Space Stuff

[Robert]

NASA wants the Voyagers to age gracefully, so it’s time for a software patch​

Around a half-dozen full-timers and a few part-timers are keeping Voyager alive.​

Forty-six years in deep space have taken their toll on NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft. Their antiquated computers sometimes do puzzling things, their thrusters are wearing out, and their fuel lines are becoming clogged. Around half of their science instruments no longer return data, and their power levels are declining.
Still, the lean team of engineers and scientists working on the Voyager program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are taking steps to eke out every bit of life from the only two spacecraft flying in interstellar space, the vast volume of dilute gas outside the influence of the Sun's solar wind.
"These are measures that we're trying to take to extend the life of the mission," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at JPL, in an interview with Ars.
Voyager's instruments are studying cosmic ways, the magnetic field, and the plasma environment in interstellar space. They're not taking pictures anymore. Both probes have traveled beyond the heliopause, where the flow of particles emanating from the Sun runs into the interstellar medium.
"These two spacecraft are still operating, still returning uniquely valuable science data, and every extra day we get data back is a blessing," Dodd said.
But spacecraft engineers love redundancy, but they no longer have the luxury of backups on the Voyagers. That means, in any particular section of the spacecraft, a failure of a single part could bring the mission to a halt.
"Everything on both spacecraft is single-string," Dodd said. "There are not any backup capabilities left. In some cases, we powered off stuff to save power, just to keep the instruments on."

 

[Robert]

Space Planes!

After decades of dreams, a commercial spaceplane is almost ready to fly​

“Plunging into the ocean is awful. Landing on a runway is really nice."​

LOUISVILLE, Colorado—The first Dream Chaser spaceplane built to go into orbit is starting to look the part. Its foldable wings and fuselage are covered in custom-fitted ceramic tiles to shield the spacecraft's composite structure from the scorching heat of atmospheric reentry as it flies back to Earth. It has its landing gear, and technicians buzz around the vehicle to add the finishing touches before it leaves the factory.
Inside the spacecraft, workers are installing the final ducts for the environmental control system, which will make the pressurized compartment within Dream Chaser livable for astronauts at the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser's job, at least for now, is to ferry cargo to and from the research complex orbiting some 240 miles (385 kilometers) above Earth. It will launch on top of a conventional rocket, maneuver in space like a satellite, and then land on a runway.

 

[Robert]

James Webb telescope: Baby star launches giant jets and shocks​

Imagine you could go back in time 4.6 billion years and take a picture of our Sun just as it was being born. What would it look like?
Well, you can get a clue from this glorious new image acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Towards the centre of this object, called HH212, is a star coming into existence that is probably no more than 50,000 years old.
The scene would have looked much the same when our Sun was a similar age.
You can't actually see the glow from the protostar itself because it's hidden within a dense, spinning disc of gas and dust.
All you get are the pinky-red jets that it's shooting out in polar opposite directions.

 

[Robert]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1721649219629449606

 

[Robert]

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is telling us more about its alien ocean​

JUNO has spotted salt deposits that may have percolated up from a sub-surface ocean.​

With Europa and Enceladus getting most of the attention for their subsurface oceans and potential to host life, other frozen worlds have been left in the shadows—but the mysterious Jovian moon Ganymede is now making headlines.
While Ganymede hasn’t yet been observed spewing plumes of water vapor like Saturn’s moon Enceladus, Jupiter’s largest moon is most likely hiding an enormous saltwater ocean. Hubble observations suggest that the ocean—thought to sit under 150 km (95 miles) of ice—could be up to 100 km (60 miles) deep. That’s 10 times deeper than the ocean on Earth.
Ganymede is having a moment because NASA’s Juno mission observed salts and organic compounds on its surface, possibly from an ocean that lies beneath its crust of ice. While Juno’s observations can't provide decisive evidence that this moon has an ocean that makes Earth look like a kiddie pool, the Juno findings are the strongest evidence yet of salts and other chemicals making it to the exterior of Ganymede.

Fathoms below​

The surface of Ganymede is already known to be made of water ice. Juno’s JIRAM (Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper) instrument has now used its infrared vision to identify substances that included hydrated and ammoniated salts, sodium bicarbonate, hydrated silica, and what might be aliphatic aldehydes, which can potentially build more complex organic compounds. Hydrated salt (hydrated sodium chloride) may hint at a briny ocean below the surface ice. Juno mission scientists think that ammoniated salt (ammonium chloride) found on the surface could possibly mean that as Ganymede formed, it somehow accumulated substances cold enough to make ammonia condense. Carbonate salts might be leftovers from ices rich in carbon dioxide.

 

[Robert]

This book on space colonisation sounds like a decent, albeit sobering read:

WELL, AKKKKTUALLLLLLY —​

A City on Mars: Reality kills space settlement dreams ​

Let’s not send a few thousand people to Mars as a big experiment in survival.​

 

[Robert]

Data from NASA’s Webb Telescope backs up ideas on planet formation​

New data confirms the existence of a "snow line" in planet-forming disks.​

Where do planets come from? The entire process can get complicated. Planetary embryos sometimes run into obstacles to growth that leave them as asteroids or naked planetary cores. But at least one question about planetary formation has finally been answered—how they get their water.
For decades, planetary formation theories kept suggesting that planets receive water from ice-covered fragments of rock that form in the frigid outer reaches of protoplanetary disks, where light and heat from the emerging system’s star lacks the intensity to melt the ice. As friction from the gas and dust of the disk moves these pebbles inward toward the star, they bring water and other ices to planets after crossing the snow line, where things warm up enough that the ice sublimates and releases huge amounts of water vapor. This was all hypothesized until now.
NASA’s James Webb Telescope has now observed groundbreaking evidence of these ideas as it imaged four young protoplanetary disks.The telescope used its Medium-Resolution Spectrometer (MRS) of Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to gather this data, because it is especially sensitive to water vapor. Webb found that in two of these disks, massive amounts of cold water vapor appeared past the snow line, confirming that ice sublimating from frozen pebbles can indeed deliver water to planets like ours.

 

[Robert]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1729894337306075155

 

[Robert]

For the first time, we’re seeing views of China’s entire space station​

Tiangong could now outlive the older, larger International Space Station.

China released new pictures of its Tiangong space station Tuesday as Chinese astronauts and space officials made a public relations visit to Hong Kong. These images, taken about a month ago, show the Tiangong complex in its fully assembled configuration with three modules staffed by three crew members.
A departing crew of three astronauts captured the new panoramic views of the Tiangong station in low-Earth orbit October 30, shortly after departing the outpost to head for Earth at the end of a six-month mission. These are the first views showing the Tiangong station after China completed assembling its three main modules last year.
The Tianhe core module is at the center of the complex. It launched in April 2021 with crew accommodations and life support systems for astronauts. Two experiment modules, named Wentian and Mengtian, launched in 2022. The first team of Chinese astronauts arrived at the station in June 2021, and Tiangong has been permanently staffed by rotating three-person crews since June 2022.​

 

[Robert]

No great surprise here. If anything, I'm surprised Virgin Galactic has lasted as long as it has.
No further investments in Virgin Galactic, says Richard Branson
Branson's business empire "no longer has the deepest pockets."
The group has said it has enough funding to carry it through to 2026, when the bigger Delta vehicle is expected to enter service. But some analysts are expecting Galactic to ask investors for more money in about 2025.

Asked whether he would consider putting more cash into the business if needed, Branson told the Financial Times: “We don’t have the deepest pockets after Covid, and Virgin Galactic has got $ 1 billion, or nearly. It should, I believe, have sufficient funds to do its job on its own.”

Branson said he was “still loving” the Virgin Galactic project and that it had “really proved itself and the technology” of commercial space flight. Galactic has just completed its sixth commercial flight in six months, with tickets starting at $450,000 a seat on its rocket-powered Unity space plane.

 

[Robert]

This could go either way....

NASA says SpaceX’s next Starship flight could test refueling tech​

SpaceX appears on track for at least a preliminary propellant transfer test next year.​

 

[Robert]

Hubble back in service after gyro scare—NASA still studying reboost options​

NASA is still evaluating Hubble servicing studies from SpaceX and other companies.​

The Hubble Space Telescope viewed from Space Shuttle Atlantis during a servicing mission in 2009.

The Hubble Space Telescope resumed science observations on Friday after ground teams spent most of the last three weeks assessing the performance of a finicky gyroscope, NASA said.
The troublesome gyroscope is a critical part of the observatory's pointing system. Hubble's gyros measure how fast the spacecraft is turning, helping the telescope aim its aperture toward distant cosmic wonders.
Hubble still provides valuable scientific data for astronomers nearly 34 years since its launch aboard NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990. Five more shuttle servicing missions repaired Hubble, upgraded its science instruments, and replaced hardware degraded from long-term use in space. Among other tasks, astronauts on the last of the shuttle repair flights in 2009 installed six new gyroscopes on Hubble.

 

[Robert]

After 15 months Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft will finally fly again​

 

[Robert]

James Webb zooms in on Uranus (ahem)​

This amazingly cool image of Uranus comes from the Near-Infrared Camera on the James Webb Space Telescope. This wide-field image shows Uranus with an assortment of background galaxies and 14 of its 27 moons, including Oberon and Titania. We can also see the north polar cap gleaming a bright white, as well as the planet's rather faint (in visible light) inner and outer rings.
I've also included the close-up image of Uranus, which is really quite stunning with all of its various rings.

 

[Robert]

US commits to landing an international astronaut on the Moon​

This ticket to the Moon will probably go to a European or Japanese astronaut.​

One of the core tenets of NASA's Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon is its inclusion of international partners. This intertwines the program, like the International Space Station, with considerations of geopolitics and international relations, alongside key themes like US national prestige, exploration, and scientific discovery.
Earlier this year, NASA named a Canadian astronaut, Jeremy Hansen, to the Artemis II crew training to fly around the far side of the Moon, a mission that will likely launch sometime in 2025. This flight won't land on the Moon, but NASA plans a series of lunar landing missions beginning with Artemis III later this decade.
On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced an international astronaut will land on the Moon during one of NASA's Artemis missions.
"Today, in recognition of the essential role that our allies and partners play in the Artemis program, I am proud to announce that alongside American astronauts, we intend to land an international astronaut on the surface of the Moon by the end of the decade," Harris said at a meeting of the National Space Council.

 

[Robert]

Well, this is an unfortunate reminder that space is hard.

America’s first lunar lander in a half-century won’t reach the Moon​

Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander appears to be stricken by a propellant leak.​

And from Astrobotic:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1744543629392134194

 

[Robert]

Those 3 years have zipped by....

NASA loses, and then recovers, contact with its historic Mars helicopter​

Ingenuity has been flying above Mars, off and on, for nearly three years.​

NASA's Mars Ingenuity helicopter has been flying across the red planet for nearly three years.

The US space agency prompted widespread dismay in the spaceflight community on Friday evening when it announced that communication had been lost with the Mars Ingenuity helicopter during its most recent flight on Thursday, January 18.
"During its planned descent, communications between the helicopter and rover terminated early, prior to touchdown," according to a statement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The Ingenuity team is analyzing available data and considering next steps to reestablish communications with the helicopter."
This seemed like a bad sign for the plucky little helicopter, which has vastly outperformed its planned lifetime of a handful of test flights since it landed on Mars in February 2021 and began flying two months later. Rather, the communications loss occurred on the 72nd flight of the 4-pound flying machine—the first on another planet.
However, by Saturday, there was a more hopeful update from NASA. On the social media site X, the agency said: "Good news today: We've reestablished contact with the #MarsHelicopter after instructing @NASAPersevere to perform long-duration listening sessions for Ingenuity’s signal."

 

[Speelgoedmannetje]

James Webb telescope: Baby star launches giant jets and shocks​

Imagine you could go back in time 4.6 billion years and take a picture of our Sun just as it was being born. What would it look like?
Well, you can get a clue from this glorious new image acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Towards the centre of this object, called HH212, is a star coming into existence that is probably no more than 50,000 years old.
The scene would have looked much the same when our Sun was a similar age.
You can't actually see the glow from the protostar itself because it's hidden within a dense, spinning disc of gas and dust.
All you get are the pinky-red jets that it's shooting out in polar opposite directions.

Roly Porter has an audio interpretation of it:

 

[Robert]

A Japanese spacecraft faceplanted on the Moon and lived to tell the tale​

Despite engine failure, SLIM managed to achieve the most precise Moon landing ever.​

Japan's SLIM spacecraft is seen nose down on the surface of the Moon.

Japan's first lunar lander made an unsteady touchdown on the Moon last week, moments after one of its two main engines inexplicably lost power and apparently fell off the spacecraft, officials said Thursday.
About the size of a small car, the Small Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed on Friday, making Japan the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface. Shortly after landing, ground teams in Japan realized the spacecraft was not recharging its battery with its solar panels. The evidence at the time suggested that SLIM likely ended up in an unexpected orientation on the Moon, with its solar cells facing away from the Sun.
With the benefit of six days of data crunching and analysis, officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) briefed reporters Thursday on what they have learned about SLIM's landing. Indeed, the spacecraft toppled over after touching down, with its nose planted into the lunar regolith and its rear propulsion section pointed toward space.
It turns out that SLIM overcame a lot to get to that point. In the final minute of Friday's descent, one of SLIM's two engines failed, leaving the craft's sole remaining engine to bring the spacecraft in for an off-balance landing. Still, JAXA officials said the spacecraft achieved nearly all of its primary objectives. The roughly $120 million robotic mission made the most pinpoint landing on the Moon in history, just as it set out to do.
"From the spacecraft, we were able to acquire all the technical data related to navigation guidance leading to landing, which will be necessary for future pinpoint landing technology, as well as navigation camera image data during descent and on the lunar surface," JAXA said in a statement.
One of two tiny robots released by SLIM just before landing relayed a remarkable image of the lander standing upside down a short distance away. This might be the first close-up view of a crash landing, however gentle, on another world.

 

[Robert]

Those 3 years have zipped by....

NASA loses, and then recovers, contact with its historic Mars helicopter​

Ingenuity has been flying above Mars, off and on, for nearly three years.​

NASA's Mars Ingenuity helicopter has been flying across the red planet for nearly three years.

The US space agency prompted widespread dismay in the spaceflight community on Friday evening when it announced that communication had been lost with the Mars Ingenuity helicopter during its most recent flight on Thursday, January 18.
"During its planned descent, communications between the helicopter and rover terminated early, prior to touchdown," according to a statement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The Ingenuity team is analyzing available data and considering next steps to reestablish communications with the helicopter."
This seemed like a bad sign for the plucky little helicopter, which has vastly outperformed its planned lifetime of a handful of test flights since it landed on Mars in February 2021 and began flying two months later. Rather, the communications loss occurred on the 72nd flight of the 4-pound flying machine—the first on another planet.
However, by Saturday, there was a more hopeful update from NASA. On the social media site X, the agency said: "Good news today: We've reestablished contact with the #MarsHelicopter after instructing @NASAPersevere to perform long-duration listening sessions for Ingenuity’s signal."

Disappointing update. Still, amazing that they kept it flying for 3 minutes, let alone 3 years.

Something has gone wrong with NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars. Although the US space agency has not made any public announcements yet, a source told Ars that the plucky flying vehicle had an accident on its last flight and broke one of its blades. It will not fly anymore.