Universe Today

August 28, 2022August 29, 2022 by Matt Williams

Everything Still Looks Good for Monday's Artemis 1 Launch

NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft for Artemis I on the pad at Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Addendum: Today’s launch was scrubbed due to an engine issue that occurred during fueling. The backup date of Sept. 2nd is now targeted.

On Monday, August 29th, NASA will make history with the launch of the Artemis I mission. As the first flight in the Artemis Program, the mission will consist of a fully-stacked Space Launch System (SLS) and an Orion spacecraft taking off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once in orbit, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft and European Space Module (ESM) will fly beyond the Moon before returning to Earth. This mission will validate the key systems and components of the Artemis Program and be a dress rehearsal for the crewed Artemis II mission in 2024.

According to the Flight Readiness Review, the Artemis I mission is a GO for launch and will launch no earlier than 02:33 PM EST (11:33 PM PST). While the mission is uncrewed, the crew module will still carry two mannequins (Helga and Zohar), occupying two of the capsule’s passenger seats. Helga and Zohar will carry over 5600 sensors to measure the radiation load during the circumlunar journey. Shaun the Sheep, a character from the popular animated series Wallace and Grommit, will occupy the third seat as part of a global social media campaign.

August 27, 2022August 27, 2022 by Anton Pozdnyakov

‘Panic!’ Around JWST, Exoplanet With CO2, Weak Mars Astronauts

No, James Webb didn’t disprove the Big Bang. Carbon dioxide found in an exoplanet atmosphere. An amazing picture of Jupiter from Webb, pieces of other stars found in asteroid Ryugu, weak astronauts arriving on Mars, and a new way to measure distances in the Universe.

August 27, 2022August 27, 2022 by Matt Williams

Mechazilla Lifts a Super Heavy With all 33 Engines Onto the Launchpad

Mechazilla transports the fully-stacked Starship onto its launch pad. Credit: SpaceX

Little by little, SpaceX is getting closer to conducting the maiden orbital flight with its Starship and Super Heavy prototype! That was certainly the message Elon Musk conveyed on August 23rd when he posted an image via Twitter of the “Mechazilla” launch tower loading the fully-stacked prototype onto its launchpad at the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. From here, the six-engine SN24 Starship and the BN7 Super Heavy prototype (with its full complement of 33 Raptor engines) will launch, which could happen in just a few weeks.

August 27, 2022August 27, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

This is What a Robotic Explorer Might See When it Reaches Europa’s Oceans

Mounds of snow-like ice under an ice shelf. ©Helen Glazer, 2015 from the project Walking in Antarctica.

For decades, evidence has been mounting that beneath the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa, a vast ocean exists that could possibly host microbial life. As scientists prepare to send the Europa Clipper mission to orbit the Jupiter system, they are trying to learn more about the subsurface ocean and the ice that encompasses the moon.

One way to study Europa is to look at similar environments here on Earth. Scientists say that conditions found under Earth’s Antarctic ice shelf provides an analog to Europa’s subsurface ocean and can help them determine how the moon’s ice shell accretes and grows.

A new study published in the journal Astrobiology looked at a unique phenomenon in the Antarctic ocean called underwater snow. This is where ice floats upwards onto the bottom of the ice shelf and attaches in fluffy-looking mounds. This helps to replenish the ice shelf. The study infers that the same phenomenon is likely true for Jupiter’s moon, and may play a role in building and replenishing its exterior ice shell.

August 27, 2022August 27, 2022 by Matt Williams

A New Study Confirms That Gravity has Remained Constant for the Entire age of the Universe

The first image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, featuring the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

For over a century, astronomers have known that the Universe has been expanding since the Big Bang. For the first eight billion years, the expansion rate was relatively consistent since it was held back by the force of gravitation. However, thanks to missions like the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have since learned that roughly five billion years ago, the rate of expansion has been accelerating. This led to the widely-accepted theory that a mysterious force is behind the expansion (known as Dark Energy), while some insist that the force of gravity may have changed over time.

This is a contentious hypothesis since it means that Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity (which has been validated nine ways from Sunday) is wrong. But according to a new study by the international Dark Energy Survey (DES) Collaboration, the nature of gravity has remained the same throughout the entire history of the Universe. These findings come shortly before two next-generation space telescopes (Nancy Grace Roman and Euclid) are sent to space to conduct even more precise measurements of gravity and its role in cosmic evolution.

August 26, 2022August 26, 2022 by Matt Williams

Astronomers Find a Waterworld Planet With Deep Oceans in the Habitable Zone

Artist's rendering of a super-Earth-type exoplanet, TOI 1452 b. Credit: Benoit Gougeon, Université de Montréal.

In the search for extrasolar planets, astronomers and astrobiologists generally pursue a policy of “follow the water.” This comes down to searching for planets that orbit with a star’s circumsolar habitable zone (HZ), where conditions are warm enough that liquid water can flow on its surface. The reason is simple: water is the only known solvent capable of supporting life and is required by all life on Earth. However, since the 1970s, scientists have speculated that there may be a class of rocky planets in our Universe that are completely covered in water.

With the explosion in confirmed exoplanets, scientists have been eager to find examples of this type of planet, so they study them more closely. Thanks to an international team of researchers led by the Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx) at the Université de Montréal, an exoplanet orbiting within its system’s HZ was recently discovered that could be completely covered in deep oceans. This “ocean world” (aka. “Waterworld”) could reveal things about the nature of habitability when it is the subject of follow-up observations using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

August 26, 2022August 26, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

This Ice Cliff is One of the Few Places With Exposed Water ice in the Mid-Latitudes on Mars. It’s Probably Tens of Millions of Years old

An icy cliff face on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona.

Because of the orbiters and landers that have studied Mars over the years, scientists have learned that water ice is very likely locked away just under the surface throughout the planet’s mid-latitudes. These regions – especially in the northern hemisphere — are mostly covered with smooth material and scientists suspect ice is just underneath.

But sometimes, images like this give one from the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, provides a glimpse of the ice that might be buried below the surface. This image shows a cliff jutting out of the normally smooth terrain, and the cliff is covered with bright ice.

August 25, 2022August 25, 2022 by Matt Williams

Here is Where Astronauts Might Land on the Moon

Shown here is a rendering of 13 candidate landing regions for Artemis III. Credits: NASA

In just four days, the inaugural mission of the Artemis Program will lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida! Dubbed Artemis I, this mission will see the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft achieve flight together for the first time. The mission will last between 39 and 42 days and consist of the uncrewed Orion flying beyond the Moon, farther than any spaceship has ever traveled, and then looping back around the Moon to return home. This flight, and the crewed Artemis II that will follow, are essentially the dress rehearsal for the long-awaited return to the Moon.

Designated Artemis III, this mission is scheduled to take place in 2025 and will see the “first woman and first person of color” set foot on the lunar surface. It will also be the first time in over 50 years (since Apollo 17 landed in 1972) that astronauts will venture beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO). In preparation for this, NASA has identified 13 candidate regions in the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin, which they recently shared with the public. Each region contains multiple potential sites where the Starship Human Landing System (HLS) will land.

August 25, 2022August 25, 2022 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Carbon Monoxide is Plentiful in Nebulae, but Then Disappears When Planets Form. Now we Know Where it Goes!

carbon monoxide in protoplanetary disk — ALMA image of the protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star HD 163296 as seen in dust. New studies show there may be carbon monoxide ice there. Courtesy NRAO.

Protoplanetary disks—those nurseries around young stars where planets form—are filled with gas and dust. In particular, many show a lot of carbon monoxide gas. It’s a handy “tracer” to estimate the mass of a cloud, its composition, and even its temperature. It’s also easy to observe. However, astronomers think there should be more of it than they’re observing in many disks. And that prompted a question: where’s the rest of it?

August 25, 2022August 25, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

JWST Finds a Clear, Unambiguous Signal for Carbon Dioxide in an Exoplanet’s Atmosphere

A transmission spectrum of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-39 b, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on July 10, 2022, reveals the first definitive evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside the Solar System. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and L. Hustak (STScI). Science: The JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Team

An early – and exciting — science result from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was announced today: the first unambiguous detection of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. This is the first detailed evidence for carbon dioxide ever detected in a planet outside our Solar System.