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Geologists propose theory about a famous asteroid
Credit: NASA and JPL

The asteroid Vesta is the second largest asteroid in our Solar System. With a diameter of about 330 miles, it orbits the sun between the planets Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroids have long played a part in building popular fascination with space. "Marooned off Vesta" was the first story published by American writer Isaac Asimov, the third story he wrote, appearing in the March 1939 issue of the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories.

"When we think of asteroid belts, we probably picture Han Solo maneuvering the millennium falcon through a dense set of irregularly shaped gray rocks in space," Christian Klimczak, associate professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of geology. "While most rocks are indeed irregularly shaped and gray, they are far apart and NASA's Dawn spacecraft did not have to maneuver around any other asteroids to reach and explore Vesta."

Dawn was the space probe launched by NASA in September 2007 with the mission of studying two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres.

Vesta, like Earth, is composed of rock in its crust and mantle, and it has an iron core.

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What goes up should come down: Spacecraft deorbiting device developed at Purdue ready for upcoming test launch
Purdue Ph.D. candidate Arly Black (front) and lab engineer Anthony Cofer test sail deployment for Spinnaker3. Credit: Purdue University/David Spencer

A drag sail that a team at Purdue University developed to pull launch vehicles in space back to Earth is scheduled to undergo a test launch on Thursday (Sept. 2).

The mission, set to take off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, will evaluate how well the prototype helps its vehicle deorbit from space after mission completion. A livestream of the launch will be available through Everyday Astronaut.

Faster deorbiting times may prevent spacecraft and launch vehicles from turning into hazardous space debris as they wait to deorbit naturally, a process that could take days, months or years without assistance. Abandoned, lost or post-mission space vehicles are part of the more than nine thousand tons of space debris currently traveling through Earth's lower orbit at dangerous speeds.

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In an interview with SpaceNews, Aerospace Corp. CEO Steve Isakowitz says unprecedented opportunities are emerging for national security space organizations to capture commercial innovation. Defense programs won’t transform overnight, he says, but change is definitely in the air.

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The forecast for Mars? Otherworldly weather predictions
Credit: Michael S. Helfenbein; Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech

As scientists prepare for crewed research missions to nearby planets and moons, they've identified a need for something beyond rovers and rockets.

They need accurate weather forecasts. Without them, any trip to the surface may be one away from disaster.

A new Yale study helps lay the foundation for more accurate, otherworldly forecasts by taking a phenomenon related to Earth's jet stream and applying it to weather patterns on Mars and Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The study appears in the journal Nature Astronomy.

"I believe the first accurate forecasts of perhaps a few Mars days may be only a decade away," said lead author J. Michael Battalio, a postdoctoral researcher in Earth and planetary sciences in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "It is just a matter of combining better observational datasets with sufficiently refined numerical models.

"But until then, we can rely upon connections between the climate and weather to help anticipate dust storms."

On Earth, the regularity of storm systems in the middle latitudes is associated with what is called an annular mode—a variability in atmospheric flow that is unrelated to the cycle of seasons.

Oscar the Qube

Tuesday, 31 August 2021 12:18
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Quantum technology or stage at a music festival? Both would have one thing in common: students.

Oscar-Qube, short for Optical Sensors based on CARbon materials: QUantum Belgium, is an experiment developed by a group of students from the University of Hasselt, Belgium. Part of ESA Education Office’s Orbit Your Thesis! programme, the experiment arrived at the International Space Station on Space X Dragon CR23 resupply mission yesterday.

This week, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet will install the experiment in the Ice Cubes Facility that offers commercial and educational access to the microgravity environment of the Space Station.

Oscar-Qube’s mission is

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iss
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
A Russian space official on Tuesday raised concerns about the deteriorating state of Russia's segment of the International Space Station due to out-of-date hardware, warning it could lead to "irreparable failures".

In recent years, the Russian segment of the ISS has experienced a string of problems, including air leaks caused by cracks, raising questions about the safety of the rotating crews onboard.

"Around 80 percent of the inflight systems on Russia's segment have reached the end of their service period," Vladimir Solovyov, chief engineer of the Energia rocket and space corporation, told the RIA Novosti news agency.

Energia—a manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components—is the leading developer of Russia's section of the ISS, a with the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency.

"This means that literally a day after the systems are fully exhausted, irreparable failures may begin," Solovyov added.

Citing concerns stemming from ageing hardware, Russia had previously indicated that it plans to leave the ISS after 2025 and launch its own orbital station.

On Monday, Solovyov said that small cracks had been discovered on Russia's Zarya cargo module.

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heads of agencies

Leaders of national space agencies agree that space traffic management (STM) should be a priority but have differing views on who should be responsible for it.

SpaceNews

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Ice sheet in Antarctica

Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest assessment report laying out the accumulating evidence of the climate crisis. The report identifies Earth observing satellites as a critical tool to monitor the causes and effects of climate change and directly acknowledges the contribution of ESA’s Climate Change Initiative – a research programme that draws on observations from multiple satellite missions.

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Moscow (Sputnik) Aug 31, 2021
Cosmonauts will install highly sensitive vibration sensors inside Russian segments at the International Space station in the hope of finding the cause of air leaks, a designer general at the state space firm Energia told Sputnik. Vladimir Solovyov said the "scientific research" would seek to identify "vibration nodes" to see if they coincide with welding seams. He told Sputnik earlier that

ESA has no plans to develop space tourism

Tuesday, 31 August 2021 07:51
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Colorado Springs CO (Sputnik) Aug 31, 2021
Space tourism is good for space in general but the European Space Agency (ESA) is currently not planning to develop it, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told Sputnik. "I think it is interesting to see that space is going into a wider domain, including space tourism. I consider this is good for the development of the space economy in general."Aschbacher said on the sidelines of the 36t
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New York NY (SPX) Aug 31, 2021
The Beyond Earth Institute (BEI) unveiled "Catching the Sun: A National Strategy for Space Solar Power," a new report on Space Solar Power (SSP) today. SSP uses solar panels in space to collect power from the Sun to serve the energy needs of the people on Earth. The full report can be downloaded here. "It is rare when a single project can help us achieve so many goals" said Tony DeTora, Be
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Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 31, 2021
New research using data from NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, mission, has revealed unexpected behavior in the swaths of charged particles that band Earth's equator - made possibly by GOLD's long-term global view, the first of its kind for this type of measurement. GOLD is in geostationary orbit, which means it orbits around Earth at the same pace the planet
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Washington DC (UPI) Aug 26, 2021
The Navy has successfully tested a second stage hypersonic rocket motor, the branch said Thursday. Navy Strategic Systems Programs successfully conducted the initial live-fire test of the second stage Solid Rocket Motor on Wednesday, in Promontory, Utah, the Navy SSP said in a statement. The test was done as a step toward developing a common hypersonic missile for the Army and Na
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Laconia NH (SPX) Aug 31, 2021
Rogue Space Systems Corporation, a U.S. company that is developing a smart spacecraft program and is planning to offer transport, and in-space services to the growing space market, and Firefly Aerospace, a leading provider of economical and dependable launch vehicles, spacecraft, and in-space services, has announced they have signed a Launch Service Agreement (LSA). The agreement confirms that R
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