Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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November 12th, 2020
Curiosity is now parked in front of a “bench” outcrop. Taken by the rover’s Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2938, November 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2940 tasks.
Curiosity is now parked in front of a beautiful “bench” outcrop, reports Ashley Stroupe, a mission operations engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image acquired on Sol 2939, November 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“The benches in this area are raised relative to the nearby surroundings, indicating that they are more resistant to erosion than the surrounding rock. Investigating the compositions to explain this difference is one of the current science objectives, requiring us to investigate both the bench and the flatter ground nearby to compare,” Stroupe adds.
Curiosity Rear Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image taken on Sol 2939, November 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Contact science
Mars research scientists are planning an extensive menu of activities for the robot in a two sol plan: 2940-2941.
“First, we’re going to do some contact science on a target called ‘West Loch,’ which is a target on this apparently less resistant material near the base of the bench,” Stroupe notes. “While most of the workspace is fairly broken up, making most of the rocks too small for the rover planners to accurately target, this pebble is large enough to place the arm on and get good contact.”
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera
Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 2939, November 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
This object is still not big enough to safely or effectively brush, so Mars researchers are only making Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) observations on the dusty surface.
Short drive
Along with the APXS and MAHLI observations, also on tap is targeted science with Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and Mastcam at three targets (“Bood,” “Black Mire,” and “Dale”) in and near the workspace to better characterize this less resistant layer, Stroupe points out.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 2939, November 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
When all the imaging is complete, the rover will do a short drive of about 20-23 feet (6-7 meters) to get the vertical surface of the bench into reach for the arm.
“After the drive, we expect to be parked on the slope of the bench. We’ll be taking lots of up-close imaging of the bench to help us target in the weekend plan,” Stroupe reports. “This will allow us to do contact and targeted science observations on the resistant layers, which can then be compared to today’s analyses.”
Curiosity Mast Camera Right photo taken on Sol 2938, November 10, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Untargeted science
The second sol of plan will be untargeted science, including a two-target ChemCam Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) observation, which will allow the rover to pick its own targets to image and investigate with the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS).
“Also included are several environmental and atmospheric observations, to continue our tracking of the dusty conditions, including a Mastcam tau sun observation and a Navcam line of site image, both to look at the amount of dust in the atmosphere, and a dust devil movie,” Stroupe concludes.
Curiosity took this selfie at a site nicknamed “Mary Anning” where the robot snagged three samples of drilled rock on its way out of the Glen Torridon region, which scientists believe preserves an ancient habitable environment.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Posted in 
ILO-X telescope onboard Intuitive Machines IM-1 Nova-C lunar lander.
Credit: ILOA/IM/CSYS
A telescope is on tap for the Moon’s Schroter’s Valley and aims to capture images of the Milky Way Galaxy Center from the lunar surface.
The International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA Hawaii) has contracted Intuitive Machines of Houston Texas to fly its ILO-X payload on the IM-1 Nova-C lander mission set to launch in the fourth quarter of 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
ILO-X is being built for ILOA by Toronto-based Canadensys Aerospace. The instrument includes a dual-camera miniaturized lunar imaging suite and is a precursor to the ILOA flagship Moon South Pole Observatory ILO-1, said ILOA Director, Steve Durst. ILO-X can perform other celestial/Earth/local lunar environment observations and exploration technology validations – including functionality and survivability in the Moon’s harsh environment.
Moon south pole astronomy vision.
Credit: Michael Carroll
New perspective
“The Milky Way Galaxy first view from the Moon with ILO-X could provide a new 21st Century perspective for the human future,” Durst explained, “like the Earth-rise first view from the Moon did for global understandings last century.”
In addition to Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission in 2021, NASA recently selected Intuitive Machines (IM) to deliver the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment (PRIME-1) drill, combined with a mass spectrometer, to the Moon’s South Pole by December 2022.
Both awarded missions to IM are in support of NASA’s Artemis program.
Reimagining what’s possible
“Our IM-1 mission is reimagining what’s possible for the commercial space industry,” said Trent Martin, IM’s Vice President of Aerospace Services. “We can’t wait to stick the landing in 2021,” he said, “to capture the first ever image of the Milky Way Galaxy Center from the lunar surface,” in an ILOA press statement.
Larger ILO-1 and ILO-2 observations and communications missions are under development, eyed for launch in the 2022-2023 time frame.
For more information on the International Lunar Observatory Association, go to:
Eyes on the prize. Mt. Sharp as seen by Navigation Camera on Sol 2936, November 8, 2020. Different types of rocks in this area: “recessive” outcrops, which seem to erode more easily (some of these are poking out of the dark, sand-covered slope towards the bottom of the image).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2939 tasks.
Curiosity Navigation Camera Left B image taken on Sol 2938, November 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity continues to investigate the stair-step-like “rock benches” as the rover climbs higher up Mt. Sharp, reports Melissa Rice, a planetary geologist at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
The robot is viewing different types of rocks in this area, Rice explains: “recessive” outcrops, which seem to erode more easily (some of these are poking out of the dark, sand-covered slope and “resistant” outcrops, which form the harder caps at the top of the benches (these form the line of broken rock at the top of the dark slope).
Curiosity Navigation Camera Left B image taken on Sol 2938, November 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Root cause of differences?
“The difference between the recessive and resistant rock layers is what has allowed the wind to carve them into benches over the eons,” Rice adds. “But what is the root cause of these differences? Are they fundamentally different rock types, or could they be the same material that was altered in different ways after the rock formed?”
To answer these questions, the team will be looking for opportunities to investigate exposures of both the recessive and resistant rocks with multiple instruments.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 2938, November 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Color panorama
On Sol 2938, Curiosity was scheduled to study a resistant outcrop in front of the rover at a spot called “Hart Fell” with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instruments, and then will use its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) to laser zap two other spots called “Breabag” and “Breck.”
“Using Mastcam, Curiosity will capture a sweeping color panorama of the bench,” Rice reports. “Next, Curiosity will drive onward, to a spot where we hope to encounter a good exposure of the recessive outcrop to study later this week.”
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 2938, November 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Eyes on the prize
On Sol 2939, the plan calls for Curiosity to monitor the environmental conditions with ChemCam and will use Navcam to scan the horizon for dust devils.
“And all the while, we’re keeping our eyes on the prize,” Rice points out, the layers of brighter rocks that tower high on Mt. Sharp.
“As one of the mission’s Long Term Planners, it is my job to remind the team about the big-picture strategic plan to explore Mt. Sharp. So, even amidst these enigmatic rock benches, we will continue moving expeditiously towards the sulfate-bearing unit higher up the mountain,” Rice concludes. “The scenery here is stunning – but the best is yet to come!”
Illustration of the Gateway. Built with commercial and international partners, NASA says the Gateway is critical to sustainable lunar exploration and will serve as a model for future missions to Mars.
Credit: NASA
A just-issued NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG)/Office of Audits report takes a hard look at the space agency’s plans to build the Gateway—essentially, a small space station—to provide a staging location for lunar missions and future deep space operations.
Among comments made by the OIG, two central take away messages are:
— Schedule Delays for the Gateway Have Pushed Anticipated Launch Date into Mid-2024 with No Schedule Margin
— Schedule Delays and Associated Cost Increases Are Primarily the Result of Evolving Gateway Requirements
Credit: NASA
Still-evolving requirements
The report explains that development schedules for both the Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) have been negatively impacted by the Agency’s still-evolving Gateway requirements, including NASA’s decision to co-manifest and launch the two elements on the same commercial rocket rather than separately as initially intended.
Given this decision, the PPE is likely to launch at least 17 months behind its original date of December 2022 while HALO has 2 to 5 months of schedule risk, potentially moving its launch readiness date further into 2024.
Compounding these issues is the 2024 lunar mandate that drove the accelerated development schedule in the first place and resulted in a lack of schedule margin in the Gateway Program.
The report — NASA’s Management of the Gateway Program for Artemis Missions, dated November 10, 2020 — can be viewed at:
Chang’e-4 lander as observed by Yutu-2 rover.
Credit: CNSA/CLEP
China’s farside Moon mission — the Chang’e-4 lander and Yutu-2 rover have resumed work for the 24th lunar day, according to China National Space Administration (CNSA).
China’s champion – long duration Yutu-2 rover.
Credit: CNSA/CLEP
The Chang’e-4 mission touched down within Von Kármán crater on January 3, 2019, with the hardware now surviving 677 Earth days on the Moon.
China’s Xinhua news agency reports that the lander woke up at 3:12 am on November 10, Beijing Time, and the rover Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, woke up at 10:17 am on November 9.
A lunar day is equal to 14 days on Earth, and a lunar night is of the same length. The solar-powered lander and rover switch to dormant mode during the ultra-cold lunar night.
Movement of the Chang’e 4 rover, Yutu-2, captured in NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s LROC images.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
During the 24th lunar day of operations, Yutu-2 will wheel northwest toward a basalt area or impact craters with high reflectivity.
The rover is slated to take at least one panoramic photo, Xinhua reports, and its infrared imaging spectrometer, neutral atom detector and lunar radar will continue to carry out scientific explorations.
Image taken by Curiosity’s Left Navigation Camera on Sol 2933, November 5, 2020 showing the next set of benches in the distance, perhaps meter-scale stair steps carved into the landscape.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2938 tasks.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 2937, November 9, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports that the rover’s latest drive has placed it on top of one of the “rock benches” that are present throughout the area. A visual bonus: the views are just gorgeous.
“There are dinner plate-sized patches of layered bedrock in the rover’s workspace, which are quite a contrast to the pebble filled workspace we saw at our last location,” Fraeman adds. “We can also see the next set of benches in the distance, and I think they look like meter-scale stair steps carved into the landscape.”
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image acquired on Sol 2937, November 9, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Sedimentary structures
A recent plan had the robot take advantage of the spectacular view and acquire a 108 frame Mastcam stereo mosaic.
Curiosity Rear Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image taken on Sol 2937, November 9, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“This mosaic will help us further distinguish the sedimentary structures preserved in the rocks in this unique topographic region and it will enable us to find the best areas for closer investigations in later sols,” Fraeman explains.
Scientists will also take some time to learn more about the bedrock of the “benchtop” by collecting Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) observations of targets named “Muckle Minn” and “Hunt Hill,” and Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) observations of “Smugglers Cave,” “Achnashellach,” and “Achosnich.”
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 2937, November 9, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“We will supplement the mega-Mastcam mosaic with two smaller mosaics of areas near the rover named “Voe” and “Roe,”” Fraeman notes.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Driving to the northeast
After completing science activities, the rover is on tap for driving along the “benchtop” to the northeast for roughly 148 feet (45 meters) and take a large set of post-drive images that will be used to help with this week’s planning.
“In parallel to all of these geological studies, we will continue to monitor the environment around the rover with a series of Navcam and Mastcam observations and standard set of pressure and temperature measurements,” Fraeman concludes.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 2937, November 9, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Road map
A new rover road map has been posted showing the route driven by Curiosity through the 2936 Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars (November 8, 2020).
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 2937, November 9, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Numbering of the dots along the line indicate the sol number of each drive. North is up. The scale bar is 1 kilometer (~0.62 mile).
From Sol 2933 to Sol 2936, Curiosity had driven a straight line distance of about 123.14 feet (37.53 meters), bringing the rover’s total odometry for the mission to 14.47 miles (23.29 kilometers).
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 2937, November 9, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The base image from the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Credit: Space Port Japan Association, Dentsu, Canaria and Noiz Architects
The creation of Space Port Japan is being advanced, a move to make the country a base for future space travel business.
Credit: Space Port Japan Association, Dentsu, Canaria and Noiz Architects
This proposal for a complex commercial facility connects conventional means of transportation with the operation of commercial horizontal takeoff and landing spacecraft.
Also in the planning is to have the Space Port City Concept support various learning and discovery venues about space, research and business bases.
A Space Port Japan Association membership includes the Obayashi Corporation, Dentsu Inc., Airbus Japan, Nippon Television Network Corporation and the Mitsubishi Estate.
Credit: Space Port Japan Association, Dentsu, Canaria and Noiz Architects
According to a Space Port Japan document, “Spaceport City will be a place of unlimited dramas and sensations. The city will finally open in 202X.”
To help float the idea of such a facility, Tokyo-based Noiz Architects has crafted a series of renderings showing the space port anchored in Tokyo Bay.
For more information, go to:
https://www.spaceport-japan.org/
Pre-launch photo shows X-37B ready for 6th mission of the space plane program.
Credit: Boeing
A secretive military X-37B space plane has flown over 175 days in Earth orbit and is now under the wing of a newly established U.S. Space Force unit called Delta 9.
Delta 9, a component of the U.S. Space Force, was established and activated July 24, 2020.
Credit: U.S. Space Force
“Delta 9 Detachment 1 oversees operations of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, an experimental program designed to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Space Force,” according to a fact sheet issued by Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. Delta 9 consists of three active duty squadrons headquartered at Schriever.
“The mission of Delta 9 is to prepare, present, and project assigned and attached forces for the purpose of conducting protect and defend operations and providing national decision authorities with response options to deter and, when necessary, defeat orbital threats,” the fact sheet explains. “Additionally, Delta 9 supports Space Domain Awareness by conducting space-based battlespace characterization operations and also conducts on-orbit experimentation and technology demonstrations for the U.S. Space Force.”
Credit: Boeing/Inside Outer Space Screengrab
The Drive’s “The War Zone” website first reported X-37B’s new home.
Milestone-setting space plane
Here’s a roster of X-37B missions, also labeled as Orbital Test Vehicles (OTVs):
OTV-1 launched on April 22, 2010 and landed on December 3, 2010, spending over 224 days on orbit.
OTV-2 launched on March 5, 2011 and landed on June 16, 2012, spending over 468 days on orbit.
Credit: Boeing/Watch U.S. Fly
OTV-3 launched on December 11, 2012 and landed on October 17, 2014, spending over 674 days on-orbit.
OTV-4 launched on May 20, 2015 and landed on May 7, 2015, spending nearly 718 days on-orbit.
OTV-5 launched on September 7, 2017 and landed on October 27, 2019, spending nearly 780 days on-orbit.
Technicians tend Air Force X-37B space plane after tarmac touchdown.
Credit: U.S. Air Force
Launchers and landings
The first four missions launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida atop an Atlas V booster.
The fifth mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster.
The now orbiting OTV-6, also called USSF-7 for the U.S. Space Force, was launched by an Atlas-V 501 booster.
OTV-1, OTV-2, and OTV-3 missions landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, while the OTV-4 and OTV-5 missions landed at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Total time on orbit for all five previous missions adds up to 2,865 days – or 7 years and 10 months.
Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has pioneered “sandwich” modules that are far more efficient for space solar power.
Credit: NRL/Jamie Hartman
Payloads
The currently flying OTV-6 mission was lofted on May 17, 2020 and is the first to use a service module to host experiments. The service module is an attachment to the aft of the vehicle that allows additional experimental payload capability to be carried to orbit.
One experiment onboard the space plane that was announced is from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), an investigation into transforming solar power into radio frequency microwave energy. The experiment itself is called the Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module, PRAM for short.
Along with toting NRL’s PRAM into Earth orbit, the X-37B also deployed the FalconSat-8, a small satellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy and sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory to conduct several experiments on orbit.
The FalconSat-8 is an educational platform that will carry five experimental payloads for the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) to operate.
In addition, two NASA experiments are also onboard to study the effects of the space environment on a materials sample plate and seeds used to grow food.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
A Long March-6 launch vehicle launched 13 satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, Shanxi Province, northern China, on November 6, 2020. The main payload consisted of 10 commercial remote sensing satellites developed by Satellogic (Argentine). Credit: China Central Television (CCTV).
Go to: https://youtu.be/sWC-_EvMCtE
Credit: Galactic Energy/SciNewsRo/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
For its maiden launch, the Ceres-1 launch vehicle launched the Tianqi-11 satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu Province, northwest China, on November 7, 2020. Ceres-1 is a small solid propellant launch vehicle developed by Galactic Energy, a private aerospace company headquartered in Beijing) to carry a payload of up to 350 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO). Credit: Galactic Energy/SciNewsRo/CCTV.
Go to: https://youtu.be/EDNBoz5aIyY
NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission is slated to head back to Earth, delivering its precious cargo of newly acquired Bennu asteroid samples – but the probe may have a new target in 2029.
Credit: USRA/LPI
“We have developed a mission design that allows us to put the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft into orbit around asteroid Apophis in 2029,” reports Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Why Apophis?
The 350-meter asteroid Apophis is an object 5-times larger and 100-times more massive than the Tunguska impactor. Currently, this big bruiser of a space rock is set to miss the Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029.
Apophis is named for the demon serpent who personified evil and chaos in ancient Egyptian mythology.
The object’s close flyby distance at an altitude of 31,000 kilometers (closer than geosynchronous satellites; about one-tenth the lunar distance) provides a once-per-thousand-year natural experiment as a learning opportunity for not only science, but planetary defense.
Distance between the Apophis asteroid and Earth at the time of the asteroid’s closest approach. The blue dots are the many human-made satellites that orbit our planet, and the pink represents the crewed International Space Station.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Poster child for planetary defense
“Our current challenge is to perform detailed studies of what physical effects, if any, may be induced on Apophis by Earth’s tidal forces,” explains Richard Binzell of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The 2029 encounter opportunity makes Apophis the “poster child for planetary defense,” Binzell adds, “transitioning the field to a new era from space situational awareness to space situational understanding.”
Binzell was the scientific lead at last week’s Apophis T–9 Years: Knowledge Opportunities for the Science of Planetary Defense, virtually held November 4–6, organized by the Universities Space Research Association’s Lunar and Planetary Institute, the Nice Observatory in France, and MIT.
Eye of the illustrator captures asteroid Apophis near Earth.
Credit: Dan Durda – FIAAA
Gravity assist
Late last month, OSIRIS-REx successfully stowed the spacecraft’s Sample Return Capsule (SRC) and its stash of asteroid Bennu samples. The spacecraft is targeting delivery of the SRC to Earth on September 24, 2023.
Apophis’ size and gravitational field are comparable in magnitude to those of Bennu, and much of OSIRIS-REx’s concept of operations will be relevant, noted Lauretta of the OSIRIS-REx project.
At Earth return, the spacecraft will have a substantial amount of oomph to allow for the optical acquisition of Apophis on April 8, 2029. An Earth gravity assist maneuver can place the spacecraft on a rendezvous trajectory that arrives at Apophis on April 21, 2029.
Low-cost opportunity
Once in the vicinity of Apophis, the science payload of OSIRIS-REx is capable of characterizing the object’s surface.
“This low-cost opportunity allows for the OSIRIS-REx payload to perform a detailed characterization of this potentially hazardous asteroid, comparable to that achieved at Bennu,” Lauretta reports. Apophis’ size and gravitational field are comparable in magnitude to those of Bennu, and much of OSIRIS-REx’s operational skills would be pertinent, he notes.
The idea is now on the table, but much more work is needed to plot out this potential add-on to the overall mission of OSIRIS-REx, explains Lauretta.
