Sticky, Stony and Sizzling Science Launching to Space Station

ISS - International Space Station patch.

March 9, 2016

NASA’s commercial partner Orbital ATK plans to launch its Cygnus spacecraft into orbit on March 22, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for its fifth contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station. The flight, known as Orbital ATK CRS-6, will deliver investigations to the space station to study fire, meteors, regolith, adhesion, and 3-D printing in microgravity.

​Saffire-I

A gem of an investigation will be heating up on CRS-6. The Spacecraft Fire Experiment-I (Saffire-I) intentionally lights a large-scale fire inside an empty Cygnus resupply vehicle after it leaves the space station and before it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere.

In the decades of research into combustion and fire processes in reduced gravity, few experiments have directly studied spacecraft fire safety under low-gravity conditions, and none of these experiments have studied sample and environment sizes typical of those expected in a spacecraft fire.

Image above: Saffire Experiment Module (top cover removed for clarity). Hardware consists of a flow duct containing the sample card and an avionics bay. All power, computer, and data acquisition modules are contained in the bay. Dimensions are approximately 53- by 90- by 133-cm. Image Credit: NASA.

The Saffire-I investigation provides a new way to study a realistic fire on an exploration vehicle, which has not been possible in the past because the risks for performing such studies on manned spacecraft are too high. Instruments on the returning Cygnus will measure flame growth, oxygen use and more. Results could determine microgravity flammability limits for several spacecraft materials, help to validate NASA’s material selection criteria, and help scientists understand how microgravity and limited oxygen affect flame size. The investigation is crucial for the safety of current and future space missions.

Meteor

A less heated investigation, Meteor Composition Determination (Meteor), will enable the first space-based observations of meteors entering Earth’s atmosphere from space.

Image above: Location of the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF) in the Destiny Module, in which the Meteor camera will be installed. Image Credit: NASA.

Meteors are somewhat rare and are difficult to monitor from the ground because of Earth’s atmosphere. Meteor uses high-resolution video and image analysis of the atmosphere to ascertain the physical and chemical properties of the meteoroid dust, such as size, density and chemical composition. Since scientists usually identify the parent comets or asteroids for most meteor showers, the study of the meteoroid dust from the space station provides information about those parent comets and asteroids. Investigating the elemental composition of meteors adds to our understanding of how the planets developed, and continuous measurement of meteor interactions with Earth’s atmosphere could spot previously unforeseen meteors.

​Strata-I

A more ‘grounded’ investigation will study the properties and behavior of regolith, the impact-shattered “soil” found on asteroids, comets, the Moon and other airless worlds. The Strata-1 investigation could give us answers about how regolith behaves and moves in microgravity, how easy or difficult it is to anchor a spacecraft in regolith, how it interacts with spacecraft and spacesuit materials, and other important properties. This will help NASA learn how to safely move and process large volumes of regolith, and predict and prevent risk to spacecraft and astronauts visiting these small bodies.

Regolith is different from soil here on Earth in that it contains no living material. We do not adequately understand the behavior of regolith on small, airless bodies. Previous NASA missions suggest that regolith may flow like sediments in a streambed as asteroids and comets deform; however new, fundamental research is needed on regolith physics in prolonged microgravity.

Image above: A view of the contents of two of Strata-1's tubes. The regolith simulant on the left is a simplified model consisting of angular fragments of colored glass, sorted into three sizes. The tube on the right contains pulverized meteorite material to closely resemble the actual regolith on a small asteroid, also sorted into three sizes. Image Credit: NASA.

The Strata-1 experimental facility exposes a series of regolith simulants, including pulverized meteorite material, glass beads, and regolith simulants composed of terrestrial materials and stored in multiple transparent tubes, to prolonged microgravity on the space station. Scientists will monitor changes in regolith layers and layering, size sorting, and particle migration via video images and close examination after return of regolith samples to Earth. Strata-1 can be used in a range of future experiments to study the behavior of materials like those seen on specific types of asteroids and the Mars moon, Phobos, which have been identified as exploration targets for the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM).

Gecko Gripper

From grounded to gripping, another investigation launching takes its inspiration from small lizards. Geckos have specialized hairs on their feet called setae that let them stick to vertical surfaces without falling, and their stickiness doesn’t wear off with repeated use. The Gecko Gripper investigation tests a gecko-adhesive gripping device that can stick on command in the harsh environment of space.

Crazy Engineering: Gecko Gripper

Video above: See how geckos inspired a new NASA technology that makes things stick to each other in space. Potential future applications might be to grab satellites to service them or to salvage space garbage to try to clear it out of the way. Video Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The gripping device is a material with synthetic hairs much like setae that are much thinner than a human hair. When a force is applied to make the tiny hairs bend, the positively charged part of a molecule within a slight electrical field attracts the negatively charged part of its neighbor resulting in "stickiness." Once adhered, the gripper can bear loads up to 20 pounds. The gripper can remain in place indefinitely and can also be easily removed and reused.

Image above: Small handheld gecko grippers and associated test hardware. Image Credit: NASA.

Gecko Grippers have many applications on current and future space missions, including acting as mounting devices for payloads, instruction manuals and many other small items within the space station. In addition, gecko adhesive technology enables a new type of robotic inspection system that could prove vital for spacecraft safety and repair. Grippers could also inspect and service satellites and be used for large grappling equipment to catch and retrieve large pieces of space debris, reducing the risk of collisions. The technology in this investigation also holds promise for industries where gecko-like grippers could be used in factories to handle fragile or lightweight objects like glass, and bags or boxes of food.

Additive Manufacturing Facility

From adhesion to additive, the new Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) will also launch on the flight. Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is the process of building a part layer-by-layer, with an efficient use of the material. The AMF uses this technology to enable the production of components on the space station for both NASA and commercial objectives. Parts, entire experiments, and tools can be created on demand. The facility is capable of producing parts out of a wide variety of space-rated composites, including engineered plastics. The ability to manufacture on the orbiting laboratory enables on-demand repair and production capability, as well as essential research for manufacturing on long-term missions.

Image above: The Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) at Made in Space headquarters. Image Credit: Made in Space.

These sticky, stony and sizzling investigations are just a sampling of the wide range of science conducted on the orbiting laboratory that benefits future spaceflight and provides Earth-based benefits as well.

Related links:

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

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

The Spacecraft Fire Experiment-I (Saffire-I): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1761.html

Meteor Composition Determination (Meteor): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1323.html

Strata-1 investigation: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2146.html

Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM):
https://www.nasa.gov/content/what-is-nasa-s-asteroid-redirect-mission

Gecko Gripper investigation: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2324.html

Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2198.html

Links:

Commercial Resupply: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html

Cygnus: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/orbital.html

Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA’s Johnson Space Center/Andrea Dunn/Kristine Rainey.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA's K2 mission: The Kepler Space Telescope's Second Chance to Shine

NASA - Kepler Mission patch.

March 9, 2016

The engineers huddled around a telemetry screen, and the mood was tense. They were watching streams of data from a crippled spacecraft more than 50 million miles away – so far that even at the speed of light, it took nearly nine minutes for a signal to travel to the spacecraft and back.

It was late August 2013, and the group of about five employees at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, was waiting for NASA’s Kepler space telescope to reveal whether it would live or die. A severe malfunction had robbed the planet-hunting Kepler of its ability to stay pointed at a target without drifting off course.

Image above: Engineers developed an innovative way to stabilize and control the spacecraft. This technique of using the sun as the "third wheel" has Kepler searching for planets again, but also making discoveries on young stars to supernovae. Image Credits: NASA Ames/W Stenzel.

The engineers had devised a remarkable solution: using the pressure of sunlight to stabilize the spacecraft so it could continue to do science. Now, there was nothing more they could do but wait for the spacecraft to reveal its fate.

“You’re not watching it unfold in real time,” said Dustin Putnam, Ball’s attitude control lead for Kepler. “You’re watching it as it unfolded a few minutes ago, because of the time the data takes to get back from the spacecraft.”

Finally, the team received the confirmation from the spacecraft they had been waiting for. The room broke out in cheers. The fix worked! Kepler, with a new lease on life, was given a new mission as K2. But the biggest surprise was yet to come. A space telescope with a distinguished history of discovering distant exoplanets – planets orbiting other stars – was about to outdo even itself, racking up hundreds more discoveries and helping to usher in entirely new opportunities in astrophysics research.

“Many of us believed that the spacecraft would be saved, but this was perhaps more blind faith than insight,” said Tom Barclay, senior research scientist and director of the Kepler and K2 guest observer office at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "The Ball team devised an ingenious solution allowing the Kepler space telescope to shine again."

The discoveries roll in

A little more than two years after the tense moment for the Ball engineers, K2 has delivered on its promise with a breadth of discoveries. Continuing the exoplanet-hunting legacy, K2 has discovered more than three dozen exoplanets and with more than 250 candidates awaiting confirmation. A handful of these worlds are near-Earth-sized and orbit stars that are bright and relatively nearby compared with Kepler discoveries, allowing scientists to perform follow-up studies. In fact, these exoplanets are likely future targets for the Hubble Space Telescope and the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), with the potential to study these planets’ atmospheres in search of signatures indicative of life.

Image above: In this artist’s conception, a tiny rocky object vaporizes as it orbits a white dwarf star. Astronomers have detected the first planetary object transiting a white dwarf using data from the K2 mission. Slowly the object will disintegrate, leaving a dusting of metals on the surface of the star. Image Credits: CfA/Mark A. Garlick.

K2 also has astronomers rethinking long-held planetary formation theory, and the commonly understood lonely "hot Jupiter" paradigm. The unexpected discovery of a star with a close-in Jupiter-sized planet sandwiched between two smaller companion planets now has theorists back at their computers reworking the models, and has sent astronomers back to their telescopes in search of other hot Jupiter companions.

“It remains a mystery how a giant planet can form far out and migrate inward leaving havoc in its wake and still have nearby planetary companions,” said Barclay.

Like its predecessor, K2 searches for planetary transits – the tiny, telltale dip in the brightness of a star as a planet crosses in front – and for the first time caught the rubble from a destroyed exoplanet transiting across the remains of a dead star known as a white dwarf. Exoplanets have long been thought to orbit these remnant stars, but not until K2 has the theory been confirmed.

K2 has fixed its gaze on regions of the sky with densely packed clusters of stars which has revealed the first transiting exoplanet in such an area, popularly known as the Hyades star cluster. Clusters are exciting places to find exoplanets because stars in a cluster all form around the same time, giving them all the same "born-on" date. This helps scientists understand the evolution of planetary systems.

Kepler Observes Neptune Dance with Its Moons

Video above: Seventy days worth of solar system observations from K2 are highlighted in this sped-up movie. Neptune, in a dance with its moons, demonstrates the solar system in action. Neptune appears on day 15, followed by its moon Triton, which looks small and faint. Keen-eyed observers can also spot Neptune's tiny moon Nereid at day 24. Video Credits: NASA/Ames/SETI/J. Rowe.

The repurposed spacecraft boasts discoveries beyond the realm of exoplanets. Mature stars – about the age of our sun and older – largely populated the original single Kepler field of view. In contrast, many K2 fields see stars still in the process of forming. In these early days, planets also are assembled and by looking at the timescales of star formation, scientists gain insight into how our own planet formed.

Studies of one star-forming region, called Upper Scorpius, compared the size of young stars observed by K2 with computational models. The result demonstrated fundamental imperfections in the models. While the reason for these discrepancies is still under debate, it likely shows that magnetic fields in stars do not arise as researchers expect.

Looking in the ecliptic – the orbital path traveled around the sun by the planets of our solar system and the location of the zodiac – K2 also is well equipped to observe small bodies within our own solar system such as comets, asteroids, dwarf planets, ice giants and moons. Last year, for instance, K2 observed Neptune in a dance with its two moons, Triton and Nereid. This was followed by observations of Pluto and Uranus.

Artist's view of the Kepler space telescope. Image Credit: NASA

“K2 can’t help but observe the dynamics of our planetary system, " said Barclay. "We all know that planets follow laws of motion but with K2 we can see it happen.”

These initial accomplishments have come in the first year and a half since K2 began in May 2014, and have been carried off without a hitch. The spacecraft continues to perform nominally.

Searching for far out worlds

In April, K2 will take part in a global experiment in exoplanet observation with a special observing period or campaign, Campaign 9. In this campaign, both K2 and astronomers at ground-based observatories on five continents will simultaneously monitor the same region of sky towards the center of our galaxy to search for small planets, such as the size of Earth, orbiting very far from their host star or, in some cases, orbiting no star at all.

For this experiment, scientists will use gravitational microlensing – the phenomenon that occurs when the gravity of a foreground object, such as a planet, focuses and magnifies the light from a distant background star. This detection method will allow scientists to find and determine the mass of planets that orbit at great distances, like Jupiter and Neptune do our sun.

Design by community

What could turn out to be one of the most important legacies of K2 has little to do with the mechanics of the telescope, now operating on two wheels and with an assist from the sun.

The Kepler mission was organized along traditional lines of scientific discovery: a targeted set of objectives carefully chosen by the science team to answer a specific question on behalf of NASA – how common or rare are "Earths" around other suns?

K2’s modified mission involves a whole new approach-- engaging the scientific community at large and opening up the spacecraft's capabilities to a broader audience.

Image above: At the first K2 Science Conference in Nov. 2015, nearly 200 scientists from around the world convened to discuss their research using K2 data. Knicole Colon, K2 support scientist, walks through the K2 observing opportunities available to the science community. To date, nearly 800 scientists have authored more than 100 scientific papers using K2 data. Image Credits: Michele Johnson/NASA Ames.

"The new approach of letting the community decide the most compelling science targets we’re going to look at has been one of the most exciting aspects," said Steve Howell, the Kepler and K2 project scientist at Ames. "Because of that, the breadth of our science is vast, including star clusters, young stars, supernovae, white dwarfs, very bright stars, active galaxies and, of course, exoplanets.”

In the new paradigm, the K2 team laid out some broad scientific objectives for the mission and planned to operate the spacecraft on behalf of the community.

Kepler’s field of view surveyed just one patch of sky in the northern hemisphere. The K2 ecliptic field of view provides greater opportunities for Earth-based observatories in both the northern and southern hemispheres, allowing the whole world to participate.

With more than two years of fuel remaining, the spacecraft’s scientific future continues to look unexpectedly bright.

Ames manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation operates the flight system with support from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

For more information about the Kepler and K2 missions, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Authored by Michele Johnson and H. Pat Brennan/JPL/Michele Johnson.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Close Comet Flyby Threw Mars’ Magnetic Field Into Chaos

NASA - MAVEN Mission logo.

March 9, 2016

Just weeks before the historic encounter of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) with Mars in October 2014, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft entered orbit around the Red Planet. To protect sensitive equipment aboard MAVEN from possible harm, some instruments were turned off during the flyby; the same was done for other Mars orbiters. But a few instruments, including MAVEN’s magnetometer, remained on, conducting observations from a front-row seat during the comet’s remarkably close flyby.

The one-of-a-kind opportunity gave scientists an intimate view of the havoc that the comet’s passing wreaked on the magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, around Mars. The effect was temporary but profound.

Image above: The close encounter between comet Siding Spring and Mars flooded the planet with an invisible tide of charged particles from the comet's coma. The dense inner coma reached the surface of the planet, or nearly so. The comet's powerful magnetic field temporarily merged with, and overwhelmed, the planet's weak field, as shown in this artist's depiction. Image Credits: NASA/Goddard.

“Comet Siding Spring plunged the magnetic field around Mars into chaos,” said Jared Espley, a MAVEN science team member at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We think the encounter blew away part of Mars’ upper atmosphere, much like a strong solar storm would.”

Unlike Earth, Mars isn’t shielded by a strong magnetosphere generated within the planet. The atmosphere of Mars offers some protection, however, by redirecting the solar wind around the planet, like a rock diverting the flow of water in a creek. This happens because at very high altitudes Mars’ atmosphere is made up of plasma – a layer of electrically charged particles and gas molecules. Charged particles in the solar wind interact with this plasma, and the mingling and moving around of all these charges produces currents. Just like currents in simple electrical circuits, these moving charges induce a magnetic field, which, in Mars’ case, is quite weak.

Comet Siding Spring is also surrounded by a magnetic field. This results from the solar wind interacting with the plasma generated in the coma – the envelope of gas flowing from a comet’s nucleus as it is heated by the sun. Comet Siding Spring’s nucleus – a nugget of ice and rock measuring no more than half a kilometer (about 1/3 mile) – is small, but the coma is expansive, stretching out a million kilometers (more than 600,000 miles) in every direction. The densest part of the coma – the inner region near the nucleus – is the part of a comet that’s visible to telescopes and cameras as a big fuzzy ball.

Image above: Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) makes a very close approach to Mars in October 2014. Photo-montage credits: Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga/Acknowledgment: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Dr. Carey M. Lisse (correct orientation of the comet).

When comet Siding Spring passed Mars, the two bodies came within about 140,000 kilometers (roughly 87,000 miles) of each other. The comet’s coma washed over the planet for several hours, with the dense inner coma reaching, or nearly reaching, the surface. Mars was flooded with an invisible tide of charged particles from the coma, and the powerful magnetic field around the comet temporarily merged with – and overwhelmed – the planet’s own weak one.

“The main action took place during the comet’s closest approach,” said Espley, “but the planet’s magnetosphere began to feel some effects as soon as it entered the outer edge of the comet’s coma.”

At first, the changes were subtle. As Mars’ magnetosphere, which is normally draped neatly over the planet, started to react to the comet’s approach, some regions began to realign to point in different directions. With the comet’s advance, these effects built in intensity, almost making the planet’s magnetic field flap like a curtain in the wind. By the time of closest approach – when the plasma from the comet was densest – Mars’ magnetic field was in complete chaos. Even hours after the comet’s departure, some disruption continued to be measured.

Espley and colleagues think the effects of the plasma tide were similar to those of a strong but short-lived solar storm. And like a solar storm, the comet’s close passage likely fueled a temporary surge in the amount of gas escaping from Mars’ upper atmosphere. Over time, those storms took their toll on the atmosphere.

“With MAVEN, we’re trying to understand how the sun and solar wind interact with Mars,” said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s principal investigator from the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder. “By looking at how the magnetospheres of the comet and of Mars interact with each other, we’re getting a better understanding of the detailed processes that control each one.”

This research was published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Related articles:

NASA Preparing for 2014 Comet Watch at Mars:
http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2014/01/nasa-preparing-for-2014-comet-watch-at.html

NASA’s Mars Spacecraft Maneuvers to Prepare for Close Comet Flyby:
http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2014/07/nasas-mars-spacecraft-maneuvers-to.html

All Three NASA Mars Orbiters Healthy After Comet Flyby:
http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2014/10/all-three-nasa-mars-orbiters-healthy.html

For more information about MAVEN, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/maven

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Elizabeth Zubritsky/Karl Hille (NASA Editor).

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

SolarImpulse - Second Maintenance Flight Completed

SolarImpulse - Around The World patch.

9 March 2016

A strong team and favourable weather: the second maintenance flight has been successfully completed. After one week since Mission mode has switched on, we have already completed two flights and are progressing well.

The primary purpose of this latest flight was to ensure the aircraft’s systems work under high altitude conditions. The aircraft reached up to 28,000 feet, which is a high altitude flight for Solar Impulse. This altitude mimics the conditions of a regular long-duration flight during the Round-the-World tour when the aircraft must climb during long-duration flights in order to remain as energy efficient at night as possible. We were very pleased with the aircraft’s performance.

Image above: Bertrand Piccard Twitter post: "Seeing #Si2 takeoff always creates same emotion as the first time. I never get used to it".

The solar generators are switched on during the day to allow the batteries to store enough energy in order to prepare for the night. During the day, the aircraft climbs to a high altitude while the batteries charge to 100% so that during the night, the aircraft can cruise downwards, moving in the direction of its destination, without switching on the solar generators, and therefore saving energy. This is what a typical overnight flight path looks like:

During the flight, the engineers at the Mission Control Center in Monaco each performed maintenance checks on their area of expertise on the aircraft. Since this was a high altitude flight, the oxygen system activates above 12000 feet. Michael McGrath, responsible for the oxygen system on the aircraft, was active in the front room during this flight to monitor the oxygen system at high altitudes. The system functioned soundly.

Moreover, the engineers decided to reproduce a similar strain on the batteries as occurred during the Pacific flight in order to fully verify the efficiency of the new ventilation system. The results were positive - the batteries did not overheat and our test pilot, Markus, was able to regulate the temperature of the batteries easily and accurately.

Image above: André Borschberg Twitter post: "I piloted a helicopter chasing #Si2 today to test the photo material we will use over".

Overall, the flight performed extremely well. Now, we look forward to seeing our co-founders and pilots begin to fly, putting their signature in the sky - Bertrand’s flight is expected to take place sometime at the end of next week. Stay tuned!

What is Solar Impulse ?

Video above: The adventure showing clean technologies can change the world. If an airplane can fly day and night without fuel, everybody could use these same technologies on the ground to halve our world’s energy consumption, save natural resources and improve our quality of life.

For more information about SolarImpulse - Around The World: http://www.solarimpulse.com/

Images, Video, Text, Credit: SolarImpulse.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA Targets May 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission

NASA - InSight Mission logo.

March 9, 2016

NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to study the deep interior of Mars is targeting a new launch window that begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018.

InSight’s primary goal is to help us understand how rocky planets – including Earth – formed and evolved. The spacecraft had been on track to launch this month until a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument prompted NASA in December to suspend preparations for launch.

InSight project managers recently briefed officials at NASA and France's space agency, Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), on a path forward; the proposed plan to redesign the science instrument was accepted in support of a 2018 launch.

“The science goals of InSight are compelling, and the NASA and CNES plans to overcome the technical challenges are sound," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades. We’re excited to be back on the path for a launch, now in 2018.” 

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will redesign, build and conduct qualifications of the new vacuum enclosure for the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), the component that failed in December. CNES will lead instrument level integration and test activities, allowing the InSight Project to take advantage of each organization’s proven strengths. The two agencies have worked closely together to establish a project schedule that accommodates these plans, and scheduled interim reviews over the next six months to assess technical progress and continued feasibility.

The cost of the two-year delay is being assessed. An estimate is expected in August, once arrangements with the launch vehicle provider have been made.

Image above: NASA has set a new launch opportunity, beginning May 5, 2018, for the InSight mission to Mars. This artist's concept depicts the InSight lander on Mars after the lander's robotic arm has deployed a seismometer and a heat probe directly onto the ground. InSight is the first mission dedicated to investigating the deep interior of Mars. The findings will advance understanding of how all rocky planets, including Earth, formed and evolved. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The seismometer instrument's main sensors need to operate within a vacuum chamber to provide the exquisite sensitivity needed for measuring ground movements as small as half the radius of a hydrogen atom. The rework of the seismometer's vacuum container will result in a finished, thoroughly tested instrument in 2017 that will maintain a high degree of vacuum around the sensors through rigors of launch, landing, deployment and a two-year prime mission on the surface of Mars.

The InSight mission draws upon a strong international partnership led by Principal Investigator Bruce Banerdt of JPL. The lander's Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package is provided by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). This probe will hammer itself to a depth of about 16 feet (five meters) into the ground beside the lander.

SEIS was built with the participation of the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, with support from the Swiss Space Office and the European Space Agency PRODEX program; the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, supported by DLR; Imperial College, supported by the United Kingdom Space Agency; and JPL.

"The shared and renewed commitment to this mission continues our collaboration to find clues in the heart of Mars about the early evolution of our solar system," said Marc Pircher, director of CNES's Toulouse Space Centre.

The mission’s international science team includes researchers from Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The InSight spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver. It was delivered to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in December 2015 in preparation for launch, and returned to Lockheed Martin's Colorado facility last month for storage until spacecraft preparations resume in 2017.

NASA is on an ambitious journey to Mars that includes sending humans to the Red Planet, and that work remains on track. Robotic spacecraft are leading the way for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, with the upcoming Mars 2020 rover being designed and built, the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers exploring the Martian surface, the Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft currently orbiting the planet, along with the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) orbiter, which is helping scientists understand what happened to the Martian atmosphere.

NASA and CNES also are participating in ESA’s (European Space Agency's) Mars Express mission currently operating at Mars. NASA is participating on ESA’s 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, including providing telecommunication radios for ESA's 2016 orbiter and a critical element of a key astrobiology instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover.

For addition information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/insight

More information about NASA's journey to Mars is available online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/journeytomars

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Dwayne Brown/Laurie Cantillo/Sarah Ramsey/JPL/Guy Webster/German Aerospace Center (DLR)/Manuela Braun/Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES)/Pascale Bresson/Nathalie Journo.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Sharpest View Ever of Dusty Disc Around Aging Star

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo.

9 March 2016

VLTI finds discs around aging stars similar to those around young ones

The dusty ring around the aging double star IRAS 08544-4431

The Very Large Telescope Interferometer at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile has obtained the sharpest view ever of the dusty disc around an aging star. For the first time such features can be compared to those around young stars — and they look surprisingly similar. It is even possible that a disc appearing at the end of a star’s life might also create a second generation of planets.

As they approach the ends of their lives many stars develop stable discs of gas and dust around them. This material was ejected by stellar winds, whilst the star was passing through the red giant stage of its evolution. These discs resemble those that form planets around young stars. But up to now astronomers have not been able to compare the two types, formed at the beginning and the end of the stellar life cycle.

The dusty ring around the aging double star IRAS 08544-4431

Although there are many discs associated with young stars that are sufficiently near to us to be studied in depth, there are no corresponding old stars with discs that are close enough for us to obtain detailed images.

But this has now changed. A team of astronomers led by Michel Hillen and Hans Van Winckel from the Instituut voor Sterrenkunde in Leuven, Belgium, has used the full power of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, armed with the PIONIER instrument, and the newly upgraded RAPID detector.

Their target was the old double star IRAS 08544-4431 [1], lying about 4000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails). This double star consists of a red giant star, which expelled the material in the surrounding dusty disc, and a less-evolved more normal star orbiting close to it.

The aging double star IRAS 08544-4431 in the constellation of Vela (The Sails)

Jacques Kluska, team member from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, explains: “By combining light from several telescopes of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer, we obtained an image of stunning sharpness — equivalent to what a telescope with a diameter of 150 metres would see. The resolution is so high that, for comparison, we could determine the size and shape of a one euro coin seen from a distance of two thousand kilometres.”

Thanks to the unprecedented sharpness of the images [2] from the Very Large Telescope Interferometer, and a new imaging technique that can remove the central stars from the image to reveal what lies around them, the team could dissect all the building blocks of the IRAS 08544-4431 system for the first time.

The rich celestial landscape around the aging double star IRAS 08544-4431

The most prominent feature of the image is the clearly resolved ring. The inner edge of the dust ring, seen for the first time in these observations, corresponds very well with the expected start of the dusty disc: closer to the stars, the dust would evaporate in the fierce radiation from the stars.

“We were also surprised to find a fainter glow that is probably coming from a small accretion disc around the companion star. We knew the star was double, but weren’t expecting to see the companion directly. It is really thanks to the jump in performance now provided by the new detector in PIONIER, that we are able to view the very inner regions of this distant system,” adds lead author Michel Hillen.

Zooming in on aging double star IRAS 08544-4431

The team finds that discs around old stars are indeed very similar to the planet-forming ones around young stars. Whether a second crop of planets can really form around these old stars is yet to be determined, but it is an intriguing possibility.

“Our observations and modelling open a new window to study the physics of these discs, as well as stellar evolution in double stars. For the first time the complex interactions between close binary systems and their dusty environments can now be resolved in space and time,” concludes Hans Van Winckel.

Notes:

[1] The name of the object indicates that it is a source of infrared radiation that was detected and catalogued by the IRAS satellite observatory in the 1980s.

[2] The resolution of the VLTI, used with the four Auxiliary Telescopes, was about one milliarcsecond (1/1000th of 1/3600th of a degree).

More information:

This research was presented in a paper entitled “Imaging the dust sublimation front of a circumbinary disk”, by M. Hillen et al., to appear as a letter in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The team is composed of M. Hillen (Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, Leuven, Belgium), J. Kluska (University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom), J.-B. Le Bouquin (UJF-Grenoble 1/CNRS-INSU, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble, France), H. Van Winckel (Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, Leuven, Belgium), J.-P. Berger (ESO, Garching, Germany), D. Kamath (Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, Leuven, Belgium) and V. Bujarrabal (Observatorio Astronómico Nacional, Alcalá de Henares, Spain).

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

Links:

Research paper: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1608/eso1608a.pdf

Further information about PIONIER, and the new RAPID detector:
http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/vlt/vlt-instr/pionier/
http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann15042/

Photos of the VLT: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/

Related links:

Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI): http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/technology/interferometry/

Instituut voor Sterrenkunde: https://fys.kuleuven.be/ster

PIONIER instrument: http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/vlt/vlt-instr/pionier/

RAPID detector: http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann15042/

IRAS 08544-4431: http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/bibobj?2009A%26A...505.1221V&IRAS+08544-4431

Images, Text, Credits: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin/IAU and Sky & Telescope/Video: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org). Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin. Music: Johan B. Monell (www.johanmonell.com).

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Ariane 5 launch contributes to Ariane 6 development

Arianespace - Ariane 5 / Flight VA229 Mission poster.


9 March 2016

Ariane 5 liftoff on VA229

An Ariane 5 lifted off this morning to deliver telecom satellite Eutelsat-65 West A into its planned transfer orbit. Liftoff of flight VA229 occurred at 05:20 GMT (02:20 local time, 06:20 CET) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Eutelsat-65 West A was the sole passenger on this launch. With a mass of 6707 kg, it was released about 27 minutes into the mission.

Arianespace Flight VA229 - EUTELSAT 65 West A

Positioned at 65ºW in geostationary orbit, the satellite has a design life of 15 years and will provide coverage throughout Latin America and especially Brazil with video and direct-to-home broadcasting, as well as flexible high-speed broadband access.

Eutelsat-65 West Asatellite

After satellite separation, the propellants’ temperature and level were recorded to study its behaviour in the rocket’s upper stage under microgravity. This information will help to design the upper stage for Ariane 6.

Flight VA229 was the second Ariane 5 launch of the year and the 85th Ariane 5 mission.

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

Images. Video, Text, Credits: ESA/Arianespace/EUTELSAT.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch