All Eyes on the Next Moon Mission

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission on the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (SpaceX)

The second NASA-related commercial Moon mission was set to launch earlier today, but SpaceX called it off at the last moment due to a methane issue with its Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX is expected to try the launch tomorrow.

The launch of the Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission is related to NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, and will serve as one of the first lunar-based pieces of the Artemis program.

In terms of the main mission, NASA noted:

Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander is expected to land on the Moon Thursday, Feb. 22. Among the items on its lander, the IM-1 mission will carry NASA science and technology instruments focusing on plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies.

The Moon mission that failed last month was also part of NASA’s CLPS initiative. This program is off to a slow start, but hopefully it can be relied on to be a key component of the lunar space program going forward.

If you are looking for some good news, I can report that Russia’s Progress MS-26 International Space Station resupply mission successfully launched earlier today.

Space Stories: A Test of Space Suits, Water Detected on Asteroids, and China’s Growing Space Program

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Recent test of the space suit being built by Collins Aerospace. (Collins Aerospace)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—The Verge: “One of NASA’s New Spacesuits Passes Microgravity Test“

Collins Aerospace, a private company hired to create spacesuits for use outside the International Space Station (ISS), has tested its suit aboard a commercial microgravity flight, passing a milestone that lets engineers move forward toward critical design review…During the test, the plane executed “roller-coaster-like maneuvers” to induce weightlessness and allow someone wearing a prototype to see if it actually lets someone move around in it under those conditions.

—Newsweek: “NASA Data Detects Water on Asteroids for the First Time Ever“

Water has been found on the surface of two asteroids for the first time, scientists said in a new paper. Two silicate-rich asteroids were detected by the retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) that were giving off a specific wavelength of light that indicated the presence of molecules of water, according to research published in The Planetary Science Journal. The discovery may have major implications for theories about how water initially made its way to our own planet. It could have been delivered via asteroid impact.

—Astronomy.com: “China is Embarking on a Science and Exploration Program of Staggering Scale“

When China’s first lunar lander, Chang’e 3, touched down in Mare Imbrium on the Moon in 2013, it was the pinnacle of the country’s space endeavors. The robotic lander and its small Yutu rover companion were the first spacecraft to operate on the Moon since the 1970s, and provided new insights into our planet’s natural satellite…Since then, China’s space activities have exploded in range, frequency, and ambition. The country now rivals the U.S. for the most launches per year, with around 80 missions having been planned for 2023. The nation has its own modular space station, named Tiangong, which is expected to be continuously occupied by a rotating crew of three astronauts for at least a decade.

The Goldilocks Zone Turned Awfully Cold for Earth

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of a “Snowball Earth.” (NASA)

We point of telescopes at distant solar systems searching for exoplanets in the “Goldilocks Zone,” it being defined as the habitable zone around a star where water can remain in liquid form. But that was not always the case for planet Earth, even if we are the model for this zone.

A recent New York Times article, “How Earth Might Have Turned Into a Snowball,” discusses how the Earth became a frozen ball about 717 million years ago. And it remained in this deep freeze for approximately 56 million years.

While the article goes on to discuss the reasons for this freeze, I am more interested in the idea of what this may mean for our own plans to someday travel to a distant star.

If a civilization on another planet was viewing our solar system from afar 750 million years ago, they too may have mistaken our Earth as a perfectly place planet to support life on its surface. However, they would have needed to wait another 23 million years for our planet to revert back to having a liquid surface.

It appears timing is everything, and the inner workings of a planet can be just as important as its placement in the solar system. I expect our telescopes will be able to tease our more information about each exoplanet in the future, though it also makes sense to send robotic probes before ever attempting to send a human that far.

In the meantime, we have a few moons here in our own solar system with frozen oceans. We can start to learn more about the potential for life in such places and our ability to survive in such climates. NASA’s Europa Clipper, set to launch later this year, is part of that learning process.

Study Findings: A Recently Formed Ocean Inside Saturn’s Moon Mimas

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Saturn’s moon Mimas and its large Herschel Crater. The moon is also referred to as the “Death Star” from Star Wars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

Nature  abstract of the study findings:

Moons potentially harbouring a global ocean are tending to become relatively common objects in the Solar System. The presence of these long-lived global oceans is generally betrayed by surface modification owing to internal dynamics. Hence, Mimas would be the most unlikely place to look for the presence of a global ocean. Here, from detailed analysis of Mimas’s orbital motion based on Cassini data, with a particular focus on Mimas’s periapsis drift, we show that its heavily cratered icy shell hides a global ocean, at a depth of 20–30 kilometres. Eccentricity damping implies that the ocean is likely to be less than 25 million years old and still evolving. Our simulations show that the ocean–ice interface reached a depth of less than 30 kilometres only recently (less than 2–3 million years ago), a time span too short for signs of activity at Mimas’s surface to have appeared.

Citation: Lainey, V., Rambaux, N., Tobie, G. et al. A recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon Mimas. Nature 626, 280–282 (2024).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06975-9

Study-related stories:

Movie: Rebel Moon on Netflix

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Movie advertisement for Rebel Moon. (Nexflix)

In an earlier post, I mentioned those movies you don’t need to see until they come to your television. What is even easier is when they start on the television, as is the case with Netflix’s Rebel Moon.

Released in mid-December, and labeled as “Part One: A Child of Fire,” you may be witnessing the start of an interesting new series or the creation of content for it’s own sake. I have yet to decide myself.

Here is the trailer, which tells you a good part of the story. That, and this teaser from Netflix:

When the ruthless forces of the Motherworld threaten a quiet farming village on a distant moon, a mysterious outsider becomes its best hope for survival.

The movie has some decent special effects to go along with the usual well-worn tropes:

  • An empire with troublesome planets at the edges, similar to Star Wars and Foundation? Check.
  • Desert planet hosting an individual important to the empire, similar to Star Wars? Check.
  • Desert planet with wild saloons where you battle bounty hunters and hire rogue ships and pilots, similar to Star Wars? Check.
  • Confused robot not sure about its path, similar to Lost in Space? Check.
  • Ragtag band fighting evil, similar to Guardians of the Galaxy? Check.

The list could go on and on, with elements of Conan the Barbarian, Star Trek’s Borg Queen, Vikings: Valhalla, and Firefly thrown in as well. Oh yeah, and an evil empire where the officers where Nazi SS uniforms and are followed by masked religious figures similar to the ones you see in Dune.

The only redeeming portion of this film comes after the first half when the battle scenes and reincarnation of a key character provide some interesting twists. It may not save the entire effort, but it did add to the fun.

Part Two: The Scargiver will be released on April 19th. It is supposed to be the second and final episode of Rebel Moon.

Will I watch it? Probably. Am I recommending you watch it yourself? Not really, unless you need to kill a few hours. It can be interesting, if only to create your own list of well-worn tropes.