Weekly Spacecraft Mission News (English, German) – 05.03.20

Front Page / Titelseite

What is a Generation Ship?

The concept of a Generation Ship is a time-honored one, but is it the best way to send an interstellar mission to colonize a distant planet?

The MarCO Mission Comes to an End

The pair of briefcase-sized satellites made history when they sailed past Mars in 2019.

First private space rescue mission sees two satellites latch together

A private satellite that is low on fuel could survive five more years because another satellite has come to its rescue – a technique that could be used by future service spacecraft

Missionszeit verlängern: Erstmals zwei kommerzielle Satelliten angedockt

Erstmals ist es gelungen, zwei kommerzielle Satelliten im Orbit zu verbinden. Mit dem Manöver soll die Lebenszeit eines Fernsehsatelliten verlängert werden.

Critical rocket escape system motor for NASA’s Orion spacecrafy aces final test

NASA’s Orion spacecraft has achieved a new milestone with a successful final test of the vehicle’s attitude-control motor Tuesday (Feb. 25).

Two private satellites just docked in space in historic first for orbital servicing

In a historic first for satellite operations, one spacecraft “helper” docked with a working satellite to provide life-extension services.

Photos: Servicing spacecraft approaches Intelsat satellite high above Earth

Northrop Grumman’s first Mission Extension Vehicle captured spectacular views of the commercial Intelsat 901 communications satellite as it approached for docking this week, providing the first-ever up-close public views of a spacecraft flying near geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

Starship SN1 bei Drucktest explodiert

Der Prototyp des Raumschiffes Starship SN1 von SpaceX ist am Freitagabend 22.00 Uhr Ortszeit (Samstagmorgen 5.00 Uhr deutscher Zeit) bei einem Drucktest auf der Rampe explodiert. Das Unglück geschah auf einem Firmengelände in Boca Chica (Südtexas), wie auf YouTube zu verfolgen war. Bereits im November war […]

Second Starship test article implodes during pressure test

The stainless steel structure ruptured after being loaded with cryogenic fluid at SpaceX’s seaside launch complex at Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX was testing the test article’s structural integrity by loading it with super-cold liquid nitrogen at high pressure.

SpaceX moving on to Starship SN2 prototype after SN1 bites the dust in test

SpaceX’s SN1 Starship prototype was destroyed during a pressure test on Friday (Feb. 28). But the SN2 is already under construction and being prepped for testing, Elon Musk said.

Seattle Students to Speak with NASA Astronaut Aboard Space Station

Students from the greater Seattle area will have an opportunity next week to talk with a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station.

Parachute problems could delay Europe’s ExoMars rover launch to 2022: Report

Preparations to launch the ExoMars rover to the Red Planet this summer are in a crunch as critical parachute tests have again been delayed.

Space Biology on Station Benefits Humans on Earth and in Space

The three-member Expedition 62 crew split its time today between biomedical studies and space physics. The microgravity research aboard the International Space Station helps scientists, doctors and engineers provide unique solutions that could improve life for humans on Earth and in space.

Dragon Launch Set for March 6, Station Bone Research Benefits Earth

SpaceX has announced March 6 for the launch of its 20th contracted cargo mission to the International Space Station. Its Dragon resupply ship will arrive March 9 with over 5,600 pounds of science hardware, research samples and supplies to the Expedition 62 crew.

SpaceX delays next Dragon cargo ship launch for NASA due to rocket issue

SpaceX has delayed the launch of its next Dragon cargo ship bound for the International Space Station by at least four days in order to replace the upper stage of the mission’s Falcon 9 rocket.

Human Research, Mouse Preps Ahead of Dragon Cargo Mission

The Expedition 62 crew is running a host of human research and space biology studies today aboard the International Space Station. The orbiting lab is also ramping up for new science being delivered on an upcoming U.S. cargo mission.

Astronaut Jessica Meir Configures the Light Microscopy Module

NASA astronaut and International Space Station Expedition 62 crew member Jessica Meir configures the Light Microscopy Module inside the Fluids Integrated Rack.

Crew Gears Up for Dragon Cargo Mission amid Earth Studies

The Expedition 62 crew is gearing up for next week’s space delivery aboard a U.S. cargo craft continuing the upkeep of International Space Station systems. SpaceX has completed a successful static fire test of its Falcon 9 rocket at Kennedy Space Center. The Dragon resupply ship will be perched atop the Falcon 9 when it blasts off toward the station on Friday at 11:50 p.m. EST.

SpaceX test-fires rocket, preps for final flight of first-generation Dragon capsule

The Falcon 9 booster for SpaceX’s next mission fired up briefly on a Cape Canaveral launch pad Sunday in a routine pre-flight test before a scheduled launch Friday night to kick off the final flight of the first version of the company’s Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station.

Airbus „schäumt“ jetzt auf der Internationalen Raumstation ISS

Mit FOAM-C hat Airbus ein neues Flüssigkeitsexperiment auf die Internationale Raumstation ISS gebracht. Es untersucht das Verhalten von Schäumen in der Schwerelosigkeit. Das für die Europäische Weltraumorganisation ESA entwickelte und gebaute Experiment soll in diesem Monat durch die US-Astronautin Jessica Meir aktiviert werden.

Multitude of Research Today Focuses on Space Effects on Biology and Station

Today’s space biology work aboard the International Space Station observed samples swabbed from an astronaut’s skin and bone cells living in media bags. Other ongoing studies explored space piloting techniques and microgravity’s effects on the orbiting lab’s structure.

Chinese moon rover peers beneath surface of mysterious lunar far side

The first published data from the Yutu 2 rover’s ground-penetrating radar instrument reveal the layered structure beneath the gray dirt of Von Kármán Crater’s floor.

NASA’s VIPER moon mission to seek out lunar water slips to 2023

NASA is delaying the launch of a long-lived rover designed to sniff out water on the moon.

What Lies Beneath the Moon’s Farside?

The Chang’e 4 mission made the first-ever landing on the farside of the Moon last year — now it’s providing a look at what lies below its surface. The post What Lies Beneath the Moon’s Farside? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Artemis Is Getting A Major Reboot

For this assessment, about 60 people at the agency and from industry sought to determine the status of the program as it was currently structured. After the analysis, Loverro told staffers at NASA he had “concerns” about whether the existing plan would work.

RKK Energija und NASA uneinig über Umlaufbahn für Mond-Station

er russische Raumfahrtkonzern RKK Energija und die US-Luft- und Weltraumbehörde NASA sind sich uneinig über die Konzeption für die Umlaufbahn der Raumstation, die im Rahmen des Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway-Projekts den Mond umkreisen soll. Die amerikanische Seite präferiere eine Umlaufbahn mit einem Perigäum von rund 3.000 und […]

#BeAnAstronaut: NASA Seeks Applicants to Explore Moon, Mars

For the first time in more than four years, NASA began accepting applications Monday for future astronauts. Aspiring Moon to Mars explorers have until 11:59 p.m. EDT Tuesday, March 31, to apply.

Interference testing

Radio frequency testing has begun on the first Orion spacecraft that will fly around the Moon for the Artemis 1 mission, just two weeks after thermal and environmental tests were completed at NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio, USA.

NASA’s Insight Detects Many Marsquakes on the Red Planet

Persistent tremors on Mars suggest the planet’s interior is cooling and hint that there might be a pocket of magma beneath the surface. The post NASA’s Insight Detects Many Marsquakes on the Red Planet appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

NASA’s InSight mission shows Mars is a seismically active world

While one of its two science instruments remains sidelined, NASA’s InSight probe has proven Mars is seismically active through the detection of hundreds of quakes, some of which can be traced to a volcanic region nearly 1,000 miles away.

Mars InSight Lander to Push on Top of the ‘Mole’ – NASA’s InSight Mars Lander

After nearly a year of trying to dig into the Martian surface, the heat probe belonging to NASA’s InSight lander is about to get a push. The mission team plans to command the scoop on InSight’s robotic arm to press down on the “mole,” the mini pile driver designed to hammer itself as much as 16 feet (5 meters) down. They hope that pushing down on the mole’s top, also called the back cap, will keep it from backing out of its hole on Mars, as it did twice in recent months after nearly burying itself.

The InSight mission logbook

In his logbook, Instrument Lead Tilman Spohn who is back in Berlin since April and communicating with JPL via the web, gives us the latest updates regarding the InSight mission and our HP3 instrument – the ‘Mole’ – which will hammer into the Martian surface.

A Year of Surprising Science From NASA’s InSight Mars Mission

A new understanding of Mars is beginning to emerge, thanks to the first year of NASA’s InSight lander mission. Findings described in a set of six papers published today reveal a planet alive with quakes, dust devils and strange magnetic pulses. Five of the papers were published in Nature. An additional paper in Nature Geoscience details the InSight spacecraft’s landing site, a shallow crater nicknamed “Homestead hollow” in a region called Elysium Planitia.

Die Papers sind da: InSight, Yutu 2, New Horizons

Innerhalb zweier Februar-Wochen sind jede Menge Forschungsarbeiten zu den Erkenntnissen aktueller Raumsonden auf dem Mars, auf der Mondrückseite und beim Kuiper-Gürtel-Objekt Arrokoth erschienen:

Magnetic Fields Around Mars InSight are 10x Stronger than Scientists Expected

Data from the first year of the InSight mission has just been released, and its revealing some unexpected things about Mars’ magnetic fields. The post Magnetic Fields Around Mars InSight are 10x Stronger than Scientists Expected appeared first on Universe Today.

Further Solar System News / Weitere Nachrichten aus dem Sonnensystem

Gullies on Mars

Gullies on Mars form during the winter, made liquid by carbon dioxide frost.

Mars lander reveals new details about the Red Planet’s strange magnetic field

The magnetic field in one zone on Mars is about 10 times stronger than scientists expected, and it’s changing rapidly.

Examining Ice Giants With NASA’s Webb Telescope

Far-flung Uranus and Neptune — the ice giants of our solar system — are as mysterious as they are distant. Soon after its launch in 2021, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will change that by unlocking secrets of the atmospheres of both planets.

Look down into a pit on Mars. The caved-in roof of a lava tube could be a good place to explore on the Red Planet

Want to look inside a deep, dark pit on Mars? The scientists and engineers from the NASA’s HiRISE Camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have done just that. From its orbit about 260 km (160 miles) above the surface, HiRISE can spot something as small as a dinner table, about a meter in size.

PIA23445: Jupiter Storms Merging

Record-Breaking Explosion by Black Hole Spotted

Astronomers have discovered the biggest explosion seen in the Universe in a galaxy cluster 390 million light years away.

The most powerful black hole eruption in the Universe

Astronomers using ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra X-ray space observatories, along with radio telescopes on ground, have spotted the aftermath of the most powerful explosion ever seen in the Universe.

Milky Way’s warp caused by galactic collision, Gaia suggests

Astronomers have pondered for years why our galaxy, the Milky Way, is warped. Data from ESA’s star-mapping satellite Gaia suggest the distortion might be caused by an ongoing collision with another, smaller, galaxy, which sends ripples through the galactic disc like a rock thrown into water.

Spitzer’s Legacy: One of NASA’s Great Observatories Ends Its Mission

NASA’s premier eye on the infrared sky is shutting down after operating more than three times longer than designed. The post Spitzer’s Legacy: One of NASA’s Great Observatories Ends Its Mission appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Northrop Grumman test fires new OmegA rocket second stage motor in Utah

The second stage for Northrop Grumman’s new OmegA rocket roared to life in a test that sent flame and smoke billowing out against the snow-capped mountains of Utah.

SpaceX’s next Starship prototype moves to launchpad for testing (video)

Look at that Starship go! A new time-lapse video shows a prototype of SpaceX’s Mars-colonizing ship moving toward the launchpad for testing.

Boeing räumt Fehler bei Starliner-Test ein

Der US-Konzern Boeing hat Fehler bei den Tests seines Raumschiffes Starliner vor dem ersten unbemannten Versuchsflug im Dezember eingeräumt. So habe man den Test des Flugprogramms verkürzt, sagte Programmdirektor John Mulholland. Außerdem sei es nicht gelungen, einige Schlüsselelemente auf die erforderliche Weise zu überprüfen. Der Manager versprach […]

Boeing says thorough testing would have caught Starliner software problems

The program manager in charge of Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule program said Friday that additional checks would have uncovered problems with the spaceship’s software that plagued the craft’s first unpiloted orbital test flight in December, but he pushed back against suggestions that Boeing engineers took shortcuts during ground testing.

RIP, MarCO! The world’s first cubesats to Mars are gone for good

In September 2019, NASA started the second half of an epic game of Marco Polo; early this month the agency declared it over for good.

SLS Has Yet Another New Launch Date

Jurczyk: Artemis I to Launch in Mid-Late 2021, HLS Contracts Within Weeks, Space Policy Online “NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk said on Friday that the first launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) with an uncrewed Orion spacecraft, Artemis I, will take place in mid-late 2021.

NASA is Planning to Build a Lunar Rover With a 1-Meter Drill to Search for Water Ice

Meet VIPER, NASA’s new lunar rover, equipped with a drill to probe the Moon’s surface and look for water ice. VIPER, or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, will carry a one-meter drill and will use it to map out water resources at the Moon’s south pole. It’s scheduled to be on the lunar surface by …

Ein Weltraumbahnhof auf dem Meer

in Schiff transportiert die Plattform über den Pazifik: “Odyssey” soll Raketen vom Äquator aus starten, die den Schwung der Erde mitnehmen.

Want to go to the moon? NASA is now taking new astronaut applications

If you’ve always wanted to fly to the International Space Station or go on to the moon, NASA’s next recruitment effort promises to bring future astronauts to both locations.

NASA to Reveal Name of Its Next Mars Rover

After a months-long contest among students to name NASA’s newest Mars rover, the agency will reveal the winning name — and the winning student — this Thursday.

NASA will reveal the new name of its Mars 2020 rover on Thursday

On Thursday (March 5), NASA will reveal the official name of its next Red Planet rover, a life-hunting robot that currently goes by the bland moniker “Mars 2020.” You can watch the unveiling live here at Space.com at 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT).

SpaceX celebrates Crew Dragon’s 1st launch anniversary with epic video

One year ago today, SpaceX took a giant leap forward for private spaceflight with the launch of its first Crew Dragon to the International Space Station and the company is celebrating that feat with an epic new video.

After last-minute abort, DARPA Launch Challenge ends without a winner

Astra engineers scrubbed a launch attempt Monday at Kodiak Island, Alaska, to assess troubling data from a guidance, navigation and control sensor on the company’s new small satellite launcher, ending a bid to win up to $12 million in prize money from a U.S. military research agency. Monday’s countdown was aborted on the final day of a 15-day window set by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which offered Astra a $2 million prize if it successfully placed three small CubeSats into orbit.

Future Astronauts Could Enjoy Fresh Vegetables From an Autonomous Orbital Greenhouse

A team from a Russian polytechnic university is working on an autonomous space module where fresh vegetables could be grown for astronauts. The post Future Astronauts Could Enjoy Fresh Vegetables From an Autonomous Orbital Greenhouse appeared first on Universe Today.

IMBP-Studie: US-Mond-Astronauten starben früher als ihre anderen Kollegen

Das Risiko eines früheren Todes war bei den US-Astronauten, die zum Mond geflogen sind, etwa doppelt so hoch wie im Mittel bei allen Kollegen. Das geht aus einer Studie des Moskauer Instituts für Medizinisch-Biologische Probleme (IMBP) hervor, die in der Zeitschrift „Luftfahrt- und ökologische Medizin“ veröffentlicht wurde. Im Vergleich zu […]

The Life of Katherine Johnson Shows that ‘Hidden Figures’ Are Important to History

NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson did more than just calculate rocket trajectories for early space missions. Her story, when it was finally told, completely changed people’s perceptions about who has been – and who can be — important in history. Margot Lee Shetterly, who wrote about Johnson’s life in the book “Hidden Figures: The American Dream …

Bad luck: How Al Crews missed out on becoming an astronaut — twice

Al Crews was in line to fly on the U.S. Air Force’s Dyna-Soar space plane and the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, a secret spy project. But both programs were canceled before Crews could get off the ground.