ESA selects revolutionary Venus mission EnVision

 

ESA - EnVision Mission patch.

June 10, 2021

EnVision will be ESA’s next Venus orbiter, providing a holistic view of the planet from its inner core to upper atmosphere to determine how and why Venus and Earth evolved so differently.

EnVision: ESA's next mission to Venus

The mission was selected by ESA’s Science Programme Committee on 10 June as the fifth Medium-class mission in the Agency’s Cosmic Vision plan, targeting a launch in the early 2030s.

“A new era in the exploration of our closest, yet wildly different, Solar System neighbour awaits us,” says Günther Hasinger, ESA Director of Science. “Together with the newly announced NASA-led Venus missions, we will have an extremely comprehensive science programme at this enigmatic planet well into the next decade.”

EnVision: Understanding why Earth's closest neighbour is so different

A key question in planetary science is why, despite being roughly the same size and composition, our next-door neighbour in the inner Solar System experienced such a dramatic climate change: instead of being a habitable world like Earth, it has a toxic atmosphere and is enshrouded with thick sulphuric acid-rich clouds. What history did Venus experience to arrive at this state and does this foretell Earth’s fate should it, too, undergo a catastrophic greenhouse effect? Is Venus still geologically active? Could it have once hosted an ocean and even sustained life? What lessons can be learned about the evolution of terrestrial planets in general, as we discover more Earth-like exoplanets?

EnVision’s innovative instrument package will tackle these big questions. It will be equipped with a suite of European instruments including a sounder to reveal underground layering, and spectrometers to study the atmosphere and surface. The spectrometers will monitor trace gases in the atmosphere and analyse surface composition, looking for any changes that might be linked to signs of active volcanism. A NASA-provided radar will image and map the surface. In addition, a radio science experiment will probe the planet’s internal structure and gravity field as well as investigate the structure and composition of the atmosphere. The instruments will work together to best characterise the interaction between the planet’s different boundaries – from the interior to surface to atmosphere – providing an all-encompassing global view of the planet and its processes.

Earth's 'evil twin', Venus

EnVision follows on from ESA’s highly successful Venus Express (2005-2014) that focused primarily on atmospheric research, but which also made dramatic discoveries that pointed to possible volcanic hotspots on the planet’s surface. JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft has also been studying the atmosphere since 2015. EnVision will significantly improve on the radar images of the surface obtained by NASA’s Magellan in the 1990s. Working together with NASA’s upcoming DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) and VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) missions, the trio of new spacecraft will provide the most comprehensive study of Venus ever.

EnVision studying Venus

 “EnVision benefits from collaboration with NASA, combining excellence in European and American expertise in Venus science and technology, to create this ambitious mission,” says Günther.
“EnVision further strengthens Europe’s role in the scientific exploration of the Solar System. Our growing mission fleet will give us, and future generations, the best insights ever into how our planetary neighbourhood works, particularly relevant in an era where we are discovering more and more unique exoplanet systems.”

“We are thrilled to contribute to ESA’s exciting new mission to investigate Venus,” says Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science. “EnVision leverages strengths in instrument development by both our agencies. Combined with NASA’s Discovery missions to Venus, the science community will have a powerful and synergistic set of new data to understand how Venus formed and how the surface and atmosphere changed over time.”

Following an initial call for the fifth Medium-class mission concept in 2016, the final competition came down to EnVision and Theseus, the Transient High-Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor. Theseus would monitor transient events across the whole sky and in particular focus on gamma-ray bursts from the Universe’s first billion years, to help shed light on the life cycle of the first stars. While EnVision was recommended by the Senior Science Committee, it was recognised that Theseus also has a highly compelling science case that could make extremely important contributions to the field.

EnVision

The next step for EnVision is to move to the detailed ‘Definition Phase’, in which the design of the satellite and instruments is finalised. Following the design phase, a European industrial contractor will be selected to build and test EnVision before it is launched on an Ariane 6 rocket. The earliest launch opportunity for EnVision is 2031, with other possible options in 2032 and 2033. The spacecraft would take around 15 months to reach the planet, with a further 16 months to achieve orbit circularisation through aerobraking. Its 92-minute orbit will be quasi-polar with an altitude of between 220 km and 540 km.

Solar Orbiter, Euclid, Plato and Ariel have already been selected as Medium-class missions. Solar Orbiter was launched in February 2020; Euclid, Plato and Ariel will be launched throughout this decade.

Notes for Editors

EnVision is an ESA-led mission with important contributions from NASA, which will provide VenSAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), as well as Deep Space Network support. The other payload instruments are contributed by ESA member states, with ASI, DLR, BelSPO, and CNES leading the procurement of SRS (Subsurface Sounding Radar), VenSpec-M, VenSpec-H and VenSpec-U spectrometers, respectively. The radio science experiment is led by institutes in France and Germany.

The mission Assessment Study reports (Yellow Books) for both EnVision and Theseus are available here: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/m5-public-presentation/home

The EnVision team host a website here: https://envisionvenus.eu/envision/

Images, Videos, Text, Credits: ESA/NASA/JAXA/ISAS/DARTS/Damia Bouic/VR2Planets/ESA/MPS/DLR-PF/IDA.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Forest degradation primary driver of carbon loss in the Brazilian Amazon

 

ESA - Biomass Mission logo.

June 10, 2021

Forest degradation has become the largest process driving carbon loss in the Brazilian Amazon, according to a recent study using ESA satellite data.

While both deforestation and forest degradation are damaging to forest health, there is a difference between the two. Deforestation occurs when forests are cleared and converted completely. When forests are degraded, their health declines and they lose their capacity to support wildlife and people.

Forests play a crucial role in Earth’s carbon cycle by absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, keeping our planet cool. However, forest degradation and deforestation, particularly in the tropical regions, are causing much of this stored carbon to be released back into the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change.

Forest fires close to the Brazilian-Bolivian border

A recent study, published in Nature Climate Change, investigated the dynamics of forest carbon in the Brazilian Amazon from 2010–2019. The authors estimated that the Brazilian Amazon experienced a cumulative gross loss of 4.45 Pg C against a gross gain of 3.78 Pg C – resulting in a net loss of 0.67 Pg C of above ground biomass over the last decade.

According to co-author Philippe Ciais, “This net loss of carbon from the Brazilian Amazon forest is equivalent to seven years of fossil carbon dioxide emissions by the UK.” Philippe Ciais is also the science leader for the Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes project, as part of ESA’s Climate Change Initiative.

He adds, “The study shows that climate spells, like the severe El Niño of 2015, which resulted in extensive drought and heat over the Amazon, switched the carbon balance of intact forests from a sink to a large source of carbon dioxide, and so can amplify global warming.”

The authors of the study used all-weather microwave data from ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, specifically vegetation optical depth dataset designed by INRAE Bordeaux, along with forest area change datasets from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and JAXA’s Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar.

Forest degradation – more important than thought

Over the past half century, terrestrial ecosystems have absorbed a third of year-on-year carbon dioxide emissions, despite emissions almost doubling over the same period. Tropical rainforests, including the Amazon, contributed significantly to this process as a particularly efficient carbon sink.

Professor Ciais points out that the study shows that human activities that ‘nibble away’ at forest carbon stocks by degradation induced by fires, logging and landscape fragmentation, contribute three times more to gross carbon loss from above ground biomass compared to deforestation.

He says, “Forest degradation is difficult to measure directly using optical satellite data because it often occurs at very small scales, for instance only the largest trees are removed by selective logging. The advantage of using the SMOS microwave data is that despite their coarse resolution, they capture the net biomass loss from all processes in a given region.”

Forest loss in the Amazon basin

According to the study authors, reducing forest degradation must be a policy priority in the Brazilian Amazon to reach the requirement of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and the carbon emission reduction commitment of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Given the importance of measuring biomass, ESA’s Climate Change Initiative has recently released a series of maps that provide a global view of above ground biomass. These maps are pertinent in helping to support forest management, emissions reduction and sustainable development policy goals.

The maps are derived from a combination of data, depending on the year, from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, Envisat’s ASAR instrument and JAXA’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS-1 and ALOS-2), along with additional information from Earth observation sources.

Looking to the future

ESA’s upcoming Biomass mission will provide crucial information about the state of our forests and how they are changing. From over 650 km above, the Biomass satellite will be able to ‘see’ through the leafy forest canopy to return information about the forest structure that can be used to calculate forest height and biomass.

Biomass mission

The mission will take forest counting to a new level by using a type of instrument that has never been flown in space before: a ‘P-band’ synthetic aperture radar – the longest radar wavelength available to Earth observation.

Information from the Biomass mission will lead to a better understanding of the state of Earth’s forests, how they are changing over time, and advance our knowledge of the carbon cycle.

For more information, visit the Biomass mission website: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Biomass

Related links:

Nature Climate Change: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01026-5

Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes: https://climate.esa.int/en/projects/reccap-2/

ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS): http://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/SMOS

Copernicus Sentinel-2: http://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-2

ESA’s Climate Change Initiative: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Space_for_our_climate/Maps_to_improve_forest_biomass_estimates

Images, Animation, Texr, Credits: ESA/Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO/ESA (data sources: CCI Biomass project and Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA).

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Lasers could push tiny craft to other stars

 

Breakthrough Starshot logo.

June 10, 2021

Australian National University researchers light up our pathway to another planetary system in major scientific breakthrough

Image above: Alpha Centauri B could become clearer to us in our lifetime thanks to a recent breakthrough by ANU researchers. Image Credit: ESO.

What lies beyond our solar system has long fascinated not just scientists but also writers and filmmakers, so murky are its depths.

And even the two probes that have made it beyond the heliosphere and into interstellar space — Voyagers 1 and 2 — did so only after decades of exploring our own planetary system.

Now, Canberra researchers say they have cracked the code to enable us to send a spacecraft even further, and at a far greater speed, to another planetary system altogether.

The spacecraft is also so small and delicate that scientists plan to send more than one in the hope that some of them will make it to Alpha Centauri, without being destroyed by an errant piece of space dust along the way.

The achievement is "very exciting" because it could enable us to record information from those planetary bodies within our lifetime — its predicted travel time is just 20 years.

Compare that to the roughly 44 years Voyager 2 spent nosing around Uranus and Neptune before continuing into the great beyond.

The study's lead author, Australian National University astrophysicist Chathura Bandutunga, said when they discovered the solution it was a kind of "eureka moment", when they worked out how many lasers, and in what formation, they would need to propel their spacecraft far enough and fast enough to reach its goal.

"We already have several crafts — Voyager included — [in interstellar space] but it will be many human lifetimes before they reach anywhere near another star," Dr Bandutunga said.

"For the Breakthrough Starshot probe to reach Alpha Centauri within one lifetime it will need to travel over 2000 times faster than our current interstellar probes."

A sail, shot with lasers

Image above: The spacecraft propulsion system that could help us access another star for the first time, using a combination of lasers and a satellite. Image Credit: Breakthrough Initiatives.

Dr Bandutunga said the whole project was "very ambitious", but one researchers were finally confident enough to share with their collaborators around the world.

"The challenge that we're really looking at is how do we use light to push the satellite along?" he said.

"And how do we get that light from a ray that's on the ground all the way to the satellite in orbit? How to do that on a grand scale that's really unheard of to date."

If their theory is correct, the lasers will be arranged in just the right combination and number to propel the sail to where it needs to go, and the next step is to test that theory within the laws of physics.

"The next step is to test the building blocks in a laboratory setting," he said.

Ideally, a spacecraft will reach Alpha Centauri, the closest star system and closest planetary system to Earth's, and record images and scientific measurements that will be broadcast back to Earth.

Scientists estimate roughly 100 million individual lasers will be needed to generate the required optical power of about 100GW.

Illustration of a laser power plant. Image Credit: Breakthrough Initiatives

Fellow author Paul Sibley said the devil was in the detail when it came to unscrambling the lasers.

"We use a random digital signal to scramble the measurements from each laser and unscramble each one separately in digital signal processing," he said.

“This allows us to pick out only the measurements we need from a vast jumble of information. We can then break the problem into small arrays and link them together in sections."

While these measurements may seem confounding to the average eye, what is clear is that scientists have never got this close before.

"This project is really about making that travel from our star to another star possible within a human lifetime," Dr Bandutunga said.

Project 'not science fiction'

University of Southern Queensland professor of astrophysics Jonti Horner described the development as a "brilliant" step forward in space exploration research.

"I think it's really fun," Dr Horner said.

"It puts an interesting spin on something people already do in astronomy.

"I think it's a beautiful illustration of how something that has been developed for one purpose can be repurposed for a totally different project.

"Instead of unscrambling the effect that the atmosphere has on light coming in, you're preemptively scrambling the light going out so that the atmosphere unscrambles it."

Dr Horner said the breakthrough was an exciting one because it was using existing technology to do something groundbreaking, where data from distant stars could be sent back within 25 years.

Breakthrough Starshot spacecraft. Image Credit: Breakthrough Initiatives

"It's a really fascinating example of where the investment of money and science leads to remarkable results," he said.

"This idea that if we could speed the spacecraft up to a quarter of the speed of light, you could get it to the nearest star within 15 or 20 years.

"It's saying this is possible, likely with technology that's not much more further advanced than what we have now, so it's not science fiction, it's near-future technology."

Related articles:

VLT to Search for Planets in Alpha Centauri System
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2017/01/vlt-to-search-for-planets-in-alpha.html

A spacecraft the size of a smartphone launched to 60'000 Km/s to Alpha Centauri
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-spacecraft-size-of-smartphone_13.html

Related link:

Breakthrough Starshot: https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: ABC News/By Niki Burnside/Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Begins Its First Science Campaign on Mars

 

NASA - Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover logo.

Jun 9, 2021

The six-wheeled scientist is heading south to explore Jezero Crater’s lakebed in search of signs of ancient microbial life.

Image above: Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z imaging system captured this 360-degree panorama at “Van Zyl Overlook,” where the rover parked during Ingenuity helicopter’s first flights. The 2.4-billion-pixel panorama consists of 992 images stitched together. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS.

On June 1, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover kicked off the science phase of its mission by leaving the “Octavia E. Butler” landing site. Until recently, the rover has been undergoing systems tests, or commissioning, and supporting the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s month of flight tests.

During the first few weeks of this first science campaign, the mission team will drive to a low-lying scenic overlook from which the rover can survey some of the oldest geologic features in Jezero Crater, and they’ll bring online the final capabilities of the rover’s auto-navigation and sampling systems.

Image above: This image looking west toward the Séítah geologic unit on Mars was taken from the height of 33 feet (10 meters) by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter during its sixth flight, on May 22, 2021. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

By the time Perseverance completed its commissioning phase on June 1, the rover had already tested its oxygen-generating MOXIE instrument and conducted the technology demonstration flights of the Ingenuity helicopter. Its cameras had taken more than 75,000 images, and its microphones had recorded the first audio soundtracks of Mars.

“We are putting the rover’s commissioning phase as well as the landing site in our rearview mirror and hitting the road,” said Jennifer Trosper, Perseverance project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Over the next several months, Perseverance will be exploring a 1.5-square-mile [4-square-kilometer] patch of crater floor. It is from this location that the first samples from another planet will be collected for return to Earth by a future mission.”

The science goals of the mission are to study the Jezero region in order to understand the geology and past habitability of the environment in the area, and to search for signs of ancient microscopic life. The team will identify and collect the most compelling rock and sediment samples, which a future mission could retrieve and bring back to Earth for more detailed study. Perseverance will also take measurements and test technologies to support future human and robotic exploration of Mars.

Perseverance Mars Rover’s Mastcam-Z View of 'Van Zyl Overlook' (360 video + audio)

Video above: NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z imaging system to capture this 360-degree panorama of “Van Zyl Overlook,” where the rover was parked as the Ingenuity helicopter performed its first flights. The 2.4 billion-pixel panorama is made up of 992 individual images stitched together. The images were taken between April 15 and 26, 2021, or the 53rd and 64th Martian days, or sols, of the mission. Video Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS.

Unique Geology

Spanning hundreds of sols (or Martian days), this first science campaign will pursue all of the mission’s science goals as the rover explores two unique geologic units in which Jezero’s deepest (and most ancient) layers of exposed bedrock and other intriguing geologic features can be found. The first unit, called “the Crater Floor Fractured Rough,” is the crater-filled floor of Jezero. The adjacent unit, named “Séítah” (meaning “amidst the sand” in the Navajo language), has its fair share of Mars bedrock but is also home to ridges, layered rocks, and sand dunes.

“To do justice to both units in the time allotted, the team came up with the Martian version of an old auto club-style map,” said JPL’s Kevin Hand, an astrobiologist and co-lead, along with Vivian Sun, of this science campaign. “We have our route planned, complete with optional turnoffs and labeled areas of interest and potential obstructions in our path.”

Most of the challenges along the way are expected to come in the form of sand dunes located within the mitten-shaped Séítah unit. To negotiate them, the rover team decided Perseverance will drive mostly either on the Crater Floor Fractured Rough or along the boundary line between it and Séítah. When the occasion calls for it, Perseverance will perform a “toe dip” into the Séítah unit, making a beeline for a specific area of interest.

The goal of the campaign is to establish what four locations in these units best tell the story of Jezero Crater’s early environment and geologic history. When the science team decides a location is just right, they will collect one or two samples.

“Starting with the Crater Floor Fractured Rough and Seitah geologic units allows us to start our exploration of Jezero at the very beginning,” said Hand. “This area was under at least 100 meters [328 feet] of water 3.8 billion years ago. We don’t know what stories the rocks and layered outcrops will tell us, but we’re excited to get started.”

The first science campaign will be complete when the rover returns to its landing site. At that point, Perseverance will have traveled between 1.6 and 3.1 miles (2.5 and 5 kilometers) and up to eight of Perseverance’s 43 sample tubes could be filled with Mars rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Next, Perseverance will travel north then west toward the location of its second science campaign: Jezero’s delta region. The delta is the fan-shaped remains of the confluence of an ancient river and a lake within Jezero Crater. The location may be especially rich in carbonates – minerals that, on Earth, can preserve fossilized signs of ancient life and can be associated with biological processes.

The start of Perseverance’s first science campaign also marks a transition on the team: On June 7, Jennifer Trosper became the mission’s new project manager. She succeeds Matt Wallace, who is moving on to become JPL’s Deputy Director for Planetary Science.

“From Sojourner to Spirit and Opportunity to Curiosity to Perseverance, Matt has played key roles in the design, construction, and operations of every Mars rover NASA has ever built,” said Trosper. “And while the project is losing a great leader and trusted friend, we know Matt will continue making great things happen for the planetary science community.”

Image above: This annotated image of Jezero Crater depicts the routes for Perseverance’s first science campaign (yellow hash marks) as well as its second (light-yellow hash marks). Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

https://nasa.gov/perseverance

Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/Karen Fox/Alana Johnson/JPL/DC Agle.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

New Dragon Science Under Way during Spacewalk Preps

 

ISS - Expedition 65 Mission patch.

June 9, 2021

Kidney cells, oral health and pharmaceuticals were the science highlights aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The Expedition 65 crew is also continuing to ramp up for a pair of spacewalks set to begin next week.

New experiments delivered Saturday aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon resupply ship are already under way on the orbiting lab. This includes the Kidney Cells-02 study that NASA Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Mark Vande Hei took turns working on today.

Image above: Astronaut Mark Vande Hei poses for a playful portrait with astronauts Shane Kimbrough (left) and Thomas Pesquet (right) who are trying on their U.S. spacesuits. Image Credit: NASA.

The duo removed the kidney study’s hardware from the Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory for placement and operations inside the Life Science Glovebox. The biotechnology experiment may provide a new understanding of how kidney diseases develop leading to new treatments impacting humans on and off the Earth.

Commander Akihiko Hoshide and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet collaborated on the new Oral Biofilms study during Wednesday morning. Hoshide started the experiment retrieving sample packs from a science freezer and reconfiguring fluid flows to the samples. Pesquet followed that up by turning off the fluid flows and stowing the samples back in a science freezer. The experiment observes how bacteria is affected by microgravity and investigates ways to counteract any potential harmful changes. Results could also have a positive influence for maintaining oral health in space and on Earth.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: ESA

Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough spent the morning setting up gear in the Microgravity Science Glovebox to explore freeze-drying as a way to preserve medicines for long periods of time. The experiment, known as Lyophilization-2, could benefit pharmaceutical and other industries on Earth.

Kimbrough and Pesquet later joined each other during the afternoon for a conference with spacewalk specialists on the ground. The duo is scheduled for two spacewalks taking place on June 16 and 20 to install a new pair of solar arrays on the station’s Port-6 truss segment.

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov stayed focused on their contingent of Russian maintenance and research today. Novitskiy worked on orbital plumbing tasks before setting up hardware to observe Earth’s nighttime airglow in the near ultra-violet wavelength. Dubrov checked on smoke detectors and ventilation systems then moved on to more space exercise research.

Related links:

Expedition 65: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition65/index.html

Kidney Cells-02: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8439

Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=1148

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

Oral Biofilms: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8160

Microgravity Science Glovebox: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=341

Space exercise research: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/human/26.html

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/Mark Garcia.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Local Lockdowns Brought Fast Global Ozone Reductions, NASA Finds

 

NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory logo.

Jun 9, 2021

When lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic cut local nitrogen oxide emissions, the effect on ozone pollution was global and unexpectedly rapid.

Image above: A new study finds that reduced fossil fuel burning due to lockdowns in American and Asian cities caused a global drop in ozone pollution. Image Credit: Pond5.

As the coronavirus pandemic slowed global commerce to a crawl in early 2020, emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) – which create ozone, a danger to human health and to climate – decreased 15% globally, with local reductions as high as 50%, according to a study led by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. As a result of the lower NOx emissions, by June 2020, global ozone levels had dropped to a level that policymakers thought would take at least 15 years to reach by conventional means, such as regulations.

The study shows that innovative technologies and other solutions intended to decrease NOx locally have the potential to rapidly improve air quality and climate globally. It published today in Science Advances.

Ozone protects us from destructive solar radiation when it’s high above Earth in the stratosphere. Closer to the ground, though, it has other lasting impacts. Ozone at the surface was estimated to cause 365,000 deaths globally in 2019 by damaging the lungs of vulnerable people, such as young children and those with asthma. Similarly, it damages the breathing systems of plants – their ability to photosynthesize – reducing plant growth and crop yields. And at the top of the troposphere, it’s a potent greenhouse gas, increasing global temperatures.

NASA Finds Local Lockdowns Brought Global Ozone Reductions

Video above: As the coronavirus pandemic slowed global commerce to a crawl in early 2020, emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) – which create ozone, a danger to human health and to climate – decreased 15% globally with local reductions as high as 50%, according to a study led by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Video Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio.

When the world went into lockdown, scientists had an unprecedented opportunity to study how human activity interacts with natural Earth system processes at regional and global scales. A team of international researchers led by JPL scientist Kazuyuki Miyazaki used this opportunity to research the two main oxides of nitrogen: nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide, collectively called NOx. They charted the chain of events from reduced fossil fuel burning during lockdowns to reduced local NOx emissions and finally to reduced global tropospheric ozone pollution. The more stringent the lockdown a nation imposed, the greater the reduction in emissions. For example, China’s stay-at-home orders in early February 2020 produced a 50% drop in NOx emissions in some cities within a few weeks; most U.S. states achieved a 25% drop later in the spring.

The total result of the reduced NOx emissions was a 2% drop in global ozone – half the amount that the most aggressive NOx emission controls considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the authoritative body of international experts on climate, were expected to produce over a 30-year period.

Ozone reductions from the reduced NOx emissions quickly spread both around the globe and from the surface upward more than 6 miles (10 kilometers). “I was really surprised at how large the impact on global ozone was,” said JPL scientist Jessica Neu, a co-author of the new study. “We expected more of a local response at the surface.”

The reactions that transform NOx into ozone require sunlight and depend on many additional factors, such as weather and what other chemicals are in the air. These factors interact in so many ways that, in some circumstances, reducing NOx emissions actually increases ozone. So researchers can’t understand or predict ozone concentrations from NOx emissions data alone. That requires a more thorough analysis, like this study.

The researchers used measurements of NOx, ozone, and other atmospheric gases from five NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) Earth-observing satellites. They fed the multiple satellite observations into four numerical models of atmospheric chemical reactions and weather, using a data analysis system developed at JPL. They found that the changes in the models’ atmospheres matched the satellite observations well and reproduced known increases and decreases in emissions as regions went into and out of lockdowns. These findings indicate that both NOx emissions and global ozone will climb again as the world economy revs back up.

“I was very happy that our analysis system was able to capture the detailed changes in emissions across the world,” said Miyazaki. “The challenging and unprecedented nature of this work is a testament to improvements in satellite monitoring in service of societal needs.” This new capability of combining multiple types of satellite observations and models is already unlocking new understanding of Earth’s atmosphere and how it is changing.

The research team also included scientists from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology in Yokohama, Nagoya University in Japan, and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in De Bilt.

Related links:

Climate: https://www.nasa.gov/subject/3127/climate

Ozone: https://www.nasa.gov/ozone

Image (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Naomi Hartono/JPL/Jane J. Lee/Ian J. O’Neill/Written by Carol Rasmussen.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Dust: An Out-of-This World Problem

 

NASA - ARTEMIS Program logo.

Jun 9, 2021

Dust is a nuisance on Earth. Thankfully, we can simply pull out a vacuum or grab a rag to rid ourselves of the concoction of dust mites, fibers, soil, pollen, and other tiny bits.

Image above: An artist rendering of an astronaut working on the lunar surface during a future Artemis mission. Image Credit: NASA.

Beyond Earth’s atmosphere, dust is insidious. On the Moon, it’s made of crushed rock and is damaging to everything from lunar landers to spacesuits and human lungs if inhaled. As NASA readies to return to the Moon with the Artemis program, a team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is working to mitigate dust’s dangers.

Houston, We Need a Vacuum

Dust mitigation has been an issue for NASA since Apollo. When astronauts were entering and exiting the lunar module, dust got everywhere – it clogged mechanisms, interfered with instruments, caused radiators to overheat and even tore up their spacesuits.

“We learned from Apollo that lunar dust can be less than 20 microns (about 0.00078 inches) in size,” said Sharon Miller, the passive dust shedding material program’s principal investigator at NASA Glenn. “The dust is very fine, abrasive and sharp, like tiny pieces of glass, making it more of a dangerous threat than just a simple nuisance.”

Fifty years later, the challenges of dust are greater for long-term exploration and sustainability on the Moon, as well as future human exploration of Mars.

Shaving Off the Rough Edges

On Earth, dirt and dust is smoothed out by erosion. Like water running over pebbles or a constant breeze blowing over a field, the particles’ rough surfaces are eroded away, making them roundish and relatively easy to deal with.

Image above: A close-up view of an astronaut's boot print in the lunar soil, photographed with a lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the Moon. Image Credit: NASA.

“There is no erosion on the Moon,” said Dr. Erica Montbach, project manager, lunar dust mitigation at Glenn. “That’s one of the things that surprised me. When I first started, I thought, ‘What’s the big deal, we deal with dust on Earth a lot.’ It’s different because there is no erosion, so those individual particles end up being very sharp and angular. It is very damaging in ways that we don’t see on Earth.”

Unlike on Earth, Moon dust isn’t packed down. Any activity on the surface can kick up buckets-full of the stuff. Also, whether it is from the equator or highlands or the dark side, Moon dust may look and behave differently. For example, the sun-facing side is constantly exposed to solar radiation. Because of that, dust on the day side has a positive electrical charge. This solar charging means it clings to everything – like static here on Earth.

Solutions to the Lunar Dust Challenge?

For NASA to conduct extended human and robotic exploration on the Moon or Mars, the agency needs a better understanding of how to mitigate the omnipresent, complex problem of dust.

In 2019, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate established the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) to coordinate cross-agency teams and spur the creation of novel technologies needed for lunar surface exploration. Dust mitigation is one of the key capability areas LSII addresses, which is looking at active and passive mitigation technologies for different exploration systems, like rovers, power systems, spacesuits, and other surface hardware exposed to dust.

As with most NASA initiatives, the agency won’t go it alone. NASA is looking for partners in industry, academia, and other organizations to help identify ways to deal with Moon dust.

“We are certainly looking to collaborate with others outside of NASA,” said Montbach. “We feel there is going to be an opening up of commercial space in the future, and we want to work with the best minds.”

The dust mitigation technology that is currently being developed will be tested on the lunar surface starting in 2023. Once it has been evaluated and the best solutions identified, NASA could use this technology on Artemis missions, and future missions to Mars.

“Studying the Moon, and eventually, Mars,” said Miller, “will give us more information about our own planet and the solar system’s formation. And when we understand our own planet better, we’ll have better ideas about how to protect it for the future.”

Related articles:

Measuring Moon Dust to Fight Air Pollution
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/05/measuring-moon-dust-to-fight-air.html

ESA seeking dust-proof materials for lunar return
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/10/esa-seeking-dust-proof-materials-for.html

The toxic side of the Moon
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-toxic-side-of-moon.html

Related links:

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

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/index.html

Moon to Mars: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars/

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Kelly Sands/Glenn Research Center/Mike Gianonne.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch