The solar wind is swirly

Using ESA’s Cluster quartet of satellites as a space plasma microscope, scientists have zoomed in on the solar wind to reveal the finest detail yet, finding tiny turbulent swirls that could play a big role in heating it. Turbulence is highly complex and all around us, evident in water flowing from a tap, around an aircraft wing, in experimental fusion reactors on Earth, and also in space.

In the stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun – the solar wind – turbulence is thought to play a key part in maintaining its heat as it streams away and races across the Solar System. As the solar wind expands, it cools down, but to a much smaller extent than would be expected if the flow were smooth.

Turbulence arises from irregularities in the flow of particles and magnetic field lines, but understanding how this energy is transferred from the large scales where it originates, to the small scales where it is dissipated, is like trying to trace energy as it is transferred from the smooth, laminar flow of a river down to the small turbulent eddies formed at the bottom of a waterfall.

In a new study, two of the four Cluster satellites have made extremely detailed observations of plasma turbulence in the solar wind. They were separated by just 20 km along the direction of the plasma flow and operated in ‘burst mode’ to take 450 measurements per second. By comparing the results with computer simulations, scientists confirmed the existence of sheets of electric current just 20 km across, on the borders of turbulent swirls.

“This shows for the first time that the solar wind plasma is extremely structured at this high resolution,” says Silvia Perri of the Universita della Calabria, Italy, and lead author of the paper reporting the result. Cluster previously detected current sheets on much larger scales of 100 km in the magnetosheath, the region sandwiched between Earth’s magnetic bubble – the magnetosphere – and the bow shock that is created as it meets the solar wind.

At the borders of these turbulent eddies the process of ‘magnetic reconnection’ was detected, whereby oppositely directed field lines spontaneously break and reconnect with other nearby field lines, thus releasing their energy.“Although we haven’t yet detected reconnection occurring at these new smaller scales, it is clear that we are seeing a cascade of energy which may contribute to the overall heating of the solar wind,” said Dr Perri.  

Future missions such as ESA’s Solar Orbiter and NASA’s Solar Probe Plus will be able to determine whether similar processes are also in play closer to the Sun, while NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission will specifically probe the small-scale regions where reconnection can occur.“This Cluster result demonstrates the mission’s unique capability to probe universal physical phenomena, in this case pushing the mission’s instrument measurement capabilities to their limit to unlock features at small scales,” comments Matt Taylor, ESA’s Cluster Project Scientist.

“Future multi-spacecraft missions will make very detailed studies of these small-scale plasma phenomena and provide further context to our Cluster measurements.”

For further information visit: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/The_solar_wind_is_swirly/(print)

Ariane 5 completes seven launches in 2012

 This evening, an Ariane 5 launcher lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecom satellites, Skynet-5D and Mexsat Bicentenario, into their planned transfer orbits. Liftoff of flight VA211, the 67th Ariane 5 mission, came at 21:49 GMT (22:49 CET; 18:49 French Guiana). The target injection orbit had a perigee altitude of 249.7 km, an apogee altitude at injection of 35 977 km and an inclination of 2°. 

Skynet-5D and Mexsat Bicentenario were accurately injected into their orbits at 24 and 36 minutes after launch, respectively.Skynet-5D will be positioned in geostationary above the equator at 25°E. Built by Astrium satellites for the operator Astrium Services, it provides secure telecommunications services to the British Ministry of Defence, NATO and countries that already use the Skynet family of military communications satellites. 

Mexsat Bicentenario is the fifth Mexican satellite to be launched by Ariane. It will provide telecommunications services for Mexico and neighbouring countries. The payload mass for this launch was 8637 kg, including the mass of auxiliary payload adaptors. Flight VA211 was Ariane 5’s 53rd successful launch in a row since December 2002.

For further information visit: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Launchers/Ariane_5_completes_seven_launches_in_2012/(print)

Curiosity Rover Takes Detailed Self-Portrait on Mars

A series of photos taken by NASA's Curiosity and combined into a single composite picture offer a rare, detailed glimpse of the rover patrolling the surface of Mars on a rocky terrain with its target destination-Mount Sharp-in the background.

The full-color picture - which shows Curiosity in a desert-like environment surrounded by its own tire tracks - is actually a mosaic of dozens of high-resolution images taken by a camera located on the rover's robotic arm, called the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI).

"Self-portraits like this one document the state of the rover and allow mission engineers to track changes over time, such as dust accumulation and wheelwear," NASA stated on its website, where the picture was featured as its image of the day on Thursday.

The pictures, captured on October 31 and November 1, show Curiosity at "Rocknest," an area where the rover took its first sampling of the Martian planet. In November, NASA released another portrait of Curiosity that was created out of 55 pictures but said it doesn't provide the expansive view of Mount Sharp that this latest mosaic does.

Curiosity landed safely on the Red Planet on August 6.NASA's goal for the rover's mission is to determine if life exists now or has in the past, to characterize the climate and geology, and prepare for future human exploration on Mars.

For further information visit: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Curiosity_Rover_Takes_Detailed_Self_Portrait_on_Mars_999.html

Russia to build new heavy ICBM by 2018 - Karakayev

Russia will have built a new heavy liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile by late 2018, a missile that will prove largely superior to all of its predecessors, including the world's most powerful strategic missile Voyevoda, (NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan), in terms of combat effectiveness and the ability to penetrate the US missile defence system.

This came in a statement for journalists by the Commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Sergei Karakayev. He pointed out that it is the deployment of the US global missile defence system, a system that grows more powerful each year that prompted Russia to think of counteraction.

US to intercept Russian ICBMs in Europe - Karakayev

The missile defence system that the United States plans to deploy in Europe will be able to intercept Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, deployed in European Russia. This came in a statement at a news briefing in Moscow last week by the Commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Sergei Karakayev.

The US claims that the European antimissile system will counter Iran's missile threat. But it is only Russia that has ICBMs in Europe. In this context, we understand that the US antimissile system will target Russia, since ICBMs and submarine-based ballistic missiles are the backbone of Russia's nuclear containment force.

Russian missiles capable to resist any anti missile defense system

Moscow (Voice of Russia) Dec 16 - Under any possible scenario the Russian Strategic Missile Forces will be capable to withstand the potential of any missile defense system and to ensure fulfillment of tasks, Sergei Karakayev, Commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, has told today. According to Colonel-General Karakaev, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces has six types of missile launches, both stationary and mobile, including the fifth generation Yars and Topol-M launchers, in arsenal.

Karakaev noted that effectiveness of any strike force suggests a sustainable resistance to any outer impact, including a nuclear one.

Besides, an effective strike force should be capable to cause unacceptable damage, even under the threat from an anti-missile defense system.

For further information visit: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russia_to_build_new_heavy_ICBM_by_2018_Karakayev_999.html

Russian rocket launch rescheduled

A postponed Russian rocket launch has been rescheduled for Jan. 15, the Russian Space Forces said. The rocket launch was originally Dec. 8, but was postponed to fix malfunctions in the Briz-KM booster, RIA Novosti reported."A state commission resolved at a session on Friday that the launch of the light-class Rokot rocket will be held on Jan. 15," Russian Space Forces spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said Saturday.

The rocket is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 ballistic missile and uses two original lower stages of the missile along with a Breeze-KM upper-stage for commercial payloads.

Russia has launched 16 Rokots since May 16, 2000. Rokot launches were suspended for about 18 months when a rocket failed to put the Geo-IK-2 military satellite into the designated orbit on Feb. 1, 2011.

For further information visit: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russian_rocket_launch_rescheduled_999.html

New LandSat Satellite Scheduled for Launch

Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), or LandSat 8, during Observatory Electromagnetic Interference/Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMI/EMC) testing at Orbital Science Corporation's Gilbert, Ariz., location. August, 2012.

The newest LandSat satellite, LandSat 8, has been scheduled for a February 2013 launch. The spacecraft designed, built and tested by Orbital Sciences Corporation will continue the work of NASA and USGS Earth observation programs, extending a 40-year-old legacy in the country.

The satellite weights slightly more than 6,600 pounds and is approximately 20 feet tall with a 9-foot diameter at its widest point. It has four solar panels that will stretch out 32 feet from the satellite.

Once LandSat 8 is operational in its final orbit, Landsat 5, a 28-year-old spacecraft will be decommissioned and taken out of orbit. Its creators expect LandSat 8 to last between five and 10 years, serving different industries such as emergency response and disaster relief, regional planning, education, agriculture, mapping, geology and forestry.

LandSat 8 will more than double the amount of images produced by its predecessor LandSat 7, and feature two new spectral bands that will allow it to detect clouds on coastal zones

For further information visit: http://www.satellitetoday.com/curatedcontent/40264.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2583683&hq_l=34&hq_v=19744a885d

Expected Sun Storm Threats Satellite Communications

The new generation of satellites will face a hot test next year. Intense solar storms are expected, which means that the number of sunspots will increase massively, causing changes in our planet’s ionosphere – the shell of plasma at the top of our atmosphere.

During these solar events, the star’s irradiance output increases by approximately 0.1 percent. Thus, more heat will be expelled from the sun, which causes the ionosphere to become thicker during the day and cooler during the night. This could in itself cause turbulence that affect radio systems.

This would be the first “solar maximum” for current-generation satellite navigation technology. Scientists are considering the possibility that the changes in the ionosphere could cause problems such as signal delay with GPS and other communication from space.

The European Space Agency is installing monitoring stations all over the globe to keep track of the solar maximum’s effects and consequences for satellite navigation and communications. They will measure variations in GPS signals with more accuracy than existing systems.

For further information visit: http://www.satellitetoday.com/curatedcontent/40253.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2583683&hq_l=38&hq_v=19744a885d