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Copyrights Prof Marko Popovic 2021 RESTREST Cosmic Journeys by National Geographic Magazine (c. 2012)

http://visualoop.com/infographics/cosmic-journeys Some quick facts about the

Our system consists of the , eight , , many dwarf planets (or plutoids), an belt, , meteors, and others. The sun is the center of our solar system; the planets, their moons, a belt of , comets, and other rocks and gas the sun.

The eight planets that orbit the sun are (in order from the sun): , , , , , , , . Another large body is , now classified as a dwarf or plutoid. A belt of asteroids (minor planets made of rock and metal) lies between Mars and Jupiter. These objects all orbit the sun in roughly circular that lie in the same plane, the ecliptic (Pluto is an exception; it has an elliptical orbit tilted over 17° from the ecliptic). Size matters

The largest planet is Jupiter. It is followed by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury, and finally, tiny Pluto (the largest of the dwarf planets). Jupiter is so big that all the other planets could fit inside it. Inner vs. Outer

The inner planets (those planets that orbit close to the sun) are quite different from the outer planets (those planets that orbit far from the sun).

 The inner planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. They are relatively small, composed mostly of rock, and have few or no moons.

 The outer planets include: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a ). They are mostly huge, mostly gaseous, ringed, and have many moons (again, the exception is Pluto, the dwarf planet, which is small, rocky, and has four moons). Temperature matters too…

Generally, the farther from the Sun, the cooler the planet. Differences occur when the greenhouse effect warms a planet (like Venus) surrounded by a thick atmosphere. Magnetic fields Density and Mass

The outer, gaseous planets are much less Jupiter is by far the massive planet; dense than the inner, rocky planets. Saturn trails it. Uranus, Neptune, Earth, The Earth is the densest planet. Saturn is the Venus, Mars, and Pluto are orders of least dense planet; it would float on water. magnitude less massive. Surface gravitational acceleration

The planet with the strongest gravitational attraction at its surface is Jupiter. Although Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are also very massive planets, their gravitational forces are about the same as Earth. This is because the gravitational force a planet exerts upon an object at the planet's surface is proportional to its mass and to the inverse of the planet's radius squared. Daily rotations

A day is the length of time that it takes a planet to rotate on its axis (360°). A day on Earth takes almost 24 hours.

The planet with the longest day is Venus; a day on Venus takes 243 Earth days. (A day on Venus is longer than its year; a year on Venus takes only 224.7 Earth days).

The planet with the shortest day is Jupiter; a day on Jupiter only takes 9.8 Earth hours! When you observe Jupiter from Earth, you can see some of its features change. And period of revolution

225 Orbital speed

As the planets orbit the Sun, they travel at different speeds. Each planet speeds up when it is nearer the Sun and travels more slowly when it is far from the Sun (this is Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion). Revolution vs distance Period of Distance from the Sun Revolution Diameter Temperature Planet (or Dwarf (Astronomical Units Period of Rotation Mass Apparent size Number of Around the Sun (miles (K Planet) miles (1 planetary day) (kg) from Earth Moons (1 planetary km) Range or Average) km) year) 0.39 AU, 36 million miles 3,031 miles 100-700 K Mercury 87.96 Earth days 58.7 Earth days 3.3 x 1023 5-13 arc seconds 0 57.9 million km 4,878 km mean=452 K 0.723 AU 224.68 Earth 7,521 miles Venus 67.2 million miles 243 Earth days 4.87 x 1024 10-64 arc seconds 726 K 0 days 12,104 km 108.2 million km 1 AU 7,926 miles Earth 93 million miles365.26 days 24 hours 5.98 x 1024 Not Applicable 260-310 K 1 12,756 km 149.6 million km 1.524 AU 686.98 Earth24.6 Earth hours 4,222 miles Mars 141.6 million miles 6.42 x 1023 4-25 arc seconds 150-310 K 2 days =1.026 Earth days 6,787 km 227.9 million km 5.203 AU 67 (18 named 11.862 Earth 88,729 miles 120 K Jupiter 483.6 million miles 9.84 Earth hours 1.90 x 1027 31-48 arc seconds plus many years 142,796 km (cloud tops) 778.3 million km smaller ones) 9.539 AU 29.456 Earth 74,600 miles15-21 arc seconds Saturn 886.7 million miles 10.2 Earth hours 5.69 x 1026 88 K 62 (30 unnamed) years 120,660 km excluding rings 1,427.0 million km 19.18 AU 32,600 miles Uranus 1,784.0 million miles84.07 Earth years 17.9 Earth hours 8.68 x 1025 3-4 arc seconds 59 K 27 (6 unnamed) 51,118 km 2,871.0 million km 30.06 AU 164.81 Earth 30,200 miles Neptune 2,794.4 million miles 19.1 Earth hours 1.02 x 1026 2.5 arc seconds 48 K 13 years 48,600 km 4,497.1 million km 39.53 AU Pluto (a dwarf 1,413 miles 3,674.5 million miles247.7 years 6.39 Earth days 1.29 x 1022 0.04 arc seconds 37 K 4 planet) 2,274 km 5,913 million km [9] [9] Location with respect to Ve (km/s) Location with respect to Ve (km/s) on the Sun the Sun's gravity 617.5 on Mercury Mercury's gravity 4.3[10]:230 at Mercury the Sun's gravity 67.7 on Venus Venus's gravity 10.3 at Venus the Sun's gravity 49.5 on Earth Earth's gravity 11.2[10]:200 at the Earth/ the Sun's gravity 42.1 on the Moon the Moon's gravity 2.4 at the Moon the Earth's gravity 1.4 on Mars Mars' gravity 5.0[10]:234 at Mars the Sun's gravity 34.1 on Ceres's gravity 0.51 on Jupiter Jupiter's gravity 59.6[10]:236 at Jupiter the Sun's gravity 18.5 on Io's gravity 2.558 on Europa's gravity 2.025 on Ganymede Ganymede's gravity 2.741 on Callisto's gravity 2.440 on Saturn Saturn's gravity 35.6[10]:238 at Saturn the Sun's gravity 13.6 on Titan's gravity 2.639 on Uranus Uranus' gravity 21.3[10]:240 at Uranus the Sun's gravity 9.6 on Neptune Neptune's gravity 23.8[10]:240 at Neptune the Sun's gravity 7.7 on Triton Triton's gravity 1.455 on Pluto Pluto's gravity 1.2 at Solar the Milky Way's gravity 492–594[11][12] System galactic radius on the event horizon a black hole's gravity 299,792 ( The Law of Harmonies

Period Average T2/R3 Planet (yr) Distance (au) (yr2/au3)

Mercury 0.241 0.39 0.98

Venus .615 0.72 1.01

Earth 1.00 1.00 1.00

Mars 1.88 1.52 1.01

Jupiter 11.8 5.20 0.99

Saturn 29.5 9.54 1.00

Uranus 84.0 19.18 1.00

Neptune 165 30.06 1.00

Pluto 248 39.44 1.00 The asteroid belt

The asteroid belt is the circumstellar disc in the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets.

Over 200 asteroids have been identified that are larger than about 100 km (60 miles) at their widest, and there are probably at least one to one and a half million larger than 1 km across. While most of the asteroids are rocky, there is a group of like objects within the outer reaches of the main belt.

The four largest asteroids, Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea, represent more than 50% of the total mass in the belt.

The Hilda asteroids are three groups of asteroids, each in a roughly triangular formation, that are in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Jupiter. That is they orbit the sun three times in the time it takes Jupiter to orbit twice.

Kuiper belt= a circumstellar disc in the Solar System beyond the planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies, or remnants from the Solar System's formation. Although many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed "ices"), such as methane, ammonia and water. The Kuiper belt is home to three officially recognized dwarf planets: Pluto, , and . Some of the Solar System's moons, such as Neptune's Triton and Saturn's Phoebe, are also thought to have originated in the region.

The Oort cloud, sometimes called the Öpik–Oort cloud, first described in 1950 by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, is a theoretical cloud of predominantly icy planetesimals proposed to surround the Sun at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 au. How big is space?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX3PIkbTQwQ&feature=emb_logo

When we talk about the enormity of the cosmos, it’s easy to toss out big numbers – but far more difficult to wrap our minds around just how large, how far, and how numerous celestial bodies really are. How big is our Milky Way Galaxy and how far away are exoplanets, the planets beyond our solar system? Read more: go..gov/2FTyhgH Mars EQUATORIAL CIRCUMFERENCE SIZE COMPARISON 21,296.9km Mars is 1.9x smaller than Earth Mars 40,030.2km DATE OF DISCOVERY VOLUME Unknown Earth 163,115,609,799km3 Unknown 1,083,206,916,846km3 DISCOVERED BY DENSITY Known by the Ancients 3.934g/cm3 Known by the Ancients 5.513g/cm3 AVERAGE ORBIT DISTANCE MASS 227,943,824km 641,693,000,000,000,000,000,000kg 149,598,262km 5,972,190,000,000,000,000,000,000kg MEAN ORBIT VELOCITY SURFACE AREA 86,677km/h 144,371,391km2 107,218km/h 510,064,472km2 ORBIT ECCENTRICITY SURFACE GRAVITY 0.0933941 3.71m/s2 0.01671123 9.80665m/s2 EQUATORIAL INCLINATION 25.2 18,108km/h 23.4393 degrees 40,284km/h EQUATORIAL RADIUS ATMOSPHERIC CONSTITUENTS 3,389.5km Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, 6,371.00km Nitrogen, Oxygen Martian dichotomy The most conspicuous feature of Mars is a sharp contrast, known as the Martian dichotomy, between the Southern and the Northern hemispheres. The two hemispheres' geography differ in elevation by 1 to 3 km. The average thickness of the Martian crust is 45 km, with 32 km in the northern lowlands region, and 58 km in the southern highlands. Martian dichotomy Simply stated, the northern part of the planet is an enormous topographic depression. About one-third of the planet's surface (mostly in the northern hemisphere) lies 3–6 km lower in elevation than the southern two-thirds. This is a first- order relief feature on par with the elevation difference between Earth's continents and ocean basins. Olympus Mons is an enormous shield volcano with a height of over 21 km (13.6 mi or 72,000 ft) as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). It is about two and a half times Mount Everest's height above sea level. It is the tallest planetary mountain, and the second tallest mountain currently discovered in the Solar System. (Rheasilvia crater on asteroid Vesta is 22.5 km (14.0 mi) tall.) The Solar System’s grandest canyon A large canyon system called Valles Marineris is long enough to stretch from California to New York—more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers). This Martian canyon is 200 miles (320 kilometers) at its widest and 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) at its deepest. That's about 10 times the size of Earth's Grand Canyon. Strong water flows may have reshaped Valles Marineris after it was formed, deepening the canyon. Mineralogical information collected by orbiting spacecraft, including , shows that the terrain here was altered by water hundreds of millions of years ago. Water Mars appears to have had a watery past, with ancient river valley networks, deltas, and lakebeds, as well as rocks and minerals on the surface that could only have formed in liquid water. Some features suggest that Mars experienced huge floods about 3.5 billion years ago.

There is water on Mars today, but the Martian atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist for long on the surface. Today, water on Mars is found in the form of water-ice just under the surface in the polar regions as well as in briny (salty) water, which seasonally flows down some hillsides and crater walls.

Atmosphere Mars has a thin atmosphere made up mostly of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon gases. To our eyes, the sky would be hazy and red because of suspended dust instead of the familiar blue tint we see on Earth. Mars' sparse atmosphere doesn't offer much protection from impacts by such objects as , asteroids, and comets.

The temperature on Mars can be as high as 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) or as low as about -225 degrees Fahrenheit (-153 degrees Celsius). And because the atmosphere is so thin, heat from the Sun easily escapes this planet. If you were to stand on the surface of Mars on the equator at noon, it would feel like spring at your feet (75 degrees Fahrenheit or 24 degrees Celsius) and winter at your head (32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius).

Occasionally, on Mars are strong enough to create dust storms that cover much of the planet. After such storms, it can be months before all of the dust settles. Structure Mars has a dense core at its center between 930 and 1,300 miles (1,500 to 2,100 kilometers) in radius. It's made of iron, nickel, and sulfur. Surrounding the core is a rocky mantle between 770 and 1,170 miles (1,240 to 1,880 kilometers) thick, and above that, a crust made of iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and potassium. This crust is between 6 and 30 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) deep.

Magnetosphere Mars has no global magnetic field today, but areas of the Martian crust in the southern hemisphere are highly magnetized, indicating traces of a magnetic field from 4 billion years ago.

Moons Mars has two small moons, and , that may be captured asteroids. They're potato-shaped because they have too little mass for gravity to make them spherical.

Phobos, the innermost and larger moon, is heavily cratered, with deep grooves on its surface. It is slowly moving towards Mars and will crash into the planet or break apart in about 50 million years.

Deimos is about half as big as Phobos and orbits two and a half times farther away from Mars. Oddly-shaped Deimos is covered in loose dirt that often fills the craters on its surface, making it appear smoother than pockmarked Phobos. Mars is believed to have harbored conditions similar to that on Earth, which means it could have been habitable to life, in the past — billions of years ago. Additionally, since plate tectonics stopped moving very early on in the planet’s history, two-thirds of the Martian surface is over 3.5 billion years old. Thus, Mars could hold unhampered evidence of ‘prebiotic’ conditions or conditions before the emergence of life, irrespective of whether life emerged there. This is especially important considering Mars is geologically older than Earth, even though both planets were formed of the same material and are close to each other. Mars formed 4.6 billion years ago, while Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago. Thus, if any life existed in the past on the Red Planet, it is likely to have been forming as early as 4.48 billion years ago, around the same time as on Earth, though direct evidence of life on Earth dates back only to 3.7 billion years ago.

Today, Mars is a cold arid desert, with an average surface temperature Jeans escape | Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center of −63 degrees Celsius and is bathed in radiation from the Sun as it has no atmosphere. This is because after the planet lost its magnetic field, it eventually lost its atmosphere in a slow process called Jeans escape — when the (ionised particles from the Sun) started to strip its atmosphere and caused gases started to just drift off into space thanks to its low gravity (one-third of Earth’s). Surface The Red Planet is actually many colors. At the surface, we see colors such as brown, gold, and tan. The reason Mars looks reddish is due to oxidization—or rusting—of iron in the rocks, regolith (Martian “soil”), and dust of Mars. This

dust gets kicked up into the atmosphere and from a distance makes the planet appear mostly red.

Caltech/AS

- Surface of Mars captured by the Perseverance rover | Credits: NASA/JPL | Credits: rover the Perseverance by captured Mars of Surface in space and planetary environments so far…

In the context of , a is an object that has been intentionally placed into orbit… are usually semi-independent computer-controlled systems. (?) Satellite subsystems attend many tasks, such as power generation, thermal control, telemetry, attitude…

A space probe is a that does not orbit Earth, but instead, explores further into . A space probe may approach the Moon; travel through interplanetary space; flyby, orbit, or land on other planetary bodies; or enter interstellar space.

Robotic arms attached to spacecraft or to deploy, maneuver and capture payloads and assist with docking procedures. They include: 1 (on now decommissioned orbiters), Canadarm 2 (on ISS), (2 arm on ISS), JEMRMS (on ISS)

A rover (or sometimes planetary rover) is a vehicle designed to move across the surface of a planet or other celestial body. Some rovers have been designed to transport members of a crew; others have been partially or fully autonomous robots. Includes Moon rovers ( and 2, Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle, and Yutu 2) and Mars rovers (, , and , and most recently Perseverance rover). Class of various robot assistants on ISS including: Robonaut 1 and 2, Sphere, Astrobee, Fedor…. Space & Planetary Robotics: A few historical highlights The first satellite was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. The Sputnik 1 satellite completed a total of 1,440 orbits around the Earth before it entered into the atmosphere in 1958.

Vanguard 1, US satellite launched in 1958, is 4th satellite to be successfully launched (following Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and Explorer 1); the first satellite to have solar electric power. Communication with the satellite was lost in 1964. It is the oldest man-made object still in orbit, together with the upper stage of its .

Of the Moon , 2 of the Soviet Union was the first spacecraft to reach its surface successfully, intentionally impacting the Moon on 13 September 1959.

The first space probe to successfully perform an interplanetary mission was the US which passed within 35,000 km of the planet Venus in 1962.

Developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories for AT&T, Telstar was the world's first active and the world's first commercial payload in space. Telstar was launched by NASA on July 10, 1962, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and was the first privately sponsored space-faring mission. Two days later, it relayed the world's first transatlantic television signal between US Maine and France. In 1966, became the first spacecraft to achieve a controlled soft , while Luna 10 became the first mission to enter orbit.

The first robot lunar rover to land on the Moon was the Soviet vessel Lunokhod 1 on November 17, 1970, as part of the Lunokhod program.

Venera 7 (Russian: Венера-7, meaning Venus 7) was a Soviet spacecraft, part of the series of probes to Venus. When it landed on the Venusian surface on 15 December 1970, it became the first spacecraft to land on another planet and first to transmit data from there back to Earth.

The first monolithic space station was Salyut 1, which was launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. Monolithic stations consist of a single vehicle and are launched by one .

The first to be launched into space was the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS), also known as the Canadarm, mounted on the Space Shuttle. The arm was launched in November 1981 and has been in operation since then.

The Soviet space station was the first space station that had a modular design; a core unit was launched, and additional modules, generally with a specific role, were later added to that. It operated in from 1986 to 2001 Mars Pathfinder was a U.S. spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars on July 4, 1997. It consisted of a and a small 10.6 kilograms (23 lb) rover named Sojourner, the first rover to operate on the surface of Mars.

In 1997 the National Space Development Agency of (NASDA) launched the Engineering Test Satellite No. 7 (ETS-VII), the first ever satellite to be equipped with a robotic arm.

Deep Space 1 was the first NASA spacecraft to use ion propulsion rather than the traditional chemical-powered . Launched on 24 October 1998, the spacecraft carried out a flyby of asteroid 9969 Braille, which was its primary science target. The mission was extended twice to include an encounter with comet 19P/Borrelly and further engineering testing.

The first ISS component was launched in 1998, with the first long-term residents arriving on 2 November 2000. This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 9 years and 357 days held by Mir. The latest major pressurized module was fitted in 2011, with an experimental inflatable added in 2016. The ISS is the largest human-made body in low Earth orbit and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth

On 12 February 2001, after a five-year, 3.2 billion km journey, the NASA NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) Shoemaker spacecraft has touched down on the surface of the asteroid Eros 433, the first time such a feat has ever been tried or accomplished. NASA’s spacecraft, launched in 2007 investigated the giant Vesta (2011-12) and later the dwarf planet Ceres. It is the first mission to orbit an object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and the only spacecraft ever to orbit two destinations beyond Earth.

The latest Robonaut version, R2, the first US-built robot on the ISS, delivered by STS-133 in Feb 2011, is a robotic torso designed to assist with crew EVA's and can hold tools used by the crew.

After streaking through space for nearly 35 years, NASA's robotic probe finally left the solar system in August 2012, the first space probe to leave the solar system.

The 's lander successfully made the first soft landing on a comet nucleus when it touched down on comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014.

China's robotic Chang'e 4 mission touched down on the floor of the 115-mile-wide (186 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater on January 2, 2019, pulling off the first-ever soft landing on the lunar far side.

On June 20, 2019, the robot, called “Bumble”, one of a series of 1-foot cubed NASA Astrobee robots was the first ever to fly on its own in space inside ISS. The robots can dock at a companion station to charge, and each has a little perching arm that lets it grab on to stuff to anchor itself or hold things. Ingenuity is a small robotic solar helicopter operating on Mars as part of NASA's mission. On 19 April 2021, it successfully completed the first powered controlled flight by an aircraft on a planet besides Earth, taking off vertically, hovering and landing. How to move through space?

Rocket propulsion =A uses stored rocket propellants as reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust in accordance with Newton's third law.

Jet propulsion =The term "jet engine" is commonly used only for airbreathing jet engines. These typically feature a rotating air compressor powered by a turbine, with the leftover power providing thrust through the propelling nozzle – this process is known as the Brayton thermodynamic cycle.

Drag forces =(sometimes called air resistance is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fluid. This can exist between two fluid layers (or surfaces) or a fluid and a solid surface. Drag force is proportional to the velocity for a laminar flow and the squared velocity for a turbulent flow.

Gravity Assist =a gravitational slingshot, maneuver, or swing-by is the use of the relative movement (e.g. orbit around the Sun) and gravity of a planet or other to alter the path/speed of a spacecraft, typically to save propellant and reduce expense.

Other = e.g. interaction with magnetic field, typically small forces unless extremely large currents (퐹 = 퐼푙퐵) What is next? (Warning: a bit outdated slides)

NASA Mars 2020 Rover Launches Toward Mars (2020)

The rover has seen an upgrade which includes a stronger and "more capable" wheel design and also allows for drilling so that samples of Martian rocks and soil can be examined.

Test oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere

The Mars 2020 mission landing system includes a parachute, descent vehicle, and an approach called a "skycrane maneuver" for lowering the rover on a tether to the surface during the final seconds prior to landing.

ExoMars Reaches the Martian Surface (2021)

(collaboration between the ESA and ) Roscosmos Begins Offering Space Tours (2021) A Luxury Hotel on the ISS? The proposed luxury tourist hub (foreground) will closely resemble the Science and Power Module, NEM, (background) scheduled for delivery to the International Space Station around 2021. The entire trip, lasting from one to two weeks will cost $40 million per person and going with the spacewalk option and an extended month-long stay will set the traveler back an additional $20 million. The 20-ton, 15.5-meter-long module would provide 92 cubic meters of pressurized space. It would accommodate four sleeping quarters sized around two cubic meters each and two “hygiene and medical” stations of the same volume. Each private room would also have a porthole with a diameter of 228 millimeters (9 inches), while the lounge area of the module would have a giant 426-millimeter (16-inch) window. The James Webb Begins Its Mission (2021)

Webb will be launched with the assistance of the European Space Agency (ESA) who will provide an Ariane 5 rocket to set the Webb, the successor to the Hubble Telescope, into orbit.

SpaceX Launches a Mission to Mars (2022)

Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, plans to launch an unpiloted mission in 2022 to "confirm water sources, identify hazards, and put in place initial power, mining, and life support infrastructure."

In 2024, Musk wants SpaceX to send a crewed spacecraft to Mars with the primary objectives of "building a and preparing for future crew flights," though SpaceX is quick to label these goals "aspirational." China Launches a Third Space Station (2022)

China now plans to begin fully operating its third space station by 2022, to put in a lunar base by later in that decade, and to send probes to Mars, including ones that could return samples of the Martian surface back to Earth.

Though the moon is hardly untrodden ground after decades of exploration, a new landing is far more than just a propaganda coup, experts say.

The crater where the Chinese landed is the oldest and deepest on the moon, so the probe’s discoveries may offer insights into the moon’s origins China’s Chang’e-4 became the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the far side of the moon. and evolution. And some scientists suspect that the surrounding basin may be rich in minerals. If exploiting the moon’s resources is the next step in space development, a successful mission could leave the Chinese better positioned. Project 921 Phase 3 Crew 2–3 “This is a major achievement technically and symbolically,” said Namrata Launch ~2020–2022 Goswami, an independent analyst who wrote about space for the Defense Mass 66,000 kg Department’s Minerva Research Institute. “China views this landing as just a Length ~ 20.00 m steppingstone, as it also views its future manned lunar landing, since its Diameter ~ 3.00 m long-term goal is to colonize the moon and use it as a vast supply of energy.” OSIRIS-REx's Asteroid Sample Return (2023)

The OSIRIS-REx mission, which launched in 2016 to visit the asteroid Bennu, is expected to return a 2.1 ounce sample of the rocky body back to Earth by 2023. The spacecraft reached Bennu in Nov., 2018, and returned a number of stunning images of the asteroid.

NASA's Artemis Mission To The Moon (2024)

NASA announced that they plan to send the first woman and the next man back to the Moon by 2024. The Artemis mission will take astronauts to the Lunar South Pole to learn more about the availability of resources such as water and test vital technology that will prove useful during future missions to Mars. Another goal will be to, well, see how the human body endures long term space missions.

The U.S. Habitat Arrives at the (2025)

NASA's Gateway, a cis-lunar orbital space station in conjunction with other international partners, will be an ongoing project throughout the 2020s. The U.S. habitat will delivered to the space station in around 2025. Current designs allow for four astronauts onboard the space station at the same time A comparison of three generations of Mars rovers developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. JPL's Mars Yard testing area. Front and center is the flight spare for the first Mars rover, Sojourner, which landed on Mars in 1997 as part of the Mars Pathfinder Project. On the left is a Project test rover that is a working sibling to Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on Mars in 2004. On the right is a test rover the size of that project's Mars rover, Curiosity, which landed on Mars in 2012. Sojourner and its flight spare, named Marie Curie, are 2 feet (65 centimeters) long. The Mars Exploration Rover Project's rover, including the "Surface System Test Bed" rover in this photo, are 5.2 feet (1.6 meters) long. The Mars Science Laboratory Project's Curiosity rover and "Vehicle System Test Bed" rover, on the right, are 10 feet (3 meters) long.

Canadarm The Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS), also known as Canadarm (Canadarm 1), is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, maneuver and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the Canadarm was always paired with the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), which was used to inspect the exterior of the Shuttle for damage to the thermal protection system.

In 1969, was invited by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to participate in the . At the time what that participation would entail had not yet been decided but a manipulator system was identified as an important component. Canadian company, DSMA Atcon, had developed a robot to load fuel into CANDU nuclear reactors; this robot attracted NASA's attention. In 1975, NASA and the Canadian National Research Council (NRC) signed a memorandum of understanding that Canada would develop and F. Story Musgrave, anchored on the end of the construct the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System. Canadarm, prepares to be elevated to the top of the Hubble during STS-61.

Canadarm 2 The (MSS), also known as Canadarm2, is a robotic system on board the International Space Station (ISS). Launched to the ISS in 2001, it plays a key role in station assembly and maintenance; it moves equipment and supplies around the station, supports astronauts working in space, and services instruments and other payloads attached to the ISS and is used for external maintenance. Astronauts receive specialized training to enable them to perform these functions with the various systems of the MSS.

The MSS is composed of three components - the Space Station Remote Stephen K. Robinson anchored to Manipulator System (SSRMS), known as Canadarm2, the Mobile Remote the end of Canadarm2 during STS-114, 2005 Servicer Base System (MBS) and the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM, also known as "Dextre" or "Canada hand"). The system can move along rails on the Integrated Truss Structure on top of the US provided Mobile Transporter cart which hosts the MRS Base System.

The MSS was designed and manufactured by MDA Space Missions (previously called MD Robotics; previously called ) for the 's contribution to the International Space Station. Canadarm2 moves Rassvet to berth with the station on STS-132, 2010 Dextre Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), is a two armed robot, or telemanipulator, which is part of the Mobile Servicing System on the International Space Station (ISS), and does repairs otherwise requiring spacewalks. It was launched March 11, 2008 on mission STS-123.

Dextre is part of Canada's contribution to the ISS and is named to represent its dexterous nature. It is sometimes also referred to as the SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator). Dextre is the third Canadian robotic arm used on the ISS, preceded by the Space Shuttle's Canadarm and the large Canadarm2. Dextre was designed and manufactured by MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA).

In the early morning of February 4, 2011, Dextre completed its first official assignment which consisted of unpacking two pieces for while the on-board crew was sleeping. Mobile Base System

The Mobile Remote Servicer Base System (MBS) is a base platform for the robotic arms. It was added to the station during STS-111 in June 2002. The platform rests atop the Mobile Transporter (installed on STS-110, designed by in Carpinteria, CA), which allows it to glide 108 meters down rails on the station's main truss.

Canadarm2 riding the Mobile Base System along the Mobile Transporter railway, running the length of the station's main truss Want to learn more? Take RBE ST 595 Space and Planetary Robotics 