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Take a Summer Cosmic Road Trip With NASA’s Chandra and Webb
JUL 11, 2024
It’s time to take a cosmic road trip using light as the highway and visit four stunning destinations across space. The vehicles for this space get-away are NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope.
The first stop on this tour is the closest, Rho Ophiuchi, at a distance of about 390 light-years from Earth. Rho Ophiuchi is a cloud complex filled with gas and stars of different sizes and ages.
Being one of the closest star-forming regions, Rho Ophiuchi is a great place for astronomers to study stars. In this image, X-rays from Chandra are purple revealing infant stars that violently flare and produce X-rays.
Infrared data from Webb are red, yellow, cyan, light blue and darker blue and provide views of the spectacular regions of gas and dust.
The next destination is the Orion Nebula. Still located in the Milky Way galaxy, this region is a little bit farther from our home planet at about 1,500 light-years away.
If you look just below the middle of the three stars that make up the “belt” in the constellation of Orion, you may be able to see this nebula through a small telescope.
With Chandra and Webb, however, we get to see so much more. Chandra reveals young stars that glow brightly in X-rays, colored in red, green, and blue, while Webb shows the gas and dust in darker red that will help build the next generation of stars here.
It’s time to leave our galaxy and visit another. Like the Milky Way, NGC 3627 is a spiral galaxy that we see at a slight angle. NGC 3627 is known as a “barred” spiral galaxy because of the rectangular shape of its central region.
From our vantage point, we can also see two distinct spiral arms that appear as arcs.
X-rays from Chandra in purple show evidence for a supermassive black hole in its center while Webb finds the dust, gas, and stars throughout the galaxy in red, green, and blue.
This image also contains optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope in red, green, and blue.
Our final landing place on this trip is the farthest and the biggest. MACS J0416 is a galaxy cluster, which are among the largest objects in the Universe held together by gravity.
Galaxy clusters like this can contain hundreds or even thousands of individual galaxies all immersed in massive amounts of superheated gas that Chandra can detect.
In this view, Chandra’s X-rays in purple show this reservoir of hot gas while Hubble and Webb pick up the individual galaxies in red, green, and blue.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/take-a-summer-cosmic-road-trip-with-nasas-chandra-and-webb/
One of the Peruvian Air Force bases is set to become a NASA spaceport
11 July, 2024
The Talara Air Base, a strategic installation of the Peruvian Air Force (FAP) located on the coast of the Piura region, is poised to become the Spaceport in an ambitious project by the Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) to build one in the northern desert.
Peruvian Ambassador to the United States, Alfredo Ferrero, has just reported progress on the project under the Artemis Accords, which Peru signed at the end of last May at the headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Washington.
The agreement would locally drive space development, being part of NASA’s upcoming space exploration projects in the coming years, and would promote information exchange with countries that are more advanced in scientific and technological fields, he reported.
Additionally, the State’s Private Investment Promotion Agency (PROINVERSIÓN) would promote the idea under the Assets Projects (PA) modality, with an estimated investment of S/ 1,000 million, making it the most relevant of the package entrusted by MINDEF.
All of this could position Peru strategically within the global aerospace arena, reinforcing its relationship with the United States, although it may also involve relocating the No. 11 Air Group that has operated there for over 70 years.
Talara, a petroleum port 1,100 kilometers north of Lima, has been home since 1977 to the oldest fleet of Russian-Soviet combat aircraft in Peru, despite being originally built by the U.S. during World War II to protect the Panama Canal zone. It housed the FAP’s most powerful air defense system, the medium-range S-125 Neva/Pechora, operated Sukhoi Su-22 fighter-bombers for over 25 years, and now hosts recently upgraded Su-25 attack aircraft by SEMAN Peru.
https://www.zona-militar.com/en/2024/07/11/one-of-the-peruvian-air-force-bases-is-set-to-become-a-nasa-spaceport/
How, when and where to see 2024's second 'Manhattanhenge' this week
July 11, 2024
New Yorkers are about to experience the second "Manhattanhenge" of the year. Friday, July 12, and Saturday, July 13, are the evenings to be outside at sunset to capture a magical moment.
On those dates, only the sun will set on the grid, between skyscrapers, as seen from any east-west street in Manhattan.
The bi-annual event's nickname comes, of course, from England's Stonehenge, where the rising sun on June's summer solstice aligns with the neolithic monument's Heel Stone.
In New York, things are different. Unlike any European city, its streets are aligned east-west and north-south, though the resulting grid layout isn't perfectly aligned. It's aligned 29 degrees east of true north.
The result is that the sun sets on the grid at sunset exactly 22 and 23 days before the June solstice (which already occurred on May 28 and 29, with only the latter visible in a clear sky) and 22 and 23 days after.
"What will future civilizations think of Manhattan Island when they dig it up and find a carefully laid out network of streets and avenues?" said Neil deGrasse Tyson, head of the Hayden Planetarium at New York's American Museum of Natural History who coined the term Manhattanhenge.
"Surely the grid would be presumed to have astronomical significance."
There are two dates for Manhattanhenge this weekend. On both evenings, you'll see the sun set between the skyscrapers as long as you stand on one of Manhattan's main east-west thoroughfares at sunset, but the spectacle is subtly different on each evening.
Here's what you'll see, and when, on Friday and Saturday:
On this date, at precisely 8:20 p.m. EDT, the sun will set on Manhattan's grid. Its entire disk will appear above the grids and be visible between skyscrapers from Manhattan's east-west streets.
New Yorkers looking west at 8:21 p.m. EDT tonight will see a half-sun about to disappear beneath the Manhattan grid, a moment known as the "kiss the grid" moment.
"These two days happen to correspond with Memorial Day and Baseball's All Star break," says deGrasse Tyson.
"Future anthropologists might conclude that, via the sun, the people who called themselves Americans worshipped War and Baseball."
He advises that the best places to witness Manhattanhenge from are on 14th Street, 23rd Street, 34th Street, 42nd Street and 57th Street.
There are two occurrences of Manhattanhenge on either side of the solstice because the sunset point varies throughout the year.
As seen from the northern hemisphere, the sun rises due east only at the equinoxes in March and September.
The sun rises at its most northeast point on the horizon on June's solstice.
Since the grid is oriented 29 degrees east of true north, the sunrise points 22 and 23 days before and after the solstice align with it.
It's the opposite in winter when the sun sets at its most southeasterly point on the horizon on December's solstice.
So why aren't there Manhattanhenges 22 and 23 days before and after that date?
There are, but since they occur at sunrise during a bitterly cold and cloudy winter, they're rarely seen — or sought.
https://www.space.com/manhattanhenge-july-2024
SpaceX Starlink Mission
On July 11, 2024, SpaceX launched Falcon 9 with 20 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Falcon 9’s first stage performed nominally, carrying the second stage and Starlink satellites to orbit, separating from the second stage as expected, and returning to Earth for a successful droneship landing, representing SpaceX’s 329th recovery of an orbital class rocket to-date.
Falcon 9’s second stage performed its first burn nominally. However, a liquid oxygen leak developed on the second stage. After a planned relight of the upper stage engine to raise perigee – or the lowest point of orbit – the Merlin Vacuum engine experienced an anomaly and was unable to complete its second burn. Although the stage survived and still deployed the satellites, it did not successfully circularize its orbit. This left the satellites in an eccentric orbit with a very low perigee of 135 km, which is less than half the expected perigee altitude.
The team worked overnight to make contact with the satellites in order to send early burn commands, but the satellites were left in an enormously high-drag environment only 135 km above the Earth (each pass through perigee removed 5+ km of altitude from the orbit’s apogee, or the highest point in the satellite orbit). At this level of drag, our maximum available thrust is unlikely to be enough to successfully raise the satellites. As such, the satellites will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and fully demise. They do not pose a threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-9-3
Lunar spacecraft receive dozens of collision warnings
July 11, 2024
Even a few spacecraft in orbit around the moon can create dozens of warnings of potential collisions and require several maneuvers, suggesting the need for more robust coordination mechanisms.
In a presentation at the Secure World Foundation’s Summit for Space Sustainability here July 11, Soyoung Chung, senior researcher at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s (KARI’s) strategy and planning directorate, said her agency had received 40 “red alarms” of potential collisions among spacecraft orbiting the moon in the last 18 months.
The warnings primarily involve close approaches involving KARI’s Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter from India’s space agency ISRO, which are all in similar low orbits around the moon.
The three agencies voluntarily share information about the orbits of their spacecraft using a NASA platform called MADCAP that generates collision warnings.
Since KPLO entered orbit around the moon in December 2022, that system has generated 40 warnings, called red alarms, of potential conjunctions.
Some are “naturally resolved,” she said, as improved orbital data shows no risk of a collision. Others can be handed by having one of the spacecraft perform a routine maneuver to maintain its orbit.
“But for some of them, you need to have a specific maneuver just to avoid this potential collision,” she said. KPLO has performed three such maneuvers so far, one to avoid a close approach to LRO, another to avoid Chandrayaan-2 and a third to avoid Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft shortly before its January landing.
The SLIM conjunction, she noted, required a decision on the maneuver within a day to avoid conflicting with its landing.
Collision avoidance maneuvers around the moon are not unprecedented. In 2021, Chandrayaan-2 maneuvered to avoid a close approach to LRO after coordination between ISRO and NASA.
At the time, neither agency disclosed the frequency of those potential conjunctions.
The magnitude of potential collisions among spacecraft in lunar orbit now, though, has not been widely discussed publicly. “This is something real that we haven’t discussed much,” Chung said.
The issue, she noted, highlights the lack of formal processes and procedures for coordinating spacecraft around the moon, a problem that will only grow worse as more companies and countries send missions there.
“Right now, there’s no mutually agreed-upon international consultation mechanism or protocol to resolve such collision risks,” she said. The coordination among ISRO, KARI and NASA is a voluntary system that others, like China, have not participated in.
“Not all actors are involved in this process.”
There is also no formal mechanism for determining which spacecraft performs a collision avoidance maneuver if required.
Such maneuvers can disrupt spacecraft operations as well as consume fuel that reduces the spacecraft’s lifetime. She said later that KARI agreed to perform those three KPLO maneuvers because it had more fuel available.
“With our experience of operating KPLO, we realize there is a need for an information-sharing platform and mutually agreed-upon international protocols to identify and manage the risk of collisions between the missions around the moon just like we do on the Earth,” she said.
One mechanism for doing so may be through the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).
The committee agreed at its meeting last month to establish an Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation, based on a proposal from the Republic of Korea and Romania.
Chung said coordination mechanisms for lunar spacecraft will be one of the topic the action team will consider.
https://spacenews.com/lunar-spacecraft-receive-dozens-of-collision-warnings/
Microsoft leads $40 million funding for Starlink networking startup
July 11, 2024
Armada has raised an extra $40 million through a Microsoft-led funding round to develop mobile data centers tailored for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, the San Francisco-based startup announced July 11.
The venture, which said it has received around $100 million from investors after emerging from stealth six months ago, is first focusing on deploying artificial intelligence computing tools designed to empower remotely connected devices.
Microsoft is offering these software tools on its Azure cloud computing marketplace following the investment by its venture capital arm M12.
The software includes Armada’s digital platform for managing Starlink terminals and other connected assets such as sensors and drones.
Ultimately, Armada aims to offer ruggedized data centers the size of shipping containers for its cloud computing ecosystem called Galleons, which would enable customers to process data faster and more efficiently on-site — known as edge computing.
Armada said Galleons would be integrated with satellites in low Earth orbit thanks to a deep collaboration with Starlink, but did not provide details.
SpaceX has not responded to requests to comment on the startup.
Satellite-connected Galleons would enable off-the-grid customers to process data in real-time, according to Armada, and use generative artificial intelligence services typically confined to areas with terrestrial connectivity.
The startup said its technology has been deployed in 43 countries by customers, including global oil and gas conglomerates, entertainment companies and state government agencies.
“M12 has witnessed the swift progression of edge AI infrastructure towards practical use through years of investments,” M12 managing partner Michael Stewart said in a statement, adding:
“We are confident that Armada will pioneer a definitive guide for implementing edge AI across various challenging sectors.”
Founders Fund, an early SpaceX investor, led Armada’s previous $55 million funding round.
https://spacenews.com/microsoft-leads-40-million-funding-for-starlink-networking-startup/
General Atomics to build second Space Force weather satellite
July 11, 2024
The U.S. Space Force awarded General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems a contract for a second weather satellite.
Under the Space Systems Command contract modification announced July 11, General Atomics will provide three years of operational services for two Electro-Optical Weather System, or EWS, satellites.
“We are currently working toward the delivery of the first EWS satellite and associated ground systems, with spacecraft build and EO/IR payload testing well underway,” Scott Forney, president of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems said in a statement.
“We are excited to begin the build and integration of a second EWS satellite to help support USSF efforts to extend [electro-optical/infrared] data collection capabilities as legacy DMSP satellites are retired.”
The Space Force is purchasing small weather satellites to replace the larger spacecraft launched decades ago through the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.
In 2020, the Space Force tapped General Atomics, Orion Space Solutions and Raytheon Technologies to design a prototype EWS satellite.
Two years later, San Diego-based General Atomics and Orion Space Solutions of Louisville, Colorado, each won contracts to develop and launch satellites to demonstrate weather imaging and cloud characterization.
The contract modification “is a testament to GA-EMS’ ability to design and deliver advanced EWS satellites that will provide timely, accurate weather data to support Department of Defense operations across all domains,” Forney said.
Under the new contract modification, General Atomics is the prime contractor responsible for developing, building, assembling, integrating and testing the spacecraft bus and electro-optical/infrared payload.
Subcontractors include Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc. and Parsons Corp.
Gregg Burgess, GA-EMS Space Systems vice president, said in a statement that the company “continues to make excellent progress toward meeting EWS mission requirements.”
https://spacenews.com/general-atomics-to-build-second-space-force-weather-satellite/
U.S. military to award $3 billion contract for AI-driven intelligence
July 12, 2024
The U.S. military is poised to award a $3 billion multi-year contract for commercial data and analytics services to monitor potential threats across the Indo-Pacific region, a focal point of global geopolitics and a priority theater for the Department of Defense.
The program, known as Long-Range Enterprise Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Activity (LEIA), seeks to procure a wide spectrum of commercial data and advanced AI-driven analytics, integrating information from ground, aerial, and space-based platforms.
The LEIA contract, expected to be awarded later this year, is the follow-on to a $1 billion deal awarded in 2020 to defense and intelligence contractor SMX, which is now being recompeted.
The program is coordinated by the Special Operations Command Pacific that supports U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).
LEIA is a much larger contract than the one it’s replacing, reflecting the U.S. military’s growing demand for commercial solutions and AI-driven analytics to track and respond to potential threats, said Paul Reynolds, chief technologist at SMX.
The company is competing for the LEIA contract. Other contenders include defense and intelligence contractors Peraton and Booz Allen Hamilton.
“With LEIA, we are seeing an increased investment from the government to leverage commercial technology and data.” Reynolds told SpaceNews.
SMX’s platform analyzes data from approximately 300 commercial sources, including satellite imaging constellations like Umbra, Capella Space, Satellogic Planet, and Sentinel.
SMX is one of several firms providing commercially-based intelligence to U.S. military agencies under the U.S. Space Force’s Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking (TacSRT) program — a pilot initiative designed to leverage commercial space capabilities for providing rapid intelligence and analytics to military commanders.
U.S. INDOPACOM in the LEIA solicitation emphasized commanders’ needs for timely ISR and space-based capabilities to maintain situational awareness in the region.
The military’s appetite for AI-powered data analytics stems from the challenge of information overload, as governments have increasing access to data but not necessarily insights.
https://spacenews.com/u-s-military-to-award-3-billion-contract-for-ai-driven-intelligence/
CMSSF attends ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ premiere
July 12, 2024
Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force John Bentivegna attended an early premiere of Sony Pictures’ “Fly Me to the Moon” at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., July 10.
During the event, Bentivegna participated in a panel on stage with the film’s director, Greg Berlanti, among others, discussing the making of the movie and the inspiration drawn from the real-life Apollo 11 moon landing story.
Production of the film was supported by both Space Force Guardians and NASA since many of the movie’s sets were filmed on what are now Space Force installations.
“The passion that was captured and what was going on in the nation as we were trying to get men to the moon — we have thousands of Guardians that have that same passion for space every day,” Bentivegna said.
Bentivegna touched on parallels from the focus of the movie’s plot, the Apollo 11 moon mission in 1969, to current efforts by NASA to send astronauts back to the moon and test human deep space exploration capabilities.
He also spoke about how space exploration can serve to inspire future generations, just as the Apollo program did five decades before, stating, “Space is a lot closer than you think.”
“Not only is space in our daily lives, but it’s only 62 miles away — that’s where the space domain begins,” Bentivegna said. “It's exciting to see people engaging in conversations about space and the vital role of Guardians in making it all possible.”
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3836915/cmssf-attends-fly-me-to-the-moon-premiere/