With the help of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole, the first time such a close grouping has been seen within the first billion years of the Universe. This artist’s impression shows the central black hole and the galaxies trapped in its gas web. The black hole, which together with the disc around it is known as quasar SDSS J103027.09+052455.0, shines brightly as it engulfs matter around it. Credits ESO.
With the help of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole when the Universe was less than a billion years old. This is the first time such a close grouping has been seen so soon after the Big Bang and the finding helps us better understand how supermassive black holes, one of which exists at the centre of our Milky Way, formed and grew to their enormous sizes so quickly. It supports the theory that black holes can grow rapidly within large, web-like structures which contain plenty of gas to fuel them.
“This research was mainly driven by the desire to understand some of the most challenging astronomical objects — supermassive black holes in the early Universe. These are extreme systems and to date we have had no good explanation for their existence,”
said Marco Mignoli, an astronomer at the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Bologna, Italy, and lead author of the new research published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The new observations with ESO’s VLT revealed several galaxies surrounding a supermassive black hole, all lying in a cosmic “spider’s web” of gas extending to over 300 times the size of the Milky Way.
“The cosmic web filaments are like spider’s web threads,” explains Mignoli. “The galaxies stand and grow where the filaments cross, and streams of gas — available to fuel both the galaxies and the central supermassive black hole — can flow along the filaments.”
The light from this large web-like structure, with its black hole of one billion solar masses, has travelled to us from a time when the Universe was only 0.9 billion years old.
“Our work has placed an important piece in the largely incomplete puzzle that is the formation and growth of such extreme, yet relatively abundant, objects so quickly after the Big Bang,”
says co-author Roberto Gilli, also an astronomer at INAF in Bologna, referring to supermassive black holes.
This image shows the sky around SDSS J103027.09+052455.0, a quasar powered by a supermassive black hole surrounded by at least six galaxies. This picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Credits ESO
The very first black holes, thought to have formed from the collapse of the first stars, must have grown very fast to reach masses of a billion suns within the first 0.9 billion years of the Universe’s life. But astronomers have struggled to explain how sufficiently large amounts of “black hole fuel” could have been available to enable these objects to grow to such enormous sizes in such a short time. The new-found structure offers a likely explanation: the “spider’s web” and the galaxies within it contain enough gas to provide the fuel that the central black hole needs to quickly become a supermassive giant.
But how did such large web-like structures form in the first place? Astronomers think giant halos of mysterious dark matter are key. These large regions of invisible matter are thought to attract huge amounts of gas in the early Universe; together, the gas and the invisible dark matter form the web-like structures where galaxies and black holes can evolve.
“Our finding lends support to the idea that the most distant and massive black holes form and grow within massive dark matter halos in large-scale structures, and that the absence of earlier detections of such structures was likely due to observational limitations,”
says Colin Norman of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, also a co-author on the study.
The galaxies now detected are some of the faintest that current telescopes can observe. This discovery required observations over several hours using the largest optical telescopes available, including ESO’s VLT. Using the MUSE and FORS2 instruments on the VLT at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in the Chilean Atacama Desert, the team confirmed the link between four of the six galaxies and the black hole.
“We believe we have just seen the tip of the iceberg, and that the few galaxies discovered so far around this supermassive black hole are only the brightest ones,”
said co-author Barbara Balmaverde, an astronomer at INAF in Torino, Italy.
These results contribute to our understanding of how supermassive black holes and large cosmic structures formed and evolved. ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope, currently under construction in Chile, will be able to build on this research by observing many more fainter galaxies around massive black holes in the early Universe using its powerful instruments.
A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport (find previous roundups here):
** Scrubs and delays continue to plague ULA and SpaceX launch plans. The ULA Delta IV Heavy launch of the NROL-44 spysat has been trying to lift off since August but various ground system and weather problems have kept it grounded. Weather has been the primary factor in keeping three SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets from flying two StarLink missions and one USAF GPS
** Northrop Grumman Antares rocket set to launch Cynus cargo vehicle to the ISS Thursday evening at 9:38 pm EDT ( 0138 GMT, Oct. 2) from Wallops Island”s commercial spaceport: Prelaunch Briefing for Northrup Grumman’s 14th Cargo Resupply Mission to Space Station
During a Sept. 28 news briefing at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, in Virginia, the agency’s commercial partner, Northrop Grumman and others discussed the prelaunch status of the company’s 14th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. On Oct. 1, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft is targeted to launch aboard an Antares rocket from Wallops. The Cygnus will carry nearly 8,000 pounds of research, crew supplies and hardware to the station.
** A Russian Soyuz 2.1b sent 3 comm-sats and 18 smallsats into orbit:
** China launches two environmental monitoring/disaster management satellites on a Long March-4B from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on Sunday. There was no prior public announcement of the launch.
The new HJ-2A and HJ-2B satellites will replace the previous generation of environmental monitoring satellites HJ-1A and HJ-1B, to provide services concerning environmental protection, natural resources, water conservancy, agriculture and forestry, according to the satellite developer China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
The HJ-2A and HJ-2B are 16-meter optical satellites with high mobility, precision control and stability, as well as strong load adaptability and long lifespans.
The satellites can provide 16-meter multispectral, 48-meter hyperspectral and infrared image data.
They will support the monitoring of natural disasters and land utilization, regulation and protection of water resources, dynamic monitoring of crop areas and assessment of yield, as well as quake emergency rescue.
** Germany’s HyImpulse launch company tests hybrid motor: First hot fire testing of the 75kN HyImpulse hybrid rocket motor –
At midday of Tuesday 15 September, the first firing of the HyImpulse 75kN hybrid rocket motor was a full success! It was performed at the world class DLR Lampoldshausen testing facility. This is the biggest hybrid rocket motor ever built and tested in Europe. This marks an important milestone in accomplishing our plan for a suborbital flight in early 2021 and the first flight of the three stage HyImpulse launcher SL1 by the end of 2022. HyImpulse is the first German Mini -Launcher startup to have its full-size flight weight motor developed, built and hot fire tested on a test bench. With the NewSpace Launch sector heating up, this important milestone immensely advances our international position in this area. The test confirms that the rocket propellants based on our proprietary Paraffin /LOX formulation achieve the same high performance as liquid hydrocarbon-based fuels with a much-simplified propulsion system and at a fraction of the cost.
Andøya Space is developing the new launch complex on Andøya island, 35 km south of their existing sub-orbital launch site. This new site will provide operators of vehicles in the 1.5t payload class with independent integration facilities and access to two launch pads with necessary support infrastructure.
Rocket Factory, a start-up backed by the German satellite manufacturer OHB as a strategic investor and Munich-based venture capital firm Apollo Capital Partners, currently is developing a launcher system called RFA ONE for small satellites with a payload performance of up to 1.500kg to low earth orbit (LEO). The first launch is scheduled for 2022. The company recently qualified the upper stage tank system during cryogenic tests and is currently preparing hot-fire tests of the main engine in Esrange, Sweden.
“We are convinced that Rocket Factory is one of the most progressive SSLV companies in Europe. Having them commit to Andøya Space as a partner is of great significance to us. We are developing an efficient multi-user launch site in Norway, and Rocket Factory has the technical capabilities, the same innovative culture, and the enthusiastic team we need in a partner to help us take the spaceport initiative forward. We look forward to supporting them in their missions to polar- and sun synchronous orbits.”, said Odd Roger Enoksen, CEO and President of Andøya Space.
RFA is at the forefront of the global new-space launch vehicle development, with its state-of-the-art staged-combustion engine technology. This high-performance engine design, coupled to lowest-possible-cost production techniques, is essentially new to Europe, and through the support of OHB, RFA has managed to acquire key technologies and key talent that will propel the business case of the RFA One launch vehicle to dominate the market on a global scale. Recent firing tests have demonstrated that RFA is on a winning path to establish Europe’s most efficient and powerful rocket engine technology. Recently, RFA won the first round of the micro-launcher competition of the German Space Agency DLR, which granted RFA a letter of support to submit a proposal to ESA’s Boost! programme.
** Masten Terrestrial Rocket Testbed Introduction: Masten Space Systems highlights their vertical takeoff and landing rocket flight services.
** India’s Skyroot Aerospace shows off new cryogenic methane-fueled engine:
Today, on the occasion of 100th birth anniversary of renowned Indian Rocket Scientist- Dr.Satish Dhawan:
Unveiling our fully Cryogenic Rocket Engine ‘Dhawan-1’:
1. 100% 3D Printed
2. 100% Cryo Propellants – LNG/LoX
3. 100% Made in India
The company is aiming to launch the first Vikram-1 rocket, which will use solid fueled motors in all stages, in December 2021. The cryogenic engine will be used for the upper stage of the Vikram-2 rocket.
While the company has successfully tested the upper-most stage engine of its first rocket Vikram-I, the initial stage engines of Vikram-I are being manufactured. If all goes well, the company is looking forward to a maiden launch of Vikram-I by December 2021, with the support and guidance of the Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO). The cryogenic engine won’t see action in Vikram-I and is meant for their bigger rocket Vikram-II.
In terms of payload capacity, Vikram I is meant to lift 225 kg to 500 km Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit(SSPO) and 315 kg to 45º inclination 500 km Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Vikram II is designed for 410 kg to 500 km SSPO and 520 kg to 45º inclination 500km LEO. In the case of Vikram III, we are looking at 580 kg to 500 km SSPO and 720 kg to 45º inclination 500 km LEO.
Years of planning will be on the line Oct. 21 with the launch of bluShift’s 20-foot test rocket, the Stardust 1.0. The company hopes to launch the 540-pound Stardust 4,500 feet into the air, about twice as high as the world’s tallest skyscraper, before landing safely back onto the ground at the Loring Commerce Centre, formerly known as the Loring Air Force Base. The trip will use 10 pounds of bluShift’s trademark fuel.
The rocket will be airborne for roughly 58 seconds, a tiny span of time compared with the years of work it took for engineers to get to this point. But Deri and his team understand the gravity of this moment.
“This launch is the culmination of six years of research and development by bluShift to develop a type of chemical rocket engine that is perhaps less understood than more common technologies” he says, hoping to demonstrate the functionality of a “bio-derived, carbon-neutral, high-performing and even less expensive than its liquid petroleum counterpart.”
** Scott Manley describes the design and operation of the Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters: The Amazing Engineering Behind Solid Rocket Boosters
The solid rocket motors on the space shuttle accounted for the majority of the launch mass and launch thrust. They’re the most powerful rocket thrusters ever flown, at least until the 5 segment versions take flight with SLS in the next year or so. I’ve often described solid rocket motors as being relatively simple compared to the complex plumbing, pumps and turbines of liquid rocket motors. However there’s still a huge amount of critical engineering and science that goes into these boosters. The design of the boosters were also partly responsible for the accident that destroyed Challenger during launch.
** And Manley highlights the spaceship capabilities of the ISS: How the Space Station Moves In Orbit Like A Spaceship
Many people don’t realise that the International Space Station is also a space ship, able to maneuver in space as required by mission operations. It has thrusters and control moment gyros to control its orientation and adjust its orbit.
I could have explaind this with CGI, I could have used KSP Instead I decided to use my LEGO model of the ISS as a prop: The LEGO ISS is available on Amazon and other online retailers.https://amzn.to/3kV4aqC
Some of the delay from the original late August target date was due to an issue with the Crew Dragon heat shield showing more erosion than expected around the areas where the service stage bolts to the capsule. The problem had to be diagnosed, and then a fix designed, implemented and tested. There will also be an adjustment to the timing of the drogue chute deployment, which happened a bit later than desired.
Final certification of the Crew Dragon/Falcon 9 for operational crew missions will be presented about a week before the launch.
Between now and the end of 2021, SpaceX and NASA expect to launch seven Dragon missions – three crew and four cargo. The Cargo Dragon vehicles will now be reconfigured versions of the Crew vehicles. There will be times when both types of Dragon vehicles (Crew and Cargo) are docked to the station at the same time. SpaceX has busy manifest of Dragon missions – SpaceNews
The CRS-21 mission will also mark the first time two Dragon spacecraft are in space at the same time. That mission will remain docked to the station for 35 days before returning to Earth. After that, the Crew-2 astronauts will board the Crew Dragon and relocate it from its original docking port, called Node 2 Forward, to the neighboring Node 2 Zenith port. That would free up the Node 2 Forward port, which offers a more straightforward approach to the station, for an uncrewed Boeing CST-100 Starliner test flight tentatively scheduled for late this year.
Flying seven Dragon missions in 14 months will require some degree of spacecraft reuse, Reed said. “A number of them are reused flights, and a handful of them are new,” he said, but didn’t immediately know how many of the missions will use previously flown spacecraft. NASA and SpaceX previously said they would refurbish the Dragon flown on the Demo-2 test flight this summer for the Crew-2 mission. Both Crew-1 and possibly Crew-3 will use new spacecraft, he said.
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 (find previous space policy roundups here):
** NASA Administrator Discusses Collaboration with US Space Force – NASA
The Mitchell Institute hosted the Space Power Forum with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Chief of Space Operations General Jay Raymond on Tuesday, September 22. The space domain is as vitally important to U.S. defense as it is to its scientific and commercial interests, and the establishment of the U.S. Space Force (USSF) raises big questions with implications for all. This conversation with the leaders of NASA and the USSF explored how they intend to collaboratively tackle shared challenges in space, their respective mission requirements, and opportunities to leverage commercial capabilities and innovation.
In this exclusive interview with 7investing, Dr. Magnus shares her thoughts about the new “space economy”. She also discusses what technologies will be most-needed for off-world colonization and describes several things that people interested in this space should have on their radar.
LEO Commercialization:
The Pathway to Earth’s Trillion Dollar Space Economy
Today’s global $350 billion space economy will soon bloom into a trillion-dollar economy. Join the National Space Society for the virtual webinar LEO Commercialization: The Pathway to Earth’s Trillion Dollar Space Economy on September 30 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (10 a.m. Pacific), as we present a group of thought leaders who will engage in a 90-minute discussion of what it will take to get us to that first trillion dollars in low Earth orbit.
Panelists include:
Lynn Harper, Lead, Integrative Studies, Space Portal at NASA Ames Research Center,
Moderated by Bruce Pittman, Chief System Engineer at NASA Space Portal and NSS Senior Vice President.
Topics include government policy and funding to support emerging space industries, near-term profitable space manufacturing, medical and technological products, and much more.
Research and development platforms, both government and commercial, are needed in space. Some will be attached to the International Space Station, while others will be free flyers in various orbits around the Earth. The space ecosystem will soon be full of multiple providers and a world-wide customer base, resulting in an economically thriving low Earth orbit marketplace, eventually extending into cislunar space and beyond. But this bright future will require intelligent legislation and strong financial support to succeed—and this discussion will outline the path ahead.
Join us on September 30 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (10 a.m. Pacific) for a presentation about our exciting future in space and the steps we need to make it a reality. This extraordinary event will be simulcast by e360tv.com over Facebook, YouTube, Roku, Amazon Fire, and other streaming media. Be sure to mark your calendars—you don’t want to miss this!
[Amazon commission link]”.
