Another week flew by and you have a fresh edition of the regular overview of the most interesting space events of the past week. This time, Kosmotydeník took as its main topic the preparation for the influx of a huge amount of data that will be produced by a telescope called the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. In other topics, we will look at the record-breaking flights of the small Ingenuity helicopter, which is still successfully working on Mars, or we will offer you to take a CubeSat out as part of the Artemis II mission. You won’t lose the regular sections either. I wish you good reading and a nice Sunday.
The Roman telescope will produce an enormous amount of data
The upcoming American Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Nancy Roman telescope), which will monitor space in the infrared spectrum with its 2.4-meter mirror and two advanced instruments, is still under construction. However, it is already necessary to prepare for the enormous amount of data that this telescope will produce. Therefore, a community of scientists and institutions is created, as well as an efficient system of data forwarding and storage. It’s a surprisingly difficult task. In addition, the Nancy Roman telescope will work closely with a number of other telescopes, which further complicates the matter and challenges the expected broad scientific collaboration of different teams from around the world.
Nancy Roman telescope mirror
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It’s already busy because of it. Recently selected infrastructure teams will participate in the preparatory work by creating simulations, surveying the sky with other telescopes, calibrating telescope components and many other activities. Their work will complement that of other teams and individuals around the world who will join forces to maximize the scientific potential of the Nancy Roman Telescope. The goal is to ensure that when the mission launches in May 2027, scientists will have the tools they need to process the billions of space objects and unravel mysteries like dark energy — the main focus of the Nancy Roman telescope’s work. “We’re using the broad scientific community to lay the groundwork now so that when launch happens, we’re able to do powerful science right from the start,” said Julie McEnery, senior scientist for the Roman Project at the Goddard Center. “There’s a lot of interesting work ahead of us, and there are already many different ways scientists can get involved.”
The mentioned simulations are the basis of the preparatory efforts. They allow scientists to test algorithms, examine how the Nancy Roman telescope works, and fine-tune observing strategies to learn as much as possible about the universe. Teams will be able to annotate a simulated data set with various cosmic phenomena and then run machine learning algorithms to see how well they can find those phenomena automatically. The development of fast and efficient ways to identify the underlying patterns will be essential given the telescope’s enormous data collection rate. During its five-year primary mission, it is expected to collect 20,000 terabytes (20 petabytes) of data containing billions of individual measurements of stars and galaxies. “The preparatory work is complex, partly because everything the Nancy Roman telescope will do is quite complex and interconnected,” McEnery said. “Each observation will be used by several teams for very different investigations, so we’re creating an environment that makes it as easy as possible for scientists to work together.”
For example, some scientists will make preliminary observations using other telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, or Japan’s PRIME (Prime-focus Infrared Microlensing Experiment) located at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Sutherland. These observations will help astronomers optimize the Nancy Roman telescope’s observing schedule by identifying the best individual targets and regions in the cosmos for Nancy Roman and better understand the data that subsequent observations should yield—knowing in advance what to expect.
The main optical element of the new telescope
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Some teams will explore how they could combine data from different observatories and use multiple telescopes at once. For example, using PRIME and the Nancy Roman telescope together would help astronomers learn more about objects found through warped space-time. And scientists on the new telescope team will be able to draw on archival Hubble data to look back in time at where cosmic objects were and how they behaved—creating a more complete history of objects that astronomers will study further. The Nancy Roman Telescope will also identify interesting targets that observatories such as the James Webb Telescope can further study in more detail.
It will take many teams working in parallel to plan each observation with the new telescope. “Scientists can take something that a telescope is going to study, like the blue streams of stars that extend far beyond the apparent edges of many galaxies, and consider all the things needed to study them really well,” said Dominic Benford, program scientist for the Roman telescope. “For example, this might include algorithms for faint objects, developing ways to measure the position of stars very precisely, understanding how detector effects might affect observations and knowing how to correct for them. Or to come up with the most efficient strategy for imaging star streams and much more.”
One of the groups is developing software for data processing and analysis for the coronagraph. The instrument will demonstrate several cutting-edge technologies that could help astronomers directly image planets outside our Solar System. The team will also simulate the various objects and planetary systems the coronagraph could detect, from dusty disks surrounding young stars to old, cool Jupiter-like worlds.
In turn, the mission’s science centers are preparing to manage the data archive and create systems for planning and executing observations. A way to forward data must also be prepared. At the same time, scientists from all over the world are gradually convening to send their observations and ideas on how to process the expected data, how they will use it and what tools still need to be created, so that the subsequent work with scientific content will be as good as possible. “The team is looking forward to coordinating and connecting all the preliminary work,” McEnery said. “It’s a challenging but exciting opportunity to set the stage for the new telescope and ensure that each future observation will contribute to a wealth of scientific discoveries.”
Cosmic overview of the week:
On October 12th, the Ingenuity helicopter made its 62nd flight in the Martian atmosphere. And the plan was to further break previous records. A small experimental helicopter is given increasingly difficult tasks, which it completes without any problems. On the 59th flight, the device broke the height record when it rose to within 20 meters above the surface – normally it usually hovers around 10 meters. This flight took place on September 16. The immediately following (60th) year was also a record year. On September 26, the helicopter flew at the fastest time ever in relation to the surface (8 m/s). And right on October 5, Ingenuity was able to beat its record from the 59th flight on its 61st flight. This time he climbed up to 24 meters! As with the first record climb, he flew to the specified height and then landed again at the same place from which he took off, so he did not fly horizontally anywhere. And what about the aforementioned 62nd year? This was also a record, according to the plan, it was supposed to take place at a height of 18 meters and the helicopter should fly at a new record speed of 10 m/s!. Although the flight took place, detailed data confirming the intended parameters are still missing.
Quite a last minute, but all the more interesting challenge! NASA has decided to offer a secondary payload launch site for the Artemis II mission. Similar to the Artemis I mission, it will be possible to place several 16U CubeSats. However, since the ICPS stage will now only aim for Earth orbit (Orion’s TLI will be performed by the European Service Module), the question is whether in such a short time someone can prepare a mission that can also end up “only” in Earth orbit. The information was brought by Michal Václavík from the Czech Space Agency. It is also possible to contact him for more information if interested.
NASA offers the possibility to launch several 16U CubeSats together with the Artemis II manned mission. The deadlines are very tight and basically it is already for very mature projects. Nevertheless, if there is interest from the scientific or industrial community, it is possible to contact me for more information. pic.twitter.com/WBweBnxAfq
— Michal Vaclavik (@Kosmo_Michal) October 12, 2023
Overview from Kosmonautix:
In this section, you will find an overview of all the articles published on Kosmonautix in the past week. We publish at least two articles about cosmonautics a day, let’s remember them. We started the week with two launches of the Falcon 9, which carried further batches of satellites of the Starlink constellation. You could watch their starts live. On Monday, we focused on the new ship that will transport Ariane 6 parts to the spaceport. The interesting thing about this ship is that it will use the power of the wind for propulsion. Satellite constellations are now mushrooming. China presented other plans. After some time, we are back again with a new part of the series, which follows the work and events around the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars. And both are not idle! At the beginning of the week, the crew of the International Space Station was troubled by a coolant leak from the Russian Nauka module. During the week, we said goodbye once more and in more detail to Oldřich Pelčák, who was not only a backup cosmonaut of the Soyuz 28 flight, but also a great pilot, test pilot and popularizer. In the United States, the number one space topic right now is unpacking the cargo delivered to Earth by the OSRIS-REx mission pod. Initial analyzes were published first. The presentation was extraordinary, and although the main case has not yet been opened, there is a lot of material to study, and the initial results are very interesting. The expected scientific mission Psyche, which is headed for the planet of the same name, started with a delay, but in the end it was completely successful. The carrier was the Falcon Heavy rocket and we commented on the launch Live and in Czech. We then studied the mission of the Psyche probe in even more detail. We definitely have something to look forward to. NASA also updated the schedule for manned missions to the International Space Station. The first piloted mission of the Starliner in particular required changes. Another astrophysics article was waiting for you on Saturday, the main star of which was the Hubble Space Telescope and a new test of general relativity. The conclusion of the week then belonged to the new part of Space technology, which this time dealt with the high-speed photometer HSP on the Hubble Space Telescope.
Picture of the week:
The OSIRIS-REx mission team released an image showing material from the asteroid Bennu. However, this is material that is located around the sampling head, and therefore everything that we see in the picture is in addition to the expected imported quantity. The sampling head itself has not yet been opened. The team must first process this very material.
Material from the asteroid Bennu on the sampling head
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Video of the week:
The Falcon Heavy rocket successfully launched the Psyche probe on Friday at 16:19 CET, which went to the metallic planet of the same name. One of the scientifically most anticipated launches of this year was thus successfully completed. Psyche has a long way to go, reaching its destination in 2029. And since the Falcon Heavy launched, we also got to see the landing of both side stages.
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Image Sources:
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2023-10-15 10:02:40
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