Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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December 25th, 2023
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/
Posted in 
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
image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter has completed flight #69, doing so on December 20.
Horizontal distance flown was 705 meters (roughly 2,315 feet), gaining a maximum altitude of 16 meters (approximately 52 feet). The duration of the flight was 135.4 seconds.
In total, the Ingenuity flight log now is 69 flights, with an accumulated flight time of some 125.5 minutes and a total distance flown of 10 miles (16,711 kilometers). The highest altitude reached by the mini-rotorcraft is 24 meters, roughly 79 feet above the surface of the Red Planet.
Since its first flight on April 19, 2021 the aerial craft has attained a maximum ground speed of 22.4 miles per hour (10 meters a second).
Dynamic duo: Earlier released image captures Ingenuity Mars helicopter and Perseverance rover.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-17 crew completed their first space walk activity on Thursday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
The astronauts have been stationed in China’s orbital complex, the Tiangong space station, for 54 days, nearly one-third of their six-month space mission.
The Shenzhou-17 crew is comprised of commander Tang Hongbo, 48, and operators Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, aged 34 and 35, respectively. This taikonaut trio is on tap to undertake a series of tasks, including in-orbit tests of space science and application payloads, extravehicular activities, installation of extravehicular payloads, and space station maintenance.
Image credit: CMSA
Launched into space on October 26, the Shenzhou 17 mission is the 12th crewed Chinese spaceflight and the 17th flight overall of the Shenzhou program.
Next up
Meanwhile, the Long March-7 Y8 carrier rocket that will loft the uncrewed Tianzhou-7 cargo ship has been transported to the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern province of Hainan on Thursday.
The rocket will undergo assembly and testing together with Tianzhou-7, which arrived earlier in November, the CMSA said. At present, all testing systems at the launch site are gearing up for the early next year launch as planned.
China has scheduled four missions to its space station in 2024, including two cargo spacecraft, the Tianzhou-7 and the Tianzhou-8.
Also, two piloted missions, the Shenzhou-18 and the Shenzhou-19 will be launched in 2024, the CMSA said.
Image credit: CGTN infographic by Yu Peng
Techniques for solar climate intervention have been widely discussed to increase the quantity of solar radiation reflected back into space.
Image credit: Chelsea Thompson, University of Colorado/CIRES and NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory
A group has been formed to study and promote a based-in-space sunshade to help fend off global climate change.
The idea has been discussed for years, but the Planetary Sunshade Foundation is cranking out support papers that spotlight the practicality of the approach.
A sunshade would be installed at the Sun-Earth Lagrange-1 point to reduce radiative forcing — the trapping of heat in the atmosphere due to greenhouse gas emissions — by reflecting sunlight back into space.
Image credit: Planetary Sunshade Foundation
A planetary sunshade, they advise, could be the best solution for solar radiation management and should be viewed as a key part of countering worrisome indications of alterations in Earth’s climate.
For more information, go to my new Space.com story – “These scientists want to put a massive ‘sunshade’ in orbit to help fight climate change” – at:
https://www.space.com/sunshade-earth-orbit-climate-change
Keeping an eye out on the puzzle pieces of climate change. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado safeguards society by issuing space weather forecasts, warnings, and alerts.
Image caption: NOAA/Space Weather Prediction Center
Credit: James Vaughan (Used with permission) http://www.jamesvaughanphoto.com/directory-aerospace-defense-illustrations
“Mining in space is coming and the United States better be prepared.”
That’s the view of lawmaker Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) who held a recent oversight hearing on mineral supply chains and the New Space Race.
“Mining in space is more important than some may realize, Gosar said. “Our competitors, including China, are far ahead of us.”
The hearing was held December 12 by the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Image credit: Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Modern way of life
As noted in a background statement, minerals like copper, lithium, cobalt and dozens of others are integral to our modern way of life. “They are used in almost all high-tech applications, including smartphones, satellites and missile defense systems. They are also essential for the function of renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles and battery storage. The global demand for minerals is expected to rise exponentially in the decades ahead.”
According to the World Bank, mineral demand will increase by nearly 500 percent by 2050. The global demand for minerals specifically used in electric vehicle batteries such as lithium and graphite will increase by even more, up to 4,000 percent in the decades ahead.
Credit: ESA/Screengrab Inside Outer Space
Feasibility of space mining
“Exponential growth in global mineral demand and China’s dominance of mineral supply chains threatens America’s national security and economic interests,” the backgrounder adds. “While there is uncertainty over the feasibility of space mining, accelerating investments from our foreign adversaries, notably China, to extract minerals from celestial bodies exacerbates America’s fragile mineral supply chain.”
Space cowboys? International lawyers are trying to agree on what legislation will be needed to control the exploration of mineral resources in space to avoid a new ‘Wild West’.
Credit: James Vaughan
The hearing focused on what steps need to be taken by America to secure the country’s mineral supply chains, flagging both mining and territorial control over expanding resources beyond Earth’s orbit.
Hearing experts
The hearing experts on the future of space mining:
Eric Sundby, Co-Founder & CEO of TerraSpace, Executive Director of the Space Force Association
Greg Autry, Director and Clinical Professor, Space Leadership, Policy, and Business, Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University
Moses P. Milazzo, Owner of Other Orb, Chief Scientist for NASA’s Planetary Data Ecosystem [Minority Witness]
Michelle Hanlon, Executive Director, Center for Air and Space Law, The University of Mississippi School of Law
To view video of the hearing and access the witness testimony, go to:
https://naturalresources.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=415257
