NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Jan 28, 2024

Pluto in True Color

What color is Pluto, really? It took some effort to figure out. Even given all of the images sent back to Earth when the robotic New Horizons spacecraft sped past Pluto in 2015, processing these multi-spectral frames to approximate what the human eye would see was challenging. The result featured here, released three years after the raw data was acquired by New Horizons, is the highest resolution true color image of Pluto ever taken. Visible in the image is the light-colored, heart-shaped, Tombaugh Regio, with the unexpectedly smooth Sputnik Planitia, made of frozen nitrogen, filling its western lobe. New Horizons found the dwarf planet to have a surprisingly complex surface composed of many regions having perceptibly different hues. In total, though, Pluto is mostly brown, with much of its muted color originating from small amounts of surface methane energized by ultraviolet light from the Sun.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

Iran successfully launches 3 satellites into space

01/28/24 8:51 AM ET

Iran revealed Sunday that it successfully launched three satellites into space after a series of failed launches.

Iran state media published a video of the nighttime satellite launch for the Simorgh rocket, The Associated Press reported. This comes as tensions are rising in the Middle East amid Israel’s war against militant group Hamas in Gaza and as proxy groups like Yemen’s Houthi rebels launch attacks.

According to an AP analysis of the video, the launch occurred at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s Semnan province. The State TV reported that the satellites were named Mahda, Kayhan-2 and Hatef-1, according to the AP.

State TV said that Mahda was earmarked for research purposes, while the Kayhan and the Hatef are nanosatellites and are focused on global positioning and communication, according to the AP report. The wire outlet reported that the Mahda satellite sends signals back to Earth, according to Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Minister Isa Zarepour.

This comes after the Simorgh satellite program has already faced five failed launches, the AP noted. The satellite program has drawn criticism from Western countries, including the United States, who said that it may help Iran develop an intercontinental ballistic missile sooner because it uses a similar process.

Iran had also successfully launched a satellite on Jan. 20 — a launch that the U.S. quietly acknowledged, according to AP.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/4434014-iran-successfully-launches-3-satellites-into-space/

A robot surgeon is headed to the ISS to dissect simulated astronaut tissue

Jan 27, 2024

Very soon, a robot surgeon may begin its orbit around our planet — and though it won't quite be a metallic, humanoid machine wearing a white coat and holding a scalpel, its mission is fascinating nonetheless.

On Tuesday (Jan. 30), scientists will be sending a slew of innovative experiments to the International Space Station via Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft. It's scheduled to launch no earlier than 12:07 p.m. ET (1707 GMT) and, if all goes to plan, arrive at the ISS a few days later on Feb. 1.

Indeed one of the experiments onboard is a two-pound (0.9-kilogram) robotic device, about as long as your forearm, with two controllable arms that respectively hold a grasper and a pair of scissors. Developed by a company named Virtual Incision, this doctor robot of sorts is built to someday be able to communicate with human doctors on the ground while inserting itself into an astronaut patient to conduct medical procedures with high accuracy.

"The more advanced part of our experiment will control the device from here in Lincoln, Nebraska, and dissect simulated surgical tissue on orbit," Shane Farritor, co-founder of Virtual Incision, said during a presentation about Cygnus on Friday.

For now, as it's in preliminary stages, it's going to be tested on rubber bands — but the team has high hopes for the future as missions to the moon, Mars and beyond start rolling down the space exploration pipeline. Remote space medicine has become a hot topic during the last few years as space agencies and private space companies lay plans for a variety of future crewed space missions.

NASA's Artemis Program, for instance, hopes to have boots on the moon in 2026 — plus, that's supposed to pave the way for a day on which humanity can say they've reached the Red Planet. And together, those missions are expected to pave the way for a far future in which humanity embarks on deeper space travel, perhaps to Venus or, if we're really dreaming, beyond the solar system. So to make sure astronauts remain safe in space — an environment they're literally not made to survive in — scientists want to make sure space-based medical treatment sees advancement in tandem with the rockets that'll take those astronauts wherever they're going.

A quick example that comes to mind is how, in 2021, NASA flight surgeon Josef Schmid was "holoported" to the ISS via HoloLens technology. It's sort of like virtual reality meets FaceTime meets augmented reality, if that makes sense.

However, as the team explains, not only could this robotic surgery mission benefit people exploring the void of space, but also those living right here on Earth. "If you have a specialist who's a very good surgeon, that specialist could dial into different locations and help with telesurgery or remote surgery," Farritor said. "Only about 10% of operating rooms today are robotic, but we don't see any reason that shouldn't be 100%."

This would be a particularly crucial advantage for hospitals in rural areas where fewer specialists are available, and where operating rooms are limited. In fact, as Farritor explained, not only is Virtual Incision funded by NASA but also by the military. "Both groups want to do surgery in crazy places," he said, "and our small robots kind of lend themselves to mobility like that."

https://www.space.com/international-space-station-robot-surgeon-cygnus-ng-20-spacex-resupply

Zeno to recycle decades-old radioactive material to fuel its radioisotope power systems

Jan 26, 2024

Zeno Power Systems announced Jan. 26 it is working with the U.S. Department of Energy to recycle decades-old radioactive material to produce radioisotope power sources.

Under the agreement with DOE, Zeno will have access to a large supply of strontium-90, a radioisotope created as a byproduct in nuclear fission reactors. The company will use the material to build radioisotope power sources, or RPS systems. These are compact devices that convert heat from isotopes into electricity. NASA for decades has used RPS systems for deep-space missions, but these systems are fueled by plutonium-238, an isotope that is in limited supply. Zeno designed an RPS system for small satellites fueled by strontium-90.

The company, based in Seattle and in Washington, D.C., has several contracts to develop radioisotope-powered satellites for national security and space exploration missions, as well as underwater systems for the U.S. Navy.

Chief executive Tyler Bernstein, who co-founded Zeno in 2018, said the company is on track to deliver its first RPS-powered satellite to the U.S. Air Force by 2026.

DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, known as OREM, is working with Zeno to recycle large quantities of strontium-90 from a radioisotope thermoelectric generator built in the mid-1980s at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, but never deployed. Before DOE agreed to hand it over to Zeno, the generator was expected to remain in storage for another 30 years before OREM could dispose of it.

Zeno earlier this week announced it partnered with Westinghouse Electric Co. to process the radioisotopes for its RPS heat sources.

OREM manager Jay Mullis called the agreement with Zeno a “win-win” as it helps remove a significant source of radioactivity at a DOE site while supporting nuclear-power innovation.

OREM is responsible for removing radioactive materials resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, and East Tennessee Technology Park.

OREM’s cleanup contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge transported the radioisotope thermoelectric generator containing strontium-90 to a commercial nuclear facility at an undisclosed location in the Northeast, where Zeno will recycle the material to power its RPS.

Bernstein said Zeno designed its RPS to be fueled by strontium-90 because of its abundance. “It fills a demand that plutonium-238 cannot fill,” he told SpaceNews. “The Department of Energy can only produce enough plutonium-238 to fulfill marquee NASA missions.”

Zeno needed a fuel source to “build this technology at scale to meet the demand that we see in the coming decades,” Bernstein said. The company to date has won more than $40 million in contracts to build RPS powered satellites, and expects more orders, said Bernstein.

“The momentum for space nuclear power is only growing and you’re seeing this with broader support at the upper levels of the Pentagon, and you are seeing more commercial industry in this area developing these technologies,” he said.

The military wants spacecraft with increased mobility and endurance, he added. On the civil space side, the projected expansion of activities in cislunar and lunar environments is driving the need for a power source that is independent of the sun. “This can be critical to support operations in the cislunar domain,” Bernstein said.

https://spacenews.com/zeno-to-recycle-decades-old-radioactive-material-to-fuel-its-radioisotope-power-systems/