Moon landings, a wooden satellite, Tolkien on Mars, fiery descents
February 23, 2024 8:18 AM Subscribe
The Martian helicopter completed its final flight on Valinor Hills. "yeah it really could be an ocean moon" - Let's check in on humanity's exploration of space in early 2024.
Venus
The second planet from the sun now has a pseudo-moon with a fun name. (previously)
From Earth’s surface to orbit
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched its X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat). China launched a classified Tongxin Jishu Shiyan (TJS) (通信技术试验) into geosynchronous orbit. China's Orienspace company successfully launched the Gravity-1 booster from a ship in the Yellow Sea. The Jielong-3 (Smart Dragon-3) also launched from that body of water. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket made its 300th successful orbital launch. SpaceX also launched six American missile defense satellites.
China completed a new launch pad on Hainan Island, aimed at supporting more private sector takeoffs. Japanese startup EX-Fusion hopes to destroy orbital junk with ground-based lasers. Some Americans are worried about the possibility of Russia orbiting atomic weapons. Some think this should stir the US into another Sputnik moment. Others have pointed out America already has anti-satellite capacities. A Japanese research team prepared to launch the world's first wooden satellite this summer.
In orbit
A private mission brought new astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), bringing the total number of represented nationalities to eight. A Russian cosmonaut set a new record for the number of consecutive days in space (878). A Finnish amateur observer imaged the United States' military spaceplane in orbit.
NASA and ISRO prepared to launch their Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite to study the Earth's cryosphere. The United Nations' Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) will look into the problem of satellite constellations blocking astronomy.
Back down to Earth
An American company, Varda Space Industries, successfully landed its W-1 uncrewed in-space manufacturing mission in Nevada. The European Space Agency (ESA) European Remote Sensing 2 (ERS-2) satellite burned up over the North Pacific Ocean (photos). Nearby people recorded a Long March rocket debris falling back to Earth near a Chinese village. NASA advised Astrobotic to send its failing Peregrine lunar mission into Earth's atmosphere to burn up. The sixth of NASA’s Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiments (a/k/a "Saffire") missions met fiery doom in a scheduled atmospheric descent.
Moon
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM) spacecraft closed in on the moon, set down rovers, then landed safely and with precision, despite only one engine working, but had power issues due to landing upside down. Intuitive Machines' Odysseus craft traveled from the Earth to lunar orbit, then successfully landed (previously). Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar craft rode a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket into space, but lost its ability to point itself at the sun, and so on NASA's advice burned up in Earth's atmosphere, along with the human remains it carried.
China hopes to land its Chang’e-7 mission near the moon's south pole in 2026. NASA delayed its crewed lunar orbital mission until fall 2025. SpaceX and Blue Origin are drawing up plans for lunar cargo craft.
In the Earth’s L1 point
Indian probe Aditya-L1 reached its position to observe the sun. (previously)
In the Earth’s L2 point
The James Webb telescope keeps doing amazing work. Here's a fine set of impressive shots from 2023.
Mars
The Ingenuity helicopter suffered a rotor problem which ended its mission, and in dull terrain, alas. But nerds redeemed this fate by naming the resting spot after a Tolkien location and the little copter will influence future flying missions. (previously)
Looking ahead, NASA asked for private sector Mars mission proposals as well as for volunteers for a year-long, Earth-based Mars mission practice run, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA).
To and from the asteroids
How and why NASA had the Psyche probe beam a cat video back to Earth (previously). NASA received 4.29 ounces or 121.6 grams of material from the asteroid Bennu, brought back by the Osiris-Rex mission. Scientists detected signs of water molecules on asteroids Iris and Massalia, based on data from the (no longer operational) Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).
Jupiter
Juno sent back great photos from an Io flyby.
Saturn
Scientists determined that the moon Mimas most likely ("I am happy to move Mimas from the ‘maybe possibly an ocean world’ category to the ‘yeah it really could be an ocean moon’ category”") has an ocean.
Uranus
James Webb took some fine observations of Uranus.
Interstellar space
Voyager I is suffering bad flight data problems. (previously)
Way, way beyond the solar system
Scientists discovered a new gamma ray source outside our galaxy, using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
Venus
The second planet from the sun now has a pseudo-moon with a fun name. (previously)
From Earth’s surface to orbit
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched its X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat). China launched a classified Tongxin Jishu Shiyan (TJS) (通信技术试验) into geosynchronous orbit. China's Orienspace company successfully launched the Gravity-1 booster from a ship in the Yellow Sea. The Jielong-3 (Smart Dragon-3) also launched from that body of water. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket made its 300th successful orbital launch. SpaceX also launched six American missile defense satellites.
China completed a new launch pad on Hainan Island, aimed at supporting more private sector takeoffs. Japanese startup EX-Fusion hopes to destroy orbital junk with ground-based lasers. Some Americans are worried about the possibility of Russia orbiting atomic weapons. Some think this should stir the US into another Sputnik moment. Others have pointed out America already has anti-satellite capacities. A Japanese research team prepared to launch the world's first wooden satellite this summer.
In orbit
A private mission brought new astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), bringing the total number of represented nationalities to eight. A Russian cosmonaut set a new record for the number of consecutive days in space (878). A Finnish amateur observer imaged the United States' military spaceplane in orbit.
NASA and ISRO prepared to launch their Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite to study the Earth's cryosphere. The United Nations' Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) will look into the problem of satellite constellations blocking astronomy.
Back down to Earth
An American company, Varda Space Industries, successfully landed its W-1 uncrewed in-space manufacturing mission in Nevada. The European Space Agency (ESA) European Remote Sensing 2 (ERS-2) satellite burned up over the North Pacific Ocean (photos). Nearby people recorded a Long March rocket debris falling back to Earth near a Chinese village. NASA advised Astrobotic to send its failing Peregrine lunar mission into Earth's atmosphere to burn up. The sixth of NASA’s Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiments (a/k/a "Saffire") missions met fiery doom in a scheduled atmospheric descent.
Moon
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM) spacecraft closed in on the moon, set down rovers, then landed safely and with precision, despite only one engine working, but had power issues due to landing upside down. Intuitive Machines' Odysseus craft traveled from the Earth to lunar orbit, then successfully landed (previously). Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar craft rode a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket into space, but lost its ability to point itself at the sun, and so on NASA's advice burned up in Earth's atmosphere, along with the human remains it carried.
China hopes to land its Chang’e-7 mission near the moon's south pole in 2026. NASA delayed its crewed lunar orbital mission until fall 2025. SpaceX and Blue Origin are drawing up plans for lunar cargo craft.
In the Earth’s L1 point
Indian probe Aditya-L1 reached its position to observe the sun. (previously)
In the Earth’s L2 point
The James Webb telescope keeps doing amazing work. Here's a fine set of impressive shots from 2023.
Mars
The Ingenuity helicopter suffered a rotor problem which ended its mission, and in dull terrain, alas. But nerds redeemed this fate by naming the resting spot after a Tolkien location and the little copter will influence future flying missions. (previously)
Looking ahead, NASA asked for private sector Mars mission proposals as well as for volunteers for a year-long, Earth-based Mars mission practice run, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA).
To and from the asteroids
How and why NASA had the Psyche probe beam a cat video back to Earth (previously). NASA received 4.29 ounces or 121.6 grams of material from the asteroid Bennu, brought back by the Osiris-Rex mission. Scientists detected signs of water molecules on asteroids Iris and Massalia, based on data from the (no longer operational) Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).
Jupiter
Juno sent back great photos from an Io flyby.
Saturn
Scientists determined that the moon Mimas most likely ("I am happy to move Mimas from the ‘maybe possibly an ocean world’ category to the ‘yeah it really could be an ocean moon’ category”") has an ocean.
Uranus
James Webb took some fine observations of Uranus.
Interstellar space
Voyager I is suffering bad flight data problems. (previously)
Way, way beyond the solar system
Scientists discovered a new gamma ray source outside our galaxy, using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
Does anyone know why it isn’t a 82 degree tilt the other way?
IIRC, it's to do with which pole is considered north. Planets rotate around an axis. Seen from one pole, it looks like the planet is rotating anti-clockwise; this is the "north" pole. Uranus' north pole is 98 degrees off kilter. I don't know why this is the convention, someone more knowledgeable than I will probably chime in.
Fun fact, Venus is pretty much upside down.
(edit: anti-clockwise, not clockwise)
posted by theony at 8:50 AM on February 23 [3 favorites]
IIRC, it's to do with which pole is considered north. Planets rotate around an axis. Seen from one pole, it looks like the planet is rotating anti-clockwise; this is the "north" pole. Uranus' north pole is 98 degrees off kilter. I don't know why this is the convention, someone more knowledgeable than I will probably chime in.
Fun fact, Venus is pretty much upside down.
(edit: anti-clockwise, not clockwise)
posted by theony at 8:50 AM on February 23 [3 favorites]
Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar craft rode a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket into space, but lost its ability to point itself at the sun
I'm sure there's a much more technical explanation of the problem, but I lol'd at the thought of an anthropomorphized probe asking "hey, where's the big hot bright thing I'm supposed to point at?"
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 9:13 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]
I'm sure there's a much more technical explanation of the problem, but I lol'd at the thought of an anthropomorphized probe asking "hey, where's the big hot bright thing I'm supposed to point at?"
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 9:13 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]
It was a propulsion issue. Peregrine likely knew where the Sun was, but couldn’t physically orient itself based on that information.
posted by zamboni at 10:16 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]
posted by zamboni at 10:16 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]
I’m loving the beautiful imagery from the JW Telescope- I’m curious if anyone has links to more scientific discoveries that have come about because of it?
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:29 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:29 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]
Seen from one pole, it looks like the planet is rotating anti-clockwise; this is the "north" pole.This leads to a fun little conjecture: most planets with intelligent life, when viewed from above, rotate the opposite direction as a typical clock on that planet. This sounds silly because both "above" and "typical clock" seem arbitrary. But...
1) The first tool that an intelligent species will develop to tell time during the day will be the sundial.
2) A sundial's shadow rotates in opposite directions depending on which side of the equator you're on.
3) When that species develops clocks, they'll make them rotate the same way that they're used to seeing sundials rotate. They will define this as "clockwise". At least, that's how it happened in the northern hemisphere for us.
4) The people who developed clocks first will naturally think of their own hemisphere as the "top".
5) Thus, definitions of "top" and "clockwise" get culturally locked in. Their planet, when viewed from the top, rotates counterclockwise.
posted by Hatashran at 11:29 AM on February 23 [10 favorites]
I think they should still try to fly Ingenuity until it crashes or completely fails, because despite the damaged rotor blade as far as I know it's still upright otherwise functional.
But I still have no idea how the tip(s) of the rotor got damaged without a ground strike, or maybe it did have a ground strike from an awkward landing and it still righted itself.
In any case it could be a learning opportunity to see how far they can push it even with the damaged rotor(s). It's not like they're going to start a forest fire or some huge catastrophe if/when it crashes, and they might even get a few more flights out of it.
Or, say, plan one last mission and let the batteries charge up to max and go for max altitude or distance or something until the batteries depleted and go out in a blaze of glory.
Another idea I had would be to program it try to wait for and be able to recognize a dust devil near enough, then fly right into it to try to measure wind velocities and strengths as a one way storm-chaser mission, but I have I doubt that this is within Ingenuity's optical and machine vision capabilities alone. Or even with the support of the MRO or Perseverance.
Or maybe you could use the accelerometers or rotors themselves as high wind indicators and have it waiting with a mission program that takes off at some threshold of high wind and starts looking for signs of a dust devil to fly into and go for max burn and see what happens.
posted by loquacious at 1:49 PM on February 23 [3 favorites]
But I still have no idea how the tip(s) of the rotor got damaged without a ground strike, or maybe it did have a ground strike from an awkward landing and it still righted itself.
In any case it could be a learning opportunity to see how far they can push it even with the damaged rotor(s). It's not like they're going to start a forest fire or some huge catastrophe if/when it crashes, and they might even get a few more flights out of it.
Or, say, plan one last mission and let the batteries charge up to max and go for max altitude or distance or something until the batteries depleted and go out in a blaze of glory.
Another idea I had would be to program it try to wait for and be able to recognize a dust devil near enough, then fly right into it to try to measure wind velocities and strengths as a one way storm-chaser mission, but I have I doubt that this is within Ingenuity's optical and machine vision capabilities alone. Or even with the support of the MRO or Perseverance.
Or maybe you could use the accelerometers or rotors themselves as high wind indicators and have it waiting with a mission program that takes off at some threshold of high wind and starts looking for signs of a dust devil to fly into and go for max burn and see what happens.
posted by loquacious at 1:49 PM on February 23 [3 favorites]
I think they should still try to fly Ingenuity until it crashes or completely fails, because despite the damaged rotor blade as far as I know it's still upright otherwise functional.
One or more of its blades are broken off and there's no way to generate enough lift to fly any more.
Here's a good photo of it taken from Perseverance. It's sitting in the sand dunes (now named Valinor Hills) where it crashed and there it will stay for the foreseeable future.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:42 PM on February 23 [2 favorites]
One or more of its blades are broken off and there's no way to generate enough lift to fly any more.
Here's a good photo of it taken from Perseverance. It's sitting in the sand dunes (now named Valinor Hills) where it crashed and there it will stay for the foreseeable future.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:42 PM on February 23 [2 favorites]
"The near-infrared JWST view (with NIRCam) of the Ring Nebula showcases tendril-like filaments emerging from the main ring, a thin series of concentric shells outside the main ring, and wispy, knotty globules on the interior of the main ring: approximately 20,000 of them. The nebula is very hydrogen-rich, with carbon-based molecules appearing in a thin ring."
it's as if Carl Sagan were reading a menu at an astrometrics dinner party.
posted by clavdivs at 7:48 PM on February 23 [2 favorites]
it's as if Carl Sagan were reading a menu at an astrometrics dinner party.
posted by clavdivs at 7:48 PM on February 23 [2 favorites]
Thank you as ever for this post and its regularity. I am 'into space' but don't have the bandwidth to keep up, making this part of Metafilter amongst the best. (Now I just need someone to do a monthly 'what's happened in popular music' post).
posted by jjderooy at 12:16 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
posted by jjderooy at 12:16 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
Here's a good photo of it taken from Perseverance. It's sitting in the sand dunes (now named Valinor Hills) where it crashed and there it will stay for the foreseeable future.
That pic isn't super clear, but it still looks like most of the rotors are still there. The one clear pic I've seen so far is the selfie/shadow pic that clearly shows the tip of at least one blade of the rotor damaged.
And I bet they could still goose the rotors and try to get more clear selfie/shadow pics of all the blades to see how bad it really is.
I know it's a fools errand because JPL and NASA really do not like taking chances, and considering how carefully and how far in advance they plan for movements or any kind of mission I realize that what I am proposing would be one of the most dynamic, reactive and/or chaotic missions ever proposed even compared to the recent asteroid landings and impacts.
But I still say send it and see what happens. Send new code to exceed max motor RPMs past specs and take a chance even if it burns out the motors or causes the rotors to rip themselves to pieces. Those rotors actually have counter-balance lobes to dampen vibration, and aircraft/rotorcraft on Earth have flown with some pretty serious prop damage.
I mean I guess there's the risk of such an attempt going really wrong and flying back to damage Perseverance but I think it's too far away at this point to get there in one hop, and I presume that Ingenuity is smart and autonomous enough that they could program it to land/crash if it even approached Perseverance.
But after such such a successful mission and experiment that exceeded all expectations (again!) I think there's a huge learning opportunity here.
It could be educational about how to deal with broken Martian rotorcraft and push them to the limit, and combine that with a science side-quest like trying to fly in heavy winds or a dust devil or something, or just go for max altitude for a few more pics and maps of the area.
Granted I can also see JPL/NASA wanting to just leave it on the ground and they might have plans to keep using it as a basic second set of eyes in the area until the batteries failed entirely. I would not be at all surprised if they tried using it as a wind sensor or whatever other data they can passively get out of it.
I mean I guess there's also the historical cachet of "first extraterrestrial aircraft" and how it could, conceivably, end up in the Smithsonian sometime in the future.
I just think it would be just so fucking cool if they at least tried to do one more thing with Ingenuity.
Send it! What's the worst that can happen?
posted by loquacious at 11:11 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
That pic isn't super clear, but it still looks like most of the rotors are still there. The one clear pic I've seen so far is the selfie/shadow pic that clearly shows the tip of at least one blade of the rotor damaged.
And I bet they could still goose the rotors and try to get more clear selfie/shadow pics of all the blades to see how bad it really is.
I know it's a fools errand because JPL and NASA really do not like taking chances, and considering how carefully and how far in advance they plan for movements or any kind of mission I realize that what I am proposing would be one of the most dynamic, reactive and/or chaotic missions ever proposed even compared to the recent asteroid landings and impacts.
But I still say send it and see what happens. Send new code to exceed max motor RPMs past specs and take a chance even if it burns out the motors or causes the rotors to rip themselves to pieces. Those rotors actually have counter-balance lobes to dampen vibration, and aircraft/rotorcraft on Earth have flown with some pretty serious prop damage.
I mean I guess there's the risk of such an attempt going really wrong and flying back to damage Perseverance but I think it's too far away at this point to get there in one hop, and I presume that Ingenuity is smart and autonomous enough that they could program it to land/crash if it even approached Perseverance.
But after such such a successful mission and experiment that exceeded all expectations (again!) I think there's a huge learning opportunity here.
It could be educational about how to deal with broken Martian rotorcraft and push them to the limit, and combine that with a science side-quest like trying to fly in heavy winds or a dust devil or something, or just go for max altitude for a few more pics and maps of the area.
Granted I can also see JPL/NASA wanting to just leave it on the ground and they might have plans to keep using it as a basic second set of eyes in the area until the batteries failed entirely. I would not be at all surprised if they tried using it as a wind sensor or whatever other data they can passively get out of it.
I mean I guess there's also the historical cachet of "first extraterrestrial aircraft" and how it could, conceivably, end up in the Smithsonian sometime in the future.
I just think it would be just so fucking cool if they at least tried to do one more thing with Ingenuity.
Send it! What's the worst that can happen?
posted by loquacious at 11:11 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
We"ve had 3 powerful x class solar flares in lees than 24 hours.
"On Feb. 21, sunspot AR3590 — a massive dark patch several times wider than Earth — spat out two X-class flares in the space of seven hours, Live Science's sister site Space.com reported. These explosions had magnitudes of X1.8 and X1.7 respectively.
But on Feb. 22, the same sunspot unleashed an X6.3 flare around 23 hours after the first, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This was around five times more powerful than the previous two flares, according to NASA.
Not only is this the most powerful explosion of the current solar cycle, which began in 2019, but it is also the most powerful since Sept. 10, 2017, when an X11.8 magnitude flare rocked the sun."
Last year, there were 13 X-class flares, which was up from seven in 2022 and two in 2021, Now, after AR3590's triple flares, we have already had five X-class flares in 2024 and we haven't even hit March.
posted by yyz at 3:26 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]
"On Feb. 21, sunspot AR3590 — a massive dark patch several times wider than Earth — spat out two X-class flares in the space of seven hours, Live Science's sister site Space.com reported. These explosions had magnitudes of X1.8 and X1.7 respectively.
But on Feb. 22, the same sunspot unleashed an X6.3 flare around 23 hours after the first, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This was around five times more powerful than the previous two flares, according to NASA.
Not only is this the most powerful explosion of the current solar cycle, which began in 2019, but it is also the most powerful since Sept. 10, 2017, when an X11.8 magnitude flare rocked the sun."
Last year, there were 13 X-class flares, which was up from seven in 2022 and two in 2021, Now, after AR3590's triple flares, we have already had five X-class flares in 2024 and we haven't even hit March.
posted by yyz at 3:26 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]
Northern lights might be better than normal tonight.
As a result of the flares there is a geomagnetic storm today G1 category
EXTENDED WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 4 expected
Extension to Serial Number: 4548
Valid From: 2024 Feb 25 0545 UTC
Now Valid Until: 2024 Feb 26 0600 UTC
Warning Condition: Onset
Power systems: Weak power grid fluctuations can occur.
Spacecraft operations: Minor impact on satellite operations possible.
Other systems: Migratory animals are affected at this and higher levels; aurora is commonly visible at high latitudes (northern Michigan and Maine).
---
There was also a strong x ray event Feb 22.
SUMMARY: X-ray Event exceeded X1
Begin Time: 2024 Feb 22 2208 UTC
Maximum Time: 2024 Feb 22 2234 UTC
End Time: 2024 Feb 22 2243 UTC
NOAA Scale: R3 - Strong
R3 strong means
HF Radio: Wide area blackout of HF radio communication, loss of radio contact for about an hour on sunlit side of Earth.
Navigation: Low-frequency navigation signals degraded for about an hour.
--
It's all because we are in a solar maximum this year.
Goes in 11 year cycles.
So it's possible we can get more flares and more intense flares
posted by yyz at 2:28 PM on February 25
As a result of the flares there is a geomagnetic storm today G1 category
EXTENDED WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 4 expected
Extension to Serial Number: 4548
Valid From: 2024 Feb 25 0545 UTC
Now Valid Until: 2024 Feb 26 0600 UTC
Warning Condition: Onset
Power systems: Weak power grid fluctuations can occur.
Spacecraft operations: Minor impact on satellite operations possible.
Other systems: Migratory animals are affected at this and higher levels; aurora is commonly visible at high latitudes (northern Michigan and Maine).
---
There was also a strong x ray event Feb 22.
SUMMARY: X-ray Event exceeded X1
Begin Time: 2024 Feb 22 2208 UTC
Maximum Time: 2024 Feb 22 2234 UTC
End Time: 2024 Feb 22 2243 UTC
NOAA Scale: R3 - Strong
R3 strong means
HF Radio: Wide area blackout of HF radio communication, loss of radio contact for about an hour on sunlit side of Earth.
Navigation: Low-frequency navigation signals degraded for about an hour.
--
It's all because we are in a solar maximum this year.
Goes in 11 year cycles.
So it's possible we can get more flares and more intense flares
posted by yyz at 2:28 PM on February 25
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I wish James Webb would stop this; it’s intrusive and not funny.
However, clicking the link, I found that Uranus has a 98 degree tilt. Does anyone know why it isn’t a 82 degree tilt the other way?
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:39 AM on February 23 [4 favorites]