Bernese Mars camera CaSSIS sends first colour images from Mars

The Mars camera CaSSIS on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has returned its first colour images of the red planet. The camera system, which was developed at the University of Bern, is now ready for the start of its prime mission on April 28, 2018. The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) has been designed by an international team under guidance of the University of Bern. The Mars camera is on board of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a European Space Agency/Roscosmos mission. It has now returned its first colour images from the orbit at Mars. The camera system was switched on 20 March and has been undergoing tests in preparation for the start of its prime mission on April 28, 2018. "We have had a couple of minor software issues in the initial test phase", says Principal Investigator, Nicolas Thomas from the Center of Space and Habitability (CSH), University of Bern in Switzerland, "but the instrument is actually in good health and ready to work." The UniBern team transmitted a completely new software version to the instrument at the start of test phase. "It is amazing that you can totally change the software in an instrument flying around Mars more than 100 million kilometres away and that it works", says Thomas.

Korolev crater (Mars)

Some of the first images have been spectacular. The example image is from the rim of an ice-filled crater called Korolev at high latitude in the northern hemisphere. The bright material is ice that can be seen on the rim of the crater (which is much larger than the image).

The picture has a resolution of just over 5 metres and outperforms the resolution of images from Hubble and other telescopes by far. In the future, CaSSIS should operate from slightly lower altitudes to give resolutions of less than 5 metres.

"We were really pleased to see how good this picture was given the lighting conditions", says Antoine Pommerol, a member of the CaSSIS science team at the CSH working on the calibration of the data. "It shows that CaSSIS can make a major contribution to studies of Mars's carbon dioxide and water cycles."

The image is a composite of three images in different colours that were taken almost simultaneously by CaSSIS on April 15, 2018. They were then assembled to produce this colour view.

"Our aim is to fully automate the image production process", says Thomas. "Once we achieve this, we can distribute the data to the community quickly for analysis."

Observing dynamics on Mars

CaSSIS is designed to complement the data acquired by the other payload on TGO and other Mars orbiters while also enhancing our knowledge of the surface of Mars. It is now known that Mars is more dynamic than previously thought.

Of particular interest to the 25-strong science team from 9 countries (incl. US and Russia) is the chance CaSSIS offers to study changes that occur over the day and over the Martian seasons. Further studies of recently discovered liquid water on the surface will be one of the main aims.

Aerospace explores next steps in space development

The Aerospace Corporation's Center for Space Policy and Strategy (CSPS) released a new policy paper that explores future opportunities in cislunar space-essentially, the space inside the moon's orbit and the orbital area around the moon. Cislunar Development: What to Build- and Why discusses the possible applications for cislunar space-for example, outposts on the moon, extraterrestrial mining operations, interplanetary waystations-and determines the infrastructure that will be needed to realize those ambitious goals. Author Dr. James Vedda, senior policy analyst with CSPS, says that the cislunar region remains a largely underdeveloped resource, and any coherent, long-term strategy for space commerce and exploration will need to make better use of it. "An enduring, multi-purpose space infrastructure means more than just rockets and spacecraft," said Vedda."It needs a wide range of capabilities, such as inter-orbital transportation, on-orbit servicing, standardization, fuel storage, energy distribution, communication and navigation services, resource extraction, and materials processing."

Vedda added that visions for cislunar development have been proposed by public and private stakeholders in spacefaring countries, but no widespread consensus on what to build and how to build it has emerged.

"Most of these concepts have focused on small aspects of the overarching design-but to truly realize the enormous potential of cislunar space, infrastructure projects should strive for broad applicability, beyond a single mission or short-term series of missions for a single agency."

Dr. Jamie Morin, executive director for CSPS, echoed those sentiments, noting, "Investment in cislunar development makes sense as a strategy for boosting U.S. space commerce and expanding the human footprint in the solar system. Building an effective space infrastructure will involve a mix of government agencies and private-sector entrepreneurs from around the world, so collaboration between the public and private sectors and across national lines will be key."

NanoRacks space station airlock "Bishop" completes CDR, moves to fab stage

The NanoRacks Space Station Airlock Module "Bishop" met another major milestone with completion of the Critical Design Review (CDR) on March 20 and 21, 2018 in Houston, Texas. This milestone begins the transition from the engineering design phase to the fabrication phase. Detailed design drawings such as those for the critical pressure shell will be signed and released to NanoRacks fabrication partner, Thales Alenia Space, in order for them to continue their fabrication efforts. In February 2018, NanoRacks announced that Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), was chosen as the latest partner in its commercial airlock program, joining with a number of key partners, including Boeing. Thales Alenia Space is set to produce and test the critical pressure shell for the NanoRacks Airlock Module and will also manufacture various secondary structures, including the Micrometeoroid Orbital Debris (MMOD) shields with Multi-Layer Isolation (MLI) panels, the power and video grapple fixture support structure and other structural components.

Other key features, such as the Passive Common Berthing Mechanism (PCBM), being manufactured by Boeing, require a long lead time and have been in production for over a year now. The PCBM will be delivered to Thales Alenia Space in May 2018 and will then be installed to the pressure shell.

"I'm very proud of the NanoRacks engineering team and our partner, ATA Engineering, who performs the structural and thermal analysis for Bishop," says Airlock Project Manager Brock Howe.

"This is a crucial milestone that required many long hours, and the team has been working together very smoothly. We're also very appreciative of our relationship with NASA and the International Space Station Program Office, as they have provided guidance and expertise in several critical areas. As always, there is plenty of work still to do - and we will continue to push forward."

The next major milestone is the Phase II Safety Review scheduled for June 2018. The project is still on track to meet the SpaceX CRS-19 launch, targeting fourth quarter 2019.

Virtual contact lenses for radar satellites

Radar satellites supply the data used to map sea level and ocean currents. However, up until now the radar's "eyes" have been blind where the oceans are covered by ice. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now developed a new analysis method to solve this problem.The melting of the polar ice cap would have a drastic effect: Sea level would rise by several meters around the world, impacting hundreds of millions of people who live close to coasts. "This means one of the most important questions of our time is how climate change is affecting the polar regions," explains Dr. Marcello Passaro of the TUM German Geodetic Research Institute. But changes in sea level and ocean currents in the ice-covered regions of the Arctic and Antarctic in particular are very difficult to detect. The reason: The radar signals of the altimeter satellites that have been surveying the surfaces of the earth and oceans for more than two decades are reflected by the ice at the poles. This renders the water underneath the ice invisible.But ocean water also passes through cracks and openings in the permanent ice, reaching the surface. "These patches of water are however very small and the signals are highly distorted by the surrounding ice.

Here standard evaluation methods like those used for measurements made on the open seas are incapable of returning reliable results," Passaro points out. Together with an international team he has now developed a data analysis method which sharpens the focus of the radar's eyes.

An algorithm for all occasions

The core of this virtual "contact lens" is the adaptive algorithm ALES+, (Adaptive Leading Edge Subwaveform). ALES+ automatically identifies the portion of the radar signal which is reflected by water and derives sea level values using this information only.

This makes it possible to precisely measure the altitude of the ocean water which reaches the surface through ice cracks and openings. By comparing several years of measurements, climate researchers and oceanographers can now draw conclusions about changes in sea level and ocean currents.

"The special thing about our method is that it is adaptive," Passaro notes.

"We can use one and the same algorithm to measure sea level in both open and ice-covered ocean areas. ALES+ can also be used for coastal waters, lakes and rivers. Here the signals are highly varied, but always exhibit certain characteristic properties which the system then learns."

The scientists were able to use a test scenario in the Greenland Sea to demonstrate that ALES+ returns water levels for ice-covered and open ocean regions which are significantly more precise than the results of previous evaluation methods.

Moon Colonization: Why do we want it and what technologies do we have?

Scientists are convinced that humankind is capable of turning the Moon into a space outpost: people have cosmodromes, heavy carrier rockets, space modules and lunar rovers. Sputnik reveals what is behind the human desire to conquer space and what challenges colonizers may face on the way. The idea of the Moon's colonization was quite popular during the Cold War era. But in the mid-1970s such projects by the USSR and the US were suspended as travel to the satellite proved very expensive and didn't pursue any concrete goal. But half a century later, the dreams of settling on the Moon have taken over mankind once again. Perhaps, this is due to the high technological level of civilization that needs really ambitious goals as well as the prospects for the development of private space exploration, journalist and scientific observer Tatyana Pichugina wrote for Sputnik. According to her, the arsenal of the world's space industry has everything one needs to conquer the Moon. What is missing, are clearly formulated goals.

How Can We Use the Moon?

Many scientists believe that space expansion is a logical step towards mankind's further development.

Sooner or later, Earth will become too "crowded" and there will be a need for a transshipment base on the Moon, from where one could go to Mars and other planets of the solar system.

Moon colonization would also give people an opportunity to extract valuable minerals. Particular hopes are associated with helium-3, which is used in neutron counters.

There is very little helium-3 available on the Earth, but quite a lot - on the Moon. Therefore, a number of governments have already signaled their readiness to go to the satellite to mine helium-3 as a fuel supply.

The possibility of transferring energy-intensive production to the Moon in order to reduce industrial emissions on Earth in the distant future has also been voiced by a number of researchers.

What Challenges Are We About to Face?

There is no atmosphere and no magnetic field on the Moon. Its surface is continuously bombarded with micrometeorites, while the temperature differences during one day may reach two hundred degrees Celsius.

People can work there only in suits and within sealed lunar rovers, or in a stationary inhabited module with a complete life support system.

Generally, the whole construction process must be also based on completely different and advanced technologies: using inflatable modules, producing many building elements on a 3D printer, creating composite materials from the lunar regolith by means of laser sintering.

Thus, there are many things that scientists still have to think through before any actual colonization efforts will take place.

Concrete Projects

A moon-orbiting space station is considered a logical step on the way to the colonization of the moon.

The United States, Russia and China have already announced the implementation of a corresponding project by 2025-2030.

In particular, the US and Russia have agreed on the establishment of a joint orbital station called the Deep Space Gateway. The project may be joined by China, India and some BRICS countries.

Technical details are expected to be presented this year. Construction works in orbit are set to start in 2024.