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NASA astronauts headed to Arizona desert to rehearse moonwalks and test technology for the Artemis mission.

In a world that seems to be switching focus from the Hubble Space Telescope to the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble still reminds us it’s there. Another amazing image has been released that shows the triple star system HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3.  The stars in this wonderful system are young, HP Tau for example is so young that it hasn’t started to fuse hydrogen yet and is only 10 million years old!

Hubble was launched in 1990 and since then, has revolutionised our understanding of the Universe. It orbits Earth at an altitude of  around 547 kilometres and from that position has provided us stunning views of objects across the cosmos. It is about the size of a classic British double decker bus and at its core, a 2.4m mirror. The mirror collects incoming light from distant objects before directing it to one of a number of instruments that record and analyse it. 

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope flies with Earth in the background after a 2002 servicing mission. Credit: NASA.

The image recently released shows a wonderful example of a reflection nebula 550 light years away in Taurus. These particular types of nebula are made up of interstellar dust that reflect light from nearby stars, unlike emission nebula which glow in their own right. They have a characteristic blue hue to them due to the reflective properties of the dust. Looking at the image you can easily imagine a hollowed out cavity in the nebula that has been carved by the young stars. 

The triple stars at the heart of the system, HP Tau, HP Tau G2 and HP Tau G3 are young hot stars. HP Tau is a type of variable star known as a T Tau star. They are a type of star that are less than 10 million years old and named after the first start of its type to be discovered in Taurus. Identification is usually achieved by studies of their optical variability and strong lines in their spectra from the chromosphere. Given their young age, they are generally found still being surrounded by the cloud of gas and dust they have formed out of.

The amount of light emitted by HP Tau varies with time however this particular type of star tends to have regular and sometimes random fluctuations. The jury is still out on the random variations but it may be the young nature of the stars leads to slightly chaotic processes as the stars begin to settle down. Perhaps material from an accretion disk still in the process of collapsing may dump material onto the star causing it to flare.

Take a good look at the image though and make sure to study the stunning patterns of the nebulosity. Remember the light that left this object has travelled for 550 years before entering the optics of the Hubble Space Telescope. When Hubble turned its attention to HP Tau it did so as part of an investigation into protoplanetary disks. These disks are seen in many young hot stars and are believed to be the progenitors to planetary systems around stars.

Source : Hubble Views the Dawn of a Sun-like Star 

The post Hubble Sees a Brand New Triple Star System appeared first on Universe Today.

The world was much different in 1990 when NASA astronauts removed the Hubble Space Telescope from Space Shuttle Discovery’s cargo bay and placed it into orbit. The Cold War was ending, there were only 5.3 billion humans, and the World Wide Web had just come online.

Now, the old Soviet Union is gone, replaced by a smaller but no less militaristic Russia. The human population has ballooned to 8.1 billion. The internet is a fixture in daily life. We also have a new, more powerful space telescope, the JWST.

But the Hubble keeps delivering, as this latest image shows.

The lenticular galaxy NGC 4753 is about 60 million light-years away. Lenticular galaxies are midway between elliptical and spiral galaxies. They have large-scale disks but only poorly defined spiral arms. NGC 4753 sees very little star formation because like other lenticulars, it’s used up most of its gas. The fact that they contain mostly older stars makes them similar to elliptical galaxies.

Among lenticulars, NGC 4753 is known for the dust lanes surrounding its nucleus. Astronomers think that spirals evolve into lenticulars in dense environments because they interact with other galaxies and with the intergalactic medium. However, NGC 4753 is in a low-density environment. Its environment and complex structure make it a target for astronomers to test their theories of galaxy formation and evolution.

This Hubble image is the sharpest ever taken of NGC 4753, revealing its intriguing complexity and highlighting the space telescope’s impressive resolving power.

Astronomers think that NGC 4753 is the result of a merger with a dwarf galaxy over one billion years ago. The dwarf galaxy was gas-rich, and NGC 4753’s distinct dust rings probably accreted from the merger. NGC 4753’s powerful gravity then shaped the gas into the complex shapes we see in this image. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Kelsey

NGC 4763’s unique structure results from a merger with a dwarf galaxy about 1.3 billion years ago. The video below from NOIRlab explains what happened.

NGC 4753 also hosts two known Type 1a supernovae, which are important because they help astronomers study the expansion of the Universe. They serve as standard candles, an important rung in the cosmic distance ladder.

Galaxies like NGC 4753 may not be rare, but the viewing angle plays a key role in identifying them. Our edge-on view of the galaxy makes its lenticular form clear. We could be seeing others like it from different angles that obscure its nature.

This is a model of NGC 4753, as seen from various viewing orientations. From left to right and top to bottom, the angle of the line of sight to the galaxy’s equatorial plane ranges from 10° to 90° in steps of 10°. Although galaxies similar to NGC 4753 may not be rare, only certain viewing orientations allow for easy identification of a highly twisted disk. This infographic is a recreation of Figure 7 from a 1992 research paper.

If we were looking at NGC 4753 from the “top” down, its detailed dust lanes wouldn’t be obvious to us. But fortunately, we are.

And so is the Hubble.

The post The Venerable Hubble Space Telescope Keeps Delivering appeared first on Universe Today.

The new villain Maestro is out to destroy music in 'Doctor Who' episode 'The Devil's Chord' —and they're part of a new Pantheon of godly antagonists.

The first crewed mission of Boeing's new Starliner spacecraft has been pushed back by an additional four days, to May 25.

India's second mission to Mars will include a rover, helicopter, sky crane and a supersonic parachute, according to media reports.

A contentious meeting of physicists highlighted concerns, failures and possible fixes for a crisis in condensed matter physics

A contentious meeting of physicists highlighted concerns, failures and possible fixes for a crisis in condensed matter physics

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image captures a triple-star star system.

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image captures a triple-star star system.NASA, ESA, G. Duchene (Universite de Grenoble I); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Looking like a glittering cosmic geode, a trio of dazzling stars blaze from the hollowed-out cavity of a reflection nebula in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The triple-star system is made up of the variable star HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3. HP Tau is known as a T Tauri star, a type of young variable star that hasn’t begun nuclear fusion yet but is beginning to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to our Sun. T Tauri stars tend to be younger than 10 million years old ― in comparison, our Sun is around 4.6 billion years old ― and are often found still swaddled in the clouds of dust and gas from which they formed.

Learn more about HP Tau.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Duchene (Universite de Grenoble I); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

NASA has selected four companies to provide spacecraft and related services, including acquiring spacecraft components and equipment, in support of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The multiple awards, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity base contracts, are firm-fixed-price with a total combined value of $6 billion. These multi-agency contracts may support other NASA centers and federal agencies. The performance period is through Aug. 31, 2025, with the potential to extend the effective ordering period until Aug. 31, 2030. The spacecraft designs, related items, and services may be tailored, as needed, to meet the unique needs of each mission.

The following companies have been awarded the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV (Rapid IV) On-Ramp III contract:

• ARGOTEC Inc., of Largo, Maryland
• Blue Canyon Technologies LLC, of Lafayette, Colorado
• General Atomics, of San Diego, California
• Kongsberg NanoAvionics US LLC, of Riverdale, Maryland

The Rapid IV contract includes an “on ramp” feature, which allows for the original solicitation to be periodically re-opened to give new vendors the opportunity to propose flight proven spacecraft designs. On ramps also give vendors already awarded a Rapid IV contract the opportunity to propose additional flight-proven spacecraft designs and/or update their existing catalog designs.

Primarily, the work will be performed at the contractor’s facilities. Additional work will be required at the government launch site.

For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

-end-

Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
Abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov

3 min read

Dr. Lori Glaze to begin six-month Detail as Acting Deputy Associate Administrator for ESDMD May 17, 2024

I am pleased to share some exciting news regarding senior executive detail backfills to provide broadening opportunities for some of our leadership team.

Agency leadership has chosen Dr. Lori Glaze to begin a six-month detail as the Acting Deputy AA for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) due to the transition of Kelvin Manning back to KSC at the end of May 2024. It is expected that this detail will begin imminently, to allow for some transition time before the end of May. Lori’s detail will be for a 6-month period, while ESDMD broadly advertises the Deputy AA position.

This is an incredible opportunity to have an exceptional leader and advocate for planetary science, and all science, within ESDMD. Lori’s outstanding leadership of the Planetary Science Division make her uniquely qualified and the ideal candidate to help continue to strengthen the ties between science and exploration. As we know, exploration enables science, and science enables exploration.  

Lori has done an incredible job of leading the NASA Planetary Science community for the past six years. To name only a selection of highlights, Lori has overseen: Insight landing on Mars and completion of its mission, Perseverance beginning the task of Mars Sample Return, Ingenuity’s paradigm-changing 72 flights, DART’s successful impact, the launch of Lucy and Psyche, OSIRIS-REx’s incredible return of 121 g of material from Bennu, the start of a real renaissance in Venus exploration, and Europa Clipper preparing for its launch this fall.

To temporarily backfill Lori’s position, I have asked Dr. Gina DiBraccio to join the SMD leadership team on a short-term detail beginning May 27. Gina currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Gina also serves as the Deputy Principal Investigator and Project Scientist of NASA’s MAVEN mission. Gina has also been involved in research at Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus by utilizing data from the MESSENGER, MAVEN, Juno, Cassini, and Voyager 2 missions.

We are very excited about these temporary changes in ESDMD, SMD and GSFC leadership, and the broadening opportunities it provides for our Agency leaders. These changes strengthen all three organizations by taking advantage of the great leaders we have in place to ensure all our organizations have strong management. We look forward to continued success in leading the entire Agency team in achieving our mission and science objectives.

While it is hard to let Lori go from SMD, I am so pleased and excited that we will have an incredible leader in science help steward the Artemis campaign. Please join me in wishing Lori great success in her temporary new role and welcoming Gina into SMD and her new role!

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After quite the aurora experience across Earth this past weekend, beastly sunspot AR3664 could give Mars quite the same solar spectacular.

With the decrease of potential impacts from AR 3664, forecasters are monitoring new sunspot regions developing on the eastern half of the sun.

BepiColombo is a joint ESA/JAXA mission to Mercury. It was launched in 2018 on a complex trajectory to the Solar System’s innermost planet. The ESA reports that the spacecraft’s thrusters have lost some power.

BepiColombo’s mission is to complete a comprehensive investigation of Mercury’s magnetosphere, magnetic field, and internal and external structure. But travelling around in the inner Solar System is complicated, and the BepiColombo spacecraft will use more energy getting to Mercury than it takes to get to Pluto. The spacecraft will perform nine planetary flybys before reaching its destination at the end of 2025. BepiColombo has already performed one gravity assist at Earth, two at Venus, and five at Mercury. It’ll perform one more at Mercury in January 2025.

The Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) is the part of the spacecraft that delivers a pair of orbiters to Mercury. On April 26th, as the spacecraft was about to execute its next maneuver, the MTM didn’t deliver enough electrical power to its thrusters. A team working on it restored the thrust back to 90% on May 7th. But the MTM still isn’t deliver enough electricity to get back to 100% thrust.

Despite the power problems, the spacecraft is on track to complete its final Mercury flyby. A team is working to maintain the current power level and to understand how the diminished thrust will affect future maneuvers. They’re also working on restoring full power to the thrusters. To facilitate this, the mission’s flight control team at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, has arranged additional ground station passes.

BepiColombo employs a solar-electric propulsion system. Two 15-meter-long solar cells gather energy and deliver it to four ion thrusters that use xenon propellant. The thrusters are mounted on gimbals, making them aimable.

This schematic shows the components of BepiColombo’s solar-electric propulsion system minus the solar arrays. There are four T6 gridded ion thrusters mounted on gimbals, three tanks of xenon gas holding 1,400 kg of xenon gas, a high-pressure regulator, four flow control units and two power processing units. The system also includes several metres of high-voltage harness and piping required to connect this complex system together. Image Credit: ESA

BepiColombo consists of three separate spacecraft. The Mercury Transfer Module is kind of like a tugboat delivering two separate orbiters to Mercury. One of the orbiters is the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and it carries 11 scientific instruments, including cameras, several spectrometers, a magnetometer, and others. The other one is the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, largely built by JAXA. It carries five groups of instruments, including one group that will study the plasma and neutral particles from the planet, its magnetosphere, and the solar wind.

This simple schematic shows the three separate spacecraft that combine to make the BepiColombo mission. Image Credit: ESA

The ESA says that they’ll share more information as it becomes available.

The post The BepiColombo Mission To Mercury is Losing Power appeared first on Universe Today.

Walking along on the surface of the Moon, as aptly demonstrated by the Apollo astronauts, is no easy feat.  The gravity at the Moon’s surface is 1/6th of Earth’s and there are plenty of videos of astronauts stumbling, falling and then trying to get up! Engineers have come up with a solution; a robotic arm system that can be attached to an astronauts back pack to give them a helping hand if they fall. The “SuperLimbs” as they have been called will not only aid them as they walk around the surface but also give them extra stability while carrying out tasks. 

The team of MIT engineers identified the problem when considering movement across the lunar surface and were inspired to innovate when they saw videos of astronauts struggling. They acknowledged that while the astronauts were physically very capable, the combination of bulky space suits and 1/6th gravity was recipe for disaster. If an astronaut becomes unbalanced then even though gravity is less, their inertia is the same and they will still fall. 

Sample collection on the surface of the Moon. Apollo 16 astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr. is shown collecting samples with the Lunar Roving Vehicle in the left background. Image: NASA

The solution they designed has been dubbed the Supernumerary Robotic Limbs can be built into their backpack and when needed, be extended. A prototype has been built and it includes a control system to operate the limbs. It was tested on a willing group of volunteers who donned suits to restrict mobility in an attempt to simulate the cumbersome space suits.

As the volunteers attempted to get up from sitting or lying position, the researchers looked at how they moved and how the restrictive suits limited their mobility. The suits were adjusted to more closely simulate a space suit. Using the suit to mimic the stiffness of a traditional suit they got as close as possible to real world testing. The movements of the team in the restricted suits was similar to normal movement but the effort was far less when the SuperLimbs were used. They also found that the volunteers used a common sequence of motions from one step in the process to the next. Using this information enabled them to build the control system to provide maximum efficiency. 

The control system that has been built is intelligent enough to detect the movement of the volunteers be they lying on their side, front or back. Having learned how people usually get up from such positions the system can detect the movement and provide suitable assistance to help. 

The team hope that the benefits of the system will go further than just helping the astronauts recover. By making it easier to get up, the astronauts will be able to conserve energy for other important tasks. With Artemis just around the corner and a return to human lunar exploration, it may well be that the ‘SuperLimbs’ will soon be a regular sight on human space explorers.

Source : Robotic “SuperLimbs” could help moonwalkers recover from falls

The post Astronauts Could Deploy Extra Arms to Stay Stable on the Moon appeared first on Universe Today.

In mice, a ketogenic diet increases the build-up of zombie-like cells in the heart, kidney, lungs and brain, which can accelerate organ ageing and lead to health problems

In mice, a ketogenic diet increases the build-up of zombie-like cells in the heart, kidney, lungs and brain, which can accelerate organ ageing and lead to health problems

The House Armed Services Committee has raised concerns about whether Space Force's two main coastal ranges can keep up with rising launch demands.

Debris from spacecraft threatens the burgeoning space economy. We need a global agreement to keep space clean