Astro Wonders

2022-05-20 16:36:48 NASA shelves routine spacewalks for now due to leaky helmet

NASA is suspending all but the most urgent spacewalks after water was found in an astronaut's helmet following a March excursion.

NASA will perform an assessment of its extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuits after water was found in the helmet worn by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer following a March 23 spacewalk.

This means that astronauts will not go outside and perform extravehicular activities (EVAs) unless there is a pressing need for repairs on the International Space Station. Given that the affected EMU won't return to Earth for analysis until July, non-urgent spacewalks will be off the table for several months at the least.

This is the second time spacewalks have been suspended due to unexpected water leakage, although the last time in July 2013 was far more serious.

During that 2013 incident, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano experienced a severe water leak that ended up covering most of his face. His spacewalk with NASA's Chris Cassidy was cut short due to the water volume Parmitano was reporting, roughly an hour after starting the work. Parmitano emerged safely from the incident and without injury, however.

The mishap report identified the immediate technical cause for the 2013 incident as "inorganic materials causing blockage of the drum holes" in an EMU water separator. This, in turn, caused water to spill into a vent loop.

NASA ultimately determined that the materials intruded "because a water filtering facility at Johnson had not been managed to control for silica," NASA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) wrote in April 2017. "As a result silica-laden water was used in the processing of flight hardware filters that later was used in four on-orbit spacesuits."

The agency addressed the silica situation and also created backups for astronauts in case of leaks. Starting in 2014, astronauts used a "helmet absorption pad" at the back of the helmet to absorb excess water. Additionally, a breathing tube was inserted in the helmet in case of water clinging to the face, as it tends to do in microgravity. The incident in Maurer's spacesuit seems to be the most serious water problem faced since NASA implemented the 2014 fixes.
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2022-05-20 16:36:40 NASA shelves routine spacewalks for now due to leaky helmet

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2022-05-20 16:22:46 Glimmering Hubble Space Telescope photo shows stunning starburst effect

The iconic Hubble Space Telescope has captured a glimmering new photo of a densely packed region of stars located in the constellation Sagittarius.

The grouping of stars is a globular cluster known as NGC 6558, which lies 23,000 light-years from Earth.

The new photo was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys, which is designed to survey large areas of the sky at visible and red wavelengths.

Globular clusters like NGC 6558 are tightly bound collections of thousands to millions of stars, and they can be found in a wide range of galaxies.The globular clusters are thronged with stars in a rich variety of hues.

The globular cluster features bright stars, some of which are surrounded by prominent diffraction spikes, or lines radiating from bright light sources. This visual starburst effect is created when starlight interacts with the telescope's mirrors, causing the light to bend.
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2022-05-20 06:03:28 Demonstration of the design concept of the city "Nuwa", created by the architectural studio "ABIBOO". According to the plan, the city should become the first settlement on Mars.

According to Alfredo Munoz, the founder of the architectural studio, the city will be able to accommodate 250 thousand people, and construction can begin in 2054 and be completed by the end of the century.

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2022-05-19 16:35:26 China will launch a big space telescope in 2023 to investigate distant galaxies

China wants to launch its first large space telescope in late 2023 to survey the skies.The Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST) is an optical and ultraviolet space observatory that will boast a 6.6-foot-diameter lens. Though the resolution of China's telescope will be similar to Hubble's, the CSST's field of view will be 350 times larger.

This means the CSST will be able to observe much greater expanses of the sky at a time and will survey 40% of the sky with its 2.5 billion-pixel camera during the planned 10-year mission lifetime.

The CSST will carry four additional instruments for mapping star-forming regions, detecting fast-moving objects, studying supermassive black holes, and directly imaging exoplanets.

It will operate in a similar orbit as the country's Tiangong space station, allowing the telescope to dock with the outpost for repairs, maintenance and upgrades.
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2022-05-19 16:18:23 Boeing's Starliner rolls to launch pad on Atlas V rocket for critical NASA test flight

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft successfully rolled out to its Florida launch pad early Wednesday (May 18), setting the stage for a crucial test flight for NASA this week.

The Starliner spacecraft, perched atop an Atlas V rocket built by the United Launch Alliance, rolled out to its pad at Space Launch Complex 41 of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of a planned launch to the International Space Station. Liftoff is set for Thursday, May 19, at 6:54 p.m. EDT.

Boeing's Starliner is launching on the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2 mission (OFT-2) to show that the space taxi is ready to begin flying NASA astronauts to and from the space station. The mission is critical and Boeing has tried to fly twice before.

In December 2019, Boeing launched its first Starliner test flight, called OFT-1, but it failed to reach the International Space Station due to software issues that prevented the capsule from reaching the proper orbit. By July 2021, Boeing was ready to try again, but stuck valves on the spacecraft's service module prevented the launch.

Boeing has since swapped out the Starliner service module and is confident it has a solution for the valve issue that thwarted last year's launch attempt. NASA apparently is, too, as the space agency and Boeing cleared the Starliner OFT-2 mission for launch in a recent flight readiness review.

If all goes well, Boeing's OFT-2 Starliner spacecraft will lift off Thursday night and arrive at the International Space Station on Friday evening (May 20) for a roughly five-day stay at the orbiting lab. Astronauts are expected to open the hatches to the capsule a day later, on Saturday (May 21).

At the mission's end, Starliner will return to Earth for a planned landing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico like its predecessor OFT-1. Starliner uses parachutes, airbags and retrorockets to cushion its landing on land.
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2022-05-19 16:17:56 Boeing's Starliner rolls to launch pad on Atlas V rocket for critical NASA test flight

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2022-05-19 05:11:28 Rocket Lab has published a very spectacular video

We can see the main stages of catching the first stage of the Electron rocket that returned from space. On May 3, Rocket Lab performed the 26th launch of its rocket. The mission was aimed at putting 34 satellites into orbit from various commercial customers.

After separation, the first stage of the rocket entered the Earth's atmosphere, and thermal protection successfully protected it from exposure to high temperatures. After that, the stage opened the parachute and began the descent. A modified Sikorsky S-92 helicopter was waiting for her at the bottom. His crew successfully hooked the parachute sling of the stage with a special air hook.

Soon, the helicopter crew discovered that the load characteristics were different from the data obtained during training with the layout. Therefore, it was decided to lower the step into the water.

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2022-05-18 15:59:58 China to launch Tianwen 2 asteroid-sampling mission in 2025

The Tianwen 2 mission will first target the near-Earth asteroid Kamo'oalewa which may be a blasted-off piece of Earth's moon. The spacecraft will collect samples from the space rock using a touch-and-go technique.

Tianwen 2 will also attempt an anchor-and-attach method using four robotic arms to land on Kamo'oalewa with drills on the arms securing the probe to the surface of the 130-foot-wide asteroid.

Tianwen 2 is expected to return to Earth more than 2 years after launch dropping off its invaluable cargo. Following release of its reentry capsule Tianwen 2 will use Earth's gravity to help propel it out toward an active asteroid an object with properties of both asteroids and comets.

The spacecraft will embark on a roughly 7-year-long voyage out to 311P/PANSTARRS. It will orbit and analyze the object using a range of cameras and spectrometers to glean insights into questions such as the mystery of the source of Earth's water.
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2022-05-18 05:31:58 Docking of the module with the ISS.

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