#Japan Aerospace Space Agency (JAXA)

[krakenmare]

International Space Station: Moon and Venus sink into Earth's atmospheric layers (February 22, 2023)

[spacefrontier]

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi during EVA STS-114-1, taken by NASA astronaut and fellow STS-114 crew mate Stephen Robinson. This 6 hour, 50 minute spacewalk demonstrated Shuttle thermal protection repair techniques, in addition to installing a stowage platform (ESP-2, attached to the Quest airlock) and rerouting power to ISS Control Moment Gyroscope 2. They also brought two materials exposure experiments into the ISS. July 30, 2005.

NASA 1, 2

[spaceexp]

Gateway Full Configuration - Hero Image by NASA Johnson Via Flickr: The Gateway space station will be humanity's first space station around the Moon as a vital component of the Artemis missions to return humans to the lunar surface for scientific discovery and chart the path for the first human missions to Mars. Astronauts on Gateway will be the first humans to call deep space home during missions where they will use Gateway to conduct science and prepare for lunar surface missions. Photo Credit: NASA Secondary Creator Credit: Alberto Bertolin, Bradley Reynolds

[mindblowingscience]

Japan will make moon-exploration history in the middle of next month, if all goes to plan. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced today (Dec. 5) that it's targeting Jan. 19 for the lunar landing of its robotic SLIM ("Smart Lander for Investigating Moon") spacecraft. The newly revealed plan calls for SLIM to begin its descent toward the moon on Jan. 19 around 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT; 12 a.m. on Jan. 20 Japanese Standard Time). Touchdown — which would mark the first-ever soft lunar landing for a Japanese spacecraft — is scheduled to occur about 20 minutes later. The 8.8-foot-long (2.7 meters) SLIM probe launched atop a Japanese H-2A rocket along with an X-ray space telescope called XRISM on Sept. 6. XRISM deployed into low Earth orbit, but SLIM began making its circuitous, fuel-efficient way to the moon. If all goes smoothly, SLIM will enter lunar orbit on Christmas Day, then spend nearly a month prepping for its technology-demonstrating touchdown attempt. Success would make Japan just the fifth nation to put a probe down on the moon, after the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India. This landing could also open doors for even more ambitious exploration feats down the road.

Conitnue Reading.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

TOKYO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Japan launched its lunar exploration spacecraft on Thursday aboard a homegrown H-IIA rocket, hoping to become the world's fifth country to land on the moon early next year.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the rocket took off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as planned and successfully released the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM).

Unfavourable weather led to three postponements in a week last month.

Dubbed the "moon sniper," Japan aims to land SLIM within 100 metres of its target site on the lunar surface.

The $100-million mission is expected to start the landing by February after a long, fuel-efficient approach trajectory.

"The big objective of SLIM is to prove the high-accuracy landing ... to achieve 'landing where we want' on the lunar surface, rather than 'landing where we can'," JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa told a news conference.

The launch comes two weeks after India became the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon with its Chandrayaan-3 mission to the unexplored lunar south pole.

Around the same time, Russia's Luna-25 lander crashed while approaching the moon.

Two earlier lunar landing attempts by Japan failed in the last year.

JAXA lost contact with the OMOTENASHI lander and scrubbed an attempted landing in November.

The Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander, made by Japanese startup ispace (9348.T), crashed in April as it attempted to descend to the lunar surface.

SLIM is set to touch down on the near side of the moon close to Mare Nectaris, a lunar sea that, viewed from Earth, appears as a dark spot.

Its primary goal is to test advanced optical and image processing technology.

After landing, the craft aims to analyse the composition of olivine rocks near the sites in search of clues about the origin of the moon. No lunar rover is loaded on SLIM.

Thursday's H-IIA rocket also carried the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, a joint project of JAXA, NASA and the European Space Agency.

The satellite aims to observe plasma winds flowing through the universe that scientists see as key to helping understand the evolution of stars and galaxies.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) manufactured the rocket and operated the launch, which marked the 47th H-IIA rocket Japan has launched since 2001, bringing the vehicle's success rate close to 98%.

JAXA had suspended the launch of H-IIA carrying SLIM for several months while it investigated the failure of its new medium-lift H3 rocket during its debut in March.

Japan's space missions have faced other recent setbacks, with the launch failure of the Epsilon small rocket in October 2022, followed by an engine explosion during a test in July.

