TL;DR
- Liquid methane Raptor engines
- Enceladus's extraterrestrial oceans
- Golf on the Moon!
Current events
Yesterday, Elon Musk unveiled the first test-fire of
SpaceX’s newest prototype rocket engine, the Raptor.
The Raptor is unique because it burns liquid methane, as opposed to the more
conventional rocket fuels of liquid hydrogen or kerosene (SpaceX’s current
rocket engine, the Merlin, burns kerosene). Liquid methane is Musk’s fuel of
choice for his new rockets because liquid methane can be manufactured from the
Martian atmosphere through a process called the Sabatier reaction.
Doing so would allow us to not have to send fuel to Mars for the return trip on
a future manned mission (saving a ton of weight and money!). Blue Origin’s
newest engine under development, the BE-4, also burns liquid methane. Great
minds think alike
Today I learned
Saturn’s moon Enceladus is one of the most fascinating
bodies in the Solar System – it’s an icy world that shoots plumes of water
vapor up into its atmosphere. When NASA’s Cassini probe flew through these
vapors in 2005, it detected complex organic molecules coming from deep within
the moon’s interior, suggesting the existence of a liquid water ocean beneath
the surface that could potentially host life.
This day in space history
Apollo 14 landed on
the moon on Feb 5, 1971. The two moonwalkers on this voyage were Alan Shepard
(who was the first American in space) and Edgar Mitchell. Apollo 14 is awesome because the two astronauts played golf on the moon – Shepard
brought a six iron and a few golf balls to the lunar surface. Because of the
bulky spacesuit, Shepard had to swing one-handed and chunked the first shot
(“got more dirt than ball”). But he nailed the third one and
sent it flying “miles and miles and miles.”
This is the perfect first "this day in space history" for my new blog because golf is my favorite sport! I'm so excited to have you here
Cool Hans .. loved the golf clip wish I could hit it miles and miles and miles - harry
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