SOFIA – Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman

SOFIA to retire to Arizona museum

December 9, 2022 9:28 am Robert Zimmerman

NASA yesterday announced that its airborne 747 SOFIA telescope will be retired to the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, making its final flight there December 13, 2022.

Pima, one of the world’s largest aerospace museums, is developing plans for when and how the SOFIA aircraft will eventually be on display to the public. Along with six hangars, 80 acres of outdoor display grounds, and more than 425 aircraft from around the world, Pima also has its own restoration facility where incoming aircraft like SOFIA are prepared for museum immortalization after their arrival.

While the idea of SOFIA, putting a astronomical telescope on an airplane to get it above most of the atmosphere, has some merit, this particular NASA project was always too costly and simply produced too little science to justify its expense.

In many ways, this museum display will provide one of the best ways to see a 747 itself, now also retired.

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SOFIA finds no phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere

November 30, 2022 9:16 am Robert Zimmerman

The uncertainty of science: Using NASA’s airborne telescope SOFIA on three of its last flights, astronomers searched and found no evidence of phosphine in the Venus atmosphere, once again throwing cold water on a 2020 study that said it had detected about 20 molecules out of every billion.

Because that 2020 study and the accompanying press releases noted that on Earth phosphine is only seen in life-related processes, the general press stupidly screamed “Life found on Venus!” And as I said at that time:

This discovery is not giving us “a hint of life on Venus.” All these scientists have done is detect a chemical whose formation in Venus’ very alien environment is a mystery. Yes, on Earth this chemical comes from life related activities, but to claim that the presence of biology must explain it on Venus is not science, but witchcraft and the stuff of fantasy. We know practically nothing about the full make-up of Venus’ atmosphere, its chemistry and environment, which makes it impossible to hint at any theories, no less life.

Since then several studies (here and here and here) have suggested the phosphine detection was not what it seemed. This new Sofia data puts the nail in the coffin.

Sophia’s data also shows once again the utter unreliability of the modern mainstream press. Routinely it pushes false or weak stories, consistently showing that its reporters and editors are ignorant or naive about almost every story they cover, from science to politics. To trust its conclusions on any controversial story is to put your faith in fortune tellers.

NASA decides to end airborne SOFIA telescope operations

April 29, 2022 10:03 am Robert Zimmerman

According to a joint announcement yesterday from NASA and the German space agency DLR, all operations of the airborne astronomy telescope SOFIA will end as of September ’22.

NASA has been trying to cancel this project for several years, because its capabilities have not justified its expense, about $85 million per year. Congress has repeatedly refused to go along, reinserting funding after NASA tried to delete it. That the astronomy community itself suggested in November that the project be canceled, however, probably means this Congress will likely go along with this most recent announcement.

Water molecules detected on Moon

October 26, 2020 10:59 am Robert Zimmerman

Using NASA’s SOFIA airborne telescope, scientists have detected for the first time what they think is a very small amount of actual water molecules in areas of the Moon far from the poles.

SOFIA has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere. Previous observations of the Moon’s surface detected some form of hydrogen, but were unable to distinguish between water and its close chemical relative, hydroxyl (OH). Data from this location reveal water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million – roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water – trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface.

This result confirms data obtained by India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter about a dozen years ago..

There are many caveats. First and foremost, there remain uncertainties about whether they have actually detected water molecules. From their paper’s abstract:

Widespread hydration was detected on the lunar surface through observations of a characteristic absorption feature at 3 µm by three independent spacecraft. Whether the hydration is molecular water (H2O) or other hydroxyl (OH) compounds is unknown and there are no established methods to distinguish the two using the 3 µm band. However, a fundamental vibration of molecular water produces a spectral signature at 6 µm that is not shared by other hydroxyl compounds. [emphasis mine]

This detection points to water for sure, but it remains very uncertain.

The amount is also very small, and is likely localized, as they also note, “within glasses or in voids between grains sheltered from the harsh lunar environment.” If there it will not be useful for future colonists.

The result is important, however, as it increases the likelihood that there is lots of water ice trapped in the permanently shadowed craters near the poles, in amounts that will be useful to future colonists.

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