#retrorocket

[realspaceships]

Russia's Other Space Shuttle: VTOL MTKVA

[lonestarflight]

Launch of Big Joe-1

Big Joe-1 Mercury Atlas launch vehicle lifting off at LC-14, Cape Canaveral, Florida, for a 13 minute suborbital test flight of the Mercury Boilerplate capsule.

Flight plan of Big Joe

"Mission Objective:

Test of ablation heatshield. The nose-cone capsule for Big Joe had no retrorocket package. The inner structure held only a half-sized instrumented pressure vessel instead of a pressurized cabin contoured to the outer configuration. Built in two segments, the lower half by Lewis and the upper by Langley, the main body of the spacecraft replica was fabricated with thin sheets of corrugated Inconel alloy in monocoque construction. This model of the Mercury capsule had more than one hundred thermocouples around the capsule skin to register temperatures inside and under the heatshield, sides and afterbody."

Posted on YouTube by Retro Space HD: link

"The Atlas 10-D was programmed to rise, pitch over horizontally to the Atlantic before it reached its 100-mile peak altitude, then pitch down slightly before releasing its corrugated nose cone at a shallow angle barely below the horizontal."

The flight was deemed a success and the second flight (Big Joe 2, Atlas-20D) was cancelled. Its launch vehicle was transferred to the Atlas-Able program.

Date: September 9, 1959

SDASM Archives: 44408123, 44406619, 4501588, 44406606, 43332816, 43332828, 43332828, 43332804

NASA ID: B59-00556, B59-00557

[hd-junglebook]

Edge of Exile

part 3

The ship shuddered as alpha station hit the atmosphere, the hull burning bright against the curtain of sky.

The ship shook so violently, you were jostled around in the seat as the ship began convulsing wildly, the intense turbulence threatening to tear the aging vessel apart.

But your heart was beating so fast, it pounded with exhilaration, relishing this long-awaited moment.

After a year confined in the Arks deteriorating space station, the adrenaline coursing through your veins made you feel truly alive again.

You glanced around at the rest of the passengers, their faces pale and lined with apprehension, your head fell back as you laughed into the din, unafraid.

This was the kind of adrenaline you had craved for so long in the stale greyness of space. The ship may not survive, but you had never felt so free and so utterly thrilled to be diving into the unknown future.

When we finally touched down, the silence was dizzying after the chaos of the descent. For a moment, the silence is deafening compared to the groan of straining metal and roar of retrorockets just moments before.

Abby was the first one up, her motions stiff and cautious after being slammed around. She reached for the exit hatch handle like it might burn her, hesitation written across her face, the seals hissing as she opened it.

Every passenger seemed to hold their breath, a ripple of anxiety passing through the group as Abby cracked the hatch open fully.

You peered past Abby's shoulder, straining for a glimpse of the world outside. Following her up and out of the ship to stand on the walls. Earth was impossibly huge and beautiful and real after so many years gazing at it from afar.

Earth's air inflated with the sweet scent flowers and its rich earthy scent, this world of endless green was so different from the cold metal walls we had always known.

Tilting your face skyward, there was an endless expanse of blue with only a few wispy clouds.

Jaha’s voice sounded over the earpiece again as Kane joined you both on the walls. The moment was ruined as you and Abby turned to the side, seeing white smoke rising in the distance.

…

The walk through the woods was less than boring, all the sights earth had to offer were so captivating. Strange plants and critters that one had only seen in textbooks were suddenly right under your boots.

 Kane had ordered a few Ark guards to follow you three through the woods as you all searched for the other stations that had fallen from the sky.

"Try to keep up," Kane said gruffly as you paused to examine a flowering vine. "We're not here for a leisurely nature walk."

"Really?" you shot back. "Here I was thinking we could stop for a picnic and some birdwatching."

Kane just frowned and kept marching forward. You made a face at his back when he wasn't looking. The group walked for what felt like miles, the guards scanning the surroundings with their rifles held ready. Your feet were aching but you didn't dare complain.

Kane had already thought you were a liability with a gun, you didn't want to give Kane another reason to think you were weak too.

The walking gone for over an hour when the guard in front suddenly motioned for everyone to stop.

Kane's eyes narrowed. "Take cover," he ordered the guards quietly.

Up ahead there were two tall figures following a man riding a horse. You crouched down behind the vegetation peering through the bushes.

"Shouldn't we catch up to them?" you whispered to Kane. "They might lead us somewhere important."

"We wait," Kane replied firmly. "They could be walking into a trap." Taking a deep breath, you stood up and stepped out from the bushes before Kane could stop you. The branches beneath your feet crunched, alerting them someone had followed them.

They spun around in surprise, the Grounder tensed, his hand hovering over a vicious-looking knife on his belt. Kane and the guards rushed out after you, rifles raised warily. You didn’t wait and decided it was now or never. You shot the grounder, his body falling off the horse and his knife tumbling to the ground.

You met Kane's displeased glare with an unrepentant look and gestured for everyone to gather around. One was tall with shaggy dark hair - he looked strangely familiar. The other had a lighter build and longer hair.

The shaggy-haired boy caught your eye, his freckled face illuminated by the flickering firelight. His intense gaze held a hint of mystery, drawing you in despite your best efforts to remain composed.

You felt a flutter in your stomach, a rush of adrenaline at the sight of him, but you quickly admonished yourself to focus. This was no time for distractions, especially not over a mere crush.

With a determined nod, you set aside the swirling emotions inside you and turned your attention to the task at hand. It was time to talk, to strategize, to figure out how to navigate this unforgiving wilderness as a united front.

Together, you would face whatever dangers lay ahead, drawing strength from each other's resolve as you forged ahead into the unknown.

…

The closer you all walked to the dropship, the stronger the smell of burned flesh and fuel smelled. Each of you crouching through the woods stepping over bodies littering the forest.

What the hell happened here?

You found Bellamy sitting alone, nursing his hurt arm. He straightened as you approached him. Both of you sizing each other up, it was clear that trust did not come easily to him.

"You didn't have to do that," Bellamy said, his voice tight as he regarded you with a mixture of gratitude and suspicion.

You shrugged, trying to downplay your actions. "It was nothing," you replied, your tone casual despite the gravity of the situation. "It’s Bellamy, right?"

He gave a curt nod, expression softening at your words. "I didn't expect that from you," he admitted, his tone tinged with genuine curiosity. as you pressed on.

You offered him a small smile, hoping to ease the tension between you. "I'm full of surprises," you quipped, attempting to lighten the mood.

"I wanted to hear what happened yesterday with the Grounders, did you see Harper? Miller."

His jaw clenches as he glances back at the dropship. "It was a massacre. We never stood a chance."

For a moment, silence hung between you, the weight of unspoken words filling the air. But then, Bellamy spoke again, his voice softer this time. "Harper and Miller made it inside. Barely. The rest..."

"We'll avenge them," you vowed, meaning it. Surprise flickers in his eyes.

"You don't even know me," he challenges. There's a gruff vulnerability under his skepticism.

"I know you'll do whatever it takes to protect your people. So will I."

He appraises me with new interest. "Is that so?"

You meet his stare levelly. "We can work together,” you state as you extend your hand to him. A spark of mutual understanding passes between the both of you.

"The enemy of my enemy..." His mouth quirks in a grim half-smile.

You release Bellamy's arm and stand, seeing his words for the olive branch they are meant to be.

"I should check on the others inside," you say, disappointed you needed to go back into the graveyard.

"Yeah. I'll keep watch out here."

Turning towards the dropship, feeling his gaze follow you. Bones littered the field before the dropship, white ash spread over every inch of the dirt like a blanket of ghostly snow.

 The acrid smell making your throat tighten.

You followed Abby and Kane inside the dropship, hoping to see Harper and Miller. The sight that greeted you was not them, but the idiot John Murphy and Raven Reyes the engineer, her face etched with pain as she fidgeted with the wound on her leg.

"What the hell happened here?" Kane demanded, shock cracking through his usual composure.

Murphy just let out a raspy chuckle. "You should've been here, Chancellor. It was one wild ride."

Raven gave him an annoyed glare before turning to Abby, her voice urgent. "There was an attack. Clarke’s not here.”

Kane threw murphy’s arm over his shoulder, bringing out of the dropship when Bellamy approached them both shouts erupted from them both, he grabbed Murphy by the shirt.

"You coward! Look what you've done!" Bellamy snarled.

Murphy let out a pained laugh. "I told you they'd slaughter us all." Kane sprang forward to intervene.

"Enough!" He pulled Bellamy off Murphy, who collapsed gasping, ordering the guard forward to arrest them both.

…

Your weary group made their way back to the looming ruins of the Ark, now dubbed Camp Jaha, you couldn't help but steal glances at the shaggy-haired boy who had captured your thoughts.

His solitary figure walked apart from the others, shoulders slumped under the weight of some unseen burden. You wondered what trials he had endured down here, what secrets lay hidden behind those intense eyes.

Instead of following Kane's lead to the lockup, you made a split-second decision to slip away, the need for solitude outweighing any sense of duty.

The journey from the Ark and the long trek on foot had taken its toll, leaving you physically and emotionally drained.

…

Chaos reigned in the aftermath of Camp Jaha's descent to the ground. The tension between authority and rebellion simmered beneath the surface, threatening to erupt at any moment.

Abby's decision to allow the "rebels" to search for her daughter Clarke only added fuel to the fire, while Kane's reluctance to act left a bitter taste in your mouth.

The once ironclad laws of the Ark now seemed like relics of a bygone era, obsolete in the face of the new reality on Earth.

The news of Abby's shocking sentence sent shockwaves through the community, leaving you reeling in disbelief.

As you stood among the murmuring crowd, watching in horror as Abby was subjected to unspeakable agony, your uncle's cold indifference cut deep

Unable to bear the suffocating atmosphere of the Ark any longer, you retreated to the solitude of your room, the weight of the events weighing heavy on your soul. But even there, the walls seemed to close in around you, driving you to seek solace in the cool night air.

Stepping out into the deserted halls, you made your way towards the exit, a sense of unease gnawing at the pit of your stomach. Passing by the guards stationed along the fence, their sweeping spotlights pierced the darkness of the woods.

The guards flashed their light into the distance grabbing your attention, a gunshot shattered the silence, sending you into a panic.

Without hesitation, you sprinted towards the woods, along with a breathless Abby. The sound of branches snapping and leaves crunching underfoot echoing in your ears.

Your heart pounded in your chest as you pushed deeper into the darkness, your breath coming in ragged gasps.

Emerging into a clearing, you were met with a chilling sight: two bodies lying motionless on the ground, surrounded by a ring of armed guards.

And among them, pushing through the crowd with desperate determination, was Abby. All guns were pointed at the two bodies lying on the dirt. Abby pushing through them.

It was Clarke.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Here's how Curiosity's sky crane changed the way NASA explores Mars

Twelve years ago, NASA landed its six-wheeled science lab using a daring new technology that lowers the rover using a robotic jetpack.

NASA's Curiosity rover mission is celebrating a dozen years on the red planet, where the six-wheeled scientist continues to make big discoveries as it inches up the foothills of a Martian mountain. Just landing successfully on Mars is a feat, but the Curiosity mission went several steps further on Aug. 5, 2012, touching down with a bold new technique: the sky crane maneuver.

A swooping robotic jetpack delivered Curiosity to its landing area and lowered it to the surface with nylon ropes, then cut the ropes and flew off to conduct a controlled crash landing safely out of range of the rover.

Of course, all of this was out of view for Curiosity's engineering team, which sat in mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, waiting for seven agonizing minutes before erupting in joy when they got the signal that the rover landed successfully.

The sky crane maneuver was born of necessity: Curiosity was too big and heavy to land as its predecessors had—encased in airbags that bounced across the Martian surface. The technique also added more precision, leading to a smaller landing ellipse.

During the February 2021 landing of Perseverance, NASA's newest Mars rover, the sky crane technology was even more precise: The addition of something called terrain relative navigation enabled the SUV-size rover to touch down safely in an ancient lake bed riddled with rocks and craters.

Evolution of a Mars landing

JPL has been involved in NASA's Mars landings since 1976, when the lab worked with the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on the two stationary Viking landers, which touched down using expensive, throttled descent engines.

For the 1997 landing of the Mars Pathfinder mission, JPL proposed something new: As the lander dangled from a parachute, a cluster of giant airbags would inflate around it. Then three retrorockets halfway between the airbags and the parachute would bring the spacecraft to a halt above the surface, and the airbag-encased spacecraft would drop roughly 66 feet (20 meters) down to Mars, bouncing numerous times—sometimes as high as 50 feet (15 meters)—before coming to rest.

It worked so well that NASA used the same technique to land the Spirit and Opportunity rovers in 2004. But that time, there were only a few locations on Mars where engineers felt confident the spacecraft wouldn't encounter a landscape feature that could puncture the airbags or send the bundle rolling uncontrollably downhill.

"We barely found three places on Mars that we could safely consider," said JPL's Al Chen, who had critical roles on the entry, descent, and landing teams for both Curiosity and Perseverance.

It also became clear that airbags simply weren't feasible for a rover as big and heavy as Curiosity. If NASA wanted to land bigger spacecraft in more scientifically exciting locations, better technology was needed.

Rover on a rope

In early 2000, engineers began playing with the concept of a "smart" landing system. New kinds of radars had become available to provide real-time velocity readings—information that could help spacecraft control their descent. A new type of engine could be used to nudge the spacecraft toward specific locations or even provide some lift, directing it away from a hazard. The sky crane maneuver was taking shape.

JPL Fellow Rob Manning worked on the initial concept in February 2000, and he remembers the reception it got when people saw that it put the jetpack above the rover rather than below it.

"People were confused by that," he said. "They assumed propulsion would always be below you, like you see in old science fiction with a rocket touching down on a planet."

Manning and colleagues wanted to put as much distance as possible between the ground and those thrusters. Besides stirring up debris, a lander's thrusters could dig a hole that a rover wouldn't be able to drive out of. And while past missions had used a lander that housed the rovers and extended a ramp for them to roll down, putting thrusters above the rover meant its wheels could touch down directly on the surface, effectively acting as landing gear and saving the extra weight of bringing along a landing platform.

But engineers were unsure how to suspend a large rover from ropes without it swinging uncontrollably. Looking at how the problem had been solved for huge cargo helicopters on Earth (called sky cranes), they realized Curiosity's jetpack needed to be able to sense the swinging and control it.

"All of that new technology gives you a fighting chance to get to the right place on the surface," said Chen.

Best of all, the concept could be repurposed for larger spacecraft—not only on Mars, but elsewhere in the solar system. "In the future, if you wanted a payload delivery service, you could easily use that architecture to lower to the surface of the moon or elsewhere without ever touching the ground," said Manning.

TOP IMAGE: This artist’s concept shows how NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover was lowered to the planet’s surface using the sky crane maneuver. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

LOWER IMAGE: The rocket-powered descent stage that lowered NASA’s Curiosity onto the Martian surface is guided over the rover by technicians at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in September 2011, two months before the mission’s launch. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

[naturesapphic]

Hey this is super random, but I was scrolling through the Clarke Griffin tag and saw you wanted to write for her. If you still do, could you please write something soft and comforting with her?

“We’re going to be okay”

Clarke griffin x fem!reader

Warnings: cussing, comfort/hurt, fluff :)

You woke up suddenly with the feeling of falling. Looking around you see people in seats with straps around them to keep them from out of the seats. You kept looking around until you looked over to your right and see your girlfriend Clarke looking bewildered and scared. “Clarke? Clarke!” You exclaimed and Clarke immediately looked over to you and tried to get to you but couldn’t move. “Y/n! Oh my goodness you’re okay!” She said and you looked at her with tears and fear in your eyes which made clarkes heart break. “It’s okay y/n/n…I’m here…I’ll protect you I promise.” She reassured you until she heard a voice “welcome back” her ex best friend said to her. “Look-“ wells started but was interrupted by your girlfriend.

“Wells, why the hell are you here?” Clarke asked him sternly and you winced slightly at her time. “When I heard that they were sending prisoners to the ground I got myself arrested.” Wells explained to Clarke and she looked surprised. “I came for you and y/n” he explained and then there was some crash sound and the lights blinked a couple of times. “What the fuck was that?” Clarke exclaimed at wells. “That, was the atmosphere.” Wells said and suddenly a tv came on showing the chancellor talking to us. Suddenly finn decided that it would be such a great idea to get out his seat which caused him to float. “Check it out. Your dad floated me after all.” Fin said cockily. “You should strap in before the parachutes deploy.” Wells instructed finn. Then Clarke spoke “hey! You two! Stay put if you want to live!” She demanded as she saw two people trying to unzip and get out of the restraints.

“Hey, you’re the traitor who’s been in solitary for a year.” Finn said. “And you’re the idiot who wasted a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk.” She barked back at him. “And you must also be the traitor’s girlfriend.” He said to you and you rolled your eyes at him. “Yes I am and if you have a problem with it then so float yourself.” You bit back at him which caused Clarke to smile proudly at you. “The spacewalking was fun. I’m Finn.” He said and the both of you just looked at him. Then Clarke looked over to where the two boys were at “stay in your seats!” She urged and then the parachutes popped up and Finn was slammed into someone and the other two boys got slammed on the side of the aircraft ship.

“Finn are you okay?!” Both you and Clarke said at the same time and everyone started freaking out. “Retrorockets ought to have fired by now.” Wells yelled out to Clarke and you. “Okay…everything on this ship is one hundred years old right? Just give it a second!” Reassured both of you. “Clarke! There’s something I have to tell you! I’m sorry I got your father arrested.” He tried to apologize. “Don’t you talk about my father!” Clarke exclaimed. “Please! I can’t die knowing that you hate me!” He pleaded. “They didn’t arrest my father wells! They executed him! I do hate you!” Clarke said harshly and you looked at both of them sympathetically.

Then the lights went out and everyone started shouting. A crash was heard all throughout the ship and then the machines suddenly stopped. “Listen. No machine hum.” Monty explained. “Whoah…” jasper said as he looked around amazed. “That’s a first.” Said breathless. All of a sudden the buckles that were holding y��all in your seats were suddenly unbuckled and everyone immediately got out of them. You helped Clarke with hers and you got into her arms hurriedly which made her smile. “I’m so glad you are here baby.” She whispered against your hair and you nodded your head against her chest.

Clarke pulled away from the hug when she saw Finn on his knees next to the guy who decided to follow Finn in his footsteps and unbuckle himself during the landing. “Is he breathing.” Clarke said as she rushed over to Finn’s side. Finn just kept looking down and Clarke knew that he didn’t make it. “The outer door is on the lower level! Let’s go!” A random boy shouted. “No! We can’t just open the doors!” Clarke said rushing to where the man was and you rushed after her, staying by her side as she always wanted you to be. “Hey. Just back it up guys.” A random man said as he stood in front of the door.

“Stop!” Clarke exclaimed as she climbed down the steps with you following behind her as she walks over to the strange man. “The air could be toxic.” She said sternly. “If the air is toxic, we’re all dead anyway.” He stated. “Bellamy?” A woman said softly as she went down the ladder and went over to him. “My God…look how big you are..” he said with emotions in his eyes. She immediately hugged him and then she suddenly pulled away from him to take another look at him. “What the hell are you wearing? A guards uniform?!” She said with a disgusted and shameful look. “I borrowed it to get on the drop ship. Someone has got to keep an eye on you.” He smiled at his sister and she hugged him again which made him laughed.

Me and Clarke just stood there awkwardly with the other kids and waited for them to be done until Clarke noticed something. “Where’s your wristband?” Clarke asked the girl and she looked at her weirdly. “Do you mind? I haven’t seen my brother in a year.” She stated sassily and you rolled your eyes at her. A guy shouted “no one has a brother!” He said and another person shouted “that’s Octavia Blake! The girl they found hidden in the floor!” They said and Octavia glared at them and started after them until her brother got ahold of her. “Octavia! Octavia. No. Let’s give them something else to remember you by.” He reassured her. “Yeah? Like what.” She grumbled. “Like being the first person on the ground in one hundred years.” He smiled down at his sister and pulled down the lever that opened the metal door.

It revealed the most beautiful site you’ve ever seen. You and Clarke stood by each other and just stared everywhere in awe. Octavia slowly walked over to where the dirt was and planted her feet in the dirt. She threw her hands up in the air “WE ARE BACK BITCHES!” She screamed out and everyone started running out of the pod onto the ground. You and Clarke smiled at each other and jumped off the pod, landing on the grass. “It’s so beautiful out here!” You exclaimed and looked around. She laced her hands with yours and guided you through the forest to look around and find mount weather. She unrolled the map in her hands and looked at it with a confused look. “Why so serious princesses.” Finn said to the both of you. “It’s not like we died in a fiery explosion.” He said trying to light up the mood.

You gave him a stern look. “Try telling that to the two guys who tried to follow you out of their seats.” Clarke said unbothered as she kept trying to figure out the map. “Y’all don’t like being called princesses, do you princesses.” He said smirking at y’all as you glared at him while Clarke have him an unimpressed look. “Do you see that peak over there?” She asked him and he said yeah in response. “Mount weather. There’s a radiation soaked forest between us and our next meal. They dropped us on the wrong damn mountain.” Clarke said angrily and you looked at her worriedly.

Y’all walked back to the pod as Finn ventured off somewhere as you stayed with Clarke of course. She was drawing on the map when someone interrupted her. “We got problems. The communications system is dead. I went to the roof and a dozen panels are missing. Heat fried the wires.” Wells explained to y’all and you sighed. “What the hell are we gonna do?” You said scared and Clarke reassured you. “All that matters right now is getting to mount weather. See? Look.” She pointed at the map. “This is us and this is where we need to go if we want to survive.” Clarke explained to the two of us. “Where’d you learn that from?” Wells asked your girlfriend and Clarke gave him a glare and he realized. “Oh…your father…” wells said sympathetically.

“Wells i think it’s best to leave us for a moment right now okay?” You told him and he nodded his head sadly as he walked away. Clarke sighed “thank you…it’s just so hard to be around him. I still can’t believe what he did to me…” she said getting choked up. “Hey hey baby…it’s okay I understand. It’s okay.” You said softly to her as you take her in your arms. She sighed and pulled away first giving you a small smile. “Thank you for understanding and being patient with me. I love you and we will get through this. Together.”

A/n: I have my own buy me a coffee page! You can give me a dollar and it will help. I also have some different commission types I will do so here’s my page to look into it :) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/naturesapphic holy shit this is 1,563 words lmao. Well I hope @pisces-bookshelf likes it and I hope everyone else does too! Sorry it took so long. Requests are open for yeehaw!wanda, country!wanda, and any other southern variants of Wanda or Natasha! Remember to stay hydrated and to rest!

[dddragoni-drabbles]

Despite her bravado, Korenna couldn't help but feel a twinge of apprehension as she approached the cruiser. Gorst had a point- something had to have destroyed all those other ships. She kept on her course, though- she wasn't about to turn back after all it took to get here.

Back at Hopkins Station, Gorst was reading through the data from Korenna's ship uplink. "These readings..." he said, half to himself. "This doesn't make any sense. Ganymede's been derelict for decades, but the energy profile it's givng off is almost like..."

A flashing light on Korenna's dashboard caught her attention. "A target lock? From who?" She looked around, but couldn't see any new ships- but her eyes went wide when she realized the source. Ganymede itself, the plasma railgin on its front starting to glow with power.

Gorst's voice came over the speaker, "Korenna, MOVE!" but she was already slamming on the control stick, upper thrusters bursting to life as her ship dove, just in time as a lance of plasma shot forth from Ganymede, blazing through the spot she'd been moments before. She threw her ship into reverse and shot back towards the debris field as smaller cannons sprung to life, filling the area with laser fire. She wove between the bolts as best she could, but with the sheer volume of lasers, she wasn't going to last long. "Gorst, give me something!"

"Shit! Uh..." He frantically scanned through the data output. "There's a big cluster of wrecks at these coordinates," he said, sending her a telemetry. "Take cover there!"

"That plasma cannon's gonna punch right through! I know you've got that bet with Louis, but trying to get me killed is a bit much!"

"Trust me, I have a plan!"

She groaned, but headed for the cluster, firing her retrorockets to come to a stop. The wrecks absorbed the bulk of the laser fire, but her sensors picked up the plasma cannon recharging. "Now what?"

"The logo, on your dashboard- right before the cannon fires, press it and dive."

"What?"

"Just do it!"

"This better work or I'm haunting you." Korenna hovered one hand over the logo, keeping the other on her control stick while she watched the plasma cannon's readout. 70 percent charged. 80 percent. 90. Now!

The plasma cannon fired, obliterating the first wreck it struck and sending the rest scattering into space. Ganymede's sensors made a sweep of the area. Detecting no active ship signals, it reentered standby mode.

No active signals detected. Entering standby mode.

Just below the now-destroyed cluster, Korenna's heart pounted in her chest as she watched Ganymede's guns power down. After a few tense moments of quiet, she reached for the communicator. "Gorst, what the hell was that?"

"Prototype cloaking device. It was supposed to be a birthday surprise- we were gonna install the full version when you got back. So, uh." He shrugged. "Happy birthday."

[albrightnow]

Confession

"Two minutes out."

Sarah closes her eyes, and breathes. Her hands grip the controls around her. She breathes recycled air, feels the hardsuit around her, feels her jacket over the top of it all. She's done this thousands of times. Thousands of flights. She's a pilot. This isn't anything new. The darkness behind her eyelids comforts her, grounding her in this moment. She's always home here.

"Check your weapons, I expect every one of you to be loaded when we drop in!"

Her eyes open. She hasn't ever done this before. She's flown thousands of flights before, done close to two thousand blinkspace jumps. But she's never done this. The controls feel alien in her hands as she uses them to manipulate the right hand of her mech, raising the rifle in its hands to check the weapon load. Her readouts confirm it has a full magazine and no jams, but she has to check around her HUD to find those readouts.

There's nothing instinctive about this. Nothing familiar.

"One minute out!"

She looks up and sees their drill sergeant. Drill Sergeant Percival. Percival. No wonder he prefers his callsign. If Sarah was called Percival, she'd call herself Confessor too.

"Stick close to me, keep comms clear except for things we actually need to hear, and follow your training! Our objective is town Echo, currently in enemy hands." He sounds like every stereotype of a hardass sergeant she's ever seen in the vids and she wonders if he practises in the mirror.

The light in the dropship turns red.

"DROP!"

The floor beneath them opens, air revealed where there was solid ground a moment before, and ten mechs slam down to the ground from thirty feet into the air.

The servos in her assault mech's legs take the brunt of the impact, and the retrorockets they'd all been fitted dampen the rest, but Sarah can still feel the landing ringing in her teeth as she tries to get her bearings.

Confessor is the first to rise - or maybe he's just easier to see with the bulk of his Saladin standing tall above the sand and dirt they kicked up with their landing. He turns towards something, and Sarah follows his gaze. There. The town. It already looks like it's been through hell, with half the buildings reduced to rubble already. It's a small settlement. She doubts they even have a printer that can make anything bigger than a tractor. So why are they fighting over it?

The question doesn't have a chance to get answered, because Sarah hears the dull thud-thud-thud of gunfire, sees muzzle flashes, and sees Confessor's warp shield burst into life. Space distorts around the bullets as they impact the Saladin's shields, curving like looking at the accretion disk around a black hole. Finally, something familiar.

"Move up!"

Two words are all it takes to bring her to life. To bring all of them to life.

Eight assault mechs and an engineer surge forwards alongside him. Two to Sarah's right raise their rifles and squeeze off a few rounds, but they're not in range yet. Sarah remembers enough of her training to know not to waste her ammo at these sorts of ranges.

Whatever the enemy are armed with, they clearly don't have many long-ranged weapons either. A few rounds hit the Saladin's shields, a few others ping off the armour of the mechs around her, but nothing seems to be connecting. No artillery, no lasers, no freaky fucking HORUS nightmares she's heard about.

And all too soon, the gap is closed. They're about to enter their effective range, and Sarah feels a lot less safe about that. She can see three targets on different rooftops, one more in the door of a garage.

"Guns 1 to 3, take the left roof!" There's a ping on their HUD indicating the roof in question. "4 to 6, Engineer Thorn, take the one in front of us! I've got the third rooftop. Guns 7 and 8, clear out that garage!" The orders come quickly. Gun 7. That's her.

"Move!"

Confessor raises his weapon, firing off a volley of thermobaric micro-missiles which blast into the leftmost rooftop.

There's no room to argue. No room to dispute his calls. Just room to do what he says. So, she breaks right, depressing the button she knows activates her mech's boost function. Her scanners let her know Gun 8 is hot on her tail. He wants his callsign to be Radar. She doesn't remember his real name, but she's pretty sure it starts with a J.

Sarah raises her rifle and fires a volley of rounds at the mech in the garage doorway, feeling her mech's left arm absorb the recoil, and it...retreats. It retreats into the garage. She really, really doesn't like that.

She slams into the wall, using it as cover and receiving the haptic feedback that the metal buckled a little. Not the sturdiest building.

Radar, Gun-8, takes position on the other side of the door. Her comms fizzle into life as his mech's glowing 'face' looks towards her. "Okay. Okay, okay. Knell, you take the left side, I'll take the right." Knell. That's what they've been calling her. She'd introduced herself as NL-422 Sarah Albright, just out of bad habit, and it had stuck. NL-422 became NL, became Knell. So now she's stuck with it.

"Radar. Watch your scanners and please don't shoot me," she replies, trying to keep her tone light. It doesn't really come across, but he laughs anyway. It's a stress-laugh, the sort people make when they're holding a live explosive or their ship is crashing.

"Three. Two. One. Mark!"

She takes the left.

The garage is only big enough to service maybe three Kilimanjaros. There's familiar-looking stations for lifting frames, like old-school car lifters but sized for mechs. But the open area inside the garage is empty. There's no sign of mechs, no sign of infantry. She advances slowly, rifle raised. The roof feels too low, the walls feel too close. She feels like she's jumping at shadows for every step she takes.

She can hear gunfire in the distance, but none inside the actual building. Radar hasn't found anyone yet either. There's what look like two offices in the back of the building. Their ceiling height will be the same as the rest of the structure - that's big enough to hide a mech in. Sarah takes a breath, hardsuit gloves tightening their grip on her controls as she steps into the first office and swings her gun in a wide arc to check her blind spot.

 It's...clear. There's just an old fridge and a kitchenette.

If it's clear, that means either they're in Radar's side of the building, or--

Gunfire roars behind her. Armour-piercing rounds punch through the plaster and drywall separating the two offices from one another, then punch through her mech with about the same amount of effort. The whole mech lurches with the impacts.

Haptic feedback has her feel the first shot hit her mech's left arm, blowing it off completely, the second shot blast through the lower torso, and the third cut into the left leg. If she'd taken one more step into the room, they would've cut through her mech's core - and cockpit. As it is, they just completely incapacitated her.

She feels the leg give out, barely able to stand as its servos scream in complaint and alarms blare. She's been shot at. She needs to react. She needs to react, not just sit here waiting for death.

She raises her rifle with her mech's one remaining arm, turning as best as she can with a barely-working leg and opening fire through the plasterwork. Without the left arm's recoil compensation, she feels the weapon fire shake through her entire frame. She's firing blind, and her mech's aim assist couldn't compensate for this recoil even if she knew where she was shooting.

Her gun clicks empty.

She doesn't know what to do.

She doesn't know what to do.

She doesn't know what she's fighting for. She doesn't know why she's here. She isn't from this planet and doesn't have a fucking clue what this civil war is all about. For all she knows, the rebels might have the right idea.

...But she always knew this was a possibility.

Sarah closes her eyes. She's always home here, in the dark. She knew, going into this, that life insurance would pay better. She'd come to terms with that. Accepted it. She didn't want to throw her life away, but if she's going to die here, she's okay with that.

...No she fucking isn't.

She doesn't want to die.

She hammers her thumb against the button to activate her mech's boost. It's in the same place as her old ship's thrusters. The mech surges forwards, dragging its dying leg behind it and slamming through the swiss-cheesed drywall.

The two mechs hiding in the other office don't have facial expressions, but she likes to imagine they were surprised.

She closes the distance, swinging her rifle around and slamming it into the first mech's head before it can even react. Again. And again.

The second mech draws its combat knife, and she swings at it instead. The rifle in her mech's hand shatters, alloy shards the length of ski poles perforating the room.

She doesn't want to die.

Sarah draws her own mech's knife, stepping forwards and driving it home. The composite blade carves through the mech's armour like it's nothing, and it falls still.

Through the alarms sounding in her own mech, she hears the survivor trying to climb to its feet.

She grabs the combat knife from the limp hand of the cored mech in front of her, turns, and throws it.

It's instinct. It's all instinct.

But the blade flies true, and strikes the mech's head. A glancing blow, but enough to mess with its optical systems. It buys her time. Time to step forwards and kick it in the chest with her mech's bad leg.

It falls, and she draws its own combat knife to press against the cockpit as she pins it down on the ground.

Then...she stops.

The blood roaring in her eyes subsides.

She's gasping for breath. Alarms are blaring. In front of her, there's a downed assault mech. It's the exact same model she's piloting. The same rifle lies fallen by their side, the same combat knife is in her hands now. She doesn't have a clue what this civil war is all about. For all she knows, the rebels might have the right idea. For all she knows, they might have the wrong one. But here, now, they're the same.

Sarah lets the blade scratch its way down the mech's body, from the cockpit to the core, and plunges the blade deep. The lights dim. The cockpit opens. The pilot scrambles away, unarmed and in a hardsuit just like hers.

When she staggers her way back into the afternoon sun of a pointless town on a planet she doesn't know anything about, there's a different knife holstered in her mech's scabbard and a different assault rifle held in the mech's one remaining arm. They're all the same model anyway.

___

AFTER-ACTION REPORT

CONDUCTOR: Your recruits performed at an above-average level, Sergeant Percival. Zero fatalities, and only one allied mech destroyed.

CONFESSOR: They held themselves together.

CONDUCTOR: Combat diagnostics are complete, and their new designations have been confirmed. Gun-2's accuracy rating warrants placement in a sniper frame. Gun-3 took it upon herself to provide overwatch; use your discretion to determine which frame would best benefit from that. Gun-7's lethality in close range was an order of magnitude higher than expected.

CONFESSOR: Gun-7 panicked and fought for her life. Beating a mech apart with your empty rifle isn't evidence of-

CONDUCTOR: Her combat effectiveness would be wasted in anything other than a close combat frame. Issue her a Ronin.

CONDUCTOR: Do you have something to say, Sergeant?

CONFESSOR: No, sir.

AFTER-ACTION REPORT CONCLUDES

[alex99achapterthree]

Space History ...

On 12/15/65 Gemini VIA (Wally Schirra and Tom Staffor) and Gemini VII (Frank Borman and Jim Lovell) performed the first crewed space rendezvous.

The next time the two spacecraft would encounter one another...

... was on the recovery carrier USS WASP.

They look rather sorry for themselves, not the elegant black-and-white spacecraft seen floating serenely in orbit. The white adapter section (containing equipment. supplies and retrorockets) was jettisoned in orbit. The long snout (containing parachutes and the rendezvous radar) was also jettisoned on the way down, leaving just the crew cabin. Beryllium shingles around the nose have been removed to purge residual toxic fuel from the nose-mounted thrusters.

After that, the two spacecraft went their separate ways. VIA is at the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma (Tom Stafford's home town) and VII is in the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC.

[tournevole]

From-the-1904-Broadway-Musical-Piff-Paff-Pouff-Radium-Dance-by-RetroRocketeer-via-Flickr

[primevein]

The Prime of His Youth: Book II: Quest of Fire: Ch16: Orientation

They drove up to the crumbled ruins of what was the entrance. Arcee slowed down, causing everyone else to slow down as well. Arcee slowly drove up to the crumbled entrance. Jack climbed off. Everyone but Bulkhead and his cargo, and Windblade up in the air, transformed and walked up.

"Sirenia, if you could take over as lookout?" Windblade asked. Sirenia jumped into the air, and transformed. She orbited as she slowly ascended. Windblade transformed, and used her turbines as retrorockets to slow her descent as she fell through Sirenia's orbit. She walked up next to Jack on Arcee, "Cybertron feels your grief."

"It feels underground." Jack uttered, "It feels like a lot further underground then I walked last time."

"Then that was likely a terminal for Vector Sigma." Arcelia said, as she walked up. "Your reports show Vector Sigma to be far closer to the surface than the reports of Orion's quest did."

"Why?.." Jack quietly asked, and looked around. Windblade spoke and he looked at her.

"It knew you were a Human." she stated, "It knew you could never survive the same quest that the last Prime had."

"And now?" Jack asked.

"Cybertron is still recovering. It has not been able to repair most of the damage. It also knows that you are far more than you were last time. Your journey was incredibly harrowing for a mundane Human. But now, you are so much more. Intriguing."

"You also did bring a small army with you." Arcee added.

"This, an army?" Windblade asked.

"This is what we had on Earth in the last phase of the war." Bulkhead stated. "This is more than enough for Wreckers."

"Your battles?.." she asked, and paused, "At the end of the war?.. had how many?"

"At the most?" Bulkhead asked, "6 on our side?"

Windblade's eyes were wide as she tried to understand this.

"After Cybertron went dark, everyone scattered." Arcee stated. "Most worlds didn't have enough Energon to fuel major battles. We fought over Cybertron until it became a lifeless husk, and then we moved onto other worlds. We've been fighting for longer than Humans have exited, and if Megatron had his way, he would have wiped them out, as well."

"Which is why, when it came to Caminus, it came in such small numbers?" Windblade asked.

"Optimus realized that Earth was where the war would end," Bulkhead stated, "and sent out a call for any Autobot to come to his aid. Arcee's one of the ones that showed up. Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack had lost more than knew were still ticking. Honestly, until the Humans started helping us, we really didn't think there was a hope for Cybertronians, Autobot or Decepticon." He then gave Windblade a strong look, "Finding out that there are colonies out there, thriving, it means... I don't know..."

"How big is your colony?" Smokescreen asked.

"About a thousand." Arcelia quickly stated. "Plus or minus whoever is off world at the time."

"What?" Bulkhead asked, "You haven't lost anyone?"

"We've lost some..." Windblade uttered.

"That the Well replaced." Arcelia added.

"Well?" Bulkhead asked, "Well of All Sparks?!"

"Wait, what?" Smokescreen asked.

"Indeed." Windblade stated.

"A lesser one, yes." Arcelia replied.

"Though, enough to suit our needs." Windblade stated.

"You have your own Well?" Smokescreen asked.

"Maybe we weren't as doomed as we thought we were." Bulkhead stated, "Alright, who are we following, Windblade here?"

"I could show you the way," she replied, "but I believe the young Prime should be the one to lead us."

"You hear that, Leader?" Arcee asked.

Jack breathed in deep, and looked around. But, he shouldn't be looking. Whatever that feeling was, this is what he needed to follow. He looked down, deep into the ground, his focused so far way. This is where their goal was, but this was not how they could get there. He could feel something to his side, like a trivial thought attached to a deep one. He tried to focus on the trivial thought, but found it fleeting. He had to chase it, so see where it would go. He followed it down the rabbit hole and it came to the surface. He found himself looking across the surface at something he could not see.

He thought he could feel the self-satisfaction from Windblade as she loomed over him. He looked up at her, and then lost the thought. He had to concentrate to find it again, to pull it into focus, to follow it. He turned back to the others, "This is going to take a lot of practice, so if I fuck it up, I apolgize."

"Practice it is." Windblade asserted, and he gave her a confused look.

"I think she means it's practice you need." Bulkhead stated.

"Well said." Windblade augustly added from on high.

Jack breathed in deeply, "Yeah..." he neutrally uttered. "Let's... uh, let's go..." he said.

* * *

Jack had to get Arcee to stop. First once, and then more, and then so much more, to the point that company got used to it. Miko climbed out of Bulkhead and spoke up, "Smoke em' if you've got em."

Jack was trying to concentrate, so Arcee figured she would snark in his place, "Do you even smoke?"

Miko had no reply.

"What's smoking?" Smokescreen asked as he transformed.

"Jack?" Arcee asked, and Jack climbed off of her. She transformed and turned around to walk towards Smokescreen, "Humans take little sticks and light them on fire next to their face."

"They aren't sticks." Miko stated.

"Then what are they?" Arcee asked.

"And why?" Bulkhead stated.

"Because it's addictive." Sirenia stated.

"The fire?" Bulkhead asked.

"The nicotine in the smoke." Arcelia stated. "Smoking typically refers to cigarettes or cigars, both of which are made from tobacco. They inhale the smoke. Tobacco contains nicotine, which is highly addictive."

"Okay?" Bulkhead asked, "Why did they start?"

"Because it was fashionable." Sirenia stated. "It was considered glamorous and created a mystique."

"Uh-huh?" Bulkhead non-committally asked.

"Humans were apparently surprised that inhaling smoke on a regular basis was bad for them." Arcelia added.

"So, why are we smoking?" Bulkhead asked.

"I said if you've got them." Miko replied.

"But no one has them?" Bulkhead asked.

"So we don't smoke." Miko simply stated.

Arcee turned back to Jack. He seemed more at ease, "You ready?"

He nodded, and she transformed towards him.

* * *

Jack's eyes closed for a moment before he quickly opened them. Arcee started to slow and pulled off to the side. "Why are you slowing down?" Jack asked.

"Because it's apparently past your bedtime." Arcee.

"I'm not..." Jack said, and closed his eyes. This time they stayed closed a lot longer. Arcee transformed with Jack in her arms. She laid down and pulled him close.

Miko stretched out across Bulkhead's seat.

"It seems a repose is upon us." Windblade said, lifting off of Bulkhead.

Roxana transformed and walked over to Arcelia, whom transformed in return. "Could you teach me to cook?" she asked.

"It would be my pleasure." she said, as Sirenia transformed and landed next to them. "Though, we will not have much to do for a few hours."

"Hours are a fun concept." Roxana said with a smile.

* * *

Jack started to rouse, moving a bit. He thought he could feel the warmth from Arcee as she embraced him, but there was more than a few reasons why that was wrong. Arcee relaxed her grasp and he slowly found his way to his feet. He looked back at her, pain on her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Just..." he quietly said as his thoughts returned to him, "Didn't want to let go."

"Me neither." Arcee said, as she stood up and stretched. She quickly looked over. Jack followed her gaze, and found Arcelia, Sirenia, and Roxana cooking. The fog from his sleep was slowly ebbing. It took a few moments for him to register what was different. Roxana was learning to cook. He wasn't sure how he felt. He had not woken up enough. He breathed in deeply. They shouldn't go anywhere until after they've eaten. Roxana eagerly waved at him, and he tiredly waved back.

"Time for our little Wrecker to lift her head." Bulkhead stated, and Miko slowly sat up.

"Morning, Bulk." she groaned.

* * *

Jack and Miko sat in the joint bubble, helmets down as they ate.

"Maybe I should get a swarm of fembots to cook for me?" Miko asked, and Jack glared at her.

"That's not why I have them." Jack asked.

"Why do you have them?" Miko chided, and he glared at her even stronger.

"I volunteered." Roxana eagerly stated.

"Cheerleader." Arcee voiced.

"I thought she wasn't?.." Miko asked.

"Hopefully." Roxana brightly replied.

Jack looked over at Sirenia and Arcelia.

"He found me on the street." Sirenia stated. "That alone would get me to serve him for life, even if it was a Cybertronian life?"

Miko looked at Arcelia, "Why wouldn't I?" Arcelia asked, "As an archivist, he is doing some of the most important things in Cybertronian history. On a personal level, I absolutely enjoy the atmosphere surrounding him."

"Family." Arcee stated, "Even Ultra Magnus started to clue into how powerful it is."

"So, what am I?" Miko asked.

"Hm?" Jack replied, "Niece?"

"Slag." she asserted.

"I could send you back to your parents." Jack stated. She stood up, glaring at him. "Should I send you to bed without your dessert?"

"Do we even have dessert?" she asked, and Sirenia picked something up and carried it over to them. She tried to hand it to Miko. Miko reached out to grab it, and just held her hand in place, "You made us dessert?" Sirenia just smiled at her. "Dude, where can I get one?" Miko said, and looked at Jack.

"What, you're asking me?" Jack asked. "You think I know?"

"I'd try Caminus." Arcee said, "That's where Arcelia and Roxana are from. A lot of femmes." she chided.

"We tot's got to head to Caminus." Miko said to Bulkhead.

"We're already visiting Smokescreen after this." Bulkhead replied, "After that?"

"I guess we're pushing it a few megacycles back." Miko replied, "But, who cares, let's go?"

[liquidbird-official]

Retrorockets are special engines designed to fire in the opposite direction of a spacecraft’s movement, slowing it down instead of speeding it up. Unlike regular rockets that push a vehicle forward, retrorockets apply thrust in the opposite direction, helping with landing, reentry, maneuvering, and even emergency escapes.

One of their most famous uses is in landing spacecraft safely. When a lander is approaching the surface of a planet or moon, retrorockets fire to slow it down, ensuring a soft touchdown. The Apollo Lunar Module used them to land on the Moon, and modern landers like those on Mars still rely on them.

Retrorockets are also critical for reentry. When astronauts return to Earth, their capsule is moving at extreme speeds. To prevent burning up in the atmosphere, retrorockets fire to reduce speed before descent. The same principle is used for space maneuvering. When a spacecraft needs to change orbits or dock with another vehicle, retrorockets provide precise control.

Stage separation in multi-stage rockets also depends on retrorockets. When one stage is done, retrorockets fire to push it away, ensuring a clean separation before the next stage ignites. This is how rockets like the Saturn V and Falcon 9 operate efficiently.

Another key application is satellite deorbiting. When a satellite reaches the end of its mission, retrorockets fire to slow it down, making it fall into Earth’s atmosphere, where it burns up instead of becoming space junk.

Retrorockets are even used for emergency escape systems. If a rocket has a problem during launch, small retrorockets can pull the crew capsule away from danger, saving lives.

From safe landings to precise space maneuvers, retrorockets play a vital role in spaceflight. They’re a perfect example of how slowing down at the right time is just as important as speeding up.

Follow for more such educational content daily!

Check, our substack for more in-depth articles on such topics.

[sunaleisocial]

NASA Mars Orbiter Spots Retired InSight Lander to Study Dust Movement - NASA

New Post has been published on https://sunalei.org/news/nasa-mars-orbiter-spots-retired-insight-lander-to-study-dust-movement-nasa/

NASA Mars Orbiter Spots Retired InSight Lander to Study Dust Movement - NASA

New images taken from space show how dust on and around InSight is changing over time — information that can help scientists learn more about the Red Planet.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) caught a glimpse of the agency’s retired InSight lander recently, documenting the accumulation of dust on the spacecraft’s solar panels. In the new image taken Oct. 23 by MRO’s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, InSight’s solar panels have acquired the same reddish-brown hue as the rest of the planet.

After touching down in November 2018, the lander was the first to detect the Red Planet’s marsquakes, revealing details of the crust, mantle, and core in the process. Over the four years that the spacecraft collected science, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which led the mission, used images from InSight’s cameras and MRO’s HiRISE to estimate how much dust was settling on the stationary lander’s solar panels, since dust affected its ability to generate power.

NASA retired InSight in December 2022, after the lander ran out of power and stopped communicating with Earth during its extended mission. But engineers continued listening for radio signals from the lander in case wind cleared enough dust from the spacecraft’s solar panels for its batteries to recharge. Having detected no changes over the past two years, NASA will stop listening for InSight at the end of this year.

Scientists requested the recent HiRISE image as a farewell to InSight, as well as to monitor how its landing site has changed over time.

“Even though we’re no longer hearing from InSight, it’s still teaching us about Mars,” said science team member Ingrid Daubar of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. “By monitoring how much dust collects on the surface — and how much gets vacuumed away by wind and dust devils — we learn more about the wind, dust cycle, and other processes that shape the planet.”

Dust Devils and Craters

Dust is a driving force across Mars, shaping both the atmosphere and landscape. Studying it helps scientists understand the planet and engineers prepare for future missions (solar-powered and otherwise), since dust can get into sensitive mechanical parts.

When InSight was still active, scientists matched MRO images of dust devil tracks winding across the landscape with data from the lander’s wind sensors, finding these whirling weather phenomena subside in the winter and pick up again in the summer.

The imagery also helped with the study of meteoroid impacts on the Martian surface. The more craters a region has, the older the surface there is. (This isn’t the case with Earth’s surface, which is constantly recycled as tectonic plates slide over one another.) The marks around these craters fade with time. Understanding how fast dust covers them helps to ascertain a crater’s age.

Another way to estimate how quickly craters fade has been studying the ring of blast marks left by InSight’s retrorocket thrusters during landing. Much more prominent in 2018, those dark marks are now returning to the red-brown color of the surrounding terrain.

HiRISE has captured many other spacecraft images, including those of NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, which are still exploring Mars, as well as inactive missions, like the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and the Phoenix lander.

“It feels a little bittersweet to look at InSight now. It was a successful mission that produced lots of great science. Of course, it would have been nice if it kept going forever, but we knew that wouldn’t happen,” Daubar said.

More About MRO and InSight

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL manages the MRO project and managed InSight for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

The InSight mission was part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supported spacecraft operations for the mission.

A number of European partners, including France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), supported the InSight mission. CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument to NASA, with the principal investigator at IPGP (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris). Significant contributions for SEIS came from IPGP; the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) in Switzerland; Imperial College London and Oxford University in the United Kingdom; and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the temperature and wind sensors.

For more about the missions:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/insight

science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter

News Media Contacts

Andrew Good Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-2433 andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov

2024-175

[lonestarflight]

Apollo Application Program: BALLOS

Concept art of BALLOS (BALlistic LOgistic Spacecraft), an Apollo-derived logistics spacecraft. It was studied by NASA, Lockheed and McDonnell-Douglas for the transportation of Astronauts to and from the Large Orbiting Research Laboratory (LORL) space station for the Apollo Application Program.

It came in three variants, a 6 astronaut version (2 crew, 4 passengers), 9 astronaut version (2 crew, 7 passengers) and a 2 astronaut version (2 crew, 10 passengers).

It would potentially be launched onboard either the Saturn IB or Titan III-C (in hammerhead configuration). The Saturn IB was preferred. Despite being bigger than the base line Apollo CSM, it would weigh roughly the same.

The 12 astronaut version has the following description:

"It is conical in shape with a spherical segment base. The base diameter of the spacecraft is 190 inches. The cargo-maneuver module is conical in shape and located immediately aft of the crew module. The conical shape adapts the 190-in. diameter crew module to the 260-inches diameter of the launch vehicle. This module is capable of carrying 13,455 lb of packaged cargo and 3,755 lb of maneuver propellant. This propellant is sufficient to meet the maneuvering impulsive velocity requirements of 1,050 fps which is provided by a modified LEM descent engine located in the module. Three solid-propellant retrorockets are located at the fore end of this module also.

This vehicle fulfills the mission requirements of delivering 12 men and 13, 455 lb of packaged cargo to a space station orbiting at an altitude of 260 nmi and an inclination of 29.5°. The launch vehicle puts the spacecraft in a 105 nmi parking orbit from which a Hohmann transfer is used to reach the rendezvous altitude of 260 nmi. Impulse for the Hohmann transfer and injection into final orbit is provided for in the 1,050 fps of impulsive velocity capability of the maneuver propulsion system. The maximum dynamic pressure of 525 psf is reached approximately 85 sec after launch. The maximum longitudinal acceleration during launch is approximately 4 g's."

At the end of the mission, the capsule would return to Earth for recovery, refurbishment and reuse. The propulsion module would be allowed to burn up.

"On an operational basis, prelaunch preparation time for a new [Ballos] spacecraft is 40 days. This time period includes receiving and shop processing prior to mating to the erected launch vehicle.

The projected 1968 to 1970 time period estimate for on-pad preparation time for the Saturn IB launch vehicle is 48 days. Of this, 23 days are allowed for payload mating and integrated vehicle checkout. The total prelaunch processing time required for the [BALLOS] vehicle, therefore, would be 63 days."

BALLOS never progressed past the study phase, like many proposals of the Apollo Application Program.

Date: Study 1964

source, source

NASA ID: S64-3663, S63-4634, S64-1800

[leanstooneside]

Leonardo

◊ ON THE BLASTSHIELD DOOR

◊ AS THE TENSION MOUNTS

◊ BY THIS ASSAULT

◊ OF THE FORCE

◊ ON THE ENEMY CRAFT

◊ AS LUKE HAN

◊ OF HIS IS

◊ INTO A DUSTY

◊ OFF A NUMBER

◊ AT THE POLES

◊ INTO THE LOUNGE AREA

◊ INTO THE COMLINK

◊ FOR THAT EXHAUST PORT

◊ OF THE STARKILLER...HE

◊ BETWEEN THE CLOSING WALLS

◊ ON THEIR

◊ OF THEM

◊ IN THE INTERIOR

◊ ON THE EXHAUST PORT

◊ FROM THE STARSHIP FIGHTERS

◊ ACROSS THE COMPUTER CONSOLE

◊ OF BURNING FRAGMENTS

◊ OF THE BLAST ECHOES

◊ ACROSS THE SURFACE

◊ ON THE PLANET'S SURFACE

◊ FOR THE EXHAUST PORT

◊ THROUGH THOSE TREES...WELL LET'S

◊ AT THE NOW

◊ OF THE IMPERIAL FIGHTERS

◊ IN A SMALL

◊ AT THE TABLE GLANCE

◊ INTO A FOREST

◊ OF THE TROOPERS

◊ OF YAVIN MASASSI OUTPOST WAR ROOM

◊ BY THE BOMERWRIGHTS

◊ FROM LUKE'S WEAPON

◊ ONTO A STRETCHER THEY

◊ OF HIS WING MAN

◊ OF THE LEVERS

◊ OF VARIOUS SHAPES

◊ OF THE HOLE

◊ ON YOUR LEVEL

◊ OF THE SITH PARAFORCE

◊ OF RELIEF

◊ OF THE KIBER CRYSTAL

◊ OF THE TOWERS

◊ OF RETROROCKETS

◊ INTO LATITUDE

◊ OF THE GARGANTUAN IMPERIAL SPACE FORTRESS

◊ OFF THE COORDINATES

◊ FROM VADER'S SHIP

◊ AT MONTROSS

◊ AT THE ASSEMBLED STORMTROOPERS

◊ ON THE SCANNER CONSOLE

◊ AT THE HEAD

◊ OF ALDERAAN

◊ WITH US

◊ UNTIL IT

◊ AS THE STARSHIPS

◊ OF THE LIFEPOD

◊ OF SCIENCE

◊ OF THE CABIN

◊ IN THE HALLWAY

◊ AT OGANA MAJOR

◊ OF THE OUTPOST

◊ IN THE CORNER

◊ OF SPACE

◊ OF CHAIN REACTION EXPLOSIONS

◊ INTO THE COPILOT

◊ AROUND THE EXHAUST PORT

◊ OF THE BOGAN...BUT

◊ ABOUT US

◊ INTO THE HALLWAY

◊ OF OTHERS

◊ BY ARTOO

◊ ON THE COMPUTER CONSOLE

◊ IN THE LIMBS

◊ IN THE MIDDLE

◊ FROM THEM

◊ AS MONTROSS

◊ IN GRATITUDE

◊ ABOUT IT HAN

◊ AT THE ENEMY CRAFT

◊ IN THE COPILOT'S

◊ OF THE COMPARTMENTS

◊ AS THE BOLT EXPLODES

◊ AFTER MASTER DEAK

◊ OF ORBIT

◊ AT THEM

◊ FOR LUKE

◊ INTO THE WALL

◊ OF SOME KIND

◊ ON THE DEATH STAR

◊ IN POSITION

◊ ON ITS

◊ OF THE INSECT

◊ AT THE EXHAUST PORT

◊ OF CHUTES

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA Mars Orbiter Spots Retired InSight Lander to Study Dust Movement

New images taken from space show how dust on and around InSight is changing over time — information that can help scientists learn more about the Red Planet.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) caught a glimpse of the agency’s retired InSight lander recently, documenting the accumulation of dust on the spacecraft’s solar panels. In the new image taken Oct. 23 by MRO’s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, InSight’s solar panels have acquired the same reddish-brown hue as the rest of the planet.

After touching down in November 2018, the lander was the first to detect the Red Planet’s marsquakes, revealing details of the crust, mantle, and core in the process. Over the four years that the spacecraft collected science, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which led the mission, used images from InSight’s cameras and MRO’s HiRISE to estimate how much dust was settling on the stationary lander’s solar panels, since dust affected its ability to generate power.

NASA retired InSight in December 2022, after the lander ran out of power and stopped communicating with Earth during its extended mission. But engineers continued listening for radio signals from the lander in case wind cleared enough dust from the spacecraft’s solar panels for its batteries to recharge. Having detected no changes over the past two years, NASA will stop listening for InSight at the end of this year.

Scientists requested the recent HiRISE image as a farewell to InSight, as well as to monitor how its landing site has changed over time.

“Even though we’re no longer hearing from InSight, it’s still teaching us about Mars,” said science team member Ingrid Daubar of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. “By monitoring how much dust collects on the surface — and how much gets vacuumed away by wind and dust devils — we learn more about the wind, dust cycle, and other processes that shape the planet.”

Dust Devils and Craters

Dust is a driving force across Mars, shaping both the atmosphere and landscape. Studying it helps scientists understand the planet and engineers prepare for future missions (solar-powered and otherwise), since dust can get into sensitive mechanical parts.

When InSight was still active, scientists matched MRO images of dust devil tracks winding across the landscape with data from the lander’s wind sensors, finding these whirling weather phenomena subside in the winter and pick up again in the summer.

The imagery also helped with the study of meteoroid impacts on the Martian surface. The more craters a region has, the older the surface there is. (This isn’t the case with Earth’s surface, which is constantly recycled as tectonic plates slide over one another.) The marks around these craters fade with time. Understanding how fast dust covers them helps to ascertain a crater’s age.

Another way to estimate how quickly craters fade has been studying the ring of blast marks left by InSight’s retrorocket thrusters during landing. Much more prominent in 2018, those dark marks are now returning to the red-brown color of the surrounding terrain.

HiRISE has captured many other spacecraft images, including those of NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, which are still exploring Mars, as well as inactive missions, like the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and the Phoenix lander.

“It feels a little bittersweet to look at InSight now. It was a successful mission that produced lots of great science. Of course, it would have been nice if it kept going forever, but we knew that wouldn’t happen,” Daubar said.

More About MRO and InSight

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL manages the MRO project and managed InSight for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

The InSight mission was part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supported spacecraft operations for the mission.

A number of European partners, including France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), supported the InSight mission. CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument to NASA, with the principal investigator at IPGP (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris). Significant contributions for SEIS came from IPGP; the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) in Switzerland; Imperial College London and Oxford University in the United Kingdom; and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the temperature and wind sensors.

IMAGE: Seen at the center of this image, NASA’s retired InSight Mars lander was captured by the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its High-Resolution Imagine Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on Oct. 23, 2024. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

[jcmarchi]

Landing On Mars: A Tricky Feat! - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/landing-on-mars-a-tricky-feat-technology-org/

Landing On Mars: A Tricky Feat! - Technology Org

The Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter landed in Mars’s Jezero crater on February 18, 2021, NASA’s latest mission to explore the red planet. Landing on Mars is an incredibly difficult feat that has challenged engineers for decades: while missions like Curiosity have succeeded, its surface is littered with the wreckage of many failures as well. Why is landing on Mars so difficult?

Illustrations of the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) sequences for Viking in 1976, NASA

Mars presents a unique problem to potential landers as it possesses a relatively large mass and a thin, but not insubstantial, atmosphere. The atmosphere is thick enough that spacecraft are stuffed inside a streamlined aeroshell sporting a protective heat shield to prevent burning up upon entry – but that same atmosphere is not thick enough to rely on parachutes alone for a safe landing, since they can’t catch sufficient air to slow down quickly enough. This is even worse for larger explorers like Perseverance, weighing in at 2,260 lbs (1,025 kg). Fortunately, engineers have crafted some ingenious landing methods over the decades to allow their spacecraft to survive what is called Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL).

The Viking landers touched down on Mars in 1976 using heat shields, parachutes, and retrorockets. Despite using large parachutes, the large Viking landers fired retrorockets at the end to land at a safe speed. This complex combination has been followed by almost every mission since, but subsequent missions have innovated in the landing segment. The 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission added airbags in conjunction with parachutes and retrorockets to safely bounce its way to a landing on the Martian surface. Then three sturdy “petals” ensured the lander was pushed upright after landing on an ancient floodplain. The Opportunity and Spirit missions used a very similar method to place their rovers on the Martian surface in 2004. Phoenix (2008) and Insight (2018) actually utilized Viking-style landings.

Perseverance Rover’s Entry, Descent and Landing Profile: This illustration shows the events that occur in the final minutes of the nearly seven-month journey that NASA’s Perseverance rover takes to Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The large and heavy Curiosity rover required extra power at the end to safely land the car-sized rover, and so the daring “Sky Crane” deployment system was successfully used in 2012. After an initial descent using a massive heat shield and parachute, powerful retrorockets finished slowing down the spacecraft to about two miles per hour. The Sky Crane then safely lowered the rover down to the Martian surface using a strong cable. With its job done, the Sky Crane flew off and crash-landed a safe distance away. Having proved the efficacy of the Sky Crane system, NASA used this same method to attempt a safe landing for Perseverance in February 2021!

Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mars gifts – the best space gifts from the Red Planet, ranging from Mars-themed clothes to genuine, certified meteorites from Mars.