PSYCHE MISSION ON THE METAL ASTEROID

SCIENTIFIC ADVANCE AND COMMERCIAL INTEREST

IN A LEGAL FRAMEWORK TO BE DEFINED

Initially scheduled for October 5, 2023, the launch of the probe was postponed by a week in order to check the proper functioning of the small thrusters equipping the device. Laurie Leshin, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, stressed the importance of these devices, although they are not the main propulsion system, they are crucial, especially right after launch, to ensure their reliability when they are launched. required. These thrusters will help the device to orient itself correctly in relation to Earth.

Powered by two large solar panels, the probe will be propelled by four ion engines expelling xenon at high speed, ensuring a six-year journey. In May 2026, Psyche will receive a gravitational boost from the planet Mars before heading towards the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Why return to observe an asteroid when the Japanese Hayabusa-2 and American Osiris-REx missions have already collected numerous data on two of these celestial bodies, Ryugu and Bénou, and brought back samples? Because the term "asteroid" actually encompasses a whole diversity of stars, and Psyche, the target of NASA's mission, differs considerably from its counterparts.

First by its size:

This 280 km diameter asteroid is worth so much because it is one of the “M-type” asteroids, meaning it is mainly composed of metals.

Then, by its composition: Psyche is made up of nickel, iron and gold. This type of asteroid is quite rare in our solar system and could allow us to answer many questions about the origin of planets like Earth, which is why NASA is sending a space probe to Psyche this Friday October 13, 2023.

Studying the heart of our planet

The main interest of this mission is to collect as much information as possible on this stellar object, similar to the earth's core. All rocky planets, including Earth, have a metallic core, but we still know little about ours due to access limitations imposed by extreme heat and pressure. Jules Verne's novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth” unfortunately remains pure fiction.

This makes it easier for scientists to observe Psyche and her exposed heart. “One of the existing theories is that it was in the bowels of a forming planet,” explains David Oh, engineer and project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Psyche may have been the metallic core that was forming inside a baby planet, which then collided with another planet, which tore away that rocky mantle, leaving only a piece of that core in the 'space ".

So by studying Psyche, scientists could study the Earth's core of planets like ours in detail for the first time. Even more, since scientists assume that these are the remains of a planet from the beginning of our solar system, the information collected could shed light on how planets formed.

In particular, since scientists assume that Psyche is a remnant of a planet from the early days of our solar system, the data collected could shed light on the process of planetary formation. This will be the first exploration not only of an asteroid of this type, but also of a whole new world made of metal.

A value of 10,000 billion dollars

While the contribution to science promises to be enormous, the commercial attractiveness and legal framework of these new missions for the exploration and exploitation of space resources still raise questions.

Although this mission is primarily scientific in scope, the value of the asteroid could arouse envy and trigger a gold rush.

With a diameter of around 220 km, the asteroid Psyche could indeed represent a value of 10,000 billion dollars (or approximately 9,534 billion euros), according to estimates relayed by the American magazine Forbes.

This exceeds the accumulation of global economies, sparking keen interest and raising questions about the exploitation of space mining resources to compensate for the scarcity of certain metals on Earth. In addition, many H-type asteroids, which have a much higher metal composition than that of Earth, are found in abundant quantities.

A sector already very invested

The senators of the foresight delegation underline in a report published in June that the exploitation of space resources is no longer a science fiction scenario, but a reality.

Players, particularly from the private sector, are already mobilizing to position themselves on this future market. The sector is not at the embryonic stage since players, particularly in the private sector, are already working to ensure a place on this (future) market. Especially since the hope of exploiting minerals from space is fueled by the latest scientific advances. For example, the Osiris-Rex mission returned to Earth in September with 250 grams of samples from the asteroid Bennou, the largest quantity of such a celestial body ever reported on our planet.

At the beginning of the 2010s, American companies set the ambition to achieve this. Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, as well as Avatar director James Cameron, invested in one of these companies in 2012. The Duchy of Luxembourg also acquired, in 2016, 10% of one of these start-ups. The blow was over in 2018.

Some companies in the sector have gone bankrupt or been bought out to reorient themselves towards other space domains. Recent scientific advances fuel hopes of exploiting minerals from space. Companies like AstroForge in the United States, Asteroid Mining Corporation in the United Kingdom and ispace in Japan are positioning themselves as pioneers of this movement.

The American company AstroForge is increasing its tests with autonomous prospecting space robots in order to exploit extraterrestrial resources. It hopes to be able to launch its first real mission at the end of 2025 and bring it back to Earth by 2030, Matt Gialich, co-founder of the start-up, told the American channel CNN in April. AstroForge claims to have 31 platinum-rich asteroids in its sights

The essential stage of the moon

With the signing of the Artemis Accords in 2020, providing for a human return to the Moon, the installation of a base and the exploitation of its resources, the prospect of exploiting extraterrestrial minerals has become more concrete."The Moon, c is clearly the essential step" before going further in the exploration of Mars and exploiting celestial bodies, summarizes Florian Vidal, recalling that the return to our natural satellite gives rise to a new global race involving China , Russia, India and the United Arab Emirates.

However, technological, financial and legal challenges remain, particularly regarding the repatriation of minerals to Earth. Some experts suggest exploiting asteroid resources there for scientific purposes. This could be used to power probes to extend their lifespan . For example, the Juice mission, which left in mid-April to explore the icy moons of Jupiter. The resources could also be brought back to our planet.

The urgency of the legal framework

Alongside technical and scientific considerations, there is the thorny question of ownership of resources from space. But is it even possible to take over an asteroid ?

On this, Armel Kerrest, professor of space law and vice-president of the ESA European Center for Space Law, is categorical: “On a legal level there are rules which were set in the 1967 treaty , which provides that celestial bodies cannot be the subject of appropriation.”

Several countries, such as the United States, Luxembourg, Japan and the United Arab Emirates, have adopted texts to regulate these activities. China, Russia and even Saudi Arabia are also in the starting blocks.

Indeed, the treaty stipulates that “outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, cannot be the subject of national appropriation by proclamation of sovereignty, nor by way of use or occupation , nor by any other means".

On a global scale, these legal questions "must be addressed urgently in order to avoid space wars for natural resources, estimates Ifri in a note from May 2023. These questions should ideally be resolved before embarking on mining and energy exploitation of space."




Larry Ricky for DayNewsWorld

SPACEX DISAPPEARANCE OF 212 SATELLITES

SpaceX, Elon Musk's visionary company, is currently at the heart of a growing concern. Over the past few months, troubles have been piling up, with the inexplicable disappearance of 212 satellites from the Starlink constellation, a high-profile project intended to provide high-speed Internet access through thousands of satellites in low orbit around the Earth.

Starlink, which has long been SpaceX's flagship, seeks to eliminate digital deserts by bringing good web connectivity to underserved areas. While the company launched its Starlink V2 satellites to great fanfare in March, others simply seem to evaporate into the skies.

A mysterious escape

For three years, SpaceX has regularly reported satellite losses, but this time the disappearance peaked between July 18 and September 18, 2023.

Some experts question the reliability of this data, particularly that accessible in real time on sites such as Satellite Map

However, figures from public sources like space-track.org support these statistics. For the moment, SpaceX has remained silent about these losses, leaving doubt as to their nature: are these losses planned as part of the Starlink project, or are they the result of technical failures?

Technology or natural phenomenon, who is the culprit ?

It is important to note that the satellites in the Starlink constellation are not intended to last indefinitely. SpaceX predicted a lifespan of approximately five years for these satellites, before their natural disintegration in the Earth's atmosphere. Since the inaugural launch in 2019, more than 5,000 satellites have been put into orbit, of which 4,500 are still operational.

Another factor, in addition to technical failures, must be taken into account: solar activity and its potential electromagnetic disturbances. Satellites are particularly vulnerable to these phenomena, and this summer the Sun has been particularly turbulent, generating intense solar storms.

This could provide part of the explanation for the mysterious disappearances.

Already last year, Starlink admitted the loss of 40 satellites due to violent solar winds. It is therefore possible that this new series of disappearances is attributable to the same causes. SpaceX will certainly have to provide clarification in the coming weeks, but for now, the mystery remains intact.

The situation that currently concerns SpaceX cannot be underestimated.

The eyes of the world are now on SpaceX, eagerly awaiting answers to these cosmic riddles.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

TRIP FOR THE NIGHT OF THE STARS

First arrival at McClellan-Palomar airport (KCRQ) is 4:05 local time.

Here is our little team Luc our pilot, scientific expert and journalist, Joanne and me (Mia) journalists for our expedition to Mount Palomar almost arrived at their destination finally almost !

Problem the keys of the helicopter that Luc must then use are not there !

Whoever dropped off the Bell 206 left with it by mistake.

So we're going to rest in the jet, the keys will be the subject of a short round trip to San Diego airport which is not far from here.

Second arrival we are in final 24 on McClellan-Palomar (KCRQ) with a turbulent crosswind, my photo taken with my smartphone is not my best !

Satisfaction all the same because undoubtedly the Mont Palomar awaits us, to us the stars !

After a telephone contact we are authorized to land near the observatory to leave the standard landing zone (zone H) free in case another helicopter needs to come on site.

Before installing on board the Bell 206, Luc as a good Pilot weighs everything!, because there are three of us on board plus the equipment and in the event of overweight, safety would be engaged.

Yes hard for me because my wardrobes will stay in the jet, but that's the price of safety.

.

Takeoff and after a short flight here we are at Mount Palomar.

As soon as we arrived, at work, but what a joy to be there, what an unobstructed view of a cloudless blue sky that promises us success.

We have installed photo equipment outside to do astrophotography.

Night falls with it, the magic of the stars begins.


In turn we go to the observatory to look at the wonders of the sky through the telescope.




 

I I




 I attach  to this article some photos taken on the spot but, for technical reasons on our online newspaper it is not possible to deposit high resolution versions, part of our readers are with smartphones, others with a connection not top.....

However, I hope you will be amazed by the beauty of the sky and the stars, the images speak for themselves.

We would like to thank the whole team who received us and welcomed us so well and without whom our expedition would not have been the same.

I am composing this article on my laptop sitting in the back of the jet, hoping that this expedition carried out for you, our readers, will make you discover a starry sky which is too often invisible to citizens living in cities where observation is almost impossible.




Mia Kennedy / Joanne Courbet / Luc T  for DayNewsWorld

THE STARLINER SHIP WILL BE READY

IN MARCH ANNOUNCEMENT BOEING

In the endless quest for the stars, the iconic American company Boeing continues to push the limits of innovation and space technology with its Starliner spacecraft.

Although the road has been rocky, there is no denying that the determination and commitment of the Boeing team has paid off, offering a ray of hope for future space travel.

Indeed, several challenges emerged during the development of the capsule, but this series of trials only reinforced Boeing's determination to meet these challenges with flying colors.

Recent developments indicate that the Starliner spacecraft should be fully operational by March 2024, according to recent company statements in August.

Mark Nappi, the program manager at Boeing, cautiously pointed out that setting a precise lift-off date has yet to be determined, due to variable factors such as the opportunities offered by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) industry group for the launch of the rocket, as well as the availability of seats on board the International Space Station (ISS).

As an essential partner of NASA, Boeing aims to meet the ambitious mission of providing a second provider for the transport of astronauts to the ISS, in addition to the services of SpaceX which have been used successfully since 2020.

The importance of diversifying transportation options to the ISS is a priority for NASA, helping to ensure reliable and continuous access to this crucial space station.

After an unsuccessful test flight in 2019, Boeing's Starliner capsule finally successfully crossed the threshold of the ISS in May 2022, ushering in a new era of exploration and opportunity.

Although this flight was unmanned, it marked a crucial step towards the spacecraft's final certification for manned flight.

Boeing is about to perform a decisive manned test to obtain this certification, before diving into its long-awaited operational missions.

The inevitable delays experienced by Boeing have been a source of continuous learning and development for the team.

The most recent hurdle, announced last June, was twofold. On the one hand, it was to perfect the parachutes that play a vital role in slowing the capsule down on its return to Earth.

Boeing experts have shown ingenuity in modifying the design to ensure optimal robustness, and a crucial test is scheduled for November to validate these improvements.

Passing this test is essential for the progress of the program and to ensure the safety of the astronauts.

On the other hand, a challenge related to the capsule's internal electrical cables was also diligently met. The tape used for the cables was found to pose a flammability hazard, requiring careful re-evaluation.

Boeing experts responded quickly by removing a substantial amount of tape and putting in place appropriate protective measures. This move demonstrates Boeing's unwavering commitment to crew safety and the reliability of its spacecraft.

Joel Montalbano, NASA's program manager, emphasized the critical importance of the Starliner vehicle to the future of the space station.

This spacecraft represents a major step in NASA's space strategy, with ambitious plans for its first manned flight.

The Starliner's maiden voyage will carry astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the ISS, where they will settle for a week-long mission. Liftoff will take place from scenic Cape Canaveral in Florida, symbolizing a new and exciting chapter in the history of space exploration.

In sum, the challenges Boeing overcame in developing the Starliner spacecraft have carved a history of resilience, innovation and perseverance.

Lessons learned from each hurdle have reinforced Boeing's resolve to deliver a safe, reliable and innovative space transportation solution for years to come.

With continuous efforts and strong collaboration with its partners, Boeing is poised to write a new chapter of thrilling space adventures, leaving a lasting mark in the exploration of the infinite cosmos.




Luc T. for DayNewsWorld

EXTREME SOLAR STORM

RISK OF BLACKOUT FOR SEVERAL DAYS

Beyond our atmosphere, the Sun rumbles with terrifying power, capable of unleashing solar storms of fearsome intensity.

These storms, though rare, could wreak devastating havoc if our modern civilization is not prepared to face their fury.

Scientists are sounding the alarm as a solar storm of unprecedented magnitude, unseen in 200 years, threatens our interconnected world.

A joint study by the University of Reading and Apollo Academic Surveys found that 90% of 144 experts consulted believed that without an accurate space weather forecast, Earth would be exposed to massive damage in the event of a solar storm.

These events, as powerful as the historic Carrington storm in 1859, could occur with increasing frequency, surpassing even the largest storms of the past two centuries, with potentially disastrous consequences for our infrastructure and technologies.

The Carrington Event, a cataclysmic solar phenomenon, had plunged the world into darkness, massively disrupting telegraphy networks and illuminating the night sky with glorious auroras visible across the globe.

According to specialists, a similar scenario could repeat itself in the next 10 years, posing a serious threat to our civilization, which is highly dependent on electricity and communications.

The urgency of adequate preparation is undeniable, as a lack of appropriate measures would lead to widespread power cuts for several days.

Dr Luke Barnard, a space weather expert at the University of Reading and co-author of the survey, highlighted the potentially devastating consequences of such blackouts:

"Imagine without electricity for several days. Transport, communication, essential services would be paralyzed. Our modern way of life would be put to the test".

The consequences would not just be limited to terrestrial infrastructure, as solar storms can also cause critical malfunctions in space.

Satellites, which play a vital role in GPS navigation, telecommunications, weather forecasting, and other vital areas, could be damaged, causing major disruption to our communication and geolocation systems.

Scientists denounce the lack of precision of current space weather forecasts, which do not allow adequate anticipation of major solar storms.

To remedy this shortcoming, they recommend the deployment of constellations of satellites closer to the Sun, in order to obtain more precise measurements of the solar wind, responsible for storms.

Faced with this imminent threat, the researchers stress the importance of increased international collaboration in space surveillance and the establishment of emergency backup systems to deal with power outages.

Coordinated and effective preparation could prove vital to protect our connected world and avoid a prolonged blackout with potentially catastrophic consequences.

In a world where technology and communications are everywhere, such an extreme solar storm could shake our modern society, reminding us of our vulnerability to the powerful and unpredictable forces of the universe.

Preparing to face this eventuality therefore becomes an absolute priority to ensure the stability and resilience of our hyperconnected world.




Pamela Newton for DayNewsWorld

"SCIENCE" OR "NATIONAL SECURITY"

THE EXISTENCE OF UFOS INFLATE AMERICA

What if we weren't alone in the universe ?

In recent years, ufological studies have experienced unprecedented enthusiasm, fueled by the courageous testimony of many "whistleblowers" who have seized the opportunity of digital transparency to share their revelations in broad daylight. These testimonies, striking in many respects, have now acquired greater credibility.

Congress itself conducts hearings, highlighting the testimonies of fighter pilots confronted with very real and recurring incidents.

During a hearing before a committee of the United States Congress on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, Mr. David Grusch, a resigning former agent of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, having elected "whistleblower" status, maintained that our governments concealed many realities from us... "We are not alone in the universe, and the authorities hide the evidence of the existence of extraterrestrials, including the remains of an unidentified object, affirmed Mr. Grusch, emphasizing being "absolutely" convinced that the United States has a UFO.

Colonel decorated during the war in Afghanistan, David Grusch spent 14 years of his life within the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) under the aegis of the American Department of Defense. From 2019 to 2021, he was a member of a team responsible for investigating UFOs, then appointed co-head of the Agency for the analysis of "unidentified aerial phenomena", a term officially used by the American authorities. During this period, he had access to images captured by American air pilots, revealing objects with "unknown characteristics".

Last April, David Grusch left the Ministry of Defense to start a "whistleblower" procedure.

This procedure forced him to hand over to the ministry his classified documents intended for the American Congress.

On July 26, 2023, before this national institution, he confirmed his sensational comments previously made on television:

"In the course of my duties, I learned that there was a program (...) aimed at recovering the remains of an unidentified device and analyzing it. This testimony is based on information that I were passed on by individuals with a proven track record of legitimacy and service to this country, and many have provided me with compelling evidence, in the form of photographs, official documents and classified oral testimony."

Decades of observation, including military

Awaiting evidence, remain the disturbing testimonies of two other witnesses called by Congress:

David Fravor, ancien commandant de la marine, et Ryan Graves, ancien pilote. Ryan Graves n’a pas hésité à exhorter la représentation à "mettre de côté la stigmatisation et à aborder le problème de sécurité et de sûreté que ce sujet représente", faisant aussi part des "multiples rencontres" expérimentées par plusieurs pilotes lors de vols d’entraînements.

"Si les ovnis sont des drones étrangers, c’est un problème urgent de sécurité nationale ; s’il s’agit d’autre chose, c’est un problème pour la science.

Dans les deux cas, les objets non identifiés sont une préoccupation pour la sécurité des vols", a-t-il aussi déclaré.

En avril, Sean Kirkpatrick, le responsable du service du Pentagone chargé d'enquêter sur ces phénomènes et les risques qu'ils posent pour la sécurité nationale, avait quant à lui assuré qu'aucun signe d'activité extraterrestre n'avait été recensé.

Le bureau "n'a détecté aucune preuve crédible d'une activité extraterrestre, de technologie non terrestre ou d'objets défiant les lois de la physique", avait-il affirmé.

Le gouvernement américain prend, toutefois, au sérieux ces phénomènes et la Nasa a récemment appelé à davantage d'efforts pour les étudier scientifiquement, tout comme le Pentagone qui, lui, s'inquiète de possibles activités d'espionnage chinoises.

Un certain nombre de cas déroutants

In the United States, these phenomena have been analyzed very closely since the 1940s, various projects having been set up over time, the best known being Grudge, Blue Book and the Condon report. Blue Book thus allowed the examination of 10,147 cases of which 9,501 were explained.

Of the 3,201 cases retained for the final statistical analysis, the confirmed but still unexplained cases represented a total of 22% of the total.

In July 2020, scientist Ravi Kopparapu and astrobiologist Jacob Haqq-Misra, both working for NASA, wrote in Scientific American magazine about the need to revisit the conclusions of the report that ended the "Blue Book" project, considering that "beyond military aircraft and strange weather formations, there are still a number of truly puzzling [unidentified anomalous] cases that might be worth investigating."

A little later, an assessment, mandated by the United States government, was published on June 25, 2021 just after Barack Obama said "there are images and recordings of objects in the sky, which we do not don't know exactly what they are".

This report was compiled by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force and consisted of 144 sightings of unidentified phenomena between 2004 and 2021. Of these 144 phenomena, 18 exhibited objects with "unusual flight characteristics" and "appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, moving against the wind, maneuvering suddenly or moving at considerable speed, without discernible means of propulsion".

More surprisingly, some of these objects emitted radio frequency energy detected by US Air Force planes.

For some authors of parapsychology, UFOs are the angels and gods of our myths.

For others, UFOs are a fascinating anthropological case study, not extraterrestrials, but perhaps time travelers or manifestations from the supersensible world...Others, more prosaic, consider the hypothesis of military technologies developed in secret.

The fact remains that, extraterrestrial or not, unexplained aerial phenomena are indeed a reality that the American government takes seriously enough to communicate regularly about them.

Research into this exciting topic continues, ushering in a new era where the possibility of encounters of the third kind is no longer relegated to fantasy, but is a scientific and security challenge that authorities are determined to understand.

And if, finally, the authors of science fiction were right ?




Simon Freeman for DayNewsWorld

SECRET RESEARCH PROGRAMS

ON UFO'S IN THE UNITED STATES ?

An step closer to the discovery of extraterrestrial life ?

In an article from the scientific site The Debrief (in English) published Monday, June 5, a former American intelligence agent claims that programs are underway in the United States to exploit material from UFO crashes, "unidentified flying objects ", now referred to as "PAN" ("Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena").

Experiments that would have been hidden from Congress.

David Charles Grusch served in the armed forces in Afghanistan, before working at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA).

He was notably assigned, from 2019 to 2021, to the team responsible for investigating UFOs. The ex-soldier assures that the American authorities have collected, in recent decades, "intact and partially intact" devices. These are "non-human" elements, that is to say of unknown or extraterrestrial origin, "according to their shape" and their "unique" characteristics, such as "their radiological signature".

In a file dated April 6, 2023, stamped "Department of Defense (DOD)", the officer explains that he tried to inform his hierarchy about the existence of secret American programs. According to him, these works have been practiced for decades.

As early as July 2021, the whistleblower is providing classified information to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DOD-IG). Almost a year later, in May 2022, David Charles Grusch filed a complaint with the intelligence department. The reason ?

He was allegedly pressured to remain silent.

Also according to the whistleblower, this "classified information" would have been "abusively withheld" or "hidden" from Congress by agents "to deliberately and intentionally thwart the legitimate monitoring", by parliamentarians, of the UFO analysis program .

Not all experts are convinced.

“So far, Grusch has only reported hearsay and documents he has seen, tempers Avi Loeb, physicist at Harvard, To make scientific progress, we need access to data and materials.

These revelations come three years after the publication of a Pentagon report on UFOs.

This document confirmed the existence of more than a hundred unexplained "aerial phenomena" over the past twenty years.




Andrew Preston for DayNewsWorld

ARTEMIS 1 SUCCESSFUL RETURN TO EARTH

The Artemis 1 mission successfully concluded yesterday with the safe landing in the Pacific of NASA's Orion capsule, after a dreaded crossing through the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 40,000 km/h.

The Orion capsule landed after a journey of just under a month around the Moon.

It was a question of evaluating whether the heat shield will be able to withstand the 2800 degrees Celsius implied by the return of the capsule which contains mannequins fitted with sensors.

This ambitious program aims to return to the Moon by 2025. The American space agency aims to send four astronauts around the Moon on the next flight, in 2024, and to land humans there as early as 2025.

Our country the United States should invest nearly 100 billion dollars in this program. Reconnecting with a project initiated more than fifty years ago.




Andrew Preston for DayNewsWorld

CHINA LAUNCHES SHENZOU 15 MISSION

TO HIS SPACE STATION

The Chinese space station is already being renewed

China is launching the Shenzhou-15 space mission to China's space station today, the first since the structure's assembly was completed three weeks ago. Its launch takes place on November 29, 2022.

Shenzhou 15 (simplified Chinese: 神舟十五号; pinyin: Shénzhōu shíwǔ hào; lit. "Godship 15") is the tenth Chinese manned space mission and the fourth to the China Space Station (SSC). Long March 2F is expected to take place from Jiuquan Launch Base

The Shenzhou spacecraft is launched by a CZ-2F or Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. This launcher is 62 meters high and weighs 477 tons. It can place 8.5 tons to an orbit of 500 km.

Three taikonauts will take place on board to replace the three occupants of the station. The trio, led by Mission Commander Fei Junlong accompanied by two space newcomers, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, will transfer directly into orbit with the crew of Shenzhou-14 to the China Space Station currently under construction, which will mark a first in Chinese aerospace history.

Goals.

The mission should last six months, during which its members will be able to take full advantage of the three modules of the Chinese space station to carry out experiments. According to the mission plan, the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft will perform rapid and automated rendezvous and docking with the space station at the front port of the Tianhe core module, and then form a new combination of three spacecraft and three modules.

It will be the largest structure of the Chinese Space Station to date, with a total mass of nearly 100 tons. For comparison, the international space station can accommodate seven people and has 16 modules.

The Chinese Space Station is the first of its kind to be open to all UN member states. So far, several scientific experiment projects from 17 countries, including Switzerland, Poland, Germany and Italy, have been included in the selected projects of the Chinese Space Station, Zhao said.

Like the United States, China has great space ambitions. Behind, Russia is left behind. “For Beijing, space is above all a vector of prestige.

China aspires to become the world's leading power in all areas by 2049,” explains Marc Julienne, head of China activities at the French Institute for International Relations.




Simon Freeman for DayNewsWorld

THE CURIOSITY MISSION

AFTER TEN YEARS ON MARS

We will celebrate ten years since Curiosity landed on the planet Mars. Indeed, it was on August 6, 2012 that this 900-kilogram rover landed in the middle of the Gale Crater, 150 km in diameter, dug about 3.6 billion years ago by the impact of a meteorite.

On Mars, days are called sols, numbered from landing (Sol 0); August 6, 2022 therefore corresponds to Sol 3555, or 3652 Earth days.

This anniversary gives us the opportunity to draw up a technical and scientific assessment of this mission and to discuss the discoveries made with the instruments on board Curiosity.

Curiosity: an international adventure that began long before landing

Curiosity took ten instruments on board, two of which were Franco-American: ChemCam and SAM.

ChemCam is the result of the work of more than 300 people in France (CNRS, universities, CNES and industries) under the technical and scientific responsibility of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP) in cooperation with the Los Alamos National Laboratory ( LANL – USA) and under the project management of the National Center for Space Studies (CNES), which finances the French contribution to the project.

The ChemCam instrument was selected to analyze the chemical composition of the Martian rocks around the rover, by firing lasers at them and collecting the returned light (this is called laser-induced plasma spectrometry or LIBS). The principle is to heat the rock very strongly (>10,000°C) on a small surface (less than a square millimeter) so that a very small fragment is sublimated (passes from the solid state to the gaseous state) then ionized in the plasma state.

It is with the spectral analysis of the light from this spark that the atomic composition of the rock is determined and that the scientists deduce the nature of the rock.

SAM meanwhile is a large analytical chemistry laboratory, weighing nearly 40kg, or half of all the rover's instruments. It allows the rover's environment to be analyzed at the molecular level. It is also a Franco-American contribution to the mission, and results from the work of nearly 100 people in France (CNRS, universities, CNES and industry) under the responsibility of the Laboratoire Atmosphères Observations Spatiales (LATMOS) and under the supervision work of CNES. It was developed in collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The latter also designed, developed and assembled Curiosity.

SAM makes it possible to heat the samples taken by the rover up to more than 850°C, and to finely analyze the chemical nature of the gases produced with the three additional instruments it contains. This makes it possible to provide information on the nature of the minerals and organic compounds present in the samples analyzed. SAM also has the ability to analyze the composition of the atmosphere to understand the present and past climate of the planet.

SAM is made up of three different instruments that search for and measure the organic compounds often associated with the presence of life on a planet. NASA

For 10 years, at CNES in Toulouse, the Martian Operations Center, named FOCSE (French Operation Center for Science and Exploration), has been welcoming French teams working directly with NASA (American Space Agency) every other week. Every evening, the engineers and scientists who operate the ChemCam and SAM instruments meet at CNES to ensure the monitoring and programming of the instruments, the recovery and processing of scientific data.

Mars: A once habitable planet

During the first soils following its landing, a phase of verification of the good health of the scientific instruments (ChemCam, SAM, etc.) was carried out. Then Curiosity began exploring the crater. We thought we would find there alluvium (sedimentary deposits) transported by one or more rivers, one of which flowed from the surrounding plateau. The rover was then looking for traces of these past flows.

Stupor: a sample, taken from the Cumberland drilling site, revealed that Mars had met, at one point in its history, all the conditions required for its habitability: liquid water, organic matter and a source of energy. A simple life form could have existed there, but we cannot say whether or not Gale Crater ever hosted a life form.

The various on-board tools have also made it possible to discover the presence of organic matter that has been sought for nearly 40 years. The teams are also studying the origin of the sediments present and their transformation into rocks when the water flowed on the Red Planet...

Observing all the conditions of habitability exhaustively is not common. To date, this has only been possible on Earth and Mars.

Confronting “ground truth” with orbital data

The Mars adventure nominally took place during the first Martian year (almost 2 Earth years). NASA then decided to extend the mission to explore other geological formations.

In the middle of the Gale crater, rises the central peak which culminates at more than 5500 meters above the floor. It is called Aeolis Mons, more familiarly called Mont Sharp. It exposes on its sides many geological layers whose stacking constitutes an open book on the history of the planet. Within 10 km of Curiosity's landing site, there are access routes to Mount Sharp that the rover takes around Sol 750.

Martian mountain landscape

One of the first notable layers encountered on this climb is called Vera Rubin Ridge, after astronomer Vera Rubin.

According to data collected in Martian orbit, this area is rich in a mineral called “hematite”. It is an iron oxide frequently formed in aqueous medium. Observing this layer from the ground thanks to the rover allows us to acquire what in geology we call the ground truth.

Orbital data remains important because it allows global coverage of the planet, but will never be as accurate as data acquired directly on the ground. However, contrary to what the orbital data suggested, this area is not much more enriched in hematite than the surrounding terrain. This highlights the complementarity of the two types of data, in orbit and on the ground, to analyze the history of the planet.

The second area of ​​interest for the Curiosity mission is what has been called the clays unit. Clays are of great interest for exobiology, which is interested in pre-biotic (before the appearance of living things) and biological processes in the universe. They protect the organic matter because they preserve it between the layers that constitute them.

We could see clays a little like the mille-feuille of minerals because they are made up of a stack of sheets, between which slips organic matter. The data acquired in this clay zone are still being analyzed and the scientific articles concerning them are gradually being published in various specialized journals. This area therefore characterizes the humid period of the history of Mars with remains of lakes and rivers.

Finally, the third area of ​​interest that constitutes Mount Sharp is the sulphate layer. They are potentially the witnesses of an environmental transition: the passage from an era rich in liquid water towards an increasingly arid era. The rover is currently heading to this area to test this hypothesis, and the results are yet to come.

All of these discoveries show that Mars has a complex and rich geological history dating back more than 3 billion years.

After ten years, despite the many challenges (significant diurnal thermal changes, dust and radiation), Curiosity and its instruments are still working. Precautions are taken to preserve the material so that the scientific mission can continue.

Today, at the entrance to the impressive Gediz Valley, Curiosity finds itself in a breathtaking landscape and the mission has just been renewed for three years.

martian landscape

To date, Curiosity is no longer alone in surveying the surface of Mars since the Perseverance rover joined it on February 18, 2021 with the mission of searching for prebiotic traces and collecting samples that will be brought back to Earth.

The Insight lander also landed on Mars in November 2018 to "listen" to the planet's tremors, thanks to the French seismometer SEIS, and thus study the heart of Mars. Knowledge of the structure of Mars is important to understand its evolution, for example to know the reasons for the disappearance of the magnetic field which once surrounded Mars and is closely related to the habitability of the planet.

Should have been added to this Rosalind Franklin, the first European rover which also includes French participation, as part of the Exomars mission. It was supposed to take off in September 2022 with a Russian launcher, but its launch has been delayed until further notice following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the political consequences of which impact scientific cooperation.

This rover should dig up to two meters deep to analyze rocks better protected from the harsh conditions prevailing on the surface. They are therefore supposed to contain more information about the pre-biotic chemistry of Mars than the samples analyzed so far.

All these extremely complementary space missions for the study of Mars are designed with this in mind, and are the result of international cooperation. But if they allow us to better understand the history of the planet Mars, they also inform us about the history of the young Earth.

Indeed on Earth, the very old rocks, witnesses of the appearance of life, have been obliterated by plate tectonics. On the other hand, this tectonics did not exist on the planet Mars or was very limited: we therefore have access to rocks that have been preserved for billions of years, and which were probably formed in an environment close to that of our Earth. at the time.

In view of the similarities of the two planets, better understanding the geological history of Mars will allow us to understand our genesis as well as our possible evolution.

Cyril Szopa, University Professor, Exobiologist at the Atmospheres Modeling and Spatial Observations Laboratory (LATMOS), University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) – University of Paris-Saclay

Éric Lorigny, Head of MSL/ Curiosity and Perseverance Operations at CNES, National Center for Space Studies (CNES)

Olivier Gasnault, Researcher at the CNRS, Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology, National Center for Space Studies (CNES)

Valérie Mousset, Project Manager for the French participation in the Mars Science Laboratory project, National Center for Space Studies (CNES) NASA

Article published in The Conversation




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

BACK TO THE MOON WITH

THE NEXT ARTEMIS MISSION

The great return of man to the Moon is soon underway: Monday, August 29, 2022 must take off the Artemis mission of the new American lunar program. Artemis is a program of NASA, the American Space Agency, which collaborates with the European Space Agency, the space agencies of Canada and Japan, as well as several commercial partners (Airbus and Lockheed Martin, in particular).

The take-off of Artémis 1 is scheduled for Monday August 29, 2022. The NASA mission must last 42 days in total. It's a trip to the Moon, but without an astronaut on board (that will be for Artemis 3). Meticulously choreographed, it should make it possible to collect spectacular images as well as valuable scientific data.

SLS, like Space Launch System, is NASA's new giant rocket. With its 70 tons and almost 100 meters high, it will be the most powerful launcher ever built, surpassing the emblematic Saturn V which carried 24 American astronauts to the Moon between 1968 and 1972. It will make its first flight from the Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Its four RS-25 engines, and two white boosters on each side, will produce 39 meganewtons of thrust - 15% more than the Apollo program's Saturn V rocket.

After two minutes, the thrusters will fall back into the Atlantic Ocean. After eight minutes, the main stage (orange in color) will detach in turn. There will then only be the Orion spacecraft, whose solar panels will then be deployed, attached to the upper stage of the rocket (ICPS). After circling the Earth, the latter will provide the final push that will place Orion on the Moon's trajectory, approximately 1.5 hours after takeoff - before also being released.

The journey, without an astronaut, of the Orion capsule

The ship will then only consist of the capsule where the astronauts will be in the future, powered by a service module built by the European Space Agency (ESA). It will take several days to reach the Moon, which it will approach on arrival at only 100 km. The Orion capsule will go up to 64,000 km behind the Moon - a record for a habitable capsule.

But initially, an empty Orion ship will be launched by the SLS to test all the stages of the mission. It will remain in orbit around the Moon for several days to allow NASA engineers to verify its performance.

Orion's "passengers"

The capsule will carry a dummy called Moonikin Campos, installed in the commander's seat and dressed in the new NASA suit. It will record the acceleration and the vibrations undergone. Also on board: two busts of women, named Helga and Zohar, and made of materials imitating bones or even human organs. One will be wearing a radiation jacket, the other will not. Sensors will make it possible to evaluate the levels of radiation received, in particular in deep space, where they are much more important.

If this dress rehearsal is successful, a first crewed flight will follow during the Artemis II mission, currently scheduled for mid-2024. Like their Apollo 8 predecessors, the mission's four astronauts will fly over the Moon but not land on it. We will therefore have to wait for Artemis III to see the real return of a crew to the surface of our satellite. After leaving Orion to land aboard the HLS (Human Landing System), two astronauts, including the first woman to walk on the Moon, will spend nearly a week on the surface, more than double the record set during the Apollo missions. . Scheduled for 2025, the mission could however experience several years of delay according to the latest report from NASA's Inspector General.

Goal Mars

The objective of the whole program is to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon, which will go through an essential stage: the construction of the Deep Space Gateway (DSG) , a space station hosting a habitation module around the Moon, capable of accommodating crews for a period of 42 days. The space station, the Gateway, will be assembled in orbit around the Moon from the end of 2024. Much smaller than the International Space Station (ISS), it will rely on a similar partnership between American, European and Japanese space agencies. and Canadian, but this time without Russia.

The Gateway is one of the big differences between the Artemis and Apollo programs. By offering a transit point and a place of experimentation between the Earth and the Moon, it is presented as an ingredient for the sustainability of the return to the Moon, the motivations of which today are less geopolitical than economic. The Artemis agreements, which France has just joined, for example explicitly provide for the possibility of extracting resources from the Moon (such as helium 3, essential for the nuclear fusion reactors of the future, or rare earths useful for the manufacture new technology...).

In the longer term, the idea behind the Artemis program is to reuse the developments made for a first trip to the planet Mars by 2040., confirms these indirect objectives that the Artemis mission is preparing:

“It is clearly with a view to preparing a mission on the planet Mars, in the much longer term, around 2040, 2050, since a return to the Moon will first be necessary”, confirms Emmanuel Jehin, Doctor in astrophysics at the 'ULiège.



Luc T. pour DayNewsWorld

JUPITER AS SEEN BY 

THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE

Jupiter with giant storms, powerful winds, auroras and extreme temperature and pressure conditions.

Now NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured new images of the planet.

Webb's observations of Jupiter will give scientists even more clues about Jupiter's inner life.

The images obtained with Webb are truly remarkable, we can see details of Jupiter with its rings, its tiny satellites and even its galaxies in a single image.

In the stand-alone view of Jupiter, created from a composite of several Webb images, the auroras extend to high altitudes above Jupiter's north and south poles.

The aurora glows in a filter mapped to more red colors, which also highlights reflected light from lower clouds and upper mists.

A different filter, mapped to yellows and greens, shows mists swirling around the north and south poles.

A third filter, mapped to blue, presents light reflected from a deeper main cloud.

The Great Red Spot, a famous storm so big it could swallow Earth, appears white in these views, like other clouds, because they reflect a lot of sunlight.

Brightness here indicates high altitude, so the Great Red Spot has high altitude haze, as does the equatorial region.

Numerous bright white "spots and stripes" are observed which are likely very high level cloud tops of condensed convective thunderstorms.

In a wide-field view, Webb sees Jupiter with its faint rings, which are a million times fainter than the planet, and two tiny moons called Amalthea and Adrastea.

The blurry spots in the lower background are probably "photobombing" galaxies.

Information from the James Webb Telescope arrives at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Webb's science and mission operations center, as raw data.

STScI processes the data into calibrated files for scientific analysis and forwards it to the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes for dissemination.

Discoveries about the universe thanks to the James Webb space telescope should allow us to take an extraordinary leap in knowledge.




Luc T. for DayNewsWorld

THE NIGHT OF THE STARS

The Night of the Stars.
This year it is from August 5 to 7, 2022 that
you may have the chance to make a wish to see a shooting star.







To contemplate the heavenly vault you have to, a telescope if you can or go to an observatory.







Inquire: sites are open to observe these stars but you can see them with the naked eye.

.











Find out: sites are open to observe these

stars but you can see them with the naked eye.

A site has been opened to understand stars like the Great Bear, Jupiter, Saturn's rings, etc.

Tap on your tablets ''Nights of the Stars'' and meet on August 12 and 13 for the rain of shooting stars.


I leave you I go to the observatory of Mount Palomar to watch them.




Mia Kennedy for DayNewsWorld

THE JAMES-WEBB TELESCOPE TAKES US

13 BILLION YEARS IN THE PAST

Yesterday evening, President Biden presented the first image taken by the James-Webb telescope or JWST (its English acronym). Since its launch on December 25, 2021, and even before, the community of astronomers and astrophysicists has been very impatient. And there is reason, because this telescope promises major advances in astronomy, particularly in the study of the origins of the universe or exoplanets.

Take pictures of the origins of the universe

In the photo taken by the JWST, we see a lot more as shown in the comparison below. The bright dots with crosses are stars in our galaxy. These “peaks of light” are due to the configuration of the telescope mirror, segmented into small hexagons. Everything else is galaxies. On the other hand, the biggest difference lies in the time it takes to take it. It took several weeks for Hubble to produce this image, but only twelve and a half hours for Webb. This is due to the large size of its mirror, collecting more light faster.

Some of the galaxies visible in this image are 13 billion light-years away. This means that light has taken 13 billion years to travel to us since it was emitted from the galaxy, meaning that we see the universe as it was shortly after the Big Bang. If this could have been possible with Hubble, the James-Webb telescope has a much better resolution, making it possible to detect the shapes of galaxies in a much more detailed way.

These galaxies are of various morphologies and colors. The colors tell us about their distances, the furthest being those with the longest wavelength, therefore the reddest. These are also simpler forms, less structured, because they are "younger". Galaxies take on increasingly complex shapes as they interact with other galaxies.

There is still a huge field to photograph with the Webb, because the part of the universe that we see in this image is tiny: we could hide it by holding a grain of sand at arm's length.

Infrared to understand the formation of galaxies

One of the big differences between Hubble and the Webb is their spectral range: Hubble sees mainly in the visible while the Webb is an infrared telescope. Stars near the Big Bang, although long dead, emitted ultraviolet radiation. Their distance, due to the expansion of the universe, shifts their wavelengths towards the infrared.

The Webb will also make it possible to observe stardust. This substance exists in two forms: carbonaceous, similar to soot, and in the form of silicate, resembling sand. It forms around stars at the end of their life, then passes through the interstellar medium, eventually forming new stars. And eventually, new galaxies.

This dust has the crucial property of being visible in the infrared and opaque in the visible, making it impossible for Hubble to analyze it. The Webb's observation of dust should lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms of formation of stars and galaxies. This will be done in particular by observing the Carina Nebula, the Austral Ring Nebula and Stephan's Quintet.

Finally, the images from the Webb telescope, freely accessible to scientists and the general public, will make it possible to scrutinize exoplanets and their atmosphere. Indeed, several molecules are observable in the infrared – the water molecule for example.

This article is part of the series "The great stories of open science", published with the support of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. Published in The Conversation newsletter.



Simon Freeman for DayNewsWorld

CONTROL OF THE MOON A STRATEGIC CHALLENGE BETWEEN

THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA

Would China want to “take control” of the Moon as part of a military program ?

This is what NASA administrator and former astronaut Bill Nelson told German newspaper Bild in an interview published on Saturday.

The head of the US space agency has indeed declared that China's space program is a military program. He added that China had stolen some ideas and technologies.

But this Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry clearly responded to Bill Nelson. “This is not the first time a NASA chief has made irresponsible remarks against China.

When it comes to our space program, which is completely normal and reasonable, our country is constantly the victim of smear campaigns. Even though we have always called for the construction of a community of nations in space and we have always firmly opposed its militarization. »

China is defending itself against accusations by NASA administrator Bill Nelson. It is absolutely not in his plans to "take control" of the Moon.

But over the past decade the pace of China's space program has picked up with a program that focuses on the moon. China has in fact never hidden its intention to embark on the conquest of space, quite the contrary. Since the 1990s, it has been developing an independent space program, on the fringes of international cooperation. It must be said that China was excluded from the ISS because the United States forbids NASA any collaboration with Beijing. A reason that pushed her to build her own station.

After a first unmanned landing in 2013, China was the first to land a rover on the far side of the Moon. And she hopes to send astronauts to our natural satellite before the end of the decade. It also plans uncrewed missions to the moon's south pole by 2025.

The President of China Xi Jinping is also the biggest promoter of this program which he baptized “Space Dream”. A dream that is becoming reality. On April 29, the central module Tianhe "Heavenly Harmony" of the future Chinese space station was successfully launched from the base of Wenchang, located on the island province of Hainan. A decisive step in the creation of the future Chinese space station Tiangong “Heavenly Palace”. A base that will consist of three parts, including the central Tianhe module, will be the management and control center. Two other 14.4m long modules, Wentian "Heavenly Quest" and Mengtian "Heavenly Dream", will be attached to Tianhe.

This is enough to worry NASA, as part of its Artemis program, which plans to send a crewed mission into orbit around the Moon in 2024 and to make a crewed landing near the lunar south pole in 2025....




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

UN ETRANGE OBJET DANS LA VOIE LACTEE

Une découverte « un peu effrayante », selon l’astrophysicienne Natasha Hurley-Walker ?

Des astronomes australiens ont observé un étrange objet tournant dans la Voie lactée qui, selon eux, ne ressemble à rien de déjà vu, selon une publication scientifique publiée dans la revue Nature. Un objet mystérieux qui illumine le ciel de ses ondes radio comme aucun autre.

L’objet, repéré pour la première fois par un étudiant, produit un important rayonnement électromagnétique trois fois par heure. Les ondes sont émises toutes les 18,18 minutes, explique Natasha Hurley-Walker, qui a observé le phénomène dans l’Outback australien. « Il n’y a rien de connu dans le ciel qui fasse cela ». Une source d'ondes radio comme il n'en avait jamais observé auparavant.

A seulement 4.000 années-lumière de la Terre.

« C'est presque effrayant, commente Natasha Hurley-Walker, chercheur à l'université Curtin (Australie) dans un communiqué de l’Icrar. Parce qu'il n'y a rien de connu dans le ciel qui fasse ça ». Rien de connu qui libère autant d'ondes radio régulièrement, toutes les 20 minutes.

Cette source, les chercheurs l'ont débusqué grâce d'une part au large champ « de vision » du Murchison Widefield Array (MWA, Australie) et à son extrême sensibilité. Une combinaison qui permet de « sonder l'ensemble du ciel et de détecter l'inattendu ». Mais ne nous y trompons pas. Les astronomes ont l'habitude d'observer des objets qu'ils appellent transitoires. Des objets qui semblent clignoter dans le ciel.

Ce qui rend ce nouvel objet vraiment particulier c'est qu'il s'allume pendant une minute trois fois par heure. Les autres transitoires connus, eux, peuvent émettre pendant quelques jours -- c'est le cas des supernovae -- ou pendant seulement quelques millisecondes ou peut-être quelques secondes -- lorsqu'il s'agit de pulsars.

Les astronomes avancent aussi que l'objet est incroyablement brillant -- dans le domaine des ondes radio, s'entend -- et pourtant, plus petit que notre Soleil. Et qu'il émet des ondes radio hautement polarisées. De quoi suggérer non seulement qu'il s'accompagne d'un champ magnétique particulièrement puissant, mais aussi qu'il est capable de convertir cette énergie magnétique en ondes radio d'une manière bien plus efficace que tout ce que nous connaissons par ailleurs.

L’équipe a donc établi que l’objet se trouve à environ 4 000 années-lumière de la Terre, qu’il est incroyablement brillant et doté d’un champ magnétique extrêmement puissant.

Les hypothèses ?

« Si vous faites tous les calculs, vous trouvez qu’il ne devrait pas avoir assez de puissance pour produire ce genre d’ondes radio toutes les 20 minutes. Cela ne devrait tout simplement pas être possible », a déclaré Natacha Hurley-Walker.

Il pourrait s'agir là du tout premier «  magnétar » -- une étoile à neutrons, issue de l'effondrement d'une étoile massive en fin de vie, entourée d'un champ magnétique intense -- à ultra longue période jamais observé. L'objet a bien déjà été imaginé par les théoriciens. Ou encore d’une « naine blanche », une étoile vieillissante d’une température en surface deux fois plus élevée que celle du soleil.

Un type d'objet nouveau ?

« Bien sûr, il pourrait s'agir de quelque chose auquel nous n'avons jamais pensé. Il pourrait s'agir d'un type d'objet entièrement nouveau », affirme Natacha Hurley-Walker.

L'équipe de recherche a pu observer le signal sur une large gamme de fréquences.

 « Cela signifie qu'il doit s'agir d'un processus naturel, ce n'est pas un signal artificiel », a assuré la scientifique à la question de savoir si ce signal radio puissant et cohérent provenant de l'espace pourrait avoir été envoyé par une autre forme de vie.




Simon Freeman pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

LE TELESCOPE SPATIAL JAMES WEBB

A ACHEVE SON DEPLOIEMENT

Des dizaines d’étapes au millimètre près, à des kilomètres de la Terre, sans plan B. Le James Webb Telescope, successeur de Hubble, est entièrement déployé dans l’Espace deux semaines après son lancement depuis Kourou, en Guyane, annonce l’agence spatiale américaine.

Le télescope spatial a achevé avec succès ce samedi 8 janvier 2022 la dernière étape de son déploiement, avec celui de son miroir principal, et il se trouve désormais dans sa configuration finale pour pouvoir commencer, dans un peu plus de cinq mois, son exploration du cosmos​.

L'emblématique miroir principal du télescope mesure environ 6,5 mètres de diamètre, et était donc trop grand pour entrer tel quel dans une fusée lors de son décollage, il y a deux semaines. Ses deux côtés avaient ainsi dû être repliés vers l'arrière.

La première de ces deux ailes a été déployée vendredi, et la seconde s'est ouverte samedi matin, comme prévu, a annoncé la Nasa. Les équipes de l'agence spatiale continuaient toutefois à la verrouiller en place, afin de la sécuriser de façon définitive.

La Nasa retransmettait samedi matin en direct les images de la salle de contrôle, où des dizaines d'ingénieurs ont applaudi de joie à l'annonce du déploiement complet.

« Je suis ému », a déclaré en direct par vidéo Thomas Zurbuchen, responsable des missions scientifiques à la Nasa. « Quelle étape extraordinaire. »

Observer les premières galaxies

Le déploiement dans l'espace d'un tel télescope, non seulement de ses miroirs mais aussi de son bouclier thermique plus tôt cette semaine, était une procédure ultra-périlleuse qui n'avait jamais été réalisée par le passé.

Le télescope spatial le plus sophistiqué jamais créé entre désormais dans une phase « d'alignement et de calibrage » qui doit durer cinq mois, avant les premières prises de vue, explique la Nasa.Avant d'être opérationnel, le télescope devra toutefois encore atteindre son orbite finale à 1,5 million de kilomètres de la Terre.

Observatoire spatial le plus puissant jamais conçu, James Webb doit notamment permettre d'observer les premières galaxies, formées seulement environ 200 millions d'années après le Big Bang.




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.


LE LANCEMENT DU TELESCOPE SPATIAL JAMES WEBB POUR UN LONG VOYAGE JUSQU'AU POINT L2

Après plusieurs années d’attente, c’est enfin fait ! Ce samedi 25 décembre à 13h20, heure française, de nombreux ingénieurs, astronomes et passionnés ont retenu leur souffle pendant plusieurs minutes alors que s’élançait Ariane 5 depuis la Guyane.

Dans sa coiffe se trouvait le plus grand et le plus puissant observatoire spatial de toute l’histoire.

Plié pour tenir dans la coiffe d'Ariane 5, comme une chrysalide d'un peu plus de 4 mètres de diamètre, l'engin fabriqué par Northrop Grumman doit déployer un miroir primaire de 6,5 m, et un bouclier thermique souple de 14 mètres sur 20, l'équivalent d'un court de tennis.

Le lancement dans l'espace du télescope spatial James Webb s'est déroulé parfaitement, mais il lui reste une série de manœuvres critiques à accomplir avant de pouvoir fonctionner dans quelques mois.

Et il a encore du chemin à faire, 1,5 million de km à couvrir en un mois, avant d'atteindre le point de Lagrange 2, à quatre fois la distance séparant la Terre de la Lune.

Pour atteindre ce poste d'observation final, le James Webb a effectué la première, et la plus importante, de trois corrections de trajectoire.

La grande impulsion que lui a fournie la fusée pour atteindre son but a été sciemment minimisée pour éviter que l'instrument, qui ne peut freiner sa course, dépasse son objectif, sans véritable espoir de retour.

La semaine qui vient va s'avérer cruciale.

Environ deux jours et demi après le lancement et une deuxième correction de trajectoire, les ingénieurs du centre de contrôle du télescope, à Baltimore, vont superviser le relâchement des deux « palettes » contenant le bouclier solaire.

Cet empilage de cinq grandes voiles d'un tissu aussi fin qu'un cheveu, est la condition sine qua non au bon fonctionnement du James Webb et de ses instruments, dont la température de travail demande un froid minimum de -230°C.

Son objectif :

étendre nos savoirs sur l’Univers et pourquoi pas lever le voile sur certains des mystères les plus persistants de l’astrophysique.

En attendant, il convient d’arriver sur place, autour du point de Lagrange 2, à plus d’1,5 million de kilomètres de la Terre. Au cours de ce voyage, le Webb Telescope devra par ailleurs opérer plusieurs manœuvres essentielles.

Correction de trajectoire

L’une d’elles a été exécutée avec succès environ 12,5 heures après le lancement. Alors qu’il se trouvait à environ 160 000 km de la Terre, l’observatoire a en effet exécuté une brûlure de ses propulseurs pour corriger sa trajectoire, s’assurant ainsi qu’il atteindrait sa destination en toute sécurité.

La correction de trajectoire est une opération assez courante dans les heures qui suivent le lancement d’un vaisseau.

En général, ces manœuvres impliquent de se retourner dans le but de ralentir. Dans le cas du Webb Telescope, cela était impossible, car ses instruments ultrasensibles auraient été exposés au Soleil.Ainsi, l’observatoire ne pouvait qu’augmenter sa vitesse.

En prévision, la séquence de lancement de l’observatoire a été conçue pour fournir juste un peu moins de puissance que nécessaire plutôt que juste un peu plus. Cette brûlure, surnommée Mid-Course Correction Burn 1a (ou MCC1a), a donc été l’occasion pour l’observatoire d’affiner sa trajectoire vers L2.

Selon la NASA, il s’agissait de la plus importante des trois brûlures prévues au cours de ce voyage et la seule qui devait être soigneusement chronométrée.

La suite du programme

Dès le troisième jour, ce mardi, le Webb Telescope commencera à déployer son pare-soleil dans l’optique d’empêcher la lumière du soleil d’atteindre les capteurs infrarouges du télescope, les pièces les plus essentielles de cette mission.

Pour sonder les profondeurs du cosmos, l’observatoire doit en effet fonctionner à des températures extrêmement basses. Cette manœuvre cruciale devrait normalement s’opérer en trois jours, impliquant environ 7 000 pièces.

Après six jours de vol, le miroir secondaire du télescope devra à son tour se déployer avant l’ouverture du miroir principal tapissé d’or le lendemain. Là encore, tout devra fonctionner correctement au risque de faire échouer la mission.

Enfin, un mois après le lancement, le Webb Telescope devrait atteindre le point de Lagrange L2.




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

UNE MISSION RUSSE ENVOIE UN MILLIARDAIRE JAPONAIS DANS L'ESPACE

Ce mercredi 8 décembre 2021 à 8h38, une fusée Souyouz a décollé de Baïkonour pour emmener le milliardaire Yusaku Maezawa, son assistant et un cosmonaute russe vers l'ISS, marquant une nouvelle étape dans la course au tourisme spatial.

Un milliardaire japonais a décollé ce mercredi 8 décembre au matin à bord d'une fusée russe pour un séjour de douze jours à bord de la Station spatiale internationale (ISS), un voyage marquant le retour de Moscou dans le tourisme orbital.

Le fantasque Yusaku Maezawa, âgé de 46 ans et qui a fait fortune dans la mode en ligne, et son assistant Yozo Hirano sont partis comme prévu du cosmodrome de Baïkonour au Kazakhstan à 7h38 GMT.

Il est prévu que leur vol dure six heures, avec un arrimage attendu au module Poïsk du segment russe de l'ISS à 13h41 GMT.

Un voyage de douze jours

Le cosmonaute Alexandre Missourkine, qui fait partie de la mission, a jugé que ses compagnons auraient un programme chargé.

Il a prévu avec eux un tournoi "amical" de badminton en apesanteur. Le milliardaire, qui s'est fixé 100 tâches à accomplir dans l'espace, a prévu de documenter en vidéo son séjour sur sa chaîne YouTube qui compte plus de 780 000 abonnés.

Sept personnes se trouvent actuellement à bord de l'ISS, dont deux Russes et un Japonais.

Dans la matinée, le milliardaire, son assistant et le cosmonaute Alexandre Missourkine, qui pilotera le Soyouz, ont quitté leur hôtel à Baïkonour au son d'une chanson soviétique qu'on met traditionnellement pour tous les cosmonautes avant le vol. Cette chanson, sur les cosmonautes nostalgiques de leur maison, a été partiellement chantée en japonais.

"Les rêves se réalisent", a tweeté mercredi matin Yusaku Maezawa. "Je suis excité comme un enfant avant un voyage de classe", a-t-il dit lors d'une conférence de presse à la veille du départ.

Avant cela et pendant de longues semaines, lui et son assistant se sont préparés à la Cité des étoiles, ville construite près de Moscou dans les années 1960 pour former des générations de cosmonautes.

Un  secteur concurrentiel  à exploiter pour la Russie

Le secteur des vols privés spatiaux, très lucratif, est actuellement dynamisé par la récente entrée dans la course des sociétés des milliardaires américains Elon Musk (SpaceX) et Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin), ainsi que celle du Britannique Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic).

En septembre, SpaceX a organisé un vol de trois jours en orbite avec un équipage composé intégralement d'amateurs. Elle prévoit aussi d'emmener plusieurs touristes faire le tour de la Lune en 2023, dont M. Maezawa, qui finance cette opération.

Après un hiatus d'une décennie, le vol de mercredi marque dès lors le retour dans l'arène de l'agence spatiale russe, Roscosmos, alors que l'industrie aérospatiale du pays est minée par des scandales de corruption et des difficultés techniques et financières.

En 2020, avec la mise en services des fusées et capsules de SpaceX, la Russie a perdu son monopole des vols habités vers l'ISS et les dizaines de millions de dollars que la NASA et d'autres agences spatiales payaient pour chaque place à bord des Soyouz.

La mission des deux touristes japonais est organisée par Roscosmos et son partenaire américain Space Adventures. Entre 2001 et 2009, ces deux partenaires avaient déjà envoyé de richissimes entrepreneurs dans l'espace à huit reprises.

Signe de la volonté du secteur spatial russe de faire peau neuve, Roscosmos a dépêché en octobre un réalisateur et une actrice à bord de l'ISS pour y tourner le premier film long-métrage de l'histoire en orbite, avant un projet concurrent de la star hollywoodienne Tom Cruise.




Britney Delsey pour DayNewsWorld

SUCCESSFUL TAKEOFF FOR SPACEX'S FIRST TOURIST MISSION

The space tourism passes a new milestone. Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, sent four passengers for three days in space on Wednesday, September 15. At 2:02 am that night, the launch of SpaceX's fourth manned mission, the first entirely with civilian passengers, without any professional astronauts, went as planned. The four Americans aboard the Crew Dragon capsule will remain in orbit for three days.

Passengers took off from the legendary Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Center, Florida, where the Apollo missions took off to the moon, boarding a Falcon 9 rocket. Atop the Falcon 9 rocket, which measures 70 meters high, is perched the Dragon capsule, where the crew is located. This spacecraft has already taken 10 astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on three separate missions.

The Dragon capsule (8m high, 4m in diameter) has been modified here: a huge glass dome has been installed to offer passengers a 360 ° view of the vacuum of space. It replaces the system normally intended to dock with the ISS. The Dragon capsule will then remain in space for three days. It will go further than the ISS, which rotates at an altitude of 400 km, aiming for an orbit of 575 km. It will then begin a vertiginous fall towards the Earth, and will land off the coast of Florida, slowed down by immense parachutes. This time, it is about going to fly further than the International Space Station. "The risk is not zero", recognizes Jared Isaacman in one of the episodes of the documentary broadcast by Netflix on the mission. “You are traveling in a vessel at 28,000 km / h around the globe.This kind of environment is associated with some risk. "

Called Inspiration4, this mission is to conclude a summer marked by the flight of billionaires over the final frontier: first Richard Branson on July 11, aboard the Virgin Galactic ship, then a few days later Jeff Bezos, with his company Blue Origin.

A crew of novices

This 100% tourist mission was chartered by billionaire Jared Isaacman, at his expense. This 38-year-old American, married with two daughters, is the CEO of the company Shift4 Payments, which offers a service for processing bank card transactions to stores and restaurants. He created it when he was 16, from the basement of the family home. Passionate about piloting, he holds a record for circumnavigating the world in a jet and is qualified to fly on military aircraft. He is a captain on board.

Three anonymous are on the trip, selected by the billionaire through an original process that began with an advertisement projected during the Super Bowl halftime. Each seat is meant to embody a value. Hayley Arceneaux, survivor of pediatric cancer, represents "hope". The 29-year-old was selected because she works as a medical assistant at St Jude's Pediatric Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. She is the youngest American to be sent into orbit around the Earth and the first person with a prosthesis to go to space, and she is the medical lead of the mission.

Chris Sembroski, 42, got the seat of “generosity”. He is a former US Air Force employee who now works in the aviation industry and was selected after making a donation as part of the fundraiser for St Jude's Hospital. Its role is to help manage cargo on board, and communications with Earth.

Finally, the last seat represents "prosperity", and was offered to Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old professor of earth sciences who, in 2009, almost became an astronaut for NASA. She took part in an experiment in Hawaii simulating life on Mars, and twice applied to NASA to become an astronaut. In 2009, she arrived among the finalists (a few dozen out of more than 3,500 candidates at the start). She is the fourth African American woman to go to space. She is the mission pilot, assisting the commander. It won its seat by creating an online sales site linked to the space, as part of an entrepreneurial competition organized by Jared Isaacman's company.

None are professional astronauts.

A training of several months

All four of them trained for just under six months, compared to years for astronauts. They experienced the g-force to which they will be exposed thanks to a centrifuge, a rapidly rotating arm of several meters. On board parabolic flights, they have already tasted a feeling of weightlessness. They also did a high altitude snow trek on Mount Rainier in the northwestern United States.

Finally, although the flight will normally be fully automated, the passengers have been trained by SpaceX to be able to take control in the event of an emergency.

Science

During the three days in orbit, their sleep, heart rate, blood and cognitive abilities will be analyzed. Tests will be carried out before and after the flight, to study the effect of the trip on their body.

A Netflix series to follow the adventure

Inspiration4 can be followed in a documentary series called Countdown on Netflix. Five episodes are planned in total on this mission. Four episodes of this series have already been put online on the platform presenting first the four members of the crew, then the training and the final preparations before the flight. The last, which will be broadcast at the end of September, "just a few days" after the end of the mission.

The start of space tourism on a larger scale

The stated goal of the mission is to open the doors of space to more people.

Several tourist mission projects are already underway. In January 2022, three businessmen will travel to the ISS alongside an experienced astronaut. SpaceX is also planning another trip to orbit for four private clients, organized by intermediary company Space Adventures. Finally, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa must also take a trip around the Moon, a priori in 2023, this time aboard the Starship rocket, still under development by SpaceX.

As for Virgin Galactic, the start of regular commercial operations is scheduled for 2022. Russia, for its part, will send an actress and a director to the ISS, aboard a Soyuz rocket. The goal: to shoot the first fiction film in orbit and in zero gravity.

Elon Musk, boss of Space X, believes that humans have a vocation to become a multiplanetary being.



Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

A FIRE AND CRACKS IN THE RUSSIAN ZVEZDA MODULE

Could the life of the ISS be extended until 2030, as the Russian “segment” flight director Vladimir Soloviev said on Monday 6 September 2021, aware however that an “avalanche of failures ”would take place after 2025? As late as Thursday, September 9, astronaut Thomas Pesquet reported that a smell of burning plastic had spread through some modules of the International Space Station.

A fire is said to have started in the Zvezda service module, which is part of the Russian wing of the station. The kind of thing you don't like to see 400 kilometers above Earth, in a capsule stuffed with oxygen and therefore highly flammable.

This incident, which certainly did not damage anything, follows several other incidents on board the ISS in recent months. In 2019 and early 2021, the Zvezda module had notably experienced air leakage problems. On the Zvezda module which dates from 1998, the oldest, two cosmonauts spotted mini-cracks at the end of August. Vladimir Soloviev, chief engineer of RKK Energuia - a company responsible for maintaining the Russian part of the station -, also shared the cracks detected on the Zvezda cargo module.

"About 80% of flight systems are at the end of their service life, which means that once all the systems have exhausted their service life, the next day irreparable breakdowns could occur," he said. -he adds. What revive the question of the obsolescence of the Russian module on which cracks appear.

However, Roscosmos does not plan to do major works in the ISS. And for good reason: Russia is clearly thinking of withdrawing from the ISS (United States, Canada, Japan, European Space Agency) in order to launch its own space station, or even a lunar base with China.

Who will therefore take care of the maintenance of this part of the ISS? On the western side, we plan to use the station at least until 2024....




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

JEFF BEZOS AND RICHARD BRANSON

ARE NOT ASTRONAUTS !

You don't want an astronaut. It's not enough to take a little trip to space to be an astronaut, no offense to Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos. While the two billionaires left the Earth's atmosphere on Sunday July 11 and Tuesday July 20 respectively, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) saw fit, on the very day of the Amazon boss's flight, to clarify the definition of the title of "astronaut", notes the BBC, and this by giving a more restrictive definition of the profession. . Also according to the BBC, the regulations in this area had not been amended since 2004, when the category of commercial astronauts was created.

In a press release, the organization certainly recalls the conditions for obtaining the "wings" of an astronaut, in particular in terms of altitude reached and training. But the FAA adds that an astronaut is a "member of the crew", who participated in the piloting and "contributed to safety during space flight". It is therefore also necessary to have been responsible, during the flight, for activities "essential to public safety", or which "have contributed to the safety of manned space flights". The American administration therefore seems to want to recognize the difference between a Neil Armstrong and a Jeff Bezos: sitting in your seat enjoying the trip therefore does not count. As passengers on "tourist" flights, the two billionaires are excluded from the profession of "astronaut".

A possible honorary distinction

As mere passengers on their respective flights, it therefore seems that Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos cannot claim the title of astronaut. The FAA press release nonetheless mentions “honorary awards given on the basis of merit”. not denying the contribution of billionaires to the development of the space sector. However, the FAA recalls that it has full discretionary power over the attribution of these honorary “wings”. It will not be up to whoever financed a flight to declare himself an “astronaut”. Only the FAA gives their “wings” to passengers on American space flights, whether commercial or not.

All hope is therefore perhaps not lost for the two billionaires in space.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THE RECORDS OF ASTRONAUT

THOMAS PESQUET IN SPACE

Thomas Pesquet has boarded the International Space Station (ISS) for the second time and at the end of his six-month stay he will become the first French commander of the ISS. During this period, the astronaut will conduct various experiments above the Earth and the scientist very regularly publishes on his social networks splendid pictures of certain parts of the blue planet taken from space. Thomas Pesquet therefore makes his social networks a real logbook of his experience in the space station.

A record spacewalk

Thomas Pesquet returned to the interior of the International Space Station without incident on Sunday, June 20, 2021, after another spacewalk lasting more than six hours. On this occasion, the French astronaut broke a record.

Never has a French astronaut spent so much time in space! Thomas Pesquet is since Sunday the tricolor record holder of duration in terms of spacewalk, with a total of 26 hours and 15 minutes accumulated on the clock.

A 19-year-old record that was until now held by French astronaut Philippe Perrin, during his only mission in 2002 aboard the International Space Station (ISS). He had then donned his spacesuit three times for a cumulative duration of 19 hours and 31 minutes, in the company of the American astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz.

Thomas Pesquet carried out this Sunday the fourth extra-vehicular outing (EVA) of his career, the second after that of Wednesday which could only be partially accomplished due to a series of technical incidents.

Installation of a solar panel

For 6 hours and 28 minutes, the tricolor astronaut and his American teammate Shane Kimbrough completed the installation of a first latest generation solar panel, attached by two cables to the Space Station running 400 kilometers above the Earth....

The two "mechanics" then began to install a second. Six in total, these solar panels, called iROSA, are supposed to increase the power generation capacities of the ISS.

Soon another record on his hunting board ?

Philippe Perrin nevertheless retains two other records. Starting with that of the longest spacewalk for a Frenchman, which is still 7 hours and 17 minutes. During his Wednesday, Thomas Pesquet however almost dethroned him ... within two minutes. Following a problem in the transmission of data to check the condition of the suit, his teammate Shane Kimbrough had to return to the Station's airlock and perform a reset, before exiting. Meanwhile, the Frenchman was waiting for him, hanging by his feet on a robotic arm. The mission finally resumed, but a precious hour was lost. It only lasted "only" 7 hours and 15 minutes.

The first to take command of the ISS

Another record is still held by Philippe Perrin: that of the number of spacewalks during a single mission, three in total. NASA is however planning a new spacewalk on June 25 for the duo to complete the installation of the second solar panel. Thomas Pesquet should therefore at least equal him.

To end this new odyssey on a high note, the Normand will also become the first Frenchman to take control of the space laboratory for about a month, towards the end of his six-month mission. “I am incredibly honored ! (...) I am fortunate to be the first Frenchman at the controls of a space vehicle ", rejoiced the former airline pilot of 43 years at the time of the announcement." It is a very special honor ”, also underlined a spokesperson for the European Space Agency (ESA).

New posts on Instagram

The companion of Anne Mottetl posted on Instagram, impressive photos of his exit off the International Space Station and was able to testify of his unique experience.

"It was a real fight"

“It was both a magical experience and a real struggle; I'm not ready to forget this little trick at the end of the robotic arm, holding equipment that is 3 times my weight, the slightest movement causing it to gain inertia ”, he first wrote before to add:

“Visually it was a bit like holding a fridge, hanging up by the feet, head upside down on a steep wall a few kilometers away. A lot of things didn't go as planned, but I'm really proud of the team who fought for solutions ”.

A unique experience

A few moments later, Thomas Pesquet thanked the entire team which was present and which made this operation successful. “Shane equal to himself in composure and professionalism, the team at the control center at the top, the colleagues with the robotic arm or who put us in the spacesuits (and we got out of them).

I might still be on the adrenaline rush, but I don't think we can find better (or we'll have to prove it to me). We will try to take a little rest while waiting for the rest of the operations, ”he wrote.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

CHINA LETS THE ZHURONG ROBOT ON MARS


Mars has proven to be an elusive goal, with most missions since 1960 from Russia, Europe, Japan and India failing. And yet China has just achieved it again.

The remote-controlled robot "Zhurong" has indeed landed successfully on the red planet, according to a Chinese state media. A flawless: China succeeded on Saturday in landing a small remote-controlled robot on the surface of Mars, a first for the Asian country during a particularly delicate mission.

"The Tianwen-1 lander successfully landed in the predefined area" on Mars with the robot "Zhurong" on board, state television CCTV reported, which broadcast a special edition titled "Nihao Huoxing" (Hello Mars ), and specified that a "signal" had been received on Earth. The landing took place in an area of ​​the red planet called "Utopia Planitia", a vast plain located in the northern hemisphere of Mars.

Landing on the Red Planet is far from easy: in the past, many European, Soviet and American missions have failed. In 2011, China did try to send a probe to Mars, during a joint mission with Russia. But the attempt had collapsed and Beijing has since resolved to continue the adventure alone.

The Chinese thus launched in July 2020 from Earth their uninhabited mission "Tianwen-1", named after the probe sent into space. This is made up of three elements: an orbiter (which revolves around Mars), a lander (which has landed on the red planet) and on board a remote-controlled robot, "Zhurong".

In February, "Tianwen-1" had moved into Martian orbit and managed to take pictures of the red planet. Early Saturday, China managed to land the lander, which should allow the robot "Zhurong" to come out. Carrying out these three operations during an inaugural mission to Mars is a world first.

Radar, lasers and solar panels

For this first attempt alone, the ambitious Chinese wanted to do everything the Americans have achieved in several Martian missions since the 1960s.

Weighing around 240 kg, "Zhurong" is to conduct soil and atmosphere analyzes, take photos and map the red planet. China already has experience in this area: it rolled two small robots on the Moon, the “Jade Rabbits” 1 and 2 - deposited in 2013 and 2019 respectively.

The mission to Mars must also look for possible signs of past life. "Zhurong" is equipped with solar panels for its power supply and is supposed to be operational for three months. The robot is also equipped with cameras, radar and lasers which will allow it in particular to study its environment and analyze the composition of Martian rocks.

He arrived on the Red Planet a few months after Perseverance, the rover from NASA, the US space agency, which landed on Mars on February 18 with the mission of looking for proof of past life.

The name "Zhurong" was chosen after an online survey and refers to the god of fire in Chinese mythology. A symbolism justified by the name in Chinese of Mars: "huoxing", literally "the planet of fire".

All-round space ambitions

China is investing billions of euros in its space program, in order to catch up with Europe, Russia and the United States. It sent its first astronaut into space in 2003. China is also launching satellites for itself or on behalf of other countries. And in 2019, she landed a device on the far side of the Moon - a world first. Last year, samples of the Moon were brought back to Earth.

The Asian giant also plans to assemble a large space station by 2022. And he hopes to send men to the Moon within ten years.



Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THE SCIENTIFIC EXPERIENCES CONDUCTED

BY THOMAS PESQUET ON BOARD THE ISS

Improvement of surgical methods, fight against microorganisms, recycling of packaging, study of sleep, sport in the ISS ...

Thomas Pesquet will carry out a hundred experiments in space

As part of his “Alpha” mission, the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet will conduct a multitude of scientific experiments. In a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In all, the French astronaut will carry out around a hundred experiments, including 12 designed in Toulouse by the Center d'Aide au Développement des Activities in Microgravity and Space Operations (CADMOS). These experiments carried out in the European Colombus module of the station make it possible in particular to prepare longer space missions.

He will conduct a hundred experiments.

Thomas Pesquet's schedule will be loaded during his six months aboard the ISS. The French must carry out a hundred experiments. Twelve of them were designed by the Center for the Development of Microgravity Activities and Space Operations (Cadmos), which is located in Toulouse. These experiments will be carried out in the European Colombus module and aim, among other things, to prepare for long-term space missions.

In the viewfinder: the red planet. “The ultimate goal, at least within our reach for the next hundred years, is Mars, because it is the twin sister of the Earth, because it has a very similar history, because it has had liquid water , " Thomas Pesquet told" Special Envoy

Mini-brains

Asked about an experience that is particularly close to his heart, Thomas Pesquet mentioned that involving "mini-brains, brain stem cells (...) in a Petri dish". The aim is to study the aging of these stem cells to better understand pathologies such as Alzheimer's disease.

Dreams Study

Thomas Pesquet will also work for a study, called "Dreams", which focuses on the sleep of space travelers. Rachel Debs, neurologist at the Toulouse University Hospital, explains that we will "be able to monitor the sleep which we know is disturbed in space because it will not have the day-night alternation over 24 hours". Indeed, on board the ISS, humans "see the sun rise and set 16 times a day, this is not at all the normal rhythm for the organism and therefore sleep is disturbed for the astronauts. ", Continues the specialist." We have a sleep of a shorter duration, more fragmented, and the paradoxical sleep is also in proportion less important than on earth. "

A blob

Thomas Pesquet will also be accompanied by a blob, an organism neither animal, nor plant, nor fungus. This blob will be cultured aboard the International Space Station, under the watchful eye of the French astronaut.

Composed of a single cell, the "physarum polycephalum" is a living species apart. She has neither a mouth nor a brain, but moves, eats and has amazing learning abilities. Several specimens will be hosted on board the ISS. The goal is to see "if the blob behaves differently in space", and to study "the effects of microgravity and radiation on its evolution", specified the CNES.

Edible packaging

Scientific material is now packaged in bulky petroleum-based foams to send it into space. But for this mission, it will be transported in biodegradable and recyclable transport kits. Another particularity: part of the partitions will be edible! “It was a request from Thomas who told us: 'All these foams that we throw away, it's very nice but if we could do something with them and possibly eat them, it would not be worse. And we took him at his word, rejoices Alain Mayer, responsible for the “Eco pack” experience.

In this container, we have three cookies, two gingerbread, natural taste and ginger taste, we have Genoa bread and madeleine.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

SPACEX NASA THOMAS PESQUET FLIGHT TO THE ISS



Friday, April 23, 2021, Thomas Pesquet left Earth aboard the vessel Crew SpaceX Dragon towards the ISS.

The Falcon 9 rocket liftoff from Cape Canaveral in Florida took place as scheduled at 11:49 a.m. The flight of Thomas Pesquet was to take place the day before, Thursday, April 22, but the weather forced NASA to postpone the departure.

The French astronaut and his companions on the Alpha mission (Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur and Akihiko Hoshide will now sail in orbit for about twenty hours before docking with the International Space Station (ISS).

Falcon 9's first stage landed safely

SpaceX has confirmed that the first stage of the launcher managed to land on its platform. Falcon 9's first stage landed safely

Arrival on the ISS scheduled for 11:10 on Saturday

That's it, Thomas Pesquet is in orbit, the launch of the SpaceX rocket went perfectly.

But the road to the ISS is still long, around 18 hours, according to the ESA, despite an average speed of 26,000 km / h, because the trajectory is obviously not in a straight line, but spirals away from the Earth to approach the International Space Station, via very precise trajectories calculated in advance.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THE MANUFACTURE OF OXYGEN ON MARS

NEW JOB FROM NASA

New prowess to the active persistence. The NASA rover transformed carbon dioxide from Mars' atmosphere into oxygen, a first on another planet, the US space agency announced on Wednesday April 21. “This is a crucial first attempt to convert the carbon dioxide to oxygen on Mars, ”said Jim Reuter, an associate administrator at NASA.

The demonstration took place on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, and NASA hopes that future versions of the experimental tool used can pave the way for exploration by humans.

Five grams of oxygen produced for ten minutes

Produced at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (Moxie) is a golden box the size of a car battery, located on the right front of the rover. Moxie has been manufactured with heat resistant materials to tolerate the scorching temperatures of 800 ° C required for its operation.

He uses electricity and chemistry to split CO2 molecules, producing oxygen on one side and carbon monoxide on the other.For his first experiment, Moxie produced five grams of oxygen, enough to breathe. for 10 minutes for an astronaut with normal activity. The engineers in charge of Moxie will now conduct more tests and try to increase this result. The tool has been developed to be able to generate up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour.

An efficient and practical method

According to MIT engineer Michael Hecht, a one-ton Moxie - this one weighs 17 kg - could produce the roughly 25 tons of oxygen needed for a rocket to take off from Mars. Mars' atmosphere, made up of 96% carbon dioxide, may prove to be easier than extracting ice from below its surface to make oxygen by electrolysis.

Not only could the process produce oxygen for future astronauts to breathe, it could also prevent the large amounts of oxygen needed to propel the rocket on the return trip from Earth.

One more step forward in the colonization of the red planet ?




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

HISTORIC FLIGHT OF INGENUITY

THE FIRST HELIPCOPTER TO FLY OVER MARS

Three meters. This is the altitude at which Ingenuity, the first helicopter in history to be sent to Mars, made its first flight on Monday. His feat was filmed by the Perserverance rover from Martian soil.

After rising to three meters of altitude, having spent 30 seconds in suspension, the small NASA helicopter rested safely on Martian soil.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter became the first motorized craft to fly to another planet on Monday, April 19.

"We can now say that humans flew a motorized device to another planet!" Enthusiastically Ms. MiMi Aung, helicopter project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

An unprecedented technical feat which brings the small twin-blade drone into the pantheon of aerospace history. This flight was filmed by the Perseverance rover, which arrived in February on the Red Planet. A few images have already been released, and the helicopter itself has sent a black and white photo, showing its shadow on the red planet.

Tuesday, the day after the flight, once its batteries are recharged, the helicopter must transmit a color photo of the horizon taken by its other camera. The full video taken by Perseverance is due to be transmitted in "the following days," said Elsa Jensen, head of the rover's cameras.

A real challenge

The operation was a real challenge, as the Martian air is of a density equivalent to only 1% of that of the Earth's atmosphere. However, it is by pushing the air while turning that the propellers can lift weight. On Mars, "there are simply fewer molecules to push," MiMi Aung explained before the flight.

To achieve this feat, even if the gravity is three times weaker there than on Earth, the NASA teams therefore had to develop an ultralight machine (1.8 kg), the blades of which turn much faster than a standard helicopter. . With its four feet and two superimposed blades (1.2m in length), it looks more like a large drone.

A second flight scheduled for Thursday

After this first success, NASA intends to embolden itself while time is running out, the lifespan of Ingenuity on Mars being one month. The second flight could take place as early as April 22. Other flights are planned, of increasing difficulty.

For its second flight, the helicopter is expected to climb to a height of five meters and move horizontally a few meters. If all goes well, Ingenuity will make a round trip of about fifty meters for his third attempt.

Two additional flights could take place, which will test the machine in more daring flight configurations and in particular at one hour of the Martian day when the winds are felt.



Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

AMAZING IMAGE ICE DUNES ON MARS

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, commonly known as MRO, has been deployed since 2005. The goal of its space mission is to map the surface of Mars.

This photo was captured by the spacecraft and shared by NASA on its website. According to the US space agency, “a field of sand dunes occupies this frosted crater 5 kilometers in diameter in the high latitudes of the plains north of Mars.

Some dunes have separated from the main field and seem to climb the slope of the crater along a kind of ravine ”. Indeed, a study published last year revealed that the planet Mars would have been covered with glaciers and not rivers.

Breathtaking Martian icy dunes

The image of the Orbiter probe is totally captivating. Thanks to its high definition, it allows us to see the different textures at the bottom of the crater. NASA effectively explained that the striped and lobed patterns "indicate seasonal thaw caused by sublimation of ice."

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took this image in February 2021. It used its camera called “High Resolution Imaging Experiment” or HiRiSE. It was then about 315 kilometers above sea level from the red planet.

The Orbiter probe also managed to capture an image of the Perseverance rover landing on Mars on February 18.



Alyson Braxton for DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

L'ASTRONAUTE FRANCAIS THOMAS PESQUET

 COMMANDANT DE BORD DE L'ISS

Thomas Pesquet, qui doit s'envoler le 22 avril pour sa deuxième mission sur la station spatiale internationale (ISS), sera commandant de bord durant une partie de son séjour en orbite, a annoncé mardi l'Agence spatiale européenne.

C'est la première fois qu'un astronaute français se voit désigner commandant de bord de l'ISS. Il sera assigné à cette tâche pendant environ un mois, vers la fin de sa mission dans l'espace, qui doit durer six mois. « Je suis incroyablement honoré ! », s'est réjoui Thomas Pesquet lors d'une conférence de presse virtuelle de l'ESA.

« Ça fait trois commandements européens à la suite pour trois missions sur l'ISS. Ça montre la place centrale que prend l'Europe de plus en plus dans la station spatiale, et pour les futures explorations lunaires », a-t-il ajouté.

La fonction de commandant est exercée tour à tour par les membres désignés de l'équipage de l'ISS. «C'est comme un bateau, il y a un seul maître à bord après Dieu», a commenté Thomas Pesquet. «Évidemment, il y a beaucoup de choses qui se décident au centre de contrôle au sol», a-t-il expliqué, mais «quand ça va mal et qu'il faut réagir vite, c'est le commandant qui décide, qui assigne un peu les tâches, par exemple si on doit faire face à un départ de feu ou une dépressurisation».

Thomas Pesquet, qui a été pilote de ligne, sera le premier Européen à rejoindre l'ISS à bord d'un vaisseau privé américain, la capsule Crew-2 Dragon de Space X, qui doit décoller depuis la Floride le 22 avril avec trois autres astronautes à bord.(les Américains Megan Mc Arthur et Shane Kimbrough, et le Japonais Akihiko Hoshide).

A la fin de son séjour dans l'espace, Thomas Pesquet devrait être rejoint par un autre astronaute de l'ESA, l'Allemand Matthias Maurer.

« Ça arrive très rarement que deux Européens travaillent ensemble sur l'ISS, ce serait un beau symbole qu'on puisse travailler ensemble », espère Thomas Pesquet.




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld

A JOURNEY AROUND THE MOON A BILLIONAIRE OF JAPANESE OFFERS EIGHT SEATS TO ACCOMPANY HIM ON BOARD THE STARSHIP ROCKET

If it has long been an old dream of science fiction writers, space tourism today represents a concrete field for which many companies have launched projects. This is particularly the case with SpaceX, whose commercial reusable rocket Starship is currently being tested.

Elon Musk's company has teamed up with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa for the dearMoon project, which involves traveling around the moon in 2023. And the billionaire, online fashion mogul, art collector contemporary and patron, offers eight tickets to people around the world to accompany him on a space tourism trip around the Moon, scheduled for 2023 with SpaceX.

Yusaku Maezawa was the first private customer to book a flight aboard Starship, a future habitable rocket developed by US aerospace company Elon Musk, for an undisclosed fee. Initially, he planned to find a girlfriend for his flight around the Moon, by launching a strange contest with "single women aged 20 and over". He then changed his plans, not without having attracted nearly 30,000 applications, saying he wanted to invite six to eight artists instead.

On Wednesday March 3, 2021, in a video posted on his Twitter account, the 45-year-old billionaire finally opted for a broader recruitment policy, saying he is now convinced that "everyone who does something creative can be called an artist". “I invite you to join me on this mission. Eight of you from around the world, he said. I bought all the seats so it will be a private trip. Candidates will only need to meet two criteria, he said: be willing to "push the limits" of creativity and be willing to help other crew members do the same.

Pre-registration until March 14

In all, 10 to 12 people are expected to participate in the expedition supposed to circle the moon before returning to Earth, said Yusaku Maezawa. The schedule calls for aspiring astronauts to pre-register by March 14, and an initial screening is due a week later. An "initial screening" process begins on March 21, with a "final interview and medical examination. At the end of May.

The dearMoon mission will take three days to reach the Moon and loop around it, then another three days for the return trip.

Yusaku Maezawa and his companions will become the first lunar travelers since the last American Apollo mission in 1972, at least if SpaceX is able to complete this project on time. Indeed, two prototypes of its Starship rocket crashed on landing in recent months. "I am very confident that we will reach the orbital level with Starship before 2023 and that the safety will be sufficient for human flight in 2023. It is very promising," said Elon Musk in the video of Yusaku Maezawa released. this Wednesday.

SpaceX plans to launch its first space tourism mission for the fourth quarter of 2021, targeting low Earth orbit. This mission, called Inspiration4, will be carried out using the reusable Falcon 9 space launcher and SpaceX's Crew Dragon space vehicle, already used by NASA. It will host the American billionaire Jared Isaacman, who also offered three seats at his side. Her first elected, announced at the end of February, is a 29-year-old American survivor of pediatric cancer.

SpaceX has not disclosed its spending on the Starship program as of yet, but Musk previously estimated that he expected it to cost the company around $ 5 billion.

SpaceX's valuation has skyrocketed since Maezawa's initial announcement, from around $ 25 billion at the time to around $ 74 billion last month..




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

UNE IMPRESSIONNANTE PHOTO DE MARS

PUBLIEE PAR LA NASA

La Nasa a publié, mercredi 24 février, une spectaculaire photo panoramique de Mars prise par Perseverance dans la zone où le rover a atterri la semaine dernière : on se croirait dans une zone désertique ..La photo, reconstituée à partir de plusieurs clichés pris par le véhicule, montre la crête du cratère de Jezero, qui a contenu selon les scientifiques un profond lac dans lequel se jetait une rivière il y a environ 3,5 milliards d'années .

Le rover a réalisé 142 clichés à 360 degrés avec les appareils haute définition installés sur son mât.

« Nous sommes installés sur un très bon site, d’où on peut voir des caractéristiques très similaires à celles trouvées par Spirit, Opportunity et Curiosity [trois rovers ayant précédé Perseverance sur la Planète rouge] sur leur zone d’atterrissage », s’est réjoui Jim Bell, de l’université de l’Arizona.

L’agence spatiale américaine a comme but explicite de trouver des traces de vie ancienne sur la Planète rouge, en collectant pendant au moins deux ans jusqu’à une trentaine d’échantillons de roche.Les caméras de Perseverance aideront les scientifiques à déterminer l’histoire géologique et les conditions atmosphériques du cratère, et identifier les rochers et les sédiments qui seront prélevés avant d’être transportés sur Terre lors d’une future mission, prévue dans les années 2030.

La NASA avait déjà diffusé, lundi, deux documents exceptionnels capturés par son rover, une spectaculaire vidéo de son atterrissage enregistré sous tous les angles, et le son d’une bourrasque de vent martien, premier audio enregistré sur la Planète rouge par un micro.




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

LE ROVER PERSEVERANCE A ATTERI SUR MARS

«Atterrissage confirmé ! », s'est exclamée Swati Mohan, en charge du contrôle des opérations d'atterrissage de Perseverance. Le robot de la Nasa s'est posé sur Mars, jeudi 18 février 2020 .

Perseverance a posé ses six roues sur un site d’atterrissage « spectaculaire », le cratère de Jezero, au terme de « sept minutes de terreur », dixit la NASA, de la séparation du rover et de la capsule qui le transporte, au « touchdown », en passant par l’entrée atmosphérique. Des cris de joie ont retenti dans la salle de contrôle de Pasadena, en Californie.

Après être entré dans l'atmosphère martienne avec une vitesse de  20 000 km/h, les frictions avec l'air ont fait monter la température du vaisseau jusqu'à 1300°C.

Le rover était protégé par un bouclier thermique, qui n'a été largué qu'après l'ouverture d'un immense parachute supersonique. Huit rétrofusées ont fini de le

La mission Mars 2020, qui a décollé fin juillet, a transporté Perseverance, le véhicule le plus gros et le plus avancé jamais envoyé sur la Planète rouge.

Construit par la NASA, il pèse une tonne, est équipé d’un bras robotique de plus de deux mètres, de pas moins de 19 caméras et, pour la première fois, de deux micros. Arrivé à bon port, jeudi 18 février, c’est le cinquième rover à réussir le voyage depuis 1997.

Mars 2020 est la première mission ayant explicitement pour but de prouver qu’il y a eu de la vie sur la Planète rouge. Les chercheurs pensent que le cratère de Jezero abritait, il y a plus de trois milliards et demi d’années, un profond lac d’environ 50 km de large. A l’époque, « Mars était très similaire à la Terre sous de nombreux aspects. Elle avait une atmosphère conséquente, des lacs et des rivières », selon les scientifiques.

Perseverance devrait prélever des échantillons qui devront être analysés par les laboratoires les plus performants sur Terre pour y distinguer, peut-être, les traces microscopiques d’anciens organismes. Les tubes contenant les échantillons seront précieusement conservés sur Mars jusqu’à ce qu’une mission ultérieure soit capable de revenir les chercher, dans les années 2030.

La Nasa a rapidement communiqué une photo prise par le rover sur place. « Bonjour le monde. Ma première vue sur la maison qui sera la mienne pour toujours », a tweeté le compte officiel du rover pour accompagner l'extraordinaire image en noir et blanc.




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

MYSTERE DES MONOLITHES SUR TERRE ET DANS L'ESPACE

LE MYSTERE S'EPAISSIT !!

Au Pays-Bas un cinquième monolithe est apparu.

Après des apparitions de manière éphémère aux États-Unis (en Utah et en Californie), en Roumanie et au Royaume-Uni, des randonneurs sont tombés nez à nez avec un nouvel objet couleur métal dans la réserve naturelle du Kiekenberg.

«Je me suis approché mais il n'y avait rien à remarquer autour du monolithe.

C'était comme s'il avait été déposé depuis le ciel», a confié un des randonneurs qui a découvert cette installation.

Un mystérieux «monolithe de métal» est apparu dans une lande du nord des Pays-Bas, ont confirmé lundi les autorités, après la découverte d'objets similaires aux États-Unis, en Roumanie et au Royaume-Uni.

Des randonneurs ont découvert l'objet dimanche sur un terrain privé proche de la réserve naturelle du Kiekenberg dans la province de la Frise, selon Imke Boerma, porte-parole de Staatsbosbeheer, l'organisation néerlandaise des gardes-forestiers.

«Nous savons qu'il a probablement été installé ce week-end car des randonneurs qui marchaient là l'ont trouvé (...). Mais nous ne savons pas comment il est arrivé à cet endroit», a confié Imke Boerma à

Des gardes-forestiers sont allés l'inspecter ce lundi matin et étaient encore à la recherche d'indices sur sa provenance.


Monolithe sur Phobos Lune de Mars !

Un collectif appelé The Most Famous Artist et basé au Nouveau-Mexique a revendiqué la paternité du monolithe de l'Utah, mais pas celles des objets découverts en Roumanie, au Royaume-Uni et aux Pays-Bas.

Il continue de « pleuvoir » des monolithes mystérieux sur la planète. Un nouvel objet de ce type est apparu dans une lande du nord des Pays-Bas, ont confirmé lundi les autorités, après des découvertes similaires aux Etats-Unis, en Roumanie et au Royaume-Uni ces derniers jours.

Des randonneurs ont découvert l'objet dimanche sur un terrain privé proche de la réserve naturelle du Kiekenberg, dans la province de la Frise, selon Imke Boerma, porte-parole de Staatsbosbeheer, l'organisation néerlandaise des gardes forestiers.

« Nous savons qu'il a probablement été installé ce week-end car des randonneurs qui marchaient là l'ont trouvé […]. Mais nous ne savons pas comment il est arrivé à cet endroit », a confié Imke Boerma. Des gardes forestiers sont allés inspecter l'objet lundi matin et étaient encore à la recherche d'indices sur sa provenance.

Monolithe sur la Lune !!

Un collectif appelé The Most Famous Artist et basé au Nouveau-Mexique a revendiqué la paternité du monolithe de l'Utah. Mardi dernier, des images ont été diffusées sur Internet montrant quatre hommes s'affairant de nuit pour démanteler l'étrange sculpture, qui a donné lieu à des nombreuses.




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld

A BAG OF TEA TO HELP

THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

In September 2019, an air leak was spotted on board the International Space Station. At this time, no reason to worry, the station atmosphere can be maintained at a comfortable pressure, so the problem does not endanger the life of the crew.

A year later, however, the leak grew, forcing NASA to intervene. But before you could plug it, you had to know where it came from. For this, the astronauts had an ingenious idea involving a tea bag, says Numerama.

A small crack spotted

The investigations quickly led the astronauts to the Russian module of the ISS, the most dilapidated. Then, to precisely locate the leak, the crew members extracted tea leaves from a sachet and released them into the module. The latter, then suspended in microgravity, were observed using a device.

"We took several photos and videos of the direction of flight of the tea bag (...) and it shows precisely the direction in which the air is sucked in by the air leak", explains to the Russian space agency the cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin. The crew was thus able to see the tea leaves approaching a small crack in the hull of the module.

The leak repaired temporarily

The leak has been sealed with duct tape but this will not be enough in the long run. "The air pressure continues to drop, even if the rates of this drop have reduced," says Anatoly Ivanishin, which can be explained by the insufficiency of the adhesive tape, or by the existence of another leak. Additional equipment will be delivered during the next manned mission.

The International Space Station, some modules of which date from 1998, is experiencing several dilapidated problems, Numerama recalls. During the night of October 20-21, the Elektron-VM oxygen support system broke down in the Russian module. At the same time, the ISS was experiencing a malfunction in the food and toilet heating system. But this time too, the astronauts managed to fix everything. .

The ISS is one of the rare examples of cooperation between Moscow and Washington. Sixteen countries are participating in the 1998 orbiting station, outpost and orbital laboratory that cost a total of $ 100 billion, largely funded by Russia and the United States.

It is expected to be dismantled within the next decade, due to structural wear and tear..




Boby Dean for DayNewsWorld

MARCH CLOSEST TO EARTH

THIS TUESDAY OCTOBER 13, 2020

Go ! go ! go !  to your telescopes !

The time is ideal this Tuesday, October 13, 2020 to observe Mars in the sky, if the climatic conditions allow it. The planet is in a perfect position, closest to us until 2035.

“In opposition” is the current alignment of the red planet with respect to Earth. Mars will be directly opposite the Sun on the celestial vault.

The Earth will therefore be located between Mars and the Sun, offering a configuration that will show Mars larger in telescopes.

This "opposition" between Mars and the Sun gives the fourth planet a particularly bright appearance, brighter than Jupiter itself.

It will be observable without a telescope, provided you have good eyes ! Especially since last Tuesday, October 6, 2020, the planet Mars was already closest to Earth, at a distance of 68 million kilometers.

These conditions combined should offer us an impregnable spectacle this Tuesday.

Concretely, Mars aligns itself with the Earth on the same side of the Sun, approaching, before diverging again in their separate orbits around our star. But perfect alignment does not appear as often.

Mars and Earth do not have perfect circle shaped orbits and are not even on the same planes. For these reasons, these elliptical planets generally shy away from each other.

Earth only takes 365 days to complete an orbit around the sun while Mars takes 687 days. When the Earth gets closer to the sun, Mars moves away from it.

These elements explain why this phenomenon of opposition does not occur every earth year..




Jenny Chase for DayNewsWorld

DISASTER AVOIDED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL

 SPACE STATION (ISS)

UNDER THE THREAT OF SPACE DEBRIS

This is the third time this year that the ISS has to maneuver to avoid space debris, not to mention the threatening potential conjunctions on a daily basis. The density of fragments and debris from ancient rockets or satellites launched over six decades is such that space objects number in the thousands.

The International Space Station (ISS) had to maneuver Tuesday, September 22 to avoid a possible collision with a debris of an old Japanese rocket, the third avoidance maneuver this year, announced NASA, which calls for more means to monitor the increasing number of objects in Earth orbit.

Remember that the ISS is 110 m wide, 74 m long and 30 m high for a mass of some 400 tonnes. Despite the small size of the debris of about 10 centimeters and, coming from a stage of a Japanese rocket launched in 2018 that had disintegrated into 77 pieces in February 2019, a collision with this most imposing orbital complex, can generate a risk of rapid depressurization .

Third avoidance maneuver this year

The debris would have passed just 1.39 kilometers from the ISS, according to NASA, but it was decided to raise the orbit of the station as a precaution. It was a Russian cargo capsule (Progress), moored at the station, which pushed the ISS a little higher by igniting its thrusters, for 2 and a half minutes, the operation being controlled in cooperation between the Russian control rooms and American.

The crew members, two Russians and an American, had to be temporarily placed in the Russian part of the ISS, in order to be able to evacuate urgently with the Soyuz capsule in case of danger, which was ultimately not necessary. . In June 2011, as in 2009, when it was no longer possible to perform an evasive maneuver, the occupants of the ISS had to take refuge in the Soyuz capsules after the detection of a potentially dangerous object.

According to the European Space Agency website, the ISS was about 421 km above the oceans before the operation, and 435 km after. It spins at around 27,500 km / h: at this speed, even a small object can seriously damage or even destroy a solar panel or other element.

Celestial pollution: thousands of space debris have been fluttering for 60 years

If space debris does not pollute space, strictly speaking, (it does not deteriorate it) as oil spills do for example, we still speak of pollution because there are so many of them that they become a nuisance. for human activities in orbit.

This type of maneuver is regularly necessary, and is expected to become more frequent with the increasing pollution of the Earth's surroundings by debris from old rockets or satellites launched for six decades, and by the thousands of fragments created by accidental or deliberate collisions. , for example with the shipments of anti-satellite missiles by India in 2019 and China in 2007.

The station had to avoid 25 times between 1999 and 2018, according to NASA. “The Space Station maneuvered three times in 2020 to avoid debris. In the past two weeks, there have been three potential high-risk conjunctions. Debris is getting worse! Tweeted Jim Bridenstine, administrator of NASA, who is demanding $ 15 million from Congress for the Office of Space Trade, a civilian service, to take over the monitoring of space objects and coordinate warnings to private satellite operators in the event risk of collision.

In addition to financial resources adapted to the context, NASA wishes to transfer this space surveillance to a civilian service

To date, a military unit is responsible for space surveillance.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THE PERSEIDES OF THE SHOOTING STARS

DO NOT MISS

Like all years, having enjoyed the South Delta Aquarids, astronomy lovers can admire the Perseids in the sky.

The peak of this meteor shower is scheduled for the night of August 12 to 13.

The Perseid Peak is the peak of the meteor shower.

It occurs every year between mid-July and mid-August.

It is one of the three most beautiful events of this kind, along with the Quadrantids, in January, and the Geminids, in December.

On its website, the French astronomical association explains that “the Earth is going through a cloud of dust left by comet Swift-Tuttle; on entering our atmosphere, these small dusts are consumed, leaving magnificent light trails. "

The Perseids originate from the debris of comet Swift-Tuttle. Under optimal weather conditions, it is possible to see more than a hundred shooting stars per hour.

It is still advisable to wait until the Moon is down to observe this phenomenon.

As with the Delta Aquarids, no equipment is required, it is possible to see the Perseids with the naked eye.

If you can't see the Perseids on the night of August 12-13, that's okay: the swarm is still active until the 24th, according to NASA..




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

LA RUEE VERS MARS

Direction Mars. Après les Émirats Arabes Unis lundi, la Chine a lancé jeudi 23 juillet 2020 avec succès une sonde spatiale depuis la base de Wenchang, sur l'île de Hainan. Embarquée à bord d'une fusée Longue Marche 5, la sonde spatiale Tianwen-1 (« Questions au ciel » en mandarin) est désormais en route vers la planète rouge.

Un voyage qui durera sept mois. Le départ d'une sonde américaine est également prévu pour la fin du mois.

Il faut dire que les conditions de lancement sont particulièrement idéales en ce mois de juillet. La planète rouge, la Terre et le Soleil se retrouveront dans le même alignement à la fin de l'année, permettant aux missions de suivre la trajectoire la courte.

« L'idée est de profiter de ce qu'on appelle l'opposition, moment où le Soleil, la Terre et Mars sont alignés exactement dans cet ordre-là , explique Olivier Sanguy, de la Cité de l'Espace . Le cycle de la mécanique céleste n'offre qu'une fenêtre de tir tous les 26 mois, pendant laquelle la distance entre Mars et la Terre est la plus courte. »

Les Emirats arabes unis ont été les premiers à se lancer durant le mois de juillet. Après deux reports de lancement, en raison du mauvais temps, la sonde émiratie Al-Amal (« Espoir » ), première mission spatiale arabe vers Mars, a décollé lundi depuis le centre spatial de Tanegashima (Japon). La sonde Al-Amal devrait amorcer son orbite autour de Mars d'ici à février 2021, marquant le 50e anniversaire de l'unification des sept principautés qui forment les Emirats arabes unis.Une fois sur place, elle doit faire le tour de la planète rouge pendant toute une année martienne, soit 687 jours terrestres. L'objectif est de fournir une image complète et inédite de la dynamique du temps dans l'atmosphère de Mars.

La mission chinoise, nommée Tianwen-1 (« Questions au ciel-1 »), est partie du centre de lancement de Wenchang, dans le sud de la Chine, ce jeudi 23 juillet 2020. Ambitieuse, la Chine espère faire, lors de cette première tentative indépendante, presque tout ce que les Etats-Unis ont réalisé en plusieurs missions martiennes depuis les années 1960 : placer une sonde en orbite, poser un module sur Mars, puis en faire sortir un petit robot téléguidé afin qu'il mène des analyses à la surface.

Après Curiosity lancé en 2012 ,qui continue de parcourir activement sa surface accidentée, les Etats-Unis enverront le rover américain Perseverance à la fin de ce mois. Il se posera le 18 février 2021 dans le cratère de Jezero, où une rivière se déversait il y a 3 à 4 milliards d'années, déposant boues, sables et sédiments dans l'un des deltas les mieux préservés de la surface de Mars. L'engin mesure trois mètres de long, pèse une tonne, a des yeux (19 caméras), des oreilles (deux micros), un bras robotique de deux mètres et est doté d'un drone. Objectif de la Nasa : collecter des échantillons de son sol rocailleux, dans la perspective historique de les ramener sur Terre lors de missions ultérieures.

Pourquoi une telle course vers la Planète rouge ?

Si certes Mars est la planète la plus proche de la nôtre , les raisons principales sont d'abord scientifiques. « La sonde Mars Express nous a appris qu'elle était habitable. Il faut savoir si elle a été habitée », explique Jean-Yves le Gall, président du Cnes.

De plus la course vers Mars est aussi une affaire de puissance. Pendant la Guerre froide, Etats-Unis et URSS se livraient un duel sans merci pour aller sur la Lune. Des décennies plus tard, la Chine a pris la place du régime soviétique. « Ses objectifs ne sont pas différents de ceux d'autres pays, déclare Chen Lan, analyste pour un site spécialisé dans le programme spatial chinois. Il s'agit d'améliorer ses capacités, d'explorer l'univers, d'investir dans les ressources futures et in fine d'augmenter son influence politique et son prestige. »

Le saint Graal de l'espace, ce sont aussi les extractions minières. Dans la transition numérique et environnementale en cours, ce sont les métaux rares indispensables à tous les nouveaux produits technologiques -batteries, panneaux solaires, serveurs, calculateurs...- Or, l'espace regorge de tels métaux rares. Il y en a sur la Lune, sur Mars, et sur de nombreuses astéroïdes.

Selon un traité international de 1967, tous les corps célestes sont des biens communs : personne ne peut se les approprier.

Mais le droit est en voie d'évoluer très vite. En 2015, Barack Obama a signé le Commercial Space Act, qui reconnaît le droit de posséder et de vendre des « ressources » spatiales...




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

L'ARMEE FRANCAISE OFFICIALISE L'ESPACE

 COMME TERRAIN STRATEGIQUE

Et maintenant, l’espace. L’armée française a ajouté vendredi 24 juillet à ses attributions fondamentales un nouveau terrain d’opération, plus vaste que tous les autres réunis, et objet de fortes convoitises internationales.

L’état-major de l’armée de l’air est devenu état-major de l’armée de l’Air et de l’Espace, un vocable qui ne désigne rien moins qu’une nouvelle frontière.

« Au cœur des rêves mais aussi des convoitises, l’espace ne doit pas devenir le théâtre de luttes sauvages », a déclaré la ministre des Armées Florence Parly lors d’un discours sur la base de Salon-de-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône). « Espionnage, sabotage, pollution : les menaces sont tangibles. Face à ce nouvel ordre des choses, nous devons être prêts »

Dans un entretien avec le quotidien La Provence, la ministre avait auparavant évoqué le « passage d’une vision d’un espace 'bien commun', au service de la science, à un espace dans lequel les puissances continuent de se disputer la suprématie mondiale ».

Les développements des derniers jours le confirment : la Chine a lancé jeudi une sonde pour Mars, les Émirats Arabes Unis ont propulsé lundi la leur baptisée Espoir, pour la première mission spatiale arabe, et les États-Unis en lanceront une aussi, nommée Mars 2020, le 30 juillet.

Mais les ambitions ne se limitent pas à l’exploration. En mars 2019, L’Inde a rejoint le club très fermé des nations capables d’abattre par un tir de missile un satellite dans l’espace.

Jeudi, le Commandement spatial américain a affirmé avoir « des preuves » que la Russie avait « conduit un test non-destructeur d’une arme antisatellite depuis l’espace » le 15 juillet. « Propagande », a rétorqué Moscou, qui affirme que les tests n’étaient pas menaçants et « n’avaient pas violé » le droit international.

L’incident en rappelle pourtant un autre, survenu en 2017, au cours duquel le « satellite espion » russe Louch-Olympe avait tenté de s’approcher du satellite militaire franco-italien Athena-Fidus.

Depuis, Paris a réagi. « Nous ne sommes en aucun cas engagés dans une course aux armements », affirme Mme Parly dans son interview. Mais tout en réaffirmant l’attachement de la France à un « usage pacifique de l’espace », elle juge indispensable d’identifier parfaitement « les menaces auxquelles notre pays est potentiellement confronté ».

La France va donc s’équiper en satellites patrouilleurs capables de « détecter, caractériser et attribuer à leurs auteurs ce type de manœuvres inamicales ». Elle se dotera de caméras à 360 degrés et de « lasers de puissance » pour tenir à distance ou éblouir « ceux qui tenteraient de s’approcher trop près ». L’an passé, une source gouvernementale avait aussi fait état de « mitrailleuses à même de casser les panneaux solaires d’un satellite à l’approche ».

De la compétition à l’affrontement

« On est en train de changer de monde en matière spatiale », dit-on au cabinet de Mme Parly. « L’espace est, de plus en plus, un domaine de compétition, un domaine contesté et potentiellement un domaine d’affrontements ».

Une loi, que le ministère espère faire adopter d’ici début 2021, intégrera juridiquement la nouvelle appellation. Mais il n’était plus question d’attendre.

Basé à Toulouse, le grand commandement de l’espace comprendra un effectif de 200 personnes au départ, 500 en 2025. Le sujet va monter en puissance dans les écoles militaires. Et les investissements du secteur passeront de 3,6 milliards d’euros, prévus initialement dans la loi de programmation militaire (2019-2025) à 4,3 milliards.

Avec ses deux milliards d’euros d’investissements annuels dans le spatial militaire et civil, l’Hexagone reste cependant loin du trio de tête : 50 milliards pour les États-Unis, 10 pour la Chine et 4 pour la Russie, selon des chiffres du gouvernement français.

Mais si pour l’heure, Paris s’interdit d’attaquer dans l’espace et de frapper sur terre depuis le cosmos, Mme Parly revendique le droit d’y « développer des moyens d’autodéfense ».

La suite reste à inventer. Les hautes instances militaires anticipent un avenir troublé. « L’espace étant à la fois un enjeu économique majeur et un milieu essentiel à la supériorité militaire, la compétition devient confrontation », constatait début 2019 le général Michel Friedling, à la tête du commandement interarmées de l’Espace.

« Tout conflit de haute intensité, impliquant une puissance dotée de capacités spatiales de premier rang, s’étendra inéluctablement à l’espace ».




Alize Marion pour DayNewsWorld

FIRST HABIT FLIGHT OF SPACE X

The two American astronauts Robert Behnken, 49, and Douglas Hurley, 53, who have both flown twice, took off on Saturday May 30, 2020 aboard the Crew Dragon capsule, launched by a Falcon-9 rocket from SpaceX from Florida.

It is the first time that a manned mission has been operated by a private company. The spacecraft was designed by billionaire Elon Musk's company.

Initially scheduled for Wednesday at 4.33 p.m. (10.33 p.m. Paris time), the launch could not take place.

The countdown was interrupted seventeen minutes before takeoff due to poor weather conditions in the Kennedy Space Center.

Taking advantage of a clearing, the rocket of the company founded by Elon Musk took off on Saturday at 3:22 p.m. (9:22 p.m. Paris time) and placed the Crew Dragon capsule in orbit unhindered ten minutes later.

A successful takeoff

Once the astronauts were on board, the rocket was full of fuel and the Falcon-9 was able to leave Florida soil.

After two and a half minutes, the first floor stopped pushing and came off; the second stage engine started soon after.

The body of the first stage began its controlled descent with retro-fuses to land on the barge in the Atlantic nine minutes and twenty-two seconds after takeoff.

Less than three minutes later, the second stage of the rocket in turn detached from the capsule.

As for the flight plan, astronauts Hurley and Behnken must automatically dock at the International Space Station (ISS) approximately nineteen hours after takeoff from the old lunar mission launch pad.

They will support the three members of the Russian-American crew there in their scientific experiments - the primary mission of the ISS -, before leaving for Earth in their Crew Dragon capsule, which will land in the Atlantic Ocean before the end of summer. And if all the lights are green, after this test mission, another mission, the first known as “routine”, will be launched before the end of the year towards the station.

The Crew Dragon capsule should then be in orbit and dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday.

Reducing the American coat of arms

With this inaugural flight, the Americans intend to restore their coat of arms and regain their independence by ending the monopoly of the Russians for the transportation of astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), after ten years of hitchhiking on board Soyuz vessels . The last space mission "100% Made in USA" dates back almost a decade

Savings for NASA

For NASA, the Crew Dragon capsule is also a good way to save money. Because to continue sending astronauts into orbit, the United States has relied so far on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, launched from the historic Baikonur Cosmodrome in present-day Kazakhstan.

A costly collaboration: the price of a Soyuz seat cost the American taxpayer $ 86 million this year. By comparison, a seat on the Crew Dragon is estimated at $ 55 million. A considerable gain, when the American space shuttle, it returned to 450 million dollars per mission.

The manned flight of the SpaceX capsule to the International Station opens a new era in space exploration.

SpaceX also intends to make private passengers travel in orbit, or even in the ISS, perhaps next year.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

SECRET-DEFENSE VIDEOS OF UFOs

BROADCASTED BY THE PENTAGON

The Pentagon has officially released three videos taken by U.S. Navy pilots showing in-flight encounters with what appear to be unidentified flying objects, which were previously leaked on the internet and published by To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences, a private company, in 2017 and 2018.

"After an in-depth examination, the Defense Department determined that the publication of these videos did not reveal sensitive information", explains the Pentagon, which wants to "clarify any public misconception about the reality or not of these images" by making them public.

The videos, which the Navy confirmed to be true last September, "do not intrude on any further investigation into incursions into military airspace by unidentified aerial phenomena," spokeswoman Sue Gough said in this release. of the Pentagon, to justify their declassification.

The videos, which are all in black and white, bear the names of "FLI R", "GOFAST" and "GIMBAL", and are now available on the Naval Air Systems Command website

One of these videos dates from November 2004, the other two from January 2015. Captured by F18 Hornet on-board fighters, these videos first show an object shooting at a very high speed above the waves.

"The observed aerial phenomenon remains qualified as" unidentified ", assures the Pentagon.

On another video, above the clouds, this time appears a much larger UFO.

The pilots of the two US Navy planes that have it in their sights are wondering if it is a drone.

"Look at that: there is a whole swarm of it

[...] The cow, they are all going against the wind !"

A west wind of 120 knots ! " Look at this thing !" ", Continues his interlocutor when the object begins to rotate." Like a ping pong ball "

Now retired navy pilot David Fravor, who encountered one of these "UFOs" in 2004, told American television station CNN in 2017 that the object was moving erratically. "As I approached him [...] he quickly accelerated south and disappeared in less than two seconds."

It was "like a ping pong ball bouncing off a wall," he said. In a statement, the United States Department of Defense explained that it had decided to broadcast these images "in such a way as to dissipate all public misconception about the veracity or not of the videos already taken up in the media ”. After this official development, everyone is now free to imagine everything.

Harry Reid, a former Nevada senator, home of the US Air Force's ultra-secret Zone 51 facilities, welcomed the declassification, while deploring that "it only scratches the surface of research and documentation available ”.

"The United States must take a serious and scientific look at this and all the potential national security implications. The American people deserve to be informed, " he continued. In December 2017, the Defense Department admitted that it had financed until 2012, the official date of its completion, a secret program costing several million dollars intended to investigate UFO sightings.

These videos are much more original than other military documents since they are supposed to reveal the object of all our fantasies, or rather objects ... unidentified flying objects.



Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THE LYRIDES WILL SPIN THE SKY TONIGHT

This night look up to the sky to contemplate the immense wealth of the Universe that we offer 21 to 22 April a beautiful meteor shower, the Lyrids.

Comet dust

Like every year in April, our planet crosses the path of comet C / 1861 G1 Thatcher in its stellar journey. From this meeting, shooting stars are born which will streak our sky with a very particular intensity.

This year, the culmination of this phenomenon called the Lyrids will take place on the night of Tuesday, April 21. It will thus be possible to observe up to 20 shooting stars per hour.

Originally, the Lyrids are dust left by this comet in its wake.

These small meteors then “ignite” when they enter our atmosphere at more than 49 km / s according to NASA.

Peak activity around 6:40 am

The rain of shooting stars from the Lyrides can be watched all night from 0:40 am Paris time.

However, the International Meteor Organization (IMO) specifies that the peak of activity could actually take place around 6:40 am on April 22. Better to get up early to enjoy it!

In addition, unlike the rain of 2019, we will not be bothered by the brightness of the Moon which is close to its new phase and therefore invisible for the moment.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN SPACE X AND AXIOM SPACE

FOR 10 DAYS ON BOARD THE ISS

For ten years, no tourist has been able to approach the International Space Station (ISS). This was without counting on SpaceX, the aeronautical company of the whimsical Elon Musk, launched at full speed in the conquest of space.

After announcing in February a partnership to send four private customers into orbit by 2022, SpaceX is now attacking the International Space Station (ISS). Musk's company announced Thursday that it has signed an agreement with Axiom Space to give it seats on board its Crew Dragon capsule.

The launch of the operation is planned for the second half of 2021. This trip "will mark a turning point in the universalization of access to space", welcomed the boss of Axiom Space, Michael Suffredini. On this occasion, three people should be able to spend 10 days on board the ISS for $ 55 million.

But SpaceX is not the only company that wants to touch the stars. Virgin Galactic (Richard Branson) and Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos) are also involved in space tourism.

They are currently developing vessels capable of sending private passengers, for a few minutes, just over the border of space (80 or 100 km depending on the definitions chosen by each company), for 250,000 dollars or more in the case of Virgin.

Boeing is also developing a vehicle for NASA, Starliner, to join the ISS. The company wants to make private passengers travel there in the future

Those traveling to the ISS will be supported on the SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable rocket. Musk's company has already signed another partnership with a company called Space Advnetures with the aim of offering a five-day trip, for four passengers, aboard the Crew Dragon capsule.

Eight space tourists have already made a trip to the international station in the Russian Soyuz rockets. Latest: Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté in 2009.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

UNE NOUVELLE PLANETE DE LA TAILLE DE LA TERRE DECOUVERTE PAR LA NASA DANS UNE ZONE HABITABLE

L’agence spatiale américaine a annoncé, lundi 6 janvier 2020, que son télescope avait permis de découvrir une nouvelle planète de la taille de la Terre et à une distance ni trop proche, ni trop éloignée de son étoile pour que de l’eau liquide y soit – peut-être – présente.

Baptisée « TOI 700 d », cette planète se trouve à cent années-lumière de la Terre. Elle a été découverte par le satellite TESS, grâce à l’œil vigilant de plusieurs astronomes amateurs.

Le satellite TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) commence à atteindre ses objectifs, soit « trouver des planètes de la taille de la Terre et en orbite autour d’étoiles proches », a déclaré Paul Hertz, directeur de la division d’astrophysique de la NASA.

Une étoile pour trois planètes

Baptisée « TOI 700 d », cette planète est relativement proche de nous : à cent années-lumière. Quelques autres planètes de type similaire ont été découvertes auparavant, notamment par l’ancien télescope spatial Kepler, mais c’est la première par TESS, lancé en 2018. Ce satellite fixe une partie du ciel pour détecter si des objets – des planètes – passent devant des étoiles, ce qui cause une baisse temporaire de luminosité de l’étoile. Cela permet à TESS d’inférer la présence d’une planète, sa taille et son orbite.

L’étoile TOI 700 est petite, environ 40 % de la taille et de la masse de notre Soleil, avec une température de surface inférieure de moitié. TESS a découvert trois planètes autour de cette étoile, nommées TOI 700 b, c et d. Seule la « d » est dans la zone dite « habitable ». Elle fait presque la taille de la Terre (20 % de plus) et fait le tour de son étoile en 37 jours. Elle reçoit 86 % de l’énergie fournie par le Soleil à la Terre.

Mais reste à savoir de quoi elle est composée. Les chercheurs ont utilisé des modèles climatiques prédictifs. Sur les 20 versions générées, une au moins est proche de la Terre, sans les océans, avec des vents soufflant de la face cachée vers la face éclairée, quand une autre ressemble plutôt à la planète Mars quand elle était jeune.

De multiples astronomes vont désormais observer la planète avec d’autres instruments, obtenant de nouvelles données qui correspondront peut-être à l’un des modèles prédits par la NASA.

Paul Newton pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

PREMIER DELIT SPATIAL D' UNE JUSTICE EXTRATERRESTRE

L’astronaute Anne McClain est accusée d’usurpation d’identité et d’accès irrégulier aux dossiers financiers de son ex-épouse alors qu'elle séjournait dans la Station spatiale internationale (ISS).

Ce pourrait bien être le premier délit commis dans l’espace.

C'est le New York Times qui a révélé samedi ce scoop:

La Nasa enquête actuellement sur les agissements de l’astronaute Anne McClain, accusée d’usurpation d’identité et d’accès irrégulier aux dossiers financiers de son ex-épouse depuis la Station spatiale internationale (ISS). L’Américaine a séjourné dans l’espace pendant six mois, entre décembre 2018 et juin 2019.

Le quotidien américain raconte ainsi que l’ex-femme de McClain, Summer Worden, une agente de renseignement de l’Air Force américaine, s’interrogeait l’année passée sur les informations dont semblait avoir connaissance son ancienne conjointe.

Après avoir sollicité sa banque pour connaître la localisation des dernières connexions à son compte, Worden s’est vue informer que certaines d’entre elles provenaient d’ordinateurs de la Nasa. Or McClain, qui devait faire partie de la toute première sortie 100% féminine dans l’espace, a reconnu avoir accédé à ce compte bancaire à bord de l’ISS.

Son avocat a affirmé que sa cliente n’avait rien fait de mal, cherchant simplement à surveiller le compte joint du couple, ce qu’elle faisait au cours de leur relation, pour s’assurer que son ex-femme avait assez d’argent pour élever leur enfant. Anne McClain indique avoir continué à utiliser le même mot de passe qu’auparavant, lorsqu’elles étaient encore en couple, sans savoir qu’elle n’en avait plus le droit.

Selon le New York Times, Summer Worden a donc déposé plainte auprès de la Commission fédérale du commerce (FTC), une agence indépendante, ainsi qu’auprès de l’inspection générale de la Nasa.

Sur Twitter, Anne McClain a déclaré qu’il n’y avait «absolument rien de vrai dans ces informations». «Nous avons vécu une séparation douloureuse et personnelle qui se retrouve hélas désormais dans les médias. J’apprécie le soutien que l’on m’a apporté et je réserve mes commentaires pour la fin de l’enquête. J’ai une confiance totale dans le processus de l'inspection générale.

Il pourrait donc bien s’agir du premier délit spatial.

Ce n'est pas la première fois que des actions en justice ont été intentées mais elle n’avaient jamais impliqué une personne en mission.

Ainsi en 2011, selon le New York Times, la Nasa avait organisé une opération d’infiltration avec pour cible la veuve d’un ingénieur spatial voulant vendre une roche lunaire.

En 2017, un homme d’affaires autrichien a poursuivi en justice une entreprise de tourisme spatial : il voulait récupérer une caution déposée pour un voyage dans l’espace qui ne semblait pas près de se produire.

Des délits commis dans l’espace appelés à se reproduire avec le développement du tourisme spatial.

Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld

RUSSIA LAUNCHES FIRST HUMANOID ROBOT ON ISS

A robot departing for the ISS

Russia launched on Thursday, August 22, a rocket for the International Space Station (ISS) with on board a humanoid robot named Fedor .

According to Navias, a NASA representative, Fedor "looked good, sitting in the shuttle commander's seat."

Fedor carrying the Skybot F850 identification number took off at 6:38 am (Moscow time) aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to join the ISS.

After his arrival scheduled for Saturday, August 24, the anthropomorphic robot, which measures 1.80 m and weighs 160 kg, will begin a stay of ten days.

Fedor shares its travel capsule with 660 kilograms of goods, including food supplies, and supplies for the ISS crew.

Purpose of this mission

Once arrived at destination, no rest for the robot: it is expected by the Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov who will be responsible for supervising during his stay on the ISS. Fedor will have to carry out different tasks. Able to imitate human movements, it has been designed to assist astronauts in their daily lives.

"His operations will lead him to use a screwdriver or keys," said Alexander Blochenko, director of promising programs at the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos), in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

The robot will also have to test its capabilities in very low gravity conditions.

A Fedor to perform all these tests successfully to conquer the deep space.

Communication operation

It is also a big communication operation for Russia that did not fail to retransmit the take-off on television and during which the robot pronounced

"Let's go, let's go! ".

Words that obviously refer to those uttered by Yuri Gagarin in 1961, when he made the first flight of a man in space.

Like any good modern self-respecting humanoid, Fedor has its own Instagram and Twitter social network accounts on which he shares his daily life:

"I am going to fulfill the mission entrusted to me. What is the space still hiding ? " Released the robot before leaving.

In the meantime, Fedor has certainly not finished making the buzz.

He will be back on Earth on September 6th, still aboard Soyuz.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THE EXPLOIT OF FRANKY ZAPATA ON HIS FLYBOARD FOR A CROSSING OF THE HANDLE


Franky Zapata, "the flying man", made the crossing of the Channel Sunday morning, August 4, standing on his flying board.

The Frenchman has traveled 35 kilometers of strait on his "Flyboard" with five mini-turbojet allowing him to fly up to 190 kilometers per hour, with a range of about ten minutes.

The jet ski champion took off at 8:15 am near the beach of Sangatte (Pas-de-Calais) to reach St Margaret's Bay English side in the space of about twenty minutes.

He flew over the sea about 15 meters high and made a halt halfway on a boat, to refuel in kerosene.

During the 14th of July military parade on the Champs-Elysées Franky Zapata had already given a demonstration, in front of Emmanuel Macron:

he had stolen a rifle in his hands, several tens of meters above the ground, on his flyboard.

The French army invested in this device 1.3 million euros of subsidy.

"It can be used to evacuate a casualty, what is called a medical evacuation, it can serve as a logistics platform to carry ammunition," says the director of the Defense Innovation Agency, Emmanuel Chiva.

The French special forces see in this flying platform the "potential for employment in special operations in urban areas".

In the United Kingdom, a former reservist, Richard Browning, also invented his own flying machine equipped with five integrated reactors. A battle of the airs which is only beginning.

Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld

DREAMS OR  MEGALOMANIA THE FRANCE

WANTS TO PREPARE FOR THE WAR OF THE STARS

In the framework of the "Active Defense of Satellites, Unified Command", new investments have been presented by the Minister of Armies, Florence Parly, for a new defense space strategy that places the army at the center of the extra-ordinary game. atmospheric.

As a historical reminder in 1967, the entire international community agreed that all humankind would benefit from the conquest of space.

A great treaty signed that year that is still in force!

The latter spoke emphatically of "the use for the good of all peoples and for peaceful purposes of space".

But a radical change half a century later, space now seems to the eyes of politicians and military the fourth medium, in the military sense, after the land, sea and air.

In an objective of guiding or detecting missiles, to communicate, to make intelligence and espionage of others, armies depend largely on outer space,

Like Americans and Russians, France now intends to invest space militarily.

Current Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, presented in Lyon the new "defense space strategy", wanted by Emmanuel Macron, who had already put forward the idea about a year ago.

France will not launch into the destruction of satellites, as did China, the United States or more recently India, but will launch into a surveillance and very military objectives however.

France will not put into orbit weapons of mass destruction, blinding lasers or offensive nanosatellites, prohibited by the Treaty of 1967 and ratified by the French State,

France, however, intends to continue militarization and embark on the weaponization of space.

First objective the protection of the French satellites, ensures the ministry of the Armies.

Indeed Florence Parly had revealed that "in January the Russian spy satellite Louch-Olympe had discreetly approached the Athena-Fidus, used for telecommunications, including military, France and Italy.

In a framework of "active defense", Emmanuel Macron, wants by surveillance cameras soon embarked on Syracuse (central device for the communications of the French army) to protect and monitor the space, in order to detect approaches.

From 2023, France plans to no longer respect the 1967 treaty using blinding lasers, machine guns to break the solar panels feeding intruders, "clouds of nanosatellites watchers" deployed around the most strategic devices.

Hello the pollution of the space which is already well encumbered by so much waste in low and medium orbit and here is a beautiful example of ecology which Emmanuel Macron knows so well to speak !!

Florence Parly acknowledged that "France had fallen behind in terms of power lasers", but that it would "make up for France's gap by 2025, which will cost 700 million euros"

This expense is in addition to the 3.6 billion euros already planned for space in the military programming law for a global envelope of armies.

In comparison with the investments of the great powers: each year, the United States devotes 50 billion dollars, China 10 billion and Russia 4 billion.

Florence Parly wants more autonomy, and therefore become a "space operator", within the meaning of the 2008 law that regulates so far the extra-atmospheric activities.

The government does not exclude a legislative amendment.

The role of the National Center for Space Studies (CNES), a civil administration, will be reduced when it comes to military activities.

A large space command also needs to be created on September 1, with 220 people at the beginning, to streamline governance, and eventually the air force will become "the air force and the air force." space".

The Minister of the Armies Florence Parly wants to regulate the space activity beyond its strict perimeter, even going to give an assent for any outside activity, even private!

Florence Parly finally wants to benefit from the progress of commercial satellite imagery by buying terrestrial observation services, in addition to the means available to them (the CSO satellites of the Musis program), but also to "limit the use, so that these high-definition images that are very cheap, sometimes even free, do not end up in all hands! "

Florence Parly wants to "forbid the States purchasing French equipment to photograph certain areas, particularly the deployments of the French forces in operation"!

France forgets that space does not belong to it and NASA, companies such as "SpaceX", " Virgin Galactic", "Blue Origin", "Boeing" and many others do not care about the opinion of France , that's another reason for Donald Trump to get angry, France should be aware of it!

Evidence that is no longer in doubt, after the Gafa Tax, and now the space. If France and its leaders do not radically change their behavior, the retaliatory measures will take another dimension, yet from 1668 the famous French author Jean de la Fontaine wrote the fable "The Frog who wants to be as big as the ox" the latter should nevertheless inspire France

Space does not belong to France, it is not the master of the place either, it does not have any force or legitimate laws on the space, it does not have more right on the space than the other states of the planet, it is necessary to think that if other forms of life in the universe exist, they make fun of the rules that France would like to impose on them, the organs of other states like NASA, JAXA ..., as well that private companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Boeing do not have to submit to France !!!

Donald Trump is patient but patience has its limits. Let's hope that he does not manage to say like "Rambo": "it's going to be silly" because we know that it will hurt a lot for those who want to attack America !!!!

Simon Freeman Washington for DayNewsWorld

THE AMERICAN SPACE AMBITION

FROM THE MOON TO MARS

The opportunity was given to Donald Trump to express his space ambition for America. On the fiftieth anniversary this weekend, the first American steps on the moon, the President of the United States received at the White House former astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins of the Apollo 11 mission (Neil Armstrong died in 2012). "We do not know what we will find on Mars, but it will certainly be a very interesting trip," Donald Trump then said.

"The Moon is our test bed for our future mission to Mars. That's why we're going to the moon, "said NASA boss Jim Bridenstine.

Indeed, the expeditions mounted by NASA on the Moon serve both to advance technological and scientific advances that prepare an expedition to Mars.

Scientific progress ... still today

The chip and embedded system are an example. The rocket thus participates as much as it benefits from a development of computer science, which will have to answer ever more technical software, but also a huge dose of sensors to record everything and study during the test phases. The Apollo computer is the world's first integrated circuit (an electronic chip) and the first to have an embedded system.

Beyond the direct effects, the lunar conquest has had indirect benefits for the world of businesses and sciences: project management, crisis, planning, interdisciplinary cohabitation ... Methods still used fifty years later.

But scientific progress does not stop at this step on the Moon. A myriad of lunar rocks were reported or 382 kilos in all for all the Apollo missions that helped understand the Earth-Moon system.

"Today, the most popular theory is that our satellite was formed by an impact with a planet the size of Mars that would have hit the prototerre. This idea began with the return of the lunar samples, when we saw that the materials extracted there looked surprisingly like terrestrial materials. "Develops Athena Coustenis.

Rich in technological teachings as scientists, the Moon also serves as a springboard for walking on Mars.

The moon a stepping stone for Mars

Although no program has been officially approved, NASA's boss recalls that the agency "is working on developing a detailed plan on how to conduct a mission to Mars using the technologies that [she is going to ] to prove on the Moon ". Regarding the report of the Science and Technology Policy Institute, Bridenstine wants to believe that there are "assumptions in this relationship that everyone may not agree with" and that there are "alternatives that allow a mission to Mars in 2033, "he said.

With its program Artemis, NASA discount the return of astronauts on the Moon in 2024. An ambitious goal within five years and a lunar experience that should also serve to target Mars. For the administrator of the US space agency, it is thus necessary to use the Moon as a "test bed" in the perspective of Mars.

A first mission inhabited towards the red planet could be carried out in 2033.

A direct mission to Mars can not take place as many problems are still unresolved. The NASA boss also pointed out that a Gateway space station in lunar orbit allowed access to more parts of the solar system.

Jim Bridenstine is optimistic, setting a new goal for 2033 to send a mission to the Red Planet.

Although some experts doubt that NASA will be able to guarantee a landing of astronauts on the Moon in five years as President Trump wants, the Artemis mission aiming for a return to the Moon in 2024 is on track. And 2033 is the goal of NASA to send men to Mars.

"The destiny of humanity is to walk on another planet and we can do it ..." said Buzz Aldrin, pleading for manned missions to Mars.

"The colonization of the solar system is a way to establish another place of survival for the human race", which will become necessary one day according to him.








Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

AN AMERICAN RECONQUEST OF THE AMBITIOUS MOON

Fifty years after the first step of a human on the Moon, the conquest of the Moon is experiencing renewed interest. The NASA aims to send a man back and send the first woman to the moon by 2024. This is the Artemis program. But before we can pronounce the words "It's a big step for the woman ...", NASA has planned a whole range of projects to the number of 12.

With its program Artemis, NASA hopes to reconquer the Moon. Three major phases are planned: an unmanned flight in 2020; astronauts on lunar soil in 2024; then a permanent and autonomous base around 2028.

For the second phase of 2024, the US space agency announced no less than 12 research projects. Their common goal: to advance our understanding of the moon while testing scientific hypotheses and technological innovations. The results will best prepare the arrival of astronauts and their installation.

NASA also states that these projects will be able to find even wider applications for Mars exploration and beyond. The equipment will be transported using Commercial Lunar Payload Services, a series of contracts with private companies to which NASA will subcontract the lunar cargo ships.

Scientists will test hypotheses and test new equipment. Side assumptions, we find for example the LuSEE experiment (for "Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment").

It must measure the electromagnetic phenomena on the surface of the Moon. Let us also mention the RAC Payload, a study seeking to study the adhesion of the regolith (the material found on the surface of the Moon) to other materials of the star.

Hardware and technological experimentation, they are more numerous.

The LISTER probe will measure the heat levels inside the Moon. This instrument can drill 2 to 3 meters in the regolith (the material that makes up the lunar soil), an essential ability to capture all the thermal variations depending on the depth.

Among the many projects, there is also a rover:

MoonRanger. Small, fast, autonomous, the mission of this newcomer will be to map in 3D and in high quality all the lands on which it passes. He will be able to explore the places up to 1 km from his control center.

PlanetVac and SAMPLR are two methods of sampling regoliths.

Lunar Demonstration of a Reconfigurable, Radiation Tolerant Computer System: computer equipment capable of withstanding the radiation of the sun (very strong on the Moon due to the absence of atmosphere), Heimdall is a system of cameras capable of making shots in very high resolution before, during and after the moon landing.

It could map the surface of the moon.

Donald Trump has granted a $ 1.6 billion extension for this return to the moon.

In its statement, NASA said: "The agency will use everything we have learned on the moon to prepare for a new giant leap: send astronauts to Mars".








Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

LA PREMIERE IMAGE DU TROU NOIR

Des astronomes révèlent la première image d'un trou noir ce mercredi10 avril. Pour la première fois dans l’histoire de l'humanité, des astronomes ont réussi à photographier un trou noir. L’image de ce monstre 6,4 milliards de fois plus lourd que notre soleil, situé au centre d’une autre galaxie, a été révélée ce mercredi 10 avril.  Cet exploit a été possible grâce à la coopération de scientifiques du monde entier . L’humanité a fait la connaissance de M87*: un disque orange entourant un cercle sombre, le tout un peu flou.

Situé à 53 millions d’années-lumière de nous, ce trou noir pèse 6,4 milliards de fois la masse de notre Soleil. Il mesure 40 milliards de kilomètres de diamètre. Plus grand que notre système solaire aussi lourd qu’une petite galaxie.

Mais malgré sa taille , saisir cette image constitue un réel défi tellement ce trou noir se situe loin de la Terre. C'est grâce à l’interférométrie c.a.d l'utilisation de plusieurs télescopes situés un peu partout sur Terre qu'une antenne virtuelle s'est crée : 7 télescopes du pôle sud aux États-Unis et une distance de 9 000 kilomètres ont été ainsi crée. Sur tous les sites il fallait en plus des conditions climatiques idéales.  Ce fut le cas 4 jours en avril 2017.

Mais que nous apprend cette image, au-delà de la prouesse ?

Il faut avoir en mémoire Albert Einstein et la théorie de la relativité générale. Cette dernière est la proposition faite par l'illustre physicien pour expliquer la gravitation.La présence d'une masse modifie la géométrie de l'espace-temps.

Si longtemps les trous noirs n’ont donc existé que par théorie, les équations permettaient d'en connaître leur existence. La première confirmation de leur existence fut la première détection des ondes gravitationnelles le 14 septembre 2015. C’est la fusion de deux trous noirs qui a été détectée.

« Ce qui nous intéresse, ce n’est pas tellement le trou noir mais ce qui se passe autour du trou noir, explique Jean-Pierre Lasota, chercheur émérite CNRS à l'Institut d'astrophysique de Paris. Et puis le trou noir contient des informations sur l’histoire et l’évolution de notre galaxie, et peut-être même sur la formation de cette galaxie. »

Nous attendons avec impatience la prochaine étape : l'obtention d'une image similaire d’un autre trou noir, mais pas n’importe lequel : le nôtre, Sagittarius A* qui se trouve au centre de notre galaxie, la Voie lactée !!!

Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld

A WORLD FIRST

HAYABUSA 2 ATTACKS AN ASTEROID

Japan bombed an asteroid on Friday, April 5th. The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft successfully catapulted a small car on the asteroid Ryugu, one of the most promising vestiges of the formation of the solar system.

A world first successful to more than 300 million kilometers of the Earth. This is indeed the first collision experience in the world with an asteroid, say the researchers.

After several months spent in orbit about twenty kilometers from the star, the probe approached tonight 500 meters from its surface to drop a machine loaded explosive 2 kilos at a speed of 7,200 km / hour.

The impact made it possible to create an artificial crater in which Hayabusa will collect dust samples from the subsoil of the asteroid.

The objective of this operation is to have access to material under the surface of the asteroid to analyze the composition of the solar system at its creation.

The probe had to come close enough to Ryugu to fire his projectile without being hit by the debris of the explosion. It holds indeed valuable samples of the soil of the asteroid collected February 21 during a furtive contact with him.

Hayabusa 2 (literally "Peregrine Falcon 2") is a space mission of JAXA, the Japanese space agency, launched on December 3, 2014, to study the Asteroid Ryugu and bring a sample to Earth in December 2020.

The probe should land on the asteroid next May to collect soil samples.

Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

INDIA SHOOT DOWN SATELLITE IN SPACE

India becomes the fourth nation to successfully bring down a satellite in low Earth orbit. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "it's a moment of pride for India". "India has achieved an unprecedented feat today," Narendra Modi said. India on Wednesday slammed a satellite into space with an ASAT anti-satellite missile during an exercise, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a speech to the nation.

It has achieved this technological feat after the United States, China and Russia.

"Our scientists shot down a satellite in low Earth orbit at an altitude of 300 kilometers," the Hindu nationalist leader said in a televised address to the nation. "Our goal is to establish peace and not create an atmosphere of war. This is not directed against any country, "he said.

The operation, titled "Mission Shakti" ("force", in Hindi), lasted three minutes. "The satellite was a predefined target and was shot down by an anti-satellite missile," said the Hindu nationalist leader. An anti-satellite missile developed by the DRDO, the Indian agency responsible for the development of military technologies.

But according to experts this antisatellite technology has a major disadvantage in that the explosion in space projects into the Earth's orbit thousands of debris spinning at high speed that endanger other space objects. The use of a laser on the other hand would have made it possible to put out the instruments of a satellite by "glare", without touching its physical integrity.

According to India Defense Update, India began researching its space military capabilities after a Chinese test in 2007. Beijing had indeed demonstrated its ability to remove one of its satellites using a specialized missile .

The space competition between great powers is sharpening.

It should also be remembered that Narendra Modi is seeking a second five-year term in the legislative elections which will begin on April 11.

Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THE RETURN OF CREW DRAGON SPACEX ON EARTH

After having achieved its maiden flight, the Crew Dragon capsule developed by SpaceX returned to Earth this Friday, March 8th. Launched March 2 by a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Crew Dragon docked successfully at the International Space Station (ISS) the next day.

A first for a private vehicle for human space transport.

For this demonstration flight, the capsule was only passenger Ripley the model, a reference to the heroine of the movie Alien (1979) interpreted by Sigourney Weaver.

SpaceX's new Crew Dragon capsule on Friday (March 8th) left the comfort of its Earth orbit to dive into the atmosphere and land in the Atlantic, the ultimate and most dangerous phase of this Nasa demonstration mission.

Dragon returned unhindered and in one piece to Earth. SpaceX passed the exam:

demonstrate that the first US space shuttle vehicle since shuttles (1981-2011) is reliable and safe for astronauts.

It is the first private livable vehicle to have docked at the ISS.

It was also the first launch of a human ship from the United States in eight years.

A test for the thermal shield of the capsule

So far, the mission has been a success. The capsule was launched last Saturday by a SpaceX rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She docked automatically at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday. Early Friday morning, briefly igniting its thrusters over the Sudan, 410 km above sea level, it broke off smoothly.

At 12:53 GMT, Dragon turned on his thrusters for a quarter of an hour, in order to "desorb":

to slow down and start the atmospheric reentry, which will test for the first time in real conditions its thermal shield. The landing a few hundred kilometers from the coast of Florida is scheduled to 08:45 (13:45 GMT). Four large parachutes, tested multiple times on Earth, will slow the fall.

Only a stoic dummy is on board (named Ripley in tribute to the heroine of the stoic series is on board (named Ripley in tribute to the heroine of the Alien film series).

"I would say that the hypersonic comeback is probably my biggest concern," said Elon Musk, the founder and boss of SpaceX, last Saturday.

SpaceX's Dragon capsule landed in the Atlantic Ocean, marking the success of the space mission


Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

SPACEX TO SUCCESS THE LAUNCH
FROM CREW DRAGON TO THE ISS

A faultless one for SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which successfully took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, and launched the new Crew Dragon capsule, designed to carry NASA astronauts in the near future.

The capsule should join International Space Station (ISS) in the day of Sunday.

She will stay there for five days before stalling and return to Earth next Friday.

For now, only a mannequin on board

Only a model named Ripley (a beautiful reference to the film Alien), equipped with a series of sensors, has been placed in the device that should eventually allow to transport real scientists.

It has been almost 8 years since the shutdown of the Space Shuttle Space Shuttle program that no spacecraft took off from the United States to join the ISS, so NASA had to buy its seats on board. of the Russian vessel Soyuz.

NASA is now focusing on SpaceX and its Crew Dragon capsule for astronaut transport to the ISS.

With this mission Elon Musk intends to prove the reliability of its system as well as its ability to safely transport NASA's future crews to join the ISS from US soil.

For the next launch will be astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on board.

Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator confirmed that the first manned test flight will take place before the end of the year.

Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED FOR THE JAPANESE SPATIAL PROBE HAYABUSA2 ON ASTEROID RYUGU

Vaste success for the Japanese space agency Jaxa: on the night of Thursday 21 to Friday 22 February, the probe Hayabusa 2 landed on the asteroid Ryugu to collect samples before leaving. "The analysis of Hayabusa 2 data confirms that the sequence of the operation went well, including firing a projectile into the asteroid to collect its sample. The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is in nominal condition. This marks the success of the landing of Hayabusa 2 on Ryugu, "comments the agency.

The Hayabusa 2 adventure began on December 3, 2014. The probe then left for a 3.2 billion kilometer long journey to reach Ryugu, which is 340 million kilometers from the Earth. It took him exactly three years and ten months to reach his destination. The return to Earth of Hayabusa 2 is expected in 2020 over Australia, in a desert area.

An incredible technical feat.

As expected, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2 only landed for a few seconds, the time to launch a projectile to clear dust and take a sample.

For this, the machine had to do what is called a "touchdown", that is to say, a touch-and-go at the surface.

Thus Hayabusa 2 (which means peregrine falcon) remained hovering a few tens of centimeters above the surface of Ryugu, for about five seconds. The only physical contact between the probe and the asteroid was a cone that was to collect surface grains projected into the air after firing a metal projectile made at a very high speed of 300 meters per second. After landing, the probe then took off.

Photos of Ryugu's surface, a very old diamond-shaped asteroid that dates from the formation of the solar system, taken by the probe show traces of the brief contact between the two.

The descent from Hayabusa 2 to the asteroid Ryugu began Thursday at 1:15 pm (4:15 GMT) late. But the probe finally came into contact with the asteroid nearly an hour earlier than announced, early in the morning in Japan, announced the Japanese Space Exploration Agency (Jaxa) who handled this delicate mission with extreme caution. The Japanese team was not in fact on its first try. A previous mission, Hayabusa 1, to the asteroid Itokawa, had collected dust from this small body, but at the cost of an incredible number of adventures.

Back on Earth at the end of 2020, these samples will inform scientists about the origins of the universe and the solar system.

In addition, the US Osiris-Rex probe, currently in the bosch of the asteroid Bennu, should return to Earth in 2023 with on board, hope NASA, the largest collection of space samples since the astronauts returned from the moon half a century ago.

Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

SUCCESSFUL FIRST TEST OF THE NEW VERSION OF THE SPACEX SPACEX ROCKER ENGINE

SpaceX and his boss and founder Elon Musk are proud to announce the success of his new SpaceX rocket engine shown in action.

The SpaceX company, led by Elon Musk , has just tested its new rocket engine, the Raptor , which is intended for future rocket generations of the firm.

The project began in 2009 and the first experimental tests in 2016, SpaceX's ambitious Raptor has changed dramatically since its inception.

The test was successfully held on February 3 in Texas, on the facilities of the American company.

The Raptor will initially be used on the Big Falcon Rocket .

The craft will have 31 rocket engines for the first stage, and 7 for the second, enough to provide enough power to the rocket to fly to the moon, and even beyond.

The Raptor CRS-15 rocket engines have a bright future for SpaceX and the space launch market.

These should be used in all space operations of the company, including its upcoming space tourism activities to the Moon and Mars which represents a very promising market.

One thing is on SpaceX is preparing the future for a better control of space and travel in the universe.


Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THOMAS PESQUET SOON

BACK IN SPACE

"In my dream, ideally, by 2024 I will return to the ISS for a second mission," Thomas Pesquet said in an interview.

This dream is coming sooner than expected.

The Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) Jan Wörner "has proposed to Thomas Pesquet to return very soon in space, for a flight whose date should soon be fixed with our international partners," said Tuesday the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation Frédérique Vidal in her vows.

Thomas Pesquet is likely to leave at the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021, subject to the agreement of NASA and the progress of the mission planning of the ISS. The youngest of the European astronaut corps, Thomas Pesquet, who will be 41 at the end of February, will have to resume intensive training very quickly.

He who flew for the first time in the International Space Station, for nearly 200 days, was able to share his experience through social networks.

"Beyond the tremendous scientific work he did during his flight, he managed to make every French player in this flight when before people were spectators," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of the Center National Space Studies.

And the ambitions of the French astronaut do not stop there. "I would like to be among the first to go to the future station around the moon," Thomas Pesquet said enthusiastically.

Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

A CHINESE FARM OR ALLOY

ON THE HIDDEN FACE OF THE MOON

China has just completed the first moon landing on the dark side of the Moon.

The rover of the Chang'e 4 mission, which left the Earth on December 8, landed safely at 10:26 am Beijing time, the Chinese National Space Administration said in a press release.

It landed in the Von Kármán crater at 177.6 degrees east longitude and 45.5 degrees south latitude. 186 kilometers wide, this crater is located in the Aitken Basin, an old impact crater with a width of 2,500 kilometers and a depth of 12 kilometers.

A technological feat

It is a technological feat for China, the first country to make a moon landing on the hidden side.

The hidden face is mountainous and rugged, dotted with craters, while the visible face offers many flat surfaces to land. Chang'e 4 - named after the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology - was sent to a region of the south pole of the lunar body, the Aitken Basin, whose terrain is complex and steep.

Neither the United States, nor Russia, let alone Europe, have explored this unknown part of the moon from the ground, even though probes in orbit around the moon have overflown it and mapped its entire surface.

Another challenge is to be able to communicate with the lunar robot: the hidden face is always oriented in the opposite direction to the Earth, there is no direct "line of sight" to transmit the signals, except to install a relay .

To this end, Chinese engineers had launched in May a satellite called Queqiao ("The Bridge of the magpie"), positioned in lunar orbit, to relay orders and data exchanged between the Earth and the module.

China will therefore use the Queqiao relay satellite in orbit around the second Lagrange point (L2) of the Earth-Moon system located approximately 455,000 kilometers from our planet.

Like Chang'e 3, the Chang'e 4 rover has a panoramic camera and a radar to probe the basement. It also carries an imaging spectrometer in the visible and near infrared.

A great scientific interest

This unknown region of the Moon is of great scientific interest: it could contain exposed materials from the upper mantle of the Moon.

Thus the rover will study the impact of solar winds on the lunar surface for at least three months.

An experiment in the biological field, which 28 Chinese universities have developed, will also be conducted.

D seeds of Arabidopsis, potatoes, tomatoes will be planted to see if they emit oxygen through photosynthesis.

The rover also sent his first images that are historical.

Unpublished clichés because the first taken from the surface of the hidden side of the Moon.

The stated ambitions of China

With this achievement, Beijing asserts itself as a great space power but the Chinese space agency, at the forefront of robotic exploration of the Moon, does not intend to stop there.

After Chang'e 4, China plans another mission on the hidden side but to bring back lunar samples, which has not been done since NASA's inhabited Apollo mission.

Three other robotic missions are also planned for the lunar poles.

Beyond these robotic missions, the Asian giant, which also unveiled in November 2018 a replica of its first major space station ("Heaven Palace"), plans to make it operational around 2022.  It would become the only station to evolve in space after the planned 2024 retreat of the International Space Station (ISS) - which combines the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.

Moon, advanced post for space

Any country that begins space exploration begins with the Moon, an accessible destination, while Mars is far away and expensive. The moon now appears as the first step for space habitats

NASA, too, is studying the idea of ​​a "lunar orbit portal" (the former "Deep Space Gateway"), which would turn the Moon into an outpost of conquest of other planets. A lunar outpost that could serve as a "relay point" leading to Mars..








Jenny Chase for DayNewsWorld

LAUNCH OF THE SP-FRENCH SATELLITE COS-1

"We are witnessing a democratization of space, with the arrival on the market of small and cheap satellites and launchers and more and more countries are equipping themselves. We are in a competition for access to space ", explains General Michel Friedling

On Wednesday 19 December 2018, at precisely 17h37mn14s, CSO-1, a military optical observation satellite, was placed in orbit at 800 km altitude. It is the first of a constellation of three identical 3.5-ton satellites, intended to replace the Helios 1 and 2 series of systems, which have been monitoring space since 1995 on behalf of the DGA (Directorate General armaments) and the Ministry of the Armed Forces.

Since October 2011, Soyuz launchers have been fired from the Soyuz Launch Pack (ELS) located in the commune of Sinnamary, 27 km from Kourou, and about 13 km from Ariane installations. Every year, at least four Soyuz shots are fired from the Guyanese site. Eight have already taken place this year and the last one has just been realized this Wednesday afternoon with the French observation satellite CSO-1 (Optical Space Component).

This satellite, which will provide very high resolution images, will be joined by two others, in 2020 and 2021, to form a constellation to replace the current French military observation satellites Helios 2A and 2B. Expected to last 10 years, the constellation will cost 920 million euros, and 1.4 billion euros with the ground segment.

This latest Arianespace launch of 2018 is of major importance for the French defense. It is part of the space projects of the French Military Planning Act (LPM) 2019-2025 which provides for a significant budget of 3.6 billion euros for the defense space.

These shooting satellites ensure the operational needs of the various armies in terms of intelligence, whether it is the surveillance of risk sites, compliance with international treaties or the global strategic intelligence function.

The information collected by these observation satellites on the geographical environment makes it possible to prepare the missions as closely as possible. Thus these satellites made it possible to locate the caches of Daech in the Levant.

"Space intelligence also allows for political autonomy," said General Michel Friedling, commander of the Joint Space Command. "In 2003, when the war entered Iraq, we had our own images. Which allowed to question the American speech, and from there, our authorities decided not to intervene "

In a competition for access to space, a new field of confrontation, innovations in military defense are indispensable.

Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

SUCCESSFUL LANDING FOR THE SOYOUZ FUSEE

The Soyuz MS 11 rocket, currently the only means of transporting crews to the International Space Station (ISS), was successfully launched on Monday, 3 December, from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.

It landed at 18:40 (Paris time) after taking off unhindered at 12:30, or 6:30 after the launch as planned. On board the crew of Expedition 58, composed of three astronauts:

David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, Ana McClain of NASA, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos. The three scientists took off for a six-and-a-half-month mission in orbit 400 kilometers above the Earth. The current crew of Sergei Prokopyev, Alexander Gerst and Serena Auñon-Chancellor are due back on December 20th.

This flight was a test for the Russian space industry, half a century after the beginning of the space conquest marked by the historic flight of Yuri Gagarin,

Indeed, on October 11, the rocket carrying the American Nick Hague and the Russian Alexey Ovitchinin had suffered a failure two minutes after takeoff. Added to this failure was another incident, namely the discovery of a leak in August on one of the Soyuz vessels stationed aboard the ISS.

Although Soyuz remains one of the safest space programs in history, doubts have been expressed about the Russian space industry, which has been plagued by failures in recent years. In the United States, which has invested $ 100 billion in 28 years in the Space Station, NASA leaders and politicians are worried about their reliance on a single space transportation system.

Vladimir Vladimir Putin asked his agency in July "to drastically improve the quality and reliability of Russian spacecraft and launchers". Roscosmos is facing rising cost problems, insufficient technology and lack of skilled labor.

The Russian space industry is struggling to replace an aging workforce with young engineers and technicians with unattractive salaries. Added to this is corruption and embezzlement. Since 2014, 140 investigations have been opened following embezzlement around the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

If Russia had until then had the monopoly of these trips since 2011 and the shutdown of the American Space Shuttle, it should face in 2019 the competition of "space taxis" SpaceX and Boeing.

Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THE INSIGHT PROBE AT LAND ON MARCH

After almost six months of travel in space and 484,773,006 kilometers traveled between Earth and Mars, NASA's InSight probe landed on the Red Planet on November 26, 2018.

Launched by NASA on May 5, 2018 as part of the Discovery program, the probe will study the internal structure of the red planet, including evaluating its seismic activity.

Hardly had the robot InSight begun to send signs of presence to the Earth, probe has sublime pictures of its environment.

More specifically, InSight will aim to study the internal structure of Mars. Like the other three terrestrial planets - including the Earth - the red planet is formed by the gradual accretion of rock bodies, until its mass and temperature become sufficient for the process of planetary differentiation to take place.

As Mars does not have tectonic plates, its internal structure has not undergone any major changes since the formation of the planet and must have retained geophysical signatures of this process of differentiation.

By analyzing the different parts of its structure - crust, mantle and core - InSight should be able to collect important information on how the planets were formed 4 billion years ago.

Scientific operations will not begin right away.

Seis seismometer and HP3 heat flow sensor must be installed on the ground using a robotic arm. The maneuver is not planned for two to three months.

Two European instruments aboard InSight will allow to analyze the internal structure of Mars

1 ° Seism seismometer (Seismic Experiment for the Interior Structure), developed by the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris under the authority of CNES, which is a three-axis seismometer of about 30 kg, including seismic sensors and temperature. It will study the Martian tectonic activity and make seismic surveys.

2 ° HP3 Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package developed by the German Space Agency. It is a thermal probe that will sink up to 5 meters deep below the Martian surface. Its role is to measure the heat flow released by the Martian nucleus, in order to better understand its evolution.

These tools will be put in place in sixty days while an additional seven weeks will be necessary for the thermal probe to sink into the Martian soil.

Good luck to InSight who deployed its two 2.2 m wide solar panels and will pierce the Martian depths, listening to the heartbeat of Mars. .




Kelly Donaldson for DayNewsWorld

SOON A FOOT ON MARS

Nine month of journey to reach a planet still inaccessible for man. NASA, the US space agency, has just announced its new goal: send men to the planet Mars in 25 years or 2,043.

"With the current budget or a slightly increased budget, it will take 25 years to address these issues," said retired astronaut Tom Jones. But what problem still unresolved!

You must know that Mars is located 225 million kilometers from the Earth, which requires nine months of travel.

And a move that is not without risk!

Scientists warn about the dangers that duration might represent this mission. According to them, an extended stay in space could degrade the blood vessels of the retina and thus alter the vision of the cosmonauts. They also warn against a loss of calcium in the bones, also caused by a period spent too long in zero gravity.

"We need to start focusing on some key technologies right now," said Jones. And for this former astronaut, the solution is simple: it is necessary to create nuclear propulsion systems to shorten the travel time.

NASA must find not only a solution to reduce travel time but also to avoid radiation. During the journey, astronauts could suffer as much as during an entire career.

"We do not yet have the solution for the protection of cosmic rays and solar flares," acknowledged Tom Jones. NASA experts have begun to work on technologies to develop to carry out this mission with the minimum of risk for the health of their men.

While waiting to send men to Mars, NASA continues to exploit the data collected by the Curiosity robot that has been on the planet since 2012.

Sent May 5, 2018, the probe InSight, created by the American space agency, must land on November 26 on the red planet.

It will notably study the internal structure of Mars to better understand how the rocky planets of the solar system are formed.

A new rover must be sent to Mars in 2020 to determine this time if the planet is habitable.


Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

THE FUTURE CHINESE SPACE STATION UNVEILED

China has a new symbol of its ambitions in space at the Zhuhai Air Show. It unveiled Tuesday, November 6 a replica of its first major space station (CSS), which should be launched around 2022 with the goal of succeeding the International Space Station (ISS).

The craft is surmounted by a mannequin in cosmonaut's attire and flanked by the national red and yellow flag constituting one of the main attractions of the show.

The lifetime of the CSS, also called Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace"), is estimated at 10 years. It would then become the only station to evolve in space after the planned retirement in 2024 of the international space station associating United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.

The Chinese space station will consist of three parts: a main module nearly 17 meters long - for living and working space - and two additional modules for scientific experiments. Three astronauts will be able to live permanently on the machine weighing at least 60 tons and equipped with solar panels. They will be able to carry out research in science, biology or microgravity.

China also announced in May with the UN Office for Space Affairs that its station would be open "to all countries" to conduct scientific experiments. Forty projects from twenty-seven countries and regions Institutes have been submitted by universities and public and private companies.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is already sending astronauts to train in China, with the goal that they will one day fly aboard the Chinese station.

Beijing is investing billions of euros in its space program, led by the army shipping satellites in orbit on its behalf (Earth observation, telecommunications, Beidou geolocation system) or for other countries. She is also planning to send a robot to Mars and humans to the Moon.

The Middle Kingdom, aware of commercial and military issues, will become one of the great powers of space alongside Russia, Japan and India.


Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

 

RUSSIAN SPYING ON A FRENCH SATELLITE

OR THE ISSUES OF SPATIAL STRATEGIC SECURITY

"Attempting to listen to your neighbors is not just unfriendly. It's called an act of espionage "

The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, Friday accused Russia of having committed in 2017 "an act of espionage" against the French-Italian military satellite Athena-Fidus to try to intercept secure communications.

Has Russia tried to spy on a Franco-Italian military satellite ?

The minister of the Armies asserts it, since the Cnes.

Florence Parly in a speech on the space defense sector indicated that in 2017, "while Athena-Fidus continued its rotation quietly over the Earth, a satellite approached him, up close, a little too close . However, "this satellite with big ears is called Louch-Olymp, Russian satellite well known but a little ... indiscreet," she added.

Launched in 2014, Athena-Fidus provides high-speed satellite telecommunications services for the French and Italian military forces, as well as for civil security in the same two countries.

Satellite launched in February 2014, Athena-Fidus "consists of two payloads French and Italian," says CNES on its website. It weighs a little more than 3,000 kg and its charges "offer 23 Ka and EHF broadband transponders and 12 different covers: national metropolitan covers, mobile covers, [...] global coverage". It was "built for a lifetime of 15 years in geostationary orbit".

"So much so that we could have thought he was trying to capture our communications," she added. But "trying to listen to your neighbors is not just unfriendly. It's called an act of espionage.

France has fallen behind.

" This big-eared satellite is called Louch-Olymp, it's a well-known but somewhat indiscreet Russian satellite, " she continued. "We had seen it happen, and took the necessary measures. We watch him closely, and we have observed that he continues to actively maneuver the following months with other targets, but tomorrow, who says he will not come back to one of our satellites? She asked herself.

The United States has recently denounced "the very abnormal behavior" of a "space object" deployed by Russia in October 2017. The French Minister regretted for its part that France did not become aware of a militarization of space. " For some time now, as our neighbors have partly changed the nature of space, what have we done? Not much, she said. Not enough in any case. No, we are not protected against these threats. No, espionage and offensive acts, it does not happen only to others. Yes, we are in danger, our communications, our military maneuvers as our dailies are in danger if we do not react , " warned the French Minister of Armies. She also pointed out that " other very large space powers deploy intriguing objects into orbit, experiment with potentially offensive capabilities, conduct maneuvers that leave little doubt about their aggressive vocation".

Critical space defense issues.

It is important to know that space defense issues are becoming crucial. Indeed in the magazine Military Zone are raised the risks. "This is not the first time the risk of a cyberattack targeting satellites is mentioned.

In 2009, the "hacker" Adam Laurie demonstrated that it was possible to intercept a flow of information transmitted by satellite with a computer, a Dreambox type decoder and some software. " Says Pascal Lagneau.

"Then, five years later, a study by IOActive highlighted that the flows of telecommunications satellites could be hacked because of" multiple high-risk vulnerabilities "present in the software integrated into the satellite access terminals. He adds. For example, a group of Chinese hackers named "Thrip" is accused by the United States of spying on geospatial telecommunications and imaging companies and defense organizations in the United States and South Asia. -East. The cyber threat therefore also joins the threat to space activities.

"Space systems are likely to be attacked, like all other systems, and are protected. But, by nature, their protection, in orbit, is materially more difficult than that of other sovereign systems. We have observed specific cases of so-called 'foragers' and sovereign satellites. We have observed specific cases of satellites known as 'browsers', and it protects against possible misdeeds by conventional methods of coding and shielding against laser fire and electromagnetic charges , " explained Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the National Center for Space Studies [CNES], during a parliamentary hearing.

These threats to the exo-atmospheric space were highlighted by the Strategic Review published in October 2017. "The progress of space rendezvous techniques, robotics and electric propulsion capabilities make it possible to repair, refuel and fuel or even de-orbiting spacecraft. Under the guise of civilian targets, states can therefore openly fund potentially anti-satellite technologies. These would allow the commissioning of tools whose actions would be much more difficult to detect, track, assign and counter than more conventional exo-atmospheric actions (missiles, lasers, jammers ...) " , can we read there.

The Law of Military Programming [LPM] 2019-25 that President Macron promulgated, takes into account this "arsenalisation" of space.

While in the United States, it is now a question of creating a "space force", President Emmanuel Macron has indeed announced his intention to define for France "a defense space strategy" . It makes space a national security issue. The space is "essential for our operations" and "by the incredible potentialities it offers but also by the conflictuality that it arouses" , it "is [...] a real stake of national security" , affirmed Mr. Macron .

A Ministry of the Armed Forces working group is expected to make proposals on the subject by November.




Joanne Courbet for DayNewsWorld

ECLIPSE OF MOON WE ARE

On the evening of Friday, July 27, the moon will be totally eclipsed and the bright Mars will appear visible side by side to the naked eye, southeast of the sky.

The full moon at sunset is partially hidden by the shadow of the Earth, the Moon will plunge completely into the Earth's shadow and present us with a deep coppery hue.

In space, the Sun, the Earth and the Moon have aligned themselves perfectly and the lunar disk is gradually diving into the shadow of the Earth.

At 9:30 pm, Paris time (universal time +2 hours), the full moon is fully immersed in the shadow cone of our planet and its face is a coppery color.

At 22 h 20 min, in a darker sky and when the full moon reaches the deepest part of the Earth's shadow, the bright orange dot of Mars is visible at 6 degrees below it.

An hour after the departure of the Sun, in a twilight sky already dark, we will observe this extremely brilliant point of the planet Mars, just beautiful next to the Moon totally eclipsed.

This planet is in opposition and it shines as never in the last fifteen years:

superb heavenly show !

It is also aligned with the Sun and the Earth, but it is nearly 58 million kilometers from us, well beyond the end of the shadow of our planet.

From 23 h 13 min the Moon sketches out of the shadows.

At 0 h 19 min, July 28 is the full moon fully out of the shadows to return there on January 21 for an upcoming total eclipse.

At your telescopes !




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

A POSSIBLE LIFE ON THE RED PLANET

Astrobiologist Jennifer Eigenbrode of the US Space Agency's Goddard Center said, "This is a significant step forward as it indicates that organic matter is being preserved in the harshest environments of Mars," adding, "Curiosity has showed that the crater Gale was habitable about 3.5 billion years ago, with conditions comparable to those of the Earth in formation, where life evolved at this time ".


Recall that the Curiosity rover rolls since August 2012 on the sedimentary layers inside a Martian crater called Gale (in honor of a nineteenth century Australian amateur astronomer). And finally here he is who has just delivered a discovery of the most important!

Amazing organic molecules have been discovered by the Curiosity rover in sedimentary rocks dating back about 3.5 billion years. These rocks have been deposited in a lake considered one of the most difficult areas of Mars at a time when life could flourish. The researchers also know a little more about the atmosphere of Mars with the discovery of traces of methane.

Curiosity seems to have also confirmed the presence of seasonal variations of methane in the Martian atmosphere. But this gas, often a sign of the presence of life, comes from the planet itself and could be contained in ice sheets below the surface.

If this is a step forward in the search for life on the red planet, it does not yet suggest the discovery of life on this planet. Indeed samples of organic matter may have an abiotic origin, come from geological formations similar to coal, or a meteorite.

In 2014, organic matter in small quantities had already been found by Curiosity. If that does not mean that life is present, according to Sanjeev Gupta, professor of SVT at Imperial College London (UK) and co-author of the study, "organic compounds are the building blocks of life ".

These two discoveries however evoke the potential life existing or passed on the Red Planet. These types of molecules turn out to be constitutive elements to the appearance of life. And there are two possibilities concerning their origin: either it is an exclusively physical process, or these molecules mean that there has been a life on Mars in the past.

Organic molecules and a potential life on Mars?

Knowing that these organic molecules appeared at the same time as liquid water on Mars and that these two elements together triggered life on Earth, the second possibility is quite probable. Added to this is the presence of methane, another potential indicator of life on Mars.

Indeed, it is the seasonal variability of this methane that intrigues scientists, especially as a peak occurs in the summer. For our Earth, this phenomenon is associated with a biological process. But is it the same for Mars? No one knows for now ...

Methane and organic molecules could be biosignatures of life forms but their origins could also be abiotic.

Let's hope that NASA's Rovers March 2020 and ESA's ExoMars 2020 will land on the red planet to elucidate this intriguing new find.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

RESEARCHERS DISCOVER PLUTO

IS COVERED WITH DUNES

The scientists looked at snapshots taken by NASA's 2006 New Horizons spacecraft, which flew over Pluto in 2015.

It is about -230 degrees and is the farthest dwarf planet in the solar system.

You may have guessed it, it's about Pluto.

And we now know more about the surface of this planet. According to snapshots taken by the New Horizons spacecraft, which flew over Pluto in 2015, it would be covered with dunes of methane ice.

"The probable source of the dune's grains is the methane ice carried by the winds from the mountains," the scientists explain in an article published Thursday in the journal Science. "But we can not exclude that it is nitrogen ice."

Surprising discovery insofar as the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Pluto is 100,000 times lower than that of the Earth. As a result, astronomers thought that it was too weak for winds to form.

"The probable source of the dune's grain is the methane ice carried by the winds from the mountains," scientists say in an article published Thursday (May 31st) in the journal Science. The winds would blow at an approximate speed of 30 to 40 km / h. Weak winds, but so is gravity.

The dunes themselves are spread over an area about 7 km long.

Besides Pluto, it was already known that Mars, Venus or Saturn's great moon, Titan, had dunes, says lead author Matt Telfer, a professor at the University of Plymouth (United Kingdom). "We knew that everything in the solar system with an atmosphere and a solid surface had dunes, but we did not know what we would find on Pluto."

The dunes are probably young, geologically. They would have formed in the last 500,000 years.

"But it turns out that Pluto, while being 30 times farther away from the sun than the Earth, has similar characteristics to Earth's," according to the scientist.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

LAUNCH OF A CHINESE SATELLITE

TO OBSERVE THE HIDDEN FACE OF THE MOON

China came to launch on Monday a satellite to observe the hidden face of the moon, photographed since 1959 but never explored.

The hidden face of the Moon refers to the hemisphere of the lunar body that is not visible from Earth.

She has been photographed since 1959 but has never been explored.

This relay satellite responsible for ensuring communications between the Earth and a small robot should be deployed on the far side of the Moon in 2018, according to the Chinese Space Agency.

That's why a Long March-4C rocket took off at 5:28 am local time (2128 GMT Sunday) from the Xichang launch pad (south-west) with the Queqiao satellite on board, the National Space Agency said.

Upon the arrival of the remote-controlled robot on the Moon, the satellite will be at a place where it can exchange with the Earth, while having in its line of sight the hidden face of the Moon.

"This launch is a crucial step for China to become the first country to send a probe able to smoothly glide and explore the dark side of the moon," said Zhang Lihua, head of the satellite project.

This is a second Chinese remote-controlled vehicle on the moon after the launch in 2013 of a rover named "Jade Bunny" which has surveyed the lunar surface for 31 months, well beyond its expected life.

It is expected that another robot (Chang'e-5) will be sent to the Moon in 2019 to collect samples and bring them back to Earth.

China invests billions of euros in its space program, coordinated by the army. The country aims to have a space station inhabited by 2022, and eventually send humans on the moon.




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

TAKE OFF THE INSIGHT MISSION

The take off took place at dawn on Saturday. Look at the images.

NASA successfully launched the InSight probe for Mars on Saturday. According to the US space agency, the red planet will be subjected to the first "in-depth verification of its vital functions since its creation 4,500 million years ago".

"Three, two, one, take off!" said a NASA commentator and the unmanned mission moved into the overcast sky. The takeoff took place before dawn, at 4.05 local time (8.05 Buenos Aires) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States. Aboard an Atlas V rocket - equivalent in height to a 19-storey building

The InSight robot must be placed on Mars on November 26th. The mission will last two years and will cost $ 933 million. It's the first to take off from the west coast of the United States to another planet.

Historical Odyssey: For the first time, NASA will explore the heart of Mars with robots

In fact, the launch was planned for 2016, but it had to be postponed for two years due to a leak in two of the analytical instruments. "It's like playing golf in New York and putting the ball in a hole in California is the level of precision we need," said Jim Green, NASA's chief scientist, during the broadcast. direct.

InSight will allow the analysis of the heat flux of Mars and will measure the tremors that occur during earthquakes. Researchers are convinced that new knowledge about a rocky planet like Mars will directly contribute to future discoveries about the formation of the Earth.

At the same time, he seeks to expand data on the internal conditions of this planet, because, for example, understanding the temperature of Mars is crucial to send people to the red planet in 2030, as expected.

Its name, InSight, comes from inland exploration using seismic surveys, geodesy and heat transport. "March, I'm going, six months and I hope I'll get to the red planet , " reads the InSight Twitter account.

If everything goes as planned, your trip will be 400 million kilometers.

The difference with Curiosity

Unlike the Curiosity mobile, InSight can not travel on the Martian surface. It will remain stationary at a point to study the vital functions of the planet.

To measure temperature, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has developed a device that will automatically drill up to five meters in Mars soil and record at different depths.

The InSight mission responds to a craving for planetary researchers: "having a geophysical observatory on a planet similar to Earth," said Tilman Spohn of the DLR in a statement.

"Mars is an ideal goal: it can be well achieved and it is an ideal object of comparison with the Earth," he added.

How does InSight work?

Green said the experts already know that Mars presents earthquakes (which could technically be called martemotos), avalanches and meteorite falls. "But how is Mars subject to earthquakes?" This is basic information that we need to know as human beings who are exploring Mars, " he said.

InSight collect data using three instruments: a seismometer, a device to accurately locate the Mars probe oscillates around its axis of rotation and a flow sensor heat is inserted 5 meters below the surface of Mars.

But its key instrument is the seismometer, manufactured by the French Space Agency.

Once the probe is placed on the Martian surface, a robotic arm must be placed directly on the ground.

"For us, InSight is perhaps not the best, but a very important mission because we are going to hear the beating of Mars with the seismometer we put on board," Jean-Yves Le Gall, CNES President of France ( says CNES), in a NASA television interview after the launch.

The second important element is the heat detector that will be placed in the basement. Called Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, it was produced by the German Space Agency with the participation of its Polish counterpart.

The instrument will be introduced between three and five meters below the surface of Mars, at a depth fifteen times greater than that reached in any previous mission.

The temperature at the landing point is freezing and should be between -100 and -20 degrees Celsius. During the summer day at the equator of Mars, the temperature reaches about 20 degrees Celsius, but then drops to -73 degrees at night.

"We must be able to survive in these conditions as human beings living and working on Mars," Green said.

The battery powered, solar powered sensor is designed to operate for 26 months from Earth - or a year on Mars - a period during which it is expected to detect about 100 earthquakes.

"I wish it would be longer than expected," said Tom Hoffman, InSight Project Manager at NASA's Propulsion Laboratory.

"There is nothing usual about going to Mars, especially landing on Mars," said Stu Spath, Lockheed Martin Space InSight Program Manager.

Favorable launch windows for Mars occur only every two years.

The "Marcos", other satellites

Aboard the Atlas V rocket, two small cube-shaped satellites accompanied the InSight: the CubeSats. They are part of the Mars Cube One mission (MarCo) and are prototypes of miniaturized technology, more economical than the one usually used in major space missions.

The MarCo A and MarCo B satellites, the first CubeSats orbiting a planet other than Earth, will follow the path to Mars separated from InSight. But if they manage to reach the Red Planet in time, they will participate in the retransmission to Earth of the ship's signals after landing.

The engineers responsible for the mission nicknamed them precisely Wall-E and Eva, as they explained in the live broadcast of the InSight version.




Larry Ricky for DayNewsWorld

TAKING THE PROBE FROM NASA

MARCH SATURDAY

On Saturday, May 5, 2018, the probe will be propelled towards the red planet aboard an Altas V rocket.

The NASA probe is due to take off on Saturday to Mars to reach its final destination in November.

The Mission InSight mission is to study the tectonic activity of the star to better understand how the rocky planets are formed.

On board, a seismometer developed by CNES.

As scheduled at 13:05 (Paris time) the craft was launched from the Vandenberg base of the US Air Force, near Santa Barbara, California.

Once there, the NASA spacecraft will listen to "beating" the heart of Mars by measuring its seismic activity to better understand the history and structure of this planet.

"We know that March has been liveable ," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, director of CNES.

It was Mars Express, which was launched in 2003, which showed it. There was water, the atmosphere, the oceans and then all that disappeared. Today Mars is a frozen desert, probably toxic on the surface.

We want to understand why. "

These changes could be due to the modification of the magnetism of Mars.

As part of the Discovery program's geophysics mission, the spacecraft will study two years of tectonic activity on the Red Planet using three instruments:

a seismometer (SEIS), developed by the French National Center for Space Studies (Cnes), a device to accurately locate the probe while Mars oscillates on its axis of rotation (RISE) and a heat flow sensor inserted at 5 meters in the Martian basement (HP3) .B

"If InSight is a success, we will know in 2 or 3 years why the oceans have disappeared, why magnetism has evolved.

From there, we will have one more clue that will help move forward. "

Good Mission !




Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld

DEATH OF THE ASTROPHYSICIAN FAMOUS

STEPHEN HAWKING

British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, the most famous contemporary scientist - compared to Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton - died Wednesday at the age of 76 at his home in Cambridge, North London, announced his children. "We are deeply saddened by the death of our beloved father today , " said his children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, in a statement. " His courage and tenacity, his genius and his humor, have inspired people around the world," said his children.

He has been suffering from paralytic degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Charcot's disease since the age of 21, and has challenged the idea that he only had a few years to live. Paralyzed all the same it only communicated thanks to a computer and a synthesizer of voices.

In his autobiography, The Brief History of My Life , we learn that the announcement of his illness at 21 years had triggered in his passion for mathematics and physics at age 17 at Oxford University his desire to make scientific discoveries "When you face the possibility of dying young, you understand that life deserves to be lived and that there are many things to do," he says in his autobiography.

He then concentrated his life exploring the secrets of the universe. His work focused on bringing the theory of relativity and quantum theory closer together in an attempt to explain the creation of the Universe and how it works. His ideas on black hole physics, the Big Bang and astrophysical singularities that have resulted in more than 130 research papers have revolutionized the understanding of these enigmatic bodies.

In 1974, at the age of 32, he became one of the youngest members of the Royal Society, the most prestigious scientific institution in Britain. In 1979, Hawking was named professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

"My goal is simple," he said one day. "It's the total understanding of the Universe", "to understand why he is as he is and why he exists" . And this understanding, he wanted to share with the Boeotians that we are by the publication of a global bestseller, A brief history of time , published in 1988 and sold several million copies.

In cinema, a biopic directed by James Marsh had been devoted to him in 2015, "A marvelous history of time".

The tributes of the scientific community multiplied on the announcement of his death. "Professor Hawking was a unique being who will be fondly remembered not only in Cambridge but around the world," said Stephen Toope, vice-president of Cambridge University, where Stephen Hawking had studied and worked. . "His outstanding contribution to scientific knowledge, mathematics and extension leaves an indelible contribution." On Twitter, NASA praised "a renowned physicist and a science ambassador". "His discoveries have opened up a world of possibilities that we and the world continue to explore," said the US Space Agency.

British Secretary of State for Veterans Tobias Ellwood said Stephen Hawking was "an inspiration to all of us, no matter what our situation, to reach the stars".




Britney Delsey for DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

LANCEMENT REUSSI DE LA FUSEE SPACE X

Hier, mardi 6 février 2018, la fusée la plus puissante du monde, la Falcon Heavy, de Space X, a effectué son premier vol historique.  Le lancement avait cependant été reporté par deux fois dans l’après midi.

Elon Musk a tweeté à 20 h 46 GMT (19h30 heure française) un message accompagné d’une vidéo de Falcon Heavy.

Selon lui, « la mission s’est déroulée aussi bien que l’on pouvait l’espérer, et le tir a été réussi ».

La conquête de l‘Espace va désormais entrer dans une nouvelle ère.

La Falcon Heavy va en effet ouvrir une nouvelle voie qui devrait permettre de transporter des humains vers la Lune ou Mars.

Les 27 moteurs de cette super fusée se sont allumés tous en même temps pour générer une poussée de 2500 tonnes, soit l’équivalent de 18 Boeings 747, à la verticale.

Une explosion géante a été vue sur le pas de tir de la base spatiale de la Nasa en Floride.

Elon Musk , le milliardaire sud africain avait au préalable décidé de remplacer la charge utile (60 tonnes) de la fusée  par son Roadster Tesla Rouge Cerise, lequel a été propulsé vers l’espace  puis mis sur orbite.

La Tesla Rouge Cerise était cachée dans le capuchon de la fusée.

Un mannequin, qui avait été équipé d’une combinaison rouge elle aussi et baptisé Starman et qui avait été installé au volant de la Tesla diffusait la chanson de David Bowie, Space Oddity. De son coté, le tableau de bord de la Tesla Rouge affichait « D’ont Panic », la référence très galactique de Douglas Adams (extrait de son Guide du Voyageur).

Le clou du spectacle : l’atterrissage en retour et en douceur,  de deux des propulseurs qui se sont posés comme des plumes sur le sol. Le troisième, en revanche, a sombré dans l’Atlantique, plongeant à une centaine de mètres de la barge ou il devait se poser ; Selon Elon Musk, l’engin aurait apparemment pénétré à 480 km/h dans l’eau.




Clara Mitchell pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

DEUX SATELLITES MIS EN ORBITRE

PAR ARIANE 5 EN GUYANNE

Ariane 5 confirme sa fiabilité après son tir avorté début septembre .Le lancement avait été annulé le 5 septembre 2017 après une anomalie observée dans les ultimes secondes précédant le décollage.

Cette fois le 29 septembre 2017, un peu moins de 30 minutes après son décollage, Ariane 5 s’est séparée du satellite de près de 6,5 tonnes Intelsat 37e.

Et un peu plus de 47 minutes après s’être arraché du sol guyanais, Ariane 5 s’est séparé du satellite BSAT-4a.

Un succès puisque une fusée Ariane 5 a placé en orbite deux satellites commerciaux, Intelsat 37e et BSAT-4a, vendredi 29 septembre 2017 après un décollage du Centre spatial guyanais de Kourou, a annoncé Arianespace dans un communiqué.

En effet Ariane 5 a réussi sa mission mettant sur orbite depuis le Centre Spatial Guyanais deux satellites de télécoms :

Intelsat 37e pour l'opérateur américain Intelsat (près de 6,5 tonnes) et BSAT-4a, un satellite de 3,52 tonnes dédié à la télévision numérique pour le constructeur SSL (Space Systems Loral) dans le cadre d'un contrat clé en main au profit du japonais Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation (B-SAT).

Fabriqué par Boeing, Intelsat 37e est le 59e satellite d'Intelsat à être lancé par Arianespace depuis la mise en orbite d'Intelsat 507 en octobre 1983.

Deux autres satellites Intelsat figurent dans le carnet de commandes d'Arianespace (Intelsat 39 et Horizon-3e).

"Nous sommes très heureux de la confiance renouvelée d'Intelsat qui, un peu plus d'un an après le lancement double d'IS-33e et de IS-36 et sept mois après celui d'Intelsat-32e/SKY Brasil-1, nous a choisis pour la mise en orbite d'IS-37e, le satellite le plus puissant de sa flotte EPICNG", a souligné le PDG d'Arianespace, Stéphane Israël.

BSAT-4a, quant à lui, est le neuvième satellite lancé par Arianespace pour B-SAT.

Depuis la création de B-SAT, Arianespace a lancé tous les satellites de l'opérateur Japonais.

Il s’agit du neuvième succès de l’année pour Arianespace, la société qui commercialise les lancements. Et du 81e succès consécutif pour une Ariane 5, le cinquième en 2017




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

LE SUICIDE DE CASSINI

« Les découvertes faites figurent parmi les plus époustouflantes en science planétaire », avait expliqué mercredi devant la presse Linda Spilker, principale scientifique de la mission.


Cassini , c'est fini. La sonde américaine a lancé son dernier message et s'est désintégrée vendredi après avoir réussi à transmettre des données jusqu'à la dernière seconde.

Après vingt années dans l’espace, l’ultime signal de la petite sonde a été capté par le centre de contrôle du Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), en Californie. Ce dernier souffle électronique aura mis près d'une heure et demie à parcourir le milliard de kilomètres et demi qui nous sépare de Saturne.

Le vaisseau de 2,5 tonnes, lancé en 1997 a mené une exploration scientifique durant treize années de SATURNE  la grande planète gazeuse, de ses anneaux et de 19 de ses lunes.

« Le signal a été perdu…. c’est la fin du vaisseau spatial », a dit un des ingénieurs du centre de contrôle, selon les images de la NASA retransmises en direct.

« J’espère que vous êtes tous très fiers de cet accomplissement extraordinaire, félicitations à tous pour cette mission incroyable », a déclaré Earl Maize, le responsable de la mission Cassini en s’adressant à toute son équipe.

Pendant son plongeon final, Cassini a continué de prendre des mesures et à les transmettre en temps réel vers la Terre. Cassini avait pour mission de «respirer» quelques molécules d'atmosphère pour en déterminer la nature. «Les dernières secondes de Cassini pourraient à elles seules fournir assez de matière à plusieurs doctorats» a déclaré le directeur du JPL, Michael Watkins .

En effet ces précieuses informations vont aider à la compréhension de la formation et de l’évolution de la planète gazeuse, selon les scientifiques.

La sonde a effectué une exploration des plus fructueuses de la planète gazeuse et de ses lunes.

Les scientifiques disposent désormais d'une mine de données à analyser. «Nous en avons pour plusieurs décennies encore. » d'après Linda Spilker, responsable scientifique de la mission « C'est un marathon scientifique de treize années que nous venons de terminer, mais il reste tant de choses à expliquer!»

Aux spécialistes du JPL de dresser le bilan de ces vingt années passées dans l'espace, dont treize en orbite autour de Saturne.

La sonde a fait des découvertes extraordinaires comme des mers de méthane liquide sur Titan, son plus grand satellite naturel, et un vaste océan d’eau salée sous la surface glacée d’Encelade, une petite Lune saturnienne.

Les données recueillies par le spectromètre de Cassini ont également révélé la présence d’hydrogène.

Cet hydrogène signale une activité hydrothermale propice à la vie.

Cette découverte majeure du mois d'avril dernier a ouvert de nouveaux horizons aux scientifiques, comme la recherche la vie extraterrestre.

« Ce monde océanique d’Encelade a vraiment changé notre approche ur la recherche de la vie ailleurs dans notre système solaire et au-delà », a expliqué Linda Spilker.

Les deux lunes que sont Titan et Encelade abritant un vaste océan d'eau liquide et abondant en molécules organiques complexes réunissent tous les ingrédients nécessaires à l'apparition de la vie !

Cassini c'est aussi l'histoire d'une belle coopération entre la NASA, l’Agence spatiale européenne (ESA) et l’Agence spatiale italienne. Ces deux dernières ont construit la petite sonde Huygens que Cassini a transporté jusqu’en décembre 2004 date de son atterrissage sur Titan.




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

PREMIERE IMAGE

DE LA COMBINAISON SPATIALE SPACE-X

Le 23 août 2017, Elon Musk, le fondateur de Space X et de Tesla, a dévoilé sur Instagram un premier visuel de sa nouvelle combinaison spatiale.

La nouvelle combinaison spatiale d'Elon Musk va ringardiser celle de Thomas Pesquet

Le défi principal était de concevoir un équipement aussi pratique que beau."C'était incroyablement dur d'équilibrer l'esthétique et le fonctionnel".

Le défi a, semble-t-il, été relevé haut la main.

Assurément le design de ce scaphandre de l'espace paraît sur la partie de la combinaison que l'on aperçoit nettement plus esthétique que les standards actuels:

Taille réduite du casque d'une ressemblance ahurissante avec celui d’un des deux membres de Daft Punk, coupe ajusté ... On est pas loin de la combinaison du Valerian de Besson !

Elon Musk assure qu’elle a été testée et approuvée.

Cette tenue fonctionnelle..

Conçue en interne les coûts de production ont été réduit.

Ne permettant pas de se déplacer dans l’espace, elles seront plutôt portées lors du transport en capsule pour servir de sécurité en cas de dépressurisation de la capsule.

Le patron de Space X a conçu la combinaison spatiale que porteront les équipages des vols spatiaux autour de la Lune, programmée pour 2018 comme Elon Musk l'avait espéré en début d'année. Une première étape avant de viser Mars.

Le patron de SpaceX promet d’autres informations sur son programme spatial dans les jours à venir.

L’emploi du temps d’Elon Musk est des plus chargés en ce moment...




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

AUX ETATS-UNIS UNE ECLIPSE SOLAIRE TOTALE

LE 21 AOUT

Les éclipses de Soleil longtemps mystérieuses pour les hommes ont été attribuées à des causes surnaturelles y voyant l'intervention d'une divinité, d'un démon ou d'un génie malin: pour les Chinois, c’était un dragon dévorait notre étoile, tandis que chez les Viking, c'était des loups la capturaient...Cela a pris du temps pour découvrir que le véritable coupable était la Lune. De nos jours, les scientifiques savent prédire les éclipses avec une extrême précision (moins d'une seconde)

« Il a fallu les observations des astronomes et l'étude du mouvement du Soleil et de celui de son satellite naturel, pour comprendre que c'est la Lune qui à chaque éclipse s'interpose devant le Soleil », souligne Pascal Descamps, astronome à l'Institut de mécanique céleste et de calcul des éphémérides (IMCCE) à Paris.

Alors que la dernière éclipse totale visible depuis la France remonte au 11 août 1999, les Américains, eux, vont vivre le lundi 21 août 2017 la première éclipse de Soleil totale qui traversera le pays d'est en ouest depuis 1918. Un événement si rarissime que l'éclipse risque d'être la plus scrutée de l'histoire de l'humanité.

L'éclipse sera totale :

en effet la Lune cachera intégralement le Soleil, sur un couloir large de 113 km de large qui concernera 14 Etats :

Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Caroline du Nord et Caroline du Sud.

Certains endroits français comme les Antilles, la Guyane et Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon vivront également ce phénomène.

En France métropolitaine, l'éclipse sera "en gros invisible, sauf depuis la pointe bretonne", a déclaré Pascal Descamps, astronome à l'Institut de mécanique céleste et de calcul des éphémérides (IMCCE).

Le meilleur endroit pour tenter de l'apercevoir sera Quimper (Finistère) et ses environs, avec un début à 21h41 et le maximum à 22h10.L'éclipse solaire est le résultat de l'alignement des trois astres que sont la Terre , la Lune et le Soleil.

La Lune va en effet se glisser entre la Terre et le Soleil, occultant pendant quelques minutes sa lumière.

Le diamètre du Soleil est 400 fois supérieur à celui de la Lune mais l'étoile est également 400 fois plus éloignée que le satellite naturel de la planète bleue.

Depuis la Terre, cette géométrie donnera donc l'impression que le Soleil et la Lune ont de même taille.

Lorsque les deux seront alignés, la Lune masquera entièrement le Soleil et le ciel deviendra noir quelques minutes seulement en pleine journée. On parle alors d'une éclipse totale. Cette dernière se produit tous les douze à dix-huit mois quelque part dans le monde mais cela ne touche qu'une étroite bande de notre planète, le plus souvent ère inhabitée (océans, pôles, déserts).

Lors d'une éclipse, la Lune cachant le Soleil, on peut observer sa couronne solaire, une zone de très haute température extrêmement dynamique que l'éclat du Soleil cache.

La couronne solaire est cette atmosphère externe de notre étoile s'étendant sur plusieurs millions de kilomètres. Sa température varie entre 1 à 3 millions de degrés alors que la surface du Soleil est à 6000 degrés. Les astronomes étudient comment l'atmosphère terrestre et le sol de notre planète réagissent à la baisse de température soudaine provoquée par une éclipse dans la zone concernée.

Le 2 juillet 2019, le Pacifique et l'Amérique du Sud (Chili et Argentine) seront concernés. Idem le 14 décembre 2020 (Pacifique, sud du Chili, Patagonie puis Atlantique). Le 4 décembre 2021, ce sera au tour de l'Antarctique. Le 20 avril 2023,touchera essentiellement l'Indonésie et l'Australie ,les États-Unis vivront une autre éclipse totale en 2024tandis que la France devra attendre le 3 septembre 2081 !



Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

A NOUVEAU DES AMBITIONS SPATIALES

POUR LES ETATS-UNIS ANNONCEES

Le vice-président américain Mike Pence a annoncé jeudi l'avènement d'une «nouvelle ère» dans l'exploration spatiale. Il prévoit l'envoi par les États-Unis d'une mission habitée sur Mars et le retour d'astronautes sur la Lune.

Récemment nommé à la tête du Conseil spatial national, un organe consultatif, Mike Pence vient de visiter le Centre spatial Kennedy près de Cap Canaveral en Floride et a été impressionné par les capsules spatiales en cours de construction par le secteur privé pour le compte de la NASA.

«Notre pays retournera sur la Lune et nous mettrons des bottes américaines sur la surface de Mars», a affirmé Mike Pence devant environ 800 employés de la NASA.

Était également présent Buzz Aldrin, le deuxième homme à avoir marché sur la Lune après Neil Armstron

La NASA travaille sur un projet baptisé «Deep Space Gateway» pour envoyer des astronautes en orbite lunaire avec de nouvelles fusées développées par l'agence spatiale américaine.

L'envoi d'astronautes sur Mars d'ici 2030 figurait déjà parmi les priorités affichées des programmes spatiaux des présidents Barack Obama et George W. Bush.

Voyages spatiaux moins coûteux

Depuis l'arrêt des navettes spatiales américaines en 2011, les astronautes américains dépendent des vaisseaux russes Soyouz s'ils veulent se rendre dans la Station spatiale internationale (ISS.).

Le siège est à plus de 80 millions de dollars !.

Les entreprises américaines SpaceX et Boeing travaillent toutes deux à des capsules pour le transport des astronautes en orbite terrestre dès 2018.

Mike Pence devant une capsule Dragon de SpaceX et un prototype du futur vaisseau Starliner de Boeing, a souligné que le gouvernement américain  favoriserait la coopération avec le secteur privé pour rendre les voyages spatiaux moins chers, plus sûrs et plus accessibles.

Le président Donald Trump a proposé un budget de 19,1 milliards de dollars pour la NASA, une baisse de 0,8% par rapport à 2017.

Il a demandé à l'agence spatiale d'abandonner son projet de capturer un astéroïde et a mis fin aux financements demissions destinées à étudier le changement climatique et les sciences de la Terre.




Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

NASA ET COLONIES D'ENFANTS

ESCLAVES ENVOYEES SUR MARS

Les rumeurs vont bon train sur Internet et se répandent tels des virus malfaisants. A tel point que la Nasa a préféré  démentir  immédiatement  la rumeur  partie d'un témoignage lors d'une émission de télévi « enfants »sion américaine..

Le présentateur Alex Jones jeudi 29 juin qui affectionne tout particulièrement les théories du complot, a invité Robert David Steele à s’exprimer dans son émission The Alex Jones Show, diffusée sur pas moins de 118 stations de radio dans tous les Etats-Unis. .

Voilà notre homme se présentant comme un ex-agent secret qui se met a affirmer que des enfants étaient kidnappés puis envoyés sur Mars via un voyage de vingt ans.

L’homme est là pour parler de Mars certes, et il a des "révélations" à faire certes mais quelles révélations !

Une fois arrivés, ces n’avaient d’autre choix que de devenir des esclaves dans les colonies martiennes

.Et ce n’est pas tout. Robert David Steele ajoute :

« Ils les terrorisent pour enrichir leur sang en adrénaline, et les tuent. Ça inclut aussi de les tuer, comme ça, ils peuvent récupérer la moelle récoltée. »

« Nous croyons réellement qu'il y a sur Mars une colonie habitée par des enfants esclaves, raconte-t-il, d'un ton grave. Ils y arrivent après un voyage de vingt ans dans l'espace. Et une fois arrivé sur place, ils n'ont plus d'autre choix que de devenir des esclaves ».

Mais ce n’est pas tout. D’après lui, la Nasa kidnapperait ces enfants, dans le but de « remplir leur sang d'adrénaline », puis les assassinerait « pour récupérer leur os, leur moelle" »,?! Des vampires quoi !?

S agit-il de l'hormone de croissance originelle ?

A la question du présentateur, sur le bien-fondé de cette révélation :

« Absolument, c'est un truc antivieillissement », renchérit alors le soi-disant ex agent-secret.

La folle rumeur se répand comme une traînée de poudre sur la toile.

La Nasa a immédiatement démenti dans le Daily Beast, par la voix de son porte-parole Guy Webster. « Il n’y a pas d’humain sur Mars. Il y a des robots actifs sur Mars. Une rumeur était en train de se propager la semaine dernière qu’il n’y en avait pas. Il y en a. Mais il n’y a pas d’humain. »

Mieux vaut en rire qu'en pleurer !!

Certains ont préféré le prendre avec humour.

« Si la NASA a kidnappé des gosses pour les envoyer sur Mars, il est mathématiquement impossible qu’il y ait des "colonies d’enfants" là-bas. Selon votre copain, ils ont voyagé 20 ans pour arriver à destination. DONC CE SONT DES COLONIES D’ADULTES. » dans le Parisien

A un autre internaute américain de le prendre au second degré Sur Reddit, :

"Un démenti... C'est exactement ce que ferait quelqu'un qui détient une colonie d'enfants esclaves sur Mars".

Gardons d'ailleurs en mémoire qu'Alex Jones se fait souvent l'avocat  de ce genre de rumeur .

Ainsi en 2016, lors de la campagne présidentielle, le producteur avait répandu la folle rumeur selon laquelle des proches d’Hillary Clinton géraient un réseau pédophile dans la cave d’une pizzeria à Washington !

Ce qui aurait pu provoquer une tragédie humaine !! Sûr de cette information, un homme s’était précipité dans ce fameux restaurant pour ouvrir le feu mais heureusement sans faire de victime...




Joanne Courbet pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

RETOUR SUR TERRE DE NOTRE HEROS

THOMAS PESQUET

Il revient avec la "conscience que la planète est vraiment un joyau". "De voir la planète, de voir sa fragilité, de prendre du recul, cela permet d'apprécier cette fragilité-là", dit-il. "On n'a pas conscience à quel point l'atmosphère c'est mince (...), à quel point on est capable d'abîmer la planète, à quel point il faut la protéger."


Thomas Pesquet revient sur Terre après une mission de six mois dans l'espace vendredi, au terme

d'une mission bien remplie!

Comme prévu, à un minute près, l'atterrissage a eu lieu à 16h10, heure française, dans les plaines désertes des steppes kazakhes, un peu plus de trois heures après que leur vaisseau s'est détaché de l'ISS à 12h49. Chacun équipé d'un scaphandre, les astronautes ont pris place dans la capsule Soyouz, qui s'est désamarrée de la Station spatiale internationale à 12h50 (heure française). Après un long parachutage, la capsule s'est posée à 16h10 sur le sol du Kazakhstan.

Les premières images du Français l'ont montré souriant et visiblement en bonne santé. Thomas Pesquet allait rejoindre Cologne.

La mission Proxima du 10e astronaute français de l'histoire prend fin, après six mois et demi passés dans l'espace confiné de l'ISS : à peine 400 m3 habitables c-à-d un appartement de 130 m2 avec trois mètres de plafond. À partager avec quatre à cinq colocataires. Pendant 196 jours !

Avant de s'envoler pour la Station spatiale internationale (ISS) en novembre dernier, Thomas Pesquet faisait de son retour en capsule Soyouz, l'un des moments les plus attendus de sa mission.

Avec le cosmonaute russe Oleg Novistky, qui a piloté la boîte de conserve de 2,2 m de diamètre et de 2,1 m de haut, le Français a effectuer une rentrée dans l'atmosphère à la vitesse vertigineuse de 28.000 km/h !!!

«C'est l'accomplissement d'un énorme travail collectif»

Outre les effets personnels, ne repartent en Soyouz que les données d'expériences scientifiques (échantillons ou disques durs).

L'ex-pilote de ligne d'Air France a souligné que ce qui lui avait le plus manqué bien sûr ses proches mais aussi le sentiment de liberté: «Aller dehors, faire un tour de vélo, aller à la montagne, la mer, des sensations bêtes: le vent, la pluie, des odeurs différentes, un peu de perspective…» Il ne regrettera ni la nourriture, «pas terrible», ni les «toilettes de camping» !

Mais avant tout chose des souvenirs extrêmement positifs. Les sensations du décollage depuis Baïkonour, les seize levers de soleil quotidiens à bord de l'ISS, la vie en apesanteur, et les deux sorties en scaphandre réalisées en janvier et en mars. Ces dernières étaient destinées pour des opérations de maintenance pendant lesquelles il tenait la Station d'une main et voyait la Terre défiler juste sous ses pieds 400 km plus bas. Il s'est montré très professionnel.

Sur le plan scientifique, l'installation de la machine Mares qui mesurait l'activité musculaire des astronautes pendant des séances d'exercice l'a marqué. «C'est l'accomplissement d'un énorme travail collectif»

Le Normand a participé à une centaine d'expériences scientifiques, dont une soixantaine menées pour le compte des agences spatiales européenne (ESA) et française (Cnes). Les passagers de l'ISS sont de véritables cobayes et sont soumis à de très nombreux tests. Il s'agit d'avoir une meilleure compréhension de l'apesanteur sur le corps humain. L'état de quasi-apesanteur dans lequel il était baigné lui a permis d'effectuer des expériences inédites, à commencer par les effets de cette microgravité sur son propre corps .

En parallèle, ils mènent aussi des expériences de physique fondamentale, sur l'étude du comportement des fluides et des matériaux en apesanteur, ou de biologie, comme la culture de légumes.

Toutes nos felicitations à ce brillant scientifique français dont la France est fière.




Joanne Courbet pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

THOMAS PESQUET

N'EN FINIRA PAS DE NOUS ETONNER !

On connaît l'entraînement sportif quotidien de nos astronautes à bord de l'ISS.

L'astronaute français Thomas Pesquet, en mission dans l'espace pour 6 mois, demeure avant tout un bon citoyen ! Le voilà qui nous convie,  nous Terriens, d' aller voter en ce dimanche brumeux

.En orbite à 400 km au-dessus de la Terre il n’en oublie pas l’élection présidentielle : Espérons qu'il avait pour divertissement mieux à se mettre sous la dent que les insipides débats politiques servis à nous pauvres Terriens réduits à voter entre ? J'aurais préféré vivre à ces moments là entre le flot interrompu d'images de l'espace céleste depuis la Station spatiale internationale ! et faire un grand retour sur Terre en juin prochain .Et quitte à faire après les législatives... Pour un quotidien bien différent d'une vie sur la Terre.

Leur mission à tous devra leur réussite également de l'entente de l’équipe notamment du caractère des habitants de l'ISS. Et la personnalité du candidat a fait partie des critères de sélection. Que de qualités rares requises en un même individu.

Vivre pendant six mois dans un espace restreint, en apesanteur, demande de grandes capacités d' adaptation à son environnement : dormir dans un sac de couchage accroché au mur, se laver  avec des lingettes humides, s'exercer et faire de la muscu plus de deux heures par jour…

L'équipe de la Station spatiale internationale s'est organisée en créant un rythme régulier qui frôle la normalité..« On a des lumières qu'on allume à 6 heures quand on se lève, et on les éteint à 23 heures, et puis certaines changent d'intensité », raconte Thomas Pesquet à un journaliste. « Heureusement, sinon ce serait éreintant. » ; Et bien sûr les tempéraments des uns et des autres au quotidien est pour beaucoup dans le bon déroulement de la mission et dans les performances de l'équipe : DEHORS LES GRINCHEUX, ICI PLACE AUX ESPRITS CONCILIANTS !

Joanne Courbet pour DayNewsWorld

 

There are no translations available.

CE SOIR LE CIEL VA-T-IL NOUS TOMBER SUR LA TETE AVEC LE PASSAGE DE L'ASTROIDE 2014JO25 ?

Un astéroïde géant, estimé actuellement à 852 mètres de large et baptisé 2014-JO25 passera à 1,8 million de kilomètres de notre Terre : Soit, un peu plus de quatre fois la distance de la Terre à la Lune donc moins de 1,8 million de km. Et ce dans la nuit de ce mercredi 19 avril 2017. Représente-t-il un danger immédiat pour la Terre ? Non selon la Nasa. Bien que classé par la Nasa dans la catégorie «potentiellement dangereux», cet objet céleste ne menace pas de frapper la Terre.

L'Agence spatiale américaine assure qu'il "volera en toute sécurité". L'astéroïde 2014-JO25 ne fera que "frôler" la Terre. Il sera 23h23, heure française, lorsque l'astéroïde passera au plus près de nous...

Alors à vos télescopes !

A l'oeil nu, impossible d'observer le phénomène, en revanche un télescope de 20 cm suffira pour suivre son périple pendant deux nuits. Pour une bonne observation l'environnement doit être le plus sombre possible mais ce qui s’avérera surtout difficile , c'est de suivre l'astéroïde, l'objet s'approchant à une vitesse impressionnante de 120000 km/h (ou 33 km/s) de la Terre !!! La dernière fois que 2014-JO25 nous a rendu visite cela remonte à 400 ans et on ne le reverra pas avant 2.600 ans.

Les astronomes attendent avec impatience le passage de ce gigantesque caillou car son observation permettra d'établir plus précisément sa taille.

Avoir des données précises de la taille et de la forme est très important, puisqu'on n'en déduit la densité de l'objet... C'est important de savoir si c'est un rocher friable ou objet ferreux, qui traverse notre ciel en cas d'une éventuelle collision avec la terre.

La rencontre du 19 avril offre aux scientifiques une belle opportunité d'étudier de bien plus s près cet astéroïde. Des observations radar sont prévues au Goldstone Solar System Radar de la NASA en Californie et à l'Observatoire Arecibo de la National Science Foundation à Porto Rico. La précisions des images pourraient révéler des détails en surface jusqu’à quelques mètres.

Il faudra attendre le 7 août 2027 pour voir un aussi gros objet, 199-AN10 et ses 700 m s'approcher tout près de la Terre : Apophis, un beau bébé de 310 m qui flirtera avec la planète bleue, à 38 000 km, un dixième de la distance Terre-Lune.

Par contre le cas du dénommé 410777 (2009-FD) est préoccupant. Ce corps d'au moins 160 mètres a une chance sur 710 d'impacter la Terre le 29 mars 2185 détruisant alors une région de la taille d'un petit Etat ou provoquant des tsunamis. L'astroide 29075 (1950-DA) s'avère plus inquiétant dans la mesure où ce titan de 1,3 km pourrait nous frapper de plein fouet . Mais la probabilité que ce désastre advienne est de 1/8300.

Et la menace n'est pas pour demain, le contact éventuel étant prévu en 2880 !

Mais au sein de l'Agence spatiale américaine, une équipe surveille les géocroiseurs, c'est-à-dire ces objets voués à croiser un jour l'orbite de la Terre. Le Center for Near Earth objects studies (CNeoS) tient même une base de données des impacts possibles. Si elle précise que la «probabilité» de ces événements est «très faible», la Nasa considère qu'au vu des connaissances disponibles, le risque existe. Depuis une dizaine d'années, la Nasa et l'Agence spatiale européenne (Esa) ont lancé plusieurs programmes de détection des géocroiseurs. C'est ainsi que dans le cadre d'une mission conjointe avec l'Esa, la Nasa lancera en 2020 la sonde Dart droit sur l'astéroïde Didymoon pour voir s'il est possible de dévier un astéroïde sans utiliser la force nucléaire. Gageons qu'avant 2880 l'humanité aura trouver les moyens d'épargner la Terre.

Joanne Courbet  pour DayNewsWorld
There are no translations available.

L'ASTRONAUTE THOMAS PESQUET A IMPRESSIONNE LA NASA : DEUX NOUVELLES SORTIES

EXTRAVEHICULAIRES LUI SONT CONFIEES !

Impressionnante la première sortie en scaphandre de l'astronaute français le 13 janvier si bien que la Nasa l'a retenu pour faire deux excursions de plus à l'extérieur de la station spatiale internationale.

Impressionnante la performance de Thomas Pesquet avec son coéquipier américain Shane Kimbrough :

l'équipe a parfaitement effectuer les tâches et réussi cette prestation avec une heure et demie d'avance sur le planning prévu !!!

Même si l'on comptabilise les opérations facultatives, la durée de leur intervention autour de l’ISS aura été plus courte que le timing imaginé par la Nasa : seulement 5h58 au lieu des 6h30 initialement prévues pour réaliser les tâches.

Certes, on pourra toujours objecter que Thomas Pesquet était assisté d’un vétéran des sorties extravéhiculaires (Kimbrough en compte quatre à son actif), mais l'astronaute français s 'est montré superperformant au point de taper dans l'oeil de la NASA qui lui confie deux autres sorties.

L’Agence spatiale européenne (ESA) a bien confirmé que l’astronaute Thomas Pesquet effectuera deux nouvelles excursions à l’extérieur de la Station spatiale internationale.

Fin mars et en avril pour ses deux prochaines sorties extravéhiculaires, mais les dates ne sont pas encore arrêtées en raison de nouvelles pièces attendues du cargo automatique Cygnus

Les deux sorties détaillées par l’ESA

La première sortie de Thomas Pesquet se fera en compagnie du même Shane Kimbrough .

Les deux hommes auront pour

«  mission d’installer un nouvel ordinateur, de réaliser de la maintenance sur le système électrique et de déconnecter un adaptateur du système d’amarrage avant qu’il ne soit déplacé »,

précise le communiqué de l’ESA.

 

Cette mission, d’une durée de plusieurs heures, les conduira à travailler séparément une grande partie de la sortie Pour sa deuxième sortie, accompagné de Peggy Whitson, le spationaute français travaillera

« sur le remplacement d’une alimentation électrique destinée aux expériences scientifiques, mais aussi la grande expérience de recherche d’antimatière, AMS-02 », détaille l’ESA dans son communiqué.

 

Pour l’ESA, la décision d’impliquer Thomas Pesquet dans deux autres missions

« témoigne des bonnes performances des astronautes de l’ESA ces dernires années ainsi que de la qualité de l’entraînement qu’ils suivent dans le Centre des astronautes européens ».

Avec ses trois sorties il égalera ainsi le record établi par son collègue français Philippe Perrin qui a lui aussi effectué trois sorties dans l'espace lors d'une seule mission.

Un nouveau record pour la France !

Thomas Pesquet rentrera sur Terre au cours du mois de mai 2017, après six mois dans l’espace pour sa mission Proxima.

Joanne Courbet pour DayNewsWorld

 

There are no translations available.

LA RUSSIE EST ACTUELLEMENT LE SEUL PAYS

A ENVOYER DES HOMMES SUR ISS .

En avril 2015, la perte d'un Progress avait déjà provoqué une profonde crise dans l'industrie spatiale russe. La Russie ayant dû alors suspendre tous ses vols spatiaux pendant près de trois mois.

Le vaisseau cargo avait également perdu contact avec la Terre avant de se consumer dans l'atmosphère. les Russes avaient attribué ce revers à une panne sur la fusée Soyouz. obligé un Un groupe d'astronautes avaient dû prolonger d'un mois leur séjour à bord de la station de recherche spatiale.

Le vaisseau-cargo non habité qui devait ravitailler la Station spatiale internationale (ISS) lequel le s'est consumé dans l'atmosphère peu après son décollage de Baïkonour au Kazakhstan( annonce de l'agence spatiale russe).

Perdu à quelque 190 km au-dessus de la région isolée et montagneuse de Touva, « la plupart des fragments ont brûlé dans les couches denses de l'atmosphère », a précisé Roskosmos.

Cette perte "n'affectera pas le fonctionnement normal des équipements de l'ISS et la survie de l'équipage de la station"car les réserves à bord de l'ISS étaient à "un bon niveau"

Progress MS-04 transportait un chargement d'environ 2,4 tonnes, dont de l'eau, des carburants et du gaz comprimé, ainsi que des produits alimentaires, des vêtements et des médicaments pour l'équipage de l'ISS composé actuellement du Français Thomas Pesquet, des Américains Peggy Whitson et Shane Kimbroughet, ainsi que des Russes Oleg Novitski, Sergueï Ryjikov et Andreï Borissenko.

Son arrimage à l'ISS était initialement prévu pour 16H43 GMT samedi et devait se faire en régime automatique, selon Roskosmos.

La Nasa a précisé que la première et deuxième étape se sont bien déroulées, mais qu'un problème a été enregistré lors de la troisième étape de la séparation entre le vaisseau Progress MS-04, qui devait se retrouver en orbite, et le lanceur Soyouz.

Une enquête est en cours.

Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld

There are no translations available.

THOMAS PESQUET OBJET D'EXPERIMENTATIONS SCIENTIFIQUES A BORD DE L'ISS .

Thomas Pesquet se trouve à bord de la Station spatiale internationale depuis le 20 novembre où de nombreuses expériences seront menées sur les astronautes. Le Français en est à sa deuxième sur les 21 des 55 expériences que va mener Thomas Pesquet pour l'Esa.

Les performances en micropesanteur de surfaces et revêtements innovants qui empêchent les bactéries de proliférer a été la première expérience de notre Français.

Cette étude- menée à l'aide du module Mattis- est rendue possible par le confinement de la Station spatiale.

En effet le recyclage permanent de l'eau et de l'air et le stockage à bord des déchets produits favorisent la prolifération de bactéries.

Avec une telle expérience le Cnes entend réduire les risques de contamination en s'intéressant aux propriétés antibactériennes de matériaux dans l'espace.

Bien entendu les retours serviront aussi aux hommes évoluant sur Terre:ainsi les chercheurs ont à cœur d’éliminer la concentration de bactéries sur les rampe d’escaliers, de métro, des poignées de portes... La deuxième expérience de Thomas Pesquet est celle de l'atrophie musculaire en apesanteur.

Elle sera renouvelée deux fois avec de nouvelles mesures effectuées dans dix jours puis 30 à 45 jours avant son retour sur terre.

En six mois un astronaute perd entre 20% ET 30% de sa masse musculaire. Une application directe : aider à la réadaptation des personnes longtemps alitées ou permettre à l'homme d'arriver en forme sur Mars.

Le module MARES ressemble à une énorme chaise équipée de capteurs. L' instrument scientifique MARES -une sorte d' énorme chaise équipée de capteurs- mesure la force exercée par des groupes musculaires isolés autour de toutes les articulations du corps cinq heures d'affilée !

Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld

There are no translations available.

COMETE ISON

La comète ISON survivre à son plongeon dans l'atmosphère du soleil ou entend-elle périr , comme Icare , pour s'aventurer trop près ? 

Les astronomes disent que les rapports de sa mort imminente sont grandement exagérées .

ISON , connu officiellement comme C/2012 S1, est une comète soleil pâturage qui est mis à venir au sein de 730,000 miles de la surface de notre étoile à la maison en Novembre et puis dévalent par la Terre au début de Décembre . On croit provenir de la nuage d'Oort , un cluster hypothèse d'objets glacés à proximité des franges du système solaire , 50.000 fois plus loin que le soleil est de la Terre.

Compte tenu de la trajectoire de la comète, c'est peut-être notre seule visite de ISON , comme la gravité du soleil devrait fronde il vers l'arrière sur le système solaire interne - qui est, à moins que le soleil frites et déchire le distingue d'abord.

Cette inquiétude a frappé certains observateurs de la comète qui attendent sa terre très attendu fly-by en Décembre. Le rayonnement du soleil peut faire bouillir l'écart de son contenu glacées , et son attraction gravitationnelle intense pourrait déchirer la comète en lambeaux.

Mais les scientifiques disent qu'il n'y a aucune raison de compter sur ISON pour l'instant. Une étude publiée dans la revue Astrophysical Journal Letters a examiné les dossiers historiques de cométaires rencontres rapprochées avec le soleil et a constaté que ISON - alors que nous savons très peu de choses encore - est probablement trop dense pour être totalement déchiqueté par le soleil.

Au moins une partie de la comète devrait survivre à la fois la perturbation de marée de la gravité et de la sublimation du soleil ( la glace étant évaporée directement de l'état solide à l'état gazeux ) .

«Que ce soit ou non interruption se produit , le plus important reste doit être assez grand pour survivre perte de masse ultérieure en raison de sublimation pour que ISON à rester une comète viable bien après périhélie », écrivent les auteurs .

Les scientifiques de l' Comet campagne d'observations ISON NASA ont exprimé la même idée.

" Est-ce que cela ressemble à une comète fait long feu ? "

Karl Battams , astrophysicien au Laboratoire de recherche navale à Washington , a écrit dans un billet de blog , en montrant une photo de la longue queue , la comète verte éclatante pris des jours avant .

Les astronomes ne sont certainement pas en démissionnant - 18 satellites sont mis à l'image de la comète.

Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld