Space Stories: A Swift End, ESA Considers New Approach, and a Real 3-Body System

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Swift space telescope in orbit. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—LiveScience: “NASA’s Swift Observatory Ends 22-year Mission to Study the Most Powerful Explosions Since the Big Bang“

A pioneering NASA space telescope is no more. In sad news for Swifties everywhere, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has officially ended its mission after more than 20 years of tracking the most powerful explosions in the universe since the Big Bang. According to a NASA announcement, the Swift team shut down the telescope’s science operations Tuesday (Oct. 20) after the observatory fell too low in its orbit to continue taking reliable measurements of the cosmos. In the coming weeks, Swift will drop even further, eventually passing a point of no return and taking a fiery plunge through Earth’s atmosphere.

—EuroNews: “Europe Weighs €10bn Plan to Launch Its Own Astronauts Ahead of Rome Space Summit“

Europe wants to stop depending on others to send its own astronauts into space. The next key date for deciding how to do that is 15 December in Rome, when the member countries of the European Space Agency (ESA) will meet to discuss the future of space exploration. On the table are multi-billion-euro investments, new technologies and one strategic issue: ensuring that Europe can reach Earth orbit with its own means, without relying exclusively on services provided by foreign companies. The summit, officially the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting 2026, comes at a time of transformation in the sector. Member states will have to assess proposals to strengthen Europe’s role in low Earth orbit, prepare for the post-International Space Station era and build the continent’s presence on the Moon, while also looking towards Mars. The aim is not to abandon international cooperation, but to take part in it with greater autonomy

—South China Morning Post: “Chinese Astronomers Find Real 3-body System. It Is Not What Liu Cixin Thinks“

In author and computer engineer Liu Cixin’s science fiction hit The Three-Body Problem, three suns throw a doomed world into chaos. Chinese astronomers say they have found a real three-star system that is far better behaved. Using FAST, the world’s biggest single-dish radio telescope in southwestern China, the researchers found two dead stars and a “living” one locked in a steady cosmic dance about 7,000 light years from Earth. One of the dead stars is a pulsar that spins more than 300 times a second, about as fast as the blades of a kitchen blender. It whirls around its partner, a white dwarf – the dim, burnt-out core of a smaller star – every eight days.

Note: Here is the podcast version of this post.

Space Quote: Complex Artemis III Plans for 2027

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: NASA.

“Every piece of this mission in Earth orbit is designed to reduce risk before we put astronauts back on the Moon…We’re launching three spacecraft on three different rockets and testing how they operate together — something NASA has never attempted. Every lesson we learn here gets us closer to landing on the Moon in 2028.”

–Statement by Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager, regarding a planned 14-day test in 2027 of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon, SpaceX’s Starship, and NASA’s Orion capsule using three different rockets (Blue Origin’s New Glenn, SpaceX’s Starship, and NASA’s Space Launch System). See the NASA image above to understand the complexity of what is planned. You can also find more information about the mission here.

Pic of the Week: Nebula Pa 30 – Space Fireworks

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Nebula Pa 30 as captured by the Gemini North Telescope. (International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSG/AURA)

This week’s image is from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii. The spectacular explosion you see here is not the end of the Death Star, but rather Nebula Pa 30.

Here is what NASA’s Astronomy Photo of the Day website has to say about this image:

It is likely the remnant of an old supernova explosion: separate historical records by Chinese, Japanese and Arabic astronomers tell of a “guest star” that appeared in the sky for 185 days in the year 1181. It is believed that this bright new point of light came from the supernova that caused the fireworks in Pa 30. Astronomers don’t know exactly what happened in this unusual explosion, classified as a Type Iax supernova, but it is thought to be caused by the merger of two white dwarfs. The mysterious central star in the image is extremely hot and produces a strong wind, possibly forming the radial filaments. Look closely at them: those pearl-like knots stringing the filaments are 4 light-days in diameter. Understanding how a supernova created this amazing nebula continues an 845-year old mystery (and counting).

A Day in Astronomy: Final Home for Space Shuttle Endeavour

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Space shuttle Endeavour being carried by NASA’s Shuttle Carrier Aircraft as it arrives at the Los Angeles International Airport in California, on Friday, September 21, 2012. (collectSPACE/Robert Z. Pearlman)

On this day in 2012, NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour arrived at the California Space Center after a 12-mile journey from the Los Angeles International Airport. Officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), the Endeavor was one of four fully-capable space shuttles operated by NASA (Space Shuttle Enterprise, the fifth space shuttle, was a prototype).

The first space shuttle to be delivered to NASA was the Columbia, delivered in 1979. Space Shuttle Endeavor was the last space shuttle to be delivered, arriving at NASA in 1991.

The space shuttles were the first orbital spacecraft designed for reuse. All of the shuttles had important mission from launching and maintaining satellites to transporting astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.

Here are a few more facts about Space Shuttle Endeavour:

  • Number of space missions: 25 from May 1992 to May 2011
  • Total miles traveled: 122,883,151
  • Total Time in space: 299 days
  • Key Mission: Repairing the Hubble Space Telescope in December 1993
Image (Credit): Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final mission patch. (California Science Center)

Space Stories: Cargo Heading to ISS, Martian Nuclear Reactors, and a Cannibal Star

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: NASA

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—NASA: “NASA’s SpaceX 35th Commercial Resupply Mission Overview”

NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Tuesday, Oct. 13 to launch scientific investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. Loaded with more than 6,300 pounds of supplies, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will lift off aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Following its arrival to the orbital complex, Dragon will autonomously dock to the space-facing port of the space station’s Harmony module.

—Ideastream: “NASA Glenn is Designing the First U.S. Nuclear Reactor in Space in More Than 60 Years“

Scientists at NASA Glenn in Cleveland are rushing to meet a two-year deadline for launching a small nuclear reactor to power the next Mars mission — the first time the U.S. has launched a nuclear reactor into space in 60 years. The mission to send three mini-helicopters to Mars will use a new nuclear electric propulsion system. NASA Glenn is designing both the reactor and the propulsion system. NASA Glenn nuclear engineer Lindsay Kaldon feels confident both will be ready in time for a federally imposed deadline of 2028. “It’s accomplishable — if that’s a word,” Kaldon said. “It’s something we can do.”

—Science Daily: “MIT Astronomers Catch a Star in a Feast That Could Last Billions of Years“

Astronomers have discovered an unusual star system about 300 light-years from Earth where a small star is gradually consuming a nearby brown dwarf. Instead of swallowing its companion in one dramatic event, the star is steadily pulling material from it, creating a cosmic feeding process that could continue for billions of years…The system, designated ZTF J0440+2325, lies within our Milky Way galaxy approximately 300 light-years away. It is the first observed example of a low-mass star steadily drawing material from another low-mass object.

Note: Here is the podcast version of this post.