The Road to Jupiter: Two decades of trajectory optimization
Sunday, 20 August 2023 06:22
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The intricate multi-body dynamic environment stemming from Jupiter and its four prominent Galilean moons complicates trajectory design and optimization. Coupled with the formidable radiation surrounding Jupiter and spacecraft's limited fuel, these challenges necessitate advanced and intricate design solutions.
To bridge this gap, a joint study by scholars from Nanjing University of Aeronau Scientists proposed to adapt a Mars ISRU system to the changing Mars environment
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Human missions to Mars necessitate an efficient launch system to ascend from the planet and rendezvous with Earth-bound return vehicles. The critical component for this ambitious task? Oxygen. Not only for ascent propellants but possibly also for life support.
To facilitate a crew of six astronauts, approximately 30 metric tons of oxygen propellants would be required for ascent. This signi Rocket Lab inks dedicated launch deal with Japanese EO company iQPS
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In a recent development in the realm of Earth observation technology, Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) has signed a contract to offer their global daily monitoring solution to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Asia. This high-value deal comes with a seven-figure annual contract value, emphasizing the significance of the collaboration.
For those unfamiliar with the industry backdrop, Planet Labs s Cruising to the Contact: Sols 3921-3922
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Earth planning date: Wednesday, August 16, 2023: Curiosity had a successful drive on Monday and is now positioned at the transition between lighter and darker-toned materials with a myriad of exciting geologic targets to investigate in the coming sols, including dark-toned float rocks, bedrock near the contact between the sulfate unit and upper Gediz Vallis Ridge, and a cluster of texturally-div New type of star gives clues to mysterious origin of magnetars
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Magnetars are the strongest magnets in the Universe. These super-dense dead stars with ultra-strong magnetic fields can be found all over our galaxy but astronomers don't know exactly how they form. Now, using multiple telescopes around the world, including European Southern Observatory (ESO) facilities, researchers have uncovered a living star that is likely to become a magnetar. This finding m Astronomers find progenitor of magnetic monster
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A team of researchers, including NOIRLab astronomer Andre-Nicolas Chene, has found a highly unusual star that has the most powerful magnetic field ever found in a massive star - and that may become one of the most magnetic objects in the Universe: a variant of a neutron star known as a magnetar. This finding marks the discovery of a new type of astronomical object - a massive magnetic helium sta Scientists use FAST to discover a new population of 'dwarf' pulses
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Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), a research team led by Prof. HAN Jinlin from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) has detected distinct "dwarf pulses" from a bright pulsar PSR B2111+46, and studied the radio emission in unprecedented details and probed the unknown physics in the magnetosphere.
Pulsars gene True Anomaly opens GravityWorks; gains federal clearances for space operations
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In a major advancement for space access and sustainability, tech firm True Anomaly, Inc. launched its advanced spacecraft manufacturing facility, GravityWorks, while simultaneously securing federal permissions for novel space operations.
Located in Centennial, Colo., this new facility positions True Anomaly amidst the flourishing aerospace and defense sectors of Colorado, one of America's From rice to quantum gas: China's targets pioneering space research
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China's orbiting Tiangong space station is now fully operational and has embarked on a mission that aims to achieve groundbreaking scientific discoveries, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). This marks a significant step forward as the station enters an application and development phase that is anticipated to last for over a decade.
The spokesperson for CMSA, Lin Xiqiang, re Hurricane Hilary Barrels Toward Baja California
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Hurricane Hilary, a category 4 storm in the Pacific Ocean, approached the Baja California peninsula on August 18, 2023.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 satellite acquired this image of Hilary in the predawn hours of August 18 (09:25 Universal Time), when the eye of the storm was about 400 miles (640 kilometers) off the coast of the peninsula. The image Emergency detected in pre-moon landing maneuver by Russia's Luna-25 probe
Sunday, 20 August 2023 05:20 Write a comment
An "emergency" was detected on Saturday during a maneuver by Russia's Luna-25 probe prior to its Moon landing, Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
"Thrust was released to transfer the probe onto the pre-landing orbit," Roscosmos said in a statement.
"During the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the carrying out of the maneuver within the specified conditions."
The lander, Russia's first such mission in almost 50 years, was successfully placed in the Moon's orbit on Wednesday after being launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the country's Far East.
Roscosmos did not say if the incident would delay the landing, due to take place on Monday, north of the Boguslawsky crater on the lunar south pole.
In June, Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov told President Vladimir Putin that such missions were "risky", with an estimated success probability of around 70 percent.
The probe is expected to stay on the Moon for a year, where it is tasked with collecting samples and analyzing soil.
Cameras installed on the lander have already taken distant shots of the Earth and Moon from space.
Luna-25 malfunctions during lunar orbit maneuver
Saturday, 19 August 2023 16:32
Chandrayaan-3 Lunar orbit update
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The Chandrayaan-3 mission continues to make significant strides as its Lander Module has now achieved an orbit of 113 km x 157 km around the Moon. This crucial development was shared by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). With a keen focus on the anticipated soft landing on the Moon's South Polar region on August 23, a second de-boosting is already planned for August 20.
The mis Neptune's Disappearing Clouds Linked to the Solar Cycle
Saturday, 19 August 2023 10:33 Write a comment
Weather forecast for Neptune: After sunny weather for the past few Earth years, we'll see increasingly more clouds over the next few years.
In 1989, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft provided the first close-up images of linear, bright clouds, reminiscent of cirrus clouds on Earth, seen high in Neptune's atmosphere. They form above most of the methane in Neptune's atmosphere and reflect all colo Scientists review the trajectory design and optimization for Jovian system exploration
Friday, 18 August 2023 16:53 Write a comment
The Jovian system has long attracted the interest of human exploration. However, Jupiter and its four Galilean moons form a unique and complex multi-body dynamical environment that greatly challenges trajectory design and optimization.
Moreover, the extremely strong radiation environment of Jupiter and the low available fuel of spacecraft further increase the difficulty of trajectory design. In order to satisfy the requirements of diverse missions of the Jovian system exploration, develop new mission concepts, and obtain higher merit with lower cost, a variety of theories and methodologies of trajectory design and optimization were proposed or developed in the past two decades.
There is a lack of comprehensive review of these methodologies, which is unfavorable for further developing new design techniques and proposing new mission schemes.
In a review article recently published in Space: Science & Technology, scholars from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey provide a systematic summarization of the past and state-of-art methodologies for four main exploration phases, including Jupiter capture, the tour of the Galilean moons, Jupiter global mapping, and orbiting around and landing on a target moon.