NASA's Chandra Discovers Giant Black Holes on Collision Course

 

NASA - Chandra X-ray Observatory patch.

Feb 22, 2023

A new study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has tracked two pairs of supermassive black holes in dwarf galaxies on collision courses, as discussed in our latest press release (https://chandra.harvard.edu/press/23_releases/press_022223.html). This is the first evidence for such an impending encounter, providing scientists with important information about the growth of black holes in the early Universe.

By definition, dwarf galaxies contain stars with a total mass less than 3 billion Suns — or about 20 times less than the Milky Way. Astronomers have long suspected that dwarf galaxies merge, particularly in the relatively early Universe, in order to grow into the larger galaxies seen today. However, current technology cannot observe the first generation of dwarf galaxy mergers because they are extraordinarily faint at their great distances. Another tactic — looking for dwarf galaxy mergers closer by — had not been successful to date.

The new study overcame these challenges by implementing a systematic survey of deep Chandra X-ray observations and comparing them with infrared data from NASA’s Wide Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and optical data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT).

Chandra was particularly valuable for this study because material surrounding black holes can be heated up to millions of degrees, producing large amounts of X-rays. The team searched for pairs of bright X-ray sources in colliding dwarf galaxies as evidence of two black holes, and discovered two examples.

One pair is in the galaxy cluster Abell 133 located 760 million light-years from Earth, seen in the composite image on the left. Chandra X-ray data is in pink and optical data from CFHT is in blue. This pair of dwarf galaxies appears to be in the late stages of a merger, and shows a long tail caused by tidal effects from the collision. The authors of the new study have nicknamed it “Mirabilis” after an endangered species of hummingbird known for their exceptionally long tails. Only one name was chosen because the merger of two galaxies into one is almost complete. The two Chandra sources show X-rays from material around the black holes in each galaxy.

Chandra X-ray Observatory

The other pair was discovered in Abell 1758S, a galaxy cluster about 3.2 billion light-years away. The composite image from Chandra and CFHT is on the right, using the same colors as for Mirabilis. The researchers nicknamed the merging dwarf galaxies “Elstir” and “Vinteuil,” after fictional artists from Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time". Vinteuil is the galaxy on the top and Elstir is the galaxy on the bottom. Both have Chandra sources associated with them, again from X-rays from material around the black holes in each galaxy. The researchers think these two have been caught in the early stages of a merger, causing a bridge of stars and gas to connect the two colliding galaxies from their gravitational interaction.

The details of merging black holes and dwarf galaxies may provide insight to our Milky Way’s own past. Scientists think nearly all galaxies began as dwarf or other types of small galaxies and grew over billions of years through mergers. Follow-up observations of these two systems will allow astronomers to study processes that are crucial for understanding galaxies and their black holes in the earliest stages of the Universe.

A paper describing these results is being published in the latest issue of The Astrophysical Journal and is available below (Related link). The authors of the study are Marko Micic, Olivia Holmes, Brenna Wells, and Jimmy Irwin, all from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/chandra

Related link:

The Astrophysical Journal: https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.04609

Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Alabama/M. Micic et al.; Optical: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Animation Credits: NASA/CXC/Text Credits: NASA/Lee Mohon.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Secrets of Earth’s inner core revealed by large quakes

 

Natural Disasters logo.

Feb 22, 2023

Seismic waves travel differently through innermost core than through outer section.

Image above: Seismic waves have helped researchers to learn about the layers that comprise Earth’s solid centre. Image Credits: Maksym Yemelyanov/Alamy.

The reverberations from earthquakes as they bounce back and forth through the centre of Earth have revealed new details about the structure of the planet’s inner core, according to a study published in Nature Communications this week (1).

For several decades, evidence has been mounting to suggest that the planet’s solid inner core is made up of distinct layers (2,3) but their properties have remained mysterious.

To better understand the inner core’s structure, researchers used multiple seismometers to examine how seismic waves are distorted as they pass through the solid ball of iron nickel at Earth’s heart. “Earth oscillates like a bell after a large earthquake, and not just for hours, but days,” says co-author Hrvoje Tkalčić, a geophysicist at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.

To detect these oscillations, researchers recorded the waveforms at close to the original site of the earthquake and at the antipode —the direct opposite position on the surface of Earth. This enabled them to look at the multiple journeys through Earth’s centre. “It’s like a ping-pong ball that’s bouncing back and forth,” says co-author Thanh-Son Pham, a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian National University. Each reverberation takes around twenty minutes to cross from one side of the planet to the other, and the seismometers recorded up to five bounces from a single event.

Stacked measurements

The original earthquakes each reached a magnitude of greater than six, but the waves got progressively weaker as they passed through Earth’s core. The researchers used a technique called ‘stacking’, in which they combined the waveforms from a single event to build a more detailed picture of the distortion from the innermost core.

They found that the waves travelled differently through the innermost inner core — which they estimate to be around 650 kilometres thick — than through the outer part. Waves passing through the innermost part of the core slowed down in one direction, whereas waves passing through the outer layer slowed down in another direction. “It simply means that the iron crystals — iron, which is dominant in the inner core — is probably organized in a different way than in the outer shell of the inner core,” Tkalčić says.

Geophysicist Vernon Cormier at the University of Connecticut in Storrs says that the study is important because it offers a measurement of Earth’s innermost section that was very difficult to achieve. “It requires finding seismic waves recorded at very long distance and that are fairly weak in amplitude, and then enhancing the amplitude so that you could measure the wave speed in the very deep interior of the Earth,” says Cormier.

Although the technique is routinely used for minerals exploration, it is not commonly used in geophysics.

The latest finding will help in understanding how Earth’s solid inner core formed — a process that is thought to have started somewhere between 600 million and 1.5 billion years ago — and what role that might have had in shaping the magnetic field.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00496-1

References:

1. Pham, T.-S. & Tkalčić, H. Nature Commun. 14, 754 (2023).
https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41467-023-36074-2

2. Stephenson, J., Tkalčić, H. & Sambridge, M. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 126, e2020JB020545 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1029%2F2020JB020545

3. Frost, D. A. & Romanowicz, B. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 286, 101–110 (2019).
https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.pepi.2018.11.006

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: Nature/Bianca Nogrady.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Muscle Research, BEAM Work Ahead of Crew Ship Launches

 

ISS - Expedition 68 Mission patch.

Feb 21. 2023

The Expedition 68 crew members began the week exploring what microgravity is doing to their bodies and ways to offset those effects. The International Space Station’s residents also inspected BEAM as a pair of crew ships prepare to blast off to the orbital outpost.

Flight Engineers Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) kicked off Monday with muscle scans in the Kibo laboratory module. The pair took turns marking each other’s back, neck, leg, and arm muscles and measuring their biochemical properties. They used both the Myotones device and an Ultrasound scanner to study microgravity’s effect on muscle tone, elasticity, and stiffness. The human research study may inform advanced treatments for muscle conditions on Earth and in space.

Image above: The waning gibbous Moon is pictured above Earth’s horizon as the space station orbited above the Pacific Ocean. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada spent their Monday partnering on a variety of maintenance activities. Rubio opened up BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, and entered it performing inspections and organizing cargo inside the seven-year-old module. Cassada also worked inside BEAM collecting atmospheric and surface microbe samples for incubating and analysis.

In the Roscosmos segment of the orbiting lab, cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Anna Kikina tested the lower body negative pressure suit. Doctors are exploring the suit’s ability to counteract the upward flow of body fluids causing head and eye pressure in crew members. Prokopyev also had time for cardiac research before checking the performance of a 3-D printer. Kikina spent the rest of her day on life support maintenance. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin assisted Prokopyev with the cardiac study then collected samples from a science freezer and serviced them for a space biology study.

Two crew ships are poised to launch to the orbiting lab before the end of the month. Teams are assessing the launch date of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, which will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will dock automatically to the Poisk module. The MS-23 will arrive uncrewed but will return home crewmates Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin on a future date.

Image above: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon Endurance spacecraft atop, lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Oct. 5, 2022, on the agency’s SpaceX Crew-5 launch. Inside Endurance are NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, commander; Josh Cassada, pilot; and Mission Specialists Koichi Wakata, of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina. The crew is heading to the International Space Station for a science expedition mission as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff occurred at noon EDT. Image Credits: Kim Shiflett.

The SpaceX Crew-6 mission is targeted to launch on Sunday at 2:07 a.m. from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dragon Endeavour will carry Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg along with Mission Specialists Sultan Alneyadi and Andrey Fedyaev to the station where they will dock to the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Monday at 2:54 a.m. beginning a six-month space research mission. Bowen and Hoburg are both NASA astronauts and Alneyadi is an astronaut representing the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and Fedyaev is a cosmonaut representing Roscosmos.

Crew-6 Flight Crew Touches Down in Florida

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 flight crew has reported to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to start final preparations for their mission to the International Space Station.

Image above: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 crewmates are pictured in front of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft during a crew equipment integration test at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, last month. From left, in their pressure suits, are: Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Warren “Woody” Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi. Photo Credit: SpaceX.

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev arrived at Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility at approximately 12:20 p.m. today, Feb. 21, after departing Ellington Field near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The international crew will fly aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, which previously flew NASA’s Crew-1, Inspiration4, and Axiom Mission-1 astronauts. Liftoff is targeted for 2:07 a.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 26 – from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.

Related information by NASA:

NASA Sets Coverage for Agency’s SpaceX Crew-6 Events, Launch
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-agency-s-spacex-crew-6-events-launch

Related article:

The ISS orbit was raised before landing of the Soyuz MS-22 unmanned spacecraft
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-iss-orbit-was-raised-before-landing.html

Related links:

Commercial Crew Program: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html

Expedition 68: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition68/index.html

Kibo laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/japan-kibo-laboratory

Myotones device: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7573

BEAM: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/bigelow-expandable-activity-module.html

Lower body negative pressure suit: https://blogs.nasa.gov/ISS_Science_Blog/2015/06/02/rubber-vacuum-pants-that-suck/

Poisk module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/poisk-mini-research-module-2

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

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

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA Mars orbiter reveals China’s Zhurong rover has not moved for months

 

NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) patch.

Feb 21, 2023

Images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that China’s Zhurong rover remains stationary on the Red Planet as China remains silent on the status of its spacecraft.

Image above: A cutout of three images acquired in 2022 and 2023 by MRO/HiRISE showing China's Zhurong rover as a dark and bluish feature. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured images of the rover on March 11, 2022, a second on Sept. 8, 2022 and finally Feb. 7, 2023. The images were published Feb. 21 by the HiRISE Operations Center

The images show that the solar-powered Zhurong—which landed in May 2021—has not moved since at least September 2022. It had entered a planned hibernation state in May 2022 to ride out the low solar radiation levels of winter in Mars’s Utopia Planitia region.

Zhurong was expected to autonomously resume activities around December, around the time of Spring solstice in the northern hemisphere, when temperatures and light levels reached levels allowing the rover’s battery and solar arrays to generate sufficient electrical power.

However Chinese space authorities have not provided an update on the status of the rover. The South China Morning Post reported Jan. 7, citing sources that do not wish to be named, that the mission team was yet to receive a signal from Zhurong.

The progression of the HiRISE images suggest that Zhurong may have accumulated a covering of Martian dust on its surface. This could impact the function of both its solar arrays and the pair of “windows” which allow a chemical called n-undecane to store heat energy during the day and release it during the night.

Image above: China’s Zhurong images its own parachute from a distance of 30 meters, July 12, 2021. Image Credits: CNSA/PEC.

Zhurong does not carry a radioisotope heater unit—which are used by the country’s Yutu lunar rovers—instead using systems including n-undecane for heating and a coating of aerogel for insulation.

NASA’s Spirit rover in 2005 fortuitously encountered a dust devil that cleaned the solar panels of the spacecraft, improving its power generation. Such phenomena, along with improving solar radiation levels as summer approaches in the northern hemisphere, mean there could still be some hope of Zhurong reactivating.

MRO/HiRISE has previously imaged Zhurong on the surface, showing its landing area and shown tracks matching those of Chinese Zhurong drive maps.

Zhurong is part of the successful Tianwen-1 mission which launched in July 2020 as China’s first independent interplanetary exploration expedition. The mission put the Tianwen-1 spacecraft in orbit around Mars and later saw Zhurong land in Utopia Planitia after a campaign to image and assess the target landing area.

Video above: Here's quite a amazing video of Tianwen-1 passing Mars as it enters orbit. Video Credits: CNSA/PEC.

Tianwen-1 saw China join the U.S., Soviet Union/Russia, the European Space Agency, India and the United Arab Emirates in successfully putting a spacecraft into orbit around Mars. The Zhurong rover made China the second country to successfully operate a rover on the Red Planet.

Zhurong had a primary mission lifetime of three Earth months but operated for just over one Earth year on the Martian surface before entering hibernation. It traveled at least 1,921 meters south from its landing site.

It had achieved its primary science objectives and was seeking out geomorphologic targets such as mud volcanoes during its extended mission.

Meanwhile the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which entered orbit around Mars two years ago Feb. 10, was operating well as of Jan. 10 according to the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), having also completed its primary science objectives.

Chinese state media published articles to mark the anniversary of the orbital insertion but did not touch on the current status of Zhurong. Tianwen-1 is expected to conduct aerobraking tests as part of preparation for a Mars sample return mission potentially launching later this decade.

Related articles:

China silent on fate of Zhurong Mars rover on 2nd anniversary of Tianwen-1 mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/china-silent-on-fate-of-zhurong-mars.html

What’s happened to China’s first Mars rover?
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/01/whats-happened-to-chinas-first-mars.html

China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter and rover appear to be in trouble
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/01/chinas-tianwen-1-mars-orbiter-and-rover.html

Related links:

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO): https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/

China National Space Administration (CNSA): http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/

Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/SpaceNews/Andrew Jones.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Preliminary conclusions: damage to the spacecraft "Progress MS-21" caused by external influence

 

ROSCOSMOS logo.

Feb 21, 2023

The State Commission continues to analyze emergency situations with the Soyuz MS-22 manned spacecraft and Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft that occurred on the International Space Station. The Soyuz MS-23 unmanned spacecraft will be launched to the station on February 24.

Survey of the outer surface of the Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft

After undocking from the ISS on February 18, a detailed photo and video survey of the Progress MS-21 spacecraft was carried out.

According to preliminary data from the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia named after S.P. Korolev (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation), Progress MS-21, like Soyuz MS-22 before, was subjected to external influence. Such conclusions are made on the basis of photographs that show changes on the outer surface of the ship, including on the radiator of the instrument-aggregate compartment and solar panels. Holes were found on them that were not fixed either during the manufacture of Progress MS-21 at the plant, or during its preparation for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, or during the flight and docking of the spacecraft with the ISS.

In addition, in order to exclude the version of a manufacturing defect, RSC Energia analyzed the history of comments on the thermal control system of the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft over the past 15 years.

“Remarks that could lead to such an emergency situation were not identified. The reliability reserve of the thermal control system is one year from the date of launch of the ship, so the system is guaranteed to be reliable in the design conditions of its operation,” follows from the report of the enterprise.

Image above: Photographs that show changes on the outer surface of the Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft.

Experts continue to analyze the information received. It is also planned to conduct a series of ground experiments to simulate damage similar to what was detected on the Progress MS-21. This will help to finally check all versions and develop measures to counter such threats in the development and production of spacecraft and vehicles.

The information received allowed the state commission to decide on the possibility of an unmanned launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft on February 24 and its docking to the ISS on February 26. This ship is designed to replace the emergency Soyuz MS-22, the regular return to Earth of the crew consisting of Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopiev, Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, as well as their urgent descent in case of an emergency.

Related articles:

Uncrewed Progress Spacecraft Deorbit Burn Complete
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/uncrewed-progress-spacecraft-deorbit.html

About the investigation with the Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft (82P)
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/about-investigation-with-progress-ms-21.html

Progress Resupply Undocks From Station, Ends Cargo Mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/progress-resupply-undocks-from-station.html

Roscosmos Reviews Soyuz, Progress Vehicle; Science and Cargo Ops Keep Crew Busy
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/roscosmos-reviews-soyuz-progress.html

On inspection by the manipulator of the Progress MS-21 cargo ship on the ISS
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/on-inspection-by-manipulator-of.html

Update on the work of the commission on the situation of the Progress MS-21 spacecraft on the ISS
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/update-on-work-of-commission-on.html

International Space Station Operations Update of Progress 82, Crew Continues Normal Activities
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/international-space-station-operations.html

Sergey Krikalev on the situation with the Progress MS-21 (82P) spacecraft on the ISS
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/sergey-krikalev-on-situation-with.html

ISS - Depressurization in the Progress MS-21 (82P) cargo spacecraft
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/iss-depressurization-in-progress-ms-21.html

Related links:

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/38975/

RKK Energia: https://www.energia.ru/english/

Soyuz MS-22: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/sojuz-ms-22/

Soyuz MS-23: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/sojuz-ms-23/

Progress MS-21: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/progress-ms-21/

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/mks/

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

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA to Launch Israel’s First Space Telescope

 

 

ISA - Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite (ULTRASAT) logo.

Feb 21, 2023

NASA will launch Israel’s first space telescope mission, the Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite (ULTRASAT). ULTRASAT, an ultraviolet observatory with a large field of view, will investigate the secrets of short-duration events in the universe, such as supernova explosions and mergers of neutron stars.

Animation above: This time-lapse video of snapshots from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows the fading light of a supernova called SN 2018gv. ULTRASAT will observe not only the late fading but also the early brightening of such cosmic explosions. Animation Credits: NASA, ESA, and A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team; acknowledgment: M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble).

Led by the Israel Space Agency and Weizmann Institute of Science, ULTRASAT is planned for launch into geostationary orbit around Earth in early 2026. In addition to providing the launch service, NASA will also participate in the mission’s science program.

“We are proud to join this partnership, an international effort that will help us better understand the mysteries of the hot, transient universe,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “ULTRASAT will give the global science community another important capability for making new observations in the nascent field of time domain and multimessenger astrophysics programs.”

ULTRASAT’s wide field of view will allow it to quickly discover and capture ultraviolet light from sources in the cosmos that change on short timescales. Researchers will combine ULTRASAT’s observations of these short-term events with information from a variety of other missions, including those studying gravitational waves and particles – a field known as time domain and multimessenger astronomy. The results will shed light on the workings of everything from black holes and gravitational wave sources to supernovae and active galaxies.

Image above: An illustration of the ULTRASAT satellite. Image Credit: Weizmann Institute.

"Groundbreaking science calls for cutting-edge technology,” said Uri Oron, director of the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology. “Our requirements from ULTRASAT, such as a wide field of view, advanced ultraviolet sensitivity, and real-time data control and transfer are at the forefront of technological developments. Israel’s space industry can deliver these capabilities. The Israel Space Agency is proud of the cooperation with NASA as a direct example of the strong partnership between the agencies, and of the Israeli space industry's technological effort involved in the development of the telescope."

“This is a breakthrough project that places Israel at the forefront of global research,” said Eli Waxman, astrophysicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and ULTRASAT’s head researcher. “Leading international bodies such as NASA and the DESY research institute have joined this Israeli-led project as partners, having recognized its scientific significance. They are investing considerable resources in the construction and launch of the satellite to become active participants in this mission with access to its scientific products. It’s a science-driven partnership.”

Through the agreement between NASA and the Israel Space Agency, NASA will provide the launch opportunity, Flight Payload Adapter, and other launch-related responsibilities for ULTRASAT. The Israel Space Agency will deliver the completed observatory to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch.

Related links:

Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite (ULTRASAT): https://www.weizmann.ac.il/ultrasat/

To learn more about NASA programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/

Animation (mentioned), Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Alise Fisher.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

The ISS orbit was raised before landing of the Soyuz MS-22 unmanned spacecraft

 

 

ROSCOSMOS - Russian Vehicles patch.

Feb 20, 2023

Today, the orbit of the International Space Station has been adjusted to ensure the landing of the unmanned spacecraft Soyuz MS-22.

The engines of the Progress MS-22 cargo spacecraft docked to the Russian service module Zvezda of the ISS were turned on at 07:20 Moscow time. They worked for 958 seconds and gave an impulse of 1.8 m/s.

ISS reboost by Progress cargo spacecraft docked at Zvezda service module. Image Credit: NASA

According to preliminary data, after the maneuver, the average height of the station's orbit increased by 3.2 km and amounted to 418.9 km.

For the entire duration of the ISS flight, 333 corrections of its orbital altitude were carried out, including 182 with the help of Progress spacecraft engines.

Landing of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft in unmanned mode is planned for March 2023 southeast of the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan.

ISS reboost. Video Credit: ESA

Currently, the crew of the 68th long-term expedition is working on board the ISS, consisting of cosmonauts of the State Corporation Roscosmos Sergey Prokopiev, Dmitry Petelin and Anna Kikina, NASA astronauts Francisco Rubio, Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, as well as JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata.

Related links:

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/38943/

Progress MS-22: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/progress-ms-22/

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/mks/

Image (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch