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Tag: space exploration

  • Critics of the International Space Station are missing the point

    Critics of the International Space Station are missing the point

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    Southern Africa from the Station's

    The International Space Station (ISS) is reaching the end of its life, with agencies around the world planning for its demise in around 2030. This orbiting behemoth has been continuously occupied for nearly 24 years by astronauts and cosmonauts from the US, Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada and many other regions, but it is getting old. It is nearly time to bring it down (see “Inside NASA’s ambitious plan to bring the ISS crashing back to Earth”) before its ageing parts take it out in a much more dangerous way.

    The endeavour of keeping such a huge laboratory in orbit has been controversial, with some saying that it has been a waste of money or that it should have been deorbited long ago. Critics claim it hasn’t lived up to all of its promises and the scientific results from studies on the station haven’t done enough to help matters on Earth. Those criticisms may or may not be true, but they are missing the point.

    The ISS, as a global collaboration on a very difficult venture in space, has always represented the possibility of a better world, one of peace and cooperation. Its two primary stakeholders, the US and Russia, have long been at odds on the ground, but that hasn’t deterred astronauts and cosmonauts from working together aboard the station in an effort to increase global knowledge and reach into the solar system. It is a symbol of humanity striving towards a common goal.

    Once the ISS goes, we are vanishingly unlikely to see anything like it again. NASA and other space agencies are focusing on the moon, and the possibility of building an international astronaut village there, while an exciting prospect, is a pipe dream for now. Our prime example of international cooperation will burn up in the atmosphere and plunge into the ocean, and that loss will resonate beyond space science. It represents a withering of global collaboration, just the sort of thing we need to meet the grand challenges the world is facing now, such as climate change – and that is a loss we should all lament.

    Topics:

    • International Space Station/
    • space exploration

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  • Ariel Data Challenge uncovers the atmospheres of distant planets

    Ariel Data Challenge uncovers the atmospheres of distant planets

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    The newly announced Ariel Data Challenge 2024, led by UCL researchers, is calling on data scientists, astronomers, and AI enthusiasts to help uncover the atmospheres of distant planets.

    The competition, based on the European Space Agency’s Ariel space mission and featured at the NeurIPS 2024 machine learning conference, will tackle one of astronomy’s most complex and important data analysis problems—extracting faint exoplanet signals from noisy space telescope observations.

    It offers participants a unique chance to contribute to cutting-edge research in the field of exoplanet atmospheres, with a prize pool of $50,000 USD.

    Dr Caroline Harper, Head of Space Science, UK Space Agency, said: “Distant planets are likely to be more numerous in our galaxy than the stars themselves.

    “The techniques developed through this prestigious competition could help open new windows for us to learn about the composition of their atmospheres and even their weather.”

    The atmospheres of distant planets are unique

    The discovery of distant planets has transformed our cosmic perspective, challenging conventional notions about the nature of the Solar System, the Earth’s uniqueness and the potential for life elsewhere.

    Astronomers are aware of over 5,600 exoplanets as of today. However, detecting these worlds is only the initial step, as scientists seek to further comprehend and characterise their nature by studying their atmospheres.

    The European Space Agency’s Ariel Space Mission, whose scientific leadership is provided by UCL’s Professor Giovanna Tinetti, will be launched in 2029 and will complete one of the largest-ever surveys of these planets by observing the atmospheres of around one-fifth of the known exoplanets.

    Paul Eccleston, Ariel Mission Consortium Manager, RAL Space, commented: “The Ariel Data Challenge will be incredibly useful for building the payload structural model in the coming months.”

    However, observing these atmospheres and deriving their properties is a formidable challenge. These atmospheric signals only account for a minute fraction of the starlight received from the planetary systems and are regularly corrupted by instrument noise.

    The Ariel Data Challenge

    The Ariel Data Challenge 2024 focuses on overcoming these noise sources, such as ‘jitter noise’ caused by spacecraft vibrations. This noise, along with other disturbances, complicates the analysis of spectroscopic data used to study the atmospheres of distant planets.

    With support from the DiRAC HPC Facility, mission scientists have meticulously produced the most accurate representation of Ariel observations to date, based on Ariel’s payload design and incorporating representative noise effects from in-flight data obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope.

    Scientists involved in the Ariel mission now seek novel methods to push the boundaries of current data analysis approaches – innovative solutions that can effectively suppress these noise sources and extract vital signals from exoplanet atmospheres.

    The competition is open now until late October. Winners will be invited to present their solutions at the NeurIPS conference, with cash prizes available for the top six solutions.

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  • Five of the most important International Space Station experiments

    Five of the most important International Space Station experiments

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    Astronaut inside the International Space Station using the combustion rack

    It’s not all eating bits of food floating in mid-air and introducing suction toilets to fascinated Earthlings – crews on the International Space Station (ISS), which will be coming to an end soon, have serious work to do.

    Since the station’s inception, astronauts and cosmonauts have performed more than 3000 experiments in the microgravity and heightened radiation of low-Earth orbit. These have ranged from confirming that fertility levels remain unaltered (in mice, not crew members) to testing the prospects of using lunar soil to make concrete to help build future moon bases. Here are four more of the most impressive bits of ISS research.

    Artificial retinas

    For millions of people with degenerative conditions affecting the retina – the layer of light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye – there is no cure, only treatments that slow progression. However, an implant that mimics the function of the retina might be the solution, and US-based company LambdaVision has had some success making one by depositing layer upon layer of a light-activated protein known as bacteriorhodopsin. On Earth, solutions of it tended to clump together, leading to poor deposition, but much better results came early this decade in the microgravity aboard the ISS. LambdaVision is now trying to scale up space manufacturing of the artificial retinas and claims these are among the first technologies evaluated on the ISS that have the potential for clinical use.

    Invisible flames

    When you light a match, the wood burns, reacting with oxygen to produce heat and light, as well as some other products such as carbon…

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  • Inside NASA’s ambitious plan to bring the ISS crashing back to Earth

    Inside NASA’s ambitious plan to bring the ISS crashing back to Earth

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    New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

    dpa picture alliance archive/Alamy

    The International Space Station (ISS), as well as being the most expensive object ever made, can also lay claim to being one of the most cooperative endeavours in scientific history. Since the beginning of the century, it has been continuously inhabited by a total of 280 crew members – and counting – from 23 countries. While leaders on the ground have been squabbling or even threatening war, astronauts and cosmonauts have been circling Earth unconstrained by geopolitical borders, floating in serene microgravity.

    But nothing lasts forever. Sometime around 2030, the ISS project will come to an end. From its orbit about 400 kilometres above Earth, the space station will fall through the atmosphere, burning up and splintering into a thousand pieces before crashing into the Pacific Ocean. It is unlikely that any of it will ever be seen again.

    Artificial satellites reenter the atmosphere all the time – almost every day, in fact. But the $150 billion ISS is no ordinary satellite. More than 100 metres long, and with the mass of a fully loaded jumbo jet, it is by far the largest and most complicated one ever built.

    Managing the end of the ISS’s life is far from straightforward. How can such a cumbersome object, all 420,000 kilograms of it, be brought down and destroyed safely? Should it be destroyed at all? And will we ever see its ilk again?

    The history of the station dates back to the cultural chauvinism of the 1980s, when NASA – calling it “Freedom” – intended it to challenge the Soviet space…

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  • Stellar flares pose dangers to planet habitability, research discovers

    Stellar flares pose dangers to planet habitability, research discovers

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    A groundbreaking study has revealed that red dwarf stars can produce stellar flares that carry far-ultraviolet (far-UV) radiation levels much higher than previously believed.

    This discovery suggests that the intense UV radiation from stellar flares could significantly impact whether planets around red dwarf stars can be habitable.

    “Few stars have been thought to generate enough UV radiation through flares to impact planet habitability. Our findings show that many more stars may have this capability,” said astronomer Vera Berger, who led the study.

    Led by current and former astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA), the research was recently published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

    UV from stellar flares presents a double-edged sword

    Berger and her team used archival data from the GALEX space telescope to search for stellar flares among 300,000 nearby stars.

    “Combining modern computer power with gigabytes of decades-old observations allowed us to search for flares on thousands and thousands of nearby stars,” explained Michael Tucker, a PhD graduate of IfA and now a postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State University.

    According to researchers, UV radiation from stellar flares can either erode planetary atmospheres, threatening their potential to support life or contribute to the formation of RNA building blocks, which are essential for the creation of life.

    This study challenges existing models of stellar flares and exoplanet habitability. It shows that far-UV emission from flares is, on average, three times more energetic than typically assumed and can reach up to twelve times the expected energy levels.

    Benjamin Shappee, an Associate Astronomer at IfA, commented: “A change of three is the same as the difference in UV in the summer from Anchorage to Honolulu, where unprotected skin can get a sunburn in less than ten minutes.”

    Hidden causes of stronger UV emissions

    The exact cause of this stronger far-UV emission remains unclear. The team believes it might be that flare radiation is concentrated at specific wavelengths, indicating the presence of atoms like carbon and nitrogen.

    “This study has changed the picture of the environments around stars less massive than our Sun, which emit very little UV light outside of stellar flares,” concluded Jason Hinkle, a PhD candidate at IfA who co-authored the study.

    The researchers said that more data from space telescopes is needed to study the UV light from stars, which is crucial for understanding the source of this emission.

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  • US and Canada agree landmark deal for space launch technology

    US and Canada agree landmark deal for space launch technology

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    Canada has announced that it has established a major agreement with the US that will propel domestic space launch capabilities.

    Announced by Sean Fraser, Canada’s Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, the Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) will outline legal and technical safeguards to utilise US space launch technology, expertise and data for Canadian launches.

    The partnership will help advance Canadian launch capabilities and support the growth of the commercial space industry. Both parties will now perform a final review before officially signing the agreement.

    François-Philippe Champagne, Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, commented: “The Canadian space sector is driven by innovation and growth.

    “Today’s announcement represents a major milestone in advancing an agreement that will pave the way for a thriving commercial space launch industry in Canada.

    “This development not only enhances the sector’s diversity but also strengthens its global competitiveness, reinforcing Canada’s position as a leader in space exploration and technology.”

    Boosting Canadian space launch capabilities

    The TSA creates a framework to protect sensitive technologies and intellectual property, including launch vehicles and satellites, enabling secure collaboration on space-related projects.

    This agreement enhances the strategic partnership between Canada and the United States and fosters growth in Canada’s commercial space sector by permitting the launch of US technology from Canadian soil.

    Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said: “Canada’s vibrant and growing commercial space launch industry relies on its ability to collaborate across borders.

    “The conclusion of negotiations between Canada and the United States means that we are one step closer to finalising this agreement, which, when in force, will position our country to be a global leader in commercial space launch.”

    Implications for Spaceport Nova Scotia

    Maritime Launch, the company developing the first commercial-scale spaceport in Canada, has hailed the agreement as a pivotal moment for the Canadian space sector.

    The company embarked on the first suborbital launch from Scotia in 2023 and is planning the first orbital launch in early 2026.

    Stephen Matier, President and CEO of Maritime Launch Services, added: “This is a major step forward for the growth of Canada’s commercial space industry.

    “As we finalise the construction of Spaceport Nova Scotia, we will ensure our spaceport meets the compliance requirements and all of the unique needs of our launch vehicle clients based in the US and their global satellite customer base.

    “We look forward to welcoming our American clients to Nova Scotia in the coming months as we prepare for Canada’s first orbital launch from Spaceport Nova Scotia in 2026”.

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  • Is an old NASA probe about to redraw the frontier of the solar system?

    Is an old NASA probe about to redraw the frontier of the solar system?

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    New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

    NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is hurtling out of the solar system at an incredible speed. It is currently about 8 billion kilometres from the sun, and by the time you finish reading this story, it will have sped thousands of kilometres further into the frigid gloom. It is lonely out there. Even the giant planet Jupiter is but a tiny speck.

    New Horizons is mainly known for giving us our first proper look at the dwarf planet Pluto in 2015. Until then, we had only seen it as a blurry smudge. It has also taught us much about the solar system’s outer reaches and the small, frozen worlds that float there. “It’s really been an Alice in Wonderland kind of story,” says Alan Stern, the principal investigator of the mission. “It’s been dreamlike and we’ve discovered wonderful things.”

    However, the dream isn’t over yet because New Horizons may be poised for a surprise final act. In early 2024, one of its detectors recorded an unexpected uptick in the amount of dust it was encountering. Since that material could have been created in collisions between rock fragments, astronomers now wonder if there are many objects beyond the rubble-strewn Kuiper belt often considered the edge of the solar system. If so, our system’s boundaries will need to be redrawn and our models of how it formed thrown into doubt.

    Stern and his colleagues are obviously keen to take advantage of their probe’s unique position to learn more about this unexplored wilderness while they still can. “It’s an…

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  • Investigating the origins of the Crab Nebula with NASA’s Webb

    Investigating the origins of the Crab Nebula with NASA’s Webb

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    A team of scientists used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to parse the composition of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.

    With the telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), the team gathered data that is helping to clarify the Crab Nebula’s history.

    The findings are published in a paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

    What is the Crab Nebula and why is it unusual?

    The Crab Nebula is the result of a core-collapse supernova from the death of a massive star.

    The much fainter remnant observed today is an expanding shell of gas and dust and outflowing wind powered by a pulsar, a rapidly spinning and highly magnetised neutron star.

    Its atypical composition and very low explosion energy have previously been explained by an electron-capture supernova — a rare type of explosion that arises from a star with a less-evolved core made of oxygen, neon, and magnesium rather than a more typical iron core.

    “The Webb data will widen the possible interpretation,” stated Tea Temim, lead author of the study.

    “The composition of the gas no longer requires an electron-capture explosion, but could also be explained by a weak iron core-collapse supernova.”

    Studying the present to understand the past

    Past research efforts have calculated the total kinetic energy of the explosion based on the quantity and velocities of the present-day ejecta.

    However, this theory does not agree with observations of the Crab Nebula, particularly the pulsar’s rapid motion.

    In recent years, astronomers have also improved their understanding of iron core-collapse supernovae and now think that this type can also produce low-energy explosions, providing that the stellar mass is adequately low.

    What did the Webb measurements reveal?

    To lower the level of uncertainty surrounding the Crab’s progenitor star and the nature of the explosion, the team used Webb’s spectroscopic capabilities to study two areas located within the Crab’s inner filaments.

    Theories predict that because of the different chemical composition of the core in an electron-capture supernova, the nickel to iron (Ni/Fe) abundance ratio should be much higher than the ratio measured in our Sun.

    The Webb telescope, with its sensitive infrared capabilities, is now advancing Crab Nebula research. The team used MIRI’s spectroscopic abilities to measure the nickel and iron emission lines, resulting in a more reliable estimate of the Ni/Fe abundance ratio.

    They found that the ratio was still elevated compared to the Sun, but only modestly and much lower in comparison to prior estimates.

    Mapping Crab’s current state

    Besides pulling spectral data from two small regions of the Crab Nebula’s interior to measure the abundance ratio, the telescope also observed the remnant’s broader environment to understand details of the synchrotron emission and the dust distribution.

    The images and data collected by MIRI enabled the team to isolate the dust emission within the Crab and map it in high resolution for the first time.

    “Where dust is seen in the Crab is interesting because it differs from other supernova remnants, like Cassiopeia A and Supernova 1987A,” said Nathan Smith, co-author of the paper.

    He concluded: “In those objects, the dust is in the very centre. In the Crab, the dust is found in the dense filaments of the outer shell.”

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  • Supercomputer reveals insights about NASA’s Roman mission

    Supercomputer reveals insights about NASA’s Roman mission

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    Using supercomputers, scientists have created nearly four million simulated images depicting the cosmos as NASA’s Roman mission will see it.

    The team is now releasing a 10-terabyte subset of data from the Roman mission, with the remaining 390 terabytes to follow once they’ve been processed.

    “Using Argonne’s now-retired Theta supercomputer, we accomplished in about nine days what would have taken around 300 years on your laptop,” said Katrin Heitmann, a cosmologist and deputy director of Argonne’s High Energy Physics division.

    “The results will shape Roman’s future attempts to illuminate dark matter and dark energy while offering other scientists a preview of the types of things they’ll be able to explore using data from the telescopes.”

    Revealing the most accurate data from the Roman mission

    For the first time, this simulation factored in the telescopes’ instrument performance, making it the most accurate preview yet of the cosmos as Roman will see it.

    The simulation’s precision is important because scientists will comb through the observatories’ future data in search of tiny features that will help them unravel the biggest mysteries in cosmology.

    The Roman mission will explore dark energy, the mysterious force thought to be accelerating the Universe’s expansion. Simulations made from the study can help us to understand signatures that each instrument imprints on the images and iron out data processing methods now so they can decipher future data correctly.

    Jim Chiang, a staff scientist at DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, explained: “The research gives us a chance to exercise our processing pipelines, better understand our analysis codes, and accurately interpret the results so we can prepare to use the real data right away once it starts coming in.”

    Ramping up observations after the launch

    The project will ramp up further once the Roman mission begins observing the Universe.

    “We’ll use the observations to make our simulations even more accurate,” Kiessling said.

    “This will give us greater insight into the evolution of the Universe over time and help us better understand the cosmology that ultimately shaped it.”

    The full simulation, which will be released later this year, will span 70 square degrees, which is about the sky area covered by 350 full moons.

    The project, along with other simulation tools being developed by Roman’s Science Operations and Science Support centres, will prepare scientists for the large datasets expected from the Roman mission.

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  • Starliner and Starship launches propel space industry into a new era

    Starliner and Starship launches propel space industry into a new era

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    SpaceX successfully launched its Starship rocket on the same day that Boeing’s Starliner craft made its first crewed flight, a sign that the space industry is hotting up

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