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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Aug 23, 2023
The Meteor and the Galaxy
It came from outer space. It in this case a sand-sized bit of a comet nucleus was likely ejected many years ago from Sun-orbiting Comet Swift-Tuttle, but then continued to orbit the Sun alone. When the Earth crossed through this orbit, the piece of comet debris impacted the atmosphere of our fair planet and was seen as a meteor. This meteor deteriorated, causing gases to be emitted that glowed in colors emitted by its component elements. The featured image was taken last week from Castilla La Mancha, Spain, during the peak night of the Perseids meteor shower. The picturesque meteor streak happened to appear in the only one of 50 frames that also included the Andromeda galaxy. Stars dot the frame, each much further away than the meteor. Compared to the stars, the Andromeda galaxy (M31) is, again, much further away
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
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ISRO Chandrayaan-3 Mission Soft-landing LIVE Telecast
https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan3.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLA_64yz8Ss
What's that low-flying plane in the Central Valley?
Aug 22, 2023
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — If you spend time in California's Central Valley, you just might catch an unusual sight in the daytime sky: a low-flying NASA DC-8 aircraft.
The plane is making scheduled research flights for NOAA's Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) project on Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to Flight Aware, the DC-8 was scheduled to take off from Palmdale Regional Airport in Los Angeles County at 1:40 p.m. on Tuesday. The plane will fly as far north as Sacramento, making several east-west passes over the Valley along the way. A similar flight is planned for Wednesday.
NASA engineers have equipped the DC-8 with 30 different instruments, each of which will take measurements of air quality, air chemistry and weather conditions while in flight. At times, the plane may drop as low as 1,000 feet.
While the plane itself is loud, scientists say these flights are safe for those nearby, as well as the environment.
Data gathered from these flights will be combined with ground observations and satellite images to help NOAA scientists better understand the sources of air pollution in large cities as well as how that urban pollution can spread and impacts rural areas.
The goal of the AEROMMA project is to improve air quality forecasts as well as climate models that take air pollution into account.
https://www.kcra.com/article/california-nasa-low-flying-plane-central-valley/44881701
NASA Award Fuels 3D Printing in Space Recycling and Next-Gen Heat Shields
August 22, 2023
In a significant development, NASA’s SBIR Ignite initiative has granted Phase II awards to 12 small businesses and entrepreneurs. Among the recipients, re:3D and Canopy Aerospace have been chosen for their projects in additive manufacturing (AM).
Texas-based re:3D offers a promising blueprint for sustainability in space. The project, “On-Orbit Additive Manufacturing Using Recycled Waste,” is set to pioneer a recycling system to convert thermoplastic waste generated in orbit into functional, useful objects through 3D printing. This effort is in collaboration with the NASA Gateway Deep Space Logistics (DSL) team. Bianca Rhym, a NASA engineer, described the initiative on LinkedIn as a “trash to treasure adventure.” For enthusiasts of both 3D printing and space exploration, nothing rings truer than the capability to combine AM and sustainability to ensure a compelling vision of the future of orbital care.
Founded in 2013 by NASA veterans Samantha Snabes and Matthew Fiedler, re:3D has consistently blazed trails in sustainability. The company’s flagship 3D printer GigaBot is well-known for its capability to create larger objects from recycled materials. The printer’s combination of scale and affordability has attracted a wide range of industries, from innovative prototyping to art installations. Rooted in an open-source philosophy, re:3D continually engages with its community to refine and improve its products, emphasizing its dedication to making industrial-grade 3D printing accessible and sustainable for all.
While re:3D is laser-focused on sustainable 3D printing, Canopy’s project has not gone unnoticed by NASA. Following the award’s announcement, Chicago-based Canopy is moving to Phase II of its “Reusable Heatshields Additive Manufacturing (RHAM)” platform. This innovative 3D printing system streamlines the creation of reusable thermal protection system (TPS) tiles, combining novel material formulations and binder jetting processes to produce highly insulative ceramics and advanced heat treatments. According to Canopy, NASA wants more businesses working in low Earth orbit (LEO) and has a Commercial LEO Destinations (CLDs) program. They need a better way to make protective heat tiles for spaceships. Right now, they use an old method from the Shuttle program, which is slow and requires much hands-on work. They can only make about two tiles per week for each worker.
To fill this gap, Canopy proposed the development of a new RHAM platform that allows rapid production of reusable TPS tiles with “digitally defined tailorability.” Using its expertise in thermal protection materials, Canopy’s RHAM innovations involve cutting-edge 3D printing techniques and advanced heat treatments to create strong ceramics. After laying the groundwork in Phase I, Phase II will elevate RHAM to a level prepped for tests with both NASA and commercial space entities. Beyond NASA, the RHAM system holds promise for commercial space missions and defense applications, aligning with projects like SpaceX’s Starship and NASA’s Lockheed-contracted Orion capsule.
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Space pioneers
NASA’s SBIR Ignite initiative, part of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, aims to support and encourage innovative companies in the aerospace sector. Unlike traditional programs, SBIR Ignite focuses on new commercial opportunities, providing funding and assistance to make these technologies more appealing to investors. In 2022, the program started with Phase I awards given to 12 businesses with promising yet risky technology ideas, ranging from climate solutions to recycling methods. After completing Phase I, these businesses, including re:3D and Canopy, are moving to Phase II. In this phase, they can receive up to $850,000 to develop their prototypes.
Among the companies recognized by NASA’s Phase II SBIR Ignite initiative are Ampaire for hybrid aircraft powertrains, Cecilia Energy’s approach to converting waste plastic to hydrogen, and Crystal Sonic‘s cost-efficient solution for space photovoltaics. H3X Technologies, Outpost Technologies, and Solestial have also been recognized for advancements in aircraft electric propulsion, cargo transportation, and space solar arrays, respectively. StormImpact, Terrafuse, Trans Astronautica, and Turion Space will focus on their work on electrical system resilience, wildfire risk predictions, space debris remediation, and CubeSat technology. These companies, located across the US, represent the diverse range of projects the SBIR Ignite initiative aims to support.
“We are proud that all 12 of the small businesses are continuing with our program and persevering through the tough realities of early-stage research and development,” said Jason L. Kessler, an executive for NASA’s SBIR/STTR program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “These awards foster a unique range of technologies that we hope will have positive impacts on the lives of everyday Americans in the future.”
Charting the future
SBIR Ignite isn’t limited to funding these projects; it opens up many opportunities for innovators to connect and work together. The program invites newcomers through initiatives like the Space Startup Ecosystem Digital Community and eclectic networking events. In its first year, 75% of the awardees had not received a NASA SBIR award before starting their Phase I projects.
“Bringing new entrepreneurs and ideas into NASA is a focal point for our program, and we’re excited that SBIR Ignite has been able to serve as a testing ground for us to appeal to small businesses in new ways,” said Quenton Bonds, entrepreneurial engagement lead for NASA’s SBIR/STTR program at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt in Maryland. “We’re optimistic that the experiments we’re running through SBIR Ignite will provide insights that will improve the impact of the whole SBIR/STTR program.”
https://3dprint.com/302683/nasa-award-fuels-3d-printing-in-space-recycling-and-next-gen-heat-shields/
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Webb Reveals Intricate Details in the Remains of a Dying Star
August 21, 2023
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope obtained images of the Ring Nebula, one of the best-known examples of a planetary nebula. Much like the Southern Ring Nebula, one of Webb’s first images, the Ring Nebula displays intricate structures of the final stages of a dying star. Roger Wesson from Cardiff University tells us more about this phase of a Sun-like star’s stellar lifecycle and how Webb observations have given him and his colleagues valuable insights into the formation and evolution of these objects, hinting at a key role for binary companions.
“Planetary nebulae were once thought to be simple, round objects with a single dying star at the center. They were named for their fuzzy, planet-like appearance through small telescopes. Only a few thousand years ago, that star was still a red giant that was shedding most of its mass. As a last farewell, the hot core now ionizes, or heats up, this expelled gas, and the nebula responds with colorful emission of light. Modern observations, though, show that most planetary nebulae display breathtaking complexity. It begs the question: how does a spherical star create such intricate and delicate non-spherical structures?
“The Ring Nebula is an ideal target to unravel some of the mysteries of planetary nebulae. It is nearby, approximately 2,200 light-years away, and bright – visible with binoculars on a clear summer evening from the northern hemisphere and much of the southern. Our team, named the ESSENcE (Evolved StarS and their Nebulae in the JWST Era) team, is an international group of experts on planetary nebulae and related objects. We realized that Webb observations would provide us with invaluable insights, since the Ring Nebula fits nicely in the field of view of Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) instruments, allowing us to study it in unprecedented spatial detail. Our proposal to observe it was accepted (General Observers program 1558), and Webb captured images of the Ring Nebula just a few weeks after science operations started on July 12, 2022.
“When we first saw the images, we were stunned by the amount of detail in them. The bright ring that gives the nebula its name is composed of about 20,000 individual clumps of dense molecular hydrogen gas, each of them about as massive as the Earth. Within the ring, there is a narrow band of emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs – complex carbon-bearing molecules that we would not expect to form in the Ring Nebula. Outside the bright ring, we see curious “spikes” pointing directly away from the central star, which are prominent in the infrared but were only very faintly visible in Hubble Space Telescope images. We think these could be due to molecules that can form in the shadows of the densest parts of the ring, where they are shielded from the direct, intense radiation from the hot central star.
“Our MIRI images provided us with the sharpest and clearest view yet of the faint molecular halo outside the bright ring. A surprising revelation was the presence of up to ten regularly-spaced, concentric features within this faint halo. These arcs must have formed about every 280 years as the central star was shedding its outer layers. When a single star evolves into a planetary nebula, there is no process that we know of that has that kind of time period. Instead, these rings suggest that there must be a companion star in the system, orbiting about as far away from the central star as Pluto does from our Sun. As the dying star was throwing off its atmosphere, the companion star shaped the outflow and sculpted it. No previous telescope had the sensitivity and the spatial resolution to uncover this subtle effect.
“So how did a spherical star form such a structured and complicated nebulae as the Ring Nebula? A little help from a binary companion may well be part of the answer.”
https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2023/08/21/webb-reveals-intricate-details-in-the-remains-of-a-dying-star/
Police launch probe after 'golden' UFOs filmed soaring over parliament building
UPDATED15:27, 23 AUG 2023
Police have launched a probe into the mysterious ‘UFOs’ spotted in the skies above a parliament building.
Several incidents have been reported of potential extraterrestrials flying over the National Congress building in the Brazilian capital of Brasília.
According to officials, there have also been potential sightings of aliens darting across the skies above Esplanada dos Ministérios before vanishing into thin air.
It was initially believed that the unexplained lights and shapes were drones, but local media asked the Federal Police, who denied using the equipment.
A police spokesperson said: "We do not detail any methods or techniques of an investigation.”
They have now launched an official investigation into the sightings, and claim to have sent the images to be assessed by expert analysts.
The Federal District Government confirmed that they did not fly any drones over the area on any night between 13 and 16 August - when they were spotted.
A Brazilian Air Force spokesperson said: “We do not carry out studies or analysis on the subject.
“We only catalogue information provided by third parties and periodically send them to the National Archive.”
UFO researcher and computer engineer Rony Vernet witnessed the mysterious shapes and managed to film them on his Samsung phone.
He said: “It's rare for me to be interested in third-party UFO videos.
“But this one is fascinating to study because they are flying above the Brazilian Congress and I have obtained the originals.
“I would best describe them as golden luminous birds.”
On August 22, Vernet shared zoomed-in footage of one of the UFOs that appeared to show it flying with a ‘bird flapping’ motion.
The UFO researcher added: “The only logical explanation is that they are white birds reflecting the city lights, however, I’ve never seen birds like that in Brazil, only in the northern hemisphere with birds like Canadian snow geese.”
Thiago Ticchetti, president of the Brazilian Commission of Ufologists, said the mysterious crafts are currently classified as UFOs simply because it remains unclear what they are.
He said: “A UFO is anything that flies and we don’t know what it is. They can be aircraft, birds and even extraterrestrial vehicles.
“If we manage to identify it, it is no longer considered a UFO.”
However, the Brazilian authorities have yet to announce their analysis of Mr Vernet’s viral footage.
And despite authorities claiming they had no drones launched at the time, many people have attempted to justify the unexplained sightings.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/police-launch-probe-after-golden-30770416
Narendra Modi | Chandrayaan 3 Landing | This is how India's successful moon mission will help the world!
Aug 23, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMrJVugJZYA