OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dixit:

“Reiner Gamma (γ) is a geographical feature of the Moon known as a lunar swirl. It is one of the most visible lunar swirls from Earth, visible from most telescopes. It was originally thought to be a lunar highland, but scientists eventually realized that it cast no shadow on the moon. Until recently, Reiner Gamma’s origin was a mystery. Historically, it was not associated with any particular irregularities in the surface. Recently, similar features were discovered in Mare Ingenii and Mare Marginis by orbiting spacecraft. The feature on Mare Ingenii is located at the lunar opposite point from the center of Mare Imbrium. Likewise the feature on Mare Marginis is opposite the midpoint of Mare Orientale. Thus scientists believe that the feature resulted from seismic energies generated by the impacts that created these maria. Unfortunately there is no such lunar mare formation on the opposite surface of the Moon (although the large crater Tsiolkovskiy lies within one crater diameter).

Reiner Gamma is located on the Oceanus Procellarum, west of the crater Reiner. Its center is located at selenographic coordinates 7.5°N 59.0°W. It has an overall dimension of about 70 kilometres. The feature has a higher albedo than the relatively dark mare surface, with a diffuse appearance and a distinctive swirling, concentric oval shape. Related albedo features continue across the surface to the east and southwest, forming loop-like patterns over the mare. The central feature of Reiner Gamma resembles the dipolar formation created by iron filings on a surface with a bar magnet on the underside. Low-orbiting spacecraft have observed a relatively strong magnetic field associated with each of these albedo markings. Some have speculated that this magnetic field and the patterns were created by cometary impacts. However the true cause remains uncertain.

Reiner Gamma’s magnetic field strength is approximately 15 nT, measured from an altitude of 28 km. This is one of the strongest localized magnetic anomalies on the Moon. The surface field strength of this feature is sufficient to form a mini-magnetosphere that spans 360 km at the surface, forming a 300 km thick region of enhanced plasma where the solar wind flows around the field. As the particles in the solar wind are known to darken the lunar surface, the magnetic field at this site may account for the survival of this albedo feature.

In early lunar maps by Francesco Maria Grimaldi, this feature was incorrectly identified as a crater. His colleague Giovanni Riccioli then named it Galilaeus, after Galileo Galilei. The name was later transferred northwest to the current crater Galilaei.”

Video credit: NASA Goddard

NASA dixit:

“The unpiloted Russian ISS Progress 67 cargo ship automatically docked to the rear port of the station’s Zvezda Service Module on June 16, completing a two-day journey following its launch atop a Soyuz booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on June 14. The new Progress is delivering three tons of food, fuel and supplies to the residents of the station and will remain attached to the outpost through December.”

Video credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“The unpiloted Russian ISS Progress 67 cargo ship launched atop a Soyuz booster June 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a two-day journey to the International Space Station. The new Progress, which is carrying three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the residents of the orbital complex, is scheduled to automatically dock to the rear port of the station’s Zvezda Service Module on June 16. It will remain attached to the station through December.”

Video credit: NASA/Roscosmos

ESA dixit:

“ESA’s Swarm satellites are seeing fine details in one of the most difficult layers of Earth’s magnetic field to unpick – as well as our planet’s magnetic history imprinted on Earth’s crust. Earth’s magnetic field can be thought of as a huge cocoon, protecting us from cosmic radiation and charged particles that bombard our planet in solar wind. Without it, life as we know it would not exist. Most of the field is generated at depths greater than 3000 km by the movement of molten iron in the outer core. The remaining 6% is partly due to electrical currents in space surrounding Earth, and partly due to magnetised rocks in the upper lithosphere – the rigid outer part of Earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

Although this ‘lithospheric magnetic field’ is very weak and therefore difficult to detect from space, the Swarm trio is able to map its magnetic signals. After three years of collecting data, the highest resolution map of this field from space to date has been released.

“By combining Swarm measurements with historical data from the German CHAMP satellite, and using a new modelling technique, it was possible to extract the tiny magnetic signals of crustal magnetisation,” explained Nils Olsen from the Technical University of Denmark, one of the scientists behind the new map. ESA’s Swarm mission manager, Rune Floberghagen, added: “Understanding the crust of our home planet is no easy feat. We can’t simply drill through it to measure its structure, composition and history. “Measurements from space have great value as they offer a sharp global view on the magnetic structure of our planet’s rigid outer shell.”

The magnetic field is in a permanent state of flux. Magnetic north wanders, and every few hundred thousand years the polarity flips so that a compass would point south instead of north. When new crust is generated through volcanic activity, mainly along the ocean floor, iron-rich minerals in the solidifying magma are oriented towards magnetic north, thus capturing a ‘snapshot’ of the magnetic field in the state it was in when the rocks cooled. Since magnetic poles flip back and forth over time, the solidified minerals form ‘stripes’ on the seafloor and provide a record of Earth’s magnetic history.”

Video credit: ESA

Wikipedia dixit:

“EchoStar was originally formed in 1980 as a distributor of C band TV systems. In 1987, it applied for a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) license with the Federal Communications Commission and was granted access to orbital slot 119° west longitude in 1992. On December 28, 1995, the firm successfully launched its first satellite, EchoStar I. On March 4, 1996, it established the Dish Network brand name to market its home satellite TV system.

In 1998, EchoStar purchased the broadcasting assets of a satellite broadcasting joint venture of News Corporation’s ASkyB and MCI Worldcom. With this purchase the firm obtained 28 of the 32 transponder licenses in the 110° W orbital slot, more than doubling existing CONUS broadcasting capacity at a value of $682.5 million. The acquisition inspired the company to introduce a multi-satellite system called DISH 500, theoretically capable of receiving more than 500 channels on one dish.
“Legacy” represent the 950 to 1450 MHz frequencies used to deliver the signal throughout the home; the signal is broadcast to the home on the Ku band from satellite (12.2-12.7 GHz). Ku frequencies will not work on home wiring, the signal is downconverted to the intermediate frequency (IF) of 950-1450 MHz at the dish antenna. Newer technology (DishPro) also uses 1650-2150 MHz in addition to 950-1450.

Also in 1998, the firm, in association with Bell Canada, launched Bell TV. On September 25, 2007, the firm announced it had agreed to acquire Sling Media, Inc.
On January 2, 2008, the Dish Network business was demerged from the technology and infrastructure side of the business. A split in the shares created two companies, DISH Network Corporation which consists mainly of the DISH Network business, and EchoStar Corporation which retains ownership of the technology side including the satellites, Sling Media, and the set-top box development arm. DISH Network completed its distribution to Echostar of its digital set-top box business, certain infrastructure, and other assets and related liabilities, including certain of their satellites, uplink and satellite transmission assets, and real estate (the “Spin-off”). Since the Spin-off, EchoStar and DISH Network have operated as separate publicly-traded companies. However, as a result of the Satellite and Tracking Stock Transaction, DISH Network owns shares of EchoStar and their subsidiary’s preferred tracking stock representing an aggregate 80.0% economic interest in the residential retail satellite broadband business of their Hughes segment.

EchoStar 21 will provide mobile broadband services over Europe with an S-band payload for EchoStar Mobile Ltd (formerly known as TerreStar 2).”

Video credit: Roscosmos

Wikipedia dixit:

“SpaceX CRS-11, also known as SpX-11, is a current cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, launched successfully on 3 June 2017. The mission was contracted by NASA and is being flown by SpaceX. The mission utilized a Falcon 9 launch rocket and reuses a Dragon v1 cargo vessel that was previously flown on the CRS-4 mission. CRS-11 is the penultimate of the first twelve missions awarded to SpaceX under the CRS contract to resupply the International Space Station.

This was the first time that a Dragon spacecraft is reused, helping SpaceX to scale back its production line and shift focus to Dragon 2. CRS-11 launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on 3 June 2017 at 21:07 UTC from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. The spacecraft rendezvoused with the station on 5 June and conducted a series of orbit adjustment burns to match speed, altitude, and orientation with the ISS. After arriving at the capture point at 13:37 UTC, the vehicle was snared at 13:52 UTC by Canadarm2, operated by Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer. It was berthed to the Harmony module at 16:07 UTC, where it will reside until 2 July 2017.

The first stage landed successfully on Landing Zone 1, making it the fifth successful touch down on land and the 11th overall.”

Video credit: SpaceX