Hubble drifts over Earth after being released by the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on May 19, 2009. Service Mission 4 (SM4), the fifth visit by astronauts to the Hubble Space Telescope, was an undisputed success, with the crew performing all planned tasks during the five spacewalks. . Credit: NASA
Following the gyroscope issue, NASA successfully resumed scientific activities in hubble space telescopethe system works optimally.
NASA returned the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope to scientific operations on December 8th. The telescope temporarily suspended scientific observations on November 23 due to a problem with one of its gyros. The spacecraft is in good health and operating again using all three of her gyros.
NASA has decided to return the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope to science operations after a series of tests to determine the performance of the gyro that caused the spacecraft to suspend scientific operations.
After analyzing the data, the research team determined that scientific activities could resume under the control of the three gyros. Based on the performance observed during testing, the team decided to operate the gyro in a higher precision mode during scientific observations. Hubble’s instruments and the observatory itself remain stable and healthy.
Hubble’s two primary cameras, Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Survey Camera, resumed scientific observations on December 8th. The team plans to restore operation of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrometer later this month.
Hubble orbits more than 300 miles above Earth as seen from the Space Shuttle. Credit: NASA
About the Hubble Space Telescope
Launched in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope is a wonder of modern astronomy, orbiting Earth and capturing unprecedented views of the universe. Unlike ground-based telescopes, Hubble operates above the distortions of Earth’s atmosphere, providing clear images of distant galaxies, nebulae, and other celestial phenomena.
Its discoveries have revolutionized our understanding of the universe, from understanding the universe’s accelerating expansion to capturing the most detailed view of the solar system’s planets. Hubble’s longevity and adaptability have made it one of the most important instruments in the history of astronomy, and it continues to push the frontiers of our cosmic knowledge.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this image of a solar flare on December 14 (as seen by the bright flash in the top right).
This image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the very hot material within the flare, color-coded teal. Credit: NASA/SDO
NASA observed a significant X2.8 solar flare on December 14, 2023, with potential impacts on Earth’s technological systems. NOAASpace Weather Forecast Center.
The sun emitted a strong solar flare, reaching its peak at 12:02 p.m. EST, December 14, 2023. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which constantly monitors the Sun, captured images of the event.
A solar flare is a powerful explosion of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can affect radio communications, power grids, and navigation signals, posing a danger to spacecraft and astronauts.
This flare is classified as an X2.8 flare. The X class indicates the most powerful flare, and the numbers provide more information about its strength.
Solar flares like this one, captured by NASA satellites orbiting the sun, emit large amounts of radiation. Credit: NASA
Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation emitted from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. These are among the most powerful phenomena in the solar system and can have significant effects on Earth’s space environment.
These flares are classified according to their intensity. The classification is as follows. X class flare: The most intense flare. They can cause global radio interference and long-term radiation storms that can affect satellites and astronauts. X-class flares are further classified by number, with higher numbers indicating more powerful flares. For example, an X2 flare is twice as strong as an X1 flare and four times as strong as an X0.5 flare. M class flare: Medium intensity flare. In polar regions, it can cause short-term radio interference and small radiation storms. While not as powerful as an X-class flare, they can still have a noticeable impact on Earth’s space weather. C class flare: These are small flares that have little noticeable impact on Earth. These are more common than M-class and X-class flares, but are usually too weak to significantly affect space weather. B class and A class flares: These are even smaller flares and are often undetectable without specialized solar observation equipment. They have minimal, if any, impact on the planet.
This classification is based on the peak luminous flux (number of photons) in watts per square meter measured in Earth’s orbit by the GOES spacecraft. This system allows you to quickly and easily communicate the strength of solar flares and their potential impact on space weather and Earth.
Artist’s concept for the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is a pivotal mission in the study of the Sun, playing a key role in understanding our closest star. Launched on February 11, 2010, SDO is specifically designed to observe and understand solar activity that influences weather on Earth and in space.
The primary goal of SDO is to better understand the Sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere simultaneously at small space and time scales and at many wavelengths. This is very important for understanding the influence of the Sun on the Earth, especially the magnetic field and the space environment.
The SDO is equipped with a range of advanced equipment. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) acquires high-resolution images of the solar atmosphere, the Solar Seismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) studies the solar magnetic field and the dynamic motion of the Sun’s interior, and the Extreme Ultraviolet Fluctuations Experiment (EVE) studies the solar magnetic field. Measure. UV output.
One of SDO’s most important contributions is its ability to continuously observe the Sun in detail at multiple wavelengths. These observations provide a comprehensive view of solar activity, including flares, coronal mass ejections, and changes in the solar magnetic field. Data from SDO has helped advance our understanding of the Sun’s complex and dynamic magnetic field, its energy output, and how these factors interact to drive space weather.
In summary, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is a key asset in solar science, providing valuable data that helps scientists better understand the behavior of the Sun and its effects on space weather and Earth.
NASA’s Starling mission will test new technologies for autonomous swarm navigation on four CubeSats in low Earth orbit.Credit: NASA Ames Research Center
NASAThe four Starling spacecraft, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde, have successfully completed commissioning and are now in group experiment configuration. The spacecraft successfully completed several mission activities aimed at advancing satellite constellation technology.
Payload commissioning was delayed due to several anomalies that the team had to investigate. GPS Satellite data is included more than expected at the spacecraft-to-payload interface. Software updates have resolved most of these issues and the CubeSat has begun its planned work.
Starling’s mission will include network communications between spacecraft, maintaining relative navigation and understanding each satellite’s position, autonomous swarm reconfiguration and reconfiguration to ensure the swarm can adapt as it moves as a group. It includes four main features of decentralized scientific autonomy: maintenance, and proving the ability to coordinate experiments. own activities.
NASA’s six-month Starling mission will use a team of four CubeSats in low-Earth orbit to test technologies that allow spacecraft to operate synchronously without using resources from the ground. This technology will advance capabilities in swarm maneuver planning and execution, communications networking, relative navigation, and autonomous coordination between spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Conceptual Image Lab/Ross Walter
NASA’s Starling Mission
NASA’s Starling mission represents a significant advance in the field of satellite technology. The mission features a group of small satellites named Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde, known as CubeSats. These CubeSats are designed to operate in swarms and demonstrate advanced concepts in autonomous satellite interaction.
The main objectives of the Starling mission are:
Network communication: CubeSats have the ability to communicate with each other, forming complex networks in space. This allows for coordinated activities and data sharing between satellites.
Relative navigation: A key feature of this mission is that each CubeSat can accurately understand its position relative to other CubeSats. This ensures precise maneuvering and positioning within the swarm.
Autonomous Swarm reconfiguration: Satellites can autonomously reconfigure their positions within the swarm. This capability is critical to adapting to varying mission requirements and maintaining optimal formation during operations.
Autonomy of decentralized science: CubeSats can independently coordinate experimental activities. This feature indicates the potential for future space missions to adapt and respond to environmental changes and mission objectives without requiring direct intervention from Earth.
Through these innovative CubeSats, the Starling mission aims to improve the understanding and capabilities of satellite constellation technology and potentially revolutionize the way we approach space exploration and satellite operations.
OSIRIS-REx collected a half-pound sample from the surface of the asteroid Bennu in October 2020. The mission’s sample return capsule landed at the ministry on September 24 with the help of a parachute, similar to the training model shown in the August 30 test. The Defense Force’s Utah Test and Training Range is located in the desert outside of Salt Lake City.Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
NASA‘s osiris rex Despite a minor issue with parachute deployment due to mismatched wiring labels, we successfully returned the sample from Bennu. The main parachute compensated and ensured a safe landing, and further investigation is planned to confirm the cause.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule parachuted into the Utah desert on September 24, 2023, safely delivering a container of rocks and dust collected from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Although the delivery was successful, the landing sequence did not go completely to plan and the small parachute, known as a drogue, did not deploy as expected.
After a thorough review of the descent video and the capsule’s extensive documentation, NASA concluded that due to inconsistent definitions of wiring labels in the design plans, engineers were unable to wire the parachute release trigger and deploy the drogue chute. It was discovered that the signals may have been fired out of order.
A sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after landing in the desert at the Defense Department’s Utah Test and Training Range on September 24, 2023. The sample was collected from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in October 2020.Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
The drogue was expected to deploy at an altitude of approximately 100,000 feet. This was designed to slow and stabilize the capsule during its approximately five-minute descent before deploying the main parachute at an altitude of approximately 10,000 feet. Instead, a signal activated the system at 100,000 feet, which separated the drogue while it was still stuffed into the capsule. When the capsule reached an altitude of 9,000 feet, the drogue deployed. The holding cord had already been severed, so the drogue was quickly released from the capsule. The main parachute deployed as expected and its design was robust enough to stabilize and slow the capsule, allowing him to land safely more than a minute earlier than expected. There were no adverse effects on OSIRIS-REx’s Bennu sample as a result of the unexpected drogue deployment.
In the design plans for the system, the word “main” was used contradictoryly between the device transmitting the electrical signal and the device receiving the signal. On the traffic light side, “main” means the main parachute. In contrast, on the receiver side, “main” was used to refer to the fireworks that would be ignited to release the cover of the parachute’s canister and deploy the drogue. Technicians connected his two main power sources, causing the parachute’s deployment motion to occur out of order.
To confirm the root cause, NASA plans to test the system that releases the parachute. This hardware is currently in one of his glove boxes containing Bennu samples at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Once the on-site curation team completes processing the sample material (the mission’s top priority at this point), NASA engineers will be able to access the parachute’s hardware to examine the cause.
Flaring, the deliberate burning of excess natural gas into the atmosphere, is one way methane is released from oil and gas facilities. His EMIT mission for NASA, over more than a year of operation, demonstrated its proficiency in discovering methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from space.
Since its launch 16 months ago, the EMIT imaging spectrometer has international space station demonstrated the ability to detect more than just surface minerals. More than a year after first detecting a methane plume from its perch on the International Space Station (ISS), data from NASA’s EMIT instrument is now being used to analyze greenhouse gas emissions with a level of proficiency that surprised even its designers. used to identify source emissions.
EMIT‘s mission and capabilities
EMIT, which stands for Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, was launched in July 2022 to map 10 major minerals on the surface of the world’s arid regions. Mineral-related observations are already available. researcher and the general public to better understand how dust in the atmosphere affects the climate.
Methane detection was not part of EMIT‘s primary mission, but the instrument’s designers expected the imaging spectrometer to have that capability. More than 750 sources of emissions have been identified since August 2022, some of which are small, located in remote areas, and persistent over long periods of time, according to a new study published in the journal However, this device is said to have achieved more than sufficient results in that respect. scientific progress.
EMIT identified a cluster of 12 methane plumes within a 150 square mile (400 square kilometer) area in southern Uzbekistan on September 1, 2022. The instrument captured this cluster, which the researchers call a “scene,” in a single shot.
Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology
Methane emissions and climate change
“We were a little cautious at first about what this device could do,” said Andrew Thorpe, a research engineer on the EMIT science team. NASAis a researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the paper’s lead author. “It exceeded our expectations.”
Knowing where methane emissions are coming from gives operators of landfills, agricultural sites, oil and gas facilities, and other methane-producing facilities the opportunity to address methane emissions. Tracking human methane emissions is key to limiting climate change because it provides a relatively low-cost and rapid approach to reducing greenhouse gases. Methane remains in the atmosphere for about 10 years, during which time it traps heat up to 80 times more strongly than carbon dioxide, which remains for centuries.
When strong winds kick up mineral rock dust(such as calcite or chlorite) on one continent, the airborne particles can travel thousands of miles and impact an entirely different continent. Airborne dust can heat or cool the atmosphere and the ground. This heating or cooling effect is the focus of NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission.
Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology
amazing results
EMIT has proven effective in detecting both large-scale sources (tens of thousands of pounds of methane per hour) and surprisingly small sources (hundreds of pounds of methane per hour). It has been. This is important because it will allow us to identify more “superemitters,” or sources that produce a disproportionate share of total emissions.
A new study documents how EMIT was able to observe 60% to 85% of the methane plumes typically seen during airborne operations, based on the first 30 days of greenhouse gas detections.
On September 3, 2022, EMIT detected a methane plume emitting approximately 979 pounds (444 kilograms) per hour in a remote corner of southeastern Libya. This is one of the smallest sources ever detected by this instrument.
Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology
Comparison with airborne detection
From thousands of feet above the ground, an aircraft’s methane detection equipment is more sensitive, but researchers need advance notice that they will detect methane before the aircraft can be dispatched. Many areas are not explored because they are considered too remote, too dangerous, or too expensive. Furthermore, actual campaigns cover a relatively limited area over a short period of time.
EMIT, on the other hand, will collect data from a space station at an altitude of about 400 kilometers, covering a wide area of the Earth, especially the arid region between 51.6 degrees north and 51.6 degrees south latitude. The imaging spectrometer produces a 50-mile-by-50-mile (80-kilometer-by-80-kilometer) image of the Earth’s surface (researchers call it a “scene”), including many areas that could not be reached with airborne instruments. capture.
“The number and size of methane plumes that EMIT has measured around our planet is astonishing,” said Robert O. Green. JPL Senior Researcher and Principal Investigator at EMIT.
We created this time-lapse video showing the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm moving NASA’s EMIT mission outside the station. The Dragon spacecraft was launched…
To help identify sources, the EMIT science team created maps of methane plumes and identified them as Websitethe underlying data are available at the NASA and U.S. Geological Survey Joint Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LPDAAC). Data from this mission will be available to the public, scientists, and organizations.
EMIT began collecting observations in August 2022 and has since recorded more than 50,000 scenes. The instrument discovered clusters of emission sources in little-studied areas. Southern Uzbekistan On September 1, 2022, we detected 12 methane plumes totaling approximately 49,734 pounds (22,559 kilograms) per hour.
Additionally, the instrument detected a much smaller plume than expected.captured in a secluded corner Southeastern Libya On September 3, 2022, one of the smallest sources to date was emitting 979 pounds (444 kilograms) per hour, based on local wind speed estimates.
Reference: “Attribution of Individual Methane and Carbon Dioxide Sources Using EMIT Observations from Space” Andrew K. Thorpe, Robert O. Green, David R. Thompson, Philip G. Brodrick, John W. Chapman, Clayton D. Elder, Itziar, Iraklis-Leuchert, Daniel H. Cusworth, Alana K. Ayasse, Riley M. Duren, Christian Frankenberg, Louis Gunter, John R. Warden, Philip.・E. Dennison, Dar A. Roberts, K. Dana Chadwick, Michael L. Eastwood, Jay E. Farren and Charles E. Miller, November 17, 2023, scientific progress.
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh2391
EMIT mission details
EMIT was selected from the Earth Venture Instrument-4 public offering by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate’s Earth Sciences Division and was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Data from this instrument is publicly available for use by other researchers and the public at the NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center.
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