Welcome to the 18th State of Space! It’s short, but hopefully sweet.
Quick look:
Successful launches: 2
Failures: 0
Major events: Hubble in Safe Mode, possible intergalactic planetary observation, Progress 79 (MS-18) launch
Hubble is once again in Safe Mode
The Hubble Space Telescope Twitter account tweeted on Monday that HST’s science instruments “went into safe mode… after experiencing synchronization issues with internal spacecraft communications.” We won’t be getting new amazing images until the problem is diagnosed and repaired, which could really be anytime. It doesn’t feel like this is as bad as the month-long scare over the summer, but it could still take weeks.
Intergalactic planet-hunting
Meanwhile, another of NASA’s Great Observatories may have recorded evidence of a potential exoplanet outside the Milky Way. The Chandra X-ray Observatory is designed to be able to detect x-ray sources 100x fainter than any previous space telescope, meaning it can sense things Hubble could never dream of. (Although I would note that HST is much more focused on the visible light spectrum than x-ray, so not really an apples-to-apples comparison. Ah, rabbit holes…) Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astronomy led a study over the past year using Chandra to try to observe far-off exoplanets crossing in front of their stars and think they may have observed an exoplanet in the binary system M51-ULS-1, located in the M51 galaxy. M51-ULS-1, aside from being almost 28 million light years away, is also composed of a black hole or neutron star orbiting a companion star roughly 20 times more massive than the sun. The potential exoplanet is estimated to be roughly the size of Saturn with an orbital period of about 70 years, which causes some problems with verifying the planet’s existence since it won’t be observable again until roughly the 2090’s. Still, this is the first time we’ve observed a planet outside our own galaxy and it’s super exciting to see that Chandra may be the first of many intergalactic planet-seekers.
Progress MS-18 launch
Just a few days after Progress MS-17 deorbited, MS-18 is already delivering fresh supplies to the ISS. The resupply ship is carrying about 1,490 kg of cargo, comprised of fuel for the station, water, assorted dry goods, and compressed air. MS-18 is the first spacecraft to dock to the aft port of Zvezda since MS-14 in April due to a small leak in the PrK docking compartment (which has been sealed from the rest of the station since MS-14’s departure) and is expected to leave in about 60 days. Progress MS-18 will be used to help diagnose the leak more effectively.
H-2A launch of QZS-1R
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched new regional navigation satellite QZS-1R on behalf of JAXA on the H2-A, a two stage rocket burning liquid hydrogen and oxygen with up to four SRBs. This mission flew in the 202 configuration with two main stages and only two of those solid boosters. Interestingly, this is one of the few rockets that had a proposed single-booster variant which would have used a modified version of the first stage. Bummer we didn’t get to see this.
Anyways, the Quazi-Zenith Satellite System is a regional positioning satellite constellation designed to provide high accuracy navigation services in mountainous and congested urban areas by having satellites in elliptical orbits with the highest point over Japan. Due to orbital mechanics, each satellite slows at it reaches apogee which means that a) you don’t have to orbit as many sats to get coverage throughout the course of the day and b) it’s easier to get a signal lock because the satellite isn’t zooming by as fast. QZS-1R is a replacement for the aging QZS-1 satellite launched in 2010.