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NASA’s absurdly costly rocket is broken again + Floating “aerobats” may explore Venus

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(vehicles) NASA’s absurdly expensive SLS megarocket is broken again
https://futurism.com/nasas-sls-broken-again

INTRO: NASA is once again having to delay the launch of its uberpowerful, mega-expensive Space Launch System (SLS) at the heart of its forthcoming Artemis 1 mission to the Moon — this time because of a testing glitch.

The space agency conceded this week that the latest-scheduled test launch for its SLS rocket ahead of the unmanned Artemis 1 launch has once again been pushed back from February 2022 until March or April because one of the rocket’s engine flight controllers — which rocket scientists call the “brain” of these high-powered engines — had boot-up issues.

The SLS’ Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines aren’t themselves new, Gizmodo noted: three of the Boeing-made engines were featured in NASA’s Space Shuttle program, but to its credit, the SLS has four, and they’ve been modified to the specifications of this seemingly-cursed rocket.

It’s bizarre for any of these engines to have functionality problems given that they all tested just fine during preliminary and integrated testing, Gizmodo pointed out — but given that the SLS was supposed to launch five years ago, dysfunction is par for the course at this point... (MORE - missing details)


(travel) Floating “aerobats” could be the best way to explore cloud tops of Venus
https://www.universetoday.com/153735/flo...f-venus-1/

EXCERPTS: . . . Part of what makes Venus fascinating to scientists is its similarities with Earth. In fact, Venus is colloquially known as Earth’s “Sister Planet” because it is also a terrestrial (aka. rocky) body composed primarily of silicate minerals and metals differentiated into a metallic core and a silicate mantle and crust. Venus’ atmosphere, however, is a much different story. In addition to being hot enough to melt lead – with an average temperature of 464 °C (867 °F) – and an atmosphere that’s over 90 times as dense as Earth’s.

But at an altitude of 50-70 km (30-45 mi) above the surface, the temperature and pressure of Venus’ atmosphere are similar to that of Earth. This presents opportunities for atmospheric research using lighter-than-air vehicles. Proposals include NASA’s High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC), a series of concepts for a 30-day crewed mission that would explore Venus’s upper atmosphere using large lighter-than-air craft.

While this project is no longer active, it inspired subsequent proposals, like the Venus Atmosphere Maneuverable Platform (VAMP), a hybrid airship under development by NASA and its commercial partner, Northrop Grumman. These concepts rely on buoyancy and aerodynamic life to control their altitude, allowing them to fly like a plane during the daytime (using solar energy to power their batteries) and float at night to save energy.

Until now, though, no efforts have been mounted to create software that would allow these craft to act autonomously. As Prof. Pereira explained in a recent WVU Today press release: “The main goal of the project is to propose a software solution that will allow hybrid aerobots to explore the atmosphere of Venus. Although hybrid vehicles were proposed before this project, we are not aware if any software has been created. One of the ideas of our project is to extend the battery life of the vehicle by planning energy-efficient paths, thus allowing it to fly during the night as well.”

[...] By sharing data from multiple locations, said Pereira, a fleet of aerobots will have a better idea of the overall wind patterns and their spatial distribution in the atmosphere..

[...] Looking ahead, Pereira and Gu plan to develop a Venus atmosphere simulator to evaluate their software and the aerobots’ functionality... (MORE - details)


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/0EjgoEFiKko
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