{"id":24002,"date":"2022-12-16T14:49:10","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T14:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/16\/this-week-in-space-trouble-from-launchpad-to-leo\/"},"modified":"2022-12-16T14:49:10","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T14:49:10","slug":"this-week-in-space-trouble-from-launchpad-to-leo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/16\/this-week-in-space-trouble-from-launchpad-to-leo\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Space: Trouble From Launchpad to LEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Apollo 17 lunar rover. (Credit: NASA\/Gene Cernan, via NASA HQ)<\/small><\/center>Hello, readers, and welcome back. This week in space, there\u2019s trouble, from here to there and back again. NASA and Roscosmos are scrambling to stabilize a coolant leak from the Soyuz capsule docked at the International Space Station. But it\u2019s not all bad news; Orion splashed down safely over the weekend. This week we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 17, humanity\u2019s last crewed mission to the moon \u2014 at least, for a while yet. Astronomers working with the Hubble telescope found two gigantic \u201cwater worlds.\u201d And this week\u2019s astronomy image from the JWST shows a sky strewn with cosmic PEARLS. We\u2019ll wrap up with a word on the Geminid meteor shower.<\/p>\n

Orion Splashes Down Safely, 50 Years After Apollo 17<\/h3>\n

Sunday afternoon, the Orion spacecraft splashed down safely, following a nearly perfect<\/a> 25-day mission. And its timing could scarcely have been better. This week marked the 50-year anniversary of Apollo 17, the last time we put people on the moon.<\/p>\n

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(Credit: NASA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

After stepping out of the Challenger Lunar Module, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison \u201cJack\u201d Schmitt said, \u201cI think the next generation ought to accept this as a challenge. Let\u2019s see them leave footprints like these.\u201d Schmitt recently sat down with NASA\u2019s \u201cHouston We Have a Podcast<\/a>\u201d to talk about the mission \u2014 and what we\u2019re still learning from the 850 pounds of moon rocks that the Apollo astronauts brought home years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cores that we took on Apollo 17, particularly the deep drill core as it\u2019s called, appears now to have a record of a major change in solar activity and the energy coming into the solar wind about 550 million years ago,\u201d Schmitt told the podcast. Evidence from lunar regolith suggests that the Sun\u2019s highest-energy blasts of radiation may have dropped off, right around that time. When it did, the idea goes, ionizing radiation stopped sterilizing the tidal shallows<\/a> that would soon foster the Cambrian explosion.<\/p>\n

Schmitt went on to voice his hope that future Artemis astronauts would retrieve new core samples to dig deeper into the question of what the geological history of the moon can tell us about the long-term evolution of the Earth. But, he said, \u201cthe current Artemis program is not without its challenges; Apollo didn\u2019t solve all those challenges. We had a different approach at the time and an approach that worked. And Artemis needs to make sure that they\u2019re coming up with an architecture, as they like to say, that actually will work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hubble Finds Gigantic \u2018Water Worlds\u2019<\/h3>\n

Astronomers using the Hubble telescope have located two rocky exoplanets that are not as they seem. The planets are twice the size of Earth, and three times its mass. But their density and spectra suggest that they\u2019re too light to be all rock. Instead, the researchers believe the two planets to be \u201cwater worlds<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine larger versions of Europa or Enceladus, the water-rich moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn, but brought much closer to their star,\u201d explained astronomer Caroline Piaulet, who led the research. \u201cInstead of an icy surface, they would harbor large water-vapor envelopes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s illustration of the Kepler 138 planetary system. (Credit: NASA, ESA, L. Hustak (STScI))<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that\u2019s why we called them super-Earths,\u201d said Bj\u00f6rn Benneke, who heads Piaulet\u2019s research lab. \u201cHowever, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a large fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Water worlds though they might be, these planets may not have surface oceans, like Earth. Instead, Piaulet says, they might more closely resemble the scalding, choking fog on Venus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe temperature in Kepler-138 d\u2019s atmosphere is likely above the boiling point of water, and we expect a thick dense atmosphere made of steam on this planet. Only under that steam atmosphere could there potentially be liquid water at high pressure, or even water in another phase that occurs at high pressures called a supercritical fluid,\u201d Piaulet said. The team expects to make follow-up observations using the James Webb Space Telescope in 2023.<\/p>\n

James Webb Space Telescope Finds Cosmic PEARLS<\/h3>\n

This week\u2019s image from the James Webb Space Telescope is a medium-deep-field view of the North Ecliptic Pole. It\u2019s also among the largest images we\u2019ve ever seen. The area is just two percent of the size of the full moon. But in it, we see a sky strewn with galaxies, glittering against the perfect blackness like so many jewels. Fittingly, the image comes from the Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science (PEARLS) GTO<\/a> program, which sets aside a portion of the telescope\u2019s time for those involved in its development.<\/p>\n

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Click to open the image in a new tab. For truly gigantic full-res versions with and without annotations, check out the StSci explainer<\/a> page \u2014 but be careful! At 18,828 by 6,397 pixels, they\u2019re not for the faint of heart. (Credit: NASA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This seldom-surveyed region of the sky is perpendicular to the ecliptic<\/a>, the path the Sun appears to trace out on the Earth\u2019s surface over the course of a year. Happily, Webb is in a position that gives it an unobstructed view of that part of the sky. \u201cThis unique field is designed to be observable with Webb 365 days per year, so its time-domain legacy, area covered, and depth reached can only get better with time,\u201d said<\/a> Rogier Windhorst, principal investigator of the PEARLS team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was blown away by the first PEARLS images,\u201d said Rolf Jansen, a PEARLS co-investigator. \u201cLittle did I know, when I selected this field near the North Ecliptic Pole, that it would yield such a treasure trove of distant galaxies, and that we would get direct clues about the processes by which galaxies assemble and grow. I can see streams, tails, shells, and halos of stars in their outskirts, the leftovers of their building blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

To create the image, the team combined observations<\/a> from Webb\u2019s NIRCam near-infrared instrument with spectra from NIRISS, the telescope\u2019s onboard spectrograph. Altogether, when the PEARLS team is finished, they\u2019ll have imaged a swathe of the sky four times this size.<\/p>\n

Explosive Coolant Leak From Soyuz Capsule<\/h3>\n

NASA and Roscosmos are working fast, after a serious coolant leak<\/a> Wednesday night from the Soyuz MS-22 capsule currently docked at the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

In statements Thursday, Roscosmos said that the outer hull of the capsule appears to have been damaged. Out of an abundance of caution, the agency also canceled the Thursday spacewalk it had planned for cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Prokopyev. It\u2019s possible that the leak is from an orbital debris strike. However, the capsule\u2019s inner hull is intact, and all the people aboard the space station are fine.<\/p>\n

In addition to Petelin and Prokopyev, the station currently hosts cosmonaut Anna Kikina, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, and NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Josh Cassaa, and Nicole Mann. Nobody was even exposed to the coolant because the crew noticed the leak before the cosmonauts left the station \u2014 and both agencies want to keep it that way. In an update<\/a> on the space station blog, NASA said, \u201cPlans for an additional inspection of the Soyuz exterior using the station\u2019s Canadarm2 robotic arm are underway.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cosmonaut Anna Kikina used the robotic Canadarm2 to capture this image of Soyuz after the leak. (Credit: NASA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Two other Russian resupply ships, Progress 81 and 82, are currently docking with the station. There\u2019s also a Northrop Grumman Cygnus \u2018space freighter,\u2019 and two SpaceX capsules (a Cargo and Crew Dragon, respectively).<\/p>\n

The MS-22 capsule that sprang the leak carried Petelin, Prokopyev, and Rubio to the ISS on Sept. 21. Neither of the agencies has said how the three will get home if the Soyuz capsule can\u2019t make the trip. MS-23 won\u2019t launch until March. SpaceX might<\/em> be able to scramble a rocket. However, in 1979, after a similar situation aboard the Salyut 6 Soviet space station, Russia sent up an unpiloted Soyuz capsule that brought two marooned cosmonauts safely home. It\u2019s a sobering reminder that space, the big empty, is a merciless adversary.<\/p>\n

One of the Last Three Ariane 5 Rockets Just Launched<\/h3>\n

Over the weekend, one of the last Ariane 5 rockets was launched from the ESA\u2019s spaceport in French Guiana. Its big-ticket passenger: The first in a fleet of six Meteosat Third Generation Imager<\/a> satellites. This one, MTG-1, will also be Europe\u2019s first lightning imaging satellite<\/a>. When the other five join it, they\u2019ll monitor weather across the world from geostationary orbit, about 36,000 km up.<\/p>\n

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Ariane 5 launches from French Guiana. (Credit: ESA\u2013M. Pedoussaut)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This flight also carried into orbit the Intelsat Galaxy 35 and 36 satellites. These satellites are part of Intelsat\u2019s ongoing effort to clear out the C band of the spectrum, ahead of widespread 5G infrastructure deployment.<\/p>\n

Only two Ariane 5 rockets remain, and they\u2019re both spoken for. The last one will carry the ESA\u2019s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft, which will explore Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. Meanwhile, the ESA is preparing for the maiden flight of the first Ariane 6 heavy-lift vehicle, which it hopes to launch in Q3 2023.<\/p>\n

SpaceX Launches One Rocket, Queues Up Two More<\/h3>\n

Late Thursday evening, NASA officials cleared SpaceX to launch the Falcon 9 rocket that will deploy the agency\u2019s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite. The rocket is now due to launch at 3:46 a.m. on Friday morning, from Vandenberg.<\/p>\n

In a Wednesday press conference, SpaceX CEO Julianna Scheiman said that the launch slipped from its original date after pre-flight checks discovered problematic levels of moisture in two of the rocket\u2019s nine Merlin engines. The moisture is probably from heavy rains during a test fire last week. If so, said Scheiman, the launch can proceed; otherwise, the company will stand down the rocket for repairs.<\/p>\n

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The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will launch the SWOT satellite stands ready at Vandenberg. Photo (Credit: NASA\/Keegan Barber, via NASA HQ Flickr<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The SWOT satellite is a significant upgrade from its predecessors. Where previous satellites could measure the rough contour of the ocean\u2019s surface, SWOT will use a radio interferometer to extend that ability to rivers and streams.<\/p>\n

Two other SpaceX missions may launch between now and tomorrow night, both from Canaveral. Saturday\u2019s launch will deploy the most recent batch of Starlink satellites.<\/p>\n

Zhuque-2 Methane Rocket Fails<\/h3>\n

Despite high hopes for the mission, China\u2019s first commercial methane rocket, Zhuque-2, failed to reach orbit after its Wednesday launch. Shortly after takeoff, the rocket appeared to suffer a sharp decrease in speed and altitude<\/a>. In statements after the launch, Chinese launch company Landspace said that the rocket\u2019s second stage had failed. Unfortunately, all 14 satellites aboard were destroyed.<\/p>\n

China has recently increased and diversified its efforts toward a commercial presence in low-earth orbit. Its state space corporation, CASIC, is funding multiple Chinese domestic launch companies, much like NASA has its Commercial Cargo and Commercial Crew programs. Their projects include research into a wide variety of ways to power a rocket, from kerosene to fusion. Meanwhile, Landspace has another Zhuque-2 rocket in development.<\/p>\n

Skywatchers Corner<\/h3>\n

All through December, you can find winged stallion Pegasus in the evening sky. In Greek myth, Pegasus carried the hero Bellerophon into battle \u2014 and later, the thunderbolts of Zeus himself.<\/p>\n

Pegasus is the largest of the 88 major constellations, and it\u2019s relatively easy to find. After sunset, look to the southwest for bright Jupiter. About 15 degrees above it, you\u2019ll see the Great Square of Pegasus.<\/p>\n

The Geminid meteor shower technically peaked Tuesday night into Wednesday. But if you missed it then, you\u2019ve still got another chance or two. The show will go on until the weekend, dropping off Saturday night.<\/p>\n

This shower comes from an asteroid, unlike most meteor showers, which come from comet debris. Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is an unusually active asteroid that actually develops tails like a comet. According to EarthSky.org<\/a>, Japan\u2019s upcoming DESTINY+ (D<\/strong>emonstration and\u00a0E<\/strong>xperiment of\u00a0S<\/strong>pace\u00a0T<\/strong>echnology for\u00a0In<\/strong>terplanetary Voy<\/strong>age with\u00a0P<\/strong>haethon Fl<\/strong>yby and Dus<\/strong>t Science) mission t0 3200 Phaethon will launch in 2024.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the middle of December. That means it\u2019s time for finals week, and then the chaos of the winter holidays. If you\u2019re looking for a gift for a loved one who likes skywatching \u2014 or if you have to finally quit dodging texts and get back to your family, who have been badgering you to tell them what you want for Christmas \u2014 consider a backyard telescope. You might be stunned at how much telescope you can get for a given price, and they become a treasured pastime and a family heirloom. Binoculars are another good option, and perhaps more flexible. You can use binoculars to get a lovely view of the Moon, and then when the sun comes up, use them for bird-watching.<\/p>\n

For a space-themed gift on a tighter budget, there are phone and tablet apps geared toward skywatching. Sky map apps can let you hold your device up to the sky, and give detailed information about the part of the sky in the frame. There are several free and paid options for both Android and iOS, which we discuss here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many of you will be traveling next Friday, and so will many of us at ExtremeTech. So, we\u2019ll close with this: However you celebrate, stay safe in your travels. It\u2019s icy all over; if you\u2019re driving, maybe consider tossing a bag of kitty litter in the back before you take off. We\u2019ll see you soon.<\/p>\n

Now Read:<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n