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Senate passes NASA authorization act

Thursday, 17 December 2020 20:20
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WASHINGTON — The Senate unanimously approved a NASA authorization bill Dec. 18, a largely symbolic move intended to set up work on a new version of the legislation next year.

The Senate passed by unanimous consent S.

NASA to skip repair of Orion electronics unit

Thursday, 17 December 2020 19:10
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Orion for Artemis 1

WASHINGTON — NASA will not repair a faulty electronics unit on the Orion spacecraft recently completed for the Artemis 1 mission after concluding there was sufficient redundancy in the overall system.

In a Dec. 17 statement, NASA said it had decided to “use as is” one of eight power and data units (PDU) on the Orion spacecraft, which provide communications between the spacecraft’s computers and other components.

Russia lifts UK telecom satellites into orbit

Thursday, 17 December 2020 18:11
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A Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's Far East on Friday, putting into orbit 36 UK telecommunications and internet satellites, the Roscosmos space agency said.

The launch was the first and only one to take place from the cosmodrome this year, Roscosmos told AFP.

The rocket took off at 1226 GMT, the agency said, carrying satellites made by the British-based company OneWeb.

Nearly five hours later chief Dmitry Rogozin said that all the satellites had reached their intended orbit.

"The mission has been successfully completed. Congratulations!" he said on Twitter.

Originally planned for April, the launch was delayed after OneWeb collapsed and was forced to declare bankruptcy.

Last month, the UK government and Indian telecommunications giant Bharti took control of the company, investing $500 million a piece.

The London-headquartered company is working to complete the construction of a constellation of low earth orbit satellites providing enhanced broadband and other services to countries around the world.

OneWeb's first six satellites were launched by a Russian-made Soyuz rocket from the space centre in Kourou in French Guiana in February 2019.

The company launched 34 more in February this year from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan, then another 34 in March.

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NASA's Webb sunshield successfully unfolds and tensions in final tests
To help ensure success, technicians carefully inspect the James Webb Space Telescope's sunshield before deployment testing begins, while it is occurring, and perform a full post-test analysis to ensure the observatory is operating as planned. Credit: Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn

Lengthened to the size of a tennis court, the five-layer sunshield of NASA's fully assembled James Webb Space Telescope successfully completed a final series of large-scale deployment and tensioning tests. This milestone puts the observatory one step closer to its launch in 2021.

"This is one of Webb's biggest accomplishments in 2020," said Alphonso Stewart, Webb deployment systems lead for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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Recently discovered comet seen during 2020 total solar eclipse
(left) The LASCO C2 camera on the ESA/NASA SOHO observatory shows comet C/2020 X3 (SOHO) in the bottom left-hand corner. (right) A composite image of the total solar eclipse on Dec. 14, 2020, based on 65 frames taken by Andreas Möller (Arbeitskreis Meteore e.V.
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Soyuz launch

WASHINGTON — OneWeb resumed deployment of its broadband satellite constellation with a Dec. 18 launch of 36 satellites, the first since the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia at 7:26 a.m.

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The Subaru Telescope photographs the next target asteroid for Hayabusa2
Animation made from three (out of five) images captured during the observations. The point of light (marked with two lines) moving from left to right near the center of the image is 1998 KY26. The field of view is 30 x 15 arcseconds. Credit: NAOJ

On December 10, 2020 (Hawai'i Standard Time), the Subaru Telescope imaged the small asteroid 1998 KY26, the target of Hayabusa2's extended mission. The positional data for 1998 KY26 collected during the observations will be used to more accurately determine the orbital elements of this object.

Operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 delivered a reentry capsule to Earth containing samples from the asteroid (162173) Ryugu on December 6 (Japan Standard Time).

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Jupiter, Saturn merging in night sky, closest in centuries
In this Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020 photo made available by NASA, Saturn, top, and Jupiter, below, are seen after sunset from Shenandoah National Park in Luray, Va. The two planets are drawing closer to each other in the sky as they head towards a "great conjunction" on Monday, Dec. 21, where the two giant planets will appear a tenth of a degree apart.
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A Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's Far East on Friday carrying 36 UK telecommunications and internet satellites, the Roscosmos space agency said.

The launch was the first and only one to take place from the cosmodrome this year, Roscosmos told AFP.

The rocket took off at 1226 GMT, Roscosmos said, carrying satellites made by the British-based company OneWeb.

Originally planned for April, the launch was delayed after OneWeb collapsed and was forced to declare bankruptcy.

Last month, the UK government and Indian telecommunications giant Bharti took control of the company, investing $500 million a piece.

The London-headquartered company is working to complete the construction of a constellation of low earth orbit satellites providing enhanced broadband and other services to countries around the world.

OneWeb's first six satellites were launched by a Russian-made Soyuz rocket from the space centre in Kourou in French Guiana in February 2019.

The company launched 34 more in February this year from the Baikanour launch site in Kazakhstan, then another 34 in March.

OneWeb plans for its global commercial internet service to be operational by 2022, supported by some 650 satellites.

"Today's launch will be the first fully commercial spacecraft launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome," Roscosmos said.

Week in images: 14 - 18 December 2020

Thursday, 17 December 2020 14:43
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Thwaites glacier seen by Copernicus Sentinel-2

Week in images: 14 - 18 December 2020

Discover our week through the lens

Giant A-68A iceberg loses chunk of ice

Thursday, 17 December 2020 14:10
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A-68A iceberg loses chunk of ice

A large block of ice has broken off the northern tip of the A-68A iceberg as seen in new images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission.

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Nasa moves forward with campaign to return Mars samples to Earth
In this illustration, NASA's Mars 2020 rover uses its drill to core a rock sample on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) are moving to the next phase in a campaign to deepen understanding of whether life ever existed on Mars and, in turn, better understand the origins of life on Earth.

NASA has approved the Mars Sample Return (MSR) multi-mission effort to advance to Phase A, preparing to bring the first pristine samples from Mars back to Earth. During this phase, the program will mature critical technologies and make critical design decisions, as well as assess industry partnerships.

The first endeavor of this campaign is in progress. NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launched in July and is set to land on the Red Planet Feb. 18, 2021. The car-size rover will search for signs of ancient microbial life. Using a coring drill at the end of its robotic arm, Perseverance has the capability to gather samples of Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), and hermetically seal them in collection tubes.

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NASA's Juno spacecraft updates quarter-century Jupiter mystery
In this animated GIF, the clouds on the periphery of some of Jupiter's polar cyclones rotate counterclockwise, while the core of the cyclones rotate clockwise. The JunoCam images used for this animation were taken from altitudes of about 18,000 miles (28,567 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops. Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt processed the images to enhance the color and contrast.

Three things NASA learned from Mars InSight

Thursday, 17 December 2020 12:27
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3 things NASA learned from Mars InSight
Clouds drift over the dome-covered seismometer, known as SEIS, belonging to NASA's InSight lander, on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's InSight spacecraft touched down Nov. 26, 2018, on Mars to study the planet's deep interior. A little more than one Martian year later, the stationary lander has detected more than 480 quakes and collected the most comprehensive weather data of any surface mission sent to Mars. InSight's probe, which has struggled to dig underground to take the planet's temperature, has made progress, too.

There was a time when the surfaces of Mars and Earth were very similar. Both were warm, wet, and shrouded in thick atmospheres. But 3 or 4 billion years ago, these two worlds took different paths. The mission of InSight (short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) has been to help scientists to compare Earth to its rusty sibling. Studying what the depths of Mars is made of, how that material is layered, and how quickly heat seeps out of it could help scientists better understand how a planet's starting materials make it more or less likely to support life.

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The first Long March 8 ready for vertical transfer to the pad at Wenchang.

HELSINKI — China has rolled out a Long March 8 to the pad for the first launch of a rocket that will later be adapted for vertical landing and reuse.

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