Advancement in space technology Part-1
From the start of space era there have been some great advancement in space technology as compared to the previous technology. In the field of Space launch vehicle, we have seen some giant powerhouses from the Saturn V launch vehicle to the technological and power giant like Falcon Heavy. In the field of Extraterrestrial space rovers from old tech space rover like Sojourner to some highly advance Mars rover like Curiosity. In the field of satellites we have seen some few days lasting space probe like Sputnik 1 to lifetime mars orbiter like MAVEN and many more. In this blog we will discuss about the advancement in Space launch vehicles and the others will be discussed in the upcoming blogs. So, let's begin.
Advancement is space launch vehicle
Proton (rocket family)
Proton (UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both Commercial and Russian government space launches. First launched on 1965 Proton is one of the early age rockets which paved the way for the future rockets. All the Protons are built at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre factory in Moscow, and then transported to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for launch. Proton launch vehicle was built in 3 different versions Proton M, Proton K and Proton. Proton rocket family made a total of 423 launch in which 376 were successful. Only the Proton-M launch vehicle is still in service and the other two have been retired. Some notable payloads carried by Proton launch vehicle are Salyut 6, Salyut 7, Mir, ISS components, Exomars, etc. The cost per launch of Proton M launch vehicle is approx. $65 million. For more information on Proton launch vehicle you can visit-->https://www.ilslaunch.com/launch-vehicle/proton-breeze-m/
Saturn V
Saturn V is an American Human-rated super heavy-lift launch vehicle used by NASA between 1967-1973. The main purpose for the development of this rocket was to support the Apollo program for human exploration of moon. The Saturn V was manufactured by Boeing (S-IC), North American (S-II), and Douglas (S-IVB). The Saturn V is one the most powerful rocket ever made in the history of space science and it paved the way for the today's most advance launcher Falcon Heavy. The Saturn V is one of the most costly rocket ever built in the history. The cost per launch of Saturn V is approx. $185 million. All the Saturn V launchers have been retired. In the 6 years of service Saturn V was used 13 times in which 12 launch were successful and 1 launch faced a partial failure. It was mainly used for Apollo space mission. For more information on Saturn V you can visit--> https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-was-the-saturn-v-58.html
Space shuttle
The Space shuttle was a partially reusable low earth orbit spacecraft that was in service from 1981-2011 by NASA as a part of Space shuttle program. It official program name was Space transportation system (STS). The first 4 orbital test flights occurred in 1981. A total of 5 space shuttle orbital vehicle were built and they flew a total of 135 mission from 1981 to 2011. The Space Shuttle was built by United Space Alliance Thiokol/Alliant, Lockheed Martian and Marietta. In a total of 135 launch 133 launches were successful and 2 launches failed. The Space shuttle was also one of the most expensive mission in the space history. The cost per launch of Space shuttle is approx. $450 million. Some notable payloads carried by Space shuttle are Spacelab, Mir docking module, Hubble space telescope and many more. For more information on Space shuttle launch vehicle you can visit--> https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-the-space-shuttle-k4.html
PSLV (Polar satellite launch vehicle)
The Polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium lift-launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian space research organization (ISRO). PSLV was developed to allow India to launch its Indian remote sensing (IRS) satellites into sun-synchronous orbits. ISRO developed the PSLV launch vehicle because of the Skyrocketing price of the Russia's and US's launch vehicle. So, India developed its own Launch vehicle the PSLV is highly cost-efficient as compared to the other launch vehicles. PSLV can also launch small size satellites into the Geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The cost of PSLV per launch is approx. $21 million. Till now PSLV has made a total of 50 launches in which 47 were successful and 2 faced failures and 1 had a partial failures. For more information on PSLV you can visit--> https://www.isro.gov.in/launchers/pslv
Falcon heavy by SpaceX
The Falcon Heavy Is a partially reusable super-heavy lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX. The Falcon Heavy is popularly known for its enormous power and also for the revolution it bought to the modern space launch vehicles. The Falcon Heavy is most popular for its reusable side boosters and fairings. The Falcon heavy is primarily designed for the supply of essential goods to mars and for the launch of Starship(under production) mars lander. The first Falcon Heavy was launched on 6th February 2018. Till now the Falcon heavy has made a total of 3 launches into space in which all 3 were successful. The Maiden Falcon heavy flight deployed a Tesla roadster into the mars orbit. The cost per launch of falcon heavy is $150million but when talking about the reusable cost its around $90million which is very low compared to the huge amount of thrust and power it provides. For more information on Falcon heavy launch vehicle you can visit--> https://www.spacex.com/falcon-heavy
So, in this blog we discussed about all the advancement in the Space launch vehicle field. In the next blog we will be talking about the Advancement in the Space probe technology so stay tunned with us and don't forget to follow and subscribe for latest update.
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