Artwork unveiled on exoplanet satellite

August 28, 2018

European Space Agency

Artist's impression of Cheops, ESA's Characterising Exoplanet Satellite, in orbit above Earth. In this view the satellite's telescope cover is open. Credit: ESA / ATG medialab

Two plaques etched with thousands of miniaturised drawings made by children have been unveiled in a dedicated ceremony held today in Switzerland.

Three years ago, thousands of children were inspired by the study of planets beyond our Solar System and translated their imagination into beautiful drawings, which feature a variety of planets and other cosmic settings. Out of the many excellent entries, over 2700 were selected to fly on ESA's Characterising Exoplanet Satellite, Cheops.

Cheops will make high-precision measurements of stars, monitoring the small changes in brightness due to the transit of a planet across the star's disc, in order to determine the planet's size. Combined with known information about the planet's mass, Cheops will enable the density of the planet to be calculated, and as such determine if it is a rocky, icy, or even a water-world for example – a first step to characterise exoplanets.

"Cheops is ESA's first small-class science mission and its task is big. The first step characterisation of the Earth-to-Neptune size planets that Cheops will target is an essential step to piecing together what these planets are made of, and towards the long-term search for habitable worlds beyond our own Solar System,"says Jan Wörner, ESA Director General.

Cheops plaques unveiled. Credit: European Space Agency

"This unique satellite, the product of European collaboration, has already inspired the young generation, seen in the drawings engraved on the plaques unveiled today as Cheops begins its final stages of preparations before moving to the launch site."

While the satellite was being assembled earlier this year, a team at the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Burgdorf, Switzerland miniaturized the drawings and engraved them onto two titanium plates. Each plaque measures nearly 18 cm across and 24 cm high.

The spacecraft has recently completed a series of tests at RUAG Space in Zurich, Switzerland, and today was presented to media and invited guests with the two plaques now attached.

Cheops plaques. Credit: G. Bucher – Bern University of Applied Sciences

Cheops will soon travel to ESA's technical centre in the Netherlands where the satellite will undergo acoustic and radio-frequency compatibility tests during September, concluding the environmental test campaign. The spacecraft will then return to Airbus Defence and Space, Spain for final tests before shipment to Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The satellite, which is implemented as a partnership between ESA and Switzerland, is on track to complete all planned test activities by the end of the year.

Once in Earth orbit Cheops will begin to characterise some of the many extrasolar worlds already discovered, many of which are similar to those depicted in the inspired artwork that will fly into space with this exciting mission.

Provided by European Space Agency</s>A huge asteroid bigger than one of Britain’s most famous landmarks sped past Earth early this morning.

The gigantic space rock is called 2016 NF23 and was travelling at 20,000 miles per hour – which is about 15 times as fast as Concorde – when it reached the closest point of its approach just before 4am.

Nasa said the object is up to 160 metres wide, meaning it could be bigger than St. Paul’s Cathedral, which stands 111 metres high and was the tallest building in London until 1967.

It came within 3 million miles of us, which is close enough to be considered ‘potentially hazardous’.

If the rock were ever to Earth, it would destroy an entire city and kill millions.

Luckily, it’s not believed to be on a collision course with our planet so is unlikely to do us any damage at any point in the future.

Lindley Johnson, a planetary defence officer at Nasa, told Space.com: ‘This object is merely designated a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) because its orbit over time wings it within five million miles of Earth’s orbit, but there is nothing hazardous to Earth or even unique about this pass of the asteroid.’

Humanity doesn’t need to fear gigantic asteroids big enough to wipe us off the face of the Earth, because they are easy to track due to their enormous size.

But we should be very afraid of smaller ‘stealth asteroids’ which are big enough to wipe out a city and extremely difficult to detect.

The European Space Agency believes astronomers have spotted just 1 in 100 space rocks which are 1km wide or less.

Nasa figures reveal that roughly 4,300 space rocks of between 100 metres and 1 kilometre have been spotted to date.

If ESA’s predictions are correct, it could mean there are actually 430,000 asteroids out there and we’ve no idea where most of them are or whether they are on a collision course with our planet.

Detlef Koschny, head of the ESA near-Earth objects team, said that even small objects could do major damage.

‘If a 100-metre asteroid hit Earth, it would cause significant damage in an area the size of Germany, and even affect the surrounding region. But asteroids of this size don’t strike Earth very often. Maybe every 10,000 years on average,’ he told Space Daily.

‘Going from 100 metres down to 50 metres, the statistical frequency of strikes increases to once every 1,000 years. A century ago in 1908, a 40-metre object struck the Earth over Tunguska, Siberia, destroying an area of forest the size of the Munich metro area.

‘And then if we go down to asteroid sizes around 20 metres – like the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013, which ended up injuring 1,500 people – these occur on average once every 10 to 100 years. We will definitely see something like that again in our lifetime.’

Earlier this year, Nasa warned of a ‘vulnerability’ in Earth’s defences which means there is only a ‘limited’ chance of spotting asteroids coming from a certain direction in space.

Koschny backed up this warning, saying smaller objects are often only spotted when they pass the moon.

If a large asteroid was spotted this late, it may not give governments enough time to evacuate any cities in the firing line.

MORE: The Milky Way died a long time ago and we’re living through its Second Coming</s>Some astronomers think that objects like the Humanity Star and Orbital Reflector—passive, flashy satellites without a clear scientific or commercial purpose—don’t belong in space. They warn that very bright objects could disrupt astronomical observations by ground- and space-based telescopes if they zoomed through their fields of view at the wrong time. They argue that launching satellites without a scientific purpose amounts to the pollution of near-Earth orbit, an increasingly crowded place where even the International Space Station has to adjust its orbit every now and then to avoid colliding with debris.

“This project brings nothing that we don’t have already,” Mark McCaughrean, a scientist at the European Space Agency, tweeted recently about Orbital Reflector. “We already have plenty of moving lights in the sky to engage the public with & draw them to the majesty of the night.”

For some astronomers, the space around Earth is akin to terrestrial areas that people have long sought to shield from the effects of human encroachment. Like glacial waters or wildlife habitats, the space above our heads requires protection, they say.

“I think that most people would appreciate a little more reverence for the natural world rather than inserting yet another artificial structure,” Caleb Scharf, the director of the Columbia Astrobiology Center, told me this week. “Paglen is highly creative, and has clearly delved deep into this work, but for those of us who spend our lives contemplating and communicating the cosmic, this seems to miss the critical point that the unobscured night sky is an endangered beast best seen in the raw.”

Paglen, the artist behind Orbital Reflector—known for his work photographing scenes from U.S. surveillance infrastructure—isn’t buying it.

“Why is Orbital Reflector specifically more problematic than the hundreds of other satellites and rocket bodies launched each year?” Paglen asked in a recent interview with ArtNet. He chafed at astronomers who wonder why someone would want to launch a satellite without a specific purpose, in the traditional sense.

“Implicit in that question is the idea that art is not a good thing and that artists should not be participating in this form of production,” Paglen said. “Why are we offended by a sculpture in space, but we’re not offending by nuclear missile targeting devices or mass surveillance devices, or satellites with nuclear engines that have a potential to fall to earth and scatter radioactive waste all over the place?”

Astronomers don’t overlook these types of satellites, Scharf says. “A majority of scientists are indeed pretty offended by the military or surveillance use of space, and likely more concerned about those uses than a short-lived artistic satellite,” he says.

But Paglen’s response raises an interesting question: Is there a place for art in the sea of satellites around Earth?</s>The U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Directorate achieved a major programme milestone on 21 August successfully delivering the first GPS III satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida to begin launch processing.

Related Post:How to Jumpstart Your Business With Satellite TV Sports PackagesThe Digital TV SwitchoverShould You Get Direct TV For Your Bar Or Restaurant?Satellite Television Can Enhance Your BusinessGet the Competitive Sports Edge3rd China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite lost after launchSSL delivers ABS-2 satellite to launch base in KourouKacific Broadband Satellite plans hosted broadband payloadSovrn</s>NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the youngest member of the "Great Observatory" programme, has completed 15 years in space.

The Great Observatories are four big-ticket space telescopes - Spitzer, Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), and the Chandra X-ray Observatory - designed to view the universe in different and complementary wavelengths of light.

Launched into solar orbit on August 25, 2003, Spitzer was initially scheduled for a minimum 2.5-year primary mission. But the space telescope has lasted far beyond its expected lifetime, the US space agency said in a statement.

"In its 15 years of operations, Spitzer has opened our eyes to new ways of viewing the universe," said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"Spitzer's discoveries extend from our own planetary backyard, to planets around other stars, to the far reaches of the universe. And by working in collaboration with NASA's other Great Observatories, Spitzer has helped scientists gain a more complete picture of many cosmic phenomena," he added.

Celebrating Spitzer's incredible discoveries and amazing images, NASA has also released two new multimedia products: The NASA Selfies app for iOS and Android, and the Exoplanet Excursions VR Experience for Oculus and Vive, as well as a 360-video version for smartphones, the statement said.

Spitzer has logged over 106,000 hours of observation time in the past 15 years.

It has illuminated some of the oldest galaxies in the universe, revealed a new ring around Saturn, and peered through shrouds of dust to study newborn stars and black holes.

The space telescope also assisted in the discovery of planets beyond our solar system, including the detection of seven Earth-size planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1, among other accomplishments.

Spitzer orbits the Sun in an Earth-trailing orbit (meaning it literally trails behind Earth as the planet orbits the Sun) and has continued to fall farther and farther behind Earth during its lifetime.

In 2016, Spitzer entered an extended mission dubbed "Spitzer Beyond". The spacecraft is currently scheduled to continue operations into November 2019, more than 10 years after entering its warm phase, the statement noted.</s>You hear the word "asteroid," and a flurry of doomsday scenarios come to mind. Couple that with "potentially hazardous," and you're absolutely certain that Earth is in mortal danger.

But put down that Xanax, and close all the tabs you've opened on doomsday-prepper websites: The "potentially hazardous" asteroid primed to pass by Earth tonight is nothing to worry about. So, if there's no immediate need to seek refuge in a bomb shelter, why is the asteroid hurtling by us at 20,000mph a non-issue?

The asteroid, which is named 2016 NF23, was labeled a Near Earth Object (NEO) by NASA due to its proximity to Earth. But "close proximity" is a relative term: when it passes us by at at 11:38 ET tonight, it'll do so from 5 million miles outside of Earth's orbit, according to a report by Space.com.

Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA Headquarters in Washington, told the space publication: "There is absolutely nothing for concern by this pass of 2016 NF23. This object is merely designated a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) because its orbit over time brings it within 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) of Earth's orbit, but there is nothing hazardous to Earth or even unique about this pass of the asteroid."

To put the distance in starker perspective, 2016 NF23 is set to pass by Earth at 13.2 lunar distances -- or 13.2 times the distance between the Earth and moon.

The asteroid garnered a fair bit of hysteria due to some of its jarring features: It's roughly between 229 feet and 524 feet in diameter, according to NASA, making it potentially bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza. There are, at this very moment, much larger wayward rocks traveling through space that pose an incredibly tiny chance of killing you.

More to the point, NEOs regularly traverse the outer reachers of Earth's orbit, and often do it at closer distances than 2016 NF23. Per Space.com: "As of Aug. 23, NASA was aware of 1,912 potentially hazardous asteroids."

Does that give you 1,912 reasons to fear the impending destruction of our planet? We think not.
The European Space Agency (ESA) unveils two titanium plaques etched with artwork, which will be part of the outside of the CHEOPS exoplanet-characterization satellite during its orbit around Earth.