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April 6th, 2022
Credit: SpinLaunch
The innovative SpinLaunch company has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA.
Through this partnership, SpinLaunch will develop, integrate, and fly a NASA payload on the company’s Suborbital Accelerator Launch System to provide information to NASA for potential future commercial launch opportunities.
The Space Act Agreement is part of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program.
SpinLaunch will manifest and fly the first NASA payload on a developmental test flight later this year and provide means for post-flight recovery of payload back to NASA. The two organizations will work jointly to analyze the data and assess the system for future flight opportunities. After full review, NASA and SpinLaunch will publish all non-proprietary launch environment information from the test flight.
Artist’s view of futuristic launch facility for hurling satellites into Earth orbit.
Credit: SpinLaunch
Orbital flight
SpinLaunch’s Orbital Accelerator will accelerate a launch vehicle containing a satellite up to 5,000 miles per hour using a rotating carbon-fiber-arm within a 300-ft diameter steel vacuum chamber. By doing so, over 70 percent of the fuel and structures that make up a typical rocket can be eliminated.
Credit: SpinLaunch
In October 2021, SpinLaunch’s first test flight successfully propelled a test vehicle at supersonic speeds and ended with the recovery of the reusable flight vehicle. Since then, the suborbital system has conducted regular test flights with a variety of payloads at speeds in excess of 1,000 miles per hour at Spaceport America, located in New Mexico. First orbital test launches are planned for 2025.
For more information on this company and its novel launch concept, go to:
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These photos were acquired on April 3, 2022 (Sol 398 of the Perseverance rover mission) – the date of the NASA helicopter’s 24th flight.
The Ingenuity Mars rotorcraft acquired these images using its navigation camera. This camera is mounted in the helicopter’s fuselage and pointed directly downward to track the ground during flight.
On this latest flight, the device flew for 69.5 seconds, traveling roughly 154 feet and reached a maximum altitude of around 33 feet.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/USGS
Extended flight
NASA has extended flight operations of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter through September. In the months ahead, the rotorcraft will support the Perseverance rover’s upcoming science campaign exploring the ancient river delta of Jezero Crater. Along the way, it will continue testing its own capabilities to support the design of future Mars air vehicles.
Ingenuity’s new area of operations is entirely different from the modest, relatively flat terrain it has been flying over since its first flight in April 2021.
Several miles wide and formed by an ancient river, the fan-shaped delta rises more than 130 feet (40 meters) above the crater floor.
Perseverance Rover location and current whereabouts of the Mars Helicopter.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Dry river channels
Filled with jagged cliffs, angled surfaces, projecting boulders, and sand-filled pockets that could stop a rover in its tracks (or upend a helicopter upon landing), the delta promises to hold numerous geologic revelations – perhaps even the proof necessary to determine that microscopic life once existed on Mars billions of years ago.
NASA’s robotic Holy Grail mission, a Mars sample return effort to bring back to Earth Martian collectibles.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Upon reaching the delta, Ingenuity’s first orders will be to help determine which of two dry river channels Perseverance should take when it’s time to climb to the top of the delta.
See you at the delta
Ben Morrell, Ingenuity Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports: “With Flight 24 in our log book, it is now time to look forward to our upcoming effort that charts a course out of Séítah. Flight 25 – which was uplinked yesterday – will send Ingenuity 704 meters to the northwest (almost 80 meters longer than the current record – Flight 9). The helicopter’s ground speed will be about 5.5 meters per second (another record) and we expect to be in the rarefied Martian air for about 161.5 seconds.
Along with routing assistance, data provided by the helicopter will help the Perseverance team assess potential science targets. Ingenuity may even be called upon to image geologic features too far afield (or outside of the rover’s traversable zone), or perhaps scout landing zones and caching sites for the future Mars Sample Return program.
Credit: CCTV/CGTN
Given the tensions between Russia and the West due to heavy sanctioning sparked by the Ukrainian conflict, Russian space cooperation with China may be stepped up.
Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Roscosmos, underscored that prospect during his appearance on several China television outlets.
Rogozin told China Global Television Network (CGTN) and China Central Television (CCTV) that Russia’s role in space exploration is indispensable.
ExoMars 2022 mission was a joint ESA/Roscosmos project. Shown is rover ready to depart Russia-provided landing module and science landing platform.
Credit: Thales Alenia Space/Master Image Programmes
ExoMars 2022
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced in mid-March that it is suspending its collaboration with Russia on the ExoMars 2022 program.
