Brazil Successfully Launches Its First Rocket To Space

thatshortkid writes "The Washington Times is reporting on Brazil's first successful space launch. Since it is closer to the equator, the task of getting up to space is easier, meaning much more cargo room over fuel. Hello commercial launch market! With this development, along with China's expanding space program, India making moves to space, and our own homegrown (ok, still growing) private space industry, where does this put NASA? Does it take a load off of them to pursue bigger endeavors, or will NASA slowly decline in relevance?"

Argentina

[Beuno]

Over here in Argentina there have been numerous atempts to do this, having the same advantage as Brazil. Our goverments havent been able to succesfully do anything, so congrats to Brazil!

Re:Confused

[Anonymous Coward]

A rocket being launched from the equator is less affected from the earth's gravitational pull.

Re:Confused

[thorndt]

You get a bigger boost from the rotation of the earth near the equater. Sort of a slingshot effect.

Em portugese

[Anonymous Coward]

O sao Luis, Brasil, outubro 24 (UPI) -- Brasil lançou seu primeiro foguete no espaço, um feat que viesse apenas 14 meses depois que seu programa do espaço devastated por um acidente mortal da almofada do lançamento.

Os oficiais brazilian do espaço estão esperando que um vôo de teste bem sucedido do foguete ajude ao rebound do programa do espaço de nation's do último acidente de year's em que muitos de cientistas e do pessoal superiores do espaço de Brazil's foram matados quando um foguete fundiu acima no centro de Alcantara durante o liftoff.

Ajudaria também a Brasil promover Alcantara como um venue ideal para as missões multinacionais futuras, como sua proximidade ao equador -- dentro de um par dos graus -- makes para uns lançamentos mais fáceis no espaço. A terra move-se mais rapidamente no equador.

Os veículos necessitam conseqüentemente menos empurrado para começar no espaço, permitindo que carregue mais carga no lugar do combustível adicional.

Re:Confused

[HeghmoH]

Most of the effort in getting into space is not in getting up, but in getting enough speed. You have to be going several km/sec to stay in low earth orbit. The Earth spins pretty fast, about 0.4km/sec at the equator, and getting less and less as you get farther away, finally resulting in zero speed at the poles. Every bit of speed you gain from the Earth's spin is a bit of speed you don't have to provide with your rocket. This means you need less fuel, can carry greater payloads, etc.

Re:Confused

[dustman]

If you're standard directly on the earth's axis of rotation (at the north or south pole), then you are not moving with respect to the center of the earth (although you are rotating once per 24 hours).

If you stand on the equator, then you are moving at speed ((circumference of the earth) / 24 hours), which is roughly 1000mph, with respect to the center of the earth.

Re:NASA relevant?

[Wyatt Earp]

You mean like all the Apollo and Mercury and Gemini gear that was built by NASA didn't...wait, that all was private enterprise at work there too.

Do people really think all that stuff was built by NASA? Well, if you do, it wasn't. Boeing, Lockheed,North American, and the list goes on. IIRC the LEM had over 4000 subcontractors sending things into Lockheed for the assembly of it.

Look here
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP -4009/ v1p3a.htm

"In addition, the Apollo Project Office, which had been part of the MSC Flight Systems Division, would now report directly to the MSC Director and would be responsible for planning and directing all activities associated with the completion of the Apollo spacecraft project. Primary functions to be performed by the Office would include:

Monitor the work of the Apollo Principal Contractor NAA and Associate Contractors."

Principal contractor NAA, well that means North American Aircraft, because they were building it and developing the technology.

Sorry to snap, but wow it's annoying when people accuse NASA of falling behind because they've not outsourced, when in fact, that's what NASA does to get stuff built.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-420 4/ ch9-1.html

List of big contractors and agencies.

Re:Confused

[NarrMaster]

Narr [northwestern.edu]

Re:Confused

[WolfWithoutAClause]

No, the rotation (rpm) of the earth is the same everywhere, but the diameter varies- the equator is further from the axis than nearer the pole. So it rotates in the same time, but has further to go- so it is going faster- about 300 m/s faster.

Now, the escape velocity is the same everywhere, but you get a headstart.

It is also true that launching nearer the equator helps with orbits- it's only possible to launch to an orbit that passes over the launch site (without doing a 'dogleg' which wastes lots of fuel.) All orbits cross the equator, so it's the best place to launch from that point of view. However, the equatorial orbits don't pass over, say, Kazakhstan or New York, so you can't as efficiently launch from there to Geosynchronous orbits or other near-equatorial orbits.

Re:Confused

[Turing Machine]

Yes. Note that almost all existing spaceports are close to the equator (or as close as is practical given national boundaries). The United States launches from Florida. Russia launches from Baikonur in Kazakhstan (not all that far south, but about as far as you can get and still be in the boundaries of the former Soviet Union). The European Space Agency launches from French Guiana in South America.

Re:Third World

[marsu_k]

Not commenting about China or India, but see this [bbc.co.uk] coverage on BBC. Notice the phrase "Brazil hopes the successful launch will push forward its plans to sell 15 of its VSV-30 rockets to the European Space Agency." Perhaps selling those rockets/renting launch facilities will provide more money to spend on social programs?

Re:the Brazilian female astronauts suits!

[keeboo]

Aye carrumba!!! Aye-eee!!!!

No need to mock Brazil with Mexican-ish expressions.
As if everything below Texas were some sort of uniform Hispanic cultural goo. People don't even speak Spanish in Brazil.

Not an orbital launch

[georgewilliamherbert]

This wasn't a launch to orbit. It was a large suborbital rocket, just going up and down again.

The US calls these sounding rockets.

Hopefully Brazil will get its satellite launch program back up and running. It was severely damaged when one of the solid rocket motors ignited in a rocket being set up on the pad for launch, which destroyed the pad and killed the technicians working to set it up.

Re:Confused

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody's trying to escape earth these days. We're also not shooting things into orbit with slingshots. Instead we pretty much continuously propel our objects until they reach the desired orbit, and yes, since the angular speed of the earth is the same everywhere on earth, resulting in lower linear speed for smaller surface "orbits", a launch vehicle has a head start at the equator.

Don't believe me? Try an experiment: Sit on an office chair so that rotational friction is minimal. With your arms pointing to the sides, hold something heavy in your hands and have someone put you into rotation. Now pull the heavy objects closer to you. Observe that your angular speed increases the closer you hold the heavy objects to the center of rotation. That is an effect of the conservation of energy. It works like that the other way around too. To end up with the same angular speed at orbit distance (arms stretched), you have to start with a faster rotation if you hold the satellite (heavy object) closer to the center of rotation (further away from the equator -> closer to the earth's axis). This isn't possible on earth because the angular speed is the same everywhere, so the lack of momentum from the earth's rotation has to be compensated by additional fuel. More fuel is an expensive choice because it isn't linear: More fuel means heavier rocket, means even more fuel.

Re:the Brazilian female astronauts suits!

[Matheus Villela]

Brazilians speaks portuguese [wikipedia.org], not spanish [wikipedia.org].

Re:add one more country

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't add Brazil in this case.

They are using a booster provided by an former USSR missile manufacturer, not an independently produced launcher. And we already know that the former USSR could launch satalites.

Re:Confused

[igny]

See also Sea Launch Project [energia.ru], a joint venture by American, Russian, Ukrainian, Norvegian, British companies.

Re:NASA still has an important role.

[mks180]

"The only role that government should play is in funding pure-science projects." I guess you don't work at a NASA center. There's significant pressure on NASA researchers to bring in outside customers to cover their salaries and costs of running facilities, which implies not doing pure-science research. There's some interesting dynamics playing out: government researchers trying to get funding from the private sector while the private sector tries to get funding from the government.

Indian Space Programme

[kaalamaadan]

India is not "making moves" into space. India's space programme, though hitherto modest, is technically over 35 years old. See the ISRO [isro.org] webpage.

In fact Werner von Braun [nasa.gov] took some interest in the Indian space programme, in the 60s.

India's first satellite was launched 30 years ago, called Aryabhata-I [nasa.gov] named after the 6th century Indian mathematician, Aryabhata [wikipedia.org].

Also, the launching station at Thumba is right on the Magnetic Equator. A story covering this can be seen here [hindu.com]. Also, [braeunig.us]

A map of the world's space centers [braeunig.us] is available.

Re:the Brazilian female astronauts suits!

[Matheus Villela]

Português é minha língua nativa, "aye carrumbe" não quer dizer nada em português, nem de Portugal e nem do Brasil.

Re:Confused

[Anonymous Coward]

You've got it back to front. The circumference around the equator is greater than around the poles, meaning that you're further from the centre of the earth. There's exactly the same amount of "stuff" beneath you in either case, but at the equator most of it is further away.

Brazilian ICBM ...?

[handy_vandal]

In 1971 a joint civilian-military committee, the Brazilian Commission for Space Activities (Comissão Brasileira de Atividades Espaciais--Cobae), was established and placed under the CSN (National Security Council). Cobae was chaired by the head of the Armed Forces General Staff (Estado-Maior das Forças Armadas--EMFA) and was in charge of the Complete Brazilian Space Mission (Missão Espacial Completa Brasileira--MECB). The MECB, created in 1981, was an ambitious US$1 billion program with the aim of attaining self-sufficiency in space technology.

The potential military applications of Brazil's MECB center around the Sonda IV and its VLS, which could be used for a ballistic missile. Sonda IV has a range of 600 kilometers and can carry a 500-kilogram payload, and is therefore subject to MTCR restrictions. The transformation of the Sonda IV into an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) would require several more successful launches and a major technological leap, especially in payload shielding and guidance.

The government of Brazil has stated that it supports the peaceful applications of space technology and denies any intention of developing a ballistic missile.

Link [globalsecurity.org]

Google "brazil icbm" [google.com]

-kgj

Re:Confused

[Dinosaur Neil]

Actually, the advantages are there, but not huge... In order to achieve a typical LEO, you need (ideally) a delta-v of not quite 8000 m/s. Launching from the equator provides ~470 m/s of that delta-v, if you're shooting for an equatorial orbit, rather than pole-to-pole. Launching from Florida means you only get ~400 m/s plus the sinusoidal trajectory relative to the surface (the orbit is circular, but the axis is not the same as the Earth's). The dry-mass (empty) to wet-mass (fully fueled) ratio is a logarithmic function, so that 70 m/s translates to a percent or two of additional payload mass, but that's all.

Caveat: the actual delta-v needed is closer to 10000 m/s because of various factors. Atmospheric drag and other stuff contribute, but mostly launching straight up then kicking over means a highly eccentric orbit and the extra delta-v means not hitting the atmosphere at perigee.

Hey, I finally got some use out of my graduate level orbital mechanics class!

Guam (or Hawaii) entails logistical headaches

[ArsSineArtificio]

Do you think it is because of environmental concerns or simply the logistical effort required to ship all the hardware to the midle of the Pacific?

Most likely the latter. Consider the logistical difficulties not merely with the space hardware itself, but with the fuel for the vessel, trans-shipping (for example) the Space Shuttle back from one of the continental landing strips, the accommodations for the large ground control and maintenance crews, the food and supplies for the personnel, etc. Florida is just easier to get all the stuff to.

Brazil ICBM, continued ...

[handy_vandal]

Brazil is one of the world's largest arms exporters to the Third World. Its first three space rockets, the Sonda I, II, and III, were all developed into surface-to-surface missiles that Iraq, Libya, and Saudi Arabia purchased right off the production line.

Link [wisconsinproject.org]

Brazil - a murder state now with space technology

[Magickcat]

If only Brazil could manage to use all this ingenuity and excellence to find a way for their police death squads, and professional hired killers to stop murdering and torturing their street children (aged between 5 to 18 years). Considering that there are estimated between 7 to 17 million children living on their streets, one would think that they would look at the ground occasionally whilst they reach for the stars.

"More than 18% of Brazil's population is illiterate, and 35% of children between ages 7 and 15 are not enrolled in school. In addition, with the exception of Haiti and Guatemala, malnutrition is more prevalent in Brazil than in any other Latin American or Caribbean nation (UNICEF, 1996b). According to official government statistics, 1,000 children die from hunger and malnutrition each day in Brazil. Moreover, Brazil's infant mortality rate in 1993 was 52 per 1,000 live births, one of the highest in Latin America and exceeded only by Peru (88) and Bolivia (98). In the poorest regions of the country and in impoverished areas near industrial centers, 10% of the children are expected to die before they reach 5 years of age (Martins, 1993)." Link here [udel.edu]

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for space travel, and I don't agree that the "solve our Earth problems" first applies to first world countries, but surely a third world country like Brazil could at the very least reform their murder state before embarking on a space program.

NASA Launch Vehicles ALREADY Privatized

[Detritus]

With the exception of the Shuttle and some sounding rockets, the launch vehicle market has been privatized for years. If you want a Delta or Atlas launch, you negotiate a contract with Boeing or Lockheed-Martin, not NASA.

Faulty comparison in article text?

[gotr00t]

Comparing Brazil's successful launch of a rocket to space is nothing compared to the accomplishments of either China or India. Both nations have successfully sent rockets into space a while back, and both nations have their share of satellites already.

This may be an excellent _first step_ for Brazil, but both India and China have well established space programs already.

Re:Em portugese

[aka.Daniel'Z]

Better translation:

São Luis, Brasil, 24 de Outubro (UPI) -- O Brasil lançou seu primeiro foguete para o espaço, uma façanha apenas 14 meses depois que o programa espacial foi devastado por um acidente fatal na plataforma de lançamento.

O VSV-30, também conhecido como o Veículo de Exploração Brasileiro, decolou sábado da base de Alcântara no estado do Maranhão e ficou apenas sete minutos em microgravidade, de acordo com o Ministro de Ciência e Tecnologia brasileiro.

Oficiais brasileiros esperam que o vôo de teste com sucesso do foguete vá ajudar o programa espacial nacional a se recuperar do acidente no ano passado quando vários dos maiores cientistas e membros da equipe do programa espacial foram mortos quando um foguete explodiu na base de Alcântara durante a decolagem.

Também ajudaria o Brasil a promover a base de Alcântara como uma via ideal para futuras missões internacionais, já que a proximidade da linha do equador -- dentro de alguns graus -- facilita lançamentos ao espaço.

A Terra se move mais rápido ao longo da linha do equador. Portanto, os veículos precisam de menos impulso para chegar no espaço, o que os permite carregar mais equipamento ao invés de combustível adicional.

Didn't NASA get a budget increase this year?

[Whyte]

Since NASA is getting a budget increase [nasa.gov] this year...
...do you mean NASA's relevance is actually increasing?

sea launch

[edbarbar]

A not so well known company actually makes a floating platform that can launch rockets. It's heavily funded by Boeing, and advertises equatorial launches:

http://www.sea-launch.com/ [sea-launch.com]

Another interesting note is that there are a lot of complaints on the net about how the US government, according to some at the behest of NASA to keep the shuttle viable, has stiffled commercial launches. Here is an interesting site discussing the affect of the laws:

http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/barriers_to_spa ce_enterprise.shtml [spacefuture.com]

Re:Boom in Brazil

[CaptainAvatar]

Yes, English, Portuguese and Hindi all evolved from the same language. Except English and Portuguese diverged from each other much later than they did from Hindi. What's your point?

Re:Third World

[CaptainAvatar]

The cliche you are looking for is that the Sun never sets on the British empire, and that wasn't so much a reference to its lasting forever but to its spanning the globe, ie the Sun was always shining on part of the Empire; there was a posession in every time zone. I assume you are talking about Queen Victoria but the phrase is not particularly associated with her.