NASA's OSIRIS-REx Takes Its First Image of Jupiter & OSIRIS-REx Takes Closer Image of Jupiter

NASA - OSIRIS-REx Mission patch.

Feb. 15, 2017

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Takes Its First Image of Jupiter

This magnified, cropped image showing Jupiter and three of its moons was taken by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s MapCam instrument during optical navigation testing for the mission’s Earth-Trojan Asteroid Search. The image shows Jupiter in the center, the moon Callisto to the left and the moons Io and Europa to the right. Ganymede, Jupiter’s fourth Galilean moon, is also present in the image, but is not visible as it is crossing in front of the planet. Image Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona.

The image was taken at 3:38 a.m. EST on Feb. 9, 2017, when the spacecraft was 75 million miles (120 million kilometers) from Earth and 419 million miles (675 million kilometers) from Jupiter. With an exposure time of two seconds, the image renders Jupiter overexposed, but allows for enhanced detection of stars in the background.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Takes Closer Image of Jupiter

During Earth-Trojan asteroid search operations, the PolyCam imager aboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured this image of Jupiter (center) and three of its moons, Callisto (left), Io, and Ganymede. The image, which shows the bands of Jupiter, was taken at 3:34 a.m. EST, on Feb. 12, when the spacecraft was 76 million miles (122 million kilometers) from Earth and 418 million miles (673 million kilometers) from Jupiter. PolyCam is OSIRIS-REx’s longest range camera, capable of capturing images of the asteroid Bennu from a distance of two million kilometers. Image Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona.

This image was produced by taking two copies of the same image, adjusting the brightness of Jupiter separately from the significantly dimmer moons, and compositing them back together so that all four objects are visible in the same frame.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team and the mission’s observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft and is providing flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the agency’s New Frontiers Program for its Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Karl Hille.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Crystal Growth, Earth Science and Tech Demo Research Launching to Orbiting Laboratory

ISS - International Space Station patch.

Feb. 15, 2017

The tenth SpaceX cargo resupply launch to the International Space Station, targeted for launch Feb. 18, will deliver investigations that study human health, Earth science and weather patterns. Here are some highlights of the research headed to the orbiting laboratory:

Crystal growth investigation could improve drug delivery, manufacturing

Monoclonal antibodies are important for fighting off a wide range of human diseases, including cancers. These antibodies work with the natural immune system to bind to certain molecules to detect, purify and block their growth. The Microgravity Growth of Crystalline Monoclonal Antibodies for Pharmaceutical Applications (CASIS PCG 5) investigation will crystallize a human monoclonal antibody, developed by Merck Research Labs, that is currently undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of immunological disease.

Image above: NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Terry Virts work within the Microgravity Science Glovebox during a previous Rodent Research investigation. Rodent Research 4 could provide a more thorough understanding of humans’ inability to grow a lost limb at the wound site and could lead to tissue regeneration efforts in space. Image Credit: NASA.

Preserving these antibodies in crystals allows researchers a glimpse into how the biological molecules are arranged, which can provide new information about how they work in the body. Thus far, Earth-grown crystalline suspensions of monoclonal antibodies have proven to be too low-quality to fully model. With the absence of gravity and convection aboard the station, larger crystals with more pure compositions and structures can grow.

The results from this investigation have the potential to improve the way monoclonal antibody treatments are administered on Earth. Crystallizing the antibodies could enable methods for large-scale delivery through injections rather than intravenously, and improve methods for long-term storage.

Understanding crystal growth in space could benefit researchers on Earth

Without proteins, the human body would be unable to repair, regulate or protect itself. Crystallizing proteins provides better views of their structure, which helps scientists to better understand how they function. Often times, proteins crystallized in microgravity are of higher quality than those crystallized on Earth. LMM Biophysics 1 explores that phenomena by examining the movement of single protein molecules in microgravity. Once scientists understand how these proteins function, they can be used to design new drugs that interact with the protein in specific ways and fight disease.

Identifying proteins that benefit from microgravity crystal growth could maximize research efficiency

Much like LMM Biophysics 1, LMM Biophysics 3 aims to use crystallography to examine molecules that are too small to be seen under a microscope, in order to best predict what types of drugs will interact best with certain kinds of proteins. LMM Biophysics 3 will look specifically into which types of crystals thrive and benefit from growth in microgravity, where Earth’s gravity won’t interfere with their formation. Currently, the success rate is poor for crystals grown even in the best of laboratories. High quality, space-grown crystals could improve research for a wide range of diseases, as well as microgravity-related problems such as radiation damage, bone loss and muscle atrophy.

X Prize-winning device seeks insight into how deadly bacteria become drug-resistant

Microgravity accelerates the growth of bacteria, making the space station an ideal environment to conduct a proof-of-concept investigation on the Gene-RADAR® device developed by Nanobiosym. This device is able to accurately detect, in real time and at the point of care, any disease that leaves a genetic fingerprint.

Nanobiosym Predictive Pathogen Mutation Study (Nanobiosym Genes) will analyze two strains of bacterial mutations aboard the station, providing data that may be helpful in refining models of drug resistance and support the development of better medicines to counteract the resistant strains.

Microgravity may hold key to scaling up stem cell cultivation for research, treatment

Stem cells are used in a variety of medical therapies, including the treatment of stroke. Currently, scientists have no way of efficiently expanding the cells, a process that may be accelerated in a microgravity environment.

During the Microgravity Expanded Stem Cells investigation, crew members will observe cell growth and morphological characteristics in microgravity and analyze gene expression profiles of cells grown on the station. This information will provide insight into how human cancers start and spread, which aids in the development of prevention and treatment plans. Results from this investigation could lead to the treatment of disease and injury in space, as well as provide a way to improve stem cell production for human therapy on Earth.

Space-based lightning sensor could improve climate monitoring

Lightning flashes somewhere on Earth about 45 times per second, according to space-borne lightning detection instruments. This investigation continues those observations using a similar sensor aboard the station.

Image above: During Expedition 45, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured pictures of blue jets, elusive electrical discharges in the upper atmosphere, with the most sensitive camera on the orbiting outpost to look for these brief features. Image Credits: ESA/NASA.

The Lightning Imaging Sensor (STP-H5 LIS) will measure the amount, rate and energy of lightning as it strikes around the world. Understanding the processes that cause lightning and the connections between lightning and subsequent severe weather events is a key to improving weather predictions and saving life and property. From the vantage of the station, the LIS instrument will sample lightning over a swider geographical area than any previous sensor.

Raven seeks to save resources with versatile autonomous technologies

Future robotic spacecraft will need advanced autopilot systems to help them safely navigate and rendezvous with other objects, as they will be operating thousands of miles from Earth. The Raven (STP-H5 Raven) studies a real-time spacecraft navigation system that provides the eyes and intelligence to see a target and steer toward it safely.

Raven uses a complex system to image and track the many visiting vehicles that journey to the space station each year. Equipped with three separate sensors and high-performance, reprogrammable avionics that process imagery, Raven’s algorithm converts the collected images into an accurate relative navigation solution between Raven and the other vehicle. Research from Raven can be applied toward unmanned vehicles both on Earth and in space, including potential use for systems in NASA’s future human deep space exploration.

Understanding Earth’s atmosphere health could inform policy, protection

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) program is one of NASA’s longest running Earth-observing programs, providing long-term data to help scientists better understand and care for Earth’s atmosphere. SAGE was first operated in 1979 following the Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement (SAM), on the Apollo-Soyuz mission.

SAGE III will measure stratospheric ozone, aerosols, and other trace gases by locking onto the sun or moon and scanning a thin profile of the atmosphere.

Image above: The SAGE III instrument integrated on the EXPRESS Pallet Adapter (ExPA) after its final sharp edge inspection before its launch on Space X 10. This investigation will measure the stratospheric ozone, aerosols, and other trace gases by locking onto the sun or moon and scanning a thin profile of the atmosphere. Image Credit: NASA.

Understanding these measurements will allow national and international leaders to make informed policy decisions regarding the protection and preservation of Earth’s ozone layer. Ozone in the atmosphere protects Earth’s inhabitants, including humans, plants and animals, from harmful radiation from the sun, which can cause long-term problems such as cataracts, cancer and reduced crop yield.

Studying tissue regeneration in space could improve injury treatment on Earth

Only a few animals, such as tadpoles and salamanders, can regrow a lost limb, but the onset of this process exists in all vertebrates. Tissue Regeneration-Bone Defect (Rodent Research-4) a U.S. National Laboratory investigation sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, studies what prevents other vertebrates such as rodents and humans from re-growing lost bone and tissue, and how microgravity conditions impact the process. Results will provide a new understanding of the biological reasons behind a human’s inability to grow a lost limb at the wound site, and could lead to new treatment options for the more than 30% of the patient population who do not respond to current options for chronic non-healing wounds. 

Crew members in orbit often experience reduced bone density and muscle mass, a potential consequence of microgravity-induced stress. Previous research indicates that reduced gravity can promote cell growth, making microgravity a potentially viable environment for tissue regeneration research. This investigation may be able to shed more light on why bone density decreases in microgravity and whether it may be possible to counteract it.

These investigations will join many others recurring around the clock aboard the station, all benefitting future spaceflight and life on Earth. For more information about the science happening on station, visit International Space Station Research and Technology.

Related links:

The Microgravity Growth of Crystalline Monoclonal Antibodies for Pharmaceutical Applications (CASIS PCG 5): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1972.html

LMM Biophysics 1: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2191.html

LMM Biophysics 3: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1970.html

Nanobiosym Predictive Pathogen Mutation Study (Nanobiosym Genes): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2420.html

Microgravity Expanded Stem Cells: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1971.html

Lightning Imaging Sensor (STP-H5 LIS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2011.html

Raven (STP-H5 Raven): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1995.html

SAGE III: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1004.html

Tissue Regeneration-Bone Defect (Rodent Research-4): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2025.html

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

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

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

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Kristine Rainey/JSC/Jenny Howard International Space Station Program Science Office.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA-funded Website Lets Public Search for New Nearby Worlds

NASA - NEOWISE Mission logo.

Feb. 15, 2017

NASA is inviting the public to help search for possible undiscovered worlds in the outer reaches of our solar system and in neighboring interstellar space. A new website, called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, lets everyone participate in the search by viewing brief movies made from images captured by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. The movies highlight objects that have gradually moved across the sky.

Join the Search for New Nearby World

Video above: Join the search for new worlds in the outer reaches of our solar system and in nearby interstellar space at Backyard Worlds: Planet 9. Video Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab/Krystofer D.J. Kim.

"There are just over four light-years between Neptune and Proxima Centauri, the nearest star, and much of this vast territory is unexplored," said lead researcher Marc Kuchner, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Because there's so little sunlight, even large objects in that region barely shine in visible light. But by looking in the infrared, WISE may have imaged objects we otherwise would have missed."

WISE scanned the entire sky between 2010 and 2011, producing the most comprehensive survey at mid-infrared wavelengths currently available. With the completion of its primary mission, WISE was shut down in 2011. It was then reactivated in 2013 and given a new mission assisting NASA's efforts to identify potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs), which are asteroids and comets on orbits that bring them into the vicinity of Earth’s orbit. The mission was renamed the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE). 

Image above: This artist's concept illustrates a close-up view of a cool brown dwarf. Objects like this, drifting just beyond our solar system, have been imaged by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and could be discovered by Backyard Worlds: Planet 9. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The new website uses the data to search for unknown objects in and beyond our own solar system. In 2016, astronomers at Caltech in Pasadena, California, showed that several distant solar system objects possessed orbital features indicating they were affected by the gravity of an as-yet-undetected planet, which the researchers nicknamed "Planet Nine." If Planet Nine — also known as Planet X — exists and is as bright as some predictions, it could show up in WISE data.

The search also may discover more distant objects like brown dwarfs, sometimes called failed stars, in nearby interstellar space.

"Brown dwarfs form like stars but evolve like planets, and the coldest ones are much like Jupiter," said team member Jackie Faherty, an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. "By using Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, the public can help us discover more of these strange rogue worlds."

Animation above: A previously cataloged brown dwarf named WISE 0855−0714 shows up as a moving orange dot (upper left) in this loop of WISE images spanning five years. By viewing movies like this, anyone can help discover more of these objects. Animation Credits: NASA/WISE.

Unlike more distant objects, those in or closer to the solar system appear to move across the sky at different rates. The best way to discover them is through a systematic search of moving objects in WISE images. While parts of this search can be done by computers, machines are often overwhelmed by image artifacts, especially in crowded parts of the sky. These include brightness spikes associated with star images and blurry blobs caused by light scattered inside WISE's instruments.

Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 relies on human eyes because we easily recognize the important moving objects while ignoring the artifacts. It's a 21st-century version of the technique astronomer Clyde Tombaugh used to find Pluto in 1930, a discovery made 87 years ago this week.

On the website, people around the world can work their way through millions of "flipbooks," which are brief animations showing how small patches of the sky changed over several years. Moving objects flagged by participants will be prioritized by the science team for follow-up observations by professional astronomers. Participants will share credit for their discoveries in any scientific publications that result from the project.

"Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 has the potential to unlock once-in-a-century discoveries, and it's exciting to think they could be spotted first by a citizen scientist," said team member Aaron Meisner, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in analyzing WISE images.

NEOWISE spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA

Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 is a collaboration between NASA, UC Berkeley, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Arizona State University, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and Zooniverse, a collaboration of scientists, software developers and educators who collectively develop and manage citizen science projects on the internet.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages and operates WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The WISE mission was selected competitively under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah. The spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, visit: http://backyardworlds.org

For more information about NASA's WISE mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/wise

Related links:

NEOWISE: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/neowise/main/index.html

Zooniverse: https://www.zooniverse.org/

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, by Francis Reddy/Rob Garner.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Setting Sun on Space Station Solar research

ISS - International Space Station logo.

15 February 2017

International Space Station

Today, ground control in Belgium switched off a package that had been continuously watching the Sun from the International Space Station for nine years.

‘Solar’ has been measuring most of the radiation emitted by our closest star across the electromagnetic spectrum. Built to run for only 18 months, it was still working until today – exceeding all expectations.

Solar facility on Columbus

Solar’s observations are improving our understanding of the Sun and allowing scientists to create accurate computer models and predict its behaviour.

To predict how the Sun behaves, scientists create complex computer models to build a virtual star. With more observations, scientists can fine-tune their models. Modelling and predicting the Sun’s activity with precision is an important step towards understanding humankind’s effect on Earth’s climate.

Space Station flies in front of the Sun seen from Earth

Between 2012 and 2016, the Space Station turned itself five times to position Solar so that it could track the Sun without interruption for a complete solar day – around a month of Earth days.

It was the first time the Station changed attitude for scientific reasons alone and a huge achievement – it’s not every day that you move a 450 tonne orbital outpost.

Message from Thomas Pesquet to Solar team

Shutting down

Today, Solar was moved to a parked position where it was secured with a pin. Even during its last days, Solar was delivering important data.

The teams at the control centre in Brussels, Belgium, used the final moments to stress the hardware to its limits and gain a better understanding of how the observations have been affected by age and the intense changes in temperature it endures outside the Station. Using this extra information, researchers are developing software that will improve calibration of parts of the data.

Belgian user support and operations centre

ESA’s project leader, Astrid Orr, comments, “After all these years of gaining valuable information about our Sun it is an emotional moment for the team, but Solar has far exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

“This kind of research does not deliver pretty pictures, but numbers. I tip my hat to the researchers who patiently sort through the wealth of data – this field of science may seem tedious and unexciting to the outside world, but climate studies heavily rely on these data to understand the world we live in and how we are shaping it.”

Solar arriving at the Space Station

The measurements from the SOLAR/SolACES instrument are freely available here: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esdc

Research partners:

Belgian User Support and Operations Centre: http://www.busoc.be/

Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques: http://www.ipm.fraunhofer.de/en.html

Centre national de la recherche scientifique: http://www.cnrs.fr/index.php

LATMOS: http://www.latmos.ipsl.fr/

Related link:

Columbus laboratory: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Columbus/Columbus_laboratory

Images, Video, Text, Credits: NASA/ESA/Thierry Legault/B.USOC.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

ISRO successfully launch of PSLV-C37 and CARTOSAT satellite together with 103 nano satellites

ISRO - Indian Space Research Organisation logo.

Feb 15, 2017

Image above: PSLV-C37/Cartosat-2 Series Satellite was successfully launched on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 9:28 Hrs IST from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its thirty ninth flight (PSLV-C37), launches the 714 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation and 103 co-passenger satellites together weighing about 663 kg at lift-off into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). PSLV-C37 was launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. This was the sixteenth flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors).

PSLV-C37 Lift off and Onboard Camera Video (full launch and satellites separation)

The co-passenger satellites comprised of 101 nano satellites, one each from Kazakhstan, Israel, The Netherlands, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 96 from United States of America (USA), as well as two Nano satellites from India. The total weight of all these satellites carried on-board PSLV-C37 was about 1377 kg.

PSLV-C37 also carried two ISRO Nano satellites (INS-1A and INS-1B), as co-passenger satellites. These two satellites carry a total of four different payloads from Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems (LEOS) of ISRO for conducting various experiments.

Cartosat-2 Series Satellite

The 101 International customer Nano satellites were launched as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), a Government of India company under Department of Space (DOS),  the commercial arm of ISRO and the International customers.

Editor's note:

104 satellites in orbit in one launch, world record! Congratulations ISRO!

For more information about Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), visit: http://www.isro.gov.in

Images, Video, Text, Credits: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)/Günter Space Page.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Arianespace orbits two digital HDTV satellites

ARIANESPACE - Ariane 5 / Flight VA235 Mission poster.

February 14, 2017

Arianespace orbits two digital HDTV satellites, SKY Brasil-1 and Telkom 3S, on Ariane 5’s 77th successful launch in a row

Ariane 5 Flight VA235 launch

Arianespace has successfully launched two satellites: SKY Brasil-1 for AT&T/DIRECTV; and Telkom 3S for Telkom Indonesia as part of a turnkey contract with Thales Alenia Space.

The flight took place on Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 6:39 p.m. (local time) from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Christophe Sirugue, French Minister of State for Industry, was on hand for the launch.

Today’s launch was the second of the year for Arianespace and the first with the Ariane 5 heavy launcher, which also recorded its 77th successful mission in a row. With a launch for two major regional operators, Arianespace confirms its position as the benchmark launch service provider for Latin America and Asia.

SKY Brasil-1 is the 10th satellite launched by Arianespace for AT&T/DIRECTV, a world leading provider of digital television programs. Its previous mission for this operator was in May 2015, with an Ariane 5 dual launch that orbited SKY Mexico-1 and DIRECTV-15. AT&T subsidiary DIRECTV Latin America provides services to more than 12.5 million subscribers, mainly in Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Brazil.

SKY Brasil-1 is a high-definition direct-to-home (DTH) TV broadcast satellite, covering Brazil and the north Atlantic Ocean.

Arianespace Flight VA235: SKY Brasil-1 and Telkom 3S

Telkom 3S is the third satellite to be launched by Arianespace for Telkom Indonesia, this time as part of a turnkey contract with Thales Alenia Space. The previous satellites for this operator, Telkom 1 and Telkom 2, were launched by Arianespace in 1999 and 2005, respectively. All Telkom Indonesia satellites now in operation were orbited by Arianespace.

Telkom Indonesia is an Indonesian state-owned company that supplies telecommunications, information, media and entertainment services (TIMES) to millions of customers throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Telkom 3S will provide high-definition television (HDTV) broadcast services, as well as mobile communications and Internet applications, with a coverage zone spanning Indonesia, Southeast Asia and a portion of Malaysia. Nearly half of all satellites built by Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space have been orbited by Arianespace.

Arianespace and Airbus Defence and Space have teamed up since the European launch services company was founded in 1980. SKY Brasil-1 is the 116th satellite built by Airbus Defence and Space (or its predecessors) to be launched by Arianespace, which has 17 more satellites produced by the company in its order book, not including the satellites in the OneWeb constellation.

Arianespace and Thales Alenia Space have worked together since 1981. Including Telkom 3S, Arianespace has launched 146 satellites built by Thales Alenia Space (or its predecessors), and has nine more satellites from this manufacturer in its order book.

Triple 7 for Ariane 5!

The first Ariane 5 flight of the year was also the 77th successful launch in a row of Ariane 5, a string of successes that reaches back to 2003 and clearly demonstrates the exceptional reliability of Arianespace’s heavy launcher. This year’s Arianespace mission manifest includes up to 7 Ariane 5 launches in 2017 – a “Triple 7” for Ariane 5!

Shortly after the announcement of the orbital injection of the two satellites, Stéphane Israël, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, said: “Arianespace carried out its first Ariane 5 launch of the year this evening for our American and Indonesian customers, also marking the 77th successful launch in a row of our heavy launcher. We are both pleased and proud to have carried out this successful mission in the presence of Christophe Sirugue, French Minister of State for Industry; and Jean-Luc Moudenc, Mayor of Toulouse and President of the Community of Ariane Cities for 2017. We are honored by the ongoing trust expressed by the operators AT&T/DIRECTV, for whom we have orbited 10 satellites since 1993, and Telkom Indonesia, for whom we have launched all satellites now in operation. I would also like to thank our long-standing partners Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space, who built the two satellites launched on this mission.

“Congratulations to all partners who contributed to the exceptional reliability and availability of our Ariane 5 launcher: the European Space Agency (ESA), which provides essential support for the Ariane program; Airbus Safran Launchers and the entire European launcher industry; CNES/CSG, our ground segment companies and all staff at the space center, who continue to work alongside us as we go from success to success. And of course I would like to congratulate everybody at Arianespace for this successful second launch of the year.”

SKY Brasil-1

SKY Brasil-1 was built by Airbus Defence and Space using the Eurostar E3000 platform. The payload comprises 60 Ku-band transponders.

SKY Brasil-1 satellite

Positioned at 43.1°West, it will provide high-definition direct TV broadcast services to Brazil. With a mass at liftoff of approximately 6,000 kg., it offers a design life exceeding 19 years.

Telkom 3S

Telkom 3S was built by Thales Alenia Space using the Spacebus 4000B2 platform. The payload comprises 24 C-band transponders, 8 extended C-band beams, and 10 Ku-band transponders.

Telkom 3S satellite

Positioned at 118° East, Telkom 3S will provide high-definition TV services, as well as mobile communications and Internet applications. With a liftoff mass of 3,550 kg., the satellite offers a design life exceeding 16 years.

About Arianespace

Arianespace uses space to make life better on Earth by providing launch services for all types of satellites into all orbits. It has orbited more than 550 satellites since 1980, using its family of three launchers, Ariane, Soyuz and Vega, from launch sites in French Guiana (South America) and Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Arianespace is headquartered in Evry, near Paris, and has a technical facility at the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, plus local offices in Washington, D.C., Tokyo and Singapore. Arianespace is a subsidiary of Airbus Safran Launchers, which holds 74% of its share capital, with the balance held by 17 other shareholders from the European launcher industry.

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

Images, Text, Video, Credits: ARIANESPACE/Airbus Defence and Space/Thales Alenia Space.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

The Standard Model stands its ground

CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

Feb. 14, 2017

Today, in a seminar at CERN, the LHCb collaboration has presented an exceptional result on a very rare decay of a particle called B_s0. This observation marks yet another victory for the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics – the model that explains, to the best of our knowledge, the behaviour of all fundamental particles in the universe – over all its principal theoretical alternatives.

The LHCb collaboration has reported the observation of the decay of the B_s0 meson – a heavy particle made of a bottom anti-quark and a strange quark – into a pair of muons. This decay is extremely rare, the rarest ever seen: according to the theoretical predictions, it should occur about 3 times in every billion total decays of that particle.

The decay of the B_s0 meson has been long regarded as a very promising place to look for cracks in the armour of the Standard Model, which, despite being our best available description of the subatomic world, leaves some questions unanswered. Therefore, over time, physicists came up with many alternatives or complementary theories. A large class of theories that extend the Standard Model into new physics, such as Supersymmetry, predicts significantly higher values for the B_s0 decay probability. Therefore, an observation of any significant deviation from the SM predicted value would suggest the presence of new, yet unknown, physics.

Image above: Event display of a typical B_s0 decay into two muons. The two muon tracks from the B_s0 decay are seen as a pair of green tracks traversing the whole detector. (Image: LHCb collaboration).

The experimental value found by the LHCb collaboration for this probability is in an excellent agreement with the one predicted by the theory, and the result is confirmed to a very high level of reliability, at the level of 7.8 standard deviations: that is, the scientists are extremely sure that it hasn’t occurred just by chance. The LHCb collaboration obtained the first evidence of this phenomenon in November 2012, with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations. Three years later, together with the CMS collaboration, LHCb obtained the first confirmed observation in May 2015, with a significance of 6.2 standard deviations (for more information read the CERN Press release and the paper published on Nature.

This new finding limits the room for action of other models of physics beyond the SM: all candidate models will have to demonstrate their compatibility with this important result.

Further reading on the LHCb website: http://lhcb-public.web.cern.ch/lhcb-public/Welcome.html#BsMuMu2017

Note:

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of Nature.

The instruments used at CERN are particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.

Founded in 1954, the CERN Laboratory sits astride the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 22 Member States.

Related links:

CERN Press release: https://press.cern/press-releases/2015/05/cms-and-lhcb-experiments-reveal-new-rare-particle-decay

Paper published on Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v522/n7554/full/nature14474.html

Standard Model (SM): http://home.cern/about/physics/standard-model

Supersymmetry: https://home.cern/about/physics/supersymmetry

For more information about European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Visit: http://home.cern/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: CERN/Stefania Pandolfi.

Best regards from CERN neighbor, Orbiter.ch