Space Station 20th: Music on ISS

ISS - 20 Years on the International Space Station (ISS) patch.

May 12, 2020

It was December 1965 and the crews of Gemini 6 and 7 had just completed the first rendezvous between two spacecraft, a critical step on the way to the Moon. Shortly after the two spacecraft separated, the following exchange took place among Walter M. “Wally” Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford aboard Gemini 6, Frank Borman and James A. Lovell aboard Gemini 7 and Elliott M. See as the Capsule Communicator (Capcom) in Mission Control in Houston:

Gemini 6: We have an object. It looks like a satellite going from north to south, up in a polar orbit. He's in a very low trajectory, traveling from north to south. It has a very high [fineness] ratio. It looks like it might be [inaudible]. It's very low; it looks like he might be going to re-enter soon. Stand by, One. It looks like he's trying to signal us. [Stafford and Schirra play “Jingle Bells”].

Gemini 7: We got him, too! [Laughter].

Gemini 6: That was live, Seven, not taped.

Houston: You’re too much, Six.

If you listen to the audio of the conversation, you can hear the sounds of an 8-note Hohner "Little Lady" harmonica and a handful of small bells, the first musical instruments played in outer space. Both are on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

The first musical instruments played in space: a Hohner harmonica
(above) and a set of bells (bellow). Credits: NASM.

Above: Ivanchenko plays the acoustic guitar aboard Salyut-6. Middle: McNair on the soprano sax in Challenger’s middeck. Bellow: Flautist Ochoa on Discovery’s flight deck.

As spacecraft grew larger and missions longer, the size and sophistication of musical instruments in orbit increased. Many astronauts and cosmonauts were accomplished musicians and brought their talents to orbit. Although the music from the instruments sounded the same in space as on the ground, playing them in weightlessness provided the musicians with challenges unique to each instrument. The first acoustic guitar in space is believed to have been aboard the Soviet Salyut-6 space station, first played by Aleksandr I. Ivanchenko in 1978. Guitars have provided musical psychological support for crewmembers aboard space stations ever since. Ronald A. McNair played a soprano saxophone during Space Shuttle Challenger’s STS-41B mission in 1984. Space limitations in the Shuttle precluded flying McNair’s favorite tenor sax, so he learned to play the smaller version of the instrument for his space flight. Once on orbit, McNair encountered unexpected effects of weightlessness: the water that normally accumulates inside wind instruments on Earth resulted instead in unwanted bubbly effects. The Shuttle cabin’s dry air had unwanted effects on the instrument’s felt and leather pads, requiring several minutes of “rehydration” before proper playing. Ellen L. Ochoa had to use foot restraints while she played her flute aboard Discovery during STS-56 in 1993 as part of an education demonstration. The small air current coming from the flute exerted enough force to impart translation motions on her.

Above: Laveykin (left) and Romanenko during Mir Expedition 2 in 1987. Middle: Reiter (left) and Hadfield aboard Mir during the STS-74 mission in 1995. Bellow: Tyurin (left) on guitar and Walz on keyboard in the Zvezda module during the STS-108 mission in 2002.

Russian space psychologists realized that playing music on orbit improved the well-being of cosmonauts on long-duration missions and ensured that an acoustic guitar made it aboard Mir as early as possible. Cosmonauts Yuri V. Romanenko and Aleksandr I. Laveykin enjoyed strumming the strings during Mir’s second expedition in 1987, as did many cosmonauts throughout the space station’s lifetime. During STS-74, the second Shuttle-Mir docking mission in 1995, Canadian astronaut Chris A. Hadfield brought along a specially modified collapsible SoloEtte guitar that he donated to the Mir 20 crew onboard at the time, after recording a duet with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas A. Reiter. The guitar stayed on Mir until June 1998, when it returned to Earth on STS-91 after 942 days in space. Following the example set aboard Mir, psychologists concerned with the well-being of crewmembers aboard the International Space Station (ISS) included musical instruments as part of the overall support program. The August 2001 STS-105 mission, in addition to launching the Expedition 3 crew, brought the first musical instrument, an acoustic guitar, to ISS. An electronic keyboard accompanied the Expedition 4 crew to orbit in December of that year aboard STS-108. Expedition 3 Flight Engineer Mikhail V. Tyurin and Expedition 4 Flight Engineer Carl E. Walz played an impromptu concert for their crewmates.

Above: Lu (right) playing the keyboard. Middle: Coleman with two of the four flutes she brought to ISS. Bellow: Pettit playing his home-made didgeridoo.

Many crewmembers on ISS enjoy playing the instruments already provided; others bring their own that suit their playing habits best; others still make their own while on-orbit. Edward T. “Ed” Lu during Expedition 7 in 2003 provided his own rendition of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on the ISS electronic keyboard. Astronaut and flautist Catherine G. “Cady” Coleman brought four flutes to ISS during Expedition 26 and 27. In 2011, she played a duet with Ian Anderson, flautist and frontman for Jethro Tull, she aboard ISS and he on Earth while on tour in Perm, Russia. As one of his private science experiments, during Expedition 30/31 in 2012 Donald R. Pettit built a didgeridoo, an Australian aborigine wind instrument, from a vacuum cleaner hose and with the help of Daniel C. Burbank demonstrated how the sound waves emanating from the end of the instrument disturb droplets of water.

Above/bellow: Noguchi playing the ryuteki and Yamazaki playing the koto in the Kibo module. 

Marking the first time that two astronauts from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) met in space, in April 2010 Expedition 23 Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi and STS-131 Mission Specialist Naoko Yamazaki performed a musical duet of the traditional Japanese song Sakura, Sakura (Cherry Blossoms), using the JAXA Kibo module’s airlock as a stage. Noguchi opened the performance on the ryuteki (a bamboo flute) he had brought along for his 5.5-month mission, then switched to the electronic keyboard to accompany Yamazaki playing on a koto. Normally six-feet long, Yamazaki had a miniature version of the stringed instrument made for her spaceflight, which changed the quality of its sound.

Above: Hadfield strumming the guitar in the Cupola. Bellow: Composite of
Parmitano on keyboard on ISS (left) and Marouani on keyboard in Moscow.

Space Oddity - David Bowie - Performed by Chris Hadfield

Shortly before returning from his six-month Expedition 34/35 in 2013, Hadfield recorded his version of David Bowie’s 1969 hit Space Oddity. He announced this first-ever video shot on ISS on Twitter and posted it on Youtube where it has received more than 45 million views. Responding on social media, Bowie called Hadfield’s cover "possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created."

On June 29, 2013, one month into his 6-month mission as Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer, ESA astronaut Luca S. Parmitano took part in a concert by French musician Didier Marouani and his band spAce playing in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Watched by fellow crewmembers Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and Karen L. Nyberg, Parmitano played the ISS electronic keyboard while the band, including Yurchikhin’s 11-year-old daughter Elena as a guest performer, played the song Magic Fly.

Above: Lindgren plays the bagpipe in the Kibo module.
Bellow: Pesquet with his birthday present alto sax. 

The honor of being the first to play bagpipes in space belongs to NASA astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren. In November 2015 during Expedition 45, Lindgren played Amazing Grace on the pipes custom made for him by McCallum Bagpipes in Scotland to pay tribute to his friend research scientist Victor W. Hurst who had suddenly passed away.

For his 39th birthday in 2017, ESA astronaut Thomas G. Pesquet’s Expedition 50 crewmates surprised him with an alto saxophone that they had conspired to be delivered to ISS and had somehow managed to keep hidden from him. The sax remains onboard ISS to this day and astronauts occasionally take it out for a spin.

A jam session comes together on ISS. Far right: AstroHawaii jamming session aboard ISS (above to bellow) Feustel, Artemyev, Arnold, Shkaplerov and Tingle.

What do you get when you put several musicians in a room together with an array of instruments? A jam session. True even on ISS. Calling themselves AstroHawaii, in April 2018 the crew of Expedition 55 took a break from their regular work to hold a zero-g jam session, with NASA astronauts Andrew J. “Drew” Feustel and Scott D. “Maker” Tingle on guitars, Russian cosmonauts Oleg G. Artemyev on the pan flute and Anton N. Shkaplerov on the Irish flute and NASA astronaut Richard R. “Ricky” Arnold on the drum (actually a Russian KTO solid waste container). No recording is known to exist of this epic jam session.

Above: Gerst playing his iPad, projected behind Kraftwerk in Stuttgart.
Bellow: Parmitano projected onto a large screen as he DJs a cruise ship party.

Expedition 56 Flight Engineer ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst took music on ISS to nerd level off-scale high. In July 2018, Gerst participated in a concert taking place in Stuttgart, Germany, with pioneering electronic band Kraftwerk. Jamming live on their 1978 song Spacelab, Gerst used an iPad loaded with a touch control app backed by synthesizer software, configured by Kraftwerk’s Henning Schmitz and coordinated with ESA who manifested the iPad on a SpaceX cargo vehicle.

Kicking it up another notch, Parmitano became the first person to DJ a party from space. In August 2019 during Expedition 60, using the name DJ Astro Luca, he played a 12-minute set from ESA’s Columbus module using an iPad loaded with DJ software to 3,000 party-goers on a cruise ship anchored at the Spanish island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean Sea.

Above: Meir playing her high school piccolo. Bellow: Meir on sax in the Cupola.

During a TV hookup with school kids from her hometown of Caribou, Maine, in November 2019 Expedition 61 Flight Engineer Jessica U. Meir played the Star Wars theme on her high school band piccolo. In addition to piccolo, Meir also played flute and saxophone as a child, so it was only natural she would take the alto sax on ISS out for a spin before returning to Earth in April 2020.

ISS – taking music to new heights.

Related articles:

Space Station 20th – Space Flight Participants
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/space-station-20th-space-flight.html

Space Station 20th: Six Months Until Expedition 1
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/04/space-station-20th-six-months-until.html

Space Station 20th – Women and the Space Station
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/03/space-station-20th-women-and-space.html

Space Station 20th: Long-duration Missions
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/03/space-station-20th-long-duration.html

NASA Counts Down to Twenty Years of Continuous Human Presence on International Space Station
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/11/nasa-counts-down-to-twenty-years-of.html

20 memorable moments from the International Space Station
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/11/20-memorable-moments-from-international.html

Related link:

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

Images, Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Kelli Mars/JSC/John Uri/ROSCOSMOS/ESA/CSA-ASC/Chris Hadfield.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Japanese Resupply Ship, SpaceX Crew Dragon Nearing Launch Dates

ISS - Expedition 63 Mission patch.

May 12, 2020

A Japanese cargo ship is poised to resupply the Expedition 63 crew just as a U.S. space freighter has completed its stay at the International Space Station. The three station residents are also getting ready to welcome two Commercial Crew members in just over two weeks.

Japan’s ninth H-II Transfer Vehicle cargo mission (HTV-9) is due to lift off on May 20 aboard an H-IIB rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center. The cargo craft from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is delivering fresh food and supplies, new science experiments and new lithium-ion batteries to upgrade the station’s power systems.

Image above: Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle (left) and the SpaceX Crew Dragon (right) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station this month. Image Credit: NASA.

The HTV-9 will arrive at the station on May 25 where Commander Chris Cassidy, with Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner as back up, will capture the cargo craft with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Ground controllers will take over afterward and remotely install the HTV-9 to the Harmony module’s Earth-facing port where it will stay for two months.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

Just two days later, NASA will launch the first crew from the United States since 2011 aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon. Veteran astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will take a 19-hour trip to the station while testing systems inside the Crew Dragon. It will automatically dock on May 28 to the International Docking Adapter located on the Harmony module’s forward port. After the hatches open, the duo will join the Expedition 63 crew to ramp up science and maintenance operations aboard the orbiting lab.

Related links:

Expedition 63: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition63/index.html

H-II Transfer Vehicle: https://iss.jaxa.jp/en/htv/mission/htv-9/

SpaceX Crew Dragon: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasakennedy/49785433982/

Canadarm2: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/mobile-servicing-system.html

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

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

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits. NASA/Mark Garcia.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

SOFIA Finds Clues Hidden in Pluto’s Haze

NASA & DLR - SOFIA Mission patch.

May 12, 2020

Animation above: An animation illustrating Pluto passing in front of a star during an eclipse-like event known as an occultation. SOFIA observed the dwarf planet as it was momentarily backlit by a star on June 29, 2015 to analyze its atmosphere. Animation Credit: NASA.

When the New Horizons spacecraft passed by Pluto in 2015, one of the many fascinating features its images revealed was that this small, frigid world in the distant solar system has a hazy atmosphere. Now, new data helps explain how Pluto’s haze is formed from the faint light of the Sun 3.7 billion miles away as it moves through an unusual orbit.

Remote observations of Pluto by NASA’s telescope on an airplane, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, show that the thin haze enshrouding Pluto is made of very small particles that remain in the atmosphere for prolonged periods of time rather than immediately falling to the surface. SOFIA’s data clarify that these haze particles are actively being replenished – a discovery that is revising predictions on the fate of Pluto’s atmosphere as it moves into even colder areas of space on its 248-Earth-year orbit around the Sun. The results are published in the scientific journal Icarus.

Image above: Still image from an animation illustrating Pluto passing in front of a star during an eclipse-like event known as an occultation. SOFIA observed the dwarf planet as it was momentarily backlit by a star on June 29, 2015 to analyze its atmosphere. Image Credit: NASA.

“Pluto is a mysterious object that is constantly surprising us,” said Michael Person, the lead author of the paper and director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Wallace Astrophysical Observatory. “There had been hints in earlier remote observations that there might be haze, but there wasn’t strong evidence to confirm it really existed until the data came from SOFIA. Now we’re questioning if Pluto’s atmosphere is going to collapse in the coming years – it may be more resilient than we thought.”

SOFIA studied Pluto just two weeks before New Horizon’s flyby in July 2015. The modified Boeing 747 flew over the Pacific Ocean and pointed its nearly 9-foot telescope at Pluto during an occultation, an eclipse-like event in which Pluto cast a faint shadow on Earth’s surface as it passed in front of a distant star.

SOFIA observed the middle layers of Pluto’s atmosphere in the infrared and visible light wavelengths, and soon after, the New Horizons spacecraft probed its upper and lower layers using radio waves and ultraviolet light. These combined observations, taken so close in time, have provided the most complete picture yet of Pluto’s atmosphere.

Blue, Hazy Atmosphere

Created as surface ice vaporizes under the distant light of the Sun, Pluto’s atmosphere is predominantly nitrogen gas, along with small amounts of methane and carbon monoxide. Haze particles form high up in the atmosphere, more than 20 miles above the surface, as methane and other gases react to sunlight, before slowly raining down to the icy surface.

New Horizons found evidence of these particles when it sent back images showing a blue-tinted haze to Pluto’s atmosphere. Now, SOFIA’s data fills in even more details by discovering that the particles are extremely small, just 0.06-0.10 microns thick, or about 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Because of their small size, they scatter blue light more than other colors as they drift toward the surface, creating the blue tint.

Image above: High-resolution color image of the haze layers in Pluto’s atmosphere, acquired by the New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015. Image Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI.

With these new insights, scientists are reevaluating their predictions on the fate of Pluto’s atmosphere. Many forecasts indicated that as the dwarf planets moved away from the Sun, less surface ice would be vaporized — creating fewer atmospheric gases while losses to space continued — eventually leading to atmospheric collapse. But rather than collapsing, the atmosphere appears to change on a shorter cyclical pattern.

Applying what they learned from SOFIA to reanalyze previous observations, including from SOFIA’s predecessor the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, shows that the haze thickens and then fades in a cycle lasting just a few years. This indicates that the tiny particles are being created relatively quickly. The researchers suggest that Pluto’s unusual orbit is driving the changes in the haze and therefore may be more important in regulating its atmosphere than its distance from the Sun.

Pluto circles the Sun in a long, oval shape, called an elliptical orbit, and at an angle, called an inclined orbit. It also rotates on its side. This causes some areas of the dwarf planet to be exposed to more sunlight at different points in the orbit. When ice-rich regions are exposed to sunlight, the atmosphere may expand and create more haze particles, but as those areas receive less sunlight, it may shrink and become clearer. This cycle has continued even as Pluto’s distance from the Sun has increased, though it’s not clear if this pattern will continue.

“There’s still a lot we don’t understand, but we’re forced now to reconsider earlier predictions,” said Person. “Pluto’s atmosphere may collapse more slowly than previously predicted, or perhaps not at all. We have to keep monitoring it to find out.”

Chasing Pluto’s Shadow

SOFIA was uniquely positioned to study Pluto from afar by taking advantage of a rare moment when Pluto passed in front of a distant star, casting a faint shadow across the Earth’s surface. Momentarily backlit by the star, Pluto’s atmosphere could be analyzed.

Traveling at 53,000 miles per hour, Pluto’s shadow was expected to appear for a brief two minutes over the Pacific Ocean near New Zealand. SOFIA charted its course to intercept, but two hours before the occultation an updated prediction placed the shadow 200 miles to the north.

SOFIA Captures Pluto Occultation

Video above: SOFIA studied Pluto's shadow as it traveled across the surface of the Earth at more than 53,000 mph on the night of June 29, 2015. The careful planning and real-time adaption of the observatory’s flight path leading up to observation allowed scientists to analyze Pluto's atmosphere. Video Credit: NASA.

“Capturing that shadow required a bit of scramble. SOFIA has the benefit of being mobile, but the revised flight plan had to be cleared by air traffic control,” said William Reach, SOFIA’s associate director for science operations. “There were a few tense moments, but the team worked together, and we got clearance. We reached Pluto’s shadow at exactly the right time and were very happy to have made it!”

SOFIA Boeing 747P telescope bay door opening. Animation Credit: NASA

Remote observations like these allow scientists to monitor planetary bodies in between spacecraft flybys, which can often be separated by many years. The agreement between the data gathered remotely by SOFIA and from New Horizons’ close flyby supports that occultation observations from Earth can provide high quality data between spacecraft missions.

SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 106-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, DLR. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is maintained and operated from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, in Palmdale, California.

Related links:

Kuiper Airborne Observatory: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/history-of-airborne-astronomy-at-nasa

SOFIA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIA/index.html

Pluto: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Animations (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Kassandra Bell/Felicia Chou.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

ExPace - Kuaizhou-1A launches Xingyun-2 01 and 02

CASIC - China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation logo.

May 12, 2020

Kuaizhou-1A launches Xingyun-2 01 and 02

A Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A) launch vehicle launched the Xingyun-2 01 and 02 communications satellites from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu Province, northwest China, on 12 May 2020, at 01:16 UTC (09:16 local time).

Kuaizhou-1A launches Xingyun-2 01 and 02

Developed by  the Xingyun Satellite Co.(航天行云科技有限公司), a subsidiary of Sanjiang Group, the Xingyun-2 (行云二号) satellites will conduct tests on technologies including space-based IoT communications and inter-satellite laser communications, part of a planned network with 80 low-orbit communications satellites. KZ-1A (快舟一号) is developed by ExPace Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).

Xingyun Satellite

A Chinese Kuaizhou 1A rocket launches the first two satellites for China’s planned Xingyun Internet of Things communications and data relay constellation. Delayed from April. Launches of the solid-fuel KZ-1A booster are managed by Expace, which is a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). The rocket is used to launch small satellites.

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC): http://www.cccme.org.cn/shop/tools043/index.aspx

For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC): http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html

Images, Video, Text, Credits: CASIC/China Central Television (CCTV)/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Hubble Views a Galaxy Burning Bright

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

May 11, 2020

In the depths of the night sky lies a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 3583, imaged here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This is a barred spiral galaxy with two arms that twist out into the universe. This galaxy is located 98 million light-years away from the Milky Way. Two supernovae exploded in this galaxy, one in 1975 and another, more recently, in 2015.

There are a few different ways that supernovae can form. In the case of these two supernovae, the explosions evolved from two independent binary star systems in which the stellar remnant of a Sun-like star, known as a white dwarf, was collecting material from its companion star. Feeding off of its partner, the white dwarf gorged on the material until it reached a maximum mass. At this point, the star collapsed inward before exploding outward in a brilliant supernova.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

Two of these events were spotted in NGC 3583, and though not visible in this image, we can still marvel at the galaxy’s spectacular symmetry.

For more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

http://www.spacetelescope.org/

Text Credits: ESA (European Space Agency)/NASA/Rob Garner/Image, Animation Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

ATLAS probes dark matter using the Higgs boson

CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

May 11, 2020

The Higgs boson plays a crucial role in the search for dark matter at the Large Hadron Collider 

Image above: A candidate event for a Higgs boson produced via vector-boson fusion and subsequently transforming (“decaying”) into invisible particles. The experimental signature of two particle jets (yellow cones) and large missing energy (dashed line) is shown (Image: CERN).

Physicists from the ATLAS collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider searched for particles of dark matter by looking for transformation of the Higgs boson into particles that cannot be directly detected by the ATLAS experiment (“invisible particles”). Presence of such particles in the collision debris would create an energy imbalance with visible particles, which can be measured. The scientists sifted through the full dataset from Run 2 of the LHC (2015–2018), around ten million billion (10¹⁶) proton–proton collisions, seeking events in which a Higgs boson was produced via a specific, well-identifiable process (known as vector-boson fusion) and then transformed into undetected particles.

The data show no excess of such characteristic events over the expected background. ATLAS concluded at a 95% confidence level that no more than 13% of Higgs bosons produced in the LHC could transform into invisible particles. These findings place the strongest limits so far on Higgs transformations to such invisible particles.

Dark matter, which makes up around 85% of the mass of the universe, has only been observed indirectly, through gravitational effects. No particles of this substance have been observed in a laboratory. Further, even if they are produced in collisions at the LHC, physicists expect that dark-matter particles would escape interaction with the gigantic detectors located at the collision points (be “invisible” to the detector), resulting in “missing energy” in the collision debris.

Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

However, dark matter has mass, and considering the Higgs boson’s relation to mass, physicists have suggested that dark-matter particles could interact with the Higgs boson: a Higgs boson could transform (or “decay”) into dark-matter particles shortly after being produced in the LHC’s collisions. Collision events in which a Higgs is produced through vector-boson fusion contain additional conical jets of particles directed towards the forward regions of ATLAS, close to the LHC beam pipe. The missing energy resulting from the individual particles would, on the other hand, be aligned towards the vertical plane perpendicular to the beam pipe. Combining these two characteristics gives scientists a unique signature in the quest for dark matter.

Although no excess was observed, the search provided important constraints on low-mass dark matter, which complement direct searches for dark matter performed at other facilities. It was also an important demonstration of the novel techniques that scientists are applying in research at the LHC. The Higgs boson, discovered in 2012, has quickly evolved into an invaluable means of searching for signs of physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.

Note:

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of Nature.

The instruments used at CERN are particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.

Founded in 1954, the CERN Laboratory sits astride the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 23 Member States.

Related links:

ATLAS: https://home.cern/science/experiments/atlas

Large Hadron Collider (LHC): https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider

Higgs boson: https://home.cern/science/physics/higgs-boson

Standard Model: https://home.cern/science/physics/standard-model

More details about the research on the ATLAS website: https://atlas.cern/updates/physics-briefing/probing-dark-matter-higgs-boson

Video of the LHC seminar where the results were presented: https://cds.cern.ch/record/2715786?ln=en

The ATLAS paper: https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/CONFNOTES/ATLAS-CONF-2020-008/

For more information about European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Visit: https://home.cern/

Image (mentioned), Animation, Text, Credit: CERN.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

U.S. Cygnus Resupply Ship Departs Station

Northrop Grumman - NG-13: S.S. Robert H. Lawrence Cygnus patch.

May 11, 2020

Image above: In this frame from NASA TV, the U.S. Cygnus space freighter from Northrop Grumman is pictured moments after being released from the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. Image Credit: NASA TV.

The Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed the International Space Station three months after arriving at the space station to deliver about 7,500 of scientific experiments and supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

NG-13: S.S. Robert H. Lawrence Cygnus departure

Within 24 hours of its release, Cygnus will begin its secondary mission, hosting the Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment – IV (Saffire-IV), which provides an environment to safely study fire in microgravity. It also will deploy a series of payloads. Northrop Grumman flight controllers in Dulles, Virginia, will initiate Cygnus’ deorbit to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere Friday, May 29.

Related links:

Expedition 63: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition63/index.html

Saffire-IV: https://www.nasa.gov/saffire

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

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

Image (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/NASA TV/SciNews.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch