An asteroid lights up the night sky as it burns up in the atmosphere, as seen from Ballesteros, Philippines, September 5, 2024, in this still image obtained from social media video
| Photo Credit: Via Reuters

A small asteroid discovered on Wednesday (September 4, 2024) harmlessly burned up in Earth’s atmosphere the same day, NASA said.

The asteroid — about 3 feet (1 meter) across — was spotted by astronomers in Arizona and broke apart over the coast of the Philippines hours after the discovery.

This space rock, dubbed 2024 RW1, is only the ninth to have been spotted before its impact. Asteroids around this size hurtle toward Earth about every two weeks without posing any danger.

The asteroid was discovered through the Catalina Sky Survey, which is run by the University of Arizona and funded by NASA.

The space capsule program represents a tiny fraction of Boeing’s revenue, but carrying astronauts is a high-profile job — like Boeing’s work building Air Force One presidential jets. File
| Photo Credit: AP

NASA’s announcement on Saturday (August 24, 2024) that it won’t use a troubled Boeing capsule to return two stranded astronauts to Earth is a yet another setback for the struggling company, although the financial damage is likely to be less than the reputational harm.

Once a symbol of American engineering and technological prowess, Boeing has seen its reputation battered since two 737 Max airliners crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The safety of its products came under renewed scrutiny after a panel blew out of a Max during a flight this January.

And now NASA has decided that it is safer to keep the astronauts in space until February rather than risk using the Boeing Starliner capsule that delivered them to the international space station. The capsule has been plagued by problems with its propulsion system.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the decision to send the Boeing capsule back to Earth empty “is a result of a commitment to safety.” Boeing had insisted Starliner was safe based on recent tests of thrusters both in space and on the ground.

The space capsule program represents a tiny fraction of Boeing’s revenue, but carrying astronauts is a high-profile job — like Boeing’s work building Air Force One presidential jets.

“The whole thing is another black eye” for Boeing, aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said. “It’s going to sting a little longer, but nothing they haven’t dealt with before.”

Boeing has lost more than $25 billion since 2018 as its aircraft-manufacturing business cratered after those crashes. For a time, the defence and space side of the company provided a partial cushion, posting strong profits and steady revenue through 2021.

Also Read | Why NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Sunita Williams may be in space until 2025

Since 2022, however, Boeing’s defence and space division has stumbled too, losing $6 billion — slightly more than the airplane side of the company in the same period.

The results have been dragged down by several fixed-price contracts for NASA and the Pentagon, including a deal to build new Air Force One presidential jets. Boeing has found itself on the hook as costs for those projects have risen far beyond the company’s estimates.

The company recorded a $1 billion loss from fixed-price government contracts in the second quarter alone, but the problem is not new.

“We have a couple of fixed-price development programs we have to just finish and never do them again,” then-CEO David Calhoun said last year. “Never do them again.”

In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a $4.2 billion fixed-price contract to build a vehicle to carry astronauts to the International Space Station after the retirement of space shuttles, along with a $2.6 billion contract to SpaceX.

Boeing, with more than a century of building airplane and decades as a NASA contractor, was seen as the favourite. But Starliner suffered technical setbacks that caused it to cancel some test launches, fall behind schedule and go over budget. SpaceX won the race to ferry astronauts to the ISS, which it accomplished in 2020.

Boeing was finally ready to carry astronauts this year, and Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched aboard Starliner in early June for what was intended to be an 8-day stay in space. But thruster failures and helium leaks led NASA to park the vehicle at the space station while engineers debated how to return them to Earth.

The company said in a regulatory filing that the latest hitch with Starliner caused a $125 million loss through June 30, which pushed cumulative cost overruns on the program to more than $1.5 billion. “Risk remains that we may record additional losses in future periods,” Boeing said.

Mr. Aboulafia said Starliner’s impact on Boeing business and finances will be modest — “not really a needle-mover.” Even the $4.2 billion, multi-year NASA contract is a relatively small chunk of revenue for Boeing, which reported sales of $78 billion last year.

And Mr. Aboulafia believes Boeing will enjoy a grace period with customers like the government now that it is under new leadership, reducing the risk it will lose big contracts. NASA administrator Nelson said Saturday he was “100%” confident that the Starliner will fly with a crew again.

Robert “Kelly” Ortberg replaced Calhoun as CEO this month. Unlike the company’s recent chief executives, Ortberg is an outsider who previously led aerospace manufacturer Rockwell Collins, where he developed a reputation for walking among workers on factory floors and building ties to airline and government customers.

“They are transitioning from perhaps the worst executive leadership to some of the best,” Mr. Aboulafia said. “Given the regime change underway, I think people are going to give them some slack.”

Boeing’s defence division has recently won some huge contracts. It is lined up to provide Apache helicopters to foreign governments, sell 50 F-15 fighter jets to Israel as the bulk of a $20 billion deal, and build prototype surveillance planes for the Air Force under a $2.56 billion contract.

“Those are some strong tailwinds, but it’s going to take a while before they get (Boeing’s defence and space business) back to profitability,” Mr. Aboulafia said.

In this photo provided by NASA, astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams inspect safety hardware aboard the International Space Station on August 9, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

NASA decided on Saturday (August 24, 2024) it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule, and they’ll have to wait until next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months.

The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the trip back.

After almost three months, the decision finally came down from NASA’s highest ranks on Saturday (August 24, 2024). Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will come back in a SpaceX spacecraft in February. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in early September and attempt to return on autopilot.

As Starliner’s test pilots, the pair should have overseen this critical last leg of the journey, with touchdown in the U.S. desert.

“A test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine,” said NASA Administration Bill Nelson. “And so the decision… is a commitment to safety.”

“This has not been an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one,” added NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free.

It was a blow to Boeing, adding to the safety concerns plaguing the company on its airplane side. Boeing had counted on Starliner’s first crew trip to revive the troubled program after years of delays and ballooning costs. The company had insisted Starliner was safe based on all the recent thruster tests both in space and on the ground.

Boeing did not participate in Saturday’s news conference by NASA but released a statement: “Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft. We are executing the mission as determined by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return.”

Retired Navy captains with previous long-duration spaceflight experience, Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, anticipated surprises when they accepted the shakedown cruise of a new spacecraft, although not quite to this extent.

Before their June 5 launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, they said their families bought into the uncertainty and stress of their professional careers decades ago. During their lone orbital news conference last month, they said they had trust in the thruster testing being conducted. They had no complaints, they added, and enjoyed pitching in with space station work.

Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, was equally stoic in an interview earlier this month with WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, their home state. She was already bracing for a delay until next February: “You just sort of have to roll with it.”

There were few options.

The SpaceX capsule currently parked at the space station is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They will return in late September, their stay extended a month by the Starliner dilemma. NASA said it would be unsafe to squeeze two more into the capsule, except in an emergency.

The docked Russian Soyuz capsule is even tighter, capable of flying only three — two of them Russians wrapping up a yearlong stint.

So Wilmore and Williams will wait for SpaceX’s next taxi flight. It’s due to launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four for a routine six-month stay. NASA yanked two to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight in late February.

NASA said no serious consideration was given to asking SpaceX for a quick stand-alone rescue. Last year, the Russian Space Agency had to rush up a replacement Soyuz capsule for three men whose original craft was damaged by space junk. The switch pushed their mission beyond a year, a U.S. space endurance record still held by Frank Rubio.

Starliner’s woes began long before its latest flight.

Bad software fouled the first test flight without a crew in 2019, prompting a do-over in 2022. Then parachute and other issues cropped up, including a helium leak in the capsule’s propellant system that nixed a launch attempt in May. The leak eventually was deemed to be isolated and small enough to pose no concern. But more leaks sprouted following liftoff, and five thrusters also failed.

All but one of those small thrusters restarted in flight. But engineers remain perplexed as to why some thruster seals appear to swell, obstructing the propellant lines, then revert to their normal size.

These 28 thrusters are vital. Besides needed for space station rendezvous, they keep the capsule pointed in the right direction at flight’s end as bigger engines steer the craft out of orbit. Coming in crooked could result in catastrophe.

With the Columbia disaster still fresh in many minds — the shuttle broke apart during reentry in 2003, killing all seven aboard — NASA embraced open debate over Starliner’s return capability. Dissenting views were stifled during Columbia’s doomed flight, just as they were during Challenger’s in 1986.

Despite Saturday’s decision, NASA isn’t giving up on Boeing.

NASA went into its commercial crew program a decade ago wanting two competing U.S. companies ferrying astronauts in the post-shuttle era. Boeing won the bigger contract: more than $4 billion, compared with SpaceX’s $2.6 billion.

With station supply runs already under its belt, SpaceX aced its first of now nine astronaut flights in 2020, while Boeing got bogged down in design flaws that set the company back more than $1 billion. NASA officials still hold out hope that Starliner’s problems can be corrected in time for another crew flight in another year or so.

In June 2024, when the Boeing Starliner spacecraft carried NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to space, it was going to be a short eight-day mission. However, it’s been 80 days since the launch and the two astronauts are yet to return.

Launched on June 5, the test flight landed on the International Space Station (ISS) on June 6. Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore are still stuck in space, while the date of their return journey remains undecided. Some technical problems with the Boeing Starliner have left NASA unable to move on with their plans.

What is the mission?

The purpose of the Boeing Starliner mission was to demonstrate the spacecraft’s capability to safely carry people to and from the ISS. As part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, Boeing, the aerospace company, views this trip as critical to its goal of joining Elon Musk’s SpaceX in offering regular crew transportation services to the space agency.

Why is the Boeing Starliner still stuck in space?

Helium leaks: The spacecraft’s service module reported several tiny helium leaks making it unsafe for travel. Helium is essential to preserving the spacecraft’s structural integrity and manoeuvrability.

Thruster problems: The propulsion system of the spaceship experienced malfunctions with five of its thrusters. These components are essential for space travel and docking.

Valve issues: Multiple issues with a valve responsible for regulating the flow of oxidizers were detected. The valve is essential for propulsion.

What is NASA doing? 

NASA and Boeing engineers are attempting to resolve the issues with the spacecraft. They are examining data from the spacecraft’s propulsion system and are testing the spacecraft thrusters. Several scenarios are being explored using simulators stationed on the ground to find and address the problems.

NASA will hold a press conference later on Saturday to update the world on when the two astronauts may return to Earth. 

Washington:

Boeing’s first crewed Starliner test flight, carrying NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, has been stuck in space for the past two months. The journey, originally an eight-day mission, has now completed 80 days in space.

NASA officials will provide an update on the mission on Saturday, August 24, detailing their strategy for bringing the astronauts back to Earth. The press conference is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT). It will be headlined by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson along with other agency representatives. You can watch the live telecast on the NASA app and its YouTube channel at 10:30 pm IST.

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore were sent on an eight-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5. However, the pair’s return was postponed indefinitely due to helium leaks and many thruster malfunctions on the spacecraft. 

To comprehend the technical issues, NASA and Boeing have collected information about the spacecraft’s helium and propulsion systems from both space and the ground.

According to the official statement, the review scheduled for later on Saturday will cover a mission status report, closeout actions, and a review of technical data. It will also certify flight rationale to proceed with undocking and return from the space station.

Meanwhile, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have integrated with the rest of the crew currently aboard the International Space Station and are conducting routine tasks.

As part of its private Crew Program, NASA selected two private spacecraft, Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The present trip of Boeing’s Starliner, the Crew Flight Test, is the company’s first of at least six scheduled crewed missions for NASA under the multibillion-dollar contract. SpaceX has performed nine crewed flights for NASA since 2020 apart from numerous private missions of its own).

View of Didymos, Dimorphos, and the plume coming off of Dimorphos after the Double Asteroid Redirect Test, or DART mission, purposefully made impact, in this image acquired by ASI’s LICIACube satellite just before its closest approach to the Dimorphos asteroid, September 26, 2022.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Launched in 2011, NASA’s NEOWISE mission operated in Earth’s orbit until late last week. It detected more than 3,000 near-Earth objects or NEOs – asteroids or comets whose orbits can bring them close to Earth, even with the possibility of a collision. NEOWISE was shut down on August 8.

Surveying the population of NEOs is central to the emerging concept of planetary defence. That is, understanding and mitigating the risk of collision from asteroids large enough to do significant damage to Earth.

NEOWISE has made fundamental contributions to establishing the knowledge base for planetary defence, with more than 200 of the 3,000 objects it studied not known to us previously.

Now at mission end, and commanded by NASA to shut itself down, NEOWISE will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere before the end of this year. Where does that leave us with defending our planet?

From astrophysics to planetary defence

NEOWISE started life as a different mission, simply called WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer). It was designed to study the infrared radiation from distant galaxies in the universe.

Infrared means “beyond red” – infrared light sits just past the red end of the spectrum of colours humans can see. We know infrared radiation better as the heat from the Sun, for example, or from a radiator keeping us warm in winter.

When the coolant on the WISE mission ran out and these sensitive observations of galaxies couldn’t be carried out any more, NASA granted a mission extension under the NEOWISE name. They realised the telescope system was still sensitive enough to detect asteroids and comets that come close to Earth and the Sun, thereby having a very strong infrared signal.

NASA has an extraordinary history of squeezing extra life out of missions that reach completion. In this case, NEOWISE represented an entire second life, in an entirely different area of research.

How will we defend Earth now?

As well as the discovery and study of thousands of NEOs, NEOWISE established the foundation of knowledge that has informed a new, dedicated planetary defence mission. NASA’s NEO Surveyor will be launched in 2027.

NEO Surveyor’s goal is to discover approximately two thirds of all NEOs larger than 140 metres in diameter, over a five year baseline survey. This is a big step toward fulfilling the mandate United States Congress has provided to NASA: to discover 90% of all NEOs in this size range.

If they hit Earth, asteroids of this size could cause mass casualties if the impact were over a large metropolitan region.

You might think this poses a bit of a risk – shutting down NEOWISE three years before launching NEO Surveyor. What happens if one of these big asteroids comes our way in the next few years?

The risks are very small, as estimates show asteroids 140 metres in diameter impact Earth only approximately every 20,000 years. So, we would have to be extremely unlucky to have one in any given three-year period, especially impacting a place that would cause a large amount of damage. Only around 3% of Earth’s surface is occupied by urban areas.

NASA doesn’t really have much of a choice with the end of NEOWISE. The Sun’s 11-year activity cycle is picking up and causing Earth’s upper atmosphere, the ionosphere, to thicken. NEOWISE is flying through this ionosphere and can’t raise its orbit, so the ionosphere is inevitably dragging NEOWISE back to Earth.

NEO Surveyor started construction in 2023, so a 2027 launch is pretty impressively rapid, which is minimising the gap between NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor.

NEOWISE is scheduled to enter Earth’s atmosphere before the end of the year, but we don’t know precisely when.

Weighing almost 700kg, some of NEOWISE itself is likely to impact the surface of Earth. Hopefully it stays away from populated areas in the process – some recent re-entry events have resulted in space debris falling reasonably close to populated areas.

An asteroid is coming! What next?

Knowing about an asteroid on a collision course with Earth is one thing. Doing something about it is another thing altogether.

Huge steps toward planetary defence occurred two years ago, when the DART mission flew to an asteroid, impacted it, and changed its trajectory. This demonstrated it’s possible to change the course of asteroids, which could be used in the future to protect Earth from a collision.

Predicting potential Earth impacts as far as possible in advance, years preferably, gives the DART-style technology approach a chance.

The pioneering work of NEOWISE, and the upcoming comprehensive observations of NEO Surveyor, will place an enormous amount of information in our scientific bank, which will never go out of date and will be the basis for planetary defence for perhaps hundreds of years into the future.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

This undated handout picture from Nasa released on July 2, 2024 shows NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
| Photo Credit: AFP

NASA said on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) it’s still deciding whether to keep two astronauts at the International Space Station until early next year and send their troubled Boeing capsule back empty.

Rather than flying Boeing’s Starliner back to Earth, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams would catch a ride on SpaceX’s next flight. That option would keep them at the space station until next February.

Also read:Why NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Sunita Williams may be in space until 2025

The test pilots anticipated being away just a week or so when they rocketed away as Starliner’s first crew. But thruster failures and helium leaks marred the capsule’s trip to the space station, raising doubts about its ability to return safely and leaving the astronauts in limbo.

NASA officials said they’re analyzing more data before making a decision by end of next week or beginning of the next. These thrusters are crucial for holding the capsule in the right position when it comes time to descend from orbit.

“We’ve got time available before we bring Starliner home and we want to use that time wisely,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s space operations mission chief.

NASA’s safety chief Russ DeLoach added: “We don’t have enough insight and data to make some sort of simple, black-and-white calculation.”

DeLoach said the space agency wants to make room for all opinions unlike what happened on NASA’s two shuttle tragedies, Challenger and Columbia, when dissenting views were ignored.

“That may mean, at times, we don’t move very fast because we’re getting everything out, and I think you can kind of see that at play here,” he said.

Switching to SpaceX would require bumping two of the four astronauts assigned to the next ferry flight, currently targeted for late September. Wilmore and Williams would take the empty seats in SpaceX’s Dragon capsule once that half-year mission ends.

Another complication: The space station has just two parking places for U.S. capsules. Boeing’s capsule would have to depart ahead of the arrival of SpaceX’s Dragon in order to free up a spot.

Boeing maintains Starliner could still safely bring the astronauts home. The company earlier this month posted a list of testing done on thrusters in space and on the ground since liftoff.

NASA would like to keep SpaceX’s current crew up there until the replacements arrive, barring an emergency. Those four should have returned to Earth this month, but saw a seventh month added to their mission because of the uncertainty over Starliner, keeping them up there until the end of September. Most space station stays last six months, although some have gone a full year.

Wilmore and Williams are retired Navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago. They eased into space station work as soon as they arrived, helping with experiments and repairs.

“They will do what we ask them to do. That’s their job as astronauts,” said NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba.

He added: “This mission is a test flight and as Butch and Suni expressed ahead of their launch, they knew this mission might not be perfect.”

Eager to have competing services and backup options, NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing to transport astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttles retired in 2011.

SpaceX’s first astronaut flight was in 2020. Boeing suffered so much trouble on its initial test flight without a crew in 2019 that a do-over was ordered. Then more problems cropped up, costing the company more than $1 billion to fix before finally flying astronauts.

NASA has shared a captivating image of the Earth’s terminator, the thin line separating day and night.

The picture, taken from the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting 267 miles above the Pacific Ocean, shows the breathtaking moment when a new day dawns on our planet.

The ISS, which completes 16 orbits of the Earth in 24 hours, offers a unique vantage point to witness the terminator, a phenomenon that occurs when the sun’s rays illuminate the Earth’s atmosphere, creating a distinct boundary between night and day. This boundary is visible as a thin, glowing line on the horizon, where the blue of the atmosphere meets the golden hues of sunrise.

Understanding the Earth’s terminator

The Earth’s terminator is the moving line that separates day and night on our planet, as per NASA. It is a result of the Earth’s rotation and its position relative to the Sun. It passes through most locations on Earth twice a day, once for sunrise and once for sunset, except for areas near the North and South Poles which experience long periods of darkness or sunlight during winter or summer months.

How Earth’s terminator affects/changes seasons

The Earth’s axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees, which causes the Northern and Southern Hemispheres to receive varying amounts of sunlight throughout the year. This tilt leads to the changing of the seasons, NASA says.

During the equinoxes (March and September), the Earth’s axis is perpendicular to its orbit, and the terminator is straight. Both hemispheres receive equal amounts of sunlight, resulting in milder temperatures and moderate weather.

The solstices (June and December) occur when the Earth’s tilt is most pronounced, and the terminator is curved. One hemisphere receives more daylight than the other, resulting in the longest and shortest days of the year.

The Earth’s tilt also affects the distribution of sunlight, impacting the length of days and nights. As the terminator moves, it alters the environment and influences natural processes.

The March equinox typically occurs around March 20/21, and the September equinox around September 22/23. The June solstice occurs around June 20/21, and the December solstice around December 21/22. These dates can vary slightly due to the Earth’s elliptical orbit and the gravitational pull of other celestial bodies.

Washington, United States:

NASA said on Wednesday that astronauts delivered to the International Space Station by Boeing’s Starliner could return on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in February 2025 if Starliner is still deemed unsafe to return to Earth.

Starliner spacecraft launched in June carrying two astronauts to the ISS in a high-stakes test mission required before NASA can certify the spacecraft for routine astronaut flights.

But the mission, initially expected to last about eight days, has been drawn out far longer by an array of problems with the craft’s propulsion system that Boeing and NASA have been scrambling to fix.

Those problems have called into question Starliner’s ability to safely return to Earth its crew, veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. NASA has been examining whether a Crew Dragon capsule will have to bring them home instead.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

This photo provided by NASA shows the Viper (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration) vehicle at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on July 7, 2024. The NASA has said it is canceling the water-seeking moon rover, citing cost overruns and launch delays.
| Photo Credit: AP

The The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, it’s canceling its water-seeking moon rover, citing cost overruns and launch delays.

The Viper rover was supposed to launch in late 2023 aboard a lander provided by Astrobotic Technology, but extra testing and increased costs kept delaying the mission, threatening other projects, the space agency said.

The rover had aimed to explore the moon’s south pole. About $450 million had been spent so far on its development, NASA said.

The announcement comes days before the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon on July 20, 1969. NASA said it plans to study the presence of lunar ice through other projects.

Astrobotic still plans to fly its Griffin moon lander — minus a rover — by the end of next year. The company’s first moonshot ended in failure in January with a fiery plunge over the South Pacific.