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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
September 28, 2024
Rocket Eclipse at Sunset
Shockwaves ripple across the glare as a launch eclipses the setting Sun in this exciting close-up. Captured on September 17, the roaring Falcon 9 rocket carried European Galileo L13 navigation satellites to medium Earth orbit after a lift-off from Cape Canaveral on Florida's space coast. The Falcon 9 booster returned safely to Earth about 8.5 minutes later, notching the 22nd launch and landing for the reusable workhorse launch vehicle. But where did it land? Just Read the Instructions.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Launch
T-minus 1h:30m
Watch the launch of NASA’s SpaceX #Crew9, the first human spaceflight mission to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff on Saturday, Sept. 28 is set for 1:17 p.m. EDT (1717 UTC).
The Dragon spacecraft will carry NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the International Space Station for a science mission of approximately five months.
This will be Hague’s second mission to the orbiting laboratory, and Gorbunov’s first spaceflight.
Hague and Gorbunov will fly to the space station as commander and mission specialist, respectively.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft in June, will fly home with Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=crew-9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKXtysRx0b4
New NASA bridge project begins
September 28, 2024
Kokosing Construction Co., a multi-state operation, recently announced the start of its project to design and build a replacement causeway road and bridge at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.
According to contract details, the cost was estimated at $62,395,600 and has since been increased by 1 percent to $63,270,600 or by $875,000.
The bridge will go over Cat Creek and replace the existing structure, built in 1959-1960.
The existing structure “is nearing the end of its service life,” the announcement on Instagram stated.
“Design partner, WSP USA, (an engineering firm), is incorporating durable materials to maximize service life and protect the structure from the aggressive coastal, and marine environment of the Virginia barrier islands,” the announcement continued.
“We will utilize a top-down construction methodology to minimize the environmental impacts to adjacent tidal wetland areas.”
The road is the only access to that portion of the NASA facility, making it critical to daily operations.
Construction is expected to begin in early 2025 and be completed in early 2029.
https://shoredailynews.com/headlines/new-nasa-bridge-project-begins/
The Science of the Perfect Cup for Coffee
Sep 27, 2024
Material research is behind the design of a temperature-regulating mug
Dr. Hongbin Ma was tired of drinking coffee that had gone cold.
Fortunately, Ma, the CEO of ThermAvant Technologies LLC in Columbia, Missouri, was working on a NASA-funded study of phase-change materials, which are used to hold a steady temperature.
Materials absorb or release more heat as they transition from solid to liquid or vice versa than they do before or after this phase change.
NASA has long used phase-changing materials to manage temperature extremes in space.
The Apollo lunar rover, International Space Station, Orion capsule, and headlights on the newest spacesuit design all utilize phase-change material.
As part of his NASA-funded research, Ma tested and recommended a phase-change material that could be used in a spacesuit-cooling system, a modified version of those used in spacecraft.
A phase-change material needs to transition at the desired temperature, but it also needs to be safe.
Paraffin wax and refrigerants are effective but are toxic to humans, which would make a leak hazardous.
Ma’s team ultimately recommended a bio-based option for spacesuits.
Bio-based waxes also proved to be the perfect solution for maintaining optimal temperature for coffee.
In this case, it was a beeswax-like soy substance. Ma’s company, ThermAvant Technologies, took the opportunity to infuse the bio-based waxes into a product on Earth.
Released in 2018, the Burnout Mug is vacuum insulated with the wax called HeatZorb, sealed between the inner and outer shells.
The wax is formulated to maintain the ideal temperature for hot drinks over time. As soon as hot liquid goes in, the wax absorbs excess heat and melts, resulting in a drinkable temperature in just a few moments.
As the coffee starts to cool, that stored heat is released back into it.
The company is developing other uses for the same technology to meet unique needs in the medical field.
Two in development are a small insulin container and a donor organ transportation box – both of which rely on specific, controlled temperatures.
From hot beverages to life-saving medical equipment, NASA’s research continues to drive innovation across industries.
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/tech-transfer/spinoffs/the-science-of-the-perfect-cup-for-coffee/
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/The-Science-of-the-Perfect-Cup-for-Coffee
Hubble Captures Stellar Nurseries in a Majestic Spiral
Sep 27, 2024
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the spiral galaxy IC 1954, located 45 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Horologium.
It sports a glowing bar in its core, majestically winding spiral arms, and clouds of dark dust across it.
Numerous glowing, pink spots across the disc of the galaxy are H-alpha regions that offer astronomers a view of star-forming nebulae, which are prominent emitters of red, H-alpha light.
Some astronomers theorize that the galaxy’s ‘bar’ is actually an energetic star-forming region that just happens to lie over the galactic center.
The data featured in this image come from a program that extends the cooperation among multiple observatories: Hubble, the infrared James Webb Space Telescope, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, a ground-based radio telescope.
By surveying IC 1954 and over 50 other nearby galaxies in radio, infrared, optical, and ultraviolet light, astronomers aim to fully trace and reconstruct the path matter takes through stars, mapping the interstellar gas and dust in each galaxy.
Hubble’s observing capabilities form an important part of this survey: it can capture younger stars and star clusters when they are brightest at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths, and its H-alpha filter effectively tracks emission from nebulae.
The resulting dataset will form a treasure trove of research on the evolution of stars in galaxies, which Webb can build upon as it continues its science operations into the future.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-captures-stellar-nurseries-in-a-majestic-spiral/
Ocean Heat for Hurricane Helene
September 27, 2024
When tropical weather watchers in the U.S. began tracking a disturbance brewing near the Yucatan Peninsula in mid-September, there were already worrisome signs in ocean temperature data for the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Sea surface temperature and ocean heat content data—both derived from satellite observations—showed a tongue of unusually warm water extending north from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico toward the Florida Panhandle.
It was a sign that the Loop Current—a variable current that shunts water from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida, and up the eastern coast of the U.S.—had shed an eddy of warm water that was lingering uncomfortably close to U.S. shores.
Such features can make storms more dangerous because they provide a store of energy for passing hurricanes to draw from as they approach land, explained Scott Braun, a research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
“These warm core eddies are a fairly persistent feature in the gulf and represent a deep layer of warm water that is much less likely to be disrupted by strong surface forcing by the hurricane winds,” he said.
The map above shows sea surface temperatures on September 23, based on data from the Multiscale Ultrahigh Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (MUR SST) project, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory effort that blends measurements of sea surface temperatures from multiple NASA, NOAA, and international satellites, as well as ship and buoy observations.
Surface waters above 27.8 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit)—the temperature generally required to sustain and intensify hurricanes—are represented in red on the map.
The tongue of warm water is also visible in maps of sea surface temperature anomalies on NASA’s State of the Ocean data viewer.
“A warm ocean isn’t everything when it comes to hurricanes, but it’s a lot,” noted University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy as the storm intensified near the Yucatan Peninsula.
Not only were much of the seas along the storm’s path up to a “toasty” 31°C, but the warm water ran deep, fueling the storm with what McNoldy described as “a source of high-octane fuel.”
But ocean heat is just one among several factors that together control whether a hurricane intensifies rapidly or fizzles.
In Helene’s case, the presence of high vertical wind shear, a patch of dry air on one side of the storm, and that only part of the storm hit the warmest part of the eddy likely helped constrain Helene’s intensity somewhat as it approached Florida.
“If the track had gone right along the axis of the eddy, intensification would likely have been even greater,” Braun added.
The image above, acquired by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) sensor on the NOAA-20 satellite, shows Helene in the afternoon of September 25 as wind shear prevented the storm from developing a clear eye and becoming symmetrical.
Nevertheless, Helene underwent bouts of strengthening that met the official threshold for rapid intensification—an increase in the maximum sustained winds of a tropical cyclone of at least 30 knots (35 miles per hour) over a 24-hour period—as it neared Florida on September 25 and 26, fueling a major hurricane.
As Helene neared land on September 26, National Hurricane Center forecasters expected the storm to strike Florida’s Big Bend region as an unusually expansive, Category 3 or 4 storm that could deliver “catastrophic” storm surge and “life-threatening” flash and urban flooding.
They warned that storm surges of 10 to 20 feet could swamp some areas, that hurricane-force winds could extend outward for up to 60 miles, and that total rainfall accumulations between 6 and 18 inches were possible.
Since the storm was moving rapidly (more than 15 miles per hour), they cautioned that gusts could cause significant damage far inland, including portions of northern Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, after it made landfall.
On September 25 and 26, bands of rain influenced by the storm had started to hit the Southeast, well before the center of the storm got near the coast.
“This rain is likely due to moisture moving over a frontal zone to the north of the storm,” Braun said. “This means that significant flooding may occur.
All of this precursor rain is saturating the ground, so when the storm does make landfall, there will be little absorption of rain into the ground.”
NASA’s Disasters program has activated to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies responding to the storm.
The team will be posting maps and data products on its open-access mapping portal as new information becomes available about flooding, power outages, precipitation totals, and other topics.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/153376/ocean-heat-for-hurricane-helene
Lunar water detected across entire surface by NASA’s VIPER mission
September 27, 2024 11:00
The lunar landscape, once thought to be a barren wasteland, is now revealing its hidden treasures.
Recent findings from NASA's VIPER mission have unveiled a startling revelation : water is present across the entire surface of the Moon.
This discovery challenges our previous understanding and opens up new possibilities for future lunar exploration and habitation.
For decades, scientists believed that water on the Moon was confined to its polar regions, particularly in permanently shadowed craters.
However, scientists confirm water exists all over the Moon, not just at the poles.
This groundbreaking discovery has been made possible through advanced spectral imaging techniques and data analysis.
The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), an instrument aboard the Chandrayaan-1 probe, played a crucial role in this revelation.
By capturing infrared light reflected from the lunar surface, M3 detected spectral signatures indicating the presence of water and hydroxyl molecules across various lunar regions.
Roger Clark, a planetologist at the Planetary Science Institute, states, "Future astronauts could find water even near the equator by exploiting these water-rich areas."
This expanded availability of water resources could significantly impact future lunar missions and potential colonization efforts.
The lunar water cycle : A complex geological process
The presence of water on the Moon is not a static phenomenon but part of a dynamic geological process.
Scientists have observed that water forms on the lunar surface after crater creation and gradually evaporates due to solar wind over millions of years.
This process leaves behind hydroxyl, formed when solar wind deposits hydrogen on the surface, which then bonds with oxygen.
The lunar water cycle involves several key components :
Crater formation
Volcanic activity
Solar wind interaction
Meteorite and asteroid impacts
These processes work in concert to bring water-rich materials to the surface and redistribute them across the lunar landscape.
The result is a complex geological tapestry with significant water content in the subsurface and a superficial layer of hydroxyl.
The widespread presence of water on the Moon has profound implications for future space exploration endeavors.
NASA contracts Intuitive Machines for key lunar south pole mission, highlighting the importance of these water-rich regions for upcoming lunar expeditions.
These resources could significantly reduce the cost and complexity of lunar missions by enabling in-situ resource utilization (ISRU).
Astronauts could potentially extract and process water on-site, rather than relying solely on supplies brought from Earth.
The discovery of water across the entire lunar surface marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of Earth's celestial companion.
It challenges the long-held image of the Moon as a desolate, waterless world and opens up new avenues for scientific inquiry and exploration.
As we continue to unravel the mysteries of lunar water distribution, several questions emerge :
How does the water content vary between different lunar regions ?
What is the total volume of water present on the Moon ?
How can we efficiently extract and utilize this water for future missions ?
What does the presence of water tell us about the Moon's formation and evolution ?
These questions will drive future research and exploration efforts, potentially reshaping our approach to lunar missions and our understanding of the Moon's role in the solar system.
As we stand on the brink of a new era of lunar exploration, the discovery of widespread water on the Moon promises to be a game-changer, fueling our ambitions to establish a sustainable human presence beyond Earth.
https://dailygalaxy.com/2024/09/lunar-water-detected-across-entire-surface-nasas-viper-mission/
NASA confirms space station cracking a “highest” risk and consequence problem
9/27/2024, 7:49 AM
US space officials do not like to talk about the perils of flying astronauts on the aging International Space Station, elements of which are now more than a quarter of a century old.
However, a new report confirms that NASA managers responsible for operating the space station are seriously concerned about a small Russian part of the station, essentially a tunnel that connects a larger module to a docking port, which is leaking.
Russian and US officials have known that this small PrK module, which lies between a Progress spacecraft airlock and the Zvezda module, has been leaking since September 2019. A new report, published Thursday by NASA's inspector general, provides details not previously released by the space agency that underline the severity of the problem.
New details about the leak
For example, in February of this year NASA identified an increase in the leak rate from less than 1 pound of atmosphere a day to 2.4 pounds a day, and in April this rate increased to 3.7 pounds a day.
Despite years of investigation, neither Russian nor US officials have identified the underlying cause of the leak.
"Although the root cause of the leak remains unknown, both agencies have narrowed their focus to internal and external welds," the report, signed by Deputy Inspector General George A. Scott, states.
The plan to mitigate the risk is to keep the hatch on the Zvezda module leading to the PrK tunnel closed.
Eventually, if the leak worsens further, this hatch might need to be closed permanently, reducing the number of Russian docking ports on the space station from four to three.
Publicly, NASA has sought to minimize concerns about the cracking issue because it remains, to date, confined to the PrK tunnel and has not spread to other parts of the station.
Nevertheless, Ars reported in June that the cracking issue has reached the highest level of concern on the space agency's 5x5 "risk matrix" to classify the likelihood and consequence of risks to spaceflight activities.
The Russian leaks are now classified as a "5" both in terms of high likelihood and high consequence.
At the time, NASA would not comment on, or confirm, the space agency's concerns about the risk matrix rating. However, the new report confirms the agency's concerns.
"In May and June 2024, ISS Program and Roscosmos officials met to discuss heightened concerns with the increased leak rate," the inspector general's report states.
"The ISS Program subsequently elevated the Service Module Transfer Tunnel leak risk to the highest level of risk in its risk management system.
According to NASA, Roscosmos is confident they will be able to monitor and close the hatch to the Service Module prior to the leak rate reaching an untenable level. However, NASA and Roscosmos have not reached an agreement on the point at which the leak rate is untenable."
An uncertain future in low-Earth orbit
The report comes as NASA is considering the future of the space station. The US space agency and Russia have an agreement to continue flying the station through 2028, and NASA would like to extend operations to 2030.
NASA had anticipated that it would agree to this extension more than a year ago, but as of yet no agreement has been finalized.
Once the station reaches the end of its life, NASA intends to transition its activities in low-Earth orbit onto private space stations, and it has funded initial development work by Axiom Space, Northrop Grumman, Blue Origin, and Voyager Space.
Northrop has since dropped out of the competition—determining that it would not be a profitable business. There is general uncertainty as to whether any of the private space station operators will be ready in 2030.
NASA's other potential option is extending the life of the space station beyond 2030, but this would require a lot of work to ensure the space station's structure remains viable and yet another extension agreement with Russia.
The US partnership with that nation has been severely strained by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Extending the ISS past 2030 will require significant funding to operate and maintain the station, acceptance of increased risk stemming from its components and aging structures, and assurances of continued support from NASA’s international partners," the new report states.
"Further complicating matters is the likelihood that NASA may continue to face a flat or reduced budget, inflation, and supply chain challenges."
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/09/nasa-confirms-space-station-cracking-a-highest-risk-and-consequence-problem/
https://oig.nasa.gov/topics/space-operations/nasas-management-of-risks-to-sustaining-iss-operations-through-2030/
Polaris Dawn | Views from Dragon in flight
Sep 27, 2024
During its five day mission, Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew completed 75 orbits around Earth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_DZtCYhdXc
FCC releases more radio waves for NGSO broadband
September 26, 2024
The Federal Communications Commission voted Sept. 26 to open up more spectrum to Starlink and other non-geostationary satellite (NGSO) operators to improve broadband speeds in the United States.
The regulator unanimously voted to give NGSO operators access to frequencies in the 17.3-17.7 gigahertz band for satellite communications provided to fixed points on Earth, such as a stationary residential antenna.
The decision provides 1300 megahertz of contiguous spectrum in the 17 GHz band for NGSO fixed-satellite service (FSS) operators, which they must share with geostationary peers while abiding by power limits and other conditions.
“This action promotes spectrum efficiency, fosters competition, and expands the ability of satellite operators to deploy advanced services, including high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved areas,” the FCC said in a news release.
Geostationary satellite operators EchoStar and DirectTV had argued that NGSO operators should only get access to the spectrum on a secondary basis to avoid interference.
Following a public comment process after proposing the rules two years ago, the FCC ruled that NGSO FSS downlinks in the 17 GHz band are compatible with incumbent GEO services on a co-primary basis.
However, the regulator detailed in a public draft of the order that NGSO FSS downlinks in the 17.7-17.8 GHz band could not claim similar interference protections from existing and future terrestrial fixed service operations.
The FCC said the new rules are aligned with treaty-level agreements from the most recent World Radiocommunication Conference, a United Nations-run event where regulators seek to coordinate the use of radio waves globally.
https://spacenews.com/fcc-releases-more-radio-waves-for-ngso-broadband/
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-405808A1.pdf
ESO telescope captures the most detailed infrared map ever of our Milky Way
26 September 2024
Astronomers have published a gigantic infrared map of the Milky Way containing more than 1.5 billion objects ― the most detailed one ever made.
Using the European Southern Observatory’s VISTA telescope, the team monitored the central regions of our Galaxy over more than 13 years. At 500 terabytes of data, this is the largest observational project ever carried out with an ESO telescope.
“We made so many discoveries, we have changed the view of our Galaxy forever,” says Dante Minniti, an astrophysicist at Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile who led the overall project.
This record-breaking map comprises 200 000 images taken by ESO’s VISTA ― the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy. Located at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, the telescope’s main purpose is to map large areas of the sky. The team used VISTA’s infrared camera VIRCAM, which can peer through the dust and gas that permeates our galaxy. It is therefore able to see the radiation from the Milky Way’s most hidden places, opening a unique window onto our galactic surroundings.
This gigantic dataset [1] covers an area of the sky equivalent to 8600 full moons, and contains about 10 times more objects than a previous map released by the same team back in 2012. It includes newborn stars, which are often embedded in dusty cocoons, and globular clusters –– dense groups of millions of the oldest stars in the Milky Way. Observing infrared light means VISTA can also spot very cold objects, which glow at these wavelengths, like brown dwarfs (‘failed’ stars that do not have sustained nuclear fusion) or free-floating planets that don’t orbit a star.
The observations began in 2010 and ended in the first half of 2023, spanning a total of 420 nights. By observing each patch of the sky many times, the team was able to not only determine the locations of these objects, but also track how they move and whether their brightness changes. They charted stars whose luminosity changes periodically that can be used as cosmic rulers for measuring distances [2]. This has given us an accurate 3D view of the inner regions of the Milky Way, which were previously hidden by dust. The researchers also tracked hypervelocity stars — fast-moving stars catapulted from the central region of the Milky Way after a close encounter with the supermassive black hole lurking there.
The new map contains data gathered as part of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey [3] and its companion project, the VVV eXtended (VVVX) survey. “The project was a monumental effort, made possible because we were surrounded by a great team,” says Roberto Saito, an astrophysicist at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil and lead author of the paper published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics on the completion of the project.
The VVV and VVVX surveys have already led to more than 300 scientific articles. With the surveys now complete, the scientific exploration of the gathered data will continue for decades to come. Meanwhile, ESO’s Paranal Observatory is being prepared for the future: VISTA will be updated with its new instrument 4MOST and ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) will receive its MOONS instrument. Together, they will provide spectra of millions of the objects surveyed here, with countless discoveries to be expected.
Notes
[1] The dataset is too large to release as a single image, but the processed data and objects catalogue can be accessed in the ESO Science Portal.
[2] One way to measure the distance to a star is by comparing how bright it appears as seen from Earth to how intrinsically bright it is; but the latter is often unknown. Certain types of stars change their brightness periodically, and there is a very strong connection between how quickly they do this and how intrinsically luminous they are. Measuring these fluctuations allows astronomers to work out how luminous these stars are, and therefore how far away they lie.
[3] Vía Láctea is the Latin name for the Milky Way.
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2413/?nolang
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2024/09/aa50584-24/aa50584-24.html
https://archive.eso.org/scienceportal/home
Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs, Plus Why Woke is Going Broke, Interviews with Michael Seifert & Lue Elizondo | TRIGGERED Ep.176
Sep 23, 5:55 pm EDT
https://rumble.com/v5g1o1f-inside-the-pentagons-hunt-for-ufos-plus-why-woke-is-going-broke.html