Per.

2 Aayush Gupta
Jalali/ L.A. 5-13-11
The Evolution of the Spacecraft

Beep...beep...These were the sounds from the space craft Sputnik 1 that launched the

humans into the race to the newest frontier, the universe. Ever since that day in the year 1957,

Man has been trying to find more information about this new frontier. We have already found

out that our plane of existence is far more than just our solar system. The world has also learned

that the universe is always expanding due to the repercussions of the explosion that occurred

about fifteen billion years ago, the Big Bang. All of this has been found out by artificial satellites

that either observe form the outer orbit of the earth to the outer reaches of the solar system.

Although we have already gained much knowledge from our past spacecrafts, we as human

beings are propelled through our curiosity to create more improved spacecrafts to explore this

new frontier.

The world’s hunger for new knowledge on this new frontier was fueled by our first

spacecrafts. The very first spacecraft to go beyond the Earth’s atmospheric boundaries was

Sputnik 1. It was launched on October 4 1957 (Mitchell MentalLandscape.com). It’s mission

was to be the first artificial satellite in orbit around the earth (Mitchell MentalLandscape.com). It

was propelled into space using a R-7 rocket and was made in a spherical shape with four whip

antennas extending out (Mitchell Mentallandscape.com). It’s devices are a radio to broadcast its

beeping and fan to keep the temperature inside its sphere constant (Mitchell

MentalLandscape.com). All of this was powered using three silver zinc batteries (Mitchell

MentalLandscape.com). Another significant spacecraft was Explorer 1. It was launched by the

United States of America on January 31 1958 (Greicius NASA.gov). The mission assigned to

this spacecraft was to detect the radiation levels in the Earth’s atmosphere. It was propelled into
space using a Jupiter C rocket (Greicius NASA.gov).

As our interest for the new frontier grew so did the the funding for the associations that

provided these missions. The United States primary space exploration agency is NASA. NASA

stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This historic administration was

founded in 1958 (Bill NASA.gov).

Our knowledge of the universe soon grew and as it expanded so to did the distance that

our satellites are venturing. The Voyager 1 and 2 satellites have almost ventured to the very edge

of our solar system, making them them the furthest traveling space crafts ever. One of

the most recent and most advanced satellites is the MESSENGER satellite. MESSENGER stands

for Mercury Surface Space Environment Geochemistry and Ranging (Smith NASA.gov). The

objective this satellite was designated for was to observe and send back information about the

planet Mercury (Boone NASA.gov). It has a hide of graphite epoxy material to survive launch

while possessing a lower mass (Boone NASA.gov). It also has a sunshade made out of heat

resistant ceramic cloth (Boone NASA.gov). The sunshade will cylindrically cover half the

satellite (Boone NASA.gov). Its design lay out is that of a box like container that holds all the

instruments with two solar panel “wings” on parallel sides of the box (one on each side) , the

sunshade will cover only one side of the box. Propulsion will be provide through a dual mode

liquid propulsion system (Boone NASA.gov). This system works by integrating a “high-thrust

chemical and a high specific impulse electric propulsion into a single dual mode system”

(Donius 13). This is basically stating that two types of fuel that would be used in different ways

are integrated into a single system to provide economical use of mass (Donius 13)(Boone

NASA.gov). Among the instrument aboard this spacecraft there will be a Gamma Ray and

Neutron Spectrometer (GRNS) which will provide us with the ability to detect different elements
on the planet’s surface (Boone NASA.gov). A Magnetometer (MAG) will also be on board to

map Mercury’s magnetic field (Boone NASA.gov). Another instrument on board will be the

Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) which will gives us an accurate descriptions of Mercury’s

topography (Boone NASA.gov). Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer

(MASCS) will provide us with details on the atmospheric gasses on Mercury as well as detect

minerals on the surface (Boone NASA.gov). The Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer

(EEPS) will be put to work by study the composition, distribution, and energy of charged

particles in the magnetosphere (Boone NASA.gov). The last piece of equipment will be the

Radio Science (RS) which will study mass distribution which will include variations in the

thickness of the crust (Boone NASA.gov). All these devices will be powered using the solar

panels and nickel hydrogen batteries (Boone NASA.gov). However, the MESSENGER is not the

only spacecraft that has been recently launched to explore the universe.

Another revolutionary spacecraft that was recently launch was Dawn. The mission

assigned to Dawn was to observe the asteroids Vesta and Cerces. These asteroids were chosen

because of their unusual composition (Whatmore NASA.gov). It was launched on September

27, 2007 using a Delta II- Heavy (which is the strongest rocket in the Detla II class) at Cape

Caneveral (Ryba NASA.gov). The Dawn space craft is box like with solar panel wings

(Whatmore NASA.gov). It is being propelled through space using an ion engine which is a very

new idea in spacecraft engineering. It is good that it is using Ion engines because without that

engine it would take a much bigger spaceship. Ion engines work by sending a charge through the

ions in the xenon fuel it carries (Whatmore NASA.gov). The ions then speed up to a speed ten

times that of a chemical engine (Whatmore NASA.gov). Even though that thrust is equal to the

force it takes to hold a paper in your hand the velocity of the engine will be comparable to that of
the rocket that carried it into space (Whatmore NASA.gov). The instruments on this spacecraft

are many. There are The Framing Cameras which will be used for scientific and navigational

purposes such as looking for mineral composition (Watanabe NASA.gov). The Gamma Ray

and Neutron detector is similar to the Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer on MESSENGER

as it will detect chemical composition on Vesta and Cerces (Watanabe NASA.gov). The last

instrument on this satellite is the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer which will detect

what minerals are on the surface of these asteroids(Watanabe NASA.gov). All the instruments

will be powered by the solar panels (Whatmore NASA.gov).

The final stop on our journey through the evolution of the spacecraft is the future.

Although we do not know what is cooking in the labs of NASA we have a glimpse of one of its

future missions. This future mission is known as Juno. Juno will help us understand the origin

and evolution of Jupiter (Whatmore NASA.gov). It will be launched on August 5 2011 at Cape

Canaveral using a Atlas V 551 rocket to be propelled into space (Greicius NASA.gov). It has

a hexagonal body with three wings protruding out of the sides (Whatmore NASA.gov). The

design of the spacecraft will also include a radiation shielded electronics vault which will protect

its instruments from the high radiation in Jupiter’s atmosphere (Whatmore NASA.gov). The

spacecraft will be propelled through space by spinning (Whatmore NASA.gov). It will be spun

by rocket motors on its still attached second stage booster (Whatmore NASA.gov). The uses

of the instruments have not been specified but their names have been. There will be a gravity/

radio science system, a six wavelength microwave radiometer for atmospheric sounding and

composition, a vector magnetometer, an ultraviolet spectrometer, and an infrared spectrometer

(Whatmore NASA.gov). All the instruments are powered by the most powerful solar panels.

Even though this is the end of this journey, there is still a lot to be discovered in the
universe and to be invented in satellite engineering. The design and theory of the spacecraft has

changed a lot: from a sphere with four antennas to a hexagonal rocket that spins to propel itself.

We still have far to go in our journey through the universe but we have already come far. We

could find new earth-like planets that would be very beneficial to us. We could survive on that

other planet and colonize it. This planet will provide us with the second chance we need from

almost destroying this planet. The final frontier shall be one that will be explored and maybe

colonized for many ages.