“You’re doing this cool thing…You’re also going to be like really worked to death.”
-Comment by Griffin Rahn, who is earning his aerospace master’s degree at Georgia Tech, in a Fortune article titled “NASA is Struggling to Compete with Bezos, Musk and Their 6-figure Salaries for Starting Aerospace Engineers at Blue Origin and SpaceX.” The title of the article is self-explanatory. See any earlier posting for more on NASA’s troubles maintaining a work-life balance.
Here are some recent stories of interest.
—Space.com: “New NASA Astronauts ‘Thrilled’ to See 1st Boeing Starliner Crew Launch in May“
A new spacecraft will at last launch its first crew in May, and a fresh group of NASA astronauts say they’re excited to support it. NASA’s newest astronaut group graduated from basic training on March 5, just in time for the first Boeing Starliner test launch with astronauts, which is now expected in May…When it’s up and running, Starliner will regularly carry astronauts to and from the ISS alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle, which began its own astronaut flights in 2020. The newest astronaut cohort can’t wait to climb on board the Boeing craft.
—Sky & Telescope: “Giant Ancient Volcano Discovered on Mars“
It’s not every day that a giant volcano is discovered hiding in plain sight. By reviewing satellite imagery from many missions, scientists have spotted the remains of a colossal volcano on Mars. The volcano, provisionally named “Noctis Mons,” had been imaged repeatedly since the early 1970s, but extensive erosion had concealed it from view. Researchers have also spotted hints at an adjacent glacier buried underneath the volcanic slopes. Noctis Mons is located near the Martian equator, in the eastern part of the Tharsis volcanic province, sandwiched between the vast canyons of Valles Marineris and the fractured maze-like terrain of Noctis Labyrinthus.
—University of Ottawa: “New Research Suggests that Our Universe has No Dark Matter“
The current theoretical model for the composition of the universe is that it’s made of ‘normal matter,’ ‘dark energy’ and ‘dark matter.’…A University of Ottawa study published today challenges the current model of the universe by showing that, in fact, it has no room for dark matter...This discovery challenges the prevailing understanding of the universe, which suggests that roughly 27% of it is composed of dark matter and less than 5% of ordinary matter, remaining being the dark energy.
Earlier this week, Japanese cargo was launched towards space by two commercial companies. Unfortunately, only of the rockets made it into space.
On March 13, US company Rocket Lab launched a payload for Japan’s Synspective, an Earth-imaging company, from its launch site in New Zealand. The launch was successful and the StriX-3 satellite was placed into Earth orbit.
The second launch on the same day by Japan’s Space One, which would have been the first commercial launch by a Japanese firm, ended quickly when the rocket burst into flames just a few seconds after liftoff. The rocket was carrying a mock-up of a government spy satellite.
Space One President Masakazu Toyoda stated, “We will find out the cause as soon as possible and clarify our measures to prevent a recurrence.”
Getting it right may take time, as we are seeing with SpaceX’s Starship. Japan wants to maintain strong launch capabilities in both the public and private sectors, and this is just part of the process to make that happen.
This week’s image shows the Odysseus lunar lander as it is about to touch the Moon’s surface. It tipped over upon landing.
Here is the statement about the image from Initiative Machines:
This image retrieved from the lander on February 27 captures Odysseus’ landing strut during landing on February 22nd performing its primary task, absorbing first contact with the lunar surface. Meanwhile, the lander’s liquid methane and liquid oxygen engine is still throttling, which provided stability. The Company believes the two insights captured in this image enabled Odysseus to gently lean into the lunar surface, preserving the ability to return scientific data.
NASA tried to put its best spin on the science coming out of the tilted lander, which suffered solar array and communication issues related to its tilted position, stating:
Mission challenges and successes were discussed during the briefing including more than 350 megabits of science data downloaded ready for analysis. During transit, all powered NASA payloads operated and received data. During descent and landing, guidance and navigation data was collected that will help improve landing precision in the future, and all three payloads that were designed to operate on the surface have received data.
What is left unsaid is whether the data received during this landing was close to what was anticipated and necessary for future safe missions. Saying some data was received does not tell us much. Only complete and useful data really matters here. I expect more information will be shared shortly.
I have not read too much about the fate of the other commercial cargoes. I doubt they fared much better.
Fortunately, the lunar lander communicated with Earth until early this morning, outlasting earlier expectations.
Could it come alive again like the Japanese lander? We shall see. As Intuitive Machines said earlier today, “Goodnight, Odie. We hope to hear from you again.”
Well, that was quick. Odysseus may run out of power today given its rough landing, prematurely ending the second US mission to the Moon this year, both of which had problems. It is really amazing that we landed humans on the Moon multiple times for days at a time when you consider the wreckage added to the Moon since then. I know the south pole is a different scenario, but this is where we want to be next. It is looking more and more difficult to do.
Intuitive Machines issued its latest update yesterday:
Odysseus continues to communicate with flight controllers in Nova Control from the lunar surface. After understanding the end-to-end communication requirements, Odysseus sent images from the lunar surface of its vertical descent to its Malapert A landing site, representing the furthest south any vehicle has been able to land on the Moon and establish communication with ground controllers…Flight controllers intend to collect data until the lander’s solar panels are no longer exposed to light. Based on Earth and Moon positioning, we believe flight controllers will continue to communicate with Odysseus until Tuesday morning.
It also appears that human error was at the center of the rough landing. Reuters reported yesterday that problems with the range finders related to Intuitive Machine’s decision not to conduct a test firing of the laser system. We learned that the range finders were “…inoperable because company engineers neglected to unlock the lasers’ safety switch before launch.” This may have saved some time and money, but we now see the results.
Mike Hansen, the company’s head of navigation systems, told Reuters:
There were certainly things we could’ve done to test it and actually fire it. They would’ve been very time-consuming and very costly…So that was a risk as a company that we acknowledged and took that risk.
The company made that decision with NASA funds on the line as well. I am not sure NASA would have been so cavalier about final testing. Human error is one thing. Commercial hubris is another. The company’s shortcut is already being reflected in its stock price.
One can certainly argue that progress is being made given that the first lander, Peregrine, never even made it to the Moon’s surface. Such trials and tribulations are to be expected. Yet I wonder if that is how all of the commercial partners see it. Both Moon missions were partially funded by private sector parties who saw their cargoes either burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere and stranded in the wrong position on the Moon. Will they continue to fund such ventures given the risks? Commercial involvement is a key part of the Artemis lunar program and it could be threatened by continuing problems.
The other question is whether these Artemis-related flights will delay the upcoming crewed missions. We should know more shortly, but you can be certain all of this is being factored into timelines being prepared by NASA.
Note: NASA had a press conference the other day on the Intuitive Machines Moon mission that can be found here.
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