“Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody”– Mark Twain

Volume 12, Issue 15 October 9, 2019

CONTENTS • NASA Opens Call for Artemis Lunar Landers ...... 1 • SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Will Launch Private Moon Lander in 2021 ...... 1 • NASA’s Prepares to Jump ’s Shadow ...... 2 • InSight ‘Hears’ Peculiar Sounds on Mars ...... 2 • How Long Will the Hubble Space Telescope Last? ...... 3 • 1st Planet Orbiting a Sunlike Star ...... 3

Fast-Track to the Moon: NASA Opens Call for Artemis Lunar Landers NASA is seeking proposals for human lunar landing systems designed and developed by American companies SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Will Launch for the Artemis program, which includes sending the first woman and Private Moon Lander in 2021 next man to the surface of the Moon A private lunar lander now has a rocket ride for its first moon mission. by 2024.

The final call to industry comes The robotic Nova-C lander, built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, will after NASA issued two drafts on launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a NASA-sponsored flight in 2021, July 19 and Aug. 30, encouraging companies to send comments to representatives of both companies announced on October 2. help shape a key component of the agency’s human exploration Artemis In May of this year, NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) partnerships. NASA is expected to make multiple awards to industry to program tapped Intuitive Machines and two other companies, develop and demonstrate a human Beyond and Astrobotic, to build landers to take agency payloads to the landing system. The first company lunar surface. Intuitive Machines got $77 million, Astrobotic received $79.5 to complete its lander will carry astronauts to the surface in 2024, million, and Orbit Beyond netted $97 million. and the second company will land in Space.com 2025. Astro Newsletter 1 NASA.gov NASA’s Juno Prepares to Jump Jupiter’s Shadow

NASA’s Juno Prepares to Jump Jupiter’s Shadow InSight ‘Hears’ Peculiar Sounds on Mars Last night, NASA’s Juno mission Put an ear to the ground on Mars Quakes to Jupiter successfully executed and you’ll be rewarded with a Put on headphones to listen to a 10.5-hour propulsive maneuver symphony of sounds. Granted, two of the more representative – extraordinarily long by mission you’ll need superhuman quakes SEIS has detected. standards. The goal of the burn, as it’s hearing, but NASA’s InSight known, will keep the solar-powered lander comes equipped with a These occurred on May 22, spacecraft out of what would have very special “ear.” 2019 (the 173rd Martian day, been a mission-ending shadow cast or sol, of the mission) and by Jupiter on the spacecraft during The spacecraft’s exquisitely July 25, 2019 (Sol 235). Far its next close flyby of the planet on sensitive seismometer, called below the human range of Nov. 3, 2019. the Seismic Experiment for hearing, these sonifications Interior Structure (SEIS). SEIS from SEIS had to be speeded Juno began the maneuver yesterday, was designed to listen for up and slightly processed to be on Sept. 30, at 7:46 p.m. EDT (4:46 marsquakes. Scientists want to audible through headphones. p.m. PDT) and completed it early study how the seismic waves Both were recorded by the on Oct. 1. Using the spacecraft’s reaction-control thrusters, the of these quakes move through “very broad band sensors” on propulsive maneuver lasted five the planet’s interior, revealing SEIS, which are more sensitive times longer than any previous use the deep inner structure of at lower frequencies than its of that system. It changed Juno’s Mars for the first time. But after short period sensors. orbital velocity by 126 mph (203 kph) the seismometer was set down and consumed about 160 pounds by InSight’s robotic arm, Mars Mechanical Sounds and Wind (73 kilograms) of fuel. Without this seemed shy. It didn’t produce Gusts maneuver, Juno would have spent its first rumbling until this past SEIS has no trouble identifying 12 hours in transit across Jupiter’s April, and this first quake turned quiet quakes, but its sensitive shadow – more than enough time out to be an odd duck. It had ear means scientists have lots to drain the spacecraft’s batteries. a surprisingly high-frequency of other noises to filter out. Without power, and with spacecraft seismic signal compared to temperatures plummeting, Juno what the science team has Over time, the team has learned would likely succumb to the cold heard since then. Out of more to recognize the different and be unable to awaken upon exit. than 100 events detected to sounds. And while some are date, about 21 are strongly trickier than others to spot, Juno has been navigating in deep considered to be quakes. The they all have made InSight’s space since 2011. It entered an initial remainder could be quakes presence on Mars feel more 53-day orbit around Jupiter on July as well, but the science team real to those working with the 4, 2016. hasn’t ruled out other causes. spacecraft. Technology.org Astro Newsletter 2 MarsDaily.com Astronomers May Have Just Discovered an Interstellar Comet

