Cygnus ISS Launch Delayed Due To Sun's Coronal Mass Ejection 30
ClockEndGooner writes "A giant coronal mass ejection from the Sun yesterday has resulted in a higher than normal level of radioactivity, and in turn, forced Orbital Sciences to postpone their first mission launch of the Cygnus space truck to the International Space Station. Citing concerns of the effect increased levels of space radiation may have on the Antares launcher and Cygnus avionics, the NASA and Orbital launch team is now evaluating if conditions will improve for a launch on Thursday, which would have Cygnus arriving at the ISS on Sunday morning."
In other ISS news, the Orlando Sentinel is reporting that NASA has gotten approval from the White House to extend the ISS's mission for another four years, pushing the end date back to 2024. An official announcement is expected later this week.
CME frequency (Score:2)
We keep hearing warnings about CMEs now that we can actually see them coming.
I'm just wondering how many real-life negative effects they had in the previous decades, when we already had electronics (>15V maybe, but less ESD/SEU protection).
Sure, the general public has many more ways to notice, but it's not like there weren't scientists all around the planet keeping an eye on sensitive equipment 30 years ago.
How bad are those forecasted CMEs on modern electronics, compared to previous unexpected CMEs on o
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If you're living under a significant magnetosphere, only the regions near the magnetic poles tend to notice anything from flares. Canada has an established expectation that they will get power fluctuations with every aurora. Even in those vulnerable regions, consumer grade electronics are safe from the direct effects, and if you have a surge protector, safe from the indirect effects.
Modern consumer grade electronics are built to much tighter specifications and energy tolerances than most historic scientif
Re:CME frequency (Score:4, Interesting)
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Coincidence and person bias. There is nothing in the monitors that require alignment to the pole.
If it really worked, you wouldn't have need to figure out which way north was, you would just move the monitor until it went away.
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Not a coincidence at all. CRTs use rapidly switching magnetic fields to aim electron beams at a phosphor screen. There's a fine pitch mask that separates the red, green, and blue pixels and if adjustment was a little "off" or, as in this case, the design is poor then orientation with regards to magnetic north can absolutely cause display artifacts.
Many serious professional CRT displays literally have a setting where you enter the device's alignment VS magnetic north so proper correction can be applied.
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There is nothing in the monitors that require alignment to the pole.
So...30+ monitors is coincidence and electro-hypochondria? I'm guessing you never stuck a magnet up to a CRT or had to Degauss one. Since the Earth has this gigantic magnetic field surrounding it it's not hard to see an unshielded CRT being affected.
BTW...How do you think I figured out which direction North was?
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BTW...How do you think I figured out which direction North was?
Sceptre Tech: just point it toward the north pole
arhcangel: which direction is that?
Sceptre Tech: uh, just keep rotating the monitor until it's no longer fuzzy. that way you'll know it's north.
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Google "Carrington Event".
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Actually, take a look at the NOAA Space Weather Scales [noaa.gov], and you'll see how often different level events occur, and what their outcomes can be.
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Umm... (Score:1)
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In the other news.... (Score:1)
...Stargate travel was also suspended...
Radioactivity? (Score:5, Informative)
Um, no. "Radiation" was the word for which you were looking. "Radioactivity" refers to the particles which are emitted from nuclei as a result of nuclear instability.
There was a significant solar flare at 1832z (1:32 p.m. EST) on 7 January, that bathed the Earth with electromagnetic radiation (X-rays, UV, radio, etc.). This was an X1.2-class flare [spaceweather.com], meaning that its flux would have peaked at 1.2E(-4) watts/square meter at the Earth's surface, had our atmosphere not protected those of us on the ground from the worst of its effects. The effects of the flare itself (largely attenuation of HF radio signals over the Western Hemisphere during and shortly after the event) are over and done with.
Since this flare was caused by a particular sun spot group that remains active and unstable, Orbital Sciences was concerned about a repeat performance when the Antares' avionics were in the upper atmosphere, and therefore not protected from a second, possibly even more intense, flare that the sun spot may produce.
Concurrent with this flare was a coronal mass ejection (CME), which consists largely of protons blasted out of the sun's atmosphere (the corona). Since these particles are protons, not massless photons, they travel slower than the speed of light, and it takes them a while to get here; they are expected to arrive sometime early on 9 January UTC. However, predictions of CME particle velocity are difficult and prone to error; CMEs can arrive early.
Since the CME could be arriving while the Antares was in operation (the flight was scheduled for liftoff at 1832z on 8 January), and the performance of the rocket's avionics could not be guaranteed in that environment, when this risk was combined with the risk of another X-class flare I think they just decided that a scrub was the wiser choice.
First launch? (Score:2)
Antares is at risk, not Cygnus (Score:5, Informative)
Citing concerns of the effect increased levels of space radiation may have on the Antares launcher and Cygnus avionics
It is actually written in TFA that:
The Cygnus spacecraft would not be affected by the solar event.
Having been involved in the design of some of the avionics onboard Cygnus, I can attest that a S2/S3 class solar event [noaa.gov] such as this one is well within the specifications of the spacecraft..
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While it is within the specs for the spacecraft, the effects of the solar event might well have distorted the monitoring and telemetry that are used to gain an increased understanding of the forces acting on the craft during its ascent. Waiting for a quiet moment just so that there is less noise in the record makes sense, especially on the first flights of a new bird.
Apples and Oranges (Score:2)
The summary (at least) is a bit off on the description. dtmos is close, but still no cigar. The large flare produced three outputs of concern: high levels of x-ray radiation (photons), high levels of high-energy protons, and the CME which is a blast of low-energy (for the sun, anyway) plasma into the solar wind. The x-rays arrive first (at the speed of light, natch) with the high-energy protons not far behind. The shock wave produced by the CME arrives several days later. All of these can cause proble
Space Porn.... (Score:2)
Launch crew:
"Mission Control, we are just waiting for the Money Shot--that's the best part!"
"Coronal Mass Ejection beats bukkake(?-sp?) porn anytime."