TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
November 12, 2024
NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula
How was the Crescent Nebula created? Looking like an emerging space cocoon, the Crescent Nebula, visible in the center of the featured image, was created by the brightest star in its center. A leading progenitor hypothesis has the Crescent Nebula beginning to form about 250,000 years ago. At that time, the massive central star had evolved to become a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136), shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of our Sun's mass every 10,000 years. This wind impacted surrounding gas left over from a previous phase, compacting it into a series of complex shells, and lighting it up. The Crescent Nebula, also known as NGC 6888, lies about 4,700 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus. Star WR 136 will probably undergo a supernova explosion sometime in the next million years.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim Is a Rarity among Rarities
November 12, 2024
Jonny Kim—a former Navy SEAL and ER doctor—is now a NASA astronaut who will soon launch to the International Space Station as flight engineer for the crew of Expedition 72/73
Space explorers need grit, strength and resolve to navigate the hostile environments beyond Earth.
This might explain why around 60 percent of NASA’s astronauts have come from military service. A smaller fraction have had medical experience.
And Jonny Kim is among the fewer than a dozen in NASA’s history to share both backgrounds.
After serving in more than 100 combat operations as a Navy SEAL in Iraq, he graduated from Harvard Medical School and then surprised his peers by following an emergency medicine internship with astronaut training.
Kim, who explains that he’s someone “drawn to chaos,” applied to the astronaut corps almost on a whim, “not expecting to get in.”
But of course, he did. And next March he will launch alongside Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky on his first-ever spaceflight, an eight-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
Scientific American spoke with Kim about his plans prior to the launch, the parallels between his work as an astronaut and his past careers and his winding path to NASA.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jonny-kims-third-act-nasa-astronaut/
Mining Old Data From NASA’s Voyager 2 Solves Several Uranus Mysteries
Nov 11, 2024
NASA’s Voyager 2 flyby of Uranus decades ago shaped scientists’ understanding of the planet but also introduced unexplained oddities. A recent data dive has offered answers.
When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus in 1986, it provided scientists’ first — and, so far, only — close glimpse of this strange, sideways-rotating outer planet.
Alongside the discovery of new moons and rings, baffling new mysteries confronted scientists.
The energized particles around the planet defied their understanding of how magnetic fields work to trap particle radiation, and Uranus earned a reputation as an outlier in our solar system.
Now, new research analyzing the data collected during that flyby 38 years ago has found that the source of that particular mystery is a cosmic coincidence:
It turns out that in the days just before Voyager 2’s flyby, the planet had been affected by an unusual kind of space weather that squashed the planet’s magnetic field, dramatically compressing Uranus’ magnetosphere.
“If Voyager 2 had arrived just a few days earlier, it would have observed a completely different magnetosphere at Uranus,” said Jamie Jasinski of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and lead author of the new work published in Nature Astronomy.
“The spacecraft saw Uranus in conditions that only occur about 4% of the time.”
Magnetospheres serve as protective bubbles around planets (including Earth) with magnetic cores and magnetic fields, shielding them from jets of ionized gas — or plasma — that stream out from the Sun in the solar wind.
Learning more about how magnetospheres work is important for understanding our own planet, as well as those in seldom-visited corners of our solar system and beyond.
That’s why scientists were eager to study Uranus’ magnetosphere, and what they saw in the Voyager 2 data in 1986 flummoxed them.
Inside the planet’s magnetosphere were electron radiation belts with an intensity second only to Jupiter’s notoriously brutal radiation belts.
But there was apparently no source of energized particles to feed those active belts; in fact, the rest of Uranus’ magnetosphere was almost devoid of plasma.
The missing plasma also puzzled scientists because they knew that the five major Uranian moons in the magnetic bubble should have produced water ions, as icy moons around other outer planets do.
They concluded that the moons must be inert with no ongoing activity.
Solving the Mystery
So why was no plasma observed, and what was happening to beef up the radiation belts? The new data analysis points to the solar wind.
When plasma from the Sun pounded and compressed the magnetosphere, it likely drove plasma out of the system.
The solar wind event also would have briefly intensified the dynamics of the magnetosphere, which would have fed the belts by injecting electrons into them.
The findings could be good news for those five major moons of Uranus: Some of them might be geologically active after all.
With an explanation for the temporarily missing plasma, researchers say it’s plausible that the moons actually may have been spewing ions into the surrounding bubble all along.
Planetary scientists are focusing on bolstering their knowledge about the mysterious Uranus system, which the National Academies’ 2023 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey prioritized as a target for a future NASA mission.
JPL’s Linda Spilker was among the Voyager 2 mission scientists glued to the images and other data that flowed in during the Uranus flyby in 1986.
She remembers the anticipation and excitement of the event, which changed how scientists thought about the Uranian system.
“The flyby was packed with surprises, and we were searching for an explanation of its unusual behavior.
The magnetosphere Voyager 2 measured was only a snapshot in time,” said Spilker, who has returned to the iconic mission to lead its science team as project scientist.
“This new work explains some of the apparent contradictions, and it will change our view of Uranus once again.”
Voyager 2, now in interstellar space, is almost 13 billion miles (21 billion kilometers) from Earth.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/voyager-program/voyager-2/mining-old-data-from-nasas-voyager-2-solves-several-uranus-mysteries/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02389-3
NASA VortEx 2 launches a success
November 11, 2024
Two NASA research rockets launched from Andøya Space on November 10, 2024, to study energy transfer between the lower and upper atmosphere.
– The main scientific objective for VortEx 2 is to study how winds and energy from the lower parts of the atmosphere affect the upper parts, says Thomas Gansmoe, Director Sounding Rockets & Engineering Services at Andøya Space Sub-Orbital.
– The focus of the experiment is to figure out how gravity waves interact with each other, and how these interactions form vortices.
The two research rockets in the mission launched two minutes apart, and the first lift-off occurred Nov 10, at 21:36:00 UTC, reaching a apogee of 358 kilometers, while the second launch vehicle reached 144 kilometers.
– The first vehicle carried with it 16 canisters of trimethyl aluminum (TMA) which was released into the atmosphere, creating glowing clouds, says Gansmoe.
– These clouds was then tracked from four ground-based observation sites. The purpose was to visualize atmosphere turbulence and the formation of vortices.
– I would like to thank our launch customer NASA Goddard for an excellent cooperation, and congratulate on a highly successful mission, Gansmoe finishes.
https://andoyaspace.no/news-articles/nasa-vortex-2-launches-a-success/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGN6LEnZy7A
Philae’s extraordinary comet landing relived
12/11/2024
On 12 November 2014, after a ten year journey through the Solar System and over 500 million kilometres from home, Rosetta’s lander Philae made space exploration history by touching down on a comet for the first time.
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of this extraordinary feat, we celebrate Philae’s impressive achievements at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Rosetta arrived at the comet on 6 August 2014, and the race was immediately on to find a suitable landing site for its lander Philae.
The site needed to offer a balance of safety and unique science potential.
Rosetta’s images of candidate landing sites were scrutinised and debated, and within a few weeks the final choice was made: a smooth-looking patch, later named Agilkia, located on the smaller of the comet’s two lobes.
Intense preparations followed, but the night before landing, a problem was identified: Philae’s active descent system, which would provide a downward thrust to prevent rebound at touchdown, could not be activated.
Philae would have to rely on harpoons and ice screws in its three feet to fix it to the surface.
Nonetheless, the green light was given and after separating from Rosetta, Philae began its seven-hour descent to the surface of the comet.
During the descent, Philae began ‘sensing’ the environment around the comet, taking stunning imagery as the first landing site came into view.
Philae’s touchdown at Agilkia was spot-on. The sensors on Philae’s feet felt the touchdown vibrations, generating the first recording of contact between a human-made object and a comet.
But it soon became clear that Philae’s harpoons hadn’t fired and it had taken flight again.
In the end Philae made contact with the surface four times.
Thanks to an automatic sequence that was triggered by the first touchdown signal, Philae’s instruments were operating while in flight, collecting unique data that would later yield important results.
It was also an unexpected bonus that data were collected at more than one location, providing the first direct measurements of surface characteristics and allowing comparisons between the touchdown sites.
For example, Philae ‘felt’ the difference in surface texture and hardness as it bounced from one site to another.
At the first landing site, it detected a soft layer several centimetres thick, milliseconds later encountering a much harder layer.
After colliding with a cliff, Philae scraped through its second touchdown site, providing the first in situ measurement of the softness of the icy-dust interior of a boulder on a comet.
The simple action of Philae ’stamping’ an imprint in billions-of-years-old ice revealed the boulder to be fluffier than froth on a cappuccino, equivalent to a porosity of about 75%.
Philae then ‘hopped’ about 30 metres to the final touchdown site, named Abydos, where its CIVA cameras provided the first image of a human-made object touching a 4.6 billion year old Solar System relic.
The exact location on the comet would remain hidden from view for almost two years.
In this location, Philae’s MUPUS hammer penetrated a soft layer before encountering an unexpectedly hard surface a few centimetres below the surface.
Philae ‘listened’ to the hammering with its feet, recording the vibrations that passed through the comet.
This was the first time since the Apollo 17 mission to the Moon in 1972 that active seismic measurements were conducted on a celestial body.
cont.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Rosetta/Philae_s_extraordinary_comet_landing_relived
https://blogs.esa.int/10-years-since-rosetta/
Earth from space: Giant 'phantom lake' dotted with stripy gold islands shimmers in Australian outback
November 12, 2024
This satellite snap shows dozens of stripy, golden islands shimmering in the shallow waters of a giant temporary lake that provides a refuge for wildlife in one of Australia's most extreme environments.
Lake Mackay, also known by local Indigenous people as Wilkinkarra, is one of Australia's many ephemeral salt lakes — temporary bodies of water that appear only after heavy rain and flooding.
It is located along the border between Western Australia and the Northern Territory in the Great Sandy Desert, which covers around 110,000 square miles (285,000 square kilometers) and is the second-largest desert in the Australian outback.
When the lake is full, it covers around 1,800 square miles (4,700 square km), making it Australia's fourth-largest lake behind Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner, which are all also ephemeral, according to Australian Geographic.
It becomes salty due to a high concentration of minerals in the lake bed.
The lake's depth varies, but when it is full, its waters are likely between 20 inches (50 centimeters) and "several meters" deep, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.
Depending on how much rainwater ends up in the basin, Lake Mackay can persist for up to six months at a time.
In this image, the lake is slightly over half full. Dozens of golden islands stand out in a sea of blues and greens: The darker patches stretching between the chunks of land are standing water puddled in the lake's deepest points, while the lighter hues are desert vegetation, algae or moist soils, according to the Earth Observatory.
The largest islands in Lake Mackay are covered with strange parallel lines running from east to west.
These lines are permanent dunes cut into the ground over millions of years by wind erosion.
They mirror similar ridges that cover the Great Sandy Desert and the surrounding areas in the same direction.
Similar ephemeral lakes form in other deserts across the globe, including Badwater Basin in California's Death Valley National Park and sometimes across the Sahara Desert after extreme rainfall.
These lakes often provide a temporary haven for wildlife that spend long periods in some of the harshest environments on Earth, and Lake Mackay is no exception: It hosts more than 90 species of birds, reptiles and mammals, including rabbits and occasionally camels, which are both non-native to Australia, according to a survey carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency of Western Australia.
The ephemeral lake was also home to a now-extinct species of marsupial known as the Lake Mackay hare-wallaby (Lagorchestes asomatus).
Not much is known about this species because only one complete skull has ever been found.
However, it likely lived until relatively recently because it is mentioned in records kept by Aboriginal Australians.
Lake Mackay also inspired the name for a giant lake on Saturn's largest moon Titan, named Mackay Lacus, which is around 110 miles (180 km) wide and is made up of a mix of liquid methane and liquid ethane.
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/earth-from-space-giant-phantom-lake-dotted-with-stripy-gold-islands-shimmers-in-australian-outback
Jupiter's storms and its 'potato' moon Amalthea stun in new NASA Juno probe images
November 11, 2024
NASA's Juno spacecraft has sent back stunning photos of Jupiter, including colorful, chaotic storms swirling through the planet's atmosphere.
Juno completed its 66th close flyby (also referred to as a perijove) of Jupiter on Oct. 23, during which the spacecraft traveled close to the planet's poles as well as near the world's fifth-largest moon, Amalthea.
The raw photo data captured by the spacecraft's JunoCam during the flyby was recently processed by citizen scientists using color-enhancing filters to highlight Jupiter's beauty.
The photos, shared on the mission's website, reveal intricate details of Jupiter’s stormy atmosphere, including colorful bands, turbulent cloud patterns and powerful vortices, both big and small. Citizen scientists working with the raw image data, which is available to the public online, increased the contrast of the images captured in visible light to emphasize the planet's striking color variation.
One of the photos, processed by citizen scientist Jackie Branc, captures a Folded Filamentary Region (FFR), which is an area generally found at Jupiter's subpolar latitudes.
FFRs are characterized by billowing white clouds and thread-like structures, called filaments, that form the planet's chaotic, swirling storms.
Juno also snapped pictures of Jupiter's potato-shaped inner moon, named Amalthea.
With a radius of only 52 miles (84 kilometers), Amalthea is significantly smaller than Earth's moon.
Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt adjusted the white balance of the photo of Amalthea to brighten the moon and isolate it from the dark background of space.
Juno, which has been in orbit around Jupiter since July 2016, is operating on an extended mission that was originally expected to end in July 2021.
Now, the spacecraft is in its last year of observation and is scheduled to intentionally plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere in September 2025, where it will burn up to conclude its mission.
During its time in orbit around Jupiter, Juno has delivered thousands of high-resolution images of the planet's atmosphere and several of its moons.
In turn, this data helps scientists better understand the planet’s complex and variable atmosphere, as well as its formation and evolution.
https://www.space.com/the-universe/jupiter/jupiters-storms-and-its-potato-moon-amalthea-stun-in-new-nasa-juno-probe-images
https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing?source=all&featured=1&ob_from=&ob_to=&phases%5B%5D=PERIJOVE+66&perpage=16
https://www.space.com/project-mercury-monument-time-capsule-60-years
At 60 years, monument to NASA's Project Mercury still stands, but what of its time capsule?
November 11, 2024
A 60-year-old tribute to America's first human spaceflight program is standing up to the test of time, but what about the contents of its time capsule not to be opened until 2464?
The Project Mercury Monument located at the Cape Canaveral launch pad from where NASA astronauts first flew into Earth orbit was dedicated on Nov. 10, 1964 "to the thousands of men and women of the free world who contributed to the success" of the United States' "pioneering man-in-space program."
The primary feature of the installation is a 13-foot-tall (4 meters) sculpture of the symbol for the planet Mercury with the number "7" at its center representing the nation's original seven astronauts.
The symbol was made by Washington Steel of Pennsylvania using the same metal alloy as the company developed for the Atlas rockets that launched four of NASA's Mercury astronauts from Launch Complex-14 (LC-14).
"The monument is standing up surprisingly very well," said James Draper, director of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum, in an interview with collectSPACE.com.
"The Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is one of the worst preservation environments in the world. We contend with challenges every day out here at the museum.
We have intense sun; the salty ocean breeze — not only salty, but ionized; bad and intense tropical storms; exotic pests; and high humidity. All kinds of things that don't bode well for the preservation of anything."
"I'm astonished with the preservation of the Mercury monument," said Draper. "So whatever that steel is, it's some sort of miracle metal.
I have inspected it fairly thoroughly and can't find any active corrosion or rust, while everything else on the Cape rots without significant attention."
Encased in the monument's concrete base is a time capsule containing technical reports, photos, recordings and other memorabilia related to Project Mercury.
The sealed metal box is not to be opened until 2464, 500 years after the monument's dedication.
"I'm a little skeptical to believe there's much integrity left to a lot of the materials that are in that time capsule," said Draper.
"Now, if that box is made of that same 'miracle' steel, there is a possibility that things are fairly well protected from the exterior elements of Florida, but I will guarantee you that they are not protected from the inherent vice of the materials themselves."
