Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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February 3rd, 2019
Credit: ISRO
India continues to advance its human spaceflight goals.
On January 30, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) officials inaugurated a Human Space Flight Center (HSFC) at ISRO Headquarter campus in Bengaluru.
India space program officials are all thumbs up. Behind them, full scale model of the Gaganyaan crew module.
Credit: ISRO
Dignitaries posed in front of a full scale model of the Gaganyaan crew module during the event.
End-to-end mission planning
According to an ISRO press statement, the HSFC is responsible for implementation of the Gaganyaan Project that involves end-to-end mission planning, development of engineering systems for crew survival in space, crew selection and training and also pursue activities for sustained human space flight missions.
Furthermore, the HSFC will support existing ISRO Centers to implement the first development flight of Gaganyaan crew module.
The Gaganyaan project is to propel India to become the fourth nation able to independently rocket humans into Earth orbit by 2022.
Credit: ISRO
Booster business
ISRO hopes to deploy its biggest rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III), to send three Indians into space from the Sriharikota space port in Andhra Pradesh. GSLV Mk III is a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle using two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster, and a cryogenic upper stage.
Earlier outlines of the Gaganyaan initiative called for a “demonstration phase” that involves undertaking two unmanned flights and one human flight using Indian technology to catapult a crew of three into a low Earth orbit for 5-7 days.
Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE).
Credit: ISRO
Vyomnauts
India has inked agreements with Russia and France for assistance in THE Gaganyaan effort. ISRO plans to call its astronauts “Vyomnauts” since “Vyom” in Sanskrit means space. ISRO has also mastered the art of making a spacesuit to be used by Indian astronauts.
In 2014, India tested a Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE), where a 3,745 kg space capsule – a prototype of the crew module that will be used by the Indian astronauts – was launched into the atmosphere on the first flight of the GSLV Mk III and then safely recovered from the Bay of Bengal. CARE was designed to showcase blunt body re-entry aerothermodynamics and parachute deployment in cluster configuration.
Pad Abort Test.
Credit: ISRO
Pad abort test
Last year, ISRO carried out a crucial Pad Abort Test on July 5, using a 12.6-ton crew module. This escape measure is designed to quickly pull the astronaut-carrying crew module to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort.
The test took place at Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota. The crew module reached an altitude of nearly 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) under the power of its seven fast-acting solid rocket motors.
Pad Abort Test capsule parachutes to watery touchdown.
Credit: ISRO
Nearly 300 sensors recorded various mission performance parameters during the test flight.
The test last 259 seconds, during which the Crew Escape System along with crew module soared skyward, racing out over the Bay of Bengal and floated back to Earth under its parachutes about 2 miles ( 2.9 kilometers) from Sriharikota.
Credit: ISRO
Technology testing
In a human spaceflight-related test, back on January 10, 2007, ISRO launched the Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1).
Launched by a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) from Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, SRE-1 was successfully recovered on January 22, 2007 after being maneuvered to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and descend over the Bay of Bengal.
The SRE – 1 capsule weighed 1,213 pounds (550 kilograms) and demonstrated, among a host of technologies, development of reusable thermal protection system (TPS). The experiment tested lightweight silicon tiles that can protect a spaceship as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
Go to this New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) video about India’s human spaceflight plans:
Here’s a video of the pad abort test:
https://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/videos/pat_test_video.mp4.mp4
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Curiosity Front Hazcam Left A photo acquired on Sol 2308, February 2, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2309 duties.
A new set of images from the robot show operations, working the current workspace in front of the Mars machinery that is very rubbly, with no bedrock that is reachable by the rover arm.
Curiosity Navcam Left A image taken on Sol 2308, February 2, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Reports Vivian Sun, a planetary geologist at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California, most of the clay-bearing unit is likely composed of this rubbly material, so it’s important to characterize its composition and texture.
Overlapping areas
To that end, scientists made Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) measurements of this material on Sol 2308, using a rastering technique where the APXS was slated to be placed over three overlapping spots in the workspace.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 2308, February 2, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager photo taken on Sol 2308, February 2, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
By obtaining chemical measurements over different, but slightly overlapping areas, Sun notes, scientists will be able to distinguish the compositions of the pebbles from the sand and soil in the APXS field of view.
Instrument Context Camera (ICC).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s InSight Mars lander has made another deployment milestone in readying the probe for performing an agenda of scientific duties.
Following the InSight team finishing fine-tuning the cable position last Sunday — the tether link to the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) now in position on the surface of Mars – that action was just capped by placing the Wind and Thermal Shield (WTS) atop the SEIS.
Instrument Context Camera (ICC).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Honeycomb structure
The WTS consists of an aerodynamically shaped aluminum cover with a honeycomb structure to which is attached a gold-coated thermal skirt.
The whole assembly rests on three legs that were to deploy automatically once the robotic arm lifted the dome off the lander’s platform.
The robotic arm’s five grapple fingers close around a handle that resembles a ball on top of a stem. Each of the three items – the seismometer, the Wind and Thermal Shield, and the still to be deployed heat flow probe have one of these handles.
Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) image acquired on February 2, 2019, Sol 66.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Instrument Context Camera (ICC).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The wind and thermal shield (WTS).
Credit: Agence Idé/CNES).
Artist concept showing the protective role of the wind and thermal shield (WTS) at the martian surface.
Credit: IPGP/David Ducros
Near-Earth asteroid Bennu is 1,600 feet (500 meters) wide and contains hydrated minerals, according to scientists working on the NASA OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission now underway. It could one day be mined for water by future explorers. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
A new study estimates that there are 440 to 1.3 billion U.S. tons of water that could be extracted from the minerals in near-Earth asteroids. That’s enough to fill between 160,000 and 480,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
A new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a publication of the American Geophysical Union, suggests there are between 26 and 80 hydrated near-Earth asteroids larger than a kilometer in diameter.
Of those, 8 to 26 of the asteroids are easier to get to than the surface of the Moon. The new study also estimates there are between 350 and 1,050 smaller hydrated objects easier to reach than the Moon.
Interplanetary space missions
“We know that there are minerals with water in them on asteroids. We know that from meteorites that have fallen to the ground.” said Andrew Rivkin of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Research Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
Rivkin is the lead author on the new paper — How Many Hydrated NEOs Are There? — with F. E. DeMeo of MIT.
As noted by Larry O’Hanlon, editor and online producer of the popular AGU Blogosphere, water in asteroids can provide hints about the nature of the early solar system, including clues about where Earth’s water and the Moon’s polar ice came from. It could also supply water and fuel to future interplanetary space missions, as noted by the authors of the new study.
Artist’s illustration of astronauts at an asteroid as well as other mining and transportation vehicles operating in space.
Credit: TransAstra Corporation & Anthony Longman
Mining companies
“Hydrated minerals are also of interest to asteroid mining companies, which hope to make their extraction and processing as the basis for their business,” explain Rivkin and DeMeo in their paper.
“For these reasons, we are interested in understanding how common hydrated asteroids are in the population of objects with orbits like the Earth’s. There are a few different ways we can make the calculation, but all of the estimates suggest that hydrated asteroids are more common than we would think from the pieces that fall to Earth, and that dozens of them are larger than 1 km in diameter and take less fuel for a round‐trip spacecraft than to the surface of the Moon,” the researchers explain.
Hot commodity
To get a better estimate would probably require a space telescope, like the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2021, explains Rivkin.
Water is expected to be a hot commodity in space, as it is essential for human survival and can be used to propel spacecraft to other parts of the solar system, or to make propellant to refuel Earth-orbiting satellites.
Business plan for asteroid mining.
Credit: Joel Sercel/ICS Associates Inc. and TransAstra
To access the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets paper – “How Many Hydrated NEOs Are There?” – go to:
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018JE005584
Curiosity Front Hazcam Right A photo taken on Sol 2307, February 1, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2308 tasks.
The rover has completed a new drive, reports Vivian Sun, a planetary geologist at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California, and is now parked on top of “Knockfarril Hill” – one of the ridges in the clay-bearing unit.
Curiosity Rear Hazcam Right A photo acquired on Sol 2307, February 1, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Weekend exploration
“One of the mysteries of the clay unit is the origin of these ridges – how did they form and what are they made of? This weekend’s 3-sol plan is packed with observations designed to start addressing these questions,” Sun explains.
The current workspace in front of Curiosity is very rubbly, with no bedrock that is reachable by the rover arm.
“However, most of the clay-bearing unit is likely composed of this rubbly material,” Sun points out, “so it’s important to characterize its composition and texture.
Curiosity Navcam Left A image acquired on Sol 2306, January 31, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Pebbles, sand and soil
To that end, the rover is acquiring Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) measurements of this material on Sol 2308, using a rastering technique where the APXS will be placed over three overlapping spots in the workspace.
“By obtaining chemical measurements over different, but slightly overlapping areas, we will be able to distinguish the compositions of the pebbles from the sand and soil in the APXS field of view,” Sun notes.
Also planned is Curiosity analyzing the variety of pebbles in the workspace with Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) on “Brent” (also the APXS target), “Carluke,” and “Foveran.”
Happy coincidence
“In a happy coincidence, we had identified Carluke as a ChemCam target before we learned that the previous plan’s ChemCam AEGIS [Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science software] observation had autonomously selected the same Carluke pebble to analyze! We decided to keep the Carluke observation in any case, to gather better statistics on the chemical variability in this pebble,” Sun reports.
Planners also slated plenty of Mastcam imagery given the robot’s relatively high vantage point atop the ridge. Two mosaics are planned to document the bedrock outcrop exposed at Knockfarril Hill and of a layered bedrock outcrop nearby.
Curiosity ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager photo taken on Sol 2307, February 1, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Intriguing ridges
“We will also document some intriguing aeolian ridges in the distance,” Sun adds, “as well as some enigmatic dark and bright aeolian features in an area called “Crawton.””
After all of these activities, Curiosity is slated to make a short drive descending Knockfarril Hill on Sol 2309, while performing the second part of mobility tests to assess how to best drive in this new rubbly terrain.
“We close out our plan with a suite of atmospheric observations on Sol 2310, including Mastcam taus and dust devil surveys,” Sun concludes. “I kept quite busy as the Geology Keeper of the Plan today, but it was well worth it to plan all of these exciting observations!”
GOES-16 data showing high Flash Extent Density values from the area above Cuba at the same time of the meteor report.
Credit: NASA/SPoRT
A meteor has rocked the skies of western Cuba on Friday, exploding mid-air, shattering windows and raining charred meteorite rocks on people’s homes. Before its demise, the space rock was seen flying above Florida.
Credit: Caribbean Online Weather
Handout picture released by Tele Pinar, a local television station of reported fragment.
Credit: Tele Pinar/Fátima Rivera Amador
The suspected meteor rained debris in and around the tourist town of Viñales, some 112 miles (180 kilometers) west of Havana.
Handout picture released by Tele Pinar, a local television station of reported fragment.
Credit: Tele Pinar
National Weather Service Key West radar may have detected the meteor, reporting a signature was detected near Viñales, Cuba, at a height of over 26,000 feet above ground level.
The space rock was seen flying above Florida with Caribbean Online Weather posting a photo of the fireball.
Meanwhile, a NASA project dubbed SPoRT pulled up satellite data/imagery from GOES-16 — Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) and Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) software — finding some relatively high Flash Extent Density values from the area above Cuba at the same time of the meteor report.
According to the Cuban News Agency, no casualties have been reported.
This video contains sonic blast from the incoming object:
Credit: Institute of Biomedical Problems
Starting in March, Russia’s SIRIUS (Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station) experiment will simulate a flight to the Moon.
The SIRIUS-19 experiment makes use of a six person team and is being staged by the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP). The main objective of the mission: the choice of areas for the future construction of a lunar settlement/base.
Credit: Institute of Biomedical Problems
The four month isolation experiment simulates a flight to the Moon; finding a landing site; landing of four crew members for surface operations; a stay in the Moon’s orbit and remote control of a lunar rover to prepare a base; ending in a return to Earth.
General scenario
According to the Institute’s website, the general scenario of the SIRIUS-18/19 experiment includes several stages:
Credit: NASA
The crew starts to the Moon, reaches orbit and is joined to an orbital station.
For 2 months, the crew conducts observations of the lunar surface and makes a decision about the point of landing, during this period of time a series of dockings with transport ships are also performed.
Four crew members land on the moon, 2 or 3 crew members in lunar space suits perform several exits to the surface. The Moon circling spacecraft and the remaining two crew members continue to work in orbit and provide technical assistance and advice to their comrades on the surface.
Starting from the lunar surface and docking with the orbital ship.
Circling the Moon for several weeks, while the crew remotely controls lunar rovers (preparing for the construction of the lunar base), and also conducts a series of connections with transport ships.
Credit: Institute of Biomedical Problems
U.S. participation
The start of the SIRIUS-19 model insulation experiment is scheduled for March 19, 2019.
According to a TASS report, the final group of participants in the experiment will be determined on March 5; selection of eight persons is expected, six of them will make up the crew and two persons will be back-up crew members. Three women and three men are likely to make up the crew.
Two representatives of the United States and one representative of Belarus are also expected to take part in the isolation experiment.
The U.S. representatives, according to the Institute, Reinhold Povilaitis, an analyst of research and operations on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Allen Mirkadyrov in Telecommunication Networks and Technologies of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
NASA and the State Research Center Institute for Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBMP) have a long and successful history of collaborating on joint research related to human health and well-being in space.
NASA’s HRP (Human Research Program), and IBMP are conducting research to identify preventive measures and technologies to protect the health of astronauts and astronauts during space flight.
Gretta Berghammer is the artistic director for the Sturgis Youth Theatre at the University of Northern Iowa.
Credit: University of Northern Iowa
This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. But there’s one small step, one giant leap being taken to celebrate that milestone – and in a distinct, creative way.
“To Touch the Moon” is a production honoring that triumph – but with a difference. It will blend drama and science to foster an explorer mindset in youth with autism and other developmental delays. The project is underway at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
For more information, go to my new Space.com story:
‘To Touch the Moon’ Theater Production Is Tailored for Autism Spectrum Disorder
https://www.space.com/43175-to-touch-the-moon-autism-focused-play.html
The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) and the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative is staging a February 6-7 workshop: Spaces in Space: Optimizing Behavioral Health and Cognitive Performance in Confined Environments.
This workshop highlights the many opportunities to re-think the design of personal environments for their potential to keep us well and enhance cognitive performance.
The spaces we design for space travel are new frontiers for health.
Human health technologies
Invited participants include leading engineers, academic researchers (in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, ecology, and AI), behavioral healthcare industry innovators, interior designers, architects, and entrepreneurs developing new technologies.
Partnering with NASA through a cooperative agreement, the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) funds transformative human health technologies to predict, protect, and preserve astronaut physical and mental wellness during deep space exploration missions. We fund high-risk, high-reward, human health and performance solutions that can be adapted for use in space.
Workshop details
NOTE: The workshop is FREE & will be available as a live stream. You will need to register for the live stream. For more information and to register, go to:
Curiosity Mastcam Left photo taken on Sol 2304, January 29, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity is presently performing Sol 2307 tasks.
Ashley Stroupe, a mission operations engineer at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California, reports that Curiosity is venturing further into the clay unit territory.
Curiosity Image shows the ridge and the smooth terrain. Photo taken by Navcam Left A Sol 2306 January 31, 2019
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Several targets are being observed with Mastcam color and ChemCam to try to characterize the chemistry and texture of this new terrain. Also on tap is taking a Chemistry and Camera Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) mosaic of “Buchan Ridge,” an upcoming area of exploration within the clay unit, to aid in navigation and traverse planning.
Curiosity ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager photo acquired on Sol 2306, January 31, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Hidden from view
“We’re driving up to the crest of a ridge so that we will be able to see down the other side, which is currently hidden from our view,” Stroupe notes. “The new terrain is so featureless, that visual odometry is having trouble tracking our position and measuring slip, which caused the rover to stop the sol 2304 drive early.”
Stroupe adds that rover planners are using some extra imaging to help operators of the robot characterize how the rover performs on this new terrain.
Curiosity Front Hazcam Right A image taken on Sol 2306, January 31, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“We are hoping something of interest will be in our workspace for contact science in the weekend plan,” Stroupe says. “Much of our post-drive imaging will also be of higher resolution than usual (lossless compression) so that we can see the fine details and get good stereo for drive planning.”
Curiosity Navcam Left A image acquired on Sol 2306 January 31, 2019
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Navcam Left A image acquired on Sol 2306 January 31, 2019
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Navcam Right A photo taken on Sol 2306, January 31, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Rear Hazcam Right A image taken on Sol 2306, January 31, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Mastcam Right photo taken on Sol 2304, January 29, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Blocks of memory
After Curiosity’s drive, the plan calls for continuing the monitoring of weather, with Mastcam taus, dust devil movies, and some other atmospheric imaging.
Also slated is use of Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) software for automated ChemCam science, Stroupe explains, “which should help us find anything interesting in this terrain.”
“Last, but not least, we’re continuing our diagnostics to better understand our issues with the Side-B computer, dumping some more blocks of memory,” Stroupe concludes.
