Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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May 7th, 2023
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s next milestone in outfitting the country’s space station is the upcoming launch of the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft atop a Long March-7 Y7 booster.
Lifftoff is to occur next week from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in China’s southern island province of Hainan. Departure is reportedly on May 10.
The rocket topped by the uncrewed supply ship has been transferred to the launching area. Final tests are underway before carrying out the first spaceflight after China’s orbiting facility entered the stage of application and development.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said Sunday that the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft will be launched in the near future at an appropriate time.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Launch conditions
“The Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft will receive checks and re-examinations on its power supply, the function and performance of its equipment, as well as the coordination among the equipment,” said Ren Liang, chief designer on overall responsibilities of cargo spacecraft with the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
“After that, we will implement a comprehensive assessment of the cargo spacecraft’s health condition, so as to ensure all the launch conditions are met,” Ren told China Central Television (CCTV).
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Cargo capacity
This cargo spacecraft has an increased cargo capacity contrasted to earlier missions – increased from 6.9 tons to 7.4 tons. The vehicle’s loading volume was raised from 18.1 cubic meters to 22.5 cubic meters, up about 20 percent.
Lofting daily supplies for the now orbiting Shenzhou-15 crew onboard the station, as well as the future Shenzhou-16 crew, Tianzhou-6 will carry 1.75 tons of propellant, over 1,540 pounds (700 kilograms) of which are meant for refueling the space station.
Imace credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Go to this video of the rocket rollout at:
Posted in 
Artistic view of launch from Scotland spaceport.
Image courtesy: Orbex
Construction has begun at Sutherland in Scotland, the UK mainland’s first vertical launch spaceport.
Located on the North coast of Scotland, the spaceport will be the “home” spaceport of Forres-based rocket and launch services company, Orbex, a UK-based spaceflight company with headquarters, production and testing facilities in Scotland, and design and testing facilities in Denmark.
In May 2022, Orbex unveiled its Prime rocket, a two-stage orbital micro-launcher that would toss small commercial satellites into Earth orbit.
In an Orbex statement, the company explains it will use the Sutherland Spaceport to launch up to 12 orbital rockets per year.
Groundbreaking ceremonies included Dorothy Pritchar, Chair, Melness Crofters’ Estate. Image courtesy: Orbex
“We’re starting to see the physical representation of a dream that began several years ago. This is our way of regenerating this community and reversing population decline, by giving families a reason to stay or come back to this area, said Dorothy Pritchar, Chair, Melness Crofters’ Estate.
“The fact that we’re doing this while safeguarding the environment is something we’re all very proud of. I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this project, and I can’t wait to see the first launch,” Pritchar said in the Orbex press statement.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3820, May 6, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now wrapping up Sol 3820 duties.
Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, a planetary geologist at University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada reports that inspection of “Ubajara” as a potential drill site is underway.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3819, May 5, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“In the last plan, we brushed the surface and did some further investigation of Ubajara’s chemistry and structure,” O’Connell-Cooper adds, and that information gathered by the rover indicated that the target “appears to be representative of what we have been seeing recently, as we climbed up the Canyon from the Marker Band.”
Preload test
As recently scripted, the plan calls for rover planners scoping out a “preload” test, to get an idea of how the rock will behave when drilled. “This involves putting the target under some pressure to make sure the rock is stable and safe to drill,” O’Connell-Cooper notes.
The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the robot was scheduled to take two documentation images to document any changes.
Dust busting dust removal tool! Curiosity Mast Camera Right image taken on Sol 3819, May 5, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“Curiosity won’t be sitting idly for the rest of the weekend,” O’Connell-Cooper says. The rover’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) are investigating a patch of darker material at “Ilha Grande” and some adjacent bedrock at “Ilha Grande offset” for comparison.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image acquired on Sol 3819, May 5, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Dream list
MAHLI is also imaging the target “Bwesse Kiiki” which was analyzed by Curiosity’s Chemistry and Camera’s Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument on sol 3818 (Tuesday of this past week).
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3820, May 6, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Meanwhile ChemCam will analyze some nodular bedrock just beyond the Ubajara bedrock block at ‘Carajas’ and will take a long distance image (‘LD RMI’), looking ahead to Gediz Vallis, a large ridge feature which has been high on our ‘dream list’ of places to go in Gale since before landing,” O’Connell-Cooper reports.
This ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) will focus on an area of large stones and boulders which were identified in previous images.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3820, May 6, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Future drive direction
“We have been talking about the science we would do here for so many years, it’s hard to believe we are close enough to identify individual stones and boulders! Mastcam is acquiring a “9×3 mosaic” (3 rows of 9 images) of fractured light toned rocks ahead of us in our future drive direction,” O’Connell-Cooper adds. “These are close to some small impact craters, so we are interested to look at the fractures and see if they are related in any way to the craters.”
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3820, May 6, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Also on tap is use of Mastcam to monitor dust with a “crater rim image” and two tau measurements. These help to quantify the abundance of dust in the atmosphere.
Several images are slated to be taken to characterize active environmental conditions in Gale, looking at clouds and searching for dust devils.
The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) investigation and the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) round out the environmental monitoring, O’Connell-Cooper concludes, measuring hydrogen concentrations (DAN) and temperatures (REMS).
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Tianzhou-5 uncrewed cargo spacecraft has decoupled from the country’s space station, successfully separating from the orbital complex on Friday.
According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the vessel switched to independent flight mode flying towards the Earth for eventual reentry into the atmosphere.
The Tianzhou-5’s departure now leaves open the docking hatch for the upcoming Tianzhou-6 fully-stocked cargo vessel that is scheduled to dock with the space station in early or mid-May.
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
More equipment, materials
Back in November 2022, the now undocked cargo craft was lofted by a Long March-7 launcher, hauling roughly 5 tons of goods and materials, along with 1.4 tons of propellant to sustain crews onboard the Tiangong space station.
After the Shenzhou-15 piloted spaceship departs the station combination later this month, the Tianzhou-5 will orbit and dock at the forward port of the station’s node cabin, the CMSA said in a statement.
Compared with its predecessors, the Tianzhou-6 supply ship will tote more equipment and materials for scientific experiments and technological demonstrations at the station, according to China Central Television (CCTV).
To view a new video on the Tianzhou-5’s departure from China’s space station, go to:
An image of the NGC 5353/4 galaxy group made with a telescope at Lowell Observatory in Arizona, USA on the night of Saturday 25 May 2019. The diagonal lines running across the image are trails of reflected light left by more than 25 of the 60 recently launched Starlink satellites as they passed through the telescope’s field of view. Although this image serves as an illustration of the impact of reflections from satellite constellations, please note that the density of these satellites is significantly higher in the days after launch (as seen here) and also that the satellites will diminish in brightness as they reach their final orbital altitude.
Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.
That lyric has a number of astronomers wishing away the dawn of all those Earth-orbiting megaconstellations that are dotting the sky today and into the future.
The revered Hubble Space Telescope has been impacted by satellite trails in its images.
Image credit: NASA
With the advancing StarLink and OneWeb systems, as well as Amazon’s projected Project Kuiper internet network — and other initiatives — there is mounting concern by astronomers of being blinded by the light from an estimated 400,000 recent and planned low Earth orbit satellites.
Go to my new Space.com story – “Satellite megaconstellations are threatening astronomy. What can be done? – “The point is that we can’t come anywhere near duplicating major ground-based capabilities in space” – at:
https://www.space.com/satellite-megaconstellations-astronomy-dark-skies
Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3818 duties.
Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The last weekend drive moved the robot into a good position to attempt to examine a block it may attempt to drill, reports Alex Innanen, an atmospheric scientist at York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Curiosity Left Navigation Camera image taken shows “Ubajara,” which you can see on the left of the image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“We don’t dive right in; we have to make sure this is in fact where we want to drill,” Innanen notes. “This means contact science on “Ubajara.”
Special target name
Part of the Mars Curiosity team spent some time picking a special target name, which involved looking at pictures of national parks.
“Ubajara (a national park in Brazil), it was decided, is a great choice – it’s a bit more lush and green than Gale Crater, but the mountains and canyons are reminders of the canyon Curiosity just climbed out of,” Innanen adds.
Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The plan called for a pretty typical drill scenario, with Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the drill target, and a brush with the dust removal tool (DRT), but then researchers learned that they will not be able to use the DRT until more images of this target are collected, Innanen points out.
Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“Luckily, we were still able to move forward with the other activities in the plan,” Innanen notes, “and still prepare to examine this block to decide if we want to drill it in the future.”
Catch some clouds
A recent two sol plan (3817-3818) starts with a couple environmental activities – looking back towards the crater rim to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere, and then scanning for dust devils.
Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Then the rover’s Mastcam and Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) will both image Ubajara in advance of the contact science. After contact science, Mars environment experts plan afternoon observations to try to catch some clouds.
Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
A next sol plan calls for targeted cloud and dust devil movies. Then ChemCam has a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) observation of “Bwesse Kiiki,” and a long distance Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) mosaic on a ridge to the north.
Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Mastcam is also documenting the ChemCam LIBS target, Innanen concludes, and doing multispectral imaging on the layered block “Ekeni.”
An expeditionary crew on Mars sets up drilling gear in a quest to utilize ice for sustaining a human presence on the Red Planet.
Image credit: NASA
If humans are to ever plant boot prints on Mars, where they need to go first is where the ice is.
One problem: Astronaut crews don’t have the luxury to ring down to the hotel front desk for that hospitality.
Work is on-going to tease out where and at what depth extractable ice exists on the Red Planet. Not only is ice a key ingredient for helping to sustain longer and longer human stays on that far-flung world, but ice is nice for science, as well as climate geology, including the search for life on Mars.
Noctis Landing site on Mars is an ostensibly flat transitional region between Noctis Labyrinthus and Valles Marineris proper.
Image credit: Pascal Lee
Please don’t cold shoulder my new Space.com story – “Mars ice deposits could pave the way for human exploration” – so go to:
https://www.space.com/mars-ice-deposits-astronaut-missions
China Mars finding
In a recent development, also go to this paper highlighting the work of China’s Zhurong Mars rover — “Modern water at low latitudes on Mars: Potential evidence from dune surfaces,” that states:
China’s Zhurong rover.
Credit: CNSA
“This discovery sheds light on more humid conditions of the modern Martian climate and provides critical clues to future exploration missions searching for signs of extant life, particularly at low latitudes with comparatively warmer, more amenable surface temperatures.”
Go to the paper here at:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add8868
CAPSTONE over the Moon’s North Pole.
Image credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter
What’s the latest about NASA’s Moon mission mouthful, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment?
Thankfully, it’s called CAPSTONE for short – and is operating in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO).
Find out the latest with my new Multiverse SpaceRef story – “CAPSTONE Moon Mission – Challenges, Lessons Learned” – at:
https://spaceref.com/science-and-exploration/capstone-moon-mission-challenges-lessons-learned/
Explore Mars, Inc. has announced the release of the Report of the Ninth Community Workshop for Achievability and Sustainability of Human Exploration of Mars (AM IX), held on June 14-16, 2022 at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
AM IX assembled a diverse, select group of professionals from different fields to identify activities that are required for a comprehensive human and robotic mission strategy that provides the basis for a sustained and growing human presence on Mars starting in the 2030s.
For that to happen, this report looks in human health and performance, Mars science priorities that leverage human presence, operational strategies for transit and surface operations, and technology solutions, many of which can be tested on Earth, in low-Earth orbit, in lunar orbit, or on the surface of the Moon.
During the three-day workshop, as well as virtual meetings over the Summer and fall of 2022, participants developed a summary of recommendations as well as detailed appendices.
For the full report — The Ninth Community Workshop for Achievability and Sustainability of Human Exploration of Mars — go to:
https://www.exploremars.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AM-9_Upload_v-1.pdf
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3816 duties.
Curiosity has arrived at a new location with some bright toned, and more rounded rocks in its vicinity, reports Elena Amador-French, Science Operations Coordinator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“Unfortunately, we could look but not touch as our wheels were positioned such that we could not safely unstow the arm for contact science. We typically have a large suite of arm activities in weekend plans but with those now removed, the science team had ample power and time to do remote sensing,” Amador-French adds.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3815, April 30, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Rhythmic textures
In a recent plan for Sols 3814-3816, the first sol had the robot use Mastcam to image the target “Ekeni,” a target just in front of the rover’s right front wheel “with interesting rhythmic textures, Amador-French notes. “Could they be due to how the sediment was originally emplaced or how it has since eroded?”
Similarly, the target “Fazendinha” appears to represent a transition between rock textures.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
High resolution Mastcam images will allow scientists to consider the history of these blocks.
“We’ll also use our ChemCam [Chemistry and Camera] instrument to provide compositional information for the target ‘Sao Miguel,’ giving us our first ‘taste’ of the bedrock in front of us,” Amador-French reports.
More Mastcam
On the second sol, the rover was to continue investigating the area around it with more Mastcam and another ChemCam LIBS [Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy] observation on “Sao Tome” before taking a short drive – a scoot of just a few meters – to a potential sampling location.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Mastcam will document this new location with a 360-degree mosaic, capturing all the terrain that surrounds Curiosity.
New location
On the third sol of the plan, ChemCam was slated to use its autonomous target selection capability, AEGIS, to collect compositional data from the robot’s new location.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
As is typical for weekend plans, it called for the rover to take a suite of environmental monitoring measurements – searching for dust devils with its navigation camera, studying the dust opacity in the atmospheric with Mastcam and engineering cameras, as well as a regular cadence of Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) observations.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image acquired on Sol 3815, May 1, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Sample dump
In addition to these remote sensing activities, also planned were two Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction/X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument (CheMin) activities to set Curiosity up for potential sampling next week.
“Both activities are intended to ensure our instrument is as clean and prepared as possible to accurately measure mineralogy,” Amador-French concludes. “We’ll vibe CheMin’s inlet funnel, as well dump any potential remaining sample from the cell we intend to deliver our next sample to.”
As always, dates of planned rover activities are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.
