Ingenuity is just a technology demonstrator. Its only instrument is a low-resolution camera. It will get all its instructions by radio from Perseverance. The main question is whether it can survive the Martian night and still be able to operate.

Anyway, apologies for interrupting the Perseverance/Ingenuity hype, but I would like to share some overlooked news that got published several days ago. A possible exoplanet (dubbed Candidate 1 because it's pending further confirmation) has been found orbiting Alpha Centauri A using a new direct infrared imaging method. The planet is estimated to be about 20-50 Earth masses, making it likely a super-Neptune, and it orbits 1.1 AU from Alf Cen A, putting it well into the habitable zone. If proven confirmed, this planet could very well harbor potential habitable exomoons, and it would be just next door to us.

Now keep in mind that it's still in the unconfirmed stage, because we need to figure out if the data is not an artifact from the mechanism used to image it.

Edited by DivineFlame100 on Feb 19th 2021 at 8:01:57 AM

Using Ingenuity to blow off dust from Perseverance reminds me of this xkcd comic.

That is super cool, and I like that the article doesn't obfuscate the fact that it's only a suspected discovery. The search for exoplanets is soon going to move into a phase where we can image them directly. That should allow us to get a much better look at their atmospheres and hence whether they do or could potentially support life.

Watch Northrop Grumman launch its Cygnus spacecraft to the ISS here. I discussed the mission in an earlier post. T-0 is 17:36 UTC (12:36 PM EST). The launchcast will go live around 17:00 UTC. Because of my personal schedule I may not be able to provide live updates.

Liftoff occurred on time and the spacecraft is now flying free in orbit.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 20th 2021 at 12:47:14 PM

Launch activity update

Perseverance landed on Mars, SpaceX lost a booster, and two supply craft launched to the ISS. As always, visit Next Spaceflight or Everyday Astronaut for details.

Launch counts for 2021

¹ Orbital - Suborbital - Failed
² Booster - Second Stage - Capsule
³ Spacecraft (Progress, Dragon) count as one payload for this list regardless of how many things they're carrying.
⁴ For simplicity, these are grouped by family regardless of specific capabilities.

Recent launches and events

Upcoming launches

Other/Miscellaneous

• Cygnus NG-15 will be berthed with the ISS on Monday, Feb 22 at 09:40 UTC with coverage via NASA TV.
• Starship SN10's testing program continues this week as Boca Chica thaws out. Static fire testing could occur as early as Monday, Feb 22.
• The second SLS Green Run Hotfire test is scheduled NET Thursday, Feb 25 with coverage via NASA TV.

NASA's Mars 2020 website has started posting raw images from Perseverance again. For a while nothing was getting uploaded and it was frustrating the science community. These look like they're all from the engineering/hazard cameras that help plot the rover's course. The high-resolution cameras are still being brought online and the main antenna is in the process of being calibrated.

We should hear more details and see some of the descent video in the press conference tomorrow.

Very flat looking terrain.

The rover landed in a narrow stretch of such terrain amid a variety of hazards. It isn't just about rocks; there are some sand dunes nearby that could seriously impede its driving. The Terrain Relative Navigation system did an amazing job.

I know that the rover is supposed to drive to a nearby crater later, so I was expecting to see some crater rim walls in the distance, but of course the camera could be pointing in the wrong direction.

The angles and fields of view on these cameras are not meant for distance navigation. We should get much better images of the surrounding terrain over the coming week. The scientists believe that Perseverance landed facing southeast with its back to the crater wall.

Residents of Boca Chica Village have received an alert for a static fire test of Starship SN10 Monday, Feb 22. I will update if we get a fan livestream.

Someone did a lens correction on one of the Perseverance photos. You can clearly see the horizon and the cliffs with the distortion removed.

NASA tweeted that the S.S. Katherine Johnson, the cargo spacecraft named after the mathematician of Hidden Figures fame arrived at the ISS.

Today's NASA briefing on Perseverance starts at 19:00 UTC (2:00 PM EST) on NASA Live. You will want to tune in for it.

Edit: I'm an idiot. There is a dedicated livestream for this event and I've already set a reminder for it.

Live updates: They're waxing poetic about the nature of photography. Come on, folks.
The phrase "fantastic images" is going to trend as a meme if Scott Manley has anything to say about it.
Technicals: Two of three parachute look-up cameras worked. One was damaged by the mortars. One look-down camera on descent stage, look-up/look-down cameras on rover. Microphone on the rover did not collect EDL audio.