“The problem is when someone does it on its own, it costs a lot of money. It will be a huge burden on the budget. In the construction of ExoMars, the main element is the landing module. The Mars research rover is not the essential element. I think we can make this mission happen with another partner like China or someone else,” Rogozin said.
The Russian Kazachok platform was destined to land on the Red Planet as part of the ExoMars 2022 mission, shown here being shipped to Europe for final assembly and testing.
Credit: Roscosmos
“It’s a cooperative mission. If Russia doesn’t join, Europe won’t go ahead with the mission, because Russia’s contribution to the mission is huge. It is not only about the heavy rockets that send these instruments into orbit and to Mars, it’s also about the landing vehicles. These vehicles must help achieve a soft landing on Mars or the research rovers. The module itself is a research station. We have been waiting so long to realize this mission. If it is delayed, it will never happen. They may change Russia’s landing module, but that decision could take a lot of time and money,” said Rogozin.
Launch of the ExoMars 2022 mission had been slated for September 20 (the opening of a 12-day launch window); lifting off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan atop a Proton booster.
That mission involved the ESA-led rover and a Roscosmos-led surface landing/science platform named “Kazachok.”
ISS mosaic created with imagery from Expedition 66.
Credit: NASA/Roscosmos
International Space Station
Rogozin also said the Russia-U.S. cooperation on the International Space Station (ISS) will collapse as a result of the sanctions. If the U.S. stops cooperation, the 500-ton ISS will go out of control, he said.
“Russia’s role is vital. Only Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft can transport American, European, Canadian, Japanese astronauts and their guests. Soyuz is irreplaceable, because America doesn’t have any such spacecraft,” Rogozin said.
“Russia helps the ISS avoid space rubbish and maintain orbital correction. The ISS is in a low earth orbit. It helps deliver fuels to the station. These are the main contributions from Russia and Roscomos in particular. So working without Russia is impossible, just like working without America. If they pull us out of this, the ISS wouldn’t exist anymore,” said Rogozin.
Credit: Roscosmos
“We work well with our Chinese friends,” Rogozin emphasized.
The Russian space chief noted the International Lunar Research Station. “We have signed all the necessary documents with our Chinese friends. Regarding China’s space station, we can talk about creating new modules. To be friends in space, we must be friends on Earth. Russia and China are friends on Earth. I think China and Russia can work together in manned cosmonautics,” Rogozin said.
To view Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s space program known as Roscosmos, go to these videos at:
Shenzhou-13 crew.
Credit: CCTV Video News Agency/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-13 astronauts — Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu — are preparing for their mid-April return to Earth.
The crew arrived in the core module of the in-construction Tiangong station on October 16, embarking on their six-month journey – the longest-ever duration in the country’s human spaceflight program.
China’s space station to be completed by end of 2022.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Upcoming launches
Six launches will be made this year to wrap up piecing together the Chinese space station.
- Shenzhou-14 and the Shenzhou-15 piloted missions
- Tianzhou 4 and 5 robotic cargo spaceships for refueling and resupply operations
- Two large space labs to dock with the station: Wentian, or Quest for the Heavens, and Mengtian, or Dreaming of the Heavens
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Tiangong station
Upon its completion at the end of this year, Tiangong will consist of three main components — a core module attached to two space labs — and will have a combined weight of nearly metric 70 tons. The station is scheduled to operate for 15 years in a low-Earth orbit.
Go to these recent videos that focus on preparations for the Shenzhou-13 crew to return to Earth, at:
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3427, March 28, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3428 duties.
“Unfortunately, our weekend drive stalled, so this morning we found ourselves still at Friday’s workspace,” reports Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, a planetary geologist at University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
“Fortunately, it was an understood issue… and this was a good place to spend some extra time and fill our science glass with amazing data! This workspace (“Hartle Loup”) has examples of different textures, bands of “vuggy” (little holes or pits), material and smoother material.
Mastcam image taken on Sol 3419 showing different textures at “Hartle Loup.”
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Hard choices
Last Friday, the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) had to make some hard choices between all the desired targets, and scientists opted to characterize some “vuggy” targets but were unable to also get the “smooth” targets.
“So, in a sense, the drive stall worked in our favor,” O’Connell-Cooper adds, allowing scientists to get three “smooth” targets. APXS and MAHLI was scheduled to investigate “Broadfell” and a brushed target “Venlaw,” whilst the rover’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) will use Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to target “Cleveland.”
