TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Jan 9, 2023
Thor's Helmet
Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens. Popularly called Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the cosmic head-covering is more like an interstellar bubble, blown with a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Great Overdog. This remarkably sharp image is a mixed cocktail of data from narrowband filters, capturing not only natural looking stars but details of the nebula's filamentary structures. The star in the center of Thor's Helmet is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime within the next few thousand years.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
Time is running out for stricken Peregrine moon lander after crippling fuel leak
Jan 9, 2024
Time is running out on Astrobotic's private Peregrine moon lander after suffering a critical fuel leak shortly after its launch into space early Monday (Jan. 8).
The private U.S. moon lander lifted off Monday during the flawless first launch of United Launch Alliance's brand-new Vulcan Centaur rocket as the booster's primary payload. Hours later, however, Astrobotic reported that its Peregrine moon lander had encountered an anomaly on its way to the moon that prevented it from orienting itself correctly. Several updates followed throughout the day on Monday, including an image taken by the lander while in space in which damaged insulation could be seen on the spacecraft, indicating leak in Peregrine's propulsion system.
"An ongoing propellant leak is causing the spacecraft's Attitude Control System (ACS) thrusters to operate well beyond their expected service life cycles to keep the lander from an uncontrollable tumble," the company wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) late Monday (Jan. 8).
The update indicates that the moon is certainly now out of reach for the damaged lunar lander. "If the thrusters can continue to operate, we believe the spacecraft could continue in a stable sun-pointing state for approximately 40 hours, based on current fuel consumption," Astrobotic's update continued. "At this time, the goal is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as we can before it loses the ability to maintain its sun-pointing position and subsequently loses power."
If Peregrine doesn't reach the moon's surface, which appears to be the likely case given its current predicament, a large suite of scientific experiments and commercial payloads could be lost.
Onboard the lunar lander are 20 payloads for customers, including five science payloads operated by NASA under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program that were designed to study the moon's surface, atmosphere and radiation environment. Another NASA-led experiment, the Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA), would have placed mirrors on the lunar surface to service as precise distance and location markers. Mexico's space agency also had five miniature autonomous rovers on Peregrine, which were set to carry out the country's first moon mission, and a Carnegie Mellon University has a small student-built Nano Lunar Rover aboard.
Some of the commercial payloads include a piece of Mt. Everest, a controversial memorials of human remains and DNA, a miniaturized library, and messages from people around the world. It's unclear what will become of those payloads now that Peregrine appears to be unable of reaching the moon.
Peregrine was set to be the first mission under the CLPS program, which aims to accelerate lunar science by placing NASA-led experiments aboard commercial landers and spacecraft. The next CLPS mission is slated for February, when Houston-based Intuitive Machines launches its Nova-C lander atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
https://www.space.com/astrobotic-peregrine-lander-time-running-out-fuel-leak
JPL lays off 100 contractors, citing budget uncertainty
January 8, 2024
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory laid off 100 contractors last week because of potential sharp budget cuts to the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program and warned that more layoffs could come.
A JPL spokesperson confirmed Jan. 7 that the center laid off the contractors and took other measures, such as across-the-board spending cuts and pausing work on one aspect of MSR, because of the “uncertain federal budget” in fiscal year 2024. The Los Angeles Times first reported the layoffs.
NASA announced in November that it would slow down work on MSR because of sharp differences in proposed funding for the effort in separate House and Senate bills. A House appropriations bill would provide the agency’s full request of $949.3 million while the Senate version allocated only $300 million.
NASA is operating under a continuing resolution (CR) until Feb. 2 that funds the agency at 2023 levels, which for MSR is $822.3 million. Sandra Connelly, deputy associate administrator for science at NASA, said at an advisory committee meeting in November that slowing down work on MSR was needed to avoid a “worst-case scenario” of spending at 2023 levels for several months but getting only the $300 million in the Senate bill for the program.
“We got direction from NASA to plan for the lower level and we’re doing that systematically,” Laurie Leshin, director of JPL, said in an interview Jan. 8 during the 243rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society here. “So, the first thing to happen is to look at where we’re using on-site contractors on MSR, but other places as well, where JPLers could backfill for that.”
Those contractors, she explained, are used as a “surge capacity” where needed on specific programs. Those contractors were primarily working on MSR but in a few cases on other projects that she said were finishing up already.
In addition to the contractor layoffs, JPL has had a hiring freeze in place since September. “We had been growing quite a bit because we were very busy,” she said. With several missions, such as Psyche, NISAR and Europa Clipper, either having launched or nearing completion, “we needed to stem the growth a bit.”
The contractor layoffs reportedly took those affected by surprise. On Reddit, someone who said they were one of the people affected reported getting an email at the end of the day Jan. 4 informing them they had been laid off effectively immediately, and lost computer and building access within an hour. “It was shocking and lightning fast,” that person said.
Depending on the outcome of the fiscal year 2024 appropriations process, more layoffs, including of JPL employees instead of just contractors, could follow. “Should the reduced budget situation continue, we must also consider difficult decisions regarding potential staff layoffs,” JPL said in a statement.
Leshin said layoffs would be likely if MSR received funding closer to the Senate bill’s $300 million. “I wanted to be transparent with the laboratory and we have been all along, saying there’s a lot of uncertainty. We’ve come out now and said, you know, layoffs are looking more likely and there certainly will be some at some of these lower levels of funding.”
On the other hand, if Congress provides full funding for MSR, she said JPL would “absolutely” bring back contractors that had been laid off.
https://spacenews.com/jpl-lays-off-100-contractors-citing-budget-uncertainty/
U.S. Army issues new guidance on the use of space for ground warfare
January 8, 2024
The U.S. Army’s top leadership has unveiled new guidance underscoring the vital role of space systems in modern ground warfare and calling for greater investment in space capabilities.
The memo, released Jan. 8, was signed by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer. It outlines a vision for enhanced integration of space capabilities across all Army operations and activities.
The memo also contains the Army’s explicit commitment to develop capabilities to interdict, or disrupt, adversaries’ use of space capabilities if necessary to defend U.S. and coalition forces. This means having capabilities to deny enemy forces the use of critical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms orbiting above the battlefield — through electronic warfare or even potential kinetic attacks.
Whereas space has traditionally been seen as playing a supporting role to ground, air, and naval forces, the Army’s latest guidance envisions the potential for space systems themselves to become targets. By developing means to deactivate or disrupt adversary satellites, U.S. forces could undercut rivals’ efforts to monitor and target American assets.
The memo warns that rival militaries have increased the use of space-based surveillance capabilities allowing them to continuously monitor U.S. and allied forces’ movements. As a result, Army units must assume they are perpetually being watched from above and take measures to conceal their activities.
According to the guidance:
The Army will integrate joint and coalition space capabilities and interdict adversary space capabilities in support of ground force commanders.
Successful operations in and through the space domain will be critical to our success.
Commanders must understand that space capabilities start and end on the ground and be fully aware of their importance in planning and operations.
We will be operating under constant surveillance, and must invest in the knowledge and forces to counter threat space systems and enable our own space systems.
The Army must have the resources and expertise to integrate friendly joint coalition and commercial space capabilities, support of all army functions, including positioning, navigation, and timing; deep sensing; beyond line of communications; environmental monitoring; space domain awareness and geospatial information.
The Army needs expertise and resources to interdict adversary space capabilities by delivering necessary fires and effects to protect friendly forces from observation and targeting.
‘Second nature’
“Integrating joint and Army space capabilities into the operations process must become second nature to commanders at every echelon,” George said in a statement. “We accomplish this by incorporating these capabilities into training, education, experiments and exercises.”
The Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence will work closely with other organizations across the Army to “ensure the vision is incorporated across the institutional Army,” George added.
The Army’s new guidance aligns with the Department of Defense’s emphasis on multi-domain operations — employing all available combat power from each domain: air, sea, space, cyber, and the electromagnetic spectrum.
The memo suggests a recognition of rapid advancements in space technology by peer militaries like China and Russia. The Chinese firm Changguang Satellite Technology, or CGST, now has 108 remote sensing satellites in orbit and aims to expand its Jilin-1 constellation to 300 satellites by 2025.
The news agency Agence France-Presse last year reported that Russian mercenary group Wagner in 2022 signed a contract with CGST to acquire two satellites and use their images, aiding its intelligence work in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
https://spacenews.com/u-s-army-issues-new-guidance-on-the-use-of-space-for-ground-warfare/