Explosions on Jupiter and here on Earth, more strange things photographed on Mars and alien signals (or not) are some of the themes that have been prominent in recent times in astronomy and space. And let’s not forget about NASA, which is doing yet another test run of the Artemis I mission before launch.
Without further ado, check out these and other news that rocked the week.
Using publicly available satellite imagery, a netizen discovered that an explosion occurred on a launch pad at one of China’s most important space hubs. The event was not reported by the country’s media.
High resolution satellite imagery shows that there was an explosion at a launch pad south of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in October 2021.
The location of this pad is 40°50’13.3″N, 100°10’31.8″E (https://t.co/KjLngbke1t). pic.twitter.com/Qckwaqtcrj
— Harry Stranger (@Harry__Stranger) June 10, 2022
According to Harry Strange, the explosion took place between the 15th and 16th of October, at the Jiuquan space center, from where the Shenzhou manned missions are launched. However, it does not seem to have affected the Chinese space program: on the same day the Shenzhou-13 mission, with three astronauts aboard, was launched into space from another platform in the same space center.
The Perseverance rover has added yet another item to NASA’s collection of strange images of Mars. This time, the robot found a “snake head” and a shiny piece of junk on the planet’s surface.
The snake’s head is actually a curious rock between layers of sediment on the edge of Jezero Crater, a site that was once the delta of an ancient river. And she is not alone: she is next to the “balancer rock”, which has a rounded shape and is supported on a stone pillar.
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The garbage was inadvertently left behind by Perseverance itself: it is a piece of a thermal blanket that protected the rover during its voyage through space, and that probably broke loose during entry into the Martian atmosphere. What intrigues scientists is its location, about 2 km from the landing site. Did it land there during its descent, or was it blown by the winds on the surface of Mars? We still don’t have the answer.
Chinese researchers drew attention this week by declaring they had found radio signals that could originate from extraterrestrial civilizations. The discovery was made using FAST, the largest operating radio telescope in the world.
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But before anyone panics, it’s worth mentioning that the scientists involved themselves say “more study” is needed before reaching a conclusion. In fact, according to Dan Werthimer, a researcher at the University of California and the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and a participant in the study that found the signal, it is most likely radio interference from sources right here on earth.
A Kyoto University study in Japan found the biggest impact flash on Jupiter since the planet was hit by comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994. It occurred in 2021 and was detected by the Planetary Observation Camera for Transient Research. Optics (PONCOTS), a small telescope dedicated to searching for flashes in the planet’s atmosphere.
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Using the instrument, the Japanese team determined that the impact released an energy equivalent to 2 million tons of TNT, and was caused by a space rock with a mass of around 4,000 tons. The flash reached a temperature of 8,000 °C. On Earth, the impact would cause great destruction.
NASA will begin this Saturday (18) another dress rehearsal for the launch of the Artemis I mission, the first of the space program that intends to put humans back on the surface of the Moon.
The SLS rocket and Orion capsule were taken to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, where they will go through all the steps of an actual launch, except for engine ignition. The goal is to make sure the set is ready to actually go into space.
The next #Artemis I wet dress rehearsal attempt of @NASA_SLS and @NASA_Orion will begin on Saturday, June 18, with tanking operations on Monday, June 20.
This rehearsal is the final test needed before launch. Here’s how you can follow along: https://t.co/0qXuGKDVwa pic.twitter.com/emyhfmklRr
— NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) June 13, 2022
The last rehearsal attempts were thwarted by failures. In the most recent one, in April, the NASA team found a hydrogen leak during fueling, so the rocket and capsule were taken back to KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) facility, where NASA teams performed the necessary repairs. .
Since the first satellites in the Starlink constellation were launched, astronomers have expressed concern about their impact on astronomical observations from Earth. The problem is that they are so bright that they appear as bright streaks in large numbers in telescope images.
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SpaceX has tried to alleviate the problem by installing a “sunshade” on the satellites, but units launched since late last year do not have this accessory, which has been “retired” due to changes in the design of the latest group of satellites.
The sunshade was replaced by dielectric mirrors, which should reflect less sunlight. But the idea seems to have gone awry, and the satellites are now brighter than the previous generation, at least the units located at latitudes 50 degrees south or north, during sunrise and sunset. Needless to say, astronomers didn’t like this at all.
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