Archive for December, 2023
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December 31st, 2023
Long March-8.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China is spotlighting the completion of the Number 1 launch pad of the country’s first commercial spacecraft launch site, in the city of Wenchang, on south China’s island province of Hainan – the dedicated site for China’s new-generation medium-sized rocket, Long March 8.
The Long March-8 carrier rocket is a new-generation medium-sized launch vehicle mainly for low-Earth and sun-synchronous orbits payload launch missions.
Construction of that launch pad started in July 2022, and the equipment-installation phase is almost complete, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
According to China Central Television, the Number 1 launch pad contains 11 types of equipment and facilities like a fixed service tower and launch platform.
Compared with a traditional launch pad, the modular steel structure launch tower reduced the construction period by half.
Regular launches from the Hainan International Commercial Space Launch Center are expected in 2024.
Wang Peng, chief engineer, overall design team, China’s commercial spacecraft launch site project.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Cooling, noise effects
Wang Peng, chief engineer, overall design team, China’s commercial spacecraft launch site project told China Central Television (CCTV): “The conventional underground diversion method requires digging a deep diversion trench, reaching depths of around 30 to 40 meters, which would lead to a massive amount of work. Now, we have adopted the ground gas exhaust guide to make some improvements, aiming to efficiently exhaust the gas during rocket launches, prevent reverse curling and splashing, and avoid any adverse impact on the entire rocket launch process.”
Wang added that the extrusion water spray system can be adjusted, enhancing the cooling and noise reduction effects.
Guo Qiang, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co., Ltd.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Launch pad #2
A Number 2 launch pad is still at the construction phase, with on-site equipment installation to be completed by the end of May 2024.
“At the same time, we are stepping up the construction of the No. 2 launch pad, which is also for medium-sized liquid-propellant rockets,” said Yang Tianliang, chairman of Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co., Ltd., told China Media Group (CMG).
At present, there are four launch sites in China: the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site.
The two launch pads at the country’s fifth launch site are both designed to support 16 launches per year. While the No. 1 launch pad is for the Long March-8 rocket, the No. 2 pad is designed for more than 10 types of rockets from nine manufacturers, and a higher density of launch will lead to a lower cost, said Guo Qiang, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co., Ltd.
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Korea Moon orbiter.
Credit: KARI
One of the driving questions regarding future Moon exploration is what available resources lurk within lunar permanently shadowed regions (PSRs).
These locales never see direct sunlight and are illuminated only by secondary illumination – light reflected from nearby topography.
Trying to get to the literal bottom of PSRs and what if any water ice may be present is one task of the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also known as Danuri.
A preliminary analysis of the floor of Shackleton crater from images acquired over multiple secondary illumination conditions “does not reveal indications of exposed surface ice, even though temperatures are constantly below 110K.”
The new work appears in the Journal of Astronomy and Space, the official publication of the Korean Space Science Society (KSSS), research led by Prasun Mahanti of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.
ShadowCam instrument being lifted for mounting to the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter satellite at the Korean Aerospace Research Institute in Daejeon, Korea.
Credit: Courtesy KARI
No observed evidence
“According to our Shackleton crater interior mapping from ShadowCam images, there is no observed evidence of thick ice deposits or surface ice that could be easily recognized by any relative brightness features observed in multiple illumination geometries,” the research paper explains.
“However, this analysis did not include the estimation of reflectance, nor did it involve reviewing all of the images of Shackleton in this preliminary study,” the researchers report.
A spectacular, specially produced near-ground level oblique view of the “Connecting Ridge” between Shackleton and Henson craters. The lunar south pole (SP) occurs on the rim of Shackleton crater. The ridge along the rim of the South Pole-Aitken impact basin is a potential Artemis landing site (001) and another (004) occurs on the rim of Shackleton crater. (Image credit: ETHZ\LPI\Valentin T. Bickel and David A. Kring)
Hypothesis
Mahanti and colleagues add that their hypothesis, in the context of water frost detections in Shackleton, “is that if ice or frost is present in Shackleton’s interior, then the concentrations are either below the threshold that results in an observable signature in ShadowCam images, or might be mixed with the regolith at the detected areas. At other places where surface temperatures are below 110K, water frost could be hidden in subsurface layers.”
Shackleton crater context, ShadowCam image and simulated secondary illumination image. (A) Shackleton crater near the south pole. The green
dashed line shows the map area for secondary illumination modeling. (B) Parts of the crater and PSR and a reference (yellow text) adopted in this work. (C) Mosaic of ShadowCam images showing the floor and wall (D) Secondary illumination model generated irradiance map, cropped to the PSR extent (yellow circular boundary). Colorbar in (C) and (D) shows ShadowCam radiance and model irradiance, respectively. PSR, permanently shadowed regions. Image credit: Prasun Mahanti, et al.
ShadowCam is a NASA-funded instrument hosted onboard the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, built at Arizona State University, an instrument designed and led by Mark Robinson, a professor in Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration.
By collecting high-resolution images of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions, the goal of ShadowCam is to provide critical information about the distribution and accessibility of water ice and other volatiles at spatial scales (1.7 m/pixel) required to mitigate risks and maximize the results of future exploration activities.
For access to the paper – “Preliminary Characterization of Secondary Illumination at Shackleton Crater Permanently Shadowed Region from ShadowCam Observations and Modeling” – go to:
Image credit: Data from USSPACECOM/A.Boley, M. Byers
The debris from a 2021 anti-satellite test created complications for satellites at higher altitudes, including SpaceX’s Starlink “megaconstellation.”
According to SpaceX, over 1700 of the 6873 collision avoidance maneuvers performed by its satellites in the six months from December 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022 were due to Cosmos 1408 debris, produced by Russia’s destructive anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon test.
A new commentary in Nature spotlights the urgent need for an international agreement banning all destructive anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon tests.
The authors are Aaron Boley of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Michael Byers within the university’s Department of Political Science.
Credit: India Defense Research & Development Organization
Test-to-disrupt
Using the recent Russian 2021 ASAT test as a reference, the commentary authors see the incident as how states could use the guise of an ASAT test to substantially interfere with an adversary’s mega-constellation by necessitating a sudden and dramatic increase in collision avoidance maneuvers.
Because the aggressor can claim that the action was “just a test”, it would normally not trigger the right of self-defense.
This outcome, the commentary authors add, raises the possibility that a state may conduct a “test” with the intent of disrupting space operations of another state.
A highly modified F-15A scored a direct hit on a U.S. satellite in this Sept. 13, 1985 test shot over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Credit: Edwards Air Force Base
“Such a ‘test-to-disrupt’ may be attractive to some states because it offers a way to diminish another state’s space capabilities without the action constituting an ‘armed attack,’ which would trigger the right of self-defense and allow a military response,” the research paper notes.
Go to this link to read the full paper at:
https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/docs/Comment_Boley_ASAT_AUTHORCOPY.pdf
Image credit: NASA
The Moon’s farside needs protection!
Because Earth’s neighboring celestial body has the distinctive property of naturally shielding radio waves generated by chatter on Earth and around it, researchers are calling for a radio silence zone, dubbing it a Shielded Zone on the Moon, or SZM in lunar lingo.
Next year, the first International Congress of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) on Moon farside protection will take place in Turin, Italy.
Image credit: IAA/Committee on Moon Farside Protection
Branches of science
Leading the discussion is Claudio Maccone of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (National Institute for Astrophysics).
In December 2021, the IAA established a new permanent committee devoted to the Moon farside protection, chaired by Maccone and co- chaired by Jack Burns of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Maccone and colleagues contend that the Moon’s farside is a region of utmost scientific interest, as it provides an environment free from the electromagnetic pollution typical on Earth.
In particular, some of the branches of science that would greatly benefit from operating from the farside, Maccone explains, are cosmology, astrobiology, planetary defense, and the search for SETI technosignatures.
The lunar farside as imaged by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter using its LROC Wide Angle Camera.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
Radio silence zone
In defining how those science branches benefit by a radio silence zone, Maccone points out:
Cosmology: To detect the extremely feeble radiation of the hydrogen line at 1420
megahertz (MHz), downshifted to much lower frequencies, MHz or kilohertz (kHz), due to the 14 billion years of universe expansion. The radio silence of the farside would ensure a significant leap forward in research.
Astrobiology: To study pre-biological interstellar molecules through their roto-vibrational spectra: a fine search for weak spectral lines that can be supported by advanced radio telescopes in combination with the radio silence of the Moon farside.
Planetary defense: From the Moon farside, radar and optical telescopes can be used for accurate measurements, without interference, of the main parameters of near-Earth objects (NEOs) to increase the lead time of detection.
Credit: Breakthrough Listen
SETI and technosignatures: To search, with very low noise, for “signatures” of alien civilizations that would reach us extremely faint due to the vast distances between stars in the Milky Way, if not from other galaxies.
Relevant frequencies
“Recent lunar missions and, even more so, upcoming programs will bring more and more artificial systems around and on the lunar surface, occupying space and emitting radio waves at various frequencies,” Maccone explains.
The Moon farside protection symposium, to be held March 21-22, is designed to sensitize and openly involve the global scientific, political, and industrial community on the need to preserve radio silence on the farside, Maccone adds, at frequencies relevant for scientific purposes.
Doing so can prevent future missions from irreversibly compromising the current condition of radio quietness.
Credit: Breakthrough Listen/Danielle Futselaar
Protected area
Moreover, to ensure the possibility of performing scientific activities, there is a desire to establish a portion of the Moon’s farside exclusively dedicated to science as a protected area.
There are already international regulations and resolutions aimed at protecting the SZM, such as International Telecommunication Union (ITU) radio regulations.
“However, it is of paramount importance to take a further step, both to extend the protected frequencies to encompass all other scientifically relevant ones — in addition to those already included — and to preserve a portion of the farside exclusively for scientific installations,” Maccone suggests.
Furthermore, there is a pressing need to elevate these regulations into enforceable and binding treaties for every space agency and private company.
Credit: United Nations
Diplomatic efforts
“All objectives can only be pursued and achieved through diplomatic efforts involving spacefaring nations, current and future, from around the world.
The newly formed IAA committee and the symposium’s ultimate goal is to soon reach an international agreement, ideally under relevant specialized organizations, such as the ITU and the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, for example.
For more information on the 1st International IAA Symposium on Moon Farside Protection contact: desk@moonfarsideprotection.org
Image credit: JAXA/ISAS
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced the arrival at the Moon of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM).
JAXA said the spacecraft was successfully inserted into lunar orbit at 16:51 (Japan Standard Time, JST) on December 25, 2023.
The lunar orbit of SLIM will be inserted into an elliptical lunar orbit connecting the Moon’s north and south poles with a period of approximately 6.4 hours, and altitude of about 372 miles (600 kilometers) at the closest point to the Moon (perilune), and 2,485 miles (4,000 kilometers) at the furthest point from the Moon (apolune).
Image credit: JAXA
“The orbit change proceeded as planned, and the spacecraft is currently in a normal condition,” JAXA stated.
What next?
From now until mid-January 2024, the apolune point will be lowered, and the orbit adjusted to a circular orbit at an altitude of approximately 373 miles (600 kilometers).
The perilune point will then lower and preparations for landing will begin.
On January 19, the perilune point will be lowered to an altitude of roughly 9 miles (15 kilometers).
The descent towards the Moon will start at around 0:00am (JST) on January 20, with landing on the lunar surface slated for around 0:20am (JST) on January 20.
Image credit: JAXA/ISAS
Pinpoint landing
The SLIM project aims to demonstrate pinpoint landing and obstacle detection techniques for touching down on the Moon.
SLIM researchers are eager to convert conventional exploration of “descending where it is easy to land’” to “descending where you want to land.”
The SLIM team has selected a target touchdown site neighboring the Shioli crater near the “Sea of Nectar.” The area has a relatively constant slope of 15 degrees or less, according to a SLIM press kit. “Therefore, the method of landing safely on such a slope becomes important.”
Image credit: JAXA/TOMY Company/Sony Group Corporation/Doshisha University
Palm-sized rover
Moon explorer Mark Robinson at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration notes that Shioli crater formed a little over 7 miles away from the rim of the 62-mile diameter Theophilus crater on ejecta emplaced during the Theophilus-forming impact.
SLIM is to deploy a palm-sized Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2) jointly developed with toy manufacturer, Takara Tomy, along with the Sony Group Corporation and Doshisha University.
SLIM imagery of the Moon.
Image credit: JAXA/ISAS
SLIM imagery of the Moon.
Image credit: JAXA/ISAS
Video of Moon via SLIM at:
月周回軌道投入中およびその前後に航法カメラを使用して撮影した画像をつなぎ合わせてパラパラ漫画にしました。SLIMが確かに月面上空で動いていることがわかります。#SLIM #JAXA #たのしむーん pic.twitter.com/nT480PbKCy
— 小型月着陸実証機SLIM (@SLIM_JAXA) December 25, 2023
For more information, go to:
https://www.leonarddavid.com/japans-slim-landing-on-the-moon-smartly/
https://www.leonarddavid.com/landing-slim-and-smartly-on-the-moon/
Wait a minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
Update: No reports of interference of Santa Claus by China’s space plane.
About that robotic China space plane now circling Earth!
I woke up this morning worried about possible consequences of this winged warrior of an experimental vehicle fouling up the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD’s) ability to track Santa Claus.
One satellite tracker reportedly has the Chinese craft belching out communiqués to a ground station or boat near British Columbia, Canada.
Indeed, for the last several days, media outlets have cast dire warnings, just as Santa is prepared to make his Christmas droppings around the planet.
Image credit: NORAD
For example, here are a couple of headline-catching eye-grabbers:
“Top secret Chinese spaceplane is releasing strong signals over North America – months after US shot down China’s spy balloon that collected intelligence from military sites.”
“China’s space plane deployed 6 mysterious ‘wingmen,’ and no one knows what they are”
Possible design of China’s space plane.
Source: Homem do Espaco/Twitter
Spirit dragon
So China’s top-secret spaceship is spewing out signals over North America. All in all, shades of that spy balloon from China that was eventually downed via a jet-launched Sidewinder missile.
Making matters more worrisome, according to media outlets, the clandestine craft – dubbed Shenlong after a spirit dragon from Chinese mythology – tossed out six mysterious objects after its launch on December 15.
The objects are being tracked by the US Space Force, but they are scant of publicly releasing specific details as to what they are or what purpose they serve. Maybe the craft is testing U.S. surveillance skills?
But all this gives rise to the fact that tonight Santa Claus is making his annual trip from the North Pole to deliver presents to children all over the world.
No wonder I’m not sleeping well.
China’s tracking facility at the Santiago Satellite Station in Chili.
Image credit: Marco Langbroek
Mystery ship
But wait a minute!
According to satellite watcher, Robert Christy at his Orbital Focus website, these kinds of stories and bait-click titles are nonsense.
The four (not six) objects are parts cast off by China’s CZ 2F launch vehicle that put the space plane into Earth orbit, Christy notes.
“There is no ‘mystery ship’ moored off Canada,” Christy reports. “The radio transmissions described emanate from the spaceplane making its first daily orbital pass over China.”
Technical connection
Similarly, satellite tracker Marco Langbroek of the Netherlands, calls into question anything nefarious going on.
In his assessment, he told Inside Outer Space that China’s space plane passes do go more or less directly over China’s tracking facility at the Santiago Satellite Station in Chili, where China is leasing tracking capacity.
Uncrewed military space plane featuring the United States Space Force logo for the first time.
Image credit: U.S. Space Force/Courtesy Photo
“So rather than there being some unacknowledged tracking station on a ship on the ocean near North America,” he suspects that the space plane might only broadcast within say half an orbit from passing over their ground station in Chili.
All that said, master satellite watcher, Scott Tilley is doing deep dives into sorting out signals associated with the Chinese space plane and its “wingman” objects. There may be a technical connection with the space plane operations and China’s secretive Yaogan satellite constellation, a set of military reconnaissance spacecraft, he speculates.
Counter-punch
Meanwhile, all this tracking talk of the Chinese vehicle leads to a U.S. Space Force “counter-punch” – the projected launch of America’s own classified robotic space plane – the X-37B. It’s due for liftoff no earlier than December 28, riding atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster, headed for the heights on its classified undertaking.
U.S. Space Force-52 will be the seventh flight of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-7) built by Boeing and this flight is a program first making use of a Falcon Heavy booster.
Here’s the bad news.
That X-37B has been delayed in its send-off…now too late to counter China’s space plane outing and any provocative anti-jamming of the true whereabouts of Santa Claus, his sleigh, reindeer entourage, and all those packages!
Meanwhile, happy holidays to all and keep an eye on the sky.
To double-check on Santa’s route, tap into this NORAD site at:
Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is approaching lunar orbit.
SLIM was launched September 7, departing Earth atop an H-IIA launch vehicle from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center.
Image credit: JAXA/ISAS
The SLIM project aims to demonstrate pinpoint landing and obstacle detection techniques for touching down on the Moon.
SLIM researchers are eager to convert conventional exploration of “descending where it is easy to land’” to “descending where you want to land.”
Unique lunar rover
SLIM is to deploy a palm-sized Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2) jointly developed with toy manufacturer, Takara Tomy, along with the Sony Group Corporation and Doshisha University.
Image credit: JAXA/TOMY Company/Sony Group Corporation/Doshisha University
The ball-shaped vehicle — SORA-Q — is equipped with two cameras and can transform its shape to traverse the lunar surface.
The wheels that move freely left and right can run in two types of running modes, “butterfly running” and “crawling running” because the rotating shaft is eccentric, according to the Takara Tomy company.
For more information, go to:
https://www.leonarddavid.com/japans-slim-landing-on-the-moon-smartly/
https://www.leonarddavid.com/landing-slim-and-smartly-on-the-moon/
Image credit: JAXA/ISAS
Update: “We won’t know if the flight took place as scheduled until early Jan downlink” – JPL message to Inside Outer Space.
Imagery from NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter has been posted, photography that was acquired on December 22 – the projected 70th aerial dance above the Red Planet at Jezero Crater.
The images were taken by the craft’s navigation camera mounted in the helicopter’s fuselage and pointed directly downward to track the ground during flight.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The first extravehicular activity of the Shenzhou-17 mission was completed on December 21, spacewalks by Hongbo Tang, commander and Shengjie Tang that lasted nearly 7.5 hours outside the Wentian Laboratory Module of China’s space station.
Astronaut Xinlin Jiang assisted the twosome from inside the Tianhe Core Module.
The astronauts completed a set of tasks, including a solar panel repair test on the Tianhe Core Module according to the China National Space Administration.
In the future, the Shenzhou-17 crew will perform planned space science experiments, technical tests, spacewalks and the installation of extravehicular payloads to the orbiting outpost.
Astronaut Xinlin Jiang assisted the spacewalking duo from inside the Tianhe Core Module.
Image credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Repair tasks
Tang, in an extravehicular spacesuit with red marks, opened the airlock hatch and boarded a robotic arm, transitioned to a designated point on the core module solar wing where he performed repair tasks. Jiang worked in the core module, primarily responsible for operating the robotic arm.
Image credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“The repair work requires a very high level of precision, so it demands high precision in astronauts’ operation and proficiency in their use of tools. They also had to confirm the coordination between ground and space, and verify the accuracy of the position,” said Wang Yanlei, director of the astronaut selection and training department of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.
“After they completed the operation, they also had to judge whether the repair was up to the expectations,” Wang added. “So, this confirmation process involved many additional steps and links.”
Solar panel repair experiment.
Image credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Damage to solar wings
As reported by China Central Television (CCTV), a preliminary check found that the solar wings of the space station had been hit by tiny particles in space many times, causing minor damage.
Dong Nengli, deputy chief designer of China’s manned space program, told CCTV:
“Maintenance is divided into two categories, one is designed maintenance, and the other is non-designed maintenance. This time they carried out maintenance in non-design state. For the previous extravehicular activities, the major tasks for astronauts were to install and check,” said Dong.
Image credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“This round of extravehicular activities on Thursday we call experimental servicing. But the servicing process was uncertain to some extent. The so-called uncertainty lies in that the objects we repair and some procedures of maintenance need to be designed, verified and operated according to the specific targets. But the maintenance work is a basic ability for our space station to sustain long-term stable operation, so we must master this ability,” Dong said.
Consistent and coherent
During the spacewalking activities, the astronauts observed and photographed the details of the appearance of the solar wing front. Because the operation site is located between the core module and the solar wing, it is very challenging to the astronauts to perform their duties, notes CCTV.
“This time the astronauts operated on one of the solar wings. It is flexible, to a certain extent, and also very thin, which limits the space of operation to certain degree. Once our astronaut is in place, he has to take about 20 to 30 movements to perform the operation, which are all very detailed and compact,” added Dong.
China space station is captured in this photo taken by the departing Shenzhou-16 crew.
Image credit: CMS
“The astronaut also needs to operate in the shadow area. So we must confirm that every movement is performed in the right position, without any error. Second, we need to make sure that all the movements must be consistent and coherent to avoid any mistakes. Third, we need to make sure whether the whole operation is done precisely. All these are the differences of the extravehicular task this time from previous activities,” Dong said.
China launched the Shenzhou-17 crewed mission on October 26 for a space station mission set to last about six months.
For videos spotlighting the Shenzhou-17 spacewalk, go to:
Dynamic duo: Ingenuity Mars helicopter iand Perseverance rover.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is on the glide path for flight #70!
According to a Jet Propulsion Lab posting the expected flight date was slated to be December 22.
If all goes according to plan, or already went well, the horizontal flight distance by the mini-chopper would be
nearly 850 feet (258.735 meters), with an expected flight time of 129.37 seconds.
Buzzing above the Red Planet, the craft’s flight altitude would reach roughly 40 feet (12 meters) and headed West. The goal of flight 70 is repositioning the helicopter at Jezero Crater.
The aerial vehicle just chalked up its 69th flight on December 20.
This image was acquired on December 20 from the craft using its navigation camera, mounted in the helicopter’s fuselage and pointed directly downward to track the ground during flight.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Mars Helicopter image acquired December 22 by helicopter’s navigation camera mounted in the vehicle’s fuselage and pointed directly downward to track the ground during flight.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
