Introduction
Throughout history, humans have been fascinated by the stars that shine in the night sky. There have been legends, poems and stories shared in relation to the stars and the constellations. Now in modern times, we have explored space in two ways, unmanned, which means remote controlled and with a pilot and a crew, called manned space exploration. Let's see how far we have gotten with unmanned space exploration.
Space Exploration Jul 19
Listen and follow:
Read the complete topic:
Throughout history, humans have been fascinated by the stars that shine in the night sky. There have been legends, poems and stories shared in relation to the stars and the constellations. Now in modern times, we have explored space in two ways, unmanned, which means remote controlled and with a pilot and a crew, called manned space exploration. Let's see how far we have gotten with unmanned space exploration.
Russia began the space race when they successfully launched a small satellite called Sputnik 1. This first satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit Earth on its elliptical path. Sputnik was visible with binoculars before sunrise and after sunset and radio amateurs could hear a beeping signal as it passed by the sky in their area. That was then, but now, as of Dec 31 2020, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) there are a total of 3,372 operating satellites. The United States has 1,897, Russia 176, China 412 and other nations 887.
Later in the space race the Soviets send a dog, “Laika”, on board the Sputnik 2. Laika then became the first living animal to orbit the earth. The Soviets wanted to prove that humans would be able to survive in space counting they had enough food, water and oxygen. But the question is how many humans are in space now? The answer is ten in total. 7 in the International Space Station and 3 in the Chinese Tiangong Space Station.
Luna 2 was the second of a series of spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon. Luna 2 was the first spacecraft that impacted the lunar surface. Lunar 2 sent back important information that helped the Russians to move on with the space race. Now, Virgin Galactic is charging 250 thousand dollars for you to fly to space and experience zero gravity.
The Luna 9 spacecraft, launched by the Soviet Union, performed the first successful soft Moon landing. Airbags protected its 99 kilograms (218 lb) ejectable capsule which survived an impact speed of over 15 metres per second (54 km/h; 34 mph). Luna 13 duplicated this feat with a similar Moon landing. Both returned panoramic photographs that were the first views from the lunar surface. In 2019 NASA announced that they will travel to the Moon with astronauts landing on the lunar South Pole by 2024.
After this initial success, Russia went on to launch several failed missions to mars but learned from their mistakes. Eventually they were able to land an unmanned spacecraft on Venus. Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to successfully crash on a planet and send back information to Earth. NASA plans to set up a Moon base with the idea to test water, food and oxygen production as well as cutting edge technology that would help humans to set up a permanent living base on Mars.
One of the most famous probes is Voyager 1. It has traveled further in space than any human-made object. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter and Saturn and then headed for the edge of our solar system. Voyager 1 carries a copy of the Golden Record which is a message from humanity to the cosmos that includes our location in the solar system, greetings in 55 languages, pictures of people and places on Earth and music ranging from Beethoven to Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." Nowadays, Elon Musk says that SpaceX doesn't have any plans to actually build a Mars base. As a transportation company, its only goal is to ferry cargo (and humans) to and from the Red Planet, facilitating the development of someone else's Mars base.
Mars 3 was the first robotic space probe of the Soviet Mars program to have a soft landing on planet Mars. The probe consisted of an orbiter and an attached lander. Unfortunately it failed 110 seconds after landing, having transmitted only a gray image with no details. Now humans have many difficulties to sort before they can settle and live on Mars. These difficulties and hazards include: radiation exposure during a trip to Mars and on its surface, toxic soil, low gravity, the isolation that accompanies Mars' distance from Earth, the lack of water, and cold temperatures.