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NASA Innovation on Display at AAS Goddard Space Science Symposium
MAR 22, 2024
From the search for habitable worlds beyond our solar system to Earth science missions closer to home, NASA shared its goals for the next decades of exploration at this year’s Goddard Space Science Symposium, held March 20-22, 2024, at the University of Maryland in College Park.
“We wanted to help bring focus to this long-term vision by gathering people from all areas of the industry to discuss the plan, the associated opportunities and challenges, and how we will all work together to succeed,” said Jim Way, executive director at the American Astronautical Society (AAS), which co-hosted the symposium with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
NASA Goddard and AAS collaborated to develop this year’s theme, “Space 2040: Pathways to the Future.” About 340 in-person attendees participated in panels featuring NASA scientists, researchers, and experts, as well as government and industry partners.
Goddard Center Director Makenzie Lystrup kicked off the symposium by emphasizing the role partnerships have to play in science and space exploration.
“The world is changing, and the space industry in particular; we’ve got to adapt to that,” Lystrup said. “Goddard needs to adapt to that, NASA needs to adapt, and I think that that can be scary. But also, this is the time when innovation can really come out. And so, I think that the sharing of ideas, and the willingness to try new things, is more important now than it ever has been.”
During the symposium, Goddard employees, students, and members of the industry and government workforce listened to discussions on space weather, climate science, interplanetary missions, and more. Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, gave the opening keynote address on March 20. Fox spoke about NASA’s current and future missions, highlighting the intersections between NASA sciences.
“I love to think about the interconnections in the science that we do,” Fox said. “Everybody knows that all the really interesting stuff – it’s not even just science – interesting stuff happens on the boundaries.”
The symposium concluded with early science results from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which returned a sample from the asteroid Bennu in September 2023. Mission scientists brought a small piece of the sample for attendees to view.
“That smudge you see is a pristine sample of the early solar system that we took 200 million miles away, and they’re finding some little preliminary results already,” said Michelle Thaller, co-chair of the 2024 planning committee and assistant director for science communication at Goddard.
This year marked the 61st symposium, making it the longest running event hosted by AAS. Formerly known as the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium, the event demonstrates the longstanding relationship between Goddard and AAS.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/goddard/nasa-innovation-on-display-at-aas-goddard-space-science-symposium/
International Space Station welcomes biological and physical science experiments
MAR 22, 2024
NASA is sending several biological and physical sciences experiments and equipment aboard SpaceX’s 30th commercial resupply services mission. Studying biological and physical phenomena under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth. Not only can these experiments provide pioneering scientific discovery – they enable sustainable deep space exploration and support transformative engineering.
The commercial resupply launch took place Thursday, March 21, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Understanding Antibiotic Resistance in Space
The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses a significant threat to human health, both on Earth and in space. Common, harmless bacteria like Enterococcus faecalis (EF) and Enterococcus faecium, can be found on the International Space Station just as they are on Earth – and yet, they exhibit resistance to antibiotics and are hardier than their counterparts down on the ground. This raises concerns about potential more harmful bacteria causing infections for astronauts, especially during long-duration missions, as standard antibiotic treatments might prove ineffective.
To address this issue, Genomic Enumeration of Antibiotic Resistance in Space will survey the space station for antibiotic-resistant microbes. By analyzing the genetic makeup of these bacteria, scientists hope to understand how they adapt to the unique environment of space. This knowledge will be instrumental in developing protective measures for astronauts’ health on future long-duration missions. Additionally, it could contribute to a broader understanding of antibiotic resistance, benefiting healthcare practices on Earth.
Cold Atom Lab Science Module - 1
A temporary replacement module for the Cold Atom Lab will be aboard SpaceX-30. The module will enable NASA to continue pioneering quantum experiments aboard the International Space Station while researchers troubleshoot upgraded equipment delivered to station in August 2023 that they were unable to bring online.
Levitation of High Temperature Metals
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) partner-lead investigation
The objective of the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace-1 reflight is to investigate the effects of the interfacial phenomena between molten steel and slag (oxide) melts during processing from the viewpoint of the thermophysical properties. During steel making processes, such as continuous casting, the impurity in the cast steel is influenced by the interplay between the molten steel and molten slags. Understanding the interfacial phenomena could help produce higher purity steels. Success could increase the space station's commercial utilization and improve oxide melt manufacturing and application on Earth.
Flow Boiling Condensation Module Power Filter Module (support hardware)
During the initial checkouts following launch of the Condensation Module Power Filter hardware on NG-19 in August 2023, an anomaly was observed in the test section thermocouple readings. The team investigated the issue and recommended replacement of the power filter module to fix the anomalous thermocouple readings. The PFM filters out undesirable electromagnetic emissions noise for the payload electronics.
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/biological-physical-sciences/international-space-station-welcomes-biological-and-physical-science-experiments/
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Hubble Spots the Spider Galaxy
MAR 22, 2024
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the gauzy-looking celestial body UGC 5829, an irregular galaxy that lies about 30 million light-years away. Despite the lack of observations of this relatively faint galaxy, UGC 5829 has a distinct and descriptive name: the Spider Galaxy. Perhaps its distorted galactic arms with their glowing, star-forming tips hint at the clawed legs of an arachnid.
The data in this image come from two Hubble observing programs. The first used Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys to look at relatively nearby galaxies in an effort to build color versus brightness diagrams of the stars in these galaxies. Each observation only took one Hubble orbit (about 95 minutes) but provided a valuable archival record of the types of stars in different galaxies and therefore different environments.
The second program used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 to look at star clusters in dwarf galaxies. Their observations leveraged Hubble’s ultraviolet capabilities along with its ability to see fine details to better understand the environment where stars form in dwarf galaxies. The star-forming regions of UGC 5829 are readily visible in this image as bright-pink nebulae or clouds.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-spots-the-spider-galaxy/
NASA’s Chandra Identifies an Underachieving Black Hole
MAR 21, 2024
This image shows a quasar, a rapidly growing supermassive black hole, which is not achieving what astronomers would expect from it, as reported in our latest press release. Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) and radio data from the NSF’s Karl G. Jansky’s Very Large Array (red) reveal some of the evidence for this quasar’s disappointing impact on its host galaxy.
Known as H1821+643, this quasar is about 3.4 billion light-years from Earth. Quasars are a rare and extreme class of supermassive black holes that are furiously pulling material inwards, producing intense radiation and sometimes powerful jets. H1821+643 is the closest quasar to Earth in a cluster of galaxies.
Quasars are different than other supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxy clusters in that they are pulling in more material at a higher rate. Astronomers have found that non-quasar black holes growing at moderate rates influence their surroundings by preventing the intergalactic hot gas from cooling down too much. This regulates the growth of stars around the black hole.
The influence of quasars, however, is not as well known. This new study of H1821+643 that quasars — despite being so active — may be less important in driving the fate of their host galaxy and cluster than some scientists might expect.
To reach this conclusion the team used Chandra to study the hot gas that H1821+643 and its host galaxy are shrouded in. The bright X-rays from the quasar, however, made it difficult to study the weaker X-rays from the hot gas. The researchers carefully removed the X-ray glare to reveal what the black hole’s influence is, which is reflected in the new composite image showing X-rays from hot gas in the cluster surrounding the quasar. This allowed them to see that the quasar is actually having little effect on its surroundings.
Using Chandra, the team found that the density of gas near the black hole in the center of the galaxy is much higher, and the gas temperatures much lower, than in regions farther away. Scientists expect the hot gas to behave like this when there is little or no energy input (which would typically come from outbursts from a black hole) to prevent the hot gas from cooling down and flowing towards the center of the cluster.
A paper describing these results has been accepted into the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is available online. The authors are Helen Russell (University of Nottingham, UK), Paul Nulsen (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Andy Fabian (University of Cambridge, UK), Thomas Braben (University of Nottingham), Niel Brandt (Penn State University), Lucy Clews (University of Nottingham), Michael McDonald (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Christopher Reynolds (University of Maryland), Jeremy Saunders (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Research), and Sylvain Veilleux (University of Maryland).
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-chandra-identifies-an-underachieving-black-hole/
China Wants To Fire Astronauts Into Space Using An Electromagnetic Railgun
Mar 21, 2024
Getting astronauts into space requires an incredible amount of fuel. The Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo missions into space, for instance, carried 770,000 liters (203,400 gallons) of kerosene fuel, as well as liquid oxygen to allow combustion to take place.
Scientists have dreamed of alternative methods of escaping our atmosphere, including concepts such as space elevators, where an elevator would run us from ground level all the way up to space. Unfortunately, this concept is not achievable with current technology.
Startup SpinLaunch has also created a centrifugal launch system, which fires a payload at over 1,600 kilometers per hour (1,000 miles per hour). While potentially a lot cheaper, more fuel efficient, and more sustainable, the system is unsuitable for launching astronauts. The system spins to an incredible rate, with the payload experiencing around 10,000 g. Fighter pilots, trained to deal with high acceleration, can manage a few seconds of 9 g, but sustained exposure to g-forces over 6 is fatal to humans.
Scientists in China are working on a different way to launch spaceships, with the added benefit of not killing all the astronauts on board: an electromagnetic railgun to fire their astronauts into space.
According to Chinese news outlet the South China Morning Post, the idea is to accelerate a hypersonic spacecraft along a giant electromagnetic launch track, launching it at Mach 1.6. The craft would then ignite its own engines and leave Earth's atmosphere at around seven times the speed of sound.
So far, scientists have tested the idea on a 2 kilometer (1.2 mile) maglev track, firing heavy objects along it at speeds of nearly 1,000 kilometers per hour (620 miles per hour), with plans to increase the length of the track and increase these speeds fivefold.
It's still early days, so don't expect it to happen any time soon. But who knows, perhaps one day astronauts will begin their journeys into space with a trip on a giant ACME-style catapult.
https://www.iflscience.com/china-wants-to-fire-astronauts-into-space-using-an-electromagnetic-railgun-73480
Floridians celebrate ‘Rocket Hobo’ who created iconic space-themed area code
Published March 21, 2024, 11:16 p.m. ET
It was the party of the millennium.
More than 100 people gathered on the Space Coast Thursday for their annual “3-2-1 Day” and to honor the late “Rocket Hobo” who’s responsible for their iconic 321 area code that mimics NASA’s countdown sequence.
It was the first time Robert “Ozzie” Osband couldn’t attend the annual event — so organizers dedicated it in his honor.
“People like Robert Osband carry the torch for the Space Age in the community and help inspire all generations to explore outer space,” Gabriel Rothblatt, a Director of the National Space Society, said in a statement.
“This is a special celebration for an extraordinary man.”
Osband, who died in August at age 72, was a space fanatic and dedicated member of the American Space Museum.
The Army veteran was well-known in the Titusville area for broadcasting space launches from his lawn chair at Space View Park, a greenspace located 15 miles from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center.
For these occasions, Osband always wore a green polo shirt, which he said was symbolic of “go for launch.” It’s also where he passed out his ”Rocket Hobo” patches.
He also made headlines in 1998 for bringing the 321 area code to Brevard County after a yearslong campaign to pay tribute to the community’s space station ties.
On Nov. 1, 1999, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush placed the first official “321” phone call from Tallahassee to Kennedy Space Center, with Osband sitting beside the deputy director receiving the call, the space museum said.
Osband even successfully fought for the phone number 321-LIFTOFF for his cell phone.
After decades of working for the Florida space community, Osband died on Aug. 6 of natural causes.
Celebrants of Osband’s life were treated to a viewing of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching Thursday afternoon to send supplies to the International Space Station.
“That’s what he would be here for — another great, large rocket going in the sky and a resupply mission to continue to have manned space be a part of the human experience,” Osband’s brother, Steve, told News 6.
On his brother’s lasting impression, Steve said it was: “To dream, to show up and experience what’s going on in the world.”
https://nypost.com/2024/03/21/us-news/rocket-hobo-ozzie-osband-celebrated-on-321-day-in-florida/
Dying SpaceX rocket creates glowing, galaxy-like spiral in the middle of the Northern Lights
Mar 21, 2024
A massive swirl of bright white light seemingly appeared from out of nowhere in the night sky above the Arctic last week, briefly upstaging a vibrant aurora display that spanned thousands of miles.
The ethereal, galaxy-shaped light show was caused by an illuminated cloud of frozen fuel that was dumped in space by a SpaceX rocket, which released dozens of satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Astronomers call this rare phenomenon a "SpaceX spiral," and expect them to become a much more common sight in the future.
On March 4, at 5:05 p.m. EST, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The rocket was part of the Transport-10 mission and was carrying 53 satellites belonging to several different commercial space companies, which were successfully released into orbit around our planet around two hours after launch, Space.com reported.
Shortly after payload deployment, the rocket's second stage, which had already separated from the rocket's reusable first-stage booster, began to de-orbit and later burned up in the atmosphere above the Barents Sea in the Arctic. During this maneuver, the spinning rocket dumped its remaining fuel into space, which then froze into tiny crystals that spread out in a spiral shape and reflected sunlight to Earth.
Aurora photographer Shang Yang captured a stunning photo of the illuminated swirl near the town of Akureyri in Iceland at around 1 a.m. local time on March 5. "It looked otherworldly against the Northern Lights," Shang told Spaceweather.com. The spectacle lasted for around 10 minutes before dissipating.
The whirlpool of light was also captured during an aurora livestream in Iceland, and was photographed in Finland and in Norway, where it had a striking blue color.
SpaceX spirals are rare. But they are becoming more common as the number of SpaceX launches increases.
In April 2023, a stunning blue SpaceX spiral photobombed an aurora display above Alaska. The phenomenon has also been spotted twice by a camera attached to the Subaru Telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea: first in April 2022 and again in January last year.
The spirals do not appear after every launch, for several reasons — including the spin rate of the booster, time of day and the orientation of the rocket compared to Earth and the sun. This makes it hard to tell when they will be visible.
However, astrophotographer Olivier Staiger correctly predicted that the Transport-10 mission would produce a spiral above the Arctic, Spaceweather.com reported. He realized that the rocket's varied payload would require it to spin more than normal during deployment, which would mean it would still be spinning fast when it dumped its fuel.
Staiger also predicts that there will be another strong SpaceX spiral above Iceland and other parts of the Arctic when the Transporter-12 mission launches in October this year.
https://www.space.com/spacex-rocket-creates-galaxy-like-spiral-in-northern-lights
https://www.space.com/the-moon-far-side-radio-silence
Astronomers call for radio silence on the far side of the moon
Mar 21, 2024
There's a growing and passionate call for preserving radio silence on the far side of the moon.
A first-of-its-kind international symposium is being held this week, turning up the volume to mull over the prospect of protecting real estate on the moon's far side exclusively for dedicated scientific purposes. Despite the moon being surrounding by a vacuum, there's an air of urgency to the meeting.
Held under the auspices of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the first IAA Moon Farside Protection Symposium is taking place March 21-22 in Turin, Italy. The goal of the gathering is to set off a wake-up call that engages the global scientific, political, and industrial community to be aware of a growing list of concerns.
Electromagnetic pollution
Earth's neighboring celestial body has the unique property of naturally shielding radio waves generated by chatter on Earth and around it. What some meeting organizer's see is need for a radio silence zone, dubbing it a shielded zone on the moon.
That idea has been championed by Claudio Maccone of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (National Institute for Astrophysics). In December 2021, the IAA established a new permanent committee devoted to the moon far side protection, chaired by Maccone as IAA technical director.
Maccone and colleagues contend that the moon's far side is a region of paramount scientific interest as it provides an environment free from the electromagnetic pollution typical on Earth.
Maccone points to the quickening pace of lunar missions by multiple nations that may well irreversibly compromise the current condition of the moon's radio quietness.
Some of the branches of science that would greatly benefit from operating on the farside, Maccone explains, are cosmology, astrobiology, planetary defense, as well as the search for other intelligent life that might populate the heavens.
Lunar deliverables
Science on the moon is already taking shape, says Jack Burns, professor emeritus in the department of astrophysical and planetary sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
"Radio astronomy from the moon has begun," Burns says.
NASA's first radio telescope, ROLSES, was recently delivered to the lunar south pole by the Intuitive Machines Odysseus lander, Burns points out. ROLSES stands for Radio wave Observation at the Lunar Surface of the photo-Electron Sheath. He is a co-investigator on the ROLSES instrument now on the moon.
Furthermore, additional radio telescopes are scheduled to land on two other NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services landers in 2026: ROLSES-2 to the nearside and the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment — Night (LuSEE-Night) to the far side. Burns is a LuSEE-Night co-investigator.
Years of anticipation
"After many years of anticipation, we are actively doing radio science from the moon. Thus, we also need to actively work to protect, in particular, the far side of the moon from radio frequency interference from lunar orbiting satellites and infrastructure on the lunar surface," Burns tells Space.com.
This week's moon far side protection workshop involves thought leaders in science, engineering, space policy, and space law, says Burns, to develop modern approaches to shielding the far side of the moon from anthropogenic radio emission.
"We need to preserve the far side for exciting science that includes measuring magnetic fields associated with potentially habitable exoplanets and uncovering the mysteries of the unexplored Dark Ages of the early universe — using low radio frequency observations." Burns says.
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Top-tier tasks
There are a number of themes running through this week's symposium.
In defining how several science branches benefit by a radio silence zone, the IAA's Maccone flags top-tier exploration tasks:
Cosmology: To detect the extremely feeble radiation of the hydrogen line at 1,420 Megahertz and downshifted to much lower frequencies. The radio silence of the lunar far side would ensure a major leap forward in research.
Astrobiology: To study pre-biological interstellar molecules by searching for weak spectral lines utilizing advanced radio telescopes in combination with the radio silence of the moon's far side.
Planetary defense: From the far side, radar and optical telescopes can be used for accurate measurements of near-Earth objects to augment the lead time of their detection and provide warning of a possible space rock pummeling our planet.
SETI and technosignatures: To search, with very low noise, for "signatures" of alien civilizations that would reach us extremely faint due to the vast distances between stars in the Milky Way, if not from other galaxies.
Shielded zone
Recent lunar missions and, even more so, newer programs will bring more and more artificial systems around and on the lunar surface, occupying space and emitting radio waves at various frequencies, Maccone explains.
There are already international regulations and resolutions aimed at protecting any shielded zone on the moon — SZM in lunar lingo — such as International Telecommunication Union (ITU) radio regulations.
"However, it is of paramount importance to take a further step, both to extend the protected frequencies to encompass all other scientifically relevant ones — in addition to those already included — and to preserve a portion of the far side exclusively for scientific installations," Maccone suggests.
Diplomatic efforts
There is a pressing need, says Maccone, to elevate regulations into enforceable and binding treaties for every space agency and private company.
Maccone adds that all objectives can only be pursued and achieved through diplomatic efforts involving spacefaring nations, current and future, from around the world.
The newly formed IAA committee and the symposium's ultimate goal is to help form an international agreement, ideally under relevant specialized organizations, such as the ITU and the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, for example.
Unified articulation
Richard Green is chair of the International Astronomical Union group delving into the issues of staging astronomy from the moon. He is also an assistant director for government relations at Steward Observatory, run by the University of Arizona in Tucson.
"I think this meeting is important because we can make some progress on a unified articulation of astronomy needs and suggested policy approach for the moon," Green says.
Additionally, there is an immediate opportunity to do so, Green explains, through a proposed United Nations space scientific and technical subcommittee action team.
That UN action team would explore communication and collaboration for lunar activities and may well be approved at the full UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space gathering this June, Green observes.
Wild West scenario
"My concern is that lunar projects are rapidly developing and are not coordinated," says Joseph Silk, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and professor of physics at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris.
Science projects are in the forefront, Silk says, such as unique radio telescopes that can peer back in time to the dark ages of the universe. The far side offers a unique environment, he adds, and optical telescopes in permanently shadowed polar craters will eventually image the nearest exoplanets.
"Yet we are at risk of a Wild West scenario due to the rivalries between competing space agencies and commercial interests," Silk tells Space.com. "The number of desirable lunar sites is limited. The last major outer space treaty dates to 1967, and has no means of enforcement. A new International space treaty is urgently needed," he concludes.
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Russia's space agency aborts launch of 3 astronauts to the International Space Station; all are safe
MARCH 21, 2024
Russia aborted the launch of three astronauts to the International Space Station moments before they were scheduled to lift off Thursday, but the crew was safe, officials said.
The Russian Soyuz rocket was to carry NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan.
The launch was aborted by an automatic safety system about 20 seconds before the scheduled liftoff at 1321 GMT. Russia's Roscosmos space corporation and NASA said the crew was safe, and Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov said the next launch attempt is set for Saturday.
Borisov told reporters that experts quickly pinpointed the cause of the launch abort, saying it was triggered by a voltage drop in a power source
The space station, which has served as a symbol of post-Cold War international cooperation, is now one of the last remaining areas of collaboration between Russia and the West amid tensions over Moscow's military action in Ukraine. NASA and its partners hope to continue operating the orbiting outpost until 2030.
For Dyson, it was to be her third trip to the orbital complex, where she was due to spend six months. Novitsky, who was to make his fourth flight to the orbiting outpost, and Vasilevskaya, on her first space mission as her country's first astronaut, were set to return to Earth after spending 12 days in orbit.
The three astronauts were to join the station's crew consisting of NASA astronauts Loral O'Hara, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Alexander Grebenkin.
Russia has continued to rely on modified versions of Soviet-designed rockets for commercial satellites, as well as crews and cargo to the space station.
While the crew wasn't in danger, Thursday's aborted launch was a significant mishap for the Russian space program.
It followed an Octюber 2018 launch failure, when a Soyuz rocket carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos' Alexei Ovchinin to the International Space Station failed less two minutes after the blastoff, sending their rescue capsule into a steep ride back to a safe landing.
Hague and Ovchinin had a brief period of weightlessness when the capsule separated from the malfunctioning Soyuz rocket at an altitude of about 50 kilometers (31 miles), then endured gravitational forces of 6-7 times more than is felt on Earth as they came down at a sharper-than-normal angle. The 2018 launch failure was the first such accident for Russia's manned program in over three decades.
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-russia-space-agency-aborts-astronauts.html