Space News and Discussions

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Immediately after the Psyche Falcon Heavy launch.

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[Time_Traveller]

4. The Hubble and Chandra X-Ray Observatory are still active.

NASA's Hubble, Chandra space telescopes face possible budget cuts: report

published 4 days ago

NASA is mulling cutting back on two flagship space telescope programs to meet a budget shortfall in astrophysics, a report suggests.

A representative from senior NASA leadership said the agency is considering "unspecified" reductions to the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory, both high-profile space telescopes that have been uncovering fundamentals about the universe for decades.

During an Oct. 13 presentation to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's committee on astronomy and astrophysics about fiscal year 2024 (FY24), Mark Clampin, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said the cuts may be needed to keep funding for new programs at NASA.

"We're working with the expectation that FY24 budgets stay at the '23 levels," he said, according to a SpaceNews report about NASA's forthcoming budget, which was capped due to Congressional legislation limiting non-discretionary spending amid ongoing U.S. debt limit negotiations.

https://www.space.com/hubble-chandra-sp ... huwLyfhsdI

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NASA Sends Software Patch 12 Billion Miles to Voyager 2

October 23, 2023

NASA has started the painstaking process of updating the software on two of its spacecraft. This would be a tricky operation no matter the mission, but it's all the more perilous with the Voyager probes. These spacecraft have been traveling for decades and are the only operational probes outside our solar system. The patch is intended to rectify an issue that garbled communication from Voyager 1 in 2022, but there are no do-overs if the patch breaks the irreplaceable probes.

The Voyager team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) confirmed they have transmitted a software patch to Voyager 2 first. Since the spacecraft is more than 12 billion miles away, it took 18 hours for the data to reach it. There is some concern that initializing the software could overwrite or otherwise damage other parts of the probe's software. Given the age and distance, there's no way to know for sure it will work.

The communication issue in 2022 hit Voyager 1, which is even farther away from Earth, at a distance of 15 billion miles. JPL said at the time that Voyager 1 began sending corrupted telemetry data because the attitude articulation and control system (AACS) was passing data through the wrong onboard computer. The team eventually fixed it by telling the AACS system to switch to the correct computer. While Voyager 2 never experienced that problem, it is identical on a hardware and software level.

https://www.extremetech.com/science/nas ... gn=3713490

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SpaceX Will Launch Galileo Satellites for Europe That Contain Classified Systems
The Falcon 9 will bridge the gap between Europe's retired Ariane 5 and the upcoming Ariane 6 rocket.
By Ryan Whitwam October 24, 2023

For the last 20 years, the European Space Agency (ESA) didn't need to wonder how its satellites and spacecraft would get off of Earth—it had the Ariane 5 rocket. This stupendously reliable vehicle was retired this past summer, and its successor isn't ready yet. This has left the ESA with no choice but to look for alternatives, and it's settled on SpaceX. Elon Musk's rocket firm has signed a deal to launch as many as four Galileo communication satellites for the European Union.

The Ariane 5 had been operating since the late 90s, launching important missions like the Jules Verne transfer vehicle for the International Space Station, the Rosetta comet lander, and the James Webb Space Telescope. The latter launch in 2021 was so perfect that it potentially doubled the lifespan of the telescope. The Ariane 5 wrapped up its storied life in July 2023 with a simple telecom satellite launch.

https://www.extremetech.com/science/spa ... for-europe

[wjfox]

Plan to send all-UK astronaut mission into orbit

8 hours ago

Four UK astronauts could soon be heading into orbit on an all-British mission.

An American company that organises visits to the International Space Station (ISS) is developing the plan.

Houston-based Axiom has signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK Space Agency to try to make it happen.

The project would probably cost £200m or more, but the idea is that it would be funded commercially. There would be no contribution from UK taxpayers.

Axiom told the BBC that conversations with corporations and institutions interested in providing finance were already under way.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67207375

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rule brittania brittania rule the space

[raklian]

rule brittania brittania rule the space

With a former colony's help.