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Explore the circuit constellation Orion near the celestial equator: quart of the starry sky, description with photo, bright stars, Betelgeuse, Orion's belt, facts, myth, legend.
Orion is one of the brightest and most popular constellations located on the celestial equator. It was known about in antiquity. It was also called the Hunter, because it has a connection with mythology and reflects the hunter Orion. Often he is depicted standing in front of a Taurus or chasing a Hare with two dogs (Big Dog and Small Dog).
The constellation Orion contains two of the ten brightest stars - and, as well as the known (M42), (M43) and. Also here you can find the Trapezoid cluster and one of the most noticeable asterisms - Orion's Belt.
Facts, position and map of the constellation Orion
With an area of 594 square degrees, the constellation Orion ranks 26th in size. Covers the first quadrant in the northern hemisphere (NQ1). It can be found in latitudes from +85° to -75°. Adjacent to , and .
| Orion | |
|---|---|
| Lat. title | Orion |
| Reduction | Ori |
| Symbol | Orion |
| right ascension | from 4 h 37 m to 6 h 18 m |
| declination | -11° to +22° 50' |
| Square | 594 sq. degrees (26th place) |
| brightest stars (value< 3 m ) |
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| meteor showers |
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| neighboring constellations |
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| The constellation is visible at latitudes from +79° to -67°. The best time to watch is January. |
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Holds 3 Messier objects: (M42, NGC 1976), (M43, NGC 1982) and (M78, NGC 2068), as well as 7 stars with planets. The brightest star is , whose visual magnitude reaches 0.18. In addition, it ranks 6th in brightness among all stars. The second star is (0.43), which is in the 8th position in the general list. There are two meteor showers: Orionids (October 21) and Chi Orionids. The constellation is included in the Orion group along with, and. Consider the diagram of the constellation Orion on the map of the starry sky.
The myth of the constellation Orion
you need to explain the history and name of the constellation Orion. Hunter Orion was considered the most beautiful man. This is the son of Poseidon and Euryale (daughter of Minos). Homer in The Odyssey described him as tall and indestructible. In one of the stories, Orion fell in love with the Pleiades (7 sisters and daughters of Atlas and Pleione). Moreover, he began to pursue them. Zeus decided to hide them in the sky in the constellation Taurus. But even now you can see that the hunter continues to follow them.
In another myth, the object of his adoration was Merope (daughter of King Oenopols), who did not reciprocate. Once he got drunk and tried to woo her by force. Then the enraged king blinded him and drove him out of his lands. Hephaestus took pity on the man and sent one of his assistants to him to replace his eyes. One day Orion met the Oracle. He said that his sight would return if he arrived in the east by sunrise. And the miracle happened.
The Sumerians knew about Orion from the myth of Gilgamesh. They had their own hero, forced to fight with the heavenly bull (Taurus - GUD AN-NA). They called Orion URU AN-NA - "light of heaven".
In the cards he was often depicted as fighting with a bull, but this plot does not exist in mythology. Ptolemy described him as a hero with a club and the skin of a lion, which is usually associated with Hercules. But since the constellation itself is not too noticeable, and Hercules had a feat with a bull, sometimes they see a connection between them.
Almost all stories about his death contain a scorpion. In one of them, Orion boasted to Artemis and her mother Leto that he could destroy any earthly creature. Then she sent a scorpion to him, which killed him with deadly poison. Or he tried to win the love of Artemis and then she also sent a scorpion. In another tale, Orion died of poison in an attempt to save Leto. Whatever the version, the ending is the same - a scorpion sting. Both hit the sky, and Orion goes beyond the horizon in the west, as if running away from his killer.
But there is another story. Artemis fell in love with a hunter. But Apollo did not want her to give up her chastity. He gave her a bow and arrows and told her to shoot at a small target. She did not know that she was Orion, and killed the desired man.
Orion is popular in many cultures. In South Africa, three stars are called "Three Kings" or "Three Sisters", and in Spain - "Three Marys". In Babylon, Orion was called MUL.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA (Heavenly Shepherd), and in the late Bronze Age was associated with the god Anu. The Egyptians believed that before them was Osiris (the god of death). It was also portrayed by the Fifth Dynasty pharaoh Unas, who ate the flesh of his enemies to become great. After his death, he went to heaven in the guise of Orion.
The pharaohs were perceived as gods by their subordinates, which is why most of the pyramids (in Giza) are built to represent the constellation. Among the Aztecs, the rise of stars in the sky symbolized the beginning of the ceremony of the New Fire. This ritual was necessary, as it pushed back the date of the end of the world.
In the myths of Hungary, it was Nimrod, a hunter and father of the twins Hunor and Magor. The Scandinavians saw in him the goddess Freya, and in China - Shen (hunter and warrior). In the second millennium BC. there was a legend created by the Hittites. This is a story about the goddess Anat, who fell in love with a hunter. He refused to lend her his bow, so she sent a man to steal it. But he failed and dropped it into the sea. That is why the constellation falls below the horizon for two months in spring.
The main stars of the constellation Orion
Explore the bright stars in the Orion constellation with detailed descriptions, photos and characteristics.
Rigel(Beta Orionis) is a blue supergiant (B8lab) located at 772.51 light years. It exceeds the solar brightness by 85,000 times and occupies 17 masses. It is a faint and irregular variable star whose brightness varies from 0.03 to 0.3 magnitudes over 22-25 days.
The apparent visual magnitude is 0.18 (brightest in the constellation and 6th in the sky). This is a star system represented by three objects. In 1831 F.G. Struve measured it as a visual binary surrounded by a gas envelope.
Rigel A is 500 times brighter than Rigel B, which itself is a spectroscopic binary of magnitude 6.7. It is represented by a pair of main sequence stars (B9V) with an orbital period of 9.8 days.
The star is connected by neighboring dust clouds, which illuminates. Among them, IC 2118 (the Witch's Head Nebula) is a faint reflection nebula located 2.5 degrees northwest of Rigel in the constellation Eridanus.
It is a member of the Taurus-Orion R1 association. Some believe that it would fit perfectly into the Orion OB1 Association, but the star is too close to us. Age - 10 million years. One day, she transforms into a red supergiant, reminiscent of Betelgeuse.
The name is derived from the Arabic phrase Riǧl Ǧawza al-Yusra, meaning "left foot". Rigel marks Orion's left leg. Also in Arabic it was called il al-Shabbar - "the foot of the great."
Betelgeuse(Alpha Orion, 58 Orion) is a red supergiant (M2lab) with a visual magnitude of 0.42 (the second brightest in the constellation) and a distance of 643 light years. The absolute value is -6.05.
Recent discoveries show that the star emits more light than 100,000 suns, making it brighter than most stars in its class. Therefore, we can say that the classification is outdated.
Its apparent diameter ranges from 0.043 to 0.056 arc seconds. It is very difficult to say more precisely, because the star periodically changes its shape due to the enormous loss of mass.
It is a semi-regular variable star whose apparent magnitude ranges from 0.2 to 1.2 (sometimes eclipsing Rigel). John Herschel first noticed this in 1836. Age - 10 million years, and this is not enough for a red supergiant. It is believed that it developed very quickly due to its huge mass. In the next million years, it will explode as a supernova. During this event, it can be seen even during the day (it will shine brighter than the Moon and become the brightest in the history of supernovae).
Included in two asterisms: the Winter Triangle (together with Sirius and Procyon) and the Winter Hexagon (Aldebaran, Capella, Pollux, Castor, Sirius and Procyon).
The name is a corruption of the Arabic phrase "Yad al-Jawza" - "the hand of Orion", which became "Betlegez" when translated into medieval Latin. Moreover, the first Arabic letter was mistaken for b, which led to the name “Bait al-Jauzā" ”-“ the house of Orion ”in the Renaissance. It turns out that the modern name of the star grew due to one mistake.
Bellatrix(Gamma Orionis, 24 Orions) is a hot, luminous blue-white giant (B2 III) with apparent magnitude fluctuations from 1.59 to 1.64 and a distance of 240 light years. It is one of the hottest stars visible to the naked eye. It emits 6400 times more sunlight and occupies 8-9 of its masses. In a few million years, it will become an orange giant, after which it will transform into a massive white dwarf.
It is sometimes referred to as the "Star of the Amazon". It ranks 3rd in brightness in the constellation and 27th in the sky. The name comes from the Latin "warrior woman".
Orion's Belt: Mintaka, Alnilam and Alnitak (Delta, Epsilon and Zeta)
Orion's belt is one of the most famous asterisms in the night sky. It is formed by three bright stars: Mintaka (Delta), Alnilam (Epsilon) and Alnitak (Zeta).
Mintaka(Delta Orionis) is an eclipsing binary variable. The main object is a binary star consisting of a B-type giant and a hot O-type star with an orbital period of 5.63 days. They outshine each other, reducing brightness by 0.2 magnitudes. At 52" from them is a star of magnitude 7 and a faint star of 14.
The system is 900 light years away. The brightest components are 90,000 times brighter than the Sun and occupy more than 20 of its masses. They both end their lives in supernova explosions. In order of brightness, the apparent magnitudes of the components are 2.23 (3.2/3.3), 6.85 and 14.0.
The name comes from the Arabic word manţaqah - "region". It is the weakest star in Orion's belt and the 7th brightest star in the constellation.
Alnilam(Epsilon Orioni, 46 Orioni) is a hot, bright blue supergiant (B0) with an apparent magnitude of 1.70 and a distance of 1300 light years. It is ranked fourth in brightness in the constellation and 30th in the sky. Occupies a central place in the belt. Emits 375,000 solar luminosities.
Surrounding it is the NGC 1990 nebula, a molecular cloud. The stellar wind reaches speeds of 2000 km/s. Age - 4 million years. The star is losing mass, so the internal fusion of hydrogen is coming to an end. Very soon it will turn into a red supergiant (brighter than Betelgeuse) and explode as a supernova. The name from Arabic "an-niżām" is translated as "string of pearls".
Alnitak(Zeta Orionis, 50 Orionis) is a multiple star system with an apparent magnitude of 1.72 and a distance of 700 light years. The brightest object is Alnitak A. It is a hot, blue supergiant (O9) with an absolute magnitude of -5.25 at a visual magnitude of 2.04.
This is a close binary star, represented by a supergiant (O9.7) with a mass 28 times that of the Sun, and a blue dwarf (OV) with an apparent magnitude of 4 (it was discovered in 1998).
The name Alnitak means "belt" in Arabic. On February 1, 1786, the nebula was discovered by William Herschel.
Alnitak is the easternmost star in Orion's Belt. Located near the emission nebula IC 434.
Saif(Kappa Orioni, 53 Orioni) is a blue supergiant (B0.5) with an apparent visual magnitude of 2.06 and a distance of 720 light years. Ranked 6th in terms of brightness. This is the southeast star of Orion's quadrilateral.
The name comes from the Arabic phrase saif al jabbar - "giant's sword". Like many other bright stars in Orion, Saif will end in a supernova explosion.
Nair Al Saif(Iota Orionis) is the fourth star system in the constellation and the brightest star in Orion's sword. The apparent magnitude is 2.77, and the distance is 1300 light years. The traditional name from Arabic Na "ir al Saif means "bright sword".
The main object is a massive spectroscopic binary star with a 29-day orbit. The system is represented by a blue giant (O9 III) and a star (B1 III). The pair constantly collide with stellar winds, so it is a strong source of X-rays.
Lambda Orionis- a blue giant (O8III) with a visual magnitude of 3.39 and a distance of 1100 light years. This is a double star. The companion is a hot blue-white dwarf (B0.5V) with an apparent magnitude of 5.61. It is located 4.4 arc seconds from the main star.
The traditional name "Meissa" is translated from Arabic as "shining". Sometimes it is called Heka - "white spot".
Phi Orion- refers to two star systems separated by 0.71 degrees. Phi-1 is a binary star 1000 light-years away. The main object is a main sequence star (B0) with an apparent magnitude of 4.39. Phi-2 is a giant (K0) with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.09 and a distance of 115 light years.
Pi Orion- a loose group of stars that form the shield of Orion. Unlike most binary and multiple stars, objects in this system are located at large intervals. Pi-1 and Pi-6 are separated by almost 9 degrees.
Pi-1 (7 Orion) is the faintest star in the system. It is a main sequence white dwarf (A0) with an apparent magnitude of 4.60 and a distance of 120 light years.
Pi-2 (2 Orions) is a main sequence dwarf (A1Vn) with a visual magnitude of 4.35 and a distance of 194 light years.
Pi-3 (1 Orionis, Tabit) is a white dwarf (F6V) located at 26.32 light years. Takes 1st place in brightness in the six stars. Reaches 1.2 solar masses, 1.3 radii and 3 times brighter. It is believed to contain Earth-sized planets. From Arabic Al-Tabit means "patience".
Pi-4 (3 Orions) is a spectroscopic binary star with an apparent magnitude of 3.69 and a distance of 1250 light years. It is represented by a giant and a subgiant (both - B2), located so close that they cannot be separated visually even with a telescope. But their spectra demonstrate binaryness. The stars revolve around each other with a period of 9.5191 days. They are 10 times as massive as the sun, and 16,200 and 10,800 times brighter in luminosity.
Pi-5 (8 Orionis) is a star with an apparent magnitude of 3.70 and a distance of 1342 light years.
Pi-6 (10 Orion) is a bright orange giant (K2II). It is a variable star with a mean visual magnitude of 4.45 and a distance of 954 light years.
This Orion- an eclipsing binary star system, represented by blue stars (B0.5V), located 900 light years away. This is a Beta Lyrae variable (brightness changes due to one object overlapping another). The visual magnitude is 3.38.
Located in the Orion Arm - a small spiral arm Milky Way. It is located west of Orion's Belt.
Sigma Orion- a multiple star system consisting of 5 stars located south of Alnitak. The system is 1150 light years away.
The main object is the double star Sigma Orionis AB, represented by hydrogen-fusing dwarfs separated by 0.25 arcseconds. The brighter component is a blue star (O9V) with an apparent magnitude of 4.2. The companion is a star (B0.5V) with a visual magnitude of 5.1. Their orbital revolution takes 170 years.
Sigma C is a dwarf (A2V) with an apparent magnitude of 8.79.
Sigma D and E are dwarfs (B2V) with magnitudes 6.62 and 6.66. E is distinguished by a huge amount of helium.
Tau Orion- a star (B5III) with an apparent magnitude of 3.59 and a distance of 555 light years. It can be seen without technology.
Chi Orion is a main sequence dwarf (G0V) with an apparent magnitude of 4.39 and a distance of 28 light years. It is accompanied by a faint red dwarf with a rotation period of 14.1 years.
Gliese 208- an orange dwarf (K7) with an apparent magnitude of 8.9 and a distance of 37.1 light years. It is believed that 500,000 years ago it was 5 light years from the Sun.
V380 Orionis is a triple star system that illuminates the reflected nebula NGC 1999. Its spectral type is A0, and its distance is 1000 light years.
There is a huge empty hole in the nebula, shown as a black spot in the central region. While no one knows exactly why it's dark, it's thought that narrow jets of gas from nearby young stars may have pierced the nebula's dust and gas layers, and strong radiation from an older star in the region helped create the hole.
The nebula is 1500 light years away.
GJ 3379 is a red dwarf M3.5V with a visual magnitude of 11.33 and a distance of 17.5 light years. It is believed that 163,000 years ago it was 4.3 light years from the Sun. It is the closest Orion star to our system. It is located just 17.5 light years from us.
Celestial objects of the constellation Orion
cloud of orion- contains a large group of dark clouds, bright emission and reflection nebulae, dark nebulae, H II regions (active star formation) and young stars in the constellation. Located at 1500-1600 light years. Some regions can be seen with the naked eye.
Orion Nebula(Messier 42, M42, NGC 1976) is a diffuse reflection nebula located south of the three stars that make up Orion's belt. It is sometimes also called the Great Nebula or the Great Nebula of Orion.
With a visual magnitude of 4.0 and a distance of 1344 light years, it can be seen without the use of technology. It resembles a blurred star south of Orion's Belt.
It is the closest region of massive star formation and is part of the Orion Cloud Cluster. It contains Orion's Trapeze, a young open cluster. It is easily recognizable by its four brightest stars.
is a young open cluster with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.0. Occupies 47 arc seconds at the center of the Orion Nebula. On February 4, 1617, Galileo Galilei found him. He drew three stars (A, C and D). The fourth was added only in 1673. In 1888 there were 8 of them. The brightest 5 illuminate the nebula around them. This is an asterism that is easy to find by four stars.
The brightest and most massive star is Theta-1 Orion C. It is a blue main sequence star (O6pe V) with a visual magnitude of 5.13 and a distance of 1500 light years. It is one of the best known luminous stars with an absolute magnitude of -3.2. It is also the owner of the highest surface temperature among the stars that can be found with the naked eye (45,500 K).
(Messier 43, M43, NGC 1982) is a star-forming reflection-emission nebula. Region HII was first discovered by Jean-Jacques de Meran in 1731. Charles Messier later included it in his catalogue.
It is part of the Orion Nebula, but is separated from it by a large band of interstellar dust. The apparent magnitude is 9.0, and the distance is 1600 light years. It is located 7 arc minutes north of Orion's Trapeze.
Messier 78(M78, NGC 2068) is a reflection nebula with an apparent visual magnitude of 8.3 and a distance of 1600 light years. Discovered in 1780 by Pierre Mechain. In the same year, Charles Messier added it to his catalog.
It surrounds two 10th-magnitude stars and is easy to find in a small telescope. Also hosts approximately 45 T Tauri variables (young stars in the process of formation).
(Barnard 33) is a dark nebula located south of Alnitak and is part of the bright emission nebula IC 434. It is 1500 light years distant. In 1888, it was discovered by American astronomer William Fleming.
It got its name because of the shape formed by dark dusty clouds and gases, resembling a horse's head.
is an emission nebula located in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. It is 1600 light-years away, and its apparent magnitude is 5. It is believed that it appeared 2 million years ago due to a supernova explosion. Occupies 150 light-years in radius and covers most of the constellation. By appearance resembles a giant arc centered around Messier 42. The loop is ionized by stars located in the Orion Nebula. Received its name in honor of E. E. Barnard, who took her picture in 1894 and gave a description.
Nebula "Flame"(NGC 2024) is an emission nebula with a visual magnitude of 2.0 and a distance of 900-1500 light years. It is illuminated by the blue supergiant Alnitak. The star radiates ultraviolet light into the nebula, bouncing off electrons from clouds of hydrogen gas within. The glow appears due to the recombination of electrons and ionized hydrogen.
Cluster 37(NGC 2169) is an open star cluster with an apparent magnitude of 5.9 and a distance of 3600 light years. It is less than 7 arc minutes in diameter and contains 30 stars, 8 million years old. The brightest of them reaches an apparent magnitude of 6.94.
In the middle of the 17th century, the cluster was discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna. On October 15, 1784, William Herschel spotted him separately. The cluster is sometimes referred to as "37" because the arrangement of the stars resembles this number.
is a reflection nebula and one of the brightest sources of fluorescent molecular hydrogen. It is illuminated by the star HD 37903. The nebula can be found 3 degrees from the Horsehead Nebula. Located at 1467.7 light years.
Monkey Head Nebula(NGC 2174) is an emission nebula (region H II) 6400 light years distant. Associated with the open cluster NGC 2175. It is called the Monkey's Head Nebula due to image associations.
First of all, a human flight to Mars is a very difficult and complex task. In this regard, in order to turn these plans from fantasy into facts, the US space agency has carried out a conditional classification of problematic issues into five classes, namely:
1. Radiation. The first danger that will accompany astronauts on a flight to Mars is the most difficult to visualize, but it is one of the main problems. This is mainly due to the fact that the flight to Mars will take place outside the natural protection of the Earth, and therefore the crew members will have an increased risk of cancer, damage to the central nervous system, changes in cognitive functions, decreased motor skills, etc. It should be noted that the current While the International Space Station is protected by the Earth's magnetic field, they are exposed to ten times more radiation than on the planet's surface, but still less than in deep space.
To mitigate this danger, NASA spacecraft will have radiation shielding and dosimetry and warning systems. In addition, the agency conducts research into medical countermeasures for radiation protection, such as pharmaceuticals.
2. Isolation and imprisonment. Behavioral problems among a group of people who are in a confined space for a long period of time are inevitable, even when it comes to specially trained and trained spacecraft crew members. In this regard, the agency is working in the field of careful selection and training of crews, which will minimize this risk even during flights that will last from several months to several years.
However, on Earth we have the luxury of using mobile phones to communicate almost instantly with everyone around us. At the same time, when flying to Mars, astronauts will be more isolated than we can imagine.
Sleep deprivation, circadian desynchronization, and overwork can exacerbate problems and lead to negative consequences for health, and therefore lead to non-zero risks for the ultimate goal of the mission.
To address this danger, NASA is developing methods to monitor the health status and adaptation process of astronauts to flight conditions, improving various tools and technologies for use in flight conditions in the interest of early detection and treatment. Research is also being done in the areas of workload, work productivity, light therapy (planned to be used for circadian alignment), etc.
3. Distance from Earth. The third and perhaps most obvious danger is distance. On average, Mars is at a distance of 140 million miles from Earth. Instead of a three-day flight to the moon, astronauts will be in space for about three years. At the same time, the statistics that currently exist were mainly obtained by monitoring the condition of astronauts on board the ISS, which is not always comparable with a flight to Mars. At the same time, if an emergency occurs at the station, the astronauts will always be able to return to Earth within a few hours. In addition, cargo transport ships supply the station with fresh produce, medical equipment and other resources on an ongoing basis.
In this regard, planning and self-sufficiency are very important keys to a successful Martian mission, and the astronauts themselves, in the conditions of the duration of data transfer to Earth (up to 20 minutes), must be prepared and able to independently solve problems.
4. Gravity. The change in gravity is the fourth danger for astronauts. On Mars, crew members will have to live in gravity for two years, which is much less than on Earth. In addition, during the six-month flight, gravity will be absent altogether. It should also be noted that when the astronauts finally return home, they will have to undergo a rehabilitation course. The problematic moments of the flight can also be attributed to the fact that during takeoff and landing, astronauts will experience a temporary increase in the increase in gravity.
To address the above shortcomings, NASA is conducting research into both ways to prevent osteoporosis and ways to treat it. Also, as part of reducing this type of risk, research is being conducted in the field of human metabolism.
5. Hostile and closed environments. The spacecraft is not only a home for astronauts, but also a machine. The US Space Agency is aware that the ecosystem inside the ship plays an important role for astronauts, and therefore adequately assesses the importance of living conditions, including: temperature, pressure, lighting, noise, and the volume of the pressurized compartment. It is extremely important that the astronauts receive the necessary food, sleep during the flight, and also be able to perform the necessary physical exercise. In this regard, the US space agency is developing technologies that will have to include systems for monitoring all parameters of the astronauts' environment, from air quality control to microorganism control.
The fruit of many years of work and the object of such long expectations, Orion spent only 4 hours and 24 minutes in flight. During this time, he climbed into an orbit with a height of 5800 kilometers and made two orbits around the Earth. Fellow engineer Molly White shared with The Verge her story about the experiences of the creators of the ship and ideas about the fate of the US space program.
experiences
"That was incredible! During the countdown, the crowd fell silent, we all held our breath in the hope that everything would go well. And when it took off, so loudly, so huge... it was simply unimaginable!”, - shares his impressions of a scientist who took part in the preparation of Orion for launch.
Molly White literally counted down the months, days, hours and minutes on her Twitter microblock to the launch of Orion, the spacecraft that will be the first to lift humans beyond Earth orbit in more than four decades.
“These last few days, all we've been doing is watching and waiting and getting more and more excited,” White says, referring to the launch being canceled initially due to high winds and a number of technical issues.
Memories
A NASA employee recalls that, as a little girl, she already really wanted to work at NASA. She adored her grandfathers, both were engineers. At school, White achieved some success in mathematics and science, but she developed a special love for space after working on a project in the middle classes, which the girl devoted to space.
The current flight of Orion has become significant for White, since from the very beginning of her work at NASA she was not lucky: the lunar exploration space program (ships Ares I and Ares V), for which she got a job at the agency, on her very first day at the workplace was canceled by the US leadership, as part of spending cuts.
Orion is NASA's hope
“There is a lot at stake, we really need this data to refine the design of our device and find out how certain parts of Orion interact with each other. Yes, we have models, simulations, but despite the fact that we have done our best, there is a possibility that we could miss something important, or that we did not even suspect. You can’t know what you don’t know, can you?” says the engineer.
The 4-seat Orion spacecraft, weighing 8.6 tons, is a promising American spacecraft developed by Lockheed Martin Corporation. During the first test flight, NASA expected to test the reliability of its thermal protection: since the device will enter the dense layers of the atmosphere at a speed of 32 thousand kilometers per hour, the thermal protection must withstand heating up to 2200 degrees Celsius.
According to White, the experimental flight was supposed to be a test for the ship's parachute system, which is responsible for the soft landing. An important point was also a test of the reliability of the radiation protection system, which is built into the elements of the capsule body.
The current launch is the next step in a long-term program to develop a new generation of ships. NASA doesn't have those financial resources, which the organization had in the 60s for the lunar program, so the agency is moving along this path slowly and with great care. According to experts, the cost of the Orion program is $15 billion. NASA has already spent $5 billion on the program from 2005 to 2009.
Successful completion of the flight
"Orion has returned to Earth!" said flight broadcast host Rob Navias.
The spacecraft capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about a thousand kilometers from the port of San Diego. The capsule was discovered by NASA specialists and military sailors from the USS Anchorage multi-purpose ship.
The second test launch of Orion will take place in four years and will include a flight to the moon. It is assumed that in 2021 the device will take astronauts on board and go to the Red Planet.
What happens if an object is placed on top of an explosive charge? Everyday logic suggests that he will either be destroyed by the explosion, or (if he is strong enough) will be thrown back some distance. But what if instead of explosives we have a nuclear bomb, and instead of an object spaceship? Then we will get the project of the Orion spacecraft, which was developed in the 50s by scientists from the Los Alamos laboratory ...
Before describing the essence of the concept, it is worth making a short historical digression into the middle of the 20th century. Until the late 1950s, there was no single organization in the United States that would deal with the issues of the space program. Instead, there existed a number of competing organizations under various ministries and departments. But the launch of the first Sputnik by the USSR (which turned out to be a shock for many ordinary people - delivering a quote from the work Stephen King possible) and several high-profile failures in the Vanguard program forced President Eisenhower to decide to create a national organization within which all resources directed to the space race would be concentrated. This organization became well-known to all NASA, which received at its disposal all the promising space projects being developed by that time.
One of them was the Orion spacecraft. Its essence was as follows: the ship is equipped with a powerful plate installed behind the stern. Nuclear bombs of small power (from 0.01 to 0.35 kilotons) were supposed to be evenly thrown in the direction opposite to the flight of the ship and detonated at a relatively short distance (up to 100 m). The reflective plate took over the momentum, and transmitted it to the ship through a system of shock absorbers (or without them, for unmanned versions). From damage by light flash, gamma radiation and high-temperature plasma, the reflective plate had to be protected by a coating of graphite grease, which would be re-sprayed after each explosion.
Ship concept
Too crazy to be realizable? Do not rush to draw conclusions. The fact is that there was a healthy grain in the concept of the “explosive”. Chemical rockets, which are still the only means of delivering cargo into space, are distinguished by their lethally low efficiency. This is due to the fact that they have a jet mass exhaust velocity of approximately 3-4 km/s, which means that it is necessary to provide n stages in the design of the ship if it is to be accelerated to a speed of 3n km/s. This leads to the fact that, say, in order to deliver a descent vehicle with astronauts weighing two tons to the surface of the Moon, it is necessary to build a three-stage rocket 110 m high and burn over 2600 tons of fuel. The detonation of a nuclear charge, depending on its power, can give a specific impulse from 100 to 30,000 km / s, which makes it possible to create a ship whose performance characteristics would radically surpass all technology ever created.
As part of the project, some mock-up tests were carried out. In particular, an experiment with conventional charges and a 100 kg ship model showed that such a flight could be sustainable. In addition, during nuclear tests on Enewetak Atoll, graphite-coated steel spheres were placed 9 meters from the epicenter of the explosion. After the explosion, they were found intact: a thin layer of graphite evaporated from their surfaces, which proved that the proposed scheme for using graphite grease to protect the slab was possible in principle.
In addition, a kind of "experiment" was carried out in August 1957. During an underground nuclear test in the glorious state of Nevada, a 900-kilogram steel plate covering the shaft at the bottom of which a nuclear charge was detonated was literally thrown into the atmosphere by a shock wave at a speed of approximately 66 km / s (as shown by measurements from surveillance cameras). As for the future fate of the plate, opinions differ - some enthusiasts believe that it became the first man-made object to go into space, a more realistic view is that it simply burned up in the atmosphere. In any case, it is quite clear that the energy of a nuclear explosion made it possible to achieve speeds incomparable with conventional rockets.
One of the participants in the working group for the development of the program was a well-known scientist Freeman Dyson, who believed that the use of chemical rockets was simply unreasonable and too expensive - in particular, he compared them with airships of the 30s, while the Orion ship with a modern Boeing. The motto of his working group was "Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970!"
Freeman Dyson
In particular, the simplest version of the Orion would have a launch weight of 880 tons and could deliver 300 tons of cargo into orbit at a price of $ 150 per kilogram and 170 tons of cargo to the Moon (compare with the capabilities and price of Saturn-5). A modification for interplanetary flight would have a launch weight of 4000 tons using 0.14 kiloton bombs and could carry 800 tons of payload and 60 passengers to Mars. Calculations showed that the flight to Saturn with a return to Earth would last only 3 years.
A reasonable question may arise - how would such a colossus be launched from the Earth? Initially, Orion was supposed to be launched from the Jackess Flats nuclear test site in the same glorious state of Nevada. The bullet-shaped ship would be mounted on 8 launch towers 75 meters high in order not to be damaged by a nuclear explosion near the surface. At launch, one explosion with a power of 0.1 kt was to be produced every second. After entering orbit, the caliber of the charges increased.
But it is worth noting that the creators of Orion were not limited to interplanetary flights. Freeman Dyson proposed several projects for explosives that could be used for interstellar flights.
Dyson's calculations showed that the use of megaton hydrogen bombs would allow a 400,000 ton ship to be propelled to 3.3% the speed of light. From total weight the ship would be allocated 50,000 tons for a payload - everything else for 300,000 nuclear charges necessary for flight and graphite lubricant ( Carl Sagan by the way suggested that such a ship would be great way get rid of the world's stockpile of nuclear weapons). A flight to Alpha Centauri would have taken 130 years. Modern calculations have shown that correct design the ship and charges would allow reaching somewhere 8% -10% of the speed of light, which would allow flying to the nearest star in 40-45 years. The cost of such a project in the mid-60s was estimated at 10% of the then US GDP (somewhere around 2.5 trillion dollars in terms of our prices).
Of course, the project had a number of problems that would need to be somehow solved. The first and most obvious is the radioactive contamination of the Earth during launch. In order to send a 4,000 ton ship on an interplanetary expedition, 800 bombs were required to explode. According to the most pessimistic estimates, this would give pollution equivalent to detonating a 10 megaton nuclear bomb. According to more optimistic estimates, the use of more efficient and less radioactive charges would be able to significantly reduce this figure. By the way, the cost of the bombs themselves would not be so great - only 7% of the cost of ICBMs falls on the warheads themselves. Much more is spent on its hull, guidance systems, fuel and maintenance. It is estimated that the cost of one small nuclear charge for the Orion would be $300,000 in today's prices.
Secondly, there was the question of creating a reliable system of shock absorbers that would protect the ship and crew from excessive overloads, as well as protecting the crew from radiation and equipment from an electromagnetic pulse.
Thirdly, there was a risk of damage to the protective plate and the ship itself by debris and shrapnel from a nuclear explosion.
After the creation of NASA, the project received little funding for some time, but then was curtailed. In the struggle of ideologies that unfolded in those years, the supporters of Wernher Von Braun with the concept of powerful chemical rockets. Since then, the idea of using explosives has never enjoyed serious support within the agency, which the authors of Orion have always considered a big mistake.
However, in addition to ideology, the factor that the creators were ahead of their time in many ways played a big role - neither then nor now did humanity have an urgent need to simultaneously launch thousands of tons of cargo into orbit. In addition, given how popular the environmental movement is now, it is extremely difficult to imagine that some politicians will give the green light to such a nuclear flight. The formal point in the history of the project was put in 1963, when the USSR and the USA signed a treaty banning nuclear tests (including in air and space). An attempt was made to insert a special clause in the text for ships like the Orion, but the USSR refused to make any exceptions to the general rule.
But be that as it may, this type of ship is so far the only starship project that could be created on the basis of existing technologies and bring scientific results in the near future. No other types of spacecraft engines technologically possible at this stage provide an acceptable time for obtaining results. And all the other proposed concepts - a photon engine, antimatter starships of the Valkyrie class have a large number of unresolved problems and assumptions that make their possible implementation a matter of the distant future. There is no need to talk about wormholes and WARP engines so beloved by science fiction writers - no matter how pleasant the idea of instant movement is, unfortunately, this all remains pure fantasy for the time being.
Someone once said that even though Orion (and its ideological followers) is now only a theoretical concept, it always remains in reserve in case of any emergency that requires sending into space big ship. Dyson himself believed that such a ship would ensure the survival of the human race in the event of some kind of global catastrophe and predicted that at the then level of economic growth, humanity could begin interstellar flights in 200 years.
Since then, 50 years have passed, and so far there are no obvious prerequisites for the fact that this forecast will come true. But on the other hand, no one can be sure what the future brings him - and who knows, perhaps in time, when humanity has a real need to launch large ships into orbit, the dust will still be shaken off all these projects. The main thing is that the reason for this will not be some kind of emergency, but economic considerations and the desire to finally try to leave our parental cradle and go to other stars.
On this device, NASA is going to send the first astronauts to Mars in the 2020s. Orion is the first spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit in 40 years.
The launch was made on December 5, 2014 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA gives great importance This event is called historical. The reusable vehicle will be launched into orbit by a heavy-class Delta IV launch vehicle, created by ULA (United Launch Alliance) exclusively from components designed and manufactured in the United States. Unlike the Atlas V, it does not have Russian RD-180 engines.
Initially, the launch of the ship was scheduled for 07:05 on December 4, 2014, US East Coast time (15:05 Moscow time), but was postponed more than once during the launch window, which closes at 09:44 (17:44 Moscow time). Among the reasons for the postponement, NASA cited a ship sailing near the launch pad, high wind speeds (twice the maximum allowable for launch), excess temperatures in the engines of the central stage of the launch vehicle (it turned out later that everything was in order with the units) and problems with fuel valve.
The ship will move away from the Earth at a distance of 5.8 thousand kilometers and cross the radiation belt (the Van Allen belt in English terminology) of the Earth. The last time the spacecraft made such a journey was on the final mission of the Apollo program in 1972.
The ship itself was designed and built by American aerospace (and defense) giant Lockheed Martin. The organization of the first test flight cost the US 370 million dollars. Orion consists of two modules: command and service. If the first module of the ship was entirely designed by the American side, then the development of the second took place with the participation of ESA (European Space Agency).
The Europeans provided the American side with an ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) space truck, which underwent significant modernization: new engines, an orbital maneuvering system, and high-efficiency solar panels were installed on it.
Previously, ATV delivered cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). In total, from March 2008 to July 2014, ships of this series made five flights to the ISS. Currently, the main trucks for the orbital station are the Russian Progress, as well as the private American devices Dragon by SpaceX and Cygnus by Orbital Sciences Corporation. The latter in October 2014 failed to go into space due to the explosion of the Antares launch vehicle.
The design of the Orion is reminiscent of the Mercury and Apollo spacecraft used by the United States until the 1970s. However, the new ship is larger and more powerful than its predecessors. The total mass of Orion exceeds 20 tons, the height of the cone-shaped cargo module is more than three meters, and the diameter of the base is about five meters. Orion is capable of taking on board up to six astronauts, the volume of its living space is comparable to a small room - about nine cubic meters.
Image: NASA
The main purpose of the flight is to test the ship's systems in extreme conditions. Approximately 20 minutes after the launch of the Delta IV launch vehicle, the unmanned Orion spacecraft will enter low Earth orbit and complete one revolution around the Earth. In about an hour and a half, the device will already be in a high orbit - about 5.8 thousand kilometers to the Earth, which is more than 14 times higher than the ISS orbit. In another two hours, Orion will begin its return to Earth.
During a near-Earth flight, the spacecraft will enter the Earth's radiation belt. This region of the planet's magnetosphere keeps high-energy cosmic particles (mainly protons and electrons) from reaching Earth. Such radiation is dangerous to humans. American spacecraft as part of the Apollo lunar program crossed the Van Allen belt several times.
The radiation did not harm the astronauts, because the spacecraft flew through the belt quickly enough and continued on their way through space with a relatively low level of radiation. In addition, the design of the walls of the module of the ship, inside which the astronauts were, provided for special protection from cosmic rays.
Image: NASA
Orion carries on board sensors that measure radiation parameters: charge, energy and direction of particle movement. In addition, the sensors are also capable of detecting high-energy neutral particles, such as, for example, neutrons and photons. NASA specialists will compare the readings of these devices with the ship's telemetry and thus be able to track the change in radiation along the entire path of the device.
Orion is expected to enter the dense layers of the atmosphere at a speed of 32 thousand kilometers per hour. The capsule will warm up to 2.2 thousand degrees Celsius. To protect against thermal overloads, engineers equipped the device with a “thermal screen”, which is made of a special material and closes the capsule. When moving in the Earth's atmosphere, the screen will take on the main thermal load. Thermal protection testing is one of the objectives of the Orion's first flight.
The next tests are scheduled for 2017. It is assumed that another carrier, the SLS (Space Launch System), developed by Boeing, will put the ship into orbit. This super-heavy rocket is intended for the Mars program: in the 2030s, NASA is going to use Orion to send its astronauts to Mars already.
