TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
February 3, 2025
Wolf-Rayet Star 124: Stellar Wind Machine
Some stars explode in slow motion. Rare, massive Wolf-Rayet stars are so tumultuous and hot that they are slowly disintegrating right before our telescopes. Glowing gas globs each typically over 30 times more massive than the Earth are being expelled by violent stellar winds. Wolf-Rayet star WR 124, visible near the featured image center, is thus creating the surrounding nebula known as M1-67, which spans six light years across. Details of why this star has been slowly blowing itself apart over the past 20,000 years remains a topic of research. WR 124 lies 15,000 light-years away towards the constellation of the Arrow (Sagitta). The fate of any given Wolf-Rayet star likely depends on how massive it is, but many are thought to end their lives with spectacular explosions such as supernovas or gamma-ray bursts.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
NASA Stennis Lagniappe for February 2025
Feb 03, 2025
CONTENTS
Gator Speaks
NASA Stennis Top News
NASA Stennis Becomes Winter Wonderland
Center Activities
NASA Stennis Attends SpaceCom
NASA Attends FAN EXPO New Orleans
NASA Stennis Employee Receives Service Leadership Award
NASA in the News
Employee Profile: Tim Stiglets
Looking Back
Additional Resources
Subscription Info
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/stennis/lagniappe-for-february-2025/
NASA Attends FAN EXPO New Orleans
Feb 03, 2025
NASA reached out to inspire members of the Artemis Generation on Jan. 10-12, joining one of the largest comic con producers in the world to host an outreach booth at the 2025 FAN EXPO in New Orleans.
Thousands of fans celebrating the best in pop culture such as movies, comics, and video gaming learned about NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and its role to power space dreams.
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https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/stennis-attends-fan-expo-new-orleans/
NASA confirms PM2.5 dust in Northern Thailand is caused by burning
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 02, 2025
After completing the air quality monitoring and data collection under the ASIA-AQ project in March last year, the Thai team, led by GISTDA and various agencies, has continued its research on the data and contributing factors in collaboration with NASA.
Recently, the ASIA-AQ Science Team Meeting was held, with scientists from universities and research institutes in Thailand, including GISTDA, participating.
They met with a team of scientists from NASA, led by James H. Crawford, as well as scientists from other countries involved in the ASIA-AQ project, to discuss preliminary data analysis in Malaysia.
The initial analysis presented at the ASIA-AQ Science Team meeting revealed that biomass burning is a key factor contributing to PM 2.5 dust pollution in northern Thailand.
This conclusion is supported by several pieces of evidence, including the measurement of primary and secondary organic aerosols taken from NASA’s airborne instruments, as well as atmospheric compounds linked to combustion.
In addition, ground-based monitoring data collected by researchers from the Republic of Korea in Chiang Mai during the ASIA-AQ Campaign was also considered.
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https://www.nationthailand.com/news/general/40045855
Lieber Institute: How to Stop Space Nukes
February 3, 2025
How could the US respond to an adversary such as Russia or China nuclearizing space? The Lieber Institute at West Point released a plan on Friday sharing potential responses for a hypothetical that no one ever wants to become reality.
In the paper, Maj. Brian Green, the chief of space and operations law for Space Training and Readiness Command, laid out the legal and geopolitical options available to the US government to stem the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other WMDs in orbit.
Soft-power: While governments have long been placing military and surveillance sats in orbit, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 specifically bans putting nuclear weapons and WMDs in orbit.
However, without an enforcement mechanism, some signatories are taking steps to potentially violate the treaty—most recently when the DoD confirmed last year that Russia is developing a space-based nuclear weapon.
Green’s first recommendation, unsurprisingly, is to push peace through diplomacy.
Only when diplomacy fails should the US look to retaliate, which could include imposing sanctions and severing diplomatic ties.
The stick: Countermeasures and self-defense may be the only ways to hinder Russia’s nuclear space ambitions, according to Green.
If Russia were to deploy a nuclear weapon in space, the West would be obligated and entitled to respond.
Countermeasures could include interference with the communications systems, offensive cyber operations, or any other non-forcible measure to disrupt, disable, or delay the system’s use.
As a last resort, the UN Charter allows for its signatories to engage in self-defense, and Green argues this would include the use of preemptive attacks if Russia is determined to use a nuclear space weapon.
The bottom line: Green’s recommendation is for the US to prevent a WMD from making it to space in the first place.
Covert or overt action against a nuclear space weapon development facility, he argued, should be utilized if other options run out. The US should push for peaceful solutions, but not rule out the use of force.
