Space Stories: NASA Probes the Northern Lights, India Announces New Telescopes, and Titan May Be a Moon Merger

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Image (Credit): The northern lights from October 2013 as captured by Astronaut Mike Hopkins aboard the International Space Station. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Space.com “NASA Launches Twin Rocket Missions from Alaska to Study Mysterious Black Auroras“

NASA launched two rockets from Alaska this week to learn more about the electrical “circuitry” within auroras, the colorful light shows that occur when solar wind collides with Earth’s atmosphere. The missions saw two suborbital sounding rockets launch from the Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks, Alaska loaded with scientific equipment that will fly into the atmosphere for a short period of time to gather data. The destination for the rockets in both missions was the northern lights, or aurora borealis.

—Physics World “India Announces Three New Telescopes in the Himalayan Desert“

India has unveiled plans to build two new optical-infrared telescopes and a dedicated solar telescope in the Himalayan desert region of Ladakh. The three new facilities, expected to cost INR 35bn (about £284m), were announced by the Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 1 February.

—SETI Institute: “Saturn’s Moon Titan Could Have Formed in a Merger of Two Old Moons“

Recent research suggests that Saturn’s bright rings and its largest moon, Titan, may have both originated in collisions among its moons. While Cassini’s 13-year mission expanded our understanding of Saturn, the discoveries of its young rings and Titan’s rapidly shifting orbit raised new questions. Now, a study led by SETI Institute scientist Matija Ćuk proposes an explanation linking the formation of the moons and rings, centering on the possibility that Titan is the product of a moon merger.

The Successful Launch of the NISAR Satellite

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Image (Credit): The NISAR satellite and its casing. (ISRO)

Earlier today the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite was successfully launched from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre. ISRO stands for the Indian Space Research Organisation, which is India’s national space agency.

This first of its kind mission between NASA and India puts into orbit the NISAR satellite that can see the Earth in a new way, detecting the smallest of changes in the Earth’s surface from its 464 mile high orbit, including ground deformation, ice sheet movement, and vegetation dynamics. The addition list of satellite capabilities on the ISRO site include:

…sea ice classification, ship detection, shoreline monitoring, storm characterization, changes in soil moisture, mapping & monitoring of surface water resources and disaster response.

NASA’s Earth Science division director, Karen St. Germain, stated:

Observations from NISAR will provide new knowledge and tangible benefits for communities both in the U.S. and around the world…This launch marks the beginning of a new way of seeing the surface of our planet so that we can understand and foresee natural disasters and other changes in our Earth system that affect lives and property.

This will be useful information given that we run the risk of reverse-terraforming our Earth.

2024 Space Hightlights – Missions

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): An artist’s rendering of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft over Europa. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Another list worth highlighting at year-end covers all of the space missions from 2024. For example, this list from Freethink, “the top 10 space stories of 2024,” includes the launch of the Europa Clipper, China’s Chang’e 6 round-trip to the Moon, and a successful commercial launch to the Moon (Odysseus lunar lander).

Here are some other lists of missions from 2024:

Note: The Awesome-Universe list of top missions looking back in 2024 include:

ISS May Soon Have an Indian Astronaut

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Image (Credit): India’s Vikram lander on the Moon’s surface. (India Space Research Organization)

A U.S. official speaking in India promised that an Indian astronaut would be on the International Space Station (ISS) soon, maybe by year end. The Hindustan Times reports that the comments were made by U.S. Envoy Eric Garcetti at the US-India Commercial Space Conference: Unlocking Opportunities for US & Indian Space Startups.

Mr. Garcetti was quoted as stating:

NASA will soon provide advanced training to Indian astronauts, with the goal of mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station, hopefully, this year or shortly thereafter, which was one of the promises of our leaders’ visit together.

India already has a growing space program, including last year’s rover mission on the Moon, yet this is a smart move by the U.S. It is similar to Russian efforts to expand the list of visitors to the ISS.

Space Stories: DART Damage, India Plans for Orbiting Crew, and SLIM Awakes on the Moon

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Image (Credit): Illustration of how DART’s impact altered the orbit of Dimorphos about Didymos. (https://dart.jhuapl.edu/)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—NDTV: “NASA’s Mission Not Only Altered Asteroid’s Path, But Its Shape Too, Says New Study“

A recent study suggests NASA’s DART mission, designed to test asteroid deflection methods, may have revealed more than planned. While successfully altering the target asteroid’s trajectory, scientists now believe the impact also significantly changed its shape, hinting at a surprising composition. Previously thought to be a solid rock, Dimorphos, the impacted asteroid, may actually be a loose collection of debris. This conclusion stems from the unexpected level of deformation observed after the collision. Unlike a typical crater, the impact appears to have caused a broader, flatter dent, resembling an M&M candy.

—Reuters: “India Announces Four-member Crew for ‘Gaganyaan’ Space Mission“

India on Tuesday introduced four crew members for its maiden ‘Gaganyaan’ space voyage, as it aims to become the world’s fourth country to send a crewed mission into space just months after a historic landing on the south pole of the moon. Gaganyaan, or “sky craft” in Hindi, is the first mission of its kind for India and will cost about 90.23 billion rupees ($1.1 billion). It involves the launch of a habitable space capsule over the next year to an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) and its return via a landing in the Indian Ocean.

—SpaceNews.com: “Japan’s SLIM Moon Lander Stages Unexpected Revival After Lunar Night“

Japan’s space agency made contact with its SLIM moon lander Sunday, despite the spacecraft not being expected to function after lunar night. Contact with the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft was reestablished on Sunday, Feb. 25, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced via its dedicated SLIM account on X, formerly known as Twitter, early Feb. 26.