Astronews: recent space news/discoveries episode 5
Welcome to the fifth review of "Space and Astronomy" news, selected for you by Insane
Curiosity Channel.
The news, which will be weekly, will try to provide a quick overview of everything interesting
happened in recent days in the field of astronomical research and space exploration.
Keep following us!
1 Despite its relative proximity, Venus is not
an easy planet to study.
It is always prospectively close to the Sun and this makes observations conducted from
Earth very difficult.
The surface is also perpetually hidden by a thick blanket of clouds, so that some fundamental
characteristics, such as the distribution of internal mass and variations in the length
of its rotation period, have long remained unknown.
However, the cloud blanket can be pierced with infrared observations at certain wavelengths
and, even better, with radar observations; and that's what Jean-Luc Margot, of the University
of California, has done.
Leading a team of researchers, Jean-Luc examined the planet for a full 15 years straight.
From 2006 to 2020, in fact, has sent radar signals from California to the planet using
the Goldstone Solar System Radar, then collecting the return echoes with the same antenna and
with that of the Green Bank Telescope, located in West Virginia about 3000 kilometers away.
With this technique of the double antenna, called "radar speckle tracking", it was finally
possible to accurately measure important parameters such as the orientation of the axis of rotation,
the speed of precession, and the period of rotation.
The group has thus discovered that Venus rotates on average in 243.02 Earth days, with variations
that can reach up to 21 minutes; and that the axis of rotation is inclined by 2.63°
and manifests a precession movement of 44,5 arcsec/year, corresponding to a complete cycle
in about 29,000 years.
Very similar to the precession period of the terrestrial axis, which is completed in 26,500
years.
It was also possible to measure for the first time the diameter of the nucleus of Venus,
which was found to be very similar to the Earth's nucleus, both in size (7000 km) and
in composition (mostly iron and nickel).
In short, a lot of new data are coming from this planet, considered "impossible" until
recently.
It is a sign of a renewed interest from space agencies.
2 China has sent the main module of its future
space station into space, kicking off a series of missions aimed at completing the construction
of the station by the end of next year.
The Long March-5B Y2 rocket, carrying the Tianhe ("harmony of the skies") module, lifted
off from the Wenchang launch site on the southern coast of Hainan Island at 11:23 a.m. (Beijing
time) on April 29.
Tianhe will serve as the management and control hub for the Tiangong "Heavenly Palace" space
station, with a hub for docking up to three spacecraft at a time for short stays or two
for long periods.
Tianhe has a length of 16.6 meters, a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters and a takeoff mass
of 22.5 tons: the largest spacecraft so far developed by China.
It will house the environments where the astronauts will have to live and work, in orbit between
340 and 450 kilometers from Earth.
It will constitute the central part of the space station around which other modules will
be attached during the next months.
The station will be T-shaped, with the central module in the center and capsule-laboratory
on either side.
Each module will have a mass of more than 20 tons.
This year, China will also send the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou-12 manned
spacecraft to dock with the central module.
Onboard the Shenzhou-12 will be 3 astronauts who will stay in orbit for three months.
Excluded from the International Space Station (where Russians, Americans, Canadians, Europeans,
and Japanese collaborate), China is therefore building piece by piece its "Celestial Palace".
The ISS will cease its activities in 2024: at that point, the Chinese could be the only
ones to inhabit the Earth's orbit.
3 Big bad news.
Michael Collins, protagonist of the Apollo 11 mission that took Neil Armstrong and Buzz
Aldrin to the Moon, died in Florida on April 28 at the age of 90.
Collins was part of an even more restricted club than the one to which the 12 moonwalkers
belonged.
Collins, in fact, was the pilot of the command module, the first of six in their respective
missions remained in orbit to await the return of those who had meanwhile descended to the
lunar surface.
Of these six, of this somewhat forgotten category inaugurated by Collins, now only one remains
alive, the eighty-six years old Ken Mattingly, of Apollo 16.
A decisive and delicate role, but necessarily less exposed to glory than those who had left
their footprints on the lunar dust.
In fact, only these six astronauts lived part of those missions in solitude, a situation
that required great self-mastery.
Collins was alone for 28 hours and 30 lunar orbits; he was among the few men in the world,
at least in countries that had achieved a certain development, who did not see even
a single image of the moon landing on live TV, as the Houston control room pointed out
to him.
"It's all the same," he replied.
As his daughter wrote in a statement, Collins had been ill for some time: "I'm sorry to
share that our beloved father and grandfather died today after a brave fight against cancer.
He spent his last days peacefully with his family.
Always faced the challenges of life with elegance and humility, as well as his last challenge,
this one.
We will miss him terribly.
Still, Mike has lived his life.
We know how lucky we are.
We respect his desire to celebrate, not mourn, his life.
His keen wisdom, quiet sense of purpose, of the universe".
Collins always felt he was one of the luckiest people ever.
"Usually you find yourself too young or too old to do what you really want to do" - he
said.
in an interview he conducted with himself in 2009 - "but think about it.
Neil Armstrong was born in 1930, Buzz Aldrin 1930, Michael Collins 1930.
We came at the right time.
We survived a dangerous career.
But at least for myself, it was 10% wise planning and 90% blind luck.
Please, put "Lucky" on my gravestone".
"The thing I remember most" - he later recounted - "is the image of planet Earth from a great
distance: small, very bright, blue and white.
Shining, beautiful, serene and fragile".
Goodbye Michael, have a good trip... and thanks for everything.
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4 And three!
The Martian helicopter named Ingenuity is getting a taste of it...
After the first two test flights, whose main objective was to verify that it was able to
detach itself from the ground - the first time up to three meters, the second time up
to five - and to land without problems, yesterday it was time to move, once at altitude.
And not by a little bit: once reached the height of five meters, Ingenuity has tilted
a little and has moved away, at the respectable speed of two meters per second, covering about
fifty meters and finally returning to the place of departure.
The video of the entire maneuver, taken by the Mastcam-Z of the rover Perseverance and
lasted about eighty seconds in all, is really impressive.
Especially when Ingenuity leaves the frame and reappears only after 23 endless seconds,
during which it wanders on Mars in full autonomy.
And it must have impressed even those responsible for the mission, who witnessed the maneuver,
not through images - which arrived much later - but deciphering line by line data as they
came from telemetry.
Unlike the two previous flights, this one on Sunday, April 25 represented an absolute
novelty, an operation never tried before on Earth.
Yes, because while the ascent and descent on site are maneuvers that had been possible
to some extent to test in the simulator of the Martian atmosphere of the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where a vacuum chamber was prepared ad hoc to reproduce
the rarefied air of Mars (gravity was simulated using a lighter model of helicopter), the
horizontal movement there was no way to test it if not on site.
In short, if only for the considerable speed of movement and the ability to venture into
terrain that the rover would be precluded, it is clear that we are facing a radical step
forward in the adventure of Martian exploration.
Never again without a helicopter in tow, you might say!
And it is obvious how much the engineers of the mission are enjoying it.
All eyes are on him, on Ingenuity: the little demonstrator that, at least in this first
phase of the mission, has taken the leading role from Perseverance.
But how long can this continue?
How much longer will the rover-drone duet last?
The plans foresee a total of five flights in the first month of stay on Mars.
So we are already more than half.
But it will not be easy to stop at five if everything continues to work so well.
The battery, for example, with its six lithium-ion cells, although it must be used in large part
to keep warm the system during the cold night hours, has the potential to recharge at a
rate sufficient to ensure a flight like yesterday every two days.
In short, it cannot be ruled out that the trip with the pair may extend a little beyond
the planned 30 days.
5 Nasa has finally chosen the lander that will
bring back after more than half a century a human crew on the lunar surface: SpaceX's
Starship!
Elon Musk's company was competing with Dynetics and Blue Origin's taskforce, also composed
of Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper.
However, as stated by the Nasa administration, the choice fell on SpaceX's technical proposal
because of the significantly lower cost and better project management.
The original plans for the Artemis program called for the development of two proposals
in parallel, in order to have redundancy to ensure the timing and safety of the astronauts
in returning to the Moon.
However, the recent change of administration has led to a downsizing of NASA's budget,
which was forced to choose a single project for the final phase of development.
SpaceX will therefore be the only company to receive $2.9 billion in funding to continue
the development of its lunar lander.
The version of the SpaceX spacecraft used in the Artemis program will be called the
Starship HLS (Human Landing System) and will carry two U.S. astronauts from lunar orbit
to the Selenian surface, and then back to orbit, where it will dock at the Lunar Gateway.
Instead, the journey between Earth and lunar orbit will be aboard the Orion spacecraft,
developed over the past several decades by Nasa and now nearing completion.
"This is one more step," commented Kathy Lueders, head of the U.S. space agency's human space
program.
"Along with other exciting steps, it will lead us to a sustainable human landing system."
Lisa Watson-Morgan, program manager of the Human Landing System, on the other hand, said
"By taking a collaborative approach with industry while leveraging Nasa's proven expertise and
technical capabilities, we will again bring American astronauts to the surface of the
Moon, this time to explore new areas for longer periods."
But Nasa's move didn't please everyone.
Jeff Bezos, the owner of Blue Origin, immediately filed a formal complaint against NASA's decision,
accusing it of making a high-risk choice.
The 2.9 billion dollars contract entrusted to Elon Musk's space company has actually
raised antipathy from a bit all the parties involved, with others moving in parallel to
challenge the government's decision.
On paper, it would be natural to think that SpaceX's project could be the most reliable,
if only because the company is certainly at the forefront of the space race, but the competitors
who are trying to keep up with it continue to complain in unison about the same cry of
alarm: Elon Musk risks obtaining a monopoly in the sector, as well as bringing back the
philosophy of "move fast and break things".
How will it end?
We will see, hoping that the dispute does not have the effect of pushing away the date
of the moon landing, scheduled for 2024.
OK guys, we’re done for the week too.
What do you think?
What news struck you the most?