Guardians of the antimatter hunter

NASA / ESA - Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) patch.


31 July 2012

A year ago, the largest and most complex scientific instrument on the International Space Station was delivered to the orbital outpost. Searching for antimatter and the origins of our Universe, it is working flawlessly thanks to the continuous support from its own ‘mission control’.

The AMS-02 Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer uses state-of-the-art detectors and powerful magnets to detect cosmic rays as they pass through matter. Around 90% of the Universe is invisible – and AMS-02 is searching for the missing pieces.

AMS-02 testing

ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori and five NASA astronauts flew AMS-02 to the International Space Station on Shuttle Endeavour’s last mission STS-134. 600 scientists in 16 countries worked together to build AMS-02. Designed by scientists for ‘plug and play’ on the Station, it was sending back data back within four hours of being installed.

The Station is subjected to the full blast of cosmic rays because it is not protected by Earth’s atmosphere, making it the ideal place to search for antimatter.

AMS-02 on Space Station

In one year, AMS-02 has recorded more than 17 billion particles.

The huge amount of information is sent via satellite to the USA and then through optical cables to the control centre run by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, in Switzerland.

AMS-02 Control Centre

Everything is stored for analysis. Every hour, the centre receives 240 gigabytes of information for archiving – about the size of a typical consumer hard disk.

The control centre also monitors the instrument’s vital signs, keeping its temperature stable despite being subjected to its surroundings swinging between –30ºC to +40ºC in the harsh space conditions.

Subatomic particles are extremely small and proving their existence requires extreme precision. AMS-02 is constantly calibrated to guarantee true readings. For example, the particle detector used to tell electrons from protons can be adjusted by as little as three-thousandths of a millimetre.

STS-134 crew before launch

At this level of accuracy, natural events such as solar flares can add errors and the mission controllers at CERN need to allow for them during calibration.

The centre never closes: “Scientists are working round the clock looking at particles that affect us all the time,” says Maurice Bourquin, professor at the University of Geneva and founding father of AMS-02.

The control centre was formally opened on 25 July by the NASA astronauts who flew AMS to the Station. They unveiled a plaque and planted a tree with principal investigator Prof. Samuel Ting and CERN director Rolf-Dieter Heuer to mark the occasion.

Related links:

CERN: http://press.web.cern.ch/press/

CERN Antimatter Website: http://livefromcern.web.cern.ch/livefromcern/antimatter/

DAMA Mission: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/DAMA_mission/index.html

AMS-02 homepage: http://www.ams02.org/

STS-134 mission: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts134/index.html

Related News:

Conference of the crew of STS-134 Mission at Geneva: http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2012/07/conference-of-crew-of-sts-134-mission.html

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / NASA / Kim Shiflett.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

X-rays From A Young Supernova Remnant

NASA - Chandra X-ray Observatory patch.

July 31, 2012

More than fifty years ago, a supernova was discovered in M83, a spiral galaxy about 15 million light years from Earth. Astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to make the first detection of X-rays emitted by the debris from this explosion.

Named SN 1957D because it was the fourth supernova to be discovered in the year 1957, it is one of only a few located outside of the Milky Way galaxy that is detectable, in both radio and optical wavelengths, decades after its explosion was observed. In 1981, astronomers saw the remnant of the exploded star in radio waves, and then in 1987 they detected the remnant at optical wavelengths, years after the light from the explosion itself became undetectable.

A relatively short observation -- about 14 hours long -- from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2000 and 2001 did not detect any X-rays from the remnant of SN 1957D. However, a much longer observation obtained in 2010 and 2011, totaling nearly 8 and 1/2 days of Chandra time, did reveal the presence of X-ray emission. The X-ray brightness in 2000 and 2001 was about the same as or lower than in this deep image.

Chandra X-ray Observatory

This new Chandra image of M83 is one of the deepest X-ray observations ever made of a spiral galaxy beyond our own. This full-field view of the spiral galaxy shows the low, medium, and high-energy X-rays observed by Chandra in red, green, and blue respectively.

The new X-ray data from the remnant of SN 1957D provide important information about the nature of this explosion that astronomers think happened when a massive star ran out of fuel and collapsed. The distribution of X-rays with energy suggests that SN 1957D contains a neutron star, a rapidly spinning, dense star formed when the core of pre-supernova star collapsed. This neutron star, or pulsar, may be producing a cocoon of charged particles moving at close to the speed of light known as a pulsar wind nebula.

If this interpretation is confirmed, the pulsar in SN 1957D is observed at an age of 55 years, one of the youngest pulsars ever seen. The remnant of SN 1979C in the galaxy M100 contains another candidate for the youngest pulsar, but astronomers are still unsure whether there is a black hole or a pulsar at the center of SN 1979C.

For more information about Chandra X-ray Observatory, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html

Images, Text, Credits: X-ray: NASA / CXC / STScI / K.Long et al., Optical: NASA / STScI.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

A ten billion-year stellar dance

ESA - Hubble Space Telescope logo.

30 July 2012

 M68

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope offers this delightful view of the crowded stellar encampment called Messier 68, a spherical, star-filled region of space known as a globular cluster.

Mutual gravitational attraction among a cluster’s hundreds of thousands or even millions of stars keeps stellar members in check, allowing globular clusters to hang together for many billions of years.

Astronomers can measure the ages of globular clusters by looking at the light of their constituent stars.

The chemical elements leave signatures in this light, and the starlight reveals that stars of globular clusters typically contain fewer heavy elements, such as carbon, oxygen and iron, than stars like the Sun.

Since successive generations of stars gradually create these elements through nuclear fusion, stars having fewer of them are relics of earlier epochs in the Universe.

Indeed, the stars in globular clusters rank among the oldest on record, dating back more than 10 billion years.

3D animation showing the Hubble Space Telescope over the Earth

More than 150 of these objects surround our Milky Way Galaxy. On a galactic scale, globular clusters are not all that big. In Messier 68’s case, its stars span a volume of space with a diameter of little more than a hundred light-years. The disc of the Milky Way, on the other hand, extends over some 100 000 light-years or more. 

More about:
Hubble overview: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM106WO4HD_index_0_m.html

Hubble's Universe: http://spacetelescope.org/

NASA Hubble Space Telescope: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html

Image, Text, Credits: ESA / Hubble & NASA / Video: ESA / Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen).

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

The Hustle and Bustle of Our Solar System

NASA - WISE Mission logo.

July 30, 2012

This diagram illustrates the differences between orbits of a typical near-Earth asteroid (blue) and a potentially hazardous asteroid, or PHA (orange). PHAs are a subset of the near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and have the closest orbits to Earth's orbit, coming within 5 million miles (about 8 million kilometers). They also are large enough to survive passage through Earth's atmosphere and cause damage on a regional, or greater, scale.

Our yellow sun sits at the center of the crowd, while the orbits of the planets Mercury, Venus and Mars are shown in grey. Earth's orbit stands out in green between Venus and Mars. As the diagram indicates, the PHAs tend to have more Earth-like orbits than the rest of the NEAs. The asteroid orbits are simulations of what a typical object's path around the sun might look like.

The dots in the background are based on data from NASA's NEOWISE, the asteroid-hunting portion of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, which scanned the whole sky twice in infrared light before entering hibernation mode in 2011. The blue and orange dots represent a simulation of the population of near-Earth asteroids and PHAs, respectively, which are larger than 330 feet (100 meters).

NEOWISE has provided the best overall look at the PHA population yet, refining estimates of their numbers, sizes, types of orbits and potential hazards. The NEOWISE team estimates that about 20 to 30 percent of the PHAs thought to exist have actually been discovered as may 2012, the date of this image.

For more information about Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/main/index.html

Image, Text, Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Second successful docking to ISS for Progress M-15M

ROSCOSMOS - Russian Vehicles patch.

July 29, 2012

 Progress M-15M approaching ISS

At 5.00 GMT on 29 July in accordance with the program of developing long-term approach "Course-ON" performed docking of manned spacecraft (THC), Progress M-15M to the International Space Station (ISS). Space vehicle docked to a docking bay module Pirs (SB-1).

 Russia's Progress М-15М docked (Photo: NASA)

Operations on the rendezvous and docking were performed in an automatic mode under the control of operational management specialists Mission Control Center and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise TsNIIMash crew of the Russian segment of the station.

ISS Progress 47 Re-docks to Space Station

Last week an attempt to perform the maneuver failed

The new version had most of its analogue signal processing circuits replaced with more accurate, robust and light digital ones. It also has a smaller external antenna, which needs not to be tilted back just before the docking locks are engaged, as is the case with the current system.

Russian members of the ISS crew had to adjust their timetable to monitor the maneuver from the space station. Their Sunday sleeping time was broken into two periods for the sake of the night docking.

The previous attempt to test the new Kurs on July 24 failed. The spacecraft, which earlier delivered fresh supplies into orbit, undocked the ISS, got into a position at a distance of some 161 kilometers from it and began re-docking. But when the Progress was just 15 kilometers from its target, the system ordered that the maneuver be aborted.

Progress M-15M cargo spacecraft ISS docking - July 24, 2012

Engineers managed to track down the problem to a proximity sensor fault, head of the Russian ISS mission control Vladimir Solovyev told the media on Tuesday.

“We’ve been testing Kurs-NA hardware. We had to work on software too,” he said.

“We failed with the first attempt. Then we calculated everything, did some simulations on the ground. Now we’ve done it,” he added.

The Progress will remain docked for at least one more day. Then it will remain in orbit until mid-August to carry out a scientific experiment. Afterwards the spacecraft will be de-orbited over the Pacific Ocean.

Press Release from Russian Space Agency:http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=19365

Images, Videos, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos PAO) / RT / NASA / Roscosmos TV / NASA TV / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Spacecrafts Gonets-M and Mir displayed on the target orbit

ROSCOSMOS logo.

07/28/2012

Rokot KM at the launch-pad

July 28, in accordance with cyclogram flight to Moscow was 7.19 nominal separation of two spacecraft (SC) "Gonets-M" and SC "MiR" from the upper block (RB) "Breeze-KM '. Spacecraft displayed on the target orbit.

Launching spacecraft was completed in 05.35 GMT with a space rocket "Rokot" with "the Briz-KM" starting from the the Republic of Belarus Plesetsk cosmodrome calculations Forces aerospace defense and specialists rocket and space industry of Russia.

Artist view of the Rokot launch

Spacecraft Gonets M message relay set up by JSC "Information space systems to them. Academician Reshetnev "for multi-functional personal satellite communication system (MSPSS)" messenger-D1M "providing access to communication services at any latitude and longitude, both for fixed and mobile subscribers. Spacecraft designed for communication and data transmission, including the "email", the registration message to the on-board storage device, storage and subsequent transfer to the user. SC also provide a link for subscribers in the overall radio visibility zone, telex and facsimile transmission of messages. In addition to their function is to automatically collect data from various sensors such as burglar and fire alarm systems, environmental sensors, etc. Under the Russian Federal Space Program for 2006-2015. group provides for the deployment of 12 satellites (three of the four spacecraft in the orbital plane). Altitude - 1500 km, inclination to the equatorial plane - 82.5 oz.

Gonets-M message relay

Spacecraft "Peace (Mir)" ("Jubilee-2") was established in JSC "Information Satellite Systems him. Academician Reshetnev. " In the design and construction of the payload of the spacecraft have been actively involved undergraduate and graduate students of Siberian State Aerospace University named after Academician Reshetnev (Siberian State Aerospace University), and also specialists of the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center, Siberian Branch of RAS. On-board devices are designed and manufactured in the laboratories of Siberian State Aerospace University, in particular angled reflector laser control unit payload, power switching power supply, two small web camera and a camera remote sensing. The spacecraft will be used for educational student projects.

Original text in Russian: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=19363

Images, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos PAO) / Khrunichev Space Center / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Successful berthing of the H-II Transfer Vehicle KOUNOTORI 3 (HTV3) to the ISS

JAXA - Transfer Vehicle KOUNOTORI 3 (HTV3) patch.

July 28, 2012 (JST)

 Artist view of the HTV approaching ISS

The H-II Transfer Vehicle "KOUNOTORI 3" (HTV3) started its final approach to the International Space Station (ISS), and was captured by the ISS robotic arm at 21:23 p.m. on July 27 (Japanese Standard Time, JST). After being maneuvered by the arm, the HTV3 was successfully berthed to the ISS at 2:31 a.m. on July 28 (JST).

KOUNOTORI2 (HTV-2) docking at the ISS

Upon berthed to the ISS, the internal and external cargo will be unloaded by the onboard crew.

Comment by JAXA President

Today, I am delighted to announce that the H-II Transfer Vehicle "KOUNOTORI 3" (HTV3), launched by the H-IIB launch vehicle on July 21, 2012 (Japanese Standard Time) from the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center, was successfully berthed to the International Space Station (ISS) at 2:31 a.m. on July 28, 2012.

Timelapse of HTV-3 Approach to ISS

We are pleased to report that Astronaut Hoshide, who has recently commenced the long-duration stay at the ISS, participated in this significant task. It was with immense pride and joy to witness the Japanese and American astronauts performing their fruits of the rigorous training to successfully berth the "KOUNOTORI 3 " to the ISS.

Timelapse of HTV-3 Berthing to ISS

This success marks a notable milestone in this mission. We will continue to strive to ensure the transfer of supplies, departure from the ISS, and re-entry into the atmosphere as planned.

Keiji Tachikawa, President, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Reference Link: You can find out more detailed information on the following Web site: http://iss.jaxa.jp/en/htv/

Mission website:

KOUNOTORI3/H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 3 Special Site: http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/h2bf3/index_e.html

KOUNOTORI3 (HTV3) News (ISS / Kibo Site): http://iss.jaxa.jp/en/htv/mission/htv-3/news/

Images, Text, Credits: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) / NASA / NASA TV.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch