Astronomy

While new rockets and human missions to the Moon are in the press, NASA is quietly thinking through the nuts and bolts of a long-term presence on the Moon. They have already released two white papers about the lunar logistics they’ll require in the future and are now requesting proposals from companies to supply some serious cargo transportation. But this isn’t just for space transport; NASA is also looking for ground transportation on the Moon that can move cargo weighing as much as 2,000 to 6,000 kg (4,400 to 13,000 pounds.)

In a recent press release, NASA asked U.S. industry to submit proposals for logistics ideas and solutions to help the agency land and move cargo on the lunar surface during the upcoming Artemis missions.

“NASA relies on collaborations from diverse partners to develop its exploration architecture,” said Nujoud Merancy, deputy associate administrator, strategy and architecture in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Studies like this allow the agency to leverage the incredible expertise in the commercial aerospace community.”

In the two white papers, NASA outlined the “gaps” they have lunar logistics and mobility as part of its Moon to Mars architecture.  In the first paper, “Lunar Logistics Drivers, Needs,” NASA said that as the Artemis missions and goals are conceptualized and planned, it is imperative to accurately predict logistics and resupply needs, not only for mission goals but for the very important need of keeping the humans alive and healthy. They need to have a good plan and the ability to transport landed cargo and exploration items from where they are delivered to where they are used.

Graph showing approximate logistics item needs for representative lunar surface missions. Credit: NASA.

“The total amount of logistics items required to keep the crew alive and healthy, to maintain systems, and to perform productive science and utilization can be relatively large,” the authors wrote. “It can also heavily influence the design of the architecture and exploration missions. The architecture must therefore be based on comprehensive, accurate estimates of logistics item needs and include assessment of a suitable logistics sub-architectures to deliver those needs.”

How to provide various things like food, water, air, spare parts, and other similar products required to sustain life, as well as maintain all the various systems and structures are key to having productive science and utilization activities. NASA also expects they will need to move all these supplies around on the Moon, including to the lunar South Pole where they plan to send crews in the future. The paper outlines the importance of accurately predicting logistics resupply needs, as they can heavily influence the overall architecture and design of exploration missions.

An artist’s conception shows NASA’s generic concept for the Lunar Terrain Vehicle. (NASA Illustration)

NASA’ said their current planned lunar mobility elements, such as the Lunar Terrain Vehicle and Pressurized Rover, have a capability limit of about 1,760 pounds (800 kilograms) and will primarily be used to transport astronauts around the lunar surface. However, future missions could include a need to move cargo totaling around 4,400 to 13,000 pounds (2,000 to 6,000 kg). That’s why NASA wants input from companies who have experience in this area.

But to be able to move cargo around to various places on the Moon, NASA first needs to get the supplies to the lunar surface. The second white paper, “Lunar Surface Cargo,” looks at the lunar surface cargo delivery needs, compares those needs with current cargo lander capabilities, and outlines considerations for fulfilling this capability gap. NASA said that access to a diverse fleet of cargo landers would empower a larger lunar exploration footprint, and that a combination of international partnerships and U.S. industry-provided landers could supply the concepts and capabilities to meet this need.

“Given diverse cargo needs of varying size, mass, delivery cadence, and operational needs, a diverse portfolio of cargo lander capabilities will be necessary to achieve NASA’s Moon to Mars Objectives,” the paper says. “Encouraging the development of varied cargo lander concepts and capabilities will be key to establishing a long-term lunar presence for science and exploration.”

Planned and potential cargo to the lunar surface. Credit: NASA

While the request for proposals doesn’t explicitly seek new concepts for landing vehicles, it does ask for integrated assessments of logistics that can include transportation elements.

“We’re looking for industry to offer creative insights that can inform our logistics and mobility strategy,” said Brooke Thornton, industry engagement lead for NASA’s Strategy and Architecture Office. “Ultimately, we’re hoping to grow our awareness of the unique capabilities that are or could become a part of the commercial lunar marketplace.”

Got ideas? Check out NASA’s Request for Proposals.

The post NASA Wants to Move Heavy Cargo on the Moon appeared first on Universe Today.

Two of the world's most powerful space telescopes have spied a spooky pair of galaxies in deep space, staring out like a pair of "blood-soaked" eyes  just in time for Halloween.

A witch appears to be screaming out into space in this image from NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The infrared portrait shows the Witch Head nebula, named after its resemblance to the profile of a wicked witch.

Most of the diverse elements in the Universe come from supernovae. We are, quite literally, made of the dust of those long-dead stars and other astrophysical processes. But the details of how it all comes about are something astronomers strive to understand. How do the various isotopes produced by supernovae drive the evolution of planetary systems? Of the various types of supernovae, which play the largest role in creating the elemental abundances we see today? One way astronomers can study these questions is to look at presolar grains.

These are dust grains formed long before the formation of the Sun. Some of them were cast out of older systems as a star fired up its nuclear furnace and cleared its system of dust. Others formed from the remnants of supernovae and stellar collisions. Regardless of its origin, each presolar grain has a unique isotopic fingerprint that tells us its story. For decades, we could only study presolar grains found in meteorites, but missions such as Stardust have captured particles from comets, giving us a richer source for study. Observations from radio telescopes such as ALMA allow astronomers to look at the isotope ratios of these grains at their point of origin. We can now study presolar grains both in the lab and in space. A new study compares the two, focusing on the role of supernovae.

Pair of presolar grains from the Murchison meteorite. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory, Department of Energy

What they found was that the physical gathering of presolar grains will be crucial to understanding their origins. For example, Type II supernovae, also known as [core-collapse supernovae,](https://briankoberlein.com/post/supernovas-tale/) are known to produce Titanium-44, which is an unstable isotope. Through decay processes, this can create an excess of Calcium-44 in presolar grains. But grains cast off from young star systems also have a Calcium-44 excess. In the first case, the grains form with titanium, which then decays to calcium, while in the second case, the grains form with calcium directly. We can’t distinguish between the two just by looking at the isotope ratios. Instead, we have to look at the specific distribution of Calcium-44 within the grain. The team found that using nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) they could distinguish the origin of grains found in meteorites. Similar complexities are seen with isotopes of silicon and chromium.

Overall, the study proves that we will need much more study to tease apart the origins of the presolar grains we gather. But as we better understand the grains we gather here on Earth, they should help us unravel a deeper understanding of how elements are forged in the nuclear furnaces of large stars.

Reference: Liu, Nan, et al. “Presolar grains as probes of supernova nucleosynthesis.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.19254 (2024).

The post Learning More About Supernovae Through Stardust appeared first on Universe Today.

People conceived during the UK's 1940s and 50s sugar rationing have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure than those conceived after rationing ended

People conceived during the UK's 1940s and 50s sugar rationing have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure than those conceived after rationing ended

"Star Trek" has played around with swarms of microscopic robots before, but never quite like this.

Fewer lakes are freezing over each winter compared with past years, posing environmental and economic consequences around the world

Fewer lakes are freezing over each winter compared with past years, posing environmental and economic consequences around the world

Halloween is here, and there is no better way to celebrate than with a blood-curdling image of the Dark Wolf Nebula looking like a cosmic werewolf poised to grab an unwitting victim.

North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday (July 12), shortly after complaining about purported spying activity by the United States.

Torrential rain, made worse by climate change, has lashed Spain, with Valencia bearing the brunt of the floodwaters

The extreme qualities of neutron stars could mean these dead stellar remnants gather dense clouds of hypothetical particles called "axions" around them, potentially shedding light on dark matter.

Celebrate Halloween with a cosmic new Google Doodle, featuring an astronaut cat vanquishing creepy creatures across Earth's atmosphere.

Comets have long been seen as omens and portents, and it’s easy to understand why. They first appear as faint smudges of light in the sky, sometimes fading soon after and sometimes becoming brighter than the planets, with a long, glowing tail. They have been observed throughout human history, but it wasn’t until the eighteenth century that astronomers began to predict the return of some comets. Even today, we can’t predict the return of most comets until after they swing through the inner solar system. If such a comet happens to be heading toward Earth, we wouldn’t know about it until too late. But that could change thanks to our observations of meteor showers.

Comets originate from the Oort cloud, the icy remnant of our solar system’s birth that surrounds the Sun as a sphere 100,000 AU in diameter. Whether through a close collision with another Oort object or the nearby passing of a star, some of these distant chunks of ice and rock are sent tumbling toward the inner solar system. They can come from any direction in the sky, and once they dance near the Sun they may not return for hundreds or thousands of years. Any comet with a period longer than 200 years is known as a long-period comet, and these are the hardest to predict.

Most long-period comets pose no threat to Earth. They might appear bright in the evening or morning sky, but their orbits don’t cross Earth’s orbit, so there is no risk of impact. But some long-period comets could pose an impact threat to Earth. We know this in part because we’ve been hit by comets before, and in part because we observe regular meteor showers. Showers such as the Geminids, Perseids, and Orionids are caused by the dusty trails left by comets as they cross Earth’s orbit. In these cases, we have even identified the originating comets as Phaeton, Swift-Tuttle, and Halley’s. But of these, only Swift-Tuttle is a long-period comet (barely) with an orbital period of 257 years.

Illustration of long-period comets and the Oort cloud. Credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

These connections between comets and meteor showers were made by first knowing the comet’s orbit then connecting its path to known showers. In principle, we should be able to do it the other way around. Identify what the path of a meteor shower is, and then use that to search for its long-period comet. As new telescopes such as Rubin Observatory come online, this approach could become a useful tool in the search for impact threats. A recent study on the arXiv shows how this would work.

The team ran simulations of long-period comets ranging from 200 to 4,000 years. They estimated the dust trails these hypothetical comets would produce, then set out to determine if astronomers could use these trails to work backwards to locate the originating comet while it is far from the Sun. In anticipation of having high-resolution sky surveys, the team assumed astronomers could observe them at the anticipated resolution of Rubin Observatory. They found that the orbits of many comets don’t produce showers useful for prediction, but in 17 cases, the showers could be used to identify comets months or years before they would typically be noticed.

The expected orbit for the Aurigid shower. Credit: Hemmelgarn, et al

To prove this point even further, the team also looked at a meteor shower called the ?-Hydrids, a faint shower that appears in early December. The origin of the sigma-Hydrids was not known until the appearance of Comet Nishimura in 2023. Once the orbit was determined, astronomers found a possible connection to the sigma-Hydrid showers. Using known observations of the shower before 2023, the team was able to determine a possible orbit for the comet. They found that with a Rubin-like sky search, astronomers could have found Nishimura eight months before its actual discovery.

Reference: Hemmelgarn, Samantha, et al. “How Meteor Showers Can Guide the Search for Long Period Comets.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.02883 (2024).

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Humans and pigs could both serve as mixing vessels for a bird flu–seasonal flu hybrid, posing a risk of wider spread

A geomagnetic storm, the largest supermoon of the year, a comet and an eerie fireball were among the skywatching treats that haunted the night sky of October 2024.

The near-3000 piece Lego Black Panther building set is over $100 off ahead of Black Friday and is one of its lowest price this year on Amazon.

When chemist Dora Richardson’s employer decided to terminate the breast cancer research on the drug Tamoxifen in the early 1970s, she and her colleagues continued the work in secret.

Stare deeply at these galaxies. They appear as if blood is pumping through the top of a flesh-free face. The long, ghastly ‘stare’ of their searing eye-like cores shines out into the supreme cosmic darkness.