THE SPACE TRAVEL AND THE SPACE SHUTTLE

THE SPACE TRAVELTHE SPACE TRAVEL

ANDAND

THE SPACE SHUTTLETHE SPACE SHUTTLE

INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION

• This work talks about the space travel and the space shuttle, the past and the future.

• With it, I pretend to show the evolution of space subject.

THE SPACE TRAVELTHE SPACE TRAVEL

HERMANN OBERTH: FATHER HERMANN OBERTH: FATHER OF SPACE TRAVELOF SPACE TRAVEL


• Hermann Julius Oberth, born June 25, 1894 in the Transylvanian town of Hermannstadt, is one of the three founding fathers of rocketry and modern astronautics. Interestingly, although these three pioneers arrived at many of the same conclusions about the possibility of a rocket escaping the earth’s gravitational pull, they seem to have done so without any knowledge of each other’s work.


• Oberth’s interest in rocketry was sparked at the age of 11. His mother gave him a copy of Jules Verne's From The Earth To The Moon, a book which he later recalled he read "at least five or six times and, finally, knew by heart.” It was a young Oberth, then, that discovered that many of Verne’s calculations were not simply fiction, and that the very notion of interplanetary travel was not as fantastic as had been assumed by the scientific community.


• By the age of 14 Oberth had already envisioned a “recoil rocket” that could propel itself through space by expelling exhaust gases (from a liquid fuel) from its base. He had no resources with which to test his model, but continued to develop his theories, all the while teaching himself, from various books, the mathematics that he knew he’d need if he was to ever challenge gravity’s dominion.


• Oberth realized that the higher the ratio between propellant and rocket mass the faster his rocket would be able to travel.

• Oberth wrote, “the requirements for stages developed out of these formulas. If there is a small rocket on top of a big one, and if the big one is jettisoned and the small one is ignited, then their speeds are added.”


• In 1912 Hermann Oberth enrolled in the University of Munich to study medicine. His scholarly pursuits, however, were interrupted by the First World War. In an indirect way, Hermann Oberth’s participation in the war, mostly with the medical unit , was, in some ways, fortunate for the future of rocketry. Hermann Oberth stated it best when he wrote that one of the most important things he learned in his years as an enlisted medic, was that he "did not want to be a doctor”. When the war was over, Professor Oberth returned to the University of Munich, but this time to study Physics with several of the most notable scientists of the time.


• In 1922 Oberth’s doctoral thesis on rocketry was rejected. He later described his reaction: “I refrained from writing another one, thinking to myself: Never mind, I will prove that I am able to become a greater scientist than some of you, even without the title of doctor.” He continued: “In the United States, I am often addressed as a doctor. I should like to point out, however, that I am not such and shall never think of becoming one.” And on education he had this to say: “Our educational system is like an automobile which has strong rear lights, brightly illuminating the past. But looking forward things are barely discernible.”


• In 1923, the year after the rejection of his dissertation, he published the 92 page Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen (The Rocket into Planetary Space). This was followed by a longer version (429 pages) in 1929, which was internationally celebrated as a work of tremendous scientific importance. That same year, he lost the sight in his left eye in an experiment while working as a technical advisor to German director Fritz Lang on his film, “Girl in the Moon.”


• In the thirties Oberth took on a young assistant who would later become one of the leading scientists in rocketry research for the German and then the United States governments; his name was Werhner von Braun. They worked together again during the Second World War, developing the V2 rocket, the “vengeance weapon” for the German Army, and again after the war, in the United States at the U.S. Army’s Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama. However, three years later Professor Oberth retired and returned to Germany.


• That Hermann Oberth is one of the three founding fathers of rocketry and modern astronautics is, I think, indisputable. That all three have advanced the science of rocketry is also indisputable - Professor Oberth, though, possessed a vision that set him apart, even from these great men. In 1923 he wrote in the final chapter of Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen (The Rocket into Planetary Space), “The rockets... can be built so powerfully that they could be capable of carrying a man aloft.” In 1923, then, he became the first to prove that rockets could put a man into space.


