Space News and Discussions

[Time_Traveller]

NASA awards contract to Northrop Grumman to build Gateway module

July 9, 2021



WASHINGTON — NASA has awarded a contract worth $935 million to Northrop Grumman to build and integrate the first habitation module for the lunar Gateway.

NASA announced July 9 it finalized a contract with Northrop Grumman to build the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module for the Gateway. That module, one of the first for the Gateway, will serve as a habitat for visiting astronauts and a command post for the lunar orbiting facility. It will have docking ports for Orion spacecraft, cargo vehicles like SpaceX’s Dragon XL and lunar landers, as well as for later modules to be added by international partners.

HALO is based on the Cygnus spacecraft that Northrop Grumman uses to transport cargo to the International Space Station, but extensively modified with docking ports, enhanced life support and other new subsystems. “By leveraging our active Cygnus production line, Northrop Grumman can uniquely provide an affordable and reliable HALO module in the time frame needed to support NASA’s Artemis program,” said Steve Krein, vice president of civil and commercial satellites at Northrop Grumman, in a company statement.

The fixed-firm-price contract covers assembly of HALO as well as integrating it with another Gateway module, the Maxar-built Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). Northrop will also be responsible under the contract for preparing the combined modules for launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, as well as activation and checkout of HALO after launch.

“This action puts in place the final contract component of a diverse, multifaceted team — distributed across the country and within some international partner facilities — working together to create and implement the initial Gateway capability,” Jon Olansen, NASA manager of the HALO project, said in an agency statement.

https://spacenews.com/nasa-awards-contr ... ay-module/

[weatheriscool]

Scientists: Methane in Enceladus Geysers Could Come From Alien Life
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/324 ... alien-life
By Ryan Whitwam on July 8, 2021 at 7:20 am

Saturn’s moon Enceladus doesn’t get as much attention as Europa, but it too has an internal liquid water ocean. It may also be more active than Europa with frequent geysers erupting from the surface. Years back, when NASA’s Cassini-Huygens probe explored the Saturnian system, scientists were fascinated to see how much methane was present in Enceladus’ geysers. At the time, it seemed feasible the methane was naturally occurring, but that’s less likely now that new research has ruled out all the known geochemical processes. That leaves biological sources—life—as a leading possibility.

Saturn is more distant than Jupiter, and thus its moons are even more frigid. However, like Jupiter, Saturn has a lot of gravity. As its moons orbit, the tug of Saturn’s gravity is so intense that it stretches the moon’s crust. This flexing heats the interior, a process known as tidal heating. Add together geological activity and a liquid ocean, and you have a perfect recipe for hydrothermal vents. Cassini-Huygens detected several compounds in the geyser plumes (including methane) associated with hydrothermal vents on Earth.

[weatheriscool]

Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic crew safely back from space, ushering in a new era
Source: Washington Post

For 20 years, Richard Branson has yearned to ride his spaceplane to the edge of space. On Sunday, he did it.

The suborbital trip gave the British billionaire, his three crewmates and two pilots a glimpse of the Earth from more than 50 miles up and a few minutes of weightlessness before the vehicle they were traveling in, SpaceShipTwo Unity, glided back to Earth and a landing on the runway at Virgin Galactic’s facility here in the New Mexico desert.

It was SpaceShipTwo’s fourth trip to the edge of space since 2018, and Virgin Galactic, the company Branson founded in 2004, says it will soon start flying paying customers regularly on similar jaunts, opening a new era in human space exploration.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolo ... qZwJMITUNc
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[raklian]

[Yuli Ban]

[weatheriscool]

Teardrop star reveals hidden supernova doom
https://phys.org/news/2021-07-teardrop- ... rnova.html
by University of Warwick

Astronomers have made the rare sighting of two stars spiraling to their doom by spotting the tell-tale signs of a teardrop-shaped star.

The tragic shape is caused by a massive nearby white dwarf distorting the star with its intense gravity, which will also be the catalyst for an eventual supernova that will consume both. Found by an international team of astronomers and astrophysicists led by the University of Warwick, it is one of only very small number of star systems that has been discovered that will one day see a white dwarf star reignite its core.

New research published by the team today in Nature Astronomy confirms that the two stars are in the early stages of a spiral that will likely end in a Type Ia supernova, a type that helps astronomers determine how fast the universe is expanding.

[weatheriscool]

Surface of Jupiter's moon Europa churned by small impacts
https://phys.org/news/2021-07-surface-j ... urned.html
by Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Jupiter's moon Europa and its global ocean may currently have conditions suitable for life. Scientists are studying processes on the icy surface as they prepare to explore.

It's easy to see the impact of space debris on our Moon, where the ancient, battered surface is covered with craters and scars. Jupiter's icy moon Europa withstands a similar trouncing—along with a punch of super-intense radiation. As the uppermost surface of the icy moon churns, material brought to the surface is zapped by high-energy electron radiation accelerated by Jupiter.

NASA-funded scientists are studying the cumulative effects of small impacts on Europa's surface as they prepare to explore the distant moon with the Europa Clipper mission and study the possibilities for a future lander mission. Europa is of particular scientific interest because its salty ocean, which lies beneath a thick layer of ice, may currently have conditions suitable for existing life. That water may even make its way into the icy crust and onto the moon's surface.

[weatheriscool]

New research suggests explosive volcanic activity on Venus

by Cornell University
https://phys.org/news/2021-07-explosive ... venus.html

Traces of the gas phosphine point to volcanic activity on Venus, according to new research from Cornell University.

Last autumn, scientists revealed that phosphine was found in trace amounts in the planet's upper atmosphere. That discovery promised the slim possibility that phosphine serves as a biological signature for the hot, toxic planet.

Now Cornell scientists say the chemical fingerprint support a different and important scientific find: a geological signature, showing evidence of explosive volcanoes on the mysterious planet.

"The phosphine is not telling us about the biology of Venus," said Jonathan Lunine, professor of physical sciences and chair of the astronomy department at Cornell. "It's telling us about the geology. Science is pointing to a planet that has active explosive volcanism today or in the very recent past."

[weatheriscool]

Startup behind 2019 crash landing moves ahead with new lunar mission
By Nick Lavars
July 13, 2021

Israeli startup SpaceIL is gearing up for a second attempt to land the first ever privately-funded spacecraft on the Moon, after securing funds for a new mission with even loftier goals. The announcement comes two years after the company's original Beresheet spacecraft crash-landed on the lunar surface, and is slated for launch in 2024.

The first Beresheet spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral in early 2019 and blazed a history-making trail into space, becoming the first private Moon mission to successfully lift off, and then the first private mission to enter the Moon's orbit. Its landing attempt in April that year ended in failure, however, crashing into the surface and leaving behind thousands of indestructible tardigrades.

https://newatlas.com/space/israel-beres ... ceil-moon/

[Time_Traveller]

We Now Have Precise Math to Describe How Black Holes Reflect The Universe

13 JULY 2021

A new set of equations can precisely describe the reflections of the Universe that appear in the warped light around a black hole.

The proximity of each reflection is dependent on the angle of observation with respect to the black hole, and the rate of the black hole's spin, according to a mathematical solution worked out by physicist Albert Sneppen of the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark.

This is really cool, absolutely, but it's not just really cool. It also potentially gives us a new tool for probing the gravitational environment around these extreme objects.

"There is something fantastically beautiful in now understanding why the images repeat themselves in such an elegant way," Sneppen said. "On top of that, it provides new opportunities to test our understanding of gravity and black holes."

If there's one thing that black holes are famous for, it's their extreme gravity. Specifically that, beyond a certain radius, the fastest achievable velocity in the Universe, that of light in a vacuum, is insufficient to achieve escape velocity.

https://www.sciencealert.com/we-now-hav ... 8Kcz5c1zFQ

[Yuli Ban]

House appropriations bill supports increase to NASA’s budget

A House appropriations subcommittee advanced a spending bill July 12 that would provide NASA with a small increase over what the administration proposed for fiscal year 2022, but does not address some key areas of concern.

The commerce, justice and science (CJS) subcommittee favorably reported a spending bill that provides $25.04 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2022. That would be 7.6% higher than what NASA received in 2021, but just 1% above the administration’s request of $24.8 billion released in May.

The biggest change in the budget is in NASA’s exploration account, which would get $7.28 billion in the bill, nearly $400 million above the request. While funding for the Orion spacecraft is kept constant, the bill increases funding for the Space Launch System, Exploration Ground Systems and Exploration Research and Development.

[Yuli Ban]

A lander on Jupiter's icy moon Europa may have to dig at least 1 foot down to find signs of life

Robots may have to dig relatively deep on Jupiter's icy moon Europa to have a shot of finding signs of life, a new study suggests.

Scientists think Europa harbors a huge ocean of liquid water beneath its icy shell. This ocean appears to be in contact with the 1,940-mile-wide (3,100 kilometers) moon's rocky core, making possible a range of complex chemical reactions. As a result, Europa is generally regarded as one of the solar system's best bets to harbor alien life.

If life has ever existed on Europa, some signs of it may bubble out of that buried ocean onto the surface, where robots could potentially spot it. Well, not right on the surface; Europa gets hammered hard by charged particles, which are trapped and accelerated by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field.

[Time_Traveller]

Astronomers discover teardrop-shaped star they predict will explode in supernova

Wednesday 14 July 2021


Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick

An international team of astronomers has discovered a teardrop-shaped star that it predicts is about to explode in a supernova.

The star's unusual shape is caused by a nearby white dwarf distorting the ball of burning gas with its intense gravity.

The pull of the white dwarf is so great that it will eventually cause the teardrop-shaped star to explode and consume both, according to the research published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Astrophysicists at the University of Warwick discovered the star system which has the unusual property of featuring a white dwarf whose core will one day be reignited.

The binary star system known by the designation HD265435, is located roughly 1,500 light years away from Earth.

https://news.sky.com/story/astronomers- ... a-12355587

[Time_Traveller]

Blue Origin donates $19 million to space nonprofits ahead of Jeff Bezos' launch

about 19 hours ago

Blue Origin raised some serious cash for space nonprofits from its recent auction of a trip to space with company founder Jeff Bezos.

Last month, the company auctioned off a seat on the first crewed flight of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle, which is scheduled to lift off from West Texas on July 20. Bezos himself will be on the flight, which is doubtless a big reason why the seat sold for such an astronomical price — $28 million.

That money went to Blue Origin's nonprofit organization Club for the Future, which is now disbursing a large chunk of it. Nineteen space nonprofits have each been awarded $1 million to help them with their work, Blue Origin announced today (July 14).

"Each of the organizations selected [has] demonstrated a commitment to promote the future of living and working in space to inspire the next generation to explore space careers," Blue Origin representatives wrote in a statement. "They enhance Club for the Future's ability to reach students, teachers, and communities, and to engage them in the excitement and adventure of innovation and space exploration."

https://www.space.com/blue-origin-donat ... nonprofits

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

Hubble is back!’ Famed space telescope has new lease on life after computer swap appears to fix glitch
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/07 ... m=Facebook
By Daniel CleryJul. 16, 2021 , 8:00 AM

The iconic but elderly Hubble Space Telescope appears to have been resurrected again after a shutdown of more than a month following a computer glitch. Science has learned that following a switch from the operating payload control computer to a backup device over the past 24 hours, Hubble’s operators have re-established communications with all the telescope’s instruments and plan to return them to normal operations today.

“Hubble is back!” Tom Brown, head of the Hubble mission office, emailed to staff at the Space Telescope Science Institute at 5:56 a.m. “I am excited to watch Hubble get back to exploring the universe.”

The problems started on 13 June when the payload computer that controls the science instruments and monitors their health spotted an error in communications with the instruments and put them into safe mode. Hubble’s operators initially thought a memory module was at fault but switching to one of three backup modules produced the same error. Various other devices were investigated and ruled out as the problem when the error persisted.

[weatheriscool]

Juno tunes into radio noise triggered by Jupiter's volcanic moon Io
https://phys.org/news/2021-07-juno-tune ... gered.html
by Bill Steigerwald, NASA

The Juno Waves instrument "listened" to the radio emissions from Jupiter's immense magnetic field to find their precise locations.

By listening to the rain of electrons flowing onto Jupiter from its intensely volcanic moon Io, researchers using NASA's Juno spacecraft have found what triggers the powerful radio emissions within the monster planet's gigantic magnetic field. The new result sheds light on the behavior of the enormous magnetic fields generated by gas-giant planets like Jupiter.

Jupiter has the largest, most powerful magnetic field of all the planets in our solar system, with a strength at its source about 20,000 times stronger than Earth's. It is buffeted by the solar wind, a stream of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields constantly blowing from the Sun. Depending on how hard the solar wind blows, Jupiter's magnetic field can extend outward as much as two million miles (3.2 million kilometers) toward the Sun and stretch more than 600 million miles (over 965 million kilometers) away from the Sun, as far as Saturn's orbit.

[wjfox]

[Yuli Ban]

You Can Now Book To Have Your Wedding In Space

Space Perspective has its оwn ‘space ballооns’ that can fly up tо eight peоple a whоpping 100,000 feet оff the grоund. Tо put that intо perspective (see what I did there?), the average cоmmercial aerоplane cruises at an altitude between 33,000 and 42,000 feet abоve sea level.

The trips being оffered last fоr six hоurs – arоund the same time it takes yоu tо fly frоm Edinburgh tо Mоscоw.

Space Perspective’s ballооns will оffer much mоre impressive views that an aerоplane, hоwever, bоasting 360-degree panоramic views оf the Earth’s surface belоw. The windоws are alsо nо-glare, Mail Оnline repоrts, making them perfect fоr taking phоtоgraphs.

As well as the picturesque views, the ballооn has nine reclining, plush seats fоr eight guests and the pilоt tо sit back and relax in, and has amenities such as a tоilet, a bar, and even WiFi. Breakfast will alsо be prоvided tо travellers оnbоard the ballооn.

[weatheriscool]

World's richest man Jeff Bezos blasts into space
https://phys.org/news/2021-07-world-ric ... lasts.html
by Issam Ahmed

Blue Origin's reusable New Shepard craft launches into space from the desert in west Texas carrying Jeff Bezos and three other crew for the vessel's first human flight.

Earth's wealthiest man Jeff Bezos spent a few minutes outside the planet's atmosphere Tuesday on Blue Origin's first crewed space mission—a breakthrough moment for the space tourism sector that after years of delays is now poised for liftoff.

The flawless 10-minute hop from a west Texas base to beyond the Karman line—the internationally recognized boundary marking the start of space—and back again to the surface for a gentle desert landing minted four new astronauts, including the oldest and youngest ever.

Bezos said afterwards that like those who had gone before him, he was "amazed and awestruck by the Earth and its beauty, but also its fragility."