Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
Author: 
July 18th, 2022
Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)/China National Space Administration (CNSA)/United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)/China Manned Space Agency (CMSA)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China is developing the prototype sample of the country’s first space telescope Xuntian, also known as Chinese Survey Space Telescope or the Chinese Space Station Telescope
According to the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, the space telescope has an aperture of two meters and loaded with state-of-art detectors. A bus-sized facility, the telescope has a length equal to that of a three-storied building and weighs more than 10 tons.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Two part telescope
“The Xuntian space telescope consists of two parts. One is the Xuntian optical facility, and the other is the Xuntian platform. The Xuntian optical facility is a telescope and it has many subsystems,” Zhan Hu, principle scientist of the Xuntian optical facility and researcher from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told China Central Television (CCTV).
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The first-generation Xutian space telescope consists of five observation apparatus, including the Xuntian module, the terahertz module, the multichannel imager, the integral field spectrograph, and the extrasolar planetary imaging coronagraph.
The Xuntian module, a camera with a wide field of view, will take up major observation time.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Independent flight
“We are still developing the prototype sample. Currently, we’ve completed the development of all subsystems, components, and units, and we are preparing for the test after they are assembled,” said Xu Shuyan, chief designer of the Xuntian optical facility and researcher from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“After this, we will start the development of the telescope sample, and start the research of the flying parts. Then we will conduct the joint test with the Xuntian platform and the test at the launch base, before it is launched,” Xu told CCTV.
During its normal observations, the space telescope will fly independently in the same orbit as China’s space station – but at a faraway distance.
The space telescope will be launched after the construction of the space station is completed and will be put into operation around 2024.
For an informative video about China’s space telescope effort, go to:
Posted in 
Credit: Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU)
In early June, NASA announced it is calling into action an independent study on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena – UAP in nameless, shape-shifting short form.
NASA is commissioning a UAP study team to start early in the fall to look into events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena.
The intent is to move the scientific understanding of UAPs forward.
Credit: Via Change.org petitions
I reached out to a number of UAP and Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) groups, leading experts in the field, as well as those skeptical of NASA’s endeavor. Clearly, lots of advice and some concerns flagged.
For more information on NASA and its study of UAPs, go to my new Space.com story – “Will new NASA study move the needle on UFO research? – Experts weigh in” at:
The Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft was undocked from the Tianhe Core Module on July 17, 2022.
Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s space station construction site entered a new stage with the undocking of the Tianzhou-3 cargo craft in preparation for the launch of the Wentian lab module.
Video released by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) showed the freighter slowly detaching from the front docking port of the core module Tianhe and flying away.
Credit: Lee Brandon-Cremer (CC BY-SA 4.0)
“Before undocking, Tianzhou-3 was docked with the core module’s front port, which will be the one lab module Wentian docks with following its launch. So, before Wentian arrives, Tianzhou-3 needed to detach from the combination to prepare for the launch of the lab module,” said Jiang Ping, deputy chief designer with the cargo spacecraft team at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.
“The entire undocking process went on without a hitch, with the craft completing the separation safe and sound and switching to normal in-orbit flight mode,” Jiang said in a China Central Television (CCTV) video.
Solo flight mode
“Tianzhou-3 is now in solo flight mode. Next, after the successful launch of lab module Wentian and its subsequent docking with the space station combination, Tianzhou-3 will be deorbited. By then we will lower the cargo craft’s flight altitude through two orbit adjustments,” said Luo Chengdong, assistant to the cargo spacecraft program at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
Shenzhou-14 crew.
Credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space
Tianzhou-3 was lofted on September 20, 2021 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern province of Hainan. It delivered six tons of goods to the country’s under-construction space station.
Now onboard the station’s core module, the Shenzhou-14 crew — Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe – are the third batch of astronauts to work within the Chinese space station.
Busiest-ever mission
During the busiest-ever spaceflight mission of six months, the trio will carry out an array of sophisticated tasks in space and complete the construction of the Tiangong space station, with a basic three-module structure consisting of the core module Tianhe and the lab modules Wentian and Mengtian.
Mengtian Lab Module undergoes ground testing.
Credit: CAST
In the six months, the trio will conduct rendezvous and docking for five times, three separation missions, and two transposition tasks [with the core module]. They will enter the two lab modules for the first time.
The astronauts will also carry out relevant function tests on the two-module space station complex, three-module space station complex and large and small mechanical arms with the assistance of the ground team, according to CCTV.
China is set to launch the lab module Wentian later this month (likely July 24) and another lab module Mengtian in October. The intent is to fully outfit the orbiting outpost by year’s end.
For a video of the supply craft undocking, go to:
Credit: NASA
“New and unexpected” findings from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on the International Space Station, says Samuel Ting of MIT at the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) being held July 16-24, 2022 in Athens, Greece.
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is a precision particle physics magnetic spectrometer, normally used in accelerators, installed on the International Space Station.
Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting, principal investigator for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, speaks about the first published results of AMS-02 during a 2013 press conference at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Credit: NASA/James Blair
Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting, principal investigator for the AMS, reports that in ten years the space-based equipment has collected more than 200 billion cosmic rays of elementary particles and nuclei with a large acceptance and per cent level accuracy.
Credit: NASA
New physics
“The results on positrons, electrons, and antiprotons show the existence of new physics,” Ting explains.
“The results on nuclei, from hydrogen to iron, show that the current understanding of cosmic rays cannot explain the data,” Ting notes in a COSPAR abstract. “The ten-year AMS results require the development of a new and comprehensive theory of the cosmos.”
AMS was launched on Space Shuttle Endeavour on May 16, 2011, then attached to the International Space Station’s Starboard Truss-3 structure.
Credit: NASA
Earth’s Moon is far from being a “been there, done that” world notwithstanding a dozen Apollo short-stay visitors between 1969 and 1972.
The space agency is eying an Artemis Base Camp, calling it “our first foothold on the lunar frontier.”
The ingredients for that encampment are a Lunar Terrain Vehicle – an unpressurized rover – to transport suited astronauts around the site; a habitable mobility platform – a pressurized rover – to enable long-duration treks away from Artemis Base Camp. Lastly there would be the surface habitat itself, capable of housing four humans at a lunar south pole locale.
Illustration of NASA astronauts on the lunar south pole carrying out early work to establish an Artemis Base Camp. Will placing Artemis astronauts on the Moon become a stepping stone to a sustained presence on Earth’s celestial next door neighbor? Credit: NASA
Digging in deep
To tackle key challenges that need addressing, a Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium is being hosted by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. It is work in progress and an ongoing endeavor that functions in collaboration with the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate.
This APL-led consortium is digging in deep into road-mapping ways to move humans outward, back to the Moon, re-planting crews there, but in a sustained way.
To learn more, go to my new Space.com article — “Rebooting” the moon: NASA’s Artemis program aims for lunar sustainability – Innovative technologies are needed to forge the first long-term presence on the moon” – at:
https://www.space.com/rebooting-moon-nasa-artemis-sustainability
Nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Scene spoiler alert!
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has put its own magnifying glass on the James Webb Space Telescope.
Lesson one: manage large project costs to limit cascading effects on others, the GAO’s WatchBlog explains.
Early images
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
While NASA released the first public images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which launched on December 25, 2021, the early images spotlight the different phases in the history of the Universe—ranging from early galaxy formation after the Big Bang to the evolution of our solar system.
Credit: Northrop Grumman
Costly delays
“But there are other lessons to gain from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which took 20 years to develop and faced more than 7 years of delays,” the GAO adds. They took in some of the early images from the JWST and explore some of the lessons learned that could help NASA in its development of future projects.
Go to this GAO look at JWST’s financial spherical (circular) aberration – “James Webb Space Telescope Delivers Fascinating First Images and Lessons for Future NASA Projects” at:
Credit: Visual Capitalist
Every day a staggering 2.5 exabytes of data is generated making our world increasingly difficult to understand.
Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Visual Capitalist is one of the fastest growing online publishers globally, focused on topics including markets, technology, energy and the global economy.
Check out their website to view all the data gathered on which countries are dominating space at:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualized-which-countries-are-dominating-space/
Credit: Visual Capitalist
Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3531. Total distance driven by that sol is 17.54 miles/28.23 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3532 duties.
The robot has finished up “Avanavero” drill activities and is “officially back on the Martian road to the layered sulfate-bearing unit,” reports Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Curiosity Mast Camera (Mastcam) Left image taken on Sol 3531, July 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The rover recently filled the day with contact science, remote sensing, and a drive of over 164 feet (50 meters-plus).
The remote sensing and contact science activities include use of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam).
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B photo acquired on Sol 3531, July 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Vein-rich rock
MAHLI and ChemCam Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) observation of a bedrock target named “Uai Uai,” as well as Mastcam regular and multispectral images of a vein-rich rock target named “Las Nieves” and a layered rock named “Luepa.”
Also on tap was using both Mastcam and Navcam to monitor the atmosphere.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3531, July 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fraeman served a tactical role as Surface Properties Scientist. “I helped the rover drivers assess whether Curiosity’s parking spot was stable enough to retract the arm for the MAHLI observations, and any terrain hazards that might affect the drive.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3531, July 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Several of Curiosity’s wheels were perched on rocks recently which made the stability assessment particularly interesting, Fraeman adds, “but after a lot of discussion with the rover drivers, we all agreed there was minimal risk of the rover shifting when we unstowed the arm.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3531, July 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
APXS data
In an earlier report, Ken Herkenhoff, a planetary geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona said MAHLI images acquired on Sol 3528 confirm that the rover’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) was well placed over the Avanavero drill tailings, “and the APXS data look good so we are ready to drive away from this location. But first, we are planning a few more MAHLI and remote sensing observations.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3531, July 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
ChemCam as slated to shoot its laser at a vein target named “Chiung” on the right side of the rover, then will acquire another Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) mosaic to extend the coverage of a bright mound with numerous veins.
Outcrop coverage
Mastcam was scheduled to also extend stereo coverage of the “Amacuro” outcrop, document ChemCam’s Chiung target, and monitor changes in the distribution of material on the rover deck.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3531, July 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“After Navcam searches for dust devils, Mastcam will look for changes in nearby rover tracks at Kamana,” Herkenhoff adds. “The arm will then be deployed to acquire another MAHLI image of the drill tailings to determine whether the APXS touched the tailings during the overnight integration planned on Sol 3528.”
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3531, July 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Also in the plan, MAHLI was set to take images from 25 and 5 centimeters of a vein named “La Laja.” Then the arm will be stowed for the drive.
“We are not expecting to receive as much data as usual for future planning, so downlink priorities were carefully reviewed, especially for the post-drive images,” Herkenhoff reports.
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.
Onward, ever deeper. NASA’s New Horizons on new assignments.
Credit: NASA/APL/SwRI
There’s quite a roster of potential benefits that underscores the importance and milestone-making capabilities of a nuclear-powered craft now in post-Pluto encounter.
Encounter with a KBO! This composite image of the primordial contact binary Kuiper Belt object, officially named Arrokoth, was compiled from data obtained by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it flew by the object on January 1, 2019.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute//Roman Tkachenko
In many ways, New Horizons has become not only the spacecraft that could…but it’s still on duty in extended mission mode, diving ever-deeper into the Kuiper Belt to examine ancient, icy mini-worlds in that vast region, at least a billion miles beyond Neptune’s orbit.
New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, CO. celebrates with New Horizons Flight Controllers after they received confirmation from the spacecraft that it had successfully completed the flyby of Pluto, Tuesday, July 14, 2015 in the Mission Operations Center (MOC) of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Maryland. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Designed and integrated at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006 and carried out a six-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons in the summer of 2015, culminating with closest approach of Pluto on July 14, 2015. Its observations in flying by that remote world fit into the “Plutopalooza-class” of revelatory reveals.
But there was more…and there’s more to come.
For more details, go to my new Space.com article – “Far beyond Pluto: What’s next for NASA’s New Horizons probe? – Seven years after its epic Pluto flyby, New Horizons is still going strong” – at:
https://www.space.com/beyond-pluto-nasa-new-horizons-next-steps
New Horizons proposal cover for the probe’s extended mission.
Courtesy: Alan Stern
How can we measure the space economy?
Almost 80 countries have a satellite in orbit. Yet even though the services derived from space activities are increasingly important to society, international comparability of space economy statistics remains limited. The newly revised Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy aims to encourage and facilitate data collection among both incumbents and new actors.
This second edition of the Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy responds to the needs of policymakers from multiple economic sectors that are reflecting on such changes in their measurement strategies.
Evolving landscape
It takes account of the evolving landscape of space activities, technologies and user needs surrounding two core observations:
SpaceX Falcon 9 liftoff.
Credit: SpaceX
- Increasingly, a wide diversity of actors is involved in space activities: Government actors more than ever pursue strategic objectives in the space economy in tandem with commercial actors. A better tracking of the effects of public and private expenditure in the space economy is required if the overall impact of such trends is to be assessed.
- Studying the economics of space activities has become professionalized but measuring the space economy remains a challenge: The range of space activities has evolved significantly over the past ten years. Critical infrastructures such as telecommunications and an increasing number of commercial digital applications now depend heavily on space capabilities. In advanced economies, the space economy is becoming more complex and the line between space and non-space activities is increasingly difficult to assess.
Chapter call outs
The Handbook is structured according to the following chapters:
Chapter 1: Introducing the OECD Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy
Chapter 2: Progress in concepts, definitions and measurement of the space economy
Chapter 3: Monitoring the evolving cast of space actors
Chapter 4: Using industry surveys to better understand the space economy
Chapter 5: Strengthening assessment of the impacts of the space economy.
To access the Handbook, go to:
