Artemis 1 lunar mission closes communication with JWST
Two main NASA missions launched final 12 months are revealing the weak point of communication in area.
NASA maintains communication with all of its distant spacecraft – from Orion capsule sure James Webb Area Telescope (Webb or JWST) to Voyager 1 — by means of the Deep Area Community, a set of 14 antennas situated at three websites in California, Spain and Australia. However the community is busy and ensures that each mission is accomplished Earth orbit has the required communication time could be a troublesome drawback Artemis 1 the mission escalated.
“We have been instructed over the summer time that when the Artemis area mission launched, the deep area community was mainly fully taken over by Artemis as a result of they wanted to trace the spacecraft,” Mercedes Lopez-Morales, an astrophysicist at Harvard-Smithsonian College. The middle for astrophysics and chair of the JWST Consumer Committee made the announcement at a gathering of the Council on Physics and Astronomy of the US Nationwide Academies of Sciences on Wednesday (Nov. 30).
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The time got here on November 16, when NASA launched Artemis 1. A take a look at flight to start the company’s return to the Moon, the 25-day mission despatched an uncrewed Orion capsule into lunar orbit and is scheduled to return to Earth on Dec. 11.
Whereas Orion is in flight and past low Earth orbit, it’s in near-constant contact with the deep area community, a significant leak that has sidelined the James Webb Area Telescope and different missions. NASA knew that Artemis would pressure the deep area community; the company has upgraded some antennas and added two new ones January 2021 and March 2022 in preparation.
However there’s nonetheless little time for communication. “It may very well be as much as 80 hours — that is about three and a half days — with none contact with JWST in any respect,” Lopez-Morales mentioned she was instructed earlier than Artemis 1 launched.
JWST scientists sometimes ship groups to the $10 billion observatory about as soon as every week, she instructed the panel, so the rare communication doesn’t have an effect on the observatory’s potential to obtain directions. However for astronomers to essentially benefit from the energy of the Net, the telescope should be capable of ship knowledge house — and achieve this earlier than its laptop fills up.
“The massive drawback is that you would be able to’t obtain knowledge for that lengthy,” Lopez-Morales mentioned.
For Artemis 1, she mentioned, the Area Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, which manages each JWST and Hubble Area Telescope, modified the JWST observing schedule. Scientists prioritized shorter observations, which produce smaller knowledge packets, to cut back the prospect of the telescope’s laptop filling up earlier than the Deep Area Community can obtain the following knowledge packet.
However as NASA plans extra Artemis launches — and people with people aboard — in 2024 and past, scientists wish to discover one other resolution to the communications deadlock.
“We’re desperately asking NASA to give you a plan to someway get extra entry to the antennas,” Lopez-Morales mentioned.
E-mail Megan Bartels at [email protected] or comply with her on Twitter @megan bartels. Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and so forth Fb.
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