8 Space Satellites you should know about!

In this new era many things happen that’s beyond our expectations and sometimes things are hunted to find a novel way. Space Missions are something that’s bringing novelty to this new generation. Space probes/satellites/telescopes are constructed for various purposes and this is, what is described below. Given below are some of the space satellites that you should know.

1) James Webb space telescope (JWST) is a joint NASA-ESA-CSIA space telescope planned to succeed the Hubble space telescope as NASA’s flagship astrophysics mission. The JWST will not only provide improved infrared resolution and sensitivity over Hubble but also enable a broad range of investigation across the fields of astronomy and cosmology including most distant events such as formation of the first galaxies. The spacecraft is being developed by NASA with signature contributions from the European space agency and the Canadian space agency. It’s named so after James E. Webb, who was the administrator of NASA and played a crucial role in the Apollo programs. In comparison with other space telescope, the JWST observes lower frequency range, from long wavelength visible light through mid- infrared which allows observation of high redshift objects. In order to observe infrared without interference, it will be deployed in space closure to Earth-Sun L2, Langrange point. To maintain very cold temperature, a large Sunshield is made of silicon- coated and aluminium-coated kapton to keep the instrument below 50K. The Langrange point allows the telescope to remain at a certain distance and use a single sunshield to block heat and light from the sun and the earth which helps in Keeping the temperature of spacecraft below 50 k. Main motives of the JWST to search for light from the first stars and galaxies that formed in the universe after the big bang, to study the formation and evolution of galaxies, to understand the formation of stars and planetary systems and the origin of life p. Even, it might would gather information on the dimming light of stars KIC 8462852 too. According to plank’s law, relatively cold objects emit their radiation primarily in the infrared and the mechanism of the JWST hits the motives, hence, it could provide briefs about many objects and region of space which gets obscured by gas and dust in the visible spectrum, such as the molecular clouds where stars are born, the circumstellar disks that give rise to planets and the vote of active galaxies.

2) Laser interferometer space antenna (LISA) is a proposed space probe to detect and accurately measure gravitational waves- tiny ripples in the fabric of space time from astronomical sources . The LISA concept is having a constellation of three spacecrafts arranged in an equilateral triangle, flying along an Earth- like heliocentric orbit. The LISA project was started with a joint effort of NASA and the European space agency but later NASA couldn’t continue its partnership due to funding limitations, hence, the project is a recognised CERN experiment and LISA would be the first dedicated space based gravitational wave detector.
The main motive of LISA is to detect and measure the gravitational force as gravitational force leads to squeezing and stretching of objects by a tiny amount and such forces are caused by energetic events and could pass unhindered by intervening mass . To avoid such problems, LISA could be a solution as it will add a new sense to scientist’s perception of the universe and enable them to study the phenomenon that are invisible in normal light. It provides details about massive black holes and the force residing behind such massive holes and will be enable to elaborate sources of cosmological origin and speculative astrophysical objects like cosmic strings and domain boundaries. This is not the things for which LISA is specif for, it’s expected to detect and resolve around 25,000 galactic compact binaries at higher frequencies hence, studying the distribution of the masses , periods and location will provide innovative ideas about the formation of evolution of galaxy.

3) Breakthrough starshot It’s an engineering and research project by the breakthrough initiatives to develop a proofof-concept fleet of light sail interstellar probes named starship. It was founded by Yuri milner, Stephen hawking and Mark Zuckerberg. The conceptual principles that relies for this interstellar travel project is well described in “A roadmap to interstellar flight”, but sending such a lightweight spacecraft involves a multi kilometre phased array of beam steerable lasers which combines coherent power output of up to 100 GW. The breakthrough starshot is proposed to demonstrate a proof of concept for ultra fast light driven nano spacecraft, lays the foundation for first launch to alpha centauri with next generation. This discovery could lead to solar system exploration and detection of Earth crossing asteroids but the spacecraft needs to survive collision at each square centimetre of frontal cross section at a high speed with about thousands particles.

4) Exomars 2022 It’s an astrobiology program by the European space agency (ESA) and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos . This program has been initiated with a motive to search for possible biosignatures of past Martian life , water and geochemical distribution as a function of depth in the shallow surfaces. It’s supposed to throw lights on human missions to Mars and to investigate surface environment and identification of hazards and is expected to achieve incremental steps ultimately culminating in a sample return flight. Other technological objectives includes lending of large pay loads to Mars and to exploit solar electric power on the surface of Mars and to access the surfaces and also to develop surface exploration capability using a rover.

5) Prospector-1 Prospector-1 is a small spacecraft weighing 50 kg (fueled) that manages cost and performance well. DSI is developing prospector-1 both for it’s own asteroid mining ambition and also to bring an extremely low-cost, get high performance exploration capability, even the ability to locate, travel to and usually potentially rich supplies of space resources is critically added in the plan.
Prospector-1 is not only the first commercial interplanetary mission, but also an important milestone to open the frontier hence by learning to “ live of the land”, DSI is ushering in a new era of unlimited economic expansion.

6) Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) As the name suggests Jupiter ICy moons Explorer is an interplanetary spacecraft is develop by ESA with Airbus Defence and space as the main contractor. The main objective is to study three of Jupiter’s Galilean moon , Gaymede, Callisto and Europa as each of them might have significant bodies of liquid water beneath their surfaces and it focuses basically for Ganymede and for Callisto to a lesser extent, for characterization of the ocean layers and detection of putative subsurfaces water reservoirs, topographical and geologice compositions and much more .


7) The Parker solar probe Parker solar probe swoops within 4,000,000 miles of the sun surface, facing heat and radiation like no space crowd before it. In order to unlock the mysteries of the Corona of the sun, but also to protect a society that's increasingly dependent on technology from the threats of space weather.


8) The lunar gateway: Formerly known as the deep space gateway (DSG), The station was renamed uh lunar orbital platform gateway( LOP-G). ThProject is expected to play a major role in NASA’s Artemis program. It will serve as the staging point for Both robotic and crewed explorations of the lunar South Pole and is the proposed staging point for NASA’s deep space transport concept for transport to Mars. This is just to explain how space stations work and about the enormous motives which lies behind such great works.


Article by:- Saumya Mishra

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Tags: James Webb space telescope, Laser interferometer space antenna, Breakthrough starshot, Exomars 2020, Prospector-1, JUICE, The Parker solar probe, The lunar gateway