Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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June 15th, 2024
Space debris plunges to Earth, burning its way through the atmosphere.
Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation
End-of-life, human-made space scraps that fall into Earth’s atmosphere are leaving behind a train of tiny particles that are eating away at our fragile biosphere.
The new work has been published in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters pointing to the increasing number of satellite constellations, the byproducts of which on re-entry catalyze chemical reactions that destroy stratospheric ozone.
The work was led by José Ferreira in the Department of Astronautical Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles.
Launch and reentry particle emissions in the Earth’s stratosphere.
Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation
Rapid ramp up
“Only in recent years have people started to think this might become a problem,” said Joseph Wang, a researcher in astronautics at USC and a corresponding author of the new work.
“We were one of the first teams to look at what the implication of these facts might be,” Wang said in an AGU media release.
According to Wang and research colleagues, demand for global internet coverage is driving a rapid ramp up of launches of small communication satellite swarms.
Falcon 9 booster topped with sixty Starlink satellites.
Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX and its Starlink satellites is the front runner in this enterprise. Amazon and other companies around the globe are also planning constellations ranging from 3,000 to 13,000 satellites, the authors of the study explain.
Unplanned pollution
Internet satellites in low Earth orbit are short-lived, say about five years. What follows is that companies must then launch replacement satellites to maintain internet service.
What this adds up to is a cycle of planned obsolescence, coupled with unplanned pollution of Earth’s atmosphere.
“Satellites burn up at the end of service life during reentry, generating aluminum oxides as the main byproduct. These are known catalysts for chlorine activation that depletes ozone in the stratosphere,” explains the research paper: “Potential Ozone Depletion From Satellite Demise During Atmospheric Reentry in the Era of Mega-Constellations.”
Molecular dynamics simulations
Wang and research team colleagues note that the environmental impacts from the reentry of satellites are currently poorly understood.
The team’s investigation focuses on the oxidation process of the satellite’s aluminum content during atmospheric reentry utilizing atomic-scale molecular dynamics simulations, cited as the first simulation work to do so.
The simulations were performed at the USC Center for Advanced Research Computing (CARC).
Above natural levels
By applying reentry forecasts considering the deployment of mega-constellations, the aluminum excess ratio at the top of the mesosphere can reach a yearly excess of more than 640 percent above natural levels, they report, or over 360 metric tons of aluminum oxide clusters per year from satellites.
“We find that the population of reentering satellites in 2022 caused a 29.5% increase of aluminum in the atmosphere above the natural level, resulting in around 17 metric tons of aluminum oxides injected into the mesosphere,” the researchers report.
Credit: CORDS/The Aerospace Corporation
Aluminum is one of the most prevailing materials in satellites and launch vehicles by mass.
Future scenario
Moreover, the byproducts generated by the reentry of satellites in a future scenario – where projected mega-constellations come to fruition — can reach over 360 metric tons per year. “As aluminum oxide nanoparticles may remain in the atmosphere for decades, they can cause significant ozone depletion,” the new research adds.
The team calculates that, based on particle size, it would take up to 30 years for the aluminum oxides to drift down to stratospheric altitudes, where 90% of Earth’s ozone is located.
To view this research – “Potential Ozone Depletion From Satellite Demise During Atmospheric Reentry in the Era of Mega-Constellations” – go to:
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280
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Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s projected human exploration of the Moon received a boost last week given a first-time propulsion system test for the country’s powerful Long March-10 rocket.
According to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the propulsion system for the first stage of the Long March-10 launch vehicle underwent testing for the first time on June 14.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
During the static firing test, three YF-100K engines churned out a ground thrust reaching 382 tons. The YF-100K is a reusable liquid oxygen/kerosene rocket engine.
The Long March-10 is to be a three-and-a-half-stage rocket designed to carry over 27 tons of payload to the Earth-to-Moon transfer orbit.
China’s plans for human crews on the Moon are being shaped.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Institute 101
The rocket engine trial run for the first-stage propulsion system of the Long March-10 took place at Institute 101 of the Sixth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) in Beijing.
CASC explains that a second ground test of the first-stage propulsion system is scheduled to take place soon.
The recently completed firing was the first large-scale system-level ground test of the Long March-10 series and marks a key step toward realizing China’s stated goal of landing a crew on the Moon by 2030.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Crews, lunar landers
“The test is basically a comprehensive verification of our first-stage module. It was a complete success, laying a solid foundation for our subsequent research and development and the realization of our entire manned lunar exploration program,” said Xu Hongping, an engineer with CASC told CCTV.
Development of the Long March-10 is geared to send piloted spacecraft and Moon landers into a Earth-Moon transfer orbit.
The rocket specs placed it as having a total length of about 300 feet (92 meters), a takeoff weight of over 2,180 tons, a takeoff thrust of about 2,678 tons, and a carrying capacity of no less than 27 tons for an Earth-Moon transfer orbit.
Chinese astronauts may be investigating the Moon up-close before 2030.
Image credit: CMS
Advanced manufacturing sector
A non-booster configuration of the new rocket is capable of conducting missions for transporting astronauts and cargo to China’s space station.
“The development of new-generation manned rockets can greatly enhance our country’s ability to enter space and help the Chinese land on the Moon,” Xu added.
“In addition, some of its technological breakthroughs can drive the development of our entire aerospace industry,” Xu said, “and will be a considerable boost to the country’s advanced manufacturing sector.”
Go to this video spotlighting the recently completed static firing at:
https://youtu.be/a0Is9xmPUbA?si=avW3-ikDLPiQfGTp
Long March -10 Image credit: CMSE
Earth’s moon – a watering hole to enable long-term human exploration?
Image credit: NASA
A hot topic for moon researchers is whether or not water ice is an available, ripe for the picking resource at the lunar south pole.
The search for exploitable water ice is high on NASA’s Artemis agenda to blueprint a “sustainable” human presence pathway on the Moon, with water ice being the elixir for longevity of future expeditions there.
Lunar water ice is believed to reside within permanently-shadowed regions, or PSRs, contained within super-chilly “cold traps.”
Intuitive Machines mini-hopper is scheduled to dive into the permanently shadowed floor of Marston crater at the moon’s south pole.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
A Space Resources Roundtable was held June 4-7 on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines. Experts brought attention to the scant data now in hand to shore up the prospect of utilizing water ice on the moon.
For more details on the prognosis for finding water ice on the Moon, go to my new SpaceNews story – “Moon ice in the Artemis era: what we still don’t know” – at:
https://spacenews.com/moon-ice-in-the-artemis-era-what-we-still-dont-know/
Image taken by mini-rover of Change’-6 lander/ascender spacecraft on the far side of the Moon.
Image credit: CNSA
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) now circling the Moon has taken its first look at China’s far side Chang’e-6 landing spot.
The lander is flanked by two craters similar in size to it, and is on the edge of a much more subtle crater about 50 meters wide, reports Mark Robinson, the principal investigator of the sharp-shooting camera system onboard LRO.
Chang’e-6 has been sighted within the Apollo basin on the lunar far side on June 7, 2024. The lander is seen as the small cluster of bright pixels in the center of the image.
Landing locale of China’s Change’-6 far side lander.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Rim shot
NASA’s LRO imaged China’s Chang’e 6 sample return spacecraft on the lunar farside five days after its June 1st landing and when LRO passed over, acquiring an image showing the Chang’e-6 lander on the rim of an eroded ~50 meter diameter crater.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team computed the landing site coordinates as -41.6385°N, 206.0148°E, at -5256 meters elevation relative to the average lunar surface, with an estimated horizontal accuracy of plus-or-minus 30 meters.
“The increased brightness of the terrain surrounding the lander is due to disturbance from the lander engine and is similar to the blast zone seen around other lunar landers.
Click on image for before and after photography. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Before and after imagery
In comparative imagery, a before image is from March 3, 2022, and the after image is the June 7, 2024 image.
The Chang’e 6 landing site is situated on a mare unit at the southern edge of the Apollo basin.
Robinson and colleagues at Arizona State University note that Basaltic lava erupted south of Chaffee S crater approximately 3.1 billion years ago and flowed downhill to the east until it encountered a local topographic high, likely related to a fault.
“Several wrinkle ridges in this region have deformed and raised the mare surface,” according to an LRO posting. “The landing site sits approximately halfway between two of these ridges. The lava flow also overlaps a slightly older flow, visible further east, but the younger flow is distinctive because it has higher iron oxide and titanium oxide abundances, the posting reports.
Homeward bound
Chang’e-6 was launched from south China’s Hainan Province on May 3, with the Chang’e-6 multi-component craft making the first-ever gathering of lunar samples from the far side of the Moon.
After completing its collection of lunar samples, the probe’s ascender segment departed from the lunar surface with the precious cargo.
Parachuting to Earth, the Chang’e-6 capsule toting its lunar collection.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
After re-uniting with the Chang’e-6 mission orbiter and completing the lunar sample transfer last week, the returner segment is continuing to orbit the Moon, awaiting the time to initiate its return journey back to the Earth.
A projected date of June 25 is the likely return to Earth of the returner’s capsule, toting its cache of lunar collectibles, parachuting into a pre-picked landing zone at Siziwang Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
At parachute touchdown, the Chang’e-6 will wrap up its 53-day journey of going to the Moon and back.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
Book Review: After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon by Greg Eghigian; Oxford University Press, 2024; Hardcover, 400 pages; $29.99.
In this highly embraced volume the author explores how individuals, scientists, governments and the media responded to reports of UFO sightings and alien abductions, and what those responses say about the human experience.
Eghigian expertly tells this compelling tale via eight chapters, such as “Spaceships, Conspiracies, and the Birth of the UFO Detective, 1948-1953,” “Science and UFOs in the 1960s,” with a concluding segment “Where To, Where From, Wherefore?”
Image credit: Penn State/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“The UFO phenomenon essentially has been asking us to think of ourselves historically: what has been our past, what is going on right now, and what does the future hold?,” Eghigian writes. “The last question is one that has haunted the flying saucer mystery from the very beginning, and it was one that was acutely pressing during the Cold War.”
This book is a valuable contribution to unraveling (maybe snarl your mind more) the countless questions that swirl around UFOs, aliens from afar, and the significance of taking the time, pondering the plausible and implausible, and coming up with your own conclusions.
For an informative overview of the book, go to this article by Francisco Tutella at:
Also, go to this video featuring the author, Greg Eghigian, as he details why he wrote this book and his feelings about the intriguing, perplexing world of UFOs in the past, the present, and what the future portends at:
China’s Chang’e-6 lander/ascender in far side sampling scenery. Image taken by a mini-rover.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
That mysterious tiny rover let loose by China’s Chang’e-6 Moon lander has finally been spotlighted.
The state-run Xinhua news agency said the roughly 5 kilograms device is an autonomous, intelligent mini-robot, developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
Weighing roughly 11 pounds (5 kilograms), the sporty mini-snooper is far lighter than China’s first lunar rover, Yutu, that drove across the lunar landscape in 2013.
Chang’e-6 pre-launch look with wheeled rover attached (left side of photo).
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Ideal angle
“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.”
No word on the ultra-tiny Moon rover’s health given the Chang’e-6’s ascender blastoff that lofted lunar collectibles into Moon orbit.
China’s humans-to-the-Moon program eyes by 2030 time period.
Image credit: CMS/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China has announced selection of new astronaut candidates to ready the country for its future human treks to the Moon.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced Tuesday that 10 candidates, including eight space pilots and two payload specialists, have been selected as the country’s fourth batch of astronauts.
Geology field work
Huang Weifen, chief designer of the manned space program’s astronaut system, told China Central Television (CCTV): “When the development of training simulators for manned lunar missions is completed, we will be able to unfold more substantive training tasks.”
Huang added that preliminary preparations are underway involving both existing astronauts and the newly-selected astronauts to engage in engineering development work and scientific research for future missions.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
In preparation for Moon exploration expeditions, China’s astronauts are taking fundamental courses related to geology, including participation in field studies and geological surveys, Huang noted.
The CMSA announced in late May that China plans to realize a crewed lunar landing by 2030.
Pilots, flight engineers, payload specialists
The ten candidates include eight pilots and two payload specialists from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the other is from the Macao Special Administrative Region, the CMSA explained.
China’s astronaut training activities for space station and Moon exploration duties.
This selection of the fourth batch of Chinese astronaut candidates began in the second half of 2022.
Back in 1998, China picked 14 astronauts from air force pilots and an additional seven in 2010. Selection of the third batch of 18 astronauts in 2020 included space pilots, flight engineers and payload specialists.
Huang said the building of an astronaut team, from the selection of astronauts to the training programs, has been organized to support both China’s space station missions and future human excursions to the Moon.
For an informative video on the selection of new astronauts and China’s human reach for the Moon, go to:
Flag deployed from China’s Chang’e-6 lander/ascender in far side sampling scenery.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
About that five-star red flag now in position on the far side of the Moon – it’s made of basalt, a type of volcanic rock that’s plentiful on the lunar surface.
On June 2, China’s Chang’e-6 far side robotic lander touched down in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the Moon.
Post-landing, the national flag was sprung out from the firmly-footed Chang’e-6 lander/ascender.
That flag measures 300 millimeters by 200 millimeters, about the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Weighing only 11.3 grams, the far side flag is similar in size to the flag carried by the earlier Chang’e-5 lunar lander that spot-landed on the Moon’s near side in 2020.
Inorganic fiber
The decision to use basalt, China Central Television (CCTV) reports, was guided by the “in-situ utilization” principle, to leverage resources available on the lunar surface rather than transporting materials from Earth, an approach that aligns with China’s goal of sustainable lunar exploration, the state-run television group notes.
A member of the Chang’e-6 “national flag development team” is Cao Genyang, a professor at Wuhan Textile University.
Cao Genyang, professor, Wuhan Textile University; member, Chang’e-6 national flag development team.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“Building on this idea and the lunar ‘local specialty’ brought back by Chang’e-5, we have found in the literature that the main content of lunar soil is basalt, Cao told CCTV. “So we thought that since this material actually exists in large quantities on the Moon, how can we use it as a high-performance inorganic fiber?”
Early research was performed on basalt fiber for China’s future lunar exploration project, Cao said.
Cutting-edge textile technology
Wang Yunli, professor of Wuhan Textile University, and a member of the Chang’e-6 national flag development team, added that the flag’s printing and dyeing process involved specialized approaches.
“Our pigments and formulas are specially developed to adapt the flag to the extreme conditions on the Moon and the conditions during orbiting and landing,” Wang said, and makes use of “cutting-edge” textile technology.
Wang Yunli, professor, Wuhan Textile University; member, Chang’e-6 national flag development team.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Basalt as an inorganic fiber is smooth and brittle, making it difficult to spin and maintain in high-durability colors.
Weathering lunar conditions
Cao explained that the flag development team found it challenging to create the ideal and desired ultra-fine fibers after encountering many failures.
Ordinary materials were unsuitable for the lunar flag. But the basalt fiber is endowed with outstanding insulation and radiation resistance, CCTV reports, making it ideal for weathering the harsh conditions on the lunar surface.
The result: a national flag with superior corrosion resistance, high-temperature tolerance, and low-temperature endurance.
The final version of the national flag was produced with composite material primarily composed of basalt, accounting for 62 percent of all the materials.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“The entire production of the flag started with the rocks,” said Wang. “We first mixed together all the basalt rocks collected from different locations before breaking them into very small pieces.”
Multi-step process
The first step was to draw the processed basalt rocks into ultra-fine fibers.
A second step was to spin those fibers into thread, leading to the third and fourth steps of weaving the threads into fabrics and printing.
The fifth step was to enhance the performance of the fabrics using specific physical and chemical methods and techniques, Wang added.
“After that, we proceeded with laser cutting, trimming, and sewing until a national flag was made,” Wang said, later becoming the first flag of any country to fly on the far side of the Moon.
Far side scenery taken by Chang’e-6 lander/ascender.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
Excitement is mounting for the return of lunar samples from the far side of the Moon.
China’s on-going Chang’e-6 mission is nearing departure from lunar orbit, making a bee-line for the Earth and delivering a motherlode of Moon materials.
Late last week, more than 200 Chinese scientists from 31 domestic universities and research institutes gathered in Beijing at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, participating in a “Chang’e-6 Landing Area Geological Background Seminar.”
Deployed mini-rover from Chang’e-6 lander/ascender captured the robotic explorer at work.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
In a posting from James Head, a leading lunar expert at Brown University: “This seminar/workshop was designed to highlight the geological setting of the sample return landing site in the Apollo basin, and the types of scientific problems that can potentially be addressed by analysis of the Chang’e-6 return samples, both themes designed to assist scientists across China in preparing proposals for analysis of the Chang’e-6 samples.
Image credit: James Head
Step by step
Launched from south China’s Hainan Province on May 3, the Chang’e-6 multi-component craft made the first-ever gathering of lunar samples from the far side of the Moon.
The probe’s lander-ascender combination safely touched down in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the Moon last Sunday. After completing its collection of lunar samples on Sunday and Monday, the probe’s ascender segment departed from the lunar surface with the precious cargo on Tuesday.
Locked and loaded…with lunar samples.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
After re-uniting with the orbiter and completing the lunar sample transfer on Thursday, the returner segment will continue to orbit the Moon, awaiting the time to initiate its return journey back to the Earth.
Re-entry day
The returner’s capsule, toting its cache of lunar collectibles, will parachute into a pre-picked landing zone at Siziwang Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Chang’e-6 returner component delivers the lunar goods to Earth.
Imaage credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Release of returner capsule loaded with far side samples.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Parachuting to Earth, the Chang’e-6 capsule toting its lunar collection.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
That re-entry is projected to take place on June 25 (Beijing Time), according to informed sources. At capsule touchdown, the Chang’e-6 mission wraps up its 53-day journey of going to the Moon and back.
European ground stations are providing support to the Chang’e-6 mission, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). Shortly after the launch from China on May 3, ESA’s Kourou station in French Guiana tracked the spacecraft for several hours to confirm its orbit.
Around June 25, ESA will catch signals from the Chang’e-6 returner as it brings to Earth its grab and go Moon samples via ESA’s Maspalomas station, operated by the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aerospacial (INTA) in Gran Canaria, Spain.
The European Space Agency’s Maspalomas station is located on the campus of the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aerospacial (INTA), in the southern part of the Canary Islands’ Gran Canaria, at Montaña Blanca.
Image credit: ESA
International partnership
James Carpenter, lead for Moon and Mars Science for ESA’s Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration, stressed that the Chang’e-6 samples could help broaden humanity’s understanding of the Moon’s formation.
“China has presented a very exciting plan for lunar exploration, after Chang’e-6, we have the Chang’e-7 mission and Chang’e-8. They’re talking about having humans on the surface of the Moon and an international lunar research station,” Carpenter said, speaking to China Media Group (CMG) from Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
“These are things that China has set out as elements of their plan. I think it’s a very exciting plan, I think the scientific outcomes that could come from this would be fantastic. And I think internationally we’re all interested to see how this progresses and where are the opportunities for international partnership,” Carpenter said.
Image credit: WLOS/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Yet another chunk of SpaceX junk from space has apparently been found in a resident’s yard in North Carolina.
As reported by the WLOS television station, this latest incident adds to objects of various sizes and weights being tied to surviving fragments of the jettisoned “trunk” associated with the SpaceX Dragon Crew-7 mission.
Katrinka Barnett found the space junk-related object in her yard in Jackson County about a week before Memorial Day.
Space clutter similarity
SpaceX Dragon trunk debris falls into North Carolina.
mage credit: WLOS TV staff
Barnett’s finding looks similar to two other larger pieces found around the same time in Canton and Franklin within North Carolina. Furthermore, this type of SpaceX space clutter from separate incidents has been found in Australia and Canada.
For a view of my new 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/
