NASA Highlights Science on Next Resupply Mission to International Space Station

SpaceX - Dragon CRS-16 patch.

Nov. 23, 2018

Image above: The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft is pictured in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm as the International Space Station was orbiting above northern Africa. Scientific investigations on the next SpaceX flight, targeted for Tuesday, Dec. 4. include a test of robotic technology for refueling spacecraft, a project to map the world’s forests, and studies in several areas to benefit future space explorers as well as lives on Earth. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 28, to discuss select science investigations launching on the next SpaceX commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station.

SpaceX is targeting Dec. 4 for launch of its Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida.

Participants in the briefing will be:

- Hsiao Smith, deputy director for technical of the Satellite Servicing Projects Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will discuss the Robotic Refueling Mission-3 to demonstrate the storage and transfer of liquid methane in space for the first time: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-to-launch-new-refueling-mission-helping-spacecraft-live-longer-and-journey-farther

- Timothy Etheridge, principal investigator for the Molecular Muscle investigation, and a professor at University of Exeter, Department of Sport and Health Sciences in the United Kingdom,will discuss research to examine the molecular causes of muscle abnormalities during spaceflight in order to establish effective countermeasures: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7576

- Ralph Dubayah, principal investigator for Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) at the Joint Global Carbon Cycle Center in College Park, Maryland, will discuss an investigation to test high-quality laser ranging observations of the Earth’s forests and topography required to advance the understanding of important carbon and water cycling processes, biodiversity, and habitat: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/gedi-to-measure-earths-forests

- Vic Keasler, Director of Research, Development and Engineering at Nalco Champion, an Ecolab company, will discuss an investigation to examine the rate of corrosion on carbon steel materials caused by films made up of microorganisms on Earth and in space: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7645

- Jahaun Azadmanesh, a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, will discuss the Perfect Crystals investigation which aims to help understand how an antioxidant protein helps protect the human body from oxidizing radiation and oxidants created as a byproduct of metabolism: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7617

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live online at: https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will carry crew supplies, scientific research and hardware to the orbiting laboratory to support the Expedition 57 and 58 crews for the 16th contracted mission by SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

For launch countdown coverage, NASA's launch blog, and more information about the mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/spacex

Related links:

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

Expedition 58: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition58/index.html

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

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Sean Potter/Kathryn Hambleton.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA's Lucy in the Sky with … Asteroids?

NASA - LUCY Mission patch.

Nov. 23, 2018

A little over 4 billion years ago, the planets in our solar system coexisted with vast numbers of small rocky or icy objects orbiting the Sun. These were the last remnants of the planetesimals – the primitive building blocks that formed the planets. Most of these leftover objects were then lost, as shifts in the orbits of the giant planets scattered them to the distant outer reaches of the solar system or beyond. But some were captured in two less-distant regions, near points where the gravitational influence of Jupiter and the Sun balance, and have remained trapped there, mostly untouched, for billions of years.

Not quite 4 million years ago, an ancient ancestor of modern humans roamed the land in what later would become the country of Ethiopia. Thirty-four years ago, Donald Johanson discovered the fossilized skeleton of this creature, later named Lucy, after the Beatles’ 1967 hit “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Image above: Conceptual image of the Lucy mission to the Trojan asteroids. Image Credits: NASA/SwRI.

Three years from now, a spacecraft named Lucy, inspired by the famous fossil, will begin its exploration that could help determine the early history of the Solar System.

NASA’s Lucy mission will fly by six of those trapped planetesimals – the Jupiter Trojan asteroids – giving humanity its first glimpse of these ancient objects. By studying these fossils of planet formation, the Lucy mission could reveal as much about the development of the solar system as the Lucy fossil did about human evolution. And on the way to the Trojans, Lucy will visit an asteroid that the team has named Donaldjohanson, after the anthropologist that discovered the fossilized skeleton of our ancestor.

“The Trojans hold vital clues to the origin of the Solar System because they are leftover remnants from, and so were witnesses to, the process that built the planets,” said Principal Investigator Harold Levison of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

Animation above: The time-lapsed animation above shows the movements of the inner planets, Jupiter and both swarms of Trojans (green) during the time period of the Lucy mission. The L4 Trojans lead Jupiter in its orbit and the L5 Trojans follow. By tradition, the L4 Trojans are named for Greek characters in accounts of the Trojan War. The L5 bodies are named for characters on the Trojan side of the conflict. Animation Credits: Astronomical Institute of CAS/Petr Scheirich (used with permission).

The Trojans orbit the Sun in synchrony with Jupiter, following almost the same path, but leading the giant planet by about one-sixth of the way around the orbit, or trailing by the same amount. This keeps them near one of two gravitationally stable “Lagrange” points, L4 and L5, positioned at the apex of an equilateral triangle with Jupiter and the Sun, where they are protected from being perturbed onto different orbits or out of the solar system entirely. The areas around Jupiter’s L4 and L5 points each contain a swarm of objects billions of years old that hold information about the history of our solar system.

Image above: SwRI scientist studied the binary asteroid Patroclus-Menoetius, shown in this artist’s conception, to determine that a shake-up of the giant planets likely happened early in the solar system’s history, within the first 100 million years. Image Credits: Image Courtesy of W.M. Keck Observatory/Lynette Cook.

Earth-based observations have enabled astronomers to classify the Trojan asteroids by subtle variations in color and likely composition. “We see variation in the properties we can measure from the Earth and we would like to know the physical basis behind this variation,” Lucy Project Scientist Keith Noll said. “A mission to a single object would not have allowed that kind of comparison – by sampling a diverse set of objects, Lucy will provide a better basis for understanding what we are seeing in the broader population.” By visiting six Trojans spanning all of the major types, two of which make up a binary system (two objects that orbit each other), Lucy will gain a wealth of information about the objects that made up the solar system’s original planetesimal disk. Noll works at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland which is a key partner in the Lucy mission.

One characteristic the Trojans have in common is that they are dark. “They only reflect four or five percent of the light that hits them,” said Noll. “That’s really dark. Black pavement on the road is far more reflective.”

What darkens the Trojans is a mystery that could have surprising implications for our Earth. “Dark objects may have organic (carbon-containing) compounds on their surfaces,” said Senior Scientist Amy Simon. “If many of the Trojans we survey show evidence of organics, it will imply that the building blocks for life were common throughout the early solar system.” Simon works at NASA Goddard where she serves as a deputy principal investigator for one of the Lucy spacecraft’s instruments.

Some of the same processes that trapped the Trojans in their present orbits sent other leftover planetesimals farther from the Sun, and we now find them in the Kuiper Belt, the icy region beyond Neptune that is home to Pluto and other dwarf planets. (NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft explored Pluto following a 9-year journey, and will fly past another Kuiper Belt Object on New Year’s Day 2019.)

Image above: An artist's concept of the Lucy Mission. Image Credit: SwRI.

Data collection will be vital to Lucy’s success. The mission will carry four instruments in its payload: L’Ralph, consisting of MVIC (Multi-spectral Visible Imaging Camera), a multi-color imager, and LEISA (Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array), a spectrograph that will provide information on surface composition; L’LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager), a high-resolution camera; and L’TES (Thermal Emission Spectrometer), which will measure the surface temperatures of the Trojans. And in addition to the scientific instruments, Lucy’s communications (radio) and target acquisition system (TTCam) will contribute to the science mission. L’Ralph will analyze the Trojans’ surfaces to look for the presence of different silicates, ices and organics on these asteroids. L’LORRI will take high-definition pictures of the Trojans supplemented by TTCam at closest approach. L’TES will investigate the physical state of the Trojans’ surfaces, and the radio data will be used jointly with the imaging data to determine their masses and densities.

Lucy is scheduled to launch in October 2021, flying by more targets in different orbits around the Sun than any other mission in history. Answers to key questions about the solar system’s distant past will be now within reach, thanks to the Lucy mission.

The Lucy mission is led by Dr. Harold Levison and his team at the Southwest Research Institute and is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The instruments on Lucy are developed by Goddard, Arizona State University, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The spacecraft will be developed and constructed by Lockheed Martin. Following its construction, Lucy will undergo further testing, and in three years be launched on a mission that will forever change our knowledge of the solar system.

For more information about the Lucy mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/lucy

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Karl Hille/Goddard Space Flight Center, by Tamsyn Brann.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Shaping the surface of Mars with water, wind, and ice

ESA - Mars Express Mission patch.

22 November 2018

ESA’s Mars Express has imaged an intriguing part of the Red Planet’s surface: a rocky, fragmented, furrowed escarpment lying at the boundary of the northern and southern hemisphere.

Perspective view of Nili Fossae

This region is an impressive example of past activity on the planet and shows signs of where flowing wind, water and ice once moved material from place to place, carving out distinctive patterns and landforms as it did so.

Mars is a planet of two halves. In places, the northern hemisphere of the planet sits a full few kilometres lower than the southern; this clear topographic split is known as the martian dichotomy, and is an especially distinctive feature on the Red Planet’s surface.

Northern Mars also displays large areas of smooth land, whereas the planet’s southern regions are heavily pockmarked and scattered with craters. This is thought to be the result of past volcanic activity, which has resurfaced parts of Mars to create smooth plains in the north – and left other regions ancient and untouched.

Nili Fossae in context

The star of this Mars Express image, a furrowed, rock-filled escarpment known as Nili Fossae, sits at the boundary of this north-south divide. This region is filled with rocky valleys, small hills, and clusters of flat-topped landforms (known as mesas in geological terms), with some chunks of crustal rock appearing to be depressed down into the surface creating a number of ditch-like features known as graben.

Mars Express view of Nili Fossae

As with much of the surrounding environment, and despite Mars’ reputation as a dry, arid world today, water is believed to have played a key role in sculpting Nili Fossae via ongoing erosion. In addition to visual cues, signs of past interaction with water have been spotted in the western (upper) part of this image – instruments such as Mars Express’ OMEGA spectrometer have spotted clay minerals here, which are key indicators that water was once present.

Topography of Nili Fossae

The elevation of Nili Fossae and surroundings, shown in the topographic view above, is somewhat varied; regions to the left and lower left (south) sit higher than those to the other side of the frame (north), illustrating the aforementioned dichotomy. This higher-altitude terrain appears to consist mostly of rocky plateaus, while lower terrain comprises smaller rocks, mesas, hills, and more, with the two sections roughly separated by erosion channels and valleys.

This split is thought to be the result of material moving around on Mars hundreds of millions of years ago. Similar to glaciers on Earth, flows of water and ice cut through the martian terrain and slowly sculpted and eroded it over time, also carrying material along with them. In the case of Nili Fossae, this was carried from higher areas to lower ones, with chunks of resistant rock and hardy material remaining largely intact but shifting downslope to form the mesas and landforms seen today.

Nili Fossae in 3D

The shapes and structures scattered throughout this image are thought to have been shaped over time by flows of not only water and ice, but also wind. Examples can be seen in this image in patches of the surface that appear to be notably dark against the ochre background, as if smudged with charcoal or ink. These are areas of darker volcanic sand, which have been transported and deposited by present-day martian winds. Wind moves sand and dust around often on Mars’ surface, creating rippling dune fields across the planet and forming multi-coloured, patchy terrain like Nili Fossae.

The data comprising this image were gathered by Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on 26 February 2018.

Mars Express

ESA’s Mars Express was launched in 2003. As well as producing striking views of the martian surface such as this, the mission has shed light on many of the planet’s biggest mysteries – and helped to build the picture of Mars as a planet that was once warmer, wetter and potentially habitable. Read more about the past 15 years of Mars Express, and what the mission has discovered so far, here: https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/From_horizon_to_horizon_Celebrating_15_years_of_Mars_Express

Related links:

Mars Express: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express

Mars Express overview: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express_overview

Mars Express in-depth: http://sci.esa.int/marsexpress

Mars Webcam: http://blogs.esa.int/vmc

Images, Text, Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO/NASA MGS MOLA Science Team.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

TAGSAM Testing Complete: OSIRIS-REx Prepared to TAG an Asteroid

NASA - OSIRIS-REx Mission patch.

Nov. 21, 2018

On Nov. 14, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft stretched out its robotic sampling arm for the first time in space. The arm, more formally known as the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), is key to the spacecraft achieving the primary goal of the mission: returning a sample from asteroid Bennu in 2023.

As planned, engineers at Lockheed Martin commanded the spacecraft to move the arm through its full range of motion – flexing its shoulder, elbow, and wrist “joints.” This long-awaited stretch, which was confirmed by telemetry data and imagery captured by the spacecraft’s SamCam camera, demonstrates that the TAGSAM head is ready to collect a sample of loose dirt and rock (called regolith) from Bennu’s surface.

Image above: This image shows the OSIRIS-REx Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) sampling head extended from the spacecraft at the end of the TAGSAM arm. The image was obtained by the SamCam camera on Nov. 14, 2018 as part of a visual checkout of the spacecraft’s sample acquisition system. This is a rehearsal image for an observation that will be taken at Bennu during the moment of sample collection to help document the asteroid material collected in the TAGSAM head. There are two witness plate assemblies on the top perimeter of the TAGSAM head, one of which is entirely visible in this image. These witness plates record the deposition of material on the TAGSAM head over the duration of the mission, giving scientists a record of material on the TAGSAM head that is not from Bennu. Image Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona.

“The TAGSAM exercise is an important milestone, as the prime objective of the OSIRIS-REx mission is to return a sample of Bennu to Earth,” said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “This successful test shows that, when the time comes, TAGSAM is ready to reach out and tag the asteroid.”

Years of innovation

Lockheed Martin engineers spent more than a decade designing, building, and testing TAGSAM, which includes an 11-foot (3.35-meter) arm with three articulating joints, a round sampler head at the end of the arm that resembles the air filter in a car, and three bottles of high-pressure nitrogen gas.

This test deployment was a rehearsal for a date in mid-2020 when the spacecraft will unfold the TAGSAM arm again, slowly descend to Bennu’s surface, and briefly touch the asteroid with the sampler head. A burst of nitrogen gas will stir up regolith on the asteroid’s surface, which will be caught in the TAGSAM head. The TAG sequence will take about five seconds, after which the spacecraft will execute small maneuvers to carefully back away from Bennu. Afterward, SamCam will image the sampler head, as it did during the test deployment, to help confirm that TAGSAM collected at least 2.1 ounces (60 grams) of regolith.

TAGSAM Taking a Sample

Video above: In mid-2020, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will use its TAGSAM device to stir up and collect a sample of loose material from asteroid Bennu’s surface. That material will be returned to Earth for study in 2023. Video Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona.

The TAGSAM mechanism was designed for the key challenge unique to the OSIRIS-REx mission: collecting a sample from the smallest planetary body ever to be orbited by a spacecraft. “First-of-its-kind innovations like this one serve as the precursor for future missions to small bodies,” said Sandy Freund, systems engineer manager and Lockheed Martin OSIRIS-REx MSA manager. “By proving out these technologies and techniques, we are going to be able to return the largest sample from space in half a century and pave the way for other missions.”

A month of testing

The unfolding of the TAGSAM arm was the latest and most significant step in a series of tests and check-outs of the spacecraft’s sampling system, which began in October when OSIRIS-REx jettisoned the cover that protected the TAGSAM head during launch and the mission’s outbound cruise phase. Shortly before the cover ejection, and again the day after, OSIRIS-REx performed two spins called Sample Mass Measurements. By comparing the spacecraft’s inertial properties during these before-and-after spins, the team confirmed that the 2.67-pound (1.21-kilogram) cover was successfully ejected on Oct. 17.

OSIRIS-REx taking sample on Bennu. Image Credit: NASA

A week later, on Oct. 25, the Frangibolts holding the TAGSAM arm in place fired successfully, releasing the arm and allowing the team to move it into a parked position just outside its protective housing. After resting in this position for a few weeks, the arm was fully deployed into its sampling position, its joints were tested, and images were captured with SamCam. The spacecraft will execute two additional Sample Mass Measurements over the next two days. The mission team will use these spins as a baseline to compare with the results of similar spins that will be conducted after TAG in 2020 in order to confirm the mass of the sample collected.

TAGSAM Arm Deployment and Mass Measurement Spin

Video above: Over the past month, the OSIRIS-REx team conducted a series of tests to ensure that TAGSAM, the spacecraft’s sampling mechanism, is ready to collect a sample from Bennu in 2020. This rehearsal marked the first time since launch that the TAGSAM arm has moved through its full range of motion. Video Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona.

Although the sampling system was rigorously tested on Earth, this rehearsal marked the first time that the team has deployed TAGSAM in the micro-gravity environment of space.

"The team is very pleased that TAGSAM has been released, deployed, and is operating as commanded through its full range of motion." said Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "It has been restrained for over two years since launch, so it is gratifying to see it out of its shackles and performing well."

OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to arrive at Bennu on Dec. 3. It will spend nearly one year surveying the asteroid with five scientific instruments so that the mission team can select a location that is safe and scientifically interesting to collect the sample.

Animation above: Over the past month, the OSIRIS-REx team conducted a series of tests to ensure that TAGSAM, the spacecraft’s sampling mechanism, is ready to collect a sample from Bennu in 2020. This rehearsal marked the first time since launch that the TAGSAM arm has moved through its full range of motion. Animation Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona.

“Now that we have put TAGSAM through its paces in space and know it is ready to perform at Bennu, we can focus on the challenges of navigating around the asteroid and seeking out the best possible sample site,” said Lauretta.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team, the mission’s science observation planning, and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft and is providing flight operations. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Related link:

TAGSAM: https://www.asteroidmission.org/?attachment_id=1699#main

For more information on OSIRIS-REx visit: http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex and http://www.asteroidmission.org/

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Videos (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Karl Hille/University of Arizona, by Christine Hoekenga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Three Humans Will Spend Thanksgiving 260 Miles Above Earth

ISS - Expedition 57 Mission patch.

November 21, 2018

Three humans will spend Thanksgiving orbiting about 260 miles above Earth. Another three individuals are spending the holiday in Kazakhstan preparing to launch to the International Space Station on Dec. 3.

Happy Thanksgiving From the International Space Station

Video above: Astronauts Alex Gerst of ESA and Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA wish you a happy Thanksgiving! On station, the crew will share a holiday meal of turkey, stuffing, candied yams and spicy pound cake, and call home to speak with loved ones on Earth. Video Credit: NASA TV.

The Expedition 57 trio from the U.S., Russia and Germany will share a traditional Thanksgiving meal together with fresh ingredients delivered over the weekend on a pair of new cargo ships. Commander Alexander Gerst from ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor will take the day off in space. Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev will work a normal day of Russian science and maintenance then join his crewmates for the holiday feast.

Image above: Serena Auñón-Chancellor (right) takes a group selfie with her Expedition 57 crew mates (from left) Sergey Prokopyev and Alexander Gerst. The three-person crew was gathered for dinner in the Zvezda Service Module, part of the International Space Station’s Russian segment. Image Credit: NASA.

Gerst called down to European mission controllers today for a weekly tag up then answered a questionnaire about his experiences living in space. Afterward, he continued unpacking inventory from the new Cygnus cargo craft.

Auñón-Chancellor spent most of her day in Japan’s Kibo lab module working on life support gear. Toward the end of the day, she stowed research samples in a science freezer then debriefed ground controllers with Gerst about Cygnus cargo operations.

Prokopyev focused his attention on the Russian side of the orbital lab working on life support gear and unloading the new Progress 71 cargo craft.

Image above: Flying over Peru (rear cam view), seen by EarthCam on ISS, speed: 27'605 Km/h, altitude: 406,43 Km, image captured by Roland Berga (on Earth in Switzerland) from International Space Station (ISS) using ISS-HD Live application with EarthCam's from ISS on November 21, 2018 at 21:22 UTC. Image Credits: Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Back on Earth, three Expedition 58 crew members from the U.S., Russia and Canada are in final training ahead of their six-and-a-half month mission on the orbital lab. Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko will lead the six-hour flight aboard the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft flanked by NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques.

This will be Kononenko’s fourth mission to the space station and his second as station commander. McClain and Saint-Jacques are both beginning their first missions to space.

Related links & articles:

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

Expedition 58: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition58/index.html

Experiences living in space: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1727

Cygnus cargo craft: https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/11/canadian-robotic-arm-installs-us-cygnus.html

Progress 71 cargo craft: https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/11/russian-cargo-craft-docks-to-station.html

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), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Marck Garcia/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA to Launch New Refueling Mission, Helping Spacecraft Live Longer and Journey Farther

ISS - Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3) patch.

Nov. 21, 2018

NASA will lay the foundation for spacecraft life extension and long duration space exploration with the upcoming launch of Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3), a mission that will pioneer techniques for storing and replenishing cryogenic spacecraft fuel. 

The third phase of an ongoing technology demonstration, RRM3 will attach to the International Space Station and build on two previous missions — RRM and RRM2. These first two phases practiced the robotic tasks of removing caps and valves on spacecraft, leading up to the act of replenishing fuel, but stopped short of cryogenic fluid transfer.

Robotic Refueling: Paving the Way for Exploration

Video above: One small box of technology is getting NASA one step closer to future exploration missions. The Robotic Refueling Mission 3, or RRM3, will prove technologies to transfer and store common spacecraft fuels in space. Video Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio.

Cryogenic fluid can serve as a very potent fuel. As a propellant, it produces a high thrust or acceleration, allowing rockets to escape the gravitational force of planetary bodies. As a coolant, it keeps spacecraft operational and can prolong their lifespan by years.

Besides these uses, the ability to resupply cryogenic fuel in space could minimize the amount of fuel spacecraft are required to carry from Earth’s surface, making it possible to travel farther into space for longer periods of time.

Image above: RRM3 fluid transfer module with the external tool pedestal affixed to the top during a tool fit check in Greenbelt, Maryland. Image Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Gunn.

Liquid oxygen is another type of cryogenic fluid, used for astronaut life support systems. Having the ability to efficiently store and replenish this type of oxygen could facilitate astronauts’ capacity to embark on long duration human exploration missions and live on other planets.

“Any time we get to extend our stay in space is valuable for discovery,” said Beth Adams Fogle, RRM3 mission manager in NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions program office at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “RRM3’s ability to transfer and store cryogenic fluid could alter our current fuel constraints for human exploration.”

Image above: Spacewalking astronauts successfully transfer the RRM module from the Atlantis shuttle cargo bay to a temporary platform on the ISS's Dextre robot for RRM Phase 1 and 2. Image Credit: NASA.

Another possibility is mining water on the Moon in order to separate it into its individual elements, hydrogen and oxygen — both of which can be converted into cryogenic propellants. RRM3 technologies will establish methods for transferring and storing these resources to refuel spacecraft on exploration missions, laying the groundwork for what could one day be lunar gas stations.

Beyond the Moon, carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere also has the potential of being converted to liquid methane, a cryogenic fluid. RRM3 techniques could then be applied to refuel departure rockets from Mars.

Image above: The ability to replenish and store cryogenic fluid can help with exploration. Here are some ways technologies demonstrated by RRM3 could be used at the Moon and Mars. Image Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

As useful as cryogens are, their extremely low boiling points make storing them in space difficult, because they boil off over time. RRM3 will not only transfer cryogenic fluid, but store 42 liters of cryogen without fluid loss for six months — enough to maintain spacecraft instruments for years.

“Any time you try something for the first time, there is an element of risk,” said Jill McGuire, project manager for RRM3. “We hope our technology demonstration helps drive down the risk of refueling in space for future exploration and science missions.”

NASA engineers built on lessons learned from RRM and RRM2 to design next-generation hardware. During RRM3 mission operations, the space station’s Dextre robotic arm will carry out tasks using a suite of three primary tools.

Image above: Matt Ashmore, an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, performs a fit check of RRM3’s three external tools (from left to right: cryogen servicing tool, VIPIR2, multi-function tool 2). After RRM3 is installed to the outside of International Space Station the Dextre robotic arm will mount the pedestal and tools, pre-assembled by astronauts on the space station. Image Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Gunn.

The task sequence begins with the multi-function tool 2, which operates smaller specialized tools to prepare for the fluid transfer. Next, the cryogen servicing tool uses a hose to connect the tank filled with liquid methane to the empty tank. To monitor the process, the Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot 2 (VIPIR2) utilizes a state-of-the-art robotic camera to make sure tools are properly positioned.

“We learn by doing,” said Ben Reed, deputy director of the Satellite Servicing Project Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Pioneering new technologies is hard, but when we get it right the payoffs are big.”

RRM3 is developed and operated by the Satellite Servicing Projects Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and managed by the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. RRM3 is scheduled to launch to the space station on SpaceX's 16th Commercial Resupply Services mission.

Related links:

Satellite Servicing Projects Division: https://sspd.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Technology Demonstration Missions: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/main/index.html

Space Technology Mission Directorate: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/index.html

SpaceX's 16th Commercial Resupply Services: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/spacex.html

For more information about RRM3, visit: https://sspd.gsfc.nasa.gov/RRM3.html

Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Rob Garner/Goddard Space Flight Center, by Isabelle Yan.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA InSight Team on Course for Mars Touchdown

NASA - InSight Mission logo.

Nov. 21, 2018

NASA's Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft is on track for a soft touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet on Nov. 26, the Monday after Thanksgiving. But it's not going to be a relaxing weekend of turkey leftovers, football and shopping for the InSight mission team. Engineers will be keeping a close eye on the stream of data indicating InSight's health and trajectory, and monitoring Martian weather reports to figure out if the team needs to make any final adjustments in preparation for landing, only five days away.

Image above: An artist's impression of NASA InSight's entry, descent and landing at Mars, scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

"Landing on Mars is hard. It takes skill, focus and years of preparation," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Keeping in mind our ambitious goal to eventually send humans to the surface of the Moon and then Mars, I know that our incredible science and engineering team — the only in the world to have successfully landed spacecraft on the Martian surface — will do everything they can to successfully land InSight on the Red Planet."

InSight, the first mission to study the deep interior of Mars, blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Central California on May 5, 2018. It has been an uneventful flight to Mars, and engineers like it that way. They will get plenty of excitement when InSight hits the top of the Martian atmosphere at 12,300 mph (19,800 kph) and slows down to 5 mph (8 kph) — about human jogging speed — before its three legs touch down on Martian soil. That extreme deceleration has to happen in just under seven minutes.

Image above: This artist's illustration shows NASA's four successful Mars rovers (from left to right): Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, and Curiosity. The image also shows the upcoming Mars 2020 rover and a human explorer. Image Credit: NASA.

"There's a reason engineers call landing on Mars 'seven minutes of terror,'" said Rob Grover, InSight's entry, descent and landing (EDL) lead, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "We can't joystick the landing, so we have to rely on the commands we pre-program into the spacecraft. We've spent years testing our plans, learning from other Mars landings and studying all the conditions Mars can throw at us. And we're going to stay vigilant till InSight settles into its home in the Elysium Planitia region."

One way engineers may be able to confirm quickly what activities InSight has completed during those seven minutes of terror is if the experimental CubeSat mission known as Mars Cube One (MarCO) relays InSight data back to Earth in near-real time during their flyby on Nov. 26. The two MarCO spacecraft (A and B) are making good progress toward their rendezvous point, and their radios have already passed their first deep-space tests.

Image above: NASA Science missions circle Earth, the Sun, the Moon, Mars and many other destinations within our solar system, including spacecraft that look out even further into our universe. The Science Fleet depicts the scope of NASA's activity and how our missions have traveled throughout the solar system. Image Credits: NASA/GSFC.

"Just by surviving the trip so far, the two MarCO satellites have made a giant leap for CubeSats," said Anne Marinan, a MarCO systems engineer based at JPL. "And now we are gearing up for the MarCOs' next test — serving as a possible model for a new kind of interplanetary communications relay."

If all goes well, the MarCOs may take a few seconds to receive and format the data before sending it back to Earth at the speed of light. This would mean engineers at JPL and another team at Lockheed Martin Space in Denver would be able to tell what the lander did during EDL approximately eight minutes after InSight completes its activities. Without MarCO, InSight's team would need to wait several hours for engineering data to return via the primary communications pathways — relays through NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey orbiter.

Image above: This map shows the temperature of the Martian atmosphere 16 miles above the surface. The data was taken on Nov. 18, 2018, about one week before NASA's InSight lander is scheduled to touchdown on the Martian surface. The temperature indicates to mission scientists the amount of dust activity in the atmosphere. The map shows a range of latitudes, with temperatures clearly dropping near the planet's north pole. The landing locations of various NASA Mars landers are shown for context. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Once engineers know that the spacecraft has touched down safely in one of the several ways they have to confirm this milestone and that InSight's solar arrays have deployed properly, the team can settle into the careful, three-month-long process of deploying science instruments.

"Landing on Mars is exciting, but scientists are looking forward to the time after InSight lands," said Lori Glaze, acting director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. "Once InSight is settled on the Red Planet and its instruments are deployed, it will start collecting valuable information about the structure of Mars' deep interior — information that will help us understand the formation and evolution of all rocky planets, including the one we call home."

Image above: This artist’s concept depicts the smooth, flat ground that dominates InSight's landing ellipse in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

"Previous missions haven't gone more than skin-deep at Mars," added Sue Smrekar, the InSight mission's deputy principal investigator at JPL. "InSight scientists can’t wait to explore the heart of Mars."

Image above: This image from the Mars Odyssey orbiter took this image of the target landing site for NASA's InSight lander. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU.

JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.

Image above: The artist's impression shows the major interior layers of Earth, Mars and the Moon. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

A number of European partners, including France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP³) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the wind sensors.

Image above: NASA's InSight Mars Lander in fully landed configuration in the clean room at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Once the solar arrays are fully deployed on Mars, they can provide 600-700 watts on a clear day, or just enough to power a household blender. Image Credits: Lockheed Martin.

Related articles:

NASA Brings Mars Landing, First in Six Years, to Viewers Everywhere Nov. 26:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-brings-mars-landing-first-in-six-years-to-viewers-everywhere-nov-26

How NASA Will Know When InSight Touches Down:
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/11/how-nasa-will-know-when-insight-touches.html

The Mars InSight Landing Site Is Just Plain Perfect:
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-mars-insight-landing-site-is-just.html

Five Things to Know About InSight's Mars Landing:
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/10/five-things-to-know-about-insights-mars.html

NASA's InSight Will Study Mars While Standing Still:
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/10/nasas-insight-will-study-mars-while.html

NASA's First Image of Mars from a CubeSat:
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/10/nasas-first-image-of-mars-from-cubesat.html

NASA CubeSats Steer Toward Mars:
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/06/nasa-cubesats-steer-toward-mars.html

Related links:

Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS): https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/instruments/seis/

Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP³): https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/instruments/hp3/

For more detailed information on the InSight mission, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight

For more information about MarCO, visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cubesat/missions/marco.php

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Dwayne Brown/JoAnna Wendel/Tony Greicius/JPL/Jia-Rui Cook/D.C. Agle​.

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From gamma rays to X-rays: new method pinpoints previously unnoticed pulsar emission

ESA - XMM-Newton Mission patch.

21 November 2018

Based on a new theoretical model, a team of scientists explored the rich data archive of ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra space observatories to find pulsating X-ray emission from three sources. The discovery, relying on previous gamma-ray observations of the pulsars, provides a novel tool to investigate the mysterious mechanisms of pulsar emission, which will be important to understand these fascinating objects and use them for space navigation in the future.

Lighthouses of the Universe, pulsars are fast-rotating neutron stars that emit beams of radiation. As pulsars rotate and the beams alternatively point towards and away from Earth, the source oscillates between brighter and dimmer states, resulting in a signal that appears to 'pulse' every few milliseconds to seconds, with a regularity rivalling even atomic clocks.

Pulsars are the incredibly dense, extremely magnetic, relics of massive stars, and are amongst the most extreme objects in the Universe. Understanding how particles behave in such a strong magnetic field is fundamental to understanding how matter and magnetic fields interact more generally.

Image above: XMM-Newton's view of pulsar J1826-1256. Animation Credits: ESA/XMM-Newton/J. Li, DESY, Germany.

Originally detected through their radio emission, pulsars are now known to also emit other types of radiation, though typically in smaller amounts. Some of this emission is standard thermal radiation – the type that everything with a temperature above absolute zero emits. Pulsars release thermal radiation when they accrete matter, for example from another star.

But pulsars also emit non-thermal radiation, as is often produced in the most extreme cosmic environments. In pulsars, non-thermal radiation can be created via two processes: synchrotron emission and curvature emission. Both processes involve charged particles being accelerated along magnetic field lines, causing them to radiate light that can vary in wavelength from radio waves to gamma-rays.

Non-thermal X-rays result mostly from synchrotron emission, while gamma-rays may come from so-called synchro-curvature emission – a combination of the two mechanisms. It is relatively easy to find pulsars that radiate gamma-rays – NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has detected more than 200 of them over the past decade, thanks to its ability to scan the whole sky. But only around 20 have been found to pulse in non-thermal X-rays.

"Unlike gamma-ray detecting survey instruments, X-ray telescopes must be told exactly where to point, so we need to provide them with some sort of guidance," says Diego Torres, from the Institute of Space Sciences in Barcelona, Spain.

Aware that there should be many pulsars emitting previously undetected non-thermal X-rays, Torres developed a model that combined synchrotron and curvature radiation to predict whether pulsars detected in gamma-rays could also be expected to appear in X-rays.

"Scientific models describe phenomena that can't be experienced directly," explains Torres.

"This model in particular helps explain the emission processes in pulsars and can be used to predict the X-ray emission that we should observe, based on the known gamma-ray emission."

The model describes the gamma-ray emission of pulsars detected by Fermi – specifically, the brightness observed at different wavelengths – and combines this information with three parameters that determine the pulsar emission. This allows a prediction of their brightness at other wavelengths, for instance in X-rays.

Torres partnered with a team of scientists, led by Jian Li from the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron in Zeuthen near Berlin, Germany, to select three known gamma-ray emitting pulsars that they expected, based on the model, to also shine brightly in X-rays. They dug into the data archives of ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra X-ray observatories to search for evidence of non-thermal X-ray emission from each of them.

"Not only did we detect X-ray pulsations from all three of the pulsars, but we also found that the spectrum of X-rays was almost the same as predicted by the model," explains Li.

"This means that the model very accurately describes the emission processes within a pulsar."

Image above: Non-thermal X-ray emission from three pulsars. Image Credits: Adapted from J. Li et al. (2018).

In particular, XMM-Newton data showed clear X-ray emission from PSR J1826-1256 – a radio quiet gamma-ray pulsar with a period of 110.2 milliseconds. The spectrum of light received from this pulsar was very close to that predicted by the model. X-ray emission from the other two pulsars, which both rotate slightly more quickly, was revealed using Chandra data.

This discovery already represents a significant increase in the total number of pulsars known to emit non-thermal X-rays. The team expects that many more will be discovered over the next few years as the model can be used to work out where exactly to look for them.

Finding more X-ray pulsars is important for revealing their global properties, including population characteristics. A better understanding of pulsars is also essential for potentially taking advantage of their accurate timing signals for future space navigation endeavours.

The result is a step towards understanding the relationships between the emission by pulsars in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, enabling a robust way to predict the brightness of a pulsar at any given wavelength. This will help us better comprehend the interaction between particles and magnetic fields in pulsars and beyond.

"This model can make accurate predictions of pulsar X-ray emission, and it can also predict the emission at other wavelengths, for example visible and ultraviolet," Torres continues.

"In the future, we hope to find new pulsars leading to a better understanding of their global properties."

XMM-Newton. Image Credit: ESA

The study highlights the benefits of XMM-Newton's vast data archive to make new discoveries and showcases the impressive abilities of the mission to detect relatively dim sources. The team is also looking forward to using the next generation of X-ray space telescopes, including ESA's future Athena mission, to find even more pulsars emitting non-thermal X-rays.

"As the flagship of European X-ray astronomy, XMM-Newton is detecting more X-ray sources than any previous satellite. It is amazing to see that it is helping to solve so many cosmic mysteries," concludes Norbert Schartel, XMM-Newton Project Scientist at ESA.

Notes for Editors:

"Theoretically motivated search and detection of non-thermal pulsations from PSRs J1747-2958, J2021+3651, and J1826-1256" by Li et al. is published in Astrophysical Journal Letters: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aae92b

The prepint is available on the arXiv/astro-ph server: https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.08339

ESA's XMM-Newton: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: ESA/Norbert Schartel/Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC)/Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC)/Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avanc¸ats (ICREA)/Diego Torres/Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY/Jian Li.

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Arianespace orbits the MOHAMMED VI–B satellite

ARIANESPACE - Flight VV13 Mission poster.

November 20, 2018

Arianespace orbits the MOHAMMED VI – B satellite on 13th successful Vega launch in a row

Arianespace has successfully launched the MOHAMMED VI-B Earth observation satellite, developed for the Kingdom of Morocco by a consortium comprising Thales Alenia Space as system prime contractor and Airbus as co-prime.

Arianespace’s ninth launch of the year, and the second using Vega in 2018, took place on Tuesday, November 20, 2018 at 10:42 p.m. (local time) from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana (South America).

Arianespace Flight VV13 – MOHAMMED VI

This launch marks the 13th successful mission in a row for Vega since it entered service in 2012, as Arianespace continues to prove that its light launcher is a perfect match for the requirements of both government and commercial customers.

A second Earth observation satellite for Morocco

The MOHAMMED VI–B satellite is the second spacecraft launched by Arianespace for the Kingdom of Morocco, within the scope of the country’s Earth observation program, MOHAMMED VI–A & B. It joins the MOHAMMED VI–A satellite which was orbited by Arianespace on November 7, 2017, also using a Vega launcher.

The MOHAMMED VI–B satellite will mostly be used for mapping and land surveying, regional development, agricultural monitoring, the prevention and management of natural disasters, monitoring changes in the environment and desertification, and border and coastal surveillance.

MOHAMMED VI–B satellite

Thales Alenia Space, as system prime contractor, supplied the payload, including the optical instrument, the image transmission subsystem and the ground segment for image processing and production. Airbus, as satellite prime contractor, was in charge of its integration, as well as supplying the platform and the ground segment for mission planning and satellite control.

Including this mission, Arianespace has now orbited 67 Earth observation satellites using its family of launchers: Ariane, Soyuz and Vega, for institutional and commercial customers. From this standpoint, the end of the year is symbolic: after two successful launches in November (Metop-C on Soyuz for EUMETSAT on November 5, and the MOHAMMED VI–B satellite on Vega today), two other launches for Earth observation are scheduled in December: GEO-KOMPSAT-2A on Ariane 5, followed by CSO-1 for the French DGA (Directorate General of Armaments) and the French CNES space agency on Soyuz.

From the total of all satellites launched by Arianespace, 10% were for Earth observation missions, in particular for European programs: Copernicus for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Metop/Meteosat for EUMETSAT.

For more information about Arianespace, visit: http://www.arianespace.com/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: Arianespace/Günter Space Page.

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Crew Unpacking New U.S., Russian Cargo Ships on Station’s 20th Anniversary

ISS - Expedition 57 Mission patch.

November 20, 2018

The International Space Station turned 20 years old today with the launch of the first element, the Zarya module, occurring on Nov. 20, 1998. The three-person Expedition 57 crew commemorated the beginning of the orbital lab’s construction during a Facebook Live event today and answered questions submitted via social media.

The crew also continues to unpack the newest U.S. and Russian cargo ships to visit the International Space Station today.

Image above: Sunrise over Peru Coast, seen by EarthCam on ISS, speed: 27'595 Km/h, altitude: 407,91 Km, image captured by Roland Berga (on Earth in Switzerland) from International Space Station (ISS) using ISS-HD Live application with EarthCam's from ISS on November 18, 2018 at 12:25 UTC. Image Credits: Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

The Cygnus space freighter from Northrop Grumman arrived Monday delivering almost 7,400 pounds of crew supplies and new science experiments. The Progress 71 (71P) resupply from Russia docked Sunday packed with almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies.

Astronauts Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Alexander Gerst opened Cygnus’s hatch a few hours after it was captured and attached to the Unity module. Today they are installing new science freezers, transferring the new cargo and replenishing the orbital laboratory. Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev opened the 71P hatch after its automated docking Sunday and began unloading the new gear.

In between all the cargo work today, the three-person crew had time to conduct science and maintain station systems.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

Gerst photographed samples for a physics study that is observing how quartz/clay particles interact in microgravity. Results could benefit future planetary studies and the petroleum industry. Auñón-Chancellor measured light levels in the Columbus lab module for a study researching how new station lights impact crew wellness. Prokopyev worked primarily in the station’s Russian segment maintaining life support systems.

Related articles:

20 Years Ago, ISS Construction Begins:
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/11/20-years-ago-iss-construction-begins.html

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

Related links:

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

Quartz/clay particles interact in microgravity: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7668

Columbus lab module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/europe-columbus-laboratory

New station lights: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2013

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

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Marck Garcia/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

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How NASA Will Know When InSight Touches Down

NASA - InSight Mission logo.

Nov. 20, 2018

What's the sound of a touchdown on Mars?

If you're at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it sounds like winning the Super Bowl: cheers, laughter and lots of hollering.

But in the minutes before that, NASA's InSight team will be monitoring the Mars lander's radio signals using a variety of spacecraft — and even radio telescopes here on Earth — to suss out what's happening 91 million miles (146 million km) away.

Animation above: This image depicts the MarCO CubeSats relaying data from NASA's InSight lander as it enters the Martian atmosphere. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Because these signals are captured by several spacecraft, they're relayed to Earth in different ways and at different times. That means the mission team may know right away when InSight touches down, or they may have to wait up to several hours.

Here's how NASA will be listening for the next Mars landing on Nov. 26.

Radio Telescopes

As the InSight lander descends into Mars' atmosphere, it will broadcast simple radio signals called "tones" back to Earth. Engineers will be tuning in from two locations: the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy’s facility at Effelsberg, Germany. Their results will be relayed to Mission Control at JPL and engineers at Lockheed Martin Space in Denver.

These tones don't reveal much information, but radio engineers can interpret them to track key events during InSight's entry, descent and landing (EDL). For example, when InSight deploys its parachute, a shift in velocity changes the frequency of the signal. This is caused by what's called the Doppler effect, which is the same thing that occurs when you hear a siren change in pitch as an ambulance goes by. Looking for signals like these will allow the team to know how InSight's EDL is progressing.

Mars Cube One (MarCO)

Two briefcase-sized spacecraft are flying behind InSight and will attempt to relay its signals to Earth. Belonging to a class of spacecraft called CubeSats, the MarCOs are being tested as a way for future missions to send home data during EDL.

The MarCOs are experimental technology. But if they work as they should, the pair will transmit the whole story of EDL as it's unfolding. That might include an image from InSight of the Martian surface right after the lander touches down.

InSight

After it touches down, InSight will essentially yell, "I made it!" Seven minutes later, the spacecraft says it again — but a little louder and clearer.

Image above: This illustration shows a simulated view of NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander firing retrorockets to slow down as it descends toward the surface of Mars. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The first time, it will communicate with a tone beacon that the radio telescopes will try to detect. The second time, it will send a "beep" from its more powerful X-band antenna, which should now be pointed at Earth. This beep includes slightly more information and is only heard if the spacecraft is in a healthy, functioning state. If NASA's Deep Space Network picks up this beep, it's a good sign that InSight survived landing. Engineers will need to wait until early evening to find out if the lander successfully deployed its solar arrays.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

Besides the MarCO CubeSats, NASA's MRO will be soaring over Mars, recording InSight's data during descent.

MRO will hold on to the data it records during EDL as it disappears over the Martian horizon. When it comes back around from the other side, it will play back that data for engineers to study. By 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST), they should be able to piece together MRO's recording of the landing.

MRO's recording is similar to an airplane's black box, which means that it could also prove important if InSight doesn't successfully touch down.

2001 Mars Odyssey

NASA's longest-lived spacecraft at Mars will also relay data after InSight has touched down. Odyssey will relay the entire history of InSight's descent to Mars, as well as a couple images. It will also relay confirmation that InSight's solar arrays, which are vital to the spacecraft's survival, fully deployed. Engineers will have this data just before 5:30 p.m. PST (8:30 p.m. EST).

Image above: This is an illustration showing a simulated view of NASA's InSight lander about to land on the surface of Mars. This view shows the underside of the spacecraft. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Odyssey will also serve as a data relay for InSight during surface operations, along with MRO, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) and the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter.

About InSight

JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.

Image above: This artist's concept depicts NASA's InSight lander after it has deployed its instruments on the Martian surface. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

A number of European partners, including France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP³) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the wind sensors.

Related links:

Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS): https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/instruments/seis/

Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP³): https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/instruments/hp3/

For more information about InSight, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/

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

Greetings, Orbiter.ch