Curiosity Mast Camera Right image taken on Sol 3425, March 26, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Mastcam was slated to take multispectral imagery (a further tool to help understand composition, often used for brushed targets) of Venlaw and researchers were able to add a bonus multispectral image of the weekend Dust Removal Tool (DRT) target (“Donkey Trail”) which researchers didn’t have time for on Friday.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Left B Camera image taken on Sol 3427, March 28, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Overlapping images
MAHLI took the opportunity to slip in a six image mosaic (series of overlapping images) looking at the interaction between the two textures. ChemCam will also examine “Bowder Stone,” a bedrock target that was broken up by the rover’s wheels last week, O’Connell-Cooper reports.
Curiosity Rear Hazard Avoidance Right B Camera image acquired on Sol 3427, March 28, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Mastcam has, as always, a very busy plan,” O’Connell-Cooper notes. It will document the ChemCam targets from the scripted plan, recover an image from the weekend on “Burn Mouth” which didn’t complete and get some more images of the pediment landscape.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) Sol 3426 March 27, 2022
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Drive path
“Mastcam will also aid the environmental group in monitoring dust concentrations in the air, obtaining a crater rim extinction observation and a basic ‘tau’ measurement, both of which are used to determine how much dust is the atmosphere,” O’Connell-Cooper points out.
“Once we finish getting all this lovely bonus science at Hartle Loup, we will continue on our way, following the same drive path as we had planned to take over the weekend,” says O’Connell-Cooper.
Curiosity Mast Camera Left photo taken on Sol 3424, March 25, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Vuggy rock
In an earlier report, Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, pointed out that vuggy rock in the “Hartle Loup” outcrop seemed particularly unique relative to the other rocks on the Greenheugh Pediment that scientists have seen to-date.
In addition to the contact science, Curiosity continued the effort to image as much of the Greenheugh Pediment and Gediz Vallis Ridge as possible from the rover’s location with Mastcam and the ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI).
“We will likely never have this perspective on this portion of those features, so we’re being very thorough with our imaging,” Guzewich adds.
Credit: ESA/Mlabspace
The European Space Agency’s ExoMars rover is confirmed technically ready for launch, and a fast-track study is under way to determine options for bringing the mission to Mars.
The ESA-led Rosalind Franklin rover’s 2022 launch window is no longer possible following the suspension of cooperation with Roscosmos due to Russia’s war with Ukraine.
ExoMars 2022 mission was a joint ESA/Roscosmos project. Shown is rover ready to depart Russia-provided landing module and science landing platform.
Credit: Thales Alenia Space/Master Image Programmes
In an ESA statement, “due to the suspension of the 2022 launch, the Exomars elements are now being prepared for storage at a Thales Alenia Space site in Italy awaiting further instruction.”
Industrial study
A fast-track industrial study will now start to better define the available options for a way forward to implement the ExoMars rover mission in a future launch.
“I hope that our Member States will decide that this is not the end of ExoMars, but rather a rebirth of the mission, perhaps serving as a trigger to develop more European autonomy,” adds David Parker, Director of Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA.
Launch of the ExoMars 2022 mission had been slated for September 20 (the opening of a 12-day launch window); lifting off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan atop a Proton booster.
That mission involved the ESA-led rover and a Roscosmos-led surface landing/science platform named “Kazachok.”
Credit: Roscosmos
Russian and Chinese scientists have blueprinted the concept of an astrophysical telescope to be deployed at a future International Lunar Scientific Station (ILRS).
The equipment is planned for Moon landing as part of the ILRS-5 mission in 2035.
The concepts were developed by specialists from the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the National Observatory of China, the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Kavli Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University.
Credit: Shugarov, A.S., et al./Vestnik
Three approaches
The advantages of an astrophysical telescope on the Moon and a number of modern scientific tasks are discussed in the quarterly scientific and technical journal Vestnik, distributed by NPO Lavochkin.
Three approaches are detailed:
- A small ultraviolet telescope with an aperture of 15-30 cm and its own guidance system;
- A large multi-purpose telescope with an aperture of 60 cm, operating in the ultraviolet, optical and infrared ranges;
- A multi-aperture telescope for simultaneous shooting of the sky in the ultraviolet range.
Memorandum of Understanding
The ILRS is a complex of experimental research facilities created on the surface and/or in orbit of the Moon. It is designed to conduct multidisciplinary and multi-purpose scientific research, including the exploration and use of the Moon, lunar observations, fundamental research experiments and technology testing with the possibility of long-term autonomous operation and with the prospect of a human presence on the Moon.
A Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Russia and China on cooperation in the field of creating the ILRS was signed on March 9, 2021. The project is open to all interested countries and international partners.
Quarterly scientific and technical journal Vestnik, distributed by NPO Lavochkin.
NASA Missions to Mars: A Visual History of Our Quest to Explore the Red Planet by Piers Bizony; The Quarto Group/Motorbooks (April 2022); 198 Pages; Hardcover: $50.00
This large-format book is strikingly illustrated and offers the reader a wonderful resource in detailing NASA’s exploration of the Red Planet.
Space historian Piers Bizony has put together an extraordinary volume of humankind’s outreach to and fascination with Mars. “This book is a family-friendly, nonacademic, almost purely visual celebration of what we have achieved in terms of Martian exploration and what we might yet achieve in years to come,” the author explains.
The book is divided into four sweeping and eye-catching sections: Red Planet Visions – Aliens, empires and invasions; First Contact – Discovering Mars as it really is; Robot Explorers – Searching for life, past or present; and Human Martians – Strategies to settle a new world.
In a foreword to the book, Andrew Chaikin contributes a special essay underscoring his passion for the Red Planet; he served as an “interplanetary intern” at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1976 and took part in the first successful mission to land on Mars – NASA’s Project Viking.
The reader will find mission histories, and achievements of the early rovers Sojourner, Opportunity, and Spirit, as well as excellent updates on the Curiosity and Perseverance machines, both now busily wheeling about on Mars.
This book is a treasure trove of imagery from NASA archives, including photos that document the testing phases in readying hardware for launch to the faraway world. There’s also coverage of spacecraft dispatched to Mars by other nations, such as China’s successful landing of its Zhurong rover.
The striking images of Mars from orbit and surface photos serve as prelude to the book’s final section that offers a look at future plans for human exploration and habitation of the planet.
For more information about the book, go to:
https://www.quarto.com/books/9780760373149/nasa-missions-to-mars
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Chinese scientists accurately determined the content of chemical elements in lunar soil samples brought back to Earth by China’s Chang’e-5 Moon sample return mission with nuclear technologies.
Photo taking during Chang’e-5 surface sampling.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Moon rock and regolith brought back to Earth by China’s Chang’e-5 lunar sample mission suggests that the samples are a new type of lunar basalt, different from those collected during previous U.S. Apollo and former Soviet Union robotic Luna missions.
China’s Chang’e-5 probe returned to Earth on December 17, 2020, parachuting back a total of around 1.73 kilograms of lunar samples.
Go to this informative video at: https://youtu.be/J_umrs6ZSsE
Chang’e-5 return capsule holding lunar specimens.
Credit: National Astronomical Observatories, CAS
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
During an interview with the China Radio International (CRI), Russian Space Chief Dmitry Rogozin said the current situation has made it impossible for Roscosmos to continue cooperation with its European counterparts.
“In fact, Roscosmos has around 10 carrier rockets that were originally scheduled for launching European spacecrafts. But considering the ESA [European Space Agency] and the European Union’s unscrupulous stance on Russia’s special military operation and its sanctions against Roscosmos, we think it impossible to continue cooperation with them. Thus, these rockets will be used to launch spacecrafts from private companies or to meet the demands of our friends in partner countries who need our launch capability,” Rogozin said.
Russophobia
Rogozin said the counterparts in Europe have been excessively politicizing space cooperation in order to play up to their leaders’ “Russophobia.”
“The space cooperation between Russia and Europe no longer depends on Russia, but depends on the attitude of the European side. They should carefully analyze everything they built and destroyed with their own hands. Only after such an analysis and candid talks with Russia can cooperation be possible to resume in a certain form,” Rogozin said.
“In short, I want to say that Roscosmos is very disappointed at our European counterparts. They have been excessively politicizing [space cooperation] in order to play up to their state leaders’ Russophobia while putting the whole international space cooperation at risk,” said Rogozin.
The Western sanctions against Russia are not limited in economy, but also involve culture and other areas.
Stupid and irresponsible
Rogozin pointed out that one American organization recently renamed an event that was originally named for cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human that orbited the Earth.
Rogozin said such an attempt to erase Gagarin, the Soviet Union or Russia from the history of human spacecraft is stupid and irresponsible.
“The history of human spacecraft is written by the space explorers with their blood and sweat, not by schemers who attempt to rewrite the history. So we must be proud of our history. Gagarin not only belongs to Russia or the Soviet Union in the past, but also belongs to the whole world, which has nothing to do with politics,” Rogozin said.
BTW: There are several Yuri’s Night activities still holding onto that name, such as this Seattle Museum of Flight event:
Go to:
https://tickets.museumofflight.org/Info.aspx?EventID=133
To view the interview, go to:
