samedi 30 mai 2020

China's Long March-11 launches two satellites













CASC - China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation logo.

May 30, 2020

Long March-11 launch vehicle lift off

A Long March-11 launch vehicle launched two new technology experiment satellites (JSW-G, JSW-H) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province, southwest China, on 29 May 2020, at 20:13 UTC (30 May, at 04:13 local time). According to official sources, the satellites entered into the planned orbits.

Long March-11 launches two satellites

A Chinese Long March 11 launches a small satellite designated CX-6-01. Its purpose is unknown.

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

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

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

LIFTOFF! NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Launches the Commercial Crew Era













NASA & SpaceX - First Crewed Flight DM-2 Mission patch.

May 30, 2020

Liftoff!

Liftoff! The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley aboard the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft launched from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Pad 39A at 3:22 p.m. EDT, kicking off a critical final flight test of the SpaceX crew transportation system. The commercial crew era has officially begun with this launch of American astronauts on an American spacecraft from American soil.

Control of the flight has been transferred from the SpaceX launch control team at Kennedy to the mission control team at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

SpaceX Demo-2 launch

The nine Merlin engines on the Falcon rocket’s first stage are generating more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust as the vehicle climbs away from Florida’s Space Coast. At about one minute into the flight, the rocket will pass through Max Q, the point of peak mechanical stress on the rocket.

Main Engine Cutoff; Second Stage Continues the Flight

MECO! Main engine cutoff. The nine Merlin engines powering the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage shut down as expected, followed by separation of the first stage from the second stage. The second stage’s single Merlin engine has taken over the task of delivering the Crew Dragon spacecraft, carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, safely to orbit. This second-stage burn will last approximately six minutes.

‘Nominal Trajectory’


Stage 2 propulsion is performing as expected now four minutes into the flight, traveling 5600 miles per hour and 200 miles downrange from Kennedy Space Center.

Second-Stage Engine Cutoff, First Stage Begins Descent Toward Drone Ship

SECO! The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s second-stage Merlin engine shut down as planned. Separation of the Crew Dragon spacecraft from the second stage is coming up just over three minutes from now.

The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage is descending toward SpaceX’s drone ship, “Of Course I Still Love You,” waiting in the Atlantic Ocean.

Stage 1 Successfully Lands on Drone Ship

The first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has landed successfully on the company’s drone ship, “Of Course I Still Love You.”


The Falcon 9 second stage and Crew Dragon are right on track for spacecraft separation coming up shortly.

Separation! Crew Dragon, SpaceX Demo-2 Crew Arrive in Orbit

Twelve minutes into the flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, the spacecraft separated from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage, signaling the end of the climb to space. NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission, a final end-to-end flight test of the company’s crew transportation system, is underway with the return of human spaceflight capability to U.S. soil.

Second stage separation

The Crew Dragon, Behnken and Hurley are embarking on a 19-hour pursuit of the International Space Station.

“Thanks for flying on Falcon 9 today – we hope you enjoy the mission,” said SpaceX Chief Engineer Bala Ramamurthy.

“It was incredible. Appreciate all the hard work. Thanks for the great ride to space,” the crew responded.

The Crew Dragon’s nosecone is opening. This rounded cover at the top of the spacecraft protects the docking system and the guidance, navigation and control system. The spacecraft’s environmental control and life support system is running as well.

SpaceX Demo-2: Crew Dragon Reaches Orbit

Crew Dragon spacecraft in orbit

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on their way to the International Space Station has safely reached orbit, and the nosecone has been opened.

At 4:09 p.m. EDT, the Crew Dragon will conduct a phase burn to put it on its trajectory to meet up with the space station tomorrow for docking at 10:29 a.m.

At 4:55 p.m., Behnken and Hurley will take control of Crew Dragon for the first of two manual flight tests, demonstrating their ability to control the spacecraft should an issue with the spacecraft’s automated flight ever arise.

Crew Dragon will perform a series of phasing maneuvers to gradually approach and autonomously dock with the International Space Station on Sunday, May 31, at approximately 10:29 a.m. EDT. Image bellow: a high-resolution version of the graphic at right, explaining the Crew Dragon’s approach to the station.


After a successful docking, hatches between the two spacecraft will be opened at 12:45 p.m. Crew members Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken will be welcomed aboard the International Space Station and become members of the Expedition 63 crew, joining astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin. Behnken and Hurley will perform tests on Crew Dragon in addition to conducting research and other tasks with the space station crew.

Coverage will continue through Crew Dragon’s docking to the space station, scheduled for 10:29 a.m. EDT on Sunday, May 31.

Related articles:

NASA and SpaceX Target May 30 Demo-2 Launch, Continue to Monitor Weather
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasa-and-spacex-target-may-30-demo-2.html

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2: Delta Launch Readiness Review Concludes, Teams Remain ‘Go’ for Technical Readiness
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasas-spacex-demo-2-delta-launch.html

NASA, SpaceX Prepare for Second Demo-2 Launch Attempt Tomorrow, May 30
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasa-spacex-prepare-for-second-demo-2.html

Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Rescheduled for Saturday, May 30
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/launch-of-nasas-spacex-demo-2.html

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Launch Rescheduled to Saturday Due to Weather
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasas-spacex-demo-2-launch-rescheduled.html

Related links:

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

Commercial Crew Program: http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

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

Images, Videos, Animation, Text, Credits: NASA/Anna Heiney/SpaceX/NASA TV/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Get your ticket to the Moon: Europe’s lunar lander for science and more









ESA - European Space Agency patch.

May 30, 2020

Development of Europe’s first ever lunar lander was agreed upon by ESA Member States in 2019 and now ESA is seeking your ideas for science and robotic missions on the Moon.

Destination Moon

Set to launch on an Ariane 64 rocket later this decade and return to the Moon on a regular basis, the large lander will provide unprecedented opportunities for science and robotics on the lunar surface and your mission could be one of the first.

Artist's view of the configuration of Ariane 6 using four boosters (A64)

The call for ideas comes hot on the heels of ESA signing an agreement to start building the third European Service Module for NASA’s Artemis programme. This module will drive the spacecraft that ferries the next astronauts to the Moon.

Repeat trips to the Moon

The European-led large lunar lander programme provides autonomous access to the Moon, delivering 1.5 tonnes of material from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana – this is roughly the weight of a hippopotamus.

European Large Logistic Lander approaching Moon

The programme, currently known as the European Large Logistics Lander or EL3 for short, is designed to incorporate different types of uncrewed missions, from supply runs for Artemis astronauts, to stand-alone robotic science and technology demonstration missions and even a lunar return mission to bring samples to laboratories on Earth.

Destination: Moon

“This European lander will be able to access locations all over the Moon from the equator to the poles, from the near side to the far side, opening up tremendous opportunities to deliver science, research technology and infrastructure,” says ESA’s Exploration science and research coordinator James Carpenter, “developing this capability is a hugely important strategic step for Europe. It will allow us to take a lead in future robotic missions and support international activities at the Moon’s surface.”

The best of all worlds

Now that ESA has defined the hardware, launch and operations side for this unique European programme, the agency is looking for outstanding mission ideas that could be delivered by the European Large Logistics Lander.

Examples of what could be proposed include robotic exploration of lunar caves, telescopes on the far side of the Moon, searching for water ice or producing useable products from resources on the Moon.

Moon

“We are asking the best minds to submit ideas for this programme as we explore our Solar System in collaboration with scientists, engineers, industry, and companies,” James continues, “we really want to extend this call for ideas outside the realm of the usual space players, considering all aspects of lunar exploration.”

The lunar lander programme is not a one-shot mission but promises regular launches starting in the later part of this decade and continuing into the 2030s.

European Large Logistic Lander unloading cargo

We are looking for ideas that align with ESA’s strategy for exploration to inspire, create new knowledge, grow international cooperation and create economic growth and industrial competitiveness.

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration future

Any company, organisation or person can submit their ideas for the EL3 programme. Details and information on how to apply are available here. The deadline for submissions is 3 July 2020:

https://ideas.esa.int/servlet/hype/IMT?documentTableId=45087607022749715&userAction=Browse&templateName=&documentId=7257e8d165a32b877027ebfc5e67d8d9

Related article:

Third European Service Module for mission to land astronauts on the Moon
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/third-european-service-module-for.html

Related links:

Human and Robotic Exploration: http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration

Science & Exploration: http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration

Images, Videos, Text, Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)/D. Ducros/L. Parmitano/T. Pesquet/ATG-Medialab.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

vendredi 29 mai 2020

NASA and SpaceX Target May 30 Demo-2 Launch, Continue to Monitor Weather













NASA & SpaceX - First Crewed Flight DM-2 Mission patch.

May 29, 2020

NASA and SpaceX continue planning toward a Saturday, May 30, launch attempt of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley. Although the weather models for Saturday show an improvement in conditions around Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, teams continue to monitor launch and down range weather. Teams still want more weather data to determine if they will proceed with a launch attempt or focus on the backup attempt on Sunday, May 31.

On Saturday, the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 50% chance of favorable conditions at launch time. The primary concerns remain flight through precipitation, anvil clouds and cumulus clouds. However, outside of the launch site are some areas of concern with a potential for lightning storms and high winds and waves along the flight path. All weather conditions need to be within acceptable limits both for launch and the flight path for NASA and SpaceX to be “go” for the launch attempt.


Image above: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 launch, initially scheduled for May 27, was scrubbed due to unfavorable weather conditions. The next launch attempt is Saturday, May 30. Photo Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

On Sunday, the 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 60% chance of favorable conditions at launch time. Weather models also show an improvement in conditions throughout the flight path.

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission will return human spaceflight to the International Space Station from U.S. soil on an American rocket and spacecraft as a part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Demo-2 will be SpaceX’s final test flight to validate its crew transportation system, including the Crew Dragon, Falcon 9, launch pad and operations capabilities. During the mission, the crew and SpaceX mission controllers will verify the performance of the spacecraft’s environmental control system, displays and control system, maneuvering thrusters, autonomous docking capability, and more.


Image above: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Crew Dragon atop, stands poised for launch at historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 21, 2020, ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission. Photo credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett.

Behnken and Hurley will join the Expedition 63 crew on the station to conduct important research, as well as support station operations and maintenance. While docked to the station, the crew will run tests to ensure the Crew Dragon spacecraft is capable on future missions of remaining connected to the station for up to 210 days. The specific duration for this mission will be determined after arrival based on the readiness of the next commercial crew launch. Finally, the mission will conclude with the Crew Dragon undocking from the station, deorbiting and returning Behnken and Hurley to Earth with a safe splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

Starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 30, NASA and SpaceX will provide coverage of launch activities, airing on NASA TV and the agency’s website, as well as here on the blog. This will include live shots of Behnken and Hurley as they put on their spacesuits, their arrival at historic Launch Complex 39A and liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket. Coverage will continue through Crew Dragon’s docking to the space station, scheduled for 10:29 a.m. EDT on Sunday, May 31.

Related NASA article:

Updates to Coverage of Landmark NASA SpaceX Commercial Crew Test Flight
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/updates-to-coverage-of-landmark-nasa-spacex-commercial-crew-test-flight

Related articles:

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2: Delta Launch Readiness Review Concludes, Teams Remain ‘Go’ for Technical Readiness
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasas-spacex-demo-2-delta-launch.html

NASA, SpaceX Prepare for Second Demo-2 Launch Attempt Tomorrow, May 30
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasa-spacex-prepare-for-second-demo-2.html

Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Rescheduled for Saturday, May 30
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/launch-of-nasas-spacex-demo-2.html

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Launch Rescheduled to Saturday Due to Weather
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasas-spacex-demo-2-launch-rescheduled.html

Related links:

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

Commercial Crew Program: http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

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

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tori Mclendon.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2: Delta Launch Readiness Review Concludes, Teams Remain ‘Go’ for Technical Readiness













NASA & SpaceX - First Crewed Flight DM-2 Mission patch.

May 29, 2020

The delta Launch Readiness Review for NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station has concluded at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The review covered the preparations for the second launch attempt for the Demo-2 test flight including the status of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, Falcon 9 rocket and the ground systems at Launch Complex 39A. This review focused on the technical readiness for launch, and mission teams were “go” for a second launch attempt.


Image above: The crew access arm is swung into position for the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A on May 21, 2020, in preparation for the Demo-2 mission. Photo credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

NASA and SpaceX now will turn attention to the weather around the launch site and the entire fight path for the Crew Dragon spacecraft. During the upcoming discussions, launch teams will hear the latest weather projections from the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron, SpaceX and the Spaceflight Meteorology Group at the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Teams will consider all options that give the best opportunities for a successful mission, including evaluating technical readiness, weather around the launch pad, weather and sea states in the flight path of Crew Dragon, the location of the space station for mission phasing, and ensuring the launch teams and astronauts get the needed rest between launch attempts. Together, teams will look to find the best possible opportunities for a successful launch and docking of the Crew Dragon to the space station. The next available attempts are on Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31. SpaceX also has requested a backup launch opportunity on Tuesday, June 2, to protect for the additional opportunity, if needed.


Image above: NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley (left) and Robert Behnken (right) participate in a dress rehearsal for launch at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 23, 2020, ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. Demo-2 will serve as an end-to-end flight test of SpaceX’s crew transportation system, providing valuable data toward NASA certifying the system for regular, crewed missions to the orbiting laboratory under the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The launch is now scheduled for 3:22 p.m. EDT Saturday, May 30. Image Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett.

Demo-2 will be SpaceX’s final test flight to validate its crew transportation system, including the Crew Dragon, Falcon 9, launch pad and operations capabilities. During the mission, the crew and SpaceX mission controllers will verify the performance of the spacecraft’s environmental control system, displays and control system, maneuvering thrusters, autonomous docking capability, and more.

Related NASA article:

Updates to Coverage of Landmark NASA SpaceX Commercial Crew Test Flight
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/updates-to-coverage-of-landmark-nasa-spacex-commercial-crew-test-flight

Related articles:

NASA, SpaceX Prepare for Second Demo-2 Launch Attempt Tomorrow, May 30
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasa-spacex-prepare-for-second-demo-2.html

Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Rescheduled for Saturday, May 30
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/launch-of-nasas-spacex-demo-2.html

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Launch Rescheduled to Saturday Due to Weather
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasas-spacex-demo-2-launch-rescheduled.html

Related links:

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

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html

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

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Anna Heiney.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Space Station Science Highlights: Week of May 25, 2020













ISS - Expedition 63 Mission patch.

May 29, 2020

Research on neutron radiation and liquid foam properties represents just a few of the scientific studies conducted on the International Space Station during the week of May 25. The week also brought the arrival on Monday of HTV9 with supplies and experiments. Launch of SpaceX Demo-2, scheduled for Wednesday, was delayed due to weather. Part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, Demo-2 carries NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley and marks the first launch of astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil since 2011.


Image above: The Crew Dragon spacecraft attached to a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A at sunrise as preparations continue for the Demo-2 mission. Originally scheduled for Wednesday, May 27, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the launch was delayed due to weather. Image Credit: NASA.

Now in its 20th year of continuous human presence, the space station provides a platform for long-duration research in microgravity and for learning to live and work in space. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program once again launches astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil, allowing for an increase in crew complement and effectively doubling the crew available for science on the orbiting lab.

Here are details on some of the microgravity investigations currently taking place:

Almost like being there


Image above: This special camera is used to film for The ISS Experience virtual reality series about life and science on the space station. Image Credit: NASA.

During the week, crew members set up cameras to film footage of the Demo-2 Dragon hatch opening for The ISS Experience. Astronauts film different aspects of crew life, execution of science and the international partnerships involved on the space station that will be used to create a virtual reality series produced by Félix & Paul Studios in Canada in partnership with the ISS National Lab and Time. The series aims to give audiences a tangible experience of the challenges of adapting to life in space, the work and science conducted on the space station and the human interaction between astronauts. It also could spark ideas for research or programs to improve conditions for crew members on future missions and to benefit people on Earth.

Tracking down neutron radiation


Image above: Bubble detectors for the Radi-N2 investigation, which seeks to identify the sources of neutron radiation on the space station. Image Credit: NASA.

Neutrons are produced when cosmic rays strike the atoms of a spacecraft or the human body, and earlier experiments revealed that astronauts absorb larger doses of neutron radiation than expected. An investigation from the Canadian Space Agency, Radi-N2 Neutron Field Study (Radi-N2), characterizes the neutron radiation environment aboard the space station using eight neutron “bubble detectors” that only measure neutrons and ignore other forms of radiation. Crew members carry one of the detectors and attach the others at fixed locations inside the space station. Astronauts deployed detectors for the investigation during the week.

Radi-N2 follows a previous investigation, RaDI-N, to help reveal the sources of neutron exposure and support development of appropriate protective measures for future spaceflights.

Watching bubbles make foam


Image above: Sample cell hardware for FOAM, an investigation studying wet foams in microgravity. Image Credit: NASA.

Solid and liquid foams have a number of applications on Earth, from detergents to food products, medicine, oil cleanup, firefighting and many others. Microgravity makes it possible to study foams in a way not possible on Earth, where gravity quickly breaks them down. FSL Soft Matter Dynamics - Hydrodynamics of Wet Foams (FOAM), an ESA (European Space Agency) investigation, studies bubble size and rearrangement dynamics for wet or liquid foams. A better understanding of the properties of wet foams could help improve foam control and process design in industry. During the week, crew members exchanged sample containers for the investigation.

Other investigations on which the crew performed work:

- Structure and Response of Spherical Diffusion Flames (s-Flame) studies the structure and dynamics of soot-free and sooty flames. Findings could contribute to development of engines with improved efficiency and reduced emissions on Earth. S-Flame is part of the Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) project, a series of independent studies of gaseous flames performed in the station’s Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR).

- Structure and Response of Spherical Diffusion Flames (s-Flame):
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2063

- Microgravity Experiments (ACME):
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1651

- Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR):
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=317

- The Integrated Impact of Diet on Human Immune Response, the Gut Microbiota, and Nutritional Status During Adaptation to Spaceflight (Food Physiology) investigation documents the effects of dietary improvements on immune function and the gut microbiome and the ability of those improvements to support adaptation to spaceflight.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7870

- Hourglass, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) investigation, examines the behavior under different gravity conditions of various granular materials that simulate regolith, a dust that covers the surface of planets and planetary-like bodies.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8007

Related article:

JAXA HTV-9 Spacecraft Carries Science, Technology to the International Space Station
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/jaxa-htv-9-spacecraft-carries-science.html

Space to Ground: Dawn of the Dragon: 05/29/2020

Related links:

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

SpaceX Demo-2: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/dm2/

Commercial Crew Program: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html

The ISS Experience: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7877

ISS National Lab: https://www.issnationallab.org/blog/experience-the-international-space-station-like-never-before/

Time: https://time.com/space-explorers/

Radi-N2: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=874

RaDI-N: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=190

FOAM: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7934

Spot the Station: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

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

Images (mentioned9, Video (NASA), Text, Credits: NASA/Jack Griffin/John Love, Lead Increment Scientist Expedition 63.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Cosmic rays throw up surprises, again













ISS - Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) patch.

29 May, 2020

Cosmic-ray data collected by the AMS detector on the International Space Station again challenge conventional theory of cosmic-ray origin and propagation

The AMS detector on the International Space Station (Image: NASA)

Ever since astronauts attached the 7.5 tonne AMS detector to the International Space Station in May 2011, the space-based magnetic spectrometer, which was assembled at CERN, has collected data on more than 150 billion cosmic rays – charged particles that travel through space with energies up to trillions of electron volts. It’s an impressive amount of data, which has provided a wealth of information about these cosmic particles, but remarkably, as the spokesperson of the AMS team Sam Ting has previously noted, none of the AMS results were predicted. In a paper just published in Physical Review Letters, the AMS team reports measurements of heavy primary cosmic rays that, again, are unexpected.

Primary cosmic rays are produced in supernovae explosions in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and beyond. The most common are nuclei of hydrogen, that is, protons, but they can also take other forms, such as heavier nuclei and electrons or their antimatter counterparts. AMS and other experiments have previously measured the number, or more precisely the so-called flux, of several of these types of cosmic rays and how the flux varies with particle energy and rigidity – a measure of a charged particle’s momentum in a magnetic field. But until now there have been no measurements of how the fluxes of the heavy nuclei of neon, magnesium and silicon change with rigidity. Such measurements would help shed new light on the exact nature of primary cosmic rays and how they journey through space.

In its latest paper, the AMS team describes flux measurements of these three cosmic nuclei in the rigidity range from 2.15 GV to 3.0 TV. These measurements are based on 1.8 million neon nuclei, 2.2 million magnesium nuclei and 1.6 million silicon nuclei, collected by AMS during its first 7 years of operation (19 May 2011 to 26 May 2018). The neon, magnesium and silicon fluxes display unexpectedly identical rigidity dependence above 86.5 GV, including an also unexpected deviation above 200 GV from the single-power-law dependence predicted by the conventional theory of cosmic-ray origin and propagation. What’s more, the observed rigidity dependence is surprisingly different from that of the lighter primary helium, carbon and oxygen cosmic rays, which has been previously measured by AMS.

The cosmic-ray plot continues to thicken. The AMS researchers have seen deviations from expected cosmic-ray behaviour before, including a rigidity dependence of the primary helium, carbon and oxygen cosmic rays that is distinctly different from that of the secondary lithium, beryllium and boron cosmic rays; secondary cosmic rays are produced by interactions between the primary cosmic rays and the interstellar medium.

“Historically, cosmic rays are classified into two distinct classes – primaries and secondaries. Our new data on heavy primary cosmic rays show that primary cosmic rays have at least two distinct classes.” says Ting. “This is totally unexpected based on our previous knowledge of cosmic rays.”

The new and surprising data is likely to keep theorists busy rethinking and reworking current cosmic-ray models. “Our previous observations have already generated new developments in cosmic-ray models. The new observations will provide additional challenges for the new models,” says Ting. And if the data that the detector is currently taking and sending back to CERN for analysis – after a successful series of spacewalks that has extended its lifetime – throws up more surprises, theorists are likely to become even busier.

Watch the video below and relive the drama of the complex spacewalks that have extended the remaining lifetime of the AMS detector to match that of the International Space Station itself.

A new cosmic data-taking era begins for the AMS experiment

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:

AMS detector: https://ams02.space/

Physical Review Letters: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.211102

For more information about the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), visit: https://home.web.cern.ch/

Image (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: CERN/Ana Lopes.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

CERN collaborations present new results on particles with charm quarks













CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

29 May, 2020

This update is part of a series related to the 2020 Large Hadron Collider Physics conference, taking place from 25 to 30 May 2020. Originally planned to take place in Paris, the conference is being held entirely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ALICE, CMS and LHCb collaborations present new measurements that show how particles containing charm quarks can serve as “messengers” of hadrons and the quark–gluon plasma, carrying information about these forms of matter 


Image above: The Xc1(3872) hadron, which contains charm quarks, could be a pair of two-quark particles loosely bound together. (Image: CERN).

The ALICE, CMS and LHCb collaborations at CERN present new measurements that show how charmed particles – particles containing charm quarks – can serve as “messengers” of two forms of matter made up of quarks and gluons: hadrons, which make up most of the visible matter in the present-day universe; and the quark–gluon plasma, which is thought to have existed in the early universe and can be recreated in heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). By studying charmed particles, physicists can learn more about hadrons, in which quarks are bound by gluons, as well as the quark–gluon plasma, in which quarks and gluons are not confined within hadrons.

The main results are:

- The LHCb team obtained the most precise yet measurements of two properties of a particle known as χc1(3872), a hadron containing charm quarks. The particle was discovered in 2003 and it has remained unclear whether it is a two-quark hadron, a more exotic hadron such as a tetraquark – a system of four quarks tightly bound together – or a pair of two-quark particles weakly bound in a molecule-like structure. Pinning down the nature of this hadron could extend physicists’ understanding of how quarks bind into hadrons.

- “Our results are consistent with χc1(3872) being a pair of two-quark particles loosely bound together, but it does not fully rule out the tetraquark hypothesis or other possibilities,” says LHCb spokesperson Giovanni Passaleva.
    
- The CMS collaboration observed for the first time the transformation, or “decay”, of another particle, called B0s, into the same χc1(3872) particle. The researchers compared this decay with the previously observed decay of the B+ meson, which had led to the first detection of the χc1(3872) in 2003. Both types of decay link the behaviour of this hadron to the up and strange quarks.

- “Measured differences in the decay rates are intriguing and could provide further insight into the nature of the χc1(3872), which has not yet been fully established,” says CMS spokesperson Roberto Carlin.
    
- The ALICE collaboration measured the so-called elliptic flow of hadrons containing charm quarks, in heavy-ion collisions. The hadrons are created during collisions that also create a quark–gluon plasma. Hadrons containing heavy quarks, like the charm quark, are excellent “messengers” of the quark–gluon plasma, meaning they carry important information about it.

- “The pattern observed by ALICE indicates that the heavy charm quarks are dragged by the quark–gluon plasma’s expansion,” says ALICE spokesperson Luciano Musa.

Looking forward, the LHC collaborations aim to make more precise measurements of these messengers of the quark world using data from the next LHC run, which will benefit from largely upgraded experiment set-ups.

Read more below for a comprehensive description of these results.

Charm quark results related to hadrons

The LHCb and CMS collaborations describe results from their studies of a hadron known as χc1(3872). The particle was discovered in 2003 by the Belle experiment in Japan but it has remained unclear whether it is a two-quark hadron, a more exotic hadron such as a tetraquark – a system of four quarks tightly bound together – or a pair of two-quark particles weakly bound in a molecule-like structure.

Pinning down the nature of χc1(3872) could extend physicists’ understanding of how quarks bind into hadrons. The new studies by the CMS and LHCb collaborations shed new light on – but do not yet fully reveal – the nature of this particle.

Using sophisticated analysis techniques and two different datasets, the LHCb team obtained the most precise measurements yet of the particle’s mass and determined for the first time and with a significance of more than five standard deviations the particle’s “width”, a parameter that determines the particle’s lifetime.

Until now researchers had only been able to obtain upper limits on the allowed values of this parameter. The LHCb researchers detected χc1(3872) particles in their datasets using the classic “bump”-hunting technique of searching for an excess (the bump) of collision events over a smooth background. Each dataset led to a measurement of the mass and width, and the results from both datasets agree with each other.

“Our results are not only the most precise yet, they also show that the mass of χc1(3872) is remarkably close to the sum of the masses of the D0 and D*0 charmed mesons,” says LHCb spokesperson Giovanni Passaleva. “This is consistent with χc1(3872) being a pair of two-quark particles loosely bound together, but it does not fully rule out the tetraquark hypothesis or other possibilities.”

Meanwhile, analysing a large dataset recorded over the course of three years, the CMS collaboration observed for the first time the transformation, or “decay”, of the B0s particle into the χc1(3872) and a ϕ meson. This two-quark particle, B0s, is a relative of the B+ meson, in the decay of which the Belle experiment first detected χc1(3872). Like the LHCb team, the CMS team detected χc1(3872) using the bump technique.

“Our result is particularly interesting because we found that the rate at which the B0s decays to the hadron χc1(3872) and the ϕ meson is similar to that of the B0 into χc1(3872) and an anti-K0 meson, whereas it is about twice as low as that for the previously observed B+ decay into χc1(3872) and the K+ meson,” says CMS spokesperson Roberto Carlin. “In these decays, different quarks, other than the bottom quark, play a role,” Carlin explains. “The fact that the decay rates do not follow an obvious pattern may shed light on the nature of χc1(3872).”

Charm quark results related to the quark–gluon plasma

At the other end of the quark-binding spectrum, the ALICE collaboration measured the so-called elliptic flow of hadrons containing a charm quark, either bound to a light quark (forming a D meson) or to an anticharm (making a J/ψ meson) in heavy-ion collisions. Hadrons containing heavy quarks, charm or bottom, are excellent messengers of the quark–gluon plasma formed in these collisions. They are produced in the initial stages of the collisions, before the emergence of the plasma, and thus interact with the plasma constituents throughout its entire evolution, from its rapid expansion to its cooling and its eventual transformation into hadrons.

When heavy nuclei do not collide head on, the plasma is elongated and its expansion leads to a dominant elliptical modulation of the hadrons’ momentum distribution, or flow. The ALICE team found that, at low momentum, the elliptic flow of D mesons is not as large as that of pions, which contain only light quarks, whereas the elliptic flow of J/ψ mesons is lower than both but distinctly observed.

“This pattern indicates that the heavy charm quarks are dragged by the quark–gluon plasma’s expansion,” says ALICE spokesperson Luciano Musa, “but likely to a lesser extent than light quarks, and that both D and J/ψ mesons at low momentum are in part formed by the binding, or recombination, of flowing quarks.”


Image above: An illustration of heavy-ion collisions recorded by ALICE. The colored lines represent the reconstructed trajectories fo charged particles produced from the collision. (Image: CERN).

Another measurement performed by the ALICE team – of the flow of electrons originating from decays of B hadrons, containing a bottom quark – indicates that bottom quarks are also sensitive to the elongated shape of the quark–gluon plasma. Upsilon particles, which are made up of a bottom quark and its antiquark, as opposed to a charm and anticharm like the J/ψ, do not exhibit significant flow, likely because of their much larger mass and the small number of bottom quarks available for recombination.

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.

Read more on the CMS and LHCb websites:

    https://cms.cern/news/discreet-charm-x3872
    https://lhcb-public.web.cern.ch/Welcome.html#X(3872)2020

Original papers:

    ALICE: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.11131
    ALICE: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.11130
    CMS: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.04764
    LHCb: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.13422
    LHCb: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.13419

Related link:

2020 Large Hadron Collider Physics conference: http://www.lhcp2020.fr/

For more information about the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), visit: https://home.web.cern.ch/

Images (mentioned), Text, Credit: CERN.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Fresh antimatter study by ALICE collaboration will help with the search for dark matter













CERN - ALICE Experiment logo.

29 May, 2020

This update is part of a series related to the 2020 Large Hadron Collider Physics conference, taking place from 25 to 30 May 2020. Originally planned to take place in Paris, the conference is being held entirely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A view of the underground ALICE detector used in the study of the antideuteron (Image: CERN)

The ALICE collaboration has presented new results on the production rates of antideuterons based on data collected at the highest collision energy delivered so far at the Large Hadron Collider. The antideuteron is composed of an antiproton and an antineutron. The new measurements are important because the presence of antideuterons in space is a promising indirect signature of dark matter candidates. The results mark a step forward in the search for dark matter.

Recent astrophysical and cosmological results point towards dark matter being the dominant form of matter in the universe, accounting for approximately 85% of all matter. The nature of dark matter remains a great mystery, and cracking its secrets would open a new door for physics.

Detecting antideuterons in space could be an indirect signature of dark matter, since they could be produced during the annihilation or decay of neutralinos or sneutrinos, which are hypothetical dark matter particles.

Various experiments are on the hunt for antideuterons in the Universe, including the AMS detector on the International Space Station. However, before inferring the existence of dark matter from the detection of these nuclei, scientists must account for both their rates of production by other sources (namely, collisions between cosmic rays and nuclei in the interstellar medium) and the rates of their annihilation caused by encountering matter on their journey. In order to assert that the detected antideuteron is related to the presence of dark matter, the production and annihilation rates must be well understood.

By colliding protons in the LHC, ALICE scientists mimicked antideuteron production through cosmic ray collisions, and could thus measure the production rate associated with this phenomenon. These measurements provide a fundamental basis for modelling antideuteron production processes in space. By comparing the amount of antideuterons detected with that of their matter counterparts (deuterons, which do not annihilate in the detector), they were able to determine, for the first time, the annihilation probability of low-energy antideuterons.

These measurements will contribute to future antideuteron studies in the Earth’s vicinity, and help physicists determine whether they are signatures of the presence of dark matter particles, or if on the contrary they are manifestations of known phenomena.

In the future, these types of studies at ALICE could be extended to heavier antinuclei. “The LHC and the ALICE experiment represent a unique facility to study antimatter nuclei,” says ALICE Spokesperson Luciano Musa. “This research will continue to provide a crucial reference for the interpretation of future astrophysical dark matter searches.”

Further reading:

Measurement of the low-energy antideuteron inelastic cross section [PDF]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2005.11122.pdf

(Anti-)Deuteron production in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV [PDF]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2003.03184.pdf

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:

2020 Large Hadron Collider Physics conference: http://www.lhcp2020.fr/

ALICE collaboration: https://home.cern/science/experiments/alice

Dark matter: https://home.cern/science/physics/dark-matter

AMS detector: https://home.cern/science/experiments/ams

For more information about the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), visit: https://home.web.cern.ch/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credit: CERN.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

ISOLDE scores a first with laser spectroscopy of short-lived radioactive molecules













CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

29 May, 2020

The result represents an essential step towards using these molecules for fundamental physics research and beyond 


Image above: The Collinear Resonance Ionisation Spectroscopy (CRIS) setup at CERN’s nuclear-physics facility ISOLDE. (Image: CERN).

An international team of experimentalists and theorists working at CERN’s nuclear-physics facility ISOLDE have succeeded in performing the first ever laser-spectroscopy measurements of a short-lived radioactive molecule, radium monofluoride. For physicists studying molecules, laser spectroscopy, in which laser light is shone on molecules to reveal their energy structure, is a staple tool in the toolbox. Until now, however, researchers hadn’t been able to use the technique to study short-lived radioactive molecules, which contain one or more unstable nuclei. Compared to atoms, such molecules offer a superior means to explore fundamental symmetries of nature and to search for new physics phenomena. The results, published today in the journal Nature, represent a pivotal step towards using these molecules for fundamental physics research and beyond.

“Our measurements demonstrate that radium monofluoride molecules can be chilled down to temperatures that would allow researchers to investigate them in extraordinary detail,” says principal investigator Ronald Garcia Ruiz. “Our results pave the way to high-precision studies of short-lived radioactive molecules, which offer a new and unique laboratory for research in fundamental physics and other fields.”

Radium monofluoride molecules are particularly interesting because they contain radium, some isotopes of which have nuclei shaped like a pear, with more mass at one end than the other. These exotic pear shapes amplify processes that break fundamental symmetries of nature and could reveal new physics phenomena beyond the Standard Model.

For example, processes that break time-reversal symmetry – that is, that vary if you swap forwards in time for backwards – would give particles an electric dipole moment. This can be thought of as a shift of the cloud of virtual particles that surround every elementary particle away from the centre of mass. The Standard Model predicts a non-zero but very small electric dipole moment, but theories beyond the Standard Model often predict larger values. Nuclear pear shapes would amplify a putative electric dipole moment and would thus offer a sensitive means to probe new phenomena beyond the Standard Model – one that would be complementary to searches for new physics at high-energy particle colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider.

The current experiment builds on theoretical investigations of the energy structure of radium monofluoride. Based on these investigations it was predicted that the molecule is amenable to laser cooling, whereby lasers are used to cool down atoms or molecules for high-precision studies. “This laser-spectroscopy study of radium monofluoride at ISOLDE provides strong evidence that the molecules can indeed be laser cooled,” says ISOLDE spokesperson Gerda Neyens.

Garcia Ruiz and colleagues used the following method to obtain their results. After producing radioactive radium isotopes by firing protons from the CERN’s Proton Synchrotron Booster on a uranium carbide target, radium monofluoride ions were formed by surrounding the target with carbon tetrafluoride gas. The radium monofluoride ions were then sent through ISOLDE’s Collinear Resonance Ionisation Spectroscopy (CRIS) setup, where the ions were turned into neutral molecules that were subsequently subjected to a laser beam that boosted them to excited energy states at specific laser frequencies. A subset of these excited molecules was then ionised with a second laser beam and deflected onto a particle detector for analysis.

By analysing the measured spectra of ionised excited molecules, the team was able to identify the low-lying energy levels of the molecules and some of the properties that demonstrate that the molecules can be laser cooled for future precision studies.

“Our technique allowed the study of radium monofluoride molecules that have lifetimes as short as a few days and are produced at rates lower than one million molecules per second,” says Garcia Ruiz.

Video presenting ISOLDE, CERN’s nuclear-physics facility (Video: CERN)

In addition to their potential in exploring fundamental symmetries, molecules made of short-lived isotopes can be highly abundant in space, for example in supernovae remnants or in the gas ejected from mergers of neutron stars.

“We anticipate that the approach can also be employed to perform laser spectroscopy on other molecules, including those composed of isotopes with lifetimes of a few tens of milliseconds,” Garcia Ruiz adds. This will allow future studies of bespoke molecules, designed to amplify symmetry-violating properties.

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:

ISOLDE: https://home.cern/science/experiments/isolde

Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2299-4

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

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

Proton Synchrotron Booster: https://home.cern/science/accelerators/proton-synchrotron-booster

For more information about the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), visit: https://home.web.cern.ch/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credit; CERN.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA, SpaceX Prepare for Second Demo-2 Launch Attempt Tomorrow, May 30













NASA & SpaceX - First Crewed Flight DM-2 Mission patch.

May 29, 2020

NASA and SpaceX are targeting tomorrow, May 30, for the second launch attempt of the agency’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission that will carry NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station. Unfavorable weather conditions around Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida caused the first launch attempt on May 27 to be rescheduled. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft both remain in good shape and stand ready for launch at the pad.


Image above: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Crew Dragon atop, stands poised for launch at historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2020. Image Credits: NASA/SpaceX.

Tune in to NASA TV or watch online at 10 a.m. EDT today as NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, and astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Nicole Mann discuss the upcoming Demo-2 mission and answer questions from members of the media.


Image above: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Crew Dragon atop, stands poised for launch at historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 26, 2020. Image Credits: NASA/SpaceX.

The U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 50% chance of favorable weather conditions for tomorrow’s launch. The primary weather concerns for launch remain flight through precipitation, anvil and cumulus clouds.

FORECAST DETAILS

Clouds                      Coverage           Bases (feet)             Tops (feet)
Cumulus                    Scattered            3,000                        12,000
Cirrostratus              Broken              25,000                        28,000

Weather/Visibility:  Isolated showers / 7 miles
Temperature:  84 degrees (Fahrenheit)


Beginning at 11 a.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, NASA and SpaceX will provide live coverage of launch activities, starting with Behnken and Hurley donning their spacesuits through liftoff of the Falcon 9 at 3:22 p.m., docking and hatch opening. Follow along here on the blog for launch coverage as well.

Together, NASA and SpaceX will provide joint, live coverage from launch through arrival at the space station at 10:29 a.m. on Sunday, May 31.

(Unmanned) Dragon Commercial Crew Program, Demo-1 lift off

Part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, Demo-2 is the final flight test for SpaceX. Teams with NASA and SpaceX will look at the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft – from launch, to docking, to splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean – as well as the ground systems that supported the launch. The mission will provide critical data toward the agency certifying SpaceX’s crew transportation system for regular, crewed flights to the orbiting laboratory.

Related articles:

Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Rescheduled for Saturday, May 30
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/launch-of-nasas-spacex-demo-2.html

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Launch Rescheduled to Saturday Due to Weather
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/05/nasas-spacex-demo-2-launch-rescheduled.html

Related links:

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

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html

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

Images (mentioned), Animation, Text, Credits: NASA/Danielle Sempsrott/SpaceX.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Hubble Grabs a Stellar Latte











NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

May 29, 2020


Far away in the Ursa Major constellation is a swirling galaxy that would not look out of place on a coffee made by a starry-eyed barista. NGC 3895 is a barred spiral galaxy that was first spotted by William Herschel in 1790 and was later observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble's orbit high above Earth's distorting atmosphere allows astronomers to make the high-resolution observations that are essential to opening new windows on planets, stars and galaxies — such as this beautiful view of NGC 3895. The telescope is positioned approximately 340 miles above the ground, where it whirls around Earth at over 17,000 miles per hour and takes 95 minutes to complete one orbit.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

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 and R. Barrows.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Solar Orbiter to pass through the tails of Comet ATLAS













ESA & NASA - Solar Orbiter Mission patch.

May 29, 2020

ESA’s Solar Orbiter will cross through the tails of Comet ATLAS during the next few days. Although the recently launched spacecraft was not due to be taking science data at this time, mission experts have worked to ensure that the four most relevant instruments will be switched on during the unique encounter.

Hubble observation of Comet ATLAS on 23 April 2020

Solar Orbiter was launched on 10 February 2020. Since then, and with the exception of a brief shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, scientists and engineers have been conducting a series of tests and set-up routines known as commissioning.

The completion date for this phase was set at 15 June, so that the spacecraft could be fully functional for its first close pass of the Sun, or perihelion, in mid-June. However, the discovery of the chance encounter with the comet made things more urgent.

Serendipitously flying through a comet’s tail is a rare event for a space mission, something scientists know to have happened only six times before for missions that were not specifically chasing comets. All such encounters have been discovered in the spacecraft data after the event. Solar Orbiter’s upcoming crossing is the first to be predicted in advance.

Solar Orbiter

It was noticed by Geraint Jones of the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UK, who has a 20-year history of investigating such encounters. He discovered the first accidental tail crossing in 2000, while investigating a strange disturbance in data recorded by the ESA/NASA Ulysses Sun-studying spacecraft in 1996. This study revealed that the spacecraft had passed through the tail of Comet Hyakutake, also known as ‘The Great Comet of 1996’. Soon after the announcement, Ulysses crossed the tail of another comet, and then a third one in 2007.

Earlier this month, realising that Solar Orbiter was going to be 44 million kilometres downstream of Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) in just a matter of weeks, Geraint immediately alerted the ESA team.

Bonus science

Solar Orbiter Instruments

Solar Orbiter is equipped with a suite of 10 in-situ and remote-sensing instruments to investigate the Sun and the flow of charged particles it releases into space – the solar wind. Fortuitously, the four in-situ instruments are also perfect for detecting the comet’s tails because they measure the conditions around the spacecraft, and so they could return data about the dust grains and the electrically charged particles given off by the comet. These emissions create the comet’s two tails: the dust tail that is left behind in the comet’s orbit and the ion tail that points straight away from the Sun.

Solar Orbiter will cross the ion tail of Comet ATLAS on 31 May–1 June, and the dust tail on 6 June. If the ion tail is dense enough, Solar Orbiter’s magnetometer (MAG) might detect the variation of the interplanetary magnetic field because of its interaction with ions in the comet’s tail, while the Solar Wind Analyser (SWA) could directly capture some of the tail particles.

Anatomy of a comet - Infographic

When Solar Orbiter crosses the dust tail, depending on its density – which is extremely difficult to predict – it is possible that one or more tiny dust grains may hit the spacecraft at speeds of tens of kilometres per second. While there is no significant risk to the spacecraft from this, the dust grains themselves will be vaporised on impact, forming tiny clouds of electrically charged gas, or plasma, which could be detected by the Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument.

“An unexpected encounter like this provides a mission with unique opportunities and challenges, but that’s good! Chances like this are all part of the adventure of science,” says Günther Hasinger, ESA Director of Science.

One of those challenges was that the instruments seemed unlikely to all be ready in time because of the commissioning. Now, thanks to a special effort by the instrument teams and ESA’s mission operations team, all four in-situ instruments will be on and collecting data, even though at certain times the instruments will need to be switched back into commissioning mode to ensure that the 15 June deadline is met.

“With these caveats, we are ready for whatever Comet ATLAS has to tell us,” says Daniel Müller, ESA Project Scientist for Solar Orbiter.

Expect the unexpected

Hubble captures breakup of comet ATLAS

Another challenge entails the comet’s behaviour. Comet ATLAS was discovered on 28 December 2019. During the next few months, it brightened so much that astronomers wondered whether it would become visible to the naked eye in May.

Unfortunately, in early April the comet fragmented. As a result, its brightness dropped significantly too, robbing sky watchers of the view. A further fragmentation in mid-May has diminished the comet even more, making it less likely to be detectable by Solar Orbiter.

Although the chances of detection have reduced, the effort is still worth making according to Geraint.

“With each encounter with a comet, we learn more about these intriguing objects. If Solar Orbiter detects Comet ATLAS's presence, then we'll learn more about how comets interact with the solar wind, and we can check, for example, whether our expectations of dust tail behaviour agree with our models,” he explains. “All missions that encounter comets provide pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.”

Geraint is the principal investigator of ESA’s future Comet Interceptor mission, which consists of three spacecraft and is scheduled for launch in 2028. It will make a much closer flyby of an as yet unknown comet that will be selected from the newly discovered comets nearer the time of launch (or even after that).

Grazing the Sun

Solar Orbiter: journey around the Sun

Solar Orbiter is currently circling our parent star between the orbits of Venus and Mercury, with its first perihelion to take place on 15 June, around 77 million kilometres from the Sun. In coming years, it will get much closer, within the orbit of Mercury, around 42 million kilometres from the solar surface. Meanwhile, Comet ATLAS is already there, approaching its own perihelion, which is expected on 31 May, around 37 million kilometres from the Sun.

“This tail crossing is also exciting because it will happen for the first time at such close distances from the Sun, with the comet nucleus being inside the orbit of Mercury,” says Yannis Zouganelis, ESA Deputy Project Scientist for Solar Orbiter.

Understanding the dust environment in the innermost region of the Solar System is one of Solar Orbiter’s scientific objectives.

“Near-Sun comets like Comet ATLAS are sources of dust in the inner heliosphere and so this study will not only help us understand the comet, but also the dust environment of our star,” adds Yannis.

Looking at an icy object rather than the scorching Sun is certainly an exciting – and unexpected – way for Solar Orbiter to start its scientific mission, but that’s the nature of science.

“Scientific discovery is built on good planning and serendipity. In the three months since launch, the Solar Orbiter team has already proved that it’s ready for both,” says Daniel.

Notes for editors:

‘Prospects for the In Situ detection of Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS by Solar Orbiter’ by G. Jones et al (2020) is published in the Research Notes of the AAS. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ab8fa6

Solar Orbiter is an ESA-led mission with strong NASA participation. It is the first ‘medium’-class mission implemented in the Cosmic Vision 2015-25 programme, the current planning cycle for ESA’s space science missions. https://sci.esa.int/web/cosmic-vision

Related links:

Comet Interceptor: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/ESA_s_new_mission_to_intercept_a_comet

Solar Orbiter: http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter

Space Science: http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science

Images, Text, Credits: NASA, ESA, D. Jewitt (UCLA), Q. Ye (University of Maryland), CC BY 4.0/ATG medialab/ESA/S.Poletti/Yannis Zouganelis/Daniel Müller/UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory/Geraint Jones.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch