Morning Tidings

Tag: mission

  • Russia-Ukraine Cyber War: Hackers Breach Russian Space Research Site, Leak Mission Files

    New Delhi, March 4: Cyber-criminals linked to Anonymous hacking group have broken into a website belonging to Russia’s Space Research Institute (IKI) and leaked files that allegedly belong to the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

    In a tweet, Anonymous said: “Russian Space Agency hacked via v0g3lSec (http://uv.ikiweb.ru) still hacked as of this posting (archived)”. Russia’s Space Research Institute (IKI) designs and builds scientific instruments for space experiments.

    “Heyyy Russian (homophobic slur).. Sorry.. Cosmonauts ??.. idk what to say, go get a nice website instead of threatening people with ISS, heard??” read a message on a section of the IKI-related site. US Senator Lindsay Graham Calls for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ‘Assassination’.

    According to Vice, the mention of the ISS is referring to recent comments from Russian authorities around the possibility of pulling out from operation of the International Space Station. “Also leave Ukraine alone else Anonymous will f*** you up even more :))” the message added.

    IKI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The hack against Roscosmos came after another Anonymous-linked group made an unverified claim to have disabled Russian satellite control systems.

    Earlier, the chief of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, warned hackers attempting to disrupt the operation of the country’s satellites that their actions could be construed as a “casus belli, i.e., an event that justifies a war”.

    Rogozin’s comment came shortly after a cyberattack on Russia’s RKA Mission Control Center. The Roscosmos chief also threatened the people responsible that his corporation would identify them, and hand the data over to the Russian security services so that they could open a criminal investigation against the hackers. Russia-Ukraine War Live Updates: Fire at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Accuses Moscow of ‘Nuclear Terror’.

    Earlier, several Telegram groups claimed that the NB65 hacker group, which is allegedly linked to Anonymous, had successfully breached Roscosmos’ communications with Russia’s satellites, RT reported.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Mar 04, 2022 11:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Breaks Up In Earth’s Atmosphere Over Mexico Five Years After Launch Of Echostar 23 Mission

    Mexico City, February 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket safely broke down after falling through the Earth’s atmosphere on late Monday evening.  The rocket came down at a great speed over Mexico.  In March 2017, the Falcon-9 rocket launched the EchoStar 23 mission.  The upper stage of Falcon-9 has been in orbit since then.  According to reports, the incident was people, and the video is doing rounds on social media. Elon Musk’s SpaceX Rocket on Course to Hit the Moon After Seven Years.

    The re-entry of the spacecraft was confirmed by the Aerospace Corporation.  The video was first tweeted by Frontera Espacial (@FronteraSpacial) on February 6.  It tweeted, “It was the second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9, which was launched in March 2017 with the EchoStar23 mission.  It has completely disintegrated in the Earth’s atmosphere.” NASA’s DART Asteroid Defence Mission Lifts Off Aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket.

    Here Is The Video:

    However, there is no official confirmation from SpaceX over the video of the alleged disintegration of the Falcon 9 second stage.  SpaceX founder Elon Muska had also not yet commented on the disintegration.  Notably, Echostar 23 was launched to geostationary transfer orbit.  It was put into space with the help of the Falcon 9 stage about 35,900 kilometres above Earth.

    EchoStar 23 is a flexible tri-band satellite.  According to reports, it is capable of providing service from any of eight different orbital slots.  The satellite was launched for broadcast, internet, and other communications services to Brazil.  It is set to be operational for another decade.  Its communications payload consists of 32 Ku-Band transponders as well Ka- and S-Band payloads.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Feb 08, 2022 06:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • NASA’s Artemis 1 Moon Mission Delayed to March 2022 Due to Engine Issue

    Washington, December 21: After facing an issue with the engine, NASA’s uncrewed Artemis 1 moon mission has been delayed to March next year, the US space agency said. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft around the Moon. It was initially slated for launch in February 2022 before missions with astronauts.

    NASA is now targeting a launch in March or April 2022, the space agency said in a statement. During a recent core stage power test, engineers identified an issue with one of the RS-25 engine flight controllers. NASA Dubs 2024 Moon Mission ‘Artemis,’ Asks For USD 1.6 Billion.

    The flight controller works as the “brain” for each RS-25 engine, communicating with the SLS rocket to provide precision control of the engine as well as internal health diagnostics. Each controller is equipped with two channels so that there is a back-up, should an issue arise with one of the channels during launch or ascent. In the recent testing, channel B of the controller on engine four failed to power up consistently.

    “After performing a series of inspections and troubleshooting, engineers determined the best course of action is to replace the engine controller, returning the rocket to full functionality and redundancy while continuing to investigate and identify a root cause,” NASA officials said in the statement.

    “NASA is developing a plan and updated schedule to replace the engine controller while continuing integrated testing and reviewing launch opportunities in March and April.”

    Further, the agency said communication end-to-end testing is underway, and countdown sequence testing will begin as early as next week to demonstrate all SLS and Orion communication systems with the ground infrastructure and launch control centre. SLS will be the most powerful rocket in the world and is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

    With the Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon and establish long-term exploration in preparation for missions to Mars. SLS and Orion, along with the commercial human landing system and the Gateway that will orbit the Moon, are NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Dec 21, 2021 08:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • NASA Picks Indian-Origin Anil Menon Among 10 New Astronauts for Moon Mission

    Washington, December 7: Indian-origin Anil Menon, a lieutenant colonel with the US Air Force and SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, has been selected by NASA among the 10 new astronauts who could fly to the Moon someday.

    Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Menon helped launch the Elon Musk-run SpaceX’s first humans to space during the ‘Demo-2’ mission and built a medical organisation to support the human system during future missions.

    He also spent a year in India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to study and support polio vaccination. Prior to that, he served NASA as the crew flight surgeon for various expeditions taking astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

    Menon is an actively practicing emergency medicine physician with fellowship training in wilderness and aerospace medicine. As a physician, he was a first responder during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 2015 earthquake in Nepal, and the 2011 Reno Air Show accident. NASA’s 10 New Astronauts: Pilots, Doctor, Physicist, Cyclist.

    In the Air Force, Menon supported the 45th Space Wing as a flight surgeon and the 173rd Fighter Wing, where he logged over 100 sorties in the F-15 fighter jet and transported over 100 patients as part of the critical care air transport team.

    The US space agency announced the selection of its newest class of astronauts late on Monday — six men and four women chosen from more than 12,000 people who applied to the space agency in March of 2020.

    Once they train and become full astronauts, they will have some exciting spaceflight opportunities ahead of them, potentially including flights to the Moon someday.

    The astronauts are part of the so-called Artemis Generation. The name is a reference to NASA’s Artemis programme, which aims to send the first woman and the first person of colour to the lunar surface as early as 2025 (a landing date that is considered incredibly ambitious).

    “Today, we welcome 10 new explorers — 10 members of the Artemis generation,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said during the ceremony. “It was the Apollo generation, and that did so much for so many. Now it’s the Artemis generation.” At Harvard University, Menon studied neurobiology and conducted research on Huntington’s disease.

    He attended Stanford Medical School where he studied engineering and medicine and worked on coding soft tissue models at NASA Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, California.

    During his aerospace training, he deployed twice with the US Air Force critical care air transport team to treat and transport wounded warriors. He later transferred to the Air Force reserves, 45th operational group, Detachment 3 of the 45th Space Wing to provide medical direction for launch and landings. NASA Astronaut Duo Prepares for Spacewalk To Replace a Faulty Antenna System.

    In 2018, Menon joined SpaceX where he started its medical program and helped prepare for the company’s first human flights. He served as the lead flight surgeon for five launches and helped start their research programme, private astronaut programmes, and worked on development of the Starship.

    Menon started as a NASA flight surgeon in 2014. He supported four long-duration crew members on the ISS as the deputy crew surgeon for Soyuz missions Soyuz 39 and Soyuz 43 and prime crew surgeon for Soyuz 52. He will report for duty in January 2022 to complete two years of initial astronaut training as a NASA astronaut candidate.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Dec 07, 2021 11:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • SWOT Mission: Satellite for Tracking Earth’s Surface Water to be Launched in 2022

    Washington, November 22: An international team of engineers and technicians has finished assembling a next-generation satellite that will make the first global survey of the Earth’s surface water and study fine-scale ocean currents.

    The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is scheduled for launch in November 2022, and the final set of tests on the spacecraft have started, according to a statement by NASA.

    SWOT is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and the UK Space Agency.

    The SUV-size satellite will collect data on the height of the Earth’s salt and fresh water — including oceans, lakes and rivers — enabling researchers to track the volume and location of water around the world. NASA Outraged at Russia’s Anti-Satellite Test That Created ‘Dangerous’ Space Debris.

    SWOT will help to measure the effects of climate change on the planet’s water, such as the processes by which small, swirling ocean currents absorb excess heat, moisture, and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The mission’s measurements will also aid in following how much water flows into and out of the planet’s lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, as well as regional shifts in sea level.

    “SWOT will be our first global snapshot of all surface water that we have now, how the water moves around the planet, and what happens to it in a new climate,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, SWOT programme scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in the statement.

