Author: Robert Zimmerman

French official lauds Ariane 6 launch; demands Europe have its own launch capability

10:08 am

Philippe Baptiste, France’s Minister for Higher Education and Research, yesterday loudly touted the second successful launch of Ariane 6 rocket, even though it occurred years late and costs far more than any other rocket on the market today.

Baptiste did so even as he insisted the Europe must continue to have its own launch capability so that it need not depend on rockets from other countries.

Europe must have sovereignty in space and “not yield to the temptation of preferring SpaceX or another competitor that may seem trendier, more reliable, or cheaper,” Baptiste [said]. “This first commercial launch of Ariane 6 is not just a technical and one-off success. It marks a new milestone, essential in the choice of European space independence and sovereignty. In the labyrinth of the global space race, Ariane 6 is the guiding thread of our strategic autonomy for the years to come.

“We must also collectively advance, as Europeans, on the governance of Europe’s space ambitions. We must ask ourselves all the questions, without taboos. For Europe in space, I am convinced that the European Union must fully assume its role as the political leader in this matter. The challenges are immense, no one knows this better than we do.”

Note Baptiste’s focus on having the European Union (EU) run things, with a focus on Ariane-6, despite its high cost. He was previously head of France’s space agency CNES, which for years has used the EU and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) partners help pay for France’s space program by requiring that all rocket launches be run by ESA’s commercial division, Arianespace.

That situation is now changing, with other ESA nations (Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) all breaking free from Arianespace and instead encouraging the development of competing private rocket startups independent of ESA or Arianespace. Moreover, these ESA partners have aggressive reduced Arianespace’s areas of control. It no longer runs the French Guiana spaceport. Its management of the Vega-C rocket has been transferred back to the Italian company Avio, which builds it. All it now has is Ariane-6, which has limited value because it is so expensive.

So while Baptiste desire for European autonomy matches the efforts of these European countries, his apparent desire to keep all control within the continent’s centralized government authority has been rejected. Europe has a chance to compete, but only because it is freeing its rocket startups from government control.

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Webb captures infrared view of a baby binary star system and its bi-polar jets

9:41 am

A baby binary in formation
Click for original image.

Cool image time! The infrared false-color picture to the right, reduced and sharpened to post here, was released today by the science team of the Webb Space Telescope. It shows the bi-polar jets spewing out from a newly formed binary of two very young stars as their interact during their formation process.

The two protostars responsible for this scene are at the center of the hourglass shape, in an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fits within a single pixel. Much farther out, above and below the flattened disk where dust is thinner, the bright light from the stars shines through the gas and dust, forming large semi-transparent orange cones.

It’s equally important to notice where the stars’ light is blocked — look for the exceptionally dark, wide V-shapes offset by 90 degrees from the orange cones. These areas may look like there is no material, but it’s actually where the surrounding dust is the densest, and little starlight penetrates it. If you look carefully at these areas, Webb’s sensitive NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) has picked up distant stars as muted orange pinpoints behind this dust. Where the view is free of obscuring dust, stars shine brightly in white and blue.

To put it more simply, the accretion disk for the binary system lies at right angles to the much larger jets. The rotation of that disk as well as the stars causes those jets to flow up and down from the poles, with the existence of two stars producing the complex patterns in those jets.

As this image was focused mostly on studying the upper jet, it does not show the entire lower jet, which extends beyond the lower border.

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SpaceX’s eighth orbital test flight of Starship/Superheavy ends like the seventh flight

4:54 pm

Starship just before loss of signal
Starship just before loss of signal

Today’s eighth orbital test flight of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy giant rocket has turned out to be almost identical to the seventh flight, with Superheavy completing its mission with a perfect chopstick catch at the launch tower in Boca Chica and Starship failing just before engine shutdown that would have put it into its orbit.

The screen capture to the right shows that moment. Note that graphic on the far lower right. It indicates that only two of the outside engines are firing, in an asymmetrical configuration. As a result Starship began tumbling, as shown by the fact that the Earth is not visible in the background. Shortly thereafter contact was lost, and I expect the flight termination system took over to destroy the ship. Expect videos from the Caribbean of it burning up overhead in the next day or so.

Superheavy however completed the third ever capture by the launch tower chopsticks. Musk has indicated that the company is pushing to reuse a Superheavy booster as soon as possible. The lose of Starship and the fact that two Superheavy engines shut down prematurely during the boost-back burn after stage separation likely delays that reuse at least one or two test flights. First, this Superheavy had issues, that might be solvable but they nonetheless exist.

More important, the loss of Starship just before its orbital coast once again means SpaceX was unable to do any of its orbital and return test program. It will not make sense to risk the next Starship flight with a used Superheavy when testing Starship has now been delayed twice.

Nor does it matter much. It will take many more launches before this rocket is reliably reusable. The first priority now is to make it more reliable on its first launches. Expect SpaceX to target the next test flight for sometime in mid- to-late April.

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March 6, 2025 Quick space links

3:31 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

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Athena sits at an unknown angle on the Moon, hampering operations

2:25 pm

Athena's landing site 100 miles from the Moon's south pole
Yellow cross indicates Athena’s targeted landing site

According to the CEO of Intuitive Machines, Athena is sitting an an unknown angle on the Moon, impacting the possibility of all surface science operations.

The tilt is hampering their ability to use the high gain antenna which they need use to download most of their data. They do not know the angle, or the cause of this issue. It could simply be that the ground slope is too severe. It is also possible the spacecraft, which has a relatively high center of gravity, fell over on its side because of that slope. Moreover, they do not know at the moment exactly where the spacecraft landed, though they know it landed on Mons Mouton as planned. They need to download pictures from the spacecraft, as well as from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) in orbit to determine precisely the location and the situation.

It is also unclear what payloads will be impacted by this situation. It could be that most if all could be utilized, but that question cannot be answered until they learn more. I suspect both the mini-rover and the Grace hopper will be affected the most, as the tilt might make it impossible to deploy either.

For Intuitive Machines this situation is very unfortunate. It has sent two unmanned lunar landers, and both have had issues at landing, though it must be emphasized that the issue on today’s second landing might have nothing to do with the company’s engineering at all.

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Is a supermassive black hole is hidden in the Large Magellanic Cloud?

11:45 am

Based on the motions of a number of runaway stars on the edge of the Milky Way that are moving so fast they will leave the galaxy, astronomers believe that many were accelerated not by the galaxy’s own central supermassive black hole but a previously undetected supermassive black hole at the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Ways nearby dwarf galaxies.

To make this discovery, researchers traced the paths with ultra-fine precision of 21 stars on the outskirts of the Milky Way. These stars are traveling so fast that they will escape the gravitational clutches of the Milky Way or any nearby galaxy. Astronomers refer to these as “hypervelocity” stars.

Similar to how forensic experts recreate the origin of a bullet based on its trajectory, researchers determined where these hypervelocity stars come from. They found that about half are linked to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. However, the other half originated from somewhere else: a previously-unknown giant black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).

You can read the paper here [pdf]. This result was made possible by the very precise location and velocity data of over a billion stars measured by Europe’s Gaia satellite.

Based on the available data, the scientists estimate (with great uncertainty) the mass of this supermassive black hole, which the scientists have dubbed LMC* (pronounced “LMC star”), to be about 600,000 times the mass of the Sun, quite big but significantly less than the mass of the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”), which is estimated to be about 4.3 million times the mass of the Sun.

The mystery to solve now is why this super massive black hole is so quiet. It has literally emitted no obvious energy in any wavelength in the past seven decades, since ground- and space-based telescopes went into operation capable of detecting such emissions. Even the relatively inactive supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center, Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”) emits distinct radio energy that the first radio telescopes were able to detect almost immediately.

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Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander touches down softly; engineers are assessing spacecraft condition

10:55 am

Though Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander has apparently softly landed near the south pole of the Moon, there remains uncertainty about the spacecraft’s status. Engineers have contact with Athena, and are apparently shutting down the landing equipment in order to make Athena safe for surface operations.

Unlike the previous landing, the spacecraft is upright and responding fully as expected. It appears the main issue is the position of Athena relative to the horizon. This is important as it determines the best antenna’s to use to upload and download data to and from Earth.

A full update will be provided at a press conference scheduled for 4 pm (Eastern) today. I have embedded the live stream of that conference below.
» Read more

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Scientists discover the oldest known crater on Earth

10:09 am

Though erosion has made it visibly unnoticeable now, scientists have discovered geological features 3.5 billion years old in northwestern Australia that suggest the location is the oldest impact crater known on Earth.

The crater was discovered by geologists at Curtin University and the Geological Survey of Western Australia in the Pilbara region of northwestern Australia. While it’s hard to see directly as a classic crater shape, due to its age, the team found it through other evidence – namely “shatter cones,” geological features that form only when exposed to extreme pressures, like meteorite impacts or underground nuclear explosions.

The newly discovered crater is estimated to be at least 100 km (62 miles) wide, which suggests the original object that crashed into Earth was traveling at more than 36,000 km/h (22,000 mph), and would have caused destruction on a global scale. The impact appears to have occurred 3.47 billion years ago. “Before our discovery, the oldest impact crater was 2.2 billion years old, so this is by far the oldest known crater ever found on Earth,” said Professor Tim Johnson, co-lead author of the study.

You can read the published paper here. There are many assumptions and uncertainty in this conclusion, but it is likely correct.

The impact likely occurred during a time period scientists call the Late Heavy Bombardment, when the planets in the solar system were beginning to accrete out of the thick disk of dust and rocks that surrounded the Sun. On Earth most of the evidence of this bombardment is gone, destroyed by erosion and plate technoics. We only know about it from the craters on the Moon, Mercury, and Mars, where erosion has left those impacts mostly untouched.

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Ariane-6 successfully launches for the second time

9:47 am

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) commercial arm, Arianespace, today successfully launched from French Guiana its new Ariane-6 rocket for the second time, this time placing its first commercial payload, a military Earth imaging satellite, into orbit.

As of posting the satellite has not yet been deployed by the upper stage, as several additional engine burns are required over then hour or so to place it in the right orbit. As there were some issues with this upper stage on the rocket’s first launch, the successful completion of these burns is critical for the rocket’s future. So far the first major burn has been completed as planned. UPDATE: The payload has been successfully deployed in the proper orbit.

This was Europe’s first launch in 2025, so there is no change in leader board for the 2025 launch race:

26 SpaceX
9 China
3 Russia
2 Rocket Lab

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India’s space agency ISRO begins construction of second spaceport

9:38 am

India's spaceports
India’s spaceports

After several years getting the real estate as well as the necessary regulatory approvals, India’s space agency, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has now begun construction of it second spaceport, dubbed Kulasekaranpattinam, near the southern tip of India.

The map to the right shows the location. The Sriharikota spaceport has been used by the agency for decades. The Agnikul site was used once by one of India’s rocket startups for a suborbital launch, but it is unclear if it will be upgraded to a full launch site in the future.

Kulasekarapattinam was one of the areas recommended for the launchpad even before the rocket launchpad was set up in Sriharikota due to its strategic geographical location near the equator. It is located on the east coast and there is no land to the south of it, allowing for direct southward launches over the Indian Ocean. This will minimize fuel consumption and maximize payload capacity for small satellite launch vehicles (SSLVs), particularly beneficial for cost-effective commercial satellite launches.

The site also avoids the need for complex “dogleg” manoeuvres around Sri Lanka. The manoeuvre involves a sharp turn or bend in a launch trajectory to avoid collisions or falling debris into populated areas, which would require additional fuel.

As part of the breaking ground ceremonies, ISRO scientists also completed a small suborbital rocket launch from this new site, reaching an altitude of 46 miles before falling back into the Indian Ocean.

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Future now very dim for Lunar Trailblazer

9:26 am

Though engineers are continuing attempts to re-establish contact with the orbiter Lunar Trailblazer as it flies outward after launch, the situation is becoming increasingly grim.

Based on telemetry before the loss of signal last week and ground-based radar data collected March 2, the team believes the spacecraft is spinning slowly in a low-power state. They will continue to monitor for signals should the spacecraft orientation change to where the solar panels receive more sunlight, increasing their output to support higher-power operations and communication.

The problem is that, without communications, the spacecraft was not able to do several mid-course corrections that would have sent it on the right path to the Moon. Though it might still be possible to get it to the Moon, communications must be re-established soon to do so.

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Europa Clipper completes Mars fly-by

9:21 am

Data from Europa Clipper has now confirmed that its March 1, 2025 Mars fly-by was successful, putting it on the right trajectory to do a fly-by of Earth in December 2026.

When Europa Clipper launched, navigators deliberately aimed a little away from Mars to avoid any possibility of a launch error turning into a Mars impact. Since then, they’ve performed three deep-space trajectory correction maneuvers to line up for the encounter. Europa Clipper whizzed by Mars at 17:57 UT, only 2 km away from the target height of 884 km. A final maneuver, planned for March 17th, will correct any residual trajectory error.

Only two instruments were activated, mostly as tests to see if they were operating properly. Though the data has not yet been downloaded back to Earth, engineers say that it appears all worked as expected.

If the Earth fly-by in 2026 is successful, Europa Clipper will rendezvous with Jupiter in April 2030, entering an orbit that will fly past Europa numerous times.

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Blue Ghost lunar surface operations proceeding as planned

9:13 am

According to a Firefly update today, all of Blue Ghost’s planned lunar surface operations are working as planned.

Eight out of 10 NASA payloads, including LPV, EDS, NGLR, RAC, RadPC, LuGRE, LISTER, and SCALPSS, have already met their mission objectives with more to come. Lunar PlanetVac for example successfully collected, transferred, and sorted lunar soil from the Moon using pressurized nitrogen gas.

I have embedded below the video posted at the link of Lunar PlanetVac deploying and then blowing that gas to capture surface soil.
» Read more

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Engineers turn off one more instrument on each Voyager spacecraft

3:57 pm

The Voyager missions
The routes the Voyager spacecraft have
taken since launch. Not to scale.

Due to continuing reductions in the power generated by their nuclear energy sources (after a half century of operation) engineers have now turned off one more science instrument on each Voyager spacecraft in order to extend the spacecrafts’ life as long as possible.

Mission engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California turned off the cosmic ray subsystem experiment aboard Voyager 1 on Feb. 25 and will shut off Voyager 2’s low-energy charged particle instrument on March 24. Three science instruments will continue to operate on each spacecraft. The moves are part of an ongoing effort to manage the gradually diminishing power supply of the twin probes.

Even with this action, the future lifespan of both spacecraft is very limited. It is expected the savings in power will allow both to last about a year longer, well into 2026. In order to keep the Voyagers operating as long as into the 2030s mission engineers are now working up a timeline for shutting down the remaining instruments in a step-by-step manner. In that long run the goal won’t be science gathering but engineering. Can humans keep a spacecraft operating for more than a half century at distances billions of miles away?

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Democrats: A party so filled with hate it can’t even cheer a child because Trump introduced him

1:32 pm

In the next day or so you will hear a lot of analysis of Trump’s speech yesterday to Congress, both good and bad. The bulk of that commentary will focus on what Trump has or has not accomplished, for good and ill. Some will talk about the overall foolish behavior of many Democrats, who refused to applaud anything Trump said (something Trump predicted would happen near the start of the speech), with one Democrat getting ejected from the building for heckling the president and refusing to stop.

During such speeches presidents usually tout their past achievements and future goals. With each proclamation, the members of that president’s party will repeatedly give him a short standing ovation, with the opposition party usually sitting quietly. This fake theater is one reason I generally don’t watch such events, relying on reviewing them after the fact to save a LOT of time.

Another tradition during these speeches is for the president to invite several ordinary citizens to attend in order to honor them in some way. At these moments, when the president introduces the citizen, the entire room would routinely stand and cheer, because these individuals are generally not party partisans, and the ruling president and his party usually have nothing to do with that person’s particular achievement.

Last night however was starkly different, and the screen capture below captures the one moment that demonstrates so fully the utterly bankrupt nature of the Democratic Party. One of the private citizens Trump invited to honor was a 13-year-old boy, DJ Daniel, who five years ago was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and given only six months to live. Five years later he is still alive and healthy, and proudly wears a police uniform frequently in public because of his dream to be a cop someday.
» Read more

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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter snaps picture of Blue Ghost on the Moon

11:21 am

Blue Ghost on the Moon
Click for full image. For original of inset go here.

Shortly after Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander touched down within Mare Crisium on the Moon, the science team for Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) used it to capture a picture of lander on the surface of the Moon.

That image is to the right, reduced to post here. The inset was expanded and sharpened to bring out the details, with the arrow showing Blue Ghost, that tiny dot in the center with a shadow to the right.

The Firefly Blue Ghost lunar lander set down on 2nd March 2025. The landing site (arrow) is about 4000 meters from the center of Mons Latreille, a large volcanic cone [seen to the left].

…LRO was 175 kilometers east (19.294°N, 67.956°E) of the landing site when the NACs acquired this dramatic view of the landing site on 02 March 2025 at 17:49 UTC.

Blue Ghost landed shortly after lunar sunrise, and is designed to operate for one full lunar day (fourteen Earth days). Whether it can survive the 14-day-long lunar night won’t be known until the next sunrise.

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Psyche captures Jupiter and Mars on its way to asteroid Psyche

11:02 am

Jupiter and Mars as seen by Psyche
Click for original image.

As part of routine maintenance and calibration, engineers on January 30, 2025 used the cameras on the Psyche asteroid probe to photograph Jupiter, Mars, and several stars, proving all is well with the spacecraft.

Scientists on the imaging team, led by Arizona State University, also took images of the bright stars Vega and Canopus, which have served as standard calibration sources for astronomers for decades. The team is also using the data to assess the effects of minor wiggles or “jitter” in the spacecraft’s pointing system as it points the cameras to different places in the sky. The observations of Jupiter and Mars also help the team determine how the cameras respond to solar system objects that shine by reflected sunlight, just like the Psyche asteroid.

The starfield pictures shown here are long-exposure (five-second) images captured by each camera. By over-exposing Jupiter to bring out some of the background stars in the Taurus constellation, the imagers were able to capture Jupiter’s fainter Galilean moons as well.

The picture to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, might not be much to look at, but it clearly demonstrates the cameras work and the spacecraft can point accurately, and will work as planned when it arrives at the metal asteroid Psyche in August 2029.

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