Orbiter.ch Space News

jeudi 1 octobre 2020

ESO telescope spots galaxies trapped in the web of a supermassive black hole

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo.

October 1, 2020

Artist’s impression of the web of the supermassive black hole

With the help of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole when the Universe was less than a billion years old. This is the first time such a close grouping has been seen so soon after the Big Bang and the finding helps us better understand how supermassive black holes, one of which exists at the centre of our Milky Way, formed and grew to their enormous sizes so quickly. It supports the theory that black holes can grow rapidly within large, web-like structures which contain plenty of gas to fuel them.

“This research was mainly driven by the desire to understand some of the most challenging astronomical objects — supermassive black holes in the early Universe. These are extreme systems and to date we have had no good explanation for their existence,” said Marco Mignoli, an astronomer at the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Bologna, Italy, and lead author of the new research published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Location of the supermassive black hole’s web in the constellation of Sextans

The new observations with ESO’s VLT revealed several galaxies surrounding a supermassive black hole, all lying in a cosmic “spider’s web” of gas extending to over 300 times the size of the Milky Way. “The cosmic web filaments are like spider’s web threads,” explains Mignoli. “The galaxies stand and grow where the filaments cross, and streams of gas — available to fuel both the galaxies and the central supermassive black hole — can flow along the filaments.”

The light from this large web-like structure, with its black hole of one billion solar masses, has travelled to us from a time when the Universe was only 0.9 billion years old. “Our work has placed an important piece in the largely incomplete puzzle that is the formation and growth of such extreme, yet relatively abundant, objects so quickly after the Big Bang,” says co-author Roberto Gilli, also an astronomer at INAF in Bologna, referring to supermassive black holes.

Wide-field view of the sky around the supermassive black hole’s web

The very first black holes, thought to have formed from the collapse of the first stars, must have grown very fast to reach masses of a billion suns within the first 0.9 billion years of the Universe’s life. But astronomers have struggled to explain how sufficiently large amounts of “black hole fuel” could have been available to enable these objects to grow to such enormous sizes in such a short time. The new-found structure offers a likely explanation: the “spider’s web” and the galaxies within it contain enough gas to provide the fuel that the central black hole needs to quickly become a supermassive giant.

But how did such large web-like structures form in the first place? Astronomers think giant halos of mysterious dark matter are key. These large regions of invisible matter are thought to attract huge amounts of gas in the early Universe; together, the gas and the invisible dark matter form the web-like structures where galaxies and black holes can evolve.

Animation of the web of the supermassive black hole

“Our finding lends support to the idea that the most distant and massive black holes form and grow within massive dark matter halos in large-scale structures, and that the absence of earlier detections of such structures was likely due to observational limitations,” says Colin Norman of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, also a co-author on the study.

The galaxies now detected are some of the faintest that current telescopes can observe. This discovery required observations over several hours using the largest optical telescopes available, including ESO’s VLT. Using the MUSE and FORS2 instruments on the VLT at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in the Chilean Atacama Desert, the team confirmed the link between four of the six galaxies and the black hole. “We believe we have just seen the tip of the iceberg, and that the few galaxies discovered so far around this supermassive black hole are only the brightest ones,” said co-author Barbara Balmaverde, an astronomer at INAF in Torino, Italy.

Zooming in on the web of the supermassive black hole

These results contribute to our understanding of how supermassive black holes and large cosmic structures formed and evolved. ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope, currently under construction in Chile, will be able to build on this research by observing many more fainter galaxies around massive black holes in the early Universe using its powerful instruments.

More information:

This research was presented in the paper “Web of the giant: Spectroscopic confirmation of a large-scale structure around the z = 6.31 quasar SDSS J1030+0524” to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics (doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039045).

The team is composed of M. Mignoli (INAF, Bologna, Italy), R. Gilli (INAF, Bologna, Italy), R. Decarli (INAF, Bologna, Italy), E. Vanzella (INAF, Bologna, Italy), B. Balmaverde (INAF, Pino Torinese, Italy), N. Cappelluti (Department of Physics, University of Miami, Florida, USA), L. Cassarà (INAF, Milano, Italy), A. Comastri (INAF, Bologna, Italy), F. Cusano (INAF, Bologna, Italy), K. Iwasawa (ICCUB, Universitat de Barcelona & ICREA, Barcelona, Spain), S. Marchesi (INAF, Bologna, Italy), I. Prandoni (INAF, Istituto di Radioastronomia, Bologna, Italy), C. Vignali (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Italy & INAF, Bologna, Italy), F. Vito (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy), G. Zamorani (INAF, Bologna, Italy), M. Chiaberge (Space Telescope Science Institute, Maryland, USA), C. Norman (Space Telescope Science Institute & Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA).

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It has 16 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. 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 and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

Links:

Research paper: https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2016/eso2016a.pdf

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

For scientists: got a story? Pitch your research: http://eso.org/sci/publications/announcements/sciann17277.html

Space Scoop kids version of this press release: http://www.spacescoop.org/en/scoops/2039/help-i-m-trapped/

ESO’s VLT: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/

MUSE: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/muse/

Images, Text, Credits: ESO/Bárbara Ferreira/L. Calçada/Johns Hopkins University/Colin Norman/INAF Torino/Barbara Balmaverde/INAF Bologna/Roberto Gilli/Marco Mignoli/IAU and Sky & Telescope/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin/Videos: ESO/L. Calçada/ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org). Music: Astral Electronics.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

ESA and NASA logos on Artemis I rocket and Orion

NASA / ESA - Orion Crew Module patch.

October 1, 2020

The space agency logos for the next spacecraft to head to the Moon have been added to Orion as part of the Artemis programme.

Orion with wings

The new ESA logo and NASA’s ‘worm’ logo will be along for the ride on the first full mission of the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, have started to apply the historic logos on the Artemis I rocket and spacecraft.

ESA’s logo reflects our European nature and our pioneering activities in space. It incorporates the only element of ESA’s name common to all languages of Member States - the letter ‘e’ for European, which is symbol of cooperation and human dimension. Europe is represented by a circular ‘e’, superimposed on the globe that represents our planet Earth. The white dot represents a satellite in orbit. This symbol also incorporates the visionary side of space exploration and today is synonymous with a united Europe in space.

Logos on Orion

NASA’s ‘worm’ design was officially introduced in 1975 and was incorporated into many of the agency’s next-generation programmes. It was retired in 1992, but made a comeback in 2020 as a new, modern era of human spaceflight becomes reality.

Orion will display the logos on the first Artemis Orion spacecraft. The worm image, along with ESA’s logo, were cut into flightproof decals by the Launch Equipment Shop at the Kennedy Space Center and adhered to the underside of Orion’s crew module adapter.

Installing solar wings on Orion

ESA is providing the European Service Module for Orion, which is the powerhouse that fuels and propels the spacecraft. These bold images will be seen from cameras at the end of Orion’s solar arrays as the spacecraft travels toward the Moon.

“Adding a logo to a spacecraft is a very symbolic moment, and not unlike adding a signature to a work of art. All the teams that are working around the clock to make humankind’s next Moon mission possible can be proud,” says ESA European Service Module programme manager Philippe Deloo, “The placement is superb as the mission cameras will show the logos clearly as Orion flies around the Moon.”

Artemis 1 mission

The decals were applied to the spacecraft by ASRC’s Frank Pelkey, who previously painted the US flag on the spacecraft that flew on NASA’s Exploration Flight Test -1 mission. “I felt a great sense of pride when painting the US flag on Orion’s first flight,” said Frank. “It was that same feeling of gratitude to be selected to apply the NASA and ESA logos to the vehicle for the first Artemis mission.”

Logos on Orion fairing

Early next year NASA’s traditional ‘meatball’ logo and an ESA logo will be shown on the spacecraft rocket fairings that will be visible from the launch pad when the SLS rocket leaves on its first flight in 2021. Shortly after launch from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, the boosters will separate ; the Orion spacecraft, powered by its European Service Module, will be injected towards the Lunar domain by the SLS upper stage and come back to Earth after an orbital flight around the Moon.

Orion: dimensions

Artemis II in 2023 will be the first flight test with a crew. In 2024, the first woman and next man will fly to surface of the Moon on the Artemis III mission, and begin the establishment of sustainable exploration by the end of the decade.

Related links:

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

Artemis II: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-first-flight-with-crew-important-step-on-long-term-return-to-the-moon-missions-to

Artemis III: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-selects-blue-origin-dynetics-spacex-for-artemis-human-landers

Space Launch System (SLS): https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html

Orion: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Orion

Images, Text, Credits: ESA/NASA.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

mercredi 30 septembre 2020

The ISS crew has narrowed the search area for air leaks from the station's atmosphere

ISS - Expedition 63 Mission patch.

Sept. 30, 2020

The crew of the 63rd long-term expedition to the International Space Station, consisting of Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin, Ivan Wagner, and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, narrowed the search zone for air leaks from the station's atmosphere to the transition compartment of the Zvezda service module. The search for the exact location of the leak is carried out using an ultrasonic device.

Zvezda service module description

Structurally, the service module consists of four compartments: three sealed - the transition compartment, the working compartment and the intermediate chamber, as well as the leaky aggregate compartment, which houses the combined propulsion system.

ISS Russian segment Zvezda service module

The current situation does not pose a threat to the life and health of the ISS crew and does not prevent the station from continuing to fly in a manned mode.

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/29328/

Related article:

U.S. Cargo Mission Nears Launch; More Leak Checks and Research
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/09/us-cargo-mission-nears-launch-more-leak.html

Related link:

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

Images, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/NASA/Orbiter.ch Aerospce/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

U.S. Cargo Mission Nears Launch; More Leak Checks and Research

ISS - Expedition 63 Mission patch.

September 30, 2020

The Expedition 63 crew continues preparing for Sunday’s scheduled space delivery of nearly 8,000 pounds of supplies and gear aboard Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter. As usual, advanced space science rounded out the day’s activities inside the International Space Station. The crew also continues work to try and isolate the precise location of an air leak that was recently isolated to the Zvezda Service Module.

An Antares rocket stands at its launch pad in Virginia ready to carry the Cygnus resupply ship to space when it launches on Thursday at 9:38 p.m. EDT. About nine minutes later, Cygnus will reach Earth orbit heading towards the space station for a Sunday arrival and robotic capture at 6:10 a.m.

Image above: Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy is at work inside the Kibo laboratory module from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). Image Credit: NASA.

Commander Chris Cassidy and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner continued practicing their robotics skills Wednesday afternoon on a computer. The duo will be on deck inside the cupola Sunday morning ready to command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach out and grapple Cygnus. Ground controllers will take over the Canadarm2 afterward and remotely install Cygnus to the Unity module about two hours later.

Cassidy started the day working inside Japan’s Kibo laboratory module setting up experiment hardware that enables science to take place outside the orbiting lab. The veteran astronaut also spent a few moments on light plumbing duty as he serviced the urine processing assembly located in the Tranquility module.

International Space Station and it's Canadarm2 robotic arm. Animation Credit: NASA

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA, SpaceX to Launch First Commercial Crew Rotation Mission to International Space Station

NASA / SpaceX - Dragon Crew-1 Mission patch.

Sept. 29, 2020

NASA and SpaceX are beginning a regular cadence of missions with astronauts launching on an American rocket from American soil to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 is the first crew rotation mission with four astronauts flying on a commercial spacecraft, and the first including an international partner.

NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are set to launch to the space station on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. The Crew-1 astronauts named the spacecraft Resilience, highlighting the dedication the teams involved with the mission have displayed and to demonstrate that when we work together, there is no limit to what we can achieve. They named it in honor of their families, colleagues, and fellow citizens.

Image above: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image Credit: SpaceX.

Launch is targeted for Saturday, Oct. 31, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew is scheduled for a long duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting science and maintenance. The four astronauts are set to return in spring 2021.

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight completed earlier this year was the final demonstration flight of the Crew Dragon. The test flight, along with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, is helping validate SpaceX’s crew transportation system, including the launch pad, rocket, spacecraft, and operational capabilities. NASA is working to complete the certification of the Crew Dragon system ahead of the Crew-1 mission.

Hopkins and Glover were assigned to the Crew-1 mission in 2018 and began working and training on SpaceX’s next-generation human spacecraft. Walker and Noguchi joined the crew earlier this year.

Michael Hopkins is the commander of the Crew Dragon and the Crew-1 mission. Hopkins is responsible for all phases of flight, from launch to re-entry. He will also serve as an Expedition 64 flight engineer aboard the station. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2009, Hopkins spent 166 days in space as a long duration crew member of Expeditions 37 and 38 and completed two spacewalks totaling 12 hours and 58 minutes. Born in Lebanon, Missouri, Hopkins grew up on a farm outside Richland, Missouri. He has a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Illinois, and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Stanford University. Before joining NASA, Hopkins was a flight test engineer with the U.S. Air Force.

Image above: The SpaceX Crew-1 official crew portrait with (from left) NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Image Credit: NASA.

Victor Glover is the pilot of the Crew Dragon and second-in-command for the mission. Glover is responsible for spacecraft systems and performance. He also will be a long duration space station crew member. Selected as an astronaut in 2013, this will be his first spaceflight. The California native holds a Bachelor of Science degree in general engineering, a Master of Science degree in flight test engineering, a Master of Science degree in systems engineering and a master’s degree military operational art and science. Glover is a naval aviator and was a test pilot in the F/A‐18 Hornet, Super Hornet, and EA‐18G Growler aircraft.

Shannon Walker is a mission specialist for Crew-1. As a mission specialist, she will work closely with the commander and pilot to monitor the vehicle during the dynamic launch and re-entry phases of flight. She will also be responsible for monitoring timelines, telemetry, and consumables, like fuel and atmosphere levels. Once aboard the station, Walker will become a flight engineer for Expedition 64. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2004, Walker launched to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft as the co-pilot, and spent 161 days aboard the orbiting laboratory. More than 130 microgravity experiments were conducted during her stay in areas such as human research, biology, and materials science. A Houston native, Walker received a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from Rice University in 1987, as well as a Master of Science degree and a doctorate in space physics, both from Rice University, in 1992 and 1993, respectively.

Soichi Noguchi will also be a mission specialist for Crew-1, working with the commander and pilot to monitor the vehicle during the dynamic launch and re-entry phases of flight, and keeping watch on timelines, telemetry and consumables. Noguchi will also become a long duration crew member aboard the space station. He was selected as an astronaut candidate by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA, currently the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in May 1996. Noguchi is a veteran of two spaceflights. During space shuttle mission STS-114 in 2005, Noguchi became the first Japanese astronaut to perform a spacewalk outside the space station. He performed a total of three spacewalks during the mission, accumulating 20 hours and 5 minutes of spacewalking time. He launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in 2009 to return to the station as a long duration crew member. The Crew Dragon will be the third spacecraft that Noguchi has flown to the orbiting laboratory.

Lifting off from Launch Pad 39A on a Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon will accelerate its four passengers to approximately 17,000 mph and put it on an intercept course with the International Space Station. Once in orbit, the crew and SpaceX mission control will monitor a series of automatic maneuvers that will guide the Crew-1 astronauts to their new home in orbit. After approximately one day in orbit, Crew Dragon will be in position to rendezvous and dock with the space station. The spacecraft is designed to dock autonomously with the ability for astronauts aboard the spacecraft to take control and pilot manually, if necessary.

Image above: The SpaceX Crew-1 crew members (from left) NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Image Credit: SpaceX.

After successfully docking, the astronauts of Crew-1 will be welcomed aboard station by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. For the first time, the space station’s crew will expand to seven people with Expedition 64, increasing the amount of crew time available for research.

The Crew Dragon being used for this flight will remain docked to the station for the full length of a long duration space station expedition, lasting approximately six months. The Crew-1 astronauts will spend their time aboard the International Space Station conducting new and exciting scientific research in areas, such as botany, cancer, and technology.

Radishes will be grown in space. This model plant is nutritious, grows quickly, and is genetically similar to Arabidopsis, a plant frequently studied in microgravity. Findings could help optimize growth of the plants in space as well as provide an assessment of their nutrition and taste. Scientists are leveraging microgravity to tests drugs based on messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNA) for treating leukemia. A new toilet headed to the space station has a number of features that improve on current space toilet operations and help us prepare for future missions, including those to the Moon and Mars.

During their stay on the orbiting laboratory, astronauts of Crew-1 will see a range of unpiloted spacecraft including the Northrop Grumman Cygnus, the next generation of SpaceX cargo Dragon spacecraft, and the Boeing CST-100 Starliner on its uncrewed flight test to the station. They also will conduct a variety of spacewalks and welcome crews of the Russian Soyuz vehicle and the next SpaceX Crew Dragon in 2021.

Image above: The SpaceX Crew Dragon is pictured docked to the International Space Station on July 1, 2020. Image Credit: NASA.

At the conclusion of the mission, Crew Dragon will autonomously undock with the four astronauts on board, depart the space station and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. After splashdown just off Florida’s coast, the crew will be picked up at sea by a SpaceX recovery vessel and will be brought to shore to board a plane for return to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The Crew-1 mission is a major step for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Operational, long duration commercial crew rotation missions will enable NASA to continue the important research and technology investigations taking place onboard the station. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration of the Moon and Mars starting with the agency’s Artemis program, which will land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface in 2024.

Related article:

NASA and SpaceX Update Target Launch Date for the Crew-1 Mission to Station
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/09/nasa-and-spacex-update-target-launch.html

Related links:

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

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

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

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Solar Orbiter releases first data to the public

ESA / NASA - Solar Orbiter Mission patch.

Sept. 30, 2020

ESA has released its first Solar Orbiter data to the scientific community and the wider public. The instruments contributing to this data release come from the suite of in-situ instruments that measure the conditions surrounding the spacecraft.

The instruments contributing data to the release are the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD), the Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument, and the Magnetometer (MAG). Data from the fourth in-situ instrument, the Solar Wind Plasma Analyser (SWA) will be released later this year. Solar Orbiter’s remote-sensing instruments will only start their nominal operations in November 2021. They are continuing to perform tests and calibrations during short intervals until then.

Solar Orbiter Instruments

As soon as a mission is in space, the teams work to commission the instruments and start collecting science data. As soon as the information starts to flow in, interest builds towards the first data release.

In the case of many space missions, the first data release usually comes after six months or a year, to reward the teams that have built the instruments with an exclusive first look at the data. Long before launch, however, it was agreed that Solar Orbiter would be different.

“We want Solar Orbiter to be one of the most open space missions. This means open to the whole world, not only to the teams who have built the instruments,” says Yannis Zouganelis, Solar Orbiter Deputy Project Scientist for ESA.

Based on the successful approach taken by previous solar physics missions, it was decided that the time between the data being received on Earth and it being released to the world would be at most 90 days. During this period, the instrument teams calibrate the data taken by Solar Orbiter from its ever-changing distance to the Sun. That would be a fast turn-around at the best of times; with the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic this year, it is a double achievement to hit the deadline.

“To do this in COVID-19 times was very challenging,” says Yannis, “But we are ready to deliver the data to the scientific community according to the plan, so that they can do science with it.”

Solar Orbiter facing the Sun

The work begins long before launch, with the various instrument teams getting ready to receive and process their data. The teams themselves are composed of dozens of people, often in many different countries.

Once the instruments are taking data, the mission enters a calibration phase in which a lot of work is put in by each instrument team to understand how their instrument is working in space, whether the data coming back is as expected, and which instrumental and spacecraft effects need to be corrected for. For example, instrument readouts depend on the temperature of the detector, but often the thermometers are by necessity located at a certain distance away. Thus, the data must be calibrated with the actual ‘in-orbit’ thermal behaviour of the spacecraft.

Once the working instrument is understood, the teams process the data and send them to ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), near Madrid. There, the data is archived at the ESAC Science Data Centre and made accessible to the public.

“It’s a coordinated effort involving dozens of people from many different teams, many different countries, and all parties have to work together, like an orchestra, to make sure that everything is ready at the right time,” says Yannis.

This orchestra is directed by ESA’s Solar Orbiter archive scientist Pedro Osuna in concert with the ESAC Science Data Centre. The effort requires dedicated hands-on commitment from all instrument teams to transform the raw data into calibrated products for scientific analysis.

“When the data is received on the ground it is raw data, just ones and zeros,” says Javier Rodríguez-Pacheco, University of Alcalá, and the Principal Investigator of EPD. “This is sent to us and we transform it into physical units that can be used for scientific purposes.”

For this first data release, Javier says that most of the data was cleaned and calibrated by hand but in future, once they fully understand the responses of the different EPD sensors, they are looking to create a data pipeline that will be able to largely automate the process. Although, someone will always supervise the process.

The data being released from RPW comes from readings that were taken after 15 June because the period before was the commissioning phase rather than the science phase. “In the commissioning period, we do all sorts of strange things with the instrument,” says Jan Soucek, Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague and lead co-investigator of RPW.

In this mode, readings are collected in a number of different ways and this makes them poorly suited for science. “If you want to look at statistics, you need to make sure that you are measuring things in a consistent way, so if we play with the instrument all the time, it's not very consistent,” says Jan.

But like the other instruments, once its behaviour is known, the data can be processed relatively easily and quickly.

Solar Orbiter boom deployment and first magnetic field measurements

In the case of MAG, the job was to learn about all the small magnetic fields that the spacecraft itself generates when its various circuits and equipment are switched on and off. Tim Horbury, Imperial College, and Principal Investigator of MAG, says that the fact the data is ready on time is testament to the hard work of the engineering team at Imperial College.

“They have worked incredibly hard over the last few months. It’s been an immense amount of work,” he says. “There's a lot of it that we're releasing that nobody's really looked at in great detail yet. So I am sure there will also be a whole extra set of wonders – we just don't know what they are yet. There's an enormous amount for people to do, and I really hope that people will dive in.”

The fourth in-situ instrument, SWA, is still working on its data processing and calibration. “We have had a number of teething challenges operating safely with the high-voltages that are an integral part of all three of our sensors,” says Christopher Owen, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, and SWA’s principal investigator. “As a consequence we have not been able to take as much data, or to spend as much time on understanding performance as we would have liked."

However, Chris is optimistic. “The sensors themselves are fundamentally healthy, and we can see from the data we do have that they are capable of delivering great science and fulfilling the important roles they have in delivering the unique mission science goals,” he says.

In the meantime, there is more than enough data from the other instruments for the scientific community to begin work with. In tandem with the data release, a special issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics is being published that contains mission and instrument descriptions.

“Now any scientist from any country can get the data and do science with it. In fact, there are already hundreds of scientists working together to make sense out of this unique data,” says Yannis.

Solar Orbiter

Notes to editors & links:

The archive can be accessed at http://soar.esac.esa.int/soar/

The Astronomy and Astrophysics special issue can be found here: https://www.aanda.org/component/toc/?task=topic&id=1082

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

Images, Animation, Video, Text, Credits: ESA/Daniel Müller/Yannis Zouganelis/Pedro Osuna/S.Poletti/EPD University of Alcalá, Spain/Javier Rodríguez-Pacheco/MAG Imperial College, London, UK/Tim Horbury/LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, France/Milan Maksimovic/RPW Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague/Jan Soucek/SWA Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, UK/Chris Owen/ATG medialab/ESA; Spacecraft: ESA/ATG Medialab; Data: ESA/Solar Orbiter/MAG.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Transport of the last Atlas rocket fairing made in Switzerland

RUAG logo.

Sept. 30, 2020

The fairing of an Atlas rocket intended to be launched in Florida left Switzerland by plane on Wednesday after being mounted in the Ruag Space factory in Emmen (LU). It is the ultimate of its kind to be produced in Switzerland. The manufacturer will now work in Alabama.

20 meters long, the fairing designed for the American Atlas V rocket is transported aboard one of the largest freight planes in the world, an Antonov type An-124 from the Russian company Volga-Dnepr Airlines. The aircraft is 70 meters long with a wingspan exceeding 73 meters. It took off around 12:45 p.m. from Emmen military airfield (LU), Ruag said.

Antonov AN-124

The payload fairing built by Ruag Space is almost a third of the size of the rocket. It is composed of two semi-shells in composite materials based on carbon fibers. These semi-hulls must protect the satellites transported by the rocket before they separate into space.

In the future, the "Swiss" fairings intended for Atlas rockets within the framework of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) will be manufactured in the new American factory in Ruag, Alabama. This move strengthens the partnership between the Swiss manufacturer and ULA, he writes. However, Emmen remains the center of competence for the European Ariane and Vega rocket fairings.

Related links:

RUAG: https://www.ruag.com/en

ULA - United Launch Alliance: https://www.ulalaunch.com/

Image, Text, Credits: ATS/RUAG/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch