Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
Author: 
October 9th, 2023
Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3972. Distance driven to date 19.3 miles/31.06 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater has just started Sol 3973 duties.
“Winter is almost half over in Gale, but this rover doesn’t hibernate,” reports Natalie Moore, mission operations specialist at Malin Space Science Systems, based in San Diego, California.
The last time the rover stopped for more than a few sols was at the Ubajara drill site back in early May, almost a kilometer and 150 sols ago.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3972, October 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Now, five months later, we’re approaching our next drill site in this area of alternating banded layers dispersed across lithified sand,” Moore added. “The scientist jury is still out on which block is their favorite, but the operations team is already preparing to begin a two-to-three week drill campaign in the near future. With solar conjunction fast approaching, it’ll be interesting to see how much of a drill campaign we can fit between now and November 11th.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3972, October 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Two-sol plan
For the recently scripted two-sol (Sols 3968-3969) unrestricted plan, Moore said there’s a remote science block containing two Navcam activities to measure the atmospheric opacity and search for dust devils, noting “we’ve seen some large ones recently!”
Mastcam will follow up with a mono, Mastcam Right-only mosaic of the upper Gediz Vallis ridge that Curiosity has been driving parallel to since a crater cluster campaign.
The robot’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) is to finish off the block with a 5×1 Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) raster on a nodular bedrock target named “Black Giant,” with Mastcam Right scheduled to document the effort afterwards.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3972, October 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Filter wheel stalled
On sol 3953 (September 20th, 2023) the Mastcam-34mm (Mastcam Left) filter wheel stalled between filters L0 (clear) and L1 (green) while running a multispectral atmospheric opacity (tau) imaging sequence, explains Moore.
“Since then, the Mastcam team has been sending a series of diagnostic commands with varying motor drive parameters, in an effort to characterize the problem and get the filter wheel back to the L0 position where it is most often used,” Moore said. “To date, some progress has been made, and the team is hopeful that the L0 position will be reached soon.”
Analysis will then continue to determine if the filter wheel can be safely returned to normal service. “Remember, this rover has been outside Earth’s protection since late 2011! This isn’t the first time our engineering team fixed something remotely and it won’t be the last,” Moore reported.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 3971, October 8, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Evening integration
After another Mastcam Left diagnostic activity was set to complete, the first arm backbone was slated to kick off and includes two contact science targets: “Helen Lake” (a less dusty dark-toned layer) and “Marion Peak” (a slightly dustier dark-toned layer).
The rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) was scheduled to take a full-suite of images on Helen Lake from 25, 5, and 2centimeters away and another mini-suite of images on Marion Peak from 25 centimeters and 5 centimeters away.
After the imaging, the robot’s arm turret was to spin to the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) frame for their evening integrations on the two targets.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager photo produced on Sol 3972, October 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Nap the night away
The first orbiter to pass over Curiosity will be the [European Space Agency] Trace Gas Orbiter, which should send data packages back to Earth.
“We mostly nap the night away, and on the second sol we’ll wake up with another remote sensing block starting again with a Navcam dust devil movie. Mastcam will follow up this time with some near-field mosaics of sand troughs between blocks, and ChemCam will shoot their second LIBS target named “Bridgeport” on a smoother piece of bedrock,” Moore explained.
With Curiosity’s arm activities done, rover operators will be ready to drive and potentially end up near the rover’s next drill site.
Posted in 
Image credit: Visual Capitalist
Visual Capitalist – an online publisher focused on topics and markets such as technology, energy and the global economy – has issued an informative look at Moon exploration.
Preyash Shah of Visual Capitalist has provided an interesting overview of attempted and successful Moon landings:
Since before Ancient Greece and the first Chinese Dynasties, people have sought to understand and learn more about the Moon.
Curiosity and centuries of study culminated in the first Moon landing in the 1960s. But there have been many other attempted Moon landings, both before and after.
A chart by Shah illustrates all the Moon landings using NASA data since 1966 when Soviet lander Luna 9 touched down.
Image credit: Visual Capitalist
Race to the Moon
The 1960s and 1970s marked an era of intense competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as they raced to conquer the Moon.
During the Cold War, space became a priority as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower, and its political-economic system.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy set a national goal to have a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.
After several failed attempts from both sides, on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was successful and astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon.
Credit: NASA/Inside Outer Space Archives
Fervor waned
After the Apollo missions, the fervor of lunar exploration waned. From 1976 to 2013, no Moon landing attempts occurred due to budget constraints, shifting priorities, and advances in robotic missions.
However, a new chapter in space exploration has unfolded in recent years, with emerging players entering the cosmic arena. With its Chang’e missions, China has made significant strides, landing rovers on the Moon and exploring the far side of the Moon.
India, too, has asserted its presence with the Chandrayaan missions. In 2023, the country became the 4th nation to reach the Moon as an unmanned spacecraft landed near the lunar south pole, advancing the country’s space ambitions to learn more about the lunar ice, potentially one of the Moon’s most valuable resources.
Image credit: NASA/Inside Outer Space Archives
Exploring Lunar Water
Since the 1960s, even before the historic Apollo landing, scientists had theorized the potential existence of water on the Moon.
In 2008, Brown University researchers employed advanced technology to reexamine lunar samples, discovering hydrogen within beads of volcanic glass. And in 2009, a NASA instrument aboard the India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe confirmed the presence of water on the moon’s surface.
Image credit: NASA/Inside Outer Space Archives
Water is deemed crucial for future space exploration. Beyond serving as a potential source of drinking water for future Moon explorations, ice deposits could play a pivotal role in cooling equipment. Lunar ice could also be broken down to produce hydrogen for fuel and oxygen for breathing, essential for supporting extended space missions.
With a reinvigorated interest in exploring the Moon, manned Moon landings are on the horizon once again. In April 2023, NASA conducted tests for the launch of Artemis I, the first American spacecraft to aim for the Moon since 1972. The agency aims to send astronauts to the Moon around 2025 and build a base camp on the lunar surface.
To access the original Visual Capitalist material, go to:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/visualizing-all-attempted-and-successful-moon-landings/
Image credit: Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic’s suborbital space travel company will carry out “Galactic 04” on October 6th, the company’s fifth spaceflight this year and ninth spaceflight to date. Runway departure time scheduled for 9:00am Mountain Daylight Time.
Ron Rosano, Namira Salim, Trevor Beattie.
Image credit: Virgin Galactic
Onboard, the three private astronauts are:
Astronaut 017 – Ron Rosano from the United States.
Astronaut 018 – Trevor Beattie from the United Kingdom.
Astronaut 019 – Namira Salim from Pakistan, marking first person to fly to space from this country.
Virgin Galactic’s regular cadence of commercial suborbital travel. Shown is SpaceShipTwo zipping skyward over New Mexico’s Spaceport America.
Image credit: Virgin Galactic
For flight updates from Spaceport America in New Mexico, stay tuned to Virgin Galactic’s social channels at:
https://www.virgingalactic.com/
https://twitter.com/VirginGalactic
https://www.facebook.com/VirginGalactic/
Image credit: Virgin Galactic
Image credit: IAC/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Starship and Beyond!
A conversation with SpaceX Elon Musk.
Broadcast from the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2023 in Baku.
IAC 23 Baku – Day 4
Go to (start 3:12:00) at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg3Z0wj9xDI&t=13689s
Image credit: IAC/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: SpaceX
Artistic view of China Space Station Telescope.
Image credit: NAOC
China is readying a major project that not only augments their research agenda for astronomy but bolsters use of the country’s space station complex.
There are bragging rights associated with China’s star-studded venture.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The spacecraft is called Xuntian, known as the Chinese Survey Space Telescope, but also the Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST). The name “Xuntian” can be literally translated as “surveying the sky” or “survey to heavens.”
NASA’s venerable and productive Hubble Space Telescope.
Image credit: NASA
Scheduled for launch next year, the bus-sized CSST houses a two-meter (6.6 foot) diameter primary mirror. This ultraviolet-optical space telescope is to co-orbit with the country’s Tiangong orbital outpost. It has a nominal mission lifetime of 10 years, but the observatory’s space duties could be extended.
For more information on this upcoming Chinese endeavor, go to my new Space.com story – “Chinese astronomers say their new space telescope will outdo Hubble” – at:
https://www.space.com/china-space-telescope-xuntian
Credit: NPO Lavochkin
That failed Russian Luna-25 robotic lunar lander was likely taken out by out-of-whack accelerometer hardware, part of the BIUS-L component that provides angular velocity measurements.
Russia’s rekindling of its lunar program following the former Soviet Union’s pioneering Moon exploration initiatives that ended in 1976 will move forward, according to Roscosmos chief, Yuri Borisov.
During preparations for descent to the surface, Russia’s Luna-25 Moon lander experienced an anomaly that caused it to impact into the southwest rim of Pontécoulant G crater on Aug. 19, 2023, at 7:58 a.m. EDT (11:58 a.m. UTC).
Image credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University
In a look into the Luna-25 mishap, the craft’s propulsion system on August 19 operated for 127 seconds instead of a planned 84 seconds – an incorrect propulsive maneuver that sent the lander onto a crashing finish on the Moon.
On August 19 that impulse was meant to form the probe’s pre-landing elliptical orbit. However, communication with the automatic station was interrupted. A subsequent search for Luna-25 did not produce results.
Post-crash photo shows Roscosmos chief, Yuri Borisov inspecting Luna-25 test facility. Image credit: Roscosmos
Abnormal functioning
According to a Roscosmos posting, the culprit was the abnormal functioning of the on-board control complex, “associated with the failure to turn on the accelerometer unit in the BIUS-L device (angular velocity measurement unit) due to the possible entry into one data array of commands with different priorities for their execution by the device. In this case, the distribution of commands in data arrays is random (probabilistic) in nature.”
Image credit: Roscosmos/Lavochkiin/IKI
The on-board control complex received zero signals from the accelerometers of the BIUS-L device. Reportedly, this hardware had not been previously flown under actual space conditions.
“This did not allow, when issuing a corrective pulse, to record the moment the required speed was reached and to timely turn off the spacecraft propulsion system, as a result of which its shutdown occurred according to a temporary setting,” the Roscosmos Telegram communiqué adds.
Russian mishap group dug into why Luna-25 mission failed.
Image credit: Roscosmos
Moving forward
Recommendations to avoid a similar issue on subsequent lunar missions have been formulated.
At the now-underway International Astronautical Congress meeting in Baku, Yuri Borisov also reported that the interdepartmental commission to determine the reasons for the abnormal functioning of the Luna-25 automatic station had completed its work and that a report was being prepared to the Government of the Russian Federation.
Luna-26
Image credit: Roscosmos/IKI/Inside Outer Space archives
Roscosmos is considering the option of carrying out flights of the Luna-26 and Luna-27 missions at an earlier date.
Luna-27
Image credit: Roscosmos/IKI/Inside Outer Space archives
“No one is going to fold their arms, and we are determined to continue the lunar program. Moreover, we are considering the possibility of shifting the Luna-26 and Luna-27 missions to the left in order to get the results we need as quickly as possible,” Borisov said.
NASA’s Perseverance rover now busy at work on Mars carries a microphone mounted onto the robot’s SuperCam mast unit.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
Consider it sound advice.
The use of tiny microphones on NASA’s Mars Perseverance has proven big time beneficial to both engineers and scientists. They can identify wind gusts even hear the staccato popping sounds made by instrument-generated laser pulses.
Similarly, the swirling blades of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter have been picked up, as has the pumping rhythm of an oxygen-making experiment.
Hear, hear! Flights of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter have been picked up by the Perseverance rover, offering both valuable engineering and scientific data.
Image credit: Ralph Lorenz, et al., NASA/JPL-Caltech, University of Arizona/HiRISE
Thanks to the Perseverance machinery rolling about within Jezero Crater, it’s time to turn up the volume on microphones for extra-planetary exploration.
For more information, go to my new Space.com story – “Microphones in space: Why scientists want to listen in on alien worlds” – at:
https://www.space.com/microphones-in-space-listen-to-alien-worlds
In the early morning hours of September 24, NASA’s first sample return mission of bits and pieces of an asteroid successfully parachuted into the Department of Defense Dugway Proving Ground in the Utah Test and Training Range, roughly 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Following its high-speed re-entry, the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule served as an artificial meteor before parachuting into the desert landscape of the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range.
Image credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
Diagram indicates the various stages of a sample return capsule flight (not to scale). Infrasound and seismic stations, depending on their location, can detect acoustic signatures generated by the re-entry. The arrow indicates direction of travel.
Image credit: Elizabeth Silber, et al.
That extraterrestrial freight from afar came capsule-contained courtesy of the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission.
Off shoot
But there was an “off shoot” from the capsule’s scorching re-entry as it hot-footed its way to Earth.
Go to my new Multiverse Media/SpaceRef story – “Scientific Bonanza – OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Return Capsule Studied as “Artificial Meteor” – at:
A Sandia National Laboratories balloon taking flight bears sensors including a GPS tracker and reusable infrasound sensor. This type of flight hardware was used to support data-gathering during the re-entry of the OSIRIS-REx capsule into Utah.
Image credit: Sandia National Laboratories
Part of the network of sensors used to record the in-coming OSIRIS-REx capsule re-entry.
Image credit: Sandia National Laboratories/Elizabeth Silber
Sensor equipment was placed right under the point of peak heating by the OSIRIS-REx capsule as it made its way to a Utah landing.
Image credit: Johns Hopkins University/Benjamin Fernando
Image credit: Roscosmos/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Russia’s Roscosmos chief, Yuri Borisov, explains that Russia will decide on extending the operation of the International Space Station after 2028, based on the condition of the station.
Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress in Baku, he spoke about plans to create a modular Russian orbital station, which is planned to be deployed in the period 2027-2032.
Image credit: Roscosmos/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Borisov noted that the Russian side is open to international cooperation in this project, providing opportunities for foreign partners both to send cosmonauts and to build individual modules.
The Russian space leader also focused on the problem of pollution of near-Earth space. Russia plans to develop space monitoring by creating a new one on the basis of the existing system – “Milky Way.”
Go to this informative video at:
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission elements.
Credit: CNSA
China Moon exploration planners are detailing the country’s next robotic lunar probe mission, the Chang’e-6 to be launched around 2024.
This Moon lander is to set down in the south pole-Aitken Basin on the lunar far side and gather lunar samples, then rocket the specimens to Earth.
According to the China National Space Administration (CNSA), Chang’e-6 operations are to be supported by a newly developed lunar relay satellite Queqiao-2, or Magpie Bridge-2, to be in position within the first half of 2024.
Similar to the successful Chang’e-5 return sample probe, Chang’e-6 will consist of four components: an orbiter, lander, ascender and Earth re-entry module. The Chang’e-6 will seek to retrieve one to two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of lunar samples.
If the mission succeeds, Chang’e-6 will mark the first returned samples from the Moon’s far side.
Photo taking during Chang’e-5 surface sampling.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
International payloads
China has launched five lunar exploration spacecraft since 2007. The most recent mission, the Chang’e 5, landed on the Moon in December 2020, rocketing back to Earth 1,731 grams of lunar rocks and soil.
In addition, the Chang’e 4 mission deployed the Yutu 2 lunar rover, still operating for nearly five years, earning its stripes as the world’s longest-operating lunar rover.
“Chang’e-6 will collect samples and back to the Earth after that, so it won’t stay too long on the surface of the Moon,” said Tang Yuhua, deputy chief designer of Chang’e-7 mission with the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the CNSA.
Landing leg of Chang’e-5 lander.
Credit: CNSA/CLEP
CNSA added that the Chang’e-6 lunar mission will carry payloads from France to detect radioactive gas radon, an Italian laser corner reflector to calibrate radar systems, a European Space Agency-provided negative ion detector, and a CubeSat, a square-shaped miniature satellite from Pakistan.
Near, far side differences
China Central Television (CCTV) reports that, originally, Chang’e-6 served as backup to the Chang’e-5 mission in case of failure.
The Queqiao-2 relay satellite is necessary to provide relay communication services as the Chang’e-6 lander, due to its far side site, will not have a direct communication link with Earth, said Wang Qiong, deputy chief designer of the Chang’e-6 mission.
Chang’e-5 return capsule holding lunar specimens.
Credit: National Astronomical Observatories, CAS
“There are very big differences between the near and far side of the Moon. The far side of the Moon is basically the ancient lunar crust and the lunar highlands, and many scientific discoveries will be found there,” said Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the third-phase lunar exploration project.
Wang Qiong, deputy chief designer of the Chang’e-6 mission.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Wang added that for scientific considerations, “we need to obtain samples from different ages and regions. For engineering considerations, we mainly focus on the feasibility of the project. First, the slope must be relatively gentle, and second, it must be relatively flat, making it easy to land.”
Research station
As planned, the fourth phase of China’s lunar exploration program, including the Chang’e-6, Chang’e-7, and Chang’e-8 missions, is aimed to initially build a basic model of an international lunar scientific research station at the Moon’s south pole.
The Moon’s south pole is a region of extreme low temperature and complicated terrain containing low-lying crater pits and towering peaks. The intense sunlight and possible water ice existing in permanently shadowed regions is viewed as important to establishing a station at that location.
International Lunar Research Station. Image credit: CNSA
“There are some highlands in the south pole with very good lighting conditions. They may be covered by light for 70 to 80 percent of the time throughout the year. These locations are very conducive to scientific exploration. On the other hand, there are sunken pits in permanent shadows in the south sole. In these pits, there is no sunlight all year round. Scientists believe that water ice may exist in these places,” said Wang.
Countries around the world now regard the Moon’s south pole as a focus area for exploration, added Wang. “In the future, there will be multiple missions from many countries, such as the United States, Japan, and China, that have to land in the south pole. Therefore, the Moon’s south pole will become more and more crowded, and more and more detection modules will work here,” Wang told CCTV.
Credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Humans to the Moon
Meanwhile China is now developing a new carrier rocket and crewed spacecraft as part of its goal to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030. That booster, the Long March-10, is reportedly to make its inaugural flight in 2027.
Rong Yi, a rocket expert with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), told CCTV that the Long March-10 uses liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen and kerosene as propellants. It has a total length of about 92 meters; a takeoff weight of about 2,187 tons; a takeoff thrust of about 2,678 tons, and will have a carrying capacity of no less than 27 tons to be hurled on an Earth-Moon transfer orbit.
Rong Yi, chief designer of Long March-2F carrier rocket at China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT).
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“At present, various research and development works are being advanced in an orderly and rapid manner. The typical feature of the carrier rocket is that it uses non-toxic liquid oxygen kerosene as propellant. The rocket has a core diameter of 5 meters and is bundled with a 5-meter-diameter booster. Therefore, its future carrying capacity for the Earth-Moon transfer orbit will be 27 tons, which is more than three times higher than that of the Long March-5,” said Rong, chief designer of Long March-2F carrier rocket at CALT.
The new piloted spacecraft is modular in design, consisting of an escape tower, a return capsule and a service module to meet the needs of near-Earth and deep space missions, CCTV reports.
