Space News and Discussions

weatheriscool
Posts: 12971
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

SpaceX launches secret National Reconnaissance Office payload
Source: CBS News

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket boosted a classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload into orbit early Sunday after a foggy California launch, the company's 14th flight so far this year.

Mounted atop pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base northwest of Los Angeles, the rocket's nine first-stage engines ignited with a rush of flame at 9:13 a.m. EDT (6:13 a.m. local time), throttled up to 1.7 million pounds of thrust and smoothly pushed the vehicle away from its seaside firing stand.

The first stage, making its second flight, took off on a southerly trajectory, boosting the upper stage and its NRO payload out of the dense lower atmosphere. Two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, the stage fell away and the single engine powering the Falcon 9 second stage took over for the remainder of the ascent.


"I'm proud of the teamwork, skill and determination that went into making this launch a success and ultimately to delivering critical information to our nation's policymakers, military, and intelligence community," NRO Director Chris Scolese said.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacex-lau ... e-payload/
weatheriscool
Posts: 12971
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Space dust, asteroids and comets can account for all water on Mercury
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-space-ast ... rcury.html
by SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Mercury harbors water ice in the shadows of the steepest craters around its poles. But it is unclear how those water molecules ended up on Mercury. Now a new simulation shows that incoming minor bodies such as asteroids, comets and dust particles carry enough water to account for all the ice sheets present. The study could form the basis for new research on water in exoplanetary systems. The work was published in Icarus on April 19.

We have known for a few decades that Mercury harbors water. You might expect that this can only be in the form of water vapor. After all, the planet has no atmosphere so we can rule out a liquid due to a lack of pressure. And Mercury is almost three times closer to the sun than the Earth is, so water ice doesn't seem likely either. But then there are the craters. Steep craters at high latitudes contain troughs that are forever captured in darkness, only illuminated by the dimly glowing band of the Milky Way against the backdrop of an eternal black sky. These eerie places are home to ice sheets many meters thick, on the closest planet to the sun. Now the question remains: how did those water molecules end up on Mercury?
User avatar
caltrek
Posts: 6509
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by caltrek »

Once-in-a-decade Report Urges NASA to Explore Uranus
by Jacob Knutson
April 19, 2022

https://www.axios.com/report-urges-nasa ... 2d66c.html

Introduction:
(Axios) A once-in-a-decade report out Tuesday recommended NASA and other space agencies study the planet Uranus within the next decade to better understand giant icy worlds in our solar system and beyond.

Why it matters: Proposals published today by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are not binding, but they are influential and often guide federal funding toward future space missions.
  • NASA committed to two flagship missions recommended in the last planetary science survey 10 years ago — the Europa Clipper scheduled to launch in 2024 and the Perseverance Mars rover.
The Committee on the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey designated the Uranus Orbiter and Probe as the highest-priority new flagship mission for initiation between 2023 and 2032, calling the planet "one of the most intriguing bodies in the solar system."
  • "Its low internal energy, active atmospheric dynamics, and complex magnetic field all present major puzzles. A primordial giant impact may have produced the planet’s extreme axial tilt and possibly its rings and satellites, although this is uncertain," the report reads.
  • The mission would deliver a probe to Uranus' atmosphere in order to better understand the planet's origin, interior, atmosphere, magnetosphere, rings and satellites.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
User avatar
raklian
Posts: 1747
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:46 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by raklian »

To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
Member
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2022 4:28 am

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by Member »

New space race?
User avatar
caltrek
Posts: 6509
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by caltrek »

Astronomers Discover Brand-New Type of Star Explosion: The Micronova
Michelle Starr
April 21, 2022

https://www.sciencealert.com/we-ve-just ... -micronova

Introduction:
(Science Alert) A newly discovered type of stellar explosion could help us better understand thermonuclear outbursts on dead stars.

The new phenomena are called micronovae, and they take place on the surface of white dwarf stars that are actively slurping down material from a close binary companion. The accumulation of material onto the white dwarf results in a localized thermonuclear burst: the micronova.

These explosions have been seen burning through tens to hundreds of quintillions of kilograms of stellar material in hours, astronomers say.

If that's hard to imagine, this is in the ballpark of several billion Great Pyramids of Giza, according to the researchers. Or, if you prefer another comparison, around a thousandth of the Moon's mass.

"We have discovered and identified for the first time what we are calling a micronova," says astrophysicist Simone Scaringi of Durham University in the UK.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
weatheriscool
Posts: 12971
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Why Venus rotates, slowly, despite sun's powerful grip: Planet's atmosphere explains the gravity of the situation
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-venus-rot ... erful.html
by University of California - Riverside

If not for the soupy, fast-moving atmosphere on Venus, Earth's sister planet would likely not rotate. Instead, Venus would be locked in place, always facing the sun the way the same side of the moon always faces Earth.

The gravity of a large object in space can keep a smaller object from spinning, a phenomenon called tidal locking. Because it prevents this locking, a UC Riverside scientist argues the atmosphere needs to be a more prominent factor in studies of Venus as well as other planets.

These arguments, as well as descriptions of Venus as a partially tidally locked planet, were published today in a Nature Astronomy article.

"We think of the atmosphere as a thin, almost separate layer on top of a planet that has minimal interaction with the solid planet," said Stephen Kane, UCR astrophysicist and lead paper author. "Venus' powerful atmosphere teaches us that it's a much more integrated part of the planet that affects absolutely everything, even how fast the planet rotates."

Venus takes 243 Earth days to rotate one time, but its atmosphere circulates the planet every four days. Extremely fast winds cause the atmosphere to drag along the surface of the planet as it circulates, slowing its rotation while also loosening the grip of the sun's gravity.

Slow rotation in turn has dramatic consequences for the sweltering Venusian climate, with average temperatures of up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit—hot enough to melt lead.

"It's incredibly alien, a wildly different experience than being on Earth," Kane said. "Standing on the surface of Venus would be like standing at the bottom of a very hot ocean. You couldn't breathe on it."
weatheriscool
Posts: 12971
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Astronaut in space successfully controls ground-based rover
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-astronaut ... rover.html
by European Space Agency
If man's best friend is a dog, then in the future astronauts' closest companions might well be rovers. A technique allowing astronauts in orbit to control rovers exploring planetary surfaces has been developed by a research team from ESA, the German Aerospace Center DLR and European academia and industry, culminating in an Earth-based rover session commanded from the International Space Station. A paper published in the Science Robotics journal this week details their results.

"This is the first time that an astronaut in space managed to control a robotic system on the ground in such an immersive, intuitive manner," comments Aaron Pereira of DLR.

"Our 6 degree of freedom control interface incorporates force feedback so that the astronaut can experience just what the rover feels, even down to the weight and cohesion of the rocks it touches. What this does is help compensate for any limitations of bandwidth, poor lighting or signal delay to give a real sense of immersion—meaning the astronaut feels as though they are there at the scene."
User avatar
caltrek
Posts: 6509
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by caltrek »

Eleven Exploration Missions and Projects of NASA to look Forward to in 2022

Source: https://www.inverse.com/science/nasa-20 ... r-missions

Summarized as follows:

1. International Space Station - "the now 23-year-old space station will keep flying until at least 2028."

2. GAIA - run by the European Space Agency (ESA) "but the data it collects could have a significant impact on NASA projects...ESA will release the third drop of Gaia data on June 13, 2022"

3. Preserverance and Ingenuity - exploration of Mars. See also: http://www.futuretimeline.net/forum/vie ... ee4ba8aab8

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

5. Tess - exoplanet detection. See also:http://www.futuretimeline.net/forum/vie ... ee4ba8aab8

6. Juno - exploration of Jupiter and "will make an extremely close pass (of the moon Europa) within 221 miles in late September."

7. DART- to slam into asteroid Dimorphos on October 2.

8. James Webb Telescope - see also: http://www.futuretimeline.net/forum/vie ... ee4ba8aab8

9. Psyche - asteroid exploration which is "scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on August 1 and will enter orbit around 16 Psyche in January 2026."

10. Starliner - for astronauts. "Boeing’s second attempt at a successful, uncrewed orbital test flight is now scheduled for launch on May 19, pending further delays."

11. Artemus - for a return to the moon.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
weatheriscool
Posts: 12971
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Space News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Water on Jupiter's moon closer to surface than thought: study
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-jupiter-m ... ought.html
by Daniel Lawler
The surface of Jupiter's moon Europa is criss-crossed with double ridges which are similar to those in Greenland's ice sheet.

Ridges that criss-cross the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa indicate there are shallow pockets of water beneath, boosting hopes in the search for extra-terrestrial life, scientists said Tuesday.

Europa has long been a candidate for finding life in our solar system due to its vast ocean, which is widely thought to contain liquid water—a key ingredient for life.

There is a problem: the ocean is predicted to be buried 25-30 kilometers (15-17 miles) beneath the moon's icy shell.

However water could be closer to the surface than previously thought, according to new research published in the journal Nature Communications.

The finding came partly by chance, when geophysicists studying an ice sheet in Greenland watched a presentation about Europa and spotted a feature they recognized.
Post Reply