Preliminary conclusions: damage to the spacecraft "Progress MS-21" caused by external influence

The State Commission continues to analyze emergency situations with the Soyuz MS-22 manned spacecraft and Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft that occurred on the International Space Station. The Soyuz MS-23 unmanned spacecraft will be launched to the station on February 24.Survey of the outer surface of the Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraftAfter undocking from the ISS on February 18, a detailed photo and video survey of the Progress MS-21 spacecraft was carried out.According to preliminary data from the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia named after S.P. Korolev (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation), Progress MS-21, like Soyuz MS-22 before, was subjected to external influence. Such conclusions are made on the basis of photographs that show changes on the outer surface of the ship, including on the radiator of the instrument-aggregate compartment and solar panels. Holes were found on them that were not fixed either during the manufacture of Progress MS-21 at the plant, or during its preparation for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, or during the flight and docking of the spacecraft with the ISS.In addition, in order to exclude the version of a manufacturing defect, RSC Energia analyzed the history of comments on the thermal control system of the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft over the past 15 years.“Remarks that could lead to such...

Read More........→February 22, 2023

Hubble captures the start of a new 'spoke' season of Saturn: NASA

FEB 14, 2023 In a latest image of Saturn captured by National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Hubble Space Telescope, the appearance of spokes on the planet's rings heralded the start of a new 'spoke' season, according to a statement by NASA. Scientists will be looking for clues to explain the cause and nature of the spokes, the statement said. The suspected culprit for the spokes is the planet's variable magnetic field, the statement said. Planetary magnetic fields interact with the solar wind, creating an electrically charged environment. On Earth, when those charged particles hit the atmosphere this is visible in the northern hemisphere as the aurora borealis, or northern lights, NASA said. Scientists think that the smallest, dust-sized icy ring particles can become charged as well, which temporarily levitates those particles above the rest of the larger icy particles and boulders in the rings, NASA said. Like Earth, Saturn is tilted on its axis and therefore has four seasons, though because of Saturn's much larger orbit, each season lasts approximately seven Earth years, the space agency said. Equinox occurs when the rings are tilted edge-on to the Sun. The spokes disappear when it is near summer or winter solstice on Saturn, which is when the Sun appears to reach either its highest or lowest latitude, respectively,...

Read More........→February 14, 2023