Nasa reveals experiments its mega rocket will carry on its first test flight | Daily Mail Online
▻http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3025131/An-asteroid-hunter-lunar-flashlight-DNA-kit-Nasa-reveals-experiments-me
In 2018, Nasa will launch the Orion spacecraft using the largest, most powerful rocket booster ever built; the Space Launch System (SLS).
Tucked inside the stage adapter - the ring connecting Orion to the top propulsion stage of the SLS -will be 11 self-contained small satellites, each about the size of a large shoebox.
Now, the space agency has revealed three missions that will use these small satellites during the test flight to help develop technologies for astronauts travelling to deep space.
’Nasa is taking advantage of a great opportunity to conduct more science beyond our primary focus of this mission,’ said Jody Singer manager of Nasa’s Flight Programs and Partnerships Office.
’While this new vehicle will enable missions beyond Earth orbit, we’re taking steps to increase the scientific and exploration capability of SLS by accommodating small, CubeSat-class payloads.’
The first is a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout, using solar sail propulsion, will fly by a small asteroid, taking pictures and making observations.
It aims to improve the current understanding of the asteroid environment and yield key information for future astronauts exploring an asteroid.
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Nasa’s Lunar Flashlight will scout for locations on the lunar surface that are rich in resources that, once broken down into their component molecules, could be used in future exploration.
The hope is future astronauts can use the technology to produce building materials, propellant, oxygen and water.
Lunar Flashlight will use a large solar sail, similar to the NEA Scout sail, to reflect sunlight and illuminate the moon’s permanently shadowed craters and then the science instruments will measure the surface water ice.
Meanwhile, BioSentinel will use yeast to detect, measure, and compare the impact of deep space radiation on living organisms over long durations beyond Low-Earth Orbit.
This will help scientists understand the effects of the deep space environment on biological systems as we plan to send humans farther into space than ever before.