Space Debris damages ISS US segment

Space debris has damaged a cooling system radiator of the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. segment in the P4 truss section, the NASA website said. 

It said images of the ISS surface captured by external cameras were being analyzed and data suggests there isn’t an ammonia leak from the system as a result of the 12 inch long puncture to the cover sheet. 

The NASA delegation to the Russian Mission Control Center has offered no comment on the situation. 

The hardware in question is one of the key elements of the heat rejection systems utilized by the orbital outpost.

So far, the ISS does not appear to be suffering any ill effects of the damage, while no leaking from the panels has been observed at this time.

MicroMeteoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) strikes on space hardware are not uncommon and continue to be a major risk factor all spacecraft have to deal with.

Such MMOD strikes were observed on a large amount of Space Shuttle missions, especially late into the mission when the orbiter had undocked from the protection of the ISS and was preparing to head home.

The ISS is manned by Russia's Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Maxim Surayev, U.S. astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman and German astronaut Alexander Gerst.

ESA XMM-Newton: Cosmic Collision in the Bullett Group

Composite image taken by ESA's XMM-Newton of the Bullet Group showing galaxies, hot gas (shown in pink) and dark matter (indicated in blue). 

Credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / F. Gastaldello (INAF/IASF, Milano, Italy) / CFHTLS

Galaxies are not as isolated as they at first glance may seem; on a cosmic scale they congregate in clumps along with dark matter and hot gas.

The colourful blob in this new composite image, based on data from several telescopes including ESA's XMM-Newton, is the group of galaxies known as the Bullet Group.

Its components appear to be clearly separated, with the hot gas partitioned from the rest of the mass within the group.

This is the smallest object ever found to show such an effect, which was caused by a merger in the group's past.

Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies set to collide - update 2014

The Andromeda spiral galaxy. 

Image courtesy NASA.

A short time ago, in a galaxy very, very close by, a NASA satellite thought it detected a gamma ray burst in Andromeda.

It was a false alarm, but astronomers used the opportunity as a reminder that our galaxy and Andromeda are set for a head-on collision.

NASA's Swift satellite discovers and measures gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, and their afterglow in X-ray, optical, and ultraviolet wavelengths of light.

The space agency says the spacecraft is designed "with powerful telescopes and quick reflexes to capture gamma-ray bursts as they flash and leave a lingering afterglow."

On Wednesday, astronomers and astrophiles alike buzzed with the news that Swift's equipment had captured a powerful flash of gamma rays, believed to be coming from the Andromeda Galaxy.

Those who watch the sky were caught up in the possibility that a clashing pair of neutron stars or a bright X-ray source was acting up a mere 2.5 million light-years away, NBC News reported.

But, alas, the excitement was short-lived. By the time more raw data came in and the initial information was re-analyzed, the project team realized what they thought was a giant burst of radiation was not the dense remnants of dead stars crashing together.

"We... do not believe this source to be in outburst. Instead, it was a serendipitous constant source in the field of view of a BAT subthreshold trigger," Swift team member Kim Page wrote in a NASA message.

The reason scientists (and the Twittersphere) were in such a tizzy was because, "The Andromeda galaxy, known in astronomical parlance as M31, holds a special place in our own future," the New York Times wrote.

NASA astronomers announced in 2012 "with certainty" that the next major cosmic event to hit the Milky Way will quite literally hit the Milky Way.

Our galaxy will have a "titanic collision" with neighbouring Andromeda. Not only that, the Triangulum galaxy, M33, is likely to join in on the action, causing a three-galaxy pile-up (and could even merge with the other two), scientists said in a statement.

The Milky Way and Andromeda are the dominant members of a small family of galaxies called the Local Group. Family ties bind the bevy together in the form of their mutual gravity.

NASA sought to assure the world that the sun and Earth are unlikely to be hit by stars or planets from Andromeda because of the vast emptiness of the two galaxies.

So Earth, they said, should easily survive what will be a 1.9 million kilometer per hour (1.2 million mile per hour) galactic merger. Even at that speed, the event would take about 2 billion years.

"It's like a bad car crash in galaxy-land," Roeland van der Marel, an astronomer with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which operates Hubble, told the media.

Scientists said in 2012 the collision would take place in 4 billion years. But the New York Times reported Wednesday, “Recent measurements with the Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed that they will hit head on in about two billion years.”

Hubble Fireworks: The Antennae Galaxies in Collision

Two galaxies are squaring off in Corvus and the latest pictures can be viewed here. 

When two galaxies collide, the stars that compose them usually do not. 

That's because galaxies are mostly empty space and, however bright, stars only take up only a small amount of that space. 

During the slow, hundred million year collision, one galaxy can still rip the other apart gravitationally, and dust and gas common to both galaxies does collide. 

In this clash of the titans, dark dust pillars mark massive molecular clouds are being compressed during the galactic encounter, causing the rapid birth of millions of stars, some of which are gravitationally bound together in massive star clusters.

Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA

ESA Clean Space: Reducing debris threat from satellite batteries

So far, about 200 explosions and at least 5 collisions in space have occured. 

Further explosions and collisions are very likely. 

The explosions are mainly caused by onboard energy sources, either due to pressure build-up in propellant tanks, battery explosions, or the ignition of hypergolic fuels. 

Each explosion creates thousands of small debris objects. 

The most prominent collision event and the first known one between two catalogued objects was in 1996 between the French Cerise Satellite and a fragment of an Ariane upper stage explosion. 

Credit: ESA

Across a satellite's working life, batteries keep the craft's heart beating whenever it leaves sunlight. But after its mission ends, those same batteries may threaten catastrophe.

Space debris mitigation rules require the complete deactivation of electrical power sources aboard a satellite on retirement, to guard against explosive accidents that might produce fresh debris dangerous to other satellites.

Now a new study by ESA's Clean Space initiative – tasked with reducing the space industry's environmental impacts on both Earth and space – aims to evaluate battery behaviour after a satellite shuts down, assessing the risk of breakup and ensuring full 'passivation'.

Batteries are among a satellite's bulkier items of equipment. Typically, they feed their host with power during launch.

Once in orbit, it switches to power from its solar arrays, but the battery is an important backup to store power for eclipses and emergencies.

To reach the high reliability and performance a satellite demands, extending across many months or years, batteries are carefully designed and extensively tested in advance of launch.

By contrast, their behaviour after their parent mission has been shut down remains a relative blind spot.

As a satellite drifts freely, could batteries endure the harsh environment of orbit – including wild temperature swings, degradation of thermal control and components as well as radiation exposure – without leakage or bursting?

Some past satellite breakups have been triggered by battery malfunctions, although mostly before the 1990s and involving older non-lithium designs.

This multidisciplinary study aims to ensure a fully inert power system at the end of a mission, perhaps through physical disconnection, while also preventing accidental premature passivation.

ESA JAXA: Japan scientists test tether to clear up space junk

This artist's impression released September 1, 2011 by the European Space Agency shows the debris field in low-Earth orbit based on current data, not items in their actual size or density

Japanese space scientists are set to trial a tether they hope will help pull junk out of orbit around Earth, clearing up tonnes of planetary clutter, they said Thursday.

Researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have developed what they called an electrodynamic tether made from thin wires of stainless steel and aluminium.

The idea is that one end of the strip will be attached to one of the thousands of dead satellites or bits of rocket that are jamming up space and endangering working equipment.

The electricity generated by the tether as it swings through the Earth's magnetic field is expected to have a slowing effect on the space junk, which should, scientists say, pull it into a lower and lower orbit.

Eventually the detritus will enter the Earth's atmosphere, burning up harmlessly long before it has chance to crash to the planet's surface.

"The experiment is specifically designed to contribute to developing a space debris cleaning method," said Masahiro Nohmi, associate professor at Kagawa University, who is working with JAXA on the project, told reporters.

Nohmi said a satellite developed by the university is expected to be launched into space on February 28, with the tether aboard.

Graphic on debris and defunct space hardware that currently orbit the earth

"We have two main objectives in the trial next month," he said.

"First, to extend a 300-metre (1,000-foot) tether in orbit and secondly to observe the transfer of electricity."

The actual reeling in of orbiting rubbish will be the objective of future experiments, he said.

A spokesman for JAXA said the agency also plans to conduct its own trial on a tether in 2015.

More than 20,000 bits of cast off equipment, including old satellites, pieces of rocket and other fragments are uselessly orbiting the Earth in a band 800-1,400 kilometres (500-900 miles) from the surface of the planet at terrific speed.

Their presence causes problems for space scientists who have to try to prevent them colliding with functioning kit because of the huge damage they can cause.

Dwarf Galaxy Caught Ramming Into a Large Spiral Galaxy NGC1232

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Huntingdon Institute for X-ray Astronomy/G. Garmire; Optical: ESO/VLT

Observations with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have revealed a massive cloud of multimillion-degree gas in a galaxy about 60 million light years from Earth.

The hot gas cloud is likely caused by a collision between a dwarf galaxy and a much larger galaxy called NGC 1232.

If confirmed, this discovery would mark the first time such a collision has been detected only in X-rays, and could have implications for understanding how galaxies grow through similar collisions.

An image combining X-rays and optical light shows the scene of this collision. The impact between the dwarf galaxy and the spiral galaxy caused a shock wave − akin to a sonic boom on Earth – that generated hot gas with a temperature of about six million degrees.

Chandra X-ray data, in purple, show the hot gas has a comet-like appearance, caused by the motion of the dwarf galaxy.

Optical data from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope reveal the spiral galaxy in blue and white. X-ray point sources have been removed from this image to emphasize the diffuse emission.

Near the head of the comet-shaped X-ray emission (mouse over the image for the location) is a region containing several very optically bright stars and enhanced X-ray emission.

Star formation may have been triggered by the shock wave, producing bright, massive stars. In that case X-ray emission would be generated by massive star winds and by the remains of supernova explosions as massive stars evolve.

The mass of the entire gas cloud is uncertain because it cannot be determined from the two-dimensional image whether the hot gas is concentrated in a thin pancake or distributed over a large, spherical region.

If the gas is a pancake, the mass is equivalent to forty thousand Suns. If it is spread out uniformly, the mass could be much larger, about three million times as massive as the Sun.

This range agrees with values for dwarf galaxies in the Local Group containing the Milky Way.

The hot gas should continue to glow in X-rays for tens to hundreds of millions of years, depending on the geometry of the collision. The collision itself should last for about 50 million years.

Therefore, searching for large regions of hot gas in galaxies might be a way to estimate the frequency of collisions with dwarf galaxies and to understand how important such events are to galaxy growth.

An alternative explanation of the X-ray emission is that the hot gas cloud could have been produced by supernovas and hot winds from large numbers of massive stars, all located on one side of the galaxy.

The lack of evidence of expected radio, infrared, or optical features argues against this possibility.

A paper by Gordon Garmire of the Huntingdon Institute for X-ray Astronomy in Huntingdon, PA describing these results is available online and was published in the June 10th, 2013 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

Space Debris: Ecuador Pegaso satellite collides with Russian rocket remains

An Ecuadoran satellite launched last month, with the help of China, has collided with the remains of a Russian rocket in the coming hours, the country's civilian space agency warned Wednesday.

The "Pegaso" (Pegasus) nanosatellite, designed and built in Ecuador, set off aboard an unmanned rocket April 25 from the Jiuquand station in northern China. It is the country's first.

The Joint Space Operations Center in the United States, which monitors all artificial Earth-orbiting objects, said there had been no head-on crash but "data indicated a lateral collision with particles" of the Soviet-era rocket.

"Pegasus could be damaged or spinning out of control but, because it's still in orbit, we have hope," Ronnie Nader, head of the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency, tweeted.

"Ecuador still has its satellite, the people still have Pegasus," he wrote, saying it could take up to 48 hours to assess damage.

The 2.6-pound nanosatellite had been orbiting at a distance of 404 miles while transmitting pictures of the Earth.

Measuring just 10 by 10 by 75 centimeters (four by four by 30 inches), and weighing 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds), Pegaso on Thursday transmitted its first live video with audio.

Last month's launch came amid much fanfare, including a live broadcast.

The South American country plans to send a second satellite into space from Russia in July.

ESA Hubble Image: Cosmic "Flying V" of Merging Galaxies

Image courtesy ESA/Hubble and NASA.

This large "flying V" is actually two distinct objects - a pair of interacting galaxies known as IC 2184.

Both the galaxies are seen almost edge-on in the large, faint northern constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe), and can be seen as bright streaks of light surrounded by the ghostly shapes of their tidal tails.

These tidal tails are thin, elongated streams of gas, dust and stars that extend away from a galaxy into space.

They occur when galaxies gravitationally interact with one another, and material is sheared from the outer edges of each body and flung out into space in opposite directions, forming two tails.

They almost always appear curved, so when they are seen to be relatively straight, as in this image, it is clear that we are viewing the galaxies side-on.

Also visible in this image are bursts of bright blue, pinpointing hot regions where the colliding gas clouds stir up vigorous star formation.

The image consists of visible and infrared observations from Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.

When Galaxies Collide: The Starry Night Tango - Video

This simulation, which represents a few billion years of evolution, shows two disk galaxies interacting in a graceful gravitational dance. The color represents the temperature of the gas in the galaxies.

The simulation shows how gravity can rearrange the gas and stars in galaxies during these interaction events, fueling the supermassive black holes at the centers of each galaxy.

Radiation from the energized black holes can heat up the gas and blow it away, causing the outbursts seen in the animation.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is discovering some of the most active, powerful galaxies known, which in some cases may have been fueled by such mergers.

Video courtesy Volker Springel, Heidelberg University, Germany

NASA Image: Neutron Star Collision

Nasa have released an artist's impression of two neutron stars colliding to produce a gamma ray burst. 

Earth was blasted by a high-energy burst of radiation from space in the 8th century, scientists believe. 

Gamma ray bursts are the most powerful explosions known in the universe. 

Each one corresponds to around a thousand Earths being vapourised into pure energy in seconds. 

Picture: Nasa

Antennae: NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 Spiral Galaxy Collision

This image of the Antennae galaxies is the sharpest yet of this merging pair of galaxies.

During the course of the collision, billions of stars will be formed.

The brightest and most compact of these star birth regions are called super star clusters.

The two spiral galaxies started to interact a few hundred million years ago, making the Antennae galaxies one of the nearest and youngest examples of a pair of colliding galaxies.

Nearly half of the faint objects in the Antennae image are young clusters containing tens of thousands of stars.

The orange blobs to the left and right of image center are the two cores of the original galaxies and consist mainly of old stars criss-crossed by filaments of dust, which appears brown in the image.

The two galaxies are dotted with brilliant blue star-forming regions surrounded by glowing hydrogen gas, appearing in the image in pink.

The new image allows astronomers to better distinguish between the stars and super star clusters created in the collision of two spiral galaxies.

By age dating the clusters in the image, astronomers find that only about 10 percent of the newly formed super star clusters in the Antennae will survive beyond the first 10 million years.

The vast majority of the super star clusters formed during this interaction will disperse, with the individual stars becoming part of the smooth background of the galaxy.

It is however believed that about a hundred of the most massive clusters will survive to form regular globular clusters, similar to the globular clusters found in our own Milky Way galaxy.

The Antennae galaxies take their name from the long antenna-like "arms" extending far out from the nuclei of the two galaxies, best seen by ground-based telescopes.

These "tidal tails" were formed during the initial encounter of the galaxies some 200 to 300 million years ago. They give us a preview of what may happen when our Milky Way galaxy collides with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy in several billion years.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

When Galaxies Collide: Tinkerbell Triplet

Probably the cutest merger, the Tinkerbell Triplet is the result of three galaxies coming together to form a fey object.

The collision is located about 650 million light-years away and is seen here in both visible and infrared wavelengths.

Image: ESO

When Galaxies Collide: Interacting Strongly

The galaxies seen here — NGC 6621, on the right, and NGC 6622, to the left – are seen about 100 million years into their merger.

Gravitational forces have wrapped a long tail of stars around both galaxies as well as triggering an extensive burst of stellar formation.

The pair are located in the constellation Draco, approximately 300 million light-years from Earth.

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and W. Keel (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa)

When Galaxies Collide: Skater Galaxies

Connected via a long stellar bridge, the two galaxies in UGC 8335 are pulling one another gravitationally with all their might.

The collision is happening 400 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

When Galaxies Collide: Quartet Galaxy

An impressive arc of four galaxies can be seen smashing together in this image.

The object is known as ESO 255-7 and is located 550 million light-years away in the constellation Puppis.

While three galaxies are clearly visible, the top object is made up of two distinct galaxies that have partially merged already.

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

When Galaxies Collide: Mirror Image

Two galaxies appear as mirror reflections of one another as they enter the first stages of their collision.

The object is known as NGC 5331 and is located 450 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

When Galaxies Collide: Middle Merger

The galaxies seen here are caught mid-merger.

The bodies of the two parent galaxies have more or less fused but two independent central nuclei can still be seen in the image.

The collision is thought to have begun approximately 300 million years ago.

This object, known as NGC 520, is one of the brightest galaxy pairs on the sky, and is located about 100 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces.

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and B. Whitmore (STScI)

When Galaxies Collide: Linked Arms

The two galaxies seen here, NGC 6050 and IC 1179, are located about 450 million light-years away in the constellation Hercules.

The spiral bodies are seen crashing together, with an enormous eddy of stars seeming to form between their conjoined arms.

This object is part of the Hercules Galaxy Cluster, itself located within the Great Wall of superclusters, the largest known structure in the universe.

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and K. Noll (STScI)

When Galaxies Collide: Cosmic Owl

The odd object, known as ESO 148-2, looks like some weird water bug seen head-on.

Located about 600 million light-years from us, it is the result of two galaxies merging, with their cores located in the central “body” and a great deal of matter sweeping out into two curved “wings.”

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)