The Tarantula's cosmic web: astronomers map violent star formation in nebula outside our galaxy

 

ESO - Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) logo.

June 15, 2022

Composite infrared and radio image of 30 Doradus

Astronomers have unveiled intricate details of the star-forming region 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, using new observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). In a high-resolution image released today by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and including ALMA data, we see the nebula in a new light, with wispy gas clouds that provide insight into how massive stars shape this region.

Radio image of the 30 Doradus nebula with data from ALMA

“These fragments may be the remains of once-larger clouds that have been shredded by the enormous energy being released by young and massive stars, a process dubbed feedback,” says Tony Wong, who led the research on 30 Doradus presented today at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting and published in The Astrophysical Journal. Astronomers originally thought the gas in these areas would be too sparse and too overwhelmed by this turbulent feedback for gravity to pull it together to form new stars. But the new data also reveal much denser filaments where gravity’s role is still significant. “Our results imply that even in the presence of very strong feedback, gravity can exert a strong influence and lead to a continuation of star formation,” adds Wong, who is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.

Infrared image of 30 Doradus

Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way, the Tarantula Nebula is one of the brightest and most active star-forming regions in our galactic neighbourhood, lying about 170 000 light-years away from Earth. At its heart are some of the most massive stars known, a few with more than 150 times the mass of our Sun, making the region perfect for studying how gas clouds collapse under gravity to form new stars.

Tarantula Nebula region in the constellation of Doradus

"What makes 30 Doradus unique is that it is close enough for us to study in detail how stars are forming, and yet its properties are similar to those found in very distant galaxies, when the Universe was young,” said Guido De Marchi, a scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA) and a co-author of the paper presenting the new research. “Thanks to 30 Doradus, we can study how stars used to form 10 billion years ago when most stars were born."

While most of the previous studies of the Tarantula Nebula have focused on its centre, astronomers have long known that massive star formation is happening elsewhere too. To better understand this process, the team conducted high-resolution observations covering a large region of the nebula. Using ALMA, they measured the emission of light from carbon monoxide gas. This allowed them to map the large, cold gas clouds in the nebula that collapse to give birth to new stars — and how they change as huge amounts of energy are released by those young stars.

30 Doradus in optical to radio wavelengths

“We were expecting to find that parts of the cloud closest to the young massive stars would show the clearest signs of gravity being overwhelmed by feedback,” says Wong. “We found instead that gravity is still important in these feedback-exposed regions — at least for parts of the cloud that are sufficiently dense.”

In the image released today by ESO, we see the new ALMA data overlaid on a previous infrared image of the same region that shows bright stars and light pinkish clouds of hot gas, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). The composition shows the distinct, web-like shape of the Tarantula Nebula’s gas clouds that gave rise to its spidery name. The new ALMA data comprise the bright red-yellow streaks in the image: very cold and dense gas that could one day collapse and form stars.

Zooming-in on the Tarantula Nebula with radio wavelengths

The new research contains detailed clues about how gravity behaves in the Tarantula Nebula’s star-forming regions, but the work is far from finished. “There is still much more to do with this fantastic data set, and we are releasing it publicly to encourage other researchers to conduct new investigations,” Wong concludes.

More information:

This research is being presented at the 240th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in the press conference titled "Stars, Their Environments & Their Planets” (Wednesday, 15 June, 19:15 CEST / 10:15 PT). Reporters are welcome to watch the live stream of the press conference, which will be visible publicly on the AAS Press Office YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AASPressOffice.

The research is also presented in the paper “The 30 Doradus Molecular Cloud at 0.4 Parsec Resolution with ALMA: Physical Properties and the Boundedness of CO Emitting Structures” (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac723a) to appear in The Astrophysical Journal.

The team is composed of T. Wong (Astronomy Department, University of Illinois, USA [Illinois]), L. Oudshoorn (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, The Netherlands [Leiden]), E. Sofovich (Illinois), A. Green (Illinois), C. Shah (Illinois), R. Indebetouw (Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, USA and National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA [NRAO]), M. Meixner (SOFIA-USRA, NASA Ames Research Center, USA), A. Hacar (Department of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria), O. Nayak (Space Telescope Science Institute, USA [STSci]), K. Tokuda (Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Japan and Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan [Osaka]), A. D. Bolatto (Department of Astronomy and Joint Space Science Institute, University of Maryland, USA and NRAO Visiting Astronomer), M. Chevance (Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Germany), G. De Marchi (European Space Research and Technology Centre, Netherlands), Y. Fukui (Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Japan), A. S. Hirschauer (STSci), K. E. Jameson (CSIRO, Space and Astronomy, Australia), V. Kalari (International Gemini Observatory, NSF’s NOIRLab, Chile), V. Lebouteiller (AIM, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Diderot, France), L. W. Looney (Illinois), S. C. Madden (Departement d’Astrophysique AIM/CEA Saclay, France), Toshikazu Onishi (Osaka), J. Roman-Duval (STSci), M. Rubio (Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Chile) and A. G. G. M. Tielens (Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, USA and Leiden).

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class observatories on the ground — which astronomers use to tackle exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy — and promote international collaboration in astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organisation in 1962, today ESO is supported by 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’s headquarters and its visitor centre and planetarium, the ESO Supernova, are located close to Munich in Germany, while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a marvellous place with unique conditions to observe the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates APEX and ALMA on Chajnantor, two facilities that observe the skies in the millimetre and submillimetre range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building “the world’s biggest eye on the sky” — ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile we support our operations in the country and engage with Chilean partners and society.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

Links:

Research paper: https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2209/eso2209a.pdf

NRAO press release:
https://public.nrao.edu/news/alma-star-formation-large-magellanic-cloud-30-doradus/

Photos of ALMA: https://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/alma/

Photos of VISTA: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/surveytelescopes/

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

Other images of the Tarantula Nebula region:
https://www.eso.org/public/images/?search=Tarantula+Nebula

For journalists: subscribe to receive our releases under embargo in your language: https://www.eso.org/public/outreach/pressmedia/#epodpress_form

For scientists: got a story? Pitch your research: http://www.eso.org/sci/publications/announcements/sciann17463.html

Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA): https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/alma/

Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA): https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/surveytelescopes/vista/

Images Credits: ESO, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Wong et al., ESO/M.-R. Cioni/VISTA Magellanic Cloud survey. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Wong et al./ESO, IAU and Sky & Telescope/Videos Credits: ESO/M. Kornmesser, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Wong et al., ESO/M.-R. Cioni/VISTA Magellanic Cloud survey. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit/ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)/R. Gendler (http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/), ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Wong et al., ESO/M.-R. Cioni/VISTA Magellanic Cloud survey. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit. Music: John Dyson/Text Credits: ESO/Bárbara Ferreira/European Space Research and Technology Centre, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands/Guido De Marchi/Astronomy Department, University of Illinois/Tony Wong.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s ECOSTRESS Sees Las Vegas Streets Turn Up the Heat

 

ISS - ECOSTRESS Mission logo.

June 15, 2022

An instrument on the space station documented how built and natural surfaces responded to record heat in Las Vegas.

Image above: NASA’s ECOSTRESS instrument recorded ground temperatures around Las Vegas at 5:23 p.m. on June 10. In the city, the hottest surfaces were the dark-colored streets (red grid, center) at more than 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius). Other urban surfaces were as much as 23 F (13 C) cooler. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

On June 10, Las Vegas reached a record daily high temperature of 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), and temperatures of the ground surface itself were higher still. NASA’s Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) instrument recorded this image of surface temperatures at 5:23 p.m. that day.

Within the city, the hottest surfaces were the streets – the grid of dark red lines in the center of the image. Pavement temperatures exceeded 122 F (50 C), while the exteriors of downtown buildings were a few degrees cooler than paved surfaces. Suburban neighborhoods averaged about 14 F (8 C) cooler than pavement, and green spaces such as golf courses were 23 F (13 C) cooler.

Cities are usually warmer than open land because of human activities and the materials used for building. Streets are often the hottest part of the built environment due to asphalt paving. Dark-colored surfaces absorb more heat from the Sun than lighter-colored ones; asphalt absorbs up to 95% of solar radiation and retains the heat for hours into the nighttime. In this image, patches of dark-colored volcanic rock south of Lake Mead are also noticeably hot.

ECOSTRESS on ISS

ECOSTRESS measures the temperature of the ground, which is hotter than the air temperature during the daytime. The instrument launched to the space station in 2018. Its primary mission is to identify plants’ thresholds for water use and water stress, giving insight into their ability to adapt to a warming climate. However, ECOSTRESS is also useful for documenting other heat-related phenomena, like patterns of heat absorption and retention. Its high-resolution images, with a pixel size of about 225 feet (70 meters) by 125 feet (38 meters), are a powerful tool for understanding our environment.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and manages the ECOSTRESS mission for the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. ECOSTRESS is an Earth Venture Instrument mission; the program is managed by NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder program at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

More information about ECOSTRESS is available here: https://ecostress.jpl.nasa.gov/

Related links:

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

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

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Naomi Hartono/JPL/Jane J. Lee/Andrew Wang/Written by Carol Rasmussen.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

The Sparkle of Distant Galaxies

 

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

June 15, 2022

The brilliant cascade of stars through the middle of this image is the galaxy ESO 318-13 as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in this image from 2012. Despite being located millions of light-years from Earth, the stars captured in this image are so bright and clear one could almost attempt to count them.

ESO 318-13 is sandwiched between a vast collection of bright celestial objects. Several stars near and far dazzle in comparison to the neat dusting contained within the galaxy. One that particularly stands out is located near the center of the image, and looks like an extremely bright star located within the galaxy. This is, however, a trick of perspective. The star is located in the Milky Way, our own galaxy, and it shines so brightly because it is so much closer to us than ESO 318-13.

There are also a number of tiny glowing disks scattered throughout the frame that are more distant galaxies. In the top right corner, an elliptical galaxy can be clearly seen, a galaxy which is much larger but more distant than ESO 318-13. Peeking through ESO 318-13, near the right-hand edge of the image, is a distant spiral galaxy.

Galaxies are largely made up of empty space; the stars within them only take up a small volume, and providing a galaxy is not too dusty, it can be largely transparent to light coming from the background. This makes overlapping galaxies like these quite common.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

For more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

https://esahubble.org/

Image, Animation Credits: NASA/ESA/Hubble/Text Credits: NASA/Yvette Smith.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Has China’s FAST telescope detected alien intelligence?

 

FAST - Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope logo.

June 15, 2022

China’s FAST telescope: World’s largest radio telescope

Image above: FAST – world’s largest dish-shaped radio telescope – began a program to seek alien intelligence in 2020. This year, it detected a “suspicious” signal while observing exoplanets. Image via Ou Dongqu/Xinhua/ZUMA/Nature.

There’s chatter on Twitter this afternoon (June 14, 2022) about several new possible artificial signals detected by the 1,640-foot (500-meter) FAST radio telescope in China. The implication is that these might be signals from an alien civilization. Global Times (@globaltimesnews) – which describes itself as “China state-affiliated media” – was one source that reported the story. At this time, there’s no confirmation for the story. And Chinese scientists note that the suspicious signals might be some kind of natural radio interference. Or not.

Credit: Twitter

FAST is the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. Since 2020, it has been engaged in a program to search for alien life. According to a story published today (June 14) in the Chinese news source YiCai:

… The team discovered two groups of signals from space in 2020 when processing data observed by FAST in 2019. This year, it found another suspicious signal from observing exoplanets.

Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI on Twitter), who describes himself as a “journalist tracking China’s space program,” tweeted:

Credit: Twitter

Jones explained that he got his information from this Chinese source on Twitter. Here is the Chinese tweet (translation via Google translate):

Searching for extraterrestrial civilization, ‘China Sky Eye’ [FAST telescope] found suspicious signals.

Original Science and Technology Daily Science and Technology Daily 2022-06-14 02:44 Posted on Beijing Science and Technology Daily reporter He Xinghui.

Video above: FRB 20190520B – a repeating fast radio burst associated with a persistent radio source.

After launching the search for extraterrestrial civilizations, the ‘China Sky Eye’ [FAST] has made important progress. A few days ago, Professor Zhang Tongjie, chief scientist of the China Extraterrestrial Civilization Research Group of the Department of Astronomy and Extraterrestrial Civilization Research Group of Beijing Normal University, revealed that his team used the ‘Chinese Sky Eye’ to discover several cases of possible technological traces and extraterrestrial civilizations from outside the Earth. Candidate signal. Zhang Tongjie said that these are several narrow-band electromagnetic signals different from the past, and the team is currently working on further investigation. ‘The search for China Sky Eye is a long one, and we have been working hard.’

Note that Zhang Tongjie also said:

The possibility that the suspicious signal is some kind of radio interference is also very high, and it needs to be further confirmed or ruled out. This may be a long process.

Bottom line: There’s a report from China today (June 14, 2022) about several new possible artificial signals – presumably sign of an alien intelligence – detected by China’s FAST radio telescope.

FAST: https://fast.bao.ac.cn/

Images (mentioned), Video (SciNews), Text, Credits: EarthSky/Deborah Byrd/Paul Scott Anderson.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Cargo Ops and Multitude of Science Fill Crew’s Tuesday Schedule

 

ISS - Expedition 67 Mission patch.

June 14, 2022

Tuesday aboard the International Space Station saw the Expedition 67 crew concentrate on an array of orbital maintenance tasks and cargo operations. The septet from U.S., Russia, and Italy also had plenty of time set aside for a variety of biomedical activities, life science research, and Earth observations.

Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA and Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency) joined each other Tuesday morning for cable inspections inside four U.S. modules. The pair recorded and downlinked video while narrating the condition of the cable routing throughout the U.S. Destiny laboratory module and the Unity, Harmony, and Tranquility modules. The astronauts focused on key areas throughout the station where the cable work would need the most tidying up.

Image above: The space station with the Cygnus space freighter (left) attached orbits into a sunset 261 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Image Credit: NASA.

Lindgren then swapped samples from the Touching Surfaces antimicrobial study inside the Mochii electron microscope for analysis. Cristoforetti stowed one of the samples after its microscopic analysis then moved on to cargo work inside the Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter before its departure at the end of the month.

NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines began his day replacing components inside the Combustion Integrated Rack before inventorying medical gear stowed inside Human Research Facility supply kits. Fellow astronaut Jessica Watkins of NASA worked on orbital plumbing gear, collected her blood and urine samples for stowage, while also assisting with the Cygnus cargo packing.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: ESA

The three cosmonauts working in the station’s Russian segment focused on their complement of space research and orbital maintenance today. Commander Oleg Artemyev studied advanced Earth photography techniques before partnering with Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov on a long-running space exercise study. Korsakov also joined Flight Engineer Denis Matveev unpacking cargo recently delivered inside the Progress 81 resupply ship. Matveev started his day with atmospheric research before exploring ways international crews and mission controllers can communicate better.

Related links:

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

U.S. Destiny laboratory: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/us-destiny-laboratory

Unity module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/unity

Harmony module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/harmony

Tranquility module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/tranquility/

Touching Surfaces: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8540

Mochii electron microscope: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=7657

Combustion Integrated Rack: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=317

Human Research Facility: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=67

Advanced Earth photography techniques: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/develop/04.html

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

Atmospheric research: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/study/15.html

International crews and mission controllers: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=168

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

NASA, Partner Establish New Research Group for Mars Sample Return Program

 

NASA - Mars 2020 Sample Return Mission patch.

June 14, 2022

Sixteen scientists from the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Japan have been chosen to help future samples from the Red Planet achieve their full potential.

Image above: This illustration shows a concept for a proposed NASA Sample Retrieval Lander that would carry a small rocket (about 10 feet, or 3 meters, tall) called the Mars Ascent Vehicle to the Martian surface. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), its partner in the Mars Sample Return Program, have established a new group of researchers to maximize the scientific potential of Mars rock and sediment samples that would be returned to Earth for in-depth analysis. Called the Mars Sample Return Campaign Science Group, the 16 researchers will function as a science resource for the campaign’s project teams as well as for related Earth-based ground projects, such as sample recovery and curation.

“These 16 individuals will be the standard-bearers for Mars Sample Return science,” said Michael Meyer, Mars Exploration Program lead scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “They will build the roadmap by which science for this historic endeavor is accomplished – including establishing the processes for sample-related decision-making and designing the procedures that will allow the worldwide scientific community to become involved with these first samples from another world.”

The members of the Mars Sample Return Campaign Science Group are:

- Laura Rodriguez – NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Southern California
- Michael Thorpe – Johnson Space Center Engineering, Technology and Science at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston / Texas State University, San Marcos
- Audrey Bouvier – Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, Germany
- Andy Czaja – Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati
- Nicolas Dauphas – Origins Laboratory, the University of Chicago
- Katherine French – Central Energy Resources Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver
- Lydia Hallis – School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK
- Rachel Harris – Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Boston
- Ernst Hauber – Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center, Germany
- Suzanne Schwenzer – School of Earth, Environment and Ecosystem Sciences, the Open University, UK
- Andrew Steele – Earth and Planetary Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington
- Kimberly Tait – Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Canada
- Tomohiro Usui – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
- Jessica Vanhomwegen – Laboratory for Urgent Response to Biological Threats, Institut Pasteur, France
- Michael Veibel – Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Michigan State University
- Maria-Paz Zorzano Mier – Astrobiology Center, National Institute for Aerospace Technology, Spain

The first Mars Sample Return Campaign Science Group meeting is scheduled for June 28-29.

NASA’s Mars Sample Return Campaign promises to revolutionize humanity’s understanding of Mars by bringing scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instruments around the world. The campaign would fulfill a solar system exploration goal, a high priority since the 1970s and in the last three National Academy of Sciences Planetary Decadal Surveys.

This strategic NASA and ESA partnership would be the first mission to return samples from another planet and the first launch from the surface of another planet. The samples collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover during its exploration of an ancient lakebed are thought to present the best opportunity to reveal clues about the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for past life. By better understanding the history of Mars, we will improve our understanding of all rocky planets in the solar system, including Earth.

Learn more about the Mars Sample Return Program here: https://mars.nasa.gov/msr/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/Karen Fox/Dewayne Washington.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Crew Observes Quiet Monday, Prepares for Upcoming Cargo Operations

 

ISS - Expedition 67 Mission patch.

June 13, 2022

All seven Expedition 67 crew members are enjoying a quiet Monday on station as the four astronauts and three cosmonauts relaxed for a three-day weekend. However, science is always ongoing on the International Space Station as researchers continuously explore how to stay healthy and work effectively in microgravity.

The septet will get back to a full work day on Tuesday and spend the rest of the week maintaining space station systems and conducting an array of advanced space research, including robotics and botany. However, NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines did spend an hour-and-a-half on Monday tending to mizuna greens and radishes growing for the XROOTS space gardening study. Commander Oleg Artemyev from Roscosmos retrieved a set of nanosatellites from the Progress 81 resupply ship for assembly and future deployment.

Image above: Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is pictured inside the seven-windowed cupola while orbiting 264 miles above Kazakhstan. Image Credit: NASA.

Cargo craft operations will soon be keeping the crew busy as it plans for the departure of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter slated to leave the station’s Unity module next week. Cygnus will be completing a four-month stay at the orbital lab when the Canadarm2 robotic arm releases the resupply ship from Unity for a fiery, but safe atmospheric reentry above the Pacific Ocean.

Cygnus cargo releases by Canadarm2 robotic arm. Animation Credit: ESA

NASA and SpaceX officials met today to discuss the initial findings from additional inspections and testing of the Dragon spacecraft after teams measured elevated vapor readings of mono-methyl hydrazine (MMH) in an isolated region of the Dragon propulsion system. After offloading propellant from that region, SpaceX was able to narrow down the source of the issue to a Draco thruster valve inlet joint. Teams will now remove the specific hardware to replace it ahead of flight. NASA and SpaceX are now targeting no earlier than July 11 for launch of the CRS-25 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.

NASA TV will broadcast the Cygnus and Dragon mission events live on the agency’s app and its website after official dates and times are announced.

Related links:

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

XROOTS: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8088

Unity module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/unity

Canadarm2 robotic arm: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/mobile-servicing-system.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