Archive for April, 2023
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April 6th, 2023
Concept art depicts a Mars menagerie of machines that would team to transport to Earth samples of rocks, soil, and atmosphere being collected from the Martian surface by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“NASA is building a first-of-its-kind biocontainment lab to study samples from Mars — and possibly prevent a Martian plague” – From Freethink on YouTube:
“NASA is gearing up for the next phase of its mission to Mars that is decades in the making. The mission aims to answer two main questions: Did life ever exist on Mars, and can humans live there? Collecting samples from Mars and returning them to Earth is key to the mission.”
Proposed Utah landing zone (red ellipse) for the Mars sample return mission.
Image credit: NASA
“But what if the samples from Mars contain dangerous pathogens? NASA is not taking any chances. That’s why they are building a state-of-the-art biocontainment lab to ensure the samples are kept secure and the public is safe.”
“The lab will be equipped with cutting-edge technology and will use the strictest safety measures to isolate any potential hazards. Here’s how NASA plans to safely return Martian materials to Earth.”
Utah testing of Mars Sample Return capsule.
Credit: NASA/Langley/Inside Outer Space screengrab
0:00 The potential Martian plague
1:15 How we study Mars samples
2:10 Life on Mars?
2:57 Building the lab
4:28 Inside a level 4 lab
5:49 Negative pressure paradigm
7:01 Protecting humanity
Go to: https://youtu.be/1XvUreiIUxA
Posted in 
Image credit: Mars Guy
“An exciting discovery for Perseverance,” says Mars Guy. For the first time in over four months, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has collected another rock sample intended for return to Earth. “But the process was different this time, in ways that show there’s something unexpected about this rock.”
Go to video at: https://youtu.be/itngpJjgATU
Image credit: Roscosmos
Russia’s Soyuz MS-23 has moved from the Poisk module to the Prichal module on the International Space Station. The operation performed manually by cosmonaut Sergei Prokopiev, with cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin and astronaut Francisco Rubio in the spacecraft. In the spring-summer of 2023, space walks are planned from the Poisk module.
Image credit: Christopher Morrison
NASA Awards Cutting-Edge Advanced Concepts
Go to: https://www.leonarddavid.com/36785-2/
Will it stay…will it go? SpaceX making progress for Starship/Super Heavy “orbital” launch try from Texas. Will FAA give approval license? From SpaceX: “Starship fully stacked at Starbase. Team is working towards a launch rehearsal next week followed by Starship’s first integrated flight test ~week later pending regulatory approval.”
Image credit: SpaceX
The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has awarded six concepts to help shape air and space travel decades in the future. Each of the six fellows will receive up to $600,000 over two years to develop their concepts.
Introducing the new round of Phase II awards that funded these six researchers:
Image credit: Christopher Morrison
The Nyx Mission to Observe the Universe from Deep Space – Enabled by EmberCore, a High Specific Power Radioisotope Electric Propulsion System by Christopher Morrison, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation in Seattle.
Image credit: Darmindra Arumugam
Quantum Rydberg Radar for Surface, Topography, and Vegetation by Darmindra Arumugam, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Image credit: Steven Barrett
Silent, Solid-State Propulsion for Advanced Air Mobility Vehicles by Steven Barrett, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Image credit: Ronald Polidan
FarView Observatory – A Large, In-Situ Manufactured, Lunar Far Side Radio Array by Ronald Polidan, Lunar Resources, Inc. in Houston.
Image credit: Philip Lubin
Planetary Defense -The PI Approach by Philip Lubin, University of California, Santa Barbara, California.
Image credit: Lynn Rothschild
A Flexible, Personalized, On-Demand Astropharmacy by Lynn Rothschild, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
For more information on NIAC, go to:
While space travel by private citizens is still evolving and making headlines, it seems likely commercial space travel by off-the-street astronauts could conceivably become more routine in the years ahead.
A new RAND report focuses on how and when the spaceflight industry should be regulated at a federal level.
Voluntary standards related to commercial spaceflight that could affect participant safety have been introduced, “but significant work remains,” the report notes.
Polaris Dawn crew members (left to right): Anna Menon, mission specialist and medical officer, Scott Poteet, mission pilot, Jared Isaacman, mission commander, and Sarah Gillis, mission specialist.
Image credit: Polaris Program/John Kraus
Five key factors
For one, the readiness of the commercial space industry for regulation, or for further development of voluntary consensus standards, does not only depend on the progress of adopting standards and meeting metrics.
The report explains that regulatory readiness depends also on five key factors:
— access to, and understanding of, the regulatory process;
— security of regulatory support;
— the effectiveness of the regulatory support for the technology;
— environmental effects, costs, and security issues related to the regulation;
— and the ability to pass the regulation.
To read this new RAND report — Assessing the Readiness for Human Commercial Spaceflight Safety Regulations – Charting a Trajectory from Revolutionary to Routine Travel” – go to:
Wait a minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
How to cut to the chase regarding reported Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) – now linked, for better or worse, to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)?
That’s at the underbelly of a recent paper authored by Harvard University’s Avi Loeb, conducted in partnership with Loeb’s Galileo Project and the newly established Department of Defense, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.
Image credit: Galileo Project/Avi Loeb
“We derive physical constraints on interpretations of ‘highly maneuverable’ Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) based on standard physics and known forms of matter and radiation,” notes the paper, published in “Draft Under Review” status on a Harvard website.
Interpretations of data
Claims of objects exceeding the transonic to supersonic range should be evaluated against the known physics of ionization, radar reflectivity, temperature, sonic booms, and fireballs, according to Loeb.
“All of which can more effectively and accurately bound the velocity, and hence drive the range calculation. This will, in turn, when matched with the specifics of the sensor, allow for better estimates of the size, shape, and mass of the object in question,” the paper concludes.
Shown at Congressional hearing, Video 1 2021 flyby movie showing a purported UAP.
Credit: Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The draft research paper, dated March 7, 2023, implies a “useful limit on observations of UAP which bound the hypothetical explanations and can support limitations on interpretations of data.”
What is distinctive is that the paper is authored by astrophysicist Loeb and Sean Kirkpatrick, Director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.
Comments and criticisms
The Loeb/Kirkpatrick paper “Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” has spurred a variety of comments and criticisms.
Responding to the jabs, Loeb told Inside Outer Space:
“I am not trying to be popular, just speak the truth about reality which so far follows known physics to exquisite precision.”
Mick West, debunker, skeptic, writer.
Credit: Mick West/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Says Mick West, a noted debunker, skeptic, writer, UFO investigator, and former video game programmer: “Loeb and Kirkpatrick risk alienating the broader UFO community by excluding the possibility that a UFO might employ principles of physics that are, as yet, unknown to humans.”
“Insisting that visiting spacecraft must be understandable effectively debunks several famous UFO sightings reported to involve very high speed, and in particular, the Nimitz encounters,” West told Inside Outer Space. “It would also seem to exclude high-speed “transmedium” craft that supposedly transition from air to water travel without slowing down.”
West said that while Loeb and Kirkpatrick are likely correct, their paper has not been well received in certain saucer circles.
Artist’s concept of interstellar object1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumuamua) as it passed through the solar system after its discovery in October 2017. The aspect ratio of up to 10:1 is unlike that of any object seen in our own solar system. Image Credit: European Southern Observatory / M. Kornmesser
Interstellar interlopers
Robert Powell, executive board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU), has read the yet-to-be-peer-reviewed draft of the paper, noting that the authors delve into those interstellar interlopers: meteor IM2 and that cosmic oddball named ‘Oumuamua.
The paper states a possible hypothesis: “Nevertheless, the coincidences between some orbital parameters of ‘Oumuamua and IM2 inspires us to consider the possibility that an artificial interstellar object could potentially be a parent craft that releases many small probes during its close passage to Earth, an operational construct not too dissimilar from NASA missions.”
Powell said that in his personal view, and not necessarily that of SCU’s, there’s nothing wrong with a hypothesis as it is simply a possible explanation for something that is observed.
Credit: Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU)
“Nonetheless, this is a hypothesis that surely stretches the imagination. A scientist may consider such a hypothesis and quickly drop it when the information that becomes available changes. But the media and the public have difficulty with that concept and what begins as a hypothesis is soon expressed as a fact or a likely fact.”
Important turning point
Powell said such a statement in the draft of an academic paper can result in media articles such as this recently published eye-catcher in Tell Me Best:
“Government Officials Say An Alien Mothership Is Close To Earth”
“The study of UAP is at an important turning point,” Powell adds. “The stigma related to the subject has been reduced. More and more scientists are becoming involved in investigating the subject. But in investigating UAP, unnecessary and provocative hypotheses should be avoided whenever possible,” he told Inside Outer Space.
To view the draft paper – “Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” – go to:
Triggerfish contact lens with imbedded strain gauge to measure the shape change of the cornea is worn by Jared Isaacman, Polaris Dawn mission commander.
Image credit: Polaris Program
There are microgravity-induced changes to the human eye tagged as Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome, or SANS for visual brevity. This condition is considered a risk to human health in long-duration spaceflight.
Polaris Dawn crew members (left to right): Anna Menon, mission specialist and medical officer, Scott Poteet, mission pilot, Jared Isaacman, mission commander, and Sarah Gillis, mission specialist.
Image credit: Polaris Program/John Kraus
Later this year, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will hurl the Polaris Dawn mission of four crew members skyward for a privately-backed voyage of up to five days in Earth orbit. During their stay time circuiting our planet in a Crew Dragon capsule, the high-flying team is dedicating major time to probe health impacts on the body from their sojourn into space.
Little was known regarding vision in Earth orbit when Mercury astronaut, John Glenn, circuited the Earth in 1962. He gauged his visual status by reading an eye chart mounted on the instrument panel of his single-seat capsule.
Image credit: NASA
Mercury capsule instrument panel with eye charts.
Image credit: Dane Penland/Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (Used with permission)
Image credit: NASA
One of their medical tasks is specific to help unravel what’s behind SANS symptoms. It is a known, unknown issue, say researchers, a malady that includes swelling of the optic nerve, alteration in the shape of the eye itself, as well causing fuzziness to vision. Clearly, on any lengthy trek to Mars and back, being “blindsided” by blurry eyesight from SANS is not ideal.
For more information, go to my new Space.com article – “The eyes have it! Focus on microgravity’s impact on astronaut vision – Clearly, on any lengthy trek to space and back, being “blindsided” by blurry eyesight is not ideal – at:
https://www.space.com/microgravity-vision-effects-astronauts
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-15 crew carried out their third spacewalk late last week. The Thursday set of spacewalks had astronauts Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu work outside the Tiangong space facility, with Deng Qingming supporting his crew mates from inside the space station.
The spacewalking twosome returned safely to the Wentian lab module.
Meanwhile, the crew members for the Shenzhou-16 and the Shenzhou-17 piloted missions have been selected and are now undergoing training.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Returning in June
The orbiting Shenzhou-15 crew will return to Earth in June, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). The three-man crew has been living in orbit for four months since they docked with the space station on Nov. 30, 2022.
The Shenzhou-15 mission is completing the last stages of the space station’s construction and starting the first stage of its long-term goals and missions.
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Thermoelectric converter
“The astronauts recently completed successful in-orbit tests for a free-piston Stirling thermoelectric converter with the comprehensive technical indicators such as the thermoelectric conversion efficiency reaching an advanced international level,” according to a China Central Television (CCTV) report.
“The Stirling thermoelectric converter is a new technology in spacecraft power supply and can efficiently convert thermal energy into electric energy, thus reducing a spacecraft’s dependence on solar energy,” adds CCTV. “The technology has broad application prospects for future human lunar and deep space exploration missions.”
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Better-than-expected performance
The Stirling power converters, according to a CCTV report, were developed by Lanzhou Institute of Physics of China Academy of Space Technology, and were installed in the equipment cabinet for basic tests in the Mengtian lab module of China’s space station. Before the successful test, three in-orbit experiments have been carried out in the lab module.
“During the test, the device ran stably throughout the whole process and produced better-than-expected performance indicators, with its thermoelectric conversion efficiency reaching an advanced international level under the same isothermal ratio,” CCTV reports.
The Stirling thermoelectric converter can efficiently convert thermal energy into electric energy, thus reducing a spacecraft’s dependence on solar energy.
Image credit: Shenzhou-15 crew. CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrabe
Upcoming launches
In the offing, China will launch three further missions bound for the space station this year, including visits by the cargo craft Tianzhou-6 and the crew-carrying Shenzhou-16 and Shenzhou-17 spaceships.
The Tianzhou-6 supply ship has been transported to the Wenchang launch site in the southern province of Hainan for its scheduled launch in May.
Go to this CCTV video showing the latest spacewalk at:
