Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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March 28th, 2023
Image credit: Moon Dialogs
A Lunar Policy Handbook outlines the current policy issues, including registration, liability, and transparency. A second part targets policy questions related to operational considerations. It follows an approach that explores the potential policy implications of specific lunar activities, such as orbital, landed, and infrastructure activities.
The Lunar Policy Handbook is a reference guidebook for government personnel and private actors in the space industry. It is designed to be a high-level guide that is useful for a broad audience of space actors, outlining policy issues and operational considerations related to lunar activities.
Surge of interest
Heloise Vertadier, a space law specialist and PhD candidate at Otago University in New Zealand, explains that in recent years there has been a surge of interest in lunar activity.
“This renewed enthusiasm for the Moon is fueled by advancements in technology, reduced launch costs, greater funding for missions, and the growing awareness of the Moon’s potential as a valuable resource for humanity’s future,” Vertadier adds.
Image credit: Moon Dialogs
As humanity continues to explore the Moon, Vertadier notes, “it is important that we do so in a responsible and sustainable manner, ensuring that we preserve this unique and valuable resource for future generations.”
Taxation systems
As noted in the handbook, disagreements over lunar policy could incentivize states to utilize their taxation systems to support their interpretation and space-faring ambitions. Additional complications may also arise if an enterprise or individual claims to be resident outside of any terrestrial jurisdiction for profits taxation or asset jurisdiction, such as over intellectual property.
Artist’s view of two Artemis astronauts at work on the lunar surface.
Image credit: NASA
“Lessons were learned regarding the resources of the high seas, and Antarctica before it was too late. The same approach should be adopted regarding taxation in the lunar context,” the handbook points out.
Transparency
In the short term, the handbook adds, “it may be easy to avoid discord so long as those engaged in activities on the lunar surface are transparent with respect to their locations, allowing others to avoid them.”
However, this can set a “dangerous precedent” in and of itself and can be corrupted into quasi-territorial claims, the handbook asserts.
For access to the Lunar Policy Handbook, go to:
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Russia’s “Little Cossack” is being re-routed back to Russia.
Image credit: Roscosmos
The Russian Kazachok platform was destined to land on the Red Planet as part of the ExoMars 2022 mission, shown here being shipped to Europe for final assembly and testing.
Credit: Roscosmos
ExoMars 2022 mission was a joint ESA/Roscosmos project. Shown is rover ready to depart Russia-provided landing module and science landing platform.
Credit: Thales Alenia Space/Master Image Programmes
Image credit: James Madison University
A new website is being created to allow the public to report possible Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon skirting through the skies.
This new site is being established at the James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, permitting citizens to specify the time and location of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) sighting, upload videos, and describe the object. Reports would go into a database to be analyzed further.
The website’s development comes under the university’s Integrated Science and Technology (ISAT) program, an effort to cut across disciplines for a senior capstone project to be undertaken by students.
Image credit: Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies
Important topic
“When the Director of National Intelligence makes a formal statement saying that these unknown objects are real, that they have been detected by the most advanced systems in the Department of Defense’s arsenal, and that they do not belong to the United States, you know that this is an important topic and that the stigma surround [ing] UFO sightings is changing,” says Chris Bachmann, professor of ISAT.
Tim Walton, associate professor of intelligence analysis at the university, adds that the recent intelligence report, among other things, concluded that some sightings were real, “exhibited technologies different from and superior to publicly acknowledged American technology, could be a potential security threat, and the sightings should be further studied.”
Walton spent 24 years as an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Under the direction of Walton and Bachmann, the website is designed for cross-referencing UAP sightings with all known flight path data during the time and location of the sighting to determine if the sighting is a plane or something else.
UAP have been reported by Navy pilots unlike anything they have ever witnessed.
Image credit: Enigma Labs/Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich
Civilian involvement
Walton believes civilian involvement in this project is vital to its success. “The exact numbers are unclear, but sightings by civilians are likely to be more numerous and certainly of wider scope (over land and water) than those by the Navy, he explains. “Moreover, the data collected can be dealt with without revealing any defense secrets,” according to a university statement.
“For years, the gun cameras of Navy fighter pilots flying off of aircraft carriers have picked up strange objects behaving in very unusual ways – rapidly accelerating and decelerating, appearing and disappearing, and making abrupt 90-degree turns,” Walton adds. “I served in the Navy between my undergraduate and graduate studies and later worked at the Central Intelligence Agency for 24 years, so this sort of thing catches my attention.”
Shown at Congressional hearing, Video 1 2021 flyby movie showing a purported UAP.
Credit: Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Conventional/unconventional
According to the university statement, Bachmann notes that many of the civilian sightings are actually conventional aircraft. For example, atmospheric conditions can cause unusual contrails that catch the viewer’s attention; or the sun’s angle reflecting off a plane executing a turn causes a bright light that disappears without a trace.
“But some of the civilian sightings can’t be explained as conventional aircraft – and knowing which ones remain unexplained will greatly help experts focus on which sightings merit further investigation,” Bachmann says.
Unpiloted Soyuz sendoff from the International Space Station – a compromised craft due to a coolant leak.
Image credit: NASA
An unpiloted Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is set to return to Earth next week, a craft that was compromised due to a coolant leak late last year.
Departing the International Space Station (ISS), the spacecraft will depart the Rassvet module at 5:57 a.m. EDT, heading for an automated, parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan at 7:45 a.m. (5:45 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on Tuesday, March 28.
To replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22 – and help boost the safety of onboard ISS crews — the Soyuz MS-23 “rescue” spacecraft moored to the ISS last month. The fresh Soyuz is to be used to return cosmonauts and an astronaut later this year.
Soyuz MS-22 coolant leak image from last December.
Image credit: NASA
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin launched aboard the Soyuz MS-22 in September 2022. Following an external coolant leak detected on that craft last December, the replacement Soyuz MS-23 was launched to the space station on February 23 of this year.
Onboard cargo
Tucked into the returning, auto-piloted Soyuz MS-22 is over 480 pounds (218 kilograms) of cargo, including the results of scientific experiments (“Neuroimmunity”, “Biomag-M”, “Photobioreactor”, “3D-printer” and others), according to a Roscosmos Telegram posting.
Equipment for analysis or reuse, including navigation modules, lamps, television cameras, and a rechargeable battery, will descend under parachute, as will a charger and backup pumps “Orlanov-MKS”, sleeves of the suit “Orlan-MK”, gas masks, water and condensate samples.
In-orbit inspection of Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft.
Image credit: Roscosmos
“The equipment of the Soyuz MS spacecraft and the equipment of broadband communication systems, control of the onboard equipment and the onboard complex, air conditioning, regeneration of water from urine and oxygen supply are also being returned,” the posting adds.
Coolant-leak cause
Back on December 15, 2022, the external contour of the radiator of the thermal control system of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft was depressurized. Specialists later determined that the damage was purportedly caused by a micrometeoroid impact.
The vehicle’s radiator pipeline spewed its coolant out into space, compromising the overall integrity of the craft to return crew members safe and sound to Earth by keeping the interior of the Soyuz in a comfy temperature range.
Image credit: Roscosmos
Image credit: Roscosmos/RSC Energia
As for the cause of the coolant loss, studies aided by robotic arm-mounted cameras were carried out. Up-close looks found a tiny hole in the Soyuz MS-22 radiator less than 1 millimeter in size, created by an impactor careening through space at a speed of 7,000 meters per second, according to Russian space specialists.
Reentry process
In bringing back the Soyuz MS-22 descent vehicle, that process entails discarding the troubled instrument-assembly compartment of the ship – so it cannot be evaluated by hands-on experts here on Earth.
The three major components of the Soyuz are the spherical-shaped orbital module, the bell-shaped descent vehicle and the cylindrical-shaped instrument assembly module from which solar panels protrude.
Like the orbital module, the intermediate section of the instrumentation/propulsion module separates from the Soyuz descent module after the final deorbit maneuver and “burns up” in Earth’s atmosphere upon reentry.
Image credit: NASA
Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin.
Credit: Blue Origin
The Blue Origin New Shepard-23 uncrewed launch mishap back in September of last year was caused by a thermo-structural failure of the suborbital rocket’s engine nozzle.
The resulting thrust misalignment triggered the New Shepard (NS) Crew Capsule escape system, which functioned as designed throughout the flight.
In a statement released today, the private group said the Crew Capsule and all payloads onboard landed safely and will be flown again. “Blue Origin expects to return to flight soon, with a re-flight of the NS-23 payloads,” the statement adds.
New Shepard suborbital rocket and crew/payload capsule.
Image credit: Blue Origin
Technical details
As for technical details: The NS-23 mishap resulted in the loss of NS Propulsion Module Tail 3.
Capsule abort.
Image credit: Blue Origin/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“As part of the response to the Crew Capsule escape, the Propulsion Module commanded shutdown of the BE-3PM engine and followed an unpowered trajectory to impact within the defined flight safety analysis prediction, resulting in no danger to human life or property. Public safety was unaffected by the mishap, and no changes to crew safety system designs were recommended as a result of the investigation” into the mishap.
Uncrewed New Shepard capsule parachutes to Earth after booster mishap.
Image credit: Blue Origin
Aided by onboard video and telemetry, flight hardware recovered from the field, and the work of Blue Origin’s materials labs and test facilities, a mishap study group determined the direct cause of the mishap to be a structural fatigue failure of the BE-3PM engine nozzle during powered flight.
Clear evidence
“The structural fatigue was caused by operational temperatures that exceeded the expected and analyzed values of the nozzle material,” the statement explains. “Forensic evaluation of the recovered nozzle fragments also showed clear evidence of thermal damage and hot streaks resulting from increased operating temperatures. The fatigue location on the flight nozzle is aligned with a persistent hot streak identified during the investigation.”
Blue Origin is implementing corrective actions, the summary statement explains, “including design changes to the combustion chamber and operating parameters, which have reduced engine nozzle bulk and hot-streak temperatures. Additional design changes to the nozzle have improved structural performance under thermal and dynamic loads.”
For more information, go to:
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera Sol 3776 March 22, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3777 duties.
Monday’s planned drive positioned Curiosity with a new workspace to investigate, reports Scott VanBommel, a planetary scientist at Washington University.
“We have left the Marker Band,” VanBommel adds. “As a physicist and spectroscopist by training, I find myself looking more at the analytical data, in particular X-ray fluorescence data, acquired on rocks, than the rocks themselves. But there was something about the primary rock target in today’s workspace that kept my eyes glued.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera Sol 3776 March 22, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Waves and a rock
VanBommel says his attention was drawn not so much about the rock’s shape, but its texture.
“We’ve seen this before, sure, but there was a certain textural je ne sais quoi of this rock for me…not only the layers, but the ruffled edges. I couldn’t put my finger on what in everyday life it reminded me of, so, I did the only logical thing one can do in such a situation: ask my 5- and (nearly) 3-year-old nieces in Canada what the rock in tosol’s blog image reminded them of. They said waves and a rock, respectively,” VanBommel adds.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager photo produced on Sol 3776, March 21, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager Sol 3776, March 22, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Brush off
A recent two-sol plan (Sols 3778-3779) is focused on brushing and acquiring Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) compositional analyses of this rock, specifically one spot named “Marabitana.”
Curiosity then acquired images of the brush with Mastcam before acquiring further images of Marabitana as well as “Owenteik,” “Itapaiuna,” “Uaila,” “Mocidade,” “Xeriuini,” and “Anaua,” with Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) acquiring laser analyses of Anaua as well.
In the early afternoon when the lighting was just right, Curiosity acquired several Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) images of Marabitana, including one planned only one centimeter above the surface.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image acquired on Sol 3776, March 22, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Active bombardment
The arm was then stowed, and Curiosity commenced a planned drive of roughly 49 feet (15 meters) in parallel with the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) performing active bombardment of Mars with its neutrons. At the end of the drive, the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) snapped an image beneath the rover as Curiosity concluded its sol 3778 activities, VanBommel reports.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 3776, March 21, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3776, March 22, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The second sol of the plan contained passive analyses by DAN, automated laser targeting analyses by ChemCam, and environmental science using ChemCam, Navcam, Mastcam, and the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS).
“We shall see what Friday’s workspace has in store. I’d wager more “waves and rocks,” but I’ll defer classification to the same experts,” VanBommel concludes.
Russia’s Luna-25 Moon lander.
Image credit: Roscosmos
Russia’s reactivation of Moon exploration is on the move – the country’s Luna-25 robotic lander is to be transported to the Vostochny Cosmodrome in early June.
According to NPO Lavochkin, the production leader of the spacecraft, delivery of the Luna-25 is scheduled for the first ten days of June 2023.
Previously, Russia’s Roscomos announced that liftoff of the Moon-bound probe is targeted for July 13th atop a Soyuz-2.1b booster.
Russia’s return-to-the-Moon Lunar-25 hardware undergoes testing.
Image credit: Roscosmos
Hardware issues resolved
The repeated delay of launching the spacecraft was pinned on hardware built to help soft land the craft – Doppler velocity and distance gear. Late last year, that equipment passed testing and was incorporated into Luna-25.
Luna-25 is tagged as the first robotic Moon probe in Russia’s modern history. Under the former Soviet Union, a series of successful Moon missions took place, including the return of lunar specimens via sample return vehicles.
Topographic map of the southern sub-polar region of the Moon showing the location of Boguslawsky crater.
Credit: Ivanov et al., 2015 via Arizona State University/LROC
Given a successful sendoff, Luna-25 is targeted for the lunar south pole and slated to touch down near the Boguslawsky crater.
Russia/China lunar station
Meanwhile, in other Russian back-to-the-Moon news, Roscosmos Director General Yuri Borisov told the TASS news agency that Russia and China as cooperating on the International Scientific Lunar Station initiative.
“We have a wide range of interaction. First of all, this is a joint project on the International Scientific Lunar Station. I think that we have something to work on in this direction and enrich our joint programs,” Borisov told the Zvezda TV channel.
Credit: NPO Lavochkin
Borisov reports that the first stage of creating the International Scientific Lunar station (MNLS) is now underway via autonomous work on domestic lunar programs.
Russia plans to launch three robotic missions to the Moon, then move on to a second phase of putting in place the MNLS.
Joint Mars work
Borisov also reportedly said that Russia and China are already cooperating on issues of human space travel, a collaboration that will be continued. He also stated that following the Moon program, the two countries would evolve interest in the exploration of Mars.
“Russia is perhaps the only country that has the greatest experience in the field of long-term stay of cosmonauts in space,” Borisov adds. “I think that all these competencies will be useful not only for the lunar, but also for the future Martian program,” he added, as reported by the Russian Novosti Kosmonavtiki news group.
Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3774. Distance driven to that sol: 18.49 miles/29.76 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3775 duties.
It was a jam packed weekend for the robot on Mars reports Sharon Wilson, a planetary geologist at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“The rover is heading south across the Marker Band and is currently sitting in front of a lovely view that includes a contact between two types of bedrock,” Wilson notes. “The lower section of bedrock consists of very thin, horizontal layers, as though you were looking at the edge of a thick stack of construction paper. Above, the bedrock appears rougher and bumpier and is not finely layered.”
Curiosity Left Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3771, March 16, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Abrupt change in appearance
Over last weekend, the plan called for Curiosity to analyze both of these bedrock sections, below and above the contact, because this abrupt change in appearance may help Mars researchers understand how the environment evolved over time.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The weekend plan also scripted use of several instruments to characterize the bedrock, including the Dust Removal Tool (DRT), the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), and multispectral activities of the “San Rafael” target in the lower section, and the “San Francisco de Yuruani” target in the upper section.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“A MAHLI mosaic of target ‘Santa Elena de Uairen’ will stretch vertically across the two types of bedrock,” Wilson adds.
Short drive
The robot’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) device was slated to analyze the “Pico del Toro” target in the lower section and the “San Francisco de Yuruani” target in the upper section.
Curiosity Front Hazard Right B Avoidance Camera image taken on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Mastcam will document the contact in the workspace as well, in addition to taking a stereo image of target “Iurua” to get a closer view of an interesting rock sitting on the surface nearby,” Wilson points out.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Once Curiosity wraps up this long list of science activities, the rover will complete a short drive toward a nearby bedrock outcrop, stopping to take a look at a “foreign” stone (a rock that looks different than the surrounding bedrock),” Wilson reports.
Monitoring of environmental conditions was to continue over last weekend, with a survey for dust devils and observing the dust in the atmosphere.
“We have so much to celebrate after ten years of exploration with the Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity,” Wilson concludes, “and so much to look forward to on the road ahead!”
RKF Space Printer. Image credit: RKF Engineering Solutions
Rovers capable of imprinting the Moon and Mars landscape with customized words and pictures is a new line of business being offered by RKF Engineering of Bethesda, Maryland.
The idea has garnered a U.S. patent earlier this year, according to the group, cited as RKF Engineering patent US 18/100,141.
For example, once the made to order imprint is emblazoned on lunar terrain, the wheeled printers can then photograph the images against an Earthrise glowing over a lunar horizon.
“The RKF patent protects against any competition that draws imagery on a celestial body and is not reliant on a specific printer or rover design,” adds a company statement.
Apollo 11 footprint on the Moon.
Image credit: NASA
Tangible, lasting product
“RKF is thrilled to announce our space printer patent, and I can’t wait to see the first imagery drawn on the Moon and Mars,” says Jeffrey Freedman, RKF’s Chief Technical Officer.
RKF explains that Moon-emplaced imagery can survive millions of years, “immortalizing consumers’ words and likenesses.”
In April 1972, Apollo 16’s Charlie Duke left a family picture on the lunar surface.
Image credit: Charlie Duke/NASA
“Images can be anything from portraits to eternal love letters, words of wisdom, epitaphs of loved ones who passed, or even advertisements. The options are limitless,” RKF reports. “Once in place, a lunar rover printer can stamp and photograph millions of unique images and text messages over its operating life.”
According to the RKF statement, unlike plopping down big dollars for space tourism, “which is too expensive and impractical for most people, space printing will be affordable and provide a tangible, lasting product.”
Wait a minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
The highly productive NASA New Horizons mission is on “extended leave” after departing Earth in January 2006 – and the agency is now considering a new assignment for the nuclear-powered craft after over 6,267 days in space.
New Horizons was built by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratotry.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Steve Gribben/Alex Parker
New Horizons zoomed past Pluto and its moons in July 2015, before conducting the first reconnaissance of a Kuiper Belt object (KBO), Arrokoth, on New Year’s 2019.
With the completion of the New Horizons prime mission to Pluto, and its extended mission to Arrokoth, mission operations of the spacecraft would be terminated at the end of its second extended mission at the end of fiscal year 2024 (FY24).
Pluto flyby of New Horizons continues to offer a scientific bounty of new findings.
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/SwRI/James Tuttle Keane
“However, it is in the best interest of NASA, the New Horizons mission, the scientific community, and the American taxpayer for the New Horizons mission to continue operations and utilize its unique position in the solar system to answer important questions about our heliosphere and its interaction with the interstellar medium, while allowing for scientific opportunities that present themselves beyond Heliophysics.”
That’s the word from a just-issued NASA Request for Information regarding a New Horizons Interstellar Mission (NIHM).
Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) Arrokoth as viewed by New Horizons.
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/SwRI
Level of interest
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is exploring whether interested science teams have a set of science objectives to propose to the space agency for use of the mission beyond FY24.
The Request for Information (RFI) issued on March 15 is designed to gauge the level of interest of the wider science community in pursuing the next phase of science leadership for the mission, and to estimate appropriate annual costs.
That RFI seeks to define three years of science goals for a new mission concept utilizing the New Horizons observatory, including the definition of operations modes of the spacecraft and its instruments to address these science goals. The New Horizons mission carries seven scientific instruments.
The RFI emphasizes that NASA is obtaining information for planning purposes only, and the Government does not intend to award a contract at this time.
All responses to the RFI must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on April 17, 2023.
By continuing the New Horizons mission operations and utilizing its unique position in the Solar System, important questions can be answered about the heliosphere and its interaction with the interstellar medium “while allowing for scientific opportunities that present themselves beyond Heliophysics,” the RFI adds.
Scientific leadership
While on the face of it, the RFI is welcomed news for deep diving space exploration. But there seems to be a bit of disconcerting news too.
“The solicitation may allow teams and/or organizations to propose for scientific leadership of a New Horizons Interstellar Mission.” In non-NASA speak, what appears to be afoot is the disbanding of the current New Horizons science team that scored over the years milestone-making observations by the spacecraft – a group shaped by some 20 years of work to assure the scientific output from the probe.
As noted in the RFI: “It is expected that spacecraft operations will continue to be conducted by the existing operations team.”
So as New Horizons continues to fly outward, those bureaucratic wheels of space science at NASA are likely to hit a speed bump within certain scientific community circles.
Stay tuned!
For a look at the RFI, go to: https://go.nasa.gov/NewH23IMRFI
