The Space Roundup - Jan 23rd, 2022
Hello, hello, my dear space lover! Get ready for another week of space awesomeness!
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3, 2, 1, zero! Lift-off!
Martian updates
This week, a lot of activity on Mars! NASA's Curiosity Rover measures intriguing carbon signature on Mars. Scientists are trying to look for hypotheses that rule out the biological option (ie: how can this be produced without stating there’s life on Mars?), but they need more data, experiments and time to find the right explanation. Interesting!
NASA’s Perseverance Rover solved the problem it had last week with some rocks that were obstructing where it needed to put the samples of rocks it was collecting. Well done!
Also on Mars, NASA's InSight enters safe mode during regional Mars dust storm. Nothing to worry about, though. This is normal, as a way to save energy, and when the storm clears out, the team checks how it has impacted the solar arrays.
In the meantime, the European martian robot is on schedule for a launch in September. ExoMars is on track to be launched on a Proton rocket on September 20th, according to the European Space Agency.
Mission updates
This week Webb space telescope will arrive at L2, its final destination. From there it’ll get prepared to start its scientific mission. Also this week, the closest asteroid to Earth in two centuries will fly by next Tuesday. What a week! 🙂
Talking about L2, that’s also the destination of ESA’s Plato mission, which this same week got the green light to continue after a critical review. This European mission will launch in 2026 and the spacecraft will use its 26 cameras to look for exoplanets. So exciting!
Commercial space
Can you imagine using a Starship to take cargo and troops anywhere on Earth in a matter of minutes? This week SpaceX, which passed the 2000 Starlink satellites launched mark, won a +$100 million Air Force contract to demonstrate technologies for point-to-point space transportation. How amazing would that be?
OneWeb, the owner of another satellite mega-constellation, has signed a six-year contract to bring internet to India.
Sony is launching this year a CubeSat with a camera for artists and educators (not for scientists or the army this time!). There’s space for all!
Pic of the week
Jupiter. That’s it. So beautiful. Nothing more, nothing less. The largest planet in our solar system… so massive, so impressive.
Launches of the week
The following launches are scheduled for this week:
Tuesday, Jan 25th - Long March 4B 25 Jan
Thursday, Jan 27th - SpaceX Falcon 9 | CSG-2 JAN 27
Saturday, Jan 29th - SpaceX Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 4-7 And that’s it for this week!
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Cheers from sunny Spain!
Juan, the Curious Astronaut