distance flights. Space Launch Dates Planned Deep Space Launches

Heavy interplanetary ships for long-distance flights. Space Launch Dates Planned Deep Space Launches

Anyone who dreams of seeing humans travel to Mars will be delighted to hear what NASA has to say about the progress on the ship that will take us there. The Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule are "coming together," NASA said. The agency has provided a rough schedule for seeing two spacecraft in the sky. An unmanned test flight is tentatively scheduled for 2020, and a manned mission around the moon is scheduled for 2023.

NASA is preparing to conquer space with SLS

All eyes have been on the SpaceX-NASA joint venture in recent weeks as the spacecraft successfully lifted off, docked and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. All this gave hope that NASA will get its own crew launch system, ready for manned flights.

Crew Dragon, along with the Boeing Starliner, will give NASA the ability to send astronauts to the International Space Station when needed, but the agency's ambitions in deep space will require something far more robust.

That's where the Space Launch System, or SLS, comes in handy. The SLS is NASA's big bet on deep space travel, and the colossal rocket will allow the agency to send manned missions to the Moon and eventually other planets.

The test, which will take place in June, is expected to test the security measures applied to the Orion capsule. The launch cancellation system, which is activated in the event of a serious rocket failure, takes the crew away from guaranteed death and allows them to return to Earth safe and sound. The test will not include the SLS rocket, but the Orion will be placed on a carrier that will lift the capsule 10,000 meters so engineers can test the cancellation system's functions.

Meanwhile, the SLS is still in its construction phase and engineers are currently building the structure and adapters that will put everything together. NASA is confident that the expensive mission is more than successful.

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The coming year promises to be not as rich in events in astronautics as 2018. However, it is 2019 that will be especially important for Russia and the United States, since the former will lose its monopoly on manned launches to the ISS, and the latter will begin to independently send their own astronauts into low Earth orbit. Also of particular interest is the launch of the Beresheet mission, the success of which will make it especially clear that any developed state is capable of exploring deep space. talks about the main events in astronautics that are scheduled for 2019.

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End of Russian monopoly

The first demonstration unmanned flight of the Dragon 2 manned spacecraft is scheduled for the second half of January. The spacecraft will be launched into orbit by a heavy Falcon 9 rocket, and the launch will be carried out from the site of the John F. Kennedy Space Center (northwest of Cape Canaveral). During the flight, it is planned to obtain data on the characteristics of the Falcon 9 rocket, the Dragon 2 spacecraft, the operation of ground support systems, orbital and docking systems, and also test the landing of the device. The information collected will be used to certify SpaceX manned systems.

The Dragon 2 manned flight to the ISS is scheduled for June. The unmanned mission of the Starliner spacecraft is due in March, with the crew in August.

An important circumstance is that the United States will have two active manned spacecraft, the capacity and carrying capacity of which significantly exceed the capabilities of the only Russian Soyuz MS, which is ultimately largely a Soviet development half a century ago.

Image: Nathan Koga/SpaceFlight Insider

The US aerospace agency NA2SA is considering as an alternative to its own super-heavy launch vehicle SLS, which has been under development for at least the last decade, the idea of using it to launch a very important mission for the agency to send the Orion spacecraft around the moon next year. Decision could be not only life-changing for the designated mission, but in general could have a major impact on how ambitious deep space missions will be conducted in the future, according to The Verge.

Space is limitless and a small ship in it looks like just a grain of sand.

The incentive for the agency to "keep the nose" in the direction of a commercial focus may be the desire to fulfill the promise made to them on the schedule of planned launches, the publication believes. Completion of the development of super heavy space system launch (Space Launch System, SLS) will take the agency much longer than expected, and the media will not have time to prepare for on this moment scheduled for June 2020 launch. At the same time, there are ready-made commercial solutions on the market that are ready to fly to the moon even now.

For NASA, changing plans will prove to be a difficult choice anyway. After all, the agency will need to choose not one, but two launch vehicles, so that in this case the mission could be made a reality at all. In addition, it will be necessary to develop new technologies and methods for docking certain spacecraft, without which this idea can be thrown directly into the trash can.

In other words, the process will require a lot of time and effort, and at the same time, no one can give any guarantees that everything will be prepared for next year. However, if the agency nevertheless decides to take such a step, then by its actions it will be able to demonstrate that there is no need to use super-expensive and for the successful implementation of ambitious space missions to deep space - it will be easier to rely on more compact carriers, performing several launches at a time.

Space tugs

According to the current plans for the upcoming mission, NASA wants to send two spacecraft on a three-week trip around the Moon next year: an empty Orion spacecraft (in the future it will be used as a manned spacecraft), as well as a cylindrical European Service Module with power and life support systems for ship. It would take a lot of rocket fuel to overcome the force of gravity, put both vehicles into Earth orbit and send them to the Moon. However, the power of SLS is enough to send both modules to their destination within the same launch.

If NASA decides to use a “commercial approach” to deliver vehicles to the Moon, then two commercial carriers will have to be used, since there is simply no powerful enough private rocket that can cope with this task in one launch. At the moment, the most powerful American commercial rockets are from SpaceX and Delta IV Heavy from United Launch Alliance. Both carriers are certainly impressive, but even they don't compare to the capabilities that the SLS will have when it is finally assembled.

In this case, one carrier will be used to launch the Orion spacecraft and the European Service Module into low Earth orbit, where they will stay for some time. The second launch vehicle will be used for delivery to Orion and the space tug service module. Once in orbit, this tug, equipped with its own fuel reserves and engines, will dock with the Orion and, starting the engines, will pull both vehicles towards the Moon.

“This is similar to agricultural machinery pulling a trailer or special equipment. Only in this case we are talking about a separate module that is a propulsion system, ”commented The Verge Dallas Bienhoff, head of the private space company Cislunar Space Development Company, which develops technologies for deep space missions.

A similar concept of a space tug was developed in the last century. For example, she began to study this idea back in the 60s and 70s as a "promising method for accelerating other spacecraft." Its use can change the approach to manned space missions, which has not changed for many decades before.

“One of the reasons that ultimately led the US to develop the Space Launch System is that we are used to having the largest payload possible in a single launch,” adds Bienhoff, who also worked on space tug technology at Boeing company.

However, this approach significantly complicates the launch. Earth's gravity is very strong. Therefore, to bring very heavy equipment into space requires a lot of energy (read - a lot of rocket fuel). A launch a large number fuel requires the use of a large rocket. And the larger the rocket itself, the more fuel is required to launch the payload into low Earth orbit. This is a real vicious circle.

Artistic representation of the future SLS launch vehicle.

As rockets get bigger and bigger, they become more and more expensive to manufacture and launch. And this is just one of the main problems of the new SLS rocket. Over the past decade, NASA has spent more than $14 billion on its development alone. At the same time, the carrier is still not ready. Once that happens, it is expected that the agency will be able to launch it no more than twice a year, since the cost of each launch will be about $1 billion. By comparison, launching a privately owned Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle costs about $350 million, while launching the same Falcon Heavy starts at less than $100 million. Even if you launch both carriers together, the cost will still not be even close to the price of launching SLS.

In this regard, the use of space tugs will also allow NASA to save a lot of money in the future. For example, if the agency still decides to use a tug to deliver spacecraft to the moon, then it can then be returned back to low Earth orbit and simply left there. When you need it again, just refuel and reuse.

Assembling a ship in space

Of course, for this approach to work, NASA needs to develop new system docking with such tugs. Agency head Jim Bridenstine told a Senate hearing that the current Orion capsule does not have the technical capability to dock with space tugs, “so between now and June 2020, NASA will need to develop a docking system that has this capability.” ".

Still, the technologies that will be needed to implement such a system are not new. For example, Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which deliver new crews to the ISS, have already for a long time use an automatic docking system. As part of the first test launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, SpaceX also demonstrated the ability to dock with the station in automatic mode, using a system of sensors and lasers to safely rendezvous with the ISS docking gateway.

“The LIDAR system and machine vision technology used by Crew Dragon for automatic docking with the ISS are technologies and equipment that can be assembled and installed on spacecraft directly in space,” said Andrew Rush, head of Made In Space, developed a 3D printer for printing in microgravity, which was tested on board the ISS.

The first docking of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft with the ISS took place on March 4, 2019.

There is another option that will simplify the task of bringing heavy spacecraft to. At least in the future. The issue of the need to use large rockets could be solved by assembling equipment in parts directly in space. Instead of sending some bulky equipment in one launch, it would be easier to make several space launches of smaller-capacity (and cost) rockets with several payloads, and then put everything together already in orbit. The same approach (at least in part) could be used in the assembly of spacecraft. In addition, NASA has already encountered the problems of assembling very large spacecraft and their location inside the rocket. Take, for example, the new-generation James Webb space observatory, which does not quite fit into the launch vehicle that will have to deliver it into space. The device turned out to be so large and complex that it would have to be launched inside the launch vehicle in a folded form, and then deployed in space within two weeks. And if something goes wrong, the telescope may not work at all, putting an end to a project worth almost 10 billion dollars, which, in fact, has not even had time to begin.