"Wood, pulp, paper materials, films and photographic prints are all inherently unstable pieces that I guarantee, even if they did a nitrogen swab and sealed it so that Godzilla himself couldn't pry it open, the materials inside will eat themselves up over the course of 500 years," he said.
The items placed inside the time capsule were first sealed within "special plastic containers," according to documents from General Dynamics, the company that organized and underwrote the creation of the monument.
Twenty-six still photos showing highlights from the Mercury program were "specially prepared" following the advice of the Eastman Kodak Company and the American Standards Association.
Other contents included (skip ahead now if you want to be surprised in 440 years):
Proceedings of the Mercury-Atlas Booster Reliability Workshop conducted in San Diego, California on July 12 1963;
The results of the first, second and third crewed orbital spaceflights, as well an overview of the entire Mercury project, including the fourth orbital flight;
James Grimwood's "Project Mercury: A Chronology," published in 1963;
Proceedings from a 1960 review of the space program held before the Committee on Science and Astronautics in the House of Representatives; a report on Project Mercury prepared by the same committee in 1961; and a 1962 report to the U.S. Congress on the status of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs;
A hardcover copy of "We Seven: By the Astronauts Themselves," published by Simon & Schuster in 1962;
"Aeronautics: Past and Future" by J.R. Dempsey, president of General Dynamics and a collection of prophecies by "distinguished Americans of man's employment in space in 2063 A.D." as compiled for the fifth anniversary of the dedication of the General Dynamics/Astronautics facility in San Diego in 1963;
One deck of General Dynamics "space cards;"
"Friendship 7," an hour-long color film about John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 orbital spaceflight and voice countdown excerpts from each of the Mercury missions;
A 1:65th scale desktop model of a Mercury-Atlas launch vehicle.
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Other examples of each of those items exist outside of the time capsule as well, with many, if not all of the photos, films and documents having been scanned and archived online.
One irreplaceable artifact, though, is rumored, but not confirmed, to also be inside.
"According to a document in the UCF [University of Central Florida] archives, 'contents of the time capsule are said to include John Glenn's Marine Corps pilot wings…,' Draper told collectSPACE.
"I have looked at a whole bunch of other sources trying to confirm that, and so far I have been unable to do so. So who knows? It could be in there. It could also be in hands of the family or tucked away in a museum."
The Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum is today responsible for the care of the monument, but also has support from the station's cultural resource manager and a historian at nearby Patrick Space Force Base. While the Mercury 7 symbol remains in stable condition and there is nothing that can done about the time capsule, they are monitoring one other component of the 60-year-old installation.
"One of my concerns are the bronze plaques that accompany it. They are showing some surface-level patina damage," said Draper.
"Different bronzes age in different forms and it's nothing aggressive, but we've tried working with our cultural resource manager on some surface treatments."
As the primary plaque reads, the monument stands 2,200 feet (670 m) west of LC-14.
At the time of its dedication 60 years ago, the pad was in the process of being converted from supporting the Atlas rockets that launched astronauts Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Gordon Cooper to being used to launch the Atlas-Agena rockets that served as uncrewed targets for the subsequent Gemini program missions.
LC-14 was deactivated in 1967, abandoned in place in 1973 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1984.
Today, after seeing no launch activity for 58 years, the pad is being prepared for use again, this time by Stoke Space, a Washington-based company developing a reusable rocket intended to fly daily.
Unlike another historical marker that was located at the base of the LC-14 launch ramp and was recently moved into storage due to the work at the pad, there are no plans to relocate the Project Mercury Monument.
"It is in a fairly protected spot. There is no construction in the works or in the planning stages for that space that I see that could bring the monument or its time capsule into any form of peril," said Draper.
"If something like that does arise, the museum is standing by to take an active role in securing it, either for a move to a safe location, to the museum, or whatever. That is a discussion for another day."
That is indeed fortunate given the other intention of the Project Mercury Monument, as noted by an inscription in Latin.
Borrowed from the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul's Cathedral in London, "Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice" translates in English to, "If you seek a monument, look about you."
The quote serves as a reminder that all of Cape Canaveral is a monument to the nation's achievements in space, as General Dynamics described in 1964.
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I'll take a vacation on Risa when this is all over, please
Chinese commercial Lijian-1 rocket launches 15 satellites
November 11, 2024
China is looking to provide greater support for its commercial space sector through policy changes, easing of licensing restrictions and increased access to resources.
Li Guoping, chief engineer of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) discussed potential changes during a keynote speech at the Zhuhai Commercial Space Development Forum held in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, Nov. 11.
The forum focused on modernization of the commercial space governance system and governance capabilities and cultivating a self-sustaining commercial space sector.
Li proposed advancing shared development of commercial space actors through cooperation with nationally-funded entities.
This includes opening large-scale facilities funded by the government to commercial space enterprises.
Such activities have already taken place in China, with the country’s main space contractor, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) providing a level of access to its test and assembly facilities to commercial launch service providers.
Furthermore, Li calls for encouraging state-owned enterprises to support commercial space companies within the supply chain.
Granting access to national satellite data to unlock dormant data resources and establishing a unified, authoritative and open standardization system were measures also mentioned.
Li said commercial space in China has flourished in recent years, covering a wide range of business scope, according to a CNSA report. A number of excellent enterprises have emerged, making important contributions to the high-quality development of the country’s space industry, Li added.
China’s central government last year designated commercial space as a strategic emerging sector for the first time.
A number of Chinese provinces and cities have since introduced or are developing action plans to attract and nurture space companies and clusters.
Licensing changes, restriction removal
Li also said CNSA is working with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which develops and implements strategies and plans for national economic and social development, to develop a national civilian space infrastructure medium- and long-term development plan to cover the period 2026-2035, according to a Chinese language online technology portal.
The plan will create further space for the development of commercial space and consider the relaxation of restrictions on commercial remote sensing satellites, Li said.
Measures and areas under study include Industry access, including strengthening the licensing of scientific research and production activities, strengthening the management of permits for rockets, large-scale experiments and test facilities.
Notably, licensing management of crewed commercial flights is listed. Other possibilities include removing restrictions on the development and production of satellites with a mass of more than 500 kilograms, and optimizing satellite development and the launch licensing processes.
The Zhuhai forum also saw the launch of the “Zhuhai initiative for safe, regulated, orderly, and healthy development of commercial space” to guide the sector’s growth.
Regulating China’s commercial space firms came into focus in June this year. Commercial firm Space Pioneer narrowly avoided disaster when a Tianlong-3 first stage static-fire test saw the stage escape its clamps and climb into the sky.
The test took place near inhabited areas but the stage crashed into a mountainside.
China has a number of companies engaged in developing reusable medium-lift launch vehicles and plans for numerous commercial constellations, including the planned 14,000-satellite Qianfan, or Thousand Sails, constellation.
Cultivating a strong commercial space sector aligns with China’s national goals of increasing its space capabilities and overall national power.
Officials from more than 10 countries and international organizations, government departments, academia, industry representatives, and more than 90 commercial space companies from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and more attended the forum, according to CNSA.
https://spacenews.com/chinas-space-agency-to-boost-support-for-commercial-space-sector/
Wrong headline, should be:
China’s space agency to boost support for commercial space sector
Chinese commercial Lijian-1 rocket launches 15 satellites
November 11, 2024
Chinese commercial rocket sent 15 satellites into orbit late Sunday, including launch service provider CAS Space’s first international payload.
The Lijian-1 (Kinetica-1) solid rocket lifted off at 11:03 p.m. Eastern Nov. 10 (0403 UTC, Nov. 11) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
The CAS Space launch report states the launch occurred within the “Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Area.”
The area likely refers to a growing section of Jiuquan spaceport hosting launch areas for companies including CAS Space, Landspace, Space Pioneer and others. It is one of a number of initiatives to allow China to facilitate new commercial rockets and break a bottleneck in spaceport access.
The 15 satellites launched into near polar orbit are Shiyan-26 A, B and C, Jilin-1 Gaofen 05B, Jilin-1 Pintai 02A 03, Yunyao-1 satellites 31-36, Xiguang-1 satellites 04 and 05, the Omani IRSS-1/OL-1 remote sensing satellite and Tianyan-24.
No information is provided regarding the Shiyan satellites. The name refers to an experimental and often classified series of Chinese satellites.
The pair of Jilin-1 satellites were launched for satellite manufacturer and operator Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd., (CGST), which operates the Jilin-1 constellation of high resolution remote sensing satellites.
CGST now has at least 117 satellites in orbit. The Jilin-1 Gaofen 05B satellite serves as a technology demonstrator for the high-resolution Gaofen 05 constellation.
CGST apparently aims to launch 200 such satellites by 2027 to provide daily global coverage. The company said in 2022 it aims to more than double its planned 138 satellite constellation to 300 satellites.
Jilin-1 Pintai 02A03 is a high-resolution optical remote sensing satellite that can provide users with remote sensing information services such as situation analysis and target monitoring, according to CAS Space.
The Yunyao-1 31-36 are owned by Tianjin Yunyao Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. The satellites carry GNSS occultation or long-wave infrared camera payloads to provide meteorological data.
Xiguang-1 04 and 05 were developed by Xi’an Zhongke Xiguang Aerospace Technology Co., or Xiopm Space. These are China’s first commercial high-resolution methane source detection satellites.
The former carries a methane camera, a chlorophyll camera and a multispectral camera, while the latter carries a hyperspectral camera and a panchromatic camera.
Tianyan-24 is an optical remote sensing satellite developed by Juntian Aerospace, while Oman IRSS-1/OL-1 is described as an intelligent remote sensing optical satellite developed in part by Chinese firms, through the China Great Wall Industry Corp., (CGWIC), an arm of China’s main space contractor CASC.
The international payload is notable in that it demonstrates CAS Space’s ability to negotiate with CGWIC and others to launch commercial payloads from abroad.
CGWIC has typically negotiated the launch of international payloads on CASC’s Long March rockets.
CAS Space is aiming to make international contracts part of its business operations, despite the challenges of export regimes and the dominance of SpaceX.
The Lijian-1 has a take-off weight of 135 tons, a total length of 30 meters, a core stage diameter of 2.65 meters, a fairing diameter of 2.65 meters and can carry 1,500 kilogram of payload into a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
It uses SP70 solid rocket motors from CASC.
The upcoming Kinetica-2 rocket, currently set for launch in September 2025, will enhance CAS Space’s payload capabilities to reach broader client needs, offering up to 7,800 kilograms to sun-synchronous orbit and 12,000 kg low Earth orbit.
Potential recovery tests for reuse are planned at the end of 2026. It recently secured a role launching a low-cost cargo transportation system to the Tiangong space station, and is aiming to offer suborbital tourist flights by 2027.
The launch was China’s 54th orbital launch of 2024. Upcoming missions include the launch of the Tianzhou-8 cargo resupply mission to Tiangong, expected Nov. 15, and Zhuque-2 launches from Landspace.
https://spacenews.com/chinese-commercial-lijian-1-rocket-launches-15-satellites/
CMSAF visits Vandenberg SFB
Nov. 12, 2024
Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David Flosi discussed reoptimizing for Great Power Competition and the role of the Air Force and Space Force in ensuring U.S. national security during an all call at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Nov. 6.
Flosi’s visit emphasized the Air Force and Space Force commitment to ensuring U.S. national security and their role in GPC. As the highest-ranking enlisted member of the Air Force, his insights and perspectives are most valuable to the service and the nation.
During his visit, Flosi had the opportunity to watch a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launch, as well as take time to interact with the Guardians and Airmen on the installations, answering their questions and providing guidance on various topics.
“The launch was successful last night,” Flosi said to the Guardians, Airmen and civilians in attendance at an all-call.
“It’s amazing to have the capability to go from zero to 4,200 miles down range at an average speed of Mach 11 and on target with multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles.”
Flosi also took the opportunity to recognize the hard work and dedication of Guardians and Airmen, emphasizing the importance of their contributions to the Air Force, Space Force and the nation.
“In Great Power Competition, there is nothing that can be done in the Defense Department without the Air Force and Space Force,” Flosi said.
“With the transformation of this department, we must operate smarter, cleaner, have critically thinking leaders at all levels to guide our Airmen and Guardians to be successful in a new strategic environment.”
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3961825/cmsaf-visits-vandenberg-sfb/