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NASA’s mega Moon rocket cleared to blast off

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

NASA’s huge rocket was cleared to take off for the Moon this summer.
Around 10,000 people gathered to watch the event.
The rocket is 322 feet tall with 8.8 million pounds of thrust.

WASHINGTON: NASA’s massive new rocket began its first journey to a launchpad on Thursday ahead of a battery of tests that will clear it to blast off to the Moon this summer.

It left the Kennedy Space Center´s Vehicle Assembly Building around 5:47 pm Eastern Time (2147 GMT) and began an 11-hour journey on a crawler-transporter to the hallowed Launch Complex 39B, four miles (6.5 kilometers) away.

Around 10,000 people had gathered to watch the event.

Huge rocket, huge cost

With the Orion crew capsule fixed on top, the Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1 stands 322 feet (98 meters) high — taller than the Statue of Liberty, but a little smaller than the 363 feet Saturn V rockets that powered the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Despite this, it will produce 8.8 million pounds of maximum thrust (39.1 Meganewtons), 15 percent more than the Saturn V, meaning it´s expected to be the world´s most powerful rocket at the time it begins operating.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the world´s most powerful rocket ever right here!” NASA administrator Bill Nelson told a crowd. “We imagine, we build, we never stop pushing the envelope of what is possible.”

A symbol of US space ambition, it also comes with a hefty price tag: $4.1 billion per launch for the first four Artemis missions, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin told Congress this month.

After reaching the launchpad, there are roughly two more weeks´ worth of checks before what’s known as the “wet dress rehearsal.”

The SLS team will load more than 700,000 gallons (3.2 million liters) of cryogenic propellant into the rocket and practice every phase of launch countdown, stopping ten seconds before blast off.

To the Moon and beyond

NASA is targeting May as the earliest window for Artemis-1, an uncrewed lunar mission that will be the first integrated flight for SLS and Orion.

SLS will first place Orion into a low Earth orbit, and then, using its upper stage, perform what´s called a trans-lunar injection.

This maneuver is necessary to send Orion 280,000 miles beyond Earth and 40,000 miles beyond the Moon — further than any spaceship capable of carrying humans has ventured.

On its three-week mission, Orion will deploy 10 shoebox-size satellites known as CubeSats to gather information on the deep space environment.

Its “passengers” will include three mannequins collecting radiation data, and a plush Snoopy toy, long a NASA mascot.

It will journey around the far side of the Moon, using thrust provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) thruster, and finally make its way back to Earth, where its heat shield will be tested against the atmosphere.

Splashdown takes place in the Pacific, off the coast of California.

Artemis-2 will be the first crewed test, flying around the Moon but not landing, while Artemis-3, planned for 2025, will see the first woman and first person of color touch down on the lunar south pole.

NASA wants to build a permanent presence on the Moon, and use it as a proving ground for technologies necessary for a Mars mission, sometime in the 2030s, using a Block 2 evolution of the SLS.

SLS v Starship

NASA calls SLS a “super heavy-lift exploration class vehicle.” The only currently operational super-heavy rocket is SpaceX´s Falcon Heavy, which is smaller.

Elon Musk´s company is also developing its own deep-space rocket, the fully reusable Starship, which he has said should be ready for an orbital test this year.

The starship would be both bigger and more powerful than SLS: 394 feet tall with 17 million pounds of thrust. It could also be considerably cheaper.

The tycoon has suggested that within years, the cost per launch could be as little as $10 million.

Direct comparisons are complicated by the fact that while SLS is designed to fly direct to its destinations, SpaceX foresees putting a Starship into orbit, and then refueling it with another Starship so it can continue its journey, to extend range and payload.

NASA has also contracted a version of Starship as a lunar descent vehicle for Artemis.

Other super heavy rockets under development include Blue Origin´s New Glenn, China´s Long March 9 and Russia´s Yenisei.

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Rainfall throughout the night stops flights in Lahore.

Published

18 hours ago

Farwa

Allama Iqbal International Airport experienced many hours of flight disruption due to the intense rainfall and windstorms that occurred overnight in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab.

Aviation sources claim that because of the monsoon weather, the flight operation was unable to operate between 3 and 4 am.

It is possible that the planes will arrive at the airport at 4 am.

Amidst delays in foreign airline flights, three aircraft made landings in Multan and Peshawar.

Riyadh flights arrived in Peshawar Airport, while flights scheduled to land in Lahore in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain ended up landing in Multan Airport.

Seven hours later than scheduled, the Qatar Airways flight from Doha arrived in Lahore.

Because of the bad weather, there are delays in the arrival and departure of numerous international planes.

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Containers were used to seal the Red Zone before JI’s sit-in at D-Chowk.

Published

18 hours ago

Farwa

Authorities in Islamabad have blocked off the Red Zone by erecting containers in front of today’s (Friday) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) demonstration and the Jamaat-i-Islami sit-in at D-Chowk in Islamabad.

Jamaat-i-Islami is scheduled to stage a sit-in at Islamabad’s D-Chowk, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has declared a nationwide protest against the country’s soaring inflation and recent spike in electricity rates.

Containers have been used to block access to the Red Zone’s main crossroads, D Chowk, Nadra Chowk, and Sarina Chowk.

ISLAMABAD, PUNJAB SECTION 144

In the meantime, in response to PTI and JI plans for statewide rallies, the federal and Punjabi governments enforced Section 144 in Islamabad and Punjab. Section 144 will be in force from Friday, July 26 to Sunday, July 28, per the notification that was released in this regard.

Rallies, sit-ins, protests, and rallies are prohibited from July 26 to July 28, according to a letter from the Home Department. It said that terrorists may find public gatherings to be an easy target and stated that the decision had been made with the threat of terrorism in mind.

In contrast, JI Secretary General Ameerul Azeem claimed in a statement that police had raided the residences of JI officials across the nation.

In an attempt to break up the protest, he said, police had targeted JI leaders and activists. He also alleged that multiple instances of police raids, arrests, and harassment of women had occurred in various towns.

GOVT ADVISED

The government was forewarned by Jamaat Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman earlier on Thursday that it would face consequences if the party was barred from accessing Islamabad for their scheduled demonstration against inflation and an increase in electricity prices.

He stated in a statement that their belief is in peaceful political protest as a means of securing public rights. “We are not afraid of arrests, and the Jamaat-e-Islami cannot be stopped,” he added.

“The historic sit-in on Friday, July 26, will represent 250 million people of Pakistan, and we will sit peacefully at D-Chowk.”

According to the JI, convoys are in route from all around the nation to participate in the sit-in. He encouraged the administration to offer a location for the protest, highlighting that it is their constitutional and democratic right to speak up for the country.

“Any political party that wishes to participate” was invited, and he welcomed them all.

Prior to the sit-in, police raided the residences of JI leaders and officials in many parts of Punjab and Rawalpindi, making multiple arrests.

Ameerul Azim, the central secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami, was not able to be arrested during the police raid; instead, Shaukat Mahmood, his driver, was taken into custody.

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Changes to Pakistan’s Test team could be significant for the Bangladesh series.

Published

18 hours ago

Farwa

Major changes to Pakistan’s team are anticipated ahead of the forthcoming Test series against Bangladesh, sources in Lahore have revealed.

As the team gets ready for the series, meetings with the players are planned for next week.

It is predicted that the Test squad would undergo several changes. The team’s lineup is expected to be strengthened by the likely inclusion of Muhammad Huraira. Key players like Faheem Ashraf, Wasim Jr., Saim Ayub, and Nauman Ali, whose contributions are vital to the team’s success, struggle to get a spot on the squad.

Furthermore, according to sources, Imamul Haq or Sahibzada Farhan are anticipated to be added to the team, subject to additional assessment. Furthermore, following a fitness assessment, Amir Jamal and Hasan Ali’s futures will be determined.

The ultimate selection for the Test team will take place following Red Ball head coach Jason Gillespie’s return to Pakistan. The ultimate squad that will play Bangladesh in the forthcoming Test series will be greatly influenced by his assessments and thoughts.

Pakistan is scheduled to visit New Zealand in March and April of 2025, according to the country’s official cricket schedule, which was released earlier this month.

Throughout their visit, the Pakistan cricket team will play three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and five Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) in an exciting series.

The T20I series, which starts at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on March 16, will serve as the tour’s opening event.