Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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April 24th, 2024
Image credit: JAXA/SLIM
Image taken shortly after landing, the Ultra-small SORA-QI photo of SLIM in nose-down mode. Image credit: JAXA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
It’s Alive (again!).
Last night (the night of April 23rd), control teams for Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) reported they were able to successfully communicate with SLIM. They confirmed that SLIM had survived the lunar night cycle for the third time.
“SLIM has maintained its primary functions even after three overnight stays, which was not anticipated in its design. We will continue to closely monitor SLIM’s condition and hope to identify areas that deteriorate depending on the lunar day and night environment, as well as areas that are not prone to deterioration,” a SLIM posting notes on X.
A photo of the surface of the Moon taken after the overnight awakening was taken with SLIM’s navigation camera. The Moon is bright overall and the shadows are very short.
SLIM landed on the Moon on January 19, 2024.
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Go-getter space entrepreneur and pragmatic rocketeer, Peter Beck of Rocket Lab..
Image credit: Barbara David
Extremely busy with an eye on the future.
That’s a short and sweet assessment of Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO. In the pantheon of private space groups, Rocket Lab is a roaring success and Beck wants to keep it that way.
Rocket Lab Electron launcher on New Zealand LC-1 launch pad.
Image credit: Kieran Fanning/Rocket Lab
Ask Peter Beck to weigh the firm’s past and where it’s headed. His response: “We joke that a Rocket Lab year is like a dog year. One Rocket Lab year feels like five.”
Artwork depicts Neutron launch vehicle for deploying large spacecraft and satellite constellations.
Image credit: Rocket Lab
In my exclusive interview with Beck, I caught up with the enterprising entrepreneur during the Space Foundation’s 39th Space Symposium, held earlier this month.
For Beck’s look at today and what’s ahead for his company, go to my new Space.com story — Building rockets and looking for life on Venus: Q&A with Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck – at:
https://www.space.com/rocket-lab-peter-beck-interview-april-2024
Book Review: Space and the Warfighter – How Space Technologies Transformed U.S. Military Actions; Spacehistory101.com Press (2023); 232 pages; softcover; $28.97.
I recently returned from the Space Foundation’s mega-symposium in Colorado Springs, a meeting that highlighted U.S. military space prowess and issues of warfighting.
The reader will greatly benefit by taking a read of this informative volume, one that takes you into the history, background, and evolving U.S. Air Force thinking regarding military conflict in space.
Anchored primarily in past military operations, such as Desert Shield and Desert Shield, and noting the formation of the U.S. Space Force, the book features contributions by leading military historians.
Space has become a vital part of the national defense plan of the United States. The message is that use of space systems for warfare in the past was not as understood, nor appreciated as they are today. Desert Storm did involve the full arsenal of military space systems – the first large-scale integration of space systems in support of warfighting.
This book not only underscores the history of utilizing space for military means, but also the progression and organization of space doctrine and policy.
Image credit: U.S. Air Force/SSgt Vanessa Valentine
I was particularly drawn to what influence the 9/11 attacks in September 2001 had on the application of space systems and also the need for security of those assets. To this point, protection of launch facilities, including at that time space shuttle operations like the mission of STS-108. That flight of Endeavor was the first space shuttle launch following the September 11 attacks.
Space and the Warfighter spotlights military need for early warning, communications, satellite-gleaned weather data, as well as positioning, navigation and timing capabilities. For instance, roughly 100 satellites supported military operations in Afghanistan and the surrounding region; use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) has become omnipresent over time.
In an afterwords section, this fact is flagged: “The two Gulf Wars, and the decade separating them, generated and demonstrated a revolutionary transformation in American warfighting – a transformation in which space-based communications and [Positioning, Navigation and Timing] PNT, among other systems, used capabilities originally conceived and developed for strategic purposes to support theater or tactical operations.”
This has fundamentally changed, the book continues, with the U.S. military now relying heavily on orbiting space systems “in an increasingly congested and contested domain.”
For more information on this book, under the SPACE 3.0 Foundation, go to:
https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_30%3ASpacehistory101.com+Press
Image credit: CAS
China has released a set of geologic atlases of the Moon, providing high-definition map data for future lunar exploration – an aide in selecting the location for the country’s lunar research station and utilizing lunar resources.
This set of geologic atlas, available in Chinese and English, includes the Geologic Atlas of the Lunar Globe and the Map Quadrangles of the Geologic Atlas of the Moon, according to the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Ouyang Ziyuan, a CAS academician and lunar scientist .
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Site selection, resource utilization
“The geological atlas of the moon is of great significance for studying the evolution of the Moon, selecting the site for a future lunar research station and utilizing lunar resources,” Ouyang Ziyuan, a CAS academician and lunar scientist told China Central Television (CCTV).
“The world has witnessed a significant progress in the field of lunar exploration and scientific research over the past decades, which have greatly improved our understanding of the Moon,” added Liu Jianzhong, a senior researcher from the Institute of Geochemistry, CAS.
Liu Jianzhong, a senior researcher from the Institute of Geochemistry, CAS.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Apollo era maps
Liu noted that the lunar geologic maps published during the Apollo era have not been changed for about half a century, and are still being used for lunar geological research.
“With the improvements of lunar geologic studies, those old maps can no longer meet the needs of future scientific research and lunar exploration,” Liu added.
According to China Daily, since 2012, Ouyang and Liu have led a team of scientists and cartographers from various research institutions in efforts to compile the atlas.
Liu said that the atlas set has been integrated into the digital lunar cloud platform built by Chinese scientists.
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission elements.
Credit: CNSA
Far side science
Liu said that atlas set will serve lunar scientific research and science education, as well as landing site selection, lunar resource exploration and path planning for China’s future lunar exploration projects.
The soon-to-launch Chang’e-6 mission is targeted to collect samples in the Apollo Basin within the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon, which means materials ejected from ancient terrain may be collected in the process.
“Our map can provide a macroscopic geological background to improve the purpose and efficiency of the sample research,” Liu said.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
All is in readiness for the liftoff of China’s next human space outing – the flight of the Shenzhou-18 crew.
Over the weekend, a full-system rehearsal was staged at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
This week’s projected takeoff, reportedly on April 25, is the 13th piloted mission of China and the 18th overall flight of the Shenzhou program.
High-definition images of China’s space station were taken by the departing Shenzhou-16 crew last October 30.
Image credit: CMS
A still-to-be-identified three-person crew is to rocket to the China space station for a six-month stay onboard the facility.
The Astronaut Center of China says the Shenzhou-18 crew is in good condition, with all systems for their takeoff in go condition.
Once launched atop a Long March-2F Y18 carrier rocket, the Shenzhou-18 crew will join the already orbiting three-member crew of Shenzhou-17.
Curiosity’s location as of Sol 4159. Distance driven at that time: 19.68 miles/31.67 kilometers.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is performing its duties at Gale Crater, landing on Mars in August, 2012.
“Curiosity continues to make progress along the margin of upper Gediz Vallis ridge, investigating the broken bedrock in our workspace and acquiring images of the ridge deposit as the rover drives south,” reports Lauren Edgar, a planetary geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera on Sol 4160 April 19, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A recently scripted two sol plan — Sols 4159-4160 — focused on a Dust Removal Tool (DRT) activity, contact science, and a drive on the first sol, followed by untargeted remote sensing on the second sol.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera on Sol 4160 April 19, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Weekend activities
“The team had to make some decisions at the start of planning about whether to drive on the first or second sol of this plan, and how that would affect the upcoming weekend activities,” Edgar adds.
“As it turned out, the team was able to fit all of the desired contact science and remote sensing activities on the first sol, in addition to the drive on the first sol, which means we’ll be able to downlink more information about our end-of-drive location to better inform planning for the weekend,” Edgar noted.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera on Sol 4160 April 19, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Assess the stratigraphy
The first sol of this scripted plan is “fully loaded,” Edgar reports. The plan begins with a DRT activity to expose a fresh surface on the bedrock target ‘Tilden Lake,’ followed by Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) integrations to investigate its composition.
Then the geology theme group planned several hours of remote sensing activities, including Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) on the bedrock target “Curry Village,” which has a similar “dragon scale” texture (or “tire tracks”) to what researchers had observed in the previous workspace.
Curiosity Mast Camera Right on Sol 4159 April 18, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mast Camera Right on Sol 4159 April 18, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Long distance imagery
This big remote sensing block also includes ChemCam long distance Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) mosaics to assess the stratigraphy at Gediz Vallis ridge and the distant butte Kukenan.
“These long distance RMI images reveal a lot of great detail about distant targets, like the diversity of clasts at Gediz Vallis ridge,” Edgar points out.
Curiosity Mast Camera Right on Sol 4159 April 18, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mast Camera Right on Sol 4159 April 18, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“The plan also includes a number of Mastcam activities to characterize local textures, sedimentary structures, dark rocks, and sandy aeolian bedforms (known as Transverse Aeolian Ridges, aka TARs) in a nearby trough,” Edgar reports.
“The environmental theme group also planned activities to monitor the movement of fines on the rover deck, search for dust devils, and monitor atmospheric dust,” Edgar says.
Curiosity Mast Camera Right on Sol 4159 April 18, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mast Camera Right on Sol 4159 April 18, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Driving south
After this big remote sensing block, Curiosity will use Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to image the contact science target, and then continue driving south.
The second sol includes untargeted activities like an autonomously selected ChemCam “AEGIS” target, additional Navcam deck monitoring, and Navcam line-of-sight observations.
AEGIS stands for Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science) – a software suite that permits the rover to autonomously detect and prioritize targets.
After the drive, the scripted plan called for taking post drive imaging to prepare for the next plan.
Concludes Edgar: “Looking forward to seeing what other surprises our next workspace will reveal!”
Curiosity Mast Camera Right on Sol 4159 April 18, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Image credit: Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
Last Monday, NASA shared the agency’s recommendations regarding a path forward for the costly Mars Sample Return initiative, but within a balanced overall science program.
The idea of bringing back to Earth select samples from Mars has long been a major goal of international planetary exploration.
NASA is now reaching back to government, industry and academic teams to come up with innovative ideas – ways to perform a lower-costing and timely shoot and ship effort to rocket back to Earth bits and pieces of Mars.
Perseverance rover deposits select rock and soil samples in sealed tubes on Mars’s surface for future missions to retrieve and bring back to Earth for detailed study.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Strain gauge
But the quest to bring collectibles to Earth from Mars has long been steeped in controversy in some quarters. That is, there are worries regarding the introduction of ecologically-hungry Martian microbes into Earth’s biosphere.
For sci-fi movie-goers, it’s real-time Andromeda Strain.
Interestingly, raising their hand of concern about misbehaving microbes from afar are members of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. They were set up to evaluate the status of U.S. biodefense efforts, “Protecting U.S. public health security beyond party lines,” according to their website.
“Is the U.S. ready for extraterrestrials? Not if they’re microbes,” explains a recently issued opinion piece.
For more information, go to my new Space.com story – “’Astrobiodefense:’ Thinktank calls for defending Earth from space bugs” – at:
https://www.space.com/mars-sample-return-op-ed-astrobiodefense
High-speed return from lunar distance, the thermal protection system of Orion’s crew module must endure blistering temperatures to keep crew members safe. Measuring 16.5 feet in diameter, Orion’s heat shield is the largest of its kind developed for missions carrying astronauts.
Image credit: NASA)
Earlier this year, NASA announced it had pushed out to 2025 the Artemis II swingby of the Moon by a crew – a practice run to prepare for a follow-on Artemis III “rebooting” of Earth’s nearby celestial companion with humans.
One reason cited for the delay was getting to the bottom of re-entry heat shield data from the first Orion capsule flight.
Arc Jet Complex at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley has been used to study unexpected heat shield issues found after Orion capsule’s Artemis I flight in 2022.
Image credit: NASA Ames Research Center
The capsule’s multi-week fling out beyond the Moon and back to terra firma in 2022 came to full-stop on December 11 of that year, with the Orion capsule parachuting into Pacific Ocean waters off Baja California.
Orion heat shield features ablative material, called Avcoat.
Image credit: Lockheed Martin
There has been an aggressive look-see at the results from the shakeout cruise of the uncrewed Orion capsule on its Artemis I flight – particularly, how the craft’s heat shield performed.
Go to my new Space.com story – “NASA still investigating Orion heat shield issues from Artemis 1 moon mission – The landmark 2022 moon mission was a success, but questions remain about how Orion’s heat shield performed” – at:
https://www.space.com/nasa-investigate-orion-heat-shield-artemis-1-mission
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-18 crewed spacecraft has been rolled out to its launching area atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, stated the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Wednesday.
The Shenzhou-18 will become China’s 13th human spaceflight and the first crewed mission to visit China’s Tiangong station this year.
CMSA said all facilities and equipment to handle the upcoming liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China are in good condition.
A set of pre-launch checkouts are planned, with takeoff of the still-unannounced crew to occur at an appropriate time in the near future, said the CMSA. April 25 is a possible launch date, according to sources.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Winds and dust
Wang Xuewu, deputy director, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, told China Central Television (CCTV ) that the piloted mission will be the first flight of a crew performed in April since China began building the country’s space station.
“Considering the characteristics of high winds and dust during this season,” Wang said, “we have conducted statistical analysis of meteorological data over the past 30 years in the launch site, and formulated targeted preventive measures and response strategies.”
Wang added that there has been a power supply system update of certain facilities, as well as collaborative training of personnel, including emergency drills.
“We have also improved the comprehensive situational awareness and critical information collection and dissemination capabilities of the launch site, optimized our product testing projects and timing, therefore, further improving the site’s ability to handle continuous missions,” Wang said.
Now orbiting Shenzhou-17 space station crew.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Current crew: return to Earth
The in-orbit Shenzhou-17 crew — mission commander Senior Colonel Tang Hongbo and crew members Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Xinlin and Lieutenant Colonel Tang Shengjie — are scheduled to return to Earth this month.
That now-orbiting trio arrived at the orbiting outpost on October 26 of last year. By the end of April, the Shenzhou-17 team will have been circling Earth in the station for six months.
Later this year, another set of astronauts — a Shenzhou-19 crew — is slated to take over space station operations.
Go to this video of the Shenzhou-18 rollout at:
Credit: Piplsay
If all the reports of mysterious objects buzzing our skies are taken as true encounters, the Earth appears to be under assault.
But spoiler alert.
For chief leader of the SETI Institute, established to search for and understand life beyond Earth, there’s need to cuddle up to a cup of cosmic reality.
Image credit: Bill Diamond
Bill Diamond is president and chief executive officer of the SETI Institute, headquartered in Mountain View, California. The organization is a key research contractor to NASA and the National Science Foundation, and collaborates with industry partners throughout Silicon Valley.
I caught up with Diamond for a close-encounter with his own thoughts and counterpoints to alien visitation and whether there’s any signal in all the UFO prattle.
Go to my new Space.com story – “SETI chief says US has no evidence for alien technology. ‘And we never have” – at:
https://www.space.com/seti-chief-bill-diamond-ufos-alien-visitation
