Satellite ‘compasses’ open new window on space weather

ESA - European Space Agency logo.

7 November 2018

Researchers have tested a clever new method of monitoring the impact of solar storms on Earth’s magnetic field, based on harnessing the compass-like magnetometers that space missions used to check their orientation.

Some satellites carry extremely sensitive magnetometers for scientific studies; these instruments are placed on booms, away from stray magnetic field sources inside the parent satellite.

Swarm constellation

But many more satellites host less sensitive magnetometers, called ‘platform magnetometers’ that work like compasses, measuring Earth’s magnetic field to check satellites are pointed in the correct position.

Might these platform magnetometers also be used to monitor space weather? An ESA-led research team consisting of Delft University of Technology and the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences mounted an investigation.

What is space weather?

ESA space environment researcher Fabrice Cipriani explains: “Quantifying the effects that solar storms have on Earth is extremely important to monitor and assess the impacts on sensitive infrastructure and so we want to exploit as many sources of data as possible that can provide meaningful information, especially when there are no major development costs involved.”

Researchers looked at data from ESA’s magnetic-field-mapping Swarm, gravity-mapping GOCE and technology-testing LISA Pathfinder missions to probe whether platform magnetometer data could also be used for monitoring changing space weather.

The team compared the data from Swarm’s scientific magnetometer with its platform magnetometer to determine the accuracy of the latter. They then applied this knowledge to an analysis of GOCE’s magnetometer. These were both low-Earth orbiting missions, providing a lot of information about Earth’s response to space weather. LISA Pathfinder, conversely, operated from an Earth-Sun Lagrange Point, 1.5 million km away.

LISA Pathfinder

Eelco Doornbos, from TU Delft explains: “LISA Pathfinder is positioned between Earth and the Sun, outside Earth’s magnetosphere. This gives it a great view of the solar wind.”

LISA Pathfinder’s platform magnetometer data was compared with that of US space weather observatories WIND, ACE and DSCOVR.

“We investigated data from LISA Pathfinder, which can observe the solar wind, and from Swarm and GOCE, observing magnetic field currents closer to Earth,” adds Dr. Doornbos. “In both cases the platform magnetometer data was good enough to receive a good signal, even when the magnetometer is not very precise and is close to other instruments.”

GOCE

The team found that platform magnetometers can indeed provide excellent insights into space weather. Their usage could be fostered in future through developing new data processing techniques, relatively low cost compared to developing dedicated instruments and missions.

Traditionally platform magnetometer data are only sent to Earth so that engineers can check a satellite is working properly. The next step is to make this data accessible to more people.

Fabrice adds: “We want to encourage data users to be involved at an early design phase when developing new spacecraft, to help figure out how to enable easier access to the this data.”

Platform magnetometer

“Space weather is such a complicated system that changes so rapidly that the more observations you have, the better,” concludes Dr. Doornbos. “That’s why it’s great to get as many satellites as possible looking into it.”

This research was supported through ESA’s Discovery and Preparation programme, investigating promising new concepts for spaceflight.

Related links:

Space weather: http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/11/What_is_space_weather

WIND: https://wind.nasa.gov/

ACE: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/ace

DSCOVR: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/dscovr-deep-space-climate-observatory

Swarm: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/The_Living_Planet_Programme/Earth_Explorers/Earth_Explorers_-_Swarm

GOCE: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/GOCE

LISA Pathfinder: http://sci.esa.int/lisa-pathfinder/

Discovery and Preparation article: ESA's unexpected fleet of space weather monitors: https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Preparing_for_the_Future/Discovery_and_Preparation/ESA_s_unexpected_fleet_of_space_weather_monitors

Delft University of Technology: https://www.tudelft.nl/en/

GFZ Research Centre for Geosciences: http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/home/

Images, Text, Credits: ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO/ZARM Technik AG.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

ESA’s gravity-mapper reveals relics of ancient continents under Antarctic ice

ESA - GOCE Mission logo.

7 November 2018

It was five years ago this month that ESA’s GOCE gravity-mapping satellite finally gave way to gravity, but its results are still yielding buried treasure – giving a new view of the remnants of lost continents hidden deep under the ice sheet of Antarctica.

A research team from Germany’s Kiel University and the British Antarctic Survey published their latest GOCE-based findings this week in the journal Scientific Reports.

GOCE reveals Antarctic tectonics

Dubbed ‘the Formula one of space’, the GOCE (Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer) mission orbited Earth for more than four years, from March 2009 to November 2013. This sleek, finned satellite with no moving parts was designed around a single goal: to measure the pull of Earth’s gravity more precisely than any mission before.

GOCE flew at an altitude of just 255 km, more than 500 km nearer than a typical Earth observation satellite, to maximise its sensitivity to gravity.

In its last year in orbit, with its supply of xenon propellant holding out well, GOCE was manoeuvred down still lower, to just 225 km altitude, for even more accurate gravity measurements. The propellant keeping it resistant to air drag was finally spent in October 2013, and it reentered the atmosphere three weeks later.

GOCE’s main output was a high-fidelity global gravity map or ‘geoid’, but the mission also charted localised gravity gradients – measurements of how rapidly the acceleration of gravity changes – across all directions of motion, down to a resolution of 80 km.

GOCE: orbiting on the edge

The team from Kiel University and BAS has converted this patchwork of 3D gravity measurements into curvature-based ‘shape indexes’ across the different regions of our planet, analogous to contours on a map.

The study’s lead author Prof Jörg Ebbing from Kiel University comments, “The satellite gravity data can be combined with seismological data to produce more consistent images of the crust and upper mantle in 3D, which is crucial to understand how plate tectonics and deep mantle dynamics interact.”

In combination with existing seismological data, these gravity gradients show high sensitivity to known features of Earth’s ‘lithosphere’, the solid crust and that section of the molten mantle beneath it.

GOCE’s global tectonic map

These features include dense rocky zones called cratons – remnants of ancient continents found at the heart of modern continental plates – highly folded ‘orogen’ regions associated with mountain ranges and the thinner crust of ocean beds.

The new window into the deep subsurface offered by this data offers novel insights into the structure of all Earth’s continents, but especially Antarctica. With more than 98% of its surface covered by ice with an average thickness of 2 km, the southern continent largely remains a blank spot on current geological maps.

“These gravity images are revolutionising our ability to study the least understood continent on Earth, Antarctica,” says co-author Fausto Ferraccioli, Science Leader of Geology and Geophysics at BAS.

“In East Antarctica we see an exciting mosaic of geological features that reveal fundamental similarities and differences between the crust beneath Antarctica and other continents it was joined to until 160 million years ago.”

GOCE map of Antarctica on bedrock topography

The gravity gradient findings show West Antarctica has a thinner crust and lithosphere compared to that of East Antarctica, which is made up of a mosaic of old cratons separated by younger orogens, revealing a family likeness to Australia and India.

These findings are of more than purely historic geological interest. They give clues to how Antarctica’s continental structure is influencing the behavior of ice sheets and how rapidly Antarctica regions will rebound in response to melting ice.

ESA’s GOCE mission scientist Roger Haagmans adds, “It is exciting to see that direct use of the gravity gradients, which were measured for the first time ever with GOCE, leads to a fresh independent look inside Earth – even below a thick sheet of ice.

“It also provides context of how continents were possibly connected in the past before they drifted apart owing to plate motion.”

Related links:

Scientific Reports: Latest GOCE-based findings: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-34733-9

GOCE+Antarctica: https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/goceantarctica

Access GOCE data: http://earth.esa.int/GOCE/

GOCE: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/GOCE

ESA EO Science for Society: https://eo4society.esa.int/

Kiel University: https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/

British Antarctic Survey: https://www.bas.ac.uk/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: ESA/Kiel University/P. Haas/BAS.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Liftoff of Arianespace’s Soyuz mission with Metop-C

ARIANESPACE - Flight VS19 Mission poster.

November 6, 2018

Arianespace’s latest Soyuz mission is now underway following tonight’s liftoff from the Spaceport in French Guiana at 00:47:27 GMT on 7th (7:47:27 p.m. EST on 6th).

Liftoff of Arianespace’s Soyuz mission with Metop-C

An Arianespace Soyuz rocket, designated VS19, launched a mission from the Guiana Space Center in South America. The Soyuz as carry the MetOp C polar-orbiting weather satellite for the European Space Agency and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, or Eumetsat. The Soyuz 2-1b (Soyuz ST-B) rocket use a Fregat upper stage.

Arianespace - VS19 Successful Launch

For its eighth launch of the year, and the second Soyuz liftoff from the Guiana Space Center (CSG) in French Guiana in 2018, Arianespace will orbit Metop-C for EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

Metop-C weather satellite

Metop-C is the third and final satellite of its Polar System (EPS), the Metop program dedicated to operational meteorology. By launching the complete Metop fleet, Arianespace once again supports EUMETSAT and Europe in the improvement of global climate monitoring and weather forecasting. The nominal duration of the mission (from liftoff to separation of the satellite) is: 1 hour, 00 minutes, 18 seconds.

Related links:

Metop-C: https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/MetOp

EUMETSAT: https://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/index.html

Arianespace: http://www.arianespace.com/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: Arianespace/ESA/EUMETSAT.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

European-Built Service Module Arrives in U.S. for First Orion Moon Mission

NASA - Orion Crew Vehicle patch.

Nov. 6, 2018

The powerhouse that will help NASA’s Orion spacecraft venture beyond the Moon is stateside. The European-built service module that will propel, power and cool during Orion flight to the Moon on Exploration Mission-1 arrived from Germany at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday to begin final outfitting, integration and testing with the crew module and other Orion elements.

The service module is integral to human missions to the Moon and Mars. After Orion launches on top of the agency’s Space Launch System rocket, the service module will be responsible for in-space maneuvering throughout the mission, including course corrections. The service module will also provide the powerful burns to insert Orion into lunar orbit and again to get out of lunar orbit and return to Earth. It is provided by ESA (European Space Agency) and built by ESA’s prime contractor Airbus of Bremen, Germany. NASA’s prime contractor for Orion, Lockheed Martin, built the crew module and other elements of the spacecraft.

Image above: The European Service Module for NASA's Orion spacecraft is loaded on an Antonov airplane in Bremen, Germany, on Nov. 5, 2018, for transport to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For the first time, NASA will use a European-built system as a critical element to power an American spacecraft, extending the international cooperation of the International Space Station into deep space. Image Credits: NASA/Rad Sinyak.

“We have a strong foundation of cooperation with ESA through the International Space Station partnership, and the arrival of the service module signifies that our international collaboration extends to our deep space human exploration efforts as well,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations.

The European-built service module brings together new technology and lightweight materials while taking advantage of spaceflight-proven hardware. It is comprised of more than 20,000 components, including four solar array wings that provide enough electricity to power two three-bedroom homes, as well as an orbital maneuvering system engine, a recently refurbished engine previously used for in-orbit control by the space shuttle. Beginning with Exploration Mission-2, the module also will provide air and water for astronauts flying inside Orion, which will carry people to destinations farther than anyone has travelled before and return them safely to Earth.

“Our teams have worked together incredibly hard to develop a service module that will make missions to the Moon and beyond a reality,” said Mark Kirasich, NASA’s Orion program manager. “It is quite an accomplishment of ESA and Airbus to have completed the developmental work on the module and have this major delivery milestone behind us.”

Orion Crew Vehicle. Image Credits: NASA/ESA

Now that the service module is at Kennedy, it will undergo a host of tests and integration work ahead of Exploration Mission-1. Engineers will complete functional checkouts to ensure all elements are working properly before it is connected to the Orion crew module. Teams will weld together fluid lines to route gases and fuel and make electrical wiring connections. The service module and crew module will be mated, and the combined spacecraft will be sent to NASA’s Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio early next year where it will undergo 60 days of continuous testing in the world’s largest thermal vacuum chamber to ensure Orion can withstand the harsh environment of deep space. Once that testing is complete, it will return to Kennedy for integration with the SLS rocket in preparation for launch.

NASA is leading the next steps to establish a permanent human presence at the Moon. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Exploration Mission-1 is a flight test of an uncrewed Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket that will launch from NASA’s modernized spaceport at Kennedy. The mission will send Orion 40,000 miles beyond the Moon and back and pave the road for future missions with astronauts. Together, NASA and its partners will build the infrastructure needed to explore the Moon for decades to come while laying the groundwork for future missions to Mars.