HOLY FUCK that was beautiful!

Okay, MASTCAM has indeed been deployed and is sending low-res inspection shots. The deck of the rover appears to be in good condition. Mars looks like... well, Mars.
A bunch of new images will be uploaded to the multimedia site today.
Checkouts are in progress. All instruments are functioning as expected, the backup computer is on, and the helicopter is in good shape.
MRO has located the parachute and backshell, the descent stage, and the heat shield on the surface.
We don't have EDL audio but we do have audio from the surface. We heard a wind gust from Mars! Very low frequency as expected.
Microphone failure on EDL was a communication error between the analog signal and the digital computer. Unsure what caused it but the system is working properly now.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 22nd 2021 at 3:00:03 PM

Enjoy the first 3D panorama of Mars, thanks to NASA. [1]

Here's the full EDL video! [1]

Looks great. Here's to a safe journey.

Starship SN10 is about to perform its static fire test in preparation for a flight attempt later this week. NASA Spaceflight is covering the event. We are informed that the FAA license for the test has been granted.

As a reminder, the test schedule is not set in stone and it could be aborted if abnormal conditions are detected. Based on prior tests, it should be about 30 minutes away at time of posting.

Edit: The test was scrubbed.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 22nd 2021 at 9:07:13 AM

Wow, that Mars panorama is amazing. I believe that the sun is setting in the west behind that ridge in the distance? Just wow.

"The production quality of faking landings on other worlds has come a long way since 1969."

That landing from Perseverance presents an opportune time for Masten Space Systems to tweet about its new instant landing pad technology. This is a totally cool idea that we've discussed before. It involves injecting alumina particles into the exhaust stream during landing on an unprepared surface like the Moon or Mars that cement the dust and/or soil together to form a stable landing pad.

Benefits include mitigation of landing risk due to uneven terrain and reduction of particulate ejecta that can damage spacecraft and infrastructure or even enter orbit.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 22nd 2021 at 11:02:51 AM

Cryptography nerds will love this one. Engineers embedded a hidden message in the pattern of red and white markings on the parachute for Perseverance. After getting a hint that there was something more there than met the eye during the press conference, some folks cracked it.

In binary code, the markings spell out the NASA JPL motto: "Dare Mighty Things" and append the latitude and longitude coordinates for the JPL facility. The solid red areas are padding.

Congrats to all involved for what may well be one of the nerdiest Easter eggs of all time.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 22nd 2021 at 11:02:05 AM

NASA's SLS rocket will not perform a hot fire test on Thursday as scheduled. Kathy Leuders confirms that a liquid oxygen prevalve is not working properly and a solution must be implemented. This will delay the test for a currently unspecified amount of time. (NASA press release)

More delays for the big orange rocket that dreamed of the stars.

Unless I'm mistaken about transportation and checkout timelines that all but guarantees a push of Artemis 1 if they can't get a fix in place within a couple weeks. I know they were already pushing the limits with needing the 2nd green run.

Artemis 1 is already done for 2021. There's no way the timeline can be compressed enough to get it in this year. The question now is how many delays it'll get in 2022. This is not a critical problem because NASA and the White House have quietly dropped the "we must land in 2024" idea.

I've long suspected that SLS, far from a next-generation rocket with state-of-the-art technology, is in reality a cobbled-together pile of spare parts that's only barely good enough to perform its mission. It's not reusable because the Boeing engineers couldn't do that if someone tied them down in the path of an extremely slow-moving Zamboni.

Still, if we're going to fly the goddamn thing, it should work properly, so I support NASA taking whatever time is needed to figure it out.

Speaking of NASA and the White House, the rumor mill is circulating former Senator Bill Nelson of Florida as the next NASA administrator, replacing Jim Bridenstine who left when Biden was sworn in.

Nelson is reputed to be very strongly in favor of SLS and not so much in favor of commercial launch providers. This pick, if confirmed, most likely means that NASA and Congress will stick to their expensive toy against all reason and that SpaceX will not get significant support for its own Mars program in the near term.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 22nd 2021 at 11:47:14 AM

Cryptography nerds will tell you that it's not cryptography, but steganography. Nevertheless, nice catch.