Space Thread

[Jinentonix]

I know, right? We should never have launched the first rocket until we had the Starship Entercourse all ready to take 100,000 colonists to an Earth-compatible world that was all mapped out and had a Tim Hortons waiting for them.

It's not like anybody learns anything by experimentation. Or that there can be anything of value in the universe except life.

Yeah, it's not like we've only explored 5% of our oceans or anything. Nothing to learn down there, I'm sure. More people have been to the moon than have been to the bottom of the ocean.

Here's the thing sports fan, I was being a little cynical about her altruism. People like her think space exploration will be like Star Trek, everyone learning to get along for the "greater good", yada yada yada. The reality is it's going to be more like Blade Runner where private corporations furiously exploit whatever resources (and people) they can for profit. Kind'a like now.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Yeah, it's not like we've only explored 5% of our oceans or anything. Nothing to learn down there, I'm sure. More people have been to the moon than have been to the bottom of the ocean.

Here's the thing sports fan, I was being a little cynical about her altruism. People like her think space exploration will be like Star Trek, everyone learning to get along for the "greater good", yada yada yada. The reality is it's going to be more like Blade Runner where private corporations furiously exploit whatever resources (and people) they can for profit. Kind'a like now.

Horse shit. I've been to the bottom of the ocean a bunch of times.

 

[petros]

Horse shit. I've been to the bottom of the ocean a bunch of times.

Yeah, me too. The bottom starts at the beach.

 

[spaminator]

Astronauts confident Boeing space capsule can safely return them to Earth, despite failures
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Marcia Dunn
Published Jul 10, 2024 • 1 minute read

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 5, 2024.
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 5, 2024. Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO /AFP via Getty Images
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Two astronauts who should have been back on Earth weeks ago said Wednesday that they’re confident that Boeing’s space capsule can return them safely, despite breakdowns.


NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched aboard Boeing’s new Starliner capsule early last month, the first people to ride it. Leaks and thruster failures almost derailed their arrival at the International Space Station, and has kept them there much longer than planned.

In their first news conference from orbit, they said they expect to return once thruster testing is complete here on Earth. They said they’re not complaining about getting extra time in orbit, and are enjoying helping the station crew.

“I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem,” Williams told reporters.


The two rocketed into orbit on June 5 on the test flight, which was originally supposed to last eight days.

NASA ordered up the Starliner and SpaceX Dragon capsules a decade ago for astronaut flights to and from the space station, paying each company billions of dollars. SpaceX’s first taxi flight with astronauts was in 2020. Boeing’s first crew flight was repeatedly delayed because of software and other issues.

Astronauts confident Boeing space capsule can safely return them to Earth, despite failures

Two astronauts who should have been back on Earth weeks ago said that they're confident that Boeing's space capsule can return them safely

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Webb space telescope keeps delivering cosmic surprises
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Joel Achenbach, The Washington Post
Published Jul 12, 2024 • 4 minute read

The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. This image combines data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and marks the telescope's second year of science. MUST CREDIT: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. This image combines data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and marks the telescope's second year of science. MUST CREDIT: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI jpg
The latest made-ya-look image from the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived, and it looks like … a penguin. A giant penguin in space.


NASA officials on Friday marked two full years of scientific results from the telescope with the release of the image, which actually shows a pair of intertwined galaxies, known as Arp 142, and nicknamed the Penguin and the Egg. The first is a spiral galaxy; the second is an elliptical galaxy.

“The galaxies’ ‘dance’ gravitationally pulled on the Penguin’s thinner areas of gas and dust, causing them to crash in waves and form stars,” NASA said in a news release. “Look for those areas in two places: what looks like a fish in its ‘beak’ and the ‘feathers’ in its ‘tail.'”

The Webb telescope has done everything that astronomers had hoped it would do, notably looking deeper into space and further back in time than any previous telescope. And it has produced pretty pictures. The universe as captured by the Webb’s mirror and suite of instruments is beautiful, dazzling, flamboyant. These grabby images demonstrate the remarkable resolution of the Webb telescope, NASA’s $10 billion successor to the still-operating Hubble Space Telescope.


But the primary reason the Webb exists is to do something Hubble can’t do: look far into the infrared portion of the spectrum, enabling scientists to analyze the highly red-shifted light emitted by galaxies when the universe was very young.

That has produced a major surprise. Astronomers had assumed that the early galaxies would be small and faint. That’s not what the Webb saw.

Instead there is a remarkable array of big, bright galaxies, many containing supermassive black holes, that emitted their light just 300 million years or so after the big bang. (The best estimate for the age of the universe is 13.8 billion years.) The processes of star formation and the assemblage of galaxies were faster, more efficient or just different from what theorists had assumed.


This is how science is supposed to work: A new instrument with a novel way of looking at nature puts hard data where previously there had been only theories, computer models and notions.

“The biggest impact we’ve had so far is in understanding the first billion years. That was the elevator pitch to sell the telescope, and it’s been gratifying to me how well we’ve delivered,” said Jane Rigby, the senior scientist for the Webb. “The universe cooperated.”

The unexpected number of big, bright galaxies early in the universe doesn’t mean the Big Bang Theory is wrong, Webb scientists hasten to add.

“We have this deluge of data, we have all these interesting things that we’re finding, and we don’t quite understand why,” NASA astrophysicist Amber Straughn said. But this does not represent the discovery of “new physics” or anything so revolutionary, she said.


“The Big Bang is still the best theory of the universe that we have,” Straughn said.

The Webb has looked at the nearby universe as well, including observations of the intriguing Trappist-1 planetary system, where a swarm of rocky planets orbits a red dwarf star. This planetary system is about 41 light-years away, within our own galaxy and virtually next door in the cosmic scheme of things.

An ongoing astrobiological question that the Webb might answer is whether red dwarf stars are too stormy to allow nearby planets to hold on to an atmosphere and seem plausible as a place where life could prosper.

“So far, we haven’t found a rocky planet like ours with a life-sustaining atmosphere,” planetary astronomer Heidi Hammel said in an email. “That may require an even bigger telescope.”


Could this telescope find the first incontrovertible evidence of alien life? That seems unlikely, Rigby said.

“Personally I don’t think Webb is going to find life. It’s not built to do it,” Rigby said. “I think we can find potentially habitable planets.”

Garth Illingworth, an astronomer at the University of California at Santa Cruz who was among the people who dreamed up the Webb in the late 1980s, said the telescope has assembled a vast amount of data on exoplanets – the worlds that orbit distant stars. That data still needs to be assembled into a coherent picture, he added.

“It is a little like an alien walking through an earthly zoo, looking at the vast range of animals and then trying to assemble the relationships and common aspects,” he said.


The Webb rocketed into space on Christmas morning 2021 and spent six months getting shipshape as it orbited the sun roughly a million miles from Earth. The big headline from that period was that the telescope overcame 344 potential single-point failures, including the deployment of a tennis-court-sized sun shield necessary for the cold-temperature observations in the infrared portion of the spectrum.

One of the telescope’s 18 hexagonal mirrors took a nasty strike from a micrometeoroid, but that had limited impact. NASA has since tried to lower the risk of such impacts by flying the telescope with the mirrors facing away from the direction of travel.

“We’re sort of flying it so that it’s not facing, quote unquote, into the rain,” Straughn said.

The telescope has also pointed itself at the worlds we know best, in our own solar system. Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, long known to have a deep subsurface ocean, is leaking carbon dioxide fitfully, the Webb discovered. And the telescope saw a 6,000-mile plume of water erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, which like Europa has a hidden ocean under the crust of ice, Hammel said.

“The next 20 years are only going to be even more exciting as we really push the capabilities of this fantastic tool into the unknown and unexpected,” Hammel said.

Webb space telescope keeps delivering cosmic surprises

The latest made-ya-look image from the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived, and it looks like ... a penguin.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

A meteor streaked over the NYC skyline before disintegrating over New Jersey
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jul 17, 2024 • 1 minute read
A meteor streaked across the New York City skyline before disintegrating over nearby New Jersey, according to NASA. William Cooke, the head of the space agency's Meteoroid Environments Office, said the fireball was first sighted at an altitude of 51 miles (82 kilometers) above Manhattan at around 11:17 a.m. Tuesday, Juky 14, 2024.
A meteor streaked across the New York City skyline before disintegrating over nearby New Jersey, according to NASA. William Cooke, the head of the space agency's Meteoroid Environments Office, said the fireball was first sighted at an altitude of 51 miles (82 kilometers) above Manhattan at around 11:17 a.m. Tuesday, Juky 14, 2024.
NEW YORK (AP) — A meteor streaked over the New York City skyline before disintegrating over nearby New Jersey, according to NASA.


William Cooke, the head of the space agency’s Meteoroid Environments Office, said the fireball was first sighted at an altitude of 51 miles (82 kilometers) above Manhattan at around 11:17 a.m. Tuesday.

The meteor passed over the southern part of Newark, New Jersey, before disintegrating 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the town of Mountainside, he said. No meteorites or other fragments of space debris reached the planet’s surface.

The space rock moved at a speed of about 41,000 mph (66,000 kph) and descended at a relatively steep angle of 44 degrees from vertical, Cooke said.

Its exact trajectory is uncertain, since reports are based only on eyewitness accounts and no camera or satellite data is currently available, he said.


As of Wednesday morning, there had been approximately 40 eyewitness reports filed on the American Meteor Society website, which the agency used to generate its estimates, Cooke said.

The fireball was not part of the Perseid meteor shower, and reports of loud booms and shaking could be explained by military aircraft in the vicinity around the time of its appearance, he said.

Cooke said the New York City area gets treated to a daylight fireball every year or two.

NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office said in a Facebook post that small rocks like the one that produced Tuesday’s fireball are only about a foot (a third of a meter) in diameter and can’t remain intact all the way to the ground.

A meteor streaked over the NYC skyline before disintegrating over New Jersey

A meteor streaked over the New York City skyline before disintegrating over nearby New Jersey, according to NASA.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

NASA cancels its moon rover mission, citing cost overruns and launch delays
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jul 17, 2024 • 1 minute read

WASHINGTON — NASA said Wednesday it’s cancelling its water-seeking moon rover, citing cost overruns and launch delays.


The Viper rover was supposed to launch in late 2023 aboard a lander provided by Astrobotic Technology, but extra testing and increased costs kept delaying the mission, threatening other projects,t he space agency said.

The rover had aimed to explore the moon’s south pole. About $450 million had been spent so far on its development, NASA said.

The announcement comes days before the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon on July 20, 1969. NASA said it plans to study the presence of lunar ice through other projects.

Astrobotic still plans to fly its Griffin moon lander — minus a rover — by the end of next year. The company’s first moonshot ended in failure in January with a fiery plunge over the South Pacific.

NASA cancels its moon rover mission, citing cost overruns and launch delays

NASA said Wednesday it's cancelling its water-seeking moon rover, citing cost overruns and launch delays.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

How NASA and SpaceX will bring down the space station when it’s retired
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Marcia Dunn
Published Jul 18, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read

This image provided by SpaceX shows an artistic rendering of the powerful capsule that will be used, once developed, to bring the International Space Station down through the atmosphere in January 2031. NASA and Elon Musk's company on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, outlined the plan to burn the space station up on reentry and plunge what's left into the ocean, ideally at the beginning of 2031 when it hits the 32-year mark. (SpaceX via AP)
This image provided by SpaceX shows an artistic rendering of the powerful capsule that will be used, once developed, to bring the International Space Station down through the atmosphere in January 2031. NASA and Elon Musk's company on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, outlined the plan to burn the space station up on reentry and plunge what's left into the ocean, ideally at the beginning of 2031 when it hits the 32-year mark. (SpaceX via AP) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX will use a powerful, souped-up capsule to shove the International Space Station out of orbit once time is up for the sprawling lab.


NASA and Elon Musk’s company on Wednesday outlined the plan to burn the space station up on reentry and plunge what’s left into the ocean, ideally at the beginning of 2031 when it hits the 32-year mark. The space agency rejected other options, like taking the station apart and bringing everything home or handing the keys to someone else.

NASA gave SpaceX a $843 million contract to bring down the station — the biggest structure ever built off the planet.

Here’s a rundown on the work and challenges ahead:

Why get rid of the space station?
The space station is already is showing signs of age. Russia and the U.S. launched the first pieces in late 1998, and astronauts moved in two years later. Europe and Japan added their own segments, and Canada provided robotic arms. By the time NASA’s shuttles retired in 2011, the station had grown to the size of a football field, with a mass of nearly 1 million pounds (430,000 kilograms). NASA figures the station will last until at least 2030. The goal is for private companies to launch their own space stations by then, with NASA serving as one of many customers. That strategy — already in place for station cargo and crew deliveries — will free NASA up to focus on moon and Mars travel. NASA could decide to extend the station’s life, too, if no commercial outposts are up there yet. The aim is to have an overlap so scientific research is not interrupted.


Why not bring it back to Earth?
NASA considered dismantling the space station and hauling the pieces back to Earth, or letting private companies salvage the parts for their own planned outposts. But the station was never intended to be taken apart in orbit, according to NASA, and any such effort would be expensive and also risky to the astronauts who would handle the disassembly. Besides, there’s no spacecraft as big as NASA’s old shuttles to bring everything down. Another option would be to boost the empty station to a higher, more stable orbit. But that, too, was dismissed given the logistical issues and the increased risk of space junk.

How will it be brought down?
Visiting spacecraft periodically boost the space station so it remains in an orbit approximately 260 miles (420 kilometres) high. Otherwise, it would keep getting lower and lower until it plunged, uncontrolled, from orbit. NASA wants to ensure a safe reentry over a remote section of the South Pacific or possibly the Indian Ocean, so that means launching a spacecraft that will dock to the station and steer it toward a watery grave. NASA expects some denser pieces to survive, ranging in size from a microwave oven to a sedan, in a narrow debris field 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometres) long. NASA and its partners considered using three Russian supply ships for the job, but a more robust craft was needed. The call went out to industry and, in June, SpaceX won the contract for a deorbit vehicle.


What will the deorbit spacecraft look like?
SpaceX plans to use an ordinary Dragon capsule — the kind that carries supplies and astronauts to the space station — but with a much bigger trunk housing a record 46 engines and more than 35,000 pounds (16,000 kilograms) of fuel. SpaceX’s Sarah Walker said the challenge will be creating a spacecraft powerful enough to guide the space station while resisting the tugs and forces from increased atmospheric drag during final descent. This spacecraft will require an especially powerful rocket just to get to orbit, according to NASA. The capsule would be launched 1 1/2 years before the station’s planned demise. Astronauts still would be aboard as it’s gradually lowered. Six months before the station’s destruction, the crew would abandon ship and return home. Once the station is down to about 137 miles (220 kilometers), the Dragon would bring it down four days later.


Has this been done before?
NASA’s first space station, Skylab, came crashing down in 1979, with debris raining down onto Australia and the surrounding Pacific. The space agency had hoped one of the first space shuttle crews could attach a rocket to control Skylab’s descent or boost its orbit. But the shuttle wasn’t ready by then, with its first flight not until 1981. Ground controllers managed to send Skylab into a slow tumble, aiming for the Indian Ocean. But some pieces also landed in Western Australia. Russia has had more experience with incoming space stations. Mir operated for 15 years before being guided to a fiery reentry over the Pacific in 2001. Before that, several Salyut stations bit the dust.

Will anything be saved?
NASA wants to bring back some small items from inside the space station for museum display, like the ship’s bell and logs, panels with patches and other mementos. Those can come down in SpaceX supply ships in the final year or two. “Unfortunately, we can’t bring home really, really big stuff,” said NASA’s Ken Bowersox. “The emotional part of me would love to try and save some,” but the most practical approach is to bring everything down in one destructive stroke, he said.

How NASA and SpaceX will bring down the space station when it’s retired

NASA gave SpaceX a $843 million contract to bring down the station -- the biggest structure ever built off the planet.

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

That'll work.

NOTE TO SELF: Increase "falling space shit" insurance in 2030.

 

[spaminator]

How NASA and SpaceX will bring down the space station when it’s retired
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Marcia Dunn
Published Jul 18, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read

This image provided by SpaceX shows an artistic rendering of the powerful capsule that will be used, once developed, to bring the International Space Station down through the atmosphere in January 2031. NASA and Elon Musk's company on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, outlined the plan to burn the space station up on reentry and plunge what's left into the ocean, ideally at the beginning of 2031 when it hits the 32-year mark. (SpaceX via AP)
This image provided by SpaceX shows an artistic rendering of the powerful capsule that will be used, once developed, to bring the International Space Station down through the atmosphere in January 2031. NASA and Elon Musk's company on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, outlined the plan to burn the space station up on reentry and plunge what's left into the ocean, ideally at the beginning of 2031 when it hits the 32-year mark. (SpaceX via AP) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX will use a powerful, souped-up capsule to shove the International Space Station out of orbit once time is up for the sprawling lab.


NASA and Elon Musk’s company on Wednesday outlined the plan to burn the space station up on reentry and plunge what’s left into the ocean, ideally at the beginning of 2031 when it hits the 32-year mark. The space agency rejected other options, like taking the station apart and bringing everything home or handing the keys to someone else.

NASA gave SpaceX a $843 million contract to bring down the station — the biggest structure ever built off the planet.

Here’s a rundown on the work and challenges ahead:

Why get rid of the space station?
The space station is already is showing signs of age. Russia and the U.S. launched the first pieces in late 1998, and astronauts moved in two years later. Europe and Japan added their own segments, and Canada provided robotic arms. By the time NASA’s shuttles retired in 2011, the station had grown to the size of a football field, with a mass of nearly 1 million pounds (430,000 kilograms). NASA figures the station will last until at least 2030. The goal is for private companies to launch their own space stations by then, with NASA serving as one of many customers. That strategy — already in place for station cargo and crew deliveries — will free NASA up to focus on moon and Mars travel. NASA could decide to extend the station’s life, too, if no commercial outposts are up there yet. The aim is to have an overlap so scientific research is not interrupted.


Why not bring it back to Earth?
NASA considered dismantling the space station and hauling the pieces back to Earth, or letting private companies salvage the parts for their own planned outposts. But the station was never intended to be taken apart in orbit, according to NASA, and any such effort would be expensive and also risky to the astronauts who would handle the disassembly. Besides, there’s no spacecraft as big as NASA’s old shuttles to bring everything down. Another option would be to boost the empty station to a higher, more stable orbit. But that, too, was dismissed given the logistical issues and the increased risk of space junk.

How will it be brought down?
Visiting spacecraft periodically boost the space station so it remains in an orbit approximately 260 miles (420 kilometres) high. Otherwise, it would keep getting lower and lower until it plunged, uncontrolled, from orbit. NASA wants to ensure a safe reentry over a remote section of the South Pacific or possibly the Indian Ocean, so that means launching a spacecraft that will dock to the station and steer it toward a watery grave. NASA expects some denser pieces to survive, ranging in size from a microwave oven to a sedan, in a narrow debris field 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometres) long. NASA and its partners considered using three Russian supply ships for the job, but a more robust craft was needed. The call went out to industry and, in June, SpaceX won the contract for a deorbit vehicle.


What will the deorbit spacecraft look like?
SpaceX plans to use an ordinary Dragon capsule — the kind that carries supplies and astronauts to the space station — but with a much bigger trunk housing a record 46 engines and more than 35,000 pounds (16,000 kilograms) of fuel. SpaceX’s Sarah Walker said the challenge will be creating a spacecraft powerful enough to guide the space station while resisting the tugs and forces from increased atmospheric drag during final descent. This spacecraft will require an especially powerful rocket just to get to orbit, according to NASA. The capsule would be launched 1 1/2 years before the station’s planned demise. Astronauts still would be aboard as it’s gradually lowered. Six months before the station’s destruction, the crew would abandon ship and return home. Once the station is down to about 137 miles (220 kilometers), the Dragon would bring it down four days later.


Has this been done before?
NASA’s first space station, Skylab, came crashing down in 1979, with debris raining down onto Australia and the surrounding Pacific. The space agency had hoped one of the first space shuttle crews could attach a rocket to control Skylab’s descent or boost its orbit. But the shuttle wasn’t ready by then, with its first flight not until 1981. Ground controllers managed to send Skylab into a slow tumble, aiming for the Indian Ocean. But some pieces also landed in Western Australia. Russia has had more experience with incoming space stations. Mir operated for 15 years before being guided to a fiery reentry over the Pacific in 2001. Before that, several Salyut stations bit the dust.

Will anything be saved?
NASA wants to bring back some small items from inside the space station for museum display, like the ship’s bell and logs, panels with patches and other mementos. Those can come down in SpaceX supply ships in the final year or two. “Unfortunately, we can’t bring home really, really big stuff,” said NASA’s Ken Bowersox. “The emotional part of me would love to try and save some,” but the most practical approach is to bring everything down in one destructive stroke, he said.
View attachment 23460

How NASA and SpaceX will bring down the space station when it’s retired

NASA gave SpaceX a $843 million contract to bring down the station -- the biggest structure ever built off the planet.

torontosun.com

wouldnt it be safer if the space station was pushed towards the moon, mars, sun, gaia bh1, sagittarius a star, etc.?

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

wouldnt it be safer if the space station was pushed towards the moon, mars, sun, gaia bh1, sagittarius a star, etc.?

Fuck, no! The Vogons have VERY strict littering ordinances! First offence, blow up your planet. After that they get downright harsh!

 

[spaminator]

NASA says no return date yet for astronauts and Boeing capsule at space station
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Marcia Dunn
Published Jul 25, 2024 • 1 minute read

Already more than a month late getting back, two NASA astronauts will remain at the International Space Station until engineers finish working on problems plaguing their Boeing capsule, officials said Thursday.


Test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were supposed to visit the orbiting lab for about a week and return in mid-June, but thruster failures and helium leaks on Boeing’s new Starliner capsule prompted NASA and Boeing to keep them up longer.

NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said mission managers were not ready to announce a return date.

“We’ll come home when we’re ready,” said Stich, adding that the goal is to bring Wilmore and Williams back aboard Starliner.

Stich acknowledged that backup options are under review.

Engineers last week completed testing on a spare thruster in the New Mexico desert to try to understand what went wrong during docking. Five thrusters failed as the capsule approached the space station on June 6, a day after liftoff. Four have since been reactivated.

It appeared degraded seals are to blame for the helium leaks and thruster problems, but more analysis is needed. The team will test-fire the thrusters this week while docked to the space station to gather more data, said Boeing’s Mark Nappi.

After the space shuttles retired, NASA hired private companies for astronaut rides to the space station, paying Boeing and SpaceX billions of dollars.

This was the Boeing’s first test flight with a crew aboard. SpaceX has been ferrying astronauts since 2020.

NASA says no return date yet for astronauts and Boeing capsule at space station

And Boeing capsule at space station.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Mars rover discovers ancient rock with ‘potential biosignature’
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Joel Achenbach, The Washington Post
Published Jul 26, 2024 • 3 minute read

NASA's Perseverance rover
NASA's Perseverance rover has been traversing an ancient river delta and pocketing samples of rock and soil as part of the Mars Sample Return mission. Photo by Ash Ponders /For The Washington Post
Ancient life on Mars? Maybe, could be, might be. But this is going to require a much closer look.


That’s the boiled-down message from NASA, which revealed Thursday that the Perseverance rover had found a rock with compelling evidence of organic molecules and with intriguing markings that, if they were seen on Earth, would be consistent with biological activity in the past.

The announcement came framed with cautionary notes. Organics can have both a biological or non-biological origin, a fact NASA scientists emphasized. Mars rocks have fooled scientists before.

But they’re pumped about this vein-filled rock that they’ve dubbed “Cheyava Falls.” NASA said the rock was sampled July 21 on the edge of an ancient, wide river valley carved by water rushing long ago into Jezero Crater, before Mars lost most of its atmosphere and surface water and became a cold, parched world with dust storms and no sign of anything alive.


“We cannot say right now that we have discovered life on Mars,” said Katie Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist. “But what we are saying is that we have a potential biosignature, which is a set of features that could have a biological origin but do need further study and more data.”

The reddish rock is covered with white patches known as “leopard spots.” These spots are produced by chemical reactions that on Earth are often associated with biological activity, Stack Morgan said.

“This is the kind of feature if found on Earth, life would probably be involved with it,” she said. “At the same time, these are chemical reactions that don’t require life.”

The rover has been traversing an ancient river delta in Jezero Crater, and pocketing samples of rock and soil as part of the ambitious but troubled Mars Sample Return mission. Cheyava Falls is an arrowhead-shaped rock that measures 3.2 feet by 2 feet, and is named after a waterfall in the Grand Canyon, NASA said.


The rover took a sample of the rock, the 22nd sample obtained so far. The general plan has been to send another spacecraft to the surface of Mars to be met by Perseverance for the sample transfer. Then the new lander will launch the material into orbit, where it will be transferred to yet another spacecraft – one provided by the European Space Agency – for the journey back to Earth.

But fears of cost overruns and delays have called into question whether NASA and its European partners can finish the job. In 2020, a review board estimated that Mars Sample Return would cost $3.8 billion to $4.4 billion. A review last year jacked that estimate to $8.4 billion to $10.9 billion, with samples not getting back to laboratories on Earth until 2040.


NASA officials said that wasn’t acceptable, and earlier this year put the mission on a bare-bones budget. They also asked the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as well as outside contractors to propose new mission architectures that could bring down the cost and operational risk.

The rover does not have the kind of advanced technology necessary to tell if the leopard spots and organic molecules are biological or non-biological in origin, said Andrew Steele, an astrobiologist at the Carnegie Institution for Science who is part of the Perseverance scientific team.

But the rock’s environment, the presence of organics and the surface features are all compelling and make Cheyava Falls the most important sample obtained so far, he said.

“It just ticks all the boxes,” Steele said. “It’s very interesting chemistry with the iron and phosphate concentrations. It shows aqueous activity. It’s a great place for habitability.”

He is eager to see the new rock up close, back here on Earth.

Mars rover discovers ancient rock with ‘potential biosignature’

Perseverance rover had found a rock with compelling evidence of organic molecules and with intriguing markings

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Canada finishes space launch negotiations with United States
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Aug 02, 2024 • 1 minute read

OTTAWA — Canada is a step closer to the final frontier after completing negotiations with the United States on an agreement with major implications for domestic space launches.


The agreement, which is yet to be signed, will establish the legal and technical safeguards needed to use U.S. space launch technology, expertise and data for launches in Canada.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says in a news release that Canada’s growing commercial space launch industry relies on its ability to collaborate across borders.

She says this agreement, when in force, will position Canada as a global leader in commercial space launch.

Maritime Launch, the company developing Canada’s first commercial spaceport in northeastern Nova Scotia, says in a news release that the agreement is a major step forward for the industry.

The federal government is in the process of modernizing its regulatory framework around commercial space launch activities as the industry sees tremendous growth globally.

Canada finishes space launch negotiations with United States

Canada is a step closer to the final frontier after negotiations with the U.S. on an agreement with major implications for space launches

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Astronauts may be stuck 8 months at space station due to Boeing capsule concerns
The pair expected to be gone just a week or two when they launched June 5 as Starliner's first crew

Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Marcia Dunn
Published Aug 08, 2024 • 2 minute read

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — What should have been a quick trip to the International Space Station may turn into an eight-month stay for two NASA astronauts if they have to switch from Boeing to SpaceX for a ride home.


There’s lingering uncertainty over the safety of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, NASA officials said Wednesday, and the space agency is split over the risk. As a result, chances are increasing that test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams may have to watch from the space station as their Starliner is cut loose to return to Earth empty.

If that happens, NASA would leave behind two of four astronauts from the next SpaceX taxi flight in late September, with the vacant seats set aside for Wilmore and Williams on the return trip next February. The pair expected to be gone just a week or two when they launched June 5 as Starliner’s first crew.

NASA is bringing in additional experts to analyze the thruster failures experienced by Starliner before it docked. At the same time, NASA is looking more closely at SpaceX as a backup.


At this point, “we could take either path,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s space operations mission chief.

During a recent meeting, “We heard from a lot of folks that had concern, and the decision was not clear,” he said. A final decision is expected by mid-August.

Boeing issued a brief statement following NASA’s news update, repeating its position that the capsule could still safely bring the astronauts home.

“We still believe in Starliner’s capability and its flight rationale.” the company said.

Boeing will need to modify the capsule’s software in case Starliner ends up returning without a crew.

No serious consideration was given to launching a separate SpaceX flight just to retrieve Wilmore and Williams, according to commercial crew program manager Steve Stich.


Tests on the ground have replicated the thrust problems, pointing to seals as one culprit. But it’s still not understood how or why those seals swell when overheated and then shrink back to the proper size, Stich noted. All but one of the Starliner’s five failed thrusters have since been reactivated in orbit.

These thrusters are essential for allowing Starliner to back away from the space station following undocking, and for keeping the capsule in the proper position for the deorbit.

At the same time, engineers are grappling over helium leaks in Starliner’s propulsion system, crucial for maneuvering. The first leak occurred before liftoff, but was deemed isolated and stable. Then more cropped up in flight.

NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX to ferry astronauts to and from the space station, after the shuttles retired in 2011. SpaceX flew its first crew in 2020. Boeing stumbled on its first test flight without a crew and then fell further behind after a repeat demo.

Officials repeated their desire for a backup taxi service on Wednesday, A situation like this one could happen again, and “that’s why we want multiple vehicles,” Bowersox said.

The next crew flight will be SpaceX’s 10th for NASA. On Tuesday, it was delayed for a month until late September to allow for extra time to figure out how best to handle Starliner’s return. Three NASA astronauts and one Russian are assigned to the flight, and managers on Wednesday declined to say who might be bumped.

Astronauts may be stuck 8 months at space station due to Boeing capsule concerns

The pair expected to be gone just a week or two when they launched June 5 as Starliner's first crew

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

The Perseids are here. Here’s how to see the ’fireballs’ of summer’s brightest meteor shower
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Christina Larson
Published Aug 08, 2024 • 1 minute read

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Perseids are back to dazzle the sky with bursts of light and colour.


The annual meteor shower, active since July, peaks before dawn Monday. It’s one of the brightest and most easily viewed showers of the year, producing “bright blue meteors — and lots of them,” said University of Warwick astronomer Don Pollacco.

More than 50 meteors per hour are expected, according to the American Meteor Society. The shower lasts through Sept. 1.

Here’s what to know about the Perseids and other meteor showers.

What is a meteor shower?
Multiple meteor showers occur annually and you don’t need special equipment to see them.

Most meteor showers originate from the debris of comets. The source of the Perseids is the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.

When rocks from space enter Earth’s atmosphere, the resistance from the air makes them very hot. This causes the air to glow around them and briefly leaves a fiery tail behind them — the end of a “shooting star.”


The glowing pockets of air around fast-moving space rocks, ranging from the size of a dust particle to a boulder, may be visible in the night sky.

The Perseids result from “bigger particles than a lot of other showers,” said NASA’s Bill Cooke, giving them the appearance of “bright fireballs” — easier to spot than many others.

How to view a meteor shower
Meteor showers are usually most visible between midnight and pre-dawn hours.

It’s easier to see shooting stars under dark skies, away from city lights. Meteor showers also appear brightest on cloudless nights when the moon wanes smallest.

The Northern Hemisphere will have the best view of the Perseids. This year’s peak coincides with a moon around 44% full.

When is the next meteor shower?
The meteor society keeps a list of upcoming large meteor showers, including the peak viewing days and moonlight conditions.

The next major meteor shower will be the Orionids, peaking in mid-October.

The Perseids are here. Here’s how to see the ’fireballs’ of summer’s brightest meteor shower

Here’s how to see the ’fireballs’ of summer’s brightest meteor shower.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Mars and Jupiter get chummy in the night sky. The planets won’t get this close again until 2033
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Marcia Dunn
Published Aug 10, 2024 • 1 minute read

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Mars and Jupiter are cozying up in the night sky for their closest rendezvous this decade.


They’ll be so close Wednesday, at least from our perspective, that just a sliver of moon could fit between them. In reality, our solar system’s biggest planet and its dimmer, reddish neighbour will be more than 575 million kilometres apart in their respective orbits.

The two planets will reach their minimum separation — one-third of 1 degree or about one-third the width of the moon — during daylight hours Wednesday in most of the Americas, Europe and Africa. But they won’t appear that much different hours or even a day earlier when the sky is dark, said Jon Giorgini of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

The best views will be in the eastern sky, toward constellation Taurus, before daybreak. Known as planetary conjunctions, these comic pairings happen only every three years or so.


“Such events are mostly items of curiosity and beauty for those watching the sky, wondering what the two bright objects so close together might be,” he said in an email. “The science is in the ability to accurately predict the events years in advance.”

Their orbits haven’t brought them this close together, one behind the other, since 2018. And it won’t happen again until 2033, when they’ll get even chummier.

The closest in the past 1,000 years was in 1761, when Mars and Jupiter appeared to the naked eye as a single bright object, according to Giorgini. Looking ahead, the year 2348 will be almost as close.

This latest link up of Mars and Jupiter coincides with the Perseid meteor shower, one of the year’s brightest showers. No binoculars or telescopes are needed.

Mars and Jupiter get chummy in the night sky. The planets won’t get this close again until 2033

Mars and Jupiter are cozying up in the night sky for their closest rendezvous this decade.

torontosun.com

 

[Blackleaf]

we dont know what caused the first big bang which means that it could happen again at any time.

That's if the Big Bang ever occurred.

New images from the most the most powerful telescope in history - the James Webb Space Telescope - may cast doubt on the Big Bang Theory of the Universe's creation.

The JWST has imaged thousands of extremely distant "Little Red Dots" (LRDs) which are puzzling astronomers. We don't know what they are and they may challenge the Big Bang Theory.

Being so far away, we are seeing these objects as they were in the early stages of the Universe. But current scientific understanding is that these objects with such properties can't have existed so early...

 

[spaminator]

NASA still deciding whether to keep astronauts at space station until February
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Marcia Dunn
Published Aug 14, 2024 • 3 minute read
NASA needs to decide by the end of August whether to return two astronauts to Earth aboard Boeing's Starliner, which flew them to the International Space Station (ISS), or bring them home on a SpaceX craft, officials said on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams blasted off for the ISS on Starliner on June 5 for what was meant to be an eight-day stay.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA said Wednesday it’s still deciding whether to keep two astronauts at the International Space Station until early next year and send their troubled Boeing capsule back empty.


Rather than flying Boeing’s Starliner back to Earth, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams would catch a ride on SpaceX’s next flight. That option would keep them at the space station until February.

The test pilots anticipated being away just a week or so when they rocketed away as Starliner’s first crew. But thruster failures and helium leaks marred the capsule’s trip to the space station, raising doubts about its ability to return safely and leaving the astronauts in limbo.

NASA officials said they’re analyzing more data before making a decision by the end of next week or beginning of the next. These thrusters are crucial for holding the capsule in the right position when it comes time to descend from orbit.

“We’ve got time available before we bring Starliner home and we want to use that time wisely,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s space operations mission chief.


NASA’s safety chief Russ DeLoach added: “We don’t have enough insight and data to make some sort of simple, black-and-white calculation.”



DeLoach said the space agency wants to make room for all opinions unlike what happened on NASA’s two shuttle tragedies, Challenger and Columbia, when dissenting views were ignored.

“That may mean, at times, we don’t move very fast because we’re getting everything out, and I think you can kind of see that at play here,” he said.

Switching to SpaceX would require bumping two of the four astronauts assigned to the next ferry flight, currently targeted for late September. Wilmore and Williams would take the empty seats in SpaceX’s Dragon capsule once that half-year mission ends.


Another complication: The space station has just two parking places for U.S. capsules. Boeing’s capsule would have to depart ahead of the arrival of SpaceX’s Dragon to free up a spot.

Boeing maintains Starliner could still safely bring the astronauts home. The company earlier this month posted a list of testing done on thrusters in space and on the ground since liftoff.


NASA would like to keep SpaceX’s current crew up there until the replacements arrive, barring an emergency. Those four should have returned to Earth this month, but saw a seventh month added to their mission because of the uncertainty over Starliner, keeping them up there until the end of September. Most space station stays last six months, although some have gone a full year.


Wilmore and Williams are retired navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago. They eased into space station work as soon as they arrived, helping with experiments and repairs.

“They will do what we ask them to do. That’s their job as astronauts,” said NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba.

“This mission is a test flight and as Butch and Suni expressed ahead of their launch, they knew this mission might not be perfect.”

Eager to have competing services and backup options, NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing to transport astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttles retired in 2011.

SpaceX’s first astronaut flight was in 2020. Boeing suffered so much trouble on its initial test flight without a crew in 2019 that a do-over was ordered. Then more problems cropped up, costing the company more than $1 billion to fix before finally flying astronauts.

NASA still deciding whether to keep astronauts at space station until February

NASA said Wednesday it's still deciding whether to keep two astronauts at the International Space Station until early next year.

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

NASA still deciding whether to keep astronauts at space station until February

A final decision is expected in March.