Year: 2023

The grand Valles Marineris of Mars

11:30 am

The grand canyon of Mars
Click for original image.

Time for another cool image of the grand canyon of Mars, Valles Marineris. The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on May 24, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a small section of the floor of this gigantic canyon, where orbital data has detected light-toned materials. From the caption:

Many of the Valles Marineris canyons, called chasmata, have kilometer-high, light-toned layered mounds made up of sulfate materials. Ius Chasma, near the western end of Valles Marineris, is an exception.

The light-toned deposits here are thinner and occur along both the floor and walls, as we see in this HiRISE image. Additionally, the sulfates are mixed with other minerals like clays and hydrated silica. Scientists are trying to use the combination of mineralogy, morphology, and stratigraphy to understand how the deposits formed in Ius Chasma and why they differ from those found elsewhere in Valles Marineris.

The picture however gives no sense of the monumental terrain that surrounds it.
» Read more

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ESA commits to a zero space junk policy

9:18 am

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced yesterday that it is now commited to a zero space junk policy, and has established its own standards for the end-of-life disposal of all orbiting spacecraft, to be included during the design and construction.

The policy also requires collision avoidance systems as well as engineering designed to reduce light pollution that harms ground-based astronomy.

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Three European nations sign deal with Arianegroup for use of Ariane-6

9:12 am

In a separate deal outside of the European Space Agency, Germany, France, and Italy have signed a deal with the private rocket company Arianegroup to use its still unlaunched Ariane-6, assuming the company can reduce costs.

The agreement will provide €340 million ($365 million) of financing a year for Arianespace’s Ariane 6 rocket in exchange for a commitment to an 11% cut in costs. The rocket will also be awarded at least four missions from public institutions a year, while the lighter Vega C launcher will get at least three.

Essentially the deal is intended to keep Ariane-6 afloat, as its high cost has made it difficult to attract customers. At the same time, the contract demands those costs be reduced, and adds pressure to that demand by noting that future and additional launches will be awarded on a purely competitive bidding process. It appears these three countries will open bidding not only to the new rocket startups being developed in Europe, but American rocket companies as well.

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Japan delays asteroid mission due to its rocket problems

9:02 am

Japan’s space agency JAXA has decided to delay its Destiny+ mission to the asteroid Phaethon until 2025 due to the continuing problems getting its Epsilon-S rocket off the ground.

Epsilon-S is intended as an upgrade to Japan’s Epsilon rocket, but its development has been plagued by failures. In October ’22 there was a launch failure of Epsilon, and in July ’23 the second-stage solid-fueled motor of Epsilon-S exploded during a test.

Phaethon is the parent asteroid of the Geminid meteor shower that occurs each year in December. According to the original plan Destiny+ would have done its fly-by of the asteroid in 2029. No new arrival date has been announced.

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Two Russian satellites — one thought defunct — have been tracked in rendezvous maneuvers

8:51 am

The American commercial satellite tracking company has over the past two years identified two Russian satellites — one thought defunct — that have rendezvoused and done proximity maneuvers.

Resurs-P3 — a Russian Earth observation satellite — performed a large maneuver in November 2022 after years of inactivity, and approached the Russian military satellite Cosmos-2562, according to a LeoLabs briefing.

The maneuver by Resurs-P3 “placed it in an entirely new orbit shared by Russian assets with non-publicly disclosed payloads,” said the briefing. “Based on the approaches observed by LeoLabs, it’s highly likely that Cosmos-2562 has an electro-optical payload and has collected high-resolution imagery of Resurs-P3.”

This new data further documents the long-term classified Russian effort to develop such satellite maneuvering capability, both to track and inspect its own satellites as well as do the same to the satellites of others. The unstated capability also includes the ability to destroy a satellite also, once rendezvous is achieved.

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Astra secures temporary investment funding to keep it afloat

8:44 am

Astra announced yesterday that it has secured temporary funding from private sources to cover its shortfall of cash and allow it to secure additional funds to keep it alive. From the second link:

In a statement issued after the close of trading, Astra said that JMCM Holdings LLC and Sherpa Venture Funds II, LLP, which it described as affiliates of two early investors in Astra, agreed to provide $13.4 million in “initial financing” as part of a non-binding term sheet Astra announced Oct. 23 that sought to raise $15 million to $25 million.

As part of the agreement, the investors will purchase the $8 million loan that Astra had from an unnamed institutional investor from August. Astra had defaulted on the terms of the loan agreement last week when its cash reserves dropped below $10.5 million, triggering a $3.1 million payment at a higher interest rate. The investors will also provide a $3.05 million bridge loan due Nov. 17, and purchase warrants for Astra stock.

The company is not out of the woods quite yet. It needs to obtain new investment capital by November 17th, when that bridge loan comes due.

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Sing with me!

6:01 pm

An evening pause: Reggie, the performer, simply sets up on the street and asks passersby to sing with him. This video includes a selection of some singers. From the youtube website:

As a musician, I’m all about creating musical experiences that have people feeling happy and free, and that’s why the “Sing With Me for Free” series exists. Since 2018, I have asked thousands of random people to sing with me on camera. A lot of people have said no, some have said no initially but changed their minds to yes, and some have said yes right away. I ask these people to sing with one purpose: to create a way for them to experience a sense of happiness and freedom they did not feel before. And much of the time, this actually works (and that makes ME happy).

Hat tip Diane Zimmerman

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Martian lava that buried a crater

5:21 pm

Martian lava flow through crater
Click for original image.

Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on June 24, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a lava flow that cut through an older 2-mile-wide crater, mostly burying it as it burst through the crater’s southwest and northeast rims. From the caption:

A lava channel extends from the feature and continues 60 kilometers to the northeast, growing deeper along its path. The circular formation is likely an eroded impact crater whose walls have been breached by the lava as it surrounded the rim and then infilled the crater. Alternatively, it could represent the location of a volcanic vent that sourced some of the lavas that formed the channel.

» Read more

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November 6, 2023 Quick space links

3:55 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

 

 

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Middle East Arabs know Hamas is wrong and Israel is right, even if America’s stupid college students don’t

12:28 pm

Hamas vs Israel
Even the Arabs recognize these facts.
Courtesy of Doug Ross.

The past week has been very revealing, as hundreds, even thousands of pro-Hamas demonstrators have swarmed the streets of New York, Washington, London, with some protesters in Washington actually attempting to break into the White House while others vandalized statues and monuments.

These new-Nazis demanded Israel stop fighting Hamas and let it get away with its savage slaying of more than 1,400 citizens, including the torture and rape of women and children. To these fools, Hamas is heroic for killing Jews, and must be allowed free rein to kill them all so that Hamas can rule Israel “from the river to the sea.”

The great irony here is that while these protesters see nothing wrong with mass murder by Hamas, the leaders of other Arab countries have a decidedly different opinion. On October 31, 2023, only days after Israel’s ground attack began, a major official in the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made it clear that not only does that country support the Abraham Accords, its peace treaty with Israel, he also unequivocally condemned Hamas’ brutality.
» Read more

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Galaxies within galaxies within galaxies

9:54 am

Galaxies within galaxies
Click for original image.

Time another cool galaxy image! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, sharpened, and annotated to post here, was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a survey project of galaxies where past supernovae had occurred. From the caption:

The location of this faded supernova was observed as part of a study of multiple hydrogen-rich supernovae, also known as type II supernovae, in order to better understand the environments in which certain types of supernovae take place.

Though the picture’s resolution was reduced to post here, I have also included insets at the full released resolution of three of background galaxies, one of which (on the uppermost right) appears to have a second smaller galaxy either associated with it or is another background galaxy even farther away. Such background galaxies are always seen Hubble images, which starkly tell us that the universe is far vaster than we can imaging, with more stars than we can conceive.

The galaxy featured here is interesting in its own right. Though it appears to be a spiral galaxy, its arms are very indistinct, suggesting that is sits between that of an elliptical galaxy (no arms, just a cloud of stars) and a spiral (with well-defined arms).

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Commercial hi-res Earth imaging satellite constellations limiting Gaza imagery to the public

9:16 am

Once Israel’s ground campaign into Gaza started the new American private commercial hi-res Earth imaging satellite constellation companies began restricting access to their imagery.

Planet, a San Francisco-based company launched in 2010 by former NASA scientists, has in recent days heavily restricted and obscured parts of images over the Gaza Strip for many users, including news organizations. Last week, some images of Gaza were removed from Planet’s web application for downloading imagery, and some have been distributed to interested media outlets through a Google Drive folder. The satellite company told some subscribers that during active conflicts, it may modify pictures published to the archive.

…Some commercial satellite companies appear to be releasing their detailed images — but with a time delay. Planet and a competitor, Maxar Technologies, have released images shared with the New York Times, Washington Post, and other news outlets on a significant time delay. Starting on Nov. 3, both papers shared exclusive images taken by Planet on Nov. 1. Airbus, another major commercial satellite image provider, has not shared images of Gaza.

It appears the companies have done so for two reasons: First, it appears these companies have actually decided they do not wish to reveal any information that might hurt Israel’s ground campaign. This approach differs significantly from the leftist mainstream American press, which either doesn’t care what harm it does, or is eager to sabotage Israel’s effort.

Second, it appears the companies have been reminded of a 1997 federal law, called the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, that forbids the release of “imagery of Israel that’s at a higher resolution than what’s distributed by non-US companies.”

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