http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/south-africa-set-to-join-space-radio-astronomy-programme-2011-09-23
"It is now almost certain that South Africa will soon join the Russian-led international Radioastron space telescope consortium. South Africa is expected to sign the agreement late this month or next month."
"South Africa is expected to use the new 15 m dish at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO), west of Pretoria, to participate in Radioastron. The 15 m dish was originally the XDM prototype dish for the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT, now MeerKAT) programme, but has been converted into an operational radio telescope to complement HartRAO’s main instrument, the 26 m dish."
Interplanetary shock detected by BMSW on September 9, 2011
31.10.2011
Interplanetary shock on September 9, 2011 was observed by Spektr-R as well as by SOHO, Wind and ACE spacecraft.
Graphs below show changes of the density and velocity direction as registered by BMSW in sweeping mode (compressed data):
These results as well as more information about BMSW had been presented at the workshop "Structure in the Solar-Wind Plasma", Ann Arbor, MI, USA, October 17-20, 2011.
Plasma-F: Three months in orbit
18.11.2011
Dr. G.N. Zastenker, leading researcher, IKI RAS
Three months have passed since 'Plasma-F' payload aboard Russian astrophysical satellite SPECTR-R was switched on.
Among various phenomena, having occured during this period (August 08 – November 05), of particular interest was extremely sharp distrubance of solar wind which reached the Earth on September 9, 2011 and was registered by BMSW plasm spectrometer.
Read more (http://www.plasma-f.cosmos.ru/en/content/plasma-f-three-months-orbit)
Today, held the second of the