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April 5, 2017April 9, 2017 by Ken Kremer

Worlds’ 1st Recycled Booster from SpaceX Sails Serenely at Sunrise into Port Canaveral – Photo/Video Gallery

World’s first reflown rocket booster - the SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage - sails back into Port Canaveral, FL just before sunrise atop OCISLY droneship on which it landed 9 minutes after March 30, 2017 liftoff from KSC with SES-10 telecomsat - as seen entering channels mouth trailing a flock of birds from Jetty Park pier on April 4, 2017. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

PORT CANAVERAL/KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Basking in the sunrise glow, the world’s first recycled booster – namely a SpaceX Falcon 9 – sailed serenely into Port Canaveral this morning, Tuesday, April 4, atop the tiny droneship on which it soft landed shortly after launching on March 30 for an unprecedented second time.

Shortly before sunrise, SpaceX’s recovered Falcon 9 first stage triumphantly arrived on Tuesday at the mouth of Port Canaveral and the public pier at Jetty Park around 7 am – greeted by excited onlookers, media and space buffs eager to be an eyewitness to the first rocket to launch and land two times fully intact !

The Falcon 9 standing proudly erect on the football field sized OCISLY droneship landing pad was towed into port by the Elsbeth III in the wee morning hours around 7 am. The ships made their way majestically along the channel westwards until reaching the docking port.

Check out this expanding gallery of eyepopping photos and videos from several space journalist colleagues and friends and myself – for views you won’t see elsewhere.

Click back as the arrival gallery grows !

Twice flown Falcon 9 first stage arrives into Port Canaveral on April 4, 2017 floating atop droneship. Credit: Julian Leek

The milestone SpaceX mission to refly the first ever ‘used rocket’ blasted off right on time at the opening of the dinnertime launch window on Thursday, March 30, at 6:27 p.m. EDT.

The used two stage 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket carried the SES-10 telecommunications payload to orbit using a ‘Flight-Proven’ Falcon 9 rocket from seaside Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.

1st recycled SpaceX Falcon 9 booster is hoisted off OCISLY droneship after arriving and docking at Port Canaveral, FL on April 4, 2017. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

After the 156 foot tall first stage booster completed its primary mission task, SpaceX engineers successfully guided it to a second landing on the tiny Of Course I Still Love You – OCISLY – drone ship for a soft touchdown some eight and a half minutes after liftoff.

“This is a huge revolution in spaceflight,” billionaire SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk told reporters at the post launch briefing at the Kennedy Space Center press site, barely an hour after liftoff.

Musk’s goal is to drastically reduce the cost of spaceflight so that it will one day lead to a ‘City on Mars’.

Recovered and twice flown and landed SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage stands chained to the deck of the OCISLY droneship as seen being towed into the mouth of Port Canaveral channels from Jetty Park pier on April 4, 2017. It launched on March 30, 2017 from KSC and delivered SES-10 telecomsat to GTO. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

OCISLY had left Port Canaveral several days ahead of the March 30 launch and was prepositioned in the Atlantic Ocean some 400 miles (600 km) off the US East coast, just waiting for the boosters 2nd history making approach and pinpoint propulsive soft landing.

This recycled Falcon 9 first stage booster had initially launched a year ago in April 2016 for NASA on the SpaceX Dragon CRS-8 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under contract for the space agency.

Check out these exquisite videos showing various aspects of the Port arrival and processing:

Video Caption: This video shows the return of the first re-used SpaceX Falcon 9 booster to Port Canaveral on 4/4/17 in detail. After launching the SES-10 satellite on 3/30/17 it then landed on the OCISLY drone ship for the second time. The video highlights OCISLY’s return to port and docking. The booster was then hoisted off the droneship with a crane and stationed on a pedestal on land for processing. Credit: Jeff Seibert

Video Caption: The booster looks ready for another flight after arriving in to Port Canaveral, FL on 4 April 2017 and launching/landing from KSC on 30 March 2017. Elon Musk has said it will be put on display in Florida. This is a total game changer for the rocket industry. Credit:USLaunchReport

After making its way picturesquely through Port Canaveral channel, the droneship was docked, Workers soon attached a metal cap to the top of the first stage.

Next they removed the restraining chains fastening the booster to the deck. Next they hoisted it off the droneship with a work crane and transported it onto a work pedestal on the ground for further processing.

By late evening I observed that the workers were still busily operating on the booster. They were welding the metal cap to the top of the booster. All 4 landing legs were still attached as of 10 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 4.

The legs will soon be detached so the booster can be rotated horizontal and trucked back to the huge hangar at pad 39A.

Watch for Ken’s continuing coverage direct from onsite at the Kennedy Space Center press site and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Workers weld cap to top of relaunched/recovered SpaceX Falcon 9 at night with gorgeous water reflections after hoisting it off the OCISLY droneship onto ground work platform at Port Canaveral, FL on April 4, 2017 . Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

Workers process the relaunched/recovered SpaceX Falcon 9 at night with gorgeous water reflections after hoisting it off the OCISLY droneship onto ground work platform at Port Canaveral, FL on April 4, 2017 . Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk and SES CTO Martin Halliwell exuberantly shake hands of congratulation following the successful delivery of SES-10 TV comsat to orbit using the first reflown and flight proven booster in world history at the March 30, 2017 post launch media briefing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

Closeup of base of reflown SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage rocket and 4 landing legs after Port Canaveral arrival on droneship on Apr 4, 2017. Credit: Julian Leek

ELSBETH III towing OCISLY and Falcon 9, next to Jetty Park pier at the entrance to Port Canaveral channel. Good fisherman story… “hey I think I just caught me a big rocket!” As reflown SpaceX Falcon 9 floats by on OCISLY droneship onlookers and fisherman watch from Jetty Park pier on 4 April 2017. Credit: Chuck Higgins

Slowly making their way down Port Canaveral channel as the Sun continues to rise on ELSBETH III towing OCISLY. Credit: Carol Higgins

Reflown SpaceX Falcon 9 on OCISLY is towed by ELSBETH III and slowly makes its way down Port Canaveral channel as the Sun continues to rise and buzzards keep watch. Credit: Jean Wright

1st reflown/relanded SpaceX Falcon 9 booster sails past pelicans and pleasure craft atop OCISLY droneship through Port Canaveral channel, FL on April 4, 2017. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

April 4, 2017April 5, 2017 by Nancy Atkinson

Cassini’s Final Mission to Annihilation Starts April 22

This illustration shows Cassini above Saturn's northern hemisphere prior to one of its 22 Grand Finale dives. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Grab the tissues. This video nearly had the Cassini team all choked up during today’s press briefing, and virtual sobs and sniffs were abundant on social media posts sharing the video.

“We get goosebumps and get emotional every time we see it,” said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL.

On April 22 the Cassini spacecraft will begin its ‘Grand Finale’ — the beginning of the end of this tremendous mission that has provided breathtaking images and so many new discoveries of Saturn, its rings and moons. The mission will end on September 15, 2017, when it makes a dramatic plunge into the gas giant.

Here’s the video that had everyone teary-eyed. Be prepared for some stunning visuals:

Today, Maize talked about how nineteen countries and three space agencies contributed to the success of the Cassini/Huygens mission, saying the mission has been truly an international triumph and a phenomenal achievement.

“Cassini’s legacy is assured. We are in the books!” Maize said. “But the best is yet to come. We are going to dive into the gap between the rings of Saturn and Saturn’s atmosphere, a place where no spacecraft has ever gone. We’ll be going 70,000 mph (112,634 km/hr) into a 1,500-mile-wide (2,400-kilometer) gap, operating the spacecraft from a billion miles away.”

Cassini has been a relatively trouble free mission, and has made many discoveries about the Saturn system. So why crash the spacecraft?

Cassini is running out of fuel, basically running on fumes at this point.* And NASA needs to follow the protocol of planetary protection, and not allow a spacecraft with possible microbes from Earth to crash into a potentially habitable moon such as Enceladus or Titan.

“Cassini’s own discoveries were its demise,” Maize said. “Enceladus has a warm, salt water ocean. We can’t risk an inadvertent contact with this pristine body. The only choice was to destroy it (Cassini) in a designed fashion.”

Maize said that back in 2010, the team decided they would make the mission last as long as possible and use every last kilogram of propellant to explore the Saturn system as thoroughly as they could.

Cassini vs. Saturn. As depicted in this illustration, Cassini will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere on Sept. 15, 2017. Using its attitude control thrusters, the spacecraft will work to keep its antenna pointed at Earth while it sends its final data, including the composition of Saturn’s upper atmosphere. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The final flyby of Titan on April 22 will ultimately alter Cassini’s trajectory and push it toward the spacecraft’s final demise. Maize described the gravity slingshot from Titan as a “last kiss goodbye that will push Cassini into Saturn. This is a roller coaster ride that we’re not coming out of.”

You can plot Cassini’s trajectory in JPL’s “Eyes on Cassini” special section of their Eyes on the Solar System website.

Cassini will make 22 passes through the gap, and in doing so, further our understanding of how giant planets, and planetary systems everywhere, form and evolve.

Project Scientist Linda Spilker said Cassini will be able to make close up measurements of Saturn and its rings to finally help us understand the mass and internal structure of Saturn. And the images should be absolutely stunning.

There’s the risk of dust or debris hitting the spacecraft, potentially crippling Cassini. But the risk is worth it, because if the spacecraft survives through even just a few of the close passes, the scientific payback will be incredible. However, even if the spacecraft is crippled and can’t send back its final science observations, the end is inevitable, as the path toward destruction will be written by the final ‘kiss’ from Titan.

“This is something we couldn’t try at any other time,” Maize said. “But now is time.”

A computer-generated representation of all Cassini’s Saturn orbits -affectionately called the “ball of yarn” by mission planners. The time frame spans Saturn Orbit Insertion on July 1, 2004 to the end of mission on Sept. 15, 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The Cassini team said the end of the mission will likely be a combination of excitement, pride and a sense of loss.

“I think that once the signal is lost, it would mean the heartbeat of Cassini is gone,” said Spilker. “I think there will be tremendous cheers and applause for the completion of an absolutely incredible mission. Hugs, tears — the Kleenex box will be passed around — but we will rejoice at being part of such a wonderful mission.”

See more images and information about the Grand Finale here.

For more of an inside look at Cassini, I devote a chapter of my book to the mission, with more insight from Earl Maize, Linda Spilker and others about the history and discoveries of the Cassini/Huygens mission, and additional details about the Grand Finale. “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Channging Our View of the Cosmos.”

Artist’s concept of Cassini orbiter crossing Saturn’s ring plane.
Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

*One of the Cassini team members said that as of today (April 4, 2017) Cassini has 36kg of hydrazine left for the thrusters, which are used everyday to orient the spacecraft, point the antenna towards Earth, point the instruments to their desired targer, etc. For the Titan flyby on April 22, about 10-15 kg. As for the bipropellant that runs the main engines, that’s a little more unknown and the one the team is worried most about running out of fuel. The team member said there is about 10 kg of that fuel left, “plus or minus 20 kilos [meaning there is true uncertainty about how much of this fuel remains]. We could run out today, or we could have 30 kilos left.”

April 4, 2017April 28, 2017 by Evan Gough

TRAPPIST-1 Is Showing A Bit Too Much Flare

Artist's impression of a system of exoplanets orbiting a low mass, red dwarf star. Credit: NASA/JPL

It turns out that the TRAPPIST-1 star may be a terrible host for the TRAPPIST planets announced in February.

The TRAPPIST-1 star, a Red Dwarf, and its 7 planets caused a big stir in February when it was discovered that 3 of the rocky planets are in the habitable zone. But now more data is coming which suggests that the TRAPPIST-1 star is much too volatile for life to exist on its planets.

Red Dwarfs are much dimmer than our Sun, but they also last much longer. Their lifetimes are measured in trillions of years, not billions. Their long lives make them intriguing targets in the search for habitable worlds. But some types of Red Dwarf stars can be quite unstable when it comes to their magnetism and their flaring.

Our own Sun produces flares, but we are protected by our magnetosphere, and by the distance from the Sun to Earth. Credit: NASA/ Solar Dynamics Observatory,

A new study analyzed the photometric data on TRAPPIST-1 that was obtained by the K2 mission. The study, which is from the Konkoly Observatory and was led by astronomer Krisztián Vida, suggests that TRAPPIST-1 flares too frequently and too powerfully to allow life to form on its planets.

The study identified 42 strong flaring events in 80 days of observation, of which 5 were multi-peaked. The average time between flares was only 28 hours. These flares are caused by stellar magnetism, which causes the star to suddenly release a lot of energy. This energy is mostly in the X-ray or UV range, though the strongest can be seen in white light.

While it’s true that our Sun can flare, things are much different in the TRAPPIST system. The planets in that system are closer to their star than Earth is to the Sun. The most powerful flare observed in this data correlates to the most powerful flare observed on our Sun: the so-called Carrington Event.The Carrington Event happened in 1859. It was an enormously powerful solar storm, in which a coronal mass ejection struck Earth’s magnetosphere, causing auroras as far south as the Caribbean. It caused chaos in telegraph systems around the world, and some telegraph operators received electric shocks.

Earth survived the Carrington Event, but things would be much different on the TRAPPIST worlds. Those planets are much closer to their Sun, and the authors of this study conclude that storms like the Carrington Event are not isolated incidents on TRAPPIST-1. They occur so frequently that they would destroy any stability in the atmosphere, making it extremely difficult for life to develop. In fact, the study suggests that the TRAPPIST-1 storms could be hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than the storms that hit Earth.

A study from 2016 shows that these flares would cause great disturbances in the chemical composition of the atmosphere of the planets subjected to them. The models in that study suggest that it could take 30,000 years for an atmosphere to recover from one of these powerful flares. But with flares happening every 28 hours on TRAPPIST-1, the habitable planets may be doomed.

The Earth’s magnetic field helps protects us from the Sun’s outbursts, but it’s doubtful that the TRAPPIST planets have the same protection. This study suggests that planets like those in the TRAPPIST system would need magnetospheres of tens to hundreds of Gauss, whereas Earth’s magnetosphere is only about 0.5 Gauss. How could the TRAPPIST planets produce a magnetosphere powerful enough to protect their atmosphere?

It’s not looking good for the TRAPPIST planets. The solar storms that hit these worlds are likely just too powerful. Even without these storms, there are other things that may make these planets uninhabitable. They’re still an intriguing target for further study. The James Webb Space Telescope should be able to characterize the atmosphere, if any, around these planets.

Just don’t be disappointed if the James Webb confirms what this study tells us: the TRAPPIST system is a dead, lifeless, grouping of planets around a star that can’t stop flaring.

April 4, 2017April 28, 2017 by Nancy Atkinson

Extraterrestrial Origin Of Fast Radio Burst Phenomenon Confirmed

Artist’s impression shows three bright red flashes depicting fast radio bursts far beyond the Milky Way, appearing in the constellations Puppis and Hydra, above the Mongolo radio telescope in Australia. Credit: James Josephides/Mike Dalley.

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) have puzzled astronomers since they were first detected in 2007. These mysterious milliseconds-long blasts of radio waves appear to be coming from long distances, and have been attributed to various things such as alien signals or extraterrestrial propulsion systems, and more ‘mundane’ objects such as extragalactic neutron stars. Some scientists even suggested they were some type of ‘local’ source, such as atmospheric phenomena on Earth, tricking astronomers about their possible distant origins.

So far, less than two dozen FRBs have been detected in a decade. But now researchers from the Australian National University and Swinburne University of Technology have detected three of these mystery bursts in just six months using the interferometry capabilities of the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) in Canberra, Australia. In doing so, they were able to confirm that these FRBs really do come from outer space.

“Figuring out where the bursts come from is the key to understanding what makes them,” said Manisha Caleb, a PhD candidate at ANU, and lead author of a new paper. “While only one burst has been linked to a specific galaxy we expect Molonglo will do this for many more bursts.”

The unique long and narrow configuration of MOST provides a huge collecting area of about 18,000 square meters for a very large field of view, about 8 square degrees of the sky. In an effort to boost the capabilities of this telescope for hunting for the elusive FRBs, MOST has been upgraded and reconfigured, with the ultimate goal of localizing the bursts down to an individual galaxy.

Caleb produced software to sift through the 1,000 terabytes of data produced by MOST each day, and that allowed her and her team to make the three new FRB discoveries.

They determined the three new FRBs really were from space because the events were well beyond the 10,000 km near-field limit of the telescope, which ruled out local (terrestrial) sources of interference as a possible origin.

Caleb and her team wrote in their paper that they also demonstrated with pulsars that a repeating FRB seen with MOST has the potential to be localized quite precisely, which is “an exciting prospect for identifying the host,” they wrote.

Gemini composite image of the field around FRB 121102, the only repeating FRB discovered so far. Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA/NSF/NRC.

So far, however, just one FRB has repeated, and although Caleb and her team were able to observe the area of each of the new FRBs for several hours, (105 hours following FRB 160317, 43 hours on FRB 160410 and 35 hours on FRB 160608) they found that “no repeat pulses were found from any of the FRB positions.”

But with the nature and source of these FRBs still being highly debated, the capabilities of MOST and an Australian collaboration called BURST provides the most promising hope for determining what FRBs truly are. The BURST project will perform deep FRB searches with MOSTS’s wide field-of-view and nearly constant single pulse searches of the radio sky. You can read more about the project here.

Read the team’s paper: The first interferometric detections of Fast Radio Bursts
Press release from Swinburne

April 4, 2017April 28, 2017 by Matt Williams

Venus 2.0 Discovered In Our Own Back Yard

Artist's impression of Kepler-1649b, the "Venus-like" world orbiting an M-class star 219 light-years from Earth. Credit: Danielle Futselaar

It has been an exciting time for exoplanet research of late! Back in February, the world was astounded when astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced the discovery of seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, all of which were comparable in size to Earth, and three of which were found to orbit within the star’s habitable zone.

And now, a team of international astronomers has announced the discovery of an extra-solar body that is similar to another terrestrial planet in our own Solar System. It’s known as Kepler-1649b, a planet that appears to be similar in size and density to Earth and is located in a star system just 219 light-years away. But in terms of its atmosphere, this planet appears to be decidedly more “Venus-like” (i.e. insanely hot!)

The team’s study, titled “Kepler-1649b: An Exo-Venus in the Solar Neighborhood“, was recently published in The Astronomical Journal. Led by Isabel Angelo – of the SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, and UC Berkley – the team included researchers also from SETI and Ames, as well as the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScl), the Exoplanet Research Institute (iREx), the Center for Astrophysics Research, and other research institutions.

*Diagram comparing the Solar System to Kepler 69 and its system of exoplanets. Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech*

Needless to say, this discovery is a significant one, and the implications of it go beyond exoplanet research. For some time, astronomers have wondered how – given their similar sizes, densities, and the fact that they both orbit within the Sun’s habitable zone – that Earth could develop conditions favorable to life while Venus would become so hostile. As such, having a “Venus-like” planet that is close enough to study presents some exciting opportunities.

In the past, the Kepler mission has located several extra-solar planets that were similar in some ways to Venus. For instance, a few years ago, astronomers detected a Super-Earth – Kepler-69b, which appeared to measure 2.24 times the diameter of Earth – that was in a Venus-like orbit around its host the star. And then there was GJ 1132b, a Venus-like exoplanet candidate that is about 1.5 times the mass of Earth, and located just 39 light-years away.

In addition, dozens of smaller planet candidates have been discovered that astronomers think could have atmospheres similar to that of Venus. But in the case of Kepler-1649b, the team behind the discovery were able to determine that the planet had a sub-Earth radius (similar in size to Venus) and receives a similar amount of light (aka. incident flux) from its star as Venus does from Earth.

However, they also noted that the planet also differs from Venus in a few key ways – not the least of which are its orbital period and the type of star it orbits. As Dr. Angelo told Universe Today via email:

“The planet is similar to Venus in terms of it’s size and the amount of light it receives from it’s host star. This means it could potentially have surface temperatures similar to Venus as well. It differs from Venus because it orbits a star that is much smaller, cooler, and redder than our sun. It completes its orbit in just 9 days, which places it close to its host star and subjects it to potential factors that Venus does not experience, including exposure to magnetic radiation and tidal locking. Also, since it orbits a cooler star, it receives more lower-energy radiation from its host star than Earth receives from the Sun.”

*Artist’s impression of a Venus-like exoplanet orbiting close to its host star. Credit: CfA/Dana Berry*

In other words, while the planet appears to receive a comparable amount of light/heat from its host star, it is also subject to far more low-energy radiation. And as a potentially tidally-locked planet, the surface’s exposure to this radiation would be entirely disproportionate. And last, its proximity to its star means it would be subject to greater tidal forces than Venus – all of which has drastic implications for the planet’s geological activity and seasonal variations.

Despite these differences, Kepler-1649b remains the most Venus-like planet discovered to date. Looking to the future, it is hoped that next-generations instruments – like the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the James Webb Telescope and the Gaia spacecraft – will allow for more detailed studies. From these, astronomers hope to more accurately determine the size and distance of the planet, as well as the temperature of its host star.

This information will, in turn, help us learn a great deal more about what goes into making a planet “habitable”. As Angelo explained:

“Understanding how hotter planets develop thick, Venus-like atmospheres that make them inhabitable will be important in constraining our definition of a ‘habitable zone’. This may become possible in the future when we develop instruments sensitive enough to determine chemical compositions of planet atmospheres (around dim stars) using a method called ‘transit spectroscopy’, which looks at the light from the host star that has passed through the planet’s atmosphere during transit.”

The development of such instruments will be especially useful given joust how many exoplanets are being detected around neighboring red dwarf stars. Given that they account for roughly 85% of stars in the Milky Way, knowing whether or not they can have habitable planets will certainly be of interest!

Further Reading: The Astronomical Journal

April 3, 2017April 28, 2017 by Matt Williams

Mars’ Trojans Show Remains Of Ancient Planetoid

A new study led by researchers from OU indicates that the outer planets could be why Mars is significantly smaller than Earth. Credit: NASA

Trojan asteroids are a fascinating thing. Whereas the most widely known are those that orbit Jupiter (around its L4 and L5 Lagrange Points), Venus, Earth, Mars, Uranus and Neptune have populations of these asteroids as well. Naturally, these rocky objects are a focal point for a lot of scientific research, since they can tell us much about the formation and early history of the Solar System.

And now, thanks to an international team of astronomers, it has been determined that the Trojan asteroids that orbit Mars are likely the remains of a mini-planet that was destroyed by a collision billions of years ago. Their findings are detailed in a paper that will be published in The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society later this month.

For the sake of their study, the team – which was led by Galin Borisov and Apostolos Christou of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in Northern Ireland, examined the composition of Marian Trojans. This consisted of using spectral data obtained by the XSHOOTER spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and photometric data from the National Astronomical Observatory‘s two-meter telescope, and the William Herschel Telescope.

*Diagram of Jupiter and the inner Solar System, showing the Jupiter and Martian Trojans (light green) and the Main Belt (teal). Credit: Wikipedia Commons/AndrewBuck*

Specifically, they examined two members of the Eureka family – a group of Martian Trojans located at the planet’s L5 point. It is here that eight of Mars’ nine known Trojans exist in stable orbits (the other being at L4), and which are named after the first Martian Trojan ever discovered – 5261 Eureka. Like all Trojans, the Eurekas are thought to have orbited Mars ever since the formation of the Solar System.

In fact, astronomers have suspected for some time that the Martian Trojans could be the survivors of an early generation of planetesimals from which the inner Solar System formed. As Dr. Christou told Universe Today via email:

“[The Trojan family] is unique in the Solar System, in more ways than one. Unlike every other family that exists in the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, it is made up of olivine-rich asteroids. Also, the asteroids are < 2km across, much smaller than we can see at other families, basically because they are much closer to the Earth than other asteroids. Finally, it is the closest family we know to the Sun, and this has implications on how it formed in that the tiny but continuous action of sunlight may have played a role.”

After combining spectrographic and photometric data on these asteroids, the team found that they were rich in the mineral olivine – a magnesium iron silicate that is a primary component of the Earth’s mantle and (it is believed) other terrestrial planets. This was unusual find as far as asteroids go, but it was even more interesting when compared to 5261 Eureka itself – which also has an olivine-rich composition.

*The first X-ray view of Martian soil by Curiosity rover at the “Rocknest” (October 17, 2012), showing traces of feldspar, pyroxenes, and olivine. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ames*

Given that the Eureka asteroids also have similar orbits, the team concluded that every member of this family is likely to have a common composition – and hence, a common origin. These findings could have drastic implications for both the origin of Martian Trojans, and the origin of the inner Solar System. As Dr. Christou explained:

“The presence of asteroids with exposed olivine on their surfaces constrains the sequence of events that led to Mars’ formation. Olivine forms within objects that grew large enough to differentiate into a crust, mantle and core. Therefore, these objects must have formed before Mars did and were available to participate in Mars’ formation. To expose the olivine, it is necessary to break these objects up through collisions. Our ongoing work indicates that this is unlikely to have happened after the Solar System settled down in its current configuration, therefore there must have been period of intense collisional evolution during the planet formation process.”

In other words, if Mars formed from several types of material that was mixed together, these asteroids would be samples of the original source – i.e. planetesimals. By examining these asteroids further, scientists will be able to learn more about the process through which Mars came to be and (as Christou says) help us “unscramble the Martian omelette.”

This research is also likely to reveal much about the formation of Earth and the other terrestrial planets of the Solar System. Similar efforts will be made with NASA’s upcoming Lucy mission, which is scheduled to launch in October of 2021. Between 2027 and 2033, this probe will study Jupiter’s Trojan population, obtaining information on six of the asteroid’s geology, surface features, compositions, masses and densities to learn more about their origins.

Further Reading: MNRAS, Armagh Observatory

April 3, 2017April 4, 2017 by David Dickinson

Surprise: Comet E4 Lovejoy Brightens

Credit and copyright: The Virtual Telescope Project

Had your fill of binocular comets yet? Thus far this year, we’ve had periodic comets 2P/Encke, 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková and 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák all reach binocular visibility above +10^th magnitude as forecasted. Now, we’d like to point out a surprise interloper in the dawn sky that you’re perhaps not watching, but should be: Comet C/2017 E4 Lovejoy.

If that name sounds familiar, that’s because E4 Lovejoy is the sixth discovery by prolific comet hunter Terry Lovejoy. Comets that have shared the Lovejoy moniker include the brilliant sungrazer C/2011 W3 Lovejoy, which amazed everyone by surviving its 140,000 kilometer (that’s about 1/3 the Earth-Moon distance!) pass near the blazing surface of the Sun on December 16^th, 2011 and went on to be a great comet for southern hemisphere skies.

The path of Comet E4 Lovejoy through the end of April. Credit: Starry Night.

Unfortunately, E4 Lovejoy won’t get quite that bright, but it’s definitely an over achiever. Shining at a faint +15^th magnitude when it was first discovered last month on March 9^th, 2017, it has since jumped up to +7^th magnitude (almost 160 times in brightness) in just a few short weeks. We easily picked it out near the +2.4 magnitude star Enif (Epsilon Pegasi) on Saturday morning April 1^st in the pre-dawn sky. E4 Lovejoy was an easy catch with our Canon 15×45 image-stabilized binocs, and looked like a tiny +7 magnitude globular (similar to nearby Messier 15) that stubbornly refused to snap into focus. In fact, I’d say that E4 Lovejoy was a much easier comet to observe than faint Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák, which made its closest pass 0.142 Astronomical Units (21.2 million kilometers) from the Earth on the same day.

Comet E4 Lovejoy from the morning of April 4th. Image credit and copyright: Gerald Rhemann/Sky Vistas.

Prospects and Prognostications

E4 Lovejoy will remain an early pre-dawn object through April for northern hemisphere observers as it glides through the constellations Pegasus, Andromeda and Triangulum. If current predictions hold true, the comet should reach a maximum brightness of magnitude +6 around April 15^th. On an estimated ~ 600,000 year orbit, Comet E4 Lovejoy may be a first time visitor to the inner solar system, and its current outburst may also be short-lived. In fact, there’s lots of speculation that Comet E4 Lovejoy may disintegrate altogether, very soon. Plus, the Moon is headed towards Full next week on April 11^th, making this week the best time to catch a glimpse of this fleeting comet.

The projected light curve for Comet E4 Lovejoy. Credit: Seiichi Yoshida’s *Weekly Information About Bright Comets*.

And to think: we just missed having a bright naked eye comet! That’s because Comet E4 Lovejoy very nearly passed through the space that the Earth will occupy just next month. In fact, the comet passed just 0.11 AU (17 million kilometers) interior to the Earth’s orbit on March 22^nd, 2017. Had it done the same on May 4^th, it would have been 5 times closer and 25 (about 3 to 4 magnitudes) times brighter!

The orbit of Comet E4 Lovejoy through the inner solar system. NASA/JPL

A tantalizing miss, for sure. Comet C/2017 E4 Lovejoy reaches perihelion at 0.5 AU (77.5 million kilometers) from the Sun on April 23^rd, and passed 0.6 AU (93 million kilometers) from the Earth on March 31^st. This week, it will be moving through Pegasus at a rate of about four degrees (8 Full Moon diameters) a day. With an orbital inclination of 88 degrees, Comet E4 Lovejoy’s path is very nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic path traced out by the Earth. The comet swung up from the south during discovery, and is now headed northward towards perihelion.

Here are some key dates for Comet C/2017 E4 Lovejoy to watch out for in April:

April 7^th: Passes less than one degree from the +3.5 magnitude star Sadal Bari (Lambda Pegasi).

April 9^th: Passes less than 10′ from the +2.4 magnitude star Scheat (Beta Pegasi).

April 13^th: Crosses into the constellation Andromeda.

April 19^th: Photo-op, as the comet passes 4 degrees from the Andromeda Galaxy M31.

April 22^nd: Passes between the +2^nd magnitude star Mirach and the +4^th magnitude star Mu Andromedae.

April 27^th: Passes five degrees from the Pinwheel Galaxy M33.

April 28^th: Crosses into the constellation Triangulum.

Looking to the northeast at 6 pm local on the morning of April 19th from latitude 30 degrees north. Credit: Stellarium.

Teaser for 2017 Comets

We’re barely a quarter of the way through 2017, with more cometary action to come. We’re expecting 2015 ER51 PanSTARRS (May), and 2015 V2 Johnson (June) to reach binocular visibility. You can read about comets, occultations, and more in our guide to 101 Astronomical Events for 2017, a free e-book from Universe Today.

We’re due for the next big one, for sure. It always seems like there’s a “Great Comet” per every generation or so, and its been 20 years now since comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake graced northern skies.

Binoculars are the best tool for observing comets like E4 Lovejoy, as they offer a generous true (i.e. not inverted) field of view. A good finder chart and dark skies also help. We like to find a good nearby ‘anchor’ object such as a bright star, then hop into the suspected comet area and start sweeping.

One thing’s for sure: we need more comets with names like Lovejoy… if nothing else, it’s much easier to pronounce, and us science writers don’t have to keep hunting through the ‘insert’ menu for those strange letter symbols that grace many of these icy denizens of the Oort Cloud as they pay a visit to the inner solar system.

April 2, 2017April 3, 2017 by Ken Kremer

1st Reflown SpaceX Falcon 9 Soars to Orbit with SES-10 Revolutionizing Rocketry Forever – Photo/Video Gallery

Worlds 1st ever reflown SpaceX Falcon 9 soars to orbit with SES-10 telecomsat from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:27 p.m. EDT on March 30, 2017. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s Billion dollar bet on rocket recycling paid off beautifully when the world’s first ever reflown rocket booster – a SpaceX Falcon 9 – roared off NASA’s historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center and successfully delivered the next generation SES-10 TV satellite to orbit and simultaneously shot revolutionary shock waves reverberating forever across the rocket industry worldwide.

And as if the relaunch of a ‘Flight-Proven’ booster was not enough, SpaceX engineers deftly maneuvered the Falcon 9 first stage to a second successful pinpoint landing on a miniscule droneship at sea.

The stunning events were captured by journalists and tourists gathered from around the globe to witness history in the making with their own eyeballs.

Check out this expanding gallery of eyepopping photos and videos from several space journalist colleagues and friends and myself – for views you won’t see elsewhere.

Click back as the gallery grows !

SpaceX Falcon 9 with SES-10 telecomsat soars to orbit over Melbourne Airport, FL, on March 30, 2017. Credit: Julian Leek

The milestone SpaceX mission to refly the first ever ‘used rocket’ blasted off right on time at the opening of the dinnertime launch window on Thursday, March 30, at 6:27 p.m. EDT.

Musk said SpaceX invested about a billion dollars of his firm’s own funds and 15 years of hard won effort to accomplish the unprecedented feat that many experts deemed virtually unattainable or outright impossible.

“This represents the culmination of 15 years of work at SpaceX to be able to refly a rocket booster,” Musk elaborated.

“It’s really a great day, not just for SpaceX, but for the space industry as a whole, proving something can be done that many people said was impossible.”

But SES Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Martin Martin Halliwell had faith in SpaceX from the beginning and unabashedly discounted the risk – based on his in depth knowledge.

‘We had a team embedded with SpaceX all along the way,” SES CTO Haliwell said at the post launch briefing.

Furthermore Halliwell was instrumental in signing up telecom giant SES as the paying customer who had complete confidence in placing his firm’s expensive SES-10 communication satellite atop SpaceX’s history making used and now successfully reflown booster.

“There have been naysayers,” Halliwell told reporters at a prelaunch press briefing on March 28. “I can tell you there was a chief engineer of another launch provider — I will not say the name — who told me, categorically to my face, you will never land a first stage booster. It is impossible. If you do it then it will be completely wrecked.”

“We are confident in this booster,” Halliwell told me at the prelaunch briefing.

“There is not a huge risk,” Halliwell stated emphatically. “In this particular case we know that the reusability capability is built into the design of the Falcon 9 vehicle.”

“You’ve got to decouple the emotion from the engineering,” Halliwell elaborated on Thursday’s launch. “The engineering team that Elon has working for him is really second to none. He asks very simple profound questions. And he gets very good answers. The proof is in the pudding.”

SpaceX Falcon 9 and SES-10 Satellite clear the tower at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 on March 30, 2017 – as seen from KSC Visitor Complex Apollo/Saturn Center. Credit: Carol Higgins

“This will rock the space industry,” said Halliwell at the post launch media briefing. “And SpaceX already has!”

Reflown SpaceX Falcon 9 soars to orbit with SES-10 telecomsat from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:27 p.m. EDT on March 30, 2017. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

The recycled Falcon delivered the nearly six ton SES-10 satellite to geostationary transfer orbit where it will provide significantly improved TV, voice, data and maratime service to over 37 million customers across Central and South America.

This recycled Falcon 9 first stage booster first launched in April 2016 for NASA on the SpaceX Dragon CRS-8 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under contract for the space agency.

Furthermore, after the 156 foot tall first stage booster completed its primary mission task, SpaceX engineers successfully guided it to a second landing on the tiny OCISLY drone ship for a soft touchdown some eight and a half minutes after liftoff.

It thus became the first booster in history to launch twice and land twice.

SpaceX Falcon 9 and SES-10 Satellite rising higher, picking up speed at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 on March 30, 2017 – as seen from KSC Visitor Complex Apollo/Saturn Center. . Credit: Carol Higgins

Watch for Ken’s continuing coverage direct from onsite at the Kennedy Space Center press site and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

Liftoff, fire & smoke, with SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket 9 and SES-10 Satellite rising off the launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 on March 30, 2017 – as seen from KSC Visitor Complex Apollo/Saturn Center. Credit: Carol Higgins

1st relaunched SpaceX Falcon 9 arcs over towards Africa after blastoff from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:27 p.m. EDT on March 30, 2017 carrying SES-10 telecomsat to GTO. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com

Re-launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 with SES-10 comsat soaring to orbit with trailing exhaust trail as seen above the Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL. Credit: Melissa Bayles

Heading downrange, higher and higher, faster and faster — SpaceX Falcon 9 and SES-10 Satellite liftoff from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on March 30, 2017 – as seen from KSC Visitor Complex Apollo/Saturn Center. Credit: Carol Higgins

March 31, 2017April 4, 2017 by Matt Williams

Deepest X-ray Image Ever Made Contains Mysterious Explosion

A mysterious flash of X-rays has been discovered by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in the deepest X-ray image ever obtained. Credit: NASA/Chandra/Harvard

For over sixty years, astronomers have been exploring the Universe for x-ray sources. Known to be associated with stars, clouds of super heated gas, interstellar mediums, and destructive events, the detection of cosmic x-rays is challenging work. In recent decades, astronomers have been benefited immensely from by the deployment of orbital telescopes like the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Since it was launched on July 23rd, 1999, Chandra has been NASA’s flagship mission for X-ray astronomy. And this past week (on Thurs. March 30th, 2017), the Observatory accomplished something very impressive. Using its suite of advanced instruments, the observatory captured a mysterious flash coming from deep space. Not only was this the deepest X-ray source ever observed, it also revealed what could be an entirely new phenomenon.

Located in the region of the sky known as the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S), this X-ray emission source appeared to have come from a small galaxy located approximately 10.7 billion light-years from Earth. It also had some remarkable properties, producing more energy in the space of a few minutes that all the stars in the galaxy combined.

*Artist illustration of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the most sensitive X-ray telescope ever built. Credit: NASA/CXC/NGST*

Originally detected in 2014 by a team of researchers from Penn State University and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago, Chile, this source was not even detected in the X-ray band at first. However, it quickly caught the team’s attention as it erupted and became 1000 brighter in the space of a few hours. At this point, the researchers began gathering data using Chandra’s Advanced CCD Imaging Spectronomer.

A day after the flare-up, the X-ray source had faded to the point that Chandra was no longer able to detect it. As Niel Brandt – the Verne M. Willaman Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State and part of the team that first observed it – described the discovery in a Penn State press release:

“This flaring source was a wonderful surprise bonus that we accidentally discovered in our efforts to explore the poorly understood realm of the ultra-faint X-ray universe. We definitely ‘lucked out’ with this find and now have an exciting new transient phenomenon to explore in future years.”

Thousands of hours of legacy data from the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes was then consulted in order to determine the location of the CDF-S X-ray source. And though scientists were able to determine that the image of the X-ray source placed it beyond any that had been observed before, they are not entirely clear as to what could have caused it.

*X-ray (left) and optical (right) images of the space around the X-ray source, made with Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope, respectively. Credit: NASA/CXC/F. Bauer et al.*

On the one hand, it could be the result of some sort of destructive event, or something scientists have never before seen. The reason for this has to do with the fact that X-ray bursts also come with a gamma-ray burst (GRB), which appears to be missing here. Essentially, GRBs are jetted explosions that are triggered by the collapse of a massive star or by the merger of two neutron stars (or a neutron star with a black hole).

Because of this, three possible explanations have been suggested. In the first, the CDF-S X-ray source is indeed the result of a collapsing star or merger, but the resulting jets are not pointed towards Earth. In the second, the same scenario is responsible for the x-ray source, but the GRB lies beyond the small galaxy. The third possible explanation is that the event was caused by a medium-sized black hole shredding a white dwarf star.

Unfortunately, none of these explanations seem to fit the data. However, these research team also noted that these possibilities are not that well understood, since none have been witnessed in the Universe. As Franz Bauer – an astronomer from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile – said: “Ever since discovering this source, we’ve been struggling to understand its origin. It’s like we have a jigsaw puzzle but we don’t have all of the pieces.”

Not only has Chandra not observed any other X-ray sources like this one during the 17 years it has surveyed the CDF-S region, but no similar events have been observed by the space telescope anywhere in the Universe during its nearly two decades of operation. On top of that, this event was brighter, more short-lived, and occurred in a smaller, younger host galaxy than other unexplained X-ray sources.

*Still image of the X-ray source observed by Chandra, showing the captured flare up at bottom Credit: NASA/CXC/Pontifical Catholic Univ./F.Bauer et al.*

From all of this, the only takeaway appears to be that the event was likely the result of a cataclysmic event, like a neutron star or a white dwarf being torn apart. But the fact that none of the more plausible explanations seem to account for it’s peculiar characteristics would seem to suggest that astronomers may have witnessed an entirely new kind of cataclysmic event.

The team’s study – “A New, Faint Population of X-ray Transient“- is available online and will be published in the June 2017 issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. In the meantime, astronomers will be sifting through the data acquired by Chandra and other X-ray observatories – like the ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission – to see if they can find any other instances of this kind of event.

And of course, future surveys conducted using Chandra and next-generation X-ray telescopes will also be on the lookout for these kind of short-lived, high-energy X-ray bursts. It’s always good when the Universe throws us a curve ball. Not only does it show us that we have more to learn, but it also teaches us that we must never grow complacent in our theories.

Be sure to check out this animation of the CDF-S X-ray source too, courtesy of the Chandra X-ray Observatory:

Further Reading: Chandra, PennState

March 31, 2017April 4, 2017 by Matt Williams

Space Station Drama After Vital Micrometeorite Shielding Floats Away

This week, astronauts aboard the ISS conducted an EVA which involved a close call and a bitch of a "patch up" job. Credit: NASA

This past week (on Thurs. March 30th), two crew members of Expedition 50 conducted an important spacewalk on the exterior of the International Space Station. During the seven hours in which they conducted this extravehicular activity (EVA), the astronauts reconnected cables and electrical connections on a new Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA-3) and installed four new thermal protection shields on the Tranquility module.

These shields were required to cover the port that was left exposed when (earlier in the week) the PMA-3 was removed and installed robotically on the Harmony module. In the course of the EVA, the two astronauts – Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson – were forced to perform an impromptu patch up job when one of the shield unexpectedly came loose.

While things flying off into space is not entirely unusual, on this occasion, there were concerns given the size and weight of the object. This shield measures about 1.5 meters by 0.6 meters (5 feet by 2 feet) and is 5 centimeters (2 inches) thick. It also weighs a little over 8 kg (18 lbs), which would make it a serious impact hazard given the relative velocity of orbital debris (28,000 km/h).

*Spacewalk support personnel quickly at the Johnson Space Center, looking for a solution to the loss of thermal and micrometeoroid shield. Credit: NASA*

After coming loose, the bundled-up shield quickly floated away and became visible in the distance as a white dot. In response, a team from the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center began monitoring the shield as it drifted. At the same time, they began working on a contingency plan to substitute the shielding, and advised the astronauts to finish covering the port with the PMA-3 cover Whitson removed earlier that day.

The plan worked, and the cover was successfully installed, providing thermal, micrometeoroid and orbital debris protection for the port. Kimbrough and Whitson finished their EVA at 2:33 pm EDT, having successfully installed the remaining shields on the berthing mechanism port. A few hours after it came loose, Mission Control also determined that the shield posed no risk to the ISS and will eventually burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Before concluding their spacewalk, Kimbrough and Whitson also installed what has been nicknamed a “cummerbund” around the base of the PMA-3 adapter. This cloth shield – which also provides micrometeorite protection – is so-named because it fits around the adapter in a way that is similar to how a tuxedo’s cummerbund fits around a person’s waist.

Another highlight of this spacewalk was the fact that Peggy Whitson set two new records with this latest EVA. In addition to setting the record for the most spacewalks by a female astronaut (eight), she also set the record for most accumulated time spent spacewalking – just over 53 hours – by a female astronaut. The 57-year old astronaut now ranks fifth on the list of all-time spacewalking by any astronaut.

*Astronaut Peggy Whitson signs her autograph near an Expedition 50 mission patch attached to the inside the International Space Station. Credit: NASA*

On top of all that, Expedition 50 is Whitson’s third mission to the ISS, and she has spent a total of 500 days in space – also a record for any female astronaut. She arrived aboard the ISS aboard the Soyuz MS-03 – along with ESA flight engineer Thomas Pesquet and Roscosmos flight engineer Oleg Novitskiy – and is scheduled to return to Earth in June (though she may remain there until September).

The top spot for most accumulated time in spacewalking is currently held by Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev, who has participated in 16 spacewalks for a grand total of 82 hours spent in EVA. And in total, spacewalkers have now spent a total of 1,243 hours and 42 minutes performing 199 spacewalks in support of the assembly and maintenance of the ISS.

When it comes to being an astronaut, one of the most important requirements is flexibility – the ability to adapt to unexpected situations and come up with solutions on the fly. Crew 50 and Mission Control certainly demonstrated that this week, maintaining a tradition that brought the Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth and has kept the ISS running for almost two decades.

Further Reading: ABCnews, NASA