• By all accounts Hermann Oberth was a humble man (especially considering his achievements) who had, in his own words, simple goals. He outlined them in the last paragraph of his 1957 book Man into Space: “To make available for life every place where life is possible. To make inhabitable all worlds as yet uninhabitable, and all life purposeful.”

• Hermann Julius Oberth died in a Nuremberg hospital in West Germany on December 29, 1989 at the age of 95.


HISTORY OF SPACE TRAVELHISTORY OF SPACE TRAVEL

• To design and build a spacecraft, you need to be able to figure out how big to make it, how heavy it can be, how fast it will have to go, how much fuel it needs and so forth. For that, you need a theory of how objects move in space and how to make the calculations. Almost all theory of space flight was worked out by three brilliant men over a period of nearly three centuries - from 1600 to 1900.


• Johannes Kepler - Working out the theory

– was the German mathematician who, in 1609, figured out the equations for orbiting planets & satellites. In particular, he determined that the planets move in ellipses (flattened circles) rather than true circles.


• Isaac Newton - Working out the theory

• in 1687 he wrote what is probably the single greatest intellectual achievement of all time. In a single book he established the basic laws of force, motion, and gravitation and invented a new branch of mathematics in the process (calculus). He did all this to show how the force of gravity is the reason that planet’s orbits follow Kepler’s equations.


• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky - Working out the theory

– a Russian school teacher who, without ever launching a single rocket himself, was the first to figure out all the basic equations for rocketry - in 1903! From his very broad and extensive reading, including Jules Verne’s "From the Earth to the Moon", he concluded that space travel was a possibility, that it was in fact man’s destiny, and that rockets would be the way to pull it off.


• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky - Working out the theory

– He anticipated and solved many of the problems that were going to come up for rocket powered flight and drew up several rocket designs. He determined that liquid fuel rockets would be needed to get to space, and that the rockets would need to be built in stages (he called them "rocket trains"). He concluded that oxygen and hydrogen would be the most powerful fuels to use. He had predicted how, 65 years later, the Saturn V rocket would operate for the first landing of men on the moon.


• An American who is now called "the father of modern rocketry" .

• By contrast to Tsiolkovsky, Goddard was the man who designed, built, and flew the rockets. He was a university professor who also developed the theory of rocketry and although he didn't know about Tsiolkovsky's work, reached the same conclusions as Tsiolkovsky did. Goddard proved the theory was true.

BULDING THE FIRST ROCKETS BULDING THE FIRST ROCKETS - ROBERT GODDARD- ROBERT GODDARD

• He was also heavily influenced by the science fiction of Jules Verne, and he worked hard to develop rockets because he wanted to see them take us into space.

• In 1926 he launched the world’s first liquid fueled rocket. In the course of his experiments in Massachusetts and Roswell, New Mexico, he virtually developed the entirety of rocket technology.

BULDING THE FIRST ROCKETS BULDING THE FIRST ROCKETS - ROBERT GODDARD- ROBERT GODDARD

SPACE SPACE TOURISMTOURISM

• Space tourism was born on 28th April 2001 it was then that the worlds first space tourist launched into space from the Baikonur launch site at 11:37 Moscow time on the "Soyuz TM-32" space vehicle. Dennis Tito, an American millionaire, spent 7 days in orbit and dedicated his in-flight time to the photographing Earth from space. This mission successfully ended on May 6, 2001 at 9:41 Moscow time, after the capsule softly landed in the Kazakh steppes.

SPACE TOURISMSPACE TOURISM


• Dennis Tito

• First Tourist

• The second space tourist, resident of the South African Republic Mark Shuttleworth was launched into space a year later, on the 25th April 2002 Mark. Unlike Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth was allowed to freely move around the space station ROSAVIAKOSMOS and NASA Mr. Shuttleworth had an agreement between them that allowed use of the onboard notebook computers for sending and receiving the e-mail. He was also given specified times for using the US communication system for down - linking video- and photo footage.


• Mark Shuttleworth carried out his own scientific-research program, when in space, as well as participating in multiple press releases. Mr. Shuttleworth announced, after his 10-day space mission of his firm desire to partake in a new space mission "at any time". Mark Shuttleworth purchased a mock-up of the "Soyuz TM-33" descent capsule and space suit, in order to commemorate his incredible adventure as the second space tourist.



• Mark Shuttleworth

• Second Tourist

• WASHINGTON -- According to a new study created for NASA the medical risks -- both physical and psychological -- of long treks beyond Earth orbit remain daunting and a far greater challenge than the public has been led to believe.

• The new, no-holds-barred study says part of the problem comes from "underreporting" by space travelers about their health woes. Also, there is too much data privacy and confidentiality between astronauts and flight surgeons.

NASA: Space Travel “Inherently NASA: Space Travel “Inherently Hazardous” to Human HealthHazardous” to Human Health

• "Space travel is inherently hazardous. The risks to human health of long duration missions beyond Earth orbit, if not solved, represent the greatest challenge to human exploration of deep space," the committee noted. Furthermore, the development of solutions "is complicated by lack of a full understanding of the nature of the risks and their fundamental causes."


• "Some of the physiologic effects of shorter periods in space such as loss of bone calcium are likely to continue indefinitely during longer missions," Kenneth Shine (President of the Institute of Medicine) said. Furthermore, psychological and mental health issues -- spurred by stuffing people from diverse social and cultural background into tight quarters and sending them outward from Earth -- will grow increasingly important, he said.

• "For prolonged missions, it will not be feasible to return an acutely ill individual to Earth in a timely manner," Shine said.


THE THE

SPACE SPACE

SHUTTLESHUTTLE

• In its 23 year history, the space shuttle program has seen exhilarating highs and devastating lows. The fleet has taken astronauts on dozens of successful missions, resulting in immeasurable scientific gains. But this success has had a serious cost. In 1986, the Challenger exploded during launch procedures, and on February 1st of 2003, the Columbia broke up during re-entry over Texas.

HOW SPACE SHUTTLES WORKHOW SPACE SHUTTLES WORK

• Near the end of the Apollo space program, NASA officials were looking at the future of the American space program. At that time, the rockets used to place astronauts and equipment in outer space were one-shot disposable rockets. What they needed was a reliable, but less expensive, rocket, perhaps one that was reusable. The idea of a reusable "space shuttle" that could launch like a rocket but deliver and land like an airplane was appealing and would be a great technical achievement.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SPACE SHUTTLESPACE SHUTTLE

• Artist's concept of a space shuttle with a manned booster and orbiter


• NASA began design, cost and engineering studies on a space shuttle. Many aerospace companies also explored the concepts. The concepts varied from a reusable, manned booster concept (shown above) to a shuttle lifted by solid rockets. In 1972, President Nixon announced that NASA would develop a reusable space shuttle or space transportation system (STS). NASA decided that the shuttle would consist of an orbiter attached to solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank because this design was considered safer and more cost effective. NASA awarded the prime contract to Rockwell International.


• At that time, spacecraft used ablative heat shields that would burn away as the spacecraft re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. However, to be reusable, a different strategy would have to be used. The designers of the space shuttle came up with an idea to cover the space shuttle with many insulating ceramic tiles that could absorb the heat of re-entry without harming the astronauts.


• The Enterprise separates from a Boeing 747 to begin one of its flight and landing tests


• Finally, after many years of construction and testing (i.e. orbiter, main engines, external fuel tank, solid rocket boosters), the shuttle was ready to fly. Four shuttles were made (Columbia, Discovery, Atlantis, Challenger). The first flight was in 1981 with the space shuttle Columbia, piloted by astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen. Columbia performed well and the other shuttles soon made several successful flights.


• In 1986, the shuttle Challenger broke up in flight when a flame from a leaky joint on one of the solid rocket boosters ignited the fuel in the external fuel tank. The Challenger exploded and the entire crew was lost. NASA suspended the shuttle program for several years, while the reasons for the disaster were investigated and corrected. After several years, the space shuttle flew again and a new shuttle, Endeavour, was built to replace Challenger in the shuttle fleet.


• To date, the space shuttles have flown about one-fourth of their expected lifetime (each shuttle was designed for 100 missions) and have undergone many refits and design changes to make them safer and to carry heavier payloads into orbit.


• To lift the 4.5 million pound (2.05 million kg) shuttle from the pad to orbit (115 to 400 miles/185 to 643 km) above the Earth, the shuttle uses the following components:

two solid rocket boosters (SRB)

three main engines of the orbiter

the external fuel tank (ET)

orbital maneuvering system (OMS) on the orbiter

SPACE SHUTTLE - GETTING SPACE SHUTTLE - GETTING INTO ORBITINTO ORBIT

• One of the

space

shuttle's main

engines

SPACE SHUTTLE - GETTING SPACE SHUTTLE - GETTING INTO ORBITINTO ORBIT

• Once in space, the shuttle orbiter is your home for seven to 14 days. The orbiter can be oriented so that the cargo bay doors face toward the Earth or away from the Earth depending upon the mission objectives; in fact, the orientation can be changed throughout the mission. One of the first things that the commander will do is to open the cargo bay doors to cool the orbiter.

SPACE SHUTTLE - ORBITERSPACE SHUTTLE - ORBITER

• Cut-away

drawing of

the orbiter's

crew

compartment

SPACE SHUTTLE - ORBITERSPACE SHUTTLE - ORBITER

• The shuttle orbiter must provide an environment where you can live and work in space. It must be able to do the following:

provide life support

change position and change orbits

let you talk with ground-based flight controllers (communications and tracking)

find its way around (navigation)

make electrical power

coordinate and handle information (computers)

enable you to do useful work

SPACE SHUTTLE - IN ORBIT: SPACE SHUTTLE - IN ORBIT: LIFE IN SPACELIFE IN SPACE

• Artist's concept of the space shuttle in orbit

SPACE SHUTTLE - IN ORBIT: SPACE SHUTTLE - IN ORBIT: LIFE IN SPACELIFE IN SPACE

• The orbiter must provide you with an environment similar to Earth. You must have air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, and a comfortable temperature. The orbiter must also take away the wastes that your body produces (carbon dioxide, urine, feces) and protect you from fire. Let's look at these various aspects of the orbiter's life support system.

SPACE SHUTTLE - LIFE SUPPORTSPACE SHUTTLE - LIFE SUPPORT

• To change the direction that the orbiter is pointed (attitude), you must use the reaction control system (RCS) located on the nose and OMS pods of the aft fuselage.

• To change orbits (e.g., rendezvous, docking maneuvers), you must fire the OMS engines. These engines change the velocity of the orbiter to place it in a higher or lower orbit .

SPACE SHUTTLE - POSITION SPACE SHUTTLE - POSITION AND ORBITAND ORBIT

• A - Remote Manipulator Arm

• B - Forward Reaction Control Thrusters

• C - Radiator on Cargo Bay Door

SPACE SHUTTLE - POSITION SPACE SHUTTLE - POSITION AND ORBITAND ORBIT

• Talking with the Ground

– NASA's Mission Control in Houston will send signals to a 60 ft radio antenna at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. White Sands will relay the signals to a pair of Tracking and Data Relay satellites in orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth. The satellites will relay the signals to the the space shuttle. The system works in reverse as well.

– The orbiter has two systems for communicating with the ground:

S-band - voice, commands, telemetry and data files

Ku-band (high bandwidth) - video and transferring two-way data files

SPACE SHUTTLE - SPACE SHUTTLE - COMMUNICATIONS AND TRACKINGCOMMUNICATIONS AND TRACKING

• Talking to Each Other

• The orbiter has several intercom plug-in audio terminal units located throughout the crew compartment. You will wear a personal communications control with a headset. The communications control is battery-powered and can be switched from intercom to transmit functions. You can either push to talk and release to listen or have a continuously open communication line. To talk with spacewalkers, the system uses a UHF frequency, which is picked up in the astronaut's spacesuit.

SPACE SHUTTLE - SPACE SHUTTLE - COMMUNICATIONS AND TRACKINGCOMMUNICATIONS AND TRACKING

• The orbiter must be able to know precisely where it is in space, where other objects are and how to change orbit. To know where it is and how fast it is moving, the orbiter uses global positioning systems (GPS). To know which way it is pointing (attitude), the orbiter has several gyroscopes. All of this information is fed into the flight computers for rendezvous and docking maneuvers, which are controlled in the aft station of the flight deck.

SPACE SHUTTLE - NAVIGATIONSPACE SHUTTLE - NAVIGATION

• Spacelab module in the orbiter's cargo bay

provides additional lab space

SPACE SHUTTLE - NAVIGATIONSPACE SHUTTLE - NAVIGATION

• All of the on-board systems of the orbiter require electrical power. Electricity is made from three fuel cells, which are located in the mid fuselage under the payload bay. These fuel cells combine oxygen and hydrogen from pressurized tanks in the mid fuselage to make electricity and water. Like a power grid on Earth, the orbiter has a distribution system to supply electrical power to various instrument bays and areas of the ship. The water is used by the crew and for cooling.

SPACE SHUTTLE - POWERSPACE SHUTTLE - POWER

• The orbiter has five on-board computers that handle data processing and control critical flight systems. The computers monitor equipment and talk to each other and vote to settle arguments. Computers control critical adjustments especially during launch and landing:

operations of the orbiter (housekeeping functions, payload operations, rendezvous/docking)

interface with the crew (IBM Thinkpads with microprocessors and Windows operating systems)

caution and warning systems

data acquisition and processing from experiments

flight maneuvers

• Pilots essentially fly the computers, which fly the shuttle.

SPACE SHUTTLE - COMPUTERSSPACE SHUTTLE - COMPUTERS

• You will spend most of your time on the shuttle doing work to accomplish the mission objectives. Besides work, you will have to exercise frequently on the treadmill to counteract the loss of bone and muscle mass associated with weightlessness. You will also eat at the galley and sleep in your bunk-style sleeping quarters. You will have a toilet and personal hygiene facilities for use. You may have to perform spacewalks to accomplish the mission objectives. This will involve getting into a space suit and going through depressurization procedures in the airlock.

SPACE SHUTTLE - DOING SPACE SHUTTLE - DOING USEFUL WORKUSEFUL WORK

• Astronauts

working in the

Spacelab module

SPACE SHUTTLE - DOING SPACE SHUTTLE - DOING USEFUL WORKUSEFUL WORK

• The orbiter must be maneuvered into the proper position. This is crucial to a safe landing.

• When a mission is finished and the shuttle is halfway around the world from the landing site (Kennedy Space Center, Edwards Air Force Base), mission control gives the command to come home.

SPACE SHUTTLE - RETURN TO SPACE SHUTTLE - RETURN TO EARTH: RE-ENTRY AND LANDINGEARTH: RE-ENTRY AND LANDING

• Artist's

concept of

a shuttle

re-entry


• Space

shuttle

orbiter

touching

down


• Parachute

deployed

to help

stop the

orbiter on

landing


• Orbiter

being

serviced

just after

landing


• The current shuttle fleet has been through about a quarter of its expected lifetime. These shuttles have undergone and will have many improvements to make them lighter, safer and more efficient. Some of the improvements include:

ET - redesigned to reduce the weight by 7,500 lb (3400 kg); This improvement allows the shuttle to carry that much more weight in payload.

FUTURE SPACE SHUTTLEFUTURE SPACE SHUTTLE

Main engines - pumps, combustion chambers and nozzles have been redesigned for safety.

SRB - improve the valves, seals, filters and propellant for safety.

Hydraulic systems - change from rocket fuel-powered electric generators to safer, lighter, battery-powered generators.

Glass cockpit - lightweight LCD displays replaced cumbersome mechanical displays and redesigned for more efficient use.


• Undoubtedly, the space shuttle computers will be overhauled as computer technology improves. Space shuttles may also have touchscreen controls in the future.


• The current space shuttle has four components, three of which are recovered after each flight. The ET is discarded after each use. But what if you could have a shuttle that was all one piece and 100 percent recoverable? NASA is currently exploring this idea with the X-33 and VentureStar designs.


• Flightpath

of X Prize

concept:

Pablo De

Leon


CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION

• Nowadays, space tourism is no longer in the realms of science fiction, but science fact.

• Today, if you enjoyed and have money, you can do a space world adventure.

THE ENDTHE END

DONE BY: NUNO ESTEVES

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THE SPACE TRAVEL AND THE SPACE SHUTTLE