Space Tech
By Charlie Utter
Welcome! As our understanding of the universe grows, millions of people have come to work at big aerospace companies. In this article, we will explore various space technologies these aerospace companies create such as rocket ships, rovers, and innovations. In this article, I will highlight rockets and autonomous landings.
On August 29, 2021 at 3:14 a.m. EDT, Falcon 9 launched Dragon on the 23rd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-23) mission from Kennedy Space Center located in Florida.
This mission's purpose was to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) with Dragon, and land Falcon 9 as seen in the diagram provided by space X. This is a very intricate maneuver; one misstep could ruin the mission. The autonomous landing is something that has only come around in the last 8 years. The mission was successful and Falcon 9 docked the day after launch.
In other exciting news, the Inspiration 4 launched on the September 15, 2021. This, of course, will be an autonomous landing due to its largely civilian crew.
Jeff Bezos and Bob Smith’s aerospace company, Blue Origin, launched the New Shepard rocket on a mission called NS-17. This mission was also a resupply for NASA. The success of this mission marks the 8th time the rocket has landed!
They also carried out many experiments onboard the rocket. Smith said, “This vehicle carried NASA-sponsored and commercial experiments, including the second flight of NASA’s lunar landing technology that will one day allow us to further explore the Moon’s surface." This lunar landing technology could bring another easier and cheaper moon landing, and may even lead to the first permanent Lunar Base.
Autonomous landing has come a long way since its introduction in September 2013, and its becoming the meta in Rocket launches. As of the September 12, 2021, NASA began experimenting with autonomous landings, which have been very successful.
Space is cool but the innovation and technology we make for space is way cooler. I’ll be going on about more space and technology in future tiger issues.
For sources click on the company names, this will bring you directly to the company's news page.
