solar system

Starship Soars

Welcome to the future of spaceflight, everyone! This week, in its third test flight, Starship made it to space, oribiting the planet for around 40 minutes before heading home. No, it didn’t make it all the way to a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, but that’s what testing is for, and it traveled so much farther, for so much longer, than ever before. I was a little twitchy after the second explosive test, but I’m now very optimistic for the future of this spacecraft and what it means for our journey to the moon, then onward to Mars and throughout the solar system.

Now enjoy these absolutely stunning photos of the flight:

Odysseus

For the first time in 52 years, an American craft has landed on the moon. And for the first time EVER, it's a private, commercial craft. The company is Intuitive Machines, and the craft is Odysseus.

It was a "spicy" landing, in the words of IM's CEO. As the target landing time neared, they realized that its laser rangefinders weren't working properly. So they implemented a workaround to get the required altitude and velocity data, pressing into service an experimental NASA instrument aboard Odysseus called NDL ("Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing)."

The team delayed the planned touchdown by two hours to make the fix, which required them to beam a software patch to Odysseus from mission control in Houston. That is a heroic effort and an incredible achievement by the engineers at IM.

Now, Odysseus IS somewhat...sideways. See the pic for the adorable reenactment IM performed at the press conference yesterday. But slightly off-kilter or not, the craft is very much alive and doing science. It's solar panels are exposed and drawing power, virtually all of its payloads are accessible, and nothing got crushed. IM expects the craft to operate for several days before it loses that precious sunlight needed to power it.

This mission was part of a NASA initiative called the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program, or CLPS, in which the space agency is paying private companies to deliver science experiments and other cargo to the lunar surface. (The failed Astrobotic Peregrine mission last month was the first CLPS mission, and there are I think 7 more scheduled over the next 18 months.)

Odysseur landed at the lunar south pole, which is about to be the hottest real estate in space, for one reason: water!

Link to a great article about the mission and the landing: https://www.universetoday.com/165864/odysseus-moon-lander-is-tipped-over-but-still-sending-data/

And a fascinating article out today with a behind-the-scenes look at the people at Intuitive Machines who saved the mission over and over again: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/it-turns-out-that-odysseus-landed-on-the-moon-without-any-altimetry-data/

That'll do, Ingenuity. That'll do.

Who's ready to cry over another anthropomorphized space robot? * raises hand *

Ingenuity's incredible Martian mission has come to an end. It was intended as a technology "proof of concept," with a mission span of 30 days and a max of 5 test flights. Many believed the little helicopter wouldn't fly at all in the thin Martian atmosphere.

Instead, it flew 72 missions in 3 years, traversing over 11 miles and reaching as high as 79 feet in the air. It flew in treacherous terrain, dealt with a dead sensor, cleaned itself off after dust storms, operated from 48 different airfields, performed three emergency landings, and survived a frigid Martian winter. Through all that, it wormed its way into our hearts and inspired our imagination.

On January 18th, it sustained rotor damage during landing and lost contact with Perseverance and NASA. Communications were re-established the next day, and imagery revealed damage to one of its blades severe enough to render it unable to take off again.

With such an amazing performance that silenced every doubter, Ingenuity is only the first craft to fly on Mars; it will not be the last.

That'll do, Ingenuity. That'll do.

Learn more here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends

Io's Close-Up

On December 30, NASA's Juno spacecraft, which has been orbiting Jupiter for the better part of a decade, made its closest flyby of Io, the innermost moon in the Jovian system.

The spacecraft came to within 930 miles (1,500 km) of the surface of Io, a dense moon that is the fourth largest in the Solar System. Unlike a lot of moons around Jupiter and Saturn, which have surface ice or subsurface water, Io is a very dry world. It is also extremely geologically active. Io has more than 400 active volcanoes and is therefore an object of great interest to astronomers and planetary scientists.

Read more about the flyby here.

Sunrise on Mars

Stunning morning clouds over Jezero Crater, captured by the Perseverance rover’s NavCams on March 18 (Sol 738). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kevin M. Gill

As Professor of Physics Brian Cox so eloquently said: “A beautiful photograph of clouds in the Martian sky, 200 years after the first photograph was taken and just over a century after the first powered flight. We can do wonderful things when we put our minds to it.”

High-res version: https://flic.kr/p/2onS6xJ

Originally posted on Twitter.

Peregrine One

Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One is officially launching to the moon on May 4th (yes, yes, May the Fourth Be With You). This mission is near and dear to my heart, as many of my short stories will be onboard the lander! Along with the works of many other writers, artists and musicians), as part of the Lunar Codex project. I’m very excited.

Originally posted on Twitter.

Boom! DART Crashes Into Asteroid

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) crashed into the surface of an asteroid called Dimorphos at over 14,000 miles per hour. Researchers are hoping that the collision will change the asteroid’s orbit, speeding it up just a tiny bit (we won’t know how successful it was for a little while).

Neither Dimorphos, nor its larger companion, Didymos, pose any danger to Earth, but the experiment is designed to test whether or not a similar impact could make a difference if scientists ever discovered an asteroid that posed an imminent threat to life on Earth.”

Via https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/26/23371372/watch-nasa-dart-collision-asteroid

And everyone was watching. We’ve got visuals from the LICIACUBE cubesat that went along for the ride with DART, as well as from both Webb and Hubble!

Originally posted on Facebook and Twitter (2).

The Light of Jupiter

Webb slays us once again by turning its infrared camera toward the giant of the solar system. We've got auroras, we've got moons, we've got rings! Most of all, we've got enough ethereal beauty to pang the heart and bring tears to the eyes.

“Webb Telescope Sees Jupiter and Its Auroras in a New Light”: https://www.universetoday.com/157261/webb-telescope-sees-jupiter-and-its-auroras-in-a-new-light/

Originally posted on Facebook.

Happy 10th, Curiosity!

Who's the bestest little rover?

10 years ago today, a jetpack lowered NASA’s Curiosity rover onto the Red Planet, beginning the SUV-size explorer’s pursuit of evidence that, billions of years ago, Mars had the conditions needed to support microscopic life.

Since then, Curiosity has driven nearly 18 miles and ascended 2,050 feet as it explores Gale Crater and the foothills of Mount Sharp within it. The rover has analyzed 41 rock and soil samples, relying on a suite of science instruments to learn what they reveal about Earth’s rocky sibling. Curiosity’s mission was recently extended for another three years, allowing it to continue among NASA’s fleet of important astrobiological missions.

This gorgeous poster is courtesy of Justin Van Genderen, and you can download it here: https://mars.nasa.gov/.../curiosity-10-years-of-martian.../

Learn more about Curiosity's 10 years of exploration here: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/

Originally posted on Facebook.

Jupiter's Polar Vortices

“As NASA’s Juno mission completed its 43rd close flyby of Jupiter on July 5, 2022, its JunoCam instrument captured this striking view of vortices — hurricane-like spiral wind patterns — near the planet’s north pole.

“These powerful storms can be over 30 miles (50 kilometers) in height and hundreds of miles across.” Learn more here: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/nasa-s-juno-mission-spies-vortices-near-jupiter-s-north-pole

Originally posted on Twitter.

Saturn's Rings

Well this is just insanely beautiful. Cassini was an absolute legend.

From Jason Major on Twitter: “Here's a view of Saturn's rings made from images captured by #Cassini on July 4, 2008. Prometheus is visible inside the F ring at the bottom, as is Atlas at left along the outer edge of the A ring. Spoke structures can be seen within the B ring. Saturn's shadow is at upper right.”

https://twitter.com/JPMajor/status/1411694496010719235

Originally posted on Twitter.

Hello, Mercury!

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission captured this beautiful view of Mercury’s rich geological landscape on June 23, 2022 as the spacecraft flew past the planet for a gravity assist maneuver. 

The image was taken by the Mercury Transfer Module’s Monitoring Camera 2, when the spacecraft was within about 920 km from the surface of Mercury. Closest approach of about 200 km took place shortly before.

Read all about the details of the image here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2022/06/BepiColombo_surveys_Mercury_s_rich_geology

Originally posted on Twitter.

Keep Exploring

NASA has extended the planetary science missions of eight of its spacecraft due to their scientific productivity and potential to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the solar system and beyond.

The missions – Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover), InSight lander, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, OSIRIS-REx, and New Horizons – have been selected for continuation

Check that out! Curiosity is such a champ, showing no signs of slowing down on Mars after a decade of exploring the Red Planet. OSIRIS-REx is going to visit * another * asteroid, and New Horizons - can you believe it made its extraordinary visit to Pluto SEVEN years ago - will continue to probe the far outer reaches of our solar system.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-extends-exploration-for-8-planetary-science-missions

Originally posted on Twitter.

Ringshine

“This view, made from images acquired by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on February 17, 2007, shows the effect of "ringshine" on Saturn's night side. Twilight and pre-dawn on Saturn would be pretty bright, thanks to its reflective rings.”

Cassini graced us with a lifetime’s worth of some of the most stunning images imaginable of Saturn and its satellites. Until such time as we can send humans to orbit amidst the rings, let us stare upon them with wonder and joy.

Posted by Jason Major: https://twitter.com/JPMajor/status/1494317365072482307.

Originally posted on Twitter.

Touching the Sun

This video of the Parker Solar Probe's dive through the sun's corona is absolutely mind-blowing. It's only 13 seconds, so take those seconds to watch it - you won't regret it: https://youtu.be/IQXNqhQzBLM

And look at the Milky Way in the background! WOW. I am amazed and humbled at these incredible images.

More info on the event:

"For the first time ever, a spacecraft has flown through the Sun’s outer atmosphere. The Parker Solar Probe passed through the out portion of the Sun’s corona in April of 2021, passing directly through streamers of solar plasma. Not only are the solar particles and dust visible streaming past the spacecraft, astronomer Karl Battams confirmed that other objects visible in the video are Mercury, Venus, THE MILKY WAY (the large vertical structure seen in the video, which is stunning/jarring when you realize it) then Saturn, Earth and Jupiter. https://www.universetoday.com/.../parker-solar-probe.../

(Note: this video is actually from the probe's previous pass - data from its most recent dive will begin arriving Dec. 23. Might it include an even *more* astounding video?)

Originally posted on Facebook.