Space

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/8019933

Astronomers have spotted the earliest barred spiral galaxy yet. It is the same type of galaxy as our Milky Way, but it dates back to when the universe was just 2 billion years old, earlier than was thought possible.

Such galaxies have a distinctive bar-shaped structure in their centre made of stars, from which spiral arms stretch out.

About two-thirds of all spiral galaxies, including the Milky Way, have a prominent stellar bar filled with infant stars. Cosmic formation models have suggested that these galaxies only started forming some 4 billion years after the big bang. Now, Luca Costantin at the Spanish Astrobiology Centre and his colleagues have found an even older one.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/8749424

Highlights:

Representatives from 22 European countries reached an agreement Monday to change the way the continent's rockets are developed, moving from a government-driven approach to a commercial paradigm that appears to be modeled after how NASA and the US military do business.

The agreement means the new Ariane 6 rocket, which is running four years late and still hasn't flown, should be the last launch vehicle developed by ESA. Europe's old way of developing rockets just isn't working anymore. The current model, Aschbacher said, has been in place for decades, producing new generations of Ariane rockets since 1979.

Next year, ESA will open a competition to any European company working in the launch business. These companies can submit proposals to ESA through what the agency calls a "challenge" initiative. ESA will select several companies, perhaps up to three, for public funding that will come in the form of commercial service contracts, similar to how NASA works with contractors like SpaceX or United Launch Alliance in the launch arena.

"It will be one, two, or three, that we will develop in a competition," said Toni Tolker-Nielsen, acting director of space transportation at ESA. "Perhaps later it will funnel down to two. We shall see how it goes."

The field of startup launch companies in Europe includes German firms like HyImpulse, Rocket Factory Augsburg, and Isar Aerospace; British companies such as Skyrora and Orbex; and Spain's PLD Space, which recently test-launched its first suborbital test vehicle. ArianeGroup has its own small launch startup called MaiaSpace in France, and the Italian company has plans to evolve its already-flying Vega launch vehicle. All these companies, and others across Europe, would be eligible for ESA's new launch challenge.

The rest of the article gives a fairly detailed overview of the technical and geopolitical issues with current European launch vehicles, the decision to switch to commercial vehicles, and possible future to European crewed vehicles.

The asteroid Dinkinesh’s newfound moon is actually a contact binary – two objects lightly touching at their ends. This is the first time such a binary has been found orbiting another asteroid.

Dinkinesh was the first rock visited by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, which flew past on 1 November. When the spacecraft went by, it found a smaller rock orbiting Dinkinesh that the Lucy team has provisionally named Salam.

But as Lucy has sent more data back to Earth, it’s become clear that Salam isn’t just a single object. Instead, it appears to be two similar-sized rocks connected at the end, resulting in a sort of peanut shape. The team missed it at first because in the images from Lucy, one lobe of the asteroid must have been hidden behind the other.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/8560948

Not too surprising given their current situation and previous launch success rate. If anything, I'm surprised how long it is taking for the company to go under.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/8492311

I feel conflicted on deorbiting the ISS at the end of its operational life. It is showing its age, and newer space stations will be no doubt be better, but it seems a shame to lose such an iconic piece of history.

I wonder if it would be possible to preserve it in space as a museum for future generations to visit. Thoughts?

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/8492567

Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, inaugurated the spaceport at a ceremony Nov. 2. The spaceport is located at Nordmela on the Norwegian island of Andøya inside the Arctic Circle and is in the final stages towards operating capability, according to a Nov. 2 press statement.

Andoya Space says the spaceport will become the first operational orbital spaceport in Europe.

The development comes as Europe faces a bottleneck in launch capabilities, with delays to the Ariane 6 and grounding of the Vega C, and a need for strategic autonomy.

The fully constructed spaceport is planned to host several launch pads. German rocket developer Isar Aerospace has exclusive access to the first launch site, which has been built to Isar’s specifications. This infrastructure includes a launch pad, payload integration facilities and a mission control center.

The launch site will support Isar’s two-stage Spectrum launch vehicle, designed to deliver up to 700 kilograms to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) and up to 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit.

I hadn't heard of Isar or Spectrum before. It will be interesting to see if they can carve out a section of the European launch market.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/8492861

Interesting tidbit:

Some assessments have shown the cost of doing research on a suborbital human spaceflight vehicle, like the ones flown by Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin, is about one-tenth the cost of flying a fully automated science payload on a conventional suborbital sounding rocket.

I wouldn't have expected that human spaceflight could be cheaper than non-human spaceflight in some cases.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/8491829

Nothing to see here, just Blue Origin continuing to achieve slow and small results on a large budget.

GIANT stands for Goddard Image Analysis and Navigation Tool, and it is basically an optical navigation software. That's right, it uses images snapped by cameras, lidar, and other sensors to find the best way forward, kind of like we humans do when we use our eyes to see where we're going.

Simply put, GIANT only needs a picture of the target to be able to determine distance, the mass and center of a spinning object, and even identify landmarks on the surface of a celestial body. Three-dimensional maps of potential landing zones can also be generated, complete with potential hazards.

B1058 launched at 2023-11-04 00:37 UTC, and landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas at 00:45 UTC, setting a new record for Falcon 9 booster reuse at 18 flights.