SpaceX says propellant venting caused loss of second Starship

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk says a propellant dump caused the destruction of the Starship upper stage on a November test flight, giving him confidence that the vehicle can reach orbit on its next launch. On that Nov. 18 launch, the Starship upper stage, or ship, was nearing the end of its burn to place it on a long suborbital trajectory when contact was lost. Hosts of the SpaceX webcast said it appeared the automated flight termination system was activated, but did not give a reason why, and the company provided few details since. At a recent event at SpaceX’s Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas, video of which SpaceX posted on social media Jan. 12, Musk said the failure was linked to venting liquid oxygen propellant near the end of the burn. That venting, he said, was needed only because the vehicle was not carrying any payload. “Flight 2 actually almost made it to orbit,” he said. “If it had a payload, it would have made it to orbit because the reason that it actually didn’t quite make it to orbit was we vented the liquid oxygen, and the liquid oxygen ultimately led to a fire and an explosion.” That venting, he said, would have been unnecessary if the ship had a payload, presumably because it would have been consumed by the Raptor engines on the vehicle in order to reach orbit. He didn’t elaborate on how the venting triggered the fire, or discuss the explosion of the Super Heavy stage shortly after stage separation.

The Starship upper stage separates from the Super Heavy booster on a November 2023 launch. Credit: SpaceX

Musk said that failure mode gave him confidence for the next Starship test flight. “I think we’ve got a really good shot of reaching orbit with Flight 3,” he said.

That third flight is currently projected for February, SpaceX’s Jessica Jensen during a Jan. 9 NASA briefing, pending receipt of an updated launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration. Musk described a more ambitious flight plan for the mission with additional tests of Starship.

“We want to get to orbit and we want to do an in-space engine burn from the header tank” at the top of the vehicle, he said. Doing so would “prove that we can

China launches “lobster eye” Einstein Probe to unveil mysteries of X-ray universe

China launched its Einstein Probe early Tuesday to detect X-ray emissions from violent, fleeting cosmic phenomena using novel lobster eye-inspired optics. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China at 2:03 a.m. (0703 UTC), Jan. 9. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) confirmed launch success within the hour. The Einstein Probe (EP) is part of growing Chinese strategic space science efforts. The spacecraft will spend at least three years observing distant, violent interactions such as tidal disruption events—in which stars are pulled apart by supermassive black holes—supernovae, and detect and localize the high-energy, electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events. By picking up soft band X-ray emissions from stars being ripped apart by massive black holes, the probe could provide new insights into how stellar matter falls into black holes and the complex and rare phenomena of formations of jets of ionized matter emitted by the events. The 1,450-kilogram EP spacecraft will operate in a 600-kilometer altitude, 29 degree inclination orbit. From there it will observe the sky with a Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT). WXT uses cutting edge “lobster eye” optics to allow the probe to view X-ray events more deeply and widely than previously possible. It follows a demonstration of a novel lobster eye optics module mission launched late 2022.

 

WXT combines 12 of the modules tested in 2022 to provide a field of view of 3,600 square degrees. The instrument uses a reflection technique, inspired by lobsters’ eyes, consisting of parallel square pores arranged on a sphere. The multitudes of square tubes guide X-rays down to a CMOS light detector.

The European Space Agency contributed to the mission with support for the testing and calibrating of the detectors and optical elements of the WXT.

ESA ground stations will also be involved in data download from EP. The mission will also utilize China’s Beidou navigation satellite constellation to allow rapid relay of alert data to the ground.

“The strength of Einstein Probe is to observe almost the entire night sky in about 5 hours with great sensitivity, thanks to the lobster-eye technique,” Erik Kuulkers, ESA Project Scientist, told SpaceNews. “It is thus able to catch any unpredictable transient event in X-ray light.”

“Powered by tumultuous cosmic events, X-ray light from astronomical sources is very unpredictable. Yet, it carries fundamental information about some of the most enigmatic objects and phenomena in our Universe,” Kuulkers explains.

“X-rays are associated with collisions between neutron stars, supernova explosions, matter falling onto black holes or hyper-dense stars, or high-energy particles being spewed out from discs of blazing material circling such exotic and mysterious objects.”

EP features onboard data processing and autonomous followup capabilities. This means the probe’s Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT)—a narrower view, yet more sensitive instrument developed in collaboration with Europe—can be quickly brought to bear after WXT detects an X-ray event.

Kuulkers adds that by enabling scientists to promptly study these short-lived events, EP will help identify the origin of many of the gravitational wave impulses that are being observed on Earth thanks to the emerging field of gravitational wave astronomy.

Kuulkers states that ESA will get access to 10% of the data generated by EP in return for the agency’s contributions to the mission. Data will be distributed to the European Einstein Probe Science Team members.

“Their interest is diverse, from auroral emission on Jupiter, to star-planet Interactions through X-ray observations, to outbursts on isolated neutron stars or in binary stars with a neutron star companion, and to the unstable swallowing of matter by supermassive black hole in other galaxies.”

EP could also provide insight into other phenomena including magnetars, active galactic nuclei, red shifted gamma-ray bursts, and the interactions between comets and solar wind ions.

China began launching dedicated space science missions in 2015 with its DAMPE dark matter probe. The mission was part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ (CAS) Strategic Priority Program (SPP). EP was approved in 2017 as part of a second phase of the SPP.

A broader, third round of SPP missions are currently under consideration by CAS. Proposals include a Venus orbiter, a constellation of lunar small sats, exoplanet-hunting telescopes, an asteroid sample return and more. Final selections have however been delayed without explanations.

The Sino-Franco Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is also planned for launch in Spring 2024.

India’s Aditya-L1 solar observatory enters orbit around Lagrange point

India’s Aditya-L1 solar observatory has reached its destination orbit around Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 around 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. Aditya-L1 entered orbit around Sun-Earth L1 at around 5:30 a.m. Eastern (1230 UTC) Jan. 6, following a burn by the spacecraft’s engines, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced via X/Twitter. The spacecraft is the country’s first dedicated mission to study the Sun. Its halo orbit at L1 will allow it to continuously study solar phenomena. Science objectives include studying coronal heating, solar wind acceleration, Coronal Mass Ejections, solar atmospheric dynamics and temperature anisotropy. The nominal lifespan of the spacecraft is five years, but this could be extended, according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Aditya-L1 launched on Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, Sept. 2 last year. The launch came days after India became the fourth country to land on the moon with the robotic Chandrayaan-3 lander. Aditya-L1 performed four Earth-bound orbital maneuvers before entering a transfer orbit for L1. Its arrival came 126 days later. The 1,480-kilogram spacecraft is equipped with seven scientific instruments developed indigenously for solar research.

Launch of the Aditya-L1 solar observatory on a PSLV from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sept. 2, 2023. Credit: ISRO

 

Positioned approximately 1% of the Sun-Earth distance within the orbit of our planet, its payload includes an ultraviolet imaging telescope, soft and hard X-ray spectrometers, and a coronagraph for solar observations. Additionally, it carries a pair of particle analyzers and a magnetometer for direct in-situ measurements.

For comparison, the James Webb Space Telescope operates at Sun-Earth L-2 Lagrange point, another gravitationally stable point, 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth but in the direction opposite to the Sun.

ISRO released full-disk images of the Sun in ultra-violet from the spacecraft’s SUIT payload in December.

Meanwhile in low Earth orbit, the upper stage of the PSLV rocket which launched India’s XPoSat X-ray observatory Jan. 1 (UTC), has hosted a series of experiments. Attached to the upper stage is a payload called PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) 3.

Experiments included testing tantalum-based coatings, fuel cells, small thrusters, interplanetary dust measurements and more. The experiments were arranged by ISRO and the National Space Promotion Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), a government agency set up to regulate and authorize commercial space activities in India.

POEM-3 is part of a wider initiative to spur commercial space development. India last year initiated reforms that officials say can help the country become a global space hub.

Two payloads on POEM-3 developed by private firm Bellatrix Aerospace are now space qualified after meeting mission success criteria. These are RUDRA 0.3, a green monopropellant thruster, and ARKA-200, a heater less hollow cathode for Hall thrusters. Bellatrix says it is now able to supply propulsion systems globally.

NASA pushes ahead with Earth System Observatory despite uncertain budgets

NASA is making progress on a multibillion-dollar series of Earth science missions amid uncertainty about their funding for the next year. In town hall sessions at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in December, NASA officials discussed work on the Earth System Observatory, a series of missions intended to implement the five “designated observables” recommended by the Earth science decadal survey in 2018. Four missions are currently in early phases of development for the Earth System Observatory: the Atmosphere Observing System (AOS)-Storm, AOS-Sky, Surface Biology and Geology, and Mass Change, which NASA recently renamed GRACE-Continuity or GRACE-C to emphasize its links to the GRACE and GRACE-Follow On missions. A fifth mission, Surface Deformation and Change, is an extended study phase so that the agency can incorporate lessons from the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission launching in the spring of 2024. These missions “are intended to answer a wide variety of questions” in Earth science, said Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth science division at NASA Headquarters, in one town hall session, and “to integrate observations, science and applications for societal benefit.” The Earth System Observatory represents the “core missions” of Earth science for NASA in the future, she said, alongside a series of smaller missions. “They exist in a larger ecosystem of competed missions.”

The Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) Sky and Storm missions are part of the Earth System Observatory. Credit: NASA

Those missions, though, will not be cheap. The first four missions have an estimated cost of $3.5 billion, including $1.8 billion to $1.99 billion for AOS-Storm and AOS-Sky. St. Germain, though, noted that several international partners will contribute an additional $1.2 billion in instruments and spacecraft for the effort. “It allows us to do more together than the sum of what we could do individually,” she said. “We’re trying to get the maximum science per U.S. dollar invested.”

Those missions are tentatively scheduled to launch from the late 2020s into the early 2030s. However, she acknowledged that is dependent on budgets. NASA requested $287 million for Earth System Observatory missions for fiscal year 2024, projecting that to grow to more than half a billion dollars a year by 2026 as the missions move into later phases of development.

“We are counting on an increase to cover that development,” she said of the budget for the missions. NASA requested more than $2.47 billion for Earth science in 2024, an increase of nearly $280 million from 2023.

That increase, though, has run into broader budget pressures facing NASA as part of a spending agreement passed in June that caps non-defense discretionary spending, like NASA, at 2023 levels for 2024. A Senate appropriation bill would provide a little less than $2.22 billion for Earth science, while the House bill offers only $2 billion.

The House bill is silent on funding for the Earth System Observatory, but the report accompanying the Senate bill noted that appropriators were “pleased” with the progress NASA was making on the missions. “The Committee expects NASA to continue formulation of the four Earth System Observatory missions,” it stated, “and provides the request level for these four missions.”

St. Germain acknowledged the fiscal uncertainty that the Earth System Observatory and other Earth science programs face, as NASA operates under a continuing resolution holding funding at 2023 levels until Feb. 2. “This is an ongoing conversation,” she said, guided by the direction given by the decadal survey. “We’re moving forward in a budget environment where we will work very hard and do our best to maximize what we can accomplish with the budgets that we end up getting.”

However, at a meeting of a National Academies committee Nov. 29, she said NASA was hitting the limits of the advice the decadal survey provided on dealing with budget challenges, including balancing large directed missions with smaller competed ones. “We find ourselves in a position where we’ve exhausted most of the guidance the decadal gave us,” she said.

“It is going to be a challenging year,” Nicola Fox, NASA associate administrator for science, said of 2024 at an AGU town hall meeting, citing the budget uncertainty. “We look forward with hope to an appropriation that we will immediately be ready to implement.”

She asked scientists at the town hall meeting to work together to advocate for NASA Earth science budgets overall and avoid internecine sniping that pits programs against one another. “The worst thing we can do is not go forward as a community,” she said.

India launches X-ray astronomy satellite

India launched an astronomy satellite to start a year that will feature key tests for its human spaceflight program and a potential joint crewed mission with NASA. A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off at 10:40 p.m. Eastern Dec. 31 (9:10 a.m. local Jan. 1) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. It deployed its primary payload, the XPoSat spacecraft, into a 650-kilometer orbit about 22 minutes later. The 469-kilogram satellite carries two instruments to conduct X-ray polarimetry measurements. Astronomers plan to use the data collected by XPoSat to study neutron stars, black holes and supernovae. After deploying XPoSat, the PSLV’s fourth stage maneuvered to a 350-kilometer orbit. Attached to the upper stage is a payload called PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) 3. It carries 10 experiments, such as fuel cells and thrusters, from ISRO, universities and companies expected to operate for about a month. Lowering POEM-3 to 350 kilometers is intended to mitigate debris by reducing the orbital lifetime of the upper stage. “As a responsible space agency, we decided to bring the fourth stage to a lower orbit so that the life of the stage in the orbit is much less, so we don’t create debris in that process,” said S Somanath, chairman of ISRO, in remarks after the launch. The launch was the first of 2024, based on Universal Time. It comes after a record-setting 2023 with about 220 orbital launch attempts worldwide. India conducted seven of those launches using the PSLV, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, all of which were successful.

ISRO expects to roughly double that launch rate in 2024, with 12 to 14 launches planned for the year. Among them will be the GSLV launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Earth science mission, a joint effort of the two space agencies. That mission is slated for launch on March 30, NASA officials said at a session of the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in December.

The highlight of 2024 for ISRO, though, will be a series of test flights for its Gaganyaan human spaceflight program. The agency conducted the first such test in October, launching an uncrewed capsule on a suborbital flight to test its launch abort system.

“2024 is going to be the year of Gaganyaan,” Somanath said after the launch, starting with additional abort tests. “This year we are expecting two more such test flights of the test vehicle, followed by the unmanned mission.” That would be an orbital test of the Gaganyaan spacecraft without a crew on board.

That schedule would mean the first crewed Gaganyaan flight would take place no earlier than 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he announced the program in August 2018, set a goal for the first launch to take place in 2022 to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.

The next Indian astronaut to go to space, though, may do so on an American spacecraft. As part of a June 2023 summit meeting between Modi and President Joe Biden, the countries announced they would develop a “strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation” by the end of the year. That would include, according to a joint statement, training of Indian astronauts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and “a goal of launching a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024.”

Neither government has released additional details about those plans, including that strategic framework, since then. A Nov. 9 fact sheet by the U.S. State Department on relations between the United States and India reiterated the goal of a joint mission to the ISS in 2024 and training of Indian astronauts at JSC.