Space Current Affairs
NASA Successfully Deployed Space Station’s Inflatable Room
- US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on May 28, 2016 successfully deployed the first experimental inflatable room attached to the International Space Station (ISS).
- The 1400 kg Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was built by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace under a $ 17 million NASA contract. It will be attached to the ISS for a two-year test and is the first such habitat to hold humans in orbit.
- It is made up of aluminium and soft fabric which expands in space. It is light weight and also takes minimal space. It creates place for astronauts to live and work. The module added 1.5 m in length to reach 1.7 m beyond its packed configuration and an internal diameter of 3.2 m.
Reusable Launch Vehicle Tested Successfully
- India on May 23, 2016 successfully launched the first indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), capable of launching satellites into orbit around Earth and re-entering the atmosphere, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
- The specification includes The 6.5 m long ‘aeroplane’-like structure weighing 1.75 tonnes. The cost of developing the RLV technology is estimated to be about Rs. 100 crore.
- The reason for looking at reusable space shuttles is simple these will be cost-effective going forward as scientists try and decode the mysteries of space.
NASA Launched Near-space Monitoring Balloon from New Zealand
- US space agency NASA on May 17, 2016 successfully launched a super pressure balloon from New Zealand to conduct near-space scientific investigations.
- The 532000 cu m (18.8 million cu ft) balloon is expected to circumnavigate the globe about the southern hemisphere’s mid-latitudes once every one to three weeks, depending on wind speeds in the stratosphere. The aim is for it remain airborne for more than 100 days.
- According to NASA, the balloon’s operational float altitude is 33.5 km (20.8 miles) and it will be visible from the ground, particularly at sunrise and sunset, in the southern hemisphere’s mid-latitudes, such as Argentina and South Africa.
- Long-duration balloon flights at constant altitudes play an important role in providing inexpensive access to the near-space environment for science and technology.
China Launched ‘Yaogan-30’
- China successfully launched a satellite named Yaogan-30 was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in North-Western China’s Gobi desert on May 15, 2016.
- The satellite will be used for experiments, land surveys, crop yield estimates and disaster relief.
- Yaogdn-30 was carried by a Long March-2D rocket, the 227th mission for the Long March rocket family. China launched the first ‘Yaogan’ series satellite, Yaogan-1, in 2006.
