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Watch live: Russian cargo ship set to depart space station after coolant leak
Russian cosmonauts will try to take pictures of the location where coolant leaked out of a Russian Progress cargo ship earlier this month when the supply freighter departs the International Space Station Friday night, as scheduled, to head for a destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.
The Progress MS-21 cargo ship is scheduled to undock from space-facing Poisk module on the Russian segment of the space station at 9:26 p.m. EST Friday (0226 GMT Saturday), keeping a departure date that has been set for months. But the routine undocking will take special significance after the Progress MS-21 cargo ship suddenly leaked coolant last Saturday, Feb. 11, soon after the docking of a fresh Progress resupply spacecraft to a different port on the space station.
The timing of the leak soon after the docking of another Progress supply ship was presumably a coincidence, but it was the second time in less than two months that a Russian spacecraft suddenly lost its coolant fluid while docked at the international research complex. Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 crew ferry ship leaked coolant in December, an incident that Russian space agency officials previously blamed on a likely high-speed impact from a micrometeoroid, or a tiny fragment of rock from deep space.
Russian engineers continue analyzing the cause of the coolant leak on the unpiloted Progress MS-21 cargo ship, and officials have not said whether both leaks were caused by the same failure, or if both spaceships suffered untimely hits by space junk or micrometeoroids. The coolant on both vehicles is used to dissipate heat generated by internal spacecraft electronics, and maintain comfortable operating temperatures for computers, cargo, and people inside.
The 58-foot-long (17.6-meter) Canadian-built robotic arm inspected the damaged thermal control system radiator Progress MS-21 spacecraft’s rear instrumentation compartment earlier this week, according to Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency. Russian space officials decided to move ahead with the planned undocking and re-entry of the Progress MS-21 spacecraft, which is carrying trash and other unnecessary space station equipment for disposal.
Falcon 9 launch from California adds 51 more satellites to Starlink network
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, powered by nine Merlin engines, climbs through the atmosphere after liftoff from California Friday with 51 more Starlink internet satellites. Credit: SpaceX
A Falcon 9 rocket delivered 51 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit Friday after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, adding to SpaceX’s global broadband network that reaches all seven continents.
The Starlink 2-5 mission began with liftoff at 11:12:20 a.m. PST (2:12:20 p.m. EST; 1912:20 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg, a military spaceport about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles. After a smooth 35-minute automated countdown, the 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket fired its nine kerosene-fueled Merlin engines and climbed away from Vandenberg with 1.7 million pounds of thrust.
Soaring into a mostly sunny sky, the Falcon 9 flew on an arc downrange from Vandenberg, heading south-southeast over the Pacific Ocean to target an orbit inclined 70 degrees to the equator.
Two-and-a-half minutes into the mission, the Falcon 9’s first stage booster — tail number B1063 — shut down its nine engines and separated from the upper stage in the upper atmosphere. The upper stage lit its single engine for a six-minute firing to inject the flat-packed Starlink satellites into an elliptical transfer orbit.
The first stage, meanwhile, unfurled four titanium grid fins, or winglets, to help stabilize itself during re-entry back into the atmosphere. A braking burn with three of the booster’s engines slowed the rocket for re-entry back into the atmosphere, then a final burn with just the center engine allowed the 15-story-tall rocket to settle onto SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” parked in the Pacific off the coast of Baja California.
Doomsday Glacier melting in Antarctica means terrible news for global sea level rise
The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is melting in unexpected ways that could lead to its rapid collapse, a new study has revealed.
Mystery object shot down over Yukon may have been harmless 'pico balloon'
The object blasted out of the sky over the Yukon on Feb. 11 may have been an amateur radio pico balloon — specifically, a 33-inch-wide one called K9YO-15.
This is Your Brain on Spaceflight
When you go to space, it’s going to change your brain. Count on it. That’s because space travelers enter microgravity, and that challenges everything the brain knows about gravity. The experience alters their brain functions and “connectivity” between different regions. It’s all part of the ability of our brains and nervous systems to change in response to changes in the environment, or because of traumatic brain stress or injuries.
We’ve long known about physical changes in astronauts who spend long a long time in space. For example, their circulatory systems adapt, their metabolisms shift, and their bodies have to learn to exist in near-weightless conditions. But, the effect on the brain is still a relatively new area of study although we’ve known of some changes from NASA studies. Some of the changes persist for months after people return to Earth. Understanding what they are and how they affect people is important for future space exploration.
That’s why a recent long-term study of cosmonauts by scientists at the University of Antwerp and the University of Liege, in cooperation with the European Space Agency, is so crucial. If people are going to live and work in orbit or travel between planets, their mental capacity has to be top-notch. Raphaël Liégeois, soon to be the third Belgian in space, acknowledges the importance of the research, “to prepare the new generation of astronauts for longer missions.”
In addition to the implications for long-term space habitation, the current work also holds out hope for research into conditions suffered by people on Earth.
Probing the Brain before and After Flight
So, what happens to a brain when it goes into space? Obviously, it’s not isolated—it depends on information from the rest of the body. Suddenly, it’s in a place where all the cues about gravity are wrong. Some signals, like from the inner ear, tell the brain one thing (I’m falling!) while the eyes show that nothing is moving (whoa!). Day-night signals are all wonky, too. An astronaut might feel tired after working on a project and watch the sunset as a way to relax. But, there are 16 sunsets and sunrises per 24 hours at the International Space Station. The brain begins to wonder, when’s bedtime? When’s it time to get up? With mixed signals like that, the neural connections have to rewire themselves. It’s a stressful environment.
James Webb Space Telescope spies baby stars dancing in swirling gas and dust (photos)
The James Webb Space Telescope spied the arms of barred spiral galaxy NGC 1433 teeming with young stars that are affecting the clouds of gas and dust around them.
SpaceX launches 51 Starlink satellites, lands rocket on ship at sea (video)
SpaceX launched 51 of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit on Friday (Feb. 17), acing the first of two orbital missions the company has planned for the day.
When Neutron Stars Collide, the Explosion is Perfectly Spherical
Kilonovae are incredibly powerful explosions. Whereas regular supernovae occur when two white dwarfs collide, or the core of a massive star collapses into a neutron star, kilonovae occur when two neutron stars collide. You would think that neutron star collisions would produce explosions with all sorts of strange shapes depending on the angle and speed of the collisions, but new research shows kilonovae are very spherical, and this has some serious implications for cosmology.
Kilonova explosions were first predicted in 1974, but we’ve only been able to reliably identify them in the last decade. Part of this is due to detailed spectral analysis, and part is due to our ability to detect neutron star mergers through gravitational waves. The combination of gravitational and optical data gives us a much better understanding of these collisions.
Kilonova explosions play a key role in the evolution of the universe, particularly in how heavy elements are created. Neutron stars are a dense mass of nucleons, so their collision creates and scatters most of the elements further along the periodic table than iron. Elements such as gold and platinum. Most of the critical materials for our electronics are created within kilonovae. But the details of this process are not well understood, as seen by this recent study.
The team looked at data from the gravitational wave event GW170817. The event was also seen at optical wavelengths as AT2017gfo. From the gravitational wave data, we know the two neutron stars were orbiting each other about 100 times a second just before they collided, meaning that the explosion should have expanded as a somewhat flattened disk. But when the team measured the motion of the expanding shell, they found a spherical shell of lighter elements. Therefore we know the explosion was spherical, and we know it wasn’t because the neutron stars collided in some unusual spherical way. Something about the explosion makes it spherical, which the team did not expect.
The spherical explosion of a kilonova. Credit: Albert SneppenWe don’t know why kilonova explosions like this are spherical, but there are some ideas. One is that the two neutron stars merge to form a single supermassive neutron star before collapsing to become a black hole. Another is that the formation of a black hole during the collision releases an intense spherical burst of energy at the last moment, which makes the material expand in a more spherical fashion. Understanding the details of this process will be a focus for further research, and will help us understand the process of element creation.
The crescent moon meets up with Mercury tomorrow morning (Feb. 18)
The moon will meet up with the closest planet to the sun Mercury on Saturday, as the two celestial bodies meet in conjunction in the morning sky.
Watch SpaceX's Crew-6 astronaut flight live online
The first long-duration astronaut from the United Arab Emirates joins two NASA astronauts and one Roscosmos cosmonaut for a launch on Feb. 26. Here's how to watch.
Why are there so few 'hot Neptune' exoplanets?
There's apparently a dearth of close-orbiting Neptune-size planets in our galaxy, and two observation techniques are starting to explain why.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, February 17 – 26
Venus and Jupiter put on a dramatic show in twilight, as they creep toward each other for a March 1st conjunction. The crescent Moon passes though, almost kissing Jupiter on Wednesday the 22nd.
The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, February 17 – 26 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Small Asteroid Spotted Hours Before Demise
The swift detection of a small asteroid, and recovery of its surviving fragments, shows we’re getting better at spotting incoming objects.
The post Small Asteroid Spotted Hours Before Demise appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
1st private Launcher space tug fails after launching on SpaceX rocket
Space launch startup Launcher said its first spacecraft, which launched on a SpaceX rocket last month, has failed.
See a bright Venus and Jupiter hold a celestial meeting in the night sky this month
Venus and Jupiter should make for a very striking visual spectacle, no doubt attracting the attention of even those who don't give more than a casual glance at the night sky.
Pre-launch interview with Inmarsat’s Peter Hadinger
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'Hello Tomorrow!' offers a darker look at life on the moon
Apple TV+'s enticing new sci-fi series, "Hello Tomorrow!" delivers a shiny retro-future for space fans who dream of living on the moon.
Artemis 1 moon launch was as loud as 40 million bowls of Rice Krispies: study
A new study has found that the launch of NASA's Artemis 1 mega moon rocket created sound levels far more powerful than predicted.
