The News from Mars

United States: Innovation in Aviation

• Successful Test of Scramjet Propelled Aircraft: NASA, the U.S. Space Agency, performed the first successful test of an aircraft propelled by a Scramjet engine. This test follows the successful in-flight ignition of a scramjet engine in 2002. The SCRAMjet (an acronym for Supersonic Combustion RAMjet) is the next major advancement in aerospace propulsion building on the successful technology of RAMjets (a proven technology used successfully on the SR-71 blackbird spyplane) which is itself a further advancement over traditional JET power propulsion technology.

  The real achievement accomplished is being able to propel an aircraft to Mach 7 (Seven times the speed of sound, approximately 5000 miles per hour) without the use of rocket technology. Whereas rockets carry their fuel and oxygen supply with them, Jet technology uses the oxygen supply from the atmosphere for combustion. Also, rocket technology is a one-time use propulsion technology. Rockets are costly and time-consuming to manufacture, require very precisely managed launch cycles and are in general a volatile and dangerous technology. Basic jet-propulsion technology has been used commercially for decades.

  SCRAMjets will hopefully open the commercialization of outer space by enabling vehicles that are cheaper to manufacture, easier to operate, have a higher fuel vs. payload ratio, and have a very fast flight turnaround time (much like commercial jet aircraft today).

  Related Link: Wikipedia Timeline of Aviation History.
  

Canada: To Mars and Beyond

• Rover Envy: Canada has decided that the U.S. will not be the only North American country to explore the Red Planet. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has issued an RFP (Request for Proposal)/Contract bid proposal worth $750,000 out to Canadian Industry. Canada is getting serious about investing in its national talent and Mars is the hot scientific political win du jour for pouring millions into scientific research and technical development. The CSA estimates it will cost about $150 million to successfully place a rover onto the surface of Mars. Target date: 2009.
  

Regional Recap: Japan

• Lunar Program: A historical note, Japan was the fourth country to launch a satellite into Earth orbit and the third country to send a vehicle to the moon with Hiten science explorer (First: USSR Sputnik 01, Second: USA Explorer 1, Third: Australia WRESAT 1).
  

  Progress on Lunar-A and is scheduled to launch sometime in 2004. Japan hopes to differentiate it's expedition from past efforts by touting Lunar-A as an exploration mission of mars resources. Whereas U.S., Russian and European efforts have been aimed mainly at mapping the geography of the Lunar surface, Lunar-A will have detachable projectile probes ("the penetrators") that will bury themselves into the lunar surface and conduct experiments to determine the characteristics of the interior of the moon (such as thermal and seismic activity).
  

  Following Lunar-A will be the SELENE moon explorer. Japan is heralding the SELENE program as the largest moon program undertaken since the U.S. Apollo Space Program over 30 years ago. SELENE (an acronym standing for "SELenological and ENgineering Explorer"), an unmanned expedition to the moon, will be composed of 3 components: a main orbiter and two smaller satellite. SELENE will investigate the entire moon in order to obtain information on its elemental and mineralogical composition, its geography, its surface and sub-surface structure, the remnant of its magnetic field, its gravity field, plasma and high-energy particles. The results are expected to lead to a better overall understanding of the Moon’s evolution. The goals of the mission are not entirely scientific, Japan hopes that the information obtained from the SELENE program will enable them to make better decisions regarding how humans can utilize the resources of the moon.
  

  Japan will also have to consider that if their program encounters any delays that they will be running neck-and-neck with China's Lunar program timetable setting the stage for a very compelling and new "International Lunar Space Race".
  

• Back on Earth: Following on the heels of last year's failed attempt to place two spy satellites into space, Japan has been reevaluating priorities for vehicle launches in 2004. A recent announcement that identifies the problem areas with the Japanese designed and built H2-A rocket system seems to clear the way for launches later this year.
  

  The first priority will be to launch a multifunctional satellite that will support weather observation and air traffic control over vast areas of Asia and the Pacific and is expected to begin operation about two months after the launch. This will most likely be the ALOS satellite (the "Advanced Land Observing Satellite") which will assume functionality that Japan is currently obtaining from the U.S. GOES-9 satellite.
  

Regional Recap: China

• Lunar Program: In addition to underscoring the importance of space exploration in national economic development and the advancement of industrial science and technology, China's vice-minister of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and director of the China National Aerospace Administration (CNAA) has outlined the main scientific goals of the first phase of China's lunar exploration project:
  

  
  

  
  
  1. Obtaining the lunar surface three-dimensional image
     
  2. Analyzing the content of lunar surface useful elements and the characteristics of the distribution of materials
     
  3. Surveying the thickness of lunar soil; and surveying the ground-moon spatial environment.
     

  
  

  
  

  
  
• The Lunar Project is an unmanned project and is formally divided into three phases:
  

  
  

  
  
  1. Orbiting the Moon (estimated: 2007)
     
  2. Landing on the surface of the Moon (estimated: 2010)
     
  3. Returning a vehicle with samples from the Moon (estimated: 2020)
     

  
  

  
  

  
  
• Return to Manned Spaceflight: China has planned a second manned spaceflight in 2005. Multiple, most likely two, "taikonauts" will orbit the Earth for more than a day. This achievement follows on the heels of China's successful return of their first astronaut in 2003 making China only the 3rd country to have put a man into space.
  

  
  

• More Satellites: China will launch their newest communications satellite (with anti-jamming technology), Sinosat-2, in 2005. This satellite has more communications capacity than Sinosat-1, the European built communications satellite currently service. Rather than replacing Sinosat-1 outright, Sinosat-2 will augment the services of the older device. China has planned to launch at least 10 satellites in 2004 which is approximately a 60% increase in volume over the number of satellites launched in 2003.
  

  
  

• Trivia: Here's a short historical timeline on China's Space Program.
  

• Adot's Notblog* has some notes from the press briefing plus a link to the official press release.
  
• Mainly Martian has a nice analysis on the announcement
  
• The Louisiana Mars Society has a link to the C-SPAN video
  

Comet Hunter Away

ESA's Rosetta "comet hunter" spacecraft was launched yesterday from its launchpad in French Guiana. The spacecraft, named for the famous stone that helped European scientists translate Egyptian hieroglyphics, is on a 10-year mission to drop a probe on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The comet is hypothesized to have been in orbit since the beginning of the solar system and the hope is that exploration of it will help "decipher" some of the mysteries of our solar system's development.

• In December 2004, the United States will launch their own comet chasing probe, NASA's Deep Impact (Click here for a dated article from Wired that discusses the mission). It will rendezvous with comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005 and drop a 200 lb. object onto it to explore the dynamics of crater formation.