NEW ORLEANS — It was only two days ago when Peregrine, the inaugural private lander contracted under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, brilliantly blasted toward space aboard the first private flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket.
Mere hours into the journey, Peregrine started to fail.
Astrobotic, the company behind the spacecraft, continues to provide updates on how Peregrine seems to be faring post-anomaly; the struggling craft even provided a photo for scientists to analyze while figuring out what to do. Honestly, things aren’t looking great for the lander, and Astobotic has confirmed it won’t be making a soft touchdown on the lunar surface.
However, the morning after Peregrine’s downfall began, the ultimate purpose of CLPS seemed to shine through during astrophysicist Jack Burns‘ earnestly optimistic presentation at the American Astronomical Society’s 243rd meeting. Though of course disappointed while looking back at the failure of the first official CLPS mission, Burns, a professor emeritus in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and in the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, makes a point to simultaneously look forward to what will soon be the second mission. The attempt is scheduled for February, and Peregrine’s setback isn’t expected to change that.
“We saw the first launch yesterday of Astrobotic,” Burns said during the presentation. “Unfortunately, it’s had some propulsion problems and is leaking some fuel, so we’re not sure it’s going to be able to make it onto the surface. But, it’s going to be followed next month by a second spacecraft: A lander built by the Intuitive Machines company.”
That lander, dubbed Nova-C, will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to shuttle six NASA payloads to the lunar surface — one of which Burns is involved with. It’s called ROLSES, which stands for Radio Wave Observations on the Lunar Surface of the photoElectron Sheath, and it’s absolutely fascinating. But beyond simply getting pumped for CLPS’ next try and detailing the bright promise of ROLSES, Burns emphasized that this second go will actually demonstrate the key point of NASA’s commercial endeavor. “It’s not a one shot deal,” he told Space.com.
The whole reason NASA started the CLPS program is because it wanted a cheaper, more efficient way to bring easier-to-replicate scientific payloads to space. “If, heaven forbid, the James Webb Space Telescope did not deploy, we really would be stuck,” Burns said of the monumental $10 billion observatory currently locked into position on the side of Earth that never faces the sun. CLPS, meanwhile, offers a means of distributing risks and costs among many landers and missions. “The idea behind the CLPS program is for rapid acquisition and delivery of services,” he said.
If private companies can supply a rocket and lander for the agency, NASA scientists can essentially be paying customers and toss on a few experiments. Non-NASA scientists can do so, too. And though the apparent failure of Peregrine has understandably called into question whether NASA’s CLPS concept is a little undercooked, Burns further remarked that Astrobiotic’s story doesn’t end with Peregrine either. “They’ve got another shot,” he said. “They’ve got multiple shots, and even another mission coming up in about a year.”
Still, he says, “we’re friends with all the folks working on Peregrine and Astrobotic and so we were there rooting for them to be successful. So, we’re heartbroken.”
What is ROLSES?
In short, Burns says the far side of the moon is the best spot from which to do radio astronomy — or as he puts it, “it’s the only truly radio-quiet place in the inner solar system.”
Like its name suggests, radio astronomy involves studying things happening in space through radio frequencies emitted by the sources of those things. So, naturally, you wouldn’t want any non-source radio signals interfering with the delicate signals you’re trying to zero-in on. And Earth causes some radio interference of its own. But if you place a radio telescope on the far side of the moon (the area of the lunar surface always hidden to our planet), any radio interference emanating from Earth would get blocked out by the moon’s thousands of miles of rock itself.
The moon also lacks a significant ionosphere, or atmospheric layer where lots of zippy particles hang out and risk radio interference. Earth’s ionosphere is full of those particles.
“The other part that maybe isn’t appreciated as well,” Burns said, “is the radio beams for these instruments couple electromagnetically with the subsurface conditions that happen on the Earth, and happen on the moon.” This is problematic on Earth because soil moisture, for example, can change what’s known as the “dielectric constant,” or the ability of an insulating material to store electrical energy, from one day to the next. “That’s not true on the moon,” Burns said. “It’s stable and very dry.”
Alas, radio astronomy on the moon (particularly the far side), he argues, is a terrific idea. And he’s not alone. Several scientists throughout the Jan. 9 portion of the meeting brought blueprints for their ideas on how to start building science observatories on our beloved celestial companion. Ethicists and policymakers are considering how to manage such a future as well.
Specifically, ROLSES will actually be targeting a landing site near the moon’s south pole region in a small crater that’s only about 10 degrees from the actual southern pole. “This will be the closest anyone has gotten to the south pole,” Burns said. “The Indian Space Agency landed there with Chandrayaan-3 three about 30 degrees away, so we’re just creeping in towards the south pole.
“It’s not quite the pristine radio-quiet environment, but it’s a good place for us to start making operations from the moon.”
In terms of the far side, the team says they’ll certainly be getting there eventually. A mission named “LuSEE-Night” will travel to the neutral, pockmarked spot on the lunar surface (yes, it looks nothing like the grayscale watercolor side we can see from our planet) someday. That day could come as soon as 2026 if all goes to plan, when LuSee-Night is scheduled to launch aboard Firefly Aerospace’s forthcoming “Blue Ghost” lander.
“The ‘at night’ comes from the fact that we’re gonna need 40 kilograms [88 lbs] of batteries. We’ll be able to not only survive, but actually operate at night on the moon.” This bit is quite interesting as moon rovers and landers are known to die during long, frosty lunar nights. India’s Chandrayaan-3 components, for instance, amazingly landed near the moon’s south pole last year but sadly did not wake up after the frigid stretch. Space enthusiasts everywhere were crushed, even though it was a bit of a pipe dream to believe they’d survive.
The future of lunar radio astronomy
“The CLPS program is intended to be a high-risk high-reward program. We see some of the risk already with Astrobotic,” Burns said. “With the ROLSES payload, the thing that’s nice about this is we’ll be landing two to three of these payloads per year.”
To that end, NASA has already approved the flight of an upgraded version of ROLSES for 2026. For now, “we have a total of 2.5 meter monopole telescopes that we will be operating and we have two bands — a low band and a high band — and ranges all the way to 10 kilohertz for plasma observations up to 30 megahertz for astrophysical observations,” Burns said. Measuring at those frequencies from the spot in which the contraption will land would mark a first on that front. ROLSES will also be doing things like studying the density of the photoelectron sheath on the moon, associated with photomissions from the lunar regolith (pretty much moon dirt) that seem to pile up. Hopefully, that’ll help scientists know what astronauts headed to the lunar surface may experience in the offworld environment.
One of the payloads accompanying ROLSES on Nova-C is also actually a pair of CubeSats that’ll be ejected during the lander’s descent, will turn back around and take images of the lander going towards the surface. “That will be seriously cool,” Burns said. “That will give us a view of the lander coming down on the surface for the first time.”
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Early on during the presentation (ironically around when my phone started buzzing with Peregrine failure updates) Burns pulled up a video of the iconic Arthur C. Clarke during his presentation. It was a snippet of an interview in which Clarke discusses — believe it or not — radio astronomy on the moon.
“Particularly on the far side of the moon, shielded from the electronic racket of the earth by 2000 miles of rock, there is an ideal site for radio astronomy telescopes,” Clarke says in the black and white footage, “and I think that in a few generations, almost all serious astronomy will be conducted either on the moon or in space.”
“It’s now been a few generations,” Burns said immediately after the clip ended.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
