Front Page / Titelseite

Neue “Sternbilder” aus Gammastrahlenquellen: Astronomen taufen 21 neue Konstellationen – von Einstein bis zum Raumschiff Enterprise

Himmelsbilder im Gammalicht: Es gibt 21 neue Konstellationen am Himmel – ihre Motive reichen von der Saturn-5-Rakete über Godzilla, Einstein und dem Raumschiff Enterprise bis zu Schrödingers Katze. Mit bloßem Auge sind diese neuen Konstellationen allerdings nicht sichtbar, denn ihre Lichtpunkte bestehen aus Gammastrahlenquellen – Pulsaren, Schwarzen Löchern oder Sternexplosionen. Aufgespürt hat sie das Gammastrahlen-Weltraumteleskop Fermi der NASA.

Einstein and the Incredible Hulk Now Have Their Own Constellations (But You’ll Never See Them)

For thousands of years, humans have looked up at the stars and ordered them into constellations: the Hulk … the TARDIS … Schrödinger’s cat. Not familiar with these? That’s probably because you can’t see them without a gamma-ray telescope — and also, NASA just invented them.

BepiColombo zum Merkur gestartet / BepiColombo on it’s Way to Merkury

BepiColombo: Start-Liveblog der Merkur-Orbiter | Skyweek Zwei Punkt Null

Alles ist „entirely nominal“ auf dem BepiColombo-Stack.

Read more… https://ift.tt/2CVz1ld via Skyweek Zwei Punkt Null https://ift.tt/2Nw0izr October 20, 2018 at 09:40AM

ESA PR 28-2018: BepiColombo blasts off to investigate Mercury’s mysteries

The ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury blasted off on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou at 01:45:28 GMT on 20 October on its exciting mission to study the mysteries of the Solar System’s innermost planet. Signals from the spacecraft, received at ESA’s control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, via the New Norcia ground tracking station at 02:21 GMT confirmed that the launch was successful.

Launch replay (1,5 hours / 1,5 Std.)

Liftoff replay (liftoff only / nur Raketenstart)

BepiColombo auf dem Weg zum Merkur – Europäisch-japanische Mission erforscht den kleinsten Planeten des Sonnensystems

Die europäisch-japanische Planetenmission BepiColombo hat am Samstagmorgen begonnen. Die beiden Sonden stiegen um 3.45 Uhr deutscher Zeit an der Spitze einer Ariane-5-Rakete vom Weltraumbahnhof Kourou in Französisch-Guyana auf, teilte die Europäische Weltraumorganisation ESA mit.

BepiColombo Spacecraft Launch on 7-Year Trek to Mercury for Europe and Japan

A joint European-Japanese mission to the tiniest planet, Mercury, blasted off from French Guiana on its long journey tonight (Oct. 19, Oct. 20 GMT).

That mission, BepiColombo, will spend seven years cruising toward its target, where it will separate into two spacecraft and orbit Mercury for a year — or two, if the mission is extended. The measurements taken there could not only solve lingering mysteries about the innermost planet, but also about the formation of our solar system and neighboring ones. The whole mission cost the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) almost $2 billion, according to press reports.

Mission BepiColombo: Der lange Weg zum Merkur

Am 20. Oktober 2018 soll um 3.45 Uhr mitteleuropäischer Sommerzeit (19. Oktober 22.45 Uhr Ortszeit) die europäisch-japanische Planetenmission BepiColombo an Bord einer Ariane-5-Rakete vom Weltraumbahnhof Kourou in Französisch-Guyana ins Weltall starten. “Die Mission soll nicht nur den Planeten Merkur erforschen, sondern auch neue Erkenntnisse über unser Sonnensystem liefern”, erklärt Dr. Walther Pelzer, Vorstand für das Raumfahrtmanagement im Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR). “Einmal mehr erweist sich Japan bei dieser enormen Herausforderung als zuverlässiger Partner der Europäer in der Raumfahrt.” Rund sieben Jahre wird die lange Reise der Sonde durch das Innere des Sonnensystems dauern.

Flug zum Merkur: Europäisch-japanische Raumsonde BepiColombo sendet Signal

Die Raumsonde BepiColombo ist planmäßig zu ihrer Mission zum Merkur gestartet und hat nach einer guten halben Stunde ein erstes Signal abgesetzt.

BepiColombo highlights

Highlights from the days up to and including the exciting launch of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury.

BepiColombo’s Path: Why Does It Take So Long to Get to Mercury?

The European and Japanese space agencies launched their first mission to Mercury yesterday (Oct. 19, Oct. 20 GMT), but now, the mission’s engineers and admirers have to endure a seven-year wait before the project’s science begins in earnest. The BepiColombo mission has such a long cruise time because it’s actually really difficult to successfully orbit our tiniest planetary neighbor. It’s so difficult that it took until 1985 before an engineer figured out any way to make the orbital trajectories work out properly. The problem arises because Mercury is so small and so close to the sun.

BepiColombo: Der Transfer zum Merkur / Transfer to Mercury

Wie kommt die ESA-Merkursonde BepiColombo zum Ziel? Die optimale Transferbahn ist zugegebenermaßen micht ganz einfach auszurechnen – was aber nicht bedeutet, dass das dahinter stehende Prinzip besonders schwierig zu verstehen ist. How does the interplanetary transfer of ESA’s Mercury mission BepiColombo work? Computing the optimal trajectory arguably isn’t straightforward, but that doesn’t mean that the underlying principles are particularly difficult to grasp.

BepiColombo’s beginning ends

A stunning early morning launch lifted the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft into space on Saturday, 20 October. This marked the start of intensive, round-the-clock flight control activities to ensure the mission’s health and functioning in the harsh environment of space. At 13:45CEST on Monday 22 October, just 58 hours into its mission, the critical first segment of the fledgeling satellite’s long voyage to Mercury was wrapped up, as teams at ESA’s mission control centre declared the critical ‘launch and early orbit phase’ complete. The end of the beginning now beckons months of extensive in-orbit commissioning activities, in which operations teams will work extended hours daily until the end of December, performing tests to ensure the health of BepiColombo’s science instruments, its propulsion and other systems.

Das Missionskontrollzentrum ist bereit für die Merkur-Mission

Das verantwortliche Flugteam für die spannende BepiColombo-Mission zum Merkur schloss heute im ESOC in Darmstadt den letzten großen Schritt in den Vorbereitungen für den Start am kommenden Samstag ab. Zu der letzten Countdown- und Startsequenzübung kamen neben Experten aus dem Missionsbetrieb, der Flugdynamik, den Bodenstationen und der Softwaresysteme mit Vertretern aus Wissenschaft sowie Management-Teams und Herstellern zusammen.

BepiColombo in Pictures: A Mercury Mission by Europe and Japan

Sojus Fehlstart / Failed launch Soyuz

RIA Nowosti: Untersuchungskommission hat Schuldige für Sojus-Fehlstart gefunden

Die Staatliche Kommission der GK Roskosmos zur Untersuchung des Fehlstarts des Raumschiffes Sojus MS-10 vom 11. Oktober und die Ermittlungsorgane haben angeblich die möglichen Schuldigen für die Beschädigung eines der Sensoren der Sojus-FG-Trägerrakete gefunden. Das berichtet die Moskauer Nachrichtenagentur RIA Nowosti unter Berufung auf eine nicht genannte Quelle auf dem Kosmodrom Baikonur in Kasachstan. „Die Schuld der konkreten Mitarbeiter ist bekannt“, schreibt die Agentur.

What It Felt Like to Be Aboard the Failed Rocket Launch to the Space Station

Everything was going smoothly — until NASA astronaut Nick Hague felt a sudden tremor. “The first thing I really noticed was being shaken pretty violently side to side,” he said during his first publicly broadcast interviewssince his Soyuz rocket failed shortly after liftoff on Oct. 11. The rocket was meant to carry Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin to the International Space Station in what would have been the American’s first trip to space. Instead, the pair’s emergency rescue system kicked into action after a problem during booster separation.

Russian Soyuz Rocket Will Launch Astronauts to Space Station by Christmas, NASA Chief Says

The next set of crewmembers should launch toward the International Space Station in December, despite the failure of a Russian Soyuz rocket earlier this month, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said. That failure occurred Oct. 11, causing the Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan just minutes after liftoff. The investigation into the incident has been productive, and the Soyuz rocket likely won’t be grounded for too much longer, Bridenstine said today (Oct. 23) during a meeting of the U.S. National Space Council in Washington, D.C.

“We have a really, really good idea of what the issue is,” Bridenstine said. “We are getting very close to understanding it even better so that we can confidently launch again.” [In Photos: Space Crew’s Harrowing Abort Landing After Soyuz Failure]

After Soyuz Abort, Russia Wants 3 Successful Robotic Flights Before Next Crew Launch

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, initial report from its investigation into the failed Oct. 11 Soyuz crew launch should be complete by the end of this week, the agency announced in a statement released yesterday (Oct. 17). The agency’s head of human spaceflight, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, also said in a news conference yesterday that Roscosmos will not launch another crewed flight until three uncrewed launches are successful and the investigation’s findings have been addressed. The Oct. 11 launch was aborted a couple minutes after liftoff because of an issue with booster separation, sending the two astronauts on board plummeting back to Earth.

Soyuz Launcher Recovery Plan Starts To Emerge

“Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos will carry out three unmanned launches by the end of the year before the next manned mission will be put in space, Roscosmos’s executive director for manned space programs, Sergei Krikalyov, told a news conference on Wednesday.

Rogosin weist Gründung eines Koordinierungsrates für Trägerraketen an

Als eine erste Schlussfolgerung aus dem Sojus MS-10-Fehlstart hat der Chef der GK Roskosmos, Dmitri Rogosin, am Mittwoch die Gründung eines Koordinierungsrates für Weltraumträgerraketen (KRK) der mittleren, schweren und superschweren Klasse angewiesen.

Feature – ISS Horizions Mission Alexander Gerst

Horizons’ is the name of ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst’s second mission to the International Space Station.
The mission name evokes exploring our Universe, looking far beyond our planet and broadening our knowledge. Alexander would also like to make people realise that there is always a chance to go beyond their personal horizons. Alexander will be launched on 6 June with US astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft.
Alexander will take over command of the International Space Station for the second half of his mission. Alexander Gerst is the 11th German citizen to fly into space. The astronaut is now in the last stages of training for his challenging spaceflight. The science programme is packed with European research: more than 50 experiments will deliver benefits to people back on Earth and prepare for future space exploration.

“Horizons” – die neue Mission von Alexander Gerst

“Horizons” – so heißt die nächste Mission des deutschen ESA-Astronauten Alexander Gerst. Anfang Juni 2018 soll der 41-jährige Geophysiker mit der Expedition 56/57 seine zweite “Forschungsreise” zur Internationalen Raumstation ISS antreten. Gerst wird nach dem Belgier Frank de Winne der zweite Europäer sein, der als Kommandant auf der ISS eingesetzt wird. Knapp fünf Monate – bis Ende Oktober 2018 – soll Gerst in knapp 400 Kilometern Höhe unterwegs sein. Der englische Name der Mission, Horizons, symbolisiert dabei die Neugier und Faszination, Unbekanntes zu entdecken und zu erforschen.

Alexander Gerst: als Kommandant auf die ISS

Podcast auf Omega Tau. Dort wird über die Aufgaben des Kommandanten, über die Ausbildung zum Astronaut generell und zum Kommandant im Speziellen, sowie über wissenschaftliche Experimente auf der ISS gesprochen. Natürlich kommen auch seine Eindrücke während seines früheren Fluges 2014 zur Sprache.

41 Experimente des Alexander Gerst sind “made in Germany”

Wie kann Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) den Astronauten bei ihrem Job im All helfen und was lernen wir für die Anwendung auf der Erde daraus? Wie verhalten sich lebende Zellen in Schwerelosigkeit? Was macht der Aufenthalt im All mit unserem Immunsystem? Wie lassen sich aus Schmelzprozessen auf der ISS die industriellen Gießprozesse auf der Erde verbessern? Was können wir vom Wanderverhalten der Tiere über den Klimawandel lernen? Diese und viele weitere wissenschaftlich und gesellschaftlich relevante Fragen sollen auf der Internationalen Raumstation ISS in 41 deutschen Experimenten beantwortet werden, die das Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) für die nächste Mission von Alexander Gerst zur ISS – “horizons – Wissen für Morgen”- koordiniert und steuert.

Die Maus im Weltall – Die Seite mit der Maus

Am 06. Juni 2018 pünktlich um 13:12 Uhr ist unser Maustronaut Alexander Gerst zusammen mit der Maus zu seiner zweiten Mission ins Weltall gestartet. Sechs Monate wird er auf der Internationalen Raumstation ISS verbringen, drei Monate lang sogar als Kommandant. Die neue Mission trägt den Titel “Horizons”, das ist englisch und bedeutet “Horizonte”. Denn Alexander will herausfinden, was sich hinter dem Horizont verbirgt – und Maus und Elefant werden ihn dabei begleiten.

Das ist jetzt die Crew auf der ISS: In der hinteren Reihe schweben die Astronauten Oleg Artjemjew, Andrew Feustel, Richard Arnold und die Maus. Vorne siehst du Sergej Prokopjew, Alexander Gerst und Serena Auñón-Chancellor. Auf dem Foto hinter der Crew ist der russische Ingenieur Sergei Koroljow zu erkennen, der ein großer Weltraumpionier war.

Further news / Weitere Nachrichten – Alexander Gerst

Tastes of space

There is nothing quite like the taste of home – especially when you live on the International Space Station. For ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst that taste comes in the form of chicken ragout with mushrooms, or lentils spätzle and sausage, specifically developed by Lufthansa chefs for maximum flavour and a long shelf-life.

Happy 300 days in space!

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst has just logged 300 cumulative days in space across two missions (Blue Dot and Horizons). He reached the milestone on 16 October and now holds the record for third-longest time in orbit of any European astronaut after Thomas Reiter and Paolo Nespoli.

GK Roskosmos: Rückkehr von Alexander Gerst und Co. entscheidet sich nach dem 30. Oktober

Über das Rückkehrdatum des deutschen ESA-Astronauten Alexander Gerst und seiner Crew von der Internationalen Raumstation ISS wird erst nach dem 30. Oktober entschieden. Nach der Vorlage des Abschlussberichts der Kommission zur Untersuchung des Fehlstarts des Raumschiffes Sojus MS-10 vom 11. Oktober werde dann auch festgelegt, wann die nächste Mannschaft zur ISS fliegt und der russische Ausstieg zur Untersuchung des Lecks an der Sojus MS-09-Kapsel stattfindet, teilte die GK Roskosmos mit.

Feature – NASA’s Insight Mars Lander

Homepage – NASA’s Insight Mars Lander

BR News – Einblick in das Innerste des Mars

Noch ist der NASA-Lander Insight auf dem Weg zum Mars. Ende November soll er dort ankommen und darauf Platz nehmen. Dieses Rendezvous wird dem Roten Planeten tatsächlich unter die Haut gehen. Die NASA ist dem Mars bereits mehrfach zu Leibe gerückt – unter anderem mit den Rovern Opportunity und Curiosity sowie den Sonden Odyssey, MRO und Maven. Am 5. Mai 2018 wurde der stationäre Lander InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) zum Schnüffeln losgeschickt. InSight startete mithilfe einer rund 57 Meter großen Atlas-V-401-Rakete von der Vandenberg Air Force Basis in Kalifornien und soll am 26. November auf dem Roten Planeten ankommen. Dann wird der Lander für rund zwei Jahre zum geduldigen Spürhund.

Nasa’s InSight mission will target ‘Marsquakes’

InSight will be the first probe to focus its investigations predominantly on the interior of the Red Planet. The lander – due to touch down in November – will put seismometers on the surface to feel for “Marsquakes”. These tremors should reveal how the underground rock is layered – data that can be compared with Earth to shed further light on the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago. “As seismic waves travel through [Mars] they pick up information along the way; as they travel through different rocks,” explained Dr Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s principal investigator. “And all those wiggles you see on seismograms – scientists understand how to pull that information out. After we’ve gotten many, many Marsquakes from different directions, we can put together a three dimensional view of the inside of Mars.”

Media resources | InSight

Homepage – InSight Media Resources

Further news / Weitere Nachrichten – Insight

How NASA Mars Lander’s ‘Steampunk’ Claw Will Work (Video)

It sounds like something from a 19th-century sci-fi novel: A Mars robot with a metallic five-fingered claw that’s actuated by the melting of wax. But that robot is very real: It’s NASA’s InSight Mars lander, which launched toward the Red Planet in early May and is scheduled to touch down on Nov. 26.

Tiny Cubesat Snaps Photo of Mars for 1st Time Ever

A tiny Mars-approaching spacecraft has snapped a photo of its target, marking the first time that a cubesat has ever captured an image of the Red Planet. One of NASA’s two briefcase-size Mars Cube One (MarCO) cubesats acquired the image on Oct. 2, when it was about 8 million miles (12.8 million kilometers) from the Red Planet, agency officials said.

International Spacestation (ISS)

Liquid and Flame Science Work amid Japanese, Russian Maintenance

Two Expedition 57 astronauts are working to understand what happens to fluids being transported by spacecraft today. Another crew member also worked on combustion science gear as well as Japanese and Russian systems. Fluid physics and combustion research on the International Space Station helps scientists understand how well-known phenomena on Earth behaves in microgravity. For instance, fluids sloshing around inside fuel tanks can impact how a spaceship steers in space. The way flames burn and create soot in space can also create safety issues for crews.

Genetics, Vision and Earth Studies Aboard Station Today

Three Expedition 57 crew members are orbiting Earth today researching RNA sequencing and eye health aboard the International Space Station. The trio from the U.S., Germany and Russia also replaced combustion research hardware and activated Earth observation gear. Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor from NASA is helping scientists identify microbes and understand how their genetics change in space. She extracted and processed microbial samples today from swabbed station surfaces for later genetic sequencing using specialized hardware. Results will also help researchers observe how life adapts to the weightlessness of microgravity.

Station Preps for Japan, US Ship Operations Next Month

The International Space Station is getting ready for Japanese and U.S. cargo ship operations next month. In the meantime, the three residents onboard the orbital lab today configured science hardware and checked out safety gear. Serena Auñón-Chancellor from NASA worked in the Japanese Kibo laboratory today replacing gear inside a Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR). The MSPR provides a workspace that supplies power and video enabling research into a variety of smaller experiments. She spent the majority of the day working on video cable connections and swapping out a computer in the MSPR.

Wo und wie entstand die undichte Stelle auf der Internationalen Raumstation im August?

Für einen kleinen Schrecken am Morgen hatte Ende August ein allmählicher Druckabfall an Bord der Internationalen Raumstation ISS gesorgt. Das Problem war schon in der Nacht bemerkt worden, galt aber nicht als so schwerwiegend, als dass man die Mannschaft sofort hätte wecken müssen.

Earth / Erde

BEXUS 26/27: Höhenforschungsballons steigen in Nordschweden auf

Sie nennen sich OSCAR Q-LITE, TUBULAR, und IMUFUSION und LODESTAR: Drei Experimente von Studierenden aus mehreren europäischen Ländern sind am 17. Oktober 2018, um 7.44 Uhr mitteleuropäischer Sommerzeit mit dem Stratosphärenballon BEXUS 26 vom schwedischen Raumfahrtzentrum Esrange bei Kiruna gestartet. Der Forschungsballon erreichte während seines Fluges eine maximale Höhe von rund 27 Kilometern. Am 18. Oktober startete BEXUS 27 mit vier weiteren Experimenten. Drei der insgesamt sieben Studententeams der BEXUS-Mission des Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) und der Schwedischen Raumfahrtbehörde SNSA stammen von deutschen Hochschulen.

This Hunk of Metal Fell From Space and Landed in California

A walnut farmer in central California found a strange metal object in his orchard on Oct. 13. He called the local sheriff’s office, according to a KGET report. The sheriffs reached out to Vandenberg Air Force Base, and experts there reportedly said the burnt husk was likely a fuel tank from an Iridium communications satellite. Specifically, it came from Iridium 70, which according to the satellite tracking site n2yo.com fell out of its orbit three days earlier, on Oct. 10.

TerraSAR-X und TanDEM-X: Detailliertes Höhenmodell der Erde

Seit mehr als zehn Jahren umkreist der deutsche Radarsatellit TerraSAR-X die Erde, seit 2010 hat er Gesellschaft von TanDEM-X. Gemeinsam haben beide Satelliten in den vergangenen Jahren die Erdoberfläche abgetastet und so Daten für ein detailliertes Höhenmodell der Erde gesammelt. Dieses steht nun kostenfrei für wissenschaftliche Zwecke zur Verfügung.

Solar System / Sonnensystem

Zum zweiten Mal ganz nah an den Asteroiden Ryugu heran | Skyweek Zwei Punkt Null

geht es für Hayabusa 2 von heute bis übermorgen nach dem erfolgreichen Abstieg bis 22.3 Meter am 15. Oktober (TD1-R1-A;

Read more (Überschrift “Zum zweiten Mal ganz nah an den Asteroiden Ryugu heran”) … https://skyweek.wordpress.com/2018/10/21/allgemeines-live-blog-ab-dem-21-oktober-2018/ via Skyweek Zwei Punkt Null https://skyweek.wordpress.com – October 20, 2018 at 09:40AM

Curiosity Rover on Mars Exercises Its ‘New’ Brain (Photo)

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is putting its “new” brain to work a bit while mission team members try to fix a memory issue with the “old” one.

Die seltsame Wolke am Mars-Vulkan Arsia Mons ist immer noch

Allgemeines Live-Blog ab dem 21. Oktober 2018: siehe die Überschriften

“Die Mars-Wolke ist normale – und bekannte – Meteorologie”
“Die seltsame Wolke am Mars-Vulkan ist immer noch da”

zum Link. https://ift.tt/2ExHahc

via Skyweek Zwei Punkt Null https://ift.tt/2Nw0izr October 22, 2018 at 12:25AM

Jupiter’s Atmosphere & the Great Red Spot

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is putting its “new” brain to work a bit while mission team members try to fix a memory issue with the “old” one.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Checks for Collision Hazards As It Nears Asteroid Bennu

After a huge team of engineers has spent years building a $800 million spacecraft, you want to be sure the craft doesn’t bang into anything before it even gets a chance to start work in earnest.

Salty Martian Water Could Have Enough Oxygen to Support Life

Salty water buried just beneath the Martian surface could have enough dissolved oxygen to support microbes, and perhaps even simple animal life such as sponges in some places, a new study suggests. This surprising conclusion could help reshape scientists’ understanding of the Red Planet’s habitability, both past and present, study team members said.

PIA22796: Three Waves at Jupiter

Three waves can be seen in this image, which is an excerpt of a JunoCam image taken on Feb. 2, 2017, during Juno’s fourth flyby of Jupiter (perijove 4). The region imaged in this picture is part of the visibly dark band just north of Jupiter’s equator known as the North Equatorial Belt. Most of this belt is characterized by downwelling motions, but during perijove 4 it had several bright areas of upwelling clouds.

Beyond Solar System / Milchstraße & Kosmos

Astronomers Just Caught the Tiniest Cannibal Galaxy in the Universe

The sky is full of cannibals. Astronomers have long suspected that massive galaxies like the Milky Way become so big over time by swallowing up stars from their smaller cosmic neighbors. However, new research suggests that little galaxies also have big appetites.

The Cat’s Paw Nebula MIPS & IRAC

NASA’s Ailing Planet-Hunting Kepler Telescope Is Offline Again

NASA’s long-suffering Kepler Space Telescope returned to sleep mode just a few days after its most recent observing campaign began, the agency said in a statement released yesterday (Oct. 23). “Following a successful return of data from the last observation campaign, the Kepler team commanded the spacecraft into position to begin collecting data for its next campaign,” the NASA statement read. “On Friday October 19, during a regularly scheduled spacecraft contact using NASA’s Deep Space Network, the team learned that the spacecraft had transitioned to its no-fuel-use sleep mode.”

Politics / Politik

NASA-Chef bekräftigt Bereitschaft zur Zusammenarbeit mit Russland an Mondprojekt

Der Chef der US-Luft- und Raumfahrtbehörde NASA, Jim Bridenstine, hat die Bereitschaft seines Landes bekräftigt, mit Russland an der Verwirklichung des Gateway-Projektes zum Bau einer Raumstation für die Mondumkreisung zusammenzuarbeiten.

NASA-Chef Bridenstine: Beziehungen zwischen USA und Russland im Weltraum stärker denn je

Der Chef der US-Luft- und Raumfahrtbehörde NASA, Jim Bridenstine, hat die gute Kosmos-Zusammenarbeit seines Landes mit Russland gewürdigt. „Die Beziehungen zwischen den USA und Russland im Weltraum sind möglicherweise jetzt stärker denn je zuvor“, sagte er in einem TV-Gespräch mit dem Astronauten Nick Hague mit Blick auf den glücklichen Ausgang der Notlandung des Raumschiffes Sojus MS-10 vom vergangenen Donnerstag.

Is NASA Leading A Shift In Administration Climate Change Views?

“Koren: The United Nations recently released a troubling new report on climate change that outlined some of the devastating effects the planet should expect to see in the coming years. You’ve said before that you believe rising temperatures can be attributed to human activity. But many of your fellow Republicans in Congress and the White House dismissed the news. Where do you stand on the report?

Space Force to be the Topic of Next National Space Council Meeting

The status of proposals to create a separate branch of the U.S. military devoted to space will be the subject of the next meeting of the National Space Council on Oct. 23. Vice President Mike Pence, in an Oct. 12 tweet, said that the interagency group will discuss “progress made and next steps” on the formation of a Space Force, a plan formally announced by President Trump at the council’s last meeting in June.

Would a Space Force Mean the End of NASA?

Space, that final frontier, is something that catches the attention of a country naturally inclined to believe in ideas like “Manifest Destiny” and American exceptionalism. But how well does a Space Force fit that bill? And would a Space Force reignite a military space race and fuel diplomatic tensions with China and Russia?

Can Sanctioned Roscosmos Chief Rogozin Visit The U.S.?

“The White House has temporarily lifted an entry ban imposed on the head of Russia’s federal space agency to allow him to visit the United States, the head of NASA has said in an interview with Russian media.”

Space Force Policy Memo Being Drafted to Establish New Military Branch

Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday will hold a meeting of the National Space Council at the National Defense University to discuss the next steps toward creating a Space Force as a new branch of the U.S. military. During the last meeting of the council on June 18, Trump ordered the Pentagon to set up a Space Force but the president has not yet issued an official policy directive that lays out the steps ahead.

Plans for Space Force Laid Out at National Space Council Meeting

During the fourth public meeting of the newly revived National Space Council, chairman Mike Pence and other council members described the path forward needed to develop a sixth branch of the military known as the U.S. Space Force. Pence, who is also the U.S. vice president, gave the opening remarks at the meeting Oct. 23, which was held at the National Defense University in Washington.

Technology / Technologie

X-37B Military Space Plane Wings Past 400 Days on Latest Mystery Mission

The latest mystery mission of the U.S. Air Force’s robotic X-37B space plane has now passed the 400-day mark . This mission — known as Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-5) — was rocketed into Earth orbit on Sept. 7, 2017, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Saturn V Rockets & Apollo Spacecraft

The Apollo missions were the answer to a challenge issued by President John F. Kennedy to put a man on the moon. But just to get there, scientists had to build a powerful rocket. And to actually land on the moon and return the astronauts safely, NASA had to develop new spacecraft and a new type of rocket.

Chandra X-ray Observatory Should Return to Action Next Week

A flagship NASA space telescope remains on course to return to action next week. A balky orientation-maintaining gyroscope sent the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has been observing the heavens in high-energy light since 1999, into a protective “safe mode” on Oct. 10. But that problem is nearly solved, mission team members said today.

Mit Roboterschwärmen auf Erkundung in unserem Sonnensystem

In der Abschlussveranstaltung des vom DLR-Raumfahrtmanagement geförderten Projekts VaMEx -CoSMiC (Valles Marineris Explorer – Cooperative Swarm Navigation, Mission and Control) demonstrierte das DLR, dass Schwärme in der Lage sind, ein neues Kapitel in der Raumfahrt zu schreiben. Statt mit nur einem Roboter sollen ferne Welten künftig mit einem Schwarm von autonomen Rovern oder Drohnen erkundet werden. Das DLR bereitet am Institut für Kommunikation und Navigation seit mehreren Jahren diesen neuen Ansatz zur Exploration auf Monden und Planeten unseres Sonnensystems vor.

Hubble Safe Mode

Update on the Hubble safe mode

NASA continues to work toward resuming science operations of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope after the spacecraft entered safe mode due to a failed gyroscope on Friday 5 October (ann1811). Following the gyroscope failure, the Hubble operations team turned on a backup gyroscope on the spacecraft. However, that gyroscope did not perform as expected, reporting rotation rates that are orders of magnitude higher than they actually are. Since then tests were conducted to assess the condition of that backup gyroscope.

Hubble Is Getting Back To Normal

“NASA took great strides last week to press into service a Hubble Space Telescope backup gyroscope (gyro) that was incorrectly returning extremely high rotation rates.”

Hubble Space Telescope Nearly Ready for Action Again

It looks like NASA’s famous Hubble Space Telescope has recovered from the glitch that knocked the observatory offline more than two weeks ago. On Oct. 5, Hubble went into a protective “safe mode” after one of its orientation-maintaining gyroscopes failed. Mission team members tried to recruit a backup gyro, but that instrument refused to behave, returning anomalous readings.

Nasa ‘fixes’ Hubble malfunction

Nasa believes it has fixed a malfunction with the Hubble telescope which threatened to limit the orbiting observatory’s performance.

NASA Tests Astronaut Survival Systems for Orion Splashdowns

NASA and the U.S. Air Force recently tested astronaut survival systems for the first time since the space shuttles stopped flying in 2011. Those tests were part of the agency’s preparations for the first crewed flights of its Orion module, which is designed to carry astronauts out of our immediate neighborhood and toward more exotic destinations like the moon and Mars.

Entertainment / Unterhaltung

AstroCritic Review: ‘First Man’ Shows You What Real Astronauts Are Like

I grew up in the 1960s, during the beginning of the space race. The first astronauts were my heroes, and it was the Apollo 11 moon landing that kicked off my dream of becoming an astronaut myself. I can remember like it was yesterday, when I was an 8-year-old, watching the scene unfold in the mission control center as Eagle approached the surface of the moon and then actually landed.

World / Welt

Moon Science! NASA Needs Experiment Ideas for Commercial Lunar Landers

NASA has opened a submission period for commercial moon-lander proposals, noting that selected technology might fly as soon as next year.

How to Get to Mars: ‘Trailblazing’ Experts Talk Red Planet Exploration

A monthslong journey. Docking on a faraway moon. What scenarios would make a human voyage to Mars possible? In late September, four experts participated in an hourlong conversation about what a mission to Mars would actually look like. “An Evening with Trailblazers — Are We Going to Mars?” took place at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, on Sept. 26.

Rocket Lab Picks Virginia Spaceport As US Launch Site for Small Satellites

he private spaceflight company Rocket Lab has a new spaceport, and it’s in Virginia. The California-based startup Rocket Lab, which aims to corner the small-satellite launch market with its Electron boosters, unveiled plans to launch missions from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport overseen by Virginia Space. The first mission could fly as early as next year.

Rumänischer Kosmonaut hielt Vortrag im Berliner Zeiss-Großplanetarium

Der erste und bisher einzige Kosmonaut Rumäniens, Dumitru Prunariu, hat am Montag im Berliner Zeiss-Großplanetarium einen Vortrag über die Entwicklung der Raumfahrt von Juri Gagarin 1961 bis zur Internationalen Raumstation ISS gehalten. Einen besonderen Akzent legte er dabei auf das Interkosmos-Programm, in dessen Rahmen vor nunmehr 40 Jahren die Verbündeten der damaligen UdSSR die Möglichkeit erhielten, mit sowjetischen Raumschiffen zur Raumstation Salut 6 zu fliegen. Ehrengast des Abends war Sigmund Jähn, der im August 1978 als dritter Interkosmonaut der erste Deutsche im All war und die DDR zum 5. Staat der Welt mit einem eigenen Raumfahrer machte.

Mercury Capsule Exhibit to Preview Cosmosphere Satellite Location

The historic capsule that carried the second American to fly into space is set to land in the second most populous city in Kansas in early 2019.

Science / Wissenschaft

Extrasolare Planeten: Von Supererden und Mini-Neptunen

Wissenschaftler haben jetzt die Zusammensetzung und Struktur von weit entfernten Exoplaneten samt ihren Atmosphären mit statistischen Methoden analysiert. Die Studie liefert Daten darüber, ob ein ferner Himmelskörper erdähnlich ist, aus reinem Gestein oder aus einer Welt aus Wasser besteht. Je größer der Planet ist, desto mehr Wasserstoff und Helium umgibt ihn offenbar.

Frag astronews.com: Konnten die Apollo-Astronauten auf dem Mond keine Sterne sehen, warum ist dies dann von der ISS möglich?

Astro Pi Challenge: Raspi-Programme laufen im All

Bei der Europäischen Astro Pi Challenge können Jugendliche wissenschaftliche Experimente entwerfen, die auf der Internationalen Space Station laufen. Bereits zum zweiten Mal veranstalten die Europäische Weltraumorganisation ESA und die Raspberry Pi Foundation die Astro Pi Challenge: auf der Internationalen Raumstation ISS warten zwei besonders ausgestattete Raspberry Pis auf wissenschaftliche Experimente von Jugendlichen. Botschafter des Wettbewerbs ist in diesem Jahr Alexander Gerst, der vor kurzem als erster deutscher Astronaut das Kommando über die ISS übernommen hat.

Extraterrestrial Life Could Be Purple

Alien life might be purple. That’s the conclusion of a new research paper that suggests that the first life on Earth might have had a lavender hue. In the International Journal of Astrobiology, microbiologist Shiladitya DasSarma of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and postdoctoral researcher Edward Schwieterman at the University of California, Riverside, argue that before green plants started harnessing the power of the sun for energy, tiny purple organisms figured out a way to do the same.

Exoplanet Hunters Have a New Plan to Spot Hidden ‘Migrating’ Worlds

There’s a telescope that can see thick rings of dust in distant star systems. These rings are huge — wide enough in some cases to encircle most or all the planets in our solar system. And they’re the birthplaces of exoplanets. Understanding how they work could teach us about how the planets in our own solar system formed.

History / Geschichte

Apollo 7 Astronaut Recounts Splashdown at 50th Anniversary Gala

Walt Cunningham was hoping the parachutes had opened. A member of the United States’ first three-man space crew, Cunningham, together with Wally Schirra and Donn Eisele, were on their return to Earth 50 years ago Monday (Oct. 22), having spent the prior 11 days conducting the first piloted test of the Apollo spacecraft in orbit. All that stood between the Apollo 7 crew and the end to their mission was seeing their drogue and main parachutes deploy.