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Copernical Team

Copernical Team

Thursday, 28 March 2024 08:00

ESA and NASA team up to study solar wind

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Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe

In the run up to April’s total solar eclipse, ESA-led Solar Orbiter and NASA-led Parker Solar Probe are both at their closest approach to the Sun. Tomorrow, they are taking the opportunity to join hands in studying the driving rain of plasma that streams from the Sun, fills the Solar System, and causes dazzlement and destruction at Earth.

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The SLIM lander touched down in January at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way
The SLIM lander touched down in January at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way.

Japan's moon lander woke up after unexpectedly surviving a second frigid, two-week lunar night and transmitted new images back to Earth, the country's space agency said Thursday.

The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) probe touched down in January, making Japan only the fifth nation to reach the without crashing.

But the lightweight spacecraft landed at a wonky angle that left its facing the wrong way.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced the probe's latest surprise awakening in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"We received a response from SLIM last night and confirmed that SLIM had successfully completed its second overnight," it said.

A black-and-white photo of the rocky surface of a crater accompanied the post on SLIM's official account.

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Solar eclipse
Total Solar eclipse 1999 in France. Credit: Wikipedia, by Luc Viatour.

Seventh-grade student Henry Cohen bounced side to side in time to the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" playing in teacher Nancy Morris' classroom, swinging his arms open and closed across the planets pictured on his T-shirt.

Henry and other classmates at Cleveland's Riverside School were on their feet, dancing during a session of activities tied to April's total solar eclipse. Second-graders invited in for the lessons sat cross-legged on the floor, laughing as they modeled newly decorated eclipse viewing glasses. Dioramas with softball-sized model earths and moons and flashlight "suns" occupied desks and shelves around the room.

Henry said his shirt reflected his love of space, which he called "a cool mystery." The eclipse, he said, "is a one in a million chance and I'm glad I get to be here for it."

For schools in or near the path of totality of the April 8 eclipse, the event has inspired lessons in science, literacy and culture. Some schools also are organizing group viewings for students to experience the awe of daytime darkness and learn about the astronomy behind it together.

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WISPR team images turbulence within solar transients for the first time
Illustration of Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben

The Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) Science Team, led by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), captured the development of turbulence as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) interacted with the ambient solar wind in the circumsolar space. This discovery is reported in the Astrophysical Journal.

Taking advantage of its unique location inside the sun's atmosphere, the NRL-built WISPR telescope on NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission, operated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), captured in unparalleled detail the interaction between a CME and the background ambient solar wind.

To the surprise of the WISPR team, images from one of the telescopes showed what seemed like turbulent eddies, so-called Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (KHI). Such structures have been imaged in the terrestrial atmosphere as trains of crescent wave-like clouds and are the results of strong wind shear between the upper and lower levels of the cloud.

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Looking at a solar eclipse can be dangerous without eclipse glasses. Here’s what to know
Justin Coleman, of Birmingham, Ala., holds his glasses up to his eyes as he watches the solar eclipse atop a parking structure, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Birmingham. Safe solar eclipse glasses block out the sun’s ultraviolet rays and nearly all visible light. When worn indoors, only very bright lights should be faintly visible – not household furniture or wallpaper.
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NASA’s Europa Clipper Survives and Thrives in ‘Outer Space’ on Earth
Europa Clipper is seen in the 25-Foot Space Simulator at JPL in February, before the start of thermal vacuum testing. A battery of tests ensures that the NASA spacecraft can withstand the extreme hot, cold, and airless environment of space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In less than six months, NASA is set to launch Europa Clipper on a 1.6-billion-mile (2.6-billion-kilometer) voyage to Jupiter's ocean moon Europa. From the wild vibrations of the rocket ride to the intense heat and cold of space to the punishing radiation of Jupiter, it will be a journey of extremes. The spacecraft was recently put through a series of hard-core tests at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to ensure it's up to the challenge.

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NASA selects first lunar instruments for Artemis astronaut deployment
Artist’s concept of an Artemis astronaut deploying an instrument on the lunar surface. Credit: NASA

NASA has chosen the first science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the moon during Artemis III. Once installed near the lunar South Pole, the three instruments will collect valuable scientific data about the lunar environment, the lunar interior, and how to sustain a long-duration human presence on the moon, which will help prepare NASA to send astronauts to Mars.

"Artemis marks a bold new era of exploration, where amplifies . With these innovative instruments stationed on the moon's surface, we're embarking on a transformative journey that will kick-start the ability to conduct human-machine teaming—an entirely new way of doing science," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.

"These three deployed instruments were chosen to begin scientific investigations that will address key moon to Mars science objectives."

The instruments will address three Artemis science objectives: understanding planetary processes, understanding the character and origin of lunar polar volatiles, and investigating and mitigating exploration risks.

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Watch a real-time map of Starlinks orbiting earth
Starlink interactive map offered by SpaceX. Credit: StarlinkMap.org

In an effort to enhance the educational outreach of their Starlink constellation, SpaceX has an interactive global map of their Starlink internet satellites, which provides live coverage of every satellite in orbit around the Earth.

This comes as SpaceX continues to launch Starlink satellites into orbit on a near-weekly basis with the goal of providing customers around the world with while specifically targeting rural regions of the globe. In 2022, Starlink officially reached all seven continents after Starlink service became available in Antarctica. Additionally, SpaceX announced in 2023 a partnership with T-Mobiel for Starlink to provide mobile coverage, as well.

Within this interactive map, users can opt to see live satellite coverage or rewind and fast-forward their respective orbital speeds. Scrolling your mouse will highlight each satellite, and clicking on them will produce their individual satellite information and orbital trajectory, enabling the user to see if a particular satellite will pass over their location.

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Video: 00:38:30

ESA Member States met in Paris, France, for the 323rd session of the ESA Council on 26 and 27 March 2024.

Watch the replay of the information session in which ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun share the outcome of the meeting. They gave an update to media about ESA's vision for the European space sector by 2040 and the status of actions provided in the roadmap for the implementation of the Resolution on present and future European Space Transportation.  

They also addressed the progress made in addressing critical challenges faced by ESA in preparation for the next Ministerial Council

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NASA to launch sounding rockets into moon's shadow during solar eclipse
This photo shows the three APEP sounding rockets and the support team after successful assembly. The team lead, Aroh Barjatya, is at the top center, standing next to the guardrails on the second floor. Credit: NASA/Berit Bland

NASA will launch three sounding rockets during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, to study how Earth's upper atmosphere is affected when sunlight momentarily dims over a portion of the planet.

The Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) sounding rockets will launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to study the disturbances in the created when the moon eclipses the sun. The sounding rockets had been previously launched and successfully recovered from White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, during the October 2023 .

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