With the ability to assemble spacecraft directly in space, as well as use additive manufacturing technologies, there will be no need for the initial assembly of vehicles on Earth.

“By distributing the load over several launches, and then using technologies space production and assemblies, we could actually build spacecraft in a more cost-effective way,” says Rush.

Why is space dangerous?

All of these changes will certainly come at a price. And not only financially. Automatic docking and reassembly in space, according to Bridenstine, still poses too many risks for NASA.

“The use of a special system for docking manned spacecraft in orbit with the prospect of further movement to the Moon adds undesirable complexity and risks to a future mission,” the head of the agency wrote in an open letter to NASA employees.

Also, launching equipment piecemeal and then reassembling it in space for just one mission implies something that some government officials responsible for those missions may not agree with. According to some experts and officials, multiple launches increase the risk of a complete failure of the mission - if one of the launches fails, the entire mission will be in jeopardy.

Using commercial launch vehicles will not necessarily solve all problems either. At the moment, engineers are testing the Orion spacecraft using computer simulations, taking into account the current design. To change the vector towards commercial launch vehicles, they will have to postpone this work and start conducting new simulations taking into account new commercial launch vehicles. In addition, this will completely change the flight pattern, which in turn will require additional time for preparation. To do all this in a year and be in time for the planned launch is an impossible task.

“When the flight plan is changed, which will be inevitable given that all commercial carriers do not compare to SLS, almost all the work that has been done before will become useless. In this case, there can be no question of any launch of Orion in June 2020, ”one of the company’s employees working on the Orion spacecraft commented anonymously to The Verge.

It seems almost every week there are reports that scientists plan to send exciting new space missions to explore the secrets of the universe, from bizarre trips to Mars to serious scientific expeditions. No wonder they are so hard to follow. Therefore, we have compiled a list of interesting space missions for the next 20 years. Please note that all dates are subject to change.

2017

March - Planetary Society "Light Sail-2" organizes the second demonstration of solar sail technology. It is expected to launch into orbit.
September 15 - NASA's Cassini mission around Saturn comes to an end.
Autumn - private company Asgardia, which wants to create the first "space nation", will launch its first unmanned satellite.
November - SpaceX will perform an unmanned test of the Crew Dragon vehicle in orbit. The manned flight is scheduled for May 2018.
December - The long-awaited Russian Nauka module, also called the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, will be launched to the International Space Station.
December - Blue Origin plans to begin manned space launches.
December - NASA's new telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), should be operational by the end of the year.
December 19 - The new European telescope Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS) will be ready for launch.
XCOR's Lynx spaceplanes will be prepared for the start of test flights. The aircraft will carry two people for short flights into space.
A private company in Arizona, World View Enterprises, wants to start sending paying customers on trips in high-altitude balloons. They can spend two hours at 30,500 meters for $75,000.
China will try to get samples from the moon using the Chang'e-5 mission. It will be the first lunar sample delivered to Earth since 1976.
Two competing companies in the Google Lunar XPRIZE — Moon Express and SpaceIL — are expected to launch to the moon and attempt to land unmanned probes, the first in the history of private lunar landings.
SpaceX's new heavy-lift rocket, the Falcon Heavy, will be launched for the first time.

2018

January is the estimated launch date for Inspiration Mars, a private mission that will send two people into orbit around Mars. However, it is unlikely that the mission will ever be sent.
February - NASA's Juno mission, which is currently studying Jupiter, will be completed. However, the mission could be extended to 2019.
April - The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch BepiColombo, its first mission to Mercury.
May 5 - NASA plans to launch the InSight lander to Mars. Landing is expected to take place on 26 November. The unmanned probe will explore the interior of the Red Planet.
May - SpaceX plans to launch its first unmanned flight to Mars, which will also be the first private mission to the Red Planet.
June is the first test of the unmanned Boeing Starliner. The manned flight will take place in August 2018.
On July 31, NASA's Solar Probe Plus mission will be launched. This is the first mission to reach the Sun's upper atmosphere.
July - Japanese spaceship Hayabusa-2 will arrive at its target, the asteroid Ryugu. It was launched on December 3, 2014 and is due to return to Earth with samples in December 2020.
August - NASA's OSIRIS-REX spacecraft will land on the asteroid Bennu. It will return to Earth in September 2023 with a sample ranging in size from 60 g to 2 kg.
October - NASA's huge new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is launched for the first time. It will send the Orion spacecraft on a three-week mission around the Moon, although there are speculations that both the SLS and Orion could be scrapped.
October - The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the high-profile successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that has endured numerous cost overruns and delays, will finally launch.
October - ESA plans to launch its Solar Orbiter (SOLO) mission, which will study the Sun's heliosphere, its poles, and the solar wind.
December - India launches its next mission to the moon. Chandrayaan 2 will include an orbiter, lander and lunar rover.
Japan will launch a new mission called Moon SELENE-2. This is the successor to the 2007 SELENE mission. Like the mission in India, it will consist of an orbiter, lander and rover.
China will try to be the first country to land a probe on the far side of the moon with the Chang'e-4 lunar lander.

2019

January 1 - New Horizons will fly around the object in the outer side solar system. This is an object in the Kuiper belt called 2014 MU69.
October - The Sierra Nevada Corporation plans to launch an unmanned space plane using an Atlas V rocket.
The end of 2019 is expected to launch a Japanese unmanned vehicle Smart Lander to explore the moon. He will be able to perform a precision landing by analyzing the surface as he approaches it.
In 2019, perhaps Virgin Galactic will finally start sending paying customers into space.
Deep Space Industries may launch its first unmanned spacecraft to an asteroid called Geologist 1.

2020

July - NASA's next rover will be launched to the Red Planet. He will have to look for signs past life on Mars. This and other missions will arrive on Mars in early 2021.
July - The ESA ExoMars rover will begin its journey to Mars in search of signs of past or present life.
July - The United Arab Emirates plans to launch its first mission to Mars in an orbiter called Hope.
July - India launches its second mission to Mars in an orbiter called Mangalyaan-2. It may also include a lander and a rover.
July - SpaceX may begin its next unmanned flight to Mars.
July/August - China plans to launch an orbiter, lander and rover to Mars. This will be his first mission to the Red Planet.
October - A joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency Asteroid Impact Mission will be launched. The purpose of the mission is to change the trajectory of the asteroid due to a collision with the spacecraft. The mission is currently in jeopardy.
China's second mission to the moon, Chang'e-6, will be launched, but its goals have not yet been determined.
The Square Kilometer Array is the world's largest radio telescope with a collecting area of one square kilometer, will be enabled for the first time.
Bigelow Aerospace hopes to start building the first space hotel with the B330 module.
The European Space Agency's Euclid mission will be launched. It will have to study the acceleration of the universe by measuring the redshift of distant galaxies, which will give us a deeper understanding of dark energy and dark matter.

2021

October - NASA launches a spacecraft called Lucy to study Jupiter's asteroids. The mission will conduct the study from August 2027 to March 2033.
NASA's Orion spacecraft will be launched into and out of lunar orbit for the first time. He will have a crew. 2021 is the earliest date for this mission as it could be sent two years later.
India plans to launch its first manned flight.

2022

ESA plans to launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, a spacecraft to explore Jupiter's moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. It is planned that the device will enter the orbit of Jupiter in 2030, and into the orbit of Ganymede - in 2033.
China will launch the first part of a new big space station. This first module will be called Tiangong-3.
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), an extremely large telescope to be built in Hawaii or the Canary Islands, is scheduled to go into service.
At some point in the mid-2020s, possibly 2022, NASA will launch its Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission. This spacecraft will study Jupiter's moon Europa, more precisely, its subsurface ocean and the possibility of its habitability. It may also include a descent vehicle.
Japan may launch a mission to retrieve a sample from Mars' moon Phobos.

2023

October - NASA plans to launch the Psyche mission to study the metal-rich asteroid of the same name in 2030.

2024

SpaceX plans to launch the first manned mission to Mars. It is part of the Interplanetary Transportation System project.
ESA may launch a mission, called Phootprint, to the Martian moon Phobos to collect samples.
The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), the world's largest optical telescope, will be commissioned.
It is planned to close the International Space Station and remove it from orbit. This date could be moved to 2028 or even later.
The European Space Agency's Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars satellite is expected to be launched. It will look for planetary systems beyond our own, with a focus on planets. earth type around sun-like stars.

2025

At some point in the mid-2020s, NASA may launch a mission to bring back to Earth a sample of material from the surface of Mars.
NASA plans to launch its Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) in the mid-2020s. It will study dark energy and look for planetary systems like ours.

2026

Proposed year for NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) launch. The purpose of the mission is to send the crew in the Orion capsule to the captured asteroid on lunar orbit. It can be combined with the previous Orion mission.
Proposed launch date for the first crewed Mars One mission. However, since the announcement of this program in 2012, the chances of this happening have largely diminished.

2028

The European Space Agency plans to launch the Athena mission, a space telescope that will image hot gas in the universe and also study supermassive black holes.

Early 2030s

NASA could launch a human into Mars orbit, possibly landing on the Martian moon Phobos and using rovers on the Martian surface. NASA aims for manned flights to the surface of Mars in the late 2030s.
Around the same time, China and Russia have tentative plans to land people on the moon.

2031

It is planned to launch the Russian spacecraft "Mercury-P", which will have to perform the first ever landing on Mercury.
Russia wants to perform its first manned moon landing.

2036

The Starshot breakthrough is a bold initiative that aims to send a spacecraft to our closest neighbor star Proxima Centauri.

The residential module of the future circumlunar station - its prototype - was presented by the American military-industrial corporation Lockheed Martin. It is one of six companies (Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems, Orbital ATK, NanoRacks, Bigelow Aerospace) participating in NASA's Habitable Module program for space expeditions. Budget - $65 million.

The module from Lockheed Martin can accommodate up to four astronauts. There are sleeping places, compartments for life support systems and holding scientific works, simulators and robotic workstations

It is assumed that the habitation module from Lockheed Martin will become part of the missions to deliver astronauts to the Moon or Mars. Its final version will be attached to the planned Deep Space Gateway lunar station to study the Moon and deep space. That will become a kind of transfer point for astronauts on their way to the Red Planet.

NASA's immediate plans include building an orbital gateway platform and a space station in orbit around the moon.

Next 20 years: Moon colonization

People last time having set foot on the surface of the Moon in 1972, they intend to return to the Earth's satellite, considering it as an attractive object for tourism, a transit point during long-distance travels to Mars, a research laboratory and a source of minerals

1972 It was then that Homo sapiens - during the mission "Apollo 17" - the last time set foot on the surface of the moon. The time of stay on the Earth satellite of the sixth visit of American astronauts was 75 hours and 1 minute. And this is an absolute record.

Photo of the lunar surface, the Apollo 12 mission

Since then, the lunar soil, on which, we recall, China is preparing to cultivate beds, only robots plow. And they cope with scientific tasks no worse than homo sapiens.

China Plans to Grow Plants and… Worms on the Moon

If you are not passionate about space tourism and are wondering why go to the Moon at all (they say, the Earth is big), you know, there are many reasons. No wonder NASA is talking again about sending people to the satellite - in 2023. And immediately after the discovery of frozen water on it.

Scientists have discovered on the Moon - under the poles and in the middle latitudes - large reserves of frozen water. One piece of evidence was a lunar meteorite containing moganite. It is a mineral in the formation of which water participates.

These reserves can become a source of drinking and technical water for people and can be used to produce oxygen and rocket fuel using electrolysis. They also plan to mine minerals on the moon.

The company's plans are simply grandiose: a whole constellation of satellites in Earth's orbit, the first tourist flight around the Moon and, of course, a colony on Mars.

Yes, Musk does not always keep his promises on time, as, for example, in the case of the Tesla Model 3 and his grandiose space projects.

But the main thing is that it can - thanks to SpaceX's advanced developments in the field of reusable rockets - reduce the cost of launching them. And soon, in the orbit of the Earth or the Moon, peculiar pit stops may appear to replace rockets. Over time, they will replace the ISS.

Jeffrey Manber, managing director of Nanoracks, a space station lab that launches satellites for scientists from the ISS, is confident that the transition from a "low-earth" to a lunar economy is a reality.

And Andy Weier, author of The Martian, a sci-fi novel that was made into a hit movie with Matt Damon in leading role, also believes that the right economy is important to get people and cargo to the moon.

In 2017, Weyer published Artemis, a book about a lunar colony. The author sincerely believes that this is future reality: “In order for the future to come in the style of science fiction by Robert Heinlein, it is necessary that the ability to overcome the earth's gravity becomes cheaper. Then everything will work itself out.”

By solving the problem of high flight costs, it will be possible to use natural resources satellite of the earth. According to Andy Weier, there are materials for building a lunar colony. For example, the anorthite rock that covers a vast area of the Moon's surface. It is planned to produce aluminum, oxygen, calcium and silicon from it.

After a deep study of the issue, Weyer realized: it is easier to populate the Sahara, the poles of the Earth, even the bottom of the oceans than to colonize the moon. But it's worth it!