    In June, the satellite’s scientific instruments were shipped to France, from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the US. Ever since, the teams have been working to connect the part of the spacecraft holding the science instruments to the rest of the satellite and ensure that the electrical connections function properly.

    The next six months will involve three phases of testing to make sure the satellite will be able to survive the rigours of launch and the harsh environment of space. Engineers and technicians will attach the satellite to a device called a shake table, which simulates the intense vibrations and rattling of launch. Then the spacecraft will move into an acoustic chamber to bombard it with high-decibel sounds similar to those of blastoff.

    Next, the team will move SWOT into a chamber that mimics the temperature swings and vacuum of space. Finally the engineers will put the satellite through additional tests to make sure its systems can withstand any electromagnetic interference, including signals from various parts of the spacecraft and from other satellites. After that, the spacecraft will be shipped to the launch site.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Nov 22, 2021 06:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • SpaceX Completes Static Fire Test, Gears Up for the Launch of Falcon 9 for Asteroid Redirect Mission

    On Saturday, SpaceX announced that it has completed a static fire test and targeting November 23 as the launch date of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). “NASA will intentionally crash the DART spacecraft into an asteroid to see if that is an effective way to change its course” SpaceX Tweeted.

    Check out the tweet here:

    (SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user’s social media account and Morning Tidings Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of Morning Tidings, also Morning Tidings does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

  • Indian Astronomers Study How Ejections From Sun’s Corona Influence Space Weather Predictions Crucial for Monitoring Satellites Ahead of Isro’s Aditya-L1 Mission

    A recent study has shown how conditions and events in the solar atmosphere like coronal mass ejections influence the accuracy of space weather prediction, which is crucial for the health of our satellites. This understanding will aid the interpretation of data from the upcoming Aditya-L1, India’s first solar mission.

    Space weather refers to the conditions in the solar wind and near-Earth space, which can adversely affect the performance of space-borne and ground-based technological systems. The space weather near the Earth is mainly due to Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), which are frequent explosive expulsions of huge magnetized plasma from the Sun into its surroundings, which can blow past the Earth. Example of space weather events is the geomagnetic storm, a perturbation in the Earth’s magnetic field, which can last for few hours to few days. Understanding of how events in the solar atmosphere influence space weather is necessary for monitoring and maintaining our satellites.

    In the present work, astronomers led by Dr. Wageesh Mishra of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. Of India showed that plasma properties and Earth arrival times of CMEs from the Sun can vary substantially with longitudinal locations in the interplanetary space. This research is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomy journal and is co-authored by Kunjal Dave from C.U. Shah University, Gujarat, Prof. Nandita Srivastava from Physical Research Laboratory, Udaipur, and Prof. Luca Teriaca from the Max Planck Institute of for the Solar System Research, Germany.

    See Pics:

    In this research, the team studied the Earth-directed CMEs and interplanetary counterparts of CMEs (ICMEs). With access to publicly available plasma measurements in situ at three locations in the Solar System, — two of NASA’s STEREO spacecraft and the LASCO coronagraph onboard SOHO located near the first Lagrangian point (L1) on the Sun-Earth line, they reconstructed a 3D view of the CMEs & ICMEs. The two events that are the basis of the present study are the ICMEs of 11th March and 6th August 2011 (which is when they arrived at Earth). Using multi-point remote and in situ observations, the study investigated the differences in the dynamics, arrival time, plasma, and magnetic field parameters of ICME structures at the locations in the heliosphere where the different satellites are located.

    The team explains Sun emits a continuous stream of charged particles called the Solar Wind. The two selected events were ideal for studying the effects of the CME shocks moving through the solar wind. Aditya-L1: After Chandrayaan 2 Launch, ISRO Eyes India’s First-Ever Solar Mission in 2020.

    “We found that plasma characteristics and arrival times of a CME-driven shock, propagating in a pre-conditioned inhomogeneous medium, may be different at different longitudinal locations in the heliosphere,” said Wageesh Mishra, the lead author.

    The study highlights the difficulties in connecting the local observations of an ICME from a single in situ spacecraft to its global structures and explains that accurate prediction of large CME structures at any location in the heliosphere is challenging. It emphasized that lack of information about the pre-conditioned ambient solar wind medium can severely limit the accuracy of CME arrival time and space weather prediction. This new understanding will aid the interpretation of data from space missions.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Sep 21, 2021 06:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Mission MaGIXS: NASA’s X-Ray Solar Imager To Probe Sun’s Corona

    Mission MaGIXS: NASA’s X-Ray Solar Imager To Probe Sun’s Corona

    Washington, August 3: Scientists at NASA have successfully launched a sophisticated X-ray solar imager on a suborbital flight via sounding rocket to gather new insight regarding how and why the Sun’s corona grows so much hotter than the actual surface of Earths parent star.

    Developers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, call the mission “MaGIXS” — Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer. It launched from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico at 2.20 p.m. (local time) on July 30. NASA-ESA Sun-Watching Spacecraft SoloHI Captures First Solar Eruption.

    The MaGIXS mission dispatched its payload, which included a high-powered camera, telescope, and X-ray spectrometer containing a matched pair of grazing incidence parabolic mirrors, to study so-called “soft” X-rays at a wavelength that hasn’t been previously observed in such detail.

    “Our knowledge of the corona’s heating mechanisms is limited, partly because we’ve not yet been able to make detailed observations and measurements of the temperature distribution of the solar plasma in the region,” said Marshall heliophysicist Amy Winebarger, principal investigator for the MaGIXS mission, in a statement.

    The Sun’s surface temperature is more than 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, but the corona routinely measures more than 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit.

    MaGIXS will be the first imager to measure specific temperature distributions at different parts of an active solar region. That precision data will help scientists resolve the debate concerning how, and how often, the corona is superheated.

    Shedding new light on coronal heating mechanisms could help researchers better understand and even predict potential solar flares and coronal mass ejections, both of which occur most often in connection with regional spikes in coronal heating.

    These violent outbursts can interfere with communications satellites and electronic systems, even causing physical drag on satellites as Earth’s atmosphere expands to absorb the added solar energy.

    The MaGIXS sounding rocket mission also serves as a testbed for instrumentation for future NASA missions to study solar flares in greater detail, possibly tying their origins to measurable coronal activity and helping demonstrate how advanced flight hardware and space systems can be hardened to weather high-energy tantrums from Earth’s star.

    NASA routinely uses sounding rockets for such brief, focused science missions. They’re often smaller, more affordable, and faster to design and build than large-scale satellite missions, Winebarger said.

    “They offer unique, suborbital science opportunities, a chance to develop innovative new instrumentation, and rapid return on investment,” she added.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Aug 03, 2021 05:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Jeff Bezos Offers NASA Billion Discount For Human Lunar Lander Mission

    Jeff Bezos Offers NASA $2 Billion Discount For Human Lunar Lander Mission

    San Francisco, July 27: Fresh from his trip to the edge of space, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos has offered NASA a discount of up to $2 billion to give his space company Blue Origin the human lunar landing system (HLS) contract, won by Elon Musks SpaceX earlier this year.

    Escalating his space war with Musk, Bezos in an open letter to the NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Monday that his company would close US space agency’s near-term budgetary shortfall and producing a safe and sustainable lander that will return Americans to the surface of the Moon � this time to stay.

    “I believe this mission is important. I am honoured to offer these contributions and am grateful to be in a financial position to be able to do so,” Bezos wrote.

    Amid protests from Bezos-owned Blue Origin, the US space agency in May suspended work on the $2.9 billion lunar lander contract given to Elon Musk-owned SpaceX.

    Blue Origin had filed a protest with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) against NASA for awarding $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX for landing astronauts on the Moon by 2024.

    In the letter, Bezos said that “Blue Origin will bridge the HLS budgetary funding shortfall by waiving all payments in the current and next two government fiscal years up to $2B to get the programme back on track right now”.

    “This offer is not a deferral but is an outright and permanent waiver of those payments. This offer provides time for government appropriation actions to catch up. Blue Origin will, at its own cost, contribute the development and launch of a pathfinder mission to low-Earth orbit of the lunar descent element to further retire development and schedule risks,” Bezos added.

    Blue Origin will accept a firm, fixed-priced contract for this work, cover any system development cost overruns, and shield NASA from partner cost escalation concerns.

    The US space agency was expected to pick two lunar lander prototypes (including one of Blue Origin’s) but funding cut from US Congress led the agency to select SpaceX over Blue Origin.

    The third company in the race, Dynetics, also protested NASA’s decision to the GAO, which adjudicates bidding disputes.

    In a 175-page protest, Blue Origin had accused NASA of misjudging several parts of its proposal for its lunar lander called Blue Moon.

    Musk responded to Blue Origin’s protest with a tweet: “Can’t get it up (to orbit) lol”.

    The contract is part of NASA’s Artemis programme, which aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 as a stepping stone to the first human mission to Mars.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Jul 27, 2021 12:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Elon Musk Congratulates ISRO for Successfully Testing Vikas Engine for Gaganyaan Mission

    Elon Musk Congratulates ISRO for Successfully Testing Vikas Engine for Gaganyaan Mission

    Elon Musk Reacts On ISRO’s Gaganyaan Mission:

    (SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user’s social media account and Morning Tidings Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of Morning Tidings, also Morning Tidings does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)