South Korea launches a satellite with its first domestically-made rocket

South Korea just took an important step toward becoming a spacefaring nation. The New York Timesreports the country successfully launched a satellite payload into orbit using a domestically-made rocket for the first time. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s 200-ton Nuri vehicle (aka Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II) ferried both a working satellite (for performance verification) and a dummy into orbit at an altitude of 435 miles.

The accomplishment was a long time in coming. South Korea first launched a satellite into orbit in 2013, but it co-developed the mission’s Naro rocket with Russia. Nuri also didn’t have the smoothest path. An initial test launch in October 2021 lifted a dummy satellite into space, but an oxidizer tank failure led to a premature burnout that prevented the satellite from staying in orbit.

The successful flight is just the first step in a major expansion of South Korea’s spaceflight efforts. Officials plan four more Nuri test launches between 2023 and 2027, and the verification payload will help test components for more satellite missions, including surveillance satellites to monitor North Korea. Long-term plans include a more powerful rocket as well as an uncrewed Moon lander that would arrive by the early 2030s.

The flight helps South Korea join just a handful of countries with similar spaceflight capabilities, including the US, Russia, China, France, India and Japan. There’s also large degree of national pride involved. This helps South Korea reduce its dependence on American satellites and rockets, including SpaceX’s Falcon 9 — it won’t have to worry as much about differing priorities and launch schedules.

NASA finally succeeds with its Artemis 1 wet launch test

NASA encountered a couple of issues while conducting the Artemis 1 “wet dress rehearsal,” but it still checked off a major milestone by the time the test had ended. The agency was able to fully fuel all the Space Launch System’s propellant tanks for the first time and was able to proceed to terminal launch countdown. “Wet dress rehearsals,” as they’re called, are tests that simulate a rocket launch without the rocket actually lifting off. The launch team had to cut short three previous attempts at fueling the SLS earlier this year due to various leaks and other issues that have already been corrected. 

This attempt wasn’t flawless either: NASA had to put fueling on hold a couple of times since the rehearsal started on Saturday. Fueling was first put on hold on early Monday morning due to an issue with the rocket’s backup supply of gaseous nitrogen. The team was able to repair the valve for the gaseous nitrogen line, however, and fueling recommenced a couple of hours later. As CNN notes, though, a few issues popped up just as the team was finishing up the fueling process on Monday afternoon. They discovered a hydrogen leak and had to find options to seal it after their first solution didn’t work. Plus, the flare stack, which burns excess liquid hydrogen from the rocket, caused a small fire in the grassy area around the launch site. 

In the end, the launch controllers came up with a plan to mask data associated with the leak so as not trigger a hold by the launch computer. That wouldn’t fly in a real launch scenario, but they wanted to get as far into the countdown as possible to gather the data they need. They were successfully able to resume the 10-minute final launch countdown after an extended hold and got to T-29 seconds before they had to end the test completely. The launch team originally planned to let the countdown get to until T-33 seconds before the launch is supposed to occur. They then intended to restart the timer and repeat the countdown until around T-9 seconds before launch. 

Regardless, they successfully performed several critical operations needed for launch during the test, including handing over control from the ground launch sequencer to the automated launch sequencer controlled by the rocket’s flight software. NASA will now assess the data collected from the test to determine whether it can finally set an official launch date for Artemis 1, which will send an unmanned Orion spacecraft on a mission to fly around the Moon, with the earliest possible date being sometime in August. The agency will hold a conference about the test today, June 21st, at 11AM, and you can watch the stream live on its website.

米・フィラデルフィアの図書館員らが、若者による銃撃を防止するために開館時間の延長や職員の増員を要求（記事紹介） | カレントアウェアネス・ポータル

2022年6月2日付で、米・フィラデルフィア地域の公共メディアWHYYのウェブサイトに、若者による銃撃を防止するために、フィラデルフィアの図書館やコミュニティーセンターの職員が図書館の開館時間の延長や職員の増員を要求しているという記事が掲載されました。 記事では、コロナ禍により職員不足が悪化し、充分に図書館…

太陽フレア被害想定 携帯電話・TVが断続的に利用不可も | NHK

総務省は「太陽フレア」と呼ばれる太陽表面の爆発現象が活発になった場合、最悪、携帯電話が2週間にわたって断続的に利用できなくなるなど被害想定の報告書をまとめました。 太陽は活動の周期があり、3年後の2025年ごろに活発になり、「太陽フレア」と呼ばれる太陽表面の巨大な爆発現象が増えると見込まれています。 総…

China is building a test facility for space-based solar power. Satellites will beam down energy to receivers on Earth.

Researchers at Xidian University in China have developed a system designed to test space-based solar power. The facility consists of a 75 meter high tower […]

The post China is building a test facility for space-based solar power. Satellites will beam down energy to receivers on Earth. appeared first on Gamingsym.