OrbitalHub

ESA dixit:

“It’s the perfect meeting of old and new. Astronomers have combined recent data from ESA’s Gaia mission with a simple analysis technique from the 18th century to discover a massive star cluster that had previously escaped detection. Subsequent investigations are helping to reveal the star-forming history of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. “

Video credit: ESA

ESA dixit:

“INTEGRAL (from INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) observes the ever-changing, powerful, and violent cosmos. It is the first space observatory that can simultaneously observe objects in gamma rays, X-rays, and visible light. The spacecraft travels in a geosynchronous highly eccentric orbit with high perigee in order to provide long periods of uninterrupted observation with nearly constant background and away from the radiation belts. Over time, the perigee and apogee have changed, as has the plane of the orbit.

In 2015, spacecraft operators conducted four thruster burns that were carefully designed to ensure that the satellite’s eventual entry into the atmosphere in 2029 will meet the Agency’s guidelines for minimising space debris. The orbital changes introduced during these manoeuvres are highlighted in blue. Making these disposal manoeuvres so early also minimises fuel usage, allowing ESA to exploit the satellite’s lifetime to the fullest.

By revealing both the diffuse emission from our Galaxy, the Milky Way, and the population of individual sources that shine brightly at these energies in our Galaxy and beyond, INTEGRAL has broadened our understanding of the high-energy Universe.”

Video credit: ESA/ScienceOffice.org

ESA dixit:

“ESA’s CryoSat and the Copernicus Sentinel-1 missions have been used to measure subtle changes in the elevation and flow of ice shelves that, in turn, reveals how huge canyons are forming underneath. Warm bottom ocean water is entering the cavity under Antarctica’s Dotson ice shelf and is stirred by Earth’s rotation. This is causing one side of the ice shelf to melt. The canyon, which has formed over 25 years, is now 200 m deep in places and the ice just above it is heavily crevassed, affecting the shelf’s future ability to buttress the ice on land.”

Video credit: ESA/University of Edinburgh–N. Gourmelen/Planetary Visions

Boston Dynamics released a teaser video with SpotMini, their new small four-legged robot, and the quietest robot they designed and built. SpotMini weighs 25 kg, it is all-electric, and has a 90 minute range. The navigation is supported by stereo cameras, depth cameras, an IMU, and position/force sensors in the limbs. SpotMini has the ability to maintain balance and negotiate rough terrain.

Video credit: Boston Dynamics

NASA dixit:

“The first flight of an advanced supersonic parachute system for Mars 2020—NASA’s next Mars rover. This video is narrated by Ian Clark, the test’s technical lead from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The test took place on October 4, 2017, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia. At the moment of full inflation, the parachute is going 1.8 times the speed of sound or nearly 1,300 miles an hour, and generating nearly 35,000 pounds of drag force—drag that would be necessary to help slow a payload down as it was entering the Martian atmosphere. This is the first of several tests in support of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission.”

Video credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Goddard dixit:

“A team from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is developing a new, third-generation facility science instrument for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA.

The High Resolution Mid-InfrarEd Spectrometer (HIRMES), is a spectrometer optimized to detect neutral atomic oxygen, water, as well as normal and deuterated (or “heavy”) hydrogen molecules at infrared wavelengths between 25 and 122 microns (a micron is one-millionth of a meter). These wavelengths are key to determining how water vapor, ice, and oxygen combine at different times during planet formation, and will enable new observations of how these elements combine with dust to form the mass that may one day become a planet.

HIRMES will provide scientists with a unique opportunity to study this aspect of planetary formation, as SOFIA is currently the only NASA observatory capable of accessing these mid-infrared wavelengths. Infrared wavelengths between 28 and 112 microns do not reach ground-based telescopes because water vapor and carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere block this energy. SOFIA is able to access this part of the electromagnetic spectrum by flying between 39,000 feet and 45,000 feet, above more than 99 percent of this water vapor.”

Francis Reddy (Syneren Technologies): Science Writer

Rob Andreoli (AIMM): Videographer

John Caldwell (AIMM): Videographer

Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Animator

Music credit: “Sparkle Shimmer” and “The Orion Arm”, both from Killer Tracks.

Video credit: NASA Goddard/Scott Wiessinger