Space News and Discussions

[firestar464]

What It Takes to Grow Crystals in Space

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... -in-space/

[raklian]

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Pulsar Fusion Plans Orbital Fusion Tests by 2027
November 14, 2023 by Brian Wang

Pulsar Fusion will make a linear nuclear fusion rocket propulsion system. They will heat hydrogen plasma with microwaves to create fusion propulsion. They will perform laboratory tests next year and in 2025 and then have an orbital test within three years.

Pulsar recently partnered with aerospace R&D company Princeton Satellite Systems (PSS) for a study that will use AI to model the behavior of hot plasma in a fusion rocket engine. It has also announced that it has begun constructing an eight-meter fusion reaction chamber in the UK.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/11/p ... um=twitter

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[caltrek]

“Amaterasu” Particle: A New Cosmic Mystery
November 24, 2023

Introduction:

(Osaka Metropolitan Museum) Osaka, Japan – A high-energy particle falls from space to the Earth’s surface—it is not clear where it came from or even what it is, exactly. This may sound like something out of science fiction, but it is in fact a scientific reality, as evidenced by the research led by Associate Professor Toshihiro Fujii from the Graduate School of Science and Nambu Yoichiro Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics at Osaka Metropolitan University.

Cosmic rays are energetic charged particles originating from galactic and extragalactic sources. Cosmic rays with extremely high energy are exceptionally rare; they can reach greater than 1018 electron volts or one exa-electron volt (EeV), which is roughly a million times higher than achieved by the most powerful accelerators ever made by humans.

Chasing after such rays from space, Professor Fujii and an international team of scientists have been conducting the Telescope Array experiment since 2008. This specialized cosmic ray detector consists of 507 scintillator surface stations, covering an expansive detection area of 700 square kilometers in Utah, United States. On May 27, 2021, the researchers detected a particle with a whopping energy level of 244 EeV.

“When I first discovered this ultra-high-energy cosmic ray, I thought there must have been a mistake, as it showed an energy level unprecedented in the last 3 decades,” shared Professor Fujii.

Such an energy level is comparable to that of the most energetic cosmic ray ever observed, dubbed the “Oh-My-God” particle, which had an estimated energy of 320 EeV when detected in 1991.

Read more here: https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/info/research ... 9535.html

[weatheriscool]

Super-hot Mercury may have glaciers at its pole
By David Szondy
November 26, 2023

It may sound like finding a ski resort in the Amazon, but a team of scientists from the Planetary Science Institute claim to have found evidence that the super-hot planet Mercury has subterranean salt glaciers at its north polar region.

If there's one thing that Mercury is known for, it's that it's hot. Really hot. The closest planet to the Sun, during the day its surface temperature tops out at 800 °F (230 °C). It also has no atmosphere or magnetic field, and should be about as dry and lifeless as it's possible to be.

However, that may not be the case. There could be hidden glaciers at the north pole of Mercury that have been there for over a billion years, with evidence of their existence uncovered by later asteroid impacts.

According to the team, glaciers are more common in the solar system than once thought, citing the example of the nitrogen glaciers found on Pluto by NASA's New Horizons deep-space probe. The Mercurian ones would have been produced in Mercury's ancient past by water that seeped up from the planet's core while there was still volcanic activity. When the water reached the frozen subsurface polar region, it formed shallow seas that interacted with salt flows, forming buried glaciers, according to computer models based on data from NASA's MESSENGER orbiter.

https://newatlas.com/space/mercury-plan ... s-at-pole/

[firestar464]

[weatheriscool]

Europe's Ariane 6 Rocket Finally Has a Launch Date
The ESA and Arianespace want to blast Ariane 6 into space on June 15, 2024.
By Ryan Whitwam December 5, 2023

https://www.extremetech.com/science/eur ... aunch-date

Europe's Ariane 5 rocket was a workhorse of a launch vehicle for years, but the ESA retired it this past year. The agency had hoped to have the Ariane 6 ready to go by now, but pandemic-era delays have slowed the project. Finally, the ESA has announced the first Ariane 6 orbital launch. It's now on the books for June 15, 2024.

The European Space Agency (ESA) began work on the Ariance 6 in the mid-2010s, hoping to lower launch costs while allowing for more varied payloads. The initial plan was to launch Ariane 6 in 2020, but the project was delayed and ground to a halt during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. ESA director Josef Aschbacher says the agency was "in crisis" as it pushed the rocket back. While it waits for Ariane 6, the ESA has turned to SpaceX.

[firestar464]

Black holes are missing in the early universe, and computers are after them

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-black-hol ... verse.html

[firestar464]

New dark matter theory explains two puzzles in astrophysics

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-dark-theo ... ysics.html

[firestar464]

THE TOMATO HAS BEEN FOUND


https://www.businessinsider.com/missing ... te-2023-12

[firestar464]

In more serious news:

The ISS has turned 25

https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-sta ... sary-death

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Hubble Space Telescope Is Back Online After Gyro Glitch
The observatory is doing science once again after several weeks of troubleshooting.
By Ryan Whitwam December 11, 2023

https://www.extremetech.com/science/hub ... yro-glitch

Hubble's origins stretch back to the late 1970s when engineers began grinding a 2.4-meter mirror destined for the iconic telescope. While that mirror needed some adjustments to see clearly, Hubble is still producing incredibly detailed astronomical observations all these years later. Hubble is not immune from the ravages of time, though. NASA recently had to shut the observatory down due to a glitchy gyroscope. The agency says Hubble is back online now, but these system failures aren't going to get less common.

The latest issues cropped up late last month when one of the telescope's three remaining gyroscopes began reporting incorrect data. This sent Hubble into safe mode, prompting NASA to begin an investigation. The gyroscope is part of the spacecraft's pointing control system, which also includes reaction wheels and fine guidance sensors. Hubble doesn't have thrusters, so it relies on these moving parts to point the mirror at observation targets.

During Hubble's last Space Shuttle servicing mission in 2009, astronauts replaced all six of the observatory's gyroscopes. Three of them were an older model that was prone to failure, and three were a new, more robust design. The three old versions failed in a few years, making this the first real problem with the redesigned gyroscopes. According to NASA, engineers have managed to resurrect the telescope with all three of its gyroscopes working. Science operations have resumed using both the Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Hubble orientation system

[weatheriscool]

Breakthrough Hypersonic Dual-Mode Ramjet with Rotating Detonation Combustion
December 14, 2023 by Brian Wang
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/12/b ... stion.html

GE Aerospace has shown a bew architecture with Rotating Detonation Combustion (RDC) could power super-efficient hypersonic vehicles with longer range that will go faster than MACH 5 (over 4,000 MPH).

The team has moved very fast. It took just 12 months from start to finish for the DMRJ with RDC demonstration. The team is on track with its goal to demonstrate a full DMRJ with RDC at scale next year.

A typical air-breathing DMRJ propulsion system can only begin operating when the vehicle achieves supersonic speeds of greater than Mach 3. GE Aerospace engineers are working on a rotating detonation-enabled dual mode ramjet that is capable of operating at lower Mach numbers, enabling the flight vehicle to operate more efficiently and achieve longer range.

[wjfox]

Shetland is first UK spaceport for vertical rocket launches

3 hours ago

A site in the Shetland Islands has become the UK's first spaceport for vertical rocket launches.

SaxaVord Spaceport on the small island of Unst has been given approval from the Civil Aviation Authority to begin launches in 2024.

It will be the first fully-licensed spaceport in Western Europe able to launch vertically into orbit.

It permits up to 30 launches a year, that will be used to take satellites and other payload into space.

[...]

Full orbital launches are expected to take place at SaxaVord from 2025.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... d-67741864

[wjfox]

NASA laser message beams video of a cat named Taters back to Earth, and it’s a big deal

Published 6:51 PM EST, Mon December 18, 2023

A laser communications experiment flying aboard NASA’s Psyche mission has beamed back a video to Earth from nearly 19 million miles (31 million kilometers) away — and the short clip stars a cat named Taters. It’s the first time NASA has streamed a video from deep space using a laser.

In the ultra-high definition video, the playful orange tabby cat chases, of all things, the elusive red dot from a laser pointer as it moves across a couch.

The cat video was transmitted to Earth from a flight laser transceiver as part of the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment, or DSOC. The technology could one day be used to quickly transmit data, imagery and videos as humans push the limits of space exploration by venturing to places like Mars.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/18/worl ... index.html



JPL-Caltech/NASA

[raklian]

NASA laser message beams video of a cat named Taters back to Earth, and it’s a big deal

Published 6:51 PM EST, Mon December 18, 2023

A laser communications experiment flying aboard NASA’s Psyche mission has beamed back a video to Earth from nearly 19 million miles (31 million kilometers) away — and the short clip stars a cat named Taters. It’s the first time NASA has streamed a video from deep space using a laser.

In the ultra-high definition video, the playful orange tabby cat chases, of all things, the elusive red dot from a laser pointer as it moves across a couch.

The cat video was transmitted to Earth from a flight laser transceiver as part of the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment, or DSOC. The technology could one day be used to quickly transmit data, imagery and videos as humans push the limits of space exploration by venturing to places like Mars.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/18/worl ... index.html



JPL-Caltech/NASA

A glimpse of the Solar Internet, or Solnet.

[firestar464]

History and contents of the universe can be determined using radio telescopes on the moon, researchers say

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-history-c ... copes.html