Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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September 7th, 2022
Space debris plunges to Earth, burning its way through the atmosphere.
Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation
New research points to increasing pollution in the upper stratosphere due to reentering satellites, rocket bodies, and other incoming high-tech riff raff.
Air Force reservists load recovered rocket parts in a 2011 trip to Mongolia. The debris was identified as expended hardware from an Air Force booster that circled Earth for nearly a decade.
Image credit: Master Sgt. Linda Welz/U.S. Air Force
That troublesome trend is leading researchers to come up with proposals – one of those that use fabrication ideas to lessen space debris that make it to Earth.
The Aerospace Corporation has established a Space Safety Institute (SSI). As one of five focus areas, SSI is working on launch and reentry safety and “Design for Demise” is an item they’ve paid attention to.
Launch and reentry particle emissions in the Earth’s stratosphere.
Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation
For more information, go to my new Space.com story – “Space junk threat: Researchers working to reduce impact of falling debris – Building smarter could help a lot” – at:
https://www.space.com/space-junk-threat-research-reduce-impact
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Credit: NPO Lavochkin
Russia’s reactivation of lunar exploration via its robotic Luna-25 lander has slipped to 2023.
The postponement was announced to Russia’s TASS news agency by the General Director of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum. “Unfortunately, yes,” he said, when asked if the mission had been pushed back to next year, TASS reports.
Lunar hardware undergoes testing.
Credit: RSC Energia/Roscosmos
Reportedly, a Luna-25 speed and distance sensor required for a safe and soft landing underperformed during testing, leading to the slip from this September into 2023. It was made by the Vega Concern, a member of Rostec’s Ruselectronics holding company, owned by the Rostech State Corporation.
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
South pole landing
Luna-25 is intended to become the first domestic apparatus in modern Russia to head for the Moon. The probe is targeted for a region of the south pole of the Moon, touching down near the Boguslavsky crater.
A “reserve area” for the landing craft is southwest of the Manzini crater.
Factory floor integration of science instruments on Russia’s Luna-25 Moon lander.
Credit: Roscosmos
The Russian robotic Moon lander was built and has been undergoing testing by NPO. S. A. Lavochkin. This spacecraft has repeatedly slipped, from last year to May to August, then September 2022…and now 2023.
Soil sampling duties
Luna-25 is to study the upper surface layer in the region of the south pole of the Moon, the lunar exosphere and develop landing and soil sampling technologies. The declared active life of the probe on the surface of the Moon is at least one Earth year.
Russia’s Luna-25 will test lunar sampling skills.
Credit: NPO Lavochkin/IKI/Roscosmos
This Russian Moon mission continues the series of the former Soviet Union’s lunar exploration activities that ended back in 1976. Luna-24 successfully delivered about 170 grams of lunar soil to Earth.
The Luna-25 mission is to be followed by the Luna-26 orbiter and a Luna-27 landing vehicle, after which it is planned to start deploying a full-fledged scientific station on the Moon in collaboration with China.
Artist’s view of China/Russia International Lunar Research Station to be completed by 2035. Credit: CNSA/Roscosmos
Earlier, prior to Russia’s intrusion into the Ukraine, the European Space Agency (ESA) was to provide the European Pilot-D camera built specifically for precisely landing Luna-25 on the Moon. Due to the conflict, ESA cancelled the camera cooperation, among a number of other collaborative space projects.
Credit: Aerospace Corporation
As nations set their eyes on the Moon, specialists are starting to plot out international lunar search and rescue plans. The aim is to design, make operational, and deal with legal and organizational matters in case of emergencies on future human Moon missions.
Surely, the idea of surviving and thriving on the Moon is a first-rate realization…but not dying there.
Illustration of NASA astronauts on the lunar south pole carrying out early work to establish an Artemis Base Camp. Multiple nations are setting their eyes on the same lunar locale. Credit: NASA
Next month, the First International Conference on Lunar Search and Rescue is being held in Hainan, China. The unique meeting of experts is co-organized by the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) and the Beijing Institute of Technology.
For more information on the first-of-its-kind meeting, go to my new Space.com story – “In Trouble on the Moon? A 911 Call for a Search and Rescue Organization” at:
https://www.space.com/lunar-safety-search-and-rescue-on-moon
Credit: NASA
“Impact Earth: A review of the terrestrial impact record” is an impressive look at impact craters and hypervelocity impact craters on Earth. Still to be revealed is the total number of these craters, and there are reasons to suspect that the terrestrial small crater record is incomplete.
Lead author of the new research carried in Earth-Science Reviews is Gordon Osinski in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
“Over the past few decades, it has become increasingly clear that the impact of interplanetary bodies on other planetary bodies is one of the most ubiquitous and important geological processes in the Solar System,” Osinski and colleagues explain.
Images of lunar craters showing the change in morphology with increasing diameter. All images are portions of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Wide Angle Camera mosaics.
From paper: Credit: Gordon R. Osinski, et al.
“This impact process has played a fundamental role throughout the history of the Earth and other planetary bodies, resulting in both destructive and beneficial effects. The impact cratering record of Earth is critical to our understanding of the processes, products, and effects of impact events,” the research team adds.
Searchable database
Introduced in the new paper is the Impact Earth initiative and an Impact Earth Database. The goal of the initiative Impact Earth initiative is to provide a holistic view of impacts, from fireballs, to meteorite falls, to the largest crater-forming events.
At its core is a new searchable database of all confirmed impact sites on Earth and many of their most salient attributes, such as age, size, etc., Osinski and colleagues add.
“Given the fact that two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, it would be expected that a large number of impact features on Earth formed in such an environment. However, the record is notably sparse,” the scientists note in the paper.
Impact record
“It can be reasoned that the impact of extraterrestrial objects with planetary bodies is one of the most fundamental and ubiquitous geological processes in the Solar System, with implications for the origin and evolution of planets and of life itself,” the researchers observe.
Credit: Impact Earth Database
The study team flags the fact that the database is a new tool that can tell us about impact cratering processes and products. While newly established, the database has already yielded important new information, for example, on the simple-to-complex crater transition diameter and the nature of complex craters on Earth.
“With the ongoing robotic exploration of two impact craters on Mars (Gale and Jezero) and the imminent prospect of humans conducting fieldwork once again on the heavily cratered lunar surface, it is our hope that as happened during Apollo, that the exploration of the Moon, Mars and other Solar System bodies will occur hand in hand with the exploration of the impact record here on Earth,” they conclude.
Schematic diagrams showing the formation of simple and complex hypervelocity impact craters.
Credit: Gordon R. Osinski, et al.
To acquire the full paper – “Impact Earth: A review of the terrestrial impact record” – go to:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825222001969?dgcid=raven_sd_via_email
To access the database, go to: http://www.impactearth.com
Credit: Pneumocell
A novel inflatable lunar habitat design study has been funded by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The concept has been advanced by Vienna, Austria-based Pneumocell. Thomas Herzig is the architect that is specialized in inflatable structures.
This lunar habitat is located in the close vicinity of one of the lunar poles in places where sunlight is almost permanently available.
The habitat will operate self-sufficiently in the long term by producing and recycling its own oxygen and food inside large greenhouses and exclusively by using solar irradiation power.
Key elements
The concept features the combination of:
Prefabricated ultra-light inflatable structures
Covering the inflated structure with a thick layer of local loose regolith is seen as efficient protection from extreme temperature, meteorites and cosmic radiation.
Architect Thomas Herzig.
Credit: Pneumocell
The design uses mirrors that rotate towards the sun and bring visible sunlight into greenhouses.
On top, a hyperbolic truss frame tower holds a mirror membrane that reflects the horizontally arriving sunlight down into an artificial crater, where another cone-shaped mirror directs the sunlight into the toroidal greenhouse. The tower is based on a circular magnetic rail and rotates to follow the direction of the sunlight. In order to simulate night, the mirror is simply turned away from the sun for 5-6 hours within every 24 hour cycle.
The structure is modular. Several modules can form a large Moonbase or even Moon village
Go to this informative video at: https://youtu.be/1rOLgS_StSc
NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover is now performing Sol 3581 tasks.
New imagery taken within Marker Band valley:
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3580, September 1, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3580, September 1, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3580, September 1, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3580, September 1, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image acquired on Sol 3580, September 1, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Left Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3579, August 31, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-14 crew conducted their first EVA tasks, venturing out of the airlock cabin of the Wentian lab module.
Shenzhou-14 astronauts Chen Dong and Liu Yang carried out spacewalk tasks with Cai Xuzhe assisting the pair from inside the Tianhe core module.
During their first EVAs, expected to last about seven hours, Chen and Liu conducted tasks outside the lab module, including installing protective cables, setting up the expansion pumps, raising the panoramic cameras, and assembling the extravehicular toolbox, according to China Central Television (CCTV).
Shenzhou-14 crew enters new lab module. Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Three-module structure
The three Chinese astronauts have been working and living in orbit for 88 days since they were sent into space onboard the Shenzhou-14 spaceship and entered the combination of the country’s space station on June 5.
The combination of the space station is currently formed by the Tianhe core module, the Wentian lab module, the Shenzhou-14 spaceship and the Tianzhou-4 cargo craft.
During their six-month stay in orbit, the Shenzhou-14 crew will cooperate with ground control to complete the assembly and construction of the space station, expanding it from the foundational core module Tianhe into a basic T-shaped three-module structure, with Tianhe in the center and the two lab modules Wentian and Mengtian on each side of it.
The Mengtian lab module is set to be launched in October by way of a Long March 5B booster.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Onboard duties
Since arriving at the in-construction Tiangong space station in June, CCTV reports that the Shenzhou-14 have transferred material and supplies, completed in-orbit test work of the Wentian lab module experiment platform, unlocked and tested operation of experiment cabinets, conducted in-orbit tests of the functions of the small mechanical arm outside Wentian with the support of the ground team and completed space station complex management.
In addition, the crew completed routine work, such as medical examination, weightlessness protection training and performed scientific experiments. Training sessions included emergency evacuation, small mechanical arm operation, and medical rescue, CCTV notes.
Station complete is set for year’s end.
Credit: CNAS/CCTV Video News Agency/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China launched Wentian, the first lab module of its space station, on July 24. The Tianhe core module was launched in April 2021. The construction of the Tiangong space station is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Foot restraint
Fan Ziqi, chief engineer for aerospace product design of the department of assembly and environmental engineering at the China Academy of Space Technology told CCTV: “In the extravehicular activity this time, the foot restraint will be installed on the smaller robotic arm, which has a seating on the end of the arm. After getting out of the module, the astronaut will grab the foot restraint and install on the smaller arm.”
Fan added that after installing the foot restraint, the astronaut will proceed to hold the extravehicular workbench and insert it into one side of the foot restraint. “Equipment for transfer, including tools, can be placed on the extravehicular workbench which has quite a number of connectors on it.”
When standing on the seating, the astronauts can make a 360-degree turn while performing their extravehicular activities.
“The airlock cabin on the Wentian module is relatively large. Previously with the core module, the extravehicular workbench would be assembled outside of the module. This time, with the Wentian, the three sections of extravehicular workbench will be assembled inside the cabin and then moved outside the cabin to be installed on the foot restraint,” Fan said.
For CCTV videos of this spacewalk, go to:
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity took 31 images in Gale Crater using its mast-mounted Right Navigation Camera (Navcam) to create this mosaic. Curiosity took the images on August 28, 2022, Sol 3576.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3579 duties.
It is a whole new world reports Elena Amador-French, Science Operations Coordinator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
After a successful weekend drive of 43 feet (13 meters), Curiosity finds itself in the middle of “Marker Band” valley.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3578, August 30, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Dramatic change
“The underlaying bedrock has changed dramatically over the last week, from dark and nodular to light-toned and relatively smooth,” Amador-French adds. “This area has been of interest to the science team since Gale crater was first selected as the landing site, 10 years in the making!”
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B photo acquired on Sol 3578, August 30, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The orbital mineralogical information suggests the presence of Magnesium sulfate (Mg-sulfate) bearing rocks in this area.
A newly scripted two sol plan (Sols 3578-3579) provides scientists their first opportunity to measure the dust-free chemical composition of this new type of bedrock with the rover’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument, the team chose the target “Micobie.”
Local context
In addition to Micobie, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) will image “Jacamim,” another bedrock target.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3578, August 30, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3578, August 30, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Also on the plan is using the Chemistry and Camera Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) on the bedrock target Jacamim.
“These measurements will help place our orbital measurements into local context and help us piece together the story of how the chemical composition of Mt. Sharp has changed over its history,” Amador-French points out. “Beyond studying the local bedrock, we are taking advantage of the fantastic 360 degree view around us to image exposures of the marker band on top and west of the ‘Bolivar’ butte, as well as the stratigraphy expressed on the ‘Orinoco’ and ‘Kulenan’ buttes using Mastcam and ChemCam.”
The plan calls for continuing the regular cadence of environmental monitoring measurements.
“Our drive will take us another 14 or so meters into Marker Band valley as we investigate how the orbital indicator of Mg-sulfate is expressed in the bedrock at the rover scale over the next week,” Amador-French concludes.
Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3576. Distance driven at that sol:17.79 miles/28.64 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3578 duties.
Keri Bean, Rover Planner Deputy Team Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports that the robot has approached an area with different type of rocks.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3577, August 29, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The plan for Sol 3575 called for a big block of science activities.
First was a Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) activity on “Nova Estrela” which scientists will later look at with the robotic arm, followed by a ChemCam mosaic in the distance.
Then Mastcam was slated to take pictures of Nova Estrela, “Candado”, some of the recent rover tracks, some scouting images for a potential drill location nearby, and some of the Orinoco butte nearby, Bean adds.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3576, August 28, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Atmospheric monitoring
“Finally, that block of science observations will end with an atmospheric monitoring activity, Bean notes. “After that the rover will take a short nap, and mid-afternoon wake up to take a Mastcam sky observation. We’ll take another nap before beginning the robotic arm activities in the late afternoon.”
As the arm Rover Planner, Bean was responsible for the arm commanding. “We are taking a look at three targets with the arm.”
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3577, August 29, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
First, Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photos of the “Los Rosos” target and a 1.8 centimeter offset of it, then some MAHLIs of Nova Estrela, then finally some MAHLIs of “Enamuna” before placing the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) down on Los Rosos for an APXS measurement.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3577, August 29, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
On the move
“Later in the Martian evening we’ll re-place APXS on the Los Rosos offset target to get a slightly different measurement. Later in the night we’ll stow the arm to prepare for the drive on the next sol,” Bean reports.
On sol 3576, the plan was to begin with a Mastcam of Bolivar, a ChemCam observation of Enamuna and a ChemCam mosaic, before following up with a Mastcam of Enamuna.
After that, Curiosity was to drive about 40 feet (12 meters) to a rock for robotic arm work in the next plan. After the drive, the plan called for use of the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) active activity.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3577, August 29, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Midday science
For the third sol of the plan, Sol 3577, there was to be a midday science observation set with ChemCam autonomously selecting a target and a slew of Navcam atmospheric observations.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3577, August 29, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
After a long nap, the rover was to take a single Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) image along with a cosmic ray survey.
Overnight there was scheduled use of the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) to make an atmospheric observation.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3577, August 29, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Curiosity will awake quite early in the morning of sol 3578 to do a Navcam pre-dawn cloud survey and slightly later in the morning another block of Navcam and Mastcam atmospheric observations,” Bean adds.
Also on tap, a lot of passive DAN measurements and background Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) and Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) observations, Bean concludes.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-14 crew is engaged in a plant cultivation experiment onboard the country’s in-construction space station.
The plants cultivated in the Wentian lab module are growing well, said the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Monday. The goal of the plant cultivation experiment is to study the whole life cycle of rice in space, and explore possible ways to use space environmental factors to control plant flowering to maximize plant productivity in a relatively small sealed space.
Current configuration of China’s in-construction space station.
Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
According to China Central Television (CCTV) the plant cultivation experiment was launched on July 29. The trios of taikonauts — Chen Dong, and Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe – take care of seeds of arabidopsis thaliana and rice, which later successfully germinated.
The arabidopsis seedlings now have grown four leaves, the tall rice seedlings have grown to about 14 centimeters high, and the dwarf rice is 4-5 centimeters high and in good condition.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Sample harvesting
“The preliminary plan is that around late September, the taikonauts will collect the plant samples for the first time, which means a harvest of the samples before the Shenzhou-14 crew returns to earth,” said Zhao Liping, a leading designer of the Wentian lab module.
Zhao told CCTV that the plant samples will be handled and reserved in rigorous environment, so that scientists can conduct further research on them.
“As for the experiment on plants launched with the cabin, once the plants are collected, they will be handled in the glove box by the taikonauts, before they are placed in a temperature zone of minus 80 degrees Celsius. Then the seeds will be collected by the taikonauts, and placed in a temperature zone of four degrees Celsius, and the taikonauts will put them in a cold pack with passive life protection before returning to earth, so that the scientists can conduct more in-depth studies,” said Zhao.
For a video on the space plant experiment, go to:
