Astronomy

Chimpanzees with wounds or gut infections seem to add unusual plants to their diet, and tests show that many of these plants have antibacterial or anti-inflammatory effects

A new trailer for Amazon MGM Studios' NASA comedy starring Emma Roberts, "Space Cadet"

An aerial survey of Los Angeles reveals that high temperatures cause plants to emit more compounds that can contribute to harmful ozone and PM2.5 air pollution

An aerial survey of Los Angeles reveals that high temperatures cause plants to emit more compounds that can contribute to harmful ozone and PM2.5 air pollution

An ancient shipwreck lost in deep waters has yielded its first clues: amphorae from a lost age of international trade and civilization

This is probably what the demise of the Hubble Space Telescope was always going to look like: components failing one by one, with no way to replace them. In the last few months, the Hubble has repeatedly gone into safe mode as one of its remaining three gyros keeps giving faulty readings. But the Hubble and the people operating it are resilient and resourceful. The telescope is back to science operations now, though in single gyro mode.

NASA has released the first image the Hubble captured in this mode, and it’s clear that the Hubble is performing well.

This image is Hubble’s contribution to a three-telescope, multi-wavelength observing effort. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST- infrared) and the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA-radio) are both involved. Hubble captured this image with its Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3.)

“Hubble’s new image of a spectacular galaxy demonstrates the full success of our new, more stable pointing mode for the telescope.”

Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, senior project scientist for Hubble, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

The image shows the lenticular galaxy NGC 1546, which is about 61 million light-years away in the constellation Dorado. The galaxy is oriented so that the glow from its core lights up dust lanes. The dust absorbs starlight and then emits it again at lower wavelengths, making the dust appear brown. The core is yellowish, which indicates a population of older stars. Bright blue regions peeking out from the dust lanes are where active star formation is taking place. Background galaxies are also visible, including an edge-on view of a reddish spiral galaxy on the left.

The Hubble started its mission with six gyros, which help the telescope point itself at chosen targets. There are now only three left, and one of them is repeatedly causing problems. NASA says the gyro is experiencing ‘saturation,’ meaning it also indicates that the Hubble is at its maximum slew rate, regardless of the actual slew rate.

But as this image shows, science operations are still continuing effectively, even though NASA says there are some minor limitations in the single gyro mode. In this mode, the telescope’s view of some regions of the sky is limited. The single gyro mode is part of the telescope’s design, just in case four or five of its six gyros fail.

It’s amazing that the space telescope can operate with a single gyro. It can capture the light from objects billions of light years away while travelling at about 27,000 km/hour (17,000 mp/h). All the while, it keeps its pinpoint gaze steady. NASA describes it as keeping a laser shining on a dime over 320 km (200) miles away. The telescope requires long exposure times; sometimes, it focuses on a single time for 24 hours.

This is Hubble’s second set of six gyros. They were all replaced during a 2009 servicing mission.

In this image, astronaut Mike Massimino works to remove and replace Hubble’s Rate Sensor Units, which contain the telescope’s gyroscopes, during Servicing Mission 4 in 2009. All of Hubble’s gyroscopes were replaced during the mission. Image Credit: NASA

“Hubble’s new image of a spectacular galaxy demonstrates the full success of our new, more stable pointing mode for the telescope,” said Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We’re poised now for many years of discovery ahead, and we’ll be looking at everything from our solar system to exoplanets to distant galaxies. Hubble plays a powerful role in NASA’s astronomical toolkit.”

Everything has a beginning and an end, including the Hubble. Over time, gyros and other equipment will continue to fail. Just like other aged spacecraft, like the Voyager Probes, engineers and mission staff will adapt and find new ways to keep the telescope going, probably with reduced results. But one day, the space telescope will cease functioning.

Considering all that Hubble has contributed, it will be a very sad day when the telescope shares its final image with us.

The post Here’s Hubble’s First Image in its New Pointing Mode appeared first on Universe Today.

Rocket Lab launched its Electron rocket for the 50th time on Thursday (June 20), reaching the milestone in record time.

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Astronomers have proposed a rather uncomfortable past for our solar system and our planet — as well as an alternative explanation for a radioactive anomaly on Earth.

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NASA is very interested in developing a propulsion method to allow spacecraft to go faster. We’ve reported several times on different ideas to support that goal, and most of the more successful have utilized the Sun’s gravity well, typically by slingshotting around it, as is commonly done with Jupiter currently. But, there are still significant hurdles when doing so, not the least of which is the energy radiating from the Sun simply vaporizing anything that gets close enough to utilize a gravity assist. That’s the problem a project supported by NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) and run by Jason Benkoski, now of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is trying to solve.

The project was awarded a NIAC Phase I grant in 2022, focused on combining two separate systems – a heat shield and a thermal propellant system. According to the project’s final report, combining those two technologies could allow a spacecraft to perform what is known as an Oberth maneuver around the Sun. In this orbital mechanics trick, a spacecraft uses the Sun’s gravity well to slingshot itself at high speeds in the direction it aims. It’s similar to the Sundiver technology discussed in other articles.

So, what makes this project unique? One thing is the heat shield – Dr. Benkoski and his team developed a material that is capable of withstanding up to 2700 K. While that is still not anywhere near the temperature of the Sun’s surface, which can reach up to 5800 K, its enough to get pretty close, and thereby unlock a spacecraft’s ability to use an Oberth maneuver in the first place. 

Image of the test set-up for the thermal shield.
Credit – Benkoski et al.

Samples of the material with these thermal properties have already been produced. However, further research is needed to understand whether they’re cut out for space flight. And a heat shield alone isn’t enough to perform the maneuver – a spacecraft also must have a propulsion system that can withstand those temperatures. 

A solar thermal propulsion system could potentially do so. These systems use the Sun’s energy to pressurize their own propellant and then expel those propellants out to gain thrust, which is a necessary component of an Oberth maneuver. There are several different types of fuels that could work for such a system, and a large chunk of the research in the Phase I project looked at the different costs/benefits of each.

Hydrogen is one of the more common fuels considered for a solar thermal propulsion system. Though it is lightweight, it requires a bulky cryogenic system to store the hydrogen because it is heated to the point of being used as thrust. In the end, its trade-offs made it the least effective of the propellants considered during the project.

Graphic depicting the development path for the solar thermal propulsion system.
Credit – Benkoski et al.

Lithium hydride was the surprise winner for the fuel that allows for the fastest escape velocity. Calculations show it could result in a velocity of over 12 AU / yr. However, there are constraints with the fuel’s storage and handling.

Dr. Benkoski settled on a more mundane fuel as the overall winner of the modeling he did – methane. While it generally results in a slower final velocity than lithium hydride, its final speed is still respectable at over 10 AU / yr. It also eliminates many storage hassles of other propellants, such as the cryogenics required to store hydrogen.

There are some drawbacks, though – the calculated maximum speed is only about 1.7 times faster than what could already be done with a gravitational assist from Jupiter, which wouldn’t require all the fancy thermal shielding. There are other downsides to that, though, such as the direction the spacecraft can travel in being limited by where Jupiter is in relation to other objects of interest. Orbiting the Sun, on the other hand, it is possible to reach pretty much anywhere in the solar system and beyond with the right controlled burn.

As Dr. Benkoski notes in the final report, he made plenty of assumptions when doing his modeling calculations, including that the system would only be able to use already-developed technologies rather than speculative ones that could dramatically impact the results. For now, it doesn’t seem NASA has selected this project to move on to Phase II, and it’s unclear what future work is planned for further development. If nothing else, it is a step toward understanding what would be necessary to truly send spacecraft past the Sun and into deep space at a speed much faster than anything else has gone before. Given NASA’s continual attention to this topic, undoubtedly, someday, one of the missions will succeed in doing so.

Learn More:
Benkoski et al – Combined Heat Shield and Solar Thermal Propulsion System for an Oberth Maneuver
UT – Tiny Spacecraft Using Solar Sails Open Up a Solar System of Opportunity
UT – Want the Fastest Solar Sail? Drop it Into the Sun First
UT – A Mission to Reach the Solar Gravitational Lens in 30 Years

Lead Image:
Graphic of a solar thermal propulsion system undergoing a Oberth maneuver around the Sun.
Credit – Jason Benkoski

The post Slingshotting Around the Sun Would Make a Spacecraft the Faster Ever appeared first on Universe Today.

Reducing the size of the microphone in electronic devices would allow manufacturers to include more of them, increasing the capability for noise cancellation

Reducing the size of the microphone in electronic devices would allow manufacturers to include more of them, increasing the capability for noise cancellation

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Researchers have confirmed a centuries-old rumour that leeches can jump, which they may do to land their next blood meal

Researchers have confirmed a centuries-old rumour that leeches can jump, which they may do to land their next blood meal

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