Friends of NASA (FoN) is an independent non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to building international support for peaceful space exploration, commerce, scientific discovery, and STEM education.
China's Chang'e-6 Mission: Far Side South Pole Moon Samples Returned to Earth
History in the making—China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe returned to Earth on June 25, 2024. It is carrying the first-ever samples collected from the far side of the Moon. Xinhua correspondent Zhao Zehui reports from the landing area in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Launched on May 3, 2024, the Chang'e-6 spacecraft has successfully completed its complex and challenging 53-day mission. It included landing on the Moon's far side, collecting south polar region samples, ascending, docking, and returning.
Samples were collected from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin (43°±2° south latitude, 154°±4° west longitude)—a large impact crater on the far side of the Moon. At roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi) in diameter and between 6.2 and 8.2 km (3.9–5.1 mi) deep, it is the largest, oldest, and deepest basin recognized on the Moon.
The Chang'e-6 Moon mission featured scientific instruments from France, Italy, Sweden, and Pakistan. The international scientific payloads carried by the Chang'e-6 mission included the French radon gas detector (CNES), the European Space Agency/Swedish ion analyzer, and the Italian laser corner reflector (Italian Space Agency), as well as the Pakistani ICUBE-Q cube lunar satellite.
On March 20, 2024, the Queqiao-2 lunar relay satellite was launched and put into orbit in order to facilitate Chang'e-6 mission communications between the far side of the Moon and the Earth.
Full Video: Chinese-built Reusable Rocket Completes 10-km Vertical Return Test
A Chinese reusable carrier rocket completed a 10-kilometer vertical return test Sunday, June 23, 2024. This was the largest vertical return test for a Chinese reusable carrier rocket. This successful vertical takeoff, vertical landing test demonstrates continued progress towards a reusable rocket.
The test flight began at 13:00 and lasted for about six minutes. The 3.8-meter-diameter rocket, powered by three variable-thrust liquid oxygen-methane rockets, climbed to an altitude of about 12 kilometers before adjusting and descending. The rocket opened its landing pad supports at an altitude of 50 meters and landed slowly but stably on the pad.
This rocket development is led by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a member of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
This is the first use of the self-developed highly-variable thrust liquid oxygen-methane rocket engine in a 10-kilometer return test, laying a solid foundation for the 4-meter diameter reusable rocket to be tested in 2025.
After this, the development team will carry out a 70-kilometer vertical return test.
This event is the latest marker among several competing Chinese efforts to match and exceed the capabilities of SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket for commercial and domestic use on a large scale, combined with rapid rates of rocket production in higher volumes at a lower cost. This will further reduce the costs of payload delivery to Earth orbit and beyond for humanity.
Video Credit: China Central Television (CCTV) Video News Agency
China's Achievements in Moon Exploration: Historical Perspectives
We retrace the history of China's lunar exploration program—from early launches to the groundbreaking Chang'e-6 Mission to the Moon's far side south pole region to collect the first samples for return to Earth. This is a tale of legends, of dreams, and of cutting-edge engineering.
The Chang'e-6 spacecraft is expected to enter Earth's atmosphere and land at the designated landing site in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
The Chang'e-6 spacecraft is now in the final stage of its complex and challenging 53-day mission. It included landing on the Moon's far side, collecting south polar region samples, ascending, docking, and returning.
In 2020, China's Chang'e-5 was the first lunar sample-return mission since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. The mission made China the third country to return samples from the Moon after the United States and the Soviet Union.
This excerpt is taken from CGTN's upcoming documentary "Back to the Far Side."
Video Credit: China Global Television Network (CGTN)
Early Universe Star Clusters in The Cosmic Gems Arc | James Webb Space Telescope
This image shows two panels. On the right is field of many galaxies on the black background of space, known as the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746. On the left is a callout image from a portion of this galaxy cluster showing two distinct lensed galaxies. The Cosmic Gems arc is shown with several galaxy clusters.
An international team of astronomers have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to discover gravitationally bound star clusters when the Universe was 460 million years old. This is the first discovery of star clusters in an infant galaxy less than 500 million years after the Big Bang.
Young galaxies in the early Universe underwent significant burst phases of star formation, generating substantial amounts of ionizing radiation. However, because of their cosmological distances, direct studies of their stellar content have proven challenging. Using Webb, an international team of astronomers have now detected five young massive star clusters in the Cosmic Gems arc (SPT0615-JD1), a strongly-lensed galaxy emitting light when the Universe was roughly 460 million years old, looking back across 97% of cosmic time.
The Cosmic Gems arc was initially discovered in NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images obtained by the RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey) program of the lensing galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746.
With Webb, the science team can now see where stars formed and how they are distributed, in a similar way to how the Hubble Space Telescope is used to study local galaxies. Webb’s view provides a unique opportunity to study star formation and the inner workings of infant galaxies at such an unprecedented distance.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Bradley (STScI), A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the Cosmic Spring collaboration
Galaxy Cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746: Wide-field View | James Webb Space Telescope
An international team of astronomers has used the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope to discover gravitationally bound star clusters when the Universe was 460 million years old. This is the first discovery of star clusters in an infant galaxy less than 500 million years after the Big Bang.
Young galaxies in the early Universe underwent significant burst phases of star formation, generating substantial amounts of ionizing radiation. However, because of their cosmological distances, direct studies of their stellar content have proven challenging. Using Webb, an international team of astronomers have now detected five young massive star clusters in the Cosmic Gems arc (SPT0615-JD1), a strongly-lenzed galaxy emitting light when the Universe was roughly 460 million years old, looking back across 97% of cosmic time.
The Cosmic Gems arc was initially discovered in NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images obtained by the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS) program of the lensing galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746.
With Webb, the science team can now see where stars formed and how they are distributed, in a similar way to how the Hubble Space Telescope is used to study local galaxies. Webb’s view provides a unique opportunity to study star formation and the inner workings of infant galaxies at an unprecedented distance.
Image Description: A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle is a collection of dozens of yellowish galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. Among them are distorted linear features that mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the center of the image. The linear features are created when the light of a background galaxy is bent and magnified through gravitational lensing. A variety of brightly colored, red and blue galaxies with a variety of shapes are scattered across this densely populated image.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Bradley (STScI), A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the Cosmic Spring collaboration
Pan of Galaxy Cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746 in Pictor | James Webb Space Telescope
An international team of astronomers have used the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope to discover gravitationally bound star clusters when the Universe was 460 million years old. This is the first discovery of star clusters in an infant galaxy less than 500 million years after the Big bang.
Young galaxies in the early Universe underwent significant burst phases of star formation, generating substantial amounts of ionising radiation. However, because of their cosmological distances, direct studies of their stellar content have proven challenging. Using Webb, an international team of astronomers have now detected five young massive star clusters in the Cosmic Gems arc (SPT0615-JD1), a strongly-lensed galaxy emitting light when the Universe was roughly 460 million years old, looking back across 97% of cosmic time.
The Cosmic Gems arc was initially discovered in NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images obtained by the RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey) programme of the lensing galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746.
With Webb, the science team can now see where stars formed and how they are distributed, in a similar way to how the Hubble Space Telescope is used to study local galaxies. Webb’s view provides a unique opportunity to study star formation and the inner workings of infant galaxies at such an unprecedented distance.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Bradley (STScI), A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the Cosmic Spring collaboration, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)
Galaxy Cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746 in Pictor | James Webb Space Telescope
An international team of astronomers has used the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope to discover gravitationally bound star clusters when the Universe was 460 million years old. This is the first discovery of star clusters in an infant galaxy less than 500 million years after the Big Bang.
Young galaxies in the early Universe underwent significant burst phases of star formation, generating substantial amounts of ionizing radiation. However, because of their cosmological distances, direct studies of their stellar content have proven challenging. Using Webb, an international team of astronomers have now detected five young massive star clusters in the Cosmic Gems arc (SPT0615-JD1), a strongly-lenzed galaxy emitting light when the Universe was roughly 460 million years old, looking back across 97% of cosmic time.
The Cosmic Gems arc was initially discovered in NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images obtained by the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS) program of the lensing galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746.
With Webb, the science team can now see where stars formed and how they are distributed, in a similar way to how the Hubble Space Telescope is used to study local galaxies. Webb’s view provides a unique opportunity to study star formation and the inner workings of infant galaxies at an unprecedented distance.
Image Description: A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle is a collection of dozens of yellowish galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. Among them are distorted linear features that mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the center of the image. The linear features are created when the light of a background galaxy is bent and magnified through gravitational lensing. A variety of brightly colored, red and blue galaxies with a variety of shapes are scattered across this densely populated image.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Bradley (STScI), A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the Cosmic Spring collaboration
Center of Dwarf Galaxy NGC 5253: Close-up View | Hubble
This image depicts the center of the blue compact dwarf galaxy NGC 5253, as seen by the High Resolution Channel (HRC) of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
This is a wide view of the galaxy, comprising data from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) using the Wide Field Channel, as well as the older Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Here the dense clouds of gas and dust in the galaxy are in full view, illuminated by bright and hot star clusters, at the center of a vast array of stars.
The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) is a third-generation scientific instrument on Hubble, and was installed in 2002 as part of Servicing Mission 3B. It originally had three sub-instruments or “channels”: the Wide Field Channel (WFC), as its name and the name of ACS both suggest, is used to survey broad fields of distant and faint galaxies including the famous Hubble Ultra Deep Field, while the Solar Blind Channel is optimized for viewing ultraviolet light emitted by planets like Jupiter by blocking out sunlight. Both are still operational.
Distance: around 11 million light-years
Hubble's High Resolution Channel (HRC) was designed to take a close and extremely detailed look into the center of celestial objects like the centers of galaxies, star clusters and star-forming regions. Its high resolution allows astronomers to distinguish many stars in a small area, permitting them to examine dense regions in depth. NGC 5253, a starburst galaxy filled with extraordinary star clusters and continually forming stars, is a perfect target for ACS with HRC. This image shows the galaxy’s nucleus in detail, where super star clusters lurk amongst the dark dust clouds.
HRC was only operational for about five years, between ACS’s installation and electronics failures in 2007 that took it offline. While ACS was partially repaired in Hubble’s last servicing mission in 2009, HRC could not be restored. Close-in, high-resolution images of galaxy cores like this one are, therefore, something of a rarity.
High-res Image Description: The bright center of a galaxy. It is filled with stars, most of which are bright blue points. There are some star clusters that appear as larger shining dots surrounded closely by more stars. Clouds of gas and dust can be seen behind the galaxy core, where they are lit up and appear pink in color, and in front of it, where they block out some of its light and appear dark in color.
Pan of Dwarf Galaxy NGC 5253: Channeling Light from Starbursts | Hubble
This Hubble picture shows the blue compact dwarf galaxy NGC 5253, located in the constellation Centaurus around 11 million light-years from Earth. The new image combines data taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), using its Wide Field Channel, and with the older Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).
Dwarf galaxies are considered important for understanding the evolution of stars and galaxies through time, since they resemble ancient, distant galaxies. NGC 5253 is called both a “starburst galaxy” and a “blue compact dwarf”. These names mean it is forming clusters of bright, massive stars at an exceptional rate. This Hubble image clearly shows the dense nebula which is being consumed to birth these stars. It makes NGC 5253 a laboratory for investigating stellar composition, star formation, and star clusters.
A tremendously high rate of star formation is a recipe for star clusters, but NGC 5253 goes beyond that. In a small region of the core, the star formation is so intense that the galaxy contains no less than three “super star clusters” (SSCs). SSCs are very bright, populous and massive open clusters. They are believed to evolve into globular clusters. Globular clusters themselves offer unique insights into how stars form and evolve, but their origins are poorly understood.
Image Description: An oval-shaped galaxy, made up of many point-like stars. It is softly lit from the center, brightest and slightly blue at the very center and fading to darkness at the edges. Surrounding the galaxy’s core are reddish clouds of gas and dust, most around or behind the core, but a few wisps are in front of it and block some light. Faraway galaxies and two foreground stars can be seen around the galaxy.
Video Credit: NASA & ESA, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)
Dwarf Galaxy NGC 5253: Channeling Light from Starbursts | Hubble
This Hubble picture shows the blue compact dwarf galaxy NGC 5253, located in the constellation Centaurus around 11 million light-years from Earth. The new image combines data taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), using its Wide Field Channel, and with the older Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).
Dwarf galaxies are considered important for understanding the evolution of stars and galaxies through time, since they resemble ancient, distant galaxies. NGC 5253 is called both a “starburst galaxy” and a “blue compact dwarf”. These names mean it is forming clusters of bright, massive stars at an exceptional rate. This Hubble image clearly shows the dense nebula which is being consumed to birth these stars. It makes NGC 5253 a laboratory for investigating stellar composition, star formation, and star clusters.
A tremendously high rate of star formation is a recipe for star clusters, but NGC 5253 goes beyond that. In a small region of the core, the star formation is so intense that the galaxy contains no less than three “super star clusters” (SSCs). SSCs are very bright, populous and massive open clusters. They are believed to evolve into globular clusters. Globular clusters themselves offer unique insights into how stars form and evolve, but their origins are poorly understood.
Image Description: An oval-shaped galaxy, made up of many point-like stars. It is softly lit from the center, brightest and slightly blue at the very center and fading to darkness at the edges. Surrounding the galaxy’s core are reddish clouds of gas and dust, most around or behind the core, but a few wisps are in front of it and block some light. Faraway galaxies and two foreground stars can be seen around the galaxy.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Zezas, D. Calzetti
Dusty Edge-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 1546 in Dorado | Hubble (One-Gyro Mode)
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (1990-2024) has taken its first new images since changing to an alternate operating mode that uses a single gyro only. The spacecraft returned to science operations June 14, 2024, after being offline for several weeks due to an issue with one of its gyroscopes (gyros), that help control and orient the aging telescope. The NASA team expects that Hubble can do most of its science observations in this new mode, continuing its groundbreaking observations of the cosmos.
This new image features NGC 1546, a nearby galaxy in the constellation Dorado. The galaxy’s orientation gives us a good view of dust lanes from slightly above and backlit by the galaxy’s core. This dust absorbs light from the core, reddening it and making the dust appear rusty-brown. The core itself glows brightly in a yellowish light indicating an older population of stars. Brilliant-blue regions of active star formation sparkle through the dust. Several background galaxies also are visible, including an edge-on spiral just to the left of NGC 1546.
Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 captured the image as part of a joint observing program between Hubble and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The program also uses data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, allowing scientists to obtain a highly detailed, multiwavelength view of how stars form and evolve.
“Hubble’s new image of a spectacular galaxy demonstrates the full success of our new, more stable pointing mode for the telescope,” said Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We’re poised now for many years of discovery ahead, and we’ll be looking at everything from our solar system to exoplanets to distant galaxies. Hubble plays a powerful role in NASA’s astronomical toolkit.”
Launched in 1990, Hubble has been observing the universe for more than three decades, recently celebrating its 34th anniversary.
Image Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, STScI, David Thilker (JHU)
China-France SVOM Gamma Ray Astronomy Satellite to Explore Early Universe
The Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) gamma ray astronomy satellite was successfully launched from China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Saturday, June 22, 2024. It represents a milestone in international space collaboration. Developed jointly by Chinese and French scientists over nearly two decades, SVOM carries two French and two Chinese scientific payloads designed to detect distant space phenomena known as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Researchers from both countries believe the SVOM monitoring satellite will help advance their investigations in many fields of astrophysics, including the origins of the universe and of elements on Earth.
"The gamma-ray burst is a tool to observe the early universe. We can observe maybe the first stars. And this is very interesting because this is the only way to do that, said Bertrand Cordier, French lead researcher of the SVOM project.
Wei Jianyan, the Chinese principal investigator of SVOM, said the satellite can help researchers expand their collection of observed astronomical phenomena and better understand the Earth.
"We can discover some special types of gamma-ray bursts, as well as the relatively rare ones. We have already known some common types, as it has been studied for two or three decades. But there are still rare ones, high redshift gamma ray bursts, for example. And very interestingly, it helps us understand where some of the elements on earth come from, including gold and silver that we often wear," he said.
Researchers said the two countries' cooperation will lead to great progress in their research.
"We use China's BeiDou satellite system. If we on the ground see a very interesting target in space, we can tell our satellite to point at it in a matter of minutes. As far as I know, this process used to take 20 minutes in international practice. With the BeiDou system, we can respond in a few minutes, and that's a big step forward. This can be effective in detecting swift events," said Wei.
The BeiDou satellite navigation system is a space-based radio navigation service owned and operated by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
"China, as you said, has developed several missions that are looking to gamma-ray burst, but we are working together. I'm also involved in the Einstein commission, and the idea is to have a very powerful system with many satellites; the idea is to have a way to work together in order to enhance the scientific study," said Cordier.
Both sides approved the SVOM mission in 2006. It is hoped it will run longer than the satellite's designed lifespan of 5 years into the next decade.
France-China Teamwork: SVOM Gamma Ray Astronomy Satellite Pre-launch
On Saturday, June 22, 2024, China successfully launched an astronomy satellite—the result of nearly 20 years of hard work between Chinese and French scientists. It will capture gamma-ray bursts that flicker like fireworks in the farthest reaches of the universe.
The satellite, the Space-based Multi-band Variable Object Monitor (SVOM), was launched by a Long March-2C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
It is the most powerful satellite to carry out multi-band comprehensive observations of gamma-ray bursts to date. It will play an important role in scientific studies of high-energy astronomical phenomena.
The 930kg (2,050-pound) satellite, which took hundreds of scientists and engineers nearly two decades to develop, will orbit Earth at 625km (450 miles) above the ground to accurately measure the location and energy of distant, violent explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.
China is primarily responsible for the mission, launch, satellite and operations, and shared responsibility with France for the design and construction of the instruments and ground segment.
The French contribution was developed in partnership with research laboratories at the IRFU research institute at CEA, the French atomic energy and alternative energies commission, and at INSU, the national institute of universe science, and IN2P3, the national institute of nuclear and particle physics, both attached to the national scientific research centre CNRS.
Young Elliptical Galaxy NGC 3610 in Ursa Major | Hubble
At the center of this image is the elliptical galaxy NGC 3610. Surrounding the galaxy are a wealth of other galaxies of all shapes. There are spiral galaxies, galaxies with a bar in their central regions, distorted galaxies and elliptical galaxies—all visible in the background. In fact, almost every bright dot in this image is a galaxy—the few foreground stars are clearly distinguishable due to the diffraction spikes that overlay their images.
Distance:70 million light years
NGC 3610 is of course the most prominent object in this image—and a very interesting one. Discovered in 1793 by William Herschel, it was later found that this elliptical galaxy contains a disc. This is very unusual, since discs are one of the main distinguishing features of spiral galaxies. NGC 3610 even hosts a remarkably bright disc.
The reason for the peculiar shape of NGC 3610 stems from its formative history. When galaxies are born, they usually resemble our galaxy, the Milky Way, with flat discs and spiral arms where star formation rates are high and are therefore very bright. An elliptical galaxy is generally a much more disordered object. It results from the merging of two or more disc galaxies. During these violent mergers most of the internal structure of the original galaxies is destroyed. The fact that NGC 3610 still shows a structure in the form of a bright disc implies that it formed only a relatively short time ago. The galaxy’s age has been put at around four billion years. It is an important object for studying the early stages of evolution in elliptical galaxies.
Chinese-built Reusable Rocket: 10-kilometer Vertical Return Test Successful
A Chinese reusable carrier rocket completed a 10-kilometer vertical return test Sunday, June 23, 2024. This was the largest vertical return test for a Chinese reusable carrier rocket. This successful vertical takeoff, vertical landing test demonstrates continued progress towards a reusable rocket.
The test flight began at 13:00 and lasted for about six minutes. The 3.8-meter-diameter rocket, powered by three 70-tonne variable-thrust liquid oxygen-methane rocket engines, climbed to an altitude of about 12 kilometers before adjusting and descending. The rocket opened its landing pad supports at an altitude of 50 meters and landed slowly but stably on the pad.
This rocket development is led by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a member of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
This is the first use of the self-developed highly-variable thrust liquid oxygen-methane rocket engine in a 10-kilometer return test, laying a solid foundation for the 4-meter diameter reusable rocket to be tested in 2025.
After this, the development team will carry out a 70-kilometer vertical return test.
This event is the latest marker among several competing Chinese efforts to match and exceed the capabilities of SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket for commercial and domestic use on a large scale, combined with rapid rates of rocket production in higher volumes at a lower cost. This will further reduce the costs of payload delivery to Earth orbit and beyond for humanity.
Image Credit: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)
The Hockey Stick Galaxy: NGC 4656 in Canes Venatici | Mayall Telescope
This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the 4-meter Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NGC 4656, also known informally as the "hockey stick galaxy," is a distorted edge-on spiral galaxy. Its distinctive shape is due to a recent gravitational interaction with the galaxy NGC 4631. It is not yet certain, but these two galaxies may be in the early stages of merging. The faint object in the upper-left corner may not be part of the galaxy, but instead be a dwarf galaxy in the process of merging with NGC 4656. The image was generated with observations in the B (blue), V (green), I (orange) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.
The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four-meter (158-inch) reflector telescope in Arizona named after Nicholas U. Mayall. It saw first light on February 27, 1973, and was the second-largest telescope in the world at that time.
Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jfif)
