Category: International

Japan Readies Hayabusa2 Asteroid Sample Return Mission for Launch – RESCHEDULED

Japan Readies Hayabusa2 Asteroid Sample Return Mission for Launch – RESCHEDULED

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 29, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 30, 2014 8:43 am ET

UPDATE: The launch has been postponed a second time because of weather.  The new launch date is December 3, 1:22:04 pm JST (December 2, 11:22:04 pm EST).  This article is updated accordingly.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is getting ready to launch its second asteroid sample return mission, Hayabusa2, on December 2, 2014 Eastern Standard Time (EST), following a second weather delay.   Launch time is 11:22 pm EST, which is 1:22 pm December 3 Japan Standard Time (JST).  JAXA plans to provide live coverage of the launch on its website.

The original launch date was November 30 JST (November 29 EST).  That slipped to December 1 JST (November 30 EST) due to weather, and now has been rescheduled again due to weather.  JAXA currently plans to launch it on December 3 JST (December 2 EST).

Hayabusa2 is the successor to Hayabusa (also called MUSES-C), which successfully returned a small amount of material from the asteroid Itokawa in 2010.  Hayabusa overcame a number of technical challenges, including the loss of all four of its ion engines.  Japanese engineers were able to interconnect working components of different engines to create one that worked.   The landing of its sample return canister in Australia on June 14, 2010 Eastern Daylight Time generated considerable excitement around the world.   At that time it was unclear as to whether the sample mechanism had actually captured any material from Itokawa, but after they opened the canister, scientists determined it contained about 1,500 grains, which have been the subject of scientific analysis since that time.

Japan quickly decided to mount a second mission, Hayabusa2, with a number of improvements, including to the ion engines and the sample collection mechanism.   If launch takes place as scheduled, it will reach its target, asteroid 1999JU3, in mid-2018, remain there for 18 months orbiting the asteroid at a distance of about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles), and return to Earth at the end of 2020.

Artist’s concept of Hayabusa2 spacecraft above an asteroid.  Image credit:  JAXA website.

Among the science instruments on the 600 kilogram (1,322 pound) spacecraft is a small impactor made of pure copper (to distinguish it from other materials on the asteroid).  Called Liner, it will be dropped to the surface at a velocity of 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) per second to create an artificial crater by colliding with the asteroid.  That will expose fresh material below the asteroid’s surface to be collected by the sample return mechanism.   Hayabusa2 will also study the asteroid using a near infrared spectrometer (NIRS3) and a thermal infrared imager (TIR), deploy three small rovers (MINERVA) that can move several times by hopping, and a small lander (MASCOT) that can move once by hopping.   MASCOT was built by the German space agency, DLR, and the French space agency, CNES, who also teamed on the Philae lander that just landed on Comet 67P on November 12.  MASCOT has four observation devices (MicrOmega, MAG, CAM and MARA). 

Asteroids are categorized into several different types.  Two of the most prevalent are C (carbonaceous) and S (stony).  Asteroid 1999JU3 is a C-type, while Hayabusa’s target, Itokawa, was an S-type.  Thus, Hayabusa2 is not only bringing back additional asteroid samples, but from a different type of asteroid, broadening scientific knowledge about these objects left over from the formation of the solar system.

Launch will be on a Mithsibishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H-IIA rocket from Japan’s Tanagashima Space Center.  JAXA indicated it would provide live coverage of the launch and of spacecraft separation, but the times for that coverage are not posted on JAXA’s website yet.

(For those who are curious, we have published an article providing  a brief explanation of the difference between a comet and an asteroid and a list of other robotic comet and asteroid missions flown in the past or planned for the future.)

Last Updated: Nov 30, 2014 8:43 am ET
Philae's On a Comet, Hayabusa2 is Off To an Asteroid — What's the Difference?

Philae's On a Comet, Hayabusa2 is Off To an Asteroid — What's the Difference?

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 29, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 30, 2014 1:00 pm ET

Robotic space science missions to comets and asteroids are in the news right now because of Europe’s Rosetta/Philae mission to Comet 67P and Japan’s imminent launch of Hayabusa2 to an asteroid.   Many may wonder what the difference is between comets and asteroids and what other spacecraft have investigated them.

Nancy Atkinson at Universe Today explains that the biggest difference is their composition: “While asteroids consist of metals and rocky material, comets are made up of ice, dust, rocky materials and organic compounds.  When comets get closer to the Sun, they lose material with each orbit because some of their ice melts and vaporizes.  Asteroids typically remain solid, even when near the Sun.”  Another difference is the population, she adds, with millions of asteroids, but only about 4,000 comets, having been discovered so far.  There may be many more of each, but that is the count to date.

Several robotic space missions have been sent to study both asteroids and comets already.  Rosetta and its Philae lander are particularly newsworthy because they are the first to orbit and land on a comet and will accompany the comet as it travels in toward the Sun, observing how it reacts and its tail forms.   Hayabusa2 is of particular interest because it is Japan’s second mission to return a sample of an asteroid after its first mission, Hayabusa, overcame long odds to successfully return a small amount of material from a different type of asteroid in 2010.

There have been a number of other robotic missions whose primary purpose was studying asteroids and comets, though, and more are planned. 

  • NASA’s Interplanetary Comet Explorer (ICE) was the first spacecraft to fly past a comet, Giacobini-Zinner, in 1985.
  • The Soviet Union’s Vega-1 and Vega-2 flew past Halley’s Comet in 1986.
  • Europe’s Giotto flew past Halley’s Comet in 1986 (the closest flyby of a comet at that time).
  • Japan’s Sakigake and Suisei flew past Halley’s Comet in 1986.
  • Europe’s Giotto continued its journey after the Halley’s Comet encounter and flew past comet Grigg-Skjellerup in 1992.
  • NASA was first to orbit (beginning in 2000) and land (2001) on an asteroid, Eros, with the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission (the landing was not originally part of the mission plan, but improvised at the end).
  • NASA’s Deep Space 1 made a successful flyby of Comet Borrelly in 2001.
  • NASA’s Stardust flew through the tail of Comet Wild-2 in 2004 and a canister returned a sample of the comet tail’s material to Earth in 2006.
  • NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft flew past Comet Tempel 1 in 2005, sending an impactor to collide with the comet and studying the after-effects.
  • Japan’s Hayabusa orbited and landed on asteroid Itokawa in 2005 and returned a sample to Earth in 2010.
  • NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft, after its successful impact experiment with Comet Tempel 1, was renamed EPOXI and redirected to fly past Comet Hartely 2, which it did in 2010.
  • NASA’s Stardust spacecraft, after obtaining the sample from Comet Wild-2 and sending it back to Earth, was renamed Stardust-NEXT and redirected to flyby Comet Tempel 1 in 2011 to provide further observations of that comet after the Deep Impact experiment.
  • NASA’s DAWN spacecraft orbited an asteroid, Vesta, from 2011-2012.
  • China’s Chang’e-2 flew past asteroid Toutatis in 2012 (after completing its primary mission of orbiting Earth’s Moon).
  • Europe’s Rosetta became the first spacecraft to orbit and land (with the Philae lander) on a comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in 2014.
  • Japan’s Hayabusa2 is currently scheduled for launch on December 2, 2014 EST, to orbit and return a sample of asteroid 1999JU3.
  • NASA is developing an asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, for launch to the asteroid Bennu in 2016.

For completeness:

  • NASA’s DAWN spacecraft is on course to rendezvous with and orbit Ceres in 2015, but Ceres is currently categorized as a dwarf planet, not an asteroid, so is not included in the list.
  • Other robotic space missions, including NASA’s Galileo, Cassini, and New Horizons, have flown past asteroids, but it was not their primary mission, so they are not included in the list.
  • NASA is planning to send a robotic probe to nudge an asteroid from its native orbit into a new orbit around the Moon so astronauts can be sent to study it.  This Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is very controversial and whether or not it comes to fruition is an open question, but in any case it is primarily a human spaceflight endeavor, so is not included in the above list of robotic missions.

Editor’s note:  the list was complied by searching a number of Internet sites.  Any errors or omissions are entirely our responsibility.

Update:  The launch of Hayabusa2 has slipped from November 30 to December 2 EST (December 1 to December 3 Japan Standard Time).  The list was updated accordingly.

Last Updated: Nov 30, 2014 1:00 pm ET
Philae May Have Hit a Crater Rim

Philae May Have Hit a Crater Rim

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 28, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 28, 2014 7:22 pm ET

Scientists are still trying to determine what happened to the Philae lander after it initially touched down on Comet 67P on November 12.   New findings suggest that it may have hit the rim of a crater with one of its landing legs and tumbled before landing again, making one more bounce, and reaching its final resting spot.

Philae (pronounced fee-LAY) traveled for 10 years attached to the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft.  The pair arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August.  Philae separated from Rosetta on November 12 and spent 7 hours floating down to the comet’s surface.  The plan was that harpoons would fire once its landing legs touched the surface to hold the lander in place since comets have almost no gravity.  They did not fire, however, and the lander bounced, flying off into the air for almost two hours before a second bounce and final landing.

Data from the Rosetta Landing Magnetometer and Plasma Monitor (ROMAP), one of 10 instruments on Philae, are being analyzed and used to reconstruct what happened to the lander after the first touchdown, which occurred at 15:34:04 GMT.  After about 40 minutes, at 16:20 GMT, ROMAP data suggest that one leg of the lander hit something, possibly the rim of a crater.  “It was not a touchdown like the first one” according to Hans-Ulrich Auster from the Technische Universität Braunschweig in Germany, ROMAP’s co-principal investigator, who was quoted in an ESA press release today.

Philae had been spinning at about one rotation every 13 seconds before that event.  “After that the lander was tumbling,” Auster continued.  “We did not see a simple rotation around the lander’s z-axis anymore, it was a much more complex motion….”   At 17:25:26 GMT, it touched down on the surface with all three legs for a second time, and at 17:31:17 GMT landed for a third and final time.

ESA and the Rosetta/Philae team still do not know where Philae finally came to rest.   Rosetta will continue to orbit Comet 67P as it travels in toward the Sun and cameras aboard Rosetta are looking for Philae, though it is very small (about one meter — three feet — on each side) and is next to or under a cliff or other surface feature that prevents sunlight from reaching its solar panels to recharge the batteries.  ESA still hopes that as the comet gets closer to the Sun, the lighting conditions may improve for Philae and it could resume its scientific tasks.

Last Updated: Nov 28, 2014 7:22 pm ET
ISS Crew Complement is Now Four Men, Two Women From Three Countries

ISS Crew Complement is Now Four Men, Two Women From Three Countries

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 23, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 23, 2014 10:34 pm ET

Three new crew members arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) this evening Eastern Standard Time (EST), returning the ISS to its full crew complement of six people.  With the arrival of Soyuz TMA-15M, there are four men and two women aboard, representing Russia, the United States and Italy, a member of the European Space Agency (ESA).

NASA astronaut Terry Virts, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov were launched aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:01 pm EST today and docked with the ISS just under 6 hours later at 9:49 pm EST, using the expedited trajectory that has become common in recent years (previously it took two days to reach the ISS).

Hatch opening is expected in about 1.5 hours.  The three will join NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev who arrived at the ISS in September. 

The ISS is an international partnership among the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and 11 European countries represented by ESA.  Since the United States terminated the space shuttle program in 2011, Russian Soyuz spacecraft are the only means of crew transportation to and from the ISS.   The United States is developing new crew transportation systems under “commercial crew” public-private partnerships between NASA and two private companies, Boeing and SpaceX, to restore an American ability to launch people into space by the end of 2017.

Last Updated: Nov 23, 2014 10:34 pm ET
Space Weather Difficult to Explain, But Accurate Forecasting is Critical

Space Weather Difficult to Explain, But Accurate Forecasting is Critical

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 23, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 23, 2014 6:35 pm ET

Space weather happens every day not just when auroras light up the sky, but intense solar flares can disrupt our technological societies making forecasts of space weather just as critical as terrestrial weather.  That was the message at a seminar on Thursday (November 20) on Capitol Hill that explained why space weather is important and why satellites are needed to enable forecasters to warn of impending events.  A new satellite, DSCOVR, is about to join the effort.

Representatives of NASA, NOAA, the Air Force, the State Department and a regional electricity transmission organization laid out the science behind space weather, forecasting efforts by NOAA and the Air Force, practical effects on the electrical power grid, and international efforts to better understand and mitigate it.  The panel was sponsored by the Secure World Foundation (SWF) and American Astronautical Society (AAS).

Laura Delgado López, SWF project manager and AAS Board member, summed up space weather as “complex, international, and routine.”  It is indeed complex and several panelists pointed out that the topic simply is not conducive to “sound bite” explanations.

Lika Guhathakurta, Living with a Star and STEREO program scientist in NASA’s heliophysics division, stressed that space weather happens not just when the Sun is most active at solar maximum “but all the time.”   It is severe space weather events that attract media attention, however, and explaining the nuances between events that pose differing levels of potential damage can be a challenge.

Thomas Berger, Director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), pointed out that extreme space weather events are rare, but can have a considerable impact on technology.   An array of space- and ground-based sensors is used to collect data that allows SWPC to make operational forecasts and issue watches, warnings or alerts to stakeholders that could be negatively affected.  Satellites in earth orbit are particularly vulnerable to space weather impacts, but Berger identified other customers for SWPC’s forecasts as ranging from banking to shipping to oil drilling to utilities to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and many more.

Though they are not the only satellites used for operational space weather forecasting, spacecraft at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point are critical for providing early warning of the intensity and polarity of particles emitted by eruptions on the Sun.   NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) currently have spacecraft positioned at the Sun-Earth L1 point that are used by SWPC.  They were designed for research, not operations, however, and are quite old.   In two months, the Air Force will launch the NASA-NOAA Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR, once known as Triana) to satisfy the highest priority space weather operational requirements.

The electric utility sector is one of those customers.  Frank Koza, Executive Director of Infrastructure Planning Support at PJM Interconnection, explained the challenges of managing the electric power grid during severe solar weather events.  The Sun’s charged particles can cause geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) that knock out transformers, for example.  While his company has generators that can go from zero to full load in 10 minutes to add capacity and blunt the impact, adequate warning is needed.  SWPC issues warnings 1-3 days in advance based on solar activity, but critical data from the L1 satellites on intensity and polarity provide only about 20-40 minutes of warning, he said.  PJM is a wholesale electricity provider, managing the high-voltage electricity grid in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia and selling that electricity to local power companies.

Space weather forecasting begins with observations, continues with modeling, and ends with watches, warnings, or alerts, Berger explained.  In that regard, it is similar to terrestrial weather forecasting.  SPWC is, in fact, part of the National Weather Service (NWS) and has its own system of designations from minor to extreme events for radio blackouts, solar radiation storms, or geomagnetic storms.

Asked what Congress can do to help in understanding, forecasting and coping with space weather, Chris Cannizzaro from the State Department’s Office of Space and Advanced Technology and Col. Robert Swanson from the Air Force’s Directorate of Weather both mentioned the need for budget certainty.   Swanson said it is critical to know how much money his office will have for training and other activities in order to spend it wisely.  Cannizzaro said budget uncertainty complicates efforts to enter into partnerships with other countries.  The United States is active in international forums like the U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPOUS), for example, to coordinate efforts to predict and mitigate space weather.

Swanson pointed out the capability to respond to space weather events is evolving and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has created an interagency space weather operations and mitigation task force to address the issue.

OSTP’s July 2014 National Plan for Civil Earth Observations directs NOAA, in consultation with NASA, to provide observations using its geostationary weather satellites (GOES) and DSCOVR to enable the forecasting of space weather and to study options and explore working with international and interagency partners to provide such data beyond the design lifetime of DSCOVR.

DSCOVR is scheduled for launch in January 2015 and will join NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) and ESA’s Solar Heliophysics Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft at Sun-Earth L1, which is 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles) from Earth.  SOHO has been operating since 1996 and ACE since 1997.

NASA has 17 other heliophysics spacecraft, Guhathakurta said.  Of them, she identified STEREO, SDO, and the Van Allen Probes as contributing to operational space weather forecasting.   STEREO is a pair of satellites, one ahead of Earth in its orbit and the other behind it.  The Van Allen probes are another pair in nearly identical elliptical Earth orbits.  The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is an inclined geosynchronous Earth orbit.

Like space weather, heliophysics is difficult to explain.  Guhathakurta referred to it as a “concocted” word that represents an environmental science that has an “applied branch” – space weather, and a “pure branch” – studying fundamental physical processes.  The phrase “solar and space physics” was commonly used before heliophysics became the term of art and is still used today in some quarters.

DSCOVR is intended to support operational space weather forecasting rather than research, which is NASA’s focus.  Scientists hope to launch future research spacecraft in accordance with the priorities set out in the most recent National Research Council Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics.

PowerPoint presentations from Thursday’s seminar are posted on SWF’s website.

Last Updated: Nov 23, 2014 6:35 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy November 24-December 5, 2014

What's Happening in Space Policy November 24-December 5, 2014

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 23, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 23, 2014 1:45 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy related events for the next TWO weeks, November 24-December 5, 2014.   Congress is in recess this coming week for the Thanksgiving holiday and will return on December 1.

During the Weeks

The United States celebrates Thanksgiving this week (on Thursday), so after the launch and docking of three International Space Station ISS) crew members today (Sunday), there is nothing on the docket until the first week of December in terms of space policy. 

However, on November 29 (November 30 in Japan), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch its second asteroid sample return mission, Hayabusa2, which should be of great interest.  JAXA will provide live TV coverage of the launch and spacecraft separation.

The first week of December is chock full of events.  To pick just two to highlight, ESA’s ministerial meeting on December 2 will decide the future of European launch systems and participation in the ISS program through 2020, and NASA’s December 4 launch of a test version of the Orion spacecraft  (EFT-1) on a 4.5 hour flight is a step forward for the future of the U.S. human spaceflight program.  Not everyone may agree on the next destination for the U.S. human spaceflight program — President Obama’s Asteroid Redirect Mission still has not captured much enthusiasm — but Orion is likely to be the NASA spacecraft to take astronauts wherever it is they will go beyond low Earth orbit.

Under the current schedule, Congress will meet during the first two weeks of December and then bring the 113th Congress to a close, with the 114th Congress convening on January 3, 2015.   What’s going to happen in those two weeks is, as always, completely unclear, and the two weeks could stretch through the holidays and even into the first two days of January if need be (which happened in 2012-2013 with the “fiscal cliff” showdown for those who remember).

The FY2015 Continuing Resolution (CR) now funding the government expires at midnight on December 11.  Under the best of circumstances (in terms of fiscal solvency and the ability of agencies to know how much money they have for FY2015), Congress will pass an omnibus appropriations bill before then combining all 12 regular appropriations bills and fund the government through the end of FY2015 (September 30, 2015).   Republican angst over President Obama’s immigration executive order (EO) is a complication, however.  Some Republicans insist that Congress not appropriate funds that could be used to implement the EO, but the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Hal Rogers (R-KY), publicly explained that the immigration office that will implement the EO is funded by fees, not appropriations, so it is “impossible” (in his words) to do that.  Republicans could devise a surgical approach to defunding some part of the government to demonstrate their displeasure or hold up the entire bill or something in between.  The key is that not only must a bill get enough votes to pass Congress — the Senate remains in Democratic hands until January —  but the President must be willing to sign it, which would seem unlikely if it defunds something he deems of critical importance. 

It’s anybody’s guess as to what will happen.  Our best guess, for what it’s worth, is that Congress will pass a short term CR to carry the government through to mid- or late-January when the Republicans will be in control of both chambers rather than risk a government shutdown over the holidays because either Congress can’t pass a bill or it passes a bill the President won’t sign.   But we will keep our fingers crossed that an omnibus bill funding the government through September 30, 2015 is still a possibility.

Meanwhile, here is a list of all the events we know about for the next two weeks as of Sunday morning, November 23.

Sunday, November 23 (November 24 local time at the launch site in Kazakhstan)

Saturday, November 29 (November 30 local time at the launch site in Japan)

Monday, December 1

Monday-Wednesday, December 1-3

Tuesday, December 2

Tuesday-Wednesday, December 2-3

Thursday, December 4

Friday, December 5

 

Last Updated: Nov 23, 2014 1:45 pm ET
Images Show Philae's First Bounce, Ulamec Optimistic Will Hear from It Again

Images Show Philae's First Bounce, Ulamec Optimistic Will Hear from It Again

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 17, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 17, 2014 10:47 pm ET

The European Space Agency (ESA) today released new images taken by its Rosetta spacecraft of the Philae lander as it made a first landing on Comet 67P and then bounced on November 12.  Also today, the German Aerospace Center, DLR, issued a concise summary of very preliminary science results from Philae.  The fate of the lander, which bounced twice and landed three times, sparked interest around the world last week as its battery died and contact was lost.  Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec is optimistic, however, that communications will be restored next year.

Philae is funded by a consortium led by DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) and was controlled and monitored by DLR’s Lander Control Center in Cologne, Germany.  The lander is part of ESA’s Rosetta mission.  Rosetta and Philae spent 10 years reaching Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, arriving in August 2014.  The two spacecraft separated on November 12.  Philae made its first landing on the comet about 7 hours later.  Harpoons that were intended to hold Philae in place on the surface did not fire, however, and the lander bounced twice. 

ESA still does not know where its final landing took place.  Rosetta serves as a communications link between Philae and Earth in addition to conducting its own science investigations as it orbits the comet.  It continues to look and listen for Philae.  Rosetta will stay with the comet as it journeys into toward the Sun, studying it as the ices melt and create the classic comet’s tail.   It is the first spacecraft to orbit a comet and Philae is the first spacecraft to land on a comet. 

Today ESA released a mosaic of images taken by the Osiris camera on Rosetta that shows Philae as it descended to the surface (minutes 15:14 to 15:23), touched down (minute 15:43), only to fly off again into space (minute 15:43 on far right).  It landed again about 2 hours later, bounced again, and landed a third time about 7 minutes after that.  Since the final landing site is not known, there are no images yet of those events.

Images of Philae as it landed on Comet 67P and bounced the first time.  November 12, 2014.  Times (hour:minute) are in GMT.
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

The hope is that with these images ESA and DLR at least know the direction in which the lander headed and perhaps they will be able to locate it using Rosetta’s instruments.  All they know now is that Philae is surrounded by rocks that block sunlight from reaching Philae’s solar panels so its batteries can be recharged.  After 57 hours of work, its primary battery was depleted and the lander entered hibernation.   Planetary Society blogger Emily Lakdawalla was at ESA’s European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany as Philae gamely executed its commands despite dwindling energy — including an improvised lift-and-turn motion that rotated the lander’s body 35 degrees in the hope of getting more sunlight on the solar panels — and provides a compelling account of those last minutes.

Last minutes for now, that is.  Ulamec is optimistic that as the comet continues its journey in toward the Sun, lighting conditions will improve, the batteries will recharge, and Philae will be able to communicate again next year.  A DLR press release today says he “believes it is probable that in the spring of 2015” Philae will be heard from again.

Meanwhile, scientists are beginning to analyze data from the 57 hours of work Philae has already completed.   Data was received from all 10 of the instruments on the lander.  One instrument — Multi-Purpose Sensors for Surface and Sub-Surface Science (MUPUS) — hammered a probe into the surface, but it turned out to be a much harder surface than expected.  “Although the power of the hammer was gradually increased, we were not able to go deep into the surface,” said Tilman Spohn from DLR’s Institute of Planetary Research.  The comet “proved a tough nut to crack.”  Another instrument, SESAME (Surface Electrical, Seismic and Acoustic Monitoring Experiment) similarly found the comet was “not nearly as soft and fluffy as it was believed to be.” Brief initial results from all 10 instruments are provided in the DLR press release.   More are expected at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) next month in San Francisco.

Last Updated: Nov 17, 2014 10:47 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy November 17-21, 2014

What's Happening in Space Policy November 17-21, 2014

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 16, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 16, 2014 2:43 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy events in the coming week, November 17-21, 2014, and any insights we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session.

During the Week

Congress is in session this week, but anything they are working on regarding space policy and funding is taking place behind the scenes.  One set of negotiations is over a compromise version of a FY2015 omnibus appropriations bill that is expected to combine all 12 regular appropriations bill into one and fund the government through the rest of FY2015 (September 30, 2015).   Word has it the bill will be publicly released the week of December 8, just in time to get it passed – hopefully – by midnight December 11 when the current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires. 

It’s not a sure bet, though. House Appropriations Committee chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) warned this past week that if President Obama issues an Executive Order on immigration (i.e., takes action without waiting for Congress to act) before a deal is done on appropriations, there will be an “explosion.”   He’s worried appropriations will get caught in the crossfire.  If a new appropriations bill is not enacted by December 11, the government will shut down like it did in October 2013.  Some Tea Party Republicans consider government shutdowns a useful tactic and might try to cause another one in reaction to any Presidential action on immigration.  Even absent that, some have been arguing in favor of passing just another CR to fund the government for the first few weeks of the New Year when Republicans will control both the House and Senate and have more power to decide funding matters.  (We talked about the road ahead for appropriations in an earlier article.)

Negotiations also are underway on a FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  It is the only annual authorization bill that Congress routinely passes, even if that happens at the very last minute.  The House passed its version in May, and the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) approved a version in June, but it has not gone to the Senate floor for debate yet.  They will probably skip that step and just bring the compromise to the floor.  Congress hasn’t missed passing an NDAA for more than 50 years no matter how high the political tensions.  Senate John McCain (R-AZ), who likely will chair SASC in the next Congress, included a provision in the SASC-version of the bill prohibiting DOD from contracting with space launch services providers that use Russian suppliers — aimed at the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) use of Russian RD-180 engines for the Atlas V.   ULA President Tory Bruno said last week that congressional staffers now understand the “very harmful” unintended consequences of that language and are revising it as part of the NDAA negotiations.

Like appropriations, the NDAA probably won’t become public for a while yet.   Congress will be in recess next week for Thanksgiving, then return for two more weeks to finish what they can for the 113th Congress.  

Off the Hill, three NASA Advisory Council committees or subcommittees will meet this week in person or virtually (Planetary Protection on Monday and Tuesday, Institutional on Wednesday and Thursday, and Planetary Science on Friday).   The NSF-NASA-DOE Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee meets at NSF on Monday and Tuesday.   Alan Ladwig and Courtney Stadd’s ISU-DC Space Café discussion is on Tuesday evening (rescheduled from last Tuesday, which was Veterans Day and HBO’s Concert for Valor essentially took over DC).   And the Secure World Foundation and American Astronautical Society will host a briefing on space weather on the Senate side of the Capitol Visitor Center at lunchtime on Thursday.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

Monday-Tuesday, November 17-18

Tuesday, November 18

Tuesday-Thursday, November 18-20

Tuesday-Friday, November 18-21

Wednesday-Thursday, November 19-20

Thursday, November 20

Friday, November 21

Last Updated: Nov 16, 2014 2:43 pm ET
Is Philae's Time Coming to an End? – UPDATE

Is Philae's Time Coming to an End? – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 14, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 14, 2014 5:36 pm ET

UPDATE, November 14, 5:33 pm EST: The European Space Operations Center (ESOC) just tweeted (@esaoperations) that it has reacquired Philae.  The first contact was brief, but the signal was then reacquired and communications now are “stable” and “telemetry and science data are flowing.”  We’ll post another update later this evening.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Philae lander is on the surface of Comet 67P and its science instruments are working, but its ability to function and communicate with Earth could be quickly coming to an end — perhaps today.   Philae landed in a place surrounded by rocks that are blocking sunlight from reaching its solar panels to recharge the batteries.  ESA scientists hope they can reestablish communications at least one more time, but will not know until about 6:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (23:00 GMT, midnight CET) today.

Philae (pronounced fee-LAY) has been traveling in space for 10 years aboard its mothership Rosetta.  They reached Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is currently about 510 million kilometers (315 million miles) from Earth, in August.  The two separated on Wednesday (November 12) and Philae landed on the comet while Rosetta remains in orbit. 

Both spacecraft are equipped with many scientific instruments and Rosetta also serves as a communications relay between Philae and Earth.   Whenever Rosetta moves below the horizon at the comet, communications between Philae and its Earth-based operators cease.  Thus there are only certain windows of opportunity when Earth and Philae can talk to each other and instructions uploaded or data downloaded.

The next communications pass will be at about 9:00 pm UTC tonight, Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec said during a Google Hangout update this morning.  Times are approximate and he added that the passes have been occurring about one hour later than expected.  Adding in the 28 minutes 20 seconds needed for a signal to travel from the comet to Earth, it will be “about midnight” when they know if contact was restored.  (At that point, he apparently was referring to midnight local time in Germany, which is Central European Time.  UTC is one hour earlier; EST is 6 hours earlier, making it about 6:00 pm EST.)

Comets have almost no gravity so Philae was equipped with harpoons that were supposed to fire into the comet’s surface to hold it in place.  Philae also has a small engine that was supposed to provide a downward force as it reached the surface.  Finally, the three landing legs had ice screws to help hold it in place.   Operators knew the engine was not working even before Philae separated from Rosetta, but decided to proceed anyway confident of the other systems.  Unfortunately, the harpoons did not fire when Philae first touched down on the comet at 10:34 am EST on November 12.   It bounced about a kilometer (about half a mile) high and floated above the comet for almost two hours before landing for a second time, bouncing again, and then landing for a third and final time about seven minutes later.

Where it landed still is not known.  Cameras aboard Rosetta are searching for it, but so far without success.  Philae is quite small — about one meter (three feet) on each side —  and it landed somewhere amidst rocks.  Not only do the rocks complicate finding it from orbit, but they are preventing sunlight from recharging Philae’s batteries. 

Valentina Lommatsch from the German space agency’s (DLR’s) lander control center clarified that all three of Philae’s legs are touching the surface despite earlier reports that one was sticking up in the air. The problem is that we are “really unlucky” to be “in a corner surrounded by rocks.”

Philae’s primary battery had 64 hours of life when it landed, enough to complete its primary scientific mission.  The hope was for an extended mission of many months, however, allowing many more investigations using Philae’s 10 scientific instruments, but those chances are looking slim.

Ulamec said that even regaining contact with the spacecraft tonight “is not secure, maybe the battery will be empty before we get contact again.”   Of the three solar panels on Philae, one is getting a low level of illumination for about 1 hour 20 minutes each “day” and the others about 20 minutes each, versus the 6-7 hours planned. 

Last night when they uploaded commands to Philae, they calculated that it had about 100 watt-hours left and 80 were needed to execute those instructions (to activate scientific experiments), Lommatsch explained.  Unfortunately one of the last commands, which would have put it into low power mode to extend the battery life, did not reach the lander and “it will be really, really close” as to whether communications can be restored, she cautioned.  Later she said the lander needs 5.1 watts to boot.  Before a battery can be recharged, its temperature must be raised to 0 degrees Celsius and that requires 50-60 watt hours per day.  Then there still must be enough daylight left to actually recharge it.  “Looks a bit bad, but we can always hope,” Lommatsch said.

ESA experts are assessing what they might be able to do with Philae if communications are restored to increase the chances of recharging, perhaps by moving the lander — either rotating it using its flywheel, or trying to get it to essentially hop out of its current location to a better spot.  If nothing else, there is a chance — although it sounded rather small — that communications could be reestablished as the comet moves closer to the Sun and illumination increases. 

Ulamec was asked why ESA did not use a nuclear power source for the lander.  Some spacecraft, like NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, use Radioisotope Thermal Generators (RTGs) to power the spacecraft and its instruments.  RTGs use heat produced by the decay of plutonium-238.  Ulamec replied that launching nuclear power sources carries safety and political implications and, in any case, Europe does not have that technology.

Despite everything, the Philae scientists, engineers and operators appear delighted with what they have been able to accomplish already, even if there is no more.  Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor said that a great deal of science data has been obtained from Philae and Rosetta and will be presented at the upcoming fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU 2014) next month in San Francisco, CA.

Flight director Andrea Accomazzo urged everyone to focus on what has been done, not what could have been done.  “This is already fantastic,” he enthused, while adding that he really wants to know exactly where Philae is and to hear from it tonight.

Last Updated: Nov 14, 2014 5:36 pm ET
Philae Works Hard To The End — And it May Not Be The End – UPDATE

Philae Works Hard To The End — And it May Not Be The End – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 14, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 15, 2014 5:38 pm ET

UPDATED throughout on November 15, 2014 (originally published November 14)

Despite the odds, the European Space Agency (ESA) was able to restore contact with its Philae lander on the surface of Comet 67P Friday evening (November 14, Eastern Standard Time).  Not only were they able to retrieve data obtained previously, but new commands were sent, new data acquired, and they succeeded in rotating the lander so more sunlight will fall on one of the solar panels.  That gives hope that contact could be restored again as the comet moves closer to the Sun.

Philae (pronounced fee-LAY) spent 10 years travelling to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko aboard its Rosetta mothership.  The two spacecraft separated on November 12 and Philae landed on the surface of the comet, the first time such a feat has been achieved.  But two systems that were intended to ensure that the lander stayed put in the very low gravity environment did not work and Philae bounced twice, landing three times.   Unfortunately, the final landing spot is surrounded by rocks, preventing sunlight from recharging the lander’s batteries.

Philae has two batteries and one of them was sufficiently charged to complete the probe’s primary scientific goals, but the hope was that it, plus a secondary battery, could be recharged to allow an extended mission lasting months rather than days.   Earlier on Friday, prospects seemed grim that even one more communications session could take place.

Philae landed for the first time at 10:34 am EST on November 12.  It bounced and remained aloft for almost two hours, bounced again and then landed 7 minutes later.  From then until approximately 7:30 pm EST Friday, its 10 scientific instruments collected a great amount of data, including drilling into the comet.  Scientists are still analyzing the data collected during the 57 hours it operated.

But with battery levels falling precipitously, at 7:28 pm EST, ESA’s operations center tweeted (@esaoperations) that the lander had switched to standby mode due to low power: “All instruments off.  Comm link still active.”  A few minutes later “Lander now sending only housekeeping data at very low rate.  All instruments off.  Comm link alive.” Soon thereafter: “our lander’s asleep.  Good night.”  ESA reports that the last contact was at 00:36 GMT November 15 (7:36 pm EST November 14).

Project manager Stephan Ulamec said “we are happy.  We can even watch it falling asleep, which is a little bit sad but it can give us data that we want to have,” according to a tweet from The Planetary Society’s Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla) who has been reporting from the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Germany throughout the lander’s mission.

Scientists are ecstatic at all the data the lander was able to acquire in that short time, and from Rosetta, which continues to orbit the comet and will collect and send back data until it runs out of fuel in 2016.   Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor said yesterday that some results will be presented at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) next month.

Cameras on Rosetta continue to try to locate Philae.   ESA does not know where it is.  The first touchdown was exactly where it was supposed to land, but where the bounces took it is unknown.  (ESA released a set of images from Rosetta’s NavCam taken of the original landing spot over a period of 3 minutes and 34 seconds as Philae approached the surface and then after it bounced, apparently leaving a dark spot of disturbed dust behind.)

Rosetta serves as a relay between Philae and Earth, so communications are only possible when Rosetta is in the correct position to serve that function.  A communications opportunity opened at 10:00 UTC (5:00 am EST) on November 15, but Philae did not respond.   Rosetta is now being moved into a different orbit around the comet to continue its own science program, but will continue listening — and looking — for Philae.

Comet 67P is on its way in towards the Sun and Rosetta will be able to study it as it becomes active with its ices melting from the Sun’s heat creating the familiar comet’s tail.  

Scientists have some hope that they may hear again from Philae if the solar panel becomes more illuminated as the comet travels inward.  During the session last night, commands were sent such that Philae lifted its body 4 centimeters and turned 35 degrees in the hope its solar panels would get more sunlight to recharge the batteries.   Between now and whenever that happens, Philae will hibernate. 

Whatever happens in the future, ESA has achieved several firsts that will go into the space exploration record books, including the first spacecraft to orbit a comet, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, and the first spacecraft to drill into the surface of a comet.

Last Updated: Nov 15, 2014 5:38 pm ET

SPACEPOLICYONLINE.COM

About | Contact | Privacy