The Week in Space and Physics
Nauka causes chaos, billionaires fight over the Moon, the hunt for life moves on and a new tetraquark.
A rogue Russian module, a space station spinning out of control, and astronauts fleeing for safety. That might sound like the plot of a science fiction thriller, but it came all too close to reality last Thursday night.
The culprit was Nauka, a new Russian module intended to operate as an extra scientific laboratory on the International Space Station. Almost from the moment it launched, Nauka suffered critical problems with software and propulsion systems. Those problems threatened, for some time, to send the module plunging back down to Earth.
As engineers battled to save Nauka, they were forced to delay the planned approach and docking with the space station by several days. But by Thursday they seemed to have been successful, and the all clear was given to go ahead. That now appears to have been premature, as serious control problems arose during the final docking manoeuvres.
For some time reports circled that astronauts on board the station had been forced to take manual control of the module. That would have been unusual - docking is a highly precise operation that is normally handled by automated systems. In the end those reports seem to have been a mistranslation from Russian, but it did little to calm worries about the reliability of the module.
It was after the docking was completed that the real drama began. As astronauts started opening the hatch to the new module, a software error seems to have convinced Nauka that it was still in the midst of docking. In response it started firing thrusters - a dangerous manoeuvre that started pushing the entire space station out of alignment.
For several minutes astronauts lost radio contact with the Earth, forcing controllers on the ground to declare a spacecraft emergency. For a brief period the station started to spin, before control systems brought opposing thrusters online. That proved enough to stop the spin and, after almost an hour, bring the station back to its normal position.
At the crux of the problem lay communications issues. Nauka had not yet been integrated with the rest of the space station, which meant astronauts onboard had no way to control it. Russian controllers on the ground could - but only when the space station was flying over one of their ground station. Ultimately that meant the crisis only came to an end when Nauka ran out of fuel to power its thrusters.
With no remaining fuel, the immediate danger to the station seems to have passed. Astronauts have since resumed opening up the module, though persistent rumours of a leak inside are bound to raise more concerns. Even if all further activities do go well, the incident is a further blow to the Russian Space Program.
Once considered a world-class space power, Russia has suffered a number of embarrassing incidents over the past few years. Perhaps the most notable was in 2018, when a Soyuz rocket carrying astronauts to the space station was forced to abort, sending the crew members careening back to Earth. Other problems - some extremely dramatic - have troubled the once reliable Proton rocket, and caused failures on interplanetary missions.
Many of these issues come down to poor quality control. But the Russian Space Agency also seems to be plagued by corruption and mismanagement. In one recent example, official stole hundreds of millions of dollars during the construction of a new space port. Unless Russia can get a grip on these problems, the star of Russian spaceflight will undoubtedly continue to dim.
NASA’s Moon Plans: Bezos, Artemis and Musk
After two decades of changing goals in space, NASA finally seems to have settled on the Moon as a firm target. How, and when, it plans to get there are still a matter of controversy, however.
Start with the question of when. Under Donald Trump, NASA was set the goal of landing both men and women on the Moon by 2024. To meet that target, NASA needs at least two things: a rocket powerful enough to get to the Moon, and a landing craft that can ferry the astronauts to the surface.
To address the first need, NASA is building the SLS, one of the most powerful - and expensive - rockets ever designed. It is, like many NASA projects, far behind schedule. The first test flight was originally planned for 2016; it is now pencilled in for the end of this year. If all goes to plan, that flight, named Artemis 1, will see an unmanned capsule loop around the Moon and return to Earth.
A successful flight, even with a bit more delay, would mean NASA has the rocket it needs. But the second part, a lander, is more complicated. Last year the space agency awarded funds to several companies to come up with detailed designs for the landing module. Three - SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics, submitted serious proposals.
After evaluating the designs, NASA selected just one, SpaceX, to go forward. Blue Origin - led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos - did not take the rejection well. They submitted a legal challenge against the decision, arguing that the selection process had been unfair. That challenge was, however, rejected last week.
In a last ditch effort to rescue Blue Origin’s proposal, Jeff Bezos then came out with a surprising offer. The company would, he said, cut its offer by $2 billion, effectively paying NASA to pick Blue Origin. What’s more, Blue Origin would self fund the initial tests in low Earth orbit, demonstrating the viability of its approach.
That would certainly be a good offer for NASA, but it seems unlikely they will accept it. Instead Blue Origin may look for hope in another quirk of the contracts awarded by NASA. The space agency is currently only funding the development of a lunar lander; SpaceX have no guarantee that NASA will actual purchase flights once it is built.
If Blue Origin can develop a lander on their own dime then - and Bezos could certainly afford it - they would still be in the running to win NASA contracts to land astronauts on the Moon. Whatever happens, it is unlikely that either Blue Origin or SpaceX will be ready for 2024. NASA will soon have to delay the return to the Moon by another few years.
Life in the Outer Solar System
Earth is not the only watery world in our solar system. True, the nearby planets - Mercury, Venus and Mars - are harsh, dry places where any oceans long ago vanished. But astronomers have recently come to realise that the Outer Solar System is home to many moons, big and small, that should host large amounts of water.
Most of that water is buried under thick layers of ice. The moons of Jupiter, for example, are so far from the Sun that they are perpetually frozen, with surface temperatures a hundred or more below freezing. But scientists believe that deep oceans of liquid water should exist below those shields of ice.
Europa, for example, could have liquid oceans fifty miles or more deep. Ganymede - Jupiter’s largest moon - probably has more water than Earth does. Spacecraft orbiting Saturn have spotted clear signs of oceans under the surface of Enceladus, one of the largest moons of the ringed planet.
That has led scientists to speculate about biology on those faraway moons. Life on Earth probably started in the oceans, possibly in the chemically rich areas around undersea volcanoes. Could something similar be happening on Enceladus or Europa?
To find out, researchers have proposed a series of missions to the giant planets. NASA is funding two missions: Europa Clipper and Dragonfly. Both will be launched later this decade, reaching their destinations by the 2030s. After arriving, each will survey a chosen moon in detail, scanning for signs of water and life.
But while Europa Clipper will study Europa from above, Dragonfly will actually descend to the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Once there, it will take to the air, exploring the distant world by making short flights from place to place. Not only will that give us an unprecedented view of Titan, but it will also demonstrate the viability of flight in an alien atmosphere.
Europe, too, has an interest in these watery worlds. The European Space Agency, ESA, will next year launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE. After a lengthy voyage across the solar system, JUICE should reach Jupiter by the end of this decade. Once there, it will explore three of the planet’s biggest Moons, probing them for signs of water and biochemistry.
All this should give us a wealth of insight into the prospects for life in the outer solar system, and perhaps across the galaxy. Watery worlds like Europa and Ganymede are probably widespread around other stars. If we find the right ingredients for biology there, then life, at least in a simple form, may be equally widespread.
Hunting a Stable Tetraquark
Almost everything in the world around us is ultimately made up of quarks, a tiny fundamental particle. These quarks normally gather in groups of three, creating larger particles like neutrons and protons, which go on to form atoms. But in recent years researchers have found stranger forms of matter in which quarks form groups of four or five.
These groups create exotic particles known as tetraquarks (groups of four quarks) or pentaquarks (groups of five). Unlike protons and neutrons, which fortunately tend to stick around, these particles are highly unstable. Most exist for mere fractions of a second, ripping apart almost as soon as they form.
That’s because tetraquarks are buffeted by two of the forces that govern the subatomic world: the strong and weak force. All tetraquarks discovered so far are torn apart by the strong force, which tends to act quickly. But a hypothetical tetraquark dreamed up in 2017 should be able to ignore the strong force. That means it would only be affected by the weak force - allowing it to survive slightly longer.
Though that particle has not yet been found, researchers at CERN did recently find a tetraquark that is in some ways similar. The particular combination of quarks it contains means it can resist some of the effects of the strong force - allowing it to survive for longer than any other found.
The discovery seems to support the physics behind the hypothetical “stable” tetraquark sought by researchers. The particle is also - thanks to its longer life - a good test for the more intricate theories of quantum physics and quantum chromodynamics. That should allow us to understand the strong force in the greatest detail yet managed.
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I love your articles, very well written, very educational. Thank you William Lancer
This is great writing of fascinating subjects. Thank you!