Frida Space

Hi, I hadn't played KSP for more than a year before I decided to pick it up again yesterday. Today I decided to send a very small lander to the Mun. I managed to land it very smoothly (at like 1 m/s). As soon as I landed, the landing legs compressed and then extended like a spring. Since then, the lander keeps bouncing, reaching less than one metre in the air and then falling back down. As it touches the ground, there is an instant in which it is basically still, allowing me to time warp. However, as soon as I go back to real time, the bouncing continues. If I exit the game and reload the craft, it shoots up a lot higher and then goes back to bouncing. Does anyone know how I can solve this issue? Thank you very much! Edit: here's a gif of the issue: https://imgur.com/a/XETJPJX (I am struggling to embed it into this post, sorry)

I thought the news I posted above on March 9 was an official and final decision, but apparently it wasn't... well, now it is: NASA just announced the launch is officially postponed to May 5th, 2018, with Mars EDL occuring on November 26th, 2018. So now it's official: InSight is safe. Delay costs are 153.8 million USD. The highlight of the article (but again, we kinda knew it already) is this sentence: "The additional cost will not delay or cancel any current missions, though there may be fewer opportunities for new missions in future years, from fiscal years 2017-2020." http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-approves-2018-launch-of-mars-insight-mission I wonder if they could still chose two Discovery missions in the next round, one of which would be a sort of "mini-Discovery" costing 400ish million USD to compensate for InSight's delay costs. Although I guess it would hardly cover the launch costs.... It feels to me like a bit of waste to throw away an entire Discovery mission because of additional costs of one fourth-fifth of the total budget.

First science from Juno's first perijove (after the JOI perijove, of course). http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/jupiter-s-north-pole-unlike-anything-encountered-in-solar-system/

This is crazy: 67P seen from 4.5 km from its center - <2.5 km from the surface, that is! Image taken by OSIRIS on August 30. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta says OSIRIS-REx launch unaffected by Falcon 9 mishap.

Lots of news out of Ceres. I read the five papers published just now on Science magazine and here are my highlights: Ahuna Mons, the 4 km tall, 17 km wide mountain, is probably a cryovulcano. This would explain the troughs and the crests at its feet and the landslides on its sides. It would have been formed by extrusion of a viscous, molten material, which would have been present along with some hydrated salts with low eutectic temperatures and low thermal conductivity. Ahuna Mons is surprisingly crater-free; this suggests its last activity took place as recently as 180-240 million years ago. Ceres's low density (2162 kg per cube metre) implies an abundance of water; this could be proven by the detection of hydroxyl (OH) and hydrated (H2O) minerals, like clays, carbonates and various salts. Indeed, Dawn has found hydroxyls; however, the news (not really new actually) is that it has seen all three absorption bands (1.28, 1.65 and 2.0 micrometres) typical of water in Oxo Crater, which is 10 km wide. Its high latitude, 44°, means it is in the shadow for most of the day, which is good for stabilising water. Several water transport and formation mechanisms have been proposed. From the most likely to the least: excavation of underground water (either through impacts or landslides or both), sublimation, extra-Cerean contamination and interaction with the solar wind. A six day-long acceleration in the solar wind's electrons could be explained by a transient atmosphere. I couldn't find an actual paper on this, but the NASA press release mentioned it, so here it is. Phillosilicates are very abundant. Their composition is the same all over Ceres; however, their abundance varies a bit. Low density regions, such as Yalode crater, are both smooth and rugged; high density regions, such as Kerwan, on the other hand, are only smooth. The depth-diameter ratio of several floor-fractured craters (FFCs) reveals that they are anomalously shallow; hence, scientists propose the terrain was uplifted following cryomagmatic intrusion. The crater morphology allowed scientists to study the relaxation of the surface, which appears to be impact-driven rather than internal/endogenic. The scientists conclude that Ceres's crust is nor pure ice nor pure rock, but rather a mix of the two which allows limited relaxation. Overall, all the studies imply acqueous alteration has been one of the main mechanisms that shaped Ceres. Interesting stuff!

In case anyone wants to embed it here is a 2.5 MB Twitter-friendly gif I made from that video. Link to higher-res, not sped up version (44 MB). They do that at the customer's discretion. They've done it before for Dragon. It helps with the schedule (liftoff was planned for tomorrow) and, from what some people say, it also allows them to run basic tests on the satellite too.

Crazy video (skip to 1 minute) Crazy how the fairing was almost intact.

They have a backup site running fine - at least for now. http://www.astronomynow-store.com/spaceflight-now

Mr Musk has spoken... or tweeted: "Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon." Three years on this forum and I still don't know how to embed tweets. EDIT: Oh nevermind, apparently it does it automatically.

I'm guessing the satellite used it for its reaction control system. Being the launch tomorrow, it's pretty normal for the satellite to be fully-fueled. As far as I know, it uses cold nitrogen.

Just read that the Atlas V with OSIRIS-REx was inside the Vertical Integration Facility at the moment of the explosion. Still, I hope there is no damage to the launch complex 41. I guess it's very unlikely, but given OSIRIS-REx's 34 day launch window, I'm still crossing my fingers.

Whether or not it counts towards the success/failure ratio doesn't really matter, other than for statistical purposes. If a problem is found within the Falcon 9, no one will really care that the explosion happened on the ground instead of in flight.

Well, apparently now they're focusing on anomaly in ground systems during fueling of rocket for static fire test.

Hopefully it won't affect OSIRIS-REx. I'm pretty sure it shouldn't, but still, terrible news. I feel sorry for Elon!

In two days' time, Dawn will move to a new orbit at 1460 km (910 miles) from Ceres. Apparently, it is some sort of hydrazine-saving effort, as moving further out means less orbital control is needed. From what I understand, there will also be a change in Dawn's orbital inclination, allowing it to view Ceres from a slightly different perspective. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/dawn-sets-course-for-higher-orbit

When you have questions such as this, I always suggest you refer to the original discovery papers. They should have answers to most questions, or at least, they should give all the answers we know so far In this case, these are the object's orbital parameters, taken from the discovery paper by Chen et al. (arXiv:1608.0180): Perihelion: 23.81 AU Semimajor Axis: 35.725 AU Eccentricity: 0.334 Inclination: 110.3° ...

The beauty of science

New data from Dawn on Ceres' internal structure. Dawn provided the first measurements of the moment of inertia and the first confirmation that the dwarf planet is in hydrostatical equilibrium - two conditions that allow scientists to simulate its internal structure. The results are that Ceres is differentiated (although the boundaries between layers are not so clear as on Earth), with a rocky core (the temperatures were never high enough for the silicates to melt) surrounded by a volatile-rich shell. The density, as predicted, is quite low (lower than Vesta). The lighter materials, such as water ice, probably separated from the rock and migrated towards the surface early on in Ceres' history. Furthermore, there isn't a big difference in the gravitational field intensity between mountains and depressions, which suggests that mountains are able to move away the mass in the mantle underneath them, thus evening out the gravitational field, a bit like a boat floating because of the water moved. www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/what-s-inside-ceres-new-findings-from-gravity-data

Hi. I'm setting up a relay network of ComSats and I'm running into a few issues. (I'm using the latest KSP with the latest Remote Tech and a few other mods, but none of them should be incompatible, and I've used Remote Tech before will all of them with no issues). So far, I have a "train" consisting of three satellites: ComSat 1, 2 and 3, in order from the first to the last. They are all always within line of sight of each other. Each has three long range, dish antennas. One of the three antennas on each satellite is targeted towards KSC. This is the configuration: ComSat 1. Antenna #1: KSC. Antenna #2: ComSat 2. Antenna #3: None. ComSat 2. Antenna #1: KSC. Antenna #2: ComSat 3. Antenna #3: None. ComSat 3. Antenna #1: KSC. Antenna #2: None (ComSat 4 as soon as I'll launch it). Antenna #3: None. As soon as KSC comes into view from ComSat 1, a connection between the two is established. Once it acquires connection, ComSat 1 immediately relays the signal to ComSat 2, so that it is connected as well, despite not being directly in KSC's line of sight. However, for some reason I find odd, ComSat 2 does not immediately relay to ComSat 3. It does so only when ComSat 2 is itself directly in KSC's line of sight; only then does it relay the signal to ComSat 3. Does anyone know what am I doing wrong? I can send screenshots if it helps visualize the issue. Sorry if this is stupid... Cheers!

