China to launch lunar space probe before year's end

China announced plans on Tuesday to launch a space probe to bring back samples from the moon before the end of the year, in what state media cast as competition to U.S. President Donald Trump's ambitions to revitalize U.S. space exploration.

The Chang'e-5 lunar probe is undergoing a final round of tests and is expected to be on standby for launch from August, the official People's Daily said, citing the China National Space Administration.

The launch will involve new challenges for China in sample collection, taking off from the moon and high-speed reentry to the Earth's atmosphere, making it "one of China's most complicated and difficult space missions", Hu Hao, an official from China's Lunar Exploration Programme, told the paper.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for China to become a global power in space exploration.

"Not long ago, the United States' Trump Administration revealed an ambition to return to the moon. Our country also announced a series of deep space exploration plans," said the official Science and Technology Daily.

"The moon is the first stop for humanity's march toward deep space," the paper said.

In February, the Trump administration asked the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to look into the possibility of manning a heavy-lift rocket mission, expected to be launched in 2018, perhaps setting the stage for a human return to the moon.

China's new probe is the latest step in its lunar exploration program. In 2013, it completed its first lunar "soft landing" since 1976 with the Chang'e-3 craft and its Jade Rabbit rover.

China is aiming to send a probe to the dark side of the moon by 2018, the first ever such trip, and hopes to put astronauts on the moon by 2036.

Source: Reuters

Russia's Progress MS-05 spacecraft takes off for ISS carrying vital supplies

Russia on Wednesday launched a spacecraft carrying vital supplies to the International Space Station, as evident in photographs made available to epa.

Progress MS-05 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Wednesday using the Soyuz-U rocket, which undertook its 786th and final flight.

Source: EFE

Indian sungazers keep up family tradition for four generations leftright 14/14leftright

In the early morning darkness, Devendran P. walks up a hill to a solar observatory in India's southern hill town of Kodaikanal, trudging the same path his father and grandfather walked in a century-old family tradition of studying the sun.

Once inside, he pulls a rope to open shutters in the dome and positions a six-inch telescope used since 1899 to photograph the sun and preserve a daily record of its activity.

"The sun, like stars, has a lifetime of 10 billion years," Devendran told Reuters during a recent visit to the observatory in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu.

"If you want to know about any small changes, you need to have a large amount of data."

The observatory run by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics has a key role in providing a continuous stream of data on the sun and its influence on Earth and surrounding space, said R. Ramesh, a professor at the institute.

"Some of the discoveries made, based on data obtained in the Kodaikanal observatory, are so fundamental to solar physics that they vastly improved techniques used at observatories even today," Ramesh said.

The Evershed effect of gas motion in sunspots, discovered in 1909 by the then director of the observatory, John Evershed, is one such example, he added.

In the observatory library, shelves stretch to the ceiling, packed with volumes of handwritten records and thousands of film plates of the sun. Authorities have launched a project to digitize and preserve the data collected over the past century.

Devendran's grandfather, Parthasarty, joined the observatory in 1900, a year after it relocated from Madras, the state capital, to Kodaikanal, situated more than 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) above sea level, offering ideal weather to study the sun.

Like his father and grandfather, Devendran has no formal education in astronomy. His interest was piqued during a visit to the observatory when he was a child.

He became a fulltime sunwatcher in 1986 and says the six-inch (15-cm) telescope has never failed his family.

"It has never required any major overhaul, or change of parts, because we all take care of it," he said.

More than three decades of observation has made him feel close to the sun, despite its distance of more than 149 million kms (93 million miles) from Earth. It's a feeling enhanced by the devout family's worship of the Hindu sun god Surya, he said.

"I feel more religious than other people, as I can see that there is a universal power which is controlling everything," he said.

His 23-year-old son, Rajesh, expects to carry on the family tradition, but with one difference. He has a master's degree in physics.

"I get amazed by what my father does here," said Rajesh. "I think observing the Sun is in my blood."

Source: Reuters

Dwarf planet Ceres boasts organic compounds, raising prospect of life

A NASA spacecraft has detected carbon-based materials, similar to what may have been the building blocks for life on Earth, on the Texas-sized dwarf planet Ceres that orbits between Mars and Jupiter in the main asteroid belt, scientists said on Thursday.

The finding puts Ceres, a rock-and-ice world about 590 miles (950 km) in diameter, on a growing list of places in the solar system of interest to scientists looking for life beyond Earth. The list includes Mars and several ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

The discovery, published in the journal Science, was made by a team of researchers using NASA's Dawn spacecraft, which has been orbiting Ceres for nearly two years.

"I think these organic molecules are a long way from microbial life," Dawn lead scientist Christopher Russell of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) wrote in an email to Reuters. "However, this discovery tells us that we need to explore Ceres further." Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt and is located about three times farther from the sun than Earth. The composition of Ceres is thought to reflect the material present in parts of the solar system when it was forming some 4-1/2 billion years ago.

"The discovery indicates that the starting material in the solar system contained the essential elements, or the building blocks, for life," Russell said.

"Ceres may have been able to take this process only so far. Perhaps to move further along the path took a larger body with more complex structure and dynamics," like Earth, Russell added.

The organic material was found near a 31-mile-wide (50-km-wide) crater in Ceres' northern hemisphere. Although the exact molecular compounds in the organics could not be identified, they matched tar-like minerals, such as kerite or asphaltite, the scientists wrote.

"Because Ceres is a dwarf planet that may still preserve internal heat from its formation period and may even contain a subsurface ocean, this opens the possibility that primitive life could have developed on Ceres itself," planetary scientist Michael Kuppers of the European Space Astronomy Center in Madrid wrote in an related essay in the journal Science.

Based on the location and type of organics found on Ceres, scientists ruled out the possibility they were deposited by a crashing asteroid or comet.

Lead researcher Maria Cristina De Sanctis of Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics and colleagues suspect the material formed inside Ceres through hydrothermal activity, though how the organics reached the surface remains a mystery.

Source: Reuters

SpaceX says fix underway for rocket turbine wheel cracking

SpaceX's final version of the Falcon 9 rocket, which Elon Musk aims to launch before the end of the year, will fix a potential problem with cracks in its turbopumps, the company said on Thursday. Its statement followed a report that the U.S. Government Accountability Office will flag turbine wheel cracks in the rocket's turbopumps as a safety issue. NASA, the U.S. space agency, and the Air Force are among SpaceX's customers.

The GAO’s preliminary findings were reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

In an email to Reuters, SpaceX said it has "qualified our engines to be robust to turbine wheel cracks. However, we are modifying the design to avoid them altogether,” said spokesman John Taylor.

In addition to flying cargo to the International Space Station, SpaceX has NASA contracts to begin flying astronauts to the orbiting research laboratory as early as 2018.

"SpaceX has established a plan in partnership with NASA to qualify engines for manned spaceflight," Taylor said.

GAO investigators found that the Falcon 9 turbopumps, which are part of the system that delivers propellants to the engine, have blades that are prone to cracking, the newspaper said.

SpaceX last month resumed flights following a 4-1/2-month investigation into why a rocket blew up as it was being fueled for a routine pre-launch test in Florida.

The cause of the accident was traced to a burst canister of helium in the rocket’s second stage liquid oxygen tank. It was unrelated to the issue with the rocket’s turbopumps.

The accident was SpaceX's second since the Falcon 9 debuted in June 2010. The company's next launch is targeted for Feb. 14.

Source: Reuters

Craft that carried Tim Peake to and from space exhibited in London

A spacecraft that carried British astronaut Tim Peake on his return journey to the International Space Station is to be exhibited at the London Science Museum starting from Thursday.

Peake, along with Russian Yuri Malenchenko and American Tim Kopra, rode the Soyuz TMA-19M to the ISS in 2015 and then back down to Earth on Jun. 18, 2016, having spent six months taking part in experiments and space walks.

Source: EFE

China plans to launch new lunar probe in November

China will launch its new lunar probe, Chang E-5, at the end of November, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said, according to official media reports Monday.

This mission, which will be the first to collect samples from the Moon's surface automatically and the first that will return to Earth, will take place four years after the deployment of China's last mission to the Moon and a little more than a year after the cessation of operations of the robotic Moon rover, which was part of that mission.

Source: EFE

The European Space Agency has confirmed that the Schiaparelli module crashed

The European Space Agency acknowledged in a statement on Friday that the lander Schiaparelli has crashed into Mars as it approached the red planet's surface at a much faster rate than expected.

The ESA said that it estimated Schiaparelli fell from a height of two to four kilometers and struck Mars at considerable speed, over 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph), the agency said.

"It is also possible that the lander exploded on impact, as its thruster propellant tanks were likely still full," the ESA said in a statement.

According to the statement, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified new markings on Mars' surface that are believed to coincide with the spot where Schiaparelli crash-landed onto the surface.

The agency said that contact with the lander was lost shortly before its expected touchdown.

Data recorded by the lander's mothership, the Trace Gas Orbiter, was being studied to gain an understanding of what happened during the descent sequence.

The image released Friday has a resolution of six meters per pixel and shows two new features on the surface of Mars compared to an image of the same spot taken by the same camera in May, the statement said.

Source: EFE

U.S.-Russian crew blasts off for space station

A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts blasted off from Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a two-day journey to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz space ship carrying NASA's Shane Kimbrough and Russians Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 14:05 local time (0805 GMT) and reached orbit about eight minutes later.

It will travel in space for two days before docking at the station, which orbits about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

The trio will replace three ISS crew members - Kate Rubins of NASA, Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency - who are due to return to Earth on Oct.29.

Wednesday's launch was originally scheduled for Sept.23, but was postponed because of technical problems with the Soyuz that have since been fixed.

Source: Reuters

Rosetta space probe lands on comet, completing mission

The Rosetta probe successfully descended on a comet's surface following an intentional collision to complete its mission, the European Space Agency announced on Friday.

The Rosetta space probe transmitted its last information up until its crash onto the surface of the 67P/Churymov-Gerasimenko comet at approximately 11 am GMT.

Source: EFE

Rosetta's ambitious mission leads to new Solar System horizons

The Rosetta spacecraft's upcoming landing on comet "Chury" this Friday is set to culminate a decade-long mission considered by the European Space Agency (ESA) a scientific and public relations success that opens the door to future Solar System horizons.

Named in honor of the famous stone that deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphs, this project _ the first to orbit and land on a comet _ focused on the study of these celestial bodies, reaches the end of its Solar System sojourn with a trunkful of data pending study.

Source: EFE

India launches eight satellites into two separate orbits for first time

India on Monday launched eight satellites from different nations into orbit from a single rocket for the first time.

"Moment of immense joy and pride for India... our space scientists keep scripting history," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet.

Source: EFE

Peru's first Earth observation satellite launched into orbit

Peru's first Earth observation satellite has been launched into orbit aboard the European rocket Vega from a space station in French Guiana.

The submetric (0.7-meter resolution) observation satellite was launched at 8:43 p.m. local time Thursday (0143 GMT Friday) from the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou and its progress was observed from the National Satellite Imagery Operations Center, or CNOIS, in Pucusana, a resort south of Lima.

The Peruvian Defense Ministry provided live footage of the launch.

Defense Minister Mariano Gonzalez said at the CNOIS that "the launch of PeruSAT-1 is a milestone because for the first time it will provide us with technology capacity" for 10 years.

"PeruSAT-1 is the region's most powerful submetric observation satellite in its category," he added.

The 400-kilogram (881-pound) device will travel at a speed of seven kilometers (4.3 miles) per second and orbit Earth at an altitude of 694 kilometers (431 miles) with an image swath width of 14.5 kilometers (9 miles).

PeruSAT-1 was purchased by former President Ollanta Humala's 2011-2016 administration and is considered the most sophisticated observation satellite in Latin America with the ability to capture images of objects with dimensions of less than 1 meter (39 inches).

Peruvian authorities say the satellite will provide multiple benefits in the areas of security, national defense, productive activities and disaster prevention.

The satellite was built in France by Airbus Defence and Space in partnership with the National Commission for Aerospace Research and Development, or Conida, Peru's space agency.

PeruSAT-1 is part of the Submetric Satellite System, which under a 2014 government-to-government agreement with France also encompasses construction of the CNOIS, a technology-transfer program and access by Peru to images captured by other French satellites.

CNOIS' operations chief, Edgar Guevara, told local media that the cost of building the satellite and launching it into orbit was 150 million euros ($168.6 million).

PeruSAT-1 bears Conida's logo and a pair of messages: "Kausachum Peru" ("Long Live Peru!" in the Quechua language) and "this represents the dreams, labor and success of Peruvians working on and developing Peru's space capabilities."

Source: EFE

China has launched its second space lab

China just took another step in the space race with the launch of its second laboratory Tiangong-2 late Thursday, a major step further in the plan to establish a permanent space station by 2022.

As expected, the Tiangong-2, which translates to Heavenly Palace in Mandarin, was successfully launched at 10.04pm local time Thursday (14.04 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, some 1,600 km from Beijing.

Source: EFE

China shows first images of Mars rover, aims for 2020 mission

China has showed off its first images of a rover it plans to sent to Mars in mid-2020, which is designed to explore the planet surface for three months, state media said, the latest aim of China's ambitious space program.

China in 2003 became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

It has touted its plans for moon exploration and in late 2013 completed the first lunar "soft landing" since 1976 with the Chang'e-3 craft and its Jade Rabbit rover.

China's latest manned space mission is due in October and is aiming for a manned moon landing by 2036.

State news agency Xinhua, in a report late on Tuesday, said the 200 kg (441 lb) rover would have six wheels and be powered by four solar panels, two more than the rover China shot to the moon and 60 kg (132 lb) heavier.

"The challenges we face are unprecedented," Zhang Rongqiao, chief architect of the Mars mission, said, according to Xinhua.

The probe would carry 13 payloads including a remote sensing camera and a ground penetrating radar, on what is expected to be a three-month exploration mission blasting off in July or August 2020, the report added.

"The lander will separate from the orbiter at the end of a journey of around seven months and touch down in a low latitude area in the northern hemisphere of Mars where the rover will explore the surface," it said.

The Beijing News added that the northern hemisphere was not as good a place to utilize solar power as the equator, but that the geographic conditions were better.

Advancing China's space program is a priority for Beijing, with President Xi Jinping calling for the country to establish itself as a space power.

China insists its program is for peaceful purposes, but the U.S. Defense Department has highlighted China's increasing space capabilities, saying it is pursuing activities aimed to prevent adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis.

Apart from its civilian ambitions, Beijing has tested anti-satellite missiles, and the U.S. Congress has banned NASA from engaging in cooperation with its Chinese counterpart due to security concerns.

Source: Reuters

U.S. astronauts prepare station for commercial space taxis

Two NASA astronauts completed a six-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Friday to install a parking spot for upcoming commercial space taxis, which will end U.S. reliance on Russia for rides to the orbiting outpost.

Station commander Jeff Williams and flight engineer Kate Rubins floated outside the station's airlock and headed toward the berthing slip once used by NASA's now-retired space shuttles, a NASA TV broadcast showed.

"Great view," said Rubins, who made her first spacewalk.

Since grounding the shuttle fleet in 2011, the United States has been dependent on Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the space station, at a cost of more than $70 million per person.

During Friday's spacewalk, Williams and Rubins attached an adapter onto the shuttle's docking port that will allow commercial space taxis under development by Space Exploration Technologies and Boeing to park at the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

"It's a gateway to a new era in commercial space," said NASA mission commentator Rob Navias.

California-based SpaceX, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, plans to begin test flights of its new passenger Dragon capsule to the station in 2017.

Boeing's debut flight of its CST-100 Starliner capsule is expected in 2018.

NASA had hoped to have the first of two new docking ports installed last year, but the equipment was destroyed during a SpaceX cargo ship launch accident in June 2015.

A replacement docking port is under construction and expected to be delivered to the station in early 2018.

On Friday, Williams and Rubins routed a cable for the second docking port's installation in early 2018.

The astronauts had planned to tackle a few other lower-priority maintenance tasks, but NASA decided to end the spacewalk after an intermittent communications problem developed with Williams' spacesuit, Navias said.

Williams and Rubins are scheduled to make another spacewalk on Sept. 1 to retract a solar array cooling panel that is no longer being used and to install a high-definition television camera on the station's exterior frame.

Source: REUTERS

NASA reconnects with STEREO-B spacecraft after nearly 2 years

NASA scientists re-established contact over the weekend with the Stereo-B spacecraft, lost for almost two years, the U.S. space agency said.

STEREO-B was designed to work with other similar spacecraft to study the sun, but it stopped communicating with Earth on Oct. 1, 2014.

Source: EFE

NASA astronauts install new docking port for commercial space ships at ISS

Two NASA astronauts Friday installed the first of two new docking ports for commercial space ships at the International Space Station (ISS), the US space agency NASA reported.

During a spacewalk of 5 hours and 58 minutes, astronauts Jeff Williams, Commander of the 48th expedition and flight engineer Kate Rubins, fixed the first two points of the International Docking Adapter (IDA).

The IDA's will be used for future arrivals of manned commercial aircraft from Boeing and SpaceX, developed under the NASA manned commercial program, the agency said in a statement.

The installation will give NASA independent access to the ISS for the first time since the withdrawal of its fleet of space shuttles in 2011.

So far, NASA depends on the Russian Soyuz vessels.

Jeff Williams said in a statement that the IDA's open a new chapter in the history of the ISS enabling the access for future commercial vehicles.

The new docking mechanism was transported in June to the ISS aboard a Dragon capsule by California-based private firm SpaceX, after the first IDA was lost during the launch failure of a SpaceX flight in June 2015.

According to NASA, commercial flights from Florida to the ISS will increase the time for US crews to devote to scientific research and help prepare astronauts for deeper space missions, including possible travel to Mars.

Source: EFE

China launches world's first quantum communication satellite

China launched the world's first quantum telecommunications satellite, QUESS, early Tuesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert, northwest China, reported official news agency Xinhua.

The QUESS, or Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, a compact satellite, not bigger than a car, and that weighs 600 kg, was fired off at 1.40am aboard a Long March 2D rocket.

Source: EFE

New crew ready for lift-off to join International Space Station

Baikonur (Kazakhstan) Jul 6 (EFE)-. Three fresh crew members are ready to venture into orbit and join the International Space Station aboard a Russian rocket, the space explorers said Wednesday.

The crew, consisting of NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and astronaut Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is set to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, early Thursday.

Source: EFE