Space News - Live and Recorded Video, Articles, etc

Arianespace Flight VV13 – Successful Vega Launch
arianespace
Published on Nov 21, 2018
Arianespace has successfully launched the MOHAMMED VI - B Earth observation satellite, developed for the Kingdom of Morocco by a consortium comprising Thales Alenia Space as system prime contractor and Airbus as co-prime.
Arianespace’s ninth launch of the year, and the second using Vega in 2018, took place on Tuesday, November 20, 2018 at 10:42 p.m. (local time) from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana (South America).
This launch marks the 13th successful mission in a row for Vega since it entered service in 2012, as Arianespace continues to prove that its light launcher is a perfect match for the requirements of both government and commercial customers.


Arianespace Flight VV13 – MOHAMMED VI - B (EN)
arianespace
Scheduled for Nov 21, 2018
For its ninth launch of the year, and the 13th Vega mission since this launcher began its career at the Guiana Space Center in 2012, Arianespace will orbit the MOHAMMED VI - B satellite.

This Earth observation satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco was developed by a consortium comprising Thales Alenia Space as system prime contractor and Airbus as co-prime.

Flight VV13 marks the ninth Earth observation mission for Vega, a versatile light launcher.

Liftoff is scheduled for Tuesday, November 20, 2018 at exactly:
- 8:42:31 p.m., in Washington D.C.
- 10:42:31 p.m., local time in French Guiana
- 01:42:31, Universal Time (UTC), on November 21, 2018
- 2:42:31 a.m., in Paris, on November 21, 2018
- 2:42:31 a.m., in Rabat, on November 21, 2018.

The nominal duration of the mission (from liftoff to separation of the satellite) is: 55 minutes, 21 seconds.

 

Not the best source, Sorry if old news.

International Space Station infested with mysterious bugs

https://nypost.com/2018/11/23/international-space-station-infested-with-mysterious-bugs/

John.

 

Here's a more "sciency" source for the results:

The International Space Station is home to potentially dangerous bacteria
By Jon Cohen, Oct. 26, 2015 , 9:00 PM
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...e-station-home-potentially-dangerous-bacteria

"There’s a little known, dirty story about the International Space Station (ISS): It’s filled with bacteria and fungi.

A new study has found compelling evidence that microorganisms from human skin are present throughout the station, and some of the bugs could cause serious harm to astronauts.

NASA and its partner agencies go to extraordinary measures to reduce the likelihood that microbes will sneak a ride to ISS, requiring that payloads move through “clean rooms,” which are outfitted with high-powered air filtration systems and thoroughly mopped and scrubbed with disinfectants.

But then ISS itself serves as a home to six microbe-filled humans who stay in orbit for as long as 6 months each and routinely shed skin cells when they exercise, comb their hair, eat, and do other activities that potentially can contaminate their isolated “built environment.”

The researchers compared DNA sequences derived from the ISS with vacuum bag dust collected over several months at two JPL clean rooms, which have about 50 people in them each day who inevitably leave behind bacteria. The most concerning finding was from the “high-efficiency particulate arrestance” (HEPA) air filter used in the ISS:99.65% of the viable sequences they retrieved came from Actinobacteria, which, at most, accounted for only 25.25% of the viable sequences found in the JPL clean room vacuum bags.

The Actinobacteria phylum includes Corynebacterium and Propionibacterium; each genus was found in the ISS samples at a high level, which is “problematic,” says Venkateswaran, because they both have species that are opportunistic pathogens. Astronauts who live in microgravity for prolonged periods also can have compromised immune systems, he notes. The graphic below shows the relative proportions of different bacterial and fungal sequences the researchers found in the ISS HEPA filter and the vacuum bags from both the ISS and the JPL clean rooms.

The work has widespread implications, says Paula Olsiewski, who runs the Microbiology of the Built Environment program at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York City. “People have trouble understanding that we’re embedded in an invisible microbial world” and that we are colonized by those microbes, says Olsiewski, whose program has given academic researchers more than $40 million in grants. Although many researchers are studying microbiomes in buildings on Earth, she says, people opening windows in offices or mechanical ventilation systems can mix interior with outside air. “The advantage here is you don’t have any contact with outside air,” she says. “Up there, it’s a very closed system, and it provides a unique opportunity to concentrate the dust—and the microbes that are in the dust.”

Still, Jack Gilbert, a microbial ecologist at the Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois (who is also a guest editor at Microbiome), stresses that more work must be done to understand the consequences of these findings. “They didn’t discover any pathogens,” he notes. And the differences with the clean room are “not remarkable,” he says. “Humans were wearing clean-room suits that could reduce the potential of the room being exposed to their microbial selves.”

Venkateswaran agrees that they need to do more work to assess whether any dangerous pathogens are lingering in the ISS, which they hope to do by isolating intact bacteria and looking for virulence factors, increasing the length of the DNA chains they can sequence, and expanding their analyses to include viruses. But he says microbial monitoring clearly needs to become more sophisticated in the ISS. “If NASA is going beyond the moon to Mars you need an automated biosensor,” he says. “I’m giving a background model and showing them these are the common things you can find, and a subset of them are ones where you have to be careful.”"