For more information about Orion, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/orion

Related article:

Goodbye Europe, hello Moon: European Module ships soon:
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/10/goodbye-europe-hello-moon-european.html

Related links:

Exploration Mission-1: https://www.nasa.gov/content/exploration-mission-1

Space Launch System (SLS): https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/to-the-moon.html

Exploration Mission-2: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-first-flight-with-crew-will-mark-important-step-on-journey-to-mars

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Kathryn Hambleton​/Karen Northon/JSC/Laura Rochon​/KSC/Brittney Thorpe.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s ICON to Explore Boundary Between Earth and Space

NASA - ICON Mission logo.

Nov. 6, 2018

Early in the morning of Nov. 7, 2018, NASA launches the Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, a spacecraft that will explore the dynamic region where Earth meets space: the ionosphere.  

Overlapping the farthest reaches of Earth’s atmosphere and the very beginning of space, the ionosphere stretches roughly 50 to 400 miles above the surface. Solar radiation cooks tenuous gases there until they lose an electron (or two or three), creating a sea of electrically charged ions and electrons. Neither fully Earth nor space, the ionosphere reacts both to winds and weather from the lower atmosphere below and solar energy streaming in from above, changing constantly to form conditions we call space weather.

“After years of work, I’m excited to get into orbit and turn on the spacecraft, open the doors on all our instruments,” said Thomas Immel, ICON principal investigator at the University of California, Berkeley. “ICON carries incredible capacity for science. I’m looking forward to surprising results and finally seeing the world through its eyes.”

Meet ICON: NASA's Airglow Explorer

Video above: NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, will orbit in the far reaches of the upper atmosphere, the bottom edge of near-Earth space. From this vantage point, ICON observes both the upper atmosphere and a layer of charged particles called the ionosphere. Video Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/G. Duberstein.

As far as space goes, the ionosphere is as close to home as it gets. Its constant changes can affect astronauts, satellites and much of the communications signals modern society relies upon. Scientists want to understand these changes, so they can eventually better predict them and protect our interests in space.

Space may look empty, but the ionosphere brims with electrically charged gases, solar radiation, and electric and magnetic fields. Turbulence in this sea of charged particles can manifest as disruptions that interfere with orbiting satellites or communication and navigation signals used, for example, to guide airplanes, ships and self-driving cars.

Depending on the energy it absorbs from the Sun, the ionosphere grows and shrinks. For that reason, scientists long thought this part of space was only affected by what happens in the space above it.

But over the past decade, a growing body of evidence has indicated the region is much more variable than we can explain with solar activity alone. The ionosphere’s contents are not evenly distributed: Dense patches of its charged gases, called plasma, are scattered throughout. Eventually, researchers linked these patches to global weather patterns — large-scale events such as several hurricanes rushing across the ocean at once, or changes in cloud formation over tropical rainforests.

Though the Sun provides the energy that drives weather we experience on Earth, day-to-day weather is driven by something very different: differences in temperature and moisture, interactions between oceans and land, and regions of high and low atmospheric pressure. Still, scientists were surprised to discover that terrestrial weather and the Sun manage to meet in the middle — at the ionosphere — in a tug-of-war for control.

Vast winds high above Earth’s surface carry energy around the globe and can modify the ionosphere indirectly by pushing around charged particles in the upper atmosphere. That motion creates an electric field, which guides the behavior of particles throughout the electrically charged ionosphere.

Part of the reason the ionosphere has remained so mysterious until now is the region is difficult to observe. Too high for scientific balloons and too low for satellites, the lower ionosphere especially — where Earth and space are most strongly connected — has eluded much of the technology researchers have used to study near-Earth space. But ICON is uniquely equipped to investigate the region.

“We’ve had the smoking gun — that indicated terrestrial and space weather are linked — but we’ve been missing actual observations in the region where these changes are taking place,” said Scott England, ICON project scientist at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. “ICON has all the tools to see the drivers and their effects in the system.”

From low-Earth orbit, ICON will explore these connections by tracking airglow, a quirk of our planet’s upper atmosphere. It refers to the light that shines from the ionosphere, enveloping Earth in a tenuous bubble of red, green and yellow. Airglow is created by a similar process that sparks the aurora: Gas is excited and emits light. Though auroras are typically confined to extreme northern and southern latitudes, airglow shines constantly across the globe, and is much fainter.

Animation above: Red, green and yellow swaths of light — known as airglow — are seen in this video of Earth’s limb, shot from the International Space Station. Animation Credit: NASA.

“It’s amazing that our atmosphere glows like this, but what’s more — it gives us a direct ability to make observations of the key parameters we need in order to investigate the connection between the neutral atmosphere and the ionosphere,” Immel said.

Different atmospheric gases glow in certain colors and at specific altitudes, so scientists can use airglow to probe the different layers of the atmosphere, gleaning information like density, temperature and composition. In addition, Earth’s natural glow helps scientists track motions within the ionosphere itself: As high-altitude winds sweep through the region, pushing its contents around, airglow’s dim light morphs in turn, tracing out global patterns.

“I can’t wait to see what airglow looks like from ICON’s point of view,” Immel said.

ICON’s 90-minute launch window opens at 3:00 a.m. EST on Nov. 7, 2018. ICON launches on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which is carried aloft by the Stargazer L-1011 aircraft that takes off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The L-1011 carries the rocket to approximately 40,000 feet over the open ocean, where it is released and free-falls five seconds before igniting its first-stage rocket motor. Release from the Stargazer is anticipated for 3:05 a.m. EST. The spacecraft deploys approximately 11 minutes after the Pegasus drop.

ICON will join another ionospheric mission, GOLD, short for Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, which launched in January 2018. While ICON flies just 357 miles above Earth and will capture close-up images of the region, GOLD flies in geostationary orbit 22,000 miles above the Western Hemisphere, where it specializes in global-scale images of the ionosphere and upper atmosphere. Where ICON takes close-ups, GOLD captures landscapes. 

Together, these missions will provide the most comprehensive ionosphere observations we’ve ever had — data that’s hard to get from Earth, where we can only measure small fractions of the region at a time — enabling a deeper understanding of how our planet interacts with space.

Image above: Illustration of ICON spacecraft. Image Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith.

“It’s a truly wonderful time to be studying heliophysics,” said Nicola Fox, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division in Washington. “We just launched Parker Solar Probe earlier this year, which will give us the first close-up view of what drives the solar wind. Now, with ICON joining our heliophysics system fleet, we will have the incredibly detailed measurements of the ionosphere’s response to the solar drivers. This is an amazing opportunity to study the whole system response.”

NASA heliophysics missions study a vast interconnected system from the Sun to the space surrounding Earth and other planets, and to the farthest limits of the Sun’s constantly flowing stream of solar wind. ICON’s observations will provide key information about how Earth’s atmosphere is connected to this complex, dynamic system. 

ICON is an Explorer-class mission. NASA Goddard manages the Explorers Program for NASA's Heliophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory developed and operates the ICON mission and built the EUV and FUV imagers. The Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., developed the MIGHTI instrument, the University of Texas in Dallas developed IVM, and the ICON spacecraft and Pegasus launch vehicle were built by Northrop Grumman in Dulles, Virginia.

NASA launch coverage begins at 2:45 a.m. EST on Nov. 7, 2018. Follow launch coverage on NASA Television at: https://www.nasa.gov/live

Related links:

NASA’s ICON website: https://www.nasa.gov/icon

MIGHTI instrument: https://www.nasa.gov/content/icon-spacecraft-and-instruments

GOLD: http://nasa.gov/gold

Airglow: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/why-nasa-watches-airglow-the-colors-of-the-upper-atmospheric-wind

Space Weather: https://www.nasa.gov/subject/3165/space-weather

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Rob Garner/Goddard Space Flight Center, by Lina Tran.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Astronauts Ready Japanese Ship as Cosmonaut Works Russian Space Science

ISS - Expedition 57 Mission patch.

November 6, 2018

Japan’s seventh resupply ship to the International Space Station is packed and readied for departure Wednesday morning. However, the Japanese cargo ship, H-II Transfer Vehicle-7 (HTV-7), has one more delivery mission before it burns up safely over the Pacific Ocean.

Image above: This view of Japan from the International Space Station looks from north to south and encompasses the cities of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka. Image Credit: NASA.

Station skipper Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) will command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the HTV-7 at 11:50 a.m. EST Wednesday. It will spend about an hour maneuvering safely away from the station on a trajectory to begin its next mission. Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor will monitor the vehicle until it reaches a point about 200 meters from the space station. NASA TV begins its live coverage of the departure Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

The HTV-7 will fire its deorbit engines Saturday for a fiery but safe ending to its mission after 41 days attached to the station’s Harmony module. Before the HTV-7 self-destructs in Earth’s atmosphere it will release a small reentry capsule loaded with test cargo for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near the Japanese islands. The capsule will be retrieved by personnel from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to test the space partner’s ability to safely return precious space cargo for analysis on Earth.

Image above: Earth Enveloped in Airglow. On October 7, 2018, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shot this photograph while orbiting at an altitude of more than 250 miles over Australia. The orange hue enveloping Earth is known as airglow—diffuse bands of light that stretch 50 to 400 miles into our atmosphere. The phenomenon typically occurs when molecules (mostly nitrogen and oxygen) are energized by ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. To release that energy, atoms in the lower atmosphere bump into each other and lose energy in the collision. The result is colorful airglow. Image Credit: NASA.

As the two Expedition 57 astronauts packed the cargo ship, cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev continued his space physics research, photo inspections and inventory updates. The cosmonaut explored how microgravity and the Sun impact plasma-dust crystals. Prokopyev also photographed the condition of the station’s Russian segment then updated the station’s inventory system.

Related links:

Expedition 57: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition57/index.html

H-II Transfer Vehicle-7 (HTV-7): https://www.nasa.gov/feature/kounotori-htv-launches-arrivals-and-departures

NASA TV: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

Plasma-dust crystals: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/process/02.html

Airglow: https://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/airglow1.htm

Space weather: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10249/storms-from-the-sun-the-emerging-science-of-space-weather

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/Nasreen Alkhateeb.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Curiosity on the Move Again

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) patch.

Nov. 6, 2018

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover drove about 197 feet (60 meters) over the weekend to a site called Lake Orcadie, pushing its total odometry to over 12 miles (20 kilometers). This was Curiosity's longest drive since experiencing a memory anomaly on Sept. 15. The rover switched to a spare computer, called the Side-A computer, on Oct. 3.

After more than two weeks of science operations, and now with this latest drive, the mission is back to business. The team plans to drill a new target later this week.

Curiosity's engineering team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory continues to diagnose the anomaly on the Side-B computer.

Image above: A self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover taken on Sol 2082 (June 15, 2018). A Martian dust storm has reduced sunlight and visibility at the rover's location in Gale Crater. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, this week commanded the agency's Curiosity rover to switch to its second computer. The switch will enable engineers to do a detailed diagnosis of a technical issue that has prevented the rover's active computer from storing science and some key engineering data since Sept. 15.

Like many NASA spacecraft, Curiosity was designed with two, redundant computers -- in this case, referred to as a Side-A and a Side-B computer -- so that it can continue operations if one experiences a glitch. After reviewing several options, JPL engineers recommended that the rover switch from Side B to Side A, the computer the rover used initially after landing.

The rover continues to send limited engineering data stored in short-term memory when it connects to a relay orbiter. It is otherwise healthy and receiving commands. But whatever is preventing Curiosity from storing science data in long-term memory is also preventing the storage of the rover's event records, a journal of all its actions that engineers need in order to make a diagnosis. The computer swap will allow data and event records to be stored on the Side-A computer.

Side A experienced hardware and software issues over five years ago on sol 200 of the mission, leaving the rover uncommandable and running down its battery. At that time, the team successfully switched to Side B. Engineers have since diagnosed and quarantined the part of Side A's memory that was affected so that computer is again available to support the mission.

"At this point, we're confident we'll be getting back to full operations, but it's too early to say how soon," said Steven Lee of JPL, Curiosity's deputy project manager. "We are operating on Side A starting today, but it could take us time to fully understand the root cause of the issue and devise workarounds for the memory on Side B.

"We spent the last week checking out Side A and preparing it for the swap," Lee said. "It's certainly possible to run the mission on the Side-A computer if we really need to. But our plan is to switch back to Side B as soon as we can fix the problem to utilize its larger memory size."

For more about Curiosity, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/

For more about NASA's Mars program, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/JPL/Andrew Good.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch