Association of Aerospace Engineering Students (AAES) - Knust

Hello dear fellows, check out the conversation i had with Guido Schwarz from the foundation of space development in Africa on Space technology and how the youth in Africa are getting involved. Thank you

Africa's Youth and Space Technology by DECIDING TO WIN Mankind has always been fascinated about space and the mystery beyond stars. More recently, a lot of research and interest have tremendously increased with more private technology companies leading the way. Africa has not been completely left out. My guest today Guido Schwarz has been at the heart p...

Congratulations to all AAES-KNUST and KNUST Class of 2020.

AEROSPACE NEWS UPDATE

The Tiangong-1 Chinese Space Station Is Set To Crash On Earth Somewhere Between March And April

A Chinese space station named Tiangong-1 is going to be falling back to Earth in a couple of months time. It is predicted that the Chinese space station will be falling sometime in late March and some big pieces might survive re-entry into the atmosphere. This has raised a lot of concerns about the safety and protection from falling debris.

Satellites fall to Earth from time to time. They get bombarded by small particles in the upper atmosphere and are eventually dragged down but they are usually small enough that they burn up completely on re-entering the atmosphere.

When it comes to Tiangong-1, the problem lies in its massive size. It was initially launched in 2011 served as the first crewed space station for China. The module is dense and weighs close to 19,000 pounds. It is estimated that upon re-entry, 10 to 40 % of a spacecraft makes it to the ground. For small satellites, that’s negligible but for Tiangong-1, it means somewhere between 2,000 to 8,000 pounds.

Large vehicles like this have thrusters that can be used to drive it and dump it over the ocean or another spacecraft is sent to dock with it and to plunge it somewhere safe. The Chinese space station, however, was only meant to last till 2013 but its lifespan was extended by China. Then, in 2016, the Chinese Space Agency announced that it had lost contact and control of the space station. The orbit has been degrading slowly ever since and it will make an uncontrolled re-entry and we have no idea where it is going to be coming down. The United States Space Surveillance Network and other nations’ space agencies have been tracking it, and all we really know is that it’s going to come down somewhere between 43 degrees North and 43 degrees South latitude.

Holger Krag, head of ESA’s Space Debris Office, said: “Owing to the geometry of the station’s orbit, we can already exclude the possibility that any fragments will fall over any spot further north than 43°N or further south than 43°S. This means that re-entry may take place over any spot on Earth between these latitudes. The date, time and geographic footprint of the re-entry can only be predicted with large uncertainties. Even shortly before re-entry, only a very large time and geographical window can be estimated.”

That may seem like a huge area but most of the area between those coordinates is covered in ocean and most of the land that is included is inhabited although it does include Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, India, and parts of the US. However, the probability of it causing any serious harm is next to none.

In a written statement, a company spokesman said: “When considering the worst-case locations, the probability that a specific person will be struck by Tiangong-1 debris is about one million times smaller than the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot. In the history of spaceflight, no known person has ever been harmed by reentering space debris. Only one person has ever been recorded as being hit by a piece of space debris and, fortunately, she was not injured.”

Second session of AAES Week Seminar with resource persons, Mr Kwame Bekoe of GE Capital Aviation Services and Mr Matthew Beecham of Airbus.

Socializing break of the 2017/18 AAES Week Celebration featuring interclass competitions, video games, Flight Simulators, Board games and puzzles plus alot to eat.

First session of AAES Week Seminar with resource persons, Mr Eugene Attah Aikins (AAES Alumnus 2008) and Mr. Ken Awuku Mensah, from the Air Traffic Control of Ghana Airports Company Ltd. (Kumasi Airport).

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2017/18 Aerospace freshers orientation.

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