Hi. Sorry if this is the wrong place, but I'm setting up a relay network of ComSats and I'm running into a few issues. So far, I have a "train" consisting of three satellites: ComSat 1, 2 and 3, in order from the first to the last. They are all always within line of sight of each other. Each has three long range, dish antennas. One of the three antennas on each satellite is targeted towards KSC. This is the configuration: ComSat 1. Antenna #1: KSC. Antenna #2: ComSat 2. Antenna #3: None. ComSat 2. Antenna #1: KSC. Antenna #2: ComSat 3. Antenna #3: None. ComSat 3. Antenna #1: KSC. Antenna #2: None (ComSat 4 as soon as I'll launch it). Antenna #3: None. As soon as KSC comes into view from ComSat 1, a connection between the two is established. Once it acquires connection, ComSat 1 immediately relays the signal to ComSat 2, so that it is connected as well, despite not being directly in KSC's line of sight. However, for some reason I find odd, ComSat 2 does not immediately relay to ComSat 3. It does so only when ComSat 2 is itself directly in KSC's line of sight; only then does it relay the signal to ComSat 3. Does anyone know what am I doing wrong? I can send screenshots if it helps visualize the issue. Cheers!

Ten days ago, Akatsuki marked its first Venusian year since Venus Orbit Insertion. To celebrate, JAXA published 7 new portraits by Akatsuki. Left column Top photo Camera: IR1 - Wavelength: 1.01 micrometres - Date Taken: 21/1 - Distance: 38'000 km - Description: Map of the heat coming from the ground (rocks, vulcanos...). The darker region is Aphrodite Terra. Middle photo Camera: IR1 - Wavelength: 0.9 micrometers - Date Taken: 7/5 - Distance: 65'000 km - Description: The sunlit face of Venus. Bottom photo Camera: LIR - Wavelength: 10 micrometers - Date Taken: 15/4 - Distance: 63'000 km - Description: Map of the heat coming from the cloudtops. Over the south pole, the temperatures are much higher, hence brighter colour. Middle column Top photo Camera: UVI - Wavelength: 283 nanometres - Date Taken: 25/4 - Distance: 108'000 km - Description: Image centred at an absorption line of sulfur dioxide, a precursor to sulfuric acid. Middle photo Camera: UVI - Wavelength: 365 nanometres - Date Taken: 7/5 - Distance: 80'000 km - Description: The image's high natural contrast reveals the structure and the dynamics of the atmosphere. Bottom photo Camera: IR2 - Wavelength: 2.02 micrometres - Date Taken: 7/5 - Distance: 81'000 km - Description: The distribution of carbon dioxide, the main gas within Venus' atmosphere. The cloudtops over the polar regions are quite low in altitude, hence they appear darker. Right column (big photo) Camera: IR2 - Wavelength: 2.26 micrometers - Date Taken: ?/4 - Distance: 76'000 km - Description: Venus' nightside. The map shows the heat coming from the lower reaches of the atmosphere, just above the surface.

UPDATE Today's big burn was a complete success - the thruster underperfomed by just 0.01%. The manoeuvre lasted 52 minutes, well in the planned duration window (there was no fixed duration, as the onboard software was tasked with monitoring the accelerometers in real time and automatically shutting down the thruster only once the desired delta-V was reached).

Big burn coming up in half an hour for ExoMars. A few stats: Burn begins today (28-07-2016) at 11:30 CEST, lasts 50-ish minutes Delta-v of 326.497 m/s, 95% of that needed to intercept Mars on October 19th The remaining 5% of delta-v will be split between a second manoeuvre, on August 11th, and two smaller correction burns, on September 19th and October 14th During today's burn, the high gain antenna won't be pointed at Earth; just basic telemetry from carrier signal and Doppler will be available