Space Science
Space Science
Phase I: 1960-70
● Vikram Sarabhai and Homi Bhabha laid the foundation of India’s space
program, recognizing the potential of satellites.
● The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was
formed in 1962.
● The launch of sounding rockets began in 1962, utilizing India’s
proximity to the equator.
● The Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) was
established in Kerala.
● The indigenous Rohini Family of sounding rockets was developed.
The only humans known to have died of exposure to vacuum in space are
the three crew-members of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft; Vladislav Volkov, Georgi
Dobrovolski, and Viktor Patsayev. During preparations for re-entry from orbit
on June 30, 1971, a pressure-equalisation valve in the spacecraft's descent
module unexpectedly opened at an altitude of 168 kilometres (551,000 ft),
causing rapid depressurisation and the subsequent death of the entire crew.
On the surface of the Earth, these types of radiation are not significant health
hazards because the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field protect us from most
of the radiation from space. Astronauts in low Earth orbit still receive some
protection from the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, but radiation
becomes a much bigger problem when they travel to places outside these
protective barriers, like the moon or mars.
Space radiation is one of the main health hazards of spaceflight. It is dangerous
because it has sufficient energy to change or break DNA molecules, which can
damage or kill a cell. This can lead to health problems ranging from acute
effects to long term effects.
Acute effects such as changes to the blood, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting are
mild and recoverable. Other effects of acute radiation exposure are much more
severe such as central nervous system damage or even death. Acute effects are
not expected to result from exposure to space radiation, except if an astronaut is
exposed to a large solar particle event, such as a solar flare, which produces a
high dose of radiation.
The major concern about space radiation is the long term effects on astronauts.
Long term effects can include cataracts, increased chance of cancer, and
sterility. Some health effects can skip a generation and appear in the
descendants of the exposed individual, being passed on by mutated genes.
The types of health problems that occur are determined by the extent of
exposure to radiation, an astronaut's vulnerability to radiation and other
variables. Exposure to radiation depends on:
● Altitude of the spacecraft
● Amount of shielding from the spacecraft or spacesuit,
● Length of mission,
● Duration and intensity of exposure,
● Type of radiation.
At the dawn of the space age in 1957, the North American Aerospace
Defense Command (NORAD) started a database with information about all this
waste. The first piece of space junk was the Sputnik satellite, which the Soviet
Union launched that same year. These days, the European Space Agency
(ESA), says there are around 900,000 objects measuring between 1 and 10 cm
in orbit and around 34,000 larger than 10 cm
● Below 1 cm: it is estimated that there are more than 128 million of these
fragments and most of them are undetectable.
● Between 1 and 10 cm: it is calculated that there are around 900,000 in
orbit, which range from the size of a marble to a tennis ball.
● More than 10 cm: these objects include everything from tools lost
during missions to defunct satellites.
a) Defunct satellites
Satellites have a limited useful life and, when their batteries are spent or they
break down, they are left drifting about in space. At the beginning of the space
race, it was assumed that sooner or later these abandoned objects would fall to
earth and would burn up on re-entry. However, and particularly at higher orbits,
this may never happen.
b) Missing equipment
Astronauts sometimes drop tools or other objects during space walks. In 2008,
for example, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper dropped a box of
tools. This disintegrated when it entered the Earth's atmosphere almost a year
later, after orbiting the Earth more than 4,000 times.
c) Rocket stages
Some rocket stages are discarded in low orbits and fall to Earth shortly after
takeoff. However, the higher ones are left drifting in space and sometimes
explode because they contain the remains of fuel. These explosions create
thousands of fragments.
d) Weapons
Both the United States and the Soviet Union began to conduct tests with anti-
satellite weapons in the sixties and seventies. In 1985, for example, the United
States destroyed a one-ton satellite (Solwind) with one of these weapons.
Similar missions of this type were carried out in later years by other countries
including China and India.
Effects:
● According to the ESA, since 1961 there have been more than 560
fragmentation incidents, most of them caused by fuel explosions in rocket
stages. As for direct collisions, there have only been seven, the most
serious of which destroyed an inactive Russian satellite called Kosmos
2251 and the operational satellite Iridium 33.
Newton knew that the force which caused the apple's acceleration
(gravity) must be dependent upon the mass of the apple. And since the force
acting to cause the apple's downward acceleration also causes the earth's upward
acceleration (Newton's third law), that force must also depend upon the mass of
the earth. So for Newton, the force of gravity acting between the earth and any
other object is directly proportional to the mass of the earth, directly
proportional to the mass of the object, and inversely proportional to the square
of the distance which separates the centres of the earth and the object.
F = force
g =gravitational constant
m1=mass of object 1
m2=mass of object 2
r2=distance between centers of the masses
b) Gravity Theory
In physics, gravity (from Latin gravitas 'weight') is a fundamental
interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things that have mass.
Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions,
approximately 1038 times weaker than the strong interaction, 1036 times weaker
than the electromagnetic force and 1029 times weaker than the weak interaction.
As a result, it has no significant influence at the level of subatomic particles.
[2]
However, gravity is the most significant interaction between objects at
the macroscopic scale, and it determines the motion of planets, stars, galaxies,
and even light.
Isaac Newton was the first to develop a quantitative theory of gravity,
holding that the force of attraction between two bodies is proportional to the
product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between them.
Work
The work done by a force acting on an object is equal to the magnitude of
the force multiplied by the distance moved in the direction of the force. Work
has only magnitude and no direction. Hence, work is a scalar quantity. The SI
unit of work is Joule (J).
Energy
Energy is the ability to perform work. Energy can neither be created nor
destroyed, and it can only be transformed from one form to another. The unit of
Energy is the same as of Work, i.e. Joules. Energy is found in many things, and
thus there are different types of energy.
All forms of energy are either kinetic or potential. The energy in motion is
known as Kinetic Energy, whereas Potential Energy is the energy stored in an
object and is measured by the amount of work done.
Types of Energy
Some other types of energy are given below:
● Mechanical energy
● Mechanical wave energy
● Chemical energy
● Electric energy
● Magnetic energy
● Radiant energy
● Nuclear energy
● Ionization energy
● Elastic energy
● Gravitational energy
● Thermal energy
● Heat Energy
Power
power as the rate of doing work, and it is the amount of energy consumed
per unit of time. As power doesn’t have any direction, it is a scalar quantity. The
SI unit of power is Joules per Second (J/s), which is termed as Watt.
The terms weight and mass are often used similarly. But in the scientific
world, they are two related quantities that are defined very differently. Mass is
the amount of matter in an object. It is a measurement of how much matter (how
many protons, neutrons, and electrons) make up an object. It is the same
whether an object resides on Earth, or Mars, or even in outer space. And
scientists usually measure it using units called grams.
Weight, on the other hand, is the downward force acting upon an object
due to gravity. It depends upon the mass of an object, of course. But it also
depends upon the pull of gravity, so it varies from place to place. A person who
weighs 200 lbs. on Earth would have a very different weight on Mars, for
example. But that person's mass on Mars would be exactly the same. Scientists
usually measure weight using a unit called Newtons.
e) Energy Conversion, Transfer and Conservation
Energy can be transferred (move from one location to another) and it can
change (transform) from one type to another – but the total amount of energy is
always conserved, i.e. it stays the same.
f) Thermodynamics Laws
Thermodynamics deals with the concepts of heat and temperature and the
inter-conversion of heat and other forms of energy.
g) Heat Flow
The rate at which heat flows across the area A, in Joules per second or
Watts. ΔT/Δx is the change in the temperature over the distance Δx in degrees
Kelvin or Celsius per meter.
ΔQ/Δt