 

See Inside a 50 year old Soyuz Capsule - 1960's Soviet Space Technology
Scott Manley
Premiered 6 hours ago
Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California has a Soyuz descent module on display, allowing visitors to look inside the interior of the spacecraft and see the hardware. This one is particularly special because it's a 7K-OK model, the very first generation of Soyuz capsules from the 1960's, which stopped flying after a design flaw killed the crew of Salyut 11. As far as I know this is the only Soyuz capsule of this vintage with the interior on display outside of the former USSR.
The capsule is on display at Chabot Space And Science Center in Oakland, California https://chabotspace.org/

 

NASA's Big Mistake - The X-33 VentureStar Replacement Shuttle
Curious Droid
Published on Jun 15, 2018
The X-33 was the prototype replacement for the Space Shuttle and would feature a range of cutting-edge technologies that would make much cheaper to operate and quicker to turn around with much less personal.
Although 95% of the components had been made and delivered and a new flight centre had been built it was cancelled in a shock decision that would put back the reusable space program years.
Was this NASA's biggest mistake of recent years or was it just too advanced for the time, in this video we look at the X-33 and the reason why it ended up being scrapped.

 

NASA's InSight lander set to reach Mars
CBC News
Published on Nov 25, 2018
NASA's Mars InSight lander is one day away from its final destination. Canadian Farah Alibay is a systems engineer on Mars Insight, and tells us about the geological mission. To read more: https://www.cbc.ca/1.4914416

One Day from Mars Landing: InSight Team Q&A (NASA Social)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Streamed live 9 hours ago
Original air date: November 25, 2018 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET)
NASA's Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft is on track for a soft touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet on Nov. 26. NASA Social attendees and media ask questions from the audience and on social via #AskNASA.

NASA Previews InSight Mars Landing
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Published on Nov 25, 2018
Original air date: November 25, 2018 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET)
NASA's Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft is on track for a touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet on Nov. 26. One day before landing, the mission team provides an update and explanations of everything that must go right during the entry, descent and landing of the spacecraft.

 

Entry, Descent and Landing Engineer Previews NASA InSight on Mars
VideoFromSpace
Published on Nov 25, 2018
NASA Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Systems Engineer Julie Wertz Chen talks with Space.com's Tariq Malik about the InSight mission the day before it is scheduled to land on Mars. -- 'Mars Is Hard': Tension Rises for NASA's InSight Landing on Red Planet: https://www.space.com/42529-insight-m...

InSight’s Mars Landing Preview with NASA’s Chief Scientist
VideoFromSpace
Published on Nov 25, 2018
NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green talks with Space.com’s Tariq Malik about the InSight mission the day before it is scheduled to land on Mars. -- 'Mars Is Hard': Tension Rises for NASA's InSight Landing on Red Planet: https://www.space.com/42529-insight-m...

 

Touchdown! InSight Lands on Mars, Mission Control Erupts
VideoFromSpace
Published on Nov 26, 2018
Watch NASA Mission Control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory erupt in applause after the touchdown of the InSight lander. -- Touchdown on Mars! NASA's InSight Lands to Peer Inside the Red Planet:
https://www.space.com/42541-mars-insight-lander-success.html


First Photo from InSight After Mars Landing
VideoFromSpace
Published on Nov 26, 2018
The NASA InSight lander captured imagery of the Martian surface moments after landing on Nov. 26, 2018. -- Touchdown on Mars! NASA's InSight Lands to Peer Inside the Red Planet:
https://www.space.com/42541-mars-insight-lander-success.html


Mission Control Live: NASA InSight Mars Landing
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Start @ 52:25 just before landing...
Streamed live 2 hours ago
Original air date: November 26, 2018 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET)
See inside mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as signals return from the InSight mission as it lands on Mars. Landing commentary includes interviews with team members.
https://mars.nasa.gov/insight

 

Live: NASA Recaps InSight Mars Landing
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Started streaming 24 minutes ago
Original air date: November 26, 2018 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET, 2100 UTC)
Mars has just received its newest robotic resident. NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander successfully touched down on the Red Planet after an almost seven-month, 300-million-mile (458-million-kilometer) journey from Earth.

This is the post landing news briefing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Spoiler: Details...

Speakers include:

Jim Bridenstine - NASA Administrator, NASA Headquarters
Michael Watkins - JPL Director, NASA JPL
Tom Hoffman - InSight Project Manager, NASA JPL
Andy Klesh - MarCO Chief Engineer, NASA JPL
Elizabeth Barrett, InSight Instrument Operations Lead, NASA JPL

CHAT MODERATION

All chats are moderated. Inappropriate language or posts that harass other individuals will be removed.

Be courteous
Use respectful language
Protect your private information
No spam, sexually explicit or discriminatory material
Stay on topic

NASA InSight has landed on Mars (self.space)
submitted 4 hours ago by nebuladrifting
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/a0mu37/nasa_insight_has_landed_on_mars/

"First image HERE. Video of the live stream or go here to skip to the landing."

 

NASAInSight‏ Verified account @NASAInSight 3h3 hours ago
"There’s a quiet beauty here. Looking forward to exploring my new home." #MarsLanding

History Made As NASA Lands Spacecraft Safely On Mars
CBS Miami
Published on Nov 26, 2018
A 300-million-mile, seven month journey came to an end Monday afternoon as NASA guided its InSight spacecraft to a successful touchdown on Mars.


NASA Recaps InSight Mars Landing
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Streamed live 7 hours ago
Original air date: November 26, 2018 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET, 2100 UTC)
Mars has just received its newest robotic resident. NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander successfully touched down on the Red Planet after an almost seven-month, 300-million-mile (458-million-kilometer) journey from Earth.

Spoiler: Details...

This is the post landing news briefing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Speakers include:

Jim Bridenstine - NASA Administrator, NASA Headquarters
Michael Watkins - JPL Director, NASA JPL
Tom Hoffman - InSight Project Manager, NASA JPL
Andy Klesh - MarCO Chief Engineer, NASA JPL
Elizabeth Barrett, InSight Instrument Operations Lead, NASA JPL