TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Feb 23, 2024
The Pencil Nebula Supernova Shock Wave
This supernova shock wave plows through interstellar space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. Centered and moving upward in the sharply detailed color composite its thin, bright, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a cosmic sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge-on. Discovered in the 1840s by Sir John Herschel, the narrow-looking nebula is sometimes known as Herschel's Ray. Cataloged as NGC 2736, its pointed appearance suggests its modern popular name, the Pencil Nebula. The Pencil Nebula is about 800 light-years away. Nearly 5 light-years long it represents only a small part of the Vela supernova remnant though. The enormous Vela remnant itself is around 100 light-years in diameter, the expanding debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago. Initially, the section of the shock wave seen as the Pencil nebula was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar material.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
SpaceX Starlink Mission
On Thursday, February 22 at 8:11 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 launched 22 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
This was the 19th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, ISI EROS C-3, Korea 425, and now nine Starlink missions.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-7-15
China launches classified military satellite towards geostationary belt
February 23, 2024
China launched the TJS-11classified satellite early Friday as the country continues to build its geostationary capabilities.
A Long March 5 lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island at 6:30 a.m. Eastern (1130 UTC), Feb. 23.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., (CASC), announced launch success just under an hour after launch. The announcement also provided the first official statement on the payload: TJS-11 (Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-11). The satellite is described as being mainly used to carry out multi-band, high-speed satellite communication technology verification.
Neither CASC nor Chinese state media provided further details on the satellite which belongs to a series of classified geosynchronous satellites for the Chinese military. TJS satellites are thought by observers to serve a range of purposes including early warning, signals intelligence and more.
Buildup to the mission was shrouded in secrecy, despite the open location of the coastal launch. There were no official reports of the rollout of the rocket, in contrast to previous missions. Notably it is the shortest time between launches of the Long March 5, at 70 days since the launch of Yaogan-41. Like the Yaogan-41 launch, the TJS-11 mission used an elongated 18.5-meter-long, 5.2-meter-diameter payload fairing. Standard fairings are 12.3 meters long.
This is the first TJS satellite launched on a Long March 5, China’s most powerful launch vehicle. The Long March 5 can loft 14,000 kilograms into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The launcher is required to launch China’s largest satellite bus, the DFH-5.
The satellite series and its activities has caught the attention of observers in recent years. For instance, China’s TJS-3 (Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-3) satellite launched in 2018 and released a payload of unstated purposes.
Assessments of the pair’s maneuvers suggest the spacecraft moved in concert and carried out operations including spoofing. This involves coordinated maneuvers at certain times in an attempt to confuse rivals’ space tracking networks. Orbital data reveals that TJS-3 has been making close approaches to American satellites.
The U.S. Space Force recently stated its growing concern at China’s advancing capabilities in geostationary orbit (GEO). Assets of note include the Ludi Tance-4 (01) L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite and the Yaogan-41 optical satellite, with an estimated resolution of 2.5 meters. China launched the pair separately in the second half of 2023.
“Paired with data from other Chinese surveillance satellites, Yaogan-41 could provide China an unprecedented ability to identify and track car-sized objects throughout the entire Indo-Pacific region and put at risk numerous U.S. and allied naval and air assets operating in the region,” Clayton Swope, a former U.S. intelligence official and now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said Jan. 30.
Furthermore, a Long March 7A rocket launched the mystery TJS-10 satellite towards GEO in November last year.
The launch of TJS-11 was the seventh flight of the Long March 5. It was also China’s ninth orbital mission of 2024. CASC has yet to provide an outline for its overall launch activities for 2024, in contrast to previous years. China launched a national record 67 times last year with one failure.
Known major activities include Shenzhou missions to the Tiangong space station and the pioneering Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample return mission. The latter mission will fly on the next Long March 5. Launch is expected in May, following the launch of the requisite Queqiao-2 relay satellite on a Long March 8 next month.
Chinese commercial launch providers are expected to continue to build on a breakthrough 2023. The debut of new liquid-propellent launch vehicles including the Tianlong-3 (Space Pioneer), Nebula-1 (Deep Blue Aerospace) and Pallas-1 (Galactic Energy) expected in the second half of 2024.
https://spacenews.com/china-launches-classified-military-satellite-towards-geostationary-belt/
Radio signals from Orion nebula reveal new data about strange celestial objects: 'JuMBOS'
Feb 22, 2024
Last year, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers made the startling discovery of some free-floating, planetary-mass objects in the Orion nebula that threw their ideas of planet and star formation into doubt. And now, new research has further deepened the mystery around these so-called Jupiter-mass binary objects, or JuMBOs.
JuMBOs aren't stars, but aren't really planets either. Mark McCaughrean, senior science advisor at the European Space Agency (ESA), and colleagues originally located the objects in the Orion nebula. This nebula is a star birthing region, also known as Messier 45, and sits around 1,350 light years from Earth.
Building on that observation, a team of researchers used data collected by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory to study radio signals coming from some of those JuMBOs. Yet, despite the fact that McCaughrean and colleagues found 40 pairs of JuMBOs, only one pair of these strange objects was seen to be emitting radio waves.
"It is already hard to account for JuMBOs with star and planet formation models, and now we have this strong radio emission, and it is not clear what is producing it," Luis F. Rodriguez, team member and a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told Space.com.
The radio signal was seen coming from both components of "JuMBO 24." Both components seem to have around 11 times the mass of Jupiter, making them the largest of their kind seen by the JWST, with the others having masses between 3 and 8 times that of the solar system's most massive planet.
The signal was significantly stronger than radio signals associated with objects similar to JuMBOs, aka brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are objects born in the same way as stars, but that fail to gather enough mass to trigger the fusion of hydrogen to helium at their cores like your standard star does. This failure to kickstart the process that defines a star in its main sequence lifetime has led to brown dwarfs, with masses between 13 to 75 times the mass of Jupiter, receiving the unfortunate nickname of "failed stars."
"With regular stars and brown dwarfs, there are mechanisms that explain radio emissions. For JuMBOs, we have no mechanism to explain this very strong radio emission," Rodriguez said.
Not stars nor planets
JuMBOs are hot, gassy, and relatively small bodies that exist in pairs, a combination that defies common observations of binary stars. Normally, scientists believe only the most massive stars prefer life in binary pairings; the smaller a stellar body is, the less likely it is to be found in a binary partnership.
Binary stars are born when overly dense patches in a disk of gas and dust fragments collapse and gather mass, forming twin stars. Around 75% of massive stars exist found in binaries, with this percentage dropping to 50% for stars around the size of the sun and 25% for the smallest stars. The chance of finding brown dwarfs in binaries is close to zero. That means JuMBOs, which are under the mass limit for brown dwarfs, shouldn't really exist in binaries if they are indeed formed like stars.
But if JuMBOs are formed like stars, the sheer number of them discovered in Orion would suggest the binary frequency of stellar bodies "jumps up" for some reason at masses below that of brown dwarfs. This is something that can't be accounted for in stellar formation models yet.
So, if these planetary-mass objects can't form according to current star formation models, they are born like planets, surely? Well, maybe, but JuMBO pairings are equally difficult to explain if they are created like planets, which form from leftover material in the same disks of gas and dust that birthed their parent stars.
Some planets are known to be ejected from around their host star as a result of internal or external gravitational effects, such as encounters with other star systems. From there, those worlds become "rogue planets" and wander the cosmos without a parent star, just like how JuMBOs in Orion appear to be orphans. However, the process that creates these orphan planets is so violent that it should split apart any gravitationally bound planet pairs.
The ejection mechanism can't account for why Jupiter-like planets would have been ejected together. That means the planetary evolution route can explain how JuMBOs came to be, but not why they still have their binary partners. Even if such a thing could happen on some occasions, there aren't just one or two JuMBO pairings in Orion. There are 42.
These JuMBOs likely aren't the result of a single freak ejection event.
cont.
https://www.space.com/jumbos-jupiter-stars-planets-james-webb-space-telescope-orion-radio-signals
Space Perspective is nearly ready to fly tourists on luxury balloon rides near the edge of space
Feb 23, 2024
Ever wanted to see the cosmos, but not too keen on buckling-up for a rocket's high-g, explosively-controlled ascent into space? You're in luck: Space Perspective will bring you there in a balloon.
The Titusville, Florida-based company just completed assembly of their first pressure vessel, a test capsule of their Spaceship Neptune that Space Perspective will use as they begin a series of test flights of their trademarked "SpaceBalloon" ascent system. If everything goes smoothly during the vehicle's shakedown flights, the company hopes to begin flying people to the edge of space as early as the end of this year.
Space Perspective recently unveiled Spaceship Neptune to the public, posting photos of the capsule to X (formerly Twitter). "Introducing Spaceship Neptune - Excelsior, our finished test capsule!," the company wrote in the post. "With the largest windows ever flown to space and a spherical design that allows for the roomiest interior of any human spaceflight capsule ever made"
Space Perspective was founded by CEOs Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter, who also co-founded Paragon Space Development Corp. Life support and thermal control systems from Paragon have been included in the designs of every human-rated spacecraft the United States has ever flown, and now the duo are using their over 40 years of experience in the aerospace industry to offer people a more accessible way to see the Earth like never before.
"We definitely have the world's experts doing this," Poynter said in an interview with Space.com. "We are completely focused. We're focused on getting commercial flight as efficiently and completely safely and quickly as we can."
Space Perspective has named their first Spaceship Neptune capsule Excelsior, in a nod to a high-altitude balloon flight program known as Project Excelsior, pioneered by Joe Kittinger in the late 1950s. Excelsior weighs just over seven tons, and will be lifted to the edge of Earth's atmosphere by a balloon that stretches more than 600 feet (183 meters) tall.
Unlike other crew-rated spacecraft, designed and shaped for a fiery atmospheric re-entry, Excelsior's carbon fiber shell was built in the shape of a sphere, measuring 16 feet (4.9 meters) in diameter.
The interior design of the crewed Spaceship Neptune model includes accommodations for eight passengers, or "Explorers," as Space Perspective calls their customers, and a captain to serve as host for the luxurious lift to the top of the world. Inside the capsule, cushioned chairs sit in short rows on opposite sides, facing outward to view the planet through the vessel's tall windows. The central area of the capsule is mostly empty, allowing passengers some room to stretch their legs, and includes a bar station and even a bathroom, which Space Perspective refers to as a "spa."
Excelsior is outfitted with far less luxury, but has been manufactured to pave the way for Space Perspective's future crewed flights. Nearly every component inside and outside the test capsule has been connected to racks of sensors and strain gauges to capture every detail of data during the vehicle's first flights.
One of Spaceship Neptune's most complex features is the radiator system that sits like a cap on top of the capsule and helps mitigate the effects of the high levels of solar radiation the capsule will experience while hanging at high altitudes, exposed to the sun and unshielded by the atmosphere. The spacecraft's heat regulation is also aided in part by the unique design of the capsule's windows, which reflect much of the harmful UV wavelengths without compromising the view.
At the bottom of the capsule, a splash cone serves to stabilize and anchor the vessel after landing, which occurs at sea. To prevent the same phenomenon that causes a droplet shooting up from a body of water as an object plunges through its surface, Spaceship Neptune's splashdown is stabilized by the conical device, which prevents that bounce-back effect and works as an anchor on the capsule as its passengers await retrieval.
Trips aboard one of Space Perspective's balloon rides begin and end at sea, taking off from the deck of the company's launch boat, Voyager. The ship is designed to carry up to two Spaceship Neptune capsules, and the company has plans to construct several capsules to offer their services from launch boats harbored across the world.
cont.
https://www.space.com/space-perspective-spaceship-neptune-reveal-jane-poynter-interview
Webb finds clues of neutron star at heart of supernova remnant
22/02/2024
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has found the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star at the site of a recently observed supernova. The supernova, known as SN 1987A, occurred 160 000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud. SN 1987A was observed on Earth in 1987, the first supernova that was visible to the naked eye since 1604 — before the advent of telescopes.
It has offered astronomers a rare opportunity to study the evolution of a supernova and what was left behind, from the very beginning. SN 1987A was a type II, core-collapse, supernova [1], meaning that the compacted remains at its core are expected to have formed either a neutron star or a black hole. Evidence for such a compact object has long been sought. Indications for the presence of a neutron star has previously been found, but this is the first time that the effects of high energy emission from the young neutron star have been detected.
Astronomy typically involves the study of processes that take place over at least tens of thousands of years, far longer than all of human recorded history. Supernovae — the explosive final death throes of some massive stars — blast out within hours, and the brightness of the explosion peaks within a few months. The remains of the exploding star will continue to evolve at a rapid rate over the following decades. Thus, supernovae offer a very rare opportunity to study a key astronomical process in real time.
The supernova SN 1987A was first observed on Earth in February 1987 and its brightness peaked in May that year (although its distance from Earth means that the supernova event actually took place about 160 000 years before). It was the first supernova that could be seen with the naked eye since Kepler's Supernova in 1604.
About two hours prior to the visible light observation of SN 1987A, three observatories around the world saw a burst of neutrinos lasting a few seconds [2]. The neutrino burst shortly before visible light from SN 1987A was linked to the same supernova event. This provided important clues to refine our understanding of core-collapse supernovae, Scientists suspected that this type of supernova would form a neutron star or a black hole.
Astronomers have searched for evidence for one of these compact objects [3] at the centre of the expanding remnant material ever since. Indications for the presence of a neutron star at the centre of the remnant has been found in the past few years. Observations of much older supernova remnants — such as the Crab Nebula — confirm that neutron stars are found in many of these remnants. However, no direct evidence of a neutron star in the aftermath of SN 1987A (or any other such recent supernova explosion) had been observed, until now.
Claes Fransson of Stockholm University, and the lead author on this study, explains: “From theoretical models of SN 1987A, the ten-second burst of neutrinos observed just before the supernova implied that a neutron star or black hole was formed in the explosion. But we have not observed any compelling signature of such a newborn object from any supernova explosion. With Webb, we have now found direct evidence for emission triggered by the newborn compact object, most likely a neutron star.”
Webb began science observations in July 2022, and the observations behind this work were taken on 16 July, making the SN 1987A remnant one the first objects observed by Webb. The team used the Medium Resolution Spectrograph (MRS) mode of Webb’s MIRI instrument, which the members of the same team helped to develop. The MRS is a type of instrument known as an Integral Field Unit (IFU). IFUs are able to image an object and take a spectrum of it at the same time. The instrument captures a spectrum at each pixel, allowing observers to see spectroscopic differences across the object. Spectral analysis of the results showed a strong signal due to ionised argon from the centre of the ejected material that surrounds the original site of SN 1987A.
Subsequent observations using Webb’s NIRSpec (Near Infrared Spectrograph) IFU mode, at shorter wavelengths, more heavily ionised [4] chemical species, including five times ionised argon (meaning argon atoms that have lost five of their 18 electrons). Such ions require highly energetic photons to form, and those photons have to come from somewhere. “To create these ions that we observed in the ejecta, it was clear that there had to be a source of high-energy radiation in the centre of the SN 1987A remnant," Fransson said. "In the paper we discuss different possibilities, finding that only a few scenarios are likely, and all of these involve a newly born neutron star.”
cont.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_finds_clues_of_neutron_star_at_heart_of_supernova_remnant
Asteroid mining: the money to be made in space
Feb 23, 2024
Scientists believe the answer to Earth's insatiable demand for minerals could be found elsewhere: on metal-rich asteroids.
Private space exploration companies and national agencies are committing significant resources to exploring these M-type asteroids, named after the valuable metals they are speculated to contain – although no spacecraft has landed on one yet.
Until now, asteroid mining has remained a "largely hypothetical project", said Verdict, "if not quite something from the realms of science fiction", thanks to the "exorbitant cost". But with mineral deposits being rapidly depleted on Earth, "scientists urgently need to identify new methods of obtaining critical resources".
Private US-based mining company AstroForge is planning to launch a spacecraft, called Odin, later this year to embark on a year-long fly-by journey to an undisclosed asteroid. But the potential new space rush raises concerns about cosmic property rights and the economic impact of flooding the market with extraterrestrial supplies.
What is asteroid mining?
The main difference between earthbound mining and mining an asteroid is "the need for equipment that can withstand low-gravity, high-radiation conditions" and "function autonomously", said Live Science.
Mining on Earth raises a wealth of ethical concerns, from ecological impacts to the exploitation of labour, that asteroid mining could bypass.
But before it can begin, humans need to understand more about the mineral-rich asteroids as well as how to work on them. AstroForge has made efforts in both regards, said The New York Times. Last April, it launched Brokkr–1, a "microwave–size machine" designed to "practise refining metals in the environment of space". But the mission quickly ran into problems and the company was in a "race against time" to resolve them as of last December.
Odin's goal will be to reach an undisclosed asteroid and "conduct a fly-by, capturing data and 20-megapixel images as it seeks to confirm metallic riches", said Payload. If the spacecraft finds platinum-group metals – six elements (including platinum) used widely in electronic, automotive and health technology production – AstroForge would build a craft capable of bringing 1,000kg-2,000kg of the metals back to Earth per mission. And that could mean up to $140 million (£111 million) in "cosmic bounty".
How lucrative could it be?
The asteroid mining industry would be incredibly profitable. Asterank, a database that estimates the value and cost of mining over 600,000 asteroids, paints an optimistic picture.
Although the software engineer behind the project admits that the information Asterank operates on is not perfect, nearly all of the top 1,000 most cost-effective asteroids in the database would each yield pure profits in the tens of millions to hundreds of trillions of pounds. They wouldn't necessarily need to be home to platinum-group metals either: just the nickel and iron that M–type asteroids are thought to contain are valuable enough on their own.
The problem is the upfront cost of developing the technology. Two companies, Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, claimed in 2016 that they would be landing on or mining asteroids in the mid–2020s. But both folded and "quietly disappeared after being acquired by other companies" just a few years later, said Wired.
But the lure of 15–figure paydays has driven both public and private investment in asteroid mining projects to continue.
How close is it to happening?
Last October, Nasa launched a mission to an M-type asteroid named Psyche, estimated by Asterank to contain metals worth up to $27.67 billion (£21.8 billion) and likely to be a strong candidate for mining.
While Nasa's mission is purely scientific in its aims, anything the craft finds when it lands on Psyche in five years' time is likely to further accelerate interest in mining. Philip Metzger, a planetary physicist at the University of Central Florida, told Live Science that if "money poured in now, we might see small–scale asteroid mining in five years".
https://theweek.com/science/asteroid-mining-money-to-be-made-in-space
India eases entry for foreign direct investment in space sector
February 22, 202412:26 AM PST
India on Wednesday said it will allow 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the manufacture of satellite systems without any prior approval and eased the rules for launch vehicles, aiming for a greater share of the global space market.
Before the policy change, such investments were allowed but needed government approvals that would sometimes mean months of waiting.
Below are some of the changes India made.
Three categories
India divided its space sector into three broad categories for the purpose of investments: companies that make rockets that launch satellites, those that make satellites and companies that make the parts for manufacturing satellites.
Manufacturing of components for satellites
It allowed 100% foreign investments through the so-called automatic route, which means no government approval is required for any investments in the category. This will lead to greater access to technology for critical communication systems such as transponders, antennas and power systems.
Satellite manufacturing and operations
India allowed 74% overseas investment without approval from the government in satellite manufacturing and its operations. This would open up easy entry for key players in the sector such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, Maxar, Viasat (VSAT.O), opens new tab, Intelsat and Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab. Experts said for commercialisation, satellite manufacturing is the most lucrative area, with more viable partnerships. Companies will need government approval to increase its equity beyond the 74% stake in the operations.
Launch vehicles, associated systems
The government will allow 49% FDI under the automatic route to build rockets and its parts. The policy could help the country gain interest from the likes of United Launch Alliance, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and SpaceX. Beyond 49% the foreign investor will have to seek government approval.
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-eases-entry-foreign-direct-investment-space-sector-2024-02-22/