Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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July 2nd, 2024
Image credit: Astronautfoods.com
BOULDER, Colorado – As I get older by the day, you do wonder about the term “shelf life.”
Meanwhile, this year, Astronaut Foods is celebrating five decades past when they soft-landed Astronaut Ice Cream into freeze-dried fandom. No refrigeration needed. And a three-year shelf life!
Since its launch in 1974, developed alongside NASA, this delicacy was my only connection with getting a taste of space travel.
Yes, even earlier, there were those toothpaste-tubes filled with whatever. That eventually broke down with astronauts sneaking in sandwiches onboard their spacecraft.
Image credit: Astronautfoods.com
Enduring appeal
I just got word that Astronaut Foods is “over the Moon” this year in commemorating the 50th anniversary of Astronaut Ice Cream.
These “out-of-this-world treats,” the company explains, have earned their place in the hearts of many “as a symbol of innovation, curiosity, and the enduring spirit of exploration.”
Ron Smith is co-owner and founder of American Outdoor Products, a family-owned, Boulder, Colorado-based company. Astronaut Foods is in its 3rd generation of family ownership with the Smith Family.
Image credit: Astronautfoods.com
Smith said in a press statement that, as people experienced it, “Astronaut Ice Cream quickly became one of the best-selling products in museums, science centers, and gift shops across the U.S. It has withstood the test of time, proving its enduring appeal and becoming a beloved treat for generations.”
Cosmic crunch
In dipping into the company’s freeze-dried products, I see you can snag creamy ice cream sandwiches with a cosmic crunch.
“No freezer needed and a three year shelf life. Perfect for a trip to Mars and back!”
I’m in…depending on my own “off-Earth, out-of-body” travel itinerary.
For more information, go to:
Also, check out this fascinating video: “The History of Food in Space” at:
https://astronautfoods.com/pages/the-history-of-food-in-space
Hungry man, Leonard David.
Image credit: Leonard David
Posted in 
Artist’s view of two Artemis astronauts at work on the lunar surface.
Image credit: NASA
Earth’s neighboring Moon is far from being a “been there, done that” world even taking into account a dozen Apollo moonwalking visitors between 1969 and 1972.
There is now a convergence of reasons to return to the Moon, not only for science, but for economic and security motives, as well as signaling global leadership through international partnerships.
Image credit: NASA
Array of issues
The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is home of a Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium, funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). That consortium is tackling an array of issues for STMD’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative.
APL focus group meetings pay attention to all manner of lunar challenges: From appraising surface power hardware on the Moon to utilization of on-the-spot lunar resources to churn out oxygen and other products, like rocket propellant.
Credit: NASA
Deep dives
The specialized focus groups also make deep dives into excavation and construction ideas, curbing dust problems, and dealing with the moon’s extreme and brutal environment.
Rounding out the focus group topic list is how human and robotic systems will be employed to access hard to get to lunar sites, like probing subsurface caves and lava tubes.
Image credit: NASA
For more details, go to my new SpaceNews story – “How the Applied Physics Laboratory is tackling Artemis Moon exploration” – at:
Samples of asteroid Bennu are now undergoing intensive study at the University of Arizona and other labs.
(Image credit: Chris Richards/University of Arizona Communications)
Initial analyses of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission is rippling through the scientific community.
In the early morning hours of September 24, 2023, NASA’s first sample return mission of bits and pieces of asteroid Bennu successfully parachuted into the Department of Defense Dugway Proving Ground in the Utah Test and Training Range, roughly 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, Utah.
OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. The sample was collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
Image credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
That extraterrestrial freight from afar came capsule-contained courtesy of the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission.
A preliminary truth-be-told scientific look at the asteroid specimens is just out within the pages of The Meteoritical Society’s journal, Meteoritics & Planetary Science.
The opened science canister in the glovebox at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The cylindrical Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head is positioned in the center of the avionics deck. Dark particles and dust can be seen on the avionics deck, the top of TAGSAM (including on circular witness plates), and the inside of the canister’s lid.
Image credit: NASA/ASU
Question-raising regolith
“The distinct hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen isotopic compositions of Bennu’s regolith raise questions about its formation and evolution,” reports a team led by OSIRIS-REx lead investigator, Dante Lauretta of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
“Further investigation into these isotopic signatures could provide valuable insights into the history of Bennu and its parent body,” Lauretta and colleagues report.
Examples of inspected samples.
Image credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
Examples of boulder types on Bennu.
Image credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
First-look findings
“Our first-look findings highlight the importance of sample return missions in unraveling the geological and geochemical intricacies of asteroids like Bennu—whose low-density materials are probably underrepresented in the meteorite record—and their implications for the formation and evolution of the solar system,” the researchers add.
Nonetheless, the data gained by initial looks, “are only the tip of the iceberg,” Lauretta and colleagues explain. “There is likely more about the sample that we do not know than we do know.”
