Space News thread

[fishlocker]

[Luigi]

Yay! Fishy's on his magic fish sauce again

[fishlocker]

I am Just another sucker. You want to buy a project in the the projects? Just kidding, I get five letters a week from those trying to make a quick buck.

I took the pick............yest......

The wheel go round and round.......How I love to watch them roll....A merry go round.

Someday I will have to let it go.................

[harrybarracuda]

The mystery space plane you shouldn't know anything about

[BaitongBoy]

Should be looking over our shoulders now, Harry?...

[harrybarracuda]

Should be looking over our shoulders now, Harry?...

Nah, they're doing that for you.

[harrybarracuda]

I wonder what they've been up to?

The US Air Force's Boeing X-37B, often dubbed as a mystery space vehicle, returned to Earth on 7 May, after spending 718 days in low Earth orbit. The Air Force took to Twitter to announce the feat.

What is Boeing X-37B? The secret US Air Force plane that spent over 700 days in space

[David48atTD]

The mystery space plane you shouldn't know anything about

Harry's reference has the video, here is some text for background.

X-37B: Unmanned US space plane returns from orbit after nearly two years in space

The US military's experimental X-37B space plane landed on Sunday at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida,
completing a classified mission that lasted nearly two years, the Air Force says.

Resembling a miniature space shuttle, the unmanned X-37B touched down on a runway formerly used for landings of the
now-mothballed space shuttles, the Air Force said.
The Boeing-built space plane blasted off in May 2015 from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard
an Atlas 5 rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

During its more than 700 days in orbit the X-37B, one of two in the Air Force fleet, conducted unspecified experiments.
External Link: Twitter video: US space plane lands

It was the fourth and lengthiest mission so far for the secretive program, managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.

The orbiters "perform risk reduction, experimentation and concept-of-operations development for reusable space vehicle
technologies," the Air Force has said without providing details — the cost of the program is also classified.

Secrecy surrounding the X-37B suggests the presence of intelligence-related hardware being tested or evaluated aboard the craft,
said the Secure World Foundation, a non-profit group promoting the peaceful exploration of space.

The vehicles are nine metres long and have a wingspan of 4.57 metres, making them about one quarter of the size
of NASA's now-retired space shuttles.




The X-37B, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle, or OTV, first flew in April 2010 and returned after eight months.

A second mission launched in March 2011 and lasted 15 months, while a third took flight in December 2012 and returned after 22 months.
Sunday's landing was the X-37B's first in Florida.

The three previous landings took place at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The Air Force relocated the program in 2014, taking over two of NASA's former shuttle-processing hangars
and intends to launch the fifth X-37B mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station later this year.
Here
.

[Latindancer]

NASA Just Released Some Absolutely Spectacular New Photos Of Jupiter | IFLScience

[Latindancer]

May 22 2017

Rocket Lab may try to launch its Electron rocket for the first time this weekend.


Rocket Lab's Electron rocket is only 55 feet tall. That's puny compared to SpaceX's 230-foot Falcon 9, but size isn't everything. The Electron could become a powerful system for putting small satellites into space for cheap—the company estimates each launch will cost $5 million compared to SpaceX's (already very cheap) $60 million. And on Sunday, it may fly for the very first time.
If conditions are favorable, the Electron will blast off from its launch pad in Mahia, New Zealand, at 5pm eastern time on May 21. It's not carrying a payload, but if all goes well, its second stage will make it into orbit, which is a pretty significant achievement for a space startup. Even Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle only goes into suborbital space.

However, Rocket Lab cautions that it's only going to attempt the launch if conditions are ideal. “During this first launch attempt it is possible we will scrub multiple attempts as we wait until we are ready and conditions are favorable,” Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said in a statement. A press statement also admits it's possible the rocket won't make it to orbit as planned. Explosions are always a risk when it comes to rocket science, especially if you're new to the space race.

Fortunately, there's a 10-day launch window, so the company will have plenty of time to wait for the perfect conditions. There's no livestream of the launch, but Rocket Lab says it will post a video if the launch is successful.

The Electron isn't currently reusable, but the primary components of its engine are 3D printed, which the company hopes will help them to build them quickly.

Several customers have already signed up to fly on the Electron, including NASA, Moon Express, and just this week, a rocket rideshare company called Spaceflight.

Rocket Lab may try to launch its Electron rocket for the first time this weekend | Space | Australian Popular Science

[harrybarracuda]

High winds have prevented Rocket Lab's world-first attempt to send a rocket into orbit from a private launch pad.

Rocket Lab, in March valued at more than US$1 billion (NZ$1.44 billion), was due to launch its first test-launch of its Electron rocket on Monday.

But the satellite launch company has since delayed the launch from its Mahia Peninsula base in Hawke's Bay until Tuesday.

Heavy winds delay world-first rocket launch at Rocket Lab's NZ launch pad | Stuff.co.nz

[misskit]

A Whole New Jupiter: First Science Results from NASA’s Juno Mission


This image shows Jupiter’s south pole, as seen by NASA’s Juno spacecraft from an altitude of 32,000 miles (52,000 kilometers). The oval features are cyclones, up to 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) in diameter. Multiple images taken with the JunoCam instrument on three separate orbits were combined to show all areas in daylight, enhanced color, and stereographic projection.


Early science results from NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter portray the largest planet in our solar system as a complex, gigantic, turbulent world, with Earth-sized polar cyclones, plunging storm systems that travel deep into the heart of the gas giant, and a mammoth, lumpy magnetic field that may indicate it was generated closer to the planet’s surface than previously thought.

“We are excited to share these early discoveries, which help us better understand what makes Jupiter so fascinating,” said Diane Brown, Juno program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It was a long trip to get to Jupiter, but these first results already demonstrate it was well worth the journey.”

Juno launched on Aug. 5, 2011, entering Jupiter’s orbit on July 4, 2016. The findings from the first data-collection pass, which flew within about 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) of Jupiter's swirling cloud tops on Aug. 27, are being published this week in two papers in the journal Science, as well as 44 papers in Geophysical Research Letters.

“We knew, going in, that Jupiter would throw us some curves,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “But now that we are here we are finding that Jupiter can throw the heat, as well as knuckleballs and sliders. There is so much going on here that we didn’t expect that we have had to take a step back and begin to rethink of this as a whole new Jupiter.”

Among the findings that challenge assumptions are those provided by Juno’s imager, JunoCam. The images show both of Jupiter's poles are covered in Earth-sized swirling storms that are densely clustered and rubbing together.

“We're puzzled as to how they could be formed, how stable the configuration is, and why Jupiter’s north pole doesn't look like the south pole,” said Bolton. “We're questioning whether this is a dynamic system, and are we seeing just one stage, and over the next year, we're going to watch it disappear, or is this a stable configuration and these storms are circulating around one another?”

Another surprise comes from Juno’s Microwave Radiometer (MWR), which samples the thermal microwave radiation from Jupiter’s atmosphere, from the top of the ammonia clouds to deep within its atmosphere. The MWR data indicates that Jupiter’s iconic belts and zones are mysterious, with the belt near the equator penetrating all the way down, while the belts and zones at other latitudes seem to evolve to other structures. The data suggest the ammonia is quite variable and continues to increase as far down as we can see with MWR, which is a few hundred miles or kilometers.

Prior to the Juno mission, it was known that Jupiter had the most intense magnetic field in the solar system. Measurements of the massive planet’s magnetosphere, from Juno’s magnetometer investigation (MAG), indicate that Jupiter’s magnetic field is even stronger than models expected, and more irregular in shape. MAG data indicates the magnetic field greatly exceeded expectations at 7.766 Gauss, about 10 times stronger than the strongest magnetic field found on Earth.

“Juno is giving us a view of the magnetic field close to Jupiter that we’ve never had before,” said Jack Connerney, Juno deputy principal investigator and the lead for the mission’s magnetic field investigation at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Already we see that the magnetic field looks lumpy: it is stronger in some places and weaker in others. This uneven distribution suggests that the field might be generated by dynamo action closer to the surface, above the layer of metallic hydrogen. Every flyby we execute gets us closer to determining where and how Jupiter’s dynamo works.”

Juno also is designed to study the polar magnetosphere and the origin of Jupiter's powerful auroras—its northern and southern lights. These auroral emissions are caused by particles that pick up energy, slamming into atmospheric molecules. Juno’s initial observations indicate that the process seems to work differently at Jupiter than at Earth.

Juno is in a polar orbit around Jupiter, and the majority of each orbit is spent well away from the gas giant. But, once every 53 days, its trajectory approaches Jupiter from above its north pole, where it begins a two-hour transit (from pole to pole) flying north to south with its eight science instruments collecting data and its JunoCam public outreach camera snapping pictures. The download of six megabytes of data collected during the transit can take 1.5 days.

“Every 53 days, we go screaming by Jupiter, get doused by a fire hose of Jovian science, and there is always something new,” said Bolton. “On our next flyby on July 11, we will fly directly over one of the most iconic features in the entire solar system -- one that every school kid knows -- Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. If anybody is going to get to the bottom of what is going on below those mammoth swirling crimson cloud tops, it’s Juno and her cloud-piercing science instruments.”

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for NASA. The principal investigator is Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, in Denver, built the spacecraft.

More information on the Juno mission is available at:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno

http://missionjuno.org

[Takeovers]

“We knew, going in, that Jupiter would throw us some curves,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “But now that we are here we are finding that Jupiter can throw the heat, as well as knuckleballs and sliders. There is so much going on here that we didn’t expect that we have had to take a step back and begin to rethink of this as a whole new Jupiter.”

It is a recurring theme and shows that our simulations are still far from perfect. Whenever we look at something much closer than before we find surprises. Which is a good thing. Sending expensive probes and finding only our expectations confirmed would be boring.

Think back to the Pluto flyby. The complexity took scientists by surprise there as well.

Also the findings with exoplanets. A few days ago I was at a presentation of the Berlin center of DLR the german space agency (not ESA). That center concentrates on planetary science. The presenter talked about exoplanets. I got to ask if they were as surprised as I was when they found the first exo planets, planets they call hot Jupiters. The answer was they were absolutely surprised. The only sample they knew before was our solar system and it all makes sense. So they expected extrasolar planetary systems to be similar. That idea was totally wrong. All planetary systems found yet are very different to ours. But to be honest the presently available technology would not even be able to find solar systems similar to ours. Claims of finding earthlike planets are wrong so far. We could not find one. Maybe in 10 years we can.

BTW that gorgeous photo of Jupiters (not Saturns) south pole is not from a scientific camera. They put the camera on as part of their public relations effort, to present pictures to the public. I am sure scientists still like them because they had no good pictures of the poles before.

Edit: Of course Jupiters, not Saturns. Sorry for that. Up to now we had only polar photos of Saturn.

[misskit]

Russian, French Astronauts Return From Space Station Stint



CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA —
A Russian cosmonaut and a French astronaut returned to Earth on Friday aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule after six months at the International Space Station, while their U.S. crewmate remained on the orbiting laboratory for an extended stay, a NASA television broadcast showed.

Russia's Oleg Novitskiy and Thomas Pesquet, with the European Space Agency, strapped themselves inside the spacecraft and left the station at 6:47 a.m. EDT (1047 GMT) as the complex sailed 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

They made a parachute landing southwest of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 10:10 a.m. EDT (1410 GMT).

One seat aboard the capsule was empty as U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, who flew to the station with Novitskiy and Pesquet in November, will remain in orbit until September. She is filling a vacancy left after Russia scaled down its station crew size to two members from three.

"We of course are going to miss Oleg and Thomas. They are exceptional astronauts," an emotional Whitson said during a ceremony on Thursday, where she turned over command of the $100 billion station to Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

"Peggy is a legend," Pesquet said. "We're a little bit sad to leave her behind, but we know she's in very, very capable hands."

Whitson, Yurchikhin and astronaut Jack Fischer, also with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will manage the station until a new crew launches in late July.

"That will be a little challenging," Whitson said during an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. "I was up here on my previous two expeditions and it was only a three-person crew, but it was a much smaller station at that point in time."

"Still, I think it's quite doable," she said.

Whitson, who is serving on the station for a third time, broke the U.S. record in April for cumulative time in space. By the time she returns to Earth in September, she will have accumulated more than 660 days in orbit.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, with 878 days in orbit, is the world's most experienced space flier.

https://www.voanews.com/a/russian-fr...t/3884762.html

[Takeovers]

Another launch and landing of SpaceX Falcon 9. This is a cargo mission with supplies and experiments going to the ISS. This is the first Dragon that has flown before and is now reused, though heavily reworked.

Among others mice again for test of a bone growth medicine intended for people with bone loss, broken bones and for Astronauts to fight their boneloss in microgravity. Also a few thousand fruit flies which are used to study heart changes in microgravity. Fruit flies have a similar heart beat rate as humans while mouse hearts beat 10 times as fast.

One of the NASA tracking cameras. They were built to follow the SpaceShuttle.



A chart used for identifying unknown objects.



So this falls under weather balloon




The first stage during atmospheric reentry. A burn to reduce speed and experienced heating. Internal camera view and from the tracking camera.



The landing, directly from the incoming stage and from an external camera, both showing the same moment.



A few photos of one of my friends who was at the cape, observing from the port area.



A dolphin for good luck.



Amateur video of the landing.

[Takeovers]

The post launch press conference on CRS-11.

Edit: Sorry this is CRS-10. Will check for CRS-11, seems it is not yet on YouTube.

You may want to see the first minute with a short recap of the flight.

[Topper]

Here's my question .... why did the speed of the first stage show 18km/hr when it landed?

[Takeovers]

why did the speed of the first stage show 18km/hr when it landed?

Good question. It could be just a delay in displaying the information. Or it is the speed at touchdown. The legs can probably buffer that much. But this touchdown looked exceptionally soft. They have painted the landing area in a radar reflecting coating to get better reading for the altitude which was sometimes not as precise as they wished. They still keep improving with every launch and landing.

[bobo746]

An Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from the French Guiana Space Center with two satellites onboard ViaSat-2, built by Boeing Satellite Systems for the American operator ViaSat Inc and EUTELSAT 172B, built by Airbus Defence and Space for the French operator Eutelsat, in Kourou, French Guiana, on June 1, 2017

[bobo746]

Aspiring space nation Asgardia wants to launch its first data-filled satellite later this year

AN ambitious self-proclaimed space nation founded by a Russian billionaire and backed by a consortium of scientists is set to take its first step into the cosmos later this year.
The public collective which aims to become a space-bound private “country” calls itself Asgardia and was first announced in October by its founder and chief financial backer Igor Ashurbeyli who believes the floating nation can “offer an independent platform free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws.”
The idea behind the project is to prompt a discussion about the regulations and laws that underpin space activity and create a demilitarised and freely accessible base of scientific knowledge permanently in orbit.
In the long term it has much bolder — and somewhat quixotic — plans to create a shield to protect Earth from cosmic threats, such as asteroids, solar flares and space debris.




Asgardia: Aspiring space nation to launch data satellite

[Takeovers]

Jupiter flyby of Juno. Videos compiled from photos taken by the Juno probe.

The best IMO on flickr. You need to click the link to see it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/136797589@N04/34850849321/

A YouTube video, also gorgeous.

[Takeovers]

Some more on chinese space efforts, their plans to build a space station.



in the front left corner there is the Tianhou cargo ship. It has a pressurized version that docks to the station and can get unloaded to the inside, similar to russian and US cargo carriers. Shown in the picture is a version for external cargo, items that get mounted on the outside of the station. It will take a while, that station will probably exist in the 2020ies.

They have launched the first Tianzou recently, so they are on it step by step.

The picture shows crew vehicles that are derived of the russian Soyuz but they are also working on a more advanced capsule shape vehicle.

Pictures from the Tianzhou-1 launch.





Tianzou-1 in space on its way to their present space station. But it is a demo flight only. That station is no longer used and will be deorbited.

[Takeovers]

BTW about this picture from Davids post upthread.



If you wonder, why the plastic of the ballon loks much like the bags in your supermarket for packing vegetables. That is because it is the same high tech material.

[BaitongBoy]

Expensive grocery bag, that one...No wonder they charge for them...What's the cost of that one?...

[Latindancer]

Now they've found an odd circular pit on Mars...

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/sc...212916357.html