Heavens Above - Flybys, Marsquakes and Icy Craters

As a seasonal gift, NASA have made a downloadable  wrapping paper available - just the thing for that scale model of a Saturn V rocket...

Enough seasonal frivolity , what lurks in the Heavens Above ?
Like a stone skimming across the surface of a lake, the recent flyby of asteroid 2003 SD220 was a reminder of the vulnerability of our little home in space. It has already been pointed out that the one-mile long space-rock is a potential planet killer. Christened the 'hippo' asteroid by someone in JPL...I'm just surprised that it has not yet been likened to Oumuamua , or declared an alien scout ship...

Don't panic ! This was three years ago...recent flyby was only 1.8 million miles

...speaking of which, as we pass the shortest day of the year and head for Yuletide, we anticipate the New Years day encounter with ' Ultima Thule', the Kuiper belt object targeted by New Horizons since its Pluto flypast in 2015
As well as being the most distant flyby in our history, this is generating intrigue , due to anomalies regarding its lack of reflectivity - and (inevitably) the internet has arisen to the occasion with talk of it being an alien communications beacon, and other speculation born of fantastical fictions...
On the subject of distant neighbours in our solar system, a far flung contender has been discovered, with an orbit varying from 25 billion kilometers (from the sun) to a mere 3 billion, bringing it closer than Neptune. Not really big enough to be the ninth planet though...a place occupied by Pluto, IMO

This week saw the first firing of thrusters on the ESA/ Jaxa Beppi-Colombo mission to Mercury ...not a dramatic event  but a significant one, it allows tiny course corrections on its seven-year long journey ( the equivalent of being pulled by 250 ants, apparently) , so this is a very gentle journey, aiming to gather lots of science whilst approaching and orbiting Mercury in 2025.

Seismometer being placed on Mars       ESA

If you are impatient for science, don't forget that Insight just placed its Seismometer on Mars , and will begin relaying results of 'marsquakes' by the end of January 2019.

Korolev Crater   

The Mars Express Hi-Res Camera has recently imaged a crater filled with water ice, which is a permanent feature, a 'cold trap', with a depth of over a mile', and is comparable in volume to the Great Bear Lake in Canada (it says here...)

In a broader sense, though, the excitement of possible biological life on Mars is tempered by the Mars Trace Gas Orbiter, which has found no methane in the Mars atmosphere*...( personally, I think the subterranean martians must have a very advanced extractor fan - ahem )

* This appears to contradict earlier findings , so is not a definite statement


Here is a link to an animation detailing how to make a Dyson Sphere (well, you never know when you'll need to harness the power of the sun). As one commenter said, You Tube has come a long way from its early days of ' how-to-films' about making play-do...


On that note, have a very festive seasonal, and I'll see you on the other side !

TTFN


G

Mysterious Mercury , Moving LaunchPads, Foraging On Mars And Fake Suns

Bepi Colombo selfie  (with insulation , because - cold)    ESA

On October 20th, the Ariane V rocket containing Bepi - Colombo blasted off on its mission to  unravel the mysteries of Mercury.  The next day, we received a selfie from space...

I don't know about you, but the vast, dark expanse of space gives me odd feelings (shivers, decides to add photoshopped stars...)


It is hoped that the strange world closest to the sun will reveal more of itself to the joint ESA / Jaxa mission , helping us to understand its mysteries, like why it has such a large iron core and a surface composed of highly flammable sulphur, without being already burned away...
The  mission will make great use of gravity assists from Venus and Earth - but in this case, the aim is to slow down, not speed up - the tremendous pull of gravity near the sun would otherwise send the mission to a high-speed fiery death.
At this point I thought I'd make a scurrilous comparison to holding marshmallows too close to a bonfire -
but that would be silly, wouldn't it ?
Despite the lengthy travel time , the mission should greatly increase our understanding of Mercury.


Meanwhile, back on Mars 


Deafening silence from the Opportunity rover which was encased during the vast dust storm that swept across Mars earlier this year.
Attempts are being made to listen for any signal from the stricken rover - ironically, seasonal winds on Mars which begin in November,  may blow dust away from those delicate solar panels, so it's time to cross fingers and hope.
The original remit for Opportunity and its sister rover ,Spirit *, was to last 90 days - the years of time we've had since then (2004) has been a bonus
There is also evidence of electrified dust - devils on Mars, which are credited with the mysterious cleaning of solar panels on the rovers...
 Personally, I'm stunned that in our solar system we now have a world peopled entirely by robotic explorers...

                                    Pinpointing collection sites on Mars              NASA/JPL

The future sample collecting mission scheduled for 2020 is narrowing down the potential sites to a couple which may provide the biosignatures hoped for.
In terms of astrophysics, I am a luddite , but it seems unnecessarily complex that three missions are required to collect and return the samples to Earth.
It's frustrating like the Mercury mission which will take seven years to arrive...
Correction, I am not a ' luddite' - just impatient.

In the meantime, don't forget that the Insight mission is next to land on Mars , ( November 26th) complete with robotic 'grabber' arm (officially, it's the Instrument Deployment Arm)
Insight is designed to stay put , taking delicate seismic and other measurements.

Soon to be launched from a jet is the Icon, an orbiting device designed to monitor the interaction of Earth and Space, weather - wise. The actual launch will be from a  ' Stargazer' jet, the only 'moving' launchpad of its type**.

Stargazer L101 with Pegasus              NASA

Meanwhile, in the upper atmosphere...

It appears that ambitious plans are afoot to launch a giant 'fake sun' into space.
The satellite would act as a mirror, reflecting the suns light onto an area covering some 80 km .
Lack of available information on this ambitious plan makes me wonder whether it is just an internet nonsense - but there has been a precedent ; back in 1993 , the Russian project Znamya 2  briefly cast a light upon Europe before burning up on re-entry.

Znamya 2 mirrored sunlight back  to Earth          MIR/ CSS

'Till Next We Meet


G

* Just a brief vid of Opportunity trying to free itself from a sand trap back in 2010

  ** I almost said 'the only moving launchpad ..in the world', but of course  -