Major surprise
Taking her look at the new report is Nathalie Cabrol, Director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
“Simply awesome,” Cabrol says in an X posting.
One major surprise Cabrol adds: “Bennu contains minerals similar to those found at the mid-Atlantic ridge on Earth, indicating that this little asteroid was once part of a bigger, water-rich world.”
Go to The Meteoritical Society’s journal, Meteoritics & Planetary Science to access — “Asteroid (101955) Bennu in the laboratory: Properties of the sample collected by OSIRIS-REx” — at:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.14227
Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx’s principal investigator from the University of Arizona holds a mock up of the asteroid collection device – TAGSAM.
Image credit: Barbara David
Image credit: Barbara David
Wait-a-Minute!
It turns out – one group’s space junk is another person’s viewing hot spot.
The Glamping Collective in North Carolina was on the receiving end last May of leftovers from the SpaceX Dragon Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station.
Image credit: Rae Anne/The Glamping Collective
On May 22, a member of the Glamping Collective landscaping crew discovered the space clutter. “The debris was discovered about a half mile up our Sunset Summit Trail,” according to a Collective posting. “We invite you to come experience this yourself!”
In early June, the Clyde, North Carolina-based organization began displaying the space clutter.
Image credit: Glamping Collective
Snack pack
“The Glamping Collective has long been known as an incredible place to enjoy the night sky and stargazing! The Milky Way Galaxy can be even be seen around our fire pits, or on the Sunset Summit Trail on clear summer nights.”
Also, when completing your booking look for their Galactic Glamping Snack Pack “to complete your out of this world experience!”
Go to: https://www.theglampingcollective.com/
Image credit: SpaceX
NASA later issued a release confirming the re-entry of the Dragon spacecraft trunk hardware following its service mission to the International Space Station.
“Most recently, the trunks that supported SpaceX’s 30th commercial services resupply and Crew-7 missions re-entered over Saudi Arabia and North Carolina, respectively,” the NASA release stated. “NASA is unaware of any structural damage or injuries resulting from these findings.”
SpaceX hot line
For its part, SpaceX has established a “SpaceX debris hot line” as well as a “recovery@spaceX.com” email address.
“If you believe you have identified a piece of debris, please do not attempt to handle or retrieve the debris directly. Instead, please either email or leave a voice mail here with your name, number, and a brief description of what you have discovered and where,” the phone message explains.
Dragon Trunk debris recovered in Canada. Image credit: CTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“Teams are actively monitoring both message boxes and will ensure the notification is handled appropriately,” the recording adds. “If you have concerns about an immediate hazard, please contact your local law enforcement agency. Thank you, your assistance is greatly appreciated.”
Confirmed SpaceX debris found in Australia.
Photo courtesy: Brad Tucker
Trunk deliverables
For more details on this North Carolina incident, as well as other findings of Dragon trunk deliverables in Canada and Australia, go to:
1)
More SpaceX Space Trunk Debris Found?
https://www.leonarddavid.com/42221-2/
2)
More Trunk Space: New SpaceX Debris Found?
https://www.leonarddavid.com/trunk-space-new-spacex-debris-found/
3)
SpaceX Dragon Debris – Trunk Junk Recovered in Canada?
https://www.leonarddavid.com/spacex-dragon-debris-trunk-junk-recovered-in-canada/
4)
For a view of my recent SpaceNews story – “Uncontrolled reentry of space debris poses a real and growing threat” – go to:
https://spacenews.com/uncontrolled-reentry-of-space-debris-poses-a-real-and-growing-threat/
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Coming to full-stop after a 53-day space sojourn to the Moon and back, China’s Chang’e-6 return capsule stuffed with its cache of lunar specimens parachuted into a pre-selected site within Siziwang Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The scientific catch of the day were samples from the unexplored southern mare plain of the Moon’s Apollo basin interior, in the northeast interior of the far side South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin.
Earth’s Moon as viewed from the International Space Station.
Image credit: NASA
Chain reaction
But the just landed specimens from the far side of the Moon also signals technological knowhow and while plowing new ground for the country’s space exploration capacity, it is also sparking a chain-reaction in both scientific and policy-making circles within the U.S.
For details, please read my new Aviation Week & Space Technology article – “Far-Side Moon Samples Set China’s Future In Stone” – at:
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/space/far-side-moon-samples-set-chinas-future-stone
Chang’e-6 mission elements (including mini-rover on display)
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
More information has come to light regarding that hitchhiking mini-rover on China’s Chang’e-6 Moon sampling mission.
The little Chang’e-6 rover is named “Jinchan” and weighs roughly 11 pounds (5 kilograms) reports the China ‘N Asia Spaceflight website.
