Avaruus

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Webb’s first images of Mars, captured by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), show a region of the planet’s eastern hemisphere at two different wavelengths, or colors of infrared light. This image shows a surface reference map from NASA and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on the left, with the two Webb NIRCam instrument field of views overlaid. The near-infrared images from Webb are on shown on the right.

Mars Is Mighty in First Webb Observations of Red Planet – James Webb Space Telescope

blogs.nasa.gov

The NIRCam longer-wavelength (4.3 microns) image [lower right] shows thermal emission – light given off by the planet as it loses heat. The brightness of 4.3-micron light is related to the temperature of the surface and the atmosphere. The brightest region on the planet is where the Sun is nearly overhead, because it is generally warmest. The brightness decreases toward the polar regions, which receive less sunlight, and less light is emitted from the cooler northern hemisphere, which is experiencing winter at this time of year.

However, temperature is not the only factor affecting the amount of 4.3-micron light reaching Webb with this filter. As light emitted by the planet passes through Mars’ atmosphere, some gets absorbed by carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules. The Hellas Basin – which is the largest well-preserved impact structure on Mars, spanning more than 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) – appears darker than the surroundings because of this effect.

“This is actually not a thermal effect at Hellas,” explained the principal investigator, Geronimo Villanueva of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, who designed these Webb observations. “The Hellas Basin is a lower altitude, and thus experiences higher air pressure. That higher pressure leads to a suppression of the thermal emission at this particular wavelength range [4.1-4.4 microns] due to an effect called pressure broadening. It will be very interesting to tease apart these competing effects in these data.”

 

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Rocket-launching firm ArianeGroup plans to bring astronauts to space aboard 'Susie.'

The European rocket-launching giant announced a new upper stage designed to carry out crewed or uncrewed missions on Arianespace rockets in Earth orbit or even to the moon.

The upper stage is called Susie (Smart Upper Stage for Innovative Exploration) and will be mounted on the forthcoming Ariane 64 rocket, which the company says will herald fully reusable rockets in the coming years.

Reusable 'Susie' spacecraft could launch future European deep-space missions

ArianeGroup's 'Susie' is a fully reusable craft designed to fit future rockets, one of which is being made right now for Arianespace.

www.space.com

 

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Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) images objects in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns, so Neptune does not appear blue to Webb. In fact, the methane gas so strongly absorbs red and infrared light that the planet is quite dark at these near-infrared wavelengths, except where high-altitude clouds are present. Such methane-ice clouds are prominent as bright streaks and spots, which reflect sunlight before it is absorbed by methane gas. Images from other observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory, have recorded these rapidly evolving cloud features over the years.

More subtly, a thin line of brightness circling the planet’s equator could be a visual signature of global atmospheric circulation that powers Neptune’s winds and storms. The atmosphere descends and warms at the equator, and thus glows at infrared wavelengths more than the surrounding, cooler gases.

Neptune’s 164-year orbit means its northern pole, at the top of this image, is just out of view for astronomers, but the Webb images hint at an intriguing brightness in that area. A previously-known vortex at the southern pole is evident in Webb’s view, but for the first time Webb has revealed a continuous band of high-latitude clouds surrounding it.

Webb also captured seven of Neptune’s 14 known moons. Dominating this Webb portrait of Neptune is a very bright point of light sporting the signature diffraction spikes seen in many of Webb’s images, but this is not a star. Rather, this is Neptune’s large and unusual moon, Triton.

Covered in a frozen sheen of condensed nitrogen, Triton reflects an average of 70 percent of the sunlight that hits it. It far outshines Neptune in this image because the planet’s atmosphere is darkened by methane absorption at these near-infrared wavelengths. Triton orbits Neptune in an unusual backward (retrograde) orbit, leading astronomers to speculate that this moon was originally a Kuiper belt object that was gravitationally captured by Neptune. Additional Webb studies of both Triton and Neptune are planned in the coming year.

New Webb Image Captures Clearest View of Neptune’s Rings in Decades

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows off its capabilities closer to home with its first image of Neptune.

www.nasa.gov

 

[vehamala]

Nasa yrittää temppua, joita on tähän mennessä nähty vain tieteiselokuvissa

Testillä pyritään selvittämään, voitaisiinko maata potentiaalisesti uhkaavan asteroidin kurssia muuttaa ihmisen toimesta.

www.is.fi

"Nasan mukaan viime vuoden marraskuussa Kaliforniasta lähtenyt miehittämätön alus lähestyy kohdettaan hyvää vauhtia. Törmäyksen on tarkoitus tapahtua lauantain vastaisena yönä hieman kello kahden jälkeen Suomen aikaa. Aluksen on määrä törmätä läpimitaltaan 160 metrin kokoiseen asteroidiin 23 000 kilometrin tuntinopeudella. Avaruusalus itse on vain henkilöauton kokoinen.... "
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Tuollaisessa yrityksessä on kyse kohteen massasta ja etäisyydestä Maahan törmäyshetkellä. Tarpeeksi pieni ja tarpeeksi kaukana, niin tod näk on riittävä vaikutus rataan. Jos siis olisi todellisesta uhasta kysymys.

 

[ctg]

Tuollaisessa yrityksessä on kyse kohteen massasta ja etäisyydestä Maahan törmäyshetkellä.

Webb yrittää tallentaa törmäyksen mutta ei ole mitään varmuutta siitä.

 

[YliKoo]

Poks

 

[ctg]

Does the existence of life on Earth tell us anything about the probability of abiogenesis - the origin of life from inorganic substances - arising elsewhere? That's a question that has confounded scientists, and anyone else inclined to ponder it, for some time.

A widely accepted argument from Australian-born astrophysicist Brandon Carter argues that the selection effect of our own existence puts constraints on our observation. Since we had to find ourselves on a planet where abiogenesis occurred, then nothing can be inferred about the probability of life elsewhere based on this knowledge alone.

At best, he argued, the knowledge of life on Earth is of neutral value. Another way of looking at it is that Earth can't be considered a typical Earth-like planet because it hasn't been selected at random from the set of all Earth-like planets.

However, a new paper by Daniel Whitmire, a retired astrophysicist who currently teaches mathematics at the U of A, is arguing that Carter used faulty logic. Though Carter's theory has become widely accepted, Whitmire argues that it suffers from what's known as "The Old Evidence Problem" in Bayesian Confirmation Theory, which is used to update a theory or hypothesis in light of new evidence.

After giving a few examples of how this formula is employed to calculate probabilities and what role old evidence plays, Whitmire turns to what he calls the conception analogy.

As he explains, "One could argue, like Carter, that I exist regardless of whether my conception was hard or easy, and so nothing can be inferred about whether my conception was hard or easy from my existence alone."

In this analogy, "hard" means contraception was used. "Easy" means no contraception was used. In each case, Whitmire assigns values to these propositions.

Whitmire continues, "However, my existence is old evidence and must be treated as such. When this is done the conclusion is that it is much more probable that my conception was easy. In the abiogenesis case of interest, it's the same thing. The existence of life on Earth is old evidence and just like in the conception analogy the probability that abiogenesis is easy is much more probable."

In other words, the evidence of life on Earth is not of neutral value in making the case for life on similar planets. As such, our life suggests that life is more likely to emerge on other Earth-like planets - maybe even on the recent "super-Earth" type planet, LP 890-9b, discovered 100 light years away.

New theory concludes that the origin of life on Earth-like planets is likely

Fayetteville AK (SPX) Sep 27, 2022 - Does the existence of life on Earth tell us anything about the probability of abiogenesis - the origin of life from inorganic substances - arising elsewhere? That's a question that has confounded sc

www.spacedaily.com

 

[StepanRudanskij]

20.25 tietokoneaikaa näin valopallon stadin taivaalla. Istun edelleen havaintopaikassa. Pystyn mittaamaan näkemäni lentoradan segmentin yläpisteen ja alapisteen kompassisuunnan ja pisteiden korkeudet asteina maatasosta. Jes.

 

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A number of emerging European commercial rocket companies are vying to reach orbit first, with debut launches expected in the second half of 2023.

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), headquartered in Bavaria, Germany, is targeting the end of 2023 for the first launch of its RFA One rocket, RFA spokesperson Jonas Kellner told Space.com at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris in September.

"The next steps we are preparing right now are the integrated system tests where we take the already flight-qualified second stage, including all the pressure systems and bionics and everything, and we integrate it with a Helix engine for the full flight duration of a second stage," Kellner said. "After that, we'll do the same with the first stage early next year, in Q1, Q2, and then it's all ready for the end of 2023."

European spaceflight companies are racing to be the first to reach orbit

Rocket Factory Augsburg, Skyrora and Isar Aerospace are among the firms aiming for orbit next year.

www.space.com

One of RFA's considerations will be the opportunity to be the first commercial European spaceflight company to launch to and reach orbit.

In its efforts toward reaching this goal and the chance to claim a portion of a market for light launch services in Europe, however, RFA faces a field of rivals. Competitors in Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain are also working toward their first launches and proving their launch capability and reliability.

One such company, Scotland-based Skyrora, is also planning its first launch from SaxaVord. Derek Harris, Skyrora's business operations manager, told Space.com that the company is 3D-printing and testing engines for its Skyrora XL orbital rocket, which is designed to launch up to 695 pounds (315 kg) to sun-synchronous orbit.

"We're pushing ahead for Q3 [2023], to try to get it up there and try to be the first," Harris said. "From a technical point of view, we're very confident, very positive. There's lots of hard work going on. It's a big team approach. Hopefully, this time next year, we'll be celebrating the successful launch of the Skyrora XL launch vehicle."

Skyrora also has staff in Ukraine, the home country of Skyrora founder Volodymyr Levykin and a nation with a long history in rocketry.

Back in Germany, Munich-based Isar Aerospace is also in the race to reach orbit. "We are working with full force towards the maiden flight of our launch vehicle Spectrum, planned for 2023," Isar Aerospace spokesperson Tina Schmitt told Space.com via email. "Seeing first flight hardware in production now underlines our progress.

"Our energy is focused on validating system designs through testing and, where necessary, doing final design tweaks," Schmitt added. "Currently we are testing our completely in-house developed engine design at our own testing site in Kiruna, Sweden."

The two-stage Spectrum rocket, designed to launch 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg) to low Earth orbit, will lift off from Andøya Space Center in northern Norway.

Each company is already forging agreements and securing launch contracts, both from national space entities seeking to boost activity in the sector and private companies looking for access to space.

 

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Among the questions the new Hubble study will answer is the cost of such a mission, and its technical feasibility. The principal goal is to boost Hubble's altitude from its current level of 535 km to 600 km, the same altitude it was at when first launched in 1990. Since the fifth and final servicing mission in 2009, Hubble has slowly been losing altitude, and this process is expected to accelerate as the telescope gets lower.

The telescope's project manager, Patrick Crouse, said during a teleconference with reporters that in absence of a re-boost mission, NASA might have to launch a propulsion module to the telescope by the end of the 2020s. This would ensure Hubble makes a controlled reentry into Earth's atmosphere, and lands in the Pacific Ocean. A Dragon mission to boost Hubble's altitude could add 15 or even 20 years of orbital lifetime, Crouse said.

The study will also look at potential servicing options, although nothing like the detailed instrument replacements and major upgrades performed during Hubble servicing missions with NASA's space shuttle. Rather, engineers from NASA and SpaceX will assess the feasibility of replacing the gyroscopes that control the pointing of the telescope. Only three of the spacecraft's six gyroscopes remain in working order.

None of the officials on Thursday's teleconference spoke specifically about costs. No funds will change hands for the study, but if there is a viable path forward for a Crew Dragon mission to dock with Hubble and boost the instrument, that will have to be worked out. It seems likely that Isaacman will contribute a significant portion of the mission's cost, as he has done with Inspiration4 and the initial Polaris Dawn mission. But if NASA wanted one or more of its astronauts to fly alongside Isaacman, it seems probable that the agency would contribute a portion of the funding.

NASA and SpaceX are studying a Hubble telescope boost, adding 15 to 20 years of life

"It's doing great science as we speak."

arstechnica.com

 

[ctg]

Liquid water may be lurking beneath the southern polar ice cap on Mars, according to fresh evidence reported in Nature Astronomy.

Dark streaks and other surface patterns on Martian slopes hint that the unforgiving dust world may have once supported lakes and oceans billions of years ago. The loss of its atmosphere is believed to have caused that surface liquid to be stripped away, leaving Mars dry and barren. That said, scientists believe there is still water on Mars albeit locked up in icy deposits, frozen within regions that are cold and dry.

Now tantalizing data collected by past and present orbiting spacecraft suggests there may still be liquid water flowing on the Red Planet. An international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge studied detailed maps of the Martian southern polar ice cap produced by the laser altimeter instrument on the now-defunct NASA's Mars Global Surveyor satellite, according to a paper published on Thursday.

They found an anomaly on the surface of the ice cap, where the ice has formed a "raised bench" and a nearby "topographic depression", 10-15 kilometre-long features that suggest liquid water flowing underneath. Next, they ran a computer model simulating surface features for ice sheets with water flowing below and found it produced similar structures found in the anomaly. The team believes Mars must still be geothermically active to produce the heat required to melt the ice cap.

Previous radar measurements from NASA's Mars Express orbiter highlighted a particular bright spot, where an area beneath a chunk of ice in the same region was more reflective. Some astronomers thought the high reflectivity was a sign there was liquid water beneath the ice cap. Others, however, believed the same signal could be produced by other effects, such as conductive ice or minerals in the crust.

Scientists present fresh evidence of liquid water on Mars

Pack your bags, we're off to huddle on some alien ice caps. It beats Earth

www.theregister.com

 

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The first pictures from Juno's flyby of Europa on Sept 29th have arrived on Earth, and they are beautiful. At closest approach, the spacecraft was only 219 miles (352 km) above the ocean moon's icy crust, revealing cryovolcanic ridges, strangely curvaceous fractures, and frozen "rafts."

spaceweather.com

 

[FinnNSF]

Suomalainen yritys, useampi kymmenen sateliittia kiertoradalla. Ukrainahan on siis käytännössä ostanut kaiken käyttöajan yhdeltä sateliitilta, eikä varsinaisesti omista sateliittia. Luonnollisesti Iceye niitä operoi, asiakkaat (Ukraina tässä tapauksessa) määrittelee mitä ja miten tutkataan/kuvataan. Päälle sitten saivat vielä Iceyen muidenkin sateliittien keräämän datan Ukrainasta ylilentojen aikana jos oikein ymmärsin.

Vähän kiertoradasta riippuen veikkaisin että todellisuudessa useampi sateliitti tuota työtä tekee Ukrainalle ja kokonaisuutena sitten vastaa ympärivuorokautista käyttöastetta yhdelle sateliitille. Ylilennon aikana yksi sateliitti saattaa kerätä dataa Ukrainaille ja sen jälkee jenkeillä hurrikaanituhoista. Iceye ei käsittäkseni ole laukaissut yhtään sateliittia niin korkealle kiertoradalle, että pystyisivät kuvantamaan jatkuvasti yhdellä sateliitilla vain yhtä aluetta, eli kiertorata olisi nopeuden puolesta synkassa maan pyörimisnopeuden kanssa. Toki omistamalla käyttöajan tuolle yhdelle dedikoidulle sateliitille voivat sitten kuvailla vaikka ryssien maita ja varmistaa sen, että Ukrainan yli lentäessä saadaan aina dataa yhdeltä sateliitilta, muista Iceyen asiakastarpeista huolimatta.

Vähän hassulta tuntuisi jos Suomi ei saisi sormia napsauttamalla kapasiteettia käyttöönsä, jos ryssä esimerkiksi tänne hyökkäisi. Iceye:n pääkonttori Espoossa, joten on vähän heidänkin oman edun mukaista, ettei ryssä tule pääsemään rajan yli.

Kaikki Iceeyen satelliitit ovat suht matalalla aurinkosynkroonisella kiertoradalla.

Ja varmasti valtiolla/PVllä on tiiviit suhteet satelliittidataan koska suomalaista rojua ei voi lennättää kiertoradalle ilman että valtio antaa siihen luvan. Kaikki suomalainen avaruudessa lentävä roju on Suomen valtion vastuulla jos se esim aiheuttaa tavalla tai toisella vahinkoa jollekin toiselle taholle (Outer Space Treaty).

https://spacefinland.fi/documents/60305973/77113617/Avaruusesineiden+rekisteri_100322.pdf

 

[tulikomento]

Ursan video lokakuun 2022 tähtitaivaasta.

 

[ctg]

AR3112 has more than a dozen dark cores scattered across 130,000 km of solar terrain, making it an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. Don't have a solar filter? Use the projection method, instead.​

The image above is a magnetic map of the sun's surface with a white light photo of AR3112 inset. It shows what makes this sunspot group so dangerous. Positive and negative magnetic polarities are bumping together--an explosive mixture that could produce an X-class solar flare.​

The emergence of AR3112 already fully formed and unstable could herald two weeks of high solar activity as the sunspot group transits the solar disk, facing Earth the whole time.

spaceweather.com

 

[ctg]

The solar flare, a powerful X1 (the mildest form of the strongest category of flares) erupted from the sun on Sunday at 3:53 p.m. EDT (1953 GMT) and peaked about 30 minutes later. Since solar flares travel at the speed of light, the burst of electromagnetic radiation caused an immediate radio blackout up to an hour long on the sun-facing side of the planet. The affected region included the whole of the U.S., according to the SpaceWeatherWatch (opens in new tab).

The radio blackout, classed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a strong R3 category, likely affected rescue workers using 25 MHz radios to communicate in areas where the rampage of Hurricane Ian knocked down cell phone networks. The disruption in the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere caused by the flare may also have made GPS positioning unavailable or less accurate, space weather physicist Tamitha Skov said on Twitter (opens in new tab).

Major solar flare disrupts Hurricane Ian disaster response

And there may be more to come because a large active sunspot has just come into Earth's view.

www.space.com

A somewhat milder flare followed a few hours later, causing another radio blackout over the western Pacific and Australia, according to SpaceWeatherWatch (opens in new tab).

Both flares originated from sunspot (a darkened area of intense magnetic activity on the sun's surface) called AR3110 in the northwestern part of the sun's visible disk and each was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), which is a burst of magnetized particles from the sun's upper atmosphere, the corona. The two plasma clouds may now be heading to Earth, following a couple of earlier CMEs that exploded from the sun on Saturday (Oct. 1).

 

[tulikomento]

NASAn miehitetty SpaceX Crew-5 -lento lähtee kohti kansainvälistä avaruusasemaa aivan näillä näppylöillä.

 

[ctg]

NASA’s Juno Gets Highest-Resolution Close-Up of Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Observations from the spacecraft’s pass of the moon provided the first close-up in over two decades of this ocean world, resulting in remarkable imagery and unique science.

www.nasa.gov

This image covers 150 km by 200 km of Europa’s surface, revealing a region crisscrossed with a network of fine grooves and double ridges. Researchers think that dark stains in this terrain may linked to something erupting onto the surface from below. Of particular interest is the feature that looks a bit like a musical quarter note.​

Since Voyager 2 flew past the moon in 1979, evidence has mounted that Europa's icy crust overlies an enormous saltwater ocean--twice the volume of Earth's ocean's combined. Because of the ocean's chemistry and tidal heating, astrobiologists consider it to be one of the best places in the Solar System to look for extraterrestial life. Whatever's down there may be percolating to the top.​

Remarkably, Juno took the picture at night. Illumination in the photo comes from "Jupitershine" (sunlight reflected from Jupiter's cloudtops). Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) – a star camera used to orient the spacecraft – is specifically designed for such low-light conditions, so mission controllers commanded it to take the shot. The resulting image is as clear as day, with a resolution that ranges from 256 to 340 meters per pixel.​

spaceweather.com

 

[ctg]

AR3112 nähtynä Romaniasta. Se on tällä hetkellä yli 300 000 km halkasijaltaan.

 

[ctg]

Stephen's Quintet

The CartWheel Galaxy

The Cosmic Cliffs

Iconic James Webb Space Telescope images get X-ray vision boost

The Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals new features in iconic images.

www.space.com