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Low-intensity explosion caused Russian satellite to spew debris
July 6, 2024
A Russian satellite likely suffered a “low-intensity explosion” that created hundreds of pieces of debris in low Earth orbit, according to one company’s analysis.
Both U.S. Space Command and private space situational awareness providers reported that Resurs P1, a defunct Russian remote sensing satellite, suffered a breakup event on June 26.
That event created more than 100 pieces of debris that could be tracked by ground-based sensors.
The cause of the breakup remains unclear, but LeoLabs, which was the first to publicly report the event, believes that a “low-intensity explosion” either from a collision or within the spacecraft itself created the debris.
That explosion has created at least 250 debris fragments at altitudes extending as high as 500 kilometers.
That conclusion came from the company’s analysis of that debris cloud, using its own tools to look at the number of distribution of debris objects to better understand what created it.
“While much of the debris cloud has yet to be analyzed fully, our preliminary assessment concludes that the most likely cause of the event is a low intensity explosion,” LeoLabs concluded in a July 3 statement posted on LinkedIn.
“This explosion could’ve been triggered by external stimuli such as an impact by a small fragment (not currently cataloged) or an internal structural failure leading to a propulsion system failure.”
That analysis rules out speculation that the satellite might have been used as a target for an anti-satellite weapons test, much like Cosmos 1408 in November 2021.
There had been no other indications, such as statements from the Russian or American militaries or airspace restrictions, to suggest such a test was planned or carried out.
The explosion does not appear to have caused the satellite itself to completely break apart.
Optical observations of Resurs P by Sybilla Technologies, a Polish space situational awareness company, report that the main satellite is still there, rotating with a period of two to three seconds.
Images taken before the breakup by HEO, an Australian company that uses commercial satellites to image other space objects, show that the solar panels on Resurs P1 and two follow-on spacecraft, P2 and P3, failed to fully deploy. It’s not clear if this deployment malfunction is linked in any way to the breakup.
While the fragmentation event does not appear to be a worst-case scenario, it still creates a hazard for other satellites in low Earth orbit.
The altitude of some of the debris, LeoLabs noted, takes it through the orbits used by many other operational satellites as well as the International Space Station and China’s Tiangong space station.
Those objects will likely remain in orbit for “weeks to months” before atmospheric drag causes them to decay.
“This event demonstrates the ongoing risk of defunct spacecraft in orbit,” the company concluded. Resurs P1 was decommissioned in 2021 and will reenter later this year as its orbit, currently about 355 kilometers, decays.
It is not alone, LeoLabs added. “There are over 2,500 long-lived intact derelict hardware (i.e., abandoned rocket bodies and non-operational payloads) that may suffer a similar fate to Resurs P1 over time.”
https://spacenews.com/low-intensity-explosion-caused-russian-satellite-to-spew-debris/
Former Space Force Officer Loses Retirement For Exposing DEI
July 5, 2024
A former space commander, recently dismissed for his critical remarks about what he describes as a “Marxist” Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative, is advocating for new leadership.
He argues that these policies have gained momentum under the current Biden administration.
Former Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lohmeier served in the military for over a decade before transitioning to the U.S. Space Force in 2020, where his focus was on missile warning systems. However, less than a year after joining, in May 2021, he experienced what he described as a betrayal, he told Fox News.
Lohmeier publicly spoke out against DEI training because he believed it was dividing the troops and decreasing morale, which affected military readiness.
He believes “the DEI industry… is steeped in critical race theory, is rooted in anti-American, Marxist ideology.”
“The blow was severe,” he said about allegedly being fired for his dissenting views. “It makes you feel like you’ve been betrayed.” He added it was a real “gut punch” to lose his pension.
“You give your life and service to your country and the American people, and you’re not doing it for the pay. You’re doing it because you become [convinced] of the greatness of the American ideal.
And… senior leaders [then] say, ‘We want you out of the way because your view is not welcome here,’ even as they pretend to care about inclusivity, even as they pretend to care about diversity, [but] not diversity of thought,” he told the outlet.
Lohmeier argued that his comments were not a breach of policy, as he was addressing what he perceived as anti-American sentiment rather than engaging in political discourse.
“There was a whole string of events that did lead up to my being relieved of command,” he said.
“The ultimate reason was because I was willing to be publicly critical of critical race theory, which I understood to be rooted in Marxist ideology… that I saw dividing the troops.”
“I wasn’t advocating for Republicans over Democrats, and I’m conservative myself. But it didn’t matter to me. And it’s never mattered to our troops what someone else’s politics were,” he said.
Lohmeier now works to expose the Marxist ideology infecting the U.S. military.
“We need to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion trainings from the military, from the service academies, and strip all vestiges of critical race theory out of the military workplace,” Lohmeier said.
Meanwhile, a recent study by the Arizona State University Center for American Institutions has scrutinized the Pentagon’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
According to the study, these programs promote the reporting of private conversations about dissenting views on DEI and have seen an increase in funding: $68 million in 2022, $86.5 million in 2023, and a proposed $114.7 million for 2024.
The report, authored by military experts, advocates for the elimination of what it describes as a “left-wing DEI agenda.”
Instead, it suggests implementing merit-based selections and incorporating curricula that emphasize American values in military academies.
https://thecharliekirkshow.com/columnists/charlie-kirk/blog/former-space-force-officer-loses-retirement-for-exposing-dei
Jumping on an asteroid: How VR is being used to visit worlds we can never reach
July 7, 2024
I'm standing so close to JAXA's Hayabusa2 asteroid lander that I could reach out and touch it. Instead, I jump on top of it. Then I strike a pose.
When I leap off, I float for a moment in the low gravity before touching down gently on the surface of Ryugu, a craggy, gray world devoid of life and color.
The "I" in this situation is my avatar, a digital approximation of myself that has a more consistent beard length and isn't constantly rubbing sleep from its eyes.
The Hayabusa2 spacecraft I stood on, and the asteroid beneath, are digital avatars too, recreated in virtual reality.
The VR experience I was in forms part of the 2024 Astronomical Society of Australia's Annual Scientific Meeting, where the country's astronomers come together to present new research, share results and mingle.
This year's meeting, in June, was almost entirely online, making use of the platform Spatial to provide attendees access to the conference in VR.
A digital venue, featuring poster halls, exhibition halls, meeting rooms and a lecture theater, was built by The Future of Meetings, an international collaboration working to make meetings more sustainable and accessible.
I was initially a little trepidatious about attending the conference in VR. I'm a VR skeptic, having worked as a video games journalist and seen the up-and-down (mostly down) hype surrounding this technology.
But as a space tragic and someone who stood on top of a dirt hill in Coober Pedy, Australia as samples from Ryugu came hurtling back to Earth in 2020, I would also describe myself as bloody excited to stand on an asteroid.
So, during the conference, I booted up Spatial, ran my avatar through the Exhibition Hall and plunged him through a portal to Ryugu and the spacecraft that visited it in 2018. It kind of felt like I was playing Super Mario 64 and had jumped through a portrait.
Immediately, I dropped onto the surface of the asteroid. The Ryugu model was created by OmniScope, a start-up founded by astronomer Sasha Kaurov to create virtual worlds for science outreach, using real imagery captured by Hayabusa2.
It isn't a perfect replica but it certainly recapitulates the area surrounding the spacecraft's landing zone — the shadowy plain that provided JAXA with a spot to touchdown and grab material back in 2019.
Elizabeth Tasker, a professor at JAXA and part of the agency's outreach team, noted that it's hard to establish whether the topology of Ryugu is to scale.
However, she said, the models of Hayabusa2, as well as its lander and rovers, are to scale.
There's not a lot to do in Ryugu World except marvel at the space, but that's kind of the point. This isn't a video game.
It's a tool. Particularly in space and planetary science, the appeal is obvious: Using data and real-world observations, we can visit places we will never be able to reach physically.
Tasker conducted a tour of the exhibit in Spatial during the ASA meeting, and pointed out particular aspects of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft — features that wouldn't be quite as simple when presented in a PowerPoint slide.
The digital 3D model provides a way to get up-close with the spacecraft and examine finer details, such as where its target markers and small carry-on impactor were stored during operation.
The Ryugu surface is not a complete asteroid, though. You can't walk from one side to the other.
"I did mention at the end of the tour that it was possible (and quite easy in the low gravity environment) to run off the end of the asteroid scene and fall into space," Tasker said.
"This was supposed to be a warning, but promptly resulted in at least one person heading for their (virtual) demise! Fortunately, after falling for a short time, you are reborn back on the asteroid surface."
Standing on the VR surface of an asteroid, something happens in your brain that makes the experience sticky.
I've written more words about Ryugu's surface, its chemistry and importance in planetary science than most, but being able to stand on it, even digitally, provided a real "oh, damn" moment — an appreciation of the difficulty in landing on a tiny rock, floating millions of miles from the Earth.
Of course, when I was finished, I jumped off the edge.
https://www.space.com/asteroid-ryugu-virtual-reality-exploration
https://www.space.com/earth-quasi-moon-naming-radiolab-iau
https://radiolab.org/moon-official-rules/
Earth has 7 strange quasi-moons — and you could name one of them
July 6, 2024
Usually, things in space are given two names. One is formal, and the other is fun. It makes sense.
Researchers need precise nomenclature to make sure their exoplanet catalogs and black hole references are consistent, communicable and clear — but, as conscious beings, they also need to cultivate good vibes.
I mean, a galaxy cluster deemed "ACT-CL J0102-4915" is literally nicknamed El Gordo, which translates to "The Fat One," because of its heft; a magnificently ancient realm recorded as "CEERS2_5429" also goes by Maisie's Galaxy.
Maisie is the name of the discoverer's young daughter. He found the galaxy on her ninth birthday.
The list goes on. Tons of cosmic objects have this business-in-the-front-party-in-the-back duality — however, importantly, not all of them do. And that's where you come in.
The International Astronomical Union, which oversees naming procedures for celestial objects and phenomena, is inviting the public to submit name ideas for one of Earth's quasi-moons.
Right now, the object is named 2004 GU9, or asteroid 164207 — but it's dubbed a "moon" because it's tagged to our planet's gravitational tides like Our Moon™️.
Yet, 2004 GU9 is a "quasi" satellite because its orbit is dictated by other forces as well, making it unstable. In fact, this strange object won't always hang around our corner of the solar system. After the year 2600 or so, it's expected to zip away.
The contest is happening in partnership with the podcast Radiolab, hosted by Latif Nasser and Lulu Miller. The reason for this is that, not too long ago, Nasser managed to name a quasi-moon of his own. On accident.
A little over a year ago, Nasser was tucking his son into bed, facing the wall, when he noticed something peculiar on a solar system poster he'd hung there a while back. Apparently, Venus had a moon named "Zoozve."
Sounded kinda weird, but not weird enough to make him start questioning everything. Later, he ran a quick Google search about Zoozve out of curiosity because, well, isn't Venus known to be moonless?
"Venus has no moons," the internet confirmed. Then, Nasser started questioning everything.
Long story short, after quite an impressive detective saga, Nasser figured out the truth with the help of Liz Landau, a senior communications specialist at NASA headquarters in Washington.
What he saw on the poster was one of Venus' quasi-moons, and it was named 2002 VE. The handwriting was just wonky. But the story gets even better.
After realizing this, Nasser decided to reach out to the International Astronomical Union to see if he and his Radiolab crew could officially name the quasi-moon Zoozve.
Because, well, 2002 VE didn't have its "fun" name yet. It worked; Zoozve is now cemented in astronomy history.
"Now, it's your turn," Nasser tells me over Zoom, hopefully meaning "you" in a collective sense. (The best I came up with doesn't even deserve to be permanently printed online).
"This time, it's actually one of Earth's," he added, "so it's even closer to home; it's one of ours."
Three of Earth's seven semi-neighbors have enough scientific backing to be considered "official" quasi-moons, according to Nasser. Of those three, "we picked the weirdest one," he said.
"We picked the one that made a shape that we were like: 'Whoa.'" As for the object itself? It's a grayish rock that's probably jagged on its surface, probably shaped like an uneven blob, and something like the size of the Eiffel Tower-ish.
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A mythological resurgence
There's a sliver of a caveat in this naming competition. You see, Nasser owes his moon-naming success in part to his contagiously affable personality, and in part to luck. "Zoozve," technically, isn't an acceptable name by the IAU's relatively recent new standards.
Rather, the IAU wants space marvels to be named after equally majestic figures. It wants mythological names. Zoozve, Nasser believes, only made the cut because the IAU seemed to be charmed by the (in the organization's words) "cuteness" of its origin story.
Unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on how you look at it — it's likely the IAU will be stricter with the new quasi-moon naming endeavor.
This, however, won't stop Nasser from dreaming. And, seeing as how he and several other Radiolab staff members are going to be part of the judging committee, perhaps there's room for a "wild card," he suggested.
"If there are names that are sort of extraordinary and are not mythological, we'll try to pitch it to them," Nasser said.
"We're more on the, kind of, playful side of, 'Maybe it should be Mooney McMoonface!' I think they're more on the side of, 'This is not a silly, whimsical gag. This is going to be up there for good.'"
For every Boaty McBoatface the boat, Roo-ver the moon rover and Naughty Boy the rocket, there is a Kamo'oalewa the asteroid, Ceres the dwarf planet and Andromeda the galaxy.
Nasser sees the merit in mythological names as well, even mentioning that the team hopes to bring in astronomers and mythology experts to weigh in.
"If there's this thing from your culture, wherever you're from, and from whatever corner of the world you're from," he said, "here's a shot you have of naming something from your culture in the sky, and that's so beautiful."
"Something that has that sort of spirit of kind of mischief and unpredictability, maybe," he suggested, seeing as that'd be a nod to the instability of quasi-moons in general.
"The thing that attracted me to quasi-moons in the first place was how they make shapes in space that I didn't think were possible."
A full-fledged list of guidelines can be found here, but there are two main aspects Nasser wishes to emphasize. Anyone can enter, first of all, no matter their age.
Parents can enter on behalf of kids who aren't above the age limit, and they can slide a submission in for themselves, too. Age is truly but a number when it comes to the cosmic.
Eventually, the names will be narrowed down to 10 finalists, and the committee will go from there.
Second, ultimately, the question you may want to ask yourself, Nasser said, is: "What is that name that only you could think of — that nobody else would ever think about?
"Send us that name."
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Out of this world: Visitors pack the Roswell UFO Festival
Updated: JUL 5, 2024 / 07:06 AM CDT
Independence Day isn’t the only thing to celebrate this weekend. Thousands are landing in Roswell, New Mexico, for its annual UFO festival.
This year, more people than ever are expected to descend on the desert in southeastern New Mexico for the stellar event. Organizers are telling enthusiasts to prepare for an out-of-this-world experience.
Roswell, the UFO capital of the world, is home to roughly 46,000 people. This weekend for the festival, some officials are expecting that number to double.
In recent years, turnout for the festival has grown, and this year’s expected to be no different.
Roswell has been at the center of UFO theories for decades.
The infamous Roswell incident took place in 1947 when military personnel said they were in possession of a “flying disc” after a local rancher discovered strange debris on his land.
Some people think the disc was a UFO, and the government may have covered up the incident by saying it was an Army weather balloon that crashed.
The subject of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) is in the spotlight as legislators continue to push for more transparency on the issue.
It’s been nearly a year since whistleblower David Grusch stepped forward with claims the Pentagon has been operating a secret UFO retrieval program.
Despite repeated denials from the Defense Department, there is still skepticism that the agency is being fully transparent.
Some Roswell residents say Grusch’s interview with NewsNation is changing some of the conversations happening at the festival.
“I believe the government, they think, that they’re helping us but they’re not; just be honest with us,” said Steve Anderson, a conference attendee.
It’s believers like Anderson and thousands of others who come in peace, making this weekend in Roswell out of this world.
“This is the largest tourist event; it’s one of the biggest in New Mexico too.
You get people from all over the world, of all walks of life, and the downtown merchants do more this weekend with sales than they do pretty much the whole year,” a Roswell councilwoman told NewsNation.
The event started Friday and features different speakers on UFOs, panels, costume contests and family-friendly activities.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/roswell-ufo-festival/
‘There is science still to be done in Roswell:’ UFO expert
Updated: JUL 6, 2024 / 10:22 PM CDT
‘There is science still to be done in Roswell:’ UFO expert
As thousands enjoy the annual Roswell, New Mexico, UFO festival, one man who studied the phenomenon for years says it’s time to put modern science to work at the site of the purported 1947 UFO crash.
“There is science still to be done in Roswell,” said Nike Pope, a retired UFO expert for the British Ministry of Defense.
“The fact that we’re still talking about these 80 years, nearly, after the event shows the enduring power of this mystery,” Pope told “NewsNation Prime.”
About 50,000 are visiting Roswell this weekend to watch movies, attend concerts, watch a parade and listen to UFOlogists recount what’s been a very busy year.
It’s been nearly a year since whistleblower David Grusch stepped forward with claims the Defense Dept. has been operating a secret UFO retrieval program.
Despite repeated denials, there is still skepticism that the agency is being fully transparent.
Pope reminds us that that whole thing started in Roswell, not with a media or citizen report.
“It was the U.S. military, themselves, who said ‘We have recovered a flying disc.’ They changed their story within 24 hours and said it was just a weather balloon,” he said.
Despite decades of denial, the military is still the source of the most credible sightings these days – especially from military pilots, backed up by the technology at their disposal.
“We simultaneously have radar data, forward-looking infra-red camera films of these taken from the jets, and sometimes satellite data. Although, of course, a lot of that is still classified,” Pope said.
Pope also notes the recent “crypto terrestrial hypothesis” published by researchers at Harvard that aliens might be already here, walking undetected among us.
He calls it “refreshing” that many scientists and academics came together to write a paper called “A case for scientific openness to a concealed earthly explanation for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.”
“This is more of a thought experiment than a ‘we found something.’ A few years ago, this would have been inconceivable. Now, it’s out in the open,” said Pope.
“This is total vindication for people who, for years, were languishing in the fringe, thinking this was all conspiracy theory.
Now, we’re having hearings in Congress. Scientists and academics are daring to ask this ‘what if’ question.”
And, on the overall hunt for UFO answers, Pope puts it simply: “This is the greatest mystery of our time, and its’s about time we got it out in the open.”
https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/science-to-be-done-in-roswell-ufo-expert/