Space Stories: Launch of GOES-U Satellite, Jupiter’s Surprising Atmosphere, and the Role of Black Holes in Dark Matter

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): June 25, 2024 launch of NASA’s GOES-U satellite. (SpaceX)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—America Space: “Falcon Heavy Launches, GOES-U Heads for Geostationary Orbit“

SpaceX successfully launched its first Falcon Heavy of the year on Wednesday evening, the triple-barreled booster lifting the 11,000-pound (5,000-kilogram) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-U) almost to Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Heavy—flying for the first time since November 2022 with a brand-new center core and pair of side-mounted strap-on boosters—went airborne from historic Pad 39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 5:26 p.m. EDT, ten minutes after the opening of a two-hour “launch window”.

—European Space Agency: “Jupiter’s Upper Atmosphere Surprises Astronomers“

The Great Red Spot of Jupiter was observed by Webb’s Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) in July 2022, using the instrument’s Integral Field Unit capabilities. The team’s Early Release Science observations sought to investigate if this region was in fact dull, and the region above the iconic Great Red Spot was targeted for Webb’s observations. The team was surprised to discover that the upper atmosphere hosts a variety of intricate structures, including dark arcs and bright spots, across the entire field of view. “We thought this region, perhaps naively, would be really boring,” shared team leader Henrik Melin of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. “It is in fact just as interesting as the northern lights, if not more so. Jupiter never ceases to surprise.”

—University of Warsaw: “Is Dark Matter Made of Black Holes?“

Gravitational wave detectors, LIGO and Virgo, have detected a population of massive black holes whose origin is one of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy. According to one hypothesis, these objects may have formed in the very early Universe and may compose dark matter, a mysterious substance filling the Universe. A team of scientists from the OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) survey from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw have announced the results of nearly 20-year-long observations indicating that such massive black holes may comprise at most a few percent of dark matter. Another explanation, therefore, is needed for gravitational wave sources. The results of the study were published in two articles, in Nature and the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

Not Everyone Needs to be Part of the Space Age

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With the recent success of Boeing’s Spaceplan and SpaceX’s Starship, we need to remember that not every country needs to be part of the space age.

Fortunately, less that two weeks ago we learned that lesson when North Korea flubbed it launch of a spy satellite that was sure to cause problems. The rocket did not even make it past it’s first stage.

Unfortunately, North Korea already has a single spy satellite in orbit.

North Korea appears to be having much better luck launching rubbish-filled balloons and sending them into South Korean airspace. The South Korean government called the gesture ““unimaginably petty and low-grade behaviour.”

The Launch of PREFIRE to Monitor the Poles

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NASA has more eyes in the skies after the launch on Saturday of its Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) mission. One of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket place the satellites into orbit from the launch facility in New Zealand.

The pair of CubeSats will spend 10 months monitoring the two poles of the Earth and help NASA to better better predict changes to the climate based on changes in the Earth’s ice, seas, and weather.

Tristan L’Ecuyer, PREFIRE’s principal investigator at thebUniversity of Wisconsin in Madison stated:

Our planet is changing quickly, and in places like the Arctic, in ways that people have never experienced before…NASA’s PREFIRE will give us new measurements of the far-infrared wavelengths being emitted from Earth’s poles, which we can use to improve climate and weather models and help people around the world deal with the consequences of climate change.

The name of the mission, PREFIRE, is a little scary given the fires throughout the world said to be associated with climate change. Sadly, we are far from pre-fire and more like mid-fire. We can only hope that better information from the satellites can help us to steer a safer path.

Space Quote: More Musk Mayhem on the Ukrainian Front

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“Musk has taken on the role of apologist for indicted war criminal Vladimir Putin. “There is no way in hell that Putin is going to lose,” Musk said during an audio event on X. Musk called on social media followers to lobby the Senate not to pass an aid package for Ukraine. Further, Musk is actively working to thwart US foreign policy. Musk is certainly entitled to voice his opinions. However, he is not authorized to conduct foreign policy with FCC issued licenses. This is especially true when his use of those licenses supports the military of a foreign power that is actively engaged in an illegal war and has engaged in countless war crimes including routinely targeting hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings. Musk’s company is licensed to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Musk cannot use FCC licenses to militarily aid Russia, a state that is subject to U.S. sanctions. Musk’s repeated abuse of the Starlink system has placed these licenses in jeopardy.”

-Portion of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America’s (UCCA) filing with the Federal Communications Commission on April 24, 2024. The UCCA represents four fraternal organizations – the Ukrainian National Association, the Ukrainian Workingmen’s Association, the Providence Association of Ukrainian Catholics, and the Ukrainian National Aid Association.

Space Quote: The End of NASA’s OSAM-1 Project

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Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the OSAM-1 project in action. (NASA)

“Following an in-depth, independent project review, NASA has decided to discontinue the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) project due to continued technical, cost, and schedule challenges, and a broader community evolution away from refueling unprepared spacecraft, which has led to a lack of a committed partner. Following Congressional notification processes, project management plans to complete an orderly shutdown, including the disposition of sensitive hardware, pursuing potential partnerships or alternative hardware uses, and licensing of applicable technological developments. NASA leadership also is reviewing how to mitigate the impact of the cancellation on the workforce at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.”

-Statement by NASA in recent communications. The project has been in development since 2015. About 450 NASA employees and contractors working on the OSAM-1 project. In an earlier report by the Government Accountability Office, the auditors noted, “OSAM-1 cost growth and schedule delays are exacerbated by poor contractor performance and continued technical challenges.”