“A cloud of space debris from one dead illegal space weapon should be less worrisome than the risk of that weapon being used to wipe out a vast number of active satellites and render low Earth orbit uninhabitable,” Green said.
https://payloadspace.com/lieber-institute-how-to-stop-space-nukes/
https://lieber.westpoint.edu/countering-space-based-weapons-mass-destruction-2/
Mass. man’s ashes to be launched into space
February 2, 2025 11:18 AM
The daughter of a Cape Cod man who passed away in 2021 will honor her father by launching his ashes into space.
The cremains of David Allen Lavender will blast into space on a Celestis Memorial Spaceflight mission known as Serenity, according to a Celestis spokesperson.
Lavender, a Mashpee resident, was 65 years old when he passed away on Jan. 28, 2021. The cosmic journey is meant to fulfill Lavender’s last wish.
“Ever since he was young, David wished to be an astronaut,” Celestis said in a press release. “He had a deep love and infatuation with all things space-related.
When he was little, he memorized all seven of the original astronauts and made sure to always stay up to date on and watch all of NASA’s missions.”
The memorial flight is scheduled for mid-2025 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Serenity Flight will launch into Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9.
The launch service will be provided by ABOVE Space, through SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare program.
“We are honored and pleased to have David on board Serenity”, said Charles M. Chafer Co-Founder and CEO of Celestis, Inc.
“Our memorial spaceflights are tributes to a life well-lived and to those who are reaching the stars.”
Lavender worked as a local news editor and videographer, but also had an avid interest in outer space and sci-fi, according to Celestis.
He built and launched his own rockets and constructed a large version of the International Space Station, which he donated to a local school for educational purposes.
Lavender was also a fan of “Star Trek” and other science fiction.
“David made it very clear that whenever he passed, it was his wish to have his ashes launched into space,” Celestis said in a press release.
The Serenity flight will be housed in ABOVE Space’s Prometheus Spark satellite and will carry a symbolic portion of each flight participant’s cremated remains or DNA.
It will be deployed into low Earth orbit and circle the planet for nearly a decade before reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, where it will blaze and disintegrate like a shooting star.
The flight will be Celestis’ twelfth Earth orbit mission and its 24th overall mission since its 1994 founding. Reservations for the memorial launch will be open until March 1.
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/02/02/mass-mans-ashes-to-be-launched-into-space/
Rocket Lab delays launch due to space collision concern
February 3, 2025
Editor's note: Rocket Lab has delayed the launch of the IOT 4 You and Me mission in order to ensure the mission does not interfere with "space traffic from other satellites and the ISS," according to a company statement on X.
A new launch date has not yet been set.
Rocket Lab is set to launch five "Internet of Things" satellites this week after a delay, and you can watch the action live.
A 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron rocket carrying five spacecraft for the French company Kinéis is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site once the company determines it has a safe launch opportunity.
Rocket Lab stood down from a launch opportunity on Feb. 3 in order to ensure the mission has no risk of interfering with other spacecraft in orbit and that "it's safe to merge onto the space highway," the company wrote on X.
Rocket Lab will webcast the mission, which it calls "IOT 4 You and Me," at its website beginning about 30 minutes before launch. Space.com will carry the feed as well, if the company makes it available.
The launch is the fourth of five that Rocket Lab will conduct to build out Kinéis' 25-nanosatellite constellation in low Earth orbit.
Once that constellation is fully up and running, the French company will be able to "connect any object from anywhere in the world and transmit useful data from these objects to users in near real time," Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description.
"This data is a decision-making tool that can be used to optimize activities while reducing risks, thanks to three essential functions: tracking, monitoring and alerting," the company added.
If all goes according to plan today, the five Kinéis satellites will be deployed into a 401-mile-high (646 kilometers) circular orbit 66.5 minutes after launch.
"IOT 4 You and Me" will be Rocket Lab's first launch of 2025. In 2024, the California-based company launched a total of 16 missions — 14 orbital flights with Electron and two suborbital jaunts with HASTE, a modified version of the rocket that helps customers test hypersonic technology.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/watch-rocket-lab-launch-5-internet-of-things-satellites-iot-4-you-and-me
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/next-mission/
https://x.com/RocketLab/status/1886347161526538542
SpaceX Maxar 3 Mission
February 3, 6:32 p.m. ET
SpaceX is targeting Monday, February 3 for launch of the Maxar 3 mission to orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The 60-minute window opens at 6:32 p.m. ET. If needed, a backup launch opportunity is available on Tuesday, February 4 with a 60-minute window opening at 6:07 p.m. ET.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This will be the fourth flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GOES-U and two Starlink missions.
After stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=maxar3