This photo provided by NASA shows the Viper (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration) vehicle at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on July 7, 2024. The NASA has said it is canceling the water-seeking moon rover, citing cost overruns and launch delays.
| Photo Credit: AP

The The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, it’s canceling its water-seeking moon rover, citing cost overruns and launch delays.

The Viper rover was supposed to launch in late 2023 aboard a lander provided by Astrobotic Technology, but extra testing and increased costs kept delaying the mission, threatening other projects, the space agency said.

The rover had aimed to explore the moon’s south pole. About $450 million had been spent so far on its development, NASA said.

The announcement comes days before the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon on July 20, 1969. NASA said it plans to study the presence of lunar ice through other projects.

Astrobotic still plans to fly its Griffin moon lander — minus a rover — by the end of next year. The company’s first moonshot ended in failure in January with a fiery plunge over the South Pacific.

Washington:

NASA released on Friday a pair of images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope showing two galaxies – one nicknamed the Penguin and the other the Egg – in the process of merging in sort of a cosmic ballet as the U.S. space agency marked two years since it unveiled the orbiting observatory’s first scientific results.

Webb, which was launched in 2021 and began collecting data the following year, has reshaped the understanding of the early universe while taking stunning pictures of the cosmos. The two galaxies in the images are situated 326 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

“We see two galaxies, each a collection of billions of stars. The galaxies are in the process of merging. That’s a common way that galaxies like our own build up over time, to grow from small galaxies – like those that Webb has found shortly after the Big Bang – into mature galaxies like our own Milky Way,” said Jane Rigby, NASA Webb senior project scientist.

Since becoming operational, Webb has observed galaxies teeming with stars that formed within a few hundred million years of the Big Bang event that marked the beginning of the universe about 13.8 billion years ago.

The mingling Penguin and Egg galaxies are collectively known as Arp 142. They are shown in the imagery joined by a haze that is a mix of stars and gas amid their slow-motion merger.

The Penguin galaxy, so dubbed because its shape from the perspective of the telescope resembles that flightless bird, including a beak-like region, is formally called NGC 2936. It is a spiral-shaped galaxy, now a bit distorted. The Egg galaxy, also named for its shape, is formally called NGC 2937. It is a compact elliptical-shaped galaxy. Together, their appearance is suggestive of a penguin guarding its egg.

Their interaction, according to NASA, was set in motion between 25 and 75 million years ago, and they are expected to become a single galaxy hundreds of millions of years from now.

Webb has detected the earliest-known galaxies and has provided insight into areas such as the composition of planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets, and the nature of star-forming regions in the cosmos.

“This mission has allowed us to look back to the most distant galaxies ever observed and understand the very early universe in a new way,” said Mark Clampin, astrophysics division director at NASA headquarters. “For example, with Webb, we’ve found that these very early galaxies are more massive and brighter than we expected, posing the question: How did they get so big so quickly?”

Webb was designed to be more sensitive than its Hubble Space Telescope predecessor, which also is continuing its work. Webb looks at the universe mainly in the infrared, while Hubble has examined it primarily at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.

“Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever put in space. It specializes in capturing infrared light – wavelengths of light longer than our eyes can see. With its incredible sensitivity to those wavelengths, we’ve been able to look back into the early universe in a way previous missions couldn’t, see through dust and gas into the heart of star formation, and examine the composition of exoplanet atmospheres like never before,” Clampin said.

Looking ahead, Clampin added, “Some of Webb’s most exciting investigations will be the things we haven’t even thought of yet.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Paris:

A planet relatively close to Earth could be the first ever detected with a potentially life-sustaining liquid ocean outside our Solar System, according to scientists using the James Webb space telescope.

More than 5,000 planets have been discovered outside of the Solar System so far, but only a handful are in what is called the “Goldilocks zone” — neither too hot or too cold — that could host liquid water, a key ingredient for life.

The exoplanet LHS 1140 b is one of the few in this habitable zone, and has been thoroughly scrutinised since it was first discovered in 2017.

It sits 48 light years from Earth, which equates to more than 450 trillion kilometres (280 trillion miles) — relatively close in the vast distances of space.

The exoplanet had been thought to be a small gas giant called a “mini-Neptune” with an atmosphere too thick with hydrogen and helium to support alien life.

However, new observations from the Webb telescope have confirmed that the exoplanet is in fact a rocky “super-Earth”.

It is 1.7 times bigger than Earth, but has 5.6 times its mass, according to a study published late Wednesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

‘Best bet’ for ocean world

The Webb telescope was able to analyse the planet’s atmosphere as it passed in front of its star.

There were no signs of hydrogen or helium, which ruled out that the planet was a mini-Neptune.

The density of the planet indicates that it “actually has large quantities of water,” study co-author Martin Turbet of France’s CNRS scientific research centre told AFP.

It could be a truly immense amount of water.

All the water in Earth’s oceans represent only 0.02 percent of its mass. But 10 to 20 percent of the exoplanet’s mass was estimated to be water.

Whether or not this water is in liquid or ice form depends on the planet’s atmosphere.

“We do not have direct evidence that it has an atmosphere, but several elements point in that direction,” Turbet said.

Lead study author Charles Cadieux, a PhD student at the University of Montreal, said that “of all currently known temperate exoplanets, LHS 1140 b could well be our best bet to one day indirectly confirm liquid water on the surface of an alien world”.

One positive is that the planet is gently warmed by its red dwarf star, which is one-fifth the size of the Sun.

The exoplanet’s surface temperature should be fairly similar to that on Earth and Mars, Turbet said.

The presence of gasses such as carbon dioxide will play a key role in determining whether the planet is covered in ice or water.

Bull’s-eye ocean

One possibility is that the surface is mostly ice, but there is a vast liquid ocean where the planet is most exposed to its star’s heat.

This ocean could measure about 4,000 kilometres in diameter, around half the surface area of the Atlantic Ocean, modelling suggested.

Or the liquid water could be hidden under a thick shell of ice, like on the moons Ganymede, Enceladus or Europa orbiting around Jupiter and Saturn.

Webb’s instrument spotted signs that suggest “the presence of nitrogen,” Cadieux said, adding that more research was needed to confirm the finding.

Nitrogen is found everywhere on Earth, and is thought to be another potentially ingredient for life.

The researchers are hoping to get a few more hours of the Webb’s telescope’s precious time to find out more about LHS 1140 b.

It will take at least a year to confirm whether the exoplanet has an atmosphere, and two or three more to detect the presence of carbon dioxide, the researchers estimated.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

A pair of US astronauts stuck waiting to leave the International Space Station said Wednesday they were confident that the problem-plagued Boeing Starliner they rode up on would soon bring them home, even as significant uncertainties remain.

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams blasted off on June 5 aboard the brand new spaceship that NASA is hoping to certify to ferry crews to-and-from the orbital outpost.

They docked the following day for what was meant to be roughly a week-long stay, but their return was pushed back because of thruster malfunctions and helium leaks that came to light during the journey.

No date has been set for the return, but NASA officials said Wednesday they were eying “late July.”

Asked during a live press call from the station whether they still had faith in the Starliner team and the spaceship, mission commander Wilmore replied: “We’re absolutely confident.”

“I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem,” added Sunita Williams.

She said they were continuing to enjoy their time aboard the ISS, performing tasks like changing out the pump on a machine that processes urine back into drinking water, and carrying out science experiments such as gene sequencing in the microgravity environment.

They have also tested Starliner as a “safe haven” vehicle in case of problems aboard the ISS and checked out how its life support performs when four people are inside.

Lingering uncertainty

Before Wilmore and Williams can come home, however, engineering teams need to run more simulations of similar thrusters and helium seals on the ground, to better understand the root causes of some of the technical issues Starliner experienced — and modify the way it will fly down, if necessary.

It was known there was one helium leak affecting the spaceship before the launch, but more leaks emerged during the flight. Helium, while non-combustible, provides pressure to the propulsion system.

What’s more, some of Starliner’s thrusters that provide fine maneuvering initially failed to kick in during its approach to the station, delaying docking.

Engineers are not sure why the craft’s computer “deselected” these thrusters, though they were able to restart all but one of them.

In a subsequent press call, Boeing executive Mark Nappi told reporters that the “working theory” for the thruster malfunction was overheating due to excessive firing.

Theories on the cause of the helium leaks ranged from debris entering the propulsion system to Boeing possibly installing seals that were undersized for the task.

NASA and Boeing insist Starliner could fly home in case of an emergency, particularly since the problems affected only certain thrusters that control orientation.

They have no concerns over any of the more powerful thrusters responsible for the “deorbit burn” that will bring the spaceship back.

But much remains unclear — including whether the orientation control thrusters that malfunctioned have become degraded, which would make it necessary to rely on other thrusters during descent, NASA official Steve Stich said.

He insisted that NASA wasn’t yet considering bringing Williams and Wilmore back on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, in what would amount to a major humiliation for the aerospace giant Boeing, whose reputation has taken a hit in recent years over the safety crisis affecting its commercial jets.

“The prime option today is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner,” said Stich, while conceding that a return flight on a SpaceX spaceship can’t be ruled out.

In 2014, both SpaceX and Boeing were awarded multibillion-dollar contracts by NASA to develop crewed spaceships after the retirement of the Space Shuttle program. SpaceX carried out a successful crewed test in 2020 and has flown dozens of people since.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A US family whose home was hit by space debris earlier this year is seeking compensation from the American space agency NASA for property damage and mental anguish. The metallic cylinder slab punched a hole in the roof through two layers of ceiling in Alejandro Otero’s home in Naples in March. Back then, NASA said that the object was part of a 2.9-ton pallet of used batteries jettisoned from the International Space Station in March 2021. Mr Otero said his son was nearly injured by the impact. 

Now, law firm Cranfill Summer said in a press release that it filed a claim on behalf of Mr Otero and his family. It listed damages including non-insured property damage loss, business interruption, emotional/mental anguish and the costs for assistance from third parties. 

According to the BBC, Attorney Mica Nguyen Worthy said space debris “is a real serious issue because of the increase in space traffic in recent years”. “My clients are seeking adequate compensation to account for the stress and impact that this event had on their lives,” she added. 

Separately, speaking to CBS affiliate Wink-TV Mr Otero said that the space junk created a tremendous sound” as it blasted into his home. “I was shaking. I was completely in disbelief. What are the chances of something landing on my house with such force to cause so much damage,” Mr Otero said.

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The US space agency confirmed that the debris was from its flight support equipment. It was a metal support used to hold old batteries on a disposal pallet jettisoned from the station in 2021. While most of the pallet was expected to burn up in the atmosphere, this particular piece survived the fiery re-entry.

 “The hardware was expected to fully burn up during entry through Earth’s atmosphere on March 8, 2024. However, a piece of hardware survived and impacted a home in Naples, Florida,” the agency said. The ISS will “perform a detailed investigation” on how the debris survived burn-up, according to Nasa. 

The BBC reported that the agency now has 6 months to respond to Mr Otero’s claims. 

For almost a decade, astronomers have been searching the outer solar system, looking for signs of a ninth planet. Their search may soon come to an end, courtesy of a state-of-the-art telescope, which will begin scanning the sky next year.

The Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile, which is set to open in 2025, may finally help scientists find Planet Nine within the next few years, experts told Live Science.

Over the past few years, astronomers have proposed that a ninth world, nicknamed “Planet Nine”, could be hiding in the far reaches of our cosmic neighbourhood.

Planet Nine is sometimes called Planet X. About Planet X, scientists believe it is a gas or ice giant billions of miles away from the rest of the planets.

With the help of the state-of-the-art telescope, Planet Nine could be found within the next two years, Mike Brown, an astronomer who proposed the Planet Nine hypothesis along with a colleague, told Live Science.

The size of a small car and weighing 2.8 metric tons, the sophisticated piece of equipment will reveal views of the cosmos as never before. 

The $800 million camera will snap its first photos beginning in early 2025 and the machine will sweep the sky every three days, allowing scientists to reach new heights in their galactic analyses.

ALSO READ | There’s A 72% Chance That An Asteroid May Hit Earth On This Exact Day

According to NASA, the composition of Planet X is like Neptune, but its mass could be 10 times that of Earth.

The US space agency also claimed that Planet X “may take between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years” to complete an orbit around the sun.

This hypothetical Neptune-sized planet orbits the Sun in a highly elongated orbit far beyond Pluto, the report said.

Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, said that the possibility of a new planet is an exciting one for science.

“This is not, however, the detection or discovery of a new planet. It’s too early to say with certainty there’s a so-called Planet X,” Mr Green said, adding it is an early prediction based on modelling from limited observations.

“It’s the start of a process that could lead to an exciting result,” he further said.

The solar system currently consists of eight planets — Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Pluto was the ninth planet of the solar system before it was demoted from full planetary status to “dwarf planet” in 2006.

The American space agency NASA has confirmed that the return of Indian origin astronaut Sunita Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) has been further delayed and no new date has been set for her “happy landing”.

This comes as the spacecraft in which she travelled to space, the Boeing Starliner, has been facing a series of glitches. Sunita Williams and her co-passenger Butch Wilmore are both safe on the ISS along with the seven other crew members who inhabit the “mini-city in space” – the ISS.

Riding atop the Boeing Starliner on its maiden mission, Ms Williams reached the ISS on June 5 on what was to be possibly a 10-day mission but since then it has been extended twice thanks to issues with the small rockets that help the crew module return to Earth, and a series of Helium leaks that bedevil the Boeing Starliner on its first crewed flight.

NASA says the crew is not pressed for time to leave the station since there are plenty of supplies in orbit, and the station’s schedule is relatively open through mid-August.

Initially, Ms Williams was to return potentially on June 14, this was scrapped and a new date June 26 was set by NASA, this has also been postponed and a new date has not been announced yet.

“NASA and Boeing leadership are adjusting the return to Earth of the Starliner Crew Flight Test spacecraft with agency astronauts. The move off Wednesday, June 26, deconflicts Starliner’s undocking and landing from a series of planned International Space Station spacewalks while allowing mission teams time to review propulsion system data,” a statement said.

Five of the 28 thrusters on the Boeing Starliner are having issues and there have been five Helium leaks on the space craft. Experts say a minimum of 14 thrusters are required for a safe return.

Boeing says, “Starliner has completed 77 of the original 87 flight-test objectives, with the remaining 10 will occur between undocking and landing.”

NASA says mission managers are evaluating future return opportunities following the station’s two planned spacewalks on Monday, June 24, and Tuesday, July 2. So it could well be nearly a month long stay for Ms Williams in space on her third mission to space.

“Starliner is performing well in orbit while docked to the space station,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program

“We are strategically using the extra time to clear a path for some critical station activities while completing readiness for Butch and Suni’s return on Starliner and gaining valuable insight into the system upgrades we will want to make for post-certification missions.”

Boeing has faced several hiccups in the Starliner development and initially it was to have completed this with a $4.2 billion contract but has now spent a total of about $ 5.7 billion and the going is still uphill as the mission remains incomplete.

NASA wanted a second alternative to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and hence Boeing Starliner was being pushed through. Boeing is going through a bad patch in general and its aviation and aircraft business has also been stumbling.

NASA says Wilmore and Williams remain integrated with the Expedition 71 crew, assisting with station operations as needed and completing add-on in-flight objectives for NASA certification of Starliner.

Ms Williams is a qualified navy test pilot she had flown twice earlier to space in 2006 and 2012 and according to data from NASA, before this Starliner mission Sunita has already spent a cumulative total of 322 days in space.

“With seven space walks totalling 50 hours and 40 minutes, Sunita held the record for total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut but that has since been overtaken by Peggy Whitson with 10 spacewalks.”

Ms Williams has helped design the Boeing Starliner so she should be familiar with all its details.

Such Delays Not Unforeseen on Maiden Missions

“We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process,” said Stich.

“We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking. Additionally, given the duration of the mission, it is appropriate for us to complete an agency-level review, similar to what was done ahead of the NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 return after two months on orbit, to document the agency’s formal acceptance on proceeding as planned.”

Meanwhile, the space fairing community prays for the safe return of Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore, but it could be embarrassing for Boeing if SpaceX’s Crew Dragon were to be used to rescue the astronauts stuck at the space station.

“The crew’s feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and they know that every bit of learning we do on the Crew Flight Test will improve and sharpen our experience for future crews,” said Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Boeing’s Starliner Program.

Boeing Starliner’s return to Earth from the International Space Station with its first crew of astronauts has been postponed, NASA said on Friday.

NASA did not provide a new date, raising questions about when the mission’s two astronauts will return as more testing and technical issues have created more delays.

The return to earth was previously scheduled for June 26.

The crew of U.S. astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, lifted off June 5 as a final demonstration to obtain routine flight certification from NASA.

The crewed test of the spacecraft, which has been test-flown to space twice since 2019 without humans aboard, has encountered five failures of its 28 maneuvering thrusters, five leaks of helium that are meant to pressurize those thrusters, and a slow-moving propellant valve that signaled unfixed issues from the past.

The issues and the additional tests NASA and Boeing have had to do call into question when exactly Starliner will be able to fly its crew home, and add to a list of broader problems Boeing faces with its Starliner program. The company has spent $1.5 billion in cost overruns on top of its $4.5 billion NASA development contract.

NASA wants Starliner to become the second US spacecraft capable of ferrying its astronauts to and from the ISS alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which has been the agency’s primary ride since 2020. Boeing’s Starliner program has struggled with software glitches, design problems, and subcontractor disputes for years.

When Starliner arrived in the space station’s vicinity to dock on June 6, the five thruster failures prohibited the spacecraft from making a close approach until Boeing could implement a fix. The company rewrote software and tweaked some procedures to revive four of them and proceed with docking.

Starliner’s undocking and return to Earth represent the spacecraft’s most complicated phases of its test mission. NASA officials have said they want to better understand the cause of the thruster failures, valve issue, and helium leaks before Starliner embarks on its roughly six-hour return journey.

While just one thruster remains dead in Starliner’s current flight, Boeing encountered four thruster problems during the capsule’s uncrewed return from space in 2022.

According to flight rules established jointly by Boeing and NASA, Starliner’s maneuvering thrusters must, at a minimum, allow for “6-degrees of freedom of control,” and each has one backup thruster, a NASA spokesperson told Reuters.

That could mean at least 12 of the 28 thrusters – most of which are backups – are required for a safe flight, or potentially fewer, as long as the remaining thrusters have one backup and can work together in a way that doesn’t restrict Starliner’s freedom of movement in space.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

An American family is claiming more than $80,000 from NASA after a small piece of debris fell from space and smashed through the roof of their Florida home, a law firm said Friday.

The problem of space trash has risen in tandem with increased spatial traffic, and NASA’s response could set a precedent for how future claims are handled, law firm Cranfill Sumner said in a statement.

On March 8, the object weighing just 700 grams hit Alejandro Otero’s home in Naples, Florida, making a hole in the roof.

NASA later confirmed it was part of a cargo pallet of used batteries that was released from the International Space Station as waste in 2021.

Instead of fully disintegrating before falling to Earth, a section remained intact when it reentered the atmosphere, the US space agency said.

Otero’s son was at the house at the moment of impact, according to the law firm, which said that NASA has six months to respond to its claim.

“My clients are seeking adequate compensation to account for the stress and impact that this event had on their lives,” said lawyer Mica Nguyen Worthy.

“They are grateful that no one sustained physical injuries from this incident, but a ‘near miss’ situation such as this could have been catastrophic.

“There could have been serious injury or a fatality.”

NASA did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for a comment.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NASA chief Bill Nelson.
| Photo Credit: AP

NASA administrator Bill Nelson has said that the U.S. space agency will expand collaboration with India and it will include a “joint effort” aboard the International Space Station with an Indian astronaut.

Mr. Nelson’s comments came after a fact sheet issued by the U.S. and India after the iCET Dialogue between U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on June 17 said they were working toward commencing advanced training for ISRO astronauts in the U.S.

“Building on my visit to India last year, NASA continues to further the United States and India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology for the benefit of humanity. Together we are expanding our countries’ collaboration in space, to include a joint effort aboard the International Space Station with an ISRO astronaut,” Mr. Nelson, wrote on X on June 19.

“While specific details about the mission are still in work, these efforts will support future human spaceflight and improve life here on Earth,” Mr. Nelson said.

In New Delhi, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Doval on June 17 said they concluded the Strategic Framework for Human Spaceflight Cooperation to deepen interoperability in space and are working toward commencing advanced training for ISRO astronauts at the NASA Johnson Space Centre.

The two leaders exchanged views on securing a carrier for the first-ever joint effort between NASA and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) astronauts at the International Space Station, which will mark a significant milestone in the India-U.S. space partnership and space exploration.

They also noted that the space agencies of the two countries are preparing for the launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, a jointly developed satellite that will map the entirety of the Earth’s surface twice every 12 days as part of efforts to combat climate change and other global challenges together.

The meeting between Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Doval also concluded that India and the U.S. must remain at the forefront of developing critical technologies as part of a larger strategic interest.

Mr. Doval and his counterpart also unveiled a raft of transformative initiatives to deepen India-U.S. cooperation in areas of artificial intelligence, semiconductor, critical minerals, advanced telecommunication and defence space.

The iCET was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden in May 2022 to forge greater collaboration between India and the U.S. in areas of critical technologies.

Mr. Sullivan visited Delhi from June 17 to 18, the first trip to India by a senior Biden Administration official after the Modi government came to power for the third term.

The U.S. National Security Adviser was accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising senior U.S. government officials and industry leaders.