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NASA's 'mega moon rocket' is heading to the launch pad. Here's what you need to know – CBC News

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It’s been nearly 50 years since humans last set foot on the moon. But that will soon change with NASA’s Artemis program, which is expected to send astronauts to the lunar surface, including the first woman and the first person of colour, by 2025. 

But first NASA has to test the rocket and the Orion spacecraft that will go to the moon. 

The program has three specific missions: Artemis I, Artemis II and Artemis III. Artemis I is the first test of the Space Launch System (SLS), which NASA calls its “mega moon rocket,” and is scheduled for some time in May, though the date may yet change.

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In preparation, NASA is doing a “wet dress rehearsal” on Thursday, where the rocket will be rolled out to the launchpad, fuelled and run through a launch countdown, stopping just 10 seconds before it would lift off.

The Space Launch System (SLS) also consists of two solid rocket boosters which may seem familiar: They were used on NASA’s space shuttle missions until the program ended in 2011. (NASA/Frank Michaux)

It will be a momentous occasion when the massive orange and white rocket rolls out on the crawler first used for the Apollo missions and later for the space shuttle missions. NASA said it could take anywhere between four and 12 hours to travel the 6.5 kilometres from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to the launch pad.

“The rolling out of the VAB, that’s really an iconic moment for this vehicle. And to be here for a new generation of a super-heavy lift, exploration class vehicle,” Tom Whitmeyer, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s exploration systems development division, said last week during a news conference.

“Thursday’s going to be a day to remember.”

NASA’s TV coverage of the rollout begins at 5 p.m. ET Thursday.

Here are some things to know about this first step that will return humans to the moon.

Why are they rolling it out to the launch pad?

NASA is rolling the SLS out to the launch pad in order to run through tests. Though SLS will roll out on Thursday, NASA said in a news conference that it isn’t expected to load the propellants until April 3 and then go through its operations and countdown. 

They will then roll back to the T–10 minute count and replicate a launch abort.

The process of loading the fuel will take about eight hours, which is considerably longer than the two-hour loading process of the space shuttle’s rocket. The reason for that is two-fold: firstly, it’s much larger than the rockets that launched the shuttles and secondly, it has two core stages compared to the external tank that launched the shuttles.

NASA will then analyze work for just over a week during post-test operations and then will roll SLS back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for actual launch preparations.

“That’s the point where we’ll be in a good position as an agency to set a launch date,” Whitmeyer said.

“We’re really getting close to being able to do that.”

How big is the rocket?

The new rocket is 98 metres tall (roughly 29 storeys), coming in just under the 110 metres of the Saturn V that took the Apollo astronauts to the moon. But it’s not the size that matters: SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, and currently the most powerful in the world.

This infographic shows the NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) compared to Saturn V that took astronauts to the moon, as well as to the space shuttle. (NASA)

 

It will produce 15 per cent more thrust than the Saturn V and will be capable of lofting about 24 metric tonnes to the moon. It will weigh roughly 5.75 million pounds and have 8.8 million pounds of thrust when it launches. Like the Saturn V, it’s expendable.

And if the two white booster rockets look familiar, that’s because they were repurposed from the boosters that launched the space shuttles.

The rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft, first tested in 2014. 

Orion is the command module in which up to four astronauts will call home on their way to the moon. It also will consist of the European Space Agency’s European Service Module that will provide air, propulsion and electricity.

This infographic shows the various systems of the European Space Agency’s European Service Module that is part of the Artemis program. (ESA)

 

Will anyone be on board for the Artemis I launch?

Artemis I will be uncrewed. 

Artemis II, scheduled to launch in 2024, is a 10-day mission that will carry four astronauts — including a Canadian — roughly 370,000 kilometres from Earth where they will orbit the moon. They will travel 6,700 kilometres beyond the far side of the moon, becoming the first humans to travel that far in space.

This diagram illustrates the path the Artemis II astronauts will take when they orbit the moon. (NASA)

 

Artemis III will see the first human to land on the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972.

Where is Artemis I going?

Though uncrewed, Artemis I will make the dry run to the moon.

After blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39B — where Apollo 10 lifted off in May 18,1969, two months before Apollo 11 made its historic voyage to the moon — SLS will jettison its two boosters, service module panels and launch abort system. The core engines will shut down and the core stage will separate from Orion, which will then deploy its solar arrays as it orbits Earth. 

Then, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will push Orion out of Earth’s orbit where it will deploy several small satellites called CubeSats that will be conducting various research experiments.

WATCH | Timelapse video showing the stacking of the SLS at the Kennedy Space Center

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From there, Orion will be propelled by the European Service Module and take several days to reach lunar orbit. It will fly about 100 kilometres above the surface. Eventually it will use the moon’s gravitational force to put it into a high orbit roughly 70,000 kilometres from the moon. It will remain in orbit for six days as NASA engineers and mission controllers test and assess the spacecraft’s systems.

Orion will spend roughly three weeks in lunar orbit before returning to Earth where controllers will assess the spacecraft’s ability to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.

How is Canada involved?

Several countries are co-operating on Artemis, including Canada, and a few companies here have already been working on various aspects of SLS.

One of the CubeSat experiments called BioSentinel will study the effects of space radiation with the goal of developing a biosensor instrument that will be able to detect and measure its effects on living organisms beyond low-Earth orbit. Some of the experiments used for this study were from Troy Harkness and researchers at the University of Saskatchewan.

And finally, Artemis I is paving the way for Artemis II which will include a Canadian astronaut, making Canada the second nation to send someone to lunar orbit. Currently, there are four active Canadian astronauts: Jeremy Hansen, David Saint-Jacques, Jenni Sidey-Gibbons and Joshua Kutryk. It is unknown which of the four will make the trip.

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Solar eclipse April 8 – South Grey News

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March 28, 2024

Graphic: Appalachian Mtn Club

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Grey Bruce Public Health is urging residents to resist the temptation to look directly at the sun during the upcoming solar eclipse and take steps to safeguard their visual health during this relatively rare celestial event.

On April 8, 2024, parts of southern and eastern Ontario will experience a total solar eclipse for the first time since 1925. Grey-Bruce will be outside of the so-called Path of Totality — a narrow area where the moon will completely block out the sun — but will still experience a partial eclipse.

The eclipse is expected to begin at about 2 pm and continue until 4:30 pm The eclipse will peak around 3:20 pm.

It is never safe to stare directly at the sun, but it may be tempting to do so during a solar eclipse.

Looking directly at the sun during an eclipse can cause retinal burns, blurred vision, and/or temporary or permanent loss of visual function, according to the Ontario Association of Optometrists. Damage to the eyes can occur without any sensation of pain.

Grey Bruce Public Health advises the following:

  • Do not look directly at the sun without proper eye protection during the solar eclipse. Looking at even a small sliver of the sun before or after the eclipse without proper eye protection can harm vision.
  • Keep a close eye on children and other vulnerable family members during the eclipse to ensure they do not inadvertently look up at the sun without proper eye protection.
  • To safely view the eclipse, ISO-certified eclipse glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard must be worn. Ensure these glasses are in good condition, without any wrinkles or scratches, and that they fully cover the entire field of vision. Put on the glasses when looking away from the sun, then look at the eclipse. Look away from the sun before taking the glasses off.
  • Regular sunglasses or homemade filters will not protect the eyes.
  • It is not safe to view the eclipse through a camera/phone lens, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device.

Other ways to safely experience the solar eclipse include watching a livestream of the event or creating and using an eclipse box or pinhole projector.

Anyone experiencing temporary vision loss or blurred vision during or after the eclipse should speak with their eye care professional or healthcare provider as soon as possible.

Anyone experiencing blindness (immediate or delayed) after viewing the eclipse must seek emergency care immediately.

More information on the upcoming eclipse is available on the GBPH website.


At South Grey News, we endeavour to bring you truthful and factual, up-to-date local community news in a quick and easy-to-digest format that’s free of political bias. We believe this service is more important today than ever before, as social media has given rise to misinformation, largely unchecked by big corporations who put profits ahead of their responsibilities.

South Grey News does not have the resources of a big corporation. We are a small, locally owned-and-operated organization. Research, analysis and physical attendance at public meetings and community events requires considerable effort. But contributions from readers and advertisers, however big or small, go a long way to helping us deliver positive, open and honest journalism for this community.

Please consider supporting South Grey News with a donation in lieu of a subscription fee and let us know that our efforts are appreciated. Thank you.

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NASA to launch sounding rockets into moon's shadow during solar eclipse – Phys.org

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This photo shows the three APEP sounding rockets and the support team after successful assembly. The team lead, Aroh Barjatya, is at the top center, standing next to the guardrails on the second floor. Credit: NASA/Berit Bland

NASA will launch three sounding rockets during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, to study how Earth’s upper atmosphere is affected when sunlight momentarily dims over a portion of the planet.

The Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) sounding rockets will launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to study the disturbances in the created when the moon eclipses the sun. The sounding rockets had been previously launched and successfully recovered from White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, during the October 2023 .

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They have been refurbished with new instrumentation and will be relaunched in April 2024. The mission is led by Aroh Barjatya, a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, where he directs the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab.

The sounding rockets will launch at three different times: 45 minutes before, during, and 45 minutes after the peak local eclipse. These intervals are important to collect data on how the sun’s sudden disappearance affects the ionosphere, creating disturbances that have the potential to interfere with our communications.

The ionosphere is a region of Earth’s atmosphere that is between 55 to 310 miles (90 to 500 kilometers) above the ground. “It’s an electrified region that reflects and refracts and also impacts as the signals pass through,” said Barjatya. “Understanding the ionosphere and developing models to help us predict disturbances is crucial to making sure our increasingly communication-dependent world operates smoothly.”

A sounding rocket is able to carry science instruments between 30 and 300 miles above Earth’s surface. These altitudes are typically too high for science balloons and too low for satellites to access safely, making sounding rockets the only platforms that can carry out direct measurements in these regions. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

The ionosphere forms the boundary between Earth’s lower atmosphere—where we live and breathe—and the vacuum of space. It is made up of a sea of particles that become ionized, or electrically charged, from the sun’s energy or .

When night falls, the ionosphere thins out as previously ionized particles relax and recombine back into neutral particles. However, Earth’s terrestrial weather and space weather can impact these particles, making it a dynamic region and difficult to know what the ionosphere will be like at a given time.

It’s often difficult to study short-term changes in the ionosphere during an eclipse with satellites because they may not be at the right place or time to cross the eclipse path. Since the exact date and times of the are known, NASA can launch targeted sounding rockets to study the effects of the eclipse at the right time and at all altitudes of the ionosphere.

As the eclipse shadow races through the atmosphere, it creates a rapid, localized sunset that triggers large-scale atmospheric waves and small-scale disturbances or perturbations. These perturbations affect different radio communication frequencies. Gathering the data on these perturbations will help scientists validate and improve current models that help predict potential disturbances to our communications, especially high-frequency communication.

This conceptual animation is an example of what observers might expect to see during a total solar eclipse, like the one happening over the United States on April 8, 2024. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

The APEP rockets are expected to reach a maximum altitude of 260 miles (420 kilometers). Each rocket will measure charged and neutral particle density and surrounding electric and magnetic fields. “Each rocket will eject four secondary instruments the size of a two-liter soda bottle that also measure the same data points, so it’s similar to results from fifteen rockets while only launching three,” explained Barjatya. Embry-Riddle built three secondary instruments on each rocket, and the fourth one was built at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

In addition to the rockets, several teams across the U.S. will also be taking measurements of the ionosphere by various means. A team of students from Embry-Riddle will deploy a series of high-altitude balloons. Co-investigators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Haystack Observatory in Massachusetts and the Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico will operate a variety of ground-based radars taking measurements.

Using this data, a team of scientists from Embry-Riddle and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory are refining existing models. Together, these various investigations will help provide the puzzle pieces needed to see the bigger picture of ionospheric dynamics.

The animation depicts the waves created by ionized particles during the 2017 total solar eclipse. Credit: MIT Haystack Observatory/Shun-rong Zhang. Zhang, S.-R., Erickson, P. J., Goncharenko, L. P., Coster, A. J., Rideout, W. & Vierinen, J. (2017). Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(24), 12,067-12,073. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076054

When the APEP- launched during the 2023 annular solar eclipse, scientists saw a sharp reduction in the density of charged particles as the annular eclipse shadow passed over the atmosphere.

“We saw the perturbations capable of affecting radio communications in the second and third rockets, but not during the first rocket that was before peak local eclipse,” said Barjatya. “We are super excited to relaunch them during the total eclipse to see if the perturbations start at the same altitude and if their magnitude and scale remain the same.”

The next total solar eclipse over the contiguous U.S. is not until 2044, so these experiments are a rare opportunity for scientists to collect crucial data.

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Royal Sask. Museum research finds insect changes may have set stage for dinosaurs' extinction – CTV News Regina

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Research by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) shows that ecological changes were occurring in insects at least a million years before dinosaur extinction.

Papers published in the scientific journal, Current Biology, describe the first insect fossils found in amber from Saskatchewan and the unearthing of three new ant species from an amber deposit in North Carolina, according to a release from the province.

The amber deposit from in the Big Muddy Badlands of Saskatchewan, which was formed about 67 million years ago, preserved insects that lived in a swampy redwood forest about one million years before the extinction of dinosaurs.

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“Fossils in the amber deposit seem to show that common Cretaceous insects may have been replaced on the landscape by their more modern relatives, particularly in groups such as ants, before the extinction event,” Elyssa Loewen, curatorial assistant, said.

The research team was led by Loewen and Dr. Ryan McKellar, the RSM’s curator of paleontology.

“These new fossil records are closer than anyone has gotten to sampling a diverse set of insects near the extinction event, and they help researchers fill in a 17-million-year gap in the fossil record of insects around that time,” Dr. McKellar said.

The three ant species discovered in North Carolina also belonged to extinct groups that didn’t survive past the Cretaceous period.

“When combined with the work in Saskatchewan, the two recent papers show that there was a dramatic change in ant diversity sometime between 77 and 67 million years ago,” Dr. McKellar said in the release.

“Our analyses of body shapes in the fossils suggests that the turnover was not related to major differences in ecology, but it may have been related to something like the size and complexity of ant colonies. More work is needed to confirm this.”

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