The country aims to send an astronaut to the moon's surface in the latter half of the 2020s as part of NASA's Artemis programme.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/japan-launches-rocket-carrying-moon-lander-slim-after-three-delays-2023-09-06/

Japan launches 'Moon Sniper' mission | AFP

7 September 2023

Japan's "Moon Sniper" mission blasted off Thursday as the country's space programme looks to bounce back from a string of recent mishaps, weeks after India's historic lunar triumph.

[nasa]

A Tour of Cosmic Temperatures

We often think of space as “cold,” but its temperature can vary enormously depending on where you visit. If the difference between summer and winter on Earth feels extreme, imagine the range of temperatures between the coldest and hottest places in the universe — it’s trillions of degrees! So let’s take a tour of cosmic temperatures … from the coldest spots to the hottest temperatures yet achieved.

First, a little vocabulary: Astronomers use the Kelvin temperature scale, which is represented by the symbol K. Going up by 1 K is the same as going up 1°C, but the scale begins at 0 K, or -273°C, which is also called absolute zero. This is the temperature where the atoms in stuff stop moving. We’ll measure our temperatures in this tour in kelvins, but also convert them to make them more familiar!

We’ll start on the chilly end of the scale with our CAL (Cold Atom Lab) on the International Space Station, which can chill atoms to within one ten billionth of a degree above 0 K, just a fraction above absolute zero.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

Just slightly warmer is the Resolve sensor inside XRISM, pronounced “crism,” short for the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission. This is an international collaboration led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) with NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). Resolve operates at one twentieth of a degree above 0 K. Why? To measure the heat from individual X-rays striking its 36 pixels!

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

Resolve and CAL are both colder than the Boomerang Nebula, the coldest known region in the cosmos at just 1 K! This cloud of dust and gas left over from a Sun-like star is about 5,000 light-years from Earth. Scientists are studying why it’s colder than the natural background temperature of deep space.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

Let’s talk about some temperatures closer to home. Icy gas giant Neptune is the coldest major planet. It has an average temperature of 72 K at the height in its atmosphere where the pressure is equivalent to sea level on Earth. Explore how that compares to other objects in our solar system!

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

How about Earth? According to NOAA, Death Valley set the world’s surface air temperature record on July 10, 1913. This record of 330 K has yet to be broken — but recent heat waves have come close. (If you’re curious about the coldest temperature measured on Earth, that’d be 183.95 K (-128.6°F or -89.2°C) at Vostok Station, Antarctica, on July 21, 1983.)

We monitor Earth's global average temperature to understand how our planet is changing due to human activities. Last year, 2023, was the warmest year on our record, which stretches back to 1880.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

The inside of our planet is even hotter. Earth’s inner core is a solid sphere made of iron and nickel that’s about 759 miles (1,221 kilometers) in radius. It reaches temperatures up to 5,600 K.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

We might assume stars would be much hotter than our planet, but the surface of Rigel is only about twice the temperature of Earth’s core at 11,000 K. Rigel is a young, blue star in the constellation Orion, and one of the brightest stars in our night sky.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger 

We study temperatures on large and small scales. The electrons in hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, can be stripped away from their atoms in a process called ionization at a temperature around 158,000 K. When these electrons join back up with ionized atoms, light is produced. Ionization is what makes some clouds of gas and dust, like the Orion Nebula, glow.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

We already talked about the temperature on a star’s surface, but the material surrounding a star gets much, much hotter! Our Sun’s surface is about 5,800 K (10,000°F or 5,500°C), but the outermost layer of the solar atmosphere, called the corona, can reach millions of kelvins.

Our Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona in 2021, helping us answer questions like why it is so much hotter than the Sun's surface. This is one of the mysteries of the Sun that solar scientists have been trying to figure out for years.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

Looking for a hotter spot? Located about 240 million light-years away, the Perseus galaxy cluster contains thousands of galaxies. It’s surrounded by a vast cloud of gas heated up to tens of millions of kelvins that glows in X-ray light. Our telescopes found a giant wave rolling through this cluster’s hot gas, likely due to a smaller cluster grazing it billions of years ago.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

Now things are really starting to heat up! When massive stars — ones with eight times the mass of our Sun or more — run out of fuel, they put on a show. On their way to becoming black holes or neutron stars, these stars will shed their outer layers in a supernova explosion. These layers can reach temperatures of 300 million K!

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman

We couldn’t explore cosmic temperatures without talking about black holes. When stuff gets too close to a black hole, it can become part of a hot, orbiting debris disk with a conical corona swirling above it. As the material churns, it heats up and emits light, making it glow. This hot environment, which can reach temperatures of a billion kelvins, helps us find and study black holes even though they don’t emit light themselves.

JAXA’s XRISM telescope, which we mentioned at the start of our tour, uses its supercool Resolve detector to explore the scorching conditions around these intriguing, extreme objects.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab

Our universe’s origins are even hotter. Just one second after the big bang, our tiny, baby universe consisted of an extremely hot — around 10 billion K — “soup” of light and particles. It had to cool for a few minutes before the first elements could form. The oldest light we can see, the cosmic microwave background, is from about 380,000 years after the big bang, and shows us the heat left over from these earlier moments.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

We’ve ventured far in distance and time … but the final spot on our temperature adventure is back on Earth! Scientists use the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to smash teensy particles together at superspeeds to simulate the conditions of the early universe. In 2012, they generated a plasma that was over 5 trillion K, setting a world record for the highest human-made temperature.

Want this tour as a poster? You can download it here in a vertical or horizontal version!

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger

Explore the wonderful and weird cosmos with NASA Universe on X, Facebook, and Instagram. And make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[beardedmrbean]

TOKYO -- A Japanese spacecraft touched down on the moon early Saturday, making Japan the fifth country to reach the lunar surface. But officials said they still needed to analyze the pinpoint accuracy of the landing.

Hitoshi Kuninaka, head of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, said they believe that rovers were launched and data were being transmitted back to Earth. But there could an issue with the power supply.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, landed at about 12:20 a.m. Tokyo time on Saturday (1520 GMT Friday). Japan follows the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India in reaching the moon.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Japan’s spacecraft arrived on the surface of the moon early Saturday, but it wasn’t immediately clear if the landing was a success, because the Japanese space agency said it was still “checking its status.”

More details about the spacecraft, which is carrying no astronauts, would be given at a news conference, officials said. If the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, landed successfully, Japan would become the fifth country to accomplish the feat after the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India.

SLIM came down onto the lunar surface at around 12:20 a.m. Tokyo time Saturday (1520 GMT Friday).

As the spacecraft descended, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's mission control said that everything was going as planned and later said that SLIM was on the lunar surface. But there was no mention of whether the landing was successful.

Mission control kept repeating that it was “checking its status" and that more information would be given at a news conference. It wasn't immediately clear when the news conference would start.

SLIM, nicknamed "the Moon Sniper," started its descent at midnight Saturday, and within 15 minutes it was down to about 10 kilometers (six miles) above the lunar surface, according to the space agency, which is known as JAXA.

At an altitude of five kilometers (three miles), the lander was in a vertical descent mode, then at 50 meters (165 feet) above the surface, SLIM was supposed to make a parallel movement to find a safe landing spot, JAXA said.

About a half-hour after its presumed landing, JAXA said that it was still checking the status of the lander.

SLIM, which was aiming to hit a very small target, is a lightweight spacecraft about the size of a passenger vehicle. It was using “pinpoint landing” technology that promises far greater control than any previous moon landing.

While most previous probes have used landing zones about 10 kilometers (six miles) wide, SLIM was aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet).

The project was the fruit of two decades of work on precision technology by JAXA.

The mission's main goal is to test new landing technology that would allow moon missions to land “where we want to, rather than where it is easy to land,” JAXA has said. If the landing was a success, the spacecraft will seek clues about the origin of the moon, including analyzing minerals with a special camera.

The SLIM, equipped with a pad to cushion impact, was aiming to land near the Shioli crater, near a region covered in volcanic rock.

The closely watched mission came only 10 days after a moon mission by a U.S. private company failed when the spacecraft developed a fuel leak hours after the launch.

SLIM was launched on a Mitsubishi Heavy H2A rocket in September. It initially orbited Earth and entered lunar orbit on Dec. 25.

Japan hopes a success will help regain confidence for its space technology after a number of failures. A spacecraft designed by a Japanese company crashed during a lunar landing attempt in April, and a new flagship rocket failed its debut launch in March.

JAXA has a track record with difficult landings. Its Hayabusa2 spacecraft, launched in 2014, touched down twice on the 900-meter-long (3,000-foot-long) asteroid Ryugu, collecting samples that were returned to Earth.

Experts say a success of SLIM's pinpoint landing, especially on the moon, would raise Japan's profile in the global space technology race.

Takeshi Tsuchiya, aeronautics professor at the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo, said it was important to confirm the accuracy of landing on a targeted area for the future of moon explorations.

“It is necessary to show the world that Japan has the appropriate technology in order to be able to properly assert Japan's position in lunar development,” he said. The moon is important from the perspective of explorations of resources, and it can also be used as a base to go to other planets, like Mars, he said.

SLIM is carrying two small autonomous probes — lunar excursion vehicles LEV-1 and LEV-2, which will be released just before landing.

LEV-1, equipped with an antenna and a camera, is tasked with recording SLIM's landing. LEV-2, is a ball-shaped rover equipped with two cameras, developed by JAXA together with Sony, toymaker Tomy and Doshisha University.

JAXA will broadcast a livestream of the landing, while space fans will gather to watch the historic moment on a big screen at the agency's Sagamihara campus southwest of Tokyo.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission unveils black hole and supernova remnant surroundings

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) has revealed the structure, motion and temperature of the material around a supermassive black hole and in a supernova remnant in unprecedented detail. Astronomers presented the first scientific results of the new X-ray telescope today, less than a year after the telescope's launch.

What do a gigantic black hole and the remains of a massive, exploded star have in common? These are both dramatic celestial phenomena where extremely hot gas produces highly energetic X-ray light that XRISM can see.

In its first published results, XRISM, a mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with participation from ESA, shows its unique capabilities to reveal the speed and temperature of sizzling hot gas, called plasma, and the three-dimensional structures of material surrounding a black hole and an exploded star.

The research is published on the arXiv preprint server.

"These new observations provide crucial information in understanding how black holes grow by capturing surrounding matter, and offer a new insight into the life and death of massive stars. They showcase the mission's exceptional capability in exploring the high-energy universe," says ESA XRISM Project Scientist Matteo Guainazzi.

Supernova remnant N132D

In one of its "first light" observations, XRISM focused on N132D, a supernova remnant located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160 000 light-years from Earth. This interstellar 'bubble' of hot gas was expelled by the explosion of a very massive star approximately 3000 years ago.

Using its Resolve instrument, XRISM uncovered the structure around N132D in detail. Contrary to prior assumptions of a simple spherical shell, scientists found out that the remnant of N132D is shaped like a doughnut. Using the Doppler effect, they measured the speed (velocity) at which the hot plasma in the remnant is moving towards or away from us, and established that this is expanding at the apparent speed of around 1200 km/s

Resolve also revealed that the remnant contains iron that has an extraordinary temperature of 10 billion degrees Kelvin. The iron atoms were heated during the supernova explosion through violent shock waves spreading inwards, a phenomenon that had been predicted by theory, but never observed before.

Supernova remnants like N132D hold important clues into how stars evolve and how (heavy) elements that are essential to our life, like iron, are generated and spread out in interstellar space. Yet, previous X-ray observatories have always had difficulty revealing how the plasma's velocity and temperature were distributed.

Supermassive black hole in galaxy NGC 4151

XRISM has also shed new light on the mysterious structure surrounding a supermassive black hole. Focusing on the spiral galaxy NGC 4151, located 62 million light-years away from us, XRISM's observations offer an unprecedented view of the material very close to the galaxy's central black hole, which has a mass 30 million times that of the sun.

XRISM captured the distribution of the matter circling and ultimately falling into the black hole over a wide radius, spanning from 0.001 to 0.1 light-years, that is from about a distance comparable to the sun–Uranus separation to 100 times that.

By determining the motions of iron atoms from their X-ray signature, scientists mapped out a sequence of structures surrounding the giant black hole: from the disk 'feeding' the black hole all the way out to the doughnut-shaped torus.

These findings provide a vital piece of the puzzle in understanding how black holes grow by gobbling up surrounding matter.

Although radio and infrared observations have revealed the presence of a doughnut-shaped torus around black holes in other galaxies, XRISM's spectroscopic technique is the first, and currently only way to track down how the gas near the central 'monster' is shaped and moves.

Looking ahead: Future observations and discoveries

In the last months, the XRISM science team has diligently worked on establishing the instruments' performance and refine the data analysis methods by observing 60 key targets. In parallel,104 new set of observations were selected from the over 300 proposed submissions from scientists worldwide.

XRISM will conduct observations based on the successful proposals over the next year; thanks to its exceptional performance in orbit, surpassing even initial expectations, this promises many more exciting discoveries to come.

TOP IMAGE: This image shows JAXA’s XRIMS X-ray telescope observation of supernova remnant N132D. This supernova is the result of a stellar explosion approximately 3000 years ago in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 160 000 light-years away from Earth. At the top of the image, the supernova remnant is shown in X-ray light. The yellow circle depicts the area where XRISM’s instrument Resolve measured extremely hot iron (10 billion degrees Kelvin). The pink line shows the rim of the remnant, where the blast wave interacts with the interstellar medium, and the hot gas (plasma) is cooler (around 10 million degrees Kelvin). The spectrum shows many chemical elements that are present in N132D. XRISM can identify each element by measuring the energy of the X-ray photon specific to different atoms. The label 'keV' on the x-axis of the graph refers to kiloelectronvolts, a unit of energy. The ‘energy resolution’ of XRISM, that is its capability to distinguish X-ray light with different wavelengths, is ground-breaking. With 30 times the resolution of its predecessors, XRISM’s advanced spectroscopic capabilities enable scientists to measure the motion and temperature of the hot plasma with unprecedented precision. Credit: JAXA

CENTRE IMAGE: JAXA’s XRISM X-ray telescope captured the distribution of matter falling into the supermassive black hole in galaxy NGC 4151 over a wide radius, spanning from 0.001 to 0.1 light-years. By determining the speed of the iron atoms from their X-rays signature, scientists have mapped out a sequence of structures surrounding the central ‘monster’: the disk closest to the black hole (in blue) where gas moves at a speed a few percent of the speed of light, followed by a transition region where gas is moving at speed of thousands of km/s and which astronomers call “the broad line region (BLR)” (in orange) , and finally the doughnut-shaped torus (in red). Credit: JAXA

LOWER IMAGE: XRISM will study the Universe in X-ray light with an unprecedented combination of light collecting power and energy resolution – the capability to distinguish X-rays of different energies. The mission will provide a picture of the dynamics in galaxy clusters, the chemical make-up of the Universe and the flow of matter around accreting supermassive black holes (Active Galactic Nuclei or AGN), among many other topics. Credit: European Space Agency

[macleod]

Japan will put a wooden satellite into orbit next year

Researchers from Kyoto University in Japan have determined that wood from magnolia trees could be the ideal construction material for a satellite due to launch into space next year.

Test results from a recent experiment aboard the International Space Station among three wood specimens revealed magnolia to be the most versatile. The samples, which were exposed to the harsh conditions of space for 10 months, returned to Earth this past January.

Analysis showed magnolia experienced no decomposition or damage like cracking, peeling, or warping. Furthermore, there was no change in the mass of the wood samples before and after their exposure in space.

According to Phys.org, the group's wooden satellite will be launched jointly by NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2024. An entry on Nanosats Database notes the satellite will perform amateur radio operations and help educate students about the characteristics of the satellite.

(Source: TechSpot)

[stevebattle]

SLIM Lunar Excursion Vehicle 1 (LEV 1) (2023) by Yasuharu Kunii (Chuo University), and the Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency (JAXA). The Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, or SLIM (final photo), was launched from Tanegashima Space Centre on September 6, 2023 aboard Mitsubishi’s H-IIA rocket, due to make a precision lunar landing on January 19 2024. LEV-1 has a camera and is designed to hop around on the lunar surface taking photos. It will be ejected from the lander before touchdown, only a few metres from the surface.

[krakenmare]

Akatsuki: Night side of Venus taken by the IR2 (March 29, 2016)

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Neutrons open window to explore space glass

Thanks to human ingenuity and zero gravity, we reap important benefits from science in space. Consider smart phones with built-in navigation systems and cameras. Such transformational technologies seem to blend into the rhythm of our everyday lives overnight. But they emerged from years of discoveries and developments of materials that can withstand harsh environments outside our atmosphere. They evolve from decades of laying foundations in basic science to understand how atoms behave in different materials under different conditions. Building on this past, a global team of researchers has set a new benchmark for future experiments making materials in space rather than for space. The team included members from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories, Materials Development, Inc., NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, Alfred University and the University of New Mexico. Together, they discovered that many kinds of glass, including ones that could be developed for next-generation optical devices, have similar atomic structure and arrangements and can successfully be made in space.

Read more.

[spacenutspod]

At any given time, crew members are conducting dozens of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations on the International Space Station. If you’re curious about this work, the Space Station Research Xplorer (SSRX) mobile application provides information on these experiments, special facilities on the station, research benefits, and published results. The app includes summaries of each investigation along with photos, videos, interactive media, and additional reference links. Screenshot from the Space Station Research Xplorer (SSRX) mobile app Other sections include: Facilities – brief descriptions of research facilities browsable by research category, with images and information on sponsoring agency and organization, research manager, results publications, and media links when available. Benefits – information on how the research benefits space exploration and people on Earth, with sections offering more in-depth understanding of the types of benefits, access to the latest ISS Benefits for Humanity publication, and relevant videos and audio podcasts. Results – listings of peer-reviewed scientific publications in which papers related to station research appeared in a given fiscal year and summaries of recent and especially compelling findings that advance science, technology, and education, as well as promote the commercialization of space and benefit humankind. This section also provides access to the latest Annual Highlights of Results publication. LabTour – exploration of the interior of the station’s Columbus, Kibo, and Destiny modules, including tapping on any of the research racks to learn more information and an experiment description when available. Media – a variety of imagery, videos, fact sheets, and social media posts on space station research. Links – related space station research and technology demonstration opportunities, mobile apps, web landing pages, podcasts, social media, images, videos, educational resources, and more. The SSRX app is updated each month and available for iPhone, iPad, and Android platforms. The app is even available to the astronauts currently in space. Download the Space Station Research Xplorer (SSRX) mobile app from: Apple   Google Play NASA also offers apps that provide interactive experiences with two major areas of space station research: plant growth and human health. Screenshot from the NASA Science Investigations: Plant Growth app On the NASA Science Investigations: Plant Growth app, your task as the newest member of the crew is to familiarize yourself with the interior of the station, which is the size of a five-bedroom house and contains a wide variety of equipment and tools. Once you are ready, help with a plant growth experiment, conducting tasks such as watering, trimming, and analyzing plant growth. Future missions need the ability to grow plants in space to provide fresh food for crew members and to contribute to life support systems, and the space station has hosted multiple experiments working toward this goal. Researchers have grown lettuces, Chinese cabbage, mustard greens, kale, tomatoes, radishes, and chile peppers on orbit. Now it’s your turn! Download the NASA Science Investigations: Plant Growth mobile app from: App Store Google Play Screenshot from the NASA Science Investigations: Humans in Space app Your job on the NASA Science Investigations: Humans in Space app is to follow instructions provided and make sure the H-II Transfer Vehicle is successfully berthed to the station. This uncrewed spacecraft from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is one of several that make regular visits from Earth, bringing supplies, scientific experiments, and treats for the crew such as fresh fruit. You perform this task while experiencing the effects of microgravity, including adjusting to being nearly weightless, the lack of references such as up or down, and tools that float away. Download the NASA Science Investigations: Humans in Space mobile app from: App Store   Google Play Keep Exploring Discover More Topics Opportunities and Information for Researchers Latest News from Space Station Research Station Benefits for Humanity Biological & Physical Science Stories

[mindblowingscience]

Japan's Moon lander has produced another surprise by waking up after the two-week lunar night, the country's space agency said Monday. The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way. As the Sun's angle shifted, it came back to life for two days and carried out scientific observations of a crater with a high-spec camera, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.

Continue Reading.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Japan Moon lander survives lunar night

26 February 2024

Japan Moon lander survives lunar night | BBC News

27 February 2024

Japan's Moon lander has survived the harsh lunar night, the sunless and freezing equivalent to two Earth weeks.

"Last night, a command was sent to #SLIM and a response received," national space agency Jaxa said on X.

The craft was put into sleep mode after an awkward landing in January left its solar panels facing the wrong way and unable to generate power.

A change in sunlight direction later allowed it to send pictures back but it shut down again as lunar night fell.

JAXA said at the time that Slim (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) was not designed for the harsh lunar nights.