Editor’s note: Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about interesting discoveries, scientific advances, and more.
CNN
—
Moon Sniper, an innovative satellite and lunar lander that reveals celestial bodies in new light, was launched Wednesday night.
The Japan Space Agency’s launch, which was rescheduled several times due to bad weather, will take place aboard the H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center at 7:42 p.m. ET on Wednesday and 8:42 a.m. Thursday morning JST. It was done.
JAXA/YouTube
The XRISM satellite and lunar lander launched from Japan on Thursday morning.
The event was streamed live JAXA YouTube channeloffers broadcasts in both English and Japanese.
The XRISM satellite (pronounced “crism”) X-ray imaging and spectroscopy missionsis a joint mission between JAXA and NASA, with participation from the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Artist renderings show what XRISM will look like when in orbit.
Riding together is JAXA’s SLIM, or Smart lander to explore the moon. The small exploration lander is designed to utilize high-precision landing technology to demonstrate “pinpoint” landings at specific locations within 100 meters (328 feet), rather than the usual kilometer range. Masu. Because of its accuracy, the mission was nicknamed “Moon Sniper.”
NASA said the satellite and its two instruments will observe the hottest regions, largest structures and objects with the strongest gravity in the universe. XRISM detects her X-ray light at wavelengths invisible to humans.
Research on star explosions and black holes
Astronomers want to study X-rays because they are emitted by the most energetic objects and events in the universe.
“Some of the things we hope to study with XRISM include the aftermath of stellar explosions and the launch of supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies,” said Richard Kelly, XRISM principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. This includes jets of particles that travel close to the speed of light.” he said in a statement in Greenbelt, Maryland. “But of course, we are most excited about all the unexpected phenomena that XRISM will discover as it observes the universe.”
Compared to other wavelengths of light, X-rays are very short, so they pass through dish-shaped mirrors such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, which observe and collect visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light.
With this in mind, XRISM has thousands of individually nested curved mirrors designed to detect X-rays. Satellites must be calibrated for several months after reaching orbit. This mission is designed to allow him to operate for three years.
Taylor Michal/NASA
XRISM contains two special mirror arrays for detecting X-rays.
According to NASA, the satellite can detect X-rays with energies ranging from 400 to 12,000 electron volts, far exceeding the energy of visible light of 2 to 3 electron volts. This detection range makes it possible to study extreme cosmic phenomena across the universe.
The satellite carries two instruments called Resolve and Xtend. Resolve tracks small temperature changes that help determine the source, composition, movement, and physical state of the X-rays. Resolve operates at -459.58 degrees Fahrenheit (-273.10 degrees Celsius). 50 times colder than deep spaceThanks to a refrigerator-sized container of liquid helium.
The instrument will help astronomers unravel the mysteries of the universe, such as the chemical details of the hot gas glowing within galaxy clusters.
“XRISM’s Resolve instrument will allow us to probe the composition of cosmic X-ray sources to a degree not previously possible,” Kelly said. “We expect to gain many new insights into the hottest objects in the universe, including exploding stars, black holes and the galaxies they drive, and galaxy clusters.”
Meanwhile, Xtend provides XRISM with one of the largest fields of view on an X-ray satellite.
“The spectra that XRISM collects will be the most detailed we have ever seen for some of the phenomena we will observe,” Brian Williams, XRISM project scientist at NASA Goddard, said in a statement. Stated. “This mission will provide us with insights into some of the most difficult places to study, such as the internal structure of neutron stars and the near-light-speed particle jets powered by black holes in active galaxies. .”
Meanwhile, SLIM will use its own propulsion system to head to the moon. The spacecraft will arrive in lunar orbit approximately three to four months after launch, continue in orbit around the moon for one month, and begin descent and attempt a soft landing four to six months after launch. If the lander is successful, it will also perform a technology demonstration and briefly explore the lunar surface.
JAXA
At the Tanegashima Space Center, you can see a flight model of a smart lander for lunar surface exploration.
Unlike other recent landers missions aimed at the moon’s south pole, SLIM is targeting a location near a small lunar impact crater called Shioli near the Nectar Ocean, which will help scientists uncover its origin. They plan to investigate the composition of rocks that may be useful. of the moon. The landing site is just south of the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed near the moon’s equator in 1969.
India became the fourth country to perform a controlled landing on the moon, following the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. Chandrayaan 3 mission arrives August 23rd, near the moon’s south pole. Earlier, Japanese company Ispace’s lunar lander Hakuto-R fell 3 miles (4.8 kilometers). collide with the moon During a landing attempt in April.
The SLIM probe is equipped with vision-based navigation technology. Achieving a precise landing on the moon is an important goal for JAXA and other space agencies.
The South Pole of the Moon and other areas rich in such resources Persistent shadow area filled with water ice, there are also many hazards such as craters and rocks. Future missions will need to be able to land within tight areas to avoid these features.
SLIM is also a lightweight design, which could be an advantage for government agencies planning more frequent missions to explore moons of other planets, such as Mars. If SLIM is successful, JAXA claims the mission will change from “landing where you can land to landing where you want.”