Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
Author: 
September 14th, 2020
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2882, September 14, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2883 duties.
Reports Ryan Anderson, Planetary Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona:
“Our [Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite] TMAH experiment was successful! For those who don’t speak fluent rover team alphabet soup, as we described the other day, the SAM TMAH experiment is a long-awaited measurement by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, which uses a special chemical called tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) to help identify organic (carbon-bearing) molecules in the sample.”
Awaiting results
Anderson notes that SAM only has two containers of TMAH, “so we wanted to be very sure that this was the right place to use one of them before running the experiment. The team is now eagerly awaiting results which will take us several months to fully interpret.”
Meanwhile, rover operations carried out a busy weekend plan.
The rover’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) was slated to do an atmospheric observation as the European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter flew overhead, followed by a long-distance image mosaic of a target called “Housedon Hill.”
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B photo acquired on Sol 2882, September 14, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Looking for dust
The robot’s Navcam was scheduled to look toward the crater rim to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere and look for dust devils. Mastcam also had a dust-measuring observation of the sun in the weekend plan.
On Sol 2881 SAM was slated to clean out its gas chromatograph (GC) column (the tiny tube through which gases are passed to separate them based on their chemistry), and then on Sol 2882 the plan called for a recurring set of Navcam and Mastcam observations of the target “Le Ceasnachadh” at different times of day.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 2882, September 14, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
“These repeated observations allow us to better understand the ‘photometry’ or light-scattering behavior of the rocks,” Anderson explains.
Drill tailings
On Sol 2882, the rover’s Mastcam was to observe the target “Upper Ollach” and the Mary Anning drill tailings to look for any changes, and the robot was to perform a multispectral observation of the photometry target “Le Ceasnachadh”.
ChemCam was on tap to also observe that target using passive spectroscopy (no laser, just reflected light).
On Sol 2883, Curiosity is to perform early morning atmospheric observations, measuring dust with Navcam and Mastcam and watching for clouds with Navcam.
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.
Posted in 
Viewing room for sky-high logos.
Credit: NASA
Coming to a sky near you?
Microsatellites equipped with a laser system for projecting images in the night sky are to be placed in Earth orbit – a “pay per view” way to advertise a message to Earth watchers.
Moscow-based Avant-Space is a team of professionals who have participated in more than 10 space projects. Company engineers have unique knowledge in the field of creating laser systems, electric propulsion engines, and onboard satellite control systems.
Avant Space is headquartered in Moscow’s Skolkovo Innovation Center, a high technology business zone.
Artificial constellation
The Russian company explains that their plan is to permit companies and individuals to brand the sky with logos, initials, or other symbols.
Granted, it’s not quite the Bat-Signal projected by a huge lamp planted in Gotham City…but it is a close call.
For Earth watchers, the grouping of laser-emitting satellites is expected to be comparable in brightness to the planet Venus.
Credit: McDonald’s
Niche in space
According to the firm’s website, they will work with clients on shaping the constellation, the number of satellites, the time and place of the first appearance of the brand and the total operating time of the system over any select location.
“We have tested a laser in the stratosphere at an altitude of 30 kilometers. The ‘constellation’ will be visible even over large cities, where high light pollution interferes. We can give you a demonstration of the laser brightness if needed,” the website explains. “You will occupy a niche in which your competitors do not yet exist.”
“Just do it” via Nike ad.
Credit: Nike
Implementation period
Avant Space says that to crank out the satellites is 24 months. Launching into space and deploying the constellation in orbit takes about 6 months. Total implementation period is 30 months.
What if it’s cloudy? There are two options: Either change the location or select a different date for the satellites to fly over the preferred city.
Credit: Starbucks
The company notes that to launch these specialized spacecraft, as well as getting the okay to display ads from space, special permissions are not required.
For more information, go to:
Also, go to this video at:
https://www.avantspace.com/videos/video/video.mp4
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2878, September 10, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2879 tasks.
It is “opening night” at the rover’s current site, reports Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“Ten sols ago was our final dress rehearsal and today’s plan is opening night for an experiment that has been anticipated since we landed just over 8 years ago,” Guzewich adds.
Inside job
After the robot’s successful drilling of “Mary Anning 3,” bits of rock powder are waiting in the drill assembly for delivery to the robot’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite. A recently scripted plan has Curiosity extending its arm over the SAM inlets (the paddle shaped doors) and then rotate the drill backwards so that six portions of powdered rock are dropped off.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2878, September 10, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Once inside SAM, the powdered bits of rock will be soaked a very special solution called TMAH,” Guzewich explains.
BTW: TMAH is mercifully short for a chemical mouth full: tetramethylammonium hydroxide.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo acquired on Sol 2878, September 10, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
8 year wait
“TMAH will help our science team identify what fragments of organic (carbon-bearing) materials are present in the clay-rich rock of Mary Anning,” Guzewich says. “SAM contains only two small containers of TMAH and so we’ve been waiting for 8 years for just the right rock to drill to use this very precious expendable commodity.”
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo acquired on Sol 2878, September 10, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
“The wait is finally over and SAM will hopefully soon give us new insight into the chemistry of ancient Mars,” Guzewich concludes.
China’s first Moon lander, Chang’e-3, taken by Yutu-1 rover during 2013 nearside exploration.
Credit: CNSA/CLEP
China’s Chang’e-3 robotic Moon mission made a soft landing in late 2013, touching down in the northeast of Mare Imbrium, also called the Sea of Rains.
The Xinhua news agency reports that payloads on that “retired” lunar probe remain operational after more than 2,400 days on the near side of the Moon.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spots China’s Chang’e-3 mission. LROC Narrow Angle Camera view of the Chang’e 3 lander (large arrow) and rover (small arrow) just before sunset on their first day of lunar exploration. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
According to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration some of the scientific payloads carried by the Chang’e-3 lander are still operating.
China’s Yutu-1 lunar rover took this image of Change’3 lander. New lunar landers are being readied for China’s next step in Moon exploration.
Credit: NAOC/Chinese Academy of Sciences
Multilayered finding
In the meantime, Chinese researchers recently reported finding multilayered young lava flows in the Chang’e-3 landing zone. Results from the lunar penetrating radar onboard the Yutu-1 rover have been published in the American Geophysical Union’s journal, Geophysical Research Letters.
Lead author of the paper, Yuefeng Yuan of the Institute of Geophysics and Geomatics, China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, China, explains that three layers of thin young mare basalts underlying the lunar soil have been detected at Chang’e-3’s landing site. In previous studies, the region is thought to be formed by one layer of a thick lava flow.
Young lava flows
The thickness distribution of a stratum between interface D and E and the path of the Yutu-1 rover.
Credit: Yuefeng Yuan, et al. lava flows
Lunar penetrating radar data was assessed showing that multilayered young mare basalts underlying the regolith exist, interpreted as three periods of thin Eratosthenian lava flows. The Eratosthenian period in the lunar geologic timescale runs from 3,200 million years ago to 1,100 million years ago.
The result infers that these young lava flows in the northern Mare Imbrium probably erupted intermittently from the same source, according to the research paper.
The relative elevation along the path of the Yutu-1 rover. The inverted red triangles with numbers correspond to the lunar penetrating radar (LPR) acquisition locations.
Credit: Yuefeng Yuan, et al.
Zigzagging route
China’s Chang’e-3 Moon mission delivered the rover Yutu-1, or Jade Rabbit, and a stationary lander to the lunar surface on December 14, 2013. The touchdown marked the first robotic Moon landing since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 sample return mission in 1976.
The site that Yutu-1 investigated is a region not directly sampled before, far distant from the U.S. Apollo lunar landing sites.
Yutu-1 drove a total of 374 feet (114 meters) following a zigzagging route, before succumbing to technical glitches.
To access the research paper — “New Constraints on the Young Lava Flow Profile in the Northern Mare Imbrium” – go to:
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020GL088938
Chinese Long March-2F launch boosted experimental space plane.
Credit: file pic
Dribs and drabs best characterize news regarding China’s reusable experimental spacecraft program.
Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)/Xinhua News Agency/China National Space Administration (CNSA)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
A Long March-2F launch vehicle launched the craft from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu Province, northwest China, on September 4, 2020 followed by a September 6th landing, possibly at a lengthy airstrip near China’s Lop Nor nuclear test site.
According to Chinese media outlets, the vehicle is called Chongfu Shiyong Shiyan Hangtian Qi (reusable experimental spacecraft).
Image from 2017 shows the Shenlong space vehicle attached to Xian H-6 bomber. Source: Chinese Internet
Road map
Meanwhile, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that the experimental spacecraft might be linked to the Shenlong (Divine Dragon) space plane project that has been in development for more than two decades.
A SCMP article notes that, under that program, the first reusable spacecraft launch was slated for 2020 under a “space transport road map” released three years ago by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CAST).
Tengfei-1 reusable aerospace vehicle.
Credit: Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Tengfei-1 releases satellite.
Credit: Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Flight tests
Tengfei-1 is another reusable aerospace vehicle, developed under the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).
Roughly two years ago, the Tengfei-1 spaceplane reportedly completed flight tests with combined power, the first flight test in China that had realized “mode conversion of combined power.”
Credit: Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Tengfei-1 was touted at the time as useful for space tourism, astronaut transportation, satellite launching and space emergency rescue.
Go to this recently released, albeit cryptic, video regarding the recent Earth orbital flight of China’s reusable vehicle at:
https://youtu.be/aPgsR1hwktk?list=PLpGTA7wMEDFjz0Zx93ifOsi92FwylSAS3
Also, go to this older video (2018) depicting the Tengfei-1 project at:
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image taken on Sol 2876, September 8, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2977 duties.
Reports Lucy Thompson, a planetary geologist at the University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada:
“As we wait to drop the ‘Mary Anning 3’ drilled sample off to SAM [Sample Analysis at Mars Instrument Suite] (hopefully in the next plan), Curiosity will utilize the time and power to continue monitoring the current dusty atmosphere on Mars, as well as the interesting chemistry of the rock at this location.”
Curiosity Mast Camera Right image acquired on Sol 2874, September 6, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Firing up the laser
Thompson adds that the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument will fire its laser at three targets, “Burgi,” “Woodside” and “Snowy Owl” to continue documenting the variations in element concentrations associated with different layers, colors and nodular/patchy features within the rock at the robot’s location.
“We will also acquire color Mastcam documentation images of these targets and extend the imaging of the workspace,” Thompson notes.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 2876, September 8, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 2876, September 8, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Dusty season
It is the dusty season on Mars, so the environmental scientists on the team have taken the opportunity to plan a comprehensive suite of activities.
“Their prime goal is to monitor how the dust in the atmosphere affects opacity and to look for dust devil activity, but they also planned an observation to monitor cloud formation,” Thompson reports.
Both Curiosity’s Mastcam and Navcam will be utilized for these observations.
Argon measurement
“While we have drilled sample in the Sample Acquisition, Processing, and Handling (SA/SPaH) subsystem,” scientists are unable to use the other instruments on the rover arm — (the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer) for contact science.
This Sol 2874 Navcam right image shows Curiosity’s turret and the APXS instrument (top, right of center) pointed away from the ground. Mount Sharp is in the background. APXS made measurements of the Argon content of the Martian atmosphere.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“This means that as a member of the APXS team, it is normally a relatively quiet time for me, as we wait to dump the drilled sample from the SA/SPaH system,” Thompson explains. “However, we are able to use the APXS, pointing away from the ground, to make measurements of the Argon content of the atmosphere.”
That measurement is done roughly every 4 weeks to record seasonal fluctuations, and scientists took the opportunity to plan such a measurement recently.
Thompson concludes that the remainder of the current plan includes standard Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) and Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) activities.
Yutu-2 view of farside surroundings.
Credit: CNSA/CLEP
China’s Chang’e-4 mission that landed in the Von Kármán crater on the Moon’s farside has determined the thickness of the regolith and revealed the fine subsurface structures and evolutionary history of the probe’s landing site.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screen grab
Carried by the Yutu-2 rover, a penetrating radar has found a three-unit substructure at the landing site. The data supports the contention that the explored zone of the Moon had experienced multiple impact events and basalt magma eruptions.
The Yutu-2 results show that the materials detected stem from the nearby Finsen impact crater rather than the basalt erupted from the lunar mantle, which filled the bottom of the Von Kármán crater. It was also revealed that the landing area had experienced multiple impact events and basalt magma eruptions.
Yutu-2 (horizontal arrow) was about 130 meters west of the Chang’e 4 lander (vertical arrow) on June 3, 2019.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Deep interior materials
“Our results reveal that the surface materials at the Chang’e-4 landing site are unambiguously dominated by the ejecta from the Finsen crater with a minor contribution from other neighboring craters. The regolith measured by Yutu-2 is representative of the initial lunar deep interior materials, rather than the later erupted basalts,” explains a new paper published in the latest issue of the journal, Nature Astronomy.
The lead author of the paper – “Lunar regolith and substructure at Chang’E-4 landing site in South Pole–Aitken basin” — is Jinhai Zhang of the Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China.
The South Pole-Aitken Basin on the lunar farside.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/University of Arizona
Large impact structure
Making the first-ever soft landing on the Von Kármán crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the farside of the Moon, the Chang-e-4 lunar mission landed there on January 3, 2019.
The South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin is the oldest and largest impact structure on the Moon, and it gives particular insight on the lunar interior composition.
For access to the paper — “Lunar regolith and substructure at Chang’E-4 landing site in South Pole–Aitken basin” – go to:
Credit: Icarus Films
Space Dogs from Icarus Films focuses on Laika, a stray dog picked up by the Soviet space program on the streets of Moscow. This dog became the first living being to orbit the Earth when she was launched into space on Sputnik 2.
Soviet Union’s Sputnik 2 carried the dog, Laika, into Earth orbit in 1957.
Courtesy: NASA
Although Laika would not survive the journey, directors Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter trace the persistence of her memory and legacy into the present day. As the capsule containing Laika re-entered Earth’s orbit and began to burn up, the narrator announces “What had been a Moscow street dog had become a ghost.”
The adventures of her descendants, living on the streets of Moscow today.
Opens September 11, presented by Alamo Drafthouse (NY), Laemmle (LA) and more local theaters.
Credit: Martin Parr Collection
Video trailers at:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/spacedogsofficial/442468916
For more information, also go to:
Purported spaceplane launch image courtesy LaunchStuff via weibo.com
China’s just-returned reusable spacecraft “may be like US’ X-37B, focusing on civilian use, tapping into space application potential,” experts say.
That statement comes not from twitter-feeding and fueling appraisals but from China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.
Following a flight of two days, the Chinese craft landed at a “designated site” on Sunday, “marking a breakthrough in China’s technology for reusing spacecraft,” Xinhua reports.
Possible landing site for Chinese space plane? Airfield photo credit: ESA/Copernicus Sentinel via Marco Langbroek
Tight-lipped
Meanwhile, Chinese space authorities remain tight-lipped on the experimental flight, launched last Friday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center atop a Long March-2F booster, the launch vehicle for China’s crewed space projects.
Reportedly, local Chinese rocket watchers were requested to not photograph or video record the liftoff from outside the launch site – although one takeoff image has seemingly emerged.
“No official renders or photos of the spacecraft have been made public as of press time, Xinhua notes, adding that “the successful experiment of the spacecraft offers more convenient solutions for future peaceful use of the space and enables cheaper round-trips.”
China has had a long-standing interest in reusable space planes.
Courtesy: Jean Deville/China Aerospace Blog
New materials, new age of modularization
Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday, that the just-concluded mission was designed to test the performance of new materials for the reusable vehicle and to test the monitor and control system.
Also, Wang Ya’nan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine was cited as saying the test would focus on the vehicle’s capability to enter orbit via a carrier rocket launch and the reliability of its returning to Earth, which are key for a reusable orbital vehicle.
X-37B Air Force space plane.
Credit: Boeing/Inside Outer Space Screengrab
“The vehicle could be equipped with robotic arms to conduct maintenance and supply missions for on-orbit spacecraft such as satellites. And in return, Chinese satellites could enter a new age of modularization, further tap into the potential of space application,” Wang said. It is too early to determine when the Chinese orbital vehicle could be put into practical use, as the project has only just had its first launch and return test, Wang added, noting that once the technology matures, China would be the third country to have such space planes, following the U.S. and Russia.
“China has not developed this kind of reusable orbital vehicle before, and once it achieves maturity and puts into practical use, it will transform the current space use landscape in both civilian and military use,” experts said in the just-posted Xinhua story.
Boeing handout describes X-37B program.
Credit: Boeing
X-37B-like?
Regarding comparisons between China’s “mysterious vehicle,” if it is a fixed wing space plane, and the X-37B space plane owned by the US Air Force, the Xinhua article explains that, considering the data and method of launch, “China’s orbital vehicle could be very similar to US’ X-37B, and the vehicle could have a fixed wing span of more than four meters,” citing a remark from Wang.
The use of the Long March-2F booster for the mission shows that the experiment mission is of great significance, Xi Yazhou, a military expert, said in his column published by Guancha.com on Friday.
Credit: Jean Deville
As related in the Xinhua news story, China’s reusable orbital spacecraft would be first used in civilian domains, conducting operations such as surveying the Earth, monitoring the environment and maintenance for in-orbit satellites, tagging that statement to space experts.
“China’s authorities have not revealed any intention of military use for the vehicle, but observers stressed that just as the US Air Force’s X-37B claimed to have the capability to strike anywhere on Earth within half an hour, China should at least have that capability,” the Xinhua article concludes.
A recent two-piece blog post by Jean Deville at China Aerospace Blog on the evolution of Chinese space planes could help decipher the intent of China’s space plane ambitions.
Go to these postings by Deville at:
and
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2873, September 5, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2874 tasks.
The word is that there’s been no sample drop-off to the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite.
Curiosity Mast Camera Right photo acquired on Sol 2872, September 4, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Ken Herkenhoff, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona reports that the science team expected the weekend plan to include drop-off of some of the drill sample to the SAM instrument. But it was later recognized that the detailed requirements for the dropoff and SAM analysis could not be met in a recent plan.
“So the arm and SAM activities had to be removed from the plan, freeing up power for other observations,” Herkenhoff adds. The robot will be busy gathering important data over the upcoming holiday weekend.
Curiosity Mast Camera Right photo acquired on Sol 2872, September 4, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
A trio of Sols
Planning is no longer restricted, so Saturday is a “soliday” and the rover team is planning three sols of activities (Sols 2874-2876) to get the rover through Labor Day.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 2873, September 5, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 2873, September 5, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
On Sol 2874, Curiosity’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) will measure the chemistry of the atmosphere above Gale Crater by looking upward and acquiring spectra. Then ChemCam will fire its laser at the wall of the “Mary Anning 3” drill hole and at a soil target named “Insh Marshes.”
After the Right Mastcam takes pictures of the ChemCam targets, Mastcam will acquire a stereo mosaic to extend the coverage of the area in front of the rover.
Navcam will then search for dust devils and, later that evening, take images of the sky for calibration.
Similarly, just after sunset, the ChemCam Remote Micro Imager (RMI) will take images of the sky above the rover to check the camera’s calibration, Herkenhoff notes.
Room for other activities
The second sol (2875) was originally filled with arm and SAM activities, and after they were removed from the plan there was room for other activities, so added was a long Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) passive observation and some engineering checks to go along with the usual Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) atmospheric measurements.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2873, September 5, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Herkenhoff continues by pointing out that on Sol 2876, Mastcam will look for changes in the sandy “Upper Ollach” area and take some pictures of the rover deck to look for changes there as well.
Then ChemCam will analyze the chemistry of rock targets “Njuggleswater” and “Rocabarrigh” and the Right Mastcam will image them as well. “Don’t ask me how to pronounce those names,” Herkenhoff says.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2873, September 5, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Finally, during the morning of 2877, Navcam will search for clouds and Mastcam will measure the opacity of dust in the atmosphere, Herkenhoff concludes.