Chang’e-6 pre-launch look with wheeled rover attached.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: China ‘N Asia Spaceflight /Inside Outer Space screengrab
Carried by Chang’e-6 to the far side of the Moon, the tiny vehicle rolled into position and captured the lander and its outstretched robotic arm that gathered lunar specimens.
Autonomous, intelligent
In a recent story, the state-run Xinhua news agency said the device was an autonomous, intelligent mini-robot, developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
“After Chang’e-6 collected the samples on the far side of the Moon,” Xinhua reports, “the mini rover autonomously detached from the lander, moved to a suitable position, selected an ideal angle for the photograph, and then captured the image.”
Key materials
In pre-launch imagery of China’s Chang’e-6, the mini-rover with four wheels surprised many China space watchers.
A glimmer of information later came from a story via China’s Science Network (news.sciencenet.cn). It did note the presence of a Chang’e-6 lunar rover.
Image credit: China ‘N Asia Spaceflight /Inside Outer Space screengrab
According to the article, the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (later referred to as Shanghai Institute of Ceramics) undertook the development of a number of key materials.
“The large-sized tellurium dioxide crystal developed by the Shanghai Silicate Institute has excellent acoustic and optical properties and is a key material to achieve a large field of view, high spatial and spectral resolution, and is used in the infrared imaging spectrometer of the Chang’e-6 lunar rover,” the story explains.
Image credit: China ‘N Asia Spaceflight /Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image taken by mini-rover of Change’-6 lander/ascender spacecraft on the far side of the Moon.
Image credit: CNSA
Tiny rover on lunar surface as viewed by Chang’e-6 lander.
Image credit: CLPS/CNSA/China ‘N Asia Spaceflight
“The ultrasonic motor is the ‘helper’ that presses the shutter for the ‘Chang’e Family’ lunar rover’s infrared imaging spectrometer. Piezoelectric ceramics are the core material of the ultrasonic motor,” the story continues. “Following Chang’e-3, 4 and 5, the wide temperature range and highly stable piezoelectric excitation element developed by Shanghai Silicate Institute was successfully used in the Chang’e-6 ultrasonic motor.”
In a SegerYU X posting, this translation via Google:
“The Chang’e-6 lunar rover has solar panels on the other side, and there are cameras on both sides of the rover, so it can take pictures no matter which side it faces. The rover is fully autonomous and can be remotely controlled from the ground.”
Image credit: CCTV via SegerYU X posting/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV via SegerYU X posting/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Go to this video showcasing the mini-rover at:
https://x.com/i/status/1807681698613858715
Clearly different
The sporty mini-snooper is far lighter and clearly different than China’s earlier Yutu-1 and Yutu-2 lunar rovers, each Yutu having six wheels and both loaded to their solar panels with lots of equipment.
China’s Chang’e-3 Moon lander let loose Yutu-1 in Mare Imbrium after its December 2013 arrival on the Moon.
Yutu-2’s home turf after deployment by the Chang’e-4 lander in January 2019 is Von Kármán crater within the Moon’s south pole-Aitken basin. It is reportedly alive and well and still on the move.
Image taken from Chang’e 3 lander shows Yutu rover on the roll, alive and well. Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yutu-2 on the prowl.
Credit: CNSA/CLEP
Go to this video that shows the Chang’e-6 mini-rover at:
https://x.com/i/status/1806871243733557468
Also, go to this up-close look at the Chang’e-6 returner capsule at:
https://x.com/i/status/1806870751385141461
Meteoroid impact detected by NASA’s InSight lander on Mars. The image was taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
New research points to Mars being on the receiving end of basketball-size meteorites – on a near daily basis.
An international research group, co-lead by ETH Zurich and Imperial College London, have derived the first estimate of global meteorite impacts on Mars using seismic data.
According to the new work, between 280 to 360 meteorites strike the Red Planet each year. The result is the formation of impact craters greater than 26 feet (8 meters across.
“This rate was about five times higher than the number estimated from orbital imagery alone. Aligned with orbital imagery, our findings demonstrate that seismology is an excellent tool for measuring impact rates,” explains Géraldine Zenhäusern of ETH Zurich who co-led the study.
Recorded very high frequency (VF) events, sorted by distance, plotted from 120 seconds before to 1,100 seconds after the event.
Image credit: Géraldine Zenhäusern, et al.
Seismic “chirp”
Using data from the seismometer deployed during the now non-functioning NASA InSight lander on Mars, the research team found that 6 seismic events belong to a much larger group of marsquakes, so called very high frequency (VF) events.
Their research quest began in December 2021, a year before accumulated dust on the InSight’s solar panels put an end to its mission.
Co-lead of the research, Natalia Wójcicka of the Imperial College London adds: “We estimated crater diameters from the magnitude of all the VF-marsquakes and their distances, then used it to calculate how many craters formed around the InSight lander over the course of a year. We then extrapolated this data to estimate the number of impacts that happen annually on the whole surface of Mars.”
This image shows InSight’s domed Wind and Thermal Shield, which covers the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) seismometer.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
New data shows that a crater 26-feet (8-meters) in diameter is formed somewhere on the surface of Mars nearly every day. A crater 98-feet (30-meters) happens about once a month.
Safety of robotic, human explorers
The research team, in an ETH Zurich statements, explains that, since hypervelocity impacts cause blast zones that are easily 100 times larger in diameter than the crater, “knowing the exact number of impacts is important for the safety of robotic, but also future human missions to the Red Planet.”
As for follow-up work, Zenhäusern and Wójcicka, say the next steps in advancing this research involve the use of machine learning technologies to aid researchers in identifying further craters in satellite images and identifying seismic events in the data.
Artist’s concept depicts astronauts and human habitats on Mars. NASA’s Mars Perseverance robot carries an oxygen-generating unit, viewed as a precursor for technologies that could make Mars safer and easier to explore for humans.
Image credit: NASA
Key findings
In summary form, for the first time, researchers have used seismic data to estimate a global meteorite impact rate showing meteoroids the size of a basketball impact Mars on a near daily basis.
Impact-generated seismic signals show meteorite impacts to be five-times more abundant than previously thought.
Seismic data offers a new tool in addition to observational data for calculating meteorite impact rates and planning future Mars missions.
To access their research paper just out in Nature Astronomy – “An estimate of the impact rate on Mars from statistics of very-high-frequency marsquakes” – go to:
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission to the Moon’s far side netted over 4.3 pounds (1,935.3 grams) of samples.
A ceremony was held on Friday by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) to hand over the samples to the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for storage, analysis and research.
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
In contrast, in December 2020, China’s earlier lunar sample mission – Chang’e-5 – snagged roughly 4 pounds (1,731 grams) of lunar collectibles.
The Chang’e-6 probe returner capsule touched down in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Tuesday, completing its 53-day Earth-to-Moon and return journey with a touchdown in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Chang’e-6 mission elements (including mini-rover back-up, flag on display)
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Go to video at: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/3We3yVMyVMe7BqPq/
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
A container carrying China’s far side lunar samples has been extracted from the returner capsule of the Chang’e-6 lunar probe mission during a June 26 ceremony at the China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing.
The Chang’e-6 probe returner touched down in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Tuesday, completing its 53-day Earth-to-Moon and return journey with a touchdown in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
On Wednesday morning, the Chang’e-6 return capsule arrived in Beijing for sample retrieval and payload removal.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Wait on the weight
The weight of the returned samples collected from the far side of the Moon by the Chang’e-6 mission will be made public on Friday, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has stated.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Hu Hao, the chief designer of the Chang’e-6 mission, stated at the press event that the lunar soil samples from the Moon’s near side are fine and loose, while the samples from the far side appear to be different, Hu said. “So, we have higher expectations for the new lunar samples and hope that scientists will make new discoveries.”
Bian Zhigang, deputy head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Chang’e era
According to Bian Zhigang, deputy head of the CNSA, Chinese and foreign scientists have published more than 1,900 papers using data from China’s lunar exploration.
Global studies of lunar samples have entered the “Chang’e Era,” said Bian at the media event.
“Chinese and foreign scientists have published more than 1,900 papers using data from China’s lunar programs,” Bian said. “From the Chang’e-5 lunar samples, Chinese scientists discovered the sixth new mineral on the Moon and named it Changesite-(Y).”
Bian said that “research has proven that magma activities still existed on the Moon 1.96 billion years ago, which extended the known geological life of the Moon by 1 billion years.”
Go to these new videos focused on the Chang’e-6 sample return at:
The sample container of lunar collectibles is shown being removed from the Chang’e-6 return capsule.
Image credit: Jin Liwang via SegerYU X posting.
China lunar scientists have begun their inspection of the country’s Chang’e-6 returner capsule and its cache of far side lunar samples.
Parachuting into the Siziwang Banner of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region shortly after 2 p.m. local time on Tuesday, the capsule’s touchdown concluded a 53-day journey from Earth, to the Moon, and back to Earth.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Recovered by air and ground teams, the returner module was transported by road to Inner Mongolia’s Zhurihe Airport before it was airlifted to the Chinese capital Beijing.
Store and study
The returner was airlifted to Beijing for opening, and the lunar samples are being transferred to a team of scientists for subsequent storage, analysis and study, said the China National Space Agency (CNSA).
Technicians have taken out the samples and are slated to hand them over to what the CNSA tags as the “ground application system” led by a group of scientists who will store and study the samples.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The Chang’e-6 Moon mission was a multi-tasking enterprise, making use of an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner that was launched on May 3.
Its lander-ascender combination touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the Moon’s far side on June 2, and completed sampling in two days.
Go to this video spotlighting the returner capsule’s landing at:
