Space Stories: Telescope Moving from US to Spain, Starliner will be Cargo-Only, and Moss in Space

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rending of the Thirty Meter Telescope. (TMT International Observatory)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Sky & Telescope: “Thirty Meter Telescope Considers Move to Spain“

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) was conceived more than two decades ago as the largest and most advanced telescope in the Northern Hemisphere. However, the telescope has encountered significant roadblocks, from funding uncertainties — now heightened by President Trump’s proposed budget cuts — to local resistance to building the telescope on Mauna Kea, a volcanic mountain in Hawai‘i that’s sacred to native communities. Now, the telescope might find a new home in La Palma on the Canary Islands of Spain. In July, the Spanish government offered to host the telescope, with an investment of up to €400 million ($460 million) to help cover some of the costs. In a brief statement posted on November 11th, the TMT announced that it is officially considering the move to La Palma.

—Spaceflight Now: “NASA, Boeing Pivot Starliner-1 Mission from 4-Person Astronaut Flight to Cargo-Only“

In its latest shakeup to the Commercial Crew Program, NASA announced on Monday it has reduced the number of missions Boeing is required to fly to the International Space Station and changing the next flight from a crew mission to a cargo mission. The original contract NASA awarded to Boeing and SpaceX called for each to fly an uncrewed demonstration flight to the ISS, followed by a crewed demo mission and then conduct six regular crew rotation missions.

—Vice: “Moss Just Survived a Full Year Outside the International Space Station“

In the airless, radiation-saturated void outside of the International Space Station, researchers tested whether a common moss species known as Physcomitrium patens could survive at all, and if it could, for how long. The answers are yes and probably forever if it wants...Tomomichi Fujita, the study’s lead author, thinks moss could last up to 15 years in space, knowledge that could help build future extraterrestrial farms or entire ecosystems on the Moon or Mars.

Space Stories: Threat to Chinese Space Station, Solar Storms on the ISS, and Dream Chaser Prep Continues

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Time: “China’s Imperiled Astronauts Illustrate the Dangers of Space Debris“

No trip to space can be counted a success unless you make it safely back to Earth…And it’s a lesson that was learned anew this week by the taikonauts—Chinese astronauts—Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie. The trio arrived at China’s Tiangong Space Station aboard their Shenzhou-20 spacecraft on April 24, and were set to come home on Nov. 5, handing the keys to the station over to the three-person crew of Shenzhou-21, who arrived on Oct. 31. But that was not to be. Not long before Shenzhou-20 was set to carry the three home it was struck by a piece of space debris, leaving cracks in one of its windows. That can be deadly in a spacecraft that is supposed to remain airtight both in the vacuum of space and in the steadily thickening atmosphere as it returns to Earth.

—Yahoo News: “Russian Cosmonauts Take Shelter on International Space Station During Severe Solar Storm“

A powerful geomagnetic storm that dazzled skywatchers across the Northern Hemisphere earlier this month also affected life aboard the International Space Station (ISS). During the Nov. 11-12 solar storm, Russian cosmonauts temporarily relocated their sleeping quarters as a precaution against increased radiation exposure, NASA confirmed.

—Space News: “Dream Chaser Completes Key Tests Ahead of First Flight“

Sierra Space has completed key testing milestones for its Dream Chaser vehicle as the company explores both civil and national security missions for the spaceplane. The company announced Nov. 13 that the first Dream Chaser vehicle, Tenacity, completed electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center...While Sierra Space is emphasizing national security uses, the company is keeping open the option of using Dream Chaser to support the ISS or future commercial space stations, known as commercial low Earth orbit destinations, or CLDs.

Space Stories: Damaged Space Antenna, Dark Matter as Weighty Matter, and a Stable Ocean on Enceladus

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—SpaceNews.com: “Key Antenna in NASA’s Deep Space Network Damaged“

One of the largest antennas in NASA’s Deep Space Network was damaged in September and may be out of service for an extended period, further straining the system. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed Nov. 10 that the 70-meter antenna at the Deep Space Network (DSN) site in Goldstone, California, has been offline since Sept. 16, with no timetable for its return to service.

—University of Geneva: “Dark Matter Does Not Defy Gravity, Study Suggests“

Does dark matter follow the same laws as ordinary matter? The mystery of this invisible and hypothetical component of our universe—which neither emits nor reflects light—remains unsolved. A team involving members from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) set out to determine whether, on a cosmological scale, this matter behaves like ordinary matter or whether other forces come into play. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest a similar behavior, while leaving open the possibility of an as-yet-unknown interaction. This breakthrough sheds a little more light on the properties of this elusive matter, which is five times more abundant than ordinary matter.

—University of Oxford: “Saturn’s Icy Moon May Host a Stable Ocean Fit for Life, New Study Finds“

A new study led by researchers from Oxford University and Southwest Research Institute and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona has provided the first evidence of significant heat flow at Enceladus’ north pole, overturning previous assumptions that heat loss was confined to its active south pole. This finding confirms that the icy moon is emitting far more heat than would be expected if it were simply a passive body, strengthening the case that it could support life.

Space Stories: New Exoplanets in a Binary Star System, the Secret “Athena” Plan for NASA, and an Interstellar “Tunnel”

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Pixabay.com.

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—University of Liege: “Three Earth-sized Planets Discovered in a Compact Binary System“

An international team of researchers has just revealed the existence of three Earth-sized planets in the binary stellar system TOI-2267 located about 190 light-years away. This discovery, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, is remarkable as it sheds new light on the formation and stability of planets in double-star environments, which have long been considered hostile to the development of complex planetary systems.

—ARSTECHNICA: “Capitol Hill is Abuzz with Talk of the “Athena” Plan for NASA“

In recent weeks, copies of an intriguing policy document have started to spread among space lobbyists on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The document bears the title “Athena,” and it purports to summarize the actions that private astronaut Jared Isaacman would have taken, were his nomination to become NASA administrator confirmed. The 62-page plan is notable both for the ideas to remake NASA that it espouses as well as the manner in which it has been leaked to the space community.

—Earth.com: “Interstellar “Tunnel” Found that Connects Our Solar System to Other Stars, According to Astronomers“

Space can surprise even those who spend their lives studying it. People often think of our solar system as just a few planets and a bunch of empty space. Yet new observations suggest we have been living inside a hot, less dense region, and that there may even be a strange “cosmic interstellar channel,” or tunnel, connecting us to distant stars. After years of careful mapping, a new analysis reveals what appears to be a channel of hot, low-density plasma stretching out from our solar system toward distant constellations.

Space Stories: Space Observatory in Need of Rescue, Alien Comet Activates Earth Defense, and Japan Sends Cargo to the ISS

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: swift.sonoma.edu/.

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—KJZZ Phoenix: “Flagstaff-based Company Wins $30M Contract for NASA Space Rescue Mission“

A Flagstaff-based space company has won a $30 million contract to raise the orbit of a space-based NASA observatory next year before it can drop uncontrolled back into Earth’s atmosphere. NASA officials say they are in a race against time as the agency’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and its three-telescope system studying gamma rays from space needs a rescue.

—Space Coast Daily: “NASA Activates Earth Defense Over Possible Alien Comet in Our Solar System“

NASA has activated a global planetary defense group to study a massive interstellar object exhibiting strange, possibly artificial characteristics—fueling speculation that it could be an alien probe operating within our solar system. The object, designated 3I/ATLAS, is approximately the size of Manhattan and was first captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on July 21. It has been selected as the first-ever official target of the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN)—a NASA-backed coalition of global agencies and astronomers tasked with identifying and tracking potential threats to Earth.

—ABC News: “Japan Successfully Launches New Cargo Spacecraft to Deliver Supplies to ISS“

Japan’s space agency successfully launched Sunday its most powerful flagship H3 rocket, carrying a newly developed unmanned cargo spacecraft for its first mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the HTV-X1 spacecraft successfully lifted off atop the No. 7 H3 rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center in the country’s south and confirmed it entered targeted orbit 14 minutes after liftoff. The spacecraft was separated and placed into a planned orbit, JAXA said. If everything goes smoothly, it is expected to arrive at the ISS in a few days to deliver supplies. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, currently at the ISS, is set to catch the craft with a robot arm in the early hours of Thursday.