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TNPer
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The first flight of a tiny experimental Japanese rocket, touted as the world's smallest booster designed to launch a satellite in orbit, failed Sunday (Jan. 15), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency officials said.
The three-stage rocket, called SS-520-4, was the size of a telephone pole and launched from Japan's Uchinoura Space Center at 8:33 a.m. Japan Time (6:33 p.m. EST or 2333 GMT on Saturday, Jan. 14), but a communications failure forced JAXA flight controllers to abort the ignition of the rocket's second stage, according to a translated JAXA mission update. The rocket and its tiny payload, a microsatellite called TRICOM-1, ultimately fell in to the sea southeast of the Uchinoura center in Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture. Fish in Space -- "Traveling Aboard the ISS Suffered Immediate Microgravitational Stress" --> Read the full article here
Life in so-called 'microgravity' environments - where the force of gravity is considerably less than on Earth - can cause significant problems for the human body. Astronauts who spend a number of months in space have been shown to suffer from reduced bone mineral density, leading to skeletal problems as well as fluid shift, increase in blood pressure, and dizziness. Surprisingly, the loss of calcium starts at least 10 days after launch in astronauts in Skylab Flights, but the precise molecular mechanisms responsible for such changes in bone structure are unclear.
To further study the effects of microgravity, fish were launched in 2014 to travel aboard the International Space Station where they suffered a near-immediate reduction in bone density upon encountering the microgravity environment of orbit, according to research published recently in Scientific Reports by a team of biologists at Tokyo Institute of Technology led by Akira Kudo who conducted remote imaging experiments on the newly-hatched medaka fish, also known Japanese rice fish native to east and mainland southeast Asia is a common denizen of rice paddies, marshes, ponds, slow-moving streams and tide pools. Many questions, few answers when it comes to space traffic management, experts say --> Read the full article here
With an ever growing number of countries and corporations launching satellites into orbit, there’s never been a greater need for thorough tracking of objects in space, but many questions need to be answered first, according to a panel of experts at a recent conference.
"The time is now to address this issue," said George Nield, Federal Aviation Administration associate administrator for commercial space transportation, speaking at a panel on space situational awareness (SSA) at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Science and Technology Forum held in Grapevine, Texas, Jan. 11. "We need to avoid the temptation because it is a complex and challenging problem to try to get everything perfect before we start taking action." SpaceX Must Still Prove That It Can Safely Launch Astronauts Into Space --> Read the full article here
The successful launch of a Falcon 9 rocket this weekend sets the stage for Elon Musk's SpaceX to regain momentum following its launch pad accident last fall, but the company is not out of the woods yet. With the Federal Aviation Administration's blessings, SpaceX settled on a short-term solution to fix the problem that caused a booster to burst into flames on Sept. 1 as it was being fueled for a routine prelaunch test.
Modifying the fueling procedures, as demonstrated during SpaceX's launch Saturday from California, is a first step. The company is working on a new design for the containers of helium that sit inside of the rocket's fuel tanks to maintain pressure. Accident investigators traced the cause of the launch pad fireball to a helium canister in the rocket's upper stage liquid oxygen tank that failed. Russia, US Mulling Joint Mission to Venus --> Read the full article here
Russia's space program and NASA are working together on a mission to Venus that would investigate some of the scorching-hot planet's biggest mysteries, including, perhaps, whether it harbors life.
An international team of scientists tasked with fleshing out the main goals of the mission, which is known as Venera-D, is wrapping up its work and will deliver its final report to NASA and the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute by the end of the month, said David Senske, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Obama's NASA made strides on commercial space, but stumbled on exploration --> Read the full article here
Under the Obama administration, NASA has had a dynamic eight years. The Mars Curiosity rover landed, intact, on the surface of the Red Planet, and the Kepler mission launched to find planets outside our Solar System. NASA's Juno spacecraft put itself into orbit around Jupiter, while the New Horizons mission flew by Pluto, marking the first time the tiny world had ever been explored. All the while, the space agency has maintained a steady human presence in lower Earth orbit, and plans to extend operations of the International Space Station until 2024.
Many of those major events had been set in motion before Obama took office, though. Still the outgoing president has left a substantial footprint on the space agency over the past eight years. In the space community, Obama will undoubtedly be heralded for focusing on stronger partnerships with the private sector. And Obama has made a big commitment to NASA's Earth Science programs, as well as the agency's investments in technology development. NASA to explore valuable, metal space rock worth $10,000 quadrillion --> Read the full article here
NASA is setting its sights on a large, metal asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter. The U.S. space agency and researchers at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration want to get a closer look at the space rock, named Psyche, because they believe it's made of valuable metals, such as nickel, iron, and gold. How Space Could Trigger a Future Economic Crisis --> Read the full article here
A report published in the journal Space Weather this week makes for sobering reading. In four scenarios envisaging the economic impact of a solar storm, the mildest triggers a daily loss to the U.S. economy of $6.2 billion, or 15 percent of daily output; the worst case sees a cost of $41.5 billion, wiping out every dollar the world's largest economy generates each day.
What sort of event could do that? Something, say, along the lines of the massive explosion on the sun akin to "thousands of nuclear bombs exploding at the same time" that happened on March 10, 1989, according to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The explosion released a vast cloud of solar plasma that raced toward the earth at a million miles an hour. When it hit Canada, the electrically charged storm knocked out Quebec's power grid, leaving 6 million people without power for nine hours. Cause of Vision Deterioration in Space Determined --> Read the full article here
Scientists have pinpointed why the vision of astronauts deteriorates after long trips in space. In a study conducted at UT Southwestern Medical Center, researchers found that constant intracranial pressure astronauts experience may be to blame. For astronauts, the intracranial pressure in zero-gravity conditions is higher when standing or sitting than it is on Earth, but lower during sleep than it is on Earth. Using a vacuum device to lower pressure for part of each day might prevent the problem.
In the study, researchers measured intracranial pressure on volunteer patients who had a port permanently placed in their head as part of treatment for cancer. These eight volunteers were flown on NASA flights one-by-one on steep up-and-down maneuvers that created 20-second intervals of weightlessness. The patients had their intracranial pressure measured during zero-gravity and the research team compared those numbers with the intracranial pressure measurements taken during standard times of sitting, lying face upward and lying with head including downward.
This week in space: a wave on Venus and a mysterious object in Cygnus A --> Read the full article here
Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, died on Monday, January 16. He was 82. NASA didn't state the cause of Cernan's death, but they did note that he had been ill for some time, and was surrounded by family at the end. Let's not let the story of human lunar exploration end with Capt. Cernan. I take leave to speculate that he wouldn't want to be the last man ever to walk on the moon.
Elsewhere in the solar system, the latest data from Pluto shows us evidence of jagged, spiky, needle-like surface features called "penitentes." If their presence is confirmed, this would be the first time these icy formations have been found anywhere other than Earth.
Venus, in its turn, has shown us some notable surface features too, but instead of fields of ice spikes, now there's a contender for the largest wave in the solar system hanging out on the Venusian surface. The researchers explain in their study: "The present study shows direct evidence of the existence of stationary gravity waves, and it further shows that such stationary gravity waves can have a very large scale - perhaps the greatest ever observed in the Solar System."
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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's experimental SS-520-4 rocket is prepared to launch the TRICOM-1 microsatellite into orbit.
The growing population of satellites and debris in orbit make improving space traffic management a key issue that should be addressed now.
Stunning image of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster stage landing on Saturday, Jan. 14.
NASA Astronaut Shane Kimbrough took images of cities by night from the ISS.
The curious gravity wave observed in the Venusian atmosphere.
Melaka Fish after only one day of exposure to microgravity aboard the International Space Station.
Artist's concept of the Psyche spacecraft.
Afterword
Thank you again for reading! Apologies, this one is shorter than last week's for two reasons: One, I was a little rushed with the first NBS Radio broadcast later today. Two, this week frankly had less news reported on science, and what was there was about 90% "what will Trump do with NASA?" - and I don't think anyone wants to read 20 articles on that. Anyway, all questions, comments, and critique are welcomed and appreciated. FTH out.
Edit: Added more pictures
