On January 27, 1967 a short circuit in NASA’s Apollo 1 command module sparked a fire fueled by the pure oxygen atmosphere resulting in the death of all three astronauts aboard. Commander Virgil Grissom and Pilots Edward White and Roger Chaffee were conducting an unfueled test run during the incident. The infographic below details the incident and how it changed NASA’s design [...]
Infpgraphics
Infographic: Solar Storms
Recent solar flare activity this January has heralded what is forecast to be the most active solar weather year in some time. The infographic below reviews the mechanics of solar storms. Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration Staff WritersMore Posts
The Phobos-Grunt Watch: Predicting Reentry
The Russian Mars moon probe Phobos-Grunt, which successfully launched on November 9, 2011 only to be subsequently stuck in Earth orbit, is due to reenter the atmosphere sometime this month. According to Roscosmos’ news release from January 6, the probe has a reentry window of January 10-January 21, with the highest likelihood for January 15. The probe’s landing site has only [...]
Infographic: 2013 Solar Storms Pose Threat to Earth Assets
The Sun’s activity level – including solar storms, coronal mass ejections, and solar flares – is expected to hit a cyclical peak in 2013. These events can have severe implications for earth electronics, communication networks, and satellite operations. The infographic below, courtesy of NASA, illustrates some of these effects. Staff WritersMore Posts
Infographic: Space Launch System Explained
Steady progress is being made in development of key components of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), with frequent performance tests making news. The infographic below takes a look at the anatomy of SLS. Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration Staff WritersMore Posts
Infographic: Space Travel – Danger at Every Phase
Successful space flights are common enough these days - enabled by numerous nations, agencies, and corporations – that it is easy to lose sight of just how many hazards must be avoided to pull off a success. The infographic below, courtesy of Space.com, highlights historical examples of when things went wrong at each phase of spaceflight. Source Space.com: All about our solar system, [...]
Infographic: Atomic Batteries for Deep Space Missions
For more than 50 years, NASA’s robotic deep space probes have carried nuclear batteries provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. Even the crewed Apollo moon landings carried nuclear powered equipment. However, the United States’ supply of plutonium-238, which fuels these batteries, called radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), is running low. Experts worry that ambitious planetary science missions in the future may have [...]
Infographic: The Russian Phobos-Grunt Mars Probe Mission
The Phobos-Grunt probe launched by Roscosmos on November 9 and since plagued with technical difficulties was intended to procure samples from the surface of Mars moon Phobos. The infographic below describes the original mission. Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration Staff WritersMore Posts
