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The preparations made by NASA to collect an asteroid sample that landed in the desert

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After nearly 2 years in space, a NASA spacecraft carrying an asteroid sample is about to reach Earth.

NASA is collecting and returning an asteroid sample from space for the very first time.

The rocks and soil, along with a sample of the asteroid Ryugu from Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission, may provide clues about how our solar system started.

The OSIRIS-REx mission will drop the sample of rocks and soil and continue its journey to study another asteroid rather than landing.

Teams have been practicing how to retrieve the sample on September 24, when it will drop into the Utah desert, which was originally obtained from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.

It is assessed that OSIRIS-REx gathered up to 8.8 ounces, or around 1 cup, of material from Bennu.

In a statement, Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said, “This successful drop test ensures we’re ready.” “We are now just weeks away from receiving a piece of solar system history on Earth.” Perfect material from space rock Bennu will assist with revealing insight into the arrangement of our planetary group 4.5 quite a while back, and maybe even on how life on Earth started.”

It doesn’t happen very often that a spacecraft launches a capsule above the planet with the intention of safely transporting a unique sample of an asteroid to a specific landing site.

Long periods of difficult work by great many individuals have prompted the second when the Bennu test shows up on The planet.

Teams practiced recovering the sample capsule and ran through all possible outcomes, both positive and negative, prior to reentry day in the spring and summer.

The initial objective of the mission was to obtain a flawless asteroid sample. Be that as it may, on the off chance that the container crash-terrains and opens up, the example could become defiled.

“I’m massively pleased with the endeavors our group has filled this undertaking,” said Dante Lauretta, head specialist for OSIRIS-REx at the College of Arizona in Tucson, in a proclamation. ” We have honed our skills for sample recovery in the same way that our meticulous planning and practice helped us get ready to collect a sample from Bennu.

The first return mission for an asteroid sample is OSIRIS-REx, which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, and Regolith Explorer. The journey of the spacecraft has lasted seven years. After launching in 2016, OSIRIS-REx entered Bennu’s orbit in 2018, collected the sample in 2020, and embarked on its extended return journey to Earth in May 2021.

Since leaving Bennu, the space apparatus has orbited the sun two times so it tends to be on the right direction to meet with Earth.

The mission team sent a series of maneuvers to the spacecraft in July to help it find a place outside of Salt Lake City where the capsule could land at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range.

NASA will provide a live stream of the sample’s arrival on Earth on September 24. The live stream will start at 10 a.m. ET, and the container containing the example will enter Earth’s environment at 10:42 a.m. ET, going around 27,650 miles each hour (44,498 kilometers each hour).

Four hours before the container’s air passage, the mission group will choose whether to send an order to the rocket to deliver the case, said Rich Consumes, OSIRIS-REx project director at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The decision is based on the trajectory of the spacecraft, which determines the capsule’s ability to survive the angle, the temperature of reentry, the accuracy of the landing, and the safety of humans within the landing zone. Burns stated that the point at which OSIRIS-REx will be 63,000 miles (102,000 kilometers) from Earth and heading for an area that spans 250 square miles (647.5 kilometers) is when the capsule will be released. According to Burns, this will be “the equivalent of throwing a dart across the length of a basketball court and hitting the bull’s-eye.”

Burns stated that OSIRIS-REx will conduct a divert maneuver once the capsule is released, putting it on a course around the sun and aiming for Apophis, another asteroid, in 2029 for a rendezvous.

The capsule will be enveloped by a superhot ball of fire when it enters Earth’s atmosphere, but the sample inside will be protected by the container’s heat shield.

Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx program manager at Lockheed Martin Space, which partnered with NASA to build the spacecraft, provide flight operations, and help recover the capsule, stated that parachutes will deploy to slow the capsule down for a gentle touchdown at 11 miles per hour (17.7 kilometers per hour). Recovery teams will be standing by to retrieve the capsule once it is safe to do so.

13 minutes after the capsule enters the atmosphere of Earth, landing is anticipated.

The sample will be transported to a temporary cleanroom at the range in June by helicopter in a cargo net. The sample container will be prepared there by a team before being flown on a C-17 aircraft on September 25 to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. On October 11, a NASA broadcast hosted by Johnson will provide the public with information regarding the sample.

Training in the desert, according to Freund, NASA and Lockheed Martin Space teams have practiced every possible step in preparation for delivery day.

A sample capsule was recently dropped, collected, and prepared for transport by the team using an airplane.

It also dealt with difficult scenarios from the command center, such as what to do in the event of a reboot, how to get the spacecraft out of safe mode, and how to move communications between centers in the event of network outages.

The group has likewise arranged for various landing situations, for example, a hard landing where the container containing the example opens startlingly. After that, the team would determine if any of the sample could be saved.

According to Burns, there is also the possibility that the spacecraft will not be able to release the sample on September 24 if landing within range is impractical. In that situation, the example would stay ready, and the space apparatus’ circle would bring the case back by Earth to endeavor one more delivery over Utah in 2025.

The Johnson Space Center has a long history of storing, handling, and analyzing extraterrestrial materials, such as Apollo lunar samples. NASA has dealt with making an exceptional office at Johnson for the Bennu test for a really long time, said Kevin Righter, OSIRIS-REx representative curation lead.

As scientists examine the rocks and soil over the next two years, the dedicated cleanroom will keep any potential cross-contamination with other collections out of the equation. Christopher Snead, OSIRIS-REx deputy curator at Johnson and lead for small-particle handling, says that some of the material will be smaller than a grain of sand.

“We have been developing custom tools to carefully handle these precious particles within our new gloveboxes,” Snead said in a statement, referring to the boxes for managing hazardous or extraterrestrial material.

The example will uncover data about the arrangement and history of our planetary group as well as the job of space rocks in creating livable planets like Earth. Bennu and other asteroids are thought to have delivered elements like water to Earth early in their formation.

The sample will be divided up and sent to laboratories all over the world, including the Canadian Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, which are OSIRIS-REx mission partners. Around 70% of the example will stay flawless away so people in the future with better innovation can learn considerably more than whatever’s presently conceivable.

“The asteroids that we have in our solar system today are left over from the earliest stage of solar system history,” Lauretta said. “We’re literally looking at geologic materials that formed before the Earth even existed. I call these the grandfather rocks, the ones that really represent our origins and where we came from. This is a gift to the world.”

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NASA postpones the next Artemis flights much more

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NASA has postponed the first crewed landing of the program until mid-2027, delaying the following two Artemis trips to the moon.

After identifying the primary cause of Orion heat shield erosion on the Artemis 1 mission two years ago, NASA leadership announced at a news conference on December 5 that they were postponing the Artemis 2 and 3 flights.

Artemis 2, which was originally planned to launch in September 2025, would now debut in April 2026 under the updated schedule. It will be the first crewed voyage of Orion to take four astronauts from the United States and Canada around the moon.

As a result, Artemis 3, which will use SpaceX’s Starship vehicle for the first crewed landing of the entire exploration effort, will be delayed. Originally scheduled for September 2026, that mission is now anticipated to occur in mid-2027.

Following an examination of Artemis 1’s heat shield deterioration, NASA changed that timeline. In October, agency representatives claimed to have identified the cause of the heat shield material’s release, but they did not elaborate on the cause or NASA’s plans to fix it.

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said the issue was related to Orion’s “skip” reentry, in which the capsule enters and exits the atmosphere to release energy. In the outer layers of the heat shield, more heat was retained than anticipated, resulting in trapped gases. “This caused internal pressure to build up and led to cracking and uneven shedding of that outer layer,”  she said.

This judgment was confirmed by an independent review panel after a thorough study. “There were a lot of links in the error chain that accumulated over time that led to our inability to predict this in ground tests,” stated Amit Kshatriya, deputy assistant administrator of NASA’s Moon to Mars Program Office. This included modifications to the shape of the material blocks and modifications to the manufacturing process of the heat shield material, known as Avcoat.

He said that in areas of the Avcoat material with the required greater permeability to let the gasses out, that was verified. “In those places, we did not witness in-flight cracking, and that was the key clue for us.”

NASA will alter the reentry profile, including shortening the skip phase of the reentry, rather than replacing the entire heat shield for the Artemis 2 mission. According to ground tests, those adjustments should be enough to prevent material from breaking off as a result of cracking.

The agency has been working on a number of other Orion issues while looking into the heat shield issue, such as a battery issue that was reported in January but was reportedly fixed, according to Kshatriya.

Despite an upcoming presidential transition that would probably rethink the entire Artemis design, agency chiefs said they made the decision immediately to prevent future delays. “We’re on a day-for-day slip. We had to make this decision,” Melroy stated. “If you’re waiting for a new admininstrator to be confirmed and a team to come up to speed on all this technical work we’ve all been tracking very closely, I think that would be actually far worse.”

Shortly after President-elect Donald Trump stated on December 4 that he would select Jared Isaacman to oversee the agency, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson claimed he spoke with Isaacman. He did, however, add that he and other authorities had a discussion prior to the meetings in which they confirmed the revised plan for Artemis 2 and 3. Melroy went on to say that NASA could have been consulted on the decision, but the incoming administration has not dispatched a transition team there.

Nelson, however, maintained that the present architecture was still the most effective way to send humans back to the moon in spite of the problems and delays, pointing out that even with the most recent postponement, NASA would still make a lunar landing before China’s projected 2030 lunar mission.

“Are they going to axe Artemis and insert Starship?” In reference to the impending Trump administration, Nelson stated. Only Orion is rated for human spaceflight outside of Earth’s orbit, he said. “I expect that this is going to continue.”

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Firefly plans to launch its first lunar lander mission in January

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The first lunar lander mission is scheduled to launch in January, according to Firefly Aerospace. This means that none of the three commercial lander missions that were originally scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of this year will actually launch.

On Nov. 25, Firefly said that it would launch its Blue Ghost 1 lander mission over the course of six days in mid-January. A SpaceX Falcon 9 will take out from Florida with the spacecraft.

After the spacecraft finished testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in October, the launch date was announced. In the release confirming the launch date, Firefly CEO Jason Kim remarked, “Blue Ghost aced environmental testing and proved the lander is performing 100% as expected.” “While we know there will be more challenges ahead, I’m confident this team has what it takes to softly touch down on the lunar surface and nail this mission.”

The spacecraft’s launch was initially scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024, but the corporation did not provide a precise date. Joseph Marlin, the principal engineer of Firefly’s Elytra Dark spacecraft, again suggested a fourth-quarter launch date during a Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) conference on October 29. However, he stated that he was unable to provide more precise details, implying that it depended on the availability of launch vehicles. At that time, he stated, “SpaceX is still sorting out its schedule,”

The company’s first lunar lander mission is called Blue Ghost. Through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, the spacecraft will transport ten NASA payloads. In February 2021, Firefly received a $93.3 million task order from NASA for the mission, which was initially scheduled for launch in 2023. Whether the spacecraft is carrying any non-NASA payloads has not been disclosed by Firefly.

The corporation has named the mission “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” and it will run for roughly 60 days. The spacecraft will first operate in phasing orbits around the Earth for 45 days before traveling to the moon and putting into orbit. The spacecraft will land close to Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation in Mare Crisium on the moon’s northeastern near side. The lander is intended to stay in operation for several hours into the lunar night and throughout the whole two-week lunar day.

Up to three commercial lunar lander missions were originally scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of this year, but none of them will now. In a financial announcement for its fiscal second quarter, the Japanese company iSpace said on November 12 that its Mission 2 lunar lander, which was previously scheduled to launch in December, will instead launch no early than January. The lander will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9, just as Firefly.

During a Nov. 14 earnings call, Intuitive Machines revealed that its IM-2 mission, which had been aiming for a December or early January launch, will now launch on a Falcon 9 no earlier than February. The business did not provide an explanation for the slip.

However, Firefly might still be beaten to the moon’s surface by Intuitive Machines. The IM-2 mission will land around a week after launch, following a more direct path to the moon than the IM-1 mission, which launched in February 2024. According to Firefly’s Marlin, who spoke at the LEAG meeting, the two businesses have been talking about ways to deconflict their landings, such as making sure that communications don’t conflict.Firefly plans to launch its first lunar lander mission in January.

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Human Activity is Solely to Blame for the 31.5-inch Tilt in the Earth’s Rotation

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As a dynamic creature, our earth is always changing and adapting. Unbelievably, even something as seemingly trivial as how much water we use might alter Earth’s physical orientation.

Our groundwater pumping has caused the Earth to tilt 31.5 inches in less than 20 years. For comparison, this water redistribution corresponds to about 0.24 inches of sea level increase.

According to Ki-Weon Seo, a geophysicist at Seoul National University, “our study demonstrates that among climate-related causes, the redistribution of groundwater actually has the largest impact on the drift of the rotational pole.”

Therefore, keep in mind that even the tiniest actions have consequences before you discount the importance of your water usage.

What is groundwater, exactly?

The water that fills the voids left by soil, sand, and rock formations beneath the Earth’s surface is known as groundwater.

It originates from rain and other precipitation that seeps into the earth and slowly descends to subterranean reservoirs known as aquifers.

Groundwater is hidden away, functioning as nature’s covert water bank, in contrast to the water found in rivers and lakes.

It is essential to the water cycle because it supplies a consistent amount of water, even in dry seasons when surface water may be in short supply.

Groundwater is vital to many aspects of human life. It is the main supply of drinking water for many people, particularly in rural areas where surface water is scarce.

In order to irrigate crops and ensure that food production can continue even in the absence of sufficient rainfall, farmers rely on groundwater. Groundwater is also used by enterprises for cooling systems and manufacturing procedures.

Earth’s tilt and the role of groundwater

With data spanning from 1993 to 2010, the study demonstrated that the tilt of the Earth had shifted as a result of pumping up to 2,150 gigatons of groundwater.

Although it’s difficult to understand, these numbers show how much water we use for human consumption and irrigation.

The majority of our water is ultimately carried to the oceans, even though we may not consider its destination after use.

According to Seo, “Observing changes in Earth’s rotational pole is useful for understanding continent-scale water storage variations,” 

Connecting these differences to water movement, especially from northwest India and western North America, demonstrates how our daily activities can have a global impact on the planet.

Pole drift in rotation

Groundwater pumping not only affects the tilt and rotation of our earth, but it also presents a concerning image of the effects of climate change.

“I’m very glad to find the unexplained cause of the rotation pole drift. On the other hand, as a resident of Earth and a father, I’m concerned and surprised that pumping groundwater is another source of sea-level rise,” Seo added.

Given the difficulties we are already facing in the fight against climate change, these findings may seem overwhelming.

Nonetheless, knowing how groundwater pumping affects Earth’s tilt and climate is a positive start.

This information may help conservationists develop practical plans to slow down future sea level rise and other climate-related problems.

Pumping groundwater and polar motion

Our comprehension of climate change and our ability to take action are expanded by the recent discoveries on groundwater pumping.

“They’ve quantified the role of groundwater pumping on polar motion, and it’s pretty significant,” stated Surendra Adhikari, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

This knowledge of the worldwide effects of groundwater pumping ought to encourage us to reevaluate how much water we use on a daily basis.

Upcoming studies and policy projects

In light of the study’s important conclusions, sustainable groundwater management must be given top priority in future research and policy activities in order to lessen its negative effects on climate change and Earth’s rotation.

Innovative approaches to water use, such improved irrigation systems, rainwater collecting, and better municipal water management, are necessary to strike a balance between human requirements and environmental conservation.

Furthermore, in order to develop comprehensive policies that address the fair distribution and usage of water resources, international collaboration among nations is crucial.

We can create a strong foundation for more sustainable water management techniques by promoting interdisciplinary cooperation between geophysicists, climate scientists, decision-makers, and the general public.

Such programs support larger efforts to mitigate climate change in addition to having the potential to preserve Earth’s rotational stability.

Earth tilting due to water taps

The process of comprehending and addressing climate change is a protracted and intricate one. However, in this conflict, information is power.

Comprehending the effects of groundwater pumping is a crucial weapon in our toolbox.

Let’s use this information to our advantage as we look to the future and work toward a more sustainable world.

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