Space Quote: The White House’s View of the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): View of the Earth from the Apollo 11 Command and Service Module. (NASA)

“Lunar orbit would be filled with many more satellites, including a lunar GPS network and a human space station capable of housing human astronauts that serves as a rest stop before they land on the moon’s surface. While there are no plans for a lunar city, there are proposals for a permanent outpost on the south pole of the moon, where crews might one day spend six-month rotations (China and Russia have announced plans for a lunar outpost, too). If NASA has its way, the lunar surface might eventually include a series of nuclear power plants, a resource extraction operation, and even something akin to moon internet. Given these plans, the US government estimates that the level of human activity in cislunar space over the next decade could exceed everything that’s happened there between 1957 and today, combined.”

-Quote from a November 22 Vox article, “The White House’s Plan to Colonize the Moon, Briefly Explained.” The article comments on the recently released report by the White House’s National Science & Technology Council, National Cislunar Science & Technology Strategy. By the way, the term “Cislunar space” in the report refers to “…the three-dimensional volume of space beyond Earth’s geosynchronous orbit that is mainly under the gravitational influence of the Earth and/or the Moon. Cislunar space includes the Earth-Moon Lagrange point regions…, trajectories utilizing those regions, and the Lunar surface.”

Orion Spacecraft: Successful Flyby of the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Earth is seen setting from the far side of the Moon just beyond the Orion spacecraft in this video taken on the sixth day of the Artemis I mission by a camera on the tip of one of Orion’s solar arrays. (NASA)

The Artemis I mission is going well. On day six (November 21), the Orion capsule had a successful flyby of the moon and traveled to within 81 miles of the lunar surface. After a slow start to the launch, NASA engineers must be somewhat relieved.

NASA provided an update on the mission yesterday. You can find many more details on the mission in that one hour briefing.

Stay tuned for some space records later this week, as noted by NASA:

Orion will travel about 57,287 miles beyond the Moon at its farthest point from the Moon on Nov. 25, pass the record set by Apollo 13 for the farthest distance traveled by a spacecraft designed for humans at 248,655 miles from Earth on Saturday, Nov. 26, and reach its maximum distance from Earth of 268,552 miles Monday, Nov. 28.  

And be sure to stay abreast of the mission via the Artemis blog.

Japan Supports the ISS Through 2030 and Expands Support for the Lunar Gateway

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Graphic showing Lunar Gateway elements from commercial and international partners. (NASA)

Late last week, the White House announced that Japan plans to support the operations of the International Space Station (ISS) through 2030 as well as further collaborate with the United States on the Artemis Lunar Gateway platform that will orbit the Moon.

On November 17, Vice President Kamala Harris stated:

The United States welcomes Japan’s intention to extend its support of International Space Station (ISS) operations through 2030, following the United States’ announcement of our ISS extension one year ago. In addition, our two countries are taking a step forward by reaching an agreement on collaboration on the Lunar Gateway orbiting platform, which will pave the way for the return of humanity to the Moon.

Under a previous agreement that has been expanded further, Japan’s JAXA has promised a number of contributions to the Lunar Gateway, including:

  • Critical components of the International Habitation (I-HAB) module that will provide the heart of the Gateway space station’s life support capabilities, as well as space for crew to live, conduct research, and prepare for lunar surface activities during Artemis missions. Japan will provide I-HAB’s Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), thermal control system functions, and cameras.
  • Batteries for I-HAB, the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module, the initial crew cabin for astronauts visiting the Gateway, and the European System Providing Refueling Infrastructure and Telecommunication (ESPRIT) refueling module.
  • The JAXA HTV-XG spacecraft for launch and delivery of a logistics resupply mission for Gateway, scheduled for no later than 2030.

With the successful start of Artemis I lunar mission, it is good to hear that partner nations are increasing their support for a return to the Moon as well as plans to travel to Mars. While the United States went to the Moon alone last century, the Artemis partnership ensures this century’s return to the Moon is an international project.

Space Quote: The James Webb Space Telescope Keeps its Name

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credits): Artist’s impression of the James Webb Space Telescope. (Northrop Grumman)

“In conclusion, to date, no available evidence directly links Webb to any actions or follow-up related to the firing of individuals for their sexual orientation. However, the research and this report make clear that the Lavender Scare was a painful chapter in our national history. Every effort was made to be as thorough in research and objective in analysis as possible. We must make great efforts to learn from the experience to guarantee that the core values of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are advanced, not only at NASA, but across the federal government. Only then can we ensure that dark episodes such as the Lavender Scare remain our history and not our future.”

-Concluding statement from the NASA Chief Historian’s report on James Webb, titled NASA Historical Investigation into James E. Webb’s Relationship to the Lavender Scare. As the reports notes, “The central purpose of this investigation was to locate any evidence that could indicate whether James Webb acted as a leader of or proponent for firing LGBTQ+ employees from the federal workforce.” It is sad summary of the federal government’s treatment of its gay employees following World War II, which represents a dark chapter in American history that we only recently left behind.

Space Stories: Early Galaxies, Early Life on Mars, and Gold-Rich Stars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Two of the farthest galaxies seen to date are captured in these Webb Space Telescope pictures of the outer regions of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744. The galaxies are not inside the cluster, but many billions of light-years farther behind it. The galaxy labeled (1) existed only 450 million years after the big bang. The galaxy labeled (2) existed 350 million years after the big bang. Both are seen really close in time to the big bang which occurred 13.8 billion years ago. These galaxies are tiny compared to our Milky Way, being just a few percent of its size, even the unexpectedly elongated galaxy labeled (1). (NASA, ESA, CSA, Tommaso Treu (UCLA), Zolt G. Levay (STScI))

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—NASA: “NASA’s Webb Draws Back Curtain on Universe’s Early Galaxies“

With just four days of analysis, researchers found two exceptionally bright galaxies in the GLASS-JWST images. These galaxies existed approximately 450 and 350 million years after the big bang (with a redshift of approximately 10.5 and 12.5, respectively), though future spectroscopic measurements with Webb will help confirm…“These observations just make your head explode. This is a whole new chapter in astronomy. It’s like an archaeological dig, and suddenly you find a lost city or something you didn’t know about. It’s just staggering,” added Paola Santini, fourth author of the Castellano et al. GLASS-JWST paper.

—University of Copenhagen: “The First Life in Our Solar System May Have Been on Mars“

When Mars was a young planet, it was bombarded by ice asteroids delivering water and organic molecules necessary for life to emerge. According to the professor behind a new study, this means that the first life in our solar system may have been on Mars.

—National Astronomical Observatory of Japan: “Gold-rich Stars Came from Ancient Galaxies“

Recently, hundreds of gold-rich stars have been detected by state-of-the-art telescopes worldwide. New simulations of galaxy formation, with the highest resolution in both time and mass, show that these gold-rich stars formed in progenitor galaxies, small galaxies which merged to create the Milky Way…According to the research, most gold-rich stars formed over 10 billion years ago in small, building-block galaxies―known as progenitor galaxies. Some but not all progenitor galaxies experience a neutron star merger, where large amounts of heavy r-process elements are produced and released, enriching that particular small galaxy. The predicted abundance of gold-enriched stars in the final Milky-Way-sized galaxy matches what is actually observed.