KREUZADER (Posts tagged space)

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
“Voyager 2 Narrow Angle Camera image of Neptune taken on August 20, 1989 as the spacecraft approached the planet for a flyby on August 25. The Great Dark Spot, flanked by cirrus clouds, is at center. A smaller dark storm, Dark Spot Jr., is rotating...

Voyager 2 Narrow Angle Camera image of Neptune taken on August 20, 1989 as the spacecraft approached the planet for a flyby on August 25. The Great Dark Spot, flanked by cirrus clouds, is at center. A smaller dark storm, Dark Spot Jr., is rotating into view at bottom left. Additionally, a patch of white cirrus clouds to its north, named “Scooter” for its rapid motion relative to other features, is visible.

This image was constructed using orange, green and synthetic violet (50/50 blend of green filter and UV filter images) taken between 626 and 643 UT.

Image Credit: NASA / JPL / Voyager-ISS / Justin Cowart

Source: flickr.com
nasa neptune voyager 2 space
nasa.gov

First DNA Sequencing in Space a Game Changer

For the first time ever, DNA was successfully sequenced in microgravity as part of the Biomolecule Sequencer experiment performed by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins this weekend aboard the International Space Station.

The Biomolecule Sequencer investigation sent samples of mouse, virus and bacteria DNA to the space station to test a commercially available DNA sequencing device called MinION, developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies. The MinION works by sending a positive current through pores embedded in membranes inside the device, called nanopores. At the same time, fluid containing a DNA sample passes through the device. Individual DNA molecules partially block the nanopores and change the current in a way that is unique to that particular DNA sequence.  By looking at these changes, researchers can identify the specific DNA sequence.

Rubins, who has a background in molecular biology, conducted the test aboard the station while researchers simultaneously sequenced identical samples on the ground. The tests were set up to attempt to make spaceflight conditions, primarily microgravity, the only variables that could account for differences in results.

biology space international space station nasa
“On August 16th, 2016 (BJ Time), China has successfully launched the worlds 1st quantum satellite in the northwestern Gobi Desert, Jiuquan. The satellite, Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), named as Micius after one ancient Chinese...

On August 16th, 2016 (BJ Time), China has successfully launched the worlds 1st quantum satellite in the northwestern Gobi Desert, Jiuquan. The satellite, Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), named as Micius after one ancient Chinese philosopher and scientist at 5th BC, is orbiting the Earth at a period of about 90 minutes at an altitude of 500 kilometers. On the early morning of August 27th, an alignment test between the satellite and ground-based telescope (GBT) at the Xinglong Observation Station has been carried out. The Xinglong Observation Station is affiliated with National Astronomical Observatories, CAS, China, and one of the five stations used for communicating with the satellite. Because the satellite is moving quite fast, in order to make the perfect alignment and effective communication, the position of the satellite will be forecasted with the station before the satellite passing through the sky area where the GBT is located. As soon as the satellite enters the observable zone, GBT will send up a laser beam (shown in the red color) to the satellite. Once the red laser beam is received by the satellite, a second laser beam (in the green color) will be sent down to the ground almost simultaneously, and GBT will captures the beam and feed it into an optical fiber if successful communication is established. The whole send-and receive process is within 3 seconds. It turned out the whole experiment had been successful as demonstrated in the picture. In the picture, the red light has a wavelength of 671 nm and the green light has a wavelength of 532 nm.

Source: spaceweathergallery.com
quantum physics quantum entanglement space
centauri-dreams.org

Proxima Centauri Planet

More recently, Stephen Baxter pretty much nailed Proxima Centauri b in his depiction of a just over one Earth-mass planet in the habitable zone called Per Ardua — this was in Baxter’s 2015 novel Proxima. Baxter’s planet was at 0.04 AU, and a little more massive than Earth; the real thing is 0.05 AU and 1.3 Earth masses. I would call that very nice work. Baxter has also noted, with considerable justification, that if we find a truly habitable planet in the very next system to our own, the implication is that such planets are probably quite common.

[…]

Having been at the Breakthrough Starshot meetings all this week, I’m delighted to see that we now have a potential destination; i.e. an actual rather than assumed planet around one of the stars in the system nearest to us. Finding Proxima’s planet has been a long process, drilling down to the kind of measurements that can reveal its presence. Up until now we’ve been excluding larger planets in various kinds of orbits around Proxima, but the prospect of something Earth-sized in the habitable zone remained open. I hasten to add that Breakthrough Starshot has made no decisions about its target at this point, but it’s clear that Proxima b is going to be a prime contender.

proxima centauri proxima b breakthrough starshot astronomy space
arxiv.org

The interaction of relativistic spacecrafts with the interstellar medium

The Breakthrough Starshot initiative aims to launch a gram-scale spacecraft to a speed of v∼0.2c, capable of reaching the nearest star system, α Centauri, in about 20 years. However, a critical challenge for the initiative is the damage to the spacecraft by interstellar gas and dust during the journey. In this paper, we quantify the interaction of a relativistic spacecraft with gas and dust in the interstellar medium. For gas bombardment, we find that damage by track formation due to heavy elements is an important effect. We find that gas bombardment can potentially damage the surface of the spacecraft to a depth of ∼0.1 mm for quartz material after traversing a gas column of NH∼2×1018cm−2 along the path to α Centauri, whereas the effect is much weaker for graphite material. The effect of dust bombardment erodes the spacecraft surface and produces numerous craters due to explosive evaporation of surface atoms. For a spacecraft speed v=0.2c, we find that dust bombardment can erode a surface layer of ∼0.5 mm thickness after the spacecraft has swept a column density of NH∼3×1017cm−2, assuming the standard gas-to-dust ratio of the interstellar medium. Dust bombardment also damages the spacecraft surface by modifying the material structure through melting. We calculate the equilibrium surface temperature due to collisional heating by gas atoms as well as the temperature profile as a function of depth into the spacecraft. Our quantitative results suggest methods for damage control, and we highlight possibilities for shielding strategies and protection of the spacecraft.

so, a couple things:

  • this is my favorite research paper title in quite some time
  • it also has a great “imagine a spherical cow” diagram:
image
  • finally, all you need is a navigational deflector dish, duh

7.3.2. Radiation pressure deflection

Scattering of radiation from spacecraft can also accelerate interstellar dust grains. The deflecting force that a laser beam can apply to the grain is proportional to sin θ, where θ is the angle that the laser beam makes to the spacecraft trajectory.

image
starship breakthrough starshot alpha centauri proxima centauri astrophysics space
nasa.gov

NASA Reestablishes Contact With STEREO-B

On Aug. 21, 2016, contact was reestablished with one of NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories after communications were lost on Oct. 1, 2014.

The DSN established a lock on the STEREO-B downlink carrier at 6:27 p.m. EDT. The downlink signal was monitored by the Mission Operations team over several hours to characterize the attitude of the spacecraft and then transmitter high voltage was powered down to save battery power. The STEREO Missions Operations team plans further recovery processes to assess observatory health, re-establish attitude control, and evaluate all subsystems and instruments.

nasa space
Spacewalk Concludes After Commercial Crew Port Installation“Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins concluded their spacewalk at 2:02 EDT. During the five-hour and 58-minute spacewalk, the two NASA astronauts...

Spacewalk Concludes After Commercial Crew Port Installation

Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins concluded their spacewalk at 2:02 EDT. During the five-hour and 58-minute spacewalk, the two NASA astronauts successfully installed the first of two international docking adapters (IDAs).

The IDAs will be used for the future arrivals of Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew spacecraft in development under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Commercial crew flights from Florida’s Space Coast to the International Space Station will restore America’s human launch capability and increase the time U.S. crews can dedicate to scientific research, which is helping prepare astronauts for deep space missions, including the journey to Mars.

Source: blogs.nasa.gov
nasa space international space station

NASA is working to send astronauts beyond Earth’s orbit to destinations deep in space on the journey to Mars. The powerful Space Launch System rocket will send astronauts in the Orion spacecraft to places never before explored, enabling humanity to expand the frontier of space exploration. The first mission of SLS and Orion together, Exploration Mission-1, will send an uncrewed capsule about 40,000 miles beyond the moon.

nasa space space launch system