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Space News
Spaceflightnow
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India to launch Eurpope’s Proba-3 spacecraft pair to study the Sun, demonstrate tandem maneuvering in orbit
- The European Space Agency is preparing to launch two missions on Wednesday: Proba-3 and Sentinel-1C.
- The Proba-3 mission consists of two binary spacecraft scheduled to launch on-board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
- The mission is designed to create a localized total solar eclipse to study the Sun's corona.
- The occulter spacecraft must be line up with the coronagraph spacecraft with an accuracy of about one millimeter.
- It is expected to collect the first images of the Sun's corona by March 2025.
- The mission is designed to last around two years after which the spacecraft will be disposed of in Earth's atmosphere.
- The Proba-3 spacecraft will fly in a high elliptical Earth orbit and will involve the use of many special technologies and equipment.
- Over 40 companies contributed to the mission, with Sener acting as the system prime.
- The information gathered from the mission will enable a ton of other missions, e.g., discovering exoplanets.
- Another potential application of the technology could be creating a collection of small spacecraft that could communicate to form a virtual telescope.
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Medium
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Blue Origin Achieves Milestone with 28th New Shepard Flight
- Blue Origin achieved a milestone with its 28th New Shepard flight.
- The mission featured an accomplished and diverse crew.
- Blue Origin emphasizes the power of space exploration to inspire and foster interest in STEAM fields.
- Opportunities to fly aboard New Shepard as an astronaut or send payloads on future missions are available.
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Universe Today
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Image Credit: Universe Today
Could Primordial Black Holes Be Hiding in Plain Sight?
- Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) could form part or all of what we call dark matter. A new paper suggests they may be hiding in places so unlikely that nobody ever thought to look there: objects as large as hollowed out planetoids or asteroids and objects as small as rocks here on Earth. Evidence for PBHs could be found in these objects since they could be captured either during or after their creation. Once inside a rocky body, the PBH would consume the liquid core, hollowing it out and leaving it empty. Detection is potentially much cheaper and easier with this method than the other scenarios.
- Black holes form when massive stars reach the end of their lives and suffer gravitational collapse. Physicists hypothesize that PBHs formed in the early Universe from extremely dense pockets of sub-atomic matter that collapsed directly into black holes.
- These PBHs could be candidates for dark matter. None have been observed so far, making them purely hypothetical. New research in Physics of the Dark Universe suggests researchers are not looking in the right places.
- Fast-moving PBHs can leave microscopic tunnels in planets as large as hollowed out planetoids or asteroids. If the asteroid or other body suffers an impact, the PBH could escape, leaving nothing but a hollow shell behind, which could be detectable.
- If the object's density is too low for its size, that's a good indication it's hollow. Studying an object's orbit with a telescope is enough to reveal its hollowness. PBHs could also leave microscopic tunnels in rocks and other objects on Earth.
- The James Webb Space Telescope or the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna are proposed ways of detecting PBHs. "The chances of finding these signatures are small, but searching for them would not require much resources and the potential payoff, the first evidence of a primordial black hole, would be immense," said Stojkovic.
- Cosmology is kind of at a standstill while we wrestle with the idea of dark matter. Could PBHs behave the way the authors suggest and be detected in this manner? The authors explain that these hypothesized PBHs do not require expensive equipment and long preparation, and the payoff might be significant.
- "We don't need a straightforward extension of the existing models. We probably need a completely new framework altogether," said Stojkovic.
- What's different about these hypothesized PBHs is detection. In other scenarios, space telescopes, gravitational wave observatories, or even monitoring distant quasars in microwaves are required to detect them.
- Detection is potentially much cheaper and easier. "You have to look at the cost versus the benefit. Does it cost much to do this? No, it doesn't," said Stojkovic in a press release.
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Nasa
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Image Credit: Nasa
Astronaut Suni Williams and Astrobee
- NASA astronaut Suni Williams works with the Astrobee robotic free-flyer in the Kibo laboratory module.
- The Astrobee robots assist astronauts in reducing time spent on routine tasks, allowing them to focus on unique human abilities.
- These robots can work autonomously or be controlled remotely by astronauts, flight controllers, or researchers on the ground.
- They are designed to perform various tasks like inventory-taking, documenting experiments, and moving cargo on the space station.
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Universe Today
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Image Credit: Universe Today
NASA Wants Students’ Help Designing Missions to Other Moons
- NASA has announced the Power to Explore Challenge, inviting K-12 students to submit mission designs powered by a radioisotope power system (RTG).
- The challenge aims to encourage students to utilize RTGs for future missions, focusing on visiting a moon within the solar system.
- Future Engineers will provide judges who will assess the feasibility of using an RTG in the selected location. Submissions must be 275 words maximum.
- Semifinalists, finalists, and grand prize winners will be selected in March, April, and May. Winners will receive tours and teleconferences with NASA experts.
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Nasa
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Image Credit: Nasa
Crew Finalizing Science For Return to Earth Aboard Dragon
- The Expedition 72 crew is preparing to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft.
- They are packing up finalized science experiments and transferring research samples from the International Space Station into the Dragon for retrieval and analysis on Earth.
- The crew also studied antibiotic resistant bacteria and set up space botany hardware.
- Dragon is scheduled to undock on Thursday and splashdown off the coast of Florida the following day.
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Nasa
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Image Credit: Nasa
Sols 4382-4383: Team Work, Dream Work
- After a weeklong holiday break, the Curiosity rover's team examined its new workspace.
- Various instruments were used to study rocks in-depth, including APXS, ChemCam LIBS, and MAHLI.
- Targets such as "Admiration Point" and "Olancha" were selected for further analysis.
- Curiosity will continue to drive out of Gediz Vallis to explore the sulfate-bearing unit.
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Spaceflightnow
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Live coverage: SpaceX to launch Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
- SpaceX is preparing for the first of three planned Falcon 9 rocket launches over the next two days
- The Starlink 6-70 mission will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Launch is set for no earlier than 3:29 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Dec. 4, with favorable weather conditions
- SpaceX will also launch the Starlink 9-14 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base and the SiriusXM-9 satellites from NASA's Kennedy Space Center
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Nasa
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Image Credit: Nasa
NASA Builds Bridges at Bayou Classic
- NASA was present at the 51st Annual Bayou Classic Fan Fest in New Orleans.
- NASA representatives provided promotional items and information about student internship and employment opportunities.
- The event attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year and features activities and a football game involving historically black colleges and universities.
- NASA's outreach effort focused on advancing equity and reaching underrepresented segments of society.
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Livescience
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Image Credit: Livescience
James Webb Space Telescope smashes its own record to find the earliest galaxies that ever existed
- The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered a handful of possible galaxies that could be among the earliest to ever exist.
- Located 13.6 billion light-years away and just 200 million years after the Big Bang, the five galaxy candidates are the earliest ever detected, and likely some of the first to have formed in the ancient universe.
- If confirmed by follow-up observations, the ancient galaxies will offer astronomers a test of their best theories of galaxy formation along with unique insights into how matter first coalesced across the cosmos.
- The researchers behind the discovery used the phenomenon of gravitational lensing to magnify the faint light from these early galaxies, capturing their first glimmers and pushing the limits of JWST's capabilities.
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Medium
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Image Credit: Medium
New Era of Space Exploration
- The global space economy is expected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, driven by increased commercial activities in space.
- AI and spatial computing technologies are transforming astronaut training and mission conduct, enabling immersive simulations and realistic experiences.
- NASA's Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon and establish a presence on Mars, while the U.S. Space Force ensures national security in space.
- SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, is revolutionizing space travel with affordable rockets and plans for a sustainable colony on Mars.
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Nasa
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Image Credit: Nasa
Towards Autonomous Surface Missions on Ocean Worlds
- NASA is working towards autonomous surface missions on ocean worlds like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus that are deemed to contain liquid water that could harbour signs of life. Due to large Earth-to-lander communication lags, extreme surface environments, and battery life limitations, the missions will rely heavily on on-board autonomy. At the forefront of autonomy enabling technologies are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). With the goal of identifying and habitable bodies in our solar system and beyond, NASA started the Ocean Worlds Lander Autonomy Testbed (OWLAT) and the virtual Ocean Worlds Autonomy Testbed for Exploration, Research, and Simulation (OceanWATERS). Six US firms and universities completed two to three year projects for the Autonomous Robotics Research for Ocean Worlds (ARROW) and Concepts for Ocean worlds Life Detection Technology (COLDTech) programmes focused on developing and demonstrating autonomy solutions for ocean world surface missions.
- The OWLAT is an architecture of software and hardware components that simulates a spacecraft lander with a robot arm for scientific operations on an ocean world body. It includes a six degree-of-freedom (DOF) Stewart platform that simulates the low-gravity environment, a seven DOF robot arm that performs sampling and other activities in the environment and has a suite of onboard force/torque sensors to measure motion and reaction forces. The control algorithms implemented on the testbed enable it to exhibit dynamic behaviour as if it were on a lander operating in different gravitational environments.
- The software-only version of OWLAT models, visualizes, and provides telemetry from a high-fidelity dynamics simulator based on the Dynamics And Real-Time Simulation (DARTS) physics engine developed at JPL. Six research teams based at universities and companies throughout the US developed and tested complete autonomy solutions on OWLAT and OceanWATERS.
- OceanWATERS is a software tool for simulating a robotic lander on the surface of Europa. It realistically simulates Europa’s celestial sphere and sunlight, both direct and indirect, and allows users to select from terrain models with a variety of surfaces and material properties. One of these models is a digital replication of a portion of the Atacama Desert where a variety of faults (e.g., a frozen arm joint or overheating battery) can be “injected” into the simulation by the user. All the operations and telemetry (data measurements) of the lander are accessible via an interface that external autonomy software modules can use to command the lander and understand its state. It also includes an autonomy module, a facility for executing plans written in the PLan EXecution Interchange Language, and Generic Software Architecture for Prognostics (GSAP) which predicts battery state regularly.
- All research teams used OceanWATERS to develop ocean world lander autonomy technology, and three of those teams also used OWLAT. The findings published in technical papers resulted in software that can be used or adapted for actual ocean world lander missions in the future.
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Universe Today
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Image Credit: Universe Today
Antarctica Has Gotten 10 Times Greener in 35 Years
- Scientists have compiled 35 years of satellite data showing that Antarctica is slowly, yet perceptibly, becoming greener. Recent research used 35 years of Landsat data, from Landsat 5 through Landsat 8, to measure the spread of vegetation into Antarctica. The research shows that the amount of land covered in vegetation on the Antarctic Peninsula has increased by more than 10x since 1986. This vegetative colonization of Earth’s coldest region begins with mosses and lichens. Mosses are pioneer species, the first organisms to move into a newly-available habitat.
- Mosses dominate the green areas, growing in carpets and banks. Western Antarctica Peninsula is warming up faster than other parts of Earth. Changing wind patterns due to GHG emissions could be contributing. After moss gains a foothold in a region, soil is created where there was none. That provides an opening for other organisms, both native and non-native. The risk is that the inherent biodiversity will be undermined. The carbon-core and Landsat data is just the beginning for Researchers. Up-close fieldwork is the next step.
- NASA and the United States Geological Survey sent the first Landsat into space in 1975. Since then, they’ve launched eight more Landsats, with Landsat-9 being the most recent launch in 2021. Landsat data is a unique treasure trove of data about Earth and the changes it goes through, including millions of images.
- Landsats have watched as forest fires burn, as urban regions expand, as glaciers melt, and as Earth goes through many other changes. Antarctica is slowly, yet perceptibly, becoming greener based on 35 years of Landsat data from Landsat 5 through Landsat 8. The coverage is restricted to the warmer edges of the peninsula, but it still indicates a shift in the region’s ecology.
- The research was co-led by Thomas Roland, an environmental scientist at the University of Exeter, and by remote sensing expert Olly Bartlett of the University of Hertfordshire.
- Mosses create a foundation for the plants that follow them by secreting acid that breaks down rock and by providing organic material when they die. Carbon-core and Landsat data is just the beginning for researchers. Up-close fieldwork is the next step.
- The Antarctic Peninsula is about 1300 km long and is part of the larger West Antarctica Peninsula. It covers about 522,000 square kilometers and is the northern-most part of Antarctica.
- The research shows that the amount of land covered in vegetation on the Antarctic Peninsula has increased by more than 10x since 1986. This vegetative colonization of Earth’s coldest region begins with mosses and lichens. Mosses are pioneer species, the first organisms to move into a newly-available habitat.
- What will happen as the ice continues to retreat and pioneer species colonize more of Antarctica? Mosses dominate the green areas, growing in carpets and banks. The continent has hundreds of native species, mostly mosses, lichens, liverworts, and fungi. The risk is that the inherent biodiversity will be undermined.
- The carbon-core samples from moss banks showed an increase in growth in the past few decades. “When we first ran the numbers, we were in disbelief,” Bartlett said. “The rate itself is quite striking, especially in the last few years.”
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Nasa
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Image Credit: Nasa
NASA-Led Team Links Comet Water to Earth’s Oceans
- Water on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has a similar molecular signature to the water in Earth’s oceans, reopening the case that Jupiter-family comets like 67P could have helped deliver water to Earth.
- Water was essential for life to form and flourish on Earth and scientists have found evidence that a substantial portion of our oceans came from the ice and minerals on asteroids, and possibly comets, that crashed into Earth nearly 4 billion years ago.
- Several measurements of Jupiter-family comets, which are thought to have formed beyond the orbit of Saturn, showed a strong link between their water and Earth’s.
- Measurements of deuterium in the water vapor of several Jupiter-family comets showed similar levels to Earth’s water, indicating that these comets played a major role in delivering water to Earth.
- The ESA's Rosetta mission to 67P challenged the idea that Jupiter-family comets helped fill Earth’s water reservoir in 2014 with measurements showing three times more deuterium than there is in Earth’s oceans.
- Research has shown that some of Earth’s water originated through vapor vented from volcanoes, and some came from asteroids and possibly comets crashing into Earth.
- A team led by Kathleen Mandt used an advanced statistical-computation technique to isolate deuterium-rich water in over 16,000 Rosetta measurements and found a clear connection between deuterium measurements in the coma of 67P and the amount of dust around the Rosetta spacecraft.
- The researchers found that the measurements taken near the spacecraft may not be representative of the composition of a comet’s body, but when dust gets to the outer part of the coma, at least 75 miles from the comet body, deuterium-rich water is gone, allowing accurate measurement.
- This discovery is important not only for understanding comets’ role in delivering Earth’s water, but also for understanding comet observations that provide insight into the formation of the early solar system.
- It is a great opportunity to revisit past observations and prepare for future ones so we can better account for the dust effects.
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Nasa
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Image Credit: Nasa
Coming Spring 2025: Planetary Defenders Documentary
- NASA's Planetary Defenders is a gripping documentary that delves into the high-stakes world of asteroid detection and planetary defense.
- The documentary showcases the dedicated team of astronomers and scientists working tirelessly to track and monitor near-Earth asteroids, aiming to protect our planet from potential impacts.
- It captures the intricate and collaborative efforts of these unsung heroes, blending cutting-edge science with personal stories to reveal the human spirit behind this critical global endeavor.
- Planetary Defenders is set to be released in Spring 2025 on NASA+ and other streaming platforms.
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