The Western IslesBoard

Contents

• History

• Objectives

• Current Robotic Missions

• Future Robotic Missions

• Manned Spaceflight
  

Ioudaia's Space Exploration Agency (SEA) was founded in 1981, and initially, it launched only very modest missions, all in Earth Orbit: a weather satellite, an Earth observation satellite, and a small visible-light telescope. It slowly expanded to more challenging missions, putting a satellite in lunar orbit in early 1987, and orbiting the country's first infrared astronomical observatory (IRAO 1) later that year. The first X-ray astronomical observatory (XRAO 1) followed in 1990.

The pace of exploration picked up during the 1990's, as Ioudaia prepared for its sexacentennial in 1999. Three interplanetary missions arrived at their destinations that year: a Mars orbiter-lander pair, a Jupiter fly-by (the second in a pair of Jupiter-Saturn missions) and a Saturn fly-by (the first of the Jupiter-Saturn missions).

The Jupiter fly-by went perfectly, providing a wealth of additional information about the planet and its moons, but the other two were only partially successful. The difficulty of landing in Mars' thin atmosphere wasn't completely understood, and the lander arrived off-course and landed hard, damaging several instruments, its solar panels, its landing gear, and its hull. Despite the damage, the few dozen pictures received from the surface thrilled Ioudans, and the lander gathered important data on the composition of Mars' surface and its atmosphere, and the pictures of early fall frost intriged scientists. The lander did not survive the winter.

The Saturn probe had suffered radiation damage passing close to Jupiter, but despite erratic operation, it returned a wealth of information, including fascinating close-up pictures of the planet, its rings, and several moons. The final, permanent failure of both of its radio recievers left it transmitting only fields and particles data daily starting three days after its closest approach, and contact was lost mid-2002. However, it paved the way for its twin's much more successful encore.

Since then, SEA has launched additional Earth-observing satellites, interplanetary missions, and observatories. Manned space missions have also been renewed after a long freeze.

The first is contributing to international scientific exploration of space, which began with the sexacentennial explorations of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. After a six-year period, all data from those probes was made available to the international scientific community. This tradition has continued with succeeding missions.

The second and newest objective is contributing to and participating in the peaceful human development of space, beinging with Ioudaia's return to manned spaceflight and its contributions to the TWI Space Station.

SEA's immediate scientific interest is astrobiology. Developments in other countries have established the likelihood of life on other planets, including those around other stars and on the moons of some of the solar system's outer planets.

Conversely, SEA has no interest in ground-based astronomy, nor in developing missions that could be accomplished from the ground, such as visible-light and radio astronomy. As a result, Ioudaian astronomers interested in those fields carry out their research with foreign observatories and satellites.

Earth Observing

• Two weather satellites, one in LEO, the other in GEO.

• One multi-purpose earth observatory in LEO, tracking land use, night-time light, lightning strikes, ground and air temperatures, and carbon dioxide concentrations.

• A multispectral aurora observatory, part of Ioudaia's space weather constellation
  

Earth Orbiting Observatories

• SXRAO 3: A solar X-ray telescope, part of Ioudaia's space weather constellation.

• XRAO 4: An X-ray telescope with three 72cm aperatures, observing energetic photons from soft X-rays to gamma-rays. It's Ioudaia's first gamma-ray observatory.

• A tri-band telescope, with three 1m apertures, observing in the X-ray, near infrared-visible-near UV, and mid-infrared spectra. It's considered a triumph of Ioudan engineering, and provides extremely valuable data on transient phenomena, as well as popular photographs.

• IRAO 8: A near-infrared telescope with a 60cm aperature. It's old and considered obsolete for ground-breaking discoveries, but by gathering data on lower-priority targets, it fills in the gaps left by other telescopes.

• A photometric planet hunter, looking for nearby Earth-sized planets.
  

In total, Ioudaia has eight active statellites in Earth orbit, including both earth-watchers and telescopes.

Moon

• IRAO 11: A near-to-far infrared telescope landed in a permanently-shaded crater near the Moon's south pole. It has a 1m aperture, and is powered by a small nuclear reactor at the end of a 50m long cable. The crater's extreme darkness and cold gives the telescope excellent signal to noise ratios, even for observing cool objects.

• A moon orbiter, serving both to relay data from IRAO 11 and study the Moon's composition in detail, in preparation for potential furture prospecting and mining.
  

Venus

• Flare Watch 1-4: a set of identical satellites monitoring the sun, the solar wind, and the sun's magnetic fields, part of Ioudaia's space weather constellation. One orbits Venus, and another two are in halo orbits at Venus' Trojan points. The last is 180 degrees ahead of Venus in solar orbit. Combined with the data from SXROA 3, this arrangement provides good early warning coverage of solar flares heading towards Earth.
  

Saturn

• Titan Mariner (en route): A floating Titan lander, which will land in Kraken Mare to gather information about the composition, temperature, depth, and flow speed and direction of the Mare, along with similar information Titan's atmosphere. It also carries a small camera to photograph features along the shores of Kraken Mare.

  While the Mariner's instruments are capable of detecting a wide range of chemical compounds, they have been optimized to search for biological or prebiotic substances in Kraken Mare. That search is the Mariner's primary objective.

• Saturn Explorer 2: A partially-successful orbiter. It will relay data from Titan Mariner, and presently continuously gathers data on Saturn, its rings, moons, magnetic fields, dust, and its entrained subatomic particles. The failure of two of its imaging instruments, one en-route, and one apparently struck by an ice grain in orbit, has left it half blind and dependent on redundant instruments which can't entirely compensate for the lost ones.

  Once Titan Mariner arrives, most of Saturn Explorer 2's scientific observations will be discontinued, and it will largely serve a radio relay, providing some observations in concert with Titan Mariner, and providing periodic observations of Saturn and its satellites to check for rare or emergent phenomena.
  

Uranus

• Ǣdre Uvjozhad Uranus System Explorer (en route): the most sophisticated spacecraft Ioudaia has yet built. Designed after the successful proposal for the Sarpedon Neptune System Reconnaissance Orbiter (immediately below) it contains a large suite of instruments to carry out thorough observations of Uranus and its moons, and pave the way for later exploration of the Uranus system.

  Ǣdre is powered by a small nuclear reactor. In addition to providing power for all of its scientific instruments, communications, and computers, the reactor provides power for a set of ion engines. These engines will be used for Uranus orbital insertion and for maneuvering within the Uranus system, providing much flexible opportunities for exploring the Uranus system than either of the Saturn Explorers has had.

  Instruments:

  • 30cm visible to thermal IR telescope with three sensors: a visible-light camera, an IR camera, and a scanning near IR imaging spectrometer. Only one sensor can be used at a time. Since the telescope's mirrors are optimized for IR observation, visible resolution is limited, despite the telescope's large aperature. This instrument is massive, and the rest of the spacecraft is designed around it.

  • 12cm panchromatic visible narrow-angle camera for high-resolution imaging

  • panchromatic wide-angle camera. Unlike the other imaging instruments, which are all fixed facing the same direction (forward), the wide-angle camera is on a mount capable of pivoting 90º from forward, allowing astronomers more flexibility in observation.

  • imaging UV spectrometer

  • a suite of plasma instruments

  • radio science package

  • Langmuir probe

  • 3-axis SQUID magnetometer

  • microwave sounder

  • dust detector

  • ultra-stable oscillator
    

  In addition, Ǣdre carries ten subprobes:

  • nine 1U cubesats (3x3 in P-PODs) carrying magnetometers for providing a 3-D map of Uranus' magnetic field

  • the Kleitos Chaim lander, an 8U cubesat moon lander equiped with four panoramic cameras, and an arm holding a 3x microscopic camera and a point near-IR spectrometer. Kleitos Chaim was the captain of the exploration ship Argyrerodios.
    

  Ǣdre's IR telescope will gain the same sort of advantages from being in extreme cold as IRAO 11 does, and will have a much wider field of view. Once Ǣdre's primary mission is over, it will be renamed IRAO 12/Uranus Monitor 1, and will emphasize IR astronomy over keeping track of the Uranus system.
  

The spacecraft's namesake was a 20th century astronomer who, among other things, studied the outer planets and their moons. She appears to have discovered Uranus' moon Miranda before Gerard Kuiper, however, her methodical nature led her to double-check her predictions of its orbit, allowing Kuiper to publish first and claim primacy.

Neptune

• Sarpedon Neptune System Reconnaissance Orbiter (en route): a simple orbiter for initial studies of Neptune and its moons.

  Sarpedon's overall design comes from Eryalus Javidateh, a captain in the Ioudaia Navy reconnaissance branch. He designed the spacecraft along military lines, isolating the minimum set of necessary information to be gathered on a first exploration, with that information used to feed the design decisions about follow-on missions. As the design just met SEA's scientific goals, and was small, lightweight, and inexpensive, it was chosen in favor of more comprehensive designs favored by outer-planet astronomers. In return, SEA agreed not only to fund at least one follow-on mission Sarpedon will inform, but also to agreed on a comprehensive orbiter for Uranus.

  Sarpedon carries just four instruments:

  • combination scanning near IR spectrometer, medium resolution panchromatic camera, and scanning visible imaging instrument with four broadband filters and four narrowband filters

  • 3-axis SQUID magnetometer (a copy of the one on Ǣdre)

  • a simple radio science package

  • ultra-stable oscillator (a copy of the one on Uranus Ǣdre)
    

  Like Ǣdre, it uses nuclear power and ion propulsion.

  Sarpedon's objectives:

  • carry out detailed reconnaissance of Triton, Neptune, Proteus, and the smaller moons, both for inherent scientific value, and to pave the way for follow-on missions

  • for follow-on missions:

    • carry out basic atmospheric profiling of Neptune and Triton for atmospheric entry, aerocapture, and/or aerobraking.

    • provide high-resolution reconnaissance of potential landing sites for possible Triton landers via slow, low-altitude passes over them

    • serve as a communications relay for follow-on missions

    • conduct concerted observations with follow-on missions
      

  The spacecraft is named for Sarpedon ben Meydad, an early Ioudaian bathymetricist, who is considered the father of scientific bathymetry in Ioudaia. Since the spacecraft's primary mission to characterize Triton and its ocean, followed by providing more detailed information about Neptune, named for a foreign sea god, this seemed appropriate to Eryalus.

  Sarpedon carried out the first detailed, systematic measurements of the ocean depths, currents, and water composition around Ioudaia and other parts of the Four Passages area. In Ioudaia, he's most famously known for carrying out out first scientific studies of winds and currents in Coronikos Channel and the Pasiphaeos Strait and how they change with approaching storms. This made these previously treacherous passages much safer for both merchant and naval ships, and established Ornemion as a major port. He also advocated the use of bathymethrics as a way for Ioudaia to gain commerical and military advantages at sea.
  

SEA is developing more astrobiology missions, emphasizing our solar system, and especially follow-on missions for Ǣdre and Sarpedon.

The first two to fly will likely be atmospheric probes for Uranus and Neptune. The Neptune probe is simple, consisting of a gas chromatograph/mass-spectrometer and an atmospheric instrument package (air speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, and temperature), but astronomers and engineers are considering whether a third instrument can be added as well. The Uranus atmospheric probe is much earlier in development, as there are both scientific and budgetary questions as to whether to design a high-pressure probe, capable of descending to the 100 bar level to search for a possible ionic ocean. In addition, both probes need atmospheric data from their respective orbiters for heat shield development.

A small number of Ioudan planetary astronomers are calling for identical probes to be sent to Uranus and Neptune to make comparative measurements possible. While this is scientifically valid, it may lead to two small probes, due to budgetary constraints.

The probes' carrier spacecraft are also in development, and each will carry at least one instrument to for fly-by observations in their target planetary systems.

However, depending on the results returned by Titan Mariner, Ǣdre, and Sarpedon, SEA may fly an outer moons lander next, ideally one capable sub-orbital hops between landing sites. It would likely be focused on searching for life or complex prebiotic chemistry. Instead or additionally, SEA may design and launch orbiters to fly through Endeladus' and Triton's geysers to search for (pre)biological molecules.

Finally, astronomers are interested in a telescope with a coronagraph for exploring exoplanets, with a heavy emphasis on potentially life-bearing worlds. The telescope's design is otherwise wide open, as it's very early in development.

Manned spaceflight has historically been considered low priority by SEA. Manned spacecraft weren't even thought about until 1994, when SEA licensed the Soyuz design, in the hope of flying Ioudaia's first kenomanauts during the sexacentennial. However, because the Ministry of Science and Technology viewed the proposed mission as a dead-end stunt, and because of difficulties developing the re-entry shield, only an unmanned, remotedly-controlled spaceship was launched in 1999. It successfully orbited the Earth six times, and returned to Ioudaia, and is now on display in the National Aviation Museum.

Further development of a spaceship languished with little funding and little interest, even as robotic exploration expanded. In 2011, a second unmanned ship was tested, this one with a reusable ceramic re-entry shield, and named the Kenomerodios (Space-heron), after the famous exploration ship Argyrerodios (Silver Heron).

While the heatshield was damaged on landing, another one was built, and the Ministry of Science and Technology agreed a manned flight was worth attempting. In 2012, Simcha Madozhad became Ioudaia's first kenomanaut, staying in orbit for over three hours, and learning how to accomplish tasks in weightlessness. The Kenomerodios was also consigned to the National Aviation Museum, and no further work was done on the design.

Recently, however, Ioudaia has become aware of new uses for manned spaceflight. Foreign experiments have shown the possibilities of producing new materials in space, and opening up the likeihood that existing materials can be made stronger, lighter, or otherwise better in microgravity and/or vacuum. Ioudaian companies, universities, and the Air Army are interested in conducting materials research experiments in orbit. As all but the simplest experiments require human intervention, they are pressing for a renewal of Kenomerodios development and flights.

Foreign interest in developing a space station means that Ioudaia would not have to build, launch, and maintain a orbiting research outpost on its own. As this greatly lowers the cost of conducting space research, the Six Kings and several ministers are now in favor of manned spaceflight. Additionally, the Air Army and an industrial consortium will provide a total of half the cost of each materials research flight, substantially reducing the burden on SEA's budget.

As a result of this new excitement, SEA has revived its Kenomerodios development efforts. The new design features an entirely reuseable ascent module, using a second-generation ceramic re-entry shield, as well as runway landing using a parafoil wing and conventional landing gear. Orbital propulsion systems have been moved to the ascent module as well, so the former service module is now just a power module. As flights are expected to be short, just to and from the Thousand Islands space station, the current orbital module has been reduced to just a docking adapter meeting Thousand Islands specifications. The design work has been partially funded by the Air Army, as runway-capable reuseable spacecraft offer new strategic opportunities for reconnaissance and rapid strikes.

SEA conducted atmospheric tests of the new Kenomerodios over the past two years, and during this coming year expects to carry out both unmanned and manned orbital test flights.

SEA is also overseeing the design of the space station modules Ioudaia has pledged: a microgravity glove box, for conducting experiments which can't be safely carried out in standard rack-mounted equipment, and a high-vacuum manufacturing module, designed to be mounted in the station's wake.