Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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February 14th, 2022
The lunar far side as imaged by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter using its LROC Wide Angle Camera.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
The international scientific community has long been discussing the need to keep the farside of the Moon free from human-made radio frequency intrusion.
What’s at issue?
The lunar farside always faces away from Earth. Consequently it is “radio-quiet,” shielded by the moon itself from radio-frequency interference (RFI) crackling through space, pumped out by powerful Earth-based transmitters.
The proposed Protected Antipode Circle, a circular piece of lunar landscape to be reserved for scientific purposes on the farside of the Moon.
Credit: Claudio Maccone
A just-established Moon Farside Protection Permanent Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) has begun to frame issues and solutions to guard against RFI corruption of the Moon’s farside.
Crater Daedalus on the lunar farside as seen from the Apollo 11 spacecraft in lunar orbit.
Credit: NASA
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Moon group pushes for protection of ultraquiet lunar far side – The far side is a great place for radio telescopes, astronomers say” at:
https://www.space.com/moon-far-side-radio-quiet-telescope-project
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Credit: Polaris Program
Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4, announced today the Polaris Program, a first-of-its-kind effort to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities.
An American billionaire businessman, Isaacman was the commander of the SpaceX flight Inspiration4 in September 2021.
Credit: Polaris Program
No earlier than the fourth quarter of 2022, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Polaris Dawn mission from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew will spend up to five days in orbit.
Credit: Polaris Program
During that time, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA) with SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, upgraded from the current intravehicular (IVA) suit.
The program will consist of up to three human spaceflight missions that will demonstrate new technologies, conduct extensive research, “and ultimately culminate in the first flight of SpaceX’s Starship with humans on board,” states a Polaris Program website.
Credit: Polaris Program
First mission objectives
This Polaris Dawn flight will flyer higher than any Dragon mission to date and endeavor to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown by humans. Orbiting through portions of the Van Allen radiation belt, Polaris Dawn will conduct research with the aim of better understanding the effects of spaceflight and space radiation on human health.
At approximately 310 miles (500 kilometers) above the Earth, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA) with SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, upgraded from the current intravehicular (IVA) suit. “Building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require thousands of spacesuits; the development of this suit and the execution of the EVA will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions,” the Polaris Program website explains.
Ready for first flight: SpaceX Starship.
Credit: Polaris Project
While in orbit, the crew will conduct scientific research designed to advance both human health on Earth and our understanding of human health during future long-duration spaceflights.
The Polaris Dawn crew will be the first crew to test Starlink laser-based communications in space, providing valuable data for future space communications system necessary for missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
For more detailed information, go to:
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now wrapping up Sol 3385 tasks. New imagery shows the surroundings being explored by the robot:
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3385, February 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3384, February 12, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3384, February 12, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3384, February 12, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3384, February 12, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3384, February 12, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3384, February 12, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Liftoff ofCZ-3C GJ-II Y12 carrier rocket in 2014.
Via Seger Yu
According to Bill Gray of Pluto Project software:
Corrected identification of object about to hit the Moon – not a SpaceX upper stage.
“Short version: back in 2015, I (mis)identified this object as 2015-007B, the second stage of the DSCOVR spacecraft. We now have good evidence that it is actually 2014-065B, the booster for the Chang’e 5-T1 lunar mission. (It will, however, still hit the moon within a few kilometers of the predicted spot on 2022 March 4 at 12:25 UTC, within a few seconds of the predicted time.)”
Chang’e 5-T1 lunar mission took this image during its flight.
Via Seger Yu
Convincing evidence
Gray adds that “in a sense, this remains ‘circumstantial’ evidence. But I would regard it as fairly convincing evidence. So I am persuaded that the object about to hit the moon on 2022 Mar 4 at 12:25 UTC is actually the Chang’e 5-T1 rocket stage.
Chang’e 5-T1 lunar spacecraft was precursor mission for China’s step-by-step Moon exploration program.
Via Seger Yu
Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, has an updated article on this topic .
Go to:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/02/actually-a-falcon-9-rocket-is-not-going-to-hit-the-moon/
China space watcher, Seger Yu, has posted a set of photos related to the CE-5 T1 probe, noting that the upper stage is from the CZ-3C GJ-II Y12 carrier rocket.
The second Long March-8 launch vehicle, Long March-8 Y2, is being prepared to be launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, Hainan Province, China.
Credit: China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China is pressing forward to send over 50 spacecraft into space in 2022.
The country plans to launch the Long March-8 Y2 rocket, a two-stage medium-lift rocket between late February and early March this year.
Long March-8 will depart the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province – the first launch of China’s new configuration of the Long March-8 rocket without boosters.
According to the developer, the rocket will be carrying 22 commercial satellites in the coming mission, the largest number of satellites to be launched in one flight by China.
Credit: China Media Group(CMG)/China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“Now the Long March-8 Y2 is undergoing sub-system testing. Judged from the progress of our sub-system testing and data interpretation, the current testing results are normal, and the entire rocket is in a controllable condition,” said Wu Yitian, deputy chief designer of the Long March-8 rocket in a China Central Television (CCTV) interview.
Space station completion
China plans to make a record six launches in 2022 to finish building its space station, according to a blue paper released by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the main contractor of China’s space program, on Wednesday.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The launch vehicles scheduled to dock with the space station are standing by, including the Long March 2F Y15, designed to carry three crew members to the station in November this year.
“The Y15 rocket is undergoing testing for final assembly in the workshop, and it will be transported to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base for the launch mission after all the jobs are done,” said Jing Muchun, chief designer of the Long March 2F, the carrier rocket system of Tiangong-1, which was China’s first prototype space station.
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Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter acquired these images using its navigation camera, acquired on Feb. 8, 2022 (Sol 345 of the Perseverance rover mission). This was the date of Ingenuity’s 19th flight.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
CAPSTONE
Credit: NASA
A soon-to-launch cubesat will be one of the first ever to fly in the unique Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO).
Advanced Space owns and operates the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission going to the Moon in the early part of 2022.
CAPSTONE is a pathfinder mission for NASA’s Artemis program using a small spacecraft.
The planned NASA Lunar Gateway station will be in a NRHO around the Moon.
Orion spacecraft pulls up to Gateway.
Credit: NASA
Advanced Space of Westminster, Colorado has entered into a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space Vehicles Directorate, and the Spacecraft Technology Division to share data collected from cislunar space through the CAPSTONE mission.
Data sharing
The CRADA focus is to share data collected from the CAPSTONE cubesat as it treks between the Earth and Moon. The opportunity to analyze data retrieved from the mission will be beneficial for future mission design and navigation strategies for defense and other customers, according to an Advanced Space statement.
Credit: Advanced Space
Significant amounts of data are anticipated to be collected while the CAPSTONE’S Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System, or CAPS, allows the spacecraft to explore and maneuver the orbit.
The CAPSTONE mission will provide “invaluable insight to fortify our space domain awareness of cislunar space, a domain of increased importance,” said James Frith, AFRL’s program manager for Cislunar Space Domain Awareness.
Credit: University of Würzburg/IFEX
A center has been established that includes the study of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, or UAPs.
The Interdisciplinary Research Center for EXtraterrestrial Studies (IFEX) is anchored at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), one of the largest universities in Germany.
IFEX focuses on extraterrestrial research projects in the context of science and technology and their innovative application on Earth and in space.
“We want to promote the research on UAP in an interdisciplinary framework, carry out our own projects and seek cooperation with relevant institutions and authorities, such as the Max Planck Society, the German Aerospace Centre DLR, the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt LBA, or the Deutscher Wetterdienst,” says IFEX chairman Hakan Kayal, professor of space technology at the University of Würzburg.
SkyCAM-5 camera system.
Credit: Hakan Kayal/Universität Würzburg
Camera system
Kayal has a long-standing interest in UAPs. Recently, he installed a new camera system on the Hubland campus in Würzburg to detect unknown celestial phenomena using artificial intelligence methods.
Overall, the IFEX work area includes exploration of space, objects in our solar system, stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole, search for signs of life, search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), research on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) as well as further interdisciplinary cooperation and dissemination of extraterrestrial studies.
The research on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena involves development and operating systems for detection, evaluation and analysis, including the investigation of outstanding cases.
Since January 25, 2022, research on UAP has been one of the center’s official goals, put in motion after the JMU Senate approved a corresponding extension of the IFEX statute.
For more information, go to:
Russia’s Luna-25 Moon lander.
Credit: RSC Energia/Roscosmos
Russia is ready to reactivate its moon exploration agenda, a former Soviet Union enterprise that ended decades ago. The last in the row of pioneering USSR lunar missions was Luna 24 – lobbing back to Earth in 1976 roughly six ounces of near-side collectibles.
The country’s Luna-25 is set to kick-start a sequence of lunar outings that also involves Europe as well as China. A larger plan now being scripted is Russian collaboration with China on building an International Lunar Research Station, intended to be operational by 2035.
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Russia aims to rekindle moon program with lunar lander launch this July – Luna 25 will touch down in the moon’s south polar region” – at:
https://www.space.com/russia-rekindle-moon-program-luna-25-launch
Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3381. Distance driven since landing is16.9 miles/27.19 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now wrapping up Sol 3382 duties.
Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, a planetary geologist at the University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, reports the robot is continuing its trek towards the “Greenheugh pediment.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3381, February 9, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“We passed along this area on our detour to The Prow, and our sedimentologists have a long list of imaging wishes, features which caught their eyes on the initial pass through and which we now get the chance to really examine in detail as we skirt along the base of the pediment.
Stitched together from 28 images, this view was captured on April 9, 2020, Sol 2729 after the rover ascended a steep slope, part of a geologic feature called “Greenheugh Pediment.”
The rover’s Mast Camera, or Mastcam, provided the panorama.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
New vantage point
From a new vantage point, the rover’s Mastcam and Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) are imaging the buttes and hills around it, Mastcam focusing on the “Blackcraig” and “Maringma” buttes, and ChemCam taking long distance imagery of the pediment.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3381, February 9, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“We are also adding to our geochemical analyses along here too,” O’Connell-Cooper adds.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3381, February 9, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) are to analyze the bedrock target “Tantallon Castle” and ChemCam will examine the target “Corpach Wreck.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3381, February 9, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Retraced steps
“Our past couple of drives have been in the order of [164 -197 feet] 50-60 meters as we retraced our steps over known terrain, but as we get closer to the pediment and the steep climb up, our drives will slow down,” O’Connell-Cooper adds.
Recently, an all star, all female, rover planning team planned a drive of nearly 80 feet (24 meters) drive, O’Connell-Cooper reports, “shorter than recent drives, but which will take over an hour as we slowly pick our way forward!”
