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Update on NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System
October 22, 2024
Mission operators for NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System continue to analyze data from the spacecraft and characterize the performance of its composite booms.
Following successful deployment of the booms and solar sail, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System still slowly tumbles in orbit because the spacecraft’s attitude control system is not yet reengaged.
Before rolling out the booms in the deployment phase, the team deactivated the attitude control system to accommodate the spacecraft’s changing dynamics as the sail unfurled.
Attitude control applies forces to a spacecraft to help it maintain a particular orientation relative to another location in space, such as aiming an antenna at a ground station for communications or optimally placing solar panels to face the Sun to charge a spacecraft’s batteries.
While the solar sail has fully extended to its square shape roughly half the size of a tennis court, the mission team is assessing what appears to be a slight bend in one of the four booms.
This likely occurred as the booms and sail were pulled taut to the spacecraft during deployment.
Analysis indicates that the bend may have partially straightened over the weeks since boom deployment, while the spacecraft was slowly tumbling.
The primary objective of the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System demonstration is to test deployment of the booms in space to inform future applications of the composite boom technology for large-scale solar sails and other structures.
Data collected from this flight test has already proven highly valuable, and the demonstration will continue producing critical information to enable future solar sail missions.
The mission team predicts the slight bend in one of the four booms will not inhibit the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System’s ability to execute its sailing maneuvers later in the technology demonstration.
Now, mission operators are working to reposition the spacecraft, keeping the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System in low power mode until its solar panels are more favorably oriented toward direct sunlight.
The team is conserving the spacecraft’s energy for priority operations – such as two-way communications with mission control – until its attitude control system is reactivated.
When the attitude control system is reengaged, the spacecraft will be able to point its high-bandwidth radio antenna more precisely toward the ground station as it passes overhead during its brief windows of communication with the mission team.
At this stage, the team will be able to gather even more data, calibrate the precise shape of the sail, and prepare to begin its sailing maneuvers.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/smallsatellites/2024/10/22/update-on-nasas-advanced-composite-solar-sail-system/
NASA Quiet Space Fan Research to Benefit Commercial Space Stations
Oct 23, 2024
NASA researchers developed a Quiet Space Fan to reduce the noise inside crewed spacecraft, sharing the results with industry for potential use on future commercial space stations.
Controlling noise inside spacecraft helps humans talk to each other, hear alarms clearer, get restful sleep, and minimizes the risk of hearing loss.
It is best to control the noise at the source, and in spacecraft the noise often comes from cabin ventilation and equipment cooling fans.
Since the earliest days of human spaceflight, there has been noise from the Environmental Control and Life Support System ventilation.
NASA is working to design highly efficient and quiet fans by building on technology initially developed at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and sharing it with companies that are developing new spacecraft and space stations.
“As NASA continues to support the design and development of multiple commercial space stations, we have intentional and focused efforts to share technical expertise, technologies, and data with industry,” said Angela Hart, manager of NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“The Quiet Space Fan research is one more example of how we are actively working with private companies to foster the development of future destinations.”
The initial fan prototype was designed at Glenn in 2009 using tools developed for aircraft turbofan engines.
The fan design size, flow rate – how much air the fan moves – and pressure rise – the increase in pressure across the fan – were designed similarly to the original Orion cabin fan design point (150 cubic feet per minute, 3.64 inches of water column).
Acoustic measurements showed that the new design was approximately 10 decibels quieter than a similar-sized commercial off-the-shelf fan.
To take the research a step further, a larger fan was recently designed with almost twice the flow rate and pressure rise capability (250 cubic feet per minute, 7 inches of water column) compared to the initial prototype.
For example, the original fan could provide enough airflow for a large car or van, and the larger fan could provide enough airflow for a house.
NASA’s quiet fan design aims to maintain high performance standards while significantly reducing everyday noise levels and can potentially be used on the International Space Station and future commercial destinations.
“This work will lead to significant benefits including volume and mass savings from noise controls that are no longer as large or needed at all, reduced system pressure loss from mufflers and silencers that don’t need to be as restrictive, reduced power draw because of the reduced system pressure loss and the highly efficient fan design, and satisfying spaceflight vehicle acoustic requirements to provide a safe and habitable acoustic environment for astronauts,” said Chris Allen, Acoustics Office manager at NASA Johnson.
Developing quieter fans is one of many efforts NASA is making to improve human spaceflight and make space exploration more innovative and comfortable for future missions to low Earth orbit.
Helping private companies provide reliable and safe services at a lower cost will allow the agency to focus on Artemis missions to the Moon while continuing to use low Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for deep space missions.
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-quiet-space-fan-research-to-benefit-commercial-space-stations/
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/commercial-space/
15 NASA, US Defense Contracts Got Sub-Standard Cybersecurity
October 23, 2024
Pennsylvania State University is paying the US $1.25 million to settle a legal dispute that it misrepresented its cybersecurity practices and failed to adequately secure data around 15 government contracts after a whistleblower at the university flagged the issue to the government, according to a release from the Justice Department on Tuesday.
"Federal contractors who store or access covered defense information must take required steps to protect that sensitive information from bad actors," said US Attorney Jacqueline Romero in a statement.
"When they fail to meet their cybersecurity obligations, we and our law enforcement partners will use every available tool to remedy the situation."
The Justice Department says that Penn State failed to meet cybersecurity standards for its contracts with the US Department of Defense and NASA between 2018 and 2023 because the university did not choose an adequately secure cloud provider and allegedly misrepresented when it would ramp up its cybersecurity measures.
Ultimately, it failed to meet US cybersecurity standards for federal contracts, and such behaviors put US data at risk. PCMag has reached out to Penn State for comment.
Former Penn State employee Matthew Decker blew the whistle on the university's behavior through the False Claims Act, which lets whistleblowers file suits on behalf of the government when an entity in question has submitted false claims to the government.
Decker previously worked as the school's chief information officer at its Applied Research Laboratory, and will receive $250,000 as part of the settlement.
"As our cyber adversaries become increasingly sophisticated, the importance of cybersecurity in safeguarding Department of Defense research, development and acquisitions information cannot be overstated," said Special Agent in Charge Greg Gross, Naval Criminal Investigative Service Economic Crimes Field Office, in a statement.
In today's cybersecurity landscape, a large percentage of data breaches occur through cloud storage platforms.
Microsoft has been criticized for its cloud security practices, and AT&T and Ticketmaster have experienced data breaches because of exposed data stored on the cloud.
A report from security and tech firm Thales finds that 47% of corporate data stored in a cloud is sensitive.
Human error is the primary cause of cloud data breaches more broadly, and 44% of organizations are believed to have experienced at least one cloud data breach.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/15-nasa-us-defense-contracts-got-sub-standard-cybersecurity-penn-state
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/penn-state-agrees-pay-125-million-resolve-false-claims-act-allegations-relating-non
Boeing-Made Intelsat 33e Satellite Explodes in Space, US Space Force Tracks Debris
Oct 23 2024, 10:20 AM EDT
The eight-year-old satellite by Intelsat known as the 33e has recently exploded in space, and it is now bringing back the satellite maker, Boeing, into the mix as it is being investigated for what caused the recent incident.
The US Space Force is now heading this investigation of the incident, as well as tracking the space debris left behind by the satellite's explosion.
Currently, Boeing is going through challenging times where its recent space mission saw a turn for the worst, as well as significant scrutiny on its airplanes that saw massive crashes, joined by a new issue.
A new press release from Intelsat revealed that its 33e satellite which first launched in 2016 is now gone, with the company claiming that the previously discovered issue resulted in a "total loss" of the satellite.
Initially, the company notified its customers that this specific satellite saw an "anomaly" last Saturday, October 19, when it suffered from power loss, and led to service disruptions for customers.
Since then, the company has already worked with Boeing, the 33e satellite's maker, to address the problem and hopefully find a fix.
However, not long after the anomaly was discovered and made known, Boeing's satellite exploded in space.
For now, Intelsat has formed its 'Failure Review Board' which will investigate what happened with the satellite up to the point when the company lost it, but it assures customers that it is now working on restoring its services to affected customers in Africa, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.
Apart from Intelsat's investigation, the US Space Force (S4S) is also joining the probe where it would track the Boeing-made 33e satellite's space debris.
The S4S also confirmed that Intelsat's 33e satellite exploded in its location in the geosynchronous orbit (GEO), claiming that it is monitoring as many as 20 pieces of the satellite's remnants.
Space Force also revealed that the satellite's pieces are not 'immediate threats' to other satellites or spacecraft that are in its proximity.
Throughout the years, Boeing has proven itself as one of the top corporations that develop aircraft, spacecraft, and more, with the company getting massive NASA and military contracts for their technology.
However, a recent spacecraft from Boeing known as the Starliner, faced huge issues during its first crewed flight to the International Space Station where it was stuck for several months until it eventually left the astronauts for its solo return.
However, the controversy behind Boeing did not end there as the company's commercial airplane known as the 737 Max saw two prolific crashes in 2018 and 2019, holding the corporation accountable for what happened.
The DOJ case saw Boeing settle the charges against them, as it was revealed that the company was found guilty of the felonies linked to the said accidents.
Boeing's development of the Starliner already saw massive delays for many years, and 2024's planned crewed test flights for the spacecraft also saw several pushbacks on its launch dates until its eventual June blastoff.
Now, Boeing is entangled in another space-related issue of an 8-year-old satellite that Intelsat bought from them, with this spacecraft serving as its communications infrastructure, now in pieces.
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/307990/20241023/boeing-made-intelsat-33e-satellite-explodes-space-us-space-force-tracks-debris.htm
https://www.intelsat.com/newsroom/intelsat-reports-is-33e-satellite-loss/
NASA Reveals Prototype Telescope for Gravitational Wave Observatory
Oct 22, 2024
NASA has revealed the first look at a full-scale prototype for six telescopes that will enable, in the next decade, the space-based detection of gravitational waves — ripples in space-time caused by merging black holes and other cosmic sources.
The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission is led by ESA (European Space Agency) in partnership with NASA to detect gravitational waves by using lasers to measure precise distances — down to picometers, or trillionths of a meter — between a trio of spacecraft distributed in a vast configuration larger than the Sun.
Each side of the triangular array will measure nearly 1.6 million miles, or 2.5 million kilometers.
“Twin telescopes aboard each spacecraft will both transmit and receive infrared laser beams to track their companions, and NASA is supplying all six of them to the LISA mission,” said Ryan DeRosa, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“The prototype, called the Engineering Development Unit Telescope, will guide us as we work toward building the flight hardware.”
The Engineering Development Unit Telescope, which was manufactured and assembled by L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York, arrived at Goddard in May.
The primary mirror is coated in gold to better reflect the infrared lasers and to reduce heat loss from a surface exposed to cold space since the telescope will operate best when close to room temperature.
The prototype is made entirely from an amber-colored glass-ceramic called Zerodur, manufactured by Schott in Mainz, Germany.
The material is widely used for telescope mirrors and other applications requiring high precision because its shape changes very little over a wide range of temperatures.
The LISA mission is slated to launch in the mid-2030s.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/lisa/nasa-reveals-prototype-telescope-for-gravitational-wave-observatory/
NOAA Shares Imagery From World’s First Operational Space-based Coronagraph
October 22, 2024
NOAA today shared the first images from the Compact Coronagraph (CCOR-1), a powerful solar telescope onboard the new GOES-19 satellite.
CCOR-1, the world’s first operational, space-based coronagraph, began observing the sun’s corona, the faint outermost layer of the solar atmosphere, on September 19, 2024.
When directed toward Earth, CMEs can cause geomagnetic storms and other types of space weather that can impact satellites, navigation systems like GPS/GNSS, astronaut safety, aviation communications and electric power grids.
On Earth, the familiar Aurora displays are the visible manifestations of these storms interacting with Earth’s upper atmosphere.
CCOR-1 delivers uninterrupted coverage of the corona with a new image every 15 minutes.
CCOR-1 uses an occulting disk (the dark blue circle at the center of the video) to eclipse the sun (depicted as the smaller white circle) so we can view the extremely faint corona.
This first CCOR-1 video shows a clearly defined CME emerging from the east limb (left side) of the sun around the 10:00 time mark, with Universal Time (UT) shown at the lower left.
The sun also dazzles with its small and large streamers, bright radial structures along which the solar plasma travels steadily outward.
The CME explosions bend and sometimes disrupt the streaming plasma, buzzing past it at speeds of hundreds to thousands of miles per second.
CCOR-1 is the first in a series of NOAA coronagraphs.
Similar instruments will be placed on the sun-Earth line and around the sun, as part of NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On and Space Weather Next programs, respectively.
GOES-19 is currently undergoing post-launch testing and checkout of its instruments and systems.
After GOES-19 is assigned the operational role as NOAA’s GOES East satellite in spring 2025, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center will begin using CCOR-1 observations to inform and improve its forecasts and warnings of impending space weather.
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/noaa-shares-imagery-worlds-first-operational-space-based-coronagraph
Fall back to Earth with Falcon 9 payload fairings in stunning new SpaceX video
October 22, 2024
A spectacular new video shows a set of SpaceX satellites ready to deploy into space.
SpaceX's in-space video shows a stacked group of Starlink satellites being revealed after two pieces of protective hardware, known as payload fairings, fall away from the Falcon 9 rocket that launched the group.
"View from the active and passive halves of a payload fairing during a recent Falcon 9 launch of @Starlink," SpaceX officials wrote on X, formerly Twitter on Monday (Oct. 21).
The company did not say which launch the footage was from.
Starlink is a massive constellation of broadband Internet satellites, and SpaceX hopes to have quite a number in low Earth orbit to serve customers in rural or underserved areas: their plans call for as many as 42,000 satellites.
The company has also provided humanitarian assistance with the satellites worldwide during conflicts or following natural disasters, including in the American southeast after the catastrophic Hurricane Helene last month.
So far, the megaconstellation includes more than 6,400 active spacecraft, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.
The current generation of Starlink, called V2, is roughly 1,760 lbs (800 kilograms) at launch.
Over the years, astronomers have raised concerns about the effects of Starlink on the night sky.
SpaceX says it has made efforts to darken individual satellites, but the Starlink train of satellites is still highly visible after launch and in orbit.
More recently, a new study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on Sept. 18 found that radio noise from the new generation of Starlink satellites are 32 times stronger than the previous set.
The emissions interfere with studies of the early universe and the Big Bang, the researchers argued.
SpaceX launches Starlinks frequently, often multiple times a week, and individual satellites are rated to last up to five years.
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-falcon-9-rocket-fairing-video
See the 'comet of the century' light up the night sky in breathtaking photos
October 22, 2024
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has not disappointed photographers.
The photogenic comet is currently speeding away from Earth but is still visible in the Northern Hemisphere night sky for another week or so.
It's grown fairly dim, but can still be seen easily with binoculars high in the southwestern sky after sunset above a bright Venus.
The comet, referred to by some as the "comet of the century," was visible to the naked eye earlier this month as it made its closest approach to Earth on Oct. 12.
Comet A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is now visible only in binoculars for most locations for the rest of the month and into early November, although it may be visible with a telescope for some time after that.
Whether you've caught a glimpse of the comet for yourself in the sky or not, you don't want to miss these breathtaking comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS photos we've rounded up from readers and photographers around the world.
Astrophotographer Chris Schur caught this incredibly clear shot of comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (or TA) above Payson, Arizona on Oct. 13 using an 8" f/2 RASA astrograph for a 6-minute exposure.
"A very deep shot of comet TA in a blue moon twilight which clearly shows the spike -like anti-tail and multiple rays in its ghostly flowing white tail," Schur wrote Space.com.
Allen Berman caught this incredible shot of the comet above a glowing ocean in Southern California on Oct. 15.
"I never expected this. The comet was going to set over Malibu, CA tonight so I went out to shoot it.
While on a wide shot I started noticing blue flashes," Berman wrote Space.com in an email.
"I actually looked behind me to see whether there was a police car on Pacific Coast Highway.
Then I realized it was bioluminescence! Hadn't see that on our beach in years.
"So, here you go: bioluminescent waves and a once-in-80-thousand year comet."
cont.
https://www.space.com/comet-c2023-a3-tsuchinshan-atlas-photos
Supergiant star Betelgeuse may have a 'Betelbuddy'
October 22, 2024
Could the giant star Betelgeuse have a buddy? A Betelbuddy?
Betelgeuse, the second-brightest star in the constellation Orion, is a giant star whose strange dimming has sparked debate over when it will collapse and explode in a massive supernova.
Now, however, researchers believe a companion star may be behind Betelgeuse's irregular changes in brightness.
A new study usied computer models to simulate Betelgeuse's activity, suggesting that the object's periodic pulsing is likely caused by an unseen, orbiting companion star — or stellar-like object, at least.
The researchers aptly nicknamed the proposed object "Betelbuddy," or more formally, Alpha Orionis B (Betelgeuse is technically known as Alpha Orionis).
"We ruled out every intrinsic source of variability that we could think of as to why the brightening and dimming was happening in this way," Jared Goldberg, lead author of the study and a research fellow at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics, said in a statement..
"The only hypothesis that seemed to fit is that Betelgeuse has a companion."
Betelgeuse is a red giant star that exhibits roughly 100,000 times the brightness of our sun and more than 400 million times the volume.
According to the new models, a companion star could act like a snowplow, pushing light-blocking dust out of the way as it orbits Betelgeuse and, in turn, allowing it to appear temporarily brighter from our vantage point.
This companion star model helps explain the different patterns of pulsating light observed from Betelgeuse.
The star exhibits two separate periods of brightening and dimming: one that pulses on a timescale a little longer than a year, and one that pulses on a timescale of about six years.
As a variable star, one of these patterns is intrinsic to Betelgeuse, caused by the star's rhythmic expansion and contraction, and indicative of when it will become a supernova.
"If the star's fundamental mode is its long-scale heartbeat, then Betelgeuse could be ready to blow sooner than expected," according to the statement.
"However, if its fundamental mode is its short-scale heartbeat, as several studies suggest, then its longer heartbeat is a phenomenon called a long secondary period."
A long secondary period can be triggered by something external to the star, including a companion. In this case, the researchers argue Betelbuddy could be another star with up to twice the sun's mass.
However, further study is required to not only confirm Betelbuddy exists, but to also better understand the true nature of a possible companion star.
"[Betelgeuse] has been the target of countless studies since the dawn of modern astrophysics," László Molnár, co-author of the study from the Konkoly Observatory at the HUN-REN Research Center for Astronomy and Earth Sciences in Hungary, said in the statement.
"And yet there's still room to make significant new discoveries: in this case, a sunlike star hiding in plain sight, in the immense glare of a red supergiant. That is what excites me the most."
Their findings have been accepted for publication in the The Astrophysical Journal and are currently available to view as a pre-print on the arXiv.
https://www.space.com/betelbuddy-mysterious-dimming-betelgeuse-star
https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.09089
Scientists have dated the moon's oldest, and largest, impact site
October 22, 2024
You don't need a telescope to see that the moon is riddled with craters.
For billions of years, our celestial neighbor has been absolutely bombarded by asteroids and comets, and the assault has left behind a heavily pockmarked lunar surface.
The largest and oldest-known impact site on the moon is the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, stretching across nearly 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) of the far side of the moon.
And thanks to new research, scientists have dated the SPA basin to the period between 4.32 and 4.33 billion years ago.
A research team led by scientists at the University of Manchester determined the age of the basin by analyzing a lunar meteorite known as Northwest Africa 2995.
The meteorite, which was found in Algeria in 2005, contained uranium and lead that was dated to this period.
So, why is the proposed age of the SPA basin significant? Well, it's about 120 million years older than expected.
"For several decades there has been general agreement that the most intense period of impact bombardment was concentrated between 4.2–3.8 billion years ago — in the first half a billion years of the moon's history," Joshua Snape, a Royal Society University Research Fellow at The University of Manchester, said in a statement.
"But now, constraining the age of the South-Pole Aitken basin to 120 million years earlier weakens the argument for this narrow period of impact bombardment on the moon and instead indicates there was a more gradual process of impacts over a longer period.”
This has implications for Earth's early history, too.
"We know that the Earth and the Moon likely experienced similar impacts during their early history, but rock records from the Earth have been lost," Romain Tartese, a Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester, said.
"We can use what we have learnt about the moon to provide us with clues about the conditions on Earth during the same period of time."
While the dating from the Northwest Africa 2995 meteorite has provided a good indication of the SPA basin's age, the team will have to confirm this data with a sample-return mission from within the crater itself. Good thing we're going back to the moon!
A paper on the team's research was published on Oct. 16 in the journal Nature Astronomy.
https://www.space.com/moon-oldest-impact-basin-dated
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02380-y