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ORBITER-FORUM will be temporarily closed at 2026-07-23 18:00 UTC while we complete some OF maintenance tasks. The amount of downtime is expected to take up to one hour, but probably less.
Quick question:
Shouldn't the main mirror be covered during launch, or there's no mechanism for it? I think the "hat" part on the telescope is its mirror cover that is only opened after the telescope reaches Sun-Earth L2. Kinda similar to how Hubble was deployed from the Shuttle in 1990
I've tried to run the prelaunch trajectory myself a few days ago...what I don't understand is why are there so many "jagged" maneuvers in the data (errors)....it only started to look like an actual trajectory by the time it reaches Sun-Earth L2 for some reason
Most likely it will have its official logo painted on the painting. However, we would not know it likely for another year until it finally releases.
For now, a generic fairing will do
The capsule and the booster are what makes the New Shepard as it is. As it is only built for suborbital flight/tourism, it doesn't really makes sense to replace the capsule with anything else
There is a preliminary state vector data for NGRST that acts as its first prelaunch trajectory plan, now available at JPL HORIZONS. We could use it for orbit scenarios for this project
Other than the mirror diameter (2.4 m) and total mass (4,166 kg) there hasn't yet any published measurements of its overall length.
It should be able to fit inside a standard Falcon 9 fairing since it is going to be launched from a Falcon Heavy
The main mirror is the same size as Hubble's at 2.4-meters in diameter.
It was originally designed to be a spy satellite for the NRO (likely a KH-11 variant) until two surplus hardware (including what became NGRST) were donated for "free" to NASA
It should be similar to the landers of Venera 7 and 8, about 500 kg (landing mass) and can withstand up to 180 atmospheres of pressure. They overstrengthened the hull since at the time no one knew the actual surface pressure on Venus was
I thought the NK-33 engines were never used during the N1 program, though they were planned for the fifth flight before it was cancelled. Iirc the first four flights used the NK-15, but I think both it and the NK-33 look physically similar to one another
Yeah, that's the idea of the replacement sunshade installed, else the crew will be cooked in the heat being generated due to the loss of its micrometeoroid shield
Yes, the ATM is always oriented towards the Sun as a consequence of this
The only times it breaks away from this position is whenever a crew arrives to or departs from the station
Might be something similar to the code on BrianJ's HST_EX addon, where you could select an object (in this case, the Sun) and the spacecraft locks onto the target permanantly
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