Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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January 5th, 2022
Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3345. Distance driven 16.71 miles/26.89 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater has just entered Sol 3348.
Curiosity has entered a new mapping quadrant, Roraima, viewing flat-topped hills and some steep slopes.
“As we head southward, we will likely be parking near some of these tall hills and cliffs in order to get close-up images,” reports Ashley Stroupe, a mission operations engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3347, January 5, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Parking near such tall terrain can sometimes block our view of the orbiters if they are low in the sky, impacting the amount of data we may receive,” Stroupe adds. “We saw this kind of an effect when we parked near the tall steep cliff of Maria Gordon notch, where there was a significant reduction of data on one of our communication passes with the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). We will take this into account to make sure we will still get down the data we need for planning.”
Looking back, Curiosity can see all the way to the Torridon quadrant and see Mars’ “Scottish highlands” with the attached beautiful view of the Maria Gordon notch; you can also see the rim of Gale crater in the distance.
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera on Sol 3345.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Touch-and-go
A recent plan had the robot perform a “touch-and-go” which includes some contact science, targeted science, and a drive.
“Our contact science target, “Verde,” is a small piece of bedrock with nodules in it, similar to many of the other rocks we have investigated recently,” Stroupe points out. “The science team will be able to compare its composition with those prior targets to continue to build up a picture of the changing geology and chemistry preserved in the region. The rover planners will then leave the arm stowed again in preparation for driving and to leave a clear view of the target for the cameras.”
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Right B Camera image acquired on Sol 3347, January 5, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The targeted science in the plan also investigates the nodules by looking at “Maurak,” another nearby target, with Curiosity’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and its Mastcam.
Distant butte
ChemCam was also to take Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) images of a distant butte named “Mirador,” both its top and its face, which has an interesting and significant textural transition, Stroupe points out.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3347, January 5, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Once ready to drive away, Curiosity will head nearly 50 feet (roughly 15 meters) southward.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3347, January 5, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Due to some significant rocks and the uphill climb ahead of us, this is only as far as the rover planners can see. Even if that distance, the rover is going to need to wind around to skirt some more significant rocks so that we don’t add damage to the wheels,” Stroupe reports. “The drive should leave us parked where we have a better view of the road ahead, as well as leave bedrock within the rover’s workspace for the next plan.”
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3347, January 5, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Engineering maintenance
After the drive, Curiosity will do some evening environmental observations, Navcam suprahorizon and zenith movies, to look at the atmosphere. Overnight, the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite will be doing an engineering maintenance activity to check out the optics on the tunable laser spectrometer (TLS).
On the second sol of the plan, Sol 3348, after the drive, Curiosity will do some untargeted science using AEGIS (Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science) – a software suite that permits the rover to autonomously detect and prioritize targets.
Also on tap is a long Navcam dust devil movie, Stroupe concludes.
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Just-issued images show NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter observations on Sol 292, acquired on December 15, 2021.
This was the date of Ingenuity’s 18th flight. Imagery from the aerial machine was taken using its high-resolution color camera.
This camera is mounted in the helicopter’s fuselage and pointed approximately 22 degrees below the horizon.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Solar System Exploration illustration.
Credit: NASA/Jenny Mottar
50 Years of Solar System Exploration: Historical Perspectives has been issued by NASA Office of Communications/NASA History Division.
Divided into 12 chapters, this free volume is expertly edited by Linda Billings, a consultant to NASA’s Astrobiology Program and Planetary Defense Coordination Office in the Planetary Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.
“What readers will find in this volume is a collection of interesting stories about money, politics, human resources, commitment, competition and cooperation, and the ‘faster, better, cheaper’ era of solar system exploration,” explains Billings.
The volume features a diverse array of scholars that address the science, technology, policy, and politics of planetary exploration. This volume offers a collection of in-depth studies of important projects, decisions, and milestones of this era.
This volume is based on a symposium — “Solar System Exploration @ 50” — held in Washington, D.C. on October 25-26, 2012. The purpose of this symposium was to consider, over the more-than-50-year history of the Space Age, what we have learned about the other bodies of the solar system and the processes by which we have gained new knowledge.
The symposium commemorated the 50th anniversary of the first successful planetary mission, Mariner 2 sent to Venus in 1962, organized by the NASA History Program Office, the Division of Space History at the National Air and Space Museum, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
For information on accessing this free publication, go to:
https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/50-years-of-solar-system-exploration.html
NASA webcast the entire symposium, archived here:
Pioneering Inspiration4 mission crew member Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and pediatric cancer survivor, circuited Earth for nearly three days in September 2021. (Image credit: Inspiration4/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital)
A new study sponsored by NASA investigates the feasibility of sending people with disabilities safely into space and returning them back to Earth.
The appraisal — Parastronaut Feasibility Foundational Research Study — has made a number of recommendations, including revising medical standards for astronaut selection. Also, the study recommends utilizing parabolic flights to demonstrate parastronaut proof-of-principle.
In 2007, wheelchair-bound theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking floated freely during a zero-gravity airplane flight. Hawking said of the experience: “For me, this was true freedom. People who know me well say that my smile was the biggest they’d ever seen. I was Superman for those few minutes.” (Image credit: Steve Boxall/ZERO-G Corporation via AstroAccess)
“Parastronauts” is defined in the new study as individuals with certain physical disabilities, such as lower leg deficiencies, short stature, leg length differences, among other physical impairments. The report’s intent is to make progress toward increased inclusion for human spaceflight.
For more information, go to my newly posted Space.com story — Equal access to space: New study investigates how to get more ‘parastronauts’ aloft – The report may lay the groundwork for more inclusive human spaceflight in the future – at:
https://www.space.com/inclusive-human-spaceflight-parastronaut-study
Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)
Caught on Camera!
Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) published on Saturday a set of images taken by a free-floating camera dispatched from the country’s Tianwen-1 Mars circling spacecraft, including the first full photo of the mission orbiter.
According to the CNSA, in-orbit photos were taken by a detachable sensor equipped with two wide-angle lenses on the outer wall of the probe, under control from Earth.
Also released – a sweeping panorama taken by China’s Zhurong Mars rover.
Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)
The Tianwen-1 orbiter was captured in orbit around Mars by a camera released from the orbiter.
Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The on-the-surface panorama is composed from three images recently obtained by the Zhurong rover using the Navigation and Terrain Camera (NaTeCam).
The Tianwen-1 mission was launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on July 23, 2020. The spacecraft entered Martian orbit in February 2021. In May 2021, after release of a lander from the orbiter, the Zhurong rover drove onto the Martian surface from its landing platform.
Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
For video detailing the images, go to:
Credit: CNSA
Russia’s Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration will develop a list of “topical mutually beneficial projects” that will be included in a new Cooperation Program for 2023-2027. This work will be a continuation of the program of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of space for 2018-2022.
“Currently, the most ambitious project of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of space is the creation of the International Scientific Lunar Station, which provides for the construction of a complex of experimental research facilities for a wide range of scientific work on the surface and orbit around the Moon by 2035. A feature of this project is the openness for participation of other international partners in it,” stated Roscosmos in a posted statement.
Credit: via Roscosmos
In this regard, work is underway to create an appropriate regulatory framework. In March this year, an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding was signed on cooperation in the creation of an International Scientific Lunar Station.
Agreement topics
A draft of a legally binding Russian-Chinese intergovernmental agreement on this topic is being worked out, the signing of which is scheduled for 2022.
It is assumed that the agreement will include:
- Flight system between the Earth and the Moon;
- An auxiliary system for a long period of operation on the lunar surface;
- A system for moving along the lunar surface and performing operations;
- Automatic means with scientific equipment complexes;
- Ground support and application software systems, etc.
Possible areas of cooperation are seen as:
- Strategy development and coordination related to the exploration and use of the Moon, identification of areas of cooperation and planning, including the development of next steps in relation to the exploration and use of the Moon;
- Joint substantiation of scientific and engineering tasks within the framework of the creation of an International Scientific Lunar Station ( MNLS);
- Joint development of legal documents regulating relations;
- Study of existing standards that can be used to create MLNS;
- Joint conceptual and preliminary design, modeling and validation of MLNS and its components;
- Joint scientific and technical research, development and creation of space vehicles, including assembly, integration and testing of MLNS components;
- Cooperation in the launch of MLNS components, joint operation, management, including support for ground stations and other activities;
- Exchange of scientific and technical data, joint scientific research and space experiments, which are carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Parties in the field of export control.
Russia’s Luna-26 to be placed in a circumlunar polar orbit for remote sensing of the Moon’s surface.
Credit: NPO Lavochkin
Interdepartmental agreements
Roscosmos and the Chinese National Space Administration have already begun implementing interdepartmental agreements on cooperation/coordination of the Russian mission Luna-Resource-1 (OA) orbital spacecraft and the Chinese mission to explore the polar region of the Moon “Chang’e-7”, as well as on cooperation on the creation of a joint data center for lunar and deep space exploration, signed on September 17, 2019.
Wu Yanhua, deputy administrator with the CNSA, recently stated that a go-ahead has been given to proceed on the fourth phase of China’s lunar missions: Chang’e-6, 7 and 8.
China plans to launch the Chang’e-7 probe to the lunar south pole first, followed by Chang’e-6 for a sampling and return mission from the lunar south pole.
Chang’e-8 is being cited as the last piece of the fourth phase, tied to constructing a primary form of the International Lunar Research Station.
Artist’s view of China/Russia International Lunar Research Station to be completed by 2035. Credit: CNSA/Roscosmos
Go to this Roscosmos Media video on the International Scientific Lunar Station (MNLS) at:
Angara-A5 booster.
Credit: Roscosmos
Update: This object is expected to decay around Wed, 05/01/2022 10:09:00 +/- 7 hours UTC (these predictions are provided by Joseph Remis) via Satflare.com.
Russia’s next-generation Angara-A5 rocket flew from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, launched by the Russian space forces on December 27. This was the third launch of the booster; the earlier two in 2014 and 2020.
However, while the launch was successful, ditched in low Earth orbit was a multi-ton dummy payload. The flight test of Persei — a Block DM-03 upper stage variant for Angara – failed to restart for a second burn, resulting in the dummy payload now stranded in a decaying orbit.
According to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, the Persei upper stage payload combo is expected to reenter in weeks.
The Persei stage is a modernized version of a unit originally meant for the Proton-M carrier rocket and was developed by RSC Energia. The Angara booster is a product of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center.
Cataloged by the U.S. NORAD as object 50505, according to one satellite tracking group – Satflare.com – the errant object is expected to decay around Friday, January 7, 2022 at 21:29:00 +/- 52 hours UTC according to predictions provided by Joseph Remis. (see update, top of story).
Credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
2021 has been a major year for putting into operation early elements of China’s space station.
The Tianhe core module was sent into orbit, and two batches of Chinese astronauts boarded that element for lengthy stays.
Looking forward to 2022, the station’s construction is due to be completed after further crewed missions.
China’s space station agenda also includes lofting an optical module that carries a space telescope, touted as having a better field angle than the NASA Hubble space telescope.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
For example, next year, the Wentian Laboratory Cabin Module and Mengtian Laboratory Cabin Module are to be attached to expand station operations. Additionally, at a later date, the Xuntian Space Station Telescope is to be launched, touted as having a better field angle than the NASA Hubble space telescope.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Upcoming milestones
What to expect from China’s space station in 2022?
For details, go to this China Global Television Network (CGTN) “Tech Breakdown” video at:
https://www.facebook.com/ChinaGlobalTVNetwork/videos/458798169105076
Additionally, several new videos capture China’s space activities in 2021, description of a panoramic camera outfitted on the station, as well as what new materials are being developed for space missions.
Go to:
Discovering Mars – A History of Observation and Exploration of the Red Planet by William Sheehan and Jim Bell; Published by University of Arizona Press (2021); 744 pages; Hardcover: $30.00
This splendid book is the product of historian William Sheehan and astronomer and planetary scientist Jim Bell. As the authors explain in the book’s preface: “We hope you enjoy the stories told here chronicling the characters, technologies, human (and robotic) failures and successes, and the incredible scientific discoveries that have revealed and continue to reveal the true nature of our most Earthlike of celestial neighbors.”
Presented in 22 chapters of well-written and superb research, Discovering Mars covers it all – from the Red Planet being little more than a fuzzy place of mystery through telescopic eyepieces here on Earth to robotic explorers circling Mars and the powerful Perseverance rover and its Ingenuity helicopter drone, now busily at work within Jezero Crater.
There’s a number of appendix pieces chock full of details, including NASA’s historical investment in Mars exploration.
The collective talents of Bell and Sheehan shine throughout the book. The rich history of why Mars continues to tug on humankind’s curious nature and what constitutes multiple pathways to create a future Mars – be it robots or humans, dotting the world with small, expeditionary encampments, or transforming the planet into an Earth II via terraforming – or is it terrorforming?
“Even much of the basic reconnaissance work that robots do so well could be done much more quickly and efficiently by trained professionals in the field, although that is not adequate justification on its own to support the risk of human lives and the expenditure of scare resources,” the authors note.
The march of Mars machinery, starting with the Mariner and Viking missions of the 1960s and 1970s, have yielded tell-tale data that, in a true sense, allows us to “re-discover” Mars over and over again. Who knows when and what evidence is lurking there to show that the Red Planet was indeed once an extraterrestrial address for life – and perhaps that life is alive and well today.
This epic and one-of-a-kind volume is best read with a mind in full-inquisitive mode and why our technologies have provided decade-after-decade of astounding and captivating reveals…and what awaits us.
For more information on this book, go to:
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China has urged the United States to abide by the outer space international treaty of 1967 and take responsible measures to protect the safety of astronauts following close encounters of SpaceX Starlink satellites with the country’s in-construction space station.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman at a press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday outlined the problem, one that caused the space station to perform preventive collision avoidance control maneuvers in July and October.
Starlink satellites.
Credit: SpaceX
The close encounters sparked China to inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations about the “phenomena” that constituted dangers to the life or health of astronauts aboard the China space station, a UN document states.
China’s submitted document to the UN can be read at:
https://www.unoosa.org/res/oosadoc/data/documents/2021/aac_105/aac_1051262_0_html/AAC105_1262E.pdf
The comments of the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman at a press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday can be viewed here at:
