Rocket Lab - Electron launches “Antipodean Adventure” (NROL-199)

 

Rocket Lab - Electron / “Antipodean Adventure” (NROL-199) patch.

Aug 4, 2022

Electron carrying NROL-199 liftoff

Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle launched the “Antipodean Adventure” mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NROL-199) from Launch Complex 1, Pad B, on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, on 4 August 2022, at 05:00 UTC (17:00 NZST, 01:00 EDT). The mission is Rocket Lab’s 29th Electron launch overall.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, has successfully launched its second of two back-to-back national security missions for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

Electron launches “Antipodean Adventure” (NROL-199)

The NROL-199 “Antipodean Adventure” mission launched on the Electron rocket from Pad B at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 at 05:00 UTC, August 4, 2022 carrying a payload designed, built, and operated by the NRO in partnership with the Australian Department of Defence. This mission follows the successful delivery to orbit of its predecessor NROL-162 three weeks earlier, launched on the “Wise One Looks Ahead” mission on July 13, 2022. These national security missions, combined with the successful launch of the CAPSTONE mission to the Moon for NASA on June 28, 2022, make up a record launch cadence for the Company of three successful Electron launches in just over five weeks.

The turnaround between NROL-162 and today’s NROL-199 launch is the shortest time between national security missions by a small launch provider, setting a new standard in responsive space.  This streamlined approach to launch is backed by Rocket Lab’s two launch pads at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, the Company’s private launch site, which can support up to 120 launches per year. With three launch pads across sites in New Zealand and the United States; dedicated range and mission control centres; and a highly experienced team, Rocket Lab is uniquely positioned to deliver responsive space capability to the national security community.

“Antipodean Adventure” (NROL-199)

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, says: “We’re proud to be delivering responsive space capability to the national security community and we’re grateful to the NRO for entrusting us with their missions once again. Our team is focused on relentless execution for our customers and delivering three successful Electron missions in just over five weeks testament to this. That the team delivered two flawless back-to-back national security missions only days after our most complex mission yet, the CAPSTONE mission to the Moon for NASA, is phenomenal.”

NROL-199 and NROL-162 are the latest pair of missions awarded to Rocket Lab by the NRO under the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract, which enables the NRO to launch small satellites through a streamlined, commercial approach. NROL-151 (RASR-1) was successfully deployed to space on a dedicated Electron launch in early 2020, followed by RASR-2 on another Electron in June 2020.

Rocket Lab: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/
 
Images, Video, Text, Credits: Rocket Lab/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Crew Readies Free-Flying Robots, Prepares Sample Returns, and Transfers Cargo

 

ISS - Expedition 67 Mission patch.

August 3, 2022

The Expedition 67 crew kept busy aboard the International Space Station today readying free-flying robots, preparing sample returns, and transferring cargo.

NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren set up Astrobee’s free-flying robots for a student robotics competition. For the competition, students write software to control one of the station’s Astrobee free-flying robots. Finalists have their code downloaded by NASA to the Astrobee platform and observe its performance.

Image above: The free-floating Astrobee robots perform flight maneuvers with support from university ground teams and the astronauts aboard the space station on December 9, 2021. Image Credits: ESA/NASA.

NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines made progress preparing and photographing sample returns for the Genes in Space-9 study, which evaluates how cell-free technology could be used in microgravity. The technology may provide a portable, low-resource, and low-cost tool with medical and monitoring applications for future space missions.

NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins continued to purge and take samples of carbon dioxide from the Thermal Amine Scrubber, which tests a technology for removing carbon dioxide from the station’s air. ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti spent time talking with students about life in space and other space-related topics. Watkins and Cristoforetti worked together to transfer cargo from the SpaceX CRS-25 Dragon spacecraft.

Astrobee. Animation Credit: NASA

In the Russian segment of the station, Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos and Cosmonaut Denis Matveev were tasked with locating, photographing, and storing equipment and tools during a meeting with specialists. Cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov spent time replacing a carbon monoxide filter and sensor a part of a gas analyzer.

Related links:

Expedition 67: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition67/index.html#_blank

Astrobee’s free-flying robots: https://www.nasa.gov/astrobee

Genes in Space-9: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8703

Thermal Amine Scrubber: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-astronaut-anne-mcclain-installs-the-thermal-amine-scrubber

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

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

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Heidi Lavelle.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA Team Troubleshoots Asteroid-Bound Lucy Across Millions of Miles

 

NASA - Lucy Mission patch.

Aug 3, 2022

Following the successful launch of NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on Oct. 16, 2021, a group of engineers huddled around a long conference table in Titusville, Florida. Lucy was mere hours into its 12-year flight, but an unexpected challenge had surfaced for the first-ever Trojan asteroids mission.

Data indicated that one of Lucy’s solar arrays powering the spacecraft’s systems — designed to unfurl like a hand fan — hadn’t fully opened and latched, and the team was figuring out what to do next.

(Illustration) Lucy’s solar arrays hadn’t fully opened and latched. Image Credit: NASA

Teams from NASA and Lucy mission partners quickly came together to troubleshoot. On the phone were team members at Lockheed Martin’s Mission Support Area outside of Denver, who were in direct contact with the spacecraft.

The conversation was quiet, yet intense. At one end of the room, an engineer sat with furrowed brow, folding and unfolding a paper plate in the same manner that Lucy’s huge circular solar arrays operate.

There were so many questions. What happened? Was the array open at all? Was there a way to fix it? Would Lucy be able to safely perform the maneuvers needed to accomplish its science mission without a fully deployed array?

With Lucy already speeding on its way through space, the stakes were high.

Lucy’s Solar Powered Journey Continues

Video Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Within hours, NASA pulled together Lucy’s anomaly response team, comprising members from science mission lead Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Austin, Texas; mission operations lead NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; spacecraft builder Lockheed Martin; and Northrop Grumman in San Diego, solar array system designer and builder.

“This is a talented team, firmly committed to the success of Lucy,” said Donya Douglas-Bradshaw, former Lucy project manager from NASA Goddard. “They have the same grit and dedication that got us to a successful launch during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.”

United in their pursuit to ensure Lucy would reach its fullest potential, the team began an exhaustive deep dive to determine the cause of the issue and develop the best path forward.   

Given that the spacecraft was otherwise perfectly healthy, the team wasn’t rushing into anything.

“We have an incredibly talented team, but it was important to give them time to figure out what happened and how to move forward,” said Hal Levison, Lucy’s principal investigator from SwRI. “Fortunately, the spacecraft was where it was supposed to be, functioning nominally, and – most importantly – safe. We had time.”

Staying focused during many long days and nights, the team worked through options. To evaluate Lucy’s solar array configuration in real time, the team fired thrusters on the spacecraft and gathered data on how those forces made the solar array vibrate. Next, they fed the data into a detailed model of the array’s motor assembly to infer how rigid Lucy’s array was – which helped uncover the source of the issue.

At last, they closed in on the root cause: a lanyard designed to pull Lucy’s massive solar array open was likely snarled on its bobbin-like spool.

After months of further brainstorming and testing, Lucy’s team settled on two potential paths forward.

In one, they would pull harder on the lanyard by running the array’s back-up deployment motor at the same time as its primary motor. The power from two motors should allow the jammed lanyard to wind in further and engage array’s latching mechanism. While both motors were never originally intended to operate at the same time, the team used models to ensure the concept would work.

Image above: Lucy’s massive solar arrays completed their first set of deployment tests in January 2021 inside a thermal vacuum chamber at Lockheed Martin Space. Image Credits: Lockheed Martin Space.

The second option: use the array as it was – nearly fully deployed and generating more than 90% of its expected power.

“Each path carried some element of risk to achieve the baseline science objectives,” said Barry Noakes, Lockheed Martin’s deep space exploration chief engineer. “A big part of our effort was identifying proactive actions that mitigate risk in either scenario.”

The team mapped out and tested possible outcomes for both options. They analyzed hours of the array’s test footage, constructed a ground-based replica of the array’s motor assembly, and tested the replica past its limits to better understand risks of further deployment attempts. They also developed special, high-fidelity software to simulate Lucy in space and gauge any potential ripple effects a redeployment attempt could have on the spacecraft.

“The cooperation and teamwork with the mission partners was phenomenal,” said Frank Bernas, vice president, space components and strategic businesses at Northrop Grumman.

After months of simulations and testing, NASA decided to move forward with the first option – a multi-step attempt to fully redeploy the solar array. On seven occasions in May and June, the team commanded the spacecraft to simultaneously run the primary and backup solar array deployment motors. The effort succeeded, pulling in the lanyard, and further opening and tensioning the array.

The mission now estimates that Lucy’s solar array is between 353 degrees and 357 degrees open (out of 360 total degrees for a fully deployed array). While the array is not fully latched, it is under substantially more tension, making it stable enough for the spacecraft to operate as needed for mission operations.

The spacecraft is now ready and able to complete the next big mission milestone – an Earth-gravity assist in October 2022. Lucy is scheduled to arrive at its first asteroid target in 2025.

Related articles:

NASA’s Lucy Mission Continues Solar Array Deployment Process
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/06/nasas-lucy-mission-continues-solar.html

NASA Zeroing in on Path Forward for Lucy Solar Array
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/01/nasa-zeroing-in-on-path-forward-for.html

NASA Team Remains Focused on Lucy’s Solar Arrays
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/10/nasa-team-remains-focused-on-lucys.html

NASA, ULA Launch Lucy Mission to ‘Fossils’ of Planet Formation
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/10/nasa-ula-launch-lucy-mission-to-fossils.html

Related links:

Lucy (Asteroid Mission): https://www.nasa.gov/lucy

Asteroids: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Svetlana Shekhtman/GSFC/Nancy N. Jones/Lockheed Martin Space/By Lauren Duda.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Mission ends for Copernicus Sentinel-1B satellite

 

ESA - Sentinel-1 Mission logo.

Aug 3, 2022

On 23 December 2021, Copernicus Sentinel-1B experienced an anomaly related to the instrument electronics power supply provided by the satellite platform, leaving it unable to deliver radar data. Since then spacecraft operators and engineers have been working tirelessly to rectify the issue. Unfortunately, despite all concerted efforts, ESA and the European Commission announce that it is the end of the mission for Sentinel-1B. Copernicus Sentinel-1A remains fully operational and plans are in force to launch Sentinel-1C as soon as possible.

Sentinel-1

ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, stated, “Unfortunately, we have to announce the end of the mission for the Copernicus Sentinel-1B satellite. The conclusion drawn by the Anomaly Review Board is that it is impossible to recover the 28V regulated bus of the satellite’s C-band synthetic aperture radar antenna power supply unit, which is needed to provide power to the radar electronics.

“Sentinel-1A remains very healthy in orbit, continuing to deliver high-quality radar images for a multitude of applications. Our focus is on fast-tracking the launch of Sentinel-1C. Now, thanks to the successful inaugural flight of the Vega-C rocket on 13 July, we, with Arianespace, are targeting the launch in the second quarter of 2023.”

Vega C VV21 liftoff 13 July 2022

European Commission’s Acting Director for Space (Directorate General for Defence Industry and Space), Paraskevi Papantoniou, stated, “The permanent unavailability of Sentinel-1B satellite represents an important loss for the European Union’s space programme and the European Commission is engaged to mitigate its impact. We notably managed to move forward the launch of Sentinel-1C satellite.

“Meanwhile, Copernicus Contributing Mission data, including from European New Space companies, will continue to be used to support the most critical Copernicus Services products that are affected. The preparations for the de-orbiting of Sentinel-1B satellite are an example of our joint commitment, for the European Union and ESA, to clean and responsible space, using the EU's Space Surveillance and Tracking capabilities.”

In April 2014, Sentinel-1A was the first satellite to be launched for Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Union’s space programme. While the European Union is at the helm of Copernicus, ESA develops, builds and launches the dedicated Sentinel satellites. It also operates some of the missions.

After the Sentinel-1B launch in April 2016, with the mission comprising two identical satellites orbiting 180° apart, the mission was able to image the planet with a maximum repeat frequency of six days, down to daily coverage at high latitudes.

Sentinel-1 radar vision

Carrying advanced radar technology to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of Earth’s surface, the ambitious Sentinel-1 mission raised the bar for spaceborne radar.

The mission benefits numerous Copernicus services and applications, such as those that relate to Arctic sea-ice monitoring, iceberg tracking, routine sea-ice mapping, glacier-velocity monitoring, surveillance of the marine environment including oil-spill monitoring and ship detection for maritime security as well as illegal fisheries monitoring. It is also used for monitoring ground deformation resulting from subsidence, earthquakes and volcanoes, mapping for forest, water and soil management, and mapping to support humanitarian aid and crisis situations.

With such an important role to play and users relying on timely data, ESA acted as soon as it was clear that Sentinel-1B’s power issue could take some weeks to resolve, which was the hope at the end of December.

ESA’s Sentinel-1 Mission Manager, Pierre Potin, said, “Together with the European Commission we are making sure to bridge some of the data gaps by adjusting the Sentinel-1A observation plan and through radar data from other satellite missions that contribute to the Copernicus programme. For example, we are able to use data from Canada’s Radarsat-2 and Radarsat Constellation Mission, Germany’s TerraSAR-X, Italy’s COSMO-SkyMed and Spain’s PAZ to support operational sea-ice monitoring for the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service.

“While we continue to try to minimise inconvenience to users and push to get Sentinel-1C into orbit as soon as we can, we are also preparing for the responsible disposal of Sentinel-1B.”

Main Control Room at ESA's Space Operations Centre

The Sentinel-1 Spacecraft Operations Manager, Alistair O’Connell, added, “We have Sentinel-1B under control, all other systems except the power affected unit, which prevents the radar from being switched on, continue to function nominally and we perform regular monitoring of the spacecraft health and routine orbit control manoeuvres. We will keep Sentinel-1B under control until we can begin the disposal process, which we will start after Sentinel-1C is safely in orbit.

“Deorbiting Sentinel-1B will be carried out according to space debris mitigation requirements that were in place for ESA projects at the time of design of Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B, meaning that re-entry in the atmosphere will take place within 25 years. In practice, the re-entry duration is expected to be much shorter.”

Copernicus Sentinel-1C features a world premiere of a new separation mechanism which will help avoid space debris.

A summary of the description of the anomaly, of the investigations and the recovery attempts, as well as the parallel Sentinel-1 mission level actions and way forward is available on the Sentinel Online website:

https://sentinels.copernicus.eu/web/sentinel/-/end-of-mission-of-the-copernicus-sentinel-1b-satellite/1.5

Related links:

Sentinel-1: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-1

European Space Operations Centre (ESOC): https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESOC/ESOC

Images, Text, Credits: ESA/J.Mai - CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO/ATG medialab/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Video du CSG/S Martin.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Two skyscraper-sized asteroids passed close to Earth this past weekend

 

Asteroid Watch logo.

Aug 2, 2022

Both rocks passed well beyond the moon's orbit.

Near Earth Asteroids. Image Credits: NASA/ESA

Two skyscraper-size asteroids are zooming toward Earth this past weekend, with one making its closest approach on Friday (July 29) and the second whizzing by on Saturday (July 30).

The first asteroid, dubbed 2016 CZ31, fly by around 7 p.m. ET (23:00 GMT) on past Friday, whizzing at an estimated 34,560 mph (55,618 km/h), according to NASA.

Astronomers estimate that the asteroid measures about 400 feet (122 meters) across at its widest point, making it about as wide as a 40-story building is tall. The asteroid safely miss our planet, passing about 1,740,000 miles (2,800,000 kilometers) out from Earth — or more than seven times the average distance between Earth and the moon. According to NASA, this space rock makes close approaches to Earth every few years, with the next one scheduled for January 2028.

On past Saturday, a second, ever larger asteroid skim past our planet, albeit at a greater distance from Earth. That asteroid, named 2013 CU83, measures approximately 600 feet (183 m) across at its widest visible point, and passing by about 4,320,000 miles (6,960,000 km) from Earth, or about 18 times the average distance between Earth and the moon.

This colossal space rock have traveled to 13,153 mph (21,168 km/h) when it nears Earth at 7:37 p.m. ET (23:37 GMT on past Saturday).

Both of these close encounters are significantly further afield than the asteroid 2022 NF, which came within 56,000 miles (90,000 km) — or about 23% the average distance between Earth and the moon — on July 7.

Near-Earth asteroids. Animation Credit: NASA

NASA and other space agencies closely monitor thousands of near-Earth objects like these. Even if an asteroid's trajectory puts it millions of miles from our planet, there is an extremely slim chance that the asteroid's orbit could shift slightly after interacting with the gravity of a larger object, such as a planet; even such a tiny shift could potentially put an asteroid on a collision course with Earth on a future flyby.

As such, space agencies take planetary defense very seriously. In November 2021, NASA launched an asteroid-deflecting spacecraft called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which will slam directly into the 525-foot-wide (160 m) asteroid Dimorphos in autumn 2022. The collision won't destroy the asteroid, but it may change the space rock's orbital path slightly, Live Science previously reported. The mission will help test the viability of asteroid deflection, should some future asteroid pose an imminent danger to our planet.

Related articles:

China developing means of saving Earth from asteroids
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/07/china-developing-means-of-saving-earth.html

Impact in 2052 ruled out as ESA counts down to Asteroid Day
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/06/impact-in-2052-ruled-out-as-esa-counts.html

NASA, SpaceX Launch DART: First Test Mission to Defend Planet Earth
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/nasa-spacex-launch-dart-first-test.html

Catching asteroid deflection mission's first words
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/catching-asteroid-deflection-missions.html

Planetary defenders: after NASA’s DART comes ESA’s Hera
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/planetary-defenders-after-nasas-dart.html

Related links:

ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC): https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Near-Earth_Object_Coordination_Centre

ESA’s Planetary Defence: https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Planetary_Defence

NASA’s Eyes on Asteroids: https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/asteroids

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office: https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/overview

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO): https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense

Minor Planet Center (MPC): https://minorplanetcenter.net/

Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS): https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/

Asteroids and near-Earth objects: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

Originally published on Live Science, Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned).

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Crew Focus on Prepping Equipment and Samples for Science Experiments

 

ISS - Expedition 67 Mission patch.

August 2, 2022

The Expedition 67 crew focused a portion of their time aboard the International Space Station today prepping equipment and samples for various science experiments.

NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren spent the latter part of the day changing the media for specific samples inside the Life Sciences Glovebox. He performed the task for an investigation studying the effects of microgravity on cell tissue regeneration and whether recovery occurs post-flight. Results could provide insight into whether the effects of the biological aging process can be reversed.

Image above: NASA astronaut Bob Hines is shown performing Genes in Space-9 aboard the International Space Station on July 21, 2022. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines set up hardware and photographed samples for the Genes in Space-9 study. The experiment evaluates two approaches for using cell-free technology in microgravity, including protein production and biosensors that can detect specific target molecules.

NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins purged and took samples of carbon dioxide from the Thermal Amine Scrubber, which tests a technology for removing carbon dioxide from the station’s atmosphere. She and ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti also teamed up to route a power cable for a life support rack.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: ESA

Cristoforetti concentrated on removing, packaging, and transferring containers for the Space Biofilms-2 experiment. The investigation characterizes the mass, thickness, structure, and associated gene expression of biofilms (molds) that form in space by analyzing a fungal species grown on different materials.

Commander Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos met with specialists to test a 3D printer. Meanwhile, cosmonauts Sergey Korsakov and Denis Matveev had a chance to take microbial samples from assigned areas aboard the station.

Related links:

Expedition 67: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition67/index.html

Life Sciences Glovebox: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=7676

Cell tissue regeneration: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8343

Genes in Space-9: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8703

Thermal Amine Scrubber: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-astronaut-anne-mcclain-installs-the-thermal-amine-scrubber

Biofilms-2 experiment: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7955

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

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

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Heidi Lavelle.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Tonga Eruption Blasted Unprecedented Amount of Water Into Stratosphere

 

Natural Disasters logo.

Aug 2, 2022

The huge amount of water vapor hurled into the atmosphere, as detected by NASA’s Microwave Limb Sounder, could end up temporarily warming Earth’s surface.

Animation above: This looping video shows an umbrella cloud generated by the underwater eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on Jan. 15, 2022. The GOES-17 satellite captured the series of images that also show crescent-shaped shock waves and lightning strikes. Animation Credits: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens using GOES imagery courtesy of NOAA and NESDIS.

When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and set off a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption in the South Pacific Ocean also blasted an enormous plume of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The sheer amount of water vapor could be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature.

“We’ve never seen anything like it,” said Luis Millán, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. He led a new study examining the amount of water vapor that the Tonga volcano injected into the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere between about 8 and 33 miles (12 and 53 kilometers) above Earth’s surface.

In the study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, Millán and his colleagues estimate that the Tonga eruption sent around 146 teragrams (1 teragram equals a trillion grams) of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – equal to 10% of the water already present in that atmospheric layer. That’s nearly four times the amount of water vapor that scientists estimate the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines lofted into the stratosphere.

Image above: This satellite image shows an intact Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai in April 2015, years before an explosive underwater volcanic eruption obliterated most of the Polynesian island in January 2022. Image Credits: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Millán analyzed data from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite, which measures atmospheric gases, including water vapor and ozone. After the Tonga volcano erupted, the MLS team started seeing water vapor readings that were off the charts. “We had to carefully inspect all the measurements in the plume to make sure they were trustworthy,” said Millán.

A Lasting Impression

Volcanic eruptions rarely inject much water into the stratosphere. In the 18 years that NASA has been taking measurements, only two other eruptions – the 2008 Kasatochi event in Alaska and the 2015 Calbuco eruption in Chile – sent appreciable amounts of water vapor to such high altitudes. But those were mere blips compared to the Tonga event, and the water vapor from both previous eruptions dissipated quickly. The excess water vapor injected by the Tonga volcano, on the other hand, could remain in the stratosphere for several years.

This extra water vapor could influence atmospheric chemistry, boosting certain chemical reactions that could temporarily worsen depletion of the ozone layer. It could also influence surface temperatures. Massive volcanic eruptions like Krakatoa and Mount Pinatubo typically cool Earth’s surface by ejecting gases, dust, and ash that reflect sunlight back into space. In contrast, the Tonga volcano didn’t inject large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere, and the huge amounts of water vapor from the eruption may have a small, temporary warming effect, since water vapor traps heat. The effect would dissipate when the extra water vapor cycles out of the stratosphere and would not be enough to noticeably exacerbate climate change effects.

Image above: An image from Jan. 16, 2022, shows the ash plume from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption that occurred the day before. An astronaut took a photograph of the plume from the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA.

The sheer amount of water injected into the stratosphere was likely only possible because the underwater volcano’s caldera – a basin-shaped depression usually formed after magma erupts or drains from a shallow chamber beneath the volcano – was at just the right depth in the ocean: about 490 feet (150 meters) down. Any shallower, and there wouldn’t have been enough seawater superheated by the erupting magma to account for the stratospheric water vapor values Millán and his colleagues saw. Any deeper, and the immense pressures in the ocean’s depths could have muted the eruption.

The MLS instrument was well situated to detect this water vapor plume because it observes natural microwave signals emitted from Earth’s atmosphere. Measuring these signals enables MLS to “see” through obstacles like ash clouds that can blind other instruments measuring water vapor in the stratosphere. “MLS was the only instrument with dense enough coverage to capture the water vapor plume as it happened, and the only one that wasn’t affected by the ash that the volcano released,” said Millán.

The MLS instrument was designed and built by JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the Aura mission.

Related articles:

Burst of underwater explosions powered Tonga volcano eruption
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/06/burst-of-underwater-explosions-powered.html

NASA Mission Finds Tonga Volcanic Eruption Effects Reached Space
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/05/nasa-mission-finds-tonga-volcanic.html

Tonga Eruption Sent Ripples Through Earth’s Ionosphere
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/02/tonga-eruption-sent-ripples-through.html

Deep down temperature shifts give rise to eruptions
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/02/deep-down-temperature-shifts-give-rise.html

Dramatic Changes at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/01/dramatic-changes-at-hunga-tonga-hunga.html

How the Tonga eruption is helping space scientists understand Mars
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/01/how-tonga-eruption-is-helping-space.html

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai Erupts
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/01/hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai-erupts.html

Tonga eruption heard in New Zealand, pressure waves picked up in Europe
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/01/tonga-eruption-heard-in-new-zealand.html

Related links:

NASA’s Aura satellite: https://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS): https://mls.jpl.nasa.gov/

Air: https://www.nasa.gov/subject/3126/air

Hazards: https://www.nasa.gov/subject/3130/hazards

Earth: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/index.html

Animation (mentioned), Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/JPL/Jane J. Lee/Andrew Wang.

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