NASA readies next-gen engines for deeper space missions

By IANS, Washington: NASA has successfully completed the first developmental test series on "super" engines that will power its mega Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on missions deeper into space than ever before, including Mars. The test series wrapped up with a seventh hot fire test of a developmental RS-25 engine at NASA s Stennis Space Center in Bay St Louis, Mississippi, on Thursday. The test ran for a full-duration of 535 seconds. "The completion of this test series is an important step in getting SLS ready for the journey to Mars," said Steve Wofford, engines manager at NASA s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in a statement. The RS-25 engine gives 77-tonnes SLS a proven, high performance and affordable main propulsion system. "It is one of the most experienced large rocket engines in the world, with more than a million seconds of ground test and flight operations time," he added. The test series was designed to collect valuable data on performance of the RS-25 engine. Of particular interest is data that will aid in development of a new engine controller, or "brain" to monitor engine status and communicate programmed performance needs. "These are extremely reliable engines. We are testing them because we want to mitigate any risks on the ground before flight," Wofford noted. Four RS-25 engines will...

Read More........→September 01, 2015

Nasa's Messenger Spacecraft Slams Into Mercury

The Boeing Delta II rocket launched NASA's Messenger mission in 2004 Lee Kyung-HO: The first ever spacecraft to orbit Mercury plunges into the planet's surface at a speed of 8,750 miles per hour. NASA's Messenger spacecraft has slammed into the surface of the planet Mercury, ending a successful 11-year-mission. The probe, the first ever to orbit Mercury, had run out of fuel and crashed into the planet's surface at a speed of 8,750 miles per hour. The impact from the crash carved out an estimated 52ft-wide crater. During its mission the spacecraft completed 4,104 orbits of Mercury and collected more than 277,000 images. "A NASA planetary exploration mission came to a planned, but nonetheless dramatic, end Thursday when it slammed into Mercury's surface at about 8,750 miles per hour and created a new crater on the planet's surface," NASA said in a statement. The space The surface of Mercury in a combination image released by NASA in April 2015. The space probe is expected to end its orbit and make a crash landing into the planet on 30 April agency added that the mission, which began in 2004, had achieved "unprecedented success". "Going out with a bang as it impacts the surface of Mercury, we are celebrating MESSENGER as more than a successful mission," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science...

Read More........→August 22, 2015