Space News and Discussions

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Advanced solar sail mission prepares to catch the wind in the void of space
By David Szondy
April 12, 2024
https://newatlas.com/space/advanced-sol ... dy-launch/

NASA is gearing up to launch an advanced solar sail spacecraft later this month. Using a new boom made of lightweight polymer composites, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is scheduled to lift off on April 24.

Solar sails are one of those technologies that are almost charming based on their basic principle. We often talk about this or that concept in terms of metaphors or analogies, but solar sails don't need that. That's because they aren't just similar to earthbound sailboats – they operate on exactly the same principle.

The differences are the obvious ones. Sailboats travel on water and are pushed along by the wind. Solar sails travel in a vacuum pushed by the solar winds from the Sun – a plasma flow of mainly protons and electrons that are constantly emitted from the Sun at differing speeds and densities. In that practical sense, it can be harnessed in exactly the same ways our atmospheric winds can; like a sailboat, a solar sail can run before the solar wind, tack, heave to, and carry out pretty much any other maneuver.

[Time_Traveller]

Astroscale’s ADRAS-J mission enters next phase

April 12, 2024



COLORADO SPRINGS — Astroscale is moving into the next phase of an inspection mission as its spacecraft approaches a derelict upper stage in low Earth orbit.

Astroscale announced April 11 that its Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) spacecraft, launched Feb. 18, had moved to within several hundred kilometers of an upper stage from an H-2A launch in 2009 left in low Earth orbit and was now relying on its own sensors to continue its approach.

The mission milestone was a switch from absolute navigation, where the spacecraft was maneuvered by ground controllers based on knowledge of its position as well as that of the upper stage, to “Angles-Only Navigation,” where ADRAS-J detected the upper stage using onboard cameras and calculated its relative position.

The milestone is a major step in testing rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) that is a major purpose of the mission. “The big issue here is we’ve completed the rendezvous phase,” said Chris Blackerby, chief operating officer of Astroscale, in an interview during the 39th Space Symposium. “What we’re moving into now is starting the proximity operations phase.”

ADRAS-J will continue its approach to the upper stage using relative navigation, with plans to come within dozens of meters of the stage. That approach will be incremental, he said, measuring its rotation rate and looking for any signs of degradation of the stage. ADRAS-J will use its thrusters to match the rotation of the stage and approach one end of the stage. Astroscale expects to complete the mission by the end of May.

https://spacenews.com/astroscales-adras ... ext-phase/

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[firestar464]

Astrophysicists solve mystery of heart-shaped feature on the surface of Pluto

https://phys.org/news/2024-04-astrophys ... rface.html

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[Time_Traveller]

There Could Still Be A Ninth Planet In Our Solar System – Here’s Why
by Hector Socas-Navarro and Ignacio Trujillo Cabrera
June 16, 2023

Introduction:

(IFL Science) We all used to think there were nine planets. But in 2006 the Solar System was left with only eight planets, when Pluto was no longer classified as such. Is it still possible there is a planet out there beyond Neptune – possibly way beyond it?

In the last 20 years, we have made significant strides in exploring the outer solar system.

We are talking about what is known as Trans-Neptunian Space, the eternal night beyond the realm of the giant planets. And in this exploration we have come across a surprising population of inhabitants, the so-called Extreme Trans-Neptunian Objects, whose peculiar characteristics have given rise to intense debate in the scientific community.

Some researchers see in this population the manifestation of an invisible presence, a new planet not yet discovered in the dark and cold confines of our solar system. Others, however, think that there is no such planet and that these Extreme Trans-Neptunian peculiarities are due to the incompleteness of our limited observations, so-called “observational biases”.

A hypothetical huge and distant world

This hypothetical planet is provisionally known as Planet 9. Planet 9 is thought to not be a small object like Pluto or like many other Trans-Neptunian Objects that have been discovered in recent years. Detailed simulations have been created to theorise about the characteristics that the body might have in order to produce the effects observed, and the conclusion is that it must be a very large planet, consisting of between 4 and 8 times the mass of the Earth.

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/there-could ... hy-69408

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Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

1 day ago

Scientists say they have found new evidence that there is a hidden planet in our solar system.

For years, some astronomers have been suggesting that unusual behaviour on the edge of our solar system is best explained by another, undiscovered planet. That helps explain the orbits of objects that lie at the very far reaches of our solar system, more than 250 times away from the Sun than we are.

Now Konstantin Bogytin, an astronomer who helped popularise the theory, says that he and his team have found yet more evidence that suggests that planet exists. The new work represents “the strongest statistical evidence yet that Planet 9 is really out there”, he said.

In the new work, scientists looked at a set of trans-Neptunian objects, or TNOs, which is the technical term for those objects that sit out at the edge of the solar system, beyond Neptune

The new work looked at those objects that have their movement made unstable because they interact with the orbit of Neptune. That instability meant they were harder to understand, so typically astronomers looking at a possible Planet Nine have avoided using them in their analysis.

https://www.independent.co.uk/space/pla ... ments-area

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Exodus Propulsion Technologies Claims Huge Space Propulsion Breakthrough
April 20, 2024 by Brian Wang

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/04/e ... rough.html
Dr. Charles Buhler and Exodus Technologies claims that systems with electrostatic pressure differences or electrostatic divergent fields gives systems with a center of mass with non-zero force component (aka generate movement). Buhler is NASA’s subject matter expert on electrostatics. They want to move to demo the system in orbit. These kinds of claims are controversial but the work seems to be thorough. It will only cost about $500k to $1M to create a rideshare mission into orbit to test the system. The mass of an early orbital system would greatly exceed the active materials of the propulsion, which would reduce performance. High performance space propulsion would need to increase the active materials as a percentage of the mass of the craft.

Dr. Charles Buhler discusses an experimental propulsion results based on asymmetrical electrostatic pressure, in a device described in International Patent# WO2020159603A2. The device is described as a system and method for generating a force from a voltage difference applied across at least one electrically conductive surface. The applied voltage difference creates an electric field resulting in an electrostatic pressure force acting on at least one surface of an object. Asymmetries in the resulting electrostatic pressure force vectors result in a net resulting electrostatic pressure force acting on the object. The magnitude of the net resulting electrostatic pressure force is a function of the geometry of the electrically conductive surfaces, the applied voltage, and the dielectric constant of any material present in the gap between electrodes.

[firestar464]

Study Identifies Mutated Drug-Resistant Bacteria Infesting ISS

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/ ... r-AA1nrys0

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Voyager 1 is sending data back to Earth for the first time in 5 months

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technolo ... r-AA1ntFQp