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The launch of an innovative satellite that reveals celestial bodies in new light and the lunar lander “Moon Sniper” has been postponed.
The launch was scheduled for Sunday at 8:26 p.m. ET, or 9:26 a.m. JST on Monday, but was delayed less than 30 minutes due to bad weather, especially strong winds over the launch site, according to the paper. It was postponed at home. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The agency has not announced a new launch date, but the launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center is reserved until Sept. 15.
The launch had already been postponed twice due to bad weather.
The XRISM satellite (pronounced “Crism”) X-ray imaging and spectroscopy missionsis a joint mission of JAXA and NASA, with the participation of the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
JAXA’s SLIM, or Smartlander for exploring the Moon. Utilizing precision landing technology, this small exploration lander is designed to demonstrate ‘pinpoint’ landings to specific locations within 100 meters (328 feet), rather than the usual kilometer range. Masu. Due to its accuracy, this mission has been nicknamed “Moon Sniper”.
NASA said the satellite and its two instruments will observe the hottest regions of the universe, the largest structures, and the objects with the strongest gravitational forces. XRISM detects her X-ray light at wavelengths invisible to humans.
Study of stellar explosions and black holes
Astronomers want to study X-rays because they are emitted by the most energetic objects and events in the universe.
“Among the things we hope to study with XRISM are the aftermath of stellar explosions and the launch by supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies,” said Richard Kelly, XRISM principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. These include near-light-speed particle jets that can be captured.” He said in a statement from Greenbelt, Maryland. “But of course we are most excited about all the unexpected phenomena that XRISM discovers as it observes the universe.”
Compared to other wavelengths of light, X-rays are so short that they pass through dish-shaped mirrors that observe and collect visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light, such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope.
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 for him to operate for three years.
According to NASA, the satellite can detect X-rays with energies in the range of 400 to 12,000 electron volts, well above the energy of visible light, which is 2 to 3 electron volts. This detection range will make it possible to study extreme phenomena in space throughout the universe.
The satellite carries two instruments called Resolve and Xtend. Resolve tracks small temperature changes that help identify the source, composition, motion, and physical state of x-rays. Resolve operates at minus 459.58 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.10 degrees Celsius). 50 times colder than deep spaceThanks to refrigerator-sized containers of liquid helium.
The instrument will help astronomers unlock the mysteries of the universe, such as the chemical details of the hot gas that glows within clusters of galaxies.
“XRISM’s Resolve instrument will allow us to investigate the composition of cosmic X-ray sources to a degree that was not possible before,” Kelly said. “We hope to gain many new insights into the hottest objects in the universe, including exploding stars, black holes and the galaxies driven by them, and clusters of galaxies.”
Xtend, on the other hand, provides XRISM with one of the largest fields of view on any X-ray satellite.
“The spectra XRISM collects will be the most detailed we’ve seen to date for some of the phenomena we’ll be observing,” said Brian Williams, an XRISM project scientist at NASA Goddard, in a statement. Stated. “This mission will provide us with insight into some of the most difficult places to study, such as the inner workings of neutron stars and near-light particle jets powered by black holes in active galaxies. .”
SLIM, meanwhile, will use its own propulsion system to reach the moon. The spacecraft will reach lunar orbit about three to four months after launch, orbit around the moon for one month, and then begin descent and attempt a soft landing four to six months after launch. If the lander is successful, a technology demonstration will also include a brief survey of the lunar surface.
Unlike other recent lander missions to the lunar south pole, SLIM is targeting a location near a small lunar impact crater called Siori, near the Nectar Sea, which will help scientists figure out its origins. We plan to investigate the composition of rocks that might 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 on Wednesday became the fourth country to carry out a controlled landing on the lunar surface after the Chandrayaan-3 mission arrived near the lunar south pole, after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. Earlier, Japanese company IceSpace’s lunar lander Hakuto-R fell 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) and hit the moon during a landing attempt in April.
SLIM probes are equipped with vision-based navigation technology. Achieving a precise lunar landing is an important goal for JAXA and other space agencies.
Many hazards from craters and rocks also exist in resource-rich regions such as the lunar south pole and permanently shadowed regions filled with water ice. Future missions should be able to land within a small area to avoid these features.
The SLIM is also a lightweight design, which could be advantageous for government agencies planning more frequent missions and exploring moons of other planets, such as Mars. JAXA claims that if SLIM succeeds, the mission will change from “landing where you can, to landing where you want.”