Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
“True Grit” – Atacama Desert Biocrust Offers Extra-terrestrial Tie to Microbial Colonization of Mars
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November 25th, 2022
Image taken from the International Space Station of the Atacama Desert and the numerous salt flats in the Andes Mountains along the border of Chile and Bolivia.
Credit: NASA
The Atacama Desert in Chile continues to offer Earth-based clues on searching for astrobiology off-planet.
Recently, a novel type of “biocrust” was discovered in the Atacama Desert, one of the world’s oldest and driest deserts, covering most of its floor. This biocrust is made of prokaryotic cyanobacteria, eukaryotic green algae, fungi, lichens and other microbes.
The harsh conditions under which they thrive in this biocrust – or at least individual strains contained therein – might be suitable candidates for testing their vitality in outer space or under conditions found on Mars.
Credit: Patrick Jung, et al.
A new research paper — “The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology” – appears in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences.
Extra-terrestrial landscapes
According to the research, led by Patrick Jung, a post doctoral researcher at the
University of Kaiserslautern in Germany, the grit crust mediates various bio-weathering activities in its natural habitat.
“These activities prime soil for higher organisms in a way that can be envisioned as a proxy for general processes shaping even extra-terrestrial landscapes,” Jung and colleagues explains. The grit crust as a model for astrobiology “in terms of extra-terrestrial microbial colonization and biotechnological applications that support human colonization of planets.”
Potential fossilization traces of the grit crust depicted by various techniques.
Credit: Patrick Jung, et al.
Jung and associates explain that one of the biggest challenges during human colonization of other planets has been the formation of soil as a weathering product of mainly unweathered rocks found on other planets. “Access to nutrient rich soil would subsequently allow the growth of microorganisms and/or plants in order to support human life,” they suggest.
Wind-blown dust
The atmosphere of the Red Planet is full of dust, with loads that greatly fluctuate with the year’s season. Indeed, that aeolian (wind-blown dust) transport, including microbes, is a likely scenario that could support the microbial colonization of other planets that support human life.
In the Atacama Desert, for example, it has been shown that certain soil-borne microorganisms were transported more than 60 miles (100 kilometers) off the coast towards the hyper-arid core of the Atacama, the researchers point out.
“The ecology of the grit crust, including its extremophile microbial constituents, are unique amongst biocrusts on Earth that can be beneficial for human colonization of other planets or rock bodies such as the Earth’s Moon or Mars,” the research team observes.
Humans on Mars – the reach for the Red Planet.
Credit: Boeing
Consortium of microorganisms
The grit crust’s extremophiles can be used to test their suitability during mass cultivation in photobioreactors (food-, oxygen source for crewed missions), screenings for Chlorophyll F, a photosynthetic pigment which is able to capture light energy in the infrared spectrum.
“For these reasons, the grit crust as a consortium of various microorganisms on a mineral substrate opens up a new opportunity to test hypotheses and ideas in the context of astrobiology that surpasses other biocrusts known on Earth,” Jung and colleagues report.
Currently, the research project “Grit Life” funded by the German Research Foundation, aims to untangle the microbiota of the grit crust based on metabarcoding data applied to a recovery experiment over several years.
To read the full paper – “The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology” – go to:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2022.1052278/full
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Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China is preparing to engage in its own planetary defense initiative – a “knock ’em sock ’em” tactic to showcase how an asteroid that’s threatening to Earth can be diverted.
The planetary defense mission would take place in the next 10 years, said chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, Wu Weiren.
Two-pronged effort
“For example, this small celestial body has a size of about 30 meters. We will launch two probes from the ground. The first one is for survey. And having studied it thoroughly after a period of survey, we will launch the other one, an impactor, which will follow our order to collide with the asteroid and hopefully divert it three or five centimeters away from its course,” Wu told China Central Television (CCTV).
Credit: NASA/Don Davis
“A deviation of three or five centimeters would change the trajectory by over 1,000 kilometers after around three months,” Wu added. “The longer the time, the bigger the change of the trajectory. So, this is a very important mission. It’s mainly to eliminate asteroids’ impacts on human or potential threats of collision with Earth.”
Go to video at:
Wu Weiren, general designer of China’s lunar exploration program.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s chief designer of the country’s expansive Moon plans has detailed the next 10 to 15 years of lunar projects.
Wu Weiren said China has planned the fourth stage of its lunar exploration program, including Chang’e-6, Chang’e-7, and Chang’e-8.
Among them, Chang’e-6 is set to collect samples from the far side of the Moon and bring them back to Earth. If successful, it will be the first time for mankind to achieve such a mission, said Wu in a Central China Television (CCTV) interview.
Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects Chang’e-5 lunar sample return capsule.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Far side samples
“Chang’e-5 retrieved 1,731 grams of lunar soil from the near side of the Moon. We hope Chang’e-6 will collect more samples from the far side, aiming to achieve a goal of 2,000 grams,” Wu said.
The Chang’e-6 will be tasked to pick up samples from the far side the Moon and ship them to the Earth.
“If it succeeds, it will be the first time that humans have accomplished a collection of soil samples from the far side of the Moon. We all know that the Chang’e-5 retrieved and came back with 1.7 kilograms of lunar soils. We hope that the Chang’e-6 will pick up even more than that amount from the far side of the Moon,” Wu said.
Artist’s view of International Lunar Research Station to be completed by 2035. Credit: CNSA/Roscosmos
Launch of the Chang’e-6 is currently expected around 2025, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
South pole surveying
Slated for launch around 2008, Chang’e-8 will form the basis of a scientific research station at the Moon’s south pole with Chang’e-7, said Wu said, also noting that the station will include a lunar orbiter, lander, rover, a flying vehicle, and multiple scientific instruments
Chang’e-7 is going to land on the lunar south pole and have a flyover to search for water within that area, places that never sees sunlight, Wu said.
Ice distribution and thickness after a complete 2 Gyr model run. (a, b) Maps from ±60° latitude to the poles in (a) the south and (b) the north. (c, d) Maps from ±80° latitude to the poles in (c) the south and (d) the north. (e, f) Ice deposits remaining after 4 Gyr of sublimation to space.
Credit: Andrew X. Wilcoski et al 2022 Planet. Sci. J. 3 99
Mega science project
“We hope to cooperate with other countries to build an international lunar scientific research station by 2035 and realize joint design, joint survey, scientific data sharing, and joint management of the station,” said Wu. He noted that Chinese researchers are developing a nuclear power system that will be the long-term energy supply for the research outpost.
China will possibly complete the establishment of a lunar research outpost based on two robotic exploration missions by 2028 and send Chinese astronauts to the moon around 2030, Wu said as reported by CCTV.
The outpost consists of landers, rovers, ascenders and in-orbit craft, and the ascenders could be reusable, Wu said.
Credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“We prepare to work with other countries to build the international lunar research station and appeal to them to join hands with us in conducting the designing and surveying and the subsequent scientific data sharing,” Wu noted. “In the meantime, we hope to jointly manage the station. We hope to finish building the international lunar research station by 2035 and we also hope it will grow to be a mega science project of our country,” he said.
China is studying the feasibility of building internet communications on the Moon, designed to integrate data relay, navigation, and remote sensing, Wu added.
Deep space plans
In the arena of small celestial bodies, Wu said China plans to have asteroid sampling in the next 10 to 15 years and is preparing to carry out a planetary defense mission that will have an overall plan for the detection, early warning, and deflecting of small celestial bodies posing potential threats to Earth.
China also plans to retrieve samples from Mars and carry out interplanetary exploration of Jupiter and Uranus, said Wu. Exploration of the sun and sending a probe to the edge of the solar system are also in contemplation.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“We will also develop a heavy-lift launch vehicle with a takeoff thrust of about 4,000 tons, to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars,” added Wu.
Earlier this week, Long Lehao, a chief designer of China’s Long March rockets, also noted that China could land three astronauts on the Moon – before 2030.
Go to this video at: https://youtu.be/2JFUbSk70Ko
Illustration of Artwork of Ingenuity helicopter.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Martian helicopter has made its 34th flight – a short, low altitude hop – but a test of its get-up-and-go.
The 18 second flight and climb to 16 feet (5 meters) took place on November 23rd, during Sol 625 of the Perseverance rover’s wheeling across the Red Planet.
Flight 34 is a continuation of the handling quality testing of the aircraft.
New capabilities
According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, prior to this flight, lab specialists carried out a large-scale update of the Ingenuity software. “This update provides the aircraft with two major new features: crash prevention during landing and the use of digital elevation maps for easier navigation.”
This image acquired by Ingenuity Mars helicopter on Nov. 23, 2022 (Sol 625 of the Perseverance rover mission) and the date of Ingenuity’s 34th flight. Image taken using the vehicle’s navigation camera mounted in the helicopter’s fuselage and pointed directly downward to track the ground during flight.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The successful flight simply “popped up” to an assigned height, hovered, then landed.
“Over the past few weeks, the operations team has been at work installing a major software update aboard the helicopter,” explains Joshua Anderson, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Operations Lead. “This update provides Ingenuity two major new capabilities: hazard avoidance when landing and the use of digital elevation maps to help navigate.”
Software update
Anderson explained in a website posting that Flight 34 may not seem like much, but it was Ingenuity’s first with this software update.
“The team will use results from this simple flight to start testing these new capabilities, ensuring that everything works as expected on the surface of Mars,” Anderson added. “The update brings out new functionality in Ingenuity, making it a far more capable vehicle and effective scout for Perseverance. We’re all excited to see where this update will allow us to take Ingenuity’s journey next!”
Jared Isaacman, mission commander for Polaris Dawn.
Image credit: Barbara David
The crewmembers of the Polaris Dawn mission are busily training for their orbital flight early next year, one that will see the first commercial spacewalk, as well as carry out studies on the long-term implications of microgravity and radiation on human health.
Polaris Dawn’s four-person team recently visited the University of Colorado, Boulder, detailing their flight with aerospace professors and students. The university’s BioServe Space Technologies center is orchestrating a set of investigations to perform on Polaris Dawn.
The Polaris Dawn crew (center) detail their upcoming flight with University of Colorado, Boulder students and faculty.
Image credit: Barbara David
In an exclusive SPACE.com interview, the Polaris Dawn crew outlined the meaningfulness of their private space voyage onboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, targeted for liftoff no earlier than March 2023 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
To read my new Space.com story — “Polaris Dawn crew prepares for world’s 1st private spacewalk with SpaceX” — go to:
https://www.space.com/polaris-dawn-crew-private-space-mission
Also go to this video: CU Boulder panel and Q&A with the Polaris Dawn crew members at:
Image credit: ESA – S. Corvaja
Among the European Space Agency’s “Acknowledges”, “Recognizes,” “Reaffirms,” “Stresses,” “Notes” “Decides,” “Having Regard to”, “Considers that,” “Welcomes” and “Underlines” from documents written for a just-concluded Ministerial meeting:
“Looking towards Mars exploration, and with strong backing from the science community, the decision was made to build a European lander to take the Rosalind Franklin rover to the surface of Mars to explore whether life existed in the ancient lakes of the red planet,” explains the European Space Agency (ESA).
ESA’s ExoMars rover had earlier been confirmed technically ready for launch, and a fast-track study was established to determine options for bringing the mission to Mars.
Image credit: ESA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
In a post-Ministerial Level press gaggle, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, said he was “very glad to say that we have found a very positive way forward.” ExoMars would be launched in 2028, he said.
Aschbacher also noted that NASA has indicated that they may contribute to the ExoMars mission, perhaps offering a launcher and assistance on getting the robot down on Mars.
Ukraine war
The ESA-led Rosalind Franklin rover’s 2022 launch window was no longer possible following the suspension of ESA cooperation with Russia’s Roscosmos due to Russia’s war with Ukraine.
ESA Exomars robot.
Credit: ESA
ExoMars 2022 mission was a joint ESA/Roscosmos project. In an ESA statement, due to the suspension of the 2022 launch, the Exomars elements were prepared for storage at a Thales Alenia Space site in Italy awaiting further instruction.
A fast-track industrial study was initiated to better define the available options for a way forward to implement the ExoMars rover mission in a future launch.
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
Rebirth of the mission
At the time of that decision, David Parker, Director of Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA said: “I hope that our Member States will decide that this is not the end of ExoMars, but rather a rebirth of the mission, perhaps serving as a trigger to develop more European autonomy.”
Launch of the ExoMars 2022 mission had been slated for liftoff from Baikonur, Kazakhstan atop a Proton booster. A Roscosmos-led surface landing/science platform named “Kazachok” was to be utilized to safely plop the Rosalind Franklin rover down on the Red Planet.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China is augmenting its astronaut corps to support at least two crews of three individuals each to fly space missions in 2023.
Yang Liwei, deputy chief designer of China’s manned space program, told China Central Television (CCTV) that the country has begun the selection of the fourth group of space travelers which will have 12 to 14 new astronauts. Yang is the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program in October 2003.
The third generation of Chinese astronauts consists of 18 astronauts in total – 17 male and one female. Among them, seven will be working as spacecraft pilots, seven as spaceflight engineers and four as payload specialists.
Chinese space travelers in training.
Credit: CMSE
Intensive training
“The training program for the astronauts is quite intensive. We strive to ensure that they can fully meet the training goals in the more than two years, so as to make sure all the new astronauts are capable of conducting future space explorations,” said Yang.
According to Yang, China’s space program plan calls for at least two three-astronaut crews carrying out Chinese space missions each year.
The recruitment of the fourth-generation new astronauts is expected to be completed in 18 months, according to CCTV.
Image credit: NASA Langley/Advanced Concepts Laboratory
A crewed mission to Venus while en route to the Red Planet can enable valuable tele-operated science due to human nearness to that cloud-veiled world.
That’s the output from a study report — Meeting with the Goddess: Notes from the First Symposium on Venus Science Enabled by Human Proximity — prepared for the W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies.
Last July, the Institute hosted a symposium entitled “Science Enabled by Human Proximity to Venus.” It was convened to explore the potential science that could be harvested by human mission fly-bys of Venus while en route to Mars and rationales for a dedicated human mission to Venus.
Image credit: Gordon Squires, Caltech/IPAC
Apollo 8-style
“The compelling narrative of exploration combines planetary science at Venus, the search for life in its clouds, and an encounter with our sister planet that may shed light on our future climate,” says the report.
Crewed expeditions to Venus are a “modern analog to Apollo 8, but on the scale of the inner solar system,” adds the report. In 1968, Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to successfully orbit the Moon and return to Earth.
Venus “back-flip”
The study participants revealed an “appealing new mission option” that combines the simplicity of a fly-by mission with a longer dwell time in the vicinity of Venus to enable tele-operated Venus science. That trajectory is dubbed the Venus “back-flip,” one that provides two fly-bys of Venus.
Venus back-flip double fly-by trajectory from the perspective of Venus (long duration over Southern hemisphere).
Credit: W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies
A human Venus mission can last roughly half as long as a human Mars mission, while still subjecting the crew to similar environments, the report states.
“Thus, such a human Venus mission affords the ability to close knowledge gaps and buttress confidence in technology, concept of operations, and human adaptability before setting out on a Mars expedition. Symposium participants argued that it would be from confidence gained in a crewed Venus fly-by mission that we would have the confidence to send humans to Mars.”
Unexplored world
Venus is “Venera Incognito,” the study observes, “a vast, almost completely unexplored world of great variety, mystery, and beauty, with an area of unknown lands several times the land area of Earth.”
Tele-operated assets, atmospheric skimmers, landed probes, cloud flying craft and rovers could scrutinize Venus, top to bottom.
Image Credit: Johns
Hopkins APL/Caleb Heidel
For instance, as the coolest and lowest-pressure region on the surface of Venus, Maxwell Montes is an ideal location for a long-lived rover to explore for roughly a week.
Similarly, a Venus airplane could fly into the planet’s night side, both within and below the planet’s cloud deck.
Endless wonderland
The report concludes that there is every reason to believe that “Venus will be an endless wonderland of beguiling and mysterious vistas and formations.”
Given tele-operated exploration, “the public – perhaps following along at home with their own VR enabled headsets — can come along for the ride and join in the discovery and the fascination.”
To read the full report — Meeting with the Goddess: Notes from the First Symposium on Venus Science Enabled by Human Proximity – go to:
https://www.kiss.caltech.edu/symposia/2022_venus_science/index.html
Long Lehao, chief designer of China’s Long March rockets.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China could land a trio of taikonauts on the Moon before 2030.
That’s the story from China Central Television (CCTV), talking with a chief designer of China’s Long March rockets.
Speaking during this year’s China Space Conference in Haikou City of south China’s Hainan Province, Long Lehao, also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that China has an ambitious new rocket for human missions as its space program reaches new heights.
The new manned rocket is expected to have a similar diameter in its body compared with the Long March-5, the country’s largest carrier rocket which Long helped design. Advanced technologies have also been applied in the construction of the new rocket in order to complete the manned moon landing mission, added Long in the CCTV interview.
Credit: CNSA
“The launch vehicle has a near-Earth orbit capacity of about 70 tons and an Earth-moon-transfer orbit capacity of about 27 tons. We may launch this rocket in two missions and could land three Chinese astronauts on the Moon before 2030,” he said.
Multiple missions
Long added that a new heavy-lift rocket with greater carrying capacities is also under development.
With a 10-meter diameter and a height of more than 110 meters, Long said it is capable of sending a payload of 150 tons into low orbit, and is built to carry up to 50 tons to an Earth-moon transfer orbit.
“In the future, we can complete multiple remote missions, such as exploring Mars with manned rockets, establishing lunar base, and applying into civil use,” Long told CCTV. “We can use the rocket to build a space solar power station. Everything is going smoothly now. The first, second and third stages of engines have undergone corresponding short-range thermal tests. Specific plans have been rolled out. It is entirely possible for China to carry out first test flight in about eight to 10 years,” he said.
Credit: Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU)
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has issued a cost estimate focused on S. 4503, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.
Dated November 22, 2022, the CBO document notes establishing a secure system to collect information on Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP).
As a bill, S. 4503 would authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for intelligence activities of the U.S. government, including the establishment of a program to analyze the United States’ leadership in the technology sector, and establish a system to collect information on unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena (UAP).
GOFAST
Credit: DOD/U.S. Navy/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Historical information
Section 704 of the bill would require the Department of Defense (DoD) to “establish a secure system to gather and share information related to unidentified aerospace undersea phenomena (UAP). That system would be used to receive reports and to collect historical information on UAP. The system also would need to be capable of exchanging information with other secure information systems of the federal government,” the CBO document adds.
As noted in CBO documentation, the bill would enhance whistleblower protections; allow people to sue the United States government for compensatory and punitive damages; and “void some provisions of nondisclosure agreements that would prevent reports from being filed with the Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena Joint Program Office and prohibit private-sector entities from seeking damages in federal court from individuals who file reports.”
Authorization and outlays
According to a table in the CBO document, a “Secure Reporting System” has an “Estimated Authorization” pegged at $30 million. The “Estimated Outlays” in fiscal year, millions of dollars, are listed as $14 million in 2023; $12 million in 2024; $3 million in 2025 with zero dollars in fiscal year 2027 – all equaling the $30 million estimated authorization.
The CBO document is available at:
