First (color) Images of Perseverance's Landing

 

NASA - Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover logo.

Feb. 20, 2021

HiRISE Captured Perseverance During Descent to Mars

Image above: The descent stage holding NASA’s Perseverance rover can be seen falling through the Martian atmosphere, its parachute trailing behind, in this image taken on Feb. 18, 2021, by the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The ancient river delta, which is the target of the Perseverance mission, can be seen entering Jezero Crater from the left.

HiRISE was approximately 435 miles (700 kilometers) from Perseverance and traveling at about 6750 mile per hour (3 kilometers per second) at the time the image was taken. The extreme distance and high speeds of the two spacecraft were challenging conditions that required precise timing and for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to both pitch upward and roll hard to the left so that Perseverance was viewable by HiRISE at just the right moment.

The orbiter’s mission is led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. JPL, a division of Caltech, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, built the spacecraft. The University of Arizona provided and operates HiRISE. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.

Perseverance Gets Ready to Touch Down

Image above: This high-resolution still image is part of a video taken by several cameras as NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. A camera aboard the descent stage captured this shot.

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (the European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance’s Big Wheel

Image above: This high-resolution image shows one of the six wheels aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, which landed on Feb. 18, 2021. The image was taken by one of Perseverance’s color Hazard Cameras (Hazcams).

The Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance’s First Full-Color Look at Mars

Image above: This is the first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) on the underside of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover after its landing on Feb. 18, 2021.

The Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

NASA's Perseverance Rover Lands Successfully on Mars (Highlight Reel)

Video above: After a seven-month-long journey, NASA’s Perseverance Rover successfully touched down on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021. Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California celebrate landing NASA's fifth -- and most ambitious -- rover on Mars.

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

Also flying with Perseverance is NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, which will attempt to show controlled, powered flight is possible in the very thin Martian atmosphere. Video Credits: NASA/JPL.

Related articles:

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Reports In
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/nasas-mars-helicopter-reports-in.html

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Sends Sneak Peek of Mars Landing
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/nasas-perseverance-rover-sends-sneak.html

Touchdown! NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/touchdown-nasas-mars-perseverance-rover.html

Explore the Jezero neighbourhood
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/explore-jezero-neighbourhood.html

The Mars Relay Network Connects Us to NASA’s Martian Explorers
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-mars-relay-network-connects-us-to.html

Related links:

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/main/index.html

ESA & ROSCOSMOS ExoMars: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Exploration/ExoMars

Mars Perseverance Rover: http://www.nasa.gov/perseverance and https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/Brian Dunbar.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA Missions Make Unprecedented Map of Sun’s Magnetic Field

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center logo.

Feb. 20, 2021

For decades after its discovery, observers could only see the solar chromosphere for a few fleeting moments: during a total solar eclipse, when a bright red glow ringed the Moon’s silhouette.

Image above: The chromosphere, photographed during the 1999 total solar eclipse. The red and pink hues – light emitted by hydrogen – earned it the name chromosphere, from the Greek “chrôma” meaning color. Image Credit: Luc Viatour.

More than a hundred years later, the chromosphere remains the most mysterious of the Sun’s atmospheric layers. Sandwiched between the bright surface and the ethereal solar corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the chromosphere is a place of rapid change, where temperature rises and magnetic fields begin to dominate the Sun’s behavior.

Now, for the first time, a triad of NASA missions have peered into the chromosphere to return multi-height measurements of its magnetic field. The observations – captured by two satellites and the Chromospheric Layer Spectropolarimeter 2, or CLASP2 mission, aboard a small suborbital rocket – help reveal how magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface give rise to the brilliant eruptions in its outer atmosphere. The paper was published today in Science Advances.

A major goal of heliophysics – the science of the Sun’s influence on space, including planetary atmospheres – is to predict space weather, which often begins on the Sun but can rapidly spread through space to cause disruptions near Earth.

Driving these solar eruptions is the Sun’s magnetic field, the invisible lines of force stretching from the solar surface to space well past Earth. This magnetic field is difficult to see – it can only be observed indirectly, by light from the plasma, or super-heated gas, that traces out its lines like car headlights traveling a distant highway. Yet how those magnetic lines arrange themselves – whether slack and straight or tight and tangled – makes all the difference between a quiet Sun and a solar eruption.

“The Sun is both beautiful and mysterious, with constant activity triggered by its magnetic fields,” said Ryohko Ishikawa, solar physicist at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo and lead author of the paper.

Ideally, researchers could read out the magnetic field lines in the corona, where solar eruptions take place, but the plasma is way too sparse for accurate readings. (The corona is far less than a billionth as dense as air at sea level.)

Instead, scientists measure the more densely packed photosphere – the Sun’s visible surface – two layers below. They then use mathematical models to propagate that field upwards into the corona.  This approach skips measuring the chromosphere, which lies between the two, instead, hoping to simulate its behavior.

Image above: The chromosphere lies between the photosphere, or bright surface of the Sun that emits visible light, and the super-heated corona, or outer atmosphere of the Sun at the source of solar eruptions. The chromosphere is a key link between these two regions and a missing variable determining the Sun’s magnetic structure. Image Credits: Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Unfortunately the chromosphere has turned out to be a wildcard, where magnetic field lines rearrange in ways that are hard to anticipate. The models struggle to capture this complexity.

“The chromosphere is a hot, hot mess,” said Laurel Rachmeler, former NASA project scientist for CLASP2, now at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. “We make simplifying assumptions of the physics in the photosphere, and separate assumptions in the corona. But in the chromosphere, most of those assumptions break down.”

Institutions in the U.S., Japan, Spain and France worked together to develop a novel approach to measure the chromosphere’s magnetic field despite its messiness. Modifying an instrument that flew in 2015, they mounted their solar observatory on a sounding rocket, so named for the nautical term “to sound” meaning to measure. Sounding rockets launch into space for brief, few-minute observations before falling back to Earth. More affordable and quicker to build and fly than larger satellite missions, they’re also an ideal stage to test out new ideas and innovative techniques.

Launching from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the rocket shot to an altitude of 170 miles (274 kilometers) for a view of the Sun from above Earth’s atmosphere, which otherwise blocks certain wavelengths of light. They set their sights on a plage, the edge of an “active region” on the Sun where the magnetic field strength was strong, ideal for their sensors.

As CLASP2 peered at the Sun, NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph or IRIS and the JAXA/NASA Hinode satellite, both watching the Sun from Earth orbit, adjusted their telescopes to look at the same location. In coordination, the three missions focused on the same part of the Sun, but peered to different depths.

Hinode focused on the photosphere, looking for spectral lines from neutral iron formed there. CLASP2 targeted three different heights within the chromosphere, locking onto spectral lines from ionized magnesium and manganese. Meanwhile, IRIS measured the magnesium lines in higher resolution, to calibrate the CLASP2 data. Together, the missions monitored four different layers within and surrounding the chromosphere.

Eventually the results were in: The first multi-height map of the chromosphere’s magnetic field.

“When Ryohko first showed me these results, I just couldn't stay in my seat,” said David McKenzie, CLASP2 principal investigator at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “I know it sounds esoteric – but you've just showed the magnetic field at four heights at the same time. Nobody does that!”

The most striking aspect of the data was just how varied the chromosphere turned out to be. Both along the portion of the Sun they studied and at different heights within it, the magnetic field varied significantly.

“At the Sun’s surface we see magnetic fields changing over short distances; higher up those variations are much more smeared out. In some places, the magnetic field didn't reach all the way up to the highest point we measured whereas in other places, it was still at full strength.”

The team hopes to use this technique for multi-height magnetic measurements to map the entire chromosphere’s magnetic field. Not only would this help with our ability to predict space weather, it will tells us key information about the atmosphere around our star.

“I'm a coronal physicist – I'm really interested in the magnetic fields up there,” Rachmeler said. “Being able to raise our measurement boundary to the top of the chromosphere would help us understand so much more, help us predict so much more – it would be a huge step forward in solar physics.”

They’ll have a chance to take that step forward soon: A re-flight of the mission was just greenlit by NASA. Though the launch date isn’t yet set, the team plans to use the same instrument but with a new technique to measure a much broader swath of the Sun.

“Instead of just measuring the magnetic fields along the very narrow strip, we want to scan it across the target and make a two-dimensional map,” McKenzie said.

MEASURING MAGNETIC FIELDS

To measure magnetic field strength, the team took advantage of the Zeeman effect, a century-old technique. (The first application of the Zeeman effect to the Sun, by astronomer George Ellery Hale in 1908, is how we learned that the Sun was magnetic.) The Zeeman effect refers to the fact that spectral lines, in the presence of strong magnetic fields, splinter into multiples. The farther apart they split, the stronger the magnetic field.

Animation above: The Zeeman effect. This animated image shows a spectrum with several absorption lines – spectral lines produced when atoms at specific temperatures absorb a specific wavelength of light. When a magnetic field is introduced (shown here as blue magnetic field lines emanating from a bar magnetic), absorption lines split into two or more. The number of splits and the distance between them reveals the strength of the magnetic field. Note that not all spectral lines split in this way, and that the CLASP2 experiment measured spectral lines in the ultraviolet range, whereas this demo shows lines in the visible range. Animation Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Weissinger.

The chaotic chromosphere, however, tends to “smear” spectral lines, making it difficult to tell just how far apart they split – that’s why previous missions had trouble measuring it. CLASP2’s novelty was in working around this limitation by measuring “circular polarization,” a subtle shift in the light’s orientation that happens as part of the Zeeman effect. By carefully measuring the degree of circular polarization, the CLASP2 team could discern how far apart those smeared lines must have split, and thereby how strong the magnetic field was.

Related links:

CLASP2's launch: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2019/clasp-2-extreme-rocket-science-in-the-desert.html

More about NASA's Sounding Rockets: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sounding-rockets/index.html

Hinode (Solar B): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hinode/index.html

IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/iris/index.html

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC): https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, by Miles Hatfield.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Cygnus Spaceship Lifts Off to Resupply Station on Monday

 

Northrop Grumman - Cygnus NG-15 Mission patch.

Feb. 20, 2021

Image above: The Cygnus cargo craft launches atop the Antares rocket on time from NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Image Credit: NASA TV.

Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus cargo spacecraft lifted off at 12:36 p.m. EST from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia and is on its way to the International Space Station with approximately 8,000 pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware.

NG-15 Antares 230+ launches S.S. Katherine Johnson Cygnus

Commands will be given at about 3:20 p.m. EST to deploy the spacecraft’s solar arrays, which is expected to be complete shortly before 4 p.m.  Capture and installation is expected to take place Monday, Feb. 22, with grapple by the robotic arm expected at approximately 4:40 a.m. EST.

Related article:

New Research Launching to Space Station Aboard Northrop Grumman’s 15th Resupply Mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/new-research-launching-to-space-station.html

Related link:

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

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

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Reports In

 

NASA - Mars Helicopter Ingenuity logo.

Feb 20, 2021

The technology demonstration has phoned home from where it is attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover.

Image above: In this illustration, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as NASA's Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have received the first status report from the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which landed Feb. 18, 2021, at Jezero Crater attached to the belly of the agency’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The downlink, which arrived at 3:30 p.m. PST (6:30 p.m. EST) via a connection through the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, indicates that both the helicopter, which will remain attached to the rover for 30 to 60 days, and its base station (an electrical box on the rover that stores and routes communications between the rotorcraft and Earth) are operating as expected.

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Ingenuity (Trailer)

“There are two big-ticket items we are looking for in the data: the state of charge of Ingenuity’s batteries as well as confirmation the base station is operating as designed, commanding heaters to turn off and on to keep the helicopter’s electronics within an expected range,” said Tim Canham, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter operations lead at JPL. “Both appear to be working great. With this positive report, we will move forward with tomorrow’s charge of the helicopter’s batteries.”

Ensuring that Ingenuity has plenty of stored energy aboard to maintain heating and other vital functions while also maintaining optimal battery health is essential to the success of the Mars Helicopter. The one-hour power-up will boost the rotorcraft’s batteries to about 30% of its total capacity. A few days after that, they’ll be charged again to reach 35%, with future charging sessions planned weekly while the helicopter is attached to the rover. The data downlinked during tomorrow’s charge sessions will be compared to battery-charging sessions done during cruise to Mars to help the team plan future charging sessions.

Like much of the 4-pound (2-kilogram) rotorcraft, the six lithium-ion batteries are off-the-shelf. They currently receive recharges from the rover’s power supply. Once Ingenuity is deployed to Mars’ surface, the helicopter’s batteries will be charged solely by its own solar panel.

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity description. Image Credits: NASA/JPL

After Perseverance deploys Ingenuity to the surface, the helicopter will then have a 30-Martian-day (31-Earth-day) experimental flight test window. If Ingenuity survives its first bone-chilling Martian nights – where temperatures dip as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius) – the team will proceed with the first flight of an aircraft on another world.

If Ingenuity succeeds in taking off and hovering during its first flight, over 90% of the project’s goals will have been achieved. If the rotorcraft lands successfully and remains operable, up to four more flights could be attempted, each one building on the success of the last.

“We are in uncharted territory, but this team is used to that,” said MiMi Aung, project manager for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at JPL. “Just about every milestone from here through the end of our flight demonstration program will be a first, and each has to succeed for us to go on to the next. We’ll enjoy this good news for the moment, but then we have to get back to work.”

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity photos reconnaissance. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL

Next-generation rotorcraft, the descendants of Ingenuity, could add an aerial dimension to future exploration of the Red Planet. These advanced robotic flying vehicles would offer a unique viewpoint not provided by current orbiters high overhead or by rovers and landers on the ground, providing high-definition images and reconnaissance for robots or humans, and enable access to terrain that is difficult for rovers to reach.

More About Ingenuity

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California which also manages the technology demonstration for NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA’s Ames and Langley Research Centers provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm, Snapdragon, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. The Mars Helicopter Delivery System was designed and manufactured by Lockheed Space Systems in Denver.

Related articles:

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Sends Sneak Peek of Mars Landing
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/nasas-perseverance-rover-sends-sneak.html

Touchdown! NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/touchdown-nasas-mars-perseverance-rover.html

The Mars Relay Network Connects Us to NASA’s Martian Explorers
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-mars-relay-network-connects-us-to.html

Related links:

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/main/index.html

Mars 2020 Perseverance rover: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

For more information about Ingenuity:

https://go.nasa.gov/ingenuity-press-kit

https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Alana Johnson/Grey Hautaluoma/JPL/DC Agle.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

35 years of the Mir station

 

CCCP Space Program - Mir Orbital Station patch.

Feb. 19, 2021

Preparing to launch

Exactly 35 years ago, on February 20, 1986 at 00 hours 28 minutes 23 seconds Moscow time, a Proton-K launch vehicle was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which subsequently launched into Earth's orbit the base block of the largest structure in space in the 20th century - the orbital complex "World". This launch opened an important stage in the development of cosmonautics - the beginning of the construction of a large-scale manned scientific research complex.

Launch of the Proton-K launch vehicle from the Baikonur

The lead developer of the Mir station is the SP Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia. Korolev (today it is a part of the State Corporation "Roscosmos"), and the developer and manufacturer of the base unit and modules - the State Space Research and Production Center named after M.V. Khrunichev (part of Roscosmos). Mir was controlled from the Mission Control Center (Korolev, part of Roskosmos), which was the main link in the flight control loop of the Salyut long-term orbital stations, Soyuz family spacecraft and Progress cargo spacecraft.

Base unit of Mir station

For the first time, such a station was created on a modular basis. The idea of creating a multi-module orbital complex appeared back in 1976, and a new type of station was developed on the basis of the already existing single-module Salyut stations in 10 years. It could be assembled in parts and made very large: over and over again attaching new modules to it.

After docking of the astrophysical module "Kvant"

The Mir station became a unique scientific and technical laboratory, where promising solutions for the control of a large and multifunctional space object were tested. It served as a scientific basis for conducting experiments in zero gravity and was the largest international project in the field of space research. Using the Mir scientific equipment, scientists observed supernova explosions, black holes and the Earth's atmosphere, astronauts grew semiconductor crystals, synthesized organic compounds, and much more.

After docking, retrofit module "Kvant-2"

The main difference between Mir and previous long-term orbital stations was that other parts of the station could be connected to the base unit with the help of docking compartments. The first such "detail" was the scientific module "Quant", which was intended for astrophysical observations. By 1996, five more modules were added to the station: the scientific Kvant-2, Kristall, Spektr and Priroda, and a docking bay for the Space Shuttle ships arriving at the station.

After docking of the technological module "Kristall"

The completion of the Mir station flight became a unique scientific and technical experiment. In January 2001, in connection with the depletion of the station's resource, it was decided to de-orbit the station - the Mir station was flooded in the Pacific Ocean on March 23, 2001. For the first time, a controlled safe de-orbiting of such a large-sized object and its flooding in a given area of ​​the World Ocean was realized. The operating time of the Mir complex in orbit exceeded three times the originally planned 5-year period. The fifteen-year flight of the station, the work of many Russian and international crews on board gave a truly invaluable experience not only to Russian cosmonautics, but to all mankind.

After docking of the optical module "Spectrum"

Roscosmos State Corporation congratulates veterans of the rocket and space industry, specialists of the Mission Control Center and the Main Operational Control Group, without whom it would be impossible to control and ensure the flight of the Mir orbital station!

The docking compartment is designed to enable the docking of Space Shuttle

Results of the operation of the orbital station "Mir" (Peace):

- The total mass of the Mir station in full configuration (with two docked ships) is more than 140 tons.

- The mass of scientific equipment is about 11.5 tons.

- 27 countries participated in the creation of scientific equipment.

Linear dimensions:

Mir station in full configuration

- For the hulls of the base unit, the Kvant module and two docked ships ~ 33 m;
- On the buildings of the modules "Kvant-2" and "Spectrum" ~ 29 m;
- Along the hulls of the Priroda and Kristall modules and the docking compartment ~ 30 m.

At the Mir station, 28 main expeditions were carried out, the crews of which included:

- 35 Russian cosmonauts;
- 7 US astronauts;
- 2 astronauts of France;
- 1 ESA astronaut (citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany).

The Mir station was visited by 104 people. Of them:

- 2 times - 19 people;
- 3 times - 4 people;
- 4 times - 1 person (Alexander Viktorenko);
- 5 times - 1 person (Alexander Soloviev).

Foreign citizens at the Mir station were visited by 62 people - representatives of 11 countries and ESA. Including:

- United States of America - 44 people;
- France - 5 people;
- European Space Agency (ESA) - 3 people;
- Germany (DDR) - 2 people;
- Syria, Bulgaria, Afghanistan, Japan, Great Britain, Austria, Canada, Slovakia - 1 person each.

Spacewalks:

78 spacewalks (including three exits to the depressurized Spektr module) were performed from the Mir orbital station, with a total duration of 356 hours and 43 minutes.

Participated in the Spacewalks:

- 29 Russian cosmonauts;
- 3 US astronauts;
- 2 astronauts of France;
- 1 ESA astronaut (citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany).

The following flights were made to the Mir station:

American space shuttle Atlantis docked with Mir station

- 1 ship of the Soyuz T series;
- 30 spaceships of the Soyuz TM series;
- 18 spaceships of the Progress series;
- 43 spaceships of the Progress M series;
- 3 spaceships of the Progress M1 series;
- 5 modules ("Quantum", "Quantum-2", "Crystal", "Spectrum", "Nature");
- 10 Space Shuttle ships (Atlantis - 7 flights, Discovery - 2 flights, in the first of them docking was not provided, Endeavor - 1 flight).

Connections (dockings) completed - 146.

World records for flight duration:

- 1987 - Yuri Romanenko (326 days 11 hours 38 minutes);
- 1988 - Vladimir Titov, Musa Manarov (365 days 22 hours 39 minutes);
- 1995 - Valery Polyakov (437 days 17 hours 58 minutes).

Women:

Shannon Lucid

- 1995 - Elena Kondakova (169 days 05 hours 21 minutes);
- 1996 - Shannon Lucid, USA (188 days 04 hours 00 minutes).

Total time:

- 1995 - Valery Polyakov (678 days 1b h 33 min for 2 flights);
- 1999 - Sergey Avdeev (747 days 14 hours 12 minutes for 3 flights).

Mir Orbital Station

According to the Russian and international programs, the Mir station has carried out more than 23 thousand scientific experiments and studies, many of which have no analogues in the world.

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/30038/

Images, Animation, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/ESA/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Cygnus Resupply Ship Nears Launch as Next Spacewalks Booked

 

ISS - Expedition 64 Mission patch.

Feb. 19, 2021

The Expedition 64 crew is making final preparations today for the arrival of a U.S. resupply ship while keeping up the momentum of space research. The next two spacewalks also have been scheduled to continue hardware installations and upgrades at the International Space Station.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is counting down to its launch from Virginia on Saturday at 12:36 p.m. EST to the orbiting lab. It will rendezvous with the station on Monday when Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)  commands the Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture Cygnus at about 4:40 a.m. NASA Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins will monitor Cygnus’ approach and rendezvous as it reaches a point about 10 meters from the station.

Image above: The Cygnus space freighter is pictured launching atop an Antares rocket from Virginia to the space station on April 17, 2019. Image Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

The duo practiced a variety of robotics maneuvers on a computer today to capture Cygnus. The training simulates different approach scenarios for the U.S. space freighter as the astronauts familiarize themselves with the necessary robotic capture techniques.

Two more spacewalks are planned at the orbiting lab on Feb. 28 and March 5. On the first spacewalk, NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover will set up the station for upcoming solar array upgrades. For the second spacewalk, Rubins will be joined by Noguchi for maintenance on coolant and communication systems.

Image above: NASA spacewalker and Expedition 64 Flight Engineer Victor Glover works to ready the International Space station's port-side truss structures during a spacewalk on Jan. 27, 2021, in preparation for upcoming solar array upgrades. Image Credit: NASA.

Today’s science work on the station encompassed physics, biology and human research. Flight Engineer Shannon Walker set up hardware in the Microgravity Science Glovebox to explore how liquids and gases behave together in space for the Packed Bed Reactor Experiment. Rubins continued swabbing station surfaces to collect microbe samples for DNA sequencing and analysis. Glover joined Noguchi wearing virtual reality helmets for a study researching how time perception and cognition is affected in weightlessness.

In the station’s Russian segment, Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov serviced an array of life support systems and electronics gear. Cargo transfers from the ISS Progress 77 cargo craft are also ongoing.

Related article:

NASA TV Coverage Scheduled for Upcoming Spacewalks, Briefing
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-tv-coverage-scheduled-for-upcoming-spacewalks-briefing

Related links:

Expedition 64: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition64/index.html

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

Microgravity Science Glovebox: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=341

Packed Bed Reactor Experiment: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1037

DNA sequencing and analysis: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8345

Time perception: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7504

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

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Hubble Views a Baby Star’s Tantrums

 

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

Feb 19, 2021

Herbig-Haro objects are some of the rarer sights in the night sky, taking the form of thin spindly jets of matter floating among the surrounding gas and stars. The two Herbig-Haro objects cataloged as HH46 and HH47, seen in this image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, were spotted in the constellation of Vela (the Sails), at a distance of over 1,400 light-years from Earth. Prior to their discovery in 1977 by the American astronomer R. D. Schwartz, the exact mechanism by which these multi-colored objects formed was unknown.

It had been theorized that a Herbig-Haro object could be a type of reflection nebula – a nebula that does not emit light of its own, but shines because starlight is scattered or reflected off its dust cloud. Another theory suggested that it was a type of shock wave formed when winds emitted from a star interact with the surrounding matter. The mystery was finally solved when a protostar, unseen in this image, was discovered at the center of the long jets of matter in HH46 and HH47. The outflows of matter, some 10 light-years across, were ejected from the newly born star and violently propelled outwards at speeds of over 93 miles (150 kilometers) per second. Upon reaching the surrounding gas, the collision created the bright shock waves seen here.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

For more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

http://www.spacetelescope.org/

Text Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA/GSFC/Claire Andreoli/Image, Animation Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Nisini.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA, Boeing Update Starliner Orbital Flight Test Date

 

Boeing & NASA - Starliner OFT-2 patch.

Feb. 19, 2021

NASA and Boeing now are targeting no earlier than Friday, April 2, for launch of the agency’s Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 to the International Space Station.

As preparations continue for the second uncrewed flight test, teams remain focused on the safety and quality of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft and successful launch of the end-to-end test to prove the system is ready to begin flying astronauts to and from the space station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Image above: NASA and Boeing teams are adjusting the launch date of Orbital Flight Test-2 to allow more time for CST-100 Starliner spacecraft and hardware processing. Photo credits: Boeing/John Proferes.

Teams are adjusting the launch date to allow more time for spacecraft and hardware processing. Ahead of final propellant loading, the company recently replaced avionics units affected as a result of a power surge due to a ground support equipment configuration issue during final checkouts.

“NASA continues to work alongside Boeing to prepare for this first mission of 2021,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “The Boeing and NASA teamwork on all aspects of flight preparation including final certification, hazard analysis, and software testing is extraordinary. Even though this uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station is a key milestone on the path to the first Starliner crewed mission planned for later this year, we will fly when we are ready.”

With formal software tests completed, Boeing is continuing with flight preparations. The company is ready to conduct an end-to-end mission rehearsal, using high-fidelity flight hardware and final flight software, to ensure the readiness of the team and combined systems.

Boieng CST-100 Starliner. Animation Credit: Boeing

Boeing continues to support NASA as it reviews flight readiness, and teams have completed about 95% of the recommendations identified by the joint NASA and Boeing Independent Review Team, formed following the anomalies during the company’s first uncrewed Orbital Flight Test in December 2019.

“We appreciate the significant work NASA is undertaking ahead of launch,” said John Vollmer, Starliner’s vice president and program manager at Boeing. “We’re fully engaged in the agency’s review process as a valuable investment of our time to ensure confidence in the spacecraft.”

Related article:

NASA, Boeing Test Crew Return and Recovery Procedures
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/01/nasa-boeing-test-crew-return-and.html

Related links:

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner: http://www.boeing.com/space/starliner/launch/index.html

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

Commercial Space: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/index.html

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

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/James Cawley.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Sends Sneak Peek of Mars Landing

 

NASA - Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover patch.

Feb. 19, 2021

Image above: This high-resolution still image is part of a video taken by several cameras as NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. A camera aboard the descent stage captured this shot. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (the European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Less than a day after NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars, engineers and scientists at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California were hard at work, awaiting the next transmissions from Perseverance. As data gradually came in, relayed by several spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet, the Perseverance team were relieved to see the rover’s health reports, which showed everything appeared to be working as expected.

Image above: Mars Perseverance Sol 0: Rear Right Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam)
NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the area in back of it using its onboard Rear Right Hazard Avoidance Camera. This image was acquired on Feb. 18, 2021 (Sol 0) at the local mean solar time of 15:53:58. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Adding to the excitement was a high-resolution image taken during the rover’s landing. While NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover sent back a stop-motion movie of its descent, Perseverance’s cameras are intended to capture video of its touchdown and this new still image was taken from that footage, which is still being relayed to Earth and processed.

Unlike with past rovers, the majority of Perseverance’s cameras capture images in color. After landing, two of the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) captured views from the front and rear of the rover, showing one of its wheels in the Martian dirt. Perseverance got a close-up from NASA’s eye in the sky, as well: NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance. Orbiter, which used a special high-resolution camera to capture the spacecraft sailing into Jezero Crater, with its parachute trailing behind. The High Resolution Camera Experiment (HiRISE) camera did the same for Curiosity in 2012. JPL leads the orbiter’s mission, while the HiRISE instrument is led by the University of Arizona.

Image above: Mars Perseverance Sol 0: Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam)
NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the area in front of it using its onboard Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera A. This image was acquired on Feb. 18, 2021 (Sol 0) at the local mean solar time of 15:53:58. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Several pyrotechnic charges are expected to fire later on Friday, releasing Perseverance’s mast (the “head” of the rover) from where it is fixed on the rover’s deck. The Navigation Cameras (Navcams), which are used for driving, share space on the mast with two science cameras: the zoomable Mastcam-Z and a laser instrument called SuperCam. The mast is scheduled to be raised Saturday, Feb. 20, after which the Navcams are expected to take panoramas of the rover’s deck and its surroundings.

In the days to come, engineers will pore over the rover’s system data, updating its software and beginning to test its various instruments. In the following weeks, Perseverance will test its robotic arm and take its first, short drive. It will be at least one or two months until Perseverance will find a flat location to drop off Ingenuity, the mini-helicopter attached to the rover’s belly, and even longer before it finally hits the road, beginning its science mission and searching for its first sample of Martian rock and sediment.

 NASA's Perseverance Rover Lands Successfully on Mars

More About the Mission

A primary objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology research, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter technology demonstration for NASA.

Related article:

Touchdown! NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/touchdown-nasas-mars-perseverance-rover.html

For more about Perseverance: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ and https://nasa.gov/perseverance

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Alana Johnson/Grey Hautaluoma/JPL/DC Agle.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Crew Gearing Up for Cygnus Capture and Cargo Operations

 

ISS - Expedition 64 Mission patch.

Feb. 18, 2021

The Expedition 64 crew is getting ready for next week’s arrival of the Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply ship following its launch on Saturday. The orbital residents are also maintaining science operations and unpacking a new Russian spacecraft at the International Space Station.

The Antares rocket with the Cygnus space freighter atop rolled out to its launch pad on Tuesday at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The spacecraft will blast off on Saturday at 12:36 p.m. carrying about 8,000 pounds of science experiments, station hardware and crew supplies for the orbital lab. NASA TV will broadcast the launch activities live beginning at 12 p.m.

Image above: Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter sits atop the Antares rocket at the Wallops Flight Facility launch pad in Virginia. Image Credits: NASA/Patrick Black.

Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and Michael Hopkins will be on duty Monday morning when Cygnus arrives for its approach and capture. Noguchi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) will command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture Cygnus at about 4:40 a.m. Hopkins of NASA will monitor Cygnus’ approach and rendezvous as it reaches a point about 10 meters from the station.

The duo was joined Thursday afternoon by NASA astronauts Kate Rubins, Shannon Walker and Victor Glover to review the upcoming Cygnus cargo operations. Afterward, the quintet called down to mission controllers to discuss unpacking and activating some of the critical science experiments arriving on the U.S. space freighter.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

Combustion research and eye checks were also on the schedule aboard the station on Thursday. Walker and Hopkins partnered up on a study observing how flames spread in microgravity. Rubins took charge of eye exams and checked the eyes of Glover and Noguchi using optical coherence tomography.

Russia’s new cargo craft, the ISS Progress 77, is being unpacked today by Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov. The pair also serviced a variety of Russian electronics and life support gear throughout Thursday.

Related article:

New Research Launching to Space Station Aboard Northrop Grumman’s 15th Resupply Mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/02/new-research-launching-to-space-station.html

Related links:

NASA TV broadcasting: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-tv-coverage-set-for-next-cargo-launch-to-space-station

Expedition 64: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition64/index.html

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

How flames spread in microgravity: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7886

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

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

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

Greetings, Orbiter.ch