Picture
The possibility has emerged that the International Space Station (ISS) may be left unmanned for a period of time if launch problems with the Russian Soyuz rockets cannot be rectified soon.

Earlier this month, 24th August 2011, saw the crash soon after launch from Kazakhstan of an unmanned Soyuz carrying food and fuel to the ISS, following the failure of one of the booster rockets. The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos has delayed the next manned mission by at least a month to allow time for safety checks to be carried out, and it is likely that at least two test launches of an unmanned rocket will be conducted before sending anymore astronauts up.

 The delay means that replacement crew will not go to the ISS until late October at the earliest, assuming that all goes well with the testing. The station is currently manned by a team of 6, with 3 likely to return to Earth in mid September and a decision needing to be made about the remaining crew.

Alexei Krasnov, head of manned flights at Roscosmos recently indicated that: 'If for any reason we will not be able to deliver the crew before the end of November, we will need to review all possibilities including leaving the station unmanned.'

The ISS has been continuously manned for more than a decade. It can in fact be flown without a crew if needed, though this is not an ideal situation as repairs can be made and problems fixed faster with crew members onboard, reducing the possibilities of major damage occurring. 

Add Comment
 
 
Picture
NASA's Juno solar powered probe
Today should see the launch from Cape Canaveral of an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket carrying onboard NASA’s Jupiter bound Juno spacecraft.

It is equipped with three large areas of solar panel that will be deployed and unfold after launch, giving around 60 square metres of panel in total and leaving the craft looking rather like a windmill. It will take Juno five years to reach its destination, where it will be placed into a polar orbit around the planet to study the composition, gravity and magnetic fields, and polar magnetoshpere. Juno will also search for clues about the formation of Jupiter, including whether the planet has a rocky core, the amount of water present within the deep atmosphere, and how the mass is distributed within the planet. Juno will also study Jupiter's deep winds, which can reach speeds of 600 kms per hour (370 mph).

The robotic explorer will become the first probe to have ever travelled so far, powered by the solar wings which will still provide 400 watts of power despite being nearly 500 million miles away from the sun. After orbiting Jupiter 33 times in one year gathering data, the probe will be crashed into the planet, concluding the mission in 2017.

 

 


Add Comment