Space transport roundup – Feb.15.2019

Feb15
by TopSpacer on February 15, 2019 at 12:33 pm
Posted In: Rockets, Space Systems

A sampling of recent items related to traveling to and through space:

** LEO Aerospace is a young launch company started by Purdue engineering students. They recently did a test of their balloon launch architecture: Successful launch of rocket from high-altitude balloon makes space more accessible to microsatellites – Purdue University News

A startup that plans to use high-altitude balloons to deploy rockets has successfully fired a test launch, moving closer to its goal of helping end the backlog of microsatellites that wait months or longer to “hitch” a ride on larger rockets.

Leo Aerospace Inc., a Purdue University-affiliated startup based in Los Angeles, launched its first “rockoon,” a high-power rocket from a reusable balloon platform, from the Mojave Desert in southern California in December. …

“It was thrilling to see that first launch after all those months of hard work and planning,” said Michael Hepfer, head of product development for Leo Aerospace and a senior in Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering. “It confirmed our early testing that using high-altitude balloons and rockets to send microsatellites into space will work.”

Leo Aerospace aims to revolutionize access to space for those looking to launch small satellites about the size of toasters, weighing up to 25 kilograms, or about 55 pounds. It plans to be a “dedicated” launch for microsatellites, serving one customer at a time.

** Firefly Aerospace, a Texas-based company developing smallsat launch systems, has an unusual history: After a remarkable resurrection, Firefly may reach space in 2019 | Ars Technica

Polyakov had the resources to bring Firefly back and fund the company through its first two launches. Although neither he nor Markusic would specify the amount of the investment, it is likely on the order of $75 to $100 million. This infusion of cash removed the fundraising burden from Markusic’s shoulders, as well as the mental stress of uncertainty, allowing him to focus on technical problems.

As well as money, Polyakov also brought a businessman’s mentality to the company and a broader sense of the rapidly changing aerospace industry. In the United States, China, and elsewhere around the world, dozens of firms are developing new, lower-cost rockets to launch small- and medium-sized satellites.
…

The end result is a 29-meter-tall rocket with four first-stage Reaver engines and one upper-stage Lightning engine, both fueled with kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen. The new Alpha can lift as much as 1 ton to orbit, which is relatively unusual in the commercial market at its price point of $15 million—a price per kilogram of $15,000.

Future competitors in this range will include Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket and ABL Space Systems’ RS1 vehicle. So the game now is to build a safe rocket and bring it to market quickly. In the end, Markusic accepted Polyakov’s changes, both because it was the only way to save Firefly and because he’d gone through enough failure to see the big picture.

** Relativity Space aims to build most all of a rocket with big 3D print systems. The company recently hired some space industry heavyweights:

No press releases from the company but they did post these tweets:

And here is an article about the company’s 3D printing systems: 3D-Printed Rocket Maker Gets Its Own Launch Site > ENGINEERING.com

Relativity is building its rockets this way for two reasons. First, it keeps costs relatively low. Since the printer can make complex parts in just one piece, Relativity will be able to create rockets with 100 times fewer parts. For example, the Terran 1’s engine injector and chamber are made of just three 3D-printed parts rather than the nearly 3,000 parts needed by conventional rocket assembly processes. And the team can quickly adjust the design as needed through software. In addition, by simplifying the manufacturing process, Relativity can build a rocket much faster—the company aims to do so in as little as 60 days.

Second—and this is a long-term objective—3D printing rockets could allow Relativity to take its manufacturing process to Mars, where it could set up a rocket factory on site. Once it perfects its printing process on Earth, the company hopes to reduce the size of its printers and ship them to Mars to see if they can print rockets with the raw materials on the red planet. If it works, it provides a way to get materials, and astronauts, back home to Earth.

** PLD Space of Spain is developing smallsat launch system that will have a reusable first stage. Here is a new video showing preparations for an engine test campaign:

Preparing MIURA 1 engine for its first flight. This video shows the preparations before starting the largest liquid rocket engine test campaign that PLD Space has prepared. Our goal is to qualify MIURA 1 engine, called TEPREL-B for its first flight into space.

** Blue Origin continues with testing of the big BE-4 methane fueled engine, which will power Blue’s New Glenn rocket as well as United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan –

** Stratolaunch recently terminated plans to develop its own rockets but work continues on development of the world’s largest aircraft, which was designed as a high altitude launch platform for rocket powered vehicles to go to orbit: FAA certificate offers new details on Stratolaunch’s plans for test flights of world’s largest aircraft – GeekWire

The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the world’s largest airplane for takeoff — but it’s not yet clear exactly when Stratolaunch, the aerospace venture founded by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, will put the plane in the air.

Stratolaunch’s unique aircraft, code-named Roc, measures 385 feet from wingtip to wingtip, longer than three Boeing 737s lined up end to end. The company hopes to win full FAA certification for the Roc and use it for airborne rocket launches as soon as next year.

So far, the only remaining task for the aircraft is to launch Northrop-Grumman’s Pegasus rockets.

** Spaceflight arranges launch transportation for spacecraft, often as secondary payloads on a big rocket with a big satellite as the primary payload. The company hopes this month to see customer payloads go beyond low earth orbit for the first time. The spacecraft will travel as secondaries on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of a communications satellite going to geostationary orbit:

From the Spaceflight PR:

Spaceflight, the leading satellite rideshare and mission management provider, today announced it will launch two payloads on its first rideshare mission to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The mission is scheduled for no earlier than mid-February 2019 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launching from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The primary payload on the mission is a telecommunications satellite for the South East Asia region. It was built by SSL, a Maxar Technologies company, which also procured the launch vehicle. Spaceflight will manage the launch of the two secondary payloads, Israeli non-profit SpaceIL’s lunar lander, and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab’s (AFRL) experimental small satellite, S5.

** SpaceX:

*** Launch schedule: The Falcon 9 launch mentioned above with the two rideshare payloads from Spaceflight is currently set for Feb.21st from Cape Canaveral at 8:45 p.m. EST (or 0145 GMT on 22nd).

And the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket Crew Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight is set for March 2nd at 2:48 a.m. EST (0748 GMT) from Pad 37A at Cape Kennedy Space Center.

The second Falcon Heavy launch is also planned for March but no specific day has been announced yet.

*** More photos posted of activities at the Boca Chica launch facility:

*** Ship for catching nosecone fairings has arrived at Cape Canaveral Port after its long voyage from the West Coast:

*** The Boca Chica site will not be split by a border wall: Texas butterfly sanctuary protected from border barrier, says shutdown deal | The Texas Tribune.

*** Another video analysis of why SpaceX switch the Super Heavy Booster/StarShip structure design from composites to stainless steel:

*** SpaceX protests NASA’s decision to use a ULA Atlas V rocket for a science payload rather than the Falcon 9:

** More space transport items:

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Check out the Best Selling Electronics at Amazon

Cygnus cargo ship deploys CubeSats for NanoRacks

Feb14
by TopSpacer on February 14, 2019 at 12:54 pm
Posted In: Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Following its departure from the ISS last week, a Northrop-Grumman Cygnus cargo vessel has deployed three CubeSats, including MySat-1, which was built by students in the UAE, and KickSat-2, which originated with a Cornell university program led by Zac Manchester and involved a Kickstarter campaign with contributors assigned to one of hundred tiny “Sprite” chipsats to be released from the “mothership”.

NanoRacks arranged for the deployments and has posted the following release about the program:

NanoRacks Completes Sixth CubeSat Deployment
from Cygnus Spacecraft, Continues Historic Program

February 14, 2019 – Dulles, Virginia – Last night, NanoRacks successfully completed the Company’s sixth CubeSat deployment mission from Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft. Cygnus (S.S. John Young) departed the International Space Station on February 8th, 2019 and performed a number of on-orbit activities, including yet another historic NanoRacks deployment.

Cygnus maneuvered to a higher-than-Space Station altitude (445 kilometers) where the NanoRacks External Cygnus Deployment mission released two of the three CubeSats on board into orbit, MySat-1 and the second CHEFSat satellite. The spacecraft then lowered to an altitude of 300 kilometers to deploy KickSat-2.

The deployment of MySat-1 marks an additional historic moment for NanoRacks, being the first payload that NanoRacks has launched and deployed from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). MySat-1 is a joint program from Yahsat, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, and Northrop Grumman, and is the first satellite built at the Yahsat Space Lab in Masdar City, and among the first to be developed by local students.

“We could not be more excited about all of the activity happening in the space industry in the UAE,” says NanoRacks Vice President of Business Development and Strategy, Allen Herbert. “We have a number of groundbreaking programs in the works, and the MySat-1 deployment is the perfect way to kick start NanoRacks activities in the region.”

KickSat-2 was selected for flight by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) and was launched as the sole CubeSat in the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites-16 (ELaNa-16) mission complement, sponsored by the NASA Launch Services Program (LSP).

KickSat-2 was deployed well below the International Space Station altitude due to the satellite sub-deploying smaller “ChipSats,” a prototype representing a disruptive new space technology. These ChipSats, also known as “Sprites,” are tiny spacecraft that include power, sensors, and communication systems on a printed circuit board measuring 3.5 by 3.5 centimeters, with a thickness of just a few millimeters and a mass of just a few grams. The ChipSats are expected to be in orbit for merely a few days before burning up.

“This entire mission is a testament to the flight safety teams in-house at NanoRacks and at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and the flight operations team at Northrop Grumman,” says NanoRacks External Payloads Manager, Henry Martin. “We were able to shepherd some extremely challenging payloads through the NASA system on a timeline that met the needs of our customers. This required a lot of teams working very closely together, and we’re proud to have yet another successful mission that demonstrates the extended use of cargo vehicles.”

The NanoRacks External Cygnus Program is the first program to have leveraged a commercial resupply vehicle for use beyond the primary cargo delivery to Space Station, demonstrating the future possibilities for using cargo vehicles for the NanoRacks Space Outpost Program and other commercial space station activities. With successful completion of this mission, NanoRacks has deployed 35 satellites from the Cygnus into multiple orbits.

“Thank you again to the teams at NASA and Northrop Grumman for allowing our creativity in orbit to grow with our customers’ dreams,” continues Martin.

To date, NanoRacks has deployed 231 satellites into low-Earth orbit.

For additional updates, follow @NanoRacks on Twitter.

For NanoRacks media inquiries, please email Abby Dickes, adickes@nanoracks.com.

About NanoRacks: NanoRacks LLC, an XO Markets company, is the world’s leading commercial space station company. NanoRacks believes commercial space utilization will enable innovation through in-space manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, fiber optics – and more, allow for transformational Earth observation, and make space a key player in finding the solution to Earth’s problems.

Today, the company offers low-cost, high-quality solutions to the most pressing needs for satellite deployment, basic and educational research, and more –in over 30 nations worldwide. Since 2009, Texas-based NanoRacks has truly created new markets and ushered in a new era of in-space-services, dedicated to making space just another place to do business.

In 2017, the Company announced their long-term plans via the NanoRacks Space Outpost Program. This program is dedicated to the repurposing of the upper stages of launch vehicles in-space and converting these structures into commercial habitats, both humanly and robotically tended, throughout the solar system.

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Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past

Space policy roundup – Feb.14.2019

Feb14
by TopSpacer on February 14, 2019 at 12:20 pm
Posted In: Space Policy

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

Space Webcasts:

** The Space Show – Sun, 02/10/2019 – Dr. Beth O’Leary and Lisa Westwood discussed preservation of “space historical sites in space, on the Moon, on Earth and throughout the solar system”.

** Episode T+110: Starship, New Glenn, and RS1 Updates – Main Engine Cut Off

** Panel Discussion: Innovation and Policies Redefining Location Market:

** Weekly Space Hangout: Feb 13, 2019 – Luciano Iess of the Cassini Radio Science Team – Universe Today

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Galaxy Girls: 50 Amazing Stories of Women in Space.

Conference announcement – “SSI 50: The Space Settlement Enterprise”

Feb14
by TopSpacer on February 14, 2019 at 11:33 am
Posted In: Activism, Events, Space Settlement

Here is an announcement from the Space Studies Institute on their conference this summer (see also the recent announcement for the Space Access Society‘s upcoming meeting):

SSI 50: The Space Settlement Enterprise

(Seattle, WA) The Space Studies Institute (SSI) is pleased to announce the date and location for its 2019 conference. Make your plans now to attend SSI 50: The Space Settlement Enterprise July 15 and 16 at the renowned Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Tickets are on sale now at https://ssi50.eventbrite.com, Super Early Bird tickets are already sold out, but a limited number of discount Early Bird tickets are still available.

“This year marks the 50th anniversary of Professor Gerard O’Neill’s High Frontier concept and the start of a new era for the Space Studies Institute,” said SSI senior researcher and conference chairman Edward Wright. “We’re about to embark on a multi-year effort to update the High Frontier vision, incorporating new technology, new knowledge of the solar system, and new commercial space ventures.”

The conference dates were chosen to coincide with another historic anniversary. The Apollo 11 lunar mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969, Conference attendees will be able to view museum exhibits including the Apollo 11 command module and other historic artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian Institution.

“The Space Settlement Enterprise is not about the past, however,” Wright said. “This will be a working conference where some of the space industry’s top thinkers put their minds together to help identify the technological and economic obstacles to space settlement”

Panel discussions will cover six major areas:

Habitat Design: What do we want to build?
Construction: How do we build it?
Resources: Where and how do we get the materials?
Transport: How do we get there?
Life in Space: How do we survive there?
Economics: How do we pay for it?

The conference is structured to allow plenty of time for questions and audience interaction,

“The questions developed at this conference will inform SSI’s research programs over the next several years,” Wright said.

“We’ve also planned two gourmet luncheons catered by McCormick and Schmick’s. These luncheons will provide a great opportunity for networking and informal discussion of the day’s topics. Luncheon tickets are limited, however, due to the size of the dining room. We strongly recommend that conference attendees take advantage of the luncheon option, but the museum has two excellent cafes that are available if luncheon tickets sell out.”

About SSI: In 1969, while Apollo was preparing to land on the Moon, Professor Gerard O’Neill was teaching a physics seminar at Princeton University. As a class project, O’Neill asked his students to examine a question: “Is the surface of a planet the best place for an expanding technological civilization?”

A Bernal Sphere design for an in-space habitat.

Over the course of the semester, Professor O’Neill and his students came to a remarkable conclusion: It was possible to build large space habitats, each one housing millions of people, using materials readily available from the Moon or asteroids. A fleet of such habitats could house more people than are currently living on the surface of the Earth.

As a first step, O’Neill conceived a smaller habitat, called Island One, capable of housing 10,000 people. The residents of the Island One habitat could build solar power stations that would supply clean electrical power to the surface of the Earth.

Professor O’Neill authored a best-selling book, The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space, which was published in 1977. To promote and develop his High Frontier vision, O’Neill created the Space Studies Institute (SSI).

SSI continues in its dedication to the High Frontier Vision. As we approach the 50th anniversary of this vision, the Space Studies Institute is preparing for a dramatic reboot of Professor O’Neill’s research program. Everyone interested in space settlement is invited to support our research by becoming a Supporting Member or Senior Associate. For more information, visit www.ssi.org.

Refabricator 3D printer on ISS will use recycled plastic as feedstock

Feb13
by TopSpacer on February 13, 2019 at 6:05 pm
Posted In: In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, micro-g R&D

Tethers Unlimited sent me this update on the installation of the Refabricator 3D printer on the International Space Station:

Refabricator Installed on the ISS
Tethers Unlimited Announces Successful Installation
of the First Recycler-3D Printer On-Board the ISS

Astronaut Anne McClain installs Tethers Unlimited’s Refabricator™ recycling and 3D printing payload aboard the International Space Station.

Bothell, WA, 8 February 2019 – Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have successfully installed the first integrated recycler and 3D printer into the station’s experiment racks. This technology demonstration, called the Refabricator, will perform repeated recycling and 3D printing of plastic materials to demonstrate capabilities for supporting long-duration crewed space missions with sustainable manufacturing.

The Refabricator was developed and built by Tethers Unlimited, Inc. for NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing Project under funding from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It combines the ability to recycle plastic items into high-quality 3D printer feedstock, and then use this feedstock to print new items. It is the first plastic recycler on the space station and the first combination of recycling and 3D printing capability in one unit.

“The Refabricator is key in demonstrating a sustainable model to fabricate, recycle and reuse parts and waste materials on extended space exploration missions,” said Niki Werkheiser, manager of In-Space Manufacturing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Tethers Unlimited engineers in Bothell, Washington supported the space station operations team while astronaut Anne McClain, also from Washington state, installed the Refabricator into the equipment rack. With the installation complete, Tethers Unlimited eagerly looks forward to the opportunity to begin experiment operations within the next few weeks.

“I’m incredibly proud and thankful for the hard work put in by our team, the astronauts, and the NASA In Space Manufacturing Team to get the Refabricator all the way to installation aboard the space station,” said Dr. Rob Hoyt, Tethers Unlimited’s CEO.  “The Refabricator is intended to demonstrate sustainable in-space manufacturing capabilities that are crucial to minimizing the costs and risks for long duration manned missions on the ISS, to the Moon, and someday to Mars.  It will provide future astronauts the ability to manufacture tools, replacement parts, utensils, and medical implements when they need them and greatly reduce the logistics costs for manned space missions by re-using waste materials and minimizing the amount of replacement parts that must be launched from Earth.”

The Refabricator™ recycling and 3D printing payload has been successfully installed into the International Space Station’s EXPRESS rack.

About Tethers Unlimited, Inc.: Tethers Unlimited, Inc. develops transformative technologies for Space and Defense missions.  Its technology portfolio includes programmable radios for small satellites, advanced space propulsion modules, and systems for in-space manufacturing of spacecraft components.   To learn more about TUI and its products, please visit www.tethers.com.

About NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing Program: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2356.html

The mission patch for the Refabricator on the ISS.

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The High Frontier: An Easier Way

The Opportunity Rover mission declared over but other missions on Mars continue

Feb13
by TopSpacer on February 13, 2019 at 4:43 pm
Posted In: Mars, Space Science, Space Systems

After several months of futile efforts to contact Opportunity, which went silent last year during a dust storm that covered most of Mars, NASA today officially declared the end of the rover’s mission:

This video gives a brief review of Opportunity’s 15 years of exploration:

Opportunity left a long trail of accomplishments behind it: Look Back at Opportunity’s Record-Setting Mission – NASA

In this image from 2010, Opportunity used its navigation camera for this northward view of tracks the rover left on a drive from one energy-favorable position on a sand ripple to another. The rover team called this strategy “hopping from lily pad to lily pad.”

The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand commands to restore contact, engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made their last attempt to revive Opportunity Tuesday, to no avail. The solar-powered rover’s final communication was received June 10.

Designed to last just 90 Martian days and travel 1,100 yards (1,000 meters), Opportunity vastly surpassed all expectations in its endurance, scientific value and longevity. In addition to exceeding its life expectancy by 60 times, the rover traveled more than 28 miles (45 kilometers) by the time it reached its most appropriate final resting spot on Mars – Perseverance Valley.

The final transmission, sent via the 70-meter Mars Station antenna at NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Complex in California, ended a multifaceted, eight-month recovery strategy in an attempt to compel the rover to communicate.

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Meanwhile, activities of the other missions on Mars continue. The InSight lander in December deployed the seismometer and this week placed the heat probe onto the surface:

From the NASA JPL article:

NASA’s InSight lander has placed its second instrument on the Martian surface. New images confirm that the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, or HP3, was successfully deployed on Feb. 12 about 3 feet (1 meter) from InSight’s seismometer, which the lander recently covered with a protective shield. HP3 measures heat moving through Mars’ subsurface and can help scientists figure out how much energy it takes to build a rocky world.

Equipped with a self-hammering spike, mole, the instrument will burrow up to 16 feet (5 meters) below the surface, deeper than any previous mission to the Red Planet. For comparison, NASA’s Viking 1 lander scooped 8.6 inches (22 centimeters) down. The agency’s Phoenix lander, a cousin of InSight, scooped 7 inches (18 centimeters) down.

“We’re looking forward to breaking some records on Mars,” said HP3 Principal Investigator Tilman Spohn of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which provided the heat probe for the InSight mission. “Within a few days, we’ll finally break ground using a part of our instrument we call the mole.”

NASA’s InSight Prepares to Take Mars’ Temperature. NASA’s InSight lander set its heat probe, called the Heat and Physical Properties Package (HP3), on the Martian surface on Feb. 12. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/DLR. › Full image and caption

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Check out a selection of recent images of Mars from the Curiosity Rover: Curiosity Mars Rover: Scenic Shots – LeonardDavid.com

Curiosity Mastcam Left Sol 2313 February 7, 2019
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto

Videos: “Remote Sensing for Conservation & Biodiversity” – NASA webinar

Feb12
by TopSpacer on February 12, 2019 at 7:02 pm
Posted In: Education, Eyes in the Sky

These two videos are from a NASA webinar on the use of satellite Remote Sensing for Conservation & Biodiversity applications.

NASA ARSET: Remote Sensing for Conservation, Session 1/2

Conservation and biodiversity management play important roles in maintaining healthy ecosystems. Earth observations can help with these efforts.

Session One: Remote Sensing for Conservation This session will focus on remote sensing for habitat suitability, species population dynamics, and monitoring wildfires. Download materials from this presentation: https://arset.gsfc.nasa.gov/land/webi… This training was created by NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET). ARSET is a part of NASA’s Applied Science’s Capacity Building Program. Learn more about ARSET: http://arset.gsfc.nasa.gov/

NASA ARSET: Remote Sensing for Biodiversity, Session 2/2

Session Two: Remote Sensing for Biodiversity. This session will focus on the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEOBON), Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON), and essential biodiversity variables. Download materials from this presentation: https://arset.gsfc.nasa.gov/land/webi……

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Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past

Space policy roundup – Feb.11.2019

Feb11
by TopSpacer on February 11, 2019 at 11:30 am
Posted In: Space Policy

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

Webcasts:

** The Space Show – Fri, 02/08/2019 – Mark Whittington discussed recent “space news, space policy, lunar return, launches and rocketry, Apollo history, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Elon Musk, Starship, BFR and much more”.

** Constellations, a New Space and Satellite Innovation Podcast: 43 – User Experience Design, Space System Standards and Enterprise Ground Services –

Listen to Michal Anne Rogondino discuss user experience design for the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC). Michal Anne explains design thinking and how it is being utilized to create a user experience for DoD space applications. The CEO of Rocket Communications talks about the workarounds of designing for a secret environment without having a secret clearance (it is possible) and working for the government in general. The stakes are high as there cannot be any ambiguity around an icon or a simple alarm. Bringing the user experience to the space domain is different and there are challenges with automation and autonomy that demand the creation of new rules and guidelines. In parallel is a need for creating baseline and guidelines that are common which allows everything to be designed in a common way. Space systems are complex and there will be an advantage to giving airmen or operators the tools and time to focus on what is important, their mission.

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Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto

The Space Show this week – Feb.11.2019

Feb11
by TopSpacer on February 11, 2019 at 10:12 am
Posted In: Activism, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, Feb. 11, 2019: 2-3:30 pm PST (4-5:30 pm CST, 5-6:30 pm EST): No show for today as we begin to transition to the end of regularly scheduled Monday programs.

2. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019: 7-8:30 pm PST (9-10:30 pm CST, 10-11:30 pm EST): We welcome back Matt Bille to discuss the use of small satellites for whale science, tracking and conservation.

3. Wednesday, Feb. 13 2019: Hotel Mars. See Upcoming Show Menu and the website newsletter for details. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded by John Batchelor. It is archived on The Space Show site after John posts it on his website.

4. Friday, Feb. 15, 2019: 9:30-11 am PST (11:30 am – 1 pm CST, 12:30-2 pm EST): We welcome Dr. William Dawson of Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to discuss dark energy, dark matter and more.

5. Sunday, Feb. 17 2019: 12-1:30 pm PST (3-4:30 pm EST, 2-3:30 pm CST): No show today as part of the Washington Birthday National Holiday weekend.

Some recent programs:

** Fri, 02/08/2019 – Mark Whittington discussed recent “space news, space policy, lunar return, launches and rocketry, Apollo history, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Elon Musk, Starship, BFR and much more”.

** Tue, 02/05/2019 – Robert Zimmerman spoke about “record launch activity, FH, F9, heavy lift, Geo satellite market, cubesat constellations, NASA, commercial crew, space politics, and more”.

** Sun, 02/03/2019 – Wide range of topics discusses with callers including military space, Chinese space program, lunar development, and more

See also:
* The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
* The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
* The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

The Space Show - David Livingston

The Space Show – David Livingston

 

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Feb.10.2019

Feb10
by TopSpacer on February 10, 2019 at 1:29 pm
Posted In: Amateur/Student Satellite, Space Radio

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. about student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:

** Images of earth from lunar orbit are being captured via amateur radio transmissions from a transceiver placed on a Chinese satellite by a group at the Harbin Institute of Technology: Far side of the Moon photographed by amateurs – Dwingeloo Radio Telescope/CAMRAS

This image shows the far side of the Moon, as well as our own planet Earth. It was taken with a camera linked to an amateur radio transceiver on board the Chinese DSLWP-B / Longjiang-2 satellite (call sign BJ1SN), currently in orbit around the Moon, and transmitted back to Earth where it was received with the Dwingeloo Telescope.

Earth as seen from lunar orbit via a camera on the Chinese DSLWP-B / Longjiang-2 satellite and a transceiver built by a team at Harbin Institute of Technology. Credits Dwingeloo Radio Telescope.

This image represents the culmination of several observing sessions spread over the past few months where we used the Dwingeloo telescope in collaboration with the Chinese team from Harbin University of Technology, who build the radio transceiver on board Longjiang-2, and radio amateurs spread across the globe.
…
The transceiver on board Longjiang-2 was designed to allow radio amateurs to downlink telemetry and relay messages through a satellite in lunar orbit, as well as command it to take and downlink images. In that it has succeeded, as many radio amateurs have received telemetry and image data. Being able to use the Dwingeloo telescope to help with this has been a lot of fun.

Note that the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope in the Netherlands is the “largest radio telescope in the world for amateurs”.

See also

** New CubeSat Club: Exploring Space Science and Engineering | Villanova University

A new Villanova College of Engineering student organization has formed this year—the CubeSat Club. Dr. Alan Johnston, associate teaching professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the faculty advisor working alongside the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, a not-for-profit group that has been building and launching ham radio satellites for fifty years. Dr. Johnston volunteers with AMSAT as the vice president for education outreach. The CubeSat Club is aimed at introducing students to CubeSats and satellite technology…

See also AMSAT VP Educational Relations leads Villanova University CubeSat Club | Southgate Amateur Radio News.

** More about University of Southern Indiana CubeSat project – USI ventures into final frontier – The Shield

Five university undergraduate students were finally able to see the 10-by-10-by-30 centimeter satellite launch into the great beyond after two and a half years working on the UNITE CubeSat project.

 

The launch of USI’s UNITE CubeSat from the ISS. Credits: NASA and NanoRacks.

The five active members on the Undergraduate Nano Ionospheric Temperature Explorer (UNITE) CubeSat team, Wyatt Helms, Ryan Loehrlein, Zack Snyder, Sujan Kaphle and Nathan Kalsch, watched the satellite deploy from the International Space Station on campus Jan. 31.

“It was a really great feeling because after working on this project for two plus years, finally seeing something that you put so much time and effort into being deployed from the space station I mean, you don’t hear any sound but you just imagine this little ‘boop’ as it’s being shot out,” Helms, the team lead, said.

The CubeSat will be deployed for 15 months and has three main missions: conducting space weather measurements, measuring exterior and interior temperatures of the spacecraft for comparison with a thermal model and tracking orbital decay of the spacecraft in the lower ionosphere where other methods are in error.

…

[Project advisor Assistant Professor of Physics Eric Greenwood] said that the grant required the project to be student led. The professors were not allowed to build the components of the CubeSat or be hands-on.

“It’s very exciting to have something that I was involved in that’s up in space,” Greenwood said. “The pride I feel for our students is tremendous.”

See also UNITE CubeSat Project – UNITE CUBESAT.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-041 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • AO-85 Turned Off Due to Return of Eclipses and Poor Battery Condition
  • Es’hail-2 / QO-100 Teleport Inauguration Day – February 14 [See Es’hail-2 / QO-100 Teleport Inauguration Day – February 14 | Southgate Amateur Radio News]
  • New Telemetry Decoder for FalconSat-3
  • AMSAT VP Educational Relations Leads Villanova University CubeSat Club
  • US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections
  • Application Window Opens for European ARISS School Contacts
  • REMINDER – ARISS/NOTA Slow Scan TV Event Runs Until February 10
  • ISS Packet Operations Resume on 145.825 MHz
  • Ham Talk Live Podcast ARISS Update With Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
  • KG4AKV’s SpaceComms YouTube Channel – Building a Groundstation
  • FUNcube Dashboard Summary Update
  • VUCC Awards-Endorsements for January 2019
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • AMSAT-Francophone Satellite Design and Operation Survey
  • Early Bird Registration Opens for Cal Poly Cubesat Training
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Telescopes and Binoculars at Amazon

Space access roundup – Feb.10.2019

Feb10
by TopSpacer on February 10, 2019 at 9:00 am
Posted In: Rockets, Space Systems, Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

A sampling of items related to traveling to and through space:

** Virgin Galactic pilots Mark ‘Forger’ Stucky and CJ Sturckow received Commercial Astronaut Wings from the FAA for flying to space on SpaceShipTwo:

The SpaceShipTwo motor from the flight was also given some special recognition:

Richard Branson never ceases to be optimistic on flight schedules: Richard Branson says he’ll fly to space by July – AFP/phys.org.

** Orbex Space in the UK shows a

completed engineering prototype of the Stage 2 rocket (the stage that will transit into orbital flight after launch) [that] is made from a specially-formulated lightweight carbon fibre and aluminium composite and includes the world’s largest 3-D printed rocket engine.

Orbex upperstage engineering prototype “#Prime, the completed stage 2 rocket and the world’s most efficient #smallsat launcher. It includes the world’s largest 3D printed rocket engine and designed to run on bio-propane, a #clean, #renewable energy source”.

More about the roll out:

The first stage booster will be reusable. Orbex has not shown a prototype of the booster or given details about its design.

Orbex is aiming for the first orbital launch in 2021.

Orbex has also obtained launch contracts with two companies:

** PLD Space of Spain also makes progress in development of a smallsat launcher with a reusable first stage booster:

PLD Space reusable first stage prototype.

Plus:

** Intro to NASA’s Launch Services Program, which hires commercial rockets to launch the agency’s unmanned payloads:

** Space elevator proponents continue to pursue this replacement for rockets:

From the magazine article:

While most engineered structures operate at a fraction of their material’s tensile strength—how far they can be pulled without breaking—most biological structures, such as tendons, operate near their max.  That’s because biological structures are constantly breaking themselves down and rebuilding, which allows for continual repair.

Space elevators won’t require such a strong cable if the cable also continually renews itself, Sun and Popescu reason. This feat could be achieved, they suggest, by developing a cable that’s constantly serviced by autonomous robots. Rather than waiting for breaks in the cable, these robots can dynamically break down and rebuild the cable to make sure it’s always in good working order. This cable would be segmented so that if a break occurred, it wouldn’t extend beyond a small site, note the researchers, who recently reported their solution on the pre-print website arXiv.

** SpaceX:

*** Latest pictures of StarHopper work underway in Texas:

*** More about Raptor engine tests:

*** More on Crew Dragon demo mission scedule -test flight with no one onboard is now set for no earlier than March 2: First unpiloted test flight of SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule reset for March 2 – Spaceflight Now

*** Other SpaceX related items:

** Rocket news included in the latest TMRO.tv space news report: SpaceX Engine Tests, ISRO Spaceflight, Lunar Craters and SpaceIL

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Telescopes and Binoculars at Amazon

Space science roundup – Feb.9.2019

Feb09
by TopSpacer on February 9, 2019 at 9:00 am
Posted In: Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al, Pluto and beyond, Solar Science

A sampling of items regarding planetary science, astronomy, and solar science:

** A solar cycle update from Bob Zimmerman:  Sunspot update January 2019: The early solar minimum | Behind The Black

January saw a slight uptick in sunspot activity, but the overall activity remains comparable to mid-2008, when the last prolonged solar minimum began. If you go to my October 2018 update, you can see the graph when it included data going back to 2000 and see the entire last minimum.

That last minimum started in the last half of 2007, and lasted until mid-2009, a full two years. If you look at the red line prediction of the solar science community, it appears that they are expecting this coming minimum to last far longer, almost forever. I expect this is not really true, but that they have simply not agreed on a prediction for the next cycle. Some in that solar science community have hypothesized that we are about to enter a grand minimum, with no sunspots for decades and thus no solar maximum. Others do not agree.

** Mark Showalter,  New Horizons Hazard team lead and SETI Institute Senior Scientist, discusses “the spacecraft’s flyby of Ultima Thule, what it’s like working on the Hazards team, and even the naming of some of Pluto’s surface features” with SETI Institute chief Bill Diamond:

*** Ultima Thule has flat lobes according to further analysis of the image data from the fly-by of the Kuiper Belt object: New Horizons’ Evocative Farewell Glance at Ultima Thule: Images Confirm the Kuiper Belt Object’s Highly Unusual, Flatter Shape – New Horizons

This animation depicts a shape model of Ultima Thule created by the New Horizons science team based on its analysis of all the pre-flyby images sent to Earth so far. The first half of the movie mimics the view from the New Horizons spacecraft as it approached Ultima Thule and has the “snowman” shape that was so frequently mentioned in the days surrounding the New Year’s 2019 flyby.

The movie then rotates to a side-view that illustrates what New Horizons might have seen had its cameras been pointing toward Ultima Thule only a few minutes after closest approach. While that wasn’t the case, mission scientists have been able to piece together a model of this side-view, which has been at least partially confirmed by a set of crescent images of Ultima Thule (link). There is still considerable uncertainty in the sizes of “Ultima” (the larger section, or lobe) and “Thule” (the smaller) in the vertical dimension, but it’s now clear that Ultima looks more like a pancake than a sphere, and that Thule is also very non-spherical.

** Mars:

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover has already descended from Vera Rubin Ridge, a region of Mount Sharp that it has been exploring for more than a year. But before it left, the rover took a 360-degree panorama of the area depicting its last drill hole on the ridge (at a location called “Rock Hall”), a new region it will spent the next year exploring (the clay unit) and its last view of Gale Crater’s floor until it starts ascending in elevation again.

At high resolution there does not appear to be much difference between the darker and lighter areas. The lighter areas in general seem less rough and at a slightly lower elevation, but both areas are dominated by ridges and dunes trending southwest-to-northeast.

Why is this slightly higher region darker? Let’s assume that this darker material was a lava flow overlaying the surface. Over eons wind erosion, trending southwest-to-northwest, roughly eroded both it and the lower layers around it, leaving behind this rough corroded terrain. The different make-up of the darker material allows it to erode in a rougher manner.

While possibly correct, I would not bet much money on this guess. It is not clear it is lava. It is not clear that it is a flow. It does not explain why there are two areas of different darkness. And it certainly not clear what the make-up of any of this stuff is.

This is simply another cool mystery on the Martian surface.

Martian southern highlands region showing contrast between lighter and darker tinted areas.

** Moon:

Chang’e-4 lander as seen from the Yutu-2 rover.

** Uranus and Neptune are more interesting than we thought, new images show | Berkeley News

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has snapped the latest weather pictures of our solar system’s frigid outer planets, and UC Berkeley astronomers have jumped in to interpret them.

Giant polar cap dominates Uranus; dark tempest is raging on Neptune.

The new images, taken as part of a yearly monitoring program, show that a dark storm has appeared in Neptune’s northern hemisphere, the fourth seen on the planet since 1993, all of which appear and fade within a few years. UC Berkeley undergraduate student Andrew Hsu, who led a study of the latest images with associate research astronomer Michael Wong, estimates that the dark spots appear every four to six years at different latitudes and disappear after about two years.

It’s unclear how the storms form, Hsu said, but like Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, the dark vortices swirl in an anti-cyclonic direction and seem to dredge up material from deeper levels in the ice giant’s atmosphere. The latest storm was captured by Hubble in September 2018 and is roughly 6,800 miles across.
…
The new snapshot of Uranus gives a fresh look at a long-lived storm circling around the north-pole region of Uranus, a planet that is usually thought of as featureless and boring.

More at Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune – HubbleSite

** Asteroids – The DART mission will smack an asteroid with a spacecraft to test deflection capabilities:  The DART Mission: Learning How to Swat Dangerous Asteroids | The Planetary Society

Why did the dinosaurs die? They didn’t have a space program! The upcoming DART mission will test our best thinking about how we may someday deflect a Near Earth Object that is speeding toward fiery Armageddon on Earth. Nancy Chabot of the JHU Applied Physics Lab is the mission’s Coordination Lead.

** Science news is included in the latest TMRO.tv space news report: SpaceX Engine Tests, ISRO Spaceflight, Lunar Craters and SpaceIL

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Space policy roundup – Feb.9.2019

Feb08
by TopSpacer on February 8, 2019 at 4:58 pm
Posted In: Space Policy

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

Webcasts:

** The Space Show – Tue, 02/05/2019 – Robert Zimmerman spoke about “record launch activity, FH, F9, heavy lift, Geo satellite market, cubesat constellations, NASA, commercial crew, space politics, and more”.

** The Space Show – Sun, 02/03/2019 – Wide range of topics discusses with callers including military space, Chinese space program, lunar development, and more

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Galaxy Girls: 50 Amazing Stories of Women in Space.

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Feb.8.2019

Feb08
by TopSpacer on February 8, 2019 at 3:34 pm
Posted In: In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

Here is NASA’s latest Space to Ground report on activities related to the International Space Station:

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship has been berthed to the ISS since it arrived on November 19th following the launch from NASA Wallops Island on November 17th aboard an Antares 230 rocket. Today the Cygnus left the station: Astronauts Release U.S. Spacecraft from Station – Space Station

The vehicle will maneuver to higher orbits for the release of several cubesats for NanoRacks. It will then de-orbit on Feb. 25th and burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

More at NG-10 Cygnus departs ISS after 3 month science, supply mission – NASASpaceFlight.com.

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The High Frontier: An Easier Way

Reality TV program “Space Dealers” explores the space memorabilia market

Feb07
by TopSpacer on February 7, 2019 at 10:47 am
Posted In: History, Space Collecting

Netflix is now streaming the program Space Dealers, which follows three people who buy and sell space memorabilia and collectibles full time: ‘Space Dealers’ brings the space memorabilia market to reality TV | collectSPACE –

Two years after it launched into a broadcast orbit around the world, “Space Dealers” has landed in the United States.

The reality TV show, which follows the exploits of three NASA-obsessed space memorabilia sellers, began streaming on Netflix in the U.S. and UK on Friday (Feb. 1). The six-part series, produced by WAGTV, first aired in 2017 in Australia and has in the interim been seen across Europe and Russia.

“For the right price, America’s leading space dealers will sell you anything and everything that the men and women with the ‘right stuff’ have used on their brave adventures in space,” writes the producers.

“Space Dealers” lightly parodies the real-life trade in NASA artifacts and Soviet-era space hardware. The rivalry between bowtie-sporting Larry, former NASA employee Torie and well-connected Cole sets up the drama, but it is the objects that they handle and the astronauts who they visit who are the stars of the show.

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Check out the Best Selling Electronics at Amazon

Space access roundup – Feb.6.2019

Feb06
by TopSpacer on February 6, 2019 at 1:30 pm
Posted In: Rockets, Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

A sampling of space transportation related news and resource items:

** Ariane 5 launches two comm-sats on first mission of 2019:

Looks like a launch a month for Arianespace in 2019: Arianespace preps for first of up to 13 launches in French Guiana this year – Spaceflight Now

** Prometheus reusable engine – While Arianespace remains committed to single-use throwaway rockets, technology research into reusable hardware is happening. For example, here is the latest on the reusable Prometheus methane-fueled engine: Prometheus: Demonstrator of Future Engine passed its Definition Review – Ariane Group

The goal of the Prometheus demonstrator is to be able to build future liquid propellant engines in the 100 tons thrust class, for a cost ten times less than that involved in building an existing engine such as the Vulcain®2.

Rendering of a design for the reusable methane fueled Promethus engine.

The success of a technological challenge of this nature depends on a completely new design: over and above the change in the traditional Ariane propellant (switching from the liquid oxygen and hydrogen combination to liquid oxygen and methane), the demonstrator will entail major changes, including digitization of engine control and diagnostics. It also depends on the use of innovative design and production methods and tools, including construction using 3D printing in a connected factory environment.

** Speaking of reusable Ariane rockets: French auditor says Ariane 6 rocket too conventional to compete with SpaceX | Ars Technica

“This new launcher does not constitute a sustainable response in order to be competitive in a commercial market in stagnation,” the auditor’s report states. The Ariane 6 rocket design is too “cautious,” according to the report, relying on mostly traditional technologies.

** New Blue Origin video highlights the activities and future plans of the company:

** Momentus Water-Plasma propulsion for smallsat – While small satellites are growing into major sector of the space industry, cost-effective and technically practical in-space propulsion for small spacecraft remains a challenge, especially for those sized in the CubeSat scale of a few kilograms. The startup company Momentus offers propulsion modules that will attach to smallsats and and send them to the exact orbits after they are released from a rocket that takes them into space.

Momentus propulsion system uses water heated into a plasma state by microwaves. Water is obviously a safe fuel and this means that a spacecraft using it for propulsion will encounter fewer hurdles to integrating the craft into a launch system compared to using more energetic fuels.

Momentus Water-Plasma engine diagram.

Momentus just got its first contract with a $6M order from the German company Exolaunch to provide in-space propulsion for satellites that will be launched in 2020 and 2021:

There are longer term advantages to water propulsion as well. Water has been found to be abundant throughout the solar system. Water-based propulsion clearly offers significant advantages for in-space transportation with the Moon and asteroids providing filling-station services for spacecraft of all sizes.

** Commercial crew flight tests schedule: NASA, Partners Update Commercial Crew Launch Dates – Commercial Crew Program

The agency now is targeting March 2 for launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon on its uncrewed Demo-1 test flight. Boeing’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test is targeted for launch no earlier than April.

These adjustments allow for completion of necessary hardware testing, data verification, remaining NASA and provider reviews, as well as training of flight controllers and mission managers.

** SpaceX

*** The first operational full-scale Raptor LOX/Methane engine was tested at the company’s McGregor, Texas facility last weekend:

From SpaceX Instagram and Elon Musk tweet:

Completed a two-second test fire of the Starship Raptor engine that hit 170 bar and ~116 metric tons of force – the highest thrust ever from a SpaceX engine and Raptor was at ~60% power.

Check out the rocket cycles diagrams illustrating the flow of propellants through rocket engines, including the stage combustion cycles used on the Raptor.

*** Latest on the design of the SpaceX next-gen space transport systems: In new Starship details, Musk reveals a more practical approach | Ars Technica

*** Work continues on the StarHopper and construction of the Boca Chica Beach launch facility near Brownsville, Texas: SpaceX’s Starship prototype is looking increasingly rocket-like as hop test pad expands – Teslarati.com

Some views of the activities there:

*** Spadre.com South Padre Island Information – Feb.5.2019 (opens with Raptor engine test video):

*** Spadre.com South Padre Island Information – Jan.30.2019

*** South Padre Island Info also offers a free webcam that includes views of the SpaceX site:

SPadre.com Starship Cam views the Spacex Starship, the Launch Pad, Isla Blanca Beach Park which is the closest possible launch viewing area, and the beach at South Padre Island Texas. Enjoy free continuous live streams and recordings of all upcoming launches, and Starship launch schedules and the latest SpaceX Boca Chica news. Launches will begin soon, watch all launches live on SPadre.com Starship Cam. For launch schedule and South Padre Island information visit: https://www.spadre.com Starship Cam hosted by South Padre Surf Company: https://www.southpadresurfcompany.com

Update: Latest on the SpaceX launch schedule: As Falcon Heavy celebrates anniversary, SpaceX manifest aligns – NASASpaceFlight.com.

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ESO: Region of new star formation spotted in Large Magellanic Cloud

Feb06
by TopSpacer on February 6, 2019 at 11:00 am
Posted In: Astronomy

The latest report from ESO (European Southern Observatory):

Bubbles of Brand New Stars

This dazzling region of newly-forming stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was captured by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The relatively small amount of dust in the LMC and MUSE’s acute vision allowed intricate details of the region to be picked out in visible light. [Higher definition images]

This dazzling region of newly-forming stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was captured by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instrument (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The relatively small amount of dust in the LMC and MUSE’s acute vision allowed intricate details of the region to be picked out in visible light.

This region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) glows in striking colours in this image captured by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). The region, known as LHA 120-N 180B — N180 B for short — is a type of nebula known as an H II region (pronounced “H two”), and is a fertile source of new stars.

This zoom video starts with a wide view of the Milky Way and ends with a close-up look at a dazzling region of newly-forming stars in the HII region LHA 120-N 180B — also known as N180. This glowing region of newborn stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was captured by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The relatively small amount of dust in the LMC and MUSE’s acute vision allowed intricate details of the region to be picked out in visible light. Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org). Music: Astral Electronic

The LMC is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, visible mainly from the Southern Hemisphere. At only around 160 000 light-years away from the Earth, it is practically on our doorstep. As well as being close to home, the LMC’s single spiral arm appears nearly face-on, allowing us to inspect regions such as N180 B with ease.

H II regions are interstellar clouds of ionised hydrogen — the bare nuclei of hydrogen atoms. These regions are stellar nurseries — and the newly formed massive stars are responsible for the ionisation of the surrounding gas, which makes for a spectacular sight. N180 B’s distinctive shape is made up of a gargantuan bubble of ionised hydrogen surrounded by four smaller bubbles.

Deep within the glowing cloud of the HII region LHA 120-N 180B, MUSE has spotted a jet emitted by a fledgling star — a massive young stellar object . This is the first time such a jet has been observed in visible light outside the Milky Way. Usually, such jets are obscured by their dusty surroundings, meaning they can only be detected at infrared or radio wavelengths by telescopes such as ALMA. However, the relatively dust-free environment of the LMC allowed this jet — named Herbig–Haro 1177, or HH 1177 for short — to be observed at visible wavelengths. At nearly 33 light-years in length, it is one of the longest such jets ever observed. This annotated image shows a close-up of the jet source and the bow shocks formed by the jet interacting with surrounding gas. [Hi-def images]

Deep within this glowing cloud, MUSE has spotted a jet emitted by a fledgling star — a massive young stellar object with a mass 12 times greater than our Sun. The jet — named Herbig–Haro 1177, or HH 1177 for short — is shown in detail in this accompanying image. This is the first time such a jet has been observed in visible light outside the Milky Way, as they are usually obscured by their dusty surroundings. However, the relatively dust-free environment of the LMC allows HH 1177 to be observed at visible wavelengths. At nearly 33 light-years in length, it is one of the longest such jets ever observed.

Deep within the glowing cloud of the HII region LHA 120-N 180B, MUSE has spotted a jet emitted by a fledgling star — a massive young stellar object . This is the first time such a jet has been observed in visible light outside the Milky Way. Usually, such jets are obscured by their dusty surroundings, meaning they can only be detected at infrared or radio wavelengths by telescopes such as ALMA. However, the relatively dust-free environment of the LMC allowed this jet — named Herbig–Haro 1177, or HH 1177 for short — to be observed at visible wavelengths. At nearly 33 light-years in length, it is one of the longest such jets ever observed. The blue and red regions in this image show the jet, which was detected as blue- and red-shifted emission peaks of the Hα line. [Hi-def versions]

HH 1177 tells us about the early lives of stars. The beam is highly collimated; it barely spreads out as it travels. Jets like this are associated with the accretion discs of their star, and can shed light on how fledgling stars gather matter. Astronomers have found that both high- and low-mass stars launch collimated jets like HH 1177 via similar mechanisms — hinting that massive stars can form in the same way as their low-mass counterparts.

MUSE has recently been vastly improved by the addition of the Adaptive Optics Facility , the Wide Field Mode of which saw first light in 2017. Adaptive optics is the process by which ESO’s telescopes compensate for the blurring effects of the atmosphere — turning twinkling stars into sharp, high-resolution images. Since obtaining these data, the addition of the Narrow Field Mode, has given MUSE vision nearly as sharp as that of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope — giving it the potential to explore the Universe in greater detail than ever before.

This dazzling region of newly-forming stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was captured by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The relatively small amount of dust in the LMC and MUSE’s acute vision allowed intricate details of the region to be picked out in visible light. The image is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2, and shows the region surrounding LHA 120-N 180B, visible at the centre of the image. [Hi-def images]

More information

This research was presented in a paper entitled “An optical parsec-scale jet from a massive young star in the Large Magellanic Cloud” which appeared in the journal Nature.

The research team was composed of A. F. McLeod (who conducted this research while at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and is now affiliated with the Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, and the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas Tech University, USA), M. Reiter (Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA), R. Kuiper (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Tübingen, Germany), P. D. Klaassen (UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, UK) and C. J, Evans (UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, UK).

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It has 16 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”

Links

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Einstein’s Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes

Carnival of Space #597 – Citizen Science

Feb05
by TopSpacer on February 5, 2019 at 11:40 am
Posted In: General

The CosmoQuest blog hosts the latest Carnival of Space.

The Whirlpool Galaxy, M51. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Wesleyan Univ./R.Kilgard, et al; Optical: NASA/STScI

BTW: This terrific short video shows how the different wavelengths of light illuminate different aspects of the Whirlpool Galaxy’s structure and components:

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Galaxy Girls: 50 Amazing Stories of Women in Space.

TMRO Orbit 12.05 – “How to launch and land a model Falcon Heavy”

Feb05
by TopSpacer on February 5, 2019 at 9:00 am
Posted In: Activism, Rocketry, SpaceCasts

The latest episode of TMRO.tv Space program is now available: How to launch and land a model Falcon Heavy – Orbit 12.05

Joe Barnard of BPS.space joins us to talk about his work in making model rockets emulate larger, liquid fueled vehicles such as Falcon and Electron. He has created many amazing models and has been working on thrust vector control (TVC) steering of models as well as being able to stage and even land model rockets. This is his story.

** More about changes at TMRO.tv:

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Galaxy Girls: 50 Amazing Stories of Women in Space.

Backing Behind the Black

Feb05
by TopSpacer on February 5, 2019 at 12:07 am
Posted In: Activism, Space books, Space Policy

Writer, journalist, and blogger Bob Zimmerman tells me that it is his Birthday fund-raising time again at Behind The Black.

Check out Bob’s most recent Mars reports:

He will be on The Space Show tonight: Tue, 02/05/2019 – 19:00 | Robert Zimmerman.

And here is his latest space news update on the John Bachelor show: February 1, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black