Feed aggregator
The cactus family’s surprising evolutionary journey
Strange binary star system has three Earth-sized exoplanets
Strange binary star system has three Earth-sized exoplanets
Actually, Ceres Might Have Formed in the Asteroid Belt After All
Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest planetary body in the Asteroid Belt. For a long time, scientists thought it was born in the outer solar system and then migrated to its present position. Some evidence for that origin lies in extensive surface deposits of ammonium-rich materials on the Cerean surface.
Some of those bright, white and whitish-yellow deposits are found in impact craters on Ceres. Researchers suspect they are the remnants of a brine that seeped to the surface from a liquid layer between the mantle and crust. When impacts whacked the planet, they altered its surface. They also dug up and splattered material from the brine layer. Images and observational data from NASA’s Dawn mission of an impact region called Consus Crater also show bright yellowish-white deposits. Now, thanks to a deeper analysis of Dawn data, their presence could point to Ceres’s origin in the Asteroid Belt.
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft captured this approximately true-color image of Ceres in 2015 as it approached the dwarf planet. Dawn showed that some polar craters on Ceres hold ancient ice, but new research suggests the ice is much younger. Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / Justin Cowart Peeping Inside CeresCeres is classified as a dwarf planet and its rocky component is very similar to that of carbonaceous chondrite asteroids. At least a quarter of its mass is water ice. The surface is pretty complex, consisting of carbon-rich rocks and something called ammoniated phyllosilicates. Those are minerals that include such familiar substances as talc and mica. There’s also evidence of water ice in various surface regions.
This dwarf planet is an active world, with most of its activity driven by cryovolcanism. The surface has been gardened by impacts. The thick outer crust lies over a salt-rich liquid (that brine layer) and a muddy mantle. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that the concentration of ammonium is greater in deeper layers of the crust. The few places on the surface of Ceres where those obvious yellowish-bright patches show up are in and near Consus Crater and also within other deep craters.
Planetary scientists have long wondered about exactly where Ceres formed. If it formed in the outer Solar system, then it must have migrated into position billions of years ago. If it formed in place, then that raises the question of how it could have become enriched with the icy ammonium-rich materials.
A cutaway showing the surface and interior of dwarf planet Ceres. Thick outer crust (ice, salts, hydrated minerals) Salt-rich liquid (brine), and rock “Mantle” (hydrated rock). Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Clues to Ceres’s BirthplaceWhy the differing suggestions about where Ceres formed? Let’s look more deeply at those ammonium-rich deposits for an answer. They tend to form in very cold environments. That’s why people assumed that Ceres formed in the outer Solar System. That’s where frozen ammonium ice is most stable. In warmer environments (such as closer to the Sun), it evaporates. So, it makes sense to think that Ceres formed our where it was colder and then somehow migrated to the Asteroid Belt.
However, if the ice was part of a rocky planetesimal, the location might not matter so much. Inside the rock, the ice would be insulated from solar heating. Such world-forming materials exist closer to the Sun, and certainly out at the location of the Asteroid Belt. So, if they coalesced to form Ceres in situ, their encased ices would have contributed to the subsurface brine layer that today feeds the cryovolcanism. Impacts punching through the surface would release the brine, as well.
Connecting the DotsA team led by Andres Nathues and Ranjan Sarkar (both Dawn mission scientists), zeroed in on materials sprayed across the surface in the area of Consus Crater. It lies in Ceres’s southern hemisphere and stretches across 64 kilometers (~39 miles). The crater walls are about 4.5 kilometers (~3 miles) high and parts of them are eroded. There’s a smaller crater inside on the eastern half of Consus. Its edges appear to be “painted” with speckles of bright yellowish material, which is also spattered out nearby.
Further analysis of the Dawn data ties the ammonium on the surface with the salty brine from Ceres’ interior. Cryovolcanic activity on this world brings the ammonium-rich brine up toward the Cerean surface. Once there, it seeps into the crust, according to Andreas Nathues, former lead investigator for the Dawn mission. “The minerals in Ceres’ crust possibly absorbed the ammonium over many billions of years like a kind of sponge,” said Nathues.
Nathues and others argue that the dwarf planet’s origin does not necessarily have to be in the outer Solar System simply based on the presence of those ammonium-rich deposits. As mentioned above, they could have been part of the planetesimals in the Asteroid Belt that coalesced to build Ceres. Once it formed, Ceres experienced impacts and cryovolcanism and those actions produced the surface deposits we see today.
Evidence from the CratersConsus Crater itself was “dug out” between 400 and 500 million years ago by a huge impact. That event exposed material from the deep, particularly the ammonium-rich layers below Consus Crater. A later impact about 280 million years ago created the smaller crater inside. The yellowish-bright speckles to the east of the smaller crater are material ejected by the second event. If those materials always existed inside Ceres, then that supports the idea this dwarf planet formed where it is now, rather than out at the edge of the Solar System. That’s where the impacts become important, since that action exposed deeper layers, according to Dawn researcher Ranjan Sarkar.
“At 450 million years, Consus Crater is not particularly old by geological standards, but it is one of the oldest surviving structures on Ceres,” Sarkar said. “Due to its deep excavation, it gives us access to processes that took place in the interior of Ceres over many billions of years, and is thus a kind of window into the dwarf planet’s past.”
For More InformationDwarf Planet Ceres: Origin in the Asteroid Belt?
Consus Crater on Ceres: Ammonium-enriched Brines Exchange with Phylosilicates?
The post Actually, Ceres Might Have Formed in the Asteroid Belt After All appeared first on Universe Today.
Metal Part 3D Printed in Space for the First Time
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, has had a profound impact on the way we do business. There is scarcely any industry that has not been affected by the adoption of this technology, and that includes spaceflight. Companies like SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Relativity Space have all turned to 3D printing to manufacture engines, components, and entire rockets. NASA has also 3D-printed an aluminum thrust chamber for a rocket engine and an aluminum rocket nozzle, while the ESA fashioned a 3D-printed steel floor prototype for a future Lunar Habitat.
Similarly, the ESA and NASA have been experimenting with 3D printing in space, known as in-space manufacturing (ISM). Recently, the ESA achieved a major milestone when their Metal 3D Printer aboard the International Space Station (ISS) produced the first metal part ever created in space. This technology is poised to revolutionize operations in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) by ensuring that replacement parts can be manufactured in situ rather than relying on resupply missions. This process will reduce operational costs and enable long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond!
The Metal 3D Printer is a technology demonstrator built by an industrial team led by Airbus Defence and Space (SAS) in partnership with the ESA’s Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration. It was launched to the ISS in late January and installed in the European Drawer Rack aboard the ESA’s Columbus Laboratory Module by European astronaut Andreas Mogensen. The printer became operational by the following June, and the first 3D metal shape was produced by August. With the first metal component built, the ESA plans to create three more as part of the experiment.
These four samples will then be sent to Earth for quality analysis and testing. Two will be sent to the ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, a third to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and the fourth to the ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, where it will be integrated into the LUNA facility—a lunar analog environment designed for astronaut training. The availability of ISM will significantly reduce the challenges of resupplying spacecraft as they travel to the Moon, Mars, and other locations in deep space.
For long-duration missions on the lunar surface, the ability to print machine parts and ship them directly from LEO will reduce the number of launches needed to sustain operations there. As for Mars, the ability to manufacture replacement parts, repair equipment, and construct specific tools on demand will ensure a measure of autonomy for mission crews and reduce their reliance on resupply missions sent from Earth. This is especially important given the limited launch windows to Mars (every 26 months) and the time it takes to make a one-way transit (6 to 9 months).
NASA is also pursuing an ISM project aboard the ISS with the help of its commercial partners through the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), with additional support provided by the physics-based modeling group at NASA’s Ames Research Center. These efforts began in 2014 when NASA launched the first 3D printer (manufactured by Made In Space, Inc.) to the ISS. This technology demonstrator used the fused filament fabrication (FFF) process to create objects out of plastic and proved that 3D printing could work in a microgravity environment.
This was followed by the creation of the Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF), which can print using a variety of materials. These devices allowed for the creation of the first 3D-printed tools in space, including a plastic wrench, a rachet wrench, and more. In 2019, NASA added the ReFabricator experiment to the ISS, which was developed by Tethers Unlimited to create 3D-printed parts using recycled plastic materials. However, the ESA’s technology demonstrator is the first to successfully print a metal component in microgravity conditions.
Artist’s impression of Artemis astronauts conducting science operations on the Moon. Credit: NASAThe experiments will not stop there. In 2021, NASA sent another 3D printer to the ISS, the Redwire Regolith Print (RRP), designed to fashion construction materials out of lunar regolith. They are also investigating how Moon rover wheels can be 3D-printed on the lunar surface and how Martian rocks and minerals could be used to manufacture whatever future missions will need in situ. In collaboration with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and Youngstown State University (YSU), NASA is also considering how batteries could be 3D printed using lunar or Martian resources.
The potential applications for this technology are almost limitless and are integral to all plans for human expansion beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Further Reading: ESA
The post Metal Part 3D Printed in Space for the First Time appeared first on Universe Today.
NASA Watches a Peanut-Shaped Asteroid Drift Past Earth
Peanuts! Get your peanuts here! The Solar System has been passing out peanuts lately in the form of two different oddly shaped asteroids that recently passed by Earth, and both look like over-sized peanuts. The latest peanut-shaped asteroid pass was on September 16, 2024, when the near-Earth asteroid 2024 ON came within 1 million kilometers (62,000 miles) of Earth (2.6 times the Earth-Moon distance). Radar imaging revealed the asteroid was peanut-shaped because it is actually a contact binary – which means it is made of two smaller objects touching each other. NASA says the two rounded lobes are separated by a pronounced neck, and one lobe about 50% larger than the other.
In total, 2024 ON measures about 350 meters (382 yards) long. The radar could resolve features down to about 3.75 meters across on the surface, including brighter boulders. NASA says about 14% of asteroids in this size range (larger than about 200 meters (660 feet)) are contact binaries.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a… peanut? ?
This nutty asteroid is about as long as the Eiffel Tower is tall. It was imaged by our Goldstone radar as it safely passed Earth at a distance of 2.8M miles (4.6M km). https://t.co/66hy0ehsPe
(P.S. it's #NationalPeanutDay!) pic.twitter.com/WlxoIFx2IM
Just last month, on August 18-19, 2024, the other “peanut” passed by our planet. Asteroid 2024 JV33 appears to also be a contact binary with two rounded lobes, one lobe larger than the other, and is about 300 meters (980 feet) long, about as long as the Eiffel Tower. Imagery showed that asteroid 2024 JV33 rotates once every seven hours. It safely passed Earth a little further than 2024 ON, at a distance of 4.6 million km (2.8 million miles), about 12 times the distance between the Moon and Earth.
Both asteroids were captured in a series of radar images obtained by the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Solar System Radar near Barstow, California. The principal technique for studying asteroids is radar – called planetary radar. While astronomers can study the Universe by capturing light from stars, planets, and galaxies, they can also study nearby objects by shining radio light on them and analyzing the signals that echo back. Planetary radar can reveal incredibly detailed information about our planetary neighbors.
“When astronomers are studying light that is being made by a star, or galaxy, they’re trying to figure out its properties,” said Patrick Taylor, radar division head for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, in an interview I did with him earlier this year. “But with radar, we already know what the properties of the signals are, and we leverage that to figure out the properties of whatever we bounced the signals off of. That allows us to characterize planetary bodies – like their shape, speed, and trajectory. That’s especially important for hazardous objects that might stray too close to Earth.”
An animation of the radar images showing the rotation of asteroid 2024 ON. Credit: NASA/JPL.2024 ON was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on Mauna Loa in Hawaii on July 27. The asteroid was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, Arizona, on May 4.
NASA labels objects larger than 492 feet that come within 4.6 million miles of Earth “potentially hazardous objects,” so scientists are monitoring 2024 JV33 for potential danger even though they don’t expect the asteroid to pose a threat in the future.
The post NASA Watches a Peanut-Shaped Asteroid Drift Past Earth appeared first on Universe Today.
Rocket Lab aborts launch of 5 'Internet of Things' satellites at last second (video)
Did Mars Once Have a Third, Larger Moon?
We are all familiar with our one Moon but other planets have different numbers of moons; Mercury has none, Jupiter has 95 and Mars has two. A new paper proposes that Mars may actually have had a third larger moon. Why? The red planet has a triaxial shape which means it bulges just like Earth does but along a third axis. The paper suggests a massive moon could have distorted Mars into this shape.
Celestial bodies that orbit planets or dwarf planets are known as moons. They vary significantly in size from just a few kilometres to several thousand kilometres. Earth’s Moon (notice capital ‘M’) is the moon everyone is familiar with but there are many fascinating moons in the outer Solar System from the largest moon Ganymede to the icy ocean world Europa or Titan with its methane lakes. Even Mars has two moons; Phobos and Deimos.
Phobos and Deimos, photographed here by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, are tiny, irregularly-shaped moons that are probably strays from the main asteroid belt. Credit: NASA – See more at: http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2013/07/05/rovers-capture-loony-moons-and-blue-sunsets-on-mars/#sthash.eMDpTVPT.dpufIn a paper published by Michael Efroimsky from the US Naval Observatory in Washington the shape of Mars is explored with a view to assessing the liklihood of a third moon of Mars. Efroimsky explains that the triaxial nature of Mars is noticeable through the equatorial ellipticity which is produced by the Tharsis Rise. Another less noticeable bulge is located almost opposite to the Tharsis rise and is in the Syrtis Major Planum region.
Olympus Mons, Tharsis Bulge trio of volcanoes and Valles Marineris from ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission. Note the clouds and south polar ice cap. Credit: ISROThe paper proposes the peculiar bulge shape of Mars has been caused by two different elements. The initial shape was caused by a massive moon in orbit around the young and pliable Mars. It was in a synchronous or captured orbit so the same face of Mars was always pointing toward the moon. Under the constant tug of gravity, a triaxial ellipsoid shape evolved. A triaxial ellipsoid is shaped like a rugby ball but the three axes are of different lengths. The longest axis was aligned to the Moon while the others were forged by other tidal effects.
The second element of the development of the shape of Mars relates to the convection processes under its surface. After the triaxial ellipsoid shape developed, the tidally raised regions became more prone to uplift driven by convection, tectonic and volcanic activity. The activity slowly enhanced the triaxial ellipticity seen today.
Efroimsky demonstrates that a moon of less than a third of the mass of the Moon, in a synchronous orbit around Mars was capable of creating the initial triaxiality (this is my new favourite word!) The research also put showed that the asymmetry of the equator was significant if the synchronous moon existed while Mars still have magma oceans, and was weaker if the moon showed up at the solidification stage.
In order for the second element to be evidenced, further research is required. However Efroimsky believes the tidal deformations could very easily oscillate and generate heat. A moon in an elliptical but synchronous orbit would appear to oscillate east/west around the same region of sky. This would enhance the tidal deformation and internal heating of the system giving credence to Efroimsky’s theory that Mars did indeed once have a third larger moon.
Source : A synchronous moon as a possible cause of Mars’ initial triaxiality
The post Did Mars Once Have a Third, Larger Moon? appeared first on Universe Today.
The Marshall Star for September 18, 2024
NASA Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Kate Calvin, center left, joins team members at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center for a Climate and Science Town Hall on Sept. 17 in Activities Building 4316. Calvin took part in a question-and-answer session during her visit that was live streamed agencywide. Joining her in the session were, from left, Rahul Ramachandran, research scientist and senior data science strategist for the Science Research and Project Division at Marshall; Marshall Earth Science Branch Chief Andrew Molthan; Marshall Chief Scientist Renee Weber; Marshall Center Director Joseph Pelfrey; and Marshall Science and Technology Office Manager Julie Bassler, who moderated the panel. (NASA/Krisdon Manecke)
Molthan answers a question during the Climate Town Hall. Topics discussed during the town hall included the response by NASA and Marshall to climate change, the effects of climate change on NASA and Marshall objectives, and how NASA and Marshall are helping organizations around the world respond to climate change. (NASA/Krisdon Manecke)
Space Station Payload Operations Director at Marshall Carries on Family LegacyBy Celine Smith
Jacob Onken remembers his father, Jay Onken, waking him up one morning at 3 a.m. when he was 9 years old to watch the International Space Station fly overhead. At the time, his dad was a POD – a payload operations director – at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center leading flight controllers who support science experiments aboard the orbiting laboratory 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Jacob Onken is a second-generation payload operations director at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. His father, Jay Onken, also served in the role in 1999. The father and son are the first family members at Marshall to both hold that position. NASA/Danielle Burleson
Now, the younger Onken has started a new chapter in his career as a POD at Marshall, following in his father’s footsteps. The father and son are the first family members to serve in this role at Marshall. Onken said that happened by chance, despite growing up NASA-adjacent.
Jacob Onken began his aerospace career with an internship at Teledyne Brown Engineering while earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Auburn University in Alabama. The internship took him to Marshall’s Payload Operations Integration Center – a place his father had worked and often taken him when he was younger. Colleagues warmly remembered the veteran POD and welcomed to the role.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2018, Onken worked as a contractor with Teledyne for NASA. As a data management coordinator (DMC) he sat console and learned to operate data and video systems aboard the space station.
“I really found myself out here, and I loved it,” he said. “Working in space flight operations is insanely cool and beneficial to humanity.”
A young Jacob Onken smiles for a family photo while visiting Marshall with his father, Jay Onken, and sister, Elizabeth Onken, in 1998. Photo courtesy of Jacob Onken
After training for over a year, he earned his DMC certification and later was assigned as the lead DMC for space station Expeditions 62 and 63. He later served as the DMC training lead, preparing new flight controllers for certification. In this role, he trained 13 DMCs for certification, using a people-based leadership approach he learned from his father.
Well before the space station flew, Jay Onken was an aerospace engineer whose early career assignments included orbit analysis for the space shuttle and attitude selection for several Spacelab missions. He later was one of the first flight directors for NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and following its launch, joined the first group of space station PODs.
He went on to become the director of Marshall’s Mission Operations Laboratory in 2005, deputy chief engineer for the Space Launch System in 2014, and director of Marshall’s Space Systems Department in 2016. He retired in 2018 and died in 2021 after battling cancer.
Jacob Onken continues Jay Onken’s legacy. Colleagues say he embodies similar traits. He often reflects on his father’s advice.
From left, Jacob Onken during his payload operations director (POD) certification ceremony with former PODs Carrie Olsen, Sam Digesu, Pat Patterson, and Tina Melton in the Payload Operations Center at Marshall. NASA/Craig Cruzen
“I was lucky to have my dad, who understood the environment that I was working in,” he said. “I knew his work meant a lot to him. We were always close, but we got even closer. Bonding over the same things was special.”
In 2022, Onken became the DMC flight operations lead, supporting real-time console and planning operations for that team. In 2023, he joined the Operations Directors Office. After another rigorous training curriculum, he completed his POD certification in January 2024.
“It’s rewarding and heartwarming to know that the future of space flight operations is in good hands with the new generation,” said Craig Cruzen, the POD training lead who oversaw Onken’s instruction and certification.
Onken leads a team that communicates with astronauts about the scientific experiments they’re performing on the space station and ensures their safety from the ground.
As a payload operations director at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Jacob Onken leads flight controllers in the International Space Station Payload Operations and Integration Team, following in his father’s footsteps. Onken and his father, Jay Onken, are the first family members to both serve in the role at Marshall. (NASA)“My role requires teamwork, trust, and communication,” he said. “I ask myself, ‘How can we work together effectively to get the job done?’”
While he holds the same position his father held, the space station has evolved, becoming a convergence of science, technology, and innovation. “Jay Onken was a POD when the International Space Station was just beginning,” said former POD Carrie Olsen, now manager of NASA’s Next Gen STEM K-12 education project and a family friend to the Onkens. “The challenge the space station faced back then was its newness,” Olsen explained. “We were still figuring out how to best work with Johnson Space Center, scientists around the world, international partners, and the space station program.”
Though Marshall had a rich operations history working programs like Apollo, Space Shuttle, Skylab, and Chandra, the space station was truly unlike anything that had come before.
“Jay’s leadership qualities and integrity helped to build trust across the organization and the agency. This allowed Marshall’s operations team to excel and be recognized as the premier space station science operations center across the globe,” said his former colleague Sam Digesu, currently technical manager of the Payload and Mission Operations Division. “Jacob is on the that same path.”
Jacob Onken says one of his career goals is to support payload operations on the lunar surface for the Artemis missions. “My dad was around when it started, and hopefully, I’m around to see it through.”
NASA Hosts Observe the Moon Night at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
The Science Wizard, David Hagerman, right center, entertains the crowd with one of his shows Sept. 14 during Observe the Moon Night at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. The free public event was part of International Observe the Moon Night, a worldwide celebration encouraging observation, appreciation, and understanding of the Moon and its connection to NASA exploration and discovery. NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office hosted the event at the rocket center. The Planetary Missions Program Office is located at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. (NASA/Lane Figueroa)
Audience members react during one of Hagerman’s demonstrations at Observe the Moon Night. (NASA/Lane Figueroa)
Attendees visit a NASA display during the Observe the Moon Night event. (NASA/Daniel Horton)
‘Legacy of the Invisible’ Event to Celebrate Marshall’s Contributions to AstrophysicsThe public is invited to join NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for a special celebration of art and astronomy in downtown Huntsville on Sept. 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. The event will include a dedication of Huntsville’s newest art installation, “No Straight Lines,” by local artist Float.
The celebratory event, “Legacy of the Invisible,” will take place at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Washington Street, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Attendees will have a chance to meet and hear from NASA experts, as well as meet Float, the artist behind “No Straight Lines,” which aims to honor Huntsville’s rich scientific legacy in astrophysics and highlight the groundbreaking discoveries made possible by Huntsville scientists and engineers.
Enjoy live music, art vendors, food, and more.
Learn more about Chandra’s 25th Anniversary.
SLS Program Manager John Honeycutt Delivers Keynote at National Space Club Breakfast
John Honeycutt, front center, manager of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Program at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center, delivers the keynote address at the National Space Club Breakfast on Sept. 17 in Huntsville. Honeycutt provided a detailed presentation to the audience with insight into the operations, accomplishments, and future goals for the SLS Program. The SLS rocket is a powerful, advanced launch vehicle for a new era of human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. “All elements of the SLS Block I for the first crewed lunar mission of the 21st century are either complete and ready for stacking or are nearing completion,” Honeycutt said. “For more than 60 years, this town – this community – has led the effort to explore space. We aren’t done. SLS and Artemis are the next chapter in that legacy. Led and enabled by folks in this room, at Marshall, and here in North Alabama, we will launch missions to the Moon that will re-write history books, lead to scientific discoveries, and pave the way to Mars.” (NASA/Serena Whitfield)
NASA’s Lunar Challenge Participants to Showcase Innovations During AwardsNASA‘s Watts on the Moon Challenge, designed to advance the nation’s lunar exploration goals under the Artemis campaign by challenging United States innovators to develop breakthrough power transmission and energy storage technologies that could enable long-duration Moon missions, concludes Sept. 20 at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Sun rises above the Flight Research Building at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.Credit: NASA
“For astronauts to maintain a sustained presence on the Moon during Artemis missions, they will need continuous, reliable power,” said Kim Krome-Sieja, acting program manager, Centennial Challenges at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “NASA has done extensive work on power generation technologies. Now, we’re looking to advance these technologies for long-distance power transmission and energy storage solutions that can withstand the extreme cold of the lunar environment.”
The technologies developed through the Watts on the Moon Challenge were the first power transmission and energy storage prototypes to be tested by NASA in an environment that simulates the extreme cold and weak atmospheric pressure of the lunar surface, representing a first step to readying the technologies for future deployment on the Moon. Successful technologies from this challenge aim to inspire, for example, new approaches for helping batteries withstand cold temperatures and improving grid resiliency in remote locations on Earth that face harsh weather conditions.
During the final round of competition, finalist teams refined their hardware and delivered a full system prototype for testing in simulated lunar conditions at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. The test simulated a challenging power system scenario where there are six hours of solar daylight, 18 hours of darkness, and the user is three kilometers from the power source.
“Watts on the Moon was a fantastic competition to judge because of its unique mission scenario,” said Amy Kaminski, program executive, Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “Each team’s hardware was put to the test against difficult criteria and had to perform well within a lunar environment in our state-of-the-art thermal vacuum chambers at NASA Glenn.”
Each finalist team was scored based on Total Effective System Mass (TESM), which determines how the system works in relation to its mass. At the awards ceremony, NASA will award $1 million to the top team who achieves the lowest TESM score, meaning that during testing, that team’s system produced the most efficient output-to-mass ratio. The team with the second lowest mass will receive $500,000. The awards ceremony stream live on NASA Glenn’s YouTube channel and NASA Prize’s Facebook page.
The Watts on the Moon Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge led by NASA Glenn. NASA Marshall manages Centennial Challenges, which are part of the agency’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA has contracted HeroX to support the administration of this challenge.
Technicians Work to Prepare Europa Clipper for Propellant LoadingNASA’s Europa Clipper mission moves closer to launch as technicians worked Sept. 11 inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to prepare the spacecraft for upcoming propellant loading at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center.
Technicians work to complete operations before propellant load occurs ahead of launch for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 11.NASA/Kim ShiflettThe spacecraft will explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which is considered one of the most promising habitable environments in the solar system. The mission will research whether Europa’s subsurface ocean could hold the conditions necessary for life. Europa could have all the “ingredients” for life as we know it: water, organics, and chemical energy.
Europa Clipper’s launch period opens Oct. 10. It will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. The spacecraft then will embark on a journey of nearly six years and 1.8 billion miles before reaching Jupiter’s orbit in 2030.
The spacecraft is designed to study Europa’s icy shell, underlying ocean, and potential plumes of water vapor using a gravity science experiment alongside a suite of nine instruments including cameras, spectrometers, a magnetometer, and ice-penetrating radar. The data Europa Clipper collects could improve our understanding of the potential for life elsewhere in the solar system.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. APL designed the main spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.
Learn more about the mission here.
Marshall to Present 2024 Small Business Awards Sept. 19NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center will host its annual Small Business Industry and Advocate Awards ceremony Sept. 19. The awards recognize small businesses and small business champions from government and industry for their outstanding achievements in fiscal year 2024.
The ceremony will take place during the 38th meeting of Marshall’s Small Business Alliance, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CDT at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville. The event will also highlight new opportunities for small businesses to take part in NASA’s procurement processes. Afterward, attendees will have the open opportunity to network with NASA officials, prime contractors, and other members of Marshall’s small business community. Exhibitors will provide valuable information to support their business.
NASA speakers include:
- Dwight Deneal, assistant administrator, Office of Small Business Programs, NASA Headquarters
- Joseph Pelfrey, center director, NASA Marshall
- John Cannaday, director, Office of Procurement, NASA Marshall
- Davey Jones, strategy lead, NASA Marshall
- David Brock, small business specialist, Office of Small Business Programs, NASA Marshall
For 17 years, the Marshall Small Business Alliance has aided small businesses in pursuit of NASA procurement and subcontracting opportunities. Its primary focus is to inform, educate, and advocate on behalf of the small business community. At each half day meeting, businesses will gain valuable insight to guide them in their marketing endeavors.
Learn more about Marshall’s small business initiatives.
Printed Engines Propel Next Industrial RevolutionIn the fall of 2023, NASA hot fire tested an aluminum 3D printed rocket engine nozzle. Aluminum is not typically used for 3D printing because the process causes it to crack, and its low melting point makes it a challenging material for rocket engines. Yet the test was a success.
Printing aluminum engine parts could save significant time, money, and weight for future spacecraft. Elementum 3D Inc., a partner on the project, is now making those benefits available to the commercial space industry and beyond.
A rocket engine nozzle 3D printed from Elementum 3D’s A6061 RAM2 aluminum alloy undergoes hot fire testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.Credit: NASA
The hot fire test was the culmination of a relationship between NASA and Elementum that began shortly after the company was founded in 2014 to make more materials available for 3D printing. Based in Erie, Colorado, the company infuses metal alloys with particles of other materials to alter their properties and make them amenable to additive manufacturing. This became the basis of Elementum’s Reactive Additive Manufacturing (RAM) process.
NASA adopted the technology, qualifying the RAM version of a common aluminum alloy for 3D printing. The agency then awarded funding to Elementum 3D and another company to print the experimental Broadsword rocket engine, demonstrating the concept’s viability.
Meanwhile, a team at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center was working to adapt an emerging technology to print larger engines. In 2021, Marshall awarded an Announcement of Collaborative Opportunity to Elementum 3D to modify an aluminum alloy for printing in what became the Reactive Additive Manufacturing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution project.
The project also made a commonly used aluminum alloy available for large-scale 3D printing. It is already used in large satellite components and could be implemented into microchip manufacturing equipment, Formula 1 race car parts, and more. The alloy modified for the Broadsword engine is already turning up in brake rotors and lighting fixtures. These various applications exemplify the possibilities that come from NASA’s collaboration and investment in industry.
Read more here.
Hubble Finds More Black Holes than Expected in Early UniverseWith the help of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of researchers led by scientists in the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University has found more black holes in the early universe than has previously been reported. The new result can help scientists understand how supermassive black holes were created.
This is a new image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The first deep imaging of the field was done with Hubble in 2004. The same survey field was observed again by Hubble several years later, and was then reimaged in 2023. By comparing Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 near-infrared exposures taken in 2009, 2012, and 2023, astronomers found evidence for flickering supermassive black holes in the hearts of early galaxies. The survey found more black holes than predicted. NASA, ESA, Matthew Hayes (Stockholm University); Acknowledgment: Steven V.W. Beckwith (UC Berkeley), Garth Illingworth (UC Santa Cruz), Richard Ellis (UCL); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
Currently, scientists do not have a complete picture of how the first black holes formed not long after the big bang. It is known that supermassive black holes, that can weigh more than a billion suns, exist at the center of several galaxies less than a billion years after the big bang.
“Many of these objects seem to be more massive than we originally thought they could be at such early times – either they formed very massive or they grew extremely quickly,” said Alice Young, a PhD student from Stockholm University and co-author of the study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Black holes play an important role in the lifecycle of all galaxies, but there are major uncertainties in our understanding of how galaxies evolve. In order to gain a complete picture of the link between galaxy and black hole evolution, the researchers used Hubble to survey how many black holes exist among a population of faint galaxies when the universe was just a few percent of its current age.
Initial observations of the survey region were re-photographed by Hubble after several years. This allowed the team to measure variations in the brightness of galaxies. These variations are a telltale sign of black holes. The team identified more black holes than previously found by other methods.
The new observational results suggest that some black holes likely formed by the collapse of massive, pristine stars during the first billion years of cosmic time. These types of stars can only exist at very early times in the universe, because later-generation stars are polluted by the remnants of stars that have already lived and died. Other alternatives for black hole formation include collapsing gas clouds, mergers of stars in massive clusters, and “primordial” black holes that formed (by physically speculative mechanisms) in the first few seconds after the big bang. With this new information about black hole formation, more accurate models of galaxy formation can be constructed.
“The formation mechanism of early black holes is an important part of the puzzle of galaxy evolution,” said Matthew Hayes from the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University and lead author of the study. “Together with models for how black holes grow, galaxy evolution calculations can now be placed on a more physically motivated footing, with an accurate scheme for how black holes came into existence from collapsing massive stars.”
Astronomers are also making observations with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to search for galactic black holes that formed soon after the big bang, to understand how massive they were and where they were located.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center was the lead field center for the design, development, and construction of the space telescope.
NASA's 'Hidden Figures' women awarded Congressional Gold Medals
The Early Universe Had a Lot of Black Holes
The Hubble Deep Field and its successor, the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, showed us how vast our Universe is and how it teems with galaxies of all shapes and sizes. They focused on tiny patches of the sky that appeared to be empty and revealed the presence of countless galaxies. Now, astronomers are using the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field and follow-up images to reveal the presence of a large number of supermassive black holes in the early Universe.
This is a shocking result because, according to theory, these massive objects shouldn’t have been so plentiful billions of years ago.
The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) was released in 2004 and required almost one million seconds of exposure over 400 of the telescope’s orbits. Over the years, the same region has been imaged with other wavelengths and been updated and refined in other ways.
The Hubble has re-imaged the region multiple times, and astronomers have compared the new images to older images and identified more SMBHs from the Universe’s early times.
The results are in a paper titled “Glimmers in the Cosmic Dawn: A Census of the Youngest Supermassive Black Holes by Photometric Variability, ” which was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Matthew Hayes, an associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University, Sweden, is the lead author.
Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) sit in the center of large galaxies like ours. While the hole itself isn’t visible, material being drawn into the hole collects in an accretion disk. As that material heats, it gives off light as an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Since black holes feed sporadically, only a portion of them were visible in the original HUDF. By re-imaging the same field at different times, the Hubble captured additional SMBHs that weren’t originally visible.
Our understanding of the ancient Universe and how it and its galaxies evolved depends on several factors. One of them is the requirement for an accurate idea of the number of AGN. AGN can be difficult to spot, and this method overcomes some of the obstacles.
AGN can emit X-ray, radio, and other emissions, but they don’t always stand out. “The challenge to this field comes from the fact that identifying AGN at the luminosity regimes of typical galaxies is observationally difficult,” the authors write. “This leads to SMBHs probably being undercounted, with potentially large numbers going unnoticed among the ostensibly star-forming galaxy population at high-z.”
The authors’ photometric variability method circumvents that. Since AGN accrete material at variable rates, observing changes in output from AGN is a better method of determining how many there are. “Here, we argue that the photometric variability that results from changes in the mass accretion rate of SMBHs can provide a completely independent and complementary probe of AGN,” Hayes and his co-authors write. “Monitoring for variability selects AGN from imaging data directly by phenomena related to the SMBH, without any biases of photometric preselection (color, luminosity, compactness, etc).”
This figure from the research article shows how effective photometric variability can be at detecting SMBH. It shows the photometric variability of two objects found in the field: 1051264 at z = 2 (upper panels) and 1052126 at z = 3.2. Image Credit: Hayes et al. 2024.The new paper presents preliminary results and reports the detection of eight interesting targets that display variability. Three of the eight are probably supernovae, two are clear AGN at about z = 2–3, and three more are likely AGN at redshifts greater than 6.
These findings are significant because they impact our understanding of black holes, how they form, and their place in the history of the Universe.
Astronomers understand how stellar-mass black holes form. They also believe that supermassive black holes grow so massive through mergers with other black holes. They’re even making progress in finding the in-between black holes called intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs).
Since astronomers think that SMBHs grow through mergers, there should be more of them in the modern Universe and comparatively few, if any, in the ancient Universe. There simply hadn’t been enough time for enough mergers to take place to create SMBHs. That’s why there are alternate theories to explain black holes in the early Universe.
Astronomers theorize that a different type of star existed in the early universe. These massive, pristine stars could only form in the conditions that dominated the early Universe. They could’ve collapsed and become massive black holes.
Another theory suggests that massive gas clouds in the early Universe could have collapsed directly into black holes. Yet another theory suggests that so-called ‘primordial black holes’ could have formed in the first seconds after the Big Bang through purely speculative mechanisms.
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field with annotation showing the location of a supermassive black hole. Image Credit: Hayes et al. 2024.The new observations should help clarify some of these ideas.
“The formation mechanism of early black holes is an important part of the puzzle of galaxy evolution,” said study lead author Hayes. “Together with models for how black holes grow, galaxy evolution calculations can now be placed on a more physically motivated footing, with an accurate scheme for how black holes came into existence from collapsing massive stars.”
“These sources provide a first measure of nSMBH in the reionization epoch by photometric variability,” the authors explain in their paper. They say the sources identified in their work indicate the largest black hole population ever reported for these redshifts. “This SMBH abundance is also strikingly similar to estimates of nSMBH in the local Universe,” the authors write.
Some theoretical models suggest that there were large numbers of AGN in the reionization epoch. The JWST shows us that there seem to be more SMBHs and AGN than astronomers thought. By finding more SMBHs and AGN, this research is adding to our understanding of black holes and the evolution of the Universe.
But there’s still more work to be done. The researchers think that a larger sample of AGN at high redshifts is needed to reduce uncertainties and strengthen their results, and the JWST can help. “JWST is required to push to detection of fainter AGN via variability,” the authors explain, adding that it would take years of monitoring for the space telescope to do so.
This work also underlines the HST’s ongoing contribution to astronomy. It may not be as powerful as the JWST, but it has the benefit of many years of observations already under its belt and keeps proving its worth as a powerful observatory in its own right.
“In contrast, HST’s legacy of deep NIR imaging already stretches back about 15 yr, providing an excellent baseline for monitoring.”
The post The Early Universe Had a Lot of Black Holes appeared first on Universe Today.
Bird flu virus that infected a person in Missouri had a rare mutation
Bird flu virus that infected a person in Missouri had a rare mutation
'Transformers One' is an end of summer sensation certain to please fans (review)
NASA Deputy Administrator Talks Future of Agency in Silicon Valley
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy spent time at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, on Sept. 16, 2024, engaging with center leaders and employees to discuss strategies that could drive meaningful changes to ensure NASA remains the preeminent institution for research, technology, and engineering, and to lead science, aeronautics, and space exploration for humanity. Melroy’s visit also provided an opportunity to meet with early- and mid-career employees, who shared their perspectives and feedback.
#726 What happened during our Summer Hiatus
We’re back from our summer hiatus. Before we left, we gave you a bunch of stories we thought might be important. Now let’s look back and see how our predictions went. And what surprises did happen?
The post #726 What happened during our Summer Hiatus appeared first on Astronomy Cast.
BONUS: June 10 Pre-Show Rant on Starliner, Starship, & more
Prior to recording their exoplanets episode, Fraser and Pamela discussed their wild week of space flight news and discussed their concerns about the Starliner and StarShip programs. This is particularly timely as we prepare to look back on what actually happened with all these missions.
The post BONUS: June 10 Pre-Show Rant on Starliner, Starship, & more appeared first on Astronomy Cast.