Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! Just thought I'd provide this update letting you guys know where The Broken Table stands in regards to film festivals and its latest awards!
As of today, my short psychological thriller has been accepted by nine film festivals...the most recent one being the Blackboard International Film Festival. Of those nine festivals, six have bestowed awards upon The Broken Table: the Ediplay International Film Festival (for Best Seven Minute Film), the Red Moon Film Festival (for Best Short Thriller), the Krimson Horyzon International Film Festival (for Best Short Film), the Bright International Film Festival (also for Best Short Film), the Cult Movies International Film Festival (for Best Short Thriller and Best Cinematography) and the Medusa Film Festival (for Best Short)!
You can see the two awards given by Cult Movies Fest on this page, and the award handed out by EdiPlay in this Blog entry from over two weeks back.
Shown below are the certificates provided by Red Moon, Krimson Horyzon, Bright and Medusa earlier today, respectively.
There are about two dozen festivals that I still need to hear from, so until then, enjoy the holidays and have a Happy New Year!
Yesterday, I re-subscribed to Disney+ and eagerly watched the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett!
Unsurprisingly, the season premiere of The Mandalorian's first spin-off show was awesome. Ming-Na Wen didn't miss a beat as she once again kicked arse as Fennec Shand, and it was exciting to finally see Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) make his way out of the Sarlacc Pit in Chapter 1's opening dream sequence (along with callbacks to 2002's Star Wars: Attack of the Clones)...which is why I posted a screenshot from that scene above. This wasn't a spoiler, as how else did Boba escape from "the maw of the sand beast" (to quote Patton Oswalt from a 2013 episode of NBC's Parks and Recreation, shown below) to make an appearance in Season 2 of The Mandalorian last year?
Ludwig Göransson's music for The Book of Boba Fett's end credits is just as good as that in The Mandalorian, while just like The Mandalorian, we see amazing production artwork of yesterday's episode play in the background as the credits roll.
I look forward to Chapter 2 premiering next Wednesday (January 5), and enthusiastically await the long-anticipated Star Wars streaming series Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor(based on Diego Luna's Cassian Andor from 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)...set to make their online debut next year.
After a successful launch of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope on 25 December, and completion of two mid-course correction manoeuvres, the Webb team has analysed its initial trajectory and determined the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of science operations in orbit for significantly more than a 10-year lifetime (the minimum baseline for the mission is five years).
Webb’s precise launch on an ESA-provided Ariane 5 rocket was performed by Arianespace on behalf of ESA from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The analysis shows that less propellant than originally planned is needed to correct Webb’s trajectory toward its final orbit around the second Lagrange point known as L2, a point of gravitational balance on the far side of Earth away from the Sun. Consequently, Webb will have much more than the baseline estimate of propellant – though many factors could ultimately affect Webb’s duration of operation.
Webb has rocket propellant on board not only for mid-course correction and insertion into orbit around L2, but also for three necessary functions during the life of the mission: ‘station-keeping’ manoeuvres – small thruster burns to adjust Webb's orbit; pointing the telescope toward science targets; and what’s known as momentum management, which maintains Webb’s orientation in space.
The extra propellant is largely due to the precision of the Arianespace Ariane 5 launch, which exceeded the requirements needed to put Webb on the right path, as well as the precision of the first mid-course correction manoeuvre – a relatively small, 65-minute burn after launch that added approximately 20 m/s to the observatory’s speed. A second correction manoeuvre occurred on 27 December, adding around 2.8 m/s to the speed.
The accuracy of the launch trajectory had another result: the timing of the solar array deployment. That deployment was executed automatically after separation from the Ariane 5 based on a stored command to deploy either when Webb reached a certain attitude toward the Sun, ideal for capturing sunlight to power the observatory, or automatically at 33 minutes after launch. Because Webb was already in the correct attitude after separation from the Ariane second stage, the solar array was able to deploy about a minute and a half after separation, approximately 29 minutes after launch.
From here on, all deployments are human-controlled so deployment timing – or even their order -- may change.
Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA has provided the telescope’s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
NASA's Webb Telescope Launches to See First Galaxies, Distant Worlds (Press Release)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched at 7:20 a.m. EST Saturday on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America.
A joint effort with ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency, the Webb observatory is NASA’s revolutionary flagship mission to seek the light from the first galaxies in the early universe and to explore our own solar system, as well as planets orbiting other stars, called exoplanets.
“The James Webb Space Telescope represents the ambition that NASA and our partners maintain to propel us forward into the future,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The promise of Webb is not what we know we will discover; it’s what we don’t yet understand or can’t yet fathom about our universe. I can’t wait to see what it uncovers!”
Ground teams began receiving telemetry data from Webb about five minutes after launch. The Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket performed as expected, separating from the observatory 27 minutes into the flight. The observatory was released at an altitude of approximately 75 miles (120 kilometers). Approximately 30 minutes after launch, Webb unfolded its solar array, and mission managers confirmed that the solar array was providing power to the observatory. After solar array deployment, mission operators will establish a communications link with the observatory via the Malindi ground station in Kenya, and ground control at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore will send the first commands to the spacecraft.
Engineers and ground controllers will conduct the first of three mid-course correction burns about 12 hours and 30 minutes after launch, firing Webb’s thrusters to maneuver the spacecraft on an optimal trajectory toward its destination in orbit about 1 million miles from Earth.
“I want to congratulate the team on this incredible achievement – Webb’s launch marks a significant moment not only for NASA, but for thousands of people worldwide who dedicated their time and talent to this mission over the years,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Webb’s scientific promise is now closer than it ever has been. We are poised on the edge of a truly exciting time of discovery, of things we’ve never before seen or imagined.”
The world’s largest and most complex space science observatory will now begin six months of commissioning in space. At the end of commissioning, Webb will deliver its first images. Webb carries four state-of-the-art science instruments with highly-sensitive infrared detectors of unprecedented resolution. Webb will study infrared light from celestial objects with much greater clarity than ever before. The premier mission is the scientific successor to NASA’s iconic Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, built to complement and further the scientific discoveries of these and other missions.
“The launch of the Webb Space Telescope is a pivotal moment – this is just the beginning for the Webb mission,” said Gregory L. Robinson, Webb’s program director at NASA Headquarters. “Now we will watch Webb’s highly-anticipated and critical 29 days on the edge. When the spacecraft unfurls in space, Webb will undergo the most difficult and complex deployment sequence ever attempted in space. Once commissioning is complete, we will see awe-inspiring images that will capture our imagination.”
The telescope’s revolutionary technology will explore every phase of cosmic history – from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, to everything in between. Webb will reveal new and unexpected discoveries and help humanity understand the origins of the universe and our place in it.
NASA Headquarters oversees the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages Webb for the agency and oversees work on the mission performed by the Space Telescope Science Institute, Northrop Grumman, and other mission partners. In addition to Goddard, several NASA centers contributed to the project, including the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and others.
Webb on Ariane 5 Roll-Out to the Launch Pad (News Release)
On Thursday 23 December, the James Webb Space Telescope, safely stowed inside the fairing of ESA’s Ariane 5 launch vehicle, left the final assembly building for roll-out to the launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Webb, no longer in sight since its encapsulation in the fairing on 17 December, has been closely monitored. The fairing is equipped with specialised environmental controls that keep the observatory in a perfectly-controlled temperature and humidity range during its final few days on Earth.
Ariane 5, standing 53 meters-high on its mobile launch platform, was transported along rails from the final preparation building to the launch zone where final health checks and preparations for liftoff will occur.
This includes filling the propellant tanks of the Ariane 5 core stage with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen via lines through the launch table.
Final electrical and software configurations will also occur on the launch pad. Webb will switch to internal battery power about 20 minutes prior to liftoff, and within 15 minutes prior to liftoff the observatory and its launch vehicle will both be fully cleared for flight.
Webb will be the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA is providing the telescope’s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Webb Launch Date Confirmed for 25 December (News Release)
The target launch date for the James Webb Space Telescope is confirmed for 25 December, as early as possible within the launch window starting at 12:20 GMT / 13:20 CET.
According to the planning of operations, the Ariane 5 launcher will be rolled out on 23 December, in the morning local time.
Webb Launch Confirmed for 24 December (News Release - December 18)
The James Webb Space Telescope is confirmed for the target launch date of 24 December, at 12:20 GMT / 13:20 CET.
Late yesterday, teams at the launch site successfully completed encapsulation of the observatory inside the Ariane 5 rocket that will launch it to space.
Webb’s launch final readiness review will be held on Tuesday 21 December and, if successful, roll-out is planned for Wednesday 22 December.
House-Passed NDAA Includes Barragán Bill to Designate the U.S.S. Iowa Battleship as the National Museum of the Surface Navy (Press Release - December 8)
Legislation also includes Barragán’s bills to give non-citizen military servicemembers information on naturalization and to increase security for public transportation systems
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Defense Authorization Act passed the U.S. House last night and includes Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán’s legislation to designate the battleship U.S.S. Iowa Museum as the National Museum of the Surface Navy. Once it becomes law, as expected, this bill will make the Battleship Iowa the first and only museum in the nation dedicated solely to the men and women who have served in the surface forces of the U.S. Navy.
“This legislation honors the men and women who have served – and continue to serve – in the surface forces of the United States by designating this museum as a monument to their sacrifice,” Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán said. “In decades past, the Iowa defended our nation. Today, the battleship serves our local community and visitors worldwide by educating the next generation. The U.S.S. Iowa is now not only a tourist attraction and hallmark of California’s 44th Congressional District, but also a living monument to the surface forces of the U.S. Navy.”
Commissioned in 1943, the U.S.S. Iowa was the most powerful American warship of her time. The ship saw action across much of the Pacific during World War II and even transported President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the first transatlantic leg of his journey to the 1943 Tehran Conference with the other Allied leaders. The Iowa was present during the Japanese surrender at Tokyo Bay 75 years ago and continued to serve our country throughout the Cold War. It was active during the Korean War and supported NATO in the 1980s after being recommissioned.
Since 2012, the battleship has been berthed in San Pedro, acting as a museum and monument to those who have served. The museum and its dedicated team also offer vital resources to educate students, including Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics programs, field trips, and the Camp Battleship youth overnight camping program aboard Battleship Iowa. Additionally, the Battleship Iowa Museum promotes veterans causes through hosting job fairs, Los Angeles Fleet Week, Memorial Day and Veteran Day ceremonies, and serving as a veterans’ resource center.
“We are deeply grateful for Congresswoman Barragan’s commitment to our community and our organization by seeing the vision of the National Museum of the Surface Navy at the Battleship Iowa. The Congresswoman’s support of this designation not only establishes the first and only museum to sailors that have served aboard U.S. Navy ships since 1775, but also significantly raises the profile of the importance of Surface Navy in trade, commerce, and humanitarian assistance at the busiest port complex in the Western Hemisphere. There is no doubt that this designation is one of the most significant developments in recent years for San Pedro, the Los Angeles region, and our nation,” said CEO & President of the Battleship Iowa Museum Jonathan Williams.
When Congresswoman Barragán and Senator Dianne Feinstein first introduced the legislation in September 2020, retired Rear Admiral Mike Shatynski, Chairman of the Board for the museum, said: “In 1775, Congress founded our Navy by commissioning a handful of surface ships. For 244 years, our country’s Surface Navy has protected free trade on the seas, provided humanitarian assistance, and promoted international relations. I am grateful to Congresswoman Barragan and Senator Feinstein that we will be able to recognize the millions of Surface Navy sailors and their families for their service to our country and the world.”
A video of Congresswoman Barragán, Rear Admiral Shatynski, and Museum CEO Williams aboard the Iowa speaking about the legislation when it was first introduced in September 2020 is available here.
The final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22 NDAA) has been agreed to by leaders of both the U.S. House and Senate. The Senate is expected to vote on it later this week. President Biden must then sign it into law.
The FY22 NDAA passed by the House this evening also includes two additional Barragan bills:
- Creating a program informing non-citizen military service members of options to become naturalized citizens. At both the time of enlistment and the time of separation from the military, non-citizens will be informed of existing programs or services that may aid in their naturalization process.
- The Strengthening Local Transportation Security Capabilities Act, which will improve information sharing by putting more federal intelligence analysts and resources near high-risk surface transportation assets, including public transportation rail and bus systems. The bill would also provide new terrorism-focused training, and improve cooperation between federal, state and local law enforcement partners.
“Transit systems are a lifeline to our communities, providing mobility to millions of Americans traveling every day. In my district, my constituents rely on L.A. Metro rail and bus systems to get to work, doctor appointments or to visit friends and family. I want them to be safe,” Congresswoman Barragán said. “In Los Angeles and throughout the country, transit systems are designed to be easily accessible for the passengers. That accessibility makes them difficult to protect and potential targets for terrorists – both domestic and foreign. This bill is critical for providing the necessary resources to keep our transit systems, and all who use them, safe and secure.”
Additionally, the FY 22 NDAA:
- secures a 2.7 percent pay increase for our men and women in uniform;
- invests in Historically Black Colleges and Universities to help build a fairer and more diverse Armed Services; and
- makes key investments to address the threat of climate change and bolster energy resiliency.
NASA Begins Testing Robotics to Bring First Samples Back From Mars (News Release - December 13)
Engineers are developing the crucial hardware needed for a series of daring space missions that will be carried out in the coming decade.
Testing has already begun on what would be the most sophisticated endeavor ever attempted at the Red Planet: bringing rock and sediment samples from Mars to Earth for closer study.
The multi-mission Mars Sample Return campaign began when NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars this past February to collect Martian rock samples in search of ancient microscopic life. Out of Perseverance’s 43 sample tubes, four have been filled with rock cores and one with Martian atmosphere. Mars Sample Return seeks to bring select tubes back to Earth, where generations of scientists will be able to study them with powerful lab equipment far too large to send to Mars.
Getting those samples into terrestrial labs would take a decade and involve European partners and multiple NASA centers. ESA (the European Space Agency) is developing a rover for the effort, with engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, designing its wheels. The rover would transfer samples to a lander, being developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, that would use a robotic arm (developed by ESA) to pack the samples into a small rocket, called a Mars Ascent Vehicle, being designed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The rocket would launch from the lander to deliver the sample capsule to an ESA spacecraft orbiting Mars. Inside the orbiter, the capsule would be prepared for delivery to Earth by hardware that a team led by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is developing. This preparation would include sealing the sample capsule within a clean container to trap any Martian material inside, sterilizing the seal, and placing the sealed container into an Earth-entry capsule before the return trip to Earth.
The Lander
To develop the lander, as well as the system that would help launch the sample-laden rocket from it, engineers at NASA’s JPL are drawing from a long history of Mars exploration: JPL has led nine successful Mars landings, including rovers and stationary landers. But the Sample Retrieval Lander would be the largest, heaviest spacecraft of its type to ever go to Mars, and the Mars Ascent Vehicle launching from it would be the first rocket ever fired off another planet.
This is where the testing comes in.
To carry and launch the Mars Ascent Vehicle, the lander needs to be a sturdy platform, weighing about 5,291 pounds (2,400 kilograms) – almost twice as heavy as Perseverance, which was lowered to the Martian surface with cables from a rocket-powered jet pack. The Sample Retriever Lander wouldn’t have a jet pack; its legs would have to absorb the impact of touchdown, relying on retrorockets to slow its descent, similar to recent Mars lander missions like InSight and Phoenix.
That’s why Pavlina Karafillis has been dropping a prototype lander – repeatedly – in a warehouse-like space at JPL. As test engineer for the Sample Retrieval Lander’s legs, she and her colleagues have been using high-speed cameras to observe this prototype’s legs slam onto a base. QR-code-like marks on each of the prototype’s “feet” help the cameras track the legs’ motion. The team uses slow-motion video to continually update their computer models, which help them understand how energy would be dispersed throughout the lander.
“The last step of the journey is really important,” Karafillis said. “There’s all kinds of landing conditions you have to take into account, like rocks, or really soft sand, or coming in at an angle. This is why we have to do all this testing.”
NASA Enters the Solar Atmosphere for the First Time, Bringing New Discoveries (News Release - December 14)
For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there.
The new milestone marks one major step for Parker Solar Probe and one giant leap for solar science. Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the very stuff the Sun is made of will help scientists uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the solar system.
"Parker Solar Probe 'touching the Sun' is a monumental moment for solar science and a truly remarkable feat," said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Not only does this milestone provide us with deeper insights into our Sun's evolution and its impacts on our solar system, but everything we learn about our own star also teaches us more about stars in the rest of the universe.”
As it circles closer to the solar surface, Parker is making new discoveries that other spacecraft were too far away to see, including from within the solar wind – the flow of particles from the Sun that can influence us at Earth. In 2019, Parker discovered that magnetic zig-zag structures in the solar wind, called switchbacks, are plentiful close to the Sun. But how and where they form remained a mystery. Halving the distance to the Sun since then, Parker Solar Probe has now passed close enough to identify one place where they originate: the solar surface.
The first passage through the corona – and the promise of more flybys to come – will continue to provide data on phenomena that are impossible to study from afar.
“Flying so close to the Sun, Parker Solar Probe now senses conditions in the magnetically-dominated layer of the solar atmosphere – the corona – that we never could before,” said Nour Raouafi, the Parker project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “We see evidence of being in the corona in magnetic field data, solar wind data, and visually in images. We can actually see the spacecraft flying through coronal structures that can be observed during a total solar eclipse.”
Closer Than Ever Before
Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018 to explore the mysteries of the Sun by traveling closer to it than any spacecraft before. Three years after launch and decades after first conception, Parker has finally arrived.
Unlike Earth, the Sun doesn’t have a solid surface. But it does have a superheated atmosphere, made of solar material bound to the Sun by gravity and magnetic forces. As rising heat and pressure push that material away from the Sun, it reaches a point where gravity and magnetic fields are too weak to contain it.
That point, known as the Alfvén critical surface, marks the end of the solar atmosphere and beginning of the solar wind. Solar material with the energy to make it across that boundary becomes the solar wind, which drags the magnetic field of the Sun with it as it races across the solar system, to Earth and beyond. Importantly, beyond the Alfvén critical surface, the solar wind moves so fast that waves within the wind cannot ever travel fast enough to make it back to the Sun – severing their connection.
Until now, researchers were unsure exactly where the Alfvén critical surface lay. Based on remote images of the corona, estimates had put it somewhere between 10 to 20 solar radii from the surface of the Sun – 4.3 to 8.6 million miles. Parker’s spiral trajectory brings it slowly closer to the Sun and during the last few passes, the spacecraft was consistently below 20 solar radii (91 percent of Earth’s distance from the Sun), putting it in the position to cross the boundary – if the estimates were correct.
On April 28, 2021, during its eighth flyby of the Sun, Parker Solar Probe encountered the specific magnetic and particle conditions at 18.8 solar radii (around 8.1 million miles) above the solar surface that told scientists it had crossed the Alfvén critical surface for the first time and finally entered the solar atmosphere.
“We were fully expecting that, sooner or later, we would encounter the corona for at least a short duration of time,” said Justin Kasper, lead author on a new paper about the milestone published in Physical Review Letters, and deputy chief technology officer at BWX Technologies, Inc. and University of Michigan professor. “But it is very exciting that we’ve already reached it.”
Into the Eye of the Storm
During the flyby, Parker Solar Probe passed into and out of the corona several times. This has proved what some had predicted – that the Alfvén critical surface isn’t shaped like a smooth ball. Rather, it has spikes and valleys that wrinkle the surface. Discovering where these protrusions line up with solar activity coming from the surface can help scientists learn how events on the Sun affect the atmosphere and solar wind.
At one point, as Parker Solar Probe dipped to just beneath 15 solar radii (around 6.5 million miles) from the Sun’s surface, it transited a feature in the corona called a pseudostreamer. Pseudostreamers are massive structures that rise above the Sun’s surface and can be seen from Earth during solar eclipses.
Passing through the pseudostreamer was like flying into the eye of a storm. Inside the pseudostreamer, the conditions quieted, particles slowed, and number of switchbacks dropped – a dramatic change from the busy barrage of particles the spacecraft usually encounters in the solar wind.
For the first time, the spacecraft found itself in a region where the magnetic fields were strong enough to dominate the movement of particles there. These conditions were the definitive proof the spacecraft had passed the Alfvén critical surface and entered the solar atmosphere where magnetic fields shape the movement of everything in the region.
The first passage through the corona, which lasted only a few hours, is one of many planned for the mission. Parker will continue to spiral closer to the Sun, eventually reaching as close as 8.86 solar radii (3.83 million miles) from the surface. Upcoming flybys, the next of which is happening in January 2022, will likely bring Parker Solar Probe through the corona again.
“I’m excited to see what Parker finds as it repeatedly passes through the corona in the years to come,” said Nicola Fox, division director for the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “The opportunity for new discoveries is boundless.”
The size of the corona is also driven by solar activity. As the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle – the solar cycle – ramps up, the outer edge of the corona will expand, giving Parker Solar Probe a greater chance of being inside the corona for longer periods of time.
“It is a really important region to get into because we think all sorts of physics potentially turn on,” Kasper said. “And now we're getting into that region and hopefully going to start seeing some of these physics and behaviors.”
Narrowing Down Switchback Origins
Even before the first trips through the corona, some surprising physics was already surfacing. On recent solar encounters, Parker Solar Probe collected data pinpointing the origin of zig-zag-shaped structures in the solar wind, called switchbacks. The data showed one spot that switchbacks originate is at the visible surface of the Sun – the photosphere.
By the time it reaches Earth, 93 million miles away, the solar wind is an unrelenting headwind of particles and magnetic fields. But as it escapes the Sun, the solar wind is structured and patchy. In the mid-1990s, the NASA-European Space Agency mission Ulysses flew over the Sun’s poles and discovered a handful of bizarre S-shaped kinks in the solar wind’s magnetic field lines, which detoured charged particles on a zig-zag path as they escaped the Sun. For decades, scientists thought these occasional switchbacks were oddities confined to the Sun’s polar regions.
In 2019, at 34 solar radii from the Sun, Parker discovered that switchbacks were not rare, but common in the solar wind. This renewed interest in the features and raised new questions: Where were they coming from? Were they forged at the surface of the Sun, or shaped by some process kinking magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere?
The new findings, in press at the Astrophysical Journal, finally confirm one origin point is near the solar surface.
The clues came as Parker orbited closer to the Sun on its sixth flyby, less than 25 solar radii out. Data showed switchbacks occur in patches and have a higher percentage of helium – known to come from the photosphere – than other elements. The switchbacks’ origins were further narrowed when the scientists found the patches aligned with magnetic funnels that emerge from the photosphere between convection cell structures called supergranules.
In addition to being the birthplace of switchbacks, the scientists think the magnetic funnels might be where one component of the solar wind originates. The solar wind comes in two different varieties – fast and slow – and the funnels could be where some particles in the fast solar wind come from.
“The structure of the regions with switchbacks matches up with a small magnetic funnel structure at the base of the corona,” said Stuart Bale, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author on the new switchbacks paper. “This is what we expect from some theories, and this pinpoints a source for the solar wind itself.”
Understanding where and how the components of the fast solar wind emerge, and if they’re linked to switchbacks, could help scientists answer a longstanding solar mystery: how the corona is heated to millions of degrees, far hotter than the solar surface below.
While the new findings locate where switchbacks are made, the scientists can’t yet confirm how they’re formed. One theory suggests they might be created by waves of plasma that roll through the region like ocean surf. Another contends they’re made by an explosive process known as magnetic reconnection, which is thought to occur at the boundaries where the magnetic funnels come together.
“My instinct is, as we go deeper into the mission and lower and closer to the Sun, we're going to learn more about how magnetic funnels are connected to the switchbacks,” Bale said. “And hopefully resolve the question of what process makes them.”
Now that researchers know what to look for, Parker’s closer passes may reveal even more clues about switchbacks and other solar phenomena. The data to come will allow scientists a glimpse into a region that’s critical for superheating the corona and pushing the solar wind to supersonic speeds. Such measurements from the corona will be critical for understanding and forecasting extreme space weather events that can disrupt telecommunications and damage satellites around Earth.
“It’s really exciting to see our advanced technologies succeed in taking Parker Solar Probe closer to the Sun than we’ve ever been, and to be able to return such amazing science,” said Joseph Smith, Parker program executive at NASA Headquarters. "We look forward to seeing what else the mission discovers as it ventures even closer in the coming years."
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living with a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, manages the Parker Solar Probe mission for NASA and designed, built, and operates the spacecraft.
Just thought I'd share this amazing certificate that I received from the EdiPlay International Film Festival early this morning...plus The Broken Table's poster with an updated laurel!
Hopefully there'll be more awards to come for my short film over the next few months! Stay tuned.
Webb Moved to Meet Ariane 5 (News Release - December 9)
The James Webb Space Telescope was transferred to the final assembly building at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 7 December 2021, to meet its Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
Stowed inside a special 23-tonne transport container, Webb was protected and monitored throughout the transfer.
Ariane 5 was already moved to the same building on 29 November. Here, adjustable platforms allow engineers to access the launch vehicle and its payload.
The next steps are to hoist Webb to the upper platform which has been prepared so that Webb can be integrated on Ariane 5’s upper stage and then encapsulated inside Ariane 5’s specially-adapted fairing.
Webb is scheduled for launch on 22 December from Europe’s Spaceport. Ground teams have already successfully completed the delicate operation of loading the spacecraft with the propellant it will use to steer itself while in space.
Webb will be the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA is providing the telescope’s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Good evening, everyone! Just thought I'd let y'all know that my short film The Broken Table has been selected for inclusion by the EdiPlay International Film Festival! This amazing, Paris-based event will be held from December 15 to 19...with the chosen films available to view online.
For more information about this festival, visit EdiPlay's website here. If you watch The Broken Table (plus the other amazing cinematic projects that will be shown) during this exciting event, I hope you enjoy it!
The Ariane 5 launch vehicle which will launch the James Webb Space Telescope was moved to the final assembly building at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 29 November 2021.
Ariane 5 parts shipped from Europe to French Guiana, have been coming together inside the launch vehicle integration building.
The lower part of the Ariane 5 comprises the cryogenic main core stage (with the Vulcain main engine, oxygen and hydrogen tanks), two solid rocket boosters and the upper composite, including the cryogenic upper stage (with the HM7B engine, oxygen and hydrogen tanks), the vehicle equipment bay – the 'brain' of the launcher, and all supporting structures that will interface with Webb on its adaptor.
A launch table is used to transport the Ariane 5 vehicle between the launch vehicle integration building, the final assembly building and the launch pad.
Webb, now fueled, will soon be integrated on Ariane 5’s upper stage and then encapsulated inside Ariane 5’s specially-adapted fairing.
Webb will be the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA is providing the telescope’s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
I was a junior in high school when Mars Pathfinder departed from Cape Canaveral Spaceflight Center (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station) in Florida on a 6-plus-month journey to the Red Planet! Good times.
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25 Years Ago: Mars Pathfinder Launches to Mars to Deploy Sojourner, the First Planetary Rover (News Release)
Mars has fascinated us for centuries. Through the middle of the 20th century, some scientists believed that Mars might be hospitable to some form of life, only to have those hopes seemingly dashed when the early robotic explorers of the 1960s found a Moon-like cratered terrain with a forbiddingly cold and thin atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide. More sophisticated orbiters and landers in the 1970s revealed evidence that water may have once flowed on Mars, but a search for signs of life proved inconclusive at best. Following the six years, between 1976 and 1982, that the Viking spacecraft operated on and in orbit around Mars, robotic exploration of Mars entered a nearly 15-year hiatus, with just a very brief break. The Soviet Fobos 2 probe entered orbit around Mars in January 1989, operating for only two months and not achieving its primary goal of placing a lander and a hopper onto Mars’ larger moon Phobos. In August 1993, the American Mars Observer spacecraft went silent just two days before entering orbit around Mars, likely falling victim to a fuel line rupture that caused a catastrophic failure. The Mars Pathfinder began a new era of continuous robotic Mars exploration.
Favorable launch opportunities to Mars occur every 26 months, and during the late 1996 window, the United States dispatched two spacecraft to the Red Planet – an orbiter called Mars Global Surveyor(MGS) and Mars Pathfinder, a lander that deployed the first rover on Mars. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Pasadena, California, managed both spacecraft for NASA. The landing of Mars Pathfinder and its Sojourner rover on July 4, 1997, began an uninterrupted period with at least one spacecraft and typically several operating in Mars orbit or on the planet’s surface. This nearly-quarter century of continuous scientific observation is unmatched anywhere else in the solar system except on Earth. The 793-pound Mars Pathfinder deployed the 23-pound Sojourner rover, the first wheeled vehicle operated on another planet in the solar system, that served as the forerunner of later, more advanced rovers including Curiosity and Perseverance, currently operating on the Martian surface. NASA chose to name the rover after Sojourner Truth, an African-American reformist of the Civil War era, inspired by the winning essay submitted by 12-year-old Valerie Ambrose of Bridgeport, Connecticut, to a naming contest organized by JPL and The Planetary Society.
The launch of Mars Pathfinder on a Delta rocket took place on Dec. 4, 1996 (Eastern Time), from Launch Complex 17B at Cape Canaveral Spaceflight Center, now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida. Four mid-course corrections refined the spacecraft’s trajectory during its 212-day interplanetary cruise. Although it launched after MGS, Pathfinder arrived at Mars on a faster trajectory – more than two months earlier. The lander was expected to operate for one month, and the rover for one week. For its exploration of the Red Planet’s surface, the Pathfinder and Sojourner together carried four instruments, including:
Mars Pathfinder lander
- the mast-mounted Imager for Mars Pathfinder, including a stereoscopic color camera, a magnetometer for magnetic field measurements, and an anemometer for recording winds;
- the Atmospheric Structure Instrument/Meteorology package to determine the temperature and density of the atmosphere during the entry, descent, and landing, and to take daily weather measurements once on the surface.
Sojourner rover
- the Alpha-Proton X-ray Spectrometer to determine the dominant elements of the rocks and other surface materials at the landing site;
- the three-camera imaging system consisting of two black-and-white and one-color camera.
Upon arrival at Mars on July 4, 1997, Mars Pathfinder began its four-minute entry, descent, and landing sequence, the first U.S. spacecraft to use the approach of utilizing landing airbags. The spacecraft entered the Martian atmosphere at 14,000 mph, protected inside an aeroshell derived from the Viking landers’ design. The aeroshell slowed the spacecraft’s velocity to 830 mph, allowing the deployment of a supersonic parachute that further slowed the craft to 150 mph. The spacecraft then released the forward heat shield, remaining attached to the backshell by a 66-foot tether. At an altitude of one mile, it activated its radar altimeter that precisely timed the next events. At 1,165 feet above the surface, airbags completely surrounding the spacecraft inflated in less than one second and at 322 feet, three solid retrorockets fired to further slow the descent. At 71 feet above the ground, Pathfinder, still cocooned in its airbags, cut itself free and fell to the surface, impacting at 31 mph and bouncing 15 times before finally coming to a rest. After 87 minutes, the airbags deflated and the spacecraft opened like the petals of a flower, exposing its solar arrays, instruments, and the Sojourner rover, still in its stowed position. Following the landing in the Ares Vallis (Valley of Mars), an ancient flood plain in Mars’ northern hemisphere, Mars Pathfinder was redesignated the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, after the late-noted astronomer and planetologist.
During its first full day on the Martian surface, Mars Pathfinder took photographs of its surroundings and completed its first weather recordings. The next day, July 6, Sojourner “stood up” on its six wheels and backed down one of the lander’s two ramps onto the surface, becoming the first wheeled vehicle operated on another planet. By the next day, Sojourner began exploring and analyzing some of the nearby rocks for their composition. Controllers nicknamed notable rocks after cartoon characters, such as Barnacle Bill, Yogi, and Scooby Doo.
For 83 days, 12 times longer than its anticipated 1-week operational lifetime, Sojourner explored the area around the landing site, traveling at a maximum speed of 0.39 inch per second, its movements controlled by engineers at JPL. Overall, the rover traveled a total distance of 330 feet, never venturing more than 39 feet from the Pathfinder lander. It sampled the chemical properties of rocks and soil at 16 different locations near the lander and found that they generally resembled volcanic rocks on Earth.
During their operations, Sojourner returned 550 photographs and Mars Pathfinder 16,500 photographs, not only of the surface but also of clouds and sunsets. In addition, the lander completed 8.5 million measurements of Martian weather, including atmospheric pressure, temperature, and wind speed. Contact was unexpectedly lost with Pathfinder and Sojourner on Sept. 27, 1997, for unknown reasons. Both far exceeded their operational life expectancies and vastly increased our knowledge of Mars. The technologies used in both Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner enabled more sophisticated spacecraft to continue the exploration of Mars in the 21st century.
With special thanks to Erik Conway, JPL Historian.
ESA - CNES - Arianespace / Optique video du CSG – P Piron
Earlier today, NASA reported that the James Webb Space Telescope(JWST) was successfully loaded with all of its propellant as it is now only 16 days from launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket!
At Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, technicians in fully-contained safety gear, known as SCAPE (Self-Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble) suits, spent nearly 10 days filling JWST with 42 gallons (159 liters) of hydrazine fuel and 21 gallons (79.5 liters) of dinitrogen tetroxide oxidizer, both highly-toxic to humans. This fuel will be vital when JWST begins engine burns that will allow it to reach its final station point 1 million miles from Earth roughly 30 days after launch...as well as conducting course-correction maneuvers throughout its mission.
The fueling process, which began on November 25, concluded on December 3 after the loading system was formally disconnected from the space telescope.
All that's left now before liftoff is JWST actually being attached to its launch vehicle. The Hubble Space Telescope's successor will soon be transferred to Guiana Space Centre's Final Assembly Building—where it will be placed atop Ariane 5 before the spacecraft is finally encapsulated by the rocket's payload fairing.
The Ariane 5 will then roll out to the pad two days before flight.
JWST will depart from Earth on December 22, at 4:20 AM, Pacific Standard Time (7:20 AM, Eastern Standard Time). Stay tuned!
What does a "gas station" look like for the world's largest space telescope? ⛽
Watch the James Webb Space Telescope get moved to its fueling area in part 5 of its Journey to Space. Next stop: the vehicle assembly building, where Webb will be placed on top of its rocket! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/JWL02qq0zK
CMU's Iris Rover Secured to Lunar Lander (News Release)
Integration among final steps before launch of student-led Moon mission
Carnegie Mellon University's Iris rover is bolted in and ready for its journey to the Moon.
The tiny rover passed a huge milestone on Wednesday, Dec. 1, when it was secured to one of the payload decks of Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander, which will deliver it to the Moon next year.
"It is exciting to reach this make-or-break milestone with only days left to the deadline after pursuing this goal for years," said Raewyn Duvall, the program manager for Iris and a Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering. "Success was so elusive with many development setbacks and schedule delays, and it has been hard-earned by the team. We gave this everything. Now success on the Moon is up to the robot."
Weighing in at about 4 pounds, the shoebox-sized Iris aims to be the first American, student-developed, smallest and lightest rover to land on the Moon. It is equipped with cameras to facilitate both its guidance and scientific observations of the Moon's terrain and rock formations.
Work to integrate the Iris rover with the Peregrine lander started Monday inside the clean room at Astrobotic's state-of-the-art headquarters in Pittsburgh. Technicians and the CMU integration team — clad in white gowns, hairnets, masks and gloves — delicately secured Iris to the underside of one of Peregrine's payload decks.
Before Iris could be attached to the lander, the rover had to pass a series of tests to ensure that it could fit in its allotted space, withstand the vibrations expected during launch, endure the vacuum of space and survive the temperatures expected on the Moon. The CMU team tested its electronic emissions to ensure that they do not interfere with the lander or other payloads.
"This success is a testament to the more than 200 CMU students who worked on Iris over the span of three years. The initiative is a pinnacle of human achievement as much as it is a masterwork of technical virtuosity," said Red Whittaker, the Fredkin Professor of Robotics and director of the Field Robotics Center.
Iris is among the last payloads to be secured to the Peregrine lander. MoonArk, CMU's other payload on this mission, is already integrated to its payload deck. The intricate titanium, platinum and sapphire artifact contains hundreds of images, poems and music relating to arts, humanities, science and technologies. Peregrine will carry more than 18 payloads, including Iris and MoonArk.
VIPER Practices All-Wheel Drive to the Moon (News Release - November 30)
How does an Artemis rover prepare to drive off its lander and roll onto the rocky surface of the Moon? With a test drive on Earth, of course.
NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is the agency’s first lunar mobile robot. This marks the second round of VIPER rover egress testing at Johnson Space Center in Houston, building on lessons learned from the first test.
Egress refers to the process of the rover exiting the lander after being carried from Earth to the Moon and driving onto the lunar surface itself. This is similar to a car being driven off a cross-country car hauler, except after an interplanetary journey.
The egress test used the latest hardware and software in development for the VIPER mission, as well as updated ramps on the Griffin lander with new aluminum surface features. A prototype of the rover was driven down the ramps using the latest versions of the driving tools and software.
The testing was conducted with the lander positioned at tilted angles, simulating the lander touching down on a slope. This allowed the VIPER team to test the most extreme exit scenarios off the lander.
The VIPER mission is managed out of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and is scheduled to be delivered to the Moon in late 2023 by Astrobotic’s Griffin lander as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. Construction of the rover will begin in late 2022 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while the rover flight software and navigation system design will take place at Ames. Astrobotic will receive the complete rover with its scientific instruments in mid-2023 in preparation for launch later that year.
Happy National Christmas Lights Day, everyone! Today marks 21 days till NASA's James Webb Space Telescope(JWST) launches aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
JWST was originally supposed to take flight on December 18, but a processing issue inside Guiana Space Centre's satellite preparation facility prompted NASA to delay the launch by four days.
Barring any more technical issues and bad weather postponing liftoff, JWST remains on track to begin its historic mission of immense astronomical discoveries at 4:20 AM, Pacific Standard Time (7:20 AM, Eastern Standard Time), on December 22!
On another note, this month also marks 30 years since Jackie B. told me that she was gonna give me a Christmas card before winter break started when I was in elementary school (I was in 6th grade at the time, and she was in 8th grade). Jackie never followed through on the card (which, of course, broke my heart. Heh), but at least she gave me a wallet photo the following semester!
I still have that picture to this day... Carry on.
Happy end of November, everyone! Just thought I'd share these links to help out Majdolene Abualfaraj, my very beautiful and talented actress from my short film The Broken Table.
Along with being an amazing thespian and singer, Majdolene is also an awesome artist who'll draw any character for you (or of you), courtesy of her website listed here.
Along with being an amazing thespian, singer and artist, MJ is also very passionate about astrology and will do a tarot card reading for you at the starting rate of $10! You can visit her website for general readings here.
Along with being an amazing thespian, singer, artist and tarot card reader, MJ is also interested in cryptocurrency (though she doesn't invest in SHIB, SHINJA or Saitama Inu like I do, heh) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) like I am!
MJ was able to secure two NFTs from a presale mint that was conducted by the Alien Secret Society, a community on the Discord messaging platform, a few hours ago. (The NFTs are supposed to become available to the public tomorrow.) She sent me the thumbnails below as proof of purchase.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone(specifically to my fellow Yanks)! Just thought I'd point out that fueling operations will now begin on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope(JWST) in French Guiana, South America, as it is now less than a month away from launch. The fueling operation will take 10 days to complete.
For those of you wondering, JWST's flight on an Ariane 5 rocket was delayed by four days after a mishap occurred with a clamp that was supposed to attach the telescope to its launch vehicle adapter. The clamp unexpectedly released during mating operations inside Guiana Space Centre's satellite preparation facility...causing a vibration that resonated throughout the telescope.
NASA spent the last two weeks or so (since the incident occurred) conducting tests to make sure that JWST was unharmed. And yesterday, the space agency concluded that the telescope remained healthy—which is why JWST is now scheduled to depart from Earth on December 22, at 4:20 AM, Pacific Standard Time (7:20 AM, Eastern Standard Time).
Assuming that JWST won't encounter another bout of misfortune, the next 27 days should be exciting as the most-powerful space telescope ever developed is on the verge of beginning a mission of immense cosmic discoveries!
Happy Holidays.
The James Webb Space Telescope is on track for a launch date of Dec. 22.
Additional testing, which was conducted due to an incident in launch preparations, concluded no observatory components were damaged. Observatory fueling operations begin on Nov. 25: https://t.co/3E4UopkVZGpic.twitter.com/aPZJPIBtCQ
NASA, SpaceX Launch DART: First Test Mission to Defend Planet Earth (Press Release)
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test(DART), the world’s first full-scale mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards, launched Wednesday at 1:21 a.m. EST on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Just one part of NASA’s larger planetary defense strategy, DART – built and managed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland – will impact a known asteroid that is not a threat to Earth. Its goal is to slightly change the asteroid’s motion in a way that can be accurately measured using ground-based telescopes.
DART will show that a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it – a method of deflection called kinetic impact. The test will provide important data to help better prepare for an asteroid that might pose an impact hazard to Earth, should one ever be discovered. LICIACube, a CubeSat riding with DART and provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), will be released prior to DART’s impact to capture images of the impact and the resulting cloud of ejected matter. Roughly four years after DART’s impact, ESA’s (European Space Agency)Hera project will conduct detailed surveys of both asteroids, with particular focus on the crater left by DART’s collision and a precise determination of Dimorphos’ mass.
“DART is turning science fiction into science fact and is a testament to NASA’s proactivity and innovation for the benefit of all,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “In addition to all the ways NASA studies our universe and our home planet, we’re also working to protect that home, and this test will help prove out one viable way to protect our planet from a hazardous asteroid should one ever be discovered that is headed toward Earth.”
At 2:17 a.m., DART separated from the second stage of the rocket. Minutes later, mission operators received the first spacecraft telemetry data and started the process of orienting the spacecraft to a safe position for deploying its solar arrays. About two hours later, the spacecraft completed the successful unfurling of its two, 28-foot-long, roll-out solar arrays. They will power both the spacecraft and NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster – Commercial ion engine, one of several technologies being tested on DART for future application on space missions.
“At its core, DART is a mission of preparedness, and it is also a mission of unity,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This international collaboration involves DART, ASI’s LICIACube, and ESA’s Hera investigations and science teams, which will follow up on this groundbreaking space mission.”
DART’s one-way trip is to the Didymos asteroid system, which comprises a pair of asteroids. DART’s target is the moonlet, Dimorphos, which is approximately 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter. The moonlet orbits Didymos, which is approximately 2,560 feet (780 meters) in diameter.
Since Dimorphos orbits Didymos at much a slower relative speed than the pair orbits the Sun, the result of DART’s kinetic impact within the binary system can be measured much more easily than a change in the orbit of a single asteroid around the Sun.
“We have not yet found any significant asteroid impact threat to Earth, but we continue to search for that sizable population we know is still to be found. Our goal is to find any possible impact, years to decades in advance, so it can be deflected with a capability like DART that is possible with the technology we currently have,” said Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA Headquarters. “DART is one aspect of NASA’s work to prepare Earth should we ever be faced with an asteroid hazard. In tandem with this test, we are preparing the Near-Earth Object Surveyor Mission, a space-based infrared telescope scheduled for launch later this decade and designed to expedite our ability to discover and characterize the potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit.”
The spacecraft will intercept the Didymos system between Sept. 26 and Oct. 1, 2022, intentionally slamming into Dimorphos at roughly 4 miles per second (6 kilometers per second). Scientists estimate the kinetic impact will shorten Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos by several minutes. Researchers will precisely measure that change using telescopes on Earth. Their results will validate and improve scientific computer models critical to predicting the effectiveness of the kinetic impact as a reliable method for asteroid deflection.
“It is an indescribable feeling to see something you’ve been involved with since the ‘words on paper’ stage become real and launched into space,” said Andy Cheng, one of the DART investigation leads at Johns Hopkins APL and the individual who came up with the idea of DART. “This is just the end of the first act, and the DART investigation and engineering teams have much work to do over the next year preparing for the main event ─ DART’s kinetic impact on Dimorphos. But tonight we celebrate!”
DART’s single instrument, the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO), will turn on a week from now and provide first images from the spacecraft. DART will continue to travel just outside of Earth’s orbit around the Sun for the next 10 months until Didymos and Dimorphos will be a relatively close 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth.
A sophisticated guidance, navigation, and control system, working together with algorithms called Small-body Maneuvering Autonomous Real Time Navigation (SMART Nav), will enable the DART spacecraft to identify and distinguish between the two asteroids. The system will then direct the spacecraft toward Dimorphos. This process will all occur within roughly an hour of impact.
Johns Hopkins APL manages the DART mission for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office as a project of the agency’s Planetary Missions Program Office. NASA provides support for the mission from several centers, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Johnson Space Center in Houston, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX is the launch services provider for the DART mission.
NASA’s X-59 Stands on its Own (News Release - November 19)
The NASA and Lockheed Martin team behind the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology(QueSST) have recently removed the aircraft from its jig system, or external supports. The next step is proving the research aircraft is structurally sound and ready for final assembly.
The team has made significant progress on the X-59 QueSST assembly. In late October, they pulled the aircraft away from the jig support system. The jig, which is similar to scaffolding, helped ensure all of the aircraft’s hardware was placed together correctly throughout the manufacturing process.
“It’s pretty simple to move the jig away,” said David Richwine, NASA’s X-59 deputy project manager for technology. “It’s the preparation that’s more time consuming.”
Most of the preparation for the X-59's construction involved more than a decade’s worth of research on quiet supersonic technology. NASA’s quiet supersonic mission plans to bring all of the science and technology developed during those years into the spotlight.
For Richwine, seeing the construction of the aircraft feels personal.
“I have been working on supersonics technology, and the predecessor to the concept for the past 15 years,” Richwine said. “I have more of an emotional attachment because I have put so many years into this mission.”
Initial construction of NASA’s X-59 began in 2018 at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. The X-59 will be flown as part of a mission to collect data on quiet supersonic flight and public reactions to supersonic “thumps”. The plane is shaped in a way that reduces a sonic boom typically associated with supersonic aircraft to a quiet sonic thump to people on the ground. The mission’s findings will be sent to regulators to help create new rules regarding speed limitations on supersonic flight over land.
Now that the X-59 is free from the jig, it will move on to the final assembly phase, including the first “power-on” of the aircraft to test its internal systems. Once that is complete, the X-59 will be shipped to Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, where structural tests will be conducted. The first flight of the X-59 is planned for 2022.
