** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

The GRAIL twins are nearly at their journey’s end. The twin spacecraft will be placed in orbit around the moon on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

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As of 23:00 GMT last night, GRAIL-A is in an orbit of 56 miles by 5,197 miles around the moon that takes approximately 11.5 hours to complete:

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GRAIL-B will perform main engine burn to place it in lunar orbit at 22:00 GMT today.
 
GRAIL-B achieved lunar orbit at 10:43 GMT last night.

eossgrailbfull.jpg

By the end of February both satellites will have been maneuvered into circular 34 mile high orbits. They will then begin three months of close formation flying to map the moon's gravitational field.
 
We've nearly come to the end of the Phobos-Grunt saga with it expected to fall to earth in ten days time:


"As of Wednesday morning, the fragments of Phobos-Grunt are expected to fall January 15, 2012. The final date could change due to external factors," said spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

In an embarrassing setback, the $165-million probe designed to travel to the Mars moon of Phobos and bring back soil samples, blasted off on November 9 but failed to leave the Earth's orbit.

The military space forces' monitoring centre had earlier predicted in November that the probe, which is gradually descending and slowing down, would fall to Earth in January or February.

Space forces spokesman Zolotukhin said the probe is now circling at an altitude of between 184 kilometres (114 miles) and 224 kilometres (139 miles) above Earth.

The Russian space agency said in December that it expected the 13.5-tonne probe to fall to Earth between January 6 and 19, but that it would only be possible to predict the exact time and place a few days in advance.

It said that 20 to 30 fragments weighing a total of no more than 200 kilograms were expected to fall to Earth, with the spacecraft's highly toxic fuel burning up on entering the Earth's atmosphere.
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http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-stranded-mars-probe-fall-earth.html
 
“A Room with a View”

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The earth from the Cupola. The lake just above the camera at centre is Egirdir Golu in Turkey. To the right is the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and below that a docked Soyuz spacecraft.
 
I wouldn't mind that view from my bedroom.

Did you see that a group of hackers want to launch there own comunication satellites.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16367042

Also just seen last year USA created a 100year spaceship study. For travel to the stars.
It's aim is over the next hundred years is to think of, research and devlop the nessacerily technologies to reach the stars.
http://www.100yss.org/
The 100 Year Starship™ (100YSS™) study is an effort seeded by DARPA to develop a viable and sustainable model for persistent, long-term, private-sector investment into the myriad of disciplines needed to make long-distance space travel practicable and feasible.
The genesis of this study is to foster a rebirth of a sense of wonder among students, academia, industry, researchers and the general population to consider "why not" and to encourage them to tackle whole new classes of research and development related to all the issues surrounding long duration, long distance spaceflight.
DARPA contends that the useful, unanticipated consequences of such research will have benefit to the Department of Defense and to NASA, as well as the private and commercial sector.
This endeavor will require an understanding of questions such as: how do organizations evolve and maintain focus and momentum for 100 years or more; what models have supported long term technology development; what resources and financial structures have initiated and sustained prior settlements of "new worlds?"
DARPA is supported in this effort by NASA Ames Research Center, who will act as the execution agent on DARPA's behalf.
The 100 Year Starship Study Strategy Planning Workshop Synthesis and Discussions
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Another ISS goodie:

Space Station Flying by the Moon

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The International Space Station can be seen as a small object in upper left of this image of the moon in the early evening Jan. 4 in the skies over the Houston area flying at an altitude of 390.8 kilometers (242.8 miles). The space station can occasionally be seen in the night sky with the naked eye and a pair of field binoculars.

Image credit: NASA/Lauren Harnett
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Glaucus said:
I wouldn't mind that view from my bedroom.

Did you see that a group of hackers want to launch there own comunication satellites.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16367042

Also just seen last year USA created a 100year spaceship study. For travel to the stars.
It's aim is over the next hundred years is to think of, research and devlop the nessacerily technologies to reach the stars.
http://www.100yss.org/
Click to expand...

100YSSSPWSD?

Jesus...America has to cut out the acronym's already, its not cool. :eek:
 
Phobos-Grunt expected back home tomorrow:

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MOSCOW — Uncertainty about where a doomed Russian Mars probe might crash back to Earth grew Friday when the Roscosmos space agency changed its prediction thousands of miles (kilometres) from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.

Roscosmos said the 13.5-tonne Phobos-Grunt probe would probably begin its fatal descent on Sunday evening Moscow time rather than in the afternoon as initially thought.

This meant that "Phobos-Grunt will enter the atmosphere over Argentina and have its fragments splash down in the Atlantic Ocean," an unnamed space official told the Interfax news agency.

The latest estimate on a Roscosmos graphic showed the $165-million craft splashing down at 8:22 pm (1622 GMT) about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) due south of Buenos Aires -- a spot within geographic proximity of the Falkland Islands.

The previous Roscosmos map released on Thursday had shown fragments of the ill-fated craft coming down between the northwestern shores of Madagascar and the east coast of Africa.

"The change in the time and location of the landing ... is based on the diminishing altitude of the vessel's orbit, solar activity and atmospheric conditions," Roscosmos said.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...docId=CNG.99b68c356d880250606ce3d7cc9eb233.a1
 
Live tracking :D

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=37872

Looks like on the next rotation it might be over the UK a decent amount.. Camera charging


Edit, ahh cancel that, it's moving away, not towards the UK. Grrrr

Edit 2

Website has been OcUK'd... Sigh.. :(
 
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