Orbiter.ch Space News: 2023-05-14

vendredi 19 mai 2023

Light Duty Day During Spacewalk Safety Training and Axiom Mission Preps

ISS - Expedition 69 Mission patch.

May 19, 2023

The seven-member Expedition 69 crew split up on Wednesday with four astronauts enjoying some time off and three cosmonauts staying busy with cargo transfers and lab maintenance. The astronauts did have some time for spacewalk safety training and preparations for the arrival of four private astronauts to the International Space Station.

NASA Flight Engineers Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg each put on a pair of virtual reality goggles on Friday and practiced controlling the jet packs attached to Extravehicular Mobility Units, or spacesuits. The jetpacks, also called SAFERs (Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue), would provide an astronaut the ability to maneuver back to the station in the unlikely event they became untethered during a spacewalk. The duo also reviewed the Enhanced Caution and Warning System that monitors the spacesuit’s condition including oxygen, water, and battery power levels.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: ESA

UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi took Friday morning off then spent the afternoon reviewing procedures and training on a computer for the approach and docking of Axiom Mission-2 (Ax-2). He also set up computers in the seven-window cupola and the Destiny laboratory module that will support the monitoring of the Ax-2 mission’s arrival aboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom crew ship.

The four Ax-2 private astronauts are scheduled to lift off aboard Freedom from Kennedy Space Center at 5:37 p.m. on Sunday and dock to the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Monday at 9:24 a.m. Ax-2 Commander Peggy Whitson will lead Pilot John Shoffner and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi during the ride to the station for several days of research, outreach, and commercial activities before returning to Earth.

Image above: The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour carrying four Axiom Mission 1 astronauts approaches the space station above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco on April 9, 2022. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio had Friday off in anticipation of supporting the Ax-2 crew arrival next week, taking time out for a pair of workout sessions on the advanced resistive exercise device and the exercise cycle. Bowen and Hoburg also had a couple of hours of off-duty time in between their spacewalk safety training, installing extra sleeping units for the Ax-2 crew, and servicing combustion research hardware.

Commander Sergey Prokopyev, with assistance from Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev, continued cargo transfers from the ISS Progress 83 (83P) resupply ship docked to the Zvezda service module. The duo then split up the rest of the day for a variety of Roscosmos lab maintenance tasks. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin spent his day configuring video and electronics gear before inspecting windows on the Nauka science module.

Image above: Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev waves to the camera while working outside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module during a spacewalk that lasted for six hours and 37 minutes to outfit Nauka and configure the European robotic arm on the International Space Station's Russian segment. Image Credit: NASA.

The space station is orbiting slightly higher after the 83P fired its engines for six minutes on Thursday. The orbital reboost raises the station to the correct altitude for the upcoming docking of the ISS Progress 84 resupply mission.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s Chase Aircraft Gets a Facelift

NASA - Armstrong Flight Research Center patch.

May 19, 2023

An F/A-18 aircraft received from the U.S. Navy in 2021 has been rejuvenated, had its NASA colors added, and is close to flight certification at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, in Edwards, California.

Image above: NASA 862, which is an F/A-18D, departs with its fresh colors from the U.S. Air Force Corrosion Control Facility on Edwards Air Force Base in California for its nearby home at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. Image Credit: Steve Freeman.

Thanks to the U.S. Air Force Corrosion Control Facility on Edwards Air Force Base, also known as the Paint Barn, the F/A-18D aircraft designated NASA 862 will join the center’s stable of aircraft with its new colors. NASA 862 is intended to track, or “chase,” the quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft and provide a platform for videographers and photographers to document flights.

Image above: NASA 862, which is an F/A-18D now based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, arrives for the first time in 2021. The aircraft was stationed at the U.S. Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. Once here, the aircraft was sent for major maintenance, painting, and preparation to join the NASA Armstrong aircraft fleet. Image Credit: Lauren Hughes.

The long road for this aircraft’s acquisition and preparation began in 2020. Troy Asher, director for Flight Operations at NASA Armstrong, initiated an effort to replace the center’s legacy, two-seat F/A-18B models with newer aircraft. To that end, Asher tasked Jack Ly, a NASA Armstrong flight operations engineer, to evaluate several aircraft that could meet the center’s mission.

Image above: U.S. Air Force Corrosion Control Facility personnel work to sand NASA 862, which is an F/A-18D based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The facility is located on Edwards Air Force Base and is also known as the Paint Barn. Image Credit: Steve Freeman.

“We’re excited to have this aircraft in our fleet,” Ly said. “Our hope is in the next couple of months we will be able to integrate more instrumentation to support more missions.”

Image above: U.S. Air Force Corrosion Control Facility personnel Kristian Snoots and Shelby Youngo remove masking from NASA 862, which is an F/A-18D based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The corrosion control facility is located on Edwards Air Force Base and is also known as the Paint Barn. Image Credit: Steve Freeman.

Ly identified the F/A-18D that would become NASA 862, was identified in May 2021 at its home base at the U.S. Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. After leading a team to inspect the aircraft, its airframe and component records, Ly gave his recommendation to select it. Although the F/A-18D is considered old by military standards, it is more modern the F/A-18B, and its parts are easier to find.

Image above: U.S. Air Force Corrosion Control Facility’s Shelby Youngo paints tail art on to NASA 862, which is an F/A-18D based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The corrosion control facility is located on Edwards Air Force Base and is also known as the Paint Barn. Image Credit: Steve Freeman.

The aircraft spent four months having its military components removed during preparation for transfer to NASA Armstrong. The aircraft was delivered to NASA Armstrong in October 2021, and coordination continued to send it to the Naval Air Station North Island Base, near San Diego, in June 2022 for intense depot-level maintenance. NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and NASA Armstrong provided funding to enable the aircraft rejuvenation.

Image above: U.S. Air Force Corrosion Control Facility’s Shelby Youngo completes painting a danger warning on NASA 862, which is an F/A-18D based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The corrosion control facility is located on Edwards Air Force Base and is also known as the Paint Barn. Image Credit: Steve Freeman.

For the aircraft to fly NASA Armstrong missions, it needed an overhaul required when an aircraft flies a certain number of hours. That involves removing the wings, inspecting for corrosion, modernizing its systems, and conducting other key inspections and servicing. Technicians installed full aircraft controls in the rear cockpit to allow a second pilot to receive training or maintain proficiency. The maintenance to NASA 862 should support a life span of about 40 years for the aircraft based on NASA Armstrong usage.

Image above: Eric Miranda, who works at the U.S. Air Force Corrosion Control Facility, paints areas in a stencil for adding some finishing touches to NASA 862, which is an F/A-18D based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The corrosion control facility is located on Edwards Air Force Base and is also known as the Paint Barn. Image Credit: Steve Freeman.

NASA 862 returned to NASA Armstrong in February 2023, then made an initial trip to the Paint Barn in March for sanding, masking and preparation for painting. It then returned to the Paint Barn for the full NASA Armstrong paint scheme and the final application of safety decals and NASA and Armstrong identifications. The aircraft returned to NASA Armstrong May 15.

NASA entered the aircraft into its Aircraft Management Information System and completed weight and balance checks. The aircraft’s initial airworthiness review is expected this month. Once complete, Asher will sign its airworthiness certificate and send it to Center Director Brad Flick for final approval for the aircraft to begin flights.

Related links:

Quesst: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/lowboom/index.html

Aeronautics: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/index.html

Armstrong Flight Research Center: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/home/index.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Ryan Henderson/Armstrong Flight Research Center/Jay Levine, X-Press Editor.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Hubble Peers into a Glistening Star Cluster

NASA / ESA - Hubble Space Telescope (HST) patch.

May 19, 2023

The densely packed globular cluster NGC 6325 glistens in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This concentrated group of stars lies around 26,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus.

Globular clusters like NGC 6325 are tightly bound collections of stars with anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of members. They can be found in all types of galaxies and act as natural laboratories for astronomers studying star formation. This is because the constituent stars of globular clusters tend to form at roughly the same time and with similar initial composition, meaning astronomers can use them to fine-tune their theories of how stars evolve.

Astronomers inspected this particular cluster not to understand star formation, but to search for a hidden monster. Though it might look peaceful, astronomers suspect this cluster could contain an intermediate-mass black hole that is subtly affecting the motion of surrounding stars. Previous research found that the distribution of stars in some highly concentrated globular clusters – those with stars packed relatively tightly together – was slightly different from what astronomers expected.

This discrepancy suggests that at least some of these densely packed globular clusters – including perhaps NGC 6325 – could have a black hole lurking at the center. To explore this hypothesis further, astronomers turned to Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 to observe a larger sample of densely populated globular clusters, which included this star-studded image of NGC 6325. Additional data from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys was also incorporated into this image.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

For more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

https://esahubble.org/

Wide Field Camera 3: https://www.nasa.gov/content/observatory-instruments-wide-field-camera-3

Advanced Camera for Surveys: https://www.nasa.gov/content/observatory-instruments-advanced-camera-for-surveys

Text Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA/Andrea Gianopoulos/Image, Animation Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, E. Noyola, R. Cohen.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Space Station Science Highlights: Week of May 15, 2023

ISS - Expedition 69 Mission patch.

May 19, 2023

Crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific investigations during the week of May 15 that included studying the behavior of protein solutions, testing technology to monitor astronaut sleep quality, and examining the effect of exercise regimens that do not include a treadmill.

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

Liquids, Uncontained

Image above: This image shows mixing at the interface of two shear-driven systems in a ground analog of hardware for Ring-Sheared Drop-IBP, which tests computer models for the behavior of high-concentration protein fluids. Image Credit: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Ring Sheared Drop-IBP, sponsored by the ISS National Lab, studies high-concentration protein solutions and tests computer models for predicting their behavior. The investigation uses a system without containers that removes the effects of interactions with solid walls. Results could lead to more accurate models of complex fluid behavior, enabling production of next-generation medicines and improving in-space manufacturing and 3D printing. Results also could help streamline pharmaceutical manufacturing, 3D printing, food processing, and other processes on Earth. During the week, crew members installed sample syringes and deployed drops into the system for processing.

Sleep, Improved

Image above: The hardware kit for Dreams, an ESA investigation that monitors the quality of astronaut sleep. Image Credit: NASA.

Insufficient sleep and sleep disorders can impair performance and increase the risk of medical problems such as cardiovascular disease. Dreams, an investigation from ESA (European Space Agency), demonstrates a wearable headband to monitor astronaut sleep quality during spaceflight. Sleep conditions for astronauts can be stressful and monitoring their sleep quality is difficult with the devices currently available. This device collects a variety of data including sleep duration, stages, and number of awakenings and heart rate. The easy-to-use tool also could help improve sleep for people on Earth. Crew members wore the headband for several sessions during the week.

Exercise, Tested

Missions to the Moon and Mars need to include exercise devices that provide a variety of aerobic and resistance options to maintain astronaut health and physical fitness and also meet launch weight and mass limits. Treadmills currently used to reinforce the motor pattern of walking in astronauts are too bulky and heavy for future long-term missions. Zero T2 examines the effects on bone, muscle, and aerobic health and performance when crew members do not exercise on a treadmill during flight. Results could help determine whether other exercise regimens are adequate to maintain physical health on future missions. Crew members exercised on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) during the week for the investigation.

Image above: Argentina’s glacier-fed Viedma Lake is visible as the space station orbits 268 miles above. Image Credit: NASA.

Other Investigations Involving the Crew:

- Students write software to control the space station’s Astrobee free-flying robots for Zero Robotics. The experience helps inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7856

- ISS Ham Radio provides students, teachers, and others the opportunity to communicate with astronauts using amateur radio units. Before a scheduled call, students learn about the station, radio waves, and other topics, and prepare a list of questions based on the topics they have researched.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=337

- Space Health, an investigation from CSA (Canadian Space Agency), uses the wearable Bio-Monitor system integrated with the automated Artemis platform to assess the effect of space travel on heart health. Automated monitoring systems are needed as future missions travel farther from medical support.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8601

- Immunity Assay, an investigation from ESA, monitors how spaceflight affects immune function using a newly developed process that can be done during flight. Results could support development of countermeasures for immunological issues during long-duration spaceflight.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8170

- JEM Water Recovery System from JAXA demonstrates technology to generate potable water from urine. The system could contribute to life support systems on the space station and future exploration missions.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2049

- Airborne Particulate Monitor (APM) demonstrates an instrument to measure the concentration of particles in the space station’s air. Maintaining air quality in the space station is vital for crew member health, but no capability currently exists to verify that maximum allowable concentrations of particles are met.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7936

Space to Ground: Springing Into Flight: May 19, 2023

The space station, a robust microgravity laboratory with a multitude of specialized research facilities and tools, has supported many scientific breakthroughs from investigations spanning every major scientific discipline. The ISS Benefits for Humanity 2022 publication details the expanding universe of results realized from more than 20 years of experiments conducted on the station.

The ISS Benefits for Humanity 2022: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/benefits/index.html

Related links:

Expedition 69: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition69/index.html

Ring Sheared Drop-IBP: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8694

Dreams: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8344

Zero T2: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8574

Bio-Monitor: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=7392

ISS National Lab: https://www.issnationallab.org/

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 (mentioned), Video (NASA9, Text, Credits: NASA/Carrie Gilder/John Love, ISS Research Planning Integration Scientist Expedition 69.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

JWST spots biggest water plume yet spewing from a moon of Saturn

NASA / ESA / CSA-ASC - James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) patch.

May 19, 2023

The huge watery cloud spurting from Enceladus could carry the ingredients for life farther into space than previously known.

Image above: The Cassini spacecraft swoops through plumes issuing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus (artist’s impression). Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted Saturn’s moon Enceladus spraying out a huge plume of water vapour, far bigger than any previously seen there. This enormous cloud might contain the chemical ingredients of life, escaping from beneath the moon’s icy surface.

In 2005, a NASA spacecraft called Cassini discovered icy particles squirting from Enceladus’s subsurface ocean through cracks in the moon’s surface. But JWST shows that material is spraying much farther than previously thought — many times deeper into space than the size of Enceladus itself.

“It’s immense,” said Sara Faggi, a planetary astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on 17 May at a conference at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. She declined to provide further details, citing a scientific paper that will be published soon.

Rare ocean world

Enceladus excites astrobiologists because it is one of the few ‘ocean worlds’ in the Solar System, making it one of the best places to look for extraterrestrial life. The salty ocean that lies beneath Enceladus’s outer covering of ice is a possible haven for living organisms, which could be sustained by chemical energy at hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.

Image above: Illustration of the interior of Saturn's moon Enceladus showing a global liquid water ocean between its rocky core and icy crust. Thickness of layers shown here is not to scale. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The material that squirts out of Enceladus, primarily through fractures known as tiger stripes around the moon’s south pole, is a direct link to that potential extraterrestrial ecosystem. The plumes seen by Cassini contained silica particles that were probably carried up from the sea floor by churning fluids (1). Cassini flew many times through Enceladus’s plumes, measuring ice grains and life-friendly chemicals such as methane, carbon dioxide and ammonia.

But it took JWST, a telescope located 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, to discover something that Cassini could not see from its ringside seat. Whereas Cassini could spot ice grains that do not travel far from the surface, JWST has a wider perspective and sensitive instruments that can capture faint gas signals around Enceladus.

Enceladus at a glance

On 9 November 2022, JWST peeked briefly at Enceladus. Just 4.5 minutes’ worth of data revealed the enormous, very cold plume of water vapour. The forthcoming paper will quantify how much water is spraying out and its temperature, Faggi said. But the plume is likely to be of low density, more like a diffuse, cold cloud than a damp spray. That’s not great news for anyone looking to grab samples from the plume and hoping to find life, as the signs of life may be too sparse to detect (2). Ice grains seen by Cassini much closer to Enceladus are more likely to have high concentrations of organic particles, says Shannon MacKenzie, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

Image above: Though the northern hemisphere of Enceladus is pockmarked with impact craters, the southern hemisphere (especially near the pole) is almost entirely crater-free. Instead, this region is carpeted with countless house-sized ice boulders, as well as long, winding crevasses known as “tiger stripes.” From these relatively warm stripes, fissures form and disappear, creating huge geysers of water vapor fueled by a deep, subsurface ocean. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/ESA.

JWST also analysed the spectrum of sunlight reflecting off Enceladus and found evidence of many chemicals, including water and possibly other compounds that could hint at geological or biological activity in the moon’s ocean. “We have many more surprises,” Faggi said.

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Animation Credits: NASA/ESA

Researchers are already planning how to follow up on the discovery. Last week, JWST organizers released a list of the observations to be taken in the telescope’s second round of operations — and it includes another project to study Enceladus. That work will look at Enceladus for six times longer than the first JWST study, and will aim to find chemical compounds associated with habitability, such as organic compounds and hydrogen peroxide. “The new observation will give us our best shot yet at searching for habitability indicators on the surface,” says project lead Christopher Glein, a geochemist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

Moon-scouting snake robot

JWST’s findings provide more grist for a possible NASA mission to Enceladus to search for signs of life there. Proposals under consideration include an ‘orbilander’ mission that would orbit the moon for a year and a half before landing at its south pole. Another proposal calls for the development of an autonomous snake robot that could slither beneath Enceladus’s ice to explore the ocean.

Image above: Team members from JPL test a snake robot called EELS at a ski resort in the Southern California mountains in February. Designed to sense its environment, calculate risk, travel, and gather data without real-time human input, EELS could eventually explore destinations throughout the solar system. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Other icy moons in the Solar System are also getting attention from JWST. At the conference, Geronimo Villanueva, a planetary scientist at Goddard, reported that the telescope had detected carbon dioxide on Jupiter’s moon Europa. That excites scientists because carbon and oxygen are key building blocks for life on Earth. NASA is launching a mission to Europa next year that will explore that ocean world in more detail. “This is definitely a new era in the exploration of the Solar System,” Villanueva said.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01666-x

References:

1. Schoenfeld, A. M. et al. Comm. Earth Environ. 4, 28 (2023).
https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs43247-023-00674-z

2. Affholder, A., Guyot, F., Sauterey, B., Ferrière, R. & Mazevet, S. Planet. Sci. J. 3, 270 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3847%2FPSJ%2Faca275

Related article (JPL):

JPL’s Snake-Like EELS Slithers Into New Robotics Terrain
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/jpls-snake-like-eels-slithers-into-new-robotics-terrain

Related link:

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): https://esawebb.org/ and https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/webb/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Nature/Alexandra Witze/Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA Selects Blue Origin for Astronaut Mission to the Moon

NASA - ARTEMIS Program logo.

May 19, 2023

NASA has awarded a NextSTEP-2 Appendix P Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) contract to Blue Origin. Blue Origin’s National Team partners include Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics.

Image above: A rendering of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander that will return astronauts to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program. Image Credit: Blue Origin.

Under this contract, Blue Origin and its National Team partners will develop and fly both a lunar lander that can make a precision landing anywhere on the Moon’s surface and a cislunar transporter. These vehicles are powered by LOX-LH2. The high-specific impulse of LOX-LH2 provides a dramatic advantage for high-energy deep space missions. Nevertheless, lower performing but more easily storable propellants (such as hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide as used on the Apollo lunar landers) have been favored for these missions because of the problematic boil-off of LOX-LH2 during their long mission timelines.

Through this contract, we will move the state of the art forward by making high-performance LOX-LH2 a storable propellant combination. Under SLD, we will develop and fly solar-powered 20-degree Kelvin cryocoolers and the other technologies required to prevent LOX-LH2 boil-off. Future missions beyond the Moon, and enabling capabilities such as high-performance nuclear thermal propulsion, will benefit greatly from storable LH2. Blue Origin’s architecture also prepares for that future day when lunar ice can be used to manufacture LOX and LH2 propellants on the Moon.

Blue Origin and its partners are already at work and are excited to be on this journey with NASA.

Related links:

NASA Selects Blue Origin for Astronaut Mission to the Moon:
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/nasa-selects-blue-origin-for-mission-to-moon/

Blue Origin: https://www.blueorigin.com/

Artemis: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: Blue Origin.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

jeudi 18 mai 2023

ISS Orbit Prepared for Progress MS-23 Cargo Spacecraft Launch

ROSCOSMOS - Russian Vehicles patch.

May 18, 2023

The engines of the Progress MS-22 spacecraft, docked to the Russian service module Zvezda, were turned on at 19:43 Moscow time and worked for 353.1 seconds, generating an impulse of 0.55 m/s.

As a result, according to preliminary data, the average altitude of the station's orbit increased by 1 km and amounted to 416.6 km.

ISS reboost by Progress Cargo Spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA

For the entire duration of the ISS flight, 339 corrections of its orbital altitude were carried out, including 187 with the help of Progress spacecraft engines.

The launch of the Progress MS-23 spacecraft by the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is scheduled for May 24, 2023.

The crew of the 69th long-term expedition is working on board the ISS, consisting of cosmonauts of the State Corporation Roscosmos Sergey Prokopiev, Dmitry Petelin, Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Franck Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Woody Hoburg, UAE astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi.

Related links:

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/39240/

Progress MS-22: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/progress-ms-22/

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/mks/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Station Preps for Axiom Mission 2 Nearing Sunday Launch

ISS - Expedition 69 Mission patch.

May 18, 2023

The Expedition 69 crew members continue preparing the International Space Station for the arrival four private astronauts early next week. Meanwhile, the orbital residents also stayed focused on their life science activities and lab maintenance tasks.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon Freedom crew ship attached, rolled out to its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday morning. It is scheduled to launch four Axiom Mission-2 (Ax-2) astronauts at 5:37 p.m. EDT on Sunday to the orbital outpost. Former NASA astronaut and Ax-2 Commander Peggy Whitson will lead first-time space flyers Pilot John Shoffner and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi aboard Dragon during its space flight. Dragon will automatically approach and dock to the space-facing port on the Harmony module at 9:24 a.m. on Monday.

Image above: The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour carrying four Axiom Mission 1 astronauts approaches the International Space Station on April 9, 2022, with the first quarter Moon in the background. Image Credit: NASA.

Two station flight engineers spent a portion of Thursday configuring station equipment to support the four Ax-2 crew members during their stay aboard orbital lab. NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen gathered and staged emergency hardware on midday Thursday to accommodate the additional astronauts and their Dragon vehicle. UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi relocated a station computer from the Kibo laboratory module to the Harmony module for Ax-2 crew use.

Bowen would go on and work the rest of the day inside the Destiny laboratory module servicing life support gear that cools station hardware and rejects heat using water loops. Alneyadi charged batteries, removed components, and practiced installing jetpacks on the Extravehicular Mobility Units, or spacesuits, in preparation for upcoming spacewalks.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: ESA

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio worked inside the Kibo lab installing protein crystal research hardware and a centrifuge supporting life science and physics research. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg wrapped up the checkout and activation of the Treadmill 2 in the Tranquility module following its inspection and cleaning earlier in the week.

Commander Sergey Prokopyev joined Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin after breakfast for ultrasound scans of their stomachs to understand microgravity’s affect on the digestion process. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev attached sensors to himself recording his heart activity while pedaling on an exercise cycle for a fitness evaluation. Fedyaev that partnered with Prokopyev at the end of the day transferring cargo from the ISS Progress 83 resupply ship docked to the Zvezda service module’s aft port.

Related article (NASA):

NASA Sets Coverage for Axiom Mission 2 Briefings, Events, Broadcast
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-axiom-mission-2-briefings-events-broadcast

Related links:

Expedition 69: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition69/index.html

Harmony module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/harmony

Kibo laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/japan-kibo-laboratory

Destiny laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/us-destiny-laboratory

Destiny laboratory: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/us-destiny-laboratory

Protein crystal research: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7468

Tranquility module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/tranquility/

Zvezda service module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/zvezda-service-module.html

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

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

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

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Captures View of Mars’ Belva Crater

NASA - Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover logo.

May 18, 2023

(Click on the images for enlarge)

The six-wheeled scientist encountered the crater during its latest science campaign in search of rock samples that could be brought to Earth for deeper investigation.

Image above: The 152 images that make up this mosaic of Belva Crater were taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on April 22, 2023, the 772nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Belva is a 0.6-mile-wide (0.9-kilometer wide) impact crater within the much larger Jezero Crater. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS.

The Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover recently collected 152 images while looking deep into Belva Crater, a large impact crater within the far larger Jezero Crater. Stitched into a dramatic mosaic, the results are not only eye-catching, but also provide the rover’s science team some deep insights into the interior of Jezero.

“Mars rover missions usually end up exploring bedrock in small, flat exposures in the immediate workspace of the rover,” said Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist of Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “That’s why our science team was so keen to image and study Belva. Impact craters can offer grand views and vertical cuts that provide important clues to the origin of these rocks with a perspective and at a scale that we don’t usually experience.”

On Earth, geology professors often take their students to visit highway “roadcuts” –places where construction crews have sliced vertically into the rock to make way for roads – that allow them to view rock layers and other geological features not visible at the surface. On Mars, impact craters like Belva can provide a type of natural roadcut.

Image above: This anaglyph of Perseverance’s mosaic of Belva Crater can best be viewed with red-blue 3D glasses. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS.

Signs of Past Water

Perseverance took the images of the basin on April 22 (the 772nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission) while parked just west of Belva Crater’s rim on a light-toned rocky outcrop the mission’s science team calls “Echo Creek.” Created by a meteorite impact eons ago, the approximately 0.6-mile-wide (0.9-kilometer-wide) crater reveals multiple locations of exposed bedrock as well as a region where sedimentary layers angle steeply downward.

These “dipping beds” could indicate the presence of a large Martian sandbar, made of sediment, that billions of years ago was deposited by a river channel flowing into the lake that Jezero Crater once held.

The science team suspects the large boulders in the foreground are either chunks of bedrock exposed by the meteorite impact or that they may have been transported into the crater by the river system. The scientists will search for answers by continuing to compare features found in bedrock near the rover to the larger-scale rock layers visible in the distant crater walls.

To help with those efforts, the mission also created an anaglyph, or 3D version, of the mosaic. “An anaglyph can help us visualize the geologic relationships between the crater wall outcrops,” said Stack. “But it also provides an opportunity to simply enjoy an awesome view. When I look at this mosaic through red-blue 3D glasses, I’m transported to the western rim of Belva, and I wonder what future astronauts would be thinking if they were to stand where Perseverance once stood when it took this shot.”

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including caching samples that may contain 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.

Mars Perseverance Rover. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA, would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed 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, which is managed for NASA by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

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

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/Karen Fox/Alana Johnson/JPL/DC Agle.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

mercredi 17 mai 2023

Research, Lab Upkeep Fill Crew Day Before Emergency Training Session

ISS - Expedition 69 Mission patch.

May 17, 2023

The Expedition 69 crew spent Wednesday servicing an array of science gear, maintaining orbital lab systems, and readying gear for the next private astronaut mission. The International Space Station crew members also joined each other at the end of the day and practiced responding to a variety of emergency scenarios.

NASA Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Woody Hoburg worked during the morning on science hardware supporting different space biology experiments. Rubio uninstalled video components inside the Cell Biology Experiment Facility, a research incubator that generates artificial gravity. Hoburg deployed a computer on the Tranquility module’s life support rack before ground controllers loaded network security software into the device.

Image above: Astronaut Woody Hoburg works replaces life support system components inside the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory module. Image Credit: NASA.

Rubio later joined UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and returned the station’s Treadmill 2 to its normal configuration inside Tranquility. Alneyadi and Hoburg had worked the day before on the treadmill rotating it out of its stowage position to inspect and clean its electronic components.

NASA Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen swapped out pharmaceutical samples inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox for the Ring Sheared Drop experiment that seeks potential treatments for neuro-degenerative diseases. He also removed a vest and headband he was wearing that recorded his vital signs and prepared the medical data for review by doctors on the ground.

Image above: Known for its many rivers and one of Northern Patagonia’s largest glaciers, Laguna San Rafael National Park was photographed on May 9, 2023 as the space station orbited 268 miles above Chile. Image Credits: NASA/Warren “Woody” Hoburg.

Bowen also prepared computer tablets that will be used during the upcoming Axiom Mission-2 (Ax-2). Bowen configured the devices to allow the Ax-2 crew to access ground resources and connect to the internet. Ax-2 will be commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson who will lead first-time space flyers Pilot John Shoffner and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. The private quartet is scheduled to launch aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at 5:37 p.m. EDT on Sunday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and automatically dock to the orbiting lab at 9:24 a.m. on Monday.

Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin worked throughout Wednesday on life support maintenance before partnering together and testing ultrasound gear for a human research study. Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev spent his day inspecting surfaces inside the Roscosmos station modules.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

At the end of the day, all seven crewmates joined each other for a regularly scheduled emergency training session. The orbital residents reviewed how they would coordinate their response to unlikely emergency events such as a fire, an ammonia leak, or a pressure leak. They familiarized themselves with escape routes, safety gear, and communication protocols with mission controllers.

Related links:

Expedition 69: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition69/index.html

Tranquility module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/tranquility/

Treadmill 2: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=752

Ring Sheared Drop: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7383

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

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Our oceans are in hot water

ESA - Sentinel-3 Mission logo.

May 17, 2023

Adding to the grim list of record ice losses, record air temperatures and record droughts, which have all hit the headlines recently, the temperature of the surface waters of our oceans is also at an all-time high. With an El Niño looming, concerns are that we will soon be facing even worse extremes. Satellites orbiting overhead are being used to carefully track the patterns that lead up to El Niño to further understand and predict the consequences of this cyclic phenomenon against the backdrop of climate change.

The coupled ocean–atmosphere system of El Niño and La Niña, together known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, are drivers of significant variations in global temperature and precipitation, on top of the warming trend caused by climate change.

El Niño occurs every few years when the trade winds weaken allowing warm water in the western Pacific Ocean to shift eastward, bringing with it changes in wind patterns and ocean dynamics. This can have a significant impact on weather around the world, leading to changes in ecosystems and fisheries, droughts, floods and storms, amongst others.

Climate models suggest that after three years of La Niña, which has a general cooling effect on the planet, in the next few months we will face a return to the more troublesome El Niño.

Sea-surface temperatures May 2022 and May 2023

Climate change is already fuelling the recent extreme temperatures that many of us have had to deal with, so the worrying question is whether this impending El Niño will make matters even worse.

Monitoring changes in the temperature and height of the sea surface, together with the surface wind patterns that result from the interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere, helps us to understand the mechanisms that drive El Niño events.

Moreover, scientists have to take climate change into account, which is likely to amplify the extremes that this El Niño, and future El Niño events, will bring.

Satellites orbiting above are paramount to delivering the data for this kind of research because the Tropical Pacific Ocean, the home of El Niño, is so large it is difficult to monitor.

Sea-surface temperature January to mid-May 2023

ESA’s lead ocean scientist, Craig Donlon, said, “More than 70% of our planet is covered by ocean. It plays an enormous role in the climate system.

“We all know that our climate is warming – but I imagine that most people first think of warmer air temperatures. In fact, our oceans have been soaking up much of this extra heat, keeping the atmosphere relatively cool. This has come at a cost, and we are now seeing the temperature of our oceans at their hottest since records began.”

“Scientists all over the world use Copernicus Sentinel-3 data that provides reference surface-temperature measurements together with sea-surface height data. They also use Copernicus Sentinel-6 which gives us the most accurate measurements of the height of the sea surface. When seawater warms, it expands – one of the biggest causes of sea-level rise. These complementary datasets work together to provide a unique picture of the evolving El Niño.”

El Niño and La Niña

Built by ESA and operated by Eumetsat, the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission is unique in delivering measurements of global sea-surface temperature as well as sea-surface height from the same satellite platform.

The mission comprises two identical satellites, each carrying the same suite of instruments – one of which is the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer, which measures global sea-surface temperatures every day to an accuracy of better than 0.3 K.

The other is a radar altimeter that measures sea-surface height, significant wave height and wind speed. In addition, its imager, called the Ocean and Land Colour Imager, allows scientists to study the biological signatures in the ocean that are modified by El Niño.

Sentinel-3’s radiometer is used by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites within its Sea Surface Temperature Virtual Constellation for a better understanding phenomena like El Niño and La Niña events, and ocean currents and heat exchange between the ocean and atmosphere.

Copernicus Sentinel-3

Sentinel-6 is the reference altimeter used to homogenise other satellite altimeter data to provide measurements of sea-level rise every 10 days.

Importantly, data from both missions are delivered in near-real time.

ESA currently building a further two Sentinel-3 satellites, Sentinel-3C and Sentinel-3D, to ensure continuity of such measurements. Looking to the future, ESA is also developing the follow-on Copernicus Sentinel-3 Next Generation mission.

A second Sentinel-6 satellite is currently in storage and is due for launch in the next few years to maintain the sea-level record.

Since sea-surface temperature is an important essential climate variable, ESA’s Climate Change Initiative also feeds in Sentinel-3 data to its Sea Surface Temperature Project.

Copernicus Sentinel-6 radar altimeter

The future Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer mission is set to provide all-weather high-resolution sea-surface temperature measurements. In addition, the Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Monitoring mission will provide very high-resolution sea-surface temperature data in coastal zones.

In short, the Copernicus programme is well-prepared to continue monitoring our oceans well into the future.

Warming oceans are indeed a worry, and now with an El Niño on the horizon, the world is braced for the impact it will have.

El Niño is likely to affect more than 60 million people, particularly in eastern and southern Africa, the Horn of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Severe drought and associated food insecurity, flooding, rains, and temperature rises due to El Niño can cause a wide range of health problems, including disease outbreaks, malnutrition, heat stress and respiratory diseases.

“Satellites orbiting Earth, now and in the future, not only those monitoring our oceans but measuring many different aspects of our planet, are more important than ever. They provide hard evidence for science and for decision making to protect society,” added Dr Donlon.

Related article:

International Sea Level Satellite Spots Early Signs of El Niño
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/05/international-sea-level-satellite-spots.html

Related links:

Sentinel-3: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-3

Sentinel-6: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-6

Eumetsat: https://www.eumetsat.int/

Committee on Earth Observation Satellites within its Sea Surface Temperature Virtual Constellation: https://ceos.org/ourwork/virtual-constellations/sst/

Sea Surface Temperature Project: https://climate.esa.int/en/projects/sea-surface-temperature/

Observing the Earth: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth

Images, Animation, Video, Text, Credits: ESA/Data source: NOAA.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

CASC - Long March-3B launches the first BeiDou-3 backup satellite

CASC - Long March-3B / BeiDou-3 backup satellite patch.

May 17, 2023

Long March-3B carrying first BeiDou-3 backup satellite liftoff

A Long March-3B launch vehicle launched the first backup BeiDou-3 navigation satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province, southwest China, on 17 May 2023, at 02:49 UTC (10:49 local time).

Long March-3B launches the first BeiDou-3 backup satellite

The geostationary satellite is the 56th of the BeiDou family and the first to act as a backup satellite for China’s BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3).

BeiDou-3 navigation satellite

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

Images, Video, Text, Credits: China Central Television (CCTV)/China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch