Space News and Discussions

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China launches second module for its space station Heavenly Palace

China has launched the second of three modules for its space station.

It sent the first in April 2021 and hopeS the station will be operational by the end of this year.

Tiangong or "Heavenly Palace" will have its own power, propulsion, life support systems and living quarters.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-china-62282862


weatheriscool
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Russia to opt out of International Space Station after 2024
Source: AP
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia will opt out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country’s newly appointed space chief said Tuesday.

Yuri Borisov, who was appointed earlier this month to lead the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos, said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia will fulfill its obligations to other partners at the International Space Station before it leaves the project.

“The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made,” Borisov said.Borisov’s statement reaffirmed previous declarations by Russian space officials about Moscow’s intention to leave the space outpost after 2024.It comes amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West over the Kremlin’s military action in Ukraine.

Despite the rift, NASA and Roscosmos made a deal earlier this month for astronauts to continue riding Russian rockets and for Russian cosmonauts to catch lifts to the International Space Station with SpaceX beginning this fall.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... 9acbdbc140
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Chinese booster rocket makes uncontrolled return to Earth
https://phys.org/news/2022-07-chinese-b ... earth.html
The launch of the second module for China's Tiangong space station on July 24.
A Chinese booster rocket made an uncontrolled return to Earth on Saturday, leading US officials to chide Beijing for not sharing information about the potentially hazardous object's descent.

US Space Command "can confirm the People's Republic of China (PRC) Long March 5B (CZ-5B) re-entered over the Indian Ocean at approx 10:45 am MDT on 7/30," the US military unit said on Twitter.

"We refer you to the #PRC for further details on the reentry's technical aspects such as potential debris dispersal+ impact location," it said.

In a statement posted to its official WeChat profile, the China Manned Space Agency later gave coordinates for an impact area in the Sulu Sea, about 35 miles (57 kilometers) off the east coast of the Philippines' Palawan Island.

"Most of its devices were ablated and destroyed during re-entry," the agency said of the booster rocket, which was used last Sunday to launch the second of three modules China needed to complete its new Tiangong space station.

Malaysia's space agency said it detected rocket debris burning up on re-entry before falling in the Sulu Sea northeast of the island of Borneo.

"The debris of the rocket caught fire while entering the Earth's airspace and the movement of the burning debris also crossed Malaysian airspace and could be detected in several areas including crossing the airspace around the state of Sarawak," it said.
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Formation of dwarf galaxy observed using India's AstroSat
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-formation ... rosat.html
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org
An international team of researchers has observed part of the formation of a dwarf galaxy, helping to explain how they evolve from a dwarf state to maturity. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes finding evidence of maturation in such galaxies.

Prior research has shown that there are dwarf galaxies in the universe. Such galaxies are typically made up of just a few billion stars, as compared to mature galaxies such as the Milky Way, which have 200 to 400 billion stars. Prior research has also suggested that some dwarf galaxies might evolve to become more mature galaxies, but how that might happen has not been clear. In this new effort, the researchers focused the AstroSat space-based telescope on several blue compact dwarf galaxies, which are calculated to be approximately 1.5 to 3.9 billion light-years from Earth. The team then used the ultraviolet imaging telescope aboard AstroSat, which is India's first multi-wavelength space telescope, to look for evidence of star formation activity.
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Unexpected Solar Wind Stream Hits Earth at 372 Miles Per Second
by Fiona MacDonald
August 9, 2022

Introduction:
(Science Alert) On Sunday, Earth's magnetic field was pelted by a solar wind stream reaching velocities of more than 600 kilometers (372 miles) per second.

While that's nothing too alarming – solar storms often pummel our planet triggering spectacular auroras – what is weird is that this storm was totally unexpected.

"This event was not in the forecast, so the resulting auroras came as a surprise," SpaceWeather reported.

Solar wind occurs when a stream of highly energized particles and plasma can no longer be held back by the Sun's gravity and burst out towards Earth.
Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/an-unfore ... er-second
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Making oxygen with magnets could help astronauts breathe easy
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-oxygen-ma ... -easy.html
by University of Warwick
A potentially better way to make oxygen for astronauts in space using magnetism has been proposed by an international team of scientists, including a University of Warwick chemist.

The conclusion is from new research on magnetic phase separation in microgravity published in npj Microgravity by researchers from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, University of Colorado Boulder and Freie Universität Berlin in Germany.

Keeping astronauts breathing aboard the International Space Station and other space vehicles is a complicated and costly process. As humans plan future missions to the Moon or Mars better technology will be needed.
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Underwater snow gives clues about Europa's icy shell
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-underwate ... shell.html
by University of Texas at Austin
Below Europa's thick icy crust is a massive, global ocean where the snow floats upwards onto inverted ice peaks and submerged ravines. The bizarre underwater snow is known to occur below ice shelves on Earth, but a new study shows that the same is likely true for Jupiter's moon, where it may play a role in building its ice shell.

The underwater snow is much purer than other kinds of ice, which means Europa's ice shell could be much less salty than previously thought. That's important for mission scientists preparing NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will use radar to peek beneath the ice shell to see if Europa's ocean could be hospitable to life. The new information will be critical because salt trapped in the ice can affect what and how deep the radar will see into the ice shell, so being able to predict what the ice is made of will help scientists make sense of the data.

The study, published in the August edition of the journal Astrobiology, was led by The University of Texas at Austin, which is also leading the development of Europa Clipper's ice penetrating radar instrument. Knowing what kind of ice Europa's shell is made of will also help decipher the salinity and habitability of its ocean.
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caltrek
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Interesting how the Moon rates its own thread in this forum, while the sun enjoys no such honor. At any rate:

Astrophotographer Captures a Glimpse of the International Space Station Crossing the Sun from His Backyard
by Jessica Stewart
August 21, 2022

Introduction:
(My Modern Met) Astrophotographer Jamie Cooper has traveled the world looking for exceptional views of the stars. But he didn't have to travel far to capture something rare. From his backyard in Northamptonshire, England, he was able to photograph the International Space Station (ISS) transiting the Sun. Considering that the event lasted for less than a second, the image he produced is incredible.

The ISS moves at a speed of five miles per second, which means that it circles Earth every 90 minutes. In fact, it passes in front of the Sun 16 times during a 24-hour period. Though it's a frequent occurrence, actually seeing it is another matter. Cooper just happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture multiple frames that he composited into one image.

“There's a very narrow band where you, the space station and Sun are all in a straight line and it's about three miles wide,” shared Cooper. “I'd checked the data three days before and it was going to miss my house, I checked the day before and it was going to be over my house, so I was lucky.”

To capture the event, Cooper used a high-speed camera that shoots at 80 frames per second. He also used a special telescope with a filter that allowed him to photograph the event safely.

If you are interested in seeing when a transit might happen in your area, NASA has a helpful website that provides detailed information. But, it's important to note that just because a transit may occur, there's no guarantee that it will be visible. Weather is a critical factor in whether or not one can view this blink-and miss it event. And, if you do attempt to view an ISS transit, it's vital to take a cue from Cooper and use proper safety equipment to avoid damaging your eyes.
View photos here: https://mymodernmet.com/jamie-cooper-iss-transit/
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caltrek
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Speaking of the sun..
China is Building a Huge Ring of Telescopes to Study Eruptions on the Sun
by Andrew Jones
August 22, 2022

Introduction:
(Space.com) China is building the world's largest array of telescopes dedicated to studying the sun with the aim to improve the understanding of coronal mass ejections which can cause chaos on and above Earth.

The Daocheng Solar Radio Telescope (DSRT) is under construction on a plateau in Sichuan province, southwest China. When completed, it will consist of 313 dishes, each with a diameter of 19.7 feet (6 meters), forming a circle with a circumference of 1.95 miles (3.14 kilometers).

The telescope array will image the sun in radio waves to study coronal mass ejections (CMEs), large eruptions of charged particles from the sun's upper atmosphere, the corona.

CMEs are triggered by realignments in the star's magnetic field that occur in sunspots. When directed at Earth, these eruptions can wreak havoc on power grids, telecommunications, orbiting satellites and even put the safety of astronauts at risk. On the other hand, CMEs are also responsible for the colorful aurora displays that can be observed in the night sky in polar regions.
Read more here: https://www.space.com/china-world-larg ... rch-array
Don't mourn, organize.

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