Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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March 2nd, 2024
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The Shenzhou-17 crew members on China’s space station carried out a second spacewalking mission on Saturday.
Crew members Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin collaborated with the ground team to complete all planned tasks and returned to the space station during the 8-hour extravehicular activities.
Tang Shengjie remained inside the station’s core module. He assisted the other two crewmembers, including operating a robotic arm, to provide support for the space strolling duo outside the orbital complex.
Solar wing maintenance
According to China Central Television (CCTV), the primary objective of this mission was to carry out maintenance on the solar wing of the Tianhe core module on the station, eliminating impacts from collision by micro particles in space.
High-definition images of China’s space station were taken by the departing Shenzhou-16 crew last October 30.
Image credit: CMS
CCTV added that, following evaluation and analysis, the power generation of the repaired solar wing was back to normal. “This marks the first time that Chinese astronauts have conducted extravehicular maintenance activities on external spacecraft facilities.”
During the extravehicular activity, the astronauts also inspected the status of the space station cabin.
Wu Dawei, deputy chief designer of China’s crewed space program astronaut system.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Six-month mission
Wu Dawei, deputy chief designer of China’s crewed space program astronaut system, said the astronauts’ performance were flawless.
“Although it was Jiang Xinlin’s first time engaging in extravehicular activities on the robotic arm, he showed composure and remained calm,” Wu told CCTV. “The coordination between him and fellow astronauts, and with the ground team, was perfect. The mission was completed perfectly following our designed procedures and plans in the whole process.”
The station inhabitants, the Shenzhou-17 crew, arrived at the space station on October 26, 2023 for a six-month mission.
Image credit: Shujianyang Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
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Image credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)/SciNews.ro/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China is now in an “accelerated pace” to realize the goal of the country’s first crewed landing on the Moon by 2030.
One aspect of that pedal to the metal mode for lunar exploration is China’s next robotic lunar lander – the Chang’e-6.
Reportedly departing in May, the Chang’e-6 is headed for a landing in the Moon’s south pole-Aitken basin. The lander will snag and bag lunar soil samples, launch those collectibles into lunar orbit for delivery to Earth.
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission elements.
Credit: CNSA
Fraught with difficulties
That task will take roughly one and a half months, said Meng Zhanfeng, an engineer at the China Academy of Space Technology.
Unlike the previous Chang’e-5 mission that sampled the near side of the Moon, direct communications between Chang’e-6 and the Earth will rely on a soon-to-be-launched Queqiao-2 relay satellite. Its vital role is to handle communications between Chang’e-6 and controllers on Earth.
China’s plans for human crews on the Moon are being shaped.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“The sampling process is complex and fraught with difficulties, requiring the support of the relay satellite,” Meng told China Central Television (CCTV). In late January, Chang’e-6 arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, where it is currently undergoing thorough preparation and testing, with a launch scheduled for the first half of 2024, Meng added.
Major products
Chang’e-6 is part of the “accelerated fourth phase” of China’s lunar exploration program, CCTV reports, detailed in the newly issued Blue Book of China Aerospace Science and Technology Activities 2023 released by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation earlier this week.
Chinese astronauts may be investigating the Moon up-close before 2030.
Image credit: China Manned Space Program
CCTV stated that major products related to the humans-on-the-Moon plan, now being carried out with an “accelerated pace,” include:
— The Long March-10 launch vehicle using liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen and kerosene as propellants to dispatch spacecraft and Moon landers into the Earth-moon transfer orbit.
— A Mengzhou new-generation crewed spacecraft.
— The Lanyue lunar lander.
This hardware, along with lunar suits, has entered preliminary design and development stage according to the plan.
The supporting test launch facilities and equipment for China’s ambitious Moon agenda at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China’s Hainan Province are ready for construction, with various system-related research and development efforts progressing steadily, CCTV reports.
Radio wave Observation at the Lunar Surface of the photo-Electron Sheath (ROLSES).
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
“We can clearly say that the dawn of radio astronomy from the Moon has begun!”
That’s the word from Jack Burns, a University of Colorado/Boulder astrophysicist. He is a co-investigator on the ROLSES instrument now on the Moon courtesy of the Intuitive Machines lunar lander, Odysseus.
ROLSES stands for Radio wave Observation at the Lunar Surface of the photo-Electron Sheath, designed to study the dynamic radio energy environment near the lunar surface.
ROLSES is a NASA-supported payload under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative.
The good news is that there was successful deployment of antennas for ROLSES and turning a spectrometer on to take good low radio frequency radio data.
Rough but productive landing of Odysseus Moon lander.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Working as expected
“This is the first for a NASA spacecraft on the Moon. We’re not yet sure how much data we have and how much science we can do,” Burns told Inside Outer Space.
The ROLES team notes that the radio instrument, built by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, is working as expected on the Moon.
“Furthermore, NASA has already funded and manifested us to fly an upgraded ROLSES-2 on another CLPS lander sometime in 2026,” said Burns.
Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night) to probe the “Dark Ages” of the early Universe.
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
Dark ages investigation
In addition, the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Explorer “LuSEE Night” radio telescope is scheduled to fly on yet another CLPS lander to be emplaced on the lunar far side in 2026 where researchers will attempt pathfinder observations of the Dark Ages of the early Universe.
LuSEE Night is a low frequency radio astronomy experiment and Burns is a LuSEE-Night co-investigator.
“So, lots to look forward to,” Burns concluded. “What we learn from ROLSES-1 will be folded into these next missions.”
Precursor astronomy
In a related astronomical item, the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA Hawai’i) reports its precursor ILO-X instruments onboard Odysseus has yielded data.
The ILO-X payload includes a miniaturized dual-camera wide and narrow field-of-view lunar imaging suite, developed by Canadensys Aerospace Corporation.
Two ILO-X precursor imagers mounted near the top of the lander.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines/ILOA
To date, ILOA has received 9 high-resolution and 105 thumbnail images from the ILO-X imagers. They will all be shared as soon as the data has been processed internally, stated ILOA Director Steve Durst in a statement.
One of the released images (below) was taken by the ILO-X gear during the Odysseus landing process. It shows the lunar surface, craters and dramatic shadows of the Moon’s south pole region, and part of the Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C spacecraft in high-resolution.
Image credit: ILOA Hawai’i
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
The EagleCam was ejected from the Intuitive Machines (IM-1) Moon lander – but from its landing spot some 13 feet (4 meters) away, no images of the landed craft have been transmitted.
Either in camera or in the Wi-Fi signal back to the lander, something might not be working correctly, explained Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. So, the Embry‑Riddle team is working on that and wrestling with that to see if there’s anything they can do.”
Lunar lander list – two of six landing legs were damaged on hard landing.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Other data sets
According to the EagleCam team at the university, technical complications have currently resulted in an inability to acquire images of the Odysseus lander.
“However, the team has been able to collect other data sets from the EagleCam system, and these data will be analyzed and published in the near future,” a university statement explains.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
In addition to the team’s primary mission objectives, the statement adds, they also set out to test an electrodynamic dust shield — a device meant to electrically “shake” lunar regolith, or Moon dust, off the EagleCam’s lenses — after landing.
“I think it’s a wild success. I would love to fly the EagleCam again,” Altemus said in a press briefing today. “Those students put their heart into it and it’s a really innovative design, and if we can get a picture of a landing, I would love to give it to them. So, we’ll see what happens going forward.”
Odysseus captured this image less than 100 feet (30 meters) above the lunar surface while his main engine throttled down
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
“Another day of exploration on the south pole region of the Moon.”
Those are the upbeat words today from the Intuitive Machines flight controllers as they continue to communicate with their troubled Odysseus lunar lander.
“This morning, Odysseus efficiently sent payload science data and imagery in furtherance of the Company’s mission objectives,” explains a posting from the group.
According to the update, ground controllers are deciphering just how much battery life remains on the lander, “which may continue up to an additional 10-20 hours.”
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Image credit: NASA/ESA, Matthias Maurer
While Intuitive Machines continues to deal with its crippled Moon lander and technical hiccups, the private group is readying its next lunar lander for launch this year.
Building off its Nova-C class lunar lander design, IM-2 is targeted for another shot at the Moon’s south pole – but this time, the spot of choice is the Shackleton Connecting Ridge.
That locale may be the down-selected site for an Artemis human landing.
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)
Drill to depth
The IM-2 outing is loaded with some key investigations.
For one, the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) involves two instruments: The TRIDENT drill is built to extract lunar soil (regolith) up to three feet (one-meter) below the lunar landscape.
Also part of the experiment is MSolo, short for Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations. Its task is to analyze the composition of the TRIDENT-collected specimen for water and other components.
Useful data for follow-on efforts
According to NASA, samples from multiple depths will be analyzed. In addition, this equipment will measure the composition of gases emanating near the drill activity.
Artwork depicts the Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C IM-2 lander carrying NASA’s Polar Resources Ice-Mining Experiment-1.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
IM-2 is to help engineers and scientists get a better feel for resources on the Moon. Doing so, the lander can provide data useful for preparing the NASA Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER).
Similarly, science gained via IM-2 can help plan for Artemis human Moon outreach.
Deployable hopper
Onboard IM-2 is Micro Nova (µNova). This is a $41.6 million, NASA-funded small, deployable hopper lander capable of carrying a 2.2-pound (1-kilogram) payload more than 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers).
µNova could also hop into and out of permanently shaded regions, known in lunar shorthand as PSRs.
PSRs are sunlight-shy spots that might contain water ice, a resource that, if present, could be converted to rocket fuel, drinkable water and oxygen – all ingredients to help sustain a human presence on the Moon.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Caught on camera!
The troubled Intuitive Machines IM-1 Nova-C Moon lander, known as Odysseus, touched down on the Moon Thursday, February 22.
The arrow indicates the craft’s location. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s (LRO) powerful camera system, the LROC, spotted Odysseus, within a degraded one-kilometer diameter crater “where the local terrain is sloped at a sporty 12 degrees.
Before and after LRO imagery of the IM-1 landing locale shows the craft.
Expiration date: getting the cold shoulder
The LRO imagery confirms that Odysseus completed its landing at 80.13°S and 1.44°E at a 2579 m elevation, explains Intuitive Machines.
“After traveling more than 600,000 miles, Odysseus landed within 1.5 km of its intended Malapert A landing site, using a contingent laser range-finding system patched hours before landing,” the private group adds.
“Flight controllers intend to collect data until the lander’s solar panels are no longer exposed to light. Based on Earth and Moon positioning, we believe flight controllers will continue to communicate with Odysseus until Tuesday morning,” note controllers and the Intuitive Machines mission control.
End-to-End communication requirements
Intuitive Machines also added this update to the situation with Odysseus:
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
“Odysseus continues to communicate with flight controllers in Nova Control from the lunar surface. After understanding the end-to-end communication requirements, Odysseus sent images from the lunar surface of its vertical descent to its Malapert A landing site, representing the furthest south any vehicle has been able to land on the Moon and establish communication with ground controllers.”
“As part of Odysseus’ descent onto the lunar surface, Intuitive Machines Hazard Relative Navigation algorithms detected nine safe landing sites within the targeted south pole region, which is an area that contains permanently shadowed regions that may be rich in resources, including water ice that could be used for future propulsion and life support on the Moon.”
Click on for before/after LRO photos. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
Credit: NASA/GSFC
Steve Altemus, chief executive officer and co-founder, Intuitive Machines uses model to describe lunar lander’s attitude on the Moon’s surface. Image credit: NASA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Mum’s the word from Intuitive Machines regarding their recently landed Odysseus Moon craft.
Meanwhile, that’s not the case from an Embry‑Riddle team that’s also working around the clock, all in preparation for ejecting their EagleCam from the apparently tipped over lunar lander.
While no go-ahead time has been issued, the device once launched from Odysseus may provide insight as to the overall condition of the lander as its rests on its side on the Moon.
Embry‑Riddle’s Space Technologies Lab developed EagleCam.
Image credit: Embry‑Riddle/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Visual support
The Embry-Riddle team is adapting its original deployment plan to provide the visual support.
EagleCam was to be dispatched from Odysseus prior to lander touchdown. However, that plan was scrapped early due to communication and navigation disruptions the night of the Moon landing on February 22.
Intended deployment of EagleCam. Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Odysseus is in an “unexpected attitude,” reports Intuitive Machines.
The good news is that telemetry data confirms that the Embry‑Riddle EagleCam, a CubeSat, is still fully operational.
Simulations
EagleCam’s team now intends to deploy its camera system to capture imagery of the lander in its current state, “offering valuable data that could help Intuitive Machines refine its plans moving forward,” according to an Embry-Riddle statement.
Image credit: Embry‑Riddle/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“We are currently running simulations which show that EagleCam should deploy a total distance of somewhere between 3 to 5 meters [10 to 16 feet], with a best guess at about 4.1 meters [roughly 13 feet],” said Troy Henderson, faculty lead of the EagleCam team.
If EagleCam travels that distance from the side of the lander, it might snag photographs of Odysseus’ orientation and overall condition
“The imagery would then be transferred via Wi-Fi back to the lander and then transmitted down to engineers on Earth for analysis,” explains the statement.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
High pressure environment
“We have built-in redundancies into this device, with Wi-Fi antenna diversity both in the payload and the lander, which increases our chances of mission success under these unexpected scenarios,” adds Eduardo Rojas, the Embry‑Riddle assistant professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering who designed EagleCam’s Wi-Fi antennas.
Rojas adds that the 24/7 work underway with the EagleCam crew is being done in a distinctive “high-pressure environment.”
The timeline for deployment of EagleCam from Odysseus remains unknown.
Go to this informative video on EagleCam and the Embry‑Riddle team at:
Image credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)/SciNews.ro/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China has officially named the vehicles that will support that country’s human exploration of the Moon.
A three-seater spacecraft is called “Mengzhou” (Dream Vessel) and the lunar lander is named “Lanyue” (Embracing the Moon), in English translation.
Lanyue first appeared in a poem written by the late Chairman Mao Zedong in 1965, noted the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) in announced the names, underscoring aspiration and confidence in exploration of the universe and the Moon.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Cultural connotations
The names of the new vehicles were solicited from the public in an event launched last August. The two names selected came from nearly 2,000 submissions.
“The names Mengzhou and Lanyue of the two new space vehicles carry distinct characteristics of China and the times, and have rich cultural connotations,” said Ji Qiming, director assistant of the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO).
These spacecraft, along with development of the Long March-10 carrier rocket, “will carry forward Chinese people’s dream of exploring the vast universe and reaching the moon,” Ji told China Central Television (CCTV).
Successive launches
Previously, China space officials have sketched out preliminary plans to land a crew on the Moon by 2030.
As released by China Manned Space Agency that plan makes use of two successive Long March-10 carrier rocket launches, hurling the Lanyue lander and Mengzhou spacecraft separately from the Earth to a trans-lunar injection orbit.
“The two spacecrafts conduct rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. Then astronauts will enter the lander and the lander will send them to the lunar surface where they’ll carry out scientific investigation and sample collection according to plan,” Ji said.
Image credit: CMSA
Back to Earth
After completing the set tasks on the lunar surface, the moonwalkers would then take the Lanyue lander back into to lunar orbit, with the two spacecraft joined again.
“Astronauts are going to transfer the lunar samples they’ve collected to the Mengzhou spacecraft, and the spacecraft will return to the Earth via trans-lunar injection orbit,” said Ji.
“For now, the development of primary spacecrafts such as the carrier rocket Long March-10, Mengzhou manned spacecraft, Lanyue lander and spacesuits are finished,” added Ji.
The overall technical proposal for launching site and landing site is also completed, Ji told CCTV.
The lunar science payload, a human-controlled lunar rover, and lunar activity support system have been under formulation, Ji said. “The setting up of various newly-built facilities and equipment for test launch in Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site will start later.”
China’s plans for human crews on the Moon are being shaped.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Step-by-step
Ji indicated that China’s humans on the Moon endeavor will be implemented “step-by-step,” including uncrewed flight test to piloted lunar flight.
According to the China Manned Space Agency plan, the Lanyue lunar lander will consist of two parts: a lunar module and a propulsion module, with a weight of nearly 26 tons. It is capable of carrying two astronauts and a lunar rover weighing 440 pounds (200 kilograms) to the lunar surface.
China Global Television Network (CGTN) reports that there will be two Mengzhou models. One will be used to transport astronauts to the Moon and the other will replace the current Shenzhou spaceship now in use that transports crew members between Earth and China’s space station that has been orbiting around the Earth for nearly three years.
Image credit: China Manned Space Agency
Three-person crew
According to CGTN, the crewed Moon lander has a lightweight design to improve structural efficiency and has a power redundancy function.
The Mengzhou spacecraft will consist of two major components: a reentry module that will house astronauts and serve as the control center during spaceflight, and a service module containing power and propulsion systems.
According to the plan, the Mengzhou will be nearly 30 feet (9 meters) in length, 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter, weigh 22 metric tons, and would be capable of housing three astronauts.
Artist’s view of China’s International Lunar Research Station to be completed by 2035. Credit: CNSA
Moon booster
Currently, the research and development of the Mengzhou, the Lanyue, and the Long March-10 heavy-lift carrier rocket are reportedly progressing well.
The Long March-10 carrier rocket has two configuration designs: a standard combination of first, second, and third stage cores, escape tower, and fairing, with boosters or without boosters. The variant with boosters will be used to send the lunar lander and the spacecraft into trans-lunar orbit.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Weighing 2,187 tons, the over 300 foot (92 meters)-tall rocket variant is more powerful, with 2,678 tons at liftoff, a significant increase compared to the country’s current most powerful carrier rocket, the Long March-5, with a liftoff thrust of over 1,000 tons.
For a video showcasing China’s humans to the Moon enterprise, go to:
Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B photo acquired on Sol 4105, February 22, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The NASA Curiosity Mars rover at Gale crater is now performing Sol 4107 tasks.
In a report by Natalie Moore, a mission operations specialist at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, California, a recent drive by Curiosity was successful.
“It was quickly determined our wheels were stable enough to unstow the arm and put weight on it (like for drilling), and since this is the nicest Gale crater terrain has been in a while the team quickly pivoted from driving away to staying here and trying to drill,” Moore notes. “This plan became our first of the ‘Mineral King’ drill campaign.”
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on February 23, on Sol 4106.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on February 23, on Sol 4106.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
