How to replicate the universe of space bases in Microsoft Flight Simulator X

October 24, 2018

To begin, you must have a CD version of FSX, because the download version on Steam is "locked", it is not possible to add add-ons other than those paying on Steam. So if like me you have all the original CD versions, you will be able to install the add-ons that I recommend in this article.

Baikonur Cosmodrome: https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=194263

 Baikonur Cosmodrome

Cape Canaveral (1962): https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=67058006

Cape Canaveral

Aeroworks Railroad Valley 2013 Scenery Package (Edwards AFB, Nellis Air Force Range, High-technology Aerospace Warfare Center): https://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=Aeroworks+Railroad+Valley+2013+Scenery+Package&x=15&y=8

 White Sands, New Mexico

White Sands, New Mexico
https://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=White+Sands%2C+New+Mexico&x=26&y=8

FS2002 / 2004 Kourou Space Center French Guiana (FSX compatible): https://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=Kourou+Space+Center+French+Guiana&categoryId=

For you to build a fleet of aircraft's and helicopters of space agencies, you can download them freely, some full model, others are "repaints" that you have to add to a model for free download, all its add-ons are free, you will at most just have to register on some websites. The "repaints" that are offered on my website, the original models are on the Simviation website: https://simviation.com/1/front-page

Other sites where you will find models that are not on Simviation and my website:

FlightSim.com: https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php

AVSIM Library: https://library.avsim.net/

Here is the list of my (repainted) models available for free (without registration) on my website:

NASA & DLR Boeing 747/SP SOFIA Observatory Repaint for FS2004 / FSX

Airbus A340-300 Swiss Space Systems (S3) repainted for FSX

NASA Global Hawk RQ-4A for FSX

Lockheed L1011-500 Orbital & Pegasus Rocket for FSX

Airbus A310-300 Zero-G for FSX

Douglas NASA DC8-62 NASA Flight Research Center Repaint for FSX

Eurocopter EC120 Space Center Guyanese CSG for FSX

Eurocopter EC155 ESA EGNOS Calibration Helicopter Test for FSX

Hawker 700 ESA Astronauts Transfer Aircraft for FSX

NASA Boeing B-797 Flying Wing project for FSX

Bell 214 NASA (Huey) Security for FSX

Space Shuttle Columbia Tribute for FSX

All available on Simulators.li, the Simmer's Area: https://simulators.jimdo.com/

Good flight!

N.B.: Feel free to write me a message on orbiter@live.fr  if you find a bug in my add-ons and all feedback are welcome.

Images, Text, Credits: Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Parker Solar Probe Looks Back at Home

NASA - Parker Solar Probe Mission patch.

Oct. 24, 2018

On Sept. 25, 2018, Parker Solar Probe captured a view of Earth as it sped toward the first Venus gravity assist of the mission. Earth is the bright, round object visible in the right side of the image.

Image above: The view from Parker Solar Probe's WISPR instrument on Sept. 25, 2018, shows Earth, the bright sphere near the middle of the right-hand panel. The elongated mark toward the bottom of the panel is a lens reflection from the WISPR instrument. Image Credits: NASA/Naval Research Laboratory/Parker Solar Probe.

The image was captured by the WISPR (Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe) instrument, which is the only imaging instrument on board Parker Solar Probe. During science phases, WISPR sees structures within the Sun's atmosphere, the corona, before they pass over the spacecraft. The two panels of WISPR's image come from the instrument’s two telescopes, which point in slightly different directions and have different fields of view. The inner telescope produced the left-hand image, while the outer telescope produced the image on the right. 

Zooming in on Earth reveals a slight bulge on the right side: that is the Moon, just peeking out from behind Earth. At the time the image was taken, Parker Solar Probe was about 27 million miles from Earth.

Image above: A close-up of Earth from WISPR's Sept. 25, 2018, image shows what appears to be a bulge on our planet’s right side — this is the Moon. Image Credits: NASA/Naval Research Laboratory/Parker Solar Probe.

The hemispherical shaped feature in the middle of the right-hand image is a lens flare, a common feature when imaging bright sources, which is caused by reflections within the lens system. In this case, the flare is due to the very bright Earthshine. Close passes by Venus and Mercury may occasionally create similar patterns in the future, but these are limited cases and do not affect the science operations of the instrument.

Parker Solar Probe. Image Credit: NASA

Some of the visible objects in the image — like Pleiades to the low-left of Earth in the right-hand image and the two bright objects, Betelgeuse and Bellatrix, near the bottom of the left-hand image — appear elongated because of reflections on the edge of the detector.

Parker Solar Probe: https://www.nasa.gov/solarprobe

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Rob Garner/Goddard Space Flight Center, by Sarah Frazier.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

The Pirate of the Southern Skies

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo.

24 October 2018

The Pirate of the Southern Skies

FORS2, an instrument mounted on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, has observed the active star-forming region NGC 2467 — sometimes referred to as the Skull and Crossbones Nebula. The image was captured as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems Programme, which makes use of the rare occasions when observing conditions are not suitable for gathering scientific data. Instead of sitting idle, the ESO Cosmic Gems Programme allows ESO’s telescopes to be used to capture visually stunning images of the southern skies.

This vivid picture of an active star-forming region — NGC 2467, sometimes referred to as the Skull and Crossbones Nebula — is as sinister as it is beautiful. This image of dust, gas and bright young stars, gravitationally bound into the form of a grinning skull, was captured with the FORS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).  Whilst ESO’s telescopes are usually used for the collection of science data, they can also capture images such as this — which are beautiful for their own sake.

Digitized Sky Survey image around NGC 2467

It is easy to see the motivation for the nickname Skull and Crossbones. This young, bright formation distinctly resembles an ominous hollow face, of which only the gaping mouth is visible here. NGC 2467 skulks in the constellation Puppis, which translates rather unromantically as The Poop Deck.

This nebulous collection of stellar clusters is the birthplace of many stars, where an excess of hydrogen gas provided the raw material for stellar creation. It is not, in fact, a single nebula, and its constituent stellar cluster are moving at different velocities. It is only a fortuitous alignment along the line of sight from the Earth that makes the stars and gas form a humanoid face. This luminous image might not tell astronomers anything new, but it provides us all with a glimpse into the churning southern skies, bright with wonders invisible to the human eye.

NGC 2467 in the constellation of Puppis

Puppis is one of three nautically named constellations that sail the southern skies, and which used to make up the single, giant Argo Navis constellation, named after the ship of the mythical Jason and the Argonauts. Argo Navis has since been divided into three: Carina (the keel), Vela (the sails) and Puppis, where this nebula finds its home.  Whilst a heroic figure, Jason is most famous for his theft of the golden fleece, so NGC 2467 rests not only in the midst of a vast celestial ship, but amongst thieves — an appropriate abode for this piratical nebula.

Zooming in on NGC 2467

This image was created as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems programme, an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The programme makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.

Panning across NGC 2467

More information:

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. 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:

ESOcast 180 Light: The Pirate of the Southern Skies: https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1834a/

ESO’s Cosmic Gems programme: https://www.eso.org/public/outreach/gems/

Images of the VLT: https://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&subject_name=Very%20Large%20Telescope

ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT): https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/?lang

FORS instrument: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/fors/

ESO Cosmic Gems programme: http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/gems.html

ESO’s science archive: https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann18062/

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

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA's Juno Mission Detects Jupiter Wave Trains

NASA - JUNO Mission logo.

October 24, 2018

Massive structures of moving air that appear like waves in Jupiter's atmosphere were first detected by NASA's Voyager missions during their flybys of the gas-giant world in 1979. The JunoCam camera aboard NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter has also imaged the atmosphere. JunoCam data has detected atmospheric wave trains, towering atmospheric structures that trail one after the other as they roam the planet, with most concentrated near Jupiter's equator.

Image above: Three waves can be seen in this excerpt of a JunoCam image taken on Feb. 2, 2017, during Juno's fourth flyby of Jupiter. The region imaged in this picture is part of the visibly dark band just north of Jupiter's equator known as the North Equatorial Belt. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/JunoCam.

The JunoCam imager has resolved smaller distances between individual wave crests in these trains than ever seen before. This research provides valuable information on both the dynamics of Jupiter's atmosphere and its structure in the regions underneath the waves.

"JunoCam has counted more distinct wave trains than any other spacecraft mission since Voyager," said Glenn Orton, a Juno scientist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "The trains, which consist of as few as two waves and as many as several dozen, can have a distance between crests as small as about 40 miles (65 kilometers) and as large as about 760 miles (1,200 kilometers). The shadow of the wave structure in one image allowed us to estimate the height of one wave to be about 6 miles (10 kilometers) high."

Most of the waves are seen in elongated wave trains, spread out in an east-west direction, with wave crests that are perpendicular to the orientation of the train. Other fronts in similar wave trains tilt significantly with respect to the orientation of the wave train, and still other wave trains follow slanted or meandering paths.

"The waves can appear close to other Jovian atmospheric features, near vortices or along flow lines, and others exhibit no relationship with anything nearby," said Orton. "Some wave trains appear as if they are converging, and others appear to be overlapping, possibly at two different atmospheric levels. In one case, wave fronts appear to be radiating outward from the center of a cyclone."

Although analysis is ongoing, most waves are expected to be atmospheric gravity waves - up-and-down ripples that form in the atmosphere above something that disturbs air flow, such as a thunderstorm updraft, disruptions of flow around other features, or from some other disturbance that JunoCam does not detect.

JUNO orbiting Jupiter. Animation Credit: NASA

The JunoCam instrument is uniquely qualified to make such a discovery. JunoCam is a color, visible-light camera which offers a wide-angle field of view designed to capture remarkable pictures of Jupiter's poles and cloud tops. As Juno's eyes, it helps provide context for the spacecraft's other instruments. JunoCam was included on the spacecraft primarily for public engagement purposes, although its images also are helpful to the science team.

Juno launched on Aug. 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and arrived in orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. To date, it has completed 15 science passes over Jupiter. Juno's 16th science pass will be on Oct. 29. During these flybys, Juno is probing beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and studying its auroras to learn more about the planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado, built the spacecraft. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California.

More information on the Juno mission is available at:
https://www.nasa.gov/juno

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu

The public can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at:

http://www.facebook.com/NASAJuno

http://www.twitter.com/NASAJuno

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/JoAnna Wendel/JPL/DC Agle/Southwest Research Institute/Deb Schmid.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Copernicus Sentinel-5P reveals new nasties

ESA - Sentinel-5P Mission logo.

24 October 2018

Sentinel-5P

With air quality a serious environmental health problem, the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite is tasked with mapping air pollutants around the entire globe every day. This new mission has been providing data on carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone since July and now other polluting nasties such as sulphur dioxide and formaldehyde have joined the list of data products available to monitor the air we breathe.

Air pollution affects people in developed and developing countries alike. In Europe alone, it is estimated that every year 400 000 people die prematurely because of poor air quality.

Formaldehyde

Satellite data and computer models are the only real way of showing how pollution accumulates around the world as a whole. In the immediate term, these tools are essential for forecasts and warnings on air quality. In the longer term they are indispensable for providing accurate information for decision-makers developing strategies to tackle this major problem.

Launched in October 2017, Copernicus Sentinel-5P – short for Sentinel-5 Precursor – is the first Copernicus satellite dedicated to monitoring our atmosphere. It is part of the fleet of Copernicus Sentinel missions that ESA develops for the European Union’s environmental monitoring programme.

The satellite carries an advanced multispectral imaging spectrometer called Tropomi. What sets Tropomi apart is that it detects the unique fingerprints of atmospheric gases in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to image a wide range of pollutants more accurately and at a higher spatial resolution than ever before.

Since this state-of-the art satellite mission was launched, scientists have been carefully evaluating its data and, in turn, releasing the data to users.

Streams of data on carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, along with information on aerosols and clouds have been available since July. On 17 October, sulphur dioxide and formaldehyde joined the list of air pollutants routinely available for services such as air-quality forecasting and volcanic ash monitoring.

Sulphur dioxide

The Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service is a key user of these data products.

Head of the service, Vincent-Henri Peuch, said, “Even looking at social media, we see that Copernicus Sentinel-5P is proving to be a great ambassador for environmental monitoring and for taking action on air pollution. But the mission does much more than give us images.

“This is a sophisticated mission designed to measure the comprehensive set of atmospheric constituents for underpinning several of the CAMS information products. We are already using observations of ozone and nitrogen dioxide, which have been available routinely since July.

“We are really excited about using these new sulphur dioxide and formaldehyde data in our operational services. Copernicus Sentinel-5P data is also about to make its way into everyone’s pockets as our products are being taken up by leading smartphone applications to inform the public on current air quality.”

Sulphur dioxide affects air quality badly and can lead to breathing problems. While it is released into the atmosphere mainly through industrial processes, it is also present in volcanic plumes.

Monitoring the spread of volcanic plumes is critical for aircraft safety.

Sulphur dioxide from Fuego volcano

Nicolas Theys from the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy said, “Copernicus Sentinel-5P’s near-realtime data on sulphur dioxide and aerosols are being used in the Support to Aviation Control Service and in the European Natural Disaster Coordination Information System for Aviation.

“The unprecedented level of details offered by the mission allows Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre users to better track and forecast the dispersion of volcanic plumes.”

The latest data release also includes formaldehyde, which tends to enter the atmosphere from forest fires and wood processing, for example. It is an important intermediate gas in the oxidation of methane and other hydrocarbons. While it is short-lived in the atmosphere, it reacts chemically to become a major source of carbon monoxide – another harmful pollutant.

Improved total ozone columns are now also available to enable long-term ozone monitoring from space.

Each of the Copernicus Sentinel missions carries state-of-the-art technology to deliver a stream of complementary imagery to help manage the environment effectively and respond to global change. The European Commission leads the Copernicus programme. ESA is responsible for the space component, which includes the family of Copernicus Sentinel satellite missions. Data are used worldwide and are free of charge.

Ozone hole over Antarctica

Josef Aschbacher, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes, underlined, “The Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission is a prime example of how Europe works together for the benefit of its citizens.

“The European Commission as leader of the Copernicus programme, ESA as the coordinator, developer and operator of the space component are, together with the respective Member States, the prime drivers of Copernicus.

“In the case of Sentinel-5P, the Tropomi instrument provided by The Netherlands highlights the tight cooperation across Europe. Copernicus is indeed a success story for Europe in space.”

Related links:

Sentinel-5P: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-5P

Copernicus: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service: http://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/

Netherlands Space Office: http://www.spaceoffice.nl/en/

Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute: http://www.knmi.nl/over-het-knmi/about

DLR: http://www.dlr.de/dlr;internal&action=_setlanguage.action?LANGUAGE=en

Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy: http://www.aeronomie.be/en/index.htm

BIRA Support to Aviation Control Service: http://sacs.aeronomie.be/

European Natural Disaster Coordination and Information System for Aviation: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-5P/www.eunadics.eu

Images, Animation, Text, Credits: ESA/Contains modified Copernicus data (2018), processed by BIRA–IASB/DLR.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Station Preps for Japan, US Ship Operations Next Month

ISS - Expedition 57 Mission patch.

October 23, 2018

The International Space Station is getting ready for Japanese and U.S. cargo ship operations next month. In the meantime, the three residents onboard the orbital lab today configured science hardware and checked out safety gear.

Serena Auñón-Chancellor from NASA worked in the Japanese Kibo laboratory today replacing gear inside a Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR). The MSPR provides a workspace that supplies power and video enabling research into a variety of smaller experiments. She spent the majority of the day working on video cable connections and swapping out a computer in the MSPR.

Image above: The H-II Transfer Vehicle-7 (HTV-7) from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is viewed from one of seven windows inside the cupola, the International Space Station’s “window to the world.” The orbital complex was flying at an altitude of about 257 miles off the coast of Canada above the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Image Credit: NASA.

She and Commander Commander Alexander Gerst started Tuesday practicing wearing and using breathing gear connected to an oxygen port in the event of a space emergency. Gerst then helped out with the MSPR work before the duo moved on to packing Japan’s HTV-7 resupply ship.

Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos worked out on a treadmill today to help Russian scientists understand how the human body is impacted by exercise in microgravity. He then spent the afternoon on computer and life support maintenance.

The packed HTV-7 is due to be removed from the Harmony module with the Canadarm2 and released back into Earth orbit in November. Its release will cap a 47 day stay at the station but the vehicle has one more mission before its fiery destruction over the Pacific Ocean. The HTV-7 will release a small reentry capsule for recovery in the Pacific Ocean by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The recovery mission is a test of the Japanese space agency’s ability to retrieve experiment samples safely and quickly from the station.

Animation above: Dellingr’s deployment into space from the International Space Station on Nov. 20, 2017. Animation Credits: NanoRacks.

An American cargo ship is due to replenish the Expedition 57 crew a few days after the HTV-7 leaves. Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter will take a three-day trip in space before it is captured with the Canadarm2 and berthed to the Unity module. Cygnus will stay attached to the station for 86 days of cargo operations.

Related links:

Expedition 57: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition57/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

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

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Newborn Stars Blow Bubbles in the Cat's Paw Nebula

NASA - Spitzer Space Telescope logo.

Oct. 23, 2018

This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Cat's Paw Nebula, so named for the large, round features that create the impression of a feline footprint. The nebula is a star-forming region in the Milky Way galaxy, located in the constellation Scorpius. Estimates of its distance from Earth range from about 4,200 to about 5,500 light-years.

Framed by green clouds, the bright red bubbles are the dominant feature in the image, which was created using data from two of Spitzer's instruments. After gas and dust inside the nebula collapse to form stars, the stars may in turn heat up the pressurized gas surrounding them, causing it to expand into space and create bubbles.

The green areas show places where radiation from hot stars collided with large molecules called "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons," causing them to fluoresce.

In some cases, the bubbles may eventually "burst," creating the U-shaped features that are particularly visible in the image below, which was created using data from just one of Spitzer's instruments.

Image above: The Cat's Paw Nebula, imaged here by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope using the IRAC instrument, is a star-forming region inside the Milky Way Galaxy. The dark filament running through the middle of the nebula is a particularly dense region of gas and dust. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Spitzer is an infrared telescope, and infrared light is useful to astronomers because it can penetrate thick clouds of gas and dust better than optical light (the kind visible to the human eye). The black filaments running horizontally through the nebula are regions of gas and dust so dense, not even infrared light can pass through them. These dense regions may soon be sites where another generation of stars will form.

The Cat's Paw star-forming region is estimated to be between 24 and 27 parsecs (80 and 90 light years) across. It extends beyond the left side of these images and intersects with a similar-sized star-forming region, NGC 6357. That region is also known as the Lobster Nebula – an unlikely companion for a cat.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The top image was compiled using data from the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) aboard Spitzer. MIPS collects an additional "color" of light in the infrared range, which reveals the red-colored features, created by dust that has been warmed by the hot gas and the light from nearby stars. The second image is based on data from IRAC alone, so this dust is not visible.

The images were pulled from data collected for the Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire project (GLIMPSE). Using data from Spitzer, GLIMPSE created the most accurate map ever of the large central bar of the galaxy and showed that the galaxy is riddled with gas bubbles like those seen here.

More information about Spitzer is available at the following sites:

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/main/index.html

https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/GLIMPSE/overview.html

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Jon Nelson/JPL/Calla Cofield.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch