Lander Debris Spotted on Mars

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has identifies debris from the European Space Agrency's ExoMars lander.  NASA noted:

This comparison of before-and-after images shows two spots that likely appeared in connection with the Oct. 19, 2016, Mars arrival of the European Space Agency's Schiaparelli test lander. The images are from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Separately, NASA provided its own statement on the lost lander, pointing out the difficulty of landing on Mars:

ESA and its international team have added an important achievement to the exploration of Mars by putting the Trace Gas Orbiter into orbit around the Red Planet as a platform for science investigation and communication infrastructure...Landing a spacecraft on Mars is extremely challenging. We admire the initiative and development of the teams that worked on the Schiaparelli lander that was part of the ExoMars mission.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Mars Remains an Elusiveness Goal

What started as a hopeful week has ended badly for the European Space Agency (ESA).  It has lost contact with its ExoMars landing craft late into its six minutes descent. The assumption is that the craft crashed on the surface, another victim of the Martian allure. It also raises questions about a planned rover mission.

ESA' General Director Jan Wörner put his best spin on the situation:

Following yesterday's events we have an impressive orbiter around Mars ready for science and for relay support for the ExoMars rover mission in 2020...Schiaparelli's primary role was to test European landing technologies. Recording the data during the descent was part of that, and it is important we can learn what happened, in order to prepare for the future."

This is just one more reminder that none of this is easy. We have to accept a fair amount of risk with these distant missions, and the costs will get higher with manned missions. 

ExoMars Lander on it Way to Martian Surface

The European Space Agency's ExoMars mission just started its main mission - landing on Mars.  The lander craft left the spacecraft (Trace Gas Orbiter) yesterday and started its three-day descent.  The lander is the first step before a rover arrives in 2020. 

While Mars missions have been fickle over the years, the news so far is good.  Let's hope the traffic in Mars continues. 

You can follow the mission at this ESA site.

The End of Rosetta

As the United States sends a spacecraft towards a distant asteroid, the European Space Agency was watching a different story as its explorer the Rosetta spacecraft came to an end.

Today the Rosetta spacecraft "crashed" into 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at about 2 miles per hour. Okay, maybe it was a soft landing. So now the comet hosts two ESA spacecraft - Rosetta and the earlier probe Philae. 

The mission taught us more about both comets and the early development of our own planet. For instance, the theory that the Earth's water came from earlier comments bombarding the surface seems less certain since the water on the comet was not too dissimilar.  However, the question about the role of comets in the development of life was more positive.

Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor promised the science was just beginning:

Inevitably, we now have new mysteries to solve. The comet hasn’t given up all of its secrets yet, and there are sure to be many surprises hidden in this incredible archive. So don’t go anywhere yet – we’re only just beginning.

Great Image: Glaciers From Space

The spectacular image above was taken by one of the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel satellites.  Here is ESA's explanation of what we are seeing:

The Upsala Glacier in Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park is pictured in this Sentinel-2A image from 22 January 2016. 

The park was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981 and is the largest in the country, covering an area of over 7000 sq km. 

Many glaciers in the national park and in the wider Patagonian Ice Field have been retreating during the last 50 years because of rising temperatures. Upsala Glacier has retreated more than 3 km in the past 15 years. 

Glaciers are the largest reservoirs of freshwater on our planet, and their melting or growing is one of the best indicators of climate change. Satellite data can help to monitor changes in glacier mass and, subsequently, their contribution to rising sea levels.  

Taking a closer look at the terminus of the Upsala Glacier, we can see how icebergs have broken off and are floating in the water of the upper reaches of Lake Argentino. The lake’s unique colour is attributed to ‘glacier milk’ – suspended fine sediment produced by the abrasion of glaciers rubbing against rock. 

The darker lines following the flow of the glacier are moraines: accumulations of rock, soil and other debris – including glacial milk – that have been deposited by the glacier.

And speaking of the Copernicus Sentinel satellites, ESA has a scare the other day when a small piece of space debris hit a Sentinel 1-A satellite.  The before and after pictures are provided below.  Fortunately, the satellite continued with normal operations.  The debris was thought to be only about 1 millimeter in size.  ESA's Head of Space Debris Office Holger Krag noted:

Such hits, caused by particles of millimetre size, are not unexpected...These very small objects are not trackable from the ground, because only objects greater than about 5 cm can usually be tracked and, thus, avoided by manoeuvring the satellites.

The UK and ESA

You may be wondering if the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union (EU) dooms its involvement with the European Space Agency (ESA).  According to Space News, the answer is no.

First, the ESA is not an EU organization. And second, other non-EU countries are already members, including Norway and Switzerland. 

So whatever you think of the recent British vote, it should not hamper the country's space efforts. 

A New Mars Mission Begins

A new mission to Mars started Monday with the launching of the ExoMars orbiter from Kazakstan. Designed to analyze the Martian atmosphere, the Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli probe, also called the Entry, Descent and landing demonstrator Module, will take about 7 months to reach Mars.  The ExoMars mission site highlights the goals of the mission:

• Search for signs of past and present life on Mars;
• Investigate how the water and geochemical environment varies; and
• Investigate Martian atmospheric trace gases and their sources.

While NASA was once a partner with the European Space Agency on this mission, the Russian Federal Space Agency is the new partner.  Part two involving a rover will launch sometime in 2018.

Both Europe and Russia have had some Mars SNAFUs in the recent past, so they know the dangers involved in these missions.  More observers, probes, and rovers should assist us in our understanding of Mars and its potential for visitors at some later point. 

The European Space Agency's PRIDE

The European Space Agency's (ESA) unmanned Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) space shuttle/spaceplane, part of its Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator for Europe (PRIDE), was on display last week at the Paris Air and Space Show.  Showing the wear of a February test (see above), the spaceplane represents ESA's answer to the U.S. Air Force's X37B unmanned space shuttle, though with more science and less intrigue. 

Under PRIDE, ESA's is attempting to design a space vehicle that can provide all of the following:  

- Reusable launchers stages (lower and upper),

- Robotic exploration (for example, sample return from Mars or asteroid),

- Servicing of orbital infrastructures (for example, International Space Station),

- Servicing of future generation satellites (for example, in-orbit refuelling or disposal),

- Microgravity experiments (for example, optimum time/cost ratio),

- Earth sciences (for example, high-altitude atmospheric research), and

- Earth observation (for example, crisis monitoring).

That is quite a list.  And, of course, these type of spaceplane and reusable rockets are the focus of multiple projects around the world.  For instance, in addition to SpaceX's Falcon, earlier this month the European Airbus Defence and Space unveiled the Advanced Expendable Launcher with Innovative engine Economy (Adeline), though it will not be ready until 2025-2030. And Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is developing the reusable rocket New Shepard (shown below). 

So the race is on and future missions and governments funding those missions will be the winners. 

Great Image: Close-up of Comet 67P

It almost looks fake with that shadow underneath it, but this is a shot of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken on June 7th by the Rosetta spacecraft at a distance of 203 kilometers.  Such shots, in addition to the now operational Philae lander, shows the ESA mission has been a tremendous success already and more science is to come.

Image Credit:  ESA -European Space Agency

Philae is Back Online

The Philae comet lander has started communicating again.  It has been quiet since landing on the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last November.  As had been hoped, the lander's proximity to the sun has allowed its batteries to recharge. 

In a press release from the European Space Agency, project manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec stated:

Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available...The lander is ready for operations.

An earlier story in The New Scientist also noted the orbiting Rosetta spacecraft may have located Philae on the surface of the comet (see below).  Of course, wherever it is at the moment, it is now communicating with scientists, which is the main issue.  However, whether or not this location will permit continued sunlight to charge the batteries is another question that could affect the duration of these communications.   

We Are Not Alone...

That is, we are not alone in our efforts to study the solar system and dream as a nation. This is good news, and yet also a little troubling since we saw ourselves as the smartest kid on the block (though one could argue that was not even the case with Russia during the Cold War until the Apollo landing).  While the Orion mission is a bold step forward, it is not clear where that step is leading as Congress debates destinations such as asteroids, the Moon, and Mars.  And the White House seems to be taking a back seat rather than voicing a vision. 

If you look at the traffic in space, you can see the "space race" is turning into rush hour:  Here are a few examples:

- Europe:  The Rosetta mission was a great accomplishment.  Landing a probe on a comet is no small task, and the European Space Agency (ESA) should be elated with this accomplishment.  ESA is also working with Russia on a new mission to Mars, something that the U.S. backed out of earlier.  Hence, alliances are forming with the U.S. being sidelined.

- China:  China continues to work on its plans for a space station and took further steps last year in its efforts to return samples from the moon.  China already has a rover on the Moon's surface. 

- Japan:  Japan launched the Hayabusa 2 mission last month (pictured above) heading for a 3,000-foot-wide asteroid named 1999 JU3.  NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plan to share asteroid samples.

- Russia:  The Russians continue to build most of the rockets we depend upon, have discussed pulling out of the International Space Station so they can build their own station, and recently restated plans to put cosmonauts on the Moon.  Whether or not Russia will have the budget to do these things in coming years will depend upon economics as much as science and technology given the state of the Russian economy. 

- India:  India joined the big leagues last year with its successful Mars Orbiter Mission, which put a spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet. India is also taking steps to build a new rocket and capsule for future manned missions.

- Private Sector:  In addition to the various national missions, the private sector has its own plans, including Planetary Resources mining asteroid, Mars One bringing humans to Mars, SpaceX hopefully allowing the U.S. to move away from Russian rockets, and Bigelow designing inflatable space stations (see photo) for both science and tourism. 

All of the activity is encouraging, and maybe it will give the NASA and the Congress a swift kick in the pants, letting them know that the world will not stand idle while Rome (or budgets) burn and committees fiddle.  Competition helped us get to the Moon, and it may do so again. 

Image Credits:  Hayabusa 2 from JAXA and inflatable space station from Bigelow.