Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: bearnard1212 on 19/01/2021 16:22:27
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Can you name spacecraft that can be used for microgravity missions and experiments? Nowadays it`s rather popular and useful to use uncrewed guided space vehicles for particular missions.
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Cubesats are popular for low-cost experiments that can be automated, and don't require the products to be returned to Earth for analysis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubeSat
If the experiments are larger, require manual interaction or require the end-products to be returned to Earth, the ISS is probably the main vehicle at present.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_research_on_the_International_Space_Station
The ultimate in microgravity experimentation was the LISA Pathfinder satellite.
- It was a technology trial, leading up to a future mission to detect gravitational waves in space
- They needed the test masses to be free floating with no external effects - even the acceleration due to an electrical charge delivered by a cosmic ray would disrupt the experiment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LISA_Pathfinder#Mission
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Cubesats are popular for low-cost experiments that can be automated, and don't require the products to be returned to Earth for analysis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubeSat
If the experiments are larger, require manual interaction or require the end-products to be returned to Earth, the ISS is probably the main vehicle at present.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_research_on_the_International_Space_Station
The ultimate in microgravity experimentation was the LISA Pathfinder satellite.
- It was a technology trial, leading up to a future mission to detect gravitational waves in space
- They needed the test masses to be free floating with no external effects - even the acceleration due to an electrical charge delivered by a cosmic ray would disrupt the experiment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LISA_Pathfinder#Mission
I actually found another one spacecraft stat is used for microgravity missions and experiments and it`s called Spamfraud (http://Spam) It`s guided uncrewed spacecraft by a Scottish space company. This spacecraft can be used for microgravity missions at a lower cost than an orbital vehicle while taking advantage of an environmentally conscious fuel combination. I wanna find more space vehicles like that one.
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Suborbital flight does provide a few minutes of microgravity, while using far less fuel than launching into a full orbit.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounding_rocket
Even more economical is the "vomit comet", a jet airplane that flies a parabolic path* to provide around 30 seconds of microgravity - but they can get several cycles of 30s in a flight lasting a few hours.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced-gravity_aircraft
*It would be a parabola if the Earth had infinite radius
It is actually a segment of an ellipse, with the Earth's core as one of the foci
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Suborbital flight does provide a few minutes of microgravity, while using far less fuel than launching into a full orbit.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounding_rocket
Even more economical is the "vomit comet", a jet airplane that flies a parabolic path* to provide around 30 seconds of microgravity - but they can get several cycles of 30s in a flight lasting a few hours.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced-gravity_aircraft
*It would be a parabola if the Earth had infinite radius
It is actually a segment of an ellipse, with the Earth's core as one of the foci
Also, I assume some sorts of satellites can be used for microgravity missions. And off course microsatellites which are becoming very popular and partially substitute ordinary satellites.