1st Planet Orbiting a How Long Will the Hubble Space Sunlike Star Telescope Last? On October 6, 1995, astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz NASA’s Hubble Space will eventually experience announced the momentous Telescope (HST) was enough atmospheric drag discovery of the 1st planet in orbit launched into orbit on the that it will crash to Earth; around a distant sunlike star. 51 Discovery on this is projected to occur by Pegasi b has about half the mass of April 24, 1990. Thanks to its the mid-2030s, regardless of Jupiter. It a star not unlike our perch above most of Earth’s the telescope’s operational sun. turbulent atmosphere, the status. But if Hubble gets telescope’s relatively modest a boost, perhaps from October 6, 1995. On this date, 2.4-meter mirror has given us one of the many private astronomers Michel Mayor and an unprecedented window spacecraft currently under Didier Queloz announced the on the universe for nearly development, it could be discovery of the first planet in orbit 30 years. But just how much back in business. around a distant sunlike star. They longer will Hubble last? later published their finding in the Currently, NASA plans to journal Nature, in a paper titled Unless the telescope suffers use a rocket to perform a simply A Jupiter-Mass Companion a catastrophic failure that controlled deorbit, which to a Solar-type Star. renders all its instruments will ensure any debris that unusable or eliminates the doesn’t burn up will land in an The star was 51 Pegasi, located about telescope’s ability to point uninhabited area when HST’s 50 light-years away in the direction of our constellation Pegasus the at targets, HST will continue mission is finally complete. Flying Horse. Astronomers officially operating at least through designated the new planet as June 30, 2021. That’s how Ultimately, Hubble’s future is 51 Pegasi b, in accordance with long NASA has officially still unclear. According to the nomenclature already decided funded its operations. ’s upon for extrasolar planets. The b HST website, “There is no set means that this planet was the first There’s another consideration: date for Hubble’s retirement. discovered orbiting its parent star. HST is not completely above Hubble will continue to work If additional planets are ever found Earth’s atmosphere. It’s in low for as long as its components for the star 51 Pegasi, they’ll be Earth orbit, which means it operate and it provides a designated c, d, e, f, and so on. So far, still experiences some drag, good service to the scientific this planet is the only one known in or friction, from air particles community.” this system. as it circles Earth. HST EarthSky.org Astro Newsletter Astronomy.com 3 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Orion Rising over Brazil Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Fairbairn

Have you seen Orion lately? The next few months will be the best for seeing this familiar constellation as it rises continually earlier in the night. However, Orion’s stars and nebulas won’t look quite as colorful to the eye as they do in this fantastic camera image. In the featured image, Orion was captured by camera showing its full colors last month over a Brazilian copal tree from Brazil’s Central-West Region. Here the cool red giant Betelgeuse takes on a strong orange hue as the brightest star on the far left. Otherwise, Orion’s hot blue stars are numerous, with supergiant Rigel balancing Betelgeuse at the upper right, Bellatrix at the upper left, and Saiph at the lower right. Lined up in Orion’s belt (bottom to top) are Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka all about 1,500 light-years away, born of the constellation’s well studied interstellar clouds. And if a “star” toward the upper right Orion’s sword looks reddish and fuzzy to you, it should. It’s the stellar nursery known as the Great Nebula of Orion.

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