Astronomy

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Our Moon is shrinking and has been doing so since just after its formation ~4.5 billion years ago from a collision with the young Earth. That shrinkage, along with a constant rain of micrometeorites, causes lunar seismic activity. NASA plans to send two instruments to the Moon to measure its moonquakes. Those dual seismometers share technology first used on Mars by the InSight lander to measure more than a thousand marsquakes.

The seismometers make up part of the Farside Seismic Suite (FSS). It will be delivered to the Moon’s Schrödinger Basin at the South Pole, the first such instrument package deployed since the Apollo program seismic payload operated for a brief time in 1971. That program sent back the first moonquake measurements. Subsequent Apollo missions deployed other seismic instruments that transmitted lunar data until late 1977.

JPL engineers and technicians prepare NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite for testing in simulated lunar gravity, which is about one-sixth of Earth’s. The seismometers in the payload will gather the agency’s first seismic data from moonquakes in nearly 50 years. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The FSS will send back the first such measurements from the Moon’s far side since Apollo days. Its two seismometers will record a “hum” of seismic background vibrations from icrometeorites pelting the surface. In addition, they will record lunar quakes and return data about their intensity and location.

What Do Moonquakes Tell Us?

Quakes give a great deal of information about more than their location and intensity. The way seismic waves travel through the Moon’s structure should give some insight into the density of its various parts. In addition, they help scientists understand the lunar “shrinkage”.

On Earth, seismic waves travel differently through liquid and solid layers. On the Moon, the Apollo 11 seismic experiment gave planetary scientists the first “look” at the lunar interior. For each moonquake, the instrument recorded the strength, duration, and suspected direction of the event.

Apollo 15’s Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP). It carried a suite of science instruments, including a seismic experiment to detect moonquakes. Courtesy NASA.

Interestingly, that experiment and others did not detect much seismic activity on the lunar far side. Something in the Moon’s interior plays a role in absorbing the waves from far-side quakes. Scientists want to know what that structure is and what properties prevent transmission of quake waves. Of course, not as many quakes occur on the far side. Interestingly, the surface of the far side is much different than the near side. Are these two related? “FSS will offer answers to questions we’ve been asking about the Moon for decades,” said Mark Panning, the FSS principal investigator at JPL and project scientist for InSight. “We cannot wait to start getting this data back.”

From Marsquakes to Moonquakes

In late 2018, the Mars InSight Lander settled onto the surface of the Red Planet. Its mission was to study the interior of Mars. Essentially, it used the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) to take the planet’s pulse and measure its interior motions. It measured the strength, duration, and direction of marsquakes. It also detected tiny mini-quakes generated by meteorite impacts. Along with a suite of other instruments that measured wind, temperature, and magnetic field variations, SEIS was able to sense vibrations from wind storms and other atmospheric phenomena.

Engineers at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory adapted the seismometer technology used on InSight for the FSS suite. There were a few major differences, however. For one thing, lunar gravity is much less than Mars’s, so they had to adapt the seismic suite’s performance to take that into account. Also, temperatures on the Moon are much colder, and of course, there’s no atmosphere to measure.

The FSS suite contains the Very Broadband Seismometer, which is so sensitive it detects ground motions smaller than the size of a hydrogen atom. The other seismometer is called the Short Period sensor and it measures ground motion in three directions using tiny sensors etched onto chips.

FSS’s Science Goals

This payload, its power sources, and thermal controls are expected to operate for a long time, measuring quakes and background “noise” in the lunar structure. Although scientists know a fair amount about the Moon’s interior, the FSS’s sensitive instruments should help them get a more detailed understanding of its structure. The Moon is a differentiated body—meaning that it has layers beneath it crust.

The Apollo mission instruments measured the thickness of the lunar crust, and the GRAIL mission provided more detailed data. The FSS measurements should determine the thickness of the next layer—the deep mantle. That should come from data recordings and measurements of deep moonquakes. The FSS’s landing site in Schrödinger crater is a great location for quake measurements. It’s an impact basin refilled by rock melted during an impact that occurred some 3.8 billion years ago. There is a great deal of evidence for other volcanic activity in the region, including vents and subsequent lava flows.

Seen here during assembly in November 2023, Farside Seismic Suite’s inner cube houses the NASA payload’s large battery (at rear) and its two seismometers. The gold, puck-shaped device holds the Short Period sensor, while the silver enclosure contains the Very Broadband seismometer. These devices will detect moonquakes on the Moon’s far side. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The FSS seismometer package is slated for launch in 2025 with a projected landing date in 2026. It’s part of a NASA initiative to work with companies to deliver lunar science and technology packages during the Artemis mission timeline. Artemis astronauts will deploy a seismic network using a distributed acoustic sensing capability to do further work in assessing the Moon’s interior.

For More Information

NASA to Measure Moonquakes With Help From InSight Mars Mission
Apollo 11 Seismic Experiment
InSight Lander

The post Two Seismometers are Going to the Moon to Measure Moonquakes appeared first on Universe Today.

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Radio telescopes have an advantage over optical telescopes, in that radio telescope can be used even in cloudy conditions here on Earth. That’s because the longer wavelengths of radio waves can pass through clouds unhindered. However, some wavelengths are still partially obscured by portions of Earth’s atmosphere, especially by the ionosphere which traps human-made Radio Frequency Interference (RFI).  

Astronomers have developed a new calibration technique that allows them to take sharp images in low radio frequencies — between 16 and 30 MHz — for the first time, bypassing the influence of the ionosphere. The astronomers say this will allow them to study things like plasmas emanating from ancient black holes and perhaps even detect exoplanets that orbit small stars.

The technique was developed by an international team of researchers led by astronomers from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

“It’s like putting on a pair of glasses for the first time and no longer seeing blurred,” said Christian Groeneveld from Leiden University, who led the research.

The LOFAR central stations on a specially engineered field (“superterp”) between Exloo and Buinen in Drenthe, in the north east of the Netherlands. Image: Aerophoto Eelde.

The astronomers used the LOFAR telescope in Drenthe, the Netherlands, which is currently one of the best low-frequency radio telescopes in the world. They modified a calibration technique that has been used to improve observations for observing in radio at higher frequencies, around 150 MHz.

“We hoped that we could also extend this technique to lower frequencies, below 30 MHz,” said, Reinout van Weeren, also from Leiden University, who came up with the idea. “And we succeeded.”

To test their technique, they studied several galaxy clusters that had previously only been studied in detail at higher frequencies.

“Our observing strategy consisted of simultaneously observing a bright primary calibrator and the target fields,” the team wrote in their paper. “By scheduling the observation after midnight, we minimized RFI caused by the internal reflection of terrestrial RFI by the ionosphere, which is significantly worse during the day, as ionizing radiation from the Sun increases the column density of ions in the ionosphere.”

Then, they split up their field of view into several smaller “facets” and self-calibrated each facet individually, against the calibrator object. “This yields an improved image and model of the sky, partly corrected for direction dependent effects,” they wrote. They then repeated the calibrations three more times.

Left shows an image of a piece of sky observed with the hitherto best calibration technique. Right shows the same piece of sky with the new technique. More detail is visible, and what were once large, blurry patches now appear as single points. (c) LOFAR/Groeneveld et al.

This was the first time radio images at frequencies between 16 and 30 MHz have been taken. Because of this data, the astronomers said that the radio emissions from these clusters is not evenly distributed across the entire cluster, but rather there is a spot pattern.

According to the researchers, the new calibration technique makes it possible to study radio phenomena in frequencies that were previously hidden.

“There is, of course, a chance that we will eventually discover something unexpected,” said Groeneveld.

Read the press release from Astronomy Netherlands
Read the team’s paper

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What happens if you ascend this

The Hubble Space Telescope has been shut down temporarily after one of its gyroscopes sent faulty telemetry readings back to Earth in late May. The venerable space-based observatory, which has been responsible for some of the most remarkable scientific advances of the last three decades, and stunning astrophotography that became a cultural mainstay, is in its thirty-fourth year of operation.

Hubble’s many and varied accomplishments have been achieved despite a plague of technical challenges over the years. Right out of the gate, it launched with blurry vision, due to an improperly polished lens. The problem was fixed with a space shuttle servicing mission in 1993, three years after launch. Four more servicing missions between 1997 and 2009 repaired and upgraded various parts of the spacecraft.

With the retirement of the space shuttle, the space telescope has now been operating for 15 years without servicing.

Pauses in science operations like the current one are common events for Hubble these days, occurring several times a year in recent times. Hubble’s gyroscopes are the usual culprit.

In fact, a faulty gyroscope previously caused a shutdown barely a month ago, in April 2024, and did the same back in November 2023. In every case, NASA was able to get the space telescope back up and running in short order.

That doesn’t mean there is no cause for concern. Gyroscopes help the telescope orient itself in space, keeping it stable to point at astronomical targets in the distant universe. The last servicing mission in 2009 left the telescope with six operational gyroscopes, but it has been running on three since 2018.

Hubble needs all three to operate at full capacity.

The end of a Hubble gyro reveals the hair-thin wires known as flex leads. They carry data and electricity inside the gyro, and their corrosion has caused gyroscope failures in the past. NASA

But having two wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the mission. It would reduce the area of the sky Hubble can observe, and slow down science operations.

Regardless of the outcome of the current troubles, NASA appears confident that this is not the end of the line, stating in a press release on May 31:

“NASA anticipates Hubble will continue making discoveries throughout this decade and possibly into the next, working with other observatories, such as the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope for the benefit of humanity.”

It doesn’t appear that that will be the last word on the subject, however. A press conference has been called for 4PM EDT on June 4, where NASA’s Director of the Astrophysics Division, Mark Clampin, and Hubble’s project Manager, Patrick Crouse, are expected to give an update on Hubble’s condition.

In the event that Hubble is reduced to two working gyroscopes, NASA recently indicated that it would likely put one of them into safe mode, relying on just one gyroscope and keeping the last in good working order for the future.

With just one gyroscope in operation, magnetometers, sun sensors, and star trackers will need to make up for the work that the other gyroscopes used to do. This takes more time, and would reduce Hubble’s working capacity by 20-25%. Hubble would no longer be able to look at objects closer to Earth than Mars, it would be less capable of catching transient events at a moment’s notice, and it would have to pause observations during parts of its orbit when the Moon and Earth get in the way of its star trackers.

But it would keep the mission alive longer, which is good news for astronomers and astronomy fans everywhere. There is even hope for a future Hubble repair mission, an idea proposed by Jared Isaacman, a private astronaut who will command the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. Currently, Dragon is incapable of docking with Hubble, leaving the idea firmly in the speculative stage for the moment.

As for more immediate plans, we’ll have to see what NASA has to say. Stay tuned for the press conference at 4PM June 4.

The post Hubble Pauses its Science Again appeared first on Universe Today.

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