Launches, landings, elements, and the fiery golden apples of the sun
October 1, 2023 1:26 PM Subscribe
NASA started work on this day in 1958. So let's mark the occasion by checking on the past month of humanity's exploration of space.
The Sun
NASA's Parker Solar Probe flew right through a coronal mass ejection (CME).
Venus
Flashes of light in that planet's atmosphere might not be lightning, but meteors.
From Earth’s surface to orbit
Two cosmonauts and one American astronaut rode a Soyuz spacecraft up to the International Space Station (ISS). The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched an observatory, the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) (previously). Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched another military satellite, Noor 3, to orbit.
Chinese company Galactic Energy successfully launched a Ceres-1 rocket from an ocean platform. United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched an American spy satellite on an Atlas V rocket. Virgin Galactic succeeded in a third commercial suborbital flight. SpaceX broke a rocket reuse record as one of its Falcon first stages successfully completed its 17th launch and return mission.
A study found that NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) is financially unsustainable.
In orbit
Hubble space telescope images over 20 years show a supernova's remnants expanding into space. On the Tiangong space station Chinese Shenzhou 16 astronauts Gui Haichao and Zhu Yangzhu lit a candle to demonstrate how flames work in microgravity.
Orbital space junk continues to be a growing problem. The American Office of Space Commerce is creating a Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS).
Back down to Earth
NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe safely returned a lander to Earth, bearing materials (including dust and debris) from the asteroid 101955-Bennu. Three museums will host some samples.
The The European Space Agency (ESA) published images of the Aeolus satellite as it burned up over Antarctica. A Soyuz spacecraft returned two Russians and one American to Earth after a record ISS stay. A CalTech experiment successfully beamed microwaves from orbit to Earth.
NASA asked for ideas about a spacecraft to help deorbit the ISS.
Moon
Japan's SLIM moon lander imaged the Earth on its way to the moon. SLIM also carries a spherical robot to explore the lunar surface, the Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2).
On the moon's surface, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)'s Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander hopped to a new location after its first landing (previously). Vikram also detected unusual levels of sulfur as well as potential seismic activity. From lunar orbit Chandrayaan-2 caught its successor on radar. Unfortunately, Vikram hasn't yet woken up from sleep mode.
Speaking of lunar seismic activity, one research team thinks they detected very small changes to parts of the moon's surface caused by the Apollo 17's lander heating and cooling. Lunar plans: China wants to launch a soil sample return mission to the moon's far side next year. Japan and India hope to fire off a water prospecting mission in 2025.
In the Earth’s L2 point
The James Webb telescope detected carbon and methane on one exoplanet while also studying protoplanetary disks. Evidence collected by that telescope leads some to question key models of the cosmos.
Elsewhere in Earth's L2 point, the ESA is working on problems with its Euclid space telescope.
Mars
On its fourth try NASA's Curiosity rover climbed the Gediz Vallis Ridge and took a 360 degree view from there. Perseverance’s Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) device produced oxygen very well. Perseverance also set a record for Martian driving on autopilot and imaged a dust devil whirling by.
To the asteroids
After dropping off a lander to Earth, OSIRIS-Rex is continuing on to visit the geekily-named asteroid Apophis.
NASA's Psyche mission to a metallic asteroid is scheduled to launch on October 12.
Jupiter
New images from the Juno probe showed Io and the giant planet together, as well as a gigantic, round storm in the planet's clouds. One citizen scientist found a pair of cyclones which "looked like eyes" and another found something perhaps more unsettling. Jovian moon Callisto has a weirdly high amount of oxygen and Europa has some carbon.
Saturn
The Cassini probe imaged the strange-looking moon Pen: "Ravioli, pierogi, empanada... What do you see? No wrong answers".
The Kuiper belt
NASA announced it would continue New Horizons operations for the rest of this decade.
The Sun
NASA's Parker Solar Probe flew right through a coronal mass ejection (CME).
Venus
Flashes of light in that planet's atmosphere might not be lightning, but meteors.
From Earth’s surface to orbit
Two cosmonauts and one American astronaut rode a Soyuz spacecraft up to the International Space Station (ISS). The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched an observatory, the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) (previously). Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched another military satellite, Noor 3, to orbit.
Chinese company Galactic Energy successfully launched a Ceres-1 rocket from an ocean platform. United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched an American spy satellite on an Atlas V rocket. Virgin Galactic succeeded in a third commercial suborbital flight. SpaceX broke a rocket reuse record as one of its Falcon first stages successfully completed its 17th launch and return mission.
A study found that NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) is financially unsustainable.
In orbit
Hubble space telescope images over 20 years show a supernova's remnants expanding into space. On the Tiangong space station Chinese Shenzhou 16 astronauts Gui Haichao and Zhu Yangzhu lit a candle to demonstrate how flames work in microgravity.
Orbital space junk continues to be a growing problem. The American Office of Space Commerce is creating a Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS).
Back down to Earth
NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe safely returned a lander to Earth, bearing materials (including dust and debris) from the asteroid 101955-Bennu. Three museums will host some samples.
The The European Space Agency (ESA) published images of the Aeolus satellite as it burned up over Antarctica. A Soyuz spacecraft returned two Russians and one American to Earth after a record ISS stay. A CalTech experiment successfully beamed microwaves from orbit to Earth.
NASA asked for ideas about a spacecraft to help deorbit the ISS.
Moon
Japan's SLIM moon lander imaged the Earth on its way to the moon. SLIM also carries a spherical robot to explore the lunar surface, the Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2).
On the moon's surface, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)'s Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander hopped to a new location after its first landing (previously). Vikram also detected unusual levels of sulfur as well as potential seismic activity. From lunar orbit Chandrayaan-2 caught its successor on radar. Unfortunately, Vikram hasn't yet woken up from sleep mode.
Speaking of lunar seismic activity, one research team thinks they detected very small changes to parts of the moon's surface caused by the Apollo 17's lander heating and cooling. Lunar plans: China wants to launch a soil sample return mission to the moon's far side next year. Japan and India hope to fire off a water prospecting mission in 2025.
In the Earth’s L2 point
The James Webb telescope detected carbon and methane on one exoplanet while also studying protoplanetary disks. Evidence collected by that telescope leads some to question key models of the cosmos.
Elsewhere in Earth's L2 point, the ESA is working on problems with its Euclid space telescope.
Mars
On its fourth try NASA's Curiosity rover climbed the Gediz Vallis Ridge and took a 360 degree view from there. Perseverance’s Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) device produced oxygen very well. Perseverance also set a record for Martian driving on autopilot and imaged a dust devil whirling by.
To the asteroids
After dropping off a lander to Earth, OSIRIS-Rex is continuing on to visit the geekily-named asteroid Apophis.
NASA's Psyche mission to a metallic asteroid is scheduled to launch on October 12.
Jupiter
New images from the Juno probe showed Io and the giant planet together, as well as a gigantic, round storm in the planet's clouds. One citizen scientist found a pair of cyclones which "looked like eyes" and another found something perhaps more unsettling. Jovian moon Callisto has a weirdly high amount of oxygen and Europa has some carbon.
Saturn
The Cassini probe imaged the strange-looking moon Pen: "Ravioli, pierogi, empanada... What do you see? No wrong answers".
The Kuiper belt
NASA announced it would continue New Horizons operations for the rest of this decade.
Also, NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is in integration test at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab: https://www.jhuapl.edu/news/news-releases/230920a-imap-begins-integration-test-campaign
posted by newdaddy at 6:29 PM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by newdaddy at 6:29 PM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Thank you, doctornemo!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:52 PM on October 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:52 PM on October 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
As a casual space enthusiast - this is so awesome! Thank you!
posted by nemutdero at 11:55 PM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by nemutdero at 11:55 PM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Thank you for this expansive roundup!
I think the last item deserves a little more context. As Jeff Foust wrote in that linked article, there was quite a bit of drama over the extension of the New Horizons mission. NASA wanted to convert it to a pure "heliophysics" mission, meaning it would only be studying the solar wind etc. way out there. Crucially, the NH team would not be allowed to find and plan another flyby. Principal Investigator Alan Stern, who is a space science rock star, put his foot down and simply refused to even submit a pure-heliophysics mission plan that fit into NASA's concept. NASA blinked, and now we'll get another flyby.
(Although I should note that no future flyby is likely to be anywhere near as dramatic as those of Pluto and Arrokoth; they probably won't get that close.)
posted by intermod at 7:49 AM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
I think the last item deserves a little more context. As Jeff Foust wrote in that linked article, there was quite a bit of drama over the extension of the New Horizons mission. NASA wanted to convert it to a pure "heliophysics" mission, meaning it would only be studying the solar wind etc. way out there. Crucially, the NH team would not be allowed to find and plan another flyby. Principal Investigator Alan Stern, who is a space science rock star, put his foot down and simply refused to even submit a pure-heliophysics mission plan that fit into NASA's concept. NASA blinked, and now we'll get another flyby.
(Although I should note that no future flyby is likely to be anywhere near as dramatic as those of Pluto and Arrokoth; they probably won't get that close.)
posted by intermod at 7:49 AM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
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Also, the images/videos of them retrieving that asteroid capsule and then taking it to a clean room are like scenes from a Seventies SF film where things will soon go terribly, terribly wrong.
posted by hippybear at 2:12 PM on October 1, 2023 [10 favorites]