Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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July 9th, 2019
Skywatcher and satellite tracker, Ralf Vandebergh of the Netherlands, has released a new image of an over flight of the U.S. Air Force secretive X-37B space plane, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle – 5.
Credit: Ralf Vandebergh
The secretive mission of the U.S. Air Force X-37B mini-space plane has winged past 670 days of flight – just 48 days shy from setting a long duration record for the program.
This Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-5) was rocketed into Earth orbit on September 7, 2017 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Exactly when the OTV-5 space plane will land is unknown.
Credit: Boeing
Long duration record?
The last Air Force’s X-37B mission, OTV-4 — after 718 days of flight — touched down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility May 7, 2017 – a first for the program. All prior missions had ended with a tarmac touchdown at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The U.S. Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 4 is seen after landing at NASA ‘s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida on May 7, 2017.
Credit: U.S. Air Force courtesy photo
Prior to launch of OTV-5, Randy Walden, the director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office said there were many firsts on this mission, making it a milestone for the program. “It is our goal to continue advancing the X-37B OTV so it can more fully support the growing space community.”
The Air Force also noted that the fifth OTV mission was launched into, and will be landed from, a higher inclination orbit than prior missions to further expand the X-37B’s orbital envelope.
Meanwhile, Canadian skywatcher Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario, caught the space plane in this video clip:
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Hayabusa2 sampler arm operations.
Credit: JAXA/Screengrab Inside Outer Space
“To go, or not to go, that is the question,” explain Japan’s Hayabusa2 officials.
The spacecraft is ready to attempt a second touchdown on asteroid Ryugu.
“Although the first touchdown was successful, going for a second touchdown is ‘the question’ because touchdown is a high-risk operation. This is especially true in the case of Ryugu, which has no large, flat areas. The spacecraft therefore needs precise control to avoid a collision in rocky locations. In short, just because we have succeeded in the past does not mean we can easily do so again.”
Change in the surface reflectivity due to the artificial crater formed with the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI). The black regions indicate areas that have darkened after the collision. The planned touchdown point is in the vicinity of C01-C in the figure; a region that has darkened after the generation of the artificial crater. It is thought that subsurface material from the artificial crater has been deposited in this region.
Credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu, AIST and Kobe University
Major issues
According to Hayabusa2 controllers there are two major issues under consideration.
“The first is whether the second touchdown has significant scientific and engineering merit. If there is little extra to be gained, and as the first touchdown was already successful, there is no point in performing this twice. A second issue is the risk of the touchdown operations. If the risk is high, then the descent would be reckless.”
The second touchdown is now scheduled for July 11.
Boldly go
“We will proceed with our mission with care, but boldly go,” Hayabusa2 control adds.
It was confirmed that the risk during the second touchdown is equal or less than the risk of the first touchdown. “Since the second touchdown is of high scientific and engineering value, we decided the project should perform a second touchdown to collect a sample from asteroid Ryugu.”
Credit: ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is readying the launch of its Chandrayaan-2 Moon orbiter, lander and rover, scheduled to be launched between July 9 and 16 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Note: Liftoff is now scheduled for July 14, 2019 at 21:21 UTC – July 15, 2019 at 02:51 IST local time.
Vikram lunar lander
Credit: ISRO
Chandrayaan-2 is comprised of an orbiter, a lander called Vikram, and a rover tagged as Pragyan. A touchdown is slated on September 6 in a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N.
The Moon’s south pole region is particularly interesting due to the lunar surface area that remains in shadow and the presence of water in permanently shadowed areas in that locale. Lunar cold traps contain a fossil record of the early Solar System.
India’s booster, the GSLV Mk-III, will carry Chandrayaan-2 to its designated orbit.
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III).
Credit: ISRO
This three-stage launcher is India’s most powerful launcher to date, and is capable of lofting 4-ton class of satellites to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
Integrated module
Chandrayaan-2 will be an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission to Moon that flew successfully on October 22, 2008 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota launch site.
As India’s second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2 is comprised of three modules, an orbiter, the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover.
India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission is comprised of an orbiter, a lander called Vikram, and a rover tagged as Pragyan.
The orbiter and lander modules will be interfaced mechanically and stacked together as an integrated module and accommodated inside the GSLV MK-III launch vehicle. The Pragyan rover is housed inside the lander.
After launch into Earth bound orbit by the GSLV MK-III, the integrated module will reach Moon orbit using an orbiter propulsion module. Subsequently, the lander will separate from the orbiter and soft land at the predetermined site close to the lunar south pole.
Mission life
The Chandrayaan 2 orbiter will be capable of communicating with Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu as well as the Vikram Lander. The mission life of the orbiter is one year and it will be placed in a 62 mile by 62 mile (100 x 100 kilometer) lunar polar orbit.
Credit: ISRO
The lander is named Vikram after Vikram A. Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space program. It is designed to function for one lunar day, which is equivalent to about 14 Earth days.
Chandrayaan 2’s rover is a 6-wheeled robotic vehicle named Pragyan, which translates to “wisdom” in Sanskrit. It can travel up to 1,640 feet (500 meters or one-half kilometer), leverages solar energy for its functioning and can only communicate with the lander.
Credit: ISRO
Experiments
Once deployed, the Pragyan rover will carry out scientific experiments on the lunar surface. Instruments are also mounted on the lander and orbiter for performing science tasks.
There are 13 Indian payloads (8 on the orbiter, three on the lander and two on the rover, along with one passive experiment from NASA – a Laser Retro-reflector Array (LRA) for Lunar Landers.
This LRA is the same design as the one carried onboard Israel’s Beresheet lander that crashed on the Moon last month.
NASA’s retro-reflector is a mirrored device that reflects laser light signals to help pinpoint precisely where a lander is as well as accurately calculate the Moon’s distance from Earth.
A complete list of all payloads on the Chandrayaan 2 mission is available here:
https://www.isro.gov.in/chandrayaan2-payloads
Credit: Jatan Mehta/Moon Monday
India’s Pragyan rover mounted on the ramp projecting from out of the sides of Vikram lunar lander.
Credit: ISRO
The Mark II and Lovell Telescopes at Jodrell Bank.
Credit: The University of Manchester
Jodrell Bank Observatory has been added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage List. The observatory becomes the 32nd UNESCO World Heritage Site in the UK to receive this award and joins just over 1,100 sites internationally.
Being held in Baku, Azerbaijan, the World Heritage Convention is an international treaty created in 1972 to promote the conservation and preservation of important natural and cultural sites.
Six cultural sites were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The newly inscribed sites are located in Azerbaijan, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Spain, and the UK.
Mark II Telescope
Credit: Anthony Holloway from Amy Bishop (The University of Manchester)
Substantial scientific impact
As noted in a UNESCO statement:
“Located in a rural area of northwest England, free from radio interference, Jodrell Bank is one of the world’s leading radio astronomy observatories.
At the beginning of its use, in 1945, the site housed research on cosmic rays detected by radar echoes. This observatory, which is still in operation, includes several radio telescopes and working buildings, including engineering sheds and the Control Building.
Jodrell Bank has had substantial scientific impact in fields such as the study of meteors and the moon, the discovery of quasars, quantum optics, and the tracking of spacecraft.
This exceptional technological ensemble illustrates the transition from traditional optical astronomy to radio astronomy (1940s to 1960s), which led to radical changes in the understanding of the universe.”
Radio astronomer Bernard Lovell in the Control Room at Jodrell Bank.
Credit: Amy Bishop (The University of Manchester)
Space race history
Jodrell Bank, owned by the University of Manchester, is famous as the home of the Lovell Telescope, the world’s third largest steerable radio telescope. Completed in 1957, the dish was the largest of its kind anywhere in the world until 1973 and was the catalyst for the construction of many other large scale satellite dishes.
Sir Bernard Lovell shows the Sputnik Echo to the press.
Credit: Amy Bishop (The University of Manchester)
The Lovell Telescope’s first act was to track the Soviet Union’s Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite.
Jodrell Bank now joins a prestigious group of sites across the globe recognized by UNESCO’s international community as sites of Outstanding Universal Value.
In a Jodrell Bank statement regarding the recognition: “It places the site on an equal footing with the likes of Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal and represents an enormous accolade not only for Jodrell Bank and The University of Manchester, but also for the region, and the UK as a whole.”
For more information on this historic and on-going research, go to:
Also, go to this informative video at:
Image taken by Hayabusa2 during the low altitude descent observation operation conducted from June 11 – 13. Asteroid Ryugu is covered with boulders. In attempting a second touchdown, mission controllers need to aim for a point close to a target marker which has no obstacles. The project is currently examining this area in detail.
Credit: JAXA, Chiba Institute of Technology, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Meiji University, University of Aizu, AIST.
In a recent communiqué, project officials from Japan’s Hayabusa2 asteroid explorer are eyeing a second touchdown of the craft on July 11.
Following the small carry-on impactor (SCI) explosion, Hayabusa2 is on tap to sample the crater.
Credit: JAXA/Screengrab/Inside Outer Space
The touchdown spot is about 65 feet (20 meters) north of the artificial crater formed by the mission’s Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI). Currently, the team is carefully examining and checking touchdown operation plans to enable collection of the uplifted subsurface material from Ryugu as a result of the SCI explosion.
Step by step
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa2’s first touchdown took place this year on February 22.
Mission controllers succeeded in creating an artificial crater using the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) on April 5.
After the operation to form the artificial crater, the spacecraft descended a total of four times above or near the crater site. These descent operations allowed controllers to obtain detailed data of the region near the artificial crater.
Credit: JAXA
In addition, Hayabusa2 team members succeeded in dropping a target marker in the area close to the artificial crater on May 30. Combined, these operations mean that the situation around the artificial crater is now well understood, according to Hayabusa2 officials.
Curiosity Navcam Right B image taken on Sol 2458, July 6, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Navcam Left B image taken on Sol 2458, July 6, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Navcam Right B image acquired on Sol 2458, July 6, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 2458, July 6, 2019. MAHLI is located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 2458, July 6, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 2458, July 6, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2459 duties.
The robot is currently near the top of Harlaw Rise, having made a slight diversion from the southward drive through the clay-bearing unit to explore the exposures of rocks on this hill.
Here’s a sampling of new imagery relayed from Curiosity:
Hominid robots for Mars, called as Charlie.
Credit: VaMEx-VTB/University of Bremen
VaMEx-VTB is a Virtual Test Bed for Swarm-based Exploration of the Valles Marineris on the Planet Mars. The effort is developing concepts, algorithms, and hardware for a swarm-based exploration of Valles Marineris.
Valles Marineris – the largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars.
Credit: NASA
Multiple Swarm Units.
Credit: VaMEx-VTB/University of Bremen
The swarm comprises different elements such as rovers, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) and hominid robots (called as Charlie). The idea is to have an autonomous swarm navigation and exploration system which communicate with each other.
VaMEx-VTB is a joint venture of the University of Bremen and several other German universities financed by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR – Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt).
Credit: VaMEx-VTB/University of Bremen
For more information on this innovative look at Mars exploration, go to:
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2458 tasks.
Here’s the scenery as viewed by the robot, currently near the top of Harlaw Rise:
Curiosity Front Hazcam Right B image taken on Sol 2457, July 5, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Navcam Right B photo taken on Sol 2453, July 1, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Navcam Right B photo taken on Sol 2453, July 1, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Navcam Right B photo taken on Sol 2453, July 1, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Navcam Right B photo taken on Sol 2453, July 1, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: Ralf Vandebergh
Skywatcher and satellite tracker, Ralf Vandebergh of the Netherlands, has caught an over flight of the U.S. Air Force secretive X-37B space plane, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle – 5.
Vandebergh reports that he has been hunting for the OTV-5 for months and saw it visually in May.
“When I tried to observe it again mid June, it didn’t meet the predicted time and path. It turned out to have maneuvered to another orbit. Thanks to the amateur satellite observers-network, it was rapidly found in orbit again and I was able to take some images on June 30 and July 2,” Vandebergh explains.
Beyond expectations
The OTV-5’s recent pass was almost overhead, Vandebergh adds.
The OTV is a small version of the classic space shuttle. “It is really a small object, even at only [186 miles] 300 kilometers altitude, so don’t expect the detail level of ground based images of the real space shuttle.”
Considering this, the images Vandebergh says succeeded beyond expectations. “We can recognize a bit of the nose, payload bay and tail of this mini-shuttle with even a sign of some smaller detail.”
The Images were taken through a 10 inch F/4,8 aperture Newtonian telescope with an Astrolumina ALccd 5L-11 mono CMOS camera. Tracking was fully manually through a 6×30 finderscope, Vandebergh explains.
X-37B handout.
Credit: Boeing
Classified duties
The secretive mission of the U.S. Air Force X-37B mini-space plane has winged past 666 days of flight. This robotic drone is performing classified duties during the program’s fifth flight.
This Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-5) was rocketed into Earth orbit on September 7, 2017 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Air Force space plane in Earth orbit for over 666 days.
Credit: Boeing
The missions of the X-37B space planes are carried out under the auspices of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, and mission control for OTV flights are handled by the 3rd Space Experimentation Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. This squadron oversees operations of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle and is tagged as the Air Force Space Command’s premier organization for space-based demonstrations, pathfinders and experiment testing, gathering information on objects high above Earth and carrying out other intelligence-gathering duties.
And that may be a signal as to what the robotic craft is doing — both looking down at Earth and upward.
Credit: Boeing
Flight-duration record
Each X-37B/OTV mission has set a new flight-duration record for the program:
OTV-1 began April 22, 2010, and concluded on Dec. 3, 2010, after 224 days in orbit.
OTV-2 began March 5, 2011, and concluded on June 16, 2012, after 468 days on orbit.
OTV-3 chalked up nearly 675 days in orbit before finally coming down on Oct. 17, 2014.
OTV-4 conducted on-orbit experiments for 718 days during its mission, extending the total number of days spent in space for the OTV program at that point to 2,085 days. It was launched in May 2015 and landed in May 2017.
Asets-II payload logo.
Credit: AFRL
On-orbit testing
On this latest clandestine mission of the space plane, all that’s known according to Air Force officials is that one payload flying on OTV-5 is the Advanced Structurally Embedded Thermal Spreader, or ASETS-II.
Developed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), this cargo is testing experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipes for long duration stints in the space environment.
According to AFRL, the payload’s three primary science objectives are to measure the initial on-orbit thermal performance, to measure long duration thermal performance, and to assess any lifetime degradation.
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission 4 (OTV-4), the Air Force’s unmanned, reusable space plane, landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility May 7, 2017.
Credit: USAF
Tarmac touchdown
Exactly when the OTV-5 space plane will land is unknown.
The last Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission touched down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility May 7, 2017 – a first for the program. All prior missions had ended with a tarmac touchdown at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Several website postings say that the sixth mission, X-37B OTV-6, is planned for this year on a United Launch Alliance Atlas-5(501) rocket. Launch would be from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-41.
Last Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission touched down at NASA ‘s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility May 7, 2017.
Credit: Michael Martin/USAF
Reusable vehicles
The classified X-37B program “fleet” consists of two known reusable vehicles, both of which were built by Boeing.
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle was fabricated at several Boeing locations in Southern California, including Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and El Segundo. The program transitioned to the U.S. Air Force in 2004 after earlier funded research efforts by Boeing, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Looking like a miniature version of NASA’s now-retired space shuttle orbiter, the military space plane is 29 feet (8.8 meters) long and 9.6 feet (2.9 m) tall, with a wingspan of nearly 15 feet (4.6 m).
The X-37B space plane has a payload bay of 7 feet (2.1 meters) by 4 feet (1.2 meters), a bay that can be outfitted with a robotic arm. X-37B has a launch weight of 11,000 lbs. (4,990 kilograms) and is powered on orbit by gallium-arsenide solar cells with lithium-ion batteries.
Back to hangar for another flight day. U.S. Air Force X-37B/OTV-4 is rolled into facility after its May 7 landing at Kennedy Space Center.
Credit: Michael Martin/SAF
Milestone for the program
Prior to launch of OTV-5, Randy Walden, the director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office said there were many firsts on this mission, making it a milestone for the program. “It is our goal to continue advancing the X-37B OTV so it can more fully support the growing space community.”
The Air Force also noted that the fifth OTV mission was launched into, and will be landed from, a higher inclination orbit than prior missions to further expand the X-37B’s orbital envelope.
Credit: NASA
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Moon landing, 60% say the space program has provided enough benefit to the country to justify its cost, while 38% do not consider the country’s expenditures on the space program warranted.
Most Americans say it is important for the space program to monitor objects including asteroids, comets, and other objects that could impact the Earth, as well as scientifically research the universe, our solar system, and the Earth.
On the other hand, the establishment of permanent human settlements on other planets or developing an American military presence in space are not considered priorities.
Earth has been on the receiving end of several incoming objects.
Credit: NASA
Robots over humans
Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts, scientific research and using robots to explore the cosmos over sending humans back to the Moon or on to Mars, the poll shows.
To view the Chicago, Illinois-based AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll information, go to:
Space Exploration: Attitudes toward the U.S. Space Program
http://www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages/Space-Exploration-Attitudes-toward-the-U-S–Space-Program.aspx
AP-NORC poll: Asteroid watch more urgent than Mars trip
https://www.apnews.com/4d952f9b4c684899960fe85d807434d6
Also, go to:
Asteroids headed for Earth? Poll shows Americans are ill-informed about space by Mark R. Whittington, Opinion Contributor
