Friday, November 01, 2024

My SoCal Sports Wall of Fame, Updated!

My SoCal Sports Wall of Fame.

Even though the Los Angeles Times was one day late in publishing coverage for Game 5 of the World Series in its newspaper, that didn't stop me from adhering to a tradition started in mid-2000 (when Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant won their first NBA title with the Lakers) and displaying today's Dodgers-celebrating printed edition on my wall at home!

Yesterday, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to buy the L.A. Times paper...with all but one store that I drove to (a donut shop in West Covina, versus 7-Elevens for the other visits I made around the cities of Diamond Bar and Pomona here in Los Angeles County) running out of Thursday's edition. To make things hilarious for those jerks who apparently bought multiple copies of the paper so that there wouldn't be any left for other customers to purchase yesterday, the L.A. Times had Game 5 coverage only on its website. Everyone had to wait till this morning to buy the commemorative paper celebrating Los Angeles' second Major League Baseball championship in five years.

I woke up at 5 AM today to ensure that would be a lot more papers left at that donut shop before I made my purchase. There were six in stock, and I bought two. (There were two papers remaining on the shelf yesterday.)

So while the Dodgers' 2024 championship coverage now graces my bedroom wall instead of the 2020 title, one wonders when I'll replace the newspapers celebrating the Lakers' 2020 NBA Finals victory and the Rams' 2022 Super Bowl win at home. The way that the Lakers and Rams are currently playing (the Lakers lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers—who are currently undefeated—two days ago, while the Rams are 3-4 in the NFC West right now), probably not anytime soon!

Go Dodger Blue.

Today's Los Angeles Times newspaper before it was displayed on my wall.

Thursday, October 31, 2024

L.A. Is the King of the Baseball World Once Again!

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the 2024 World Series champions!
Major League Baseball

Happy Halloween, everyone! Last night, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees, 7-6, in Game 5 of the World Series...winning their second championship in five years!

The latest Major League Baseball title is the 8th in Dodgers franchise history, and comes after Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Walker Buehler, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and company emerged victorious from a series that was the 12th matchup with the Yankees since 1941. Before this year's Fall Classic, Los Angeles and New York last clashed in 1981—with the late and great Fernando Valenzuela helping the Dodgers to win the championship that October.

As for the World Series' Most Valuable Player trophy, Freddie Freeman won the award...after he immediately became a legend hitting that walk-off grand slam to seal a Game 1 victory against the Yanks on October 25th.

It's so awesome for the City of Angels to become the City of Champions once more! Hopefully, Shohei will come close to winning the additional nine titles that he wanted after clinching his first with the Dodgers last night; Mookie Betts will tie Yankees legend Derek Jeter with two more World Series rings (Betts now has three—two with the Dodgers and one with the Boston Red Sox), and Yankees left fielder and power hitter Juan Soto (who's now a free agent) will sign with Los Angeles in the offseason.

Okay, I'm not holding my breath on that last one with Soto. Go Dodger Blue!

The Commissioner's Trophy is hoisted into the air as the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate winning the 2024 World Series championship at Yankee Stadium in New York...on October 30, 2024.
Major League Baseball

The Los Angeles Dodgers take a group photo on the field at Yankee Stadium after winning the 2024 World Series championship...on October 30, 2024.
Major League Baseball

The Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman is the 2024 World Series' Most Valuable Player.
Major League Baseball

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

The Latest Update on America's Next Great Observatory...

Scientist Vanessa Bailey stands behind the Roman Coronagraph inside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena, California...in October of 2023.
NASA / JPL - Caltech

NASA Successfully Integrates Coronagraph for Roman Space Telescope (News Release - October 28)

The instrument will demonstrate advanced hardware for studying Earth-size planets with the right conditions for life.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully completed integration of the Roman Coronagraph Instrument onto Roman’s Instrument Carrier, a piece of infrastructure that will hold the mission’s instruments, which will be integrated onto the larger spacecraft at a later date. The Roman Coronagraph is a technology demonstration that scientists will use to take an important step in the search for habitable worlds and, eventually, life beyond Earth.

This integration took place at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where the space telescope is located and in development. This milestone follows the coronagraph’s arrival at the center earlier this year from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the instrument was developed, built and tested.

The Roman Coronagraph Instrument is a technology demonstration that will launch aboard the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s next flagship astrophysics mission. Roman will have a field of view at least 100 times larger than the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope and explore scientific mysteries surrounding dark energy, exoplanets and infrared astrophysics. Roman is expected to launch no later than May of 2027.

The mission’s coronagraph is designed to make direct observations of exoplanets, or planets outside of our Solar System, by using a complex suite of masks and active mirrors to obscure the glare of the planets’ host stars, making the planets visible. Being a technology demonstration means that the coronagraph’s goal is to test this technology in space and showcase its capabilities. The Roman Coronagraph is poised to act as a technological stepping stone, enabling future technologies on missions like NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, which would be the first telescope designed specifically to search for signs of life on exoplanets.

“In order to get from where we are to where we want to be, we need the Roman Coronagraph to demonstrate this technology,” said Rob Zellem, Roman Space Telescope deputy project scientist for communications at NASA Goddard. “We’ll be applying those lessons learned to the next generation of NASA flagship missions that will be explicitly designed to look for Earth-like planets.”

A Major Mission Milestone

The coronagraph was successfully integrated into Roman’s Instrument Carrier, a large grid-like structure that sits between the space telescope’s primary mirror and spacecraft bus, which will deliver the telescope to orbit and enable the telescope’s functionality upon arrival in space. Assembly of the mission’s spacecraft bus was completed in September.

The Instrument Carrier will hold both the coronagraph and Roman’s Wide Field Instrument, the mission’s primary science instrument, which is set to be integrated later this year along with the Roman telescope itself. “You can think of [the Instrument Carrier] as the skeleton of the observatory, what everything interfaces to,” said Brandon Creager, lead mechanical engineer for the Roman Coronagraph at JPL.

The integration process began months ago with mission teams from across NASA coming together to plan the maneuver. Additionally, after its arrival at NASA Goddard, mission teams ran tests to prepare the coronagraph to be joined to the spacecraft bus.

During the integration itself, the coronagraph, which is roughly the size and shape of a baby grand piano (measuring about 5.5 feet, or 1.7 meters across), was mounted onto the Instrument Carrier using what’s called the Horizontal Integration Tool.

First, a specialized adapter developed at JPL was attached to the instrument, and then the Horizontal Integration Tool was attached to the adapter. The tool acts as a moveable counterweight, so the instrument was suspended from the tool as it was carefully moved into its final position in the Instrument Carrier. Then, the attached Horizontal Integration Tool and adapter were removed from the coronagraph.

The Horizontal Integration Tool has previously been used for integrations on NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope.

As part of the integration process, engineers also ensured that blanketing layers were in place to insulate the coronagraph within its place in the Instrument Carrier. The coronagraph is designed to operate at room temperature, so insulation is critical to keep the instrument at the right temperature in the cold vacuum of space. This insulation will also provide an additional boundary to block stray light that could otherwise obscure observations.

Following this successful integration, engineers will perform different checks and tests to ensure that everything is connected properly and correctly aligned before moving forward to integrate the Wide Field Instrument and the telescope itself. Successful alignment of the Roman Coronagraph’s optics is critical to the instrument’s success in orbit.

This latest mission milestone is the culmination of an enduring collaboration between a number of Roman partners, but especially between NASA Goddard and JPL.

“It’s really rewarding to watch these teams come together and build up the Roman observatory. That’s the result of a lot of teams, long hours, hard work, sweat and tears,” said Liz Daly, the integrated payload assembly integration and test lead for Roman at Goddard.

“Support and trust were shared across both teams... We were all just one team,” said Gasia Bedrosian, the integration and test lead for the Roman Coronagraph at JPL. Following the integration, “we celebrated our success together,” she added.

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

****

Technicians stand together during the integration of the Roman Coronagraph inside a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center...in October of 2024.
NASA / Sydney Rohde

Monday, October 28, 2024

A Gorgeous View from Jezero Crater on Mars...

A snapshot of the terrain at Jezero Crater, as seen by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on September 27, 2024.
NASA / JPL - Caltech / ASU / MSSS

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Looks Back While Climbing Slippery Slope (News Release)

On its way up the side of Jezero Crater, the agency’s latest Red Planet off-roader peers all the way back to its landing site and scopes the path ahead.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is negotiating a steeply sloping route up Jezero Crater’s western wall with the aim of cresting the rim in early December. During the climb, the rover snapped not only a sweeping view of Jezero Crater’s interior, but also imagery of the tracks that it left after some wheel slippage along the way.

Stitched together from 44 frames acquired on September 27, the 1,282nd Martian day of Perseverance’s mission, the image mosaic features many landmarks and Martian firsts that have made the rover’s 3½-year exploration of Jezero so memorable, including the rover’s landing site, the spot where it first found sedimentary rocks, the location of the first sample depot on another planet, and the final airfield for NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. The rover captured the view near a location that the team calls “Faraway Rock,” at about the halfway point in its climb up the crater wall.

“The image not only shows our past and present, but also shows the biggest challenge to getting where we want to be in the future,” said Perseverance’s deputy project manager, Rick Welch of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “If you look at the right side of the mosaic, you begin to get an idea what we’re dealing with. Mars didn’t want to make it easy for anyone to get to the top of this ridge.”

Visible on the right side of the mosaic is a slope of about 20 degrees. While Perseverance has climbed 20-degree inclines before (both NASA’s Curiosity and Opportunity rovers had crested hills at least 10 degrees steeper), this is the first time it’s traveled that steep a grade on such a slippery surface.

Soft, Fluffy

During much of the climb, the rover has been driving over loosely-packed dust and sand with a thin, brittle crust. On several days, Perseverance covered only about 50% of the distance that it would have on a less slippery surface, and on one occasion, it covered just 20% of the planned route.

“Mars rovers have driven over steeper terrain, and they’ve driven over more slippery terrain, but this is the first time one had to handle both — and on this scale,” said JPL’s Camden Miller, who was a rover planner, or “driver,” for Curiosity and now serves the same role on the Perseverance mission. “For every two steps forward Perseverance takes, we were taking at least one step back. The rover planners saw this was trending toward a long, hard slog, so we got together to think up some options.”

On October 3, they sent commands for Perseverance to test strategies to reduce slippage. First, they had it drive backward up the slope (testing on Earth has shown that under certain conditions the rover’s “rocker-bogie” suspension system maintains better traction during backward driving). Then they tried cross-slope driving (switchbacking) and driving closer to the northern edge of “Summerland Trail,” the name that the mission has given to the rover’s route up the crater rim.

Data from those efforts showed that while all three approaches enhanced traction, sticking close to the slope’s northern edge proved the most beneficial. The rover planners believe the presence of larger rocks closer to the surface made the difference.

“That’s the plan right now, but we may have to change things up the road,” said Miller. “No Mars rover mission has tried to climb up a mountain this big this fast. The science team wants to get to the top of the crater rim as soon as possible because of the scientific opportunities up there. It’s up to us rover planners to figure out a way to get them there.”

Tube Status

In a few weeks, Perseverance is expected to crest the crater rim at a location that the science team calls “Lookout Hill.” From there, it will drive about another quarter-mile (450 meters) to “Witch Hazel Hill.” Orbital data shows that Witch Hazel Hill contains light-toned, layered bedrock.

The team is looking forward to comparing this new site to “Bright Angel,” the area where Perseverance recently discovered and sampled the “Cheyava Falls” rock.

The rover landed on Mars carrying 43 tubes for collecting samples from the Martian surface. So far, Perseverance has sealed and cached 24 samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), plus one atmospheric sample and three witness tubes. Early in the mission’s development, NASA set the requirement for the rover to be capable of caching at least 31 samples of rock, regolith and witness tubes over the course of Perseverance’s mission at Jezero.

The project added 12 tubes, bringing the total to 43. The extras were included in anticipation of the challenging conditions found at Mars that could result in some tubes not functioning as designed.

NASA decided to retire two of the spare empty tubes because accessing them would pose a risk to the rover’s small internal robotic sample-handling arm needed for the task: A wire harness connected to the arm could catch on a fastener on the rover’s frame when reaching for the two empty sample tubes.

With those spares now retired, Perseverance currently has 11 empty tubes for sampling rock and two empty witness tubes.

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

****

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Photos of the Day: Capturing Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS Images for the Third and Final Time...

An image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 19, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Yesterday, I drove back to Diamond Bar's Summitridge Park in California to take one final group of photos of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS).

I originally went to Summitridge Park for a third attempt last Friday, October 18, but showed up a bit later than I should have (around 7:30 PM, PDT) since I ate dinner at home beforehand. The marine layer coming in from the Pacific Ocean (43 miles away) was already obscuring much of the sky across Los Angeles County from my vantage point at Summitridge...making it more difficult for me to spot the increasingly-faint comet.

I arrived at the park a few minutes before 7 PM, PDT last night (sunset was at 6:11 PM, PDT), and as shown with the images that I've included with this post, Tsuchinshan–ATLAS is becoming less and less visible as it moves away from Earth. The comet, once it disappears from view at the end of this month, won't return to our inner Solar System for another 80,000 years.

Here are the settings on my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera for yesterday's cosmic photoshoot:

Lens: 70-300mm Nikon telephoto lens
ISO: 400 to 800
F-stop: f/5.6
Shutter speed: 2.5 seconds
Live View mode on my LCD screen used instead of the viewfinder

Hope you guys were able to spot Tsuchinshan–ATLAS over the past few weeks as well! Happy Sunday.

An image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 19, 2024.
Richard T. Par

An image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 19, 2024.
Richard T. Par

An image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 19, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Photos of the Day: Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS Pictures That I Took Last Night...

An image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 14, 2024.
Richard T. Par

As promised in my Blog entry last Saturday, I went back to Diamond Bar's Summitridge Park in California yesterday to take more photos of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS)!

Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS was a bit higher in the sky on October 14, and was more visible than on October 12 since the celestial body was no longer caught in the glare of the Sun as it set below the horizon.

Here are the settings on my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera for last night's cosmic photoshoot:

Lens: 70-300mm Nikon telephoto lens
ISO: 400 to 800
F-stop: f/4.5
Shutter speed: 4 seconds
Live View mode on my LCD screen used instead of the viewfinder

Will I head back out one last time to see this comet before it disappears from our skies for the next 80,000 years? We'll see.

I already took care of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) with my two trips to Summitridge Park. Happy Tuesday!

Another image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 14, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Another image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS (with satellite trails and those streaks of light caused by an airliner passing next to it) as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 14, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Another image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 14, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Another image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 14, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Another image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS (with those streaks of light caused by another airliner passing below it) as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 14, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Monday, October 14, 2024

America's Next Jupiter-bound Orbiter Has Finally Departed from Earth!

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida...on October 14, 2024.
SpaceX

Liftoff! NASA’s Europa Clipper Sails Toward Ocean Moon of Jupiter (Press Release)

NASA’s Europa Clipper has embarked on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. The spacecraft launched at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The largest spacecraft that NASA has ever built for a mission headed to another planet, Europa Clipper is also the first NASA mission dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) on a trajectory that will leverage the power of gravity assists, first to Mars in four months and then back to Earth for another gravity assist flyby in 2026. After it begins orbiting Jupiter in April 2030, the spacecraft will fly past Europa 49 times.

“Congratulations to our Europa Clipper team for beginning the first journey to an ocean world beyond Earth,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA leads the world in exploration and discovery, and the Europa Clipper mission is no different. By exploring the unknown, Europa Clipper will help us better understand whether there is the potential for life not just within our Solar System, but among the billions of moons and planets beyond our Sun.”

Approximately five minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s second stage fired up and the payload fairing, or the rocket’s nose cone, opened to reveal Europa Clipper. About an hour after launch, the spacecraft separated from the rocket. Ground controllers received a signal soon after, and two-way communication was established at 1:13 p.m. with NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia.

Mission teams celebrated as initial telemetry reports showed that Europa Clipper is in good health and operating as expected.

“We could not be more excited for the incredible and unprecedented science NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will deliver in the generations to come,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Everything in NASA science is interconnected, and Europa Clipper’s scientific discoveries will build upon the legacy that our other missions exploring Jupiter — including Juno, Galileo and Voyager — created in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet.”

The main goal of the mission is to determine whether Europa has conditions that could support life. Europa is about the size of our own Moon, but its interior is different. Information from NASA’s Galileo mission in the 1990s showed strong evidence that under Europa’s ice lies an enormous, salty ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined.

Scientists have also found evidence that Europa may host organic compounds and energy sources under its surface. If the mission determines that Europa is habitable, it may mean there are more habitable worlds in our Solar System and beyond than imagined.

“We’re ecstatic to send Europa Clipper on its way to explore a potentially habitable ocean world, thanks to our colleagues and partners who’ve worked so hard to get us to this day,” said Laurie Leshin, director, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Europa Clipper will undoubtedly deliver mind-blowing science. While always bittersweet to send something we’ve labored over for years off on its long journey, we know this remarkable team and spacecraft will expand our knowledge of our Solar System and inspire future exploration.”

In 2031, the spacecraft will begin conducting its science-dedicated flybys of Europa. Coming as close as 16 miles (25 kilometers) to the surface, Europa Clipper is equipped with nine science instruments and a gravity experiment, including an ice-penetrating radar, cameras and a thermal instrument to look for areas of warmer ice and any recent eruptions of water. As the most sophisticated suite of science instruments that NASA has ever sent to Jupiter, they will work in concert to learn more about the moon’s icy shell, thin atmosphere and deep interior.

To power those instruments in the faint sunlight that reaches Jupiter, Europa Clipper also carries the largest solar arrays NASA has ever used for an interplanetary mission. With arrays extended, the spacecraft spans 100 feet (30.5 meters) from end to end. With propellant loaded, it weighs about 13,000 pounds (5,900 kilograms).

In all, more than 4,000 people have contributed to the Europa Clipper mission since it was formally approved in 2015.

“As Europa Clipper embarks on its journey, I’ll be thinking about the countless hours of dedication, innovation and teamwork that made this moment possible,” said Jordan Evans, project manager at NASA JPL. “This launch isn’t just the next chapter in our exploration of the Solar System; it’s a leap toward uncovering the mysteries of another ocean world, driven by our shared curiosity and continued search to answer the question, ‘are we alone?’”

Source: NASA.Gov

****

A selfie I took with Europa Clipper inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena, California...on October 18, 2023.

My 'Message in a Bottle' certificate for NASA's Europa Clipper mission.

The inner side of a vault plate (which bears a small green microchip containing the names of 2.6 million people) that was attached to the Europa Clipper spacecraft before it launched to Jupiter's icy moon Europa on October 14, 2024.
NASA / JPL - Caltech

An image of the vault plate after it was attached to the Europa Clipper spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena, California, earlier this year.
NASA / JPL - Caltech

A video screenshot showing the Europa Clipper spacecraft separating from the Falcon Heavy second stage over an hour after launch...on October 14, 2024.
SpaceX

Saturday, October 12, 2024

Photos of the Day: My Snapshots of Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS!

A cropped image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 12, 2024.
Richard T. Par

A few hours ago, I drove down to Summitridge Park in the city of Diamond Bar to take photos of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS)...which will be visible in the evening sky for the next two weeks or so. Once it heads back out to the Oort Cloud two light-years away, comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS won't return to our inner Solar System for another 80,000 years!

I used my Google Pixel 5 and Nikon D3300 DSLR camera to capture these snapshots. Here are the settings that I employed on my DSLR:

Lens: 70-300mm Nikon telephoto lens
ISO: 400 to 1600
F-stop: f/5.6
Shutter speed: 2.5 seconds
Live View mode on my LCD screen used instead of the viewfinder

I plan on heading back out to capture more images of C/2023 A3 as it gets higher up in the sky over the coming days. This is my second comet in over four years (after comet NEOWISE in July of 2020) that I was fortunate enough to take photos of from Los Angeles County, CA!

Hope you guys are having a nice weekend.

A cropped image of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera...on October 12, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera from Diamond Bar's Summitridge Park in California...on October 12, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera from Diamond Bar's Summitridge Park in California...on October 12, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Nikon D3300 DSLR camera from Diamond Bar's Summitridge Park in California...on October 12, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS as seen with my Google Pixel 5 smartphone from Diamond Bar's Summitridge Park in California...on October 12, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Friday, October 11, 2024

The Latest Update on the Orbital Test Vehicle...

An artist's concept of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle conducting an aerobraking maneuver in Earth's atmosphere.
Boeing

Boeing-built X-37B Begins Advanced Space Maneuvering (News Release - October 10)

- 10 months into its 7th mission, the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-7) continues to set the pace of technology demonstrations in space.

- Upcoming aerobraking will expand the United States Space Force’s knowledge of maneuvering between orbits with minimal fuel usage.


KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla — The Boeing [NYSE: BA]-built X-37B will soon perform a series of advanced aerobraking maneuvers, taking the dynamic spaceplane from a Highly-Elliptical Orbit (HEO), where it’s been operating since December 2023, and lowering its altitude using minimal fuel.

This will be the first time that Boeing, the United States Space Force (USSF) and the X-37B attempt to accomplish this novel demonstration.

“Space is a vast and unforgiving environment where testing technologies is critical to the success of future endeavors,” said Michelle Parker, vice president of Boeing’s Space Mission Systems. “There is no other space platform as capable, flexible and maneuverable as the X-37B, and its next demonstration will be another proof point that this test vehicle sets the pace of innovation.”

During aerobraking, the X-37B will use the drag of Earth’s atmosphere to slow it down, reducing the vehicle’s energy and changing the orbit while expending minimal fuel. The Service Module disposal will be conducted in accordance with established standards for space debris mitigation, and the X-37B’s orbit change will occur in a safe and responsible manner. Once aerobraking is complete, the X-37B will resume its test and experimentation objectives.

“This first-of-a kind maneuver from the X-37B is an incredibly important milestone for the United States Space Force as we seek to expand our aptitude and ability to perform in this challenging domain,” said Gen. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations.

The program will leverage six successful missions of safely operating the X-37B around Earth during this next demonstration. Boeing brings decades of lessons learned from operating other spacecraft in a variety of orbits, from the Apollo missions, the Space Shuttle Program, and hundreds of government and commercial satellites.

Source: Boeing

Thursday, October 10, 2024

America's Next Jupiter-bound Orbiter Will Get a New Launch Date After Florida Weathers the Latest Tropical Cyclone...

Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Europa Clipper orbiter is encapsulated by the twin payload fairings of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket...on October 2, 2024.
NASA / Ben Smegelsky

NASA Begins Post-Hurricane Milton Assessments at Kennedy (News Release)

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida remains closed as Hurricane Milton moves off the coast.

The safety of everyone impacted by the storm remains our top priority as the agency begins the assessment and recovery process from the hurricane.

Once the winds subsided to a safe level, the center’s Ride Out Team and engineering teams began initial checkouts to ensure that bridges are safe and useable. Later, a larger assessment team will thoroughly check the entire center.

The agency’s Europa Clipper launch team will schedule an official launch date when teams from NASA and SpaceX are able to perform their assessments, and confirm that it’s safe to launch. Teams are working to protect launch opportunities no earlier than Sunday, October 13. Clipper has launch opportunities through Wednesday, November 6.

NASA will provide more information on Clipper launch opportunities as it becomes available.

Source: NASA.Gov

****