Image (Credit): SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket leaving NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:20 p.m. EST November 26, 2022. (NASA)
Earlier today, a SpaceX rocket sent more supplies towards the International Space Station (ISS). The Falcon 9 rocket successfully sent the Dragon capsule on its way towards a rendezvous with the ISS tomorrow morning. You can read about some of the cargo here.
For example, part of the cargo will assist with the growing of dwarf tomatoes in space. Gioia Massa, NASA Life Sciences project scientist and VEG-05 principal investigator, stated:
We are testing tomatoes, looking at the impacts of light spectrum on how well the crop grows, how delicious and nutritious the tomatoes are, and the microbial activity on the fruit and plants…We also are examining the overall effect of growing, tending, and eating crops on crew behavioral health. All of this will provide valuable data for future space exploration.
Even with all of the excitement targeted at the Moon and Artemis these days, the everyday work on the ISS continues.
Image (Credit): LauncherOne rocket after arriving in Cornwall, England. (UK Space Command)
Later this year, the United Kingdom (UK) is getting into the commercial space business with Virgin Orbit’s launch of the LauncherOne rocket. The 70-foot long rocket stuffed with a satellites will be loaded onto Virgin Orbit’s Boeing 747 (called the “Cosmic Girl”) for a mid-air launch. It will be the first satellite launch from the UK.
While the launch was planned for earlier this year, Virgin Orbit is still dealing with some bureaucratic delays. Nonetheless, the use of Space Cornwall is an achievement for the UK and Europe as they plan more space missions from the continent.
Late last year, the Guardian wrote about planned space missions from the UK. The article, “The Great British Race to Space,” highlights plans for rocket launches from England, Wales, and Scotland. For instance, B2Space in Wales has plans to launch rockets from a helium balloon floating 20 miles up. The balloon could save about 70 percent of fuel and other costs related to a typical satellite launch.
It seems reusable rockets are just one of many innovations for lowering the cost of satellite launches. Watch out, SpaceX.
Image (Credit): A test flight for the B2Space balloon. Picture: (B2Space)
Image (Credit): Nighttime photograph of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, taken in November 2012 by one of the Expedition 33 crew members aboard the ISS. (NASA)
While the Biden Administration appears to have its issues with Saudi Arabia, this is not stopping the visit of two Saudi Arabian private astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Space Newsreports that NASA has confirmed that a male and female astronaut from Saudi Arabia will travel to the ISS next spring aboard a SpaceX rocket as part of the privately-run Axiom Space. Plans for this mission were reported back in September.
This will be the second Axiom Space mission to the ISS. Other missions are being planned involving additional countries, including astronauts from Turkey, Hungary, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates. Mission participants need to be approved by a NASA-chaired panel that includes the countries involved with the ISS program.
Axiom Space will send four crew members to the ISS for 12 days. Here is the pitch for the second mission, or Ax-2:
The Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) astronauts are part of the latest class of space explorers and Axiom’s next crew to advance a new method of access to the International Space Station (ISS) and low-Earth orbit. Aboard the orbiting laboratory, the four-person, multinational crew will conduct extensive research, investigate novel technologies, and engage with audiences around the world as champions of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the arts. Their efforts will continue to lay the groundwork and establish key capabilities for the future Axiom Station, the world’s first commercial space station.
You may recall that Saudi Arabia also signed onto the Artemis Accords over the summer. The Accords were established in 2020 to affirm each signatory’s commitment to sustainable space exploration “guided by a common set of principles that promote the beneficial use of space for all of humanity.”
All of this shows that space still remains a realm that does not need to be militarized or abused even if we have yet to figure out to resolve these issues here on Earth. Whatever problems with have with our neighbors, it’s good to see we are building some things together.
As noted earlier, even if the press on this Ax-2 mission demonstrates some unity, let’s just hope these “astronauts” are there for more than a joy ride. I am not convinced that space tourism is what we need. But given that Axiom Space is considering its own commercial space station, maybe there is some interest in real work in space by these parties.
Image (Credit): Recent impact crater on the surface of Mars. It was formed on December 24, 2011 in the Amazonis Planitia region. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
NASA’s InSight lander recorded a magnitude 4 marsquake last Dec. 24, but scientists learned only later the cause of that quake: a meteoroid strike estimated to be one of the biggest seen on Mars since NASA began exploring the cosmos. What’s more, the meteoroid excavated boulder-size chunks of ice buried closer to the Martian equator than ever found before – a discovery with implications for NASA’s future plans to send astronauts to the Red Planet.
The final module required for the completion of China’s Tiangong space station has successfully docked with the core structure, state media say, a key step in Beijing’s ambitious plans for space exploration…The module – named Mengtian, which means “heavenly dream” – was launched on Monday on a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang launch centre on China’s tropical island of Hainan, CCTV reported.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy — a towering, three-pronged vehicle that is the most powerful operational rocket in the world — returned to the skies on Tuesday for the first time since mid-2019. The rocket launched at 9:41 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, hauling satellites to space for the US military in a secretive mission dubbed USSF-44.
Image (Credit): Artist’s drawing of the Euclid space telescope. (ESA/ATG-medialab)
To follow up on the previous post, Russia also lost out on launching the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid spacecraft. Russia was supposed to launch it on a Soyuz-ST/Fregat rocket this December, but the country’s invasion of Ukraine led to a change in plans. SpaceX will now be launching the spacecraft next year.
Euclid was designed to study dark energy and dark matter, and make a 3D-map of the Universe. The project includes scientists from 14 countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Romania, the UK, and the US.
Euclid hopes to answer the following questions:
How did the Universe originate? What were the conditions just after the Big Bang, and how did these give rise to the large-scale structures we see today?
Why is the Universe expanding at an accelerating rate today?
Is dark energy – a term often used to signify the mysterious force behind this cosmic acceleration – real? If so, is it a constant energy density intrinsic to and spread throughout space, or a new force of nature that slowly evolves as the Universe expands?
What is the nature of dark matter, and how do neutrinos possibly contribute? Are there other as-yet-undetected massive particles in the Universe?
Once launched, Euclid will operate in the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2), which is where the James Webb Space Telescope is located as well as ESA’s Gaia spacecraft. Gaia, launched in December 2013, is currently mapping the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. It seems L2 is the place to be.
NASA is contributing infrared flight detectors for one of Euclid’s two science instruments. You can read more about the NASA contribution here.
Our Awesome Universe 