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Detecting Gamma Ray Bursts | NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Mission 2024 Update FriendsofNASA.org: After two decades in space, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is performing better than ever thanks to a new operational strategy implemented earlier this year. Since its launch on Nov. 20, 2004, the spacecraft has made great scientific strides in exploring gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe. Gamma-ray bursts occur all over the sky without warning with about one a day detected on average. Astronomers generally divide these bursts into two categories. Long bursts produce an initial pulse of gamma rays for two seconds or more and occur when the cores of massive stars collapse to form black holes. Short bursts last less than two seconds and are caused by the mergers of dense objects like neutron stars. Originally called the Swift Observatory for its ability to quickly point at cosmic events, like gamma-ray bursts, the mission team renamed the spacecraft in 2018 after its first principal investigator Neil Gehrels. Swift uses several methods for orienting and stabilizing itself in space. Sensors that detect the Sun’s location and the direction of Earth’s magnetic field provide the spacecraft with a general sense of its location. Then, a device called a star tracker looks at stars and tells the spacecraft how to maneuver to keep the observatory precisely pointed at the same position during long observations. Swift uses three spinning gyroscopes, or gyros, to carry out those moves along three axes. The gyros were designed to align at right angles to each other, but once in orbit the mission team discovered they were slightly misaligned. The flight operations team developed a strategy where one of the gyros worked to correct the misalignment while the other two pointed Swift to achieve its science goals. The team wanted to be ready in case one of the gyros failed, however, so in 2009 they developed a plan to operate Swift using just two. Any change to the way a telescope operates once in space carries risk, however. Since Swift was working well, the team sat on their plan for 15 years. Then, in July 2023, one of Swift’s gyros began working improperly. Because the telescope could not hold its pointing position accurately, observations got progressively blurrier until the gyro failed entirely in March 2024. The team was able to quickly shift to the new operational strategy, and the spacecraft is now performing better than ever. Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Duration: 2 minutes, 41 seconds Release Date: Nov. 20, 2024 Zahra T. Mitra Nikpay Nikhil Churi, Ph.D, PM, FM, Lean, Six Sigma, Data Analytics Vera Mimsborne Behrokh Beiranvand Carla Antonella Gatti #NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #GammaRayBursts #GRB #GRBExplosions #BlackHoles #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #Physics #NeilGehrelsSwiftObservatory #NeilGehrelsSwiftMission #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Icy Moons of Our Solar System That May Have Oceans Now | NASA/JPL FriendsofNASA.org | Full-size image: https://lnkd.in/ggck7536 Scientists think six icy moons in our solar system may currently host oceans of liquid water beneath their outer surfaces. Arranged around Earth are images from NASA spacecraft of, clockwise from the top, Saturn's moon Enceladus, Jupiter's moons Callisto and Ganymede, Neptune's moon Triton, Saturn's moon Titan, and Jupiter's moon Europa, the target of NASA's Europa Clipper mission. The worlds here are shown to scale. The images of the Saturnian moons were taken by NASA's Cassini mission. The images of the Jovian moons were taken by NASA's Galileo mission. The image of Triton was taken by NASA's Voyager 2 mission. The image of Earth was stitched together using months of satellite-based observations, mostly using data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite. Beyond Earth, Jupiter’s moon Europa is considered one of the solar system’s most promising potentially habitable environments. After an approximately 1.8-billion-mile journey, Europa Clipper will enter orbit around Jupiter in April 2030, where the spacecraft will conduct a detailed survey of Europa to determine whether the icy world could have conditions suitable for life. Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission. It carries a suite of nine instruments along with a gravity experiment that will investigate an ocean beneath Europa’s surface that scientists believe contains twice as much liquid water as Earth’s oceans. Europa Clipper's science instruments include cameras, spectrometers, a magnetometer, and an ice-penetrating radar. These instruments will study Europa’s icy shell, the ocean beneath, and the composition of the gases in the moon’s atmosphere and surface geology, and provide insights into the moon’s potential habitability. The spacecraft also will carry a thermal instrument to pinpoint locations of warmer ice and any possible eruptions of water vapor. Europa Clipper Mission website: https://europa.nasa.gov/ 'Dreaming of Europa' Posters and Wallpaper (phone and desktop) Full-size downloads: https://lnkd.in/gRvWnpq6 Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/University of Arizona/DLR Release Date: Oct. 11, 2024 #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #EuropaClipper #EuropaClipperSpacecraft #Jupiter #Europa #Moon #OceanWorlds #Astrobiology #Biosignatures #Habitability #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JPL #Caltech #UArizona #UnitedStates #DLR #Germany #Infographic #STEM #Education

Detecting Gamma Ray Bursts | NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Mission 2024 Update FriendsofNASA.org: After two decades in space, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is performing better than ever thanks to a new operational strategy implemented earlier this year. Since its launch on Nov. 20, 2004, the spacecraft has made great scientific strides in exploring gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe. Gamma-ray bursts occur all over the sky without warning with about one a day detected on average. Astronomers generally divide these bursts into two categories. Long bursts produce an initial pulse of gamma rays for two seconds or more and occur when the cores of massive stars collapse to form black holes. Short bursts last less than two seconds and are caused by the mergers of dense objects like neutron stars. Originally called the Swift Observatory for its ability to quickly point at cosmic events, like gamma-ray bursts, the mission team renamed the spacecraft in 2018 after its first principal investigator Neil Gehrels. Swift uses several methods for orienting and stabilizing itself in space. Sensors that detect the Sun’s location and the direction of Earth’s magnetic field provide the spacecraft with a general sense of its location. Then, a device called a star tracker looks at stars and tells the spacecraft how to maneuver to keep the observatory precisely pointed at the same position during long observations. Swift uses three spinning gyroscopes, or gyros, to carry out those moves along three axes. The gyros were designed to align at right angles to each other, but once in orbit the mission team discovered they were slightly misaligned. The flight operations team developed a strategy where one of the gyros worked to correct the misalignment while the other two pointed Swift to achieve its science goals. The team wanted to be ready in case one of the gyros failed, however, so in 2009 they developed a plan to operate Swift using just two. Any change to the way a telescope operates once in space carries risk, however. Since Swift was working well, the team sat on their plan for 15 years. Then, in July 2023, one of Swift’s gyros began working improperly. Because the telescope could not hold its pointing position accurately, observations got progressively blurrier until the gyro failed entirely in March 2024. The team was able to quickly shift to the new operational strategy, and the spacecraft is now performing better than ever. Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Duration: 2 minutes, 41 seconds Release Date: Nov. 20, 2024 #NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #GammaRayBursts #GRB #GRBExplosions #BlackHoles #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #Physics #NeilGehrelsSwiftObservatory #NeilGehrelsSwiftMission #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

[NASA's Next-Generation Nancy Roman Space Telescope Aces Crucial 'Spin Test'] NASA recently put a crucial part of the Roman Space Telescope — the Outer Barrel Assembly — through a rigorous "spin test" designed to evaluate its resilience against the intense gravitational forces it will encounter during launch. This test, a standard procedure in aerospace engineering, typically takes place inside a massive centrifuge that mimics the elevated gravity conditions of a space mission. There is much anticipation around this next-generation telescope, which was named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer and "mother of the Hubble Space Telescope." It will have a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble's. The telescope, referred to in short as Roman, will work alongside other space-based observatories in order to directly observe exoplanets and planet-forming disks — which are currently observed indirectly. It will also be used to complete a statistical census of planetary systems in our galaxy, and settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy and infrared astrophysics. The "house" consists of a shell and connecting ring that will encase the telescope, shielding it from stray light while housing devices designed to maintain a consistent temperature. This temperature regulation is crucial because the materials used in the telescope's construction expand and contract with temperature fluctuations. This temperature regulation is crucial because the materials used in the telescope's construction expand and contract with temperature fluctuations. To achieve this stability, NASA scientists constructed the structure from a composite material made of two types of carbon fibers mixed with reinforced plastic, secured with titanium fittings. Additionally, the housing's inner structure features a honeycomb design, which provides a strong, stabilizing framework while reducing both material use and overall weight. When objects or even astronauts are spun at the end of its arm, the centrifuge simulates an increased, artificial feeling of gravity. After successful testing, NASA scientists say they will now be putting it back together and integrating it with Roman's solar panels and Deployable Aperture Cover at the end of this year. The fully assembled components will then be put through thermal vacuum testing next year to ensure they can withstand the harsh environment of space, as well as vibrations testing to ensure they can hold up during launch. After this, they will be integrated into the rest of the observatory, which is set to launch in May 2027. Scientists are already excited about what the telescope might uncover. Source: https://lnkd.in/eNz2-VuK #galaxyaerosgh #space #spaceexploration #SpaceNews

Icy Moons of Our Solar System That May Have Oceans Now | NASA/JPL FriendsofNASA.org | Full-size image: https://lnkd.in/ggck7536 Scientists think six icy moons in our solar system may currently host oceans of liquid water beneath their outer surfaces. Arranged around Earth are images from NASA spacecraft of, clockwise from the top, Saturn's moon Enceladus, Jupiter's moons Callisto and Ganymede, Neptune's moon Triton, Saturn's moon Titan, and Jupiter's moon Europa, the target of NASA's Europa Clipper mission. The worlds here are shown to scale. The images of the Saturnian moons were taken by NASA's Cassini mission. The images of the Jovian moons were taken by NASA's Galileo mission. The image of Triton was taken by NASA's Voyager 2 mission. The image of Earth was stitched together using months of satellite-based observations, mostly using data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite. Beyond Earth, Jupiter’s moon Europa is considered one of the solar system’s most promising potentially habitable environments. After an approximately 1.8-billion-mile journey, Europa Clipper will enter orbit around Jupiter in April 2030, where the spacecraft will conduct a detailed survey of Europa to determine whether the icy world could have conditions suitable for life. Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission. It carries a suite of nine instruments along with a gravity experiment that will investigate an ocean beneath Europa’s surface that scientists believe contains twice as much liquid water as Earth’s oceans. Europa Clipper's science instruments include cameras, spectrometers, a magnetometer, and an ice-penetrating radar. These instruments will study Europa’s icy shell, the ocean beneath, and the composition of the gases in the moon’s atmosphere and surface geology, and provide insights into the moon’s potential habitability. The spacecraft also will carry a thermal instrument to pinpoint locations of warmer ice and any possible eruptions of water vapor. Europa Clipper Mission website: https://europa.nasa.gov/ 'Dreaming of Europa' Posters and Wallpaper (phone and desktop) Full-size downloads: https://lnkd.in/gkMiuWFr Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/University of Arizona/DLR Release Date: Oct. 11, 2024 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Caltech NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Goddard Space Flight Center German Aerospace Center (DLR) Planetary Science Institute The Planetary Society National Science Teaching Association U.S. Department of Education #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #EuropaClipper #EuropaClipperSpacecraft #Jupiter #Europa #Moon #OceanWorlds #Astrobiology #Biosignatures #Habitability #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JPL #Caltech #UArizona #UnitedStates #DLR #Germany #Infographic #STEM #Education

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Repairs ancient Voyager-1 (V-1) probe more than 15 billion miles away. The life of the (V1) space probe, launched 1977, has been saved again. Due to a defective chip, the artificial moon sent unusable data. NASA has solved that problem with a software update. 5 months ago, V1 started spouting gibberish. The data that the American space agency NASA received was no longer usable. The chip in the space probe had broken. But the spacecraft could still receive and execute commands. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 of NASA wrote a software update. That was quite a challenge because Voyager 1's systems are almost fifty years old and therefore have very limited memory. 𝘞𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘺𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘱. V1 is now sending usable data back to Earth. The space organization has once again succeeded in extending the life of the elderly space probe. The V1 space probe is now more than 24 billion Km away from Earth. For comparison, that's almost 80 x up & down from the Earth-Sun. Light and Radio signals from Earth take more than 22.5 hrs to reach the V1. The spacecraft was launched on 05-9-'77. A few days earlier, on Aug.20, V1's brother, V2, took off. The probes are identical to each other. In fact, V1 & 2 should only last 5 years. But almost 47 years later, both space probes are still working, although the artificial satellites are suffering from age-related issues. The original mission of V1 & 2 was to make measurements of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune. In '77 the planets were in exactly the right position so that they could all be visited. That happens once every 176 years. Among other things, new close-up photos of the planets were taken. Images of the rings around Saturn were made. V2 passed by Uranus and discovered that it had not 9, but 11 rings. 12 years after launch, in '89, V2 reached Neptune. After V2 photographed the planet, its cameras were turned off to save power. V1 took 60 more photos of the solar system in '90. The V1 was then at a distance of 6.4 billion Km from Earth. Both probes are now far outside our solar system. V1 left our solar system in Aug-2012 & V2 did the same in Nov-2018, more than 40 years after its launch. Both V1 & V2 are now floating further. In recent years, NASA has turned off heating elements and other non-essential components to stretch remaining energy supplies as long as possible. V1 & 2 are expected to lose communication with Earth sometime between 2025 & 2030. They will continue to float through the endless universe. Both V1+2 carry a Golden-Record with information about Earth in case the probes are ever found by extraterrestrial life. It contains 115 pictures, greetings in 55 languages and earthly sounds, such as the sounds of wind, rain and a human heartbeat, and it contains music, by; Beethoven, Bach & Chuck Berry.

This cancellation was entirely predictable for anyone who spent some time on the inside. I can't adequately describe the mixture of sadness, frustration, bitterness, and anger I feel about this tremendous waste of investment and many people's time and energy. I see most commenters laying blame on the prime contractor, MAXAR, and NASA certainly throws MAXAR under the bus in the press release. But this is a case where we have to look carefully and honestly at the role that NASA played, and the fundamental problem with NASA's approach to the "Public/Private Partnership" method of accomplishing space missions. A couple key points I'd like to make: 1) The fundamental issue with the NASA's Public/Private Partnership approach is that once the contract is signed, NASA forgets that it's a "partnership" and it reverts to its typical role as the "Customer", demanding massive scope changes to minimize program technical risk while expecting the commercial "partner" to foot the bill for all of the changes. I was involved in an experiment that was supposed to fly on this mission, called MakerSat (the gold rectangular box shown in the figure in the article). When the "partnership" contract was signed, this was funded as a low-cost "Class D" experiment (COTS parts, just enough redundancy and QA to have a good chance of working without breaking the bank). Over time, the NASA 'customer' imposed dramatic changes in requirements - radiation tolerance, triple redundancy, etc., etc. - none of which was in the original contract, none of which was really needed, and all of which drove cost increases by many, many $M, – and NASA expected my small business to pay for all of the scope increase. Needless to say, we were relieved (and heartbroken) when this experiment was de-scoped from the mission. 2)The overall thesis of the mission that NASA chose to pursue was based upon a dead-end business case: Let's spend billions on figuring out how to service large, old, expensive satellites that were never designed to be serviced. It may have seemed like a good idea 15 years ago, but the industry has changed dramatically in the time that the program has dragged out. Yes, there is something of a business to be made in servicing existing satellites, as Space Logistics is proving, but it's not a growth market that scales sufficiently to justify massive continuing co-investment by a commercial partner to accommodate NASA's scope creep.

Excellent discussion thread here. Excellent post for that matter.

Quest for Life in Jupiter's Icy Moon: NASA's Europa Clipper Prepares for Launch   The upcoming Europa Clipper mission, with a planned launch of October 6, 2024, represents the culmination of decades of scientific interest and exploration of Jupiter's icy moon. Europa first captured researchers' attention during the Voyager and Galileo missions, which revealed intriguing features suggesting the presence of a subsurface ocean.   Scientists noticed that Europa's surface patterns didn't match predictions for a completely frozen world. Instead, they indicated the possibility of a mobile crust, potentially floating on a liquid layer. This hypothesis was further supported by studies of tidal heating, suggesting Europa might harbor a global subsurface ocean.   The Galileo mission, launched in 1989, provided unprecedented close-up observations of Europa. One of Galileo's most significant findings was the detection of a magnetic field induced by Jupiter's own field, strongly implying the presence of a conductive fluid layer – most likely a salty ocean – beneath Europa's icy shell.   The Europa Clipper will be NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's largest spacecraft ever sent to another planetary system, primarily due to its expansive solar panel array. Spanning 30 m (100 feet) when the solar panels are deployed. The main body of the spacecraft is 5m (16 feet) tall without the solar panels, with a ‘dry mass’  (that is, its mass not including fuel) of 3,241 kg (7,145 pounds). To shield its sensitive electronics from Jupiter's intense radiation, the Clipper employs an armored "vault" with 0.3-inch-thick aluminum walls, a design similar to that used on NASA's Juno spacecraft. The Juno spacecraft, entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016 and its original mission was extended to 2025 with a potential data collection from Europa. https://lnkd.in/deuYn39x   Europa Clipper mission will measure Europa's tidal flexing, which could definitively prove the existence of a subsurface ocean. It will also analyze the composition of the reddish surface material, potentially providing insights into the ocean's chemistry and any cycling of materials between the surface and interior. As you can imagine it will have quite a number of scientific instruments, which are listed in the reference sources.   Europa Clipper is scheduled to reach Jupiter in April 2030, after which it will spend a year adjusting its orbit before beginning its scientific observations. This mission will provide unprecedented insights into Europa's structure and potential for hosting life. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona  -   A small region of the thin, disrupted, ice crust of Jupiter's moon Europa showing the interplay of surface colour with ice structures.   #SpaceExploration #Astrobiology #PlanetaryScience #ExtraterrestrialLife

Space Station Astronaut Starts Mixing Cement for Future Moon Base As countries continue cementing plans for their lunar bases, one International Space Station astronaut is busy quite literally mixing the stuff. In a press release, NASA said that its astronaut and flight engineer Matthew Dominick has begun studying how microgravity affects cement mixed in space by whipping up his own small batch on board the space station. The goal is to build a Moon base using lunar soil — important groundwork for our future efforts to establish a more permanent presence on the Moon. Space Fridge As part of the agency's Material Science on the Solidification of Concrete Hardening investigation, Dominick mixed together a simulated version of lunar soil with some undisclosed "other materials" and a liquid cement solution inside two bags sandwiching another containing hot water. The flight engineer then put the mixed-up concoctions in the Freezer/Refrigerator/Incubator Device for Galley and Experimentation (FRIGE), the space station's futuristic experiment-conditioning refrigerator, to incubate the solutions overnight. Now, they're going to settle for a few more weeks at "ambient temperatures" and then return to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon capsule for analysis. Mixing concrete, which requires cement, is an energy-intensive process that can release plenty of carbon dioxide. The gas can make the material brittle and full of air bubbles when mixed incorrectly. Scientists are hoping to get a better idea of how microgravity could affect the situation. Rather than spend extra money lugging fully-built dwellings into space, NASA is preparing to have buildings assembled in space by astronauts. While this isn't the first time cement has been mixed in space or on the ISS, this experiment's inclusion of lunar soil could bring humans one step closer to building a home away from home hundreds of thousands of miles away.