Our Awesome Universe

Profile: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

Posted on May 8, 2022December 17, 2022 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): Rocket being launched from Virginia’s spaceport. (Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport)}

When you think of NASA space launches you most likely think of Cape Canaveral in Florida, but what about Virginia? The Eastern Shore of Virginia hosts the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), which is currently being used for resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS). Created by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1995 at the site of a World War II Navy air station, it is the only other official spaceport on the east coast.

Northrup Grumman has been using the site for various missions, including resupplying the ISS as well as other federal payloads. Orbital Sciences Corporation (now part of Northrup Grumman) launched NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission from the site in 2013. In addition, last year Rocket Lab announced it planned to use MARS for launches of its new reusable Neutron rockets.

In February 2022, Northrop Grumman successfully launched its 17th ISS resupply rocket from the spaceport. The Cygnus space freighter carried needed supplies to the astronauts conducting research in orbit. The freighter will also be used to “boost” the ISS, or adjust its orbit, as noted by NASA:

This Cygnus mission is the first to feature enhanced capabilities that will allow the spacecraft to perform a reboost, using its engines to adjust the space station’s orbit as a standard service for NASA. The agency has one reboost is planned while Cygnus is connected to the orbiting laboratory. A test of the maneuver was performed in 2018 during Cygnus’ ninth resupply mission.

You may recall that such boosting is something the Russian’s claimed earlier could not occur if they abandoned the space station. Fortunately, NASA has other rocket options should they be needed. Moreover, we have additional spaceports to keep our astronauts in the sky and well supplied.

^{Image (Credit): Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is pictured moments before its capture with the International Space Stations’s robotic arm in February of 2021. (NASA)}

Extra: Below is a map showing the location of MARS on the Wallop Islands. The address of the facility is 7414 Atlantic Rd, Wallops Island, VA 23337.

^{Image (Credit): Location of MARS on the Virginia shore. (Google Maps)}

Hubble and the Unexpected Asteroids

Posted on May 7, 2022October 19, 2022 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): This Hubble image is a mosaic of many exposures where some asteroids appear multiple times. (NASA, ESA, and B. Sunnquist and J. Mack/STScI)}

The Hubble Space Telescope’s old data still holds some secrets. The European Space Agency (ESA) has reported that astronomers have found 1,031 unidentified asteroid trails in earlier data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The asteroids were located by the Hubble Asteroid Hunter project, which defines the project in this way:

…we use archival images made by the Hubble Space Telescope to find asteroids observed by chance. The ESASky team compared the observation epoch and field of view of these images with the computed orbits of asteroids, to identify possible observations. The positions predicted by the algorithm, nevertheless, have some associated uncertainty because the ephemerides are not always known to great precision. This uncertainty increases with the amount of time between the last observation date and the date we predict the position for. Identifying the asteroids in the images (if present) and marking the exact position of their trail allows us to update the ephemerides and help us better characterise these objects.

More than 11,000 volunteers studied about 37,000 composite images taken by the Hubble between April 2002 and March 2021. The volunteers found about 1,000 asteroid trails, which when combined with other images spotted using artificial intelligence added to 1,701 asteroid trails. Of these, 1,031 are unidentified trails most likely associated with smaller asteroids. The analysis of these unidentified trails will continue.

This is a great example of the public assisting with astronomy and allowing for more timely results. It’s a helpful model for future astronomy endeavors.

Female Dummies in Space?

Posted on May 6, 2022 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): The Helga manikin to be used on the Orion capsule to the Moon. (German Aerospace Center)}

No, it is not a new television show or a rude comment, but rather a real plan to test the effects of space radiation on manikins that simulate the female body. The test is in preparation for future Artemis missions to the Moon. NASA is concerned about the effects of radiation on female astronauts since their anatomy is different than that of males and may be more prone to certain types of cancer.

As reported by Phys.org, the two manikins – Helga and Zohar – will fly aboard the Orion capsule for about six weeks as part of his first uncrewed flight to the Moon. While Helga will fly in the Orion capsule unprotected, Zohar will be wearing a radiation protection vest. In this way, scientists can study the full effect of the vest.

The experiment was designed by the German Aerospace Center (hence the German manikin names), which has conducted similar studies aboard the International Space Station (ISS). However, the radiation levels for a lunar mission will be much higher than that found on the ISS.

The Artemis mission will be the first time a female leaves low-Earth orbit , so it is essential that we know the potential impact of this trip on females. We wish the best to both Helga and Zohar.

Television: Check Out Strange New Worlds

Posted on May 5, 2022January 1, 2023 by onespaceman2000

Tonight is the premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. If you are a Trekkie, then there is nothing strange about Captain Pike and the earlier adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise. We have been waiting for the rest of the story since Star Trek appears in 1966.

You probably already saw Captain Pike in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery, but now it will be all Pike all the time. The most recent trailer is proof that you an expect a return to the fun early days was more like James Bond than the more serious captains that came later. The actors engaged with this series are top notch: Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One, and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock.

Yes, there are multiple Star Trek series now playing on Paramount, as one could also say about the Star Wars series on Disney+. And yet, with Star Trek each one has its place and time that makes plenty of sense without any overlapping confusion. I am not sure whether we really needed a movie on the origins of Han Solo, but the original adventures of Captain Pike seems like a void that needed to be filled.

I would even forgo more Star Trek movies as long as we can have quality television series. Beside, the movies blew apart the time line (creating the Kelvin Timeline), so I have less interest in what they have to say these days even though that bastardized timeline has infected the timeline in Star Trek: Discovery. Don’t get me started.

^{Image (Credit): The pre-Kirk crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. (Paramount)}

Pic of the Week: Comet Over Stonehenge

Posted on May 5, 2022September 17, 2022 by onespaceman2000

^{Image/(Credit): Comet Neowise as seen flying over Stonehenge. (James Rushforth)}

This week’s photo is from photographer James Rushforth who caught Comet Neowise over Stonehenge. The comet was discovered by astronomers on March 27, 2020 during the NEOWISE mission of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope.

Mr. Rushforth’s photo was one of about 4,500 photos entered into the 2021 annual Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomy photography competition. His image above made the shortlist. You can see other shortlisted entries here. The winning entry, announced last September, is shown below.