It might have failed to reach orbit, but it still lifted off successfully and didn’t destroy the pad on the way back down. I’d say that’s pretty successful for the first flight of a new launch vehicle.
So Gaia relies on maintaining very accurate pointing at the stars while measuring their position. For this purpose it uses special cold gas (Nitrogen) thrusters with very low flow noise. These cold gas tanks are now empty and Gaia simply cannot continue to operate.
we don’t want it to reactivate in the future and begin transmitting again if its solar panels find sunlight.
Why go to so much work to ensure it can never be turned on again? What harm does it do to move the satellite to a graveyard orbit and just leave it listening?
Sniff, our most successful scientific Spacecraft by publications. The new Voyage 2050 programme certainly provides science topics that could lead to a worthy successor.
The system is designed to be initially 20 square centimeters in size but would inflate about 7,500 times larger to around 1.5 square meters, increasing atmospheric drag to accelerate deorbiting.
The only thing more impressive than seeing that expand out would be watching them pack it down.
After decades of camping, I only recently found out most (modern) sleeping bags are actually meant to be stuffed in their bags, not rolled up. Just kinda keep stuffing it in there and they seem to naturally fill gaps better than if they were rolled up first, so they’re easier and much faster to pack away.
Arianespace hasn’t publicly disclosed the cost for an Ariane 6 launch, although it’s likely somewhere in the range of 80 million to 100 million euros, about 40 percent lower than the cost of an Ariane 5. This is about 50 percent more than SpaceX’s list price for a dedicated Falcon 9 launch.
With more launch, the price per rocket should decrease, but making it cost competitive will be an important mission if EU wants to launch hundreds of satellites in the future.
With more launch, the price per rocket should decrease
Should it? Are you referring to amortizing the costs of development, or optimizing the production cost of each rocket? No portion of Ariane 6 is reusable, so it’s not like they can get more launches out of each rocket…
Are you referring to amortizing the costs of development
Yes, I was thinking more amortizing the costs of development which will definitely get cheaper the more launch happening, but I guess it’s also possible for optimization of production, although I’m not expecting much from that.
Hey now! Day’s still young and I’m just getting started.
You don’t think that European rocketry’s Aryan history has anything to do with their current rockets being named “after the Greek myth of Ariadne but we conveniently left off the d”?
It’s been a bad name forever. It’s always made me a bit wary. As nazi imagery resurfaces, it’s time to move on from this name which is a relic of past nazism.
If your day is just starting, maybe you need a coffee. There’s a distinct difference between Aryan (or Aryen in French) and Ariane (or Ariane in French).
Different words in different languages sounding the same is a wild launch to a crusade in 2025. Wait until you hear about Ariana Grande… the most Grand of all the Aryans. I know the additional letters won’t fool you.
esa
Najnowsze
Magazyn ze zdalnego serwera może być niekompletny. Zobacz więcej na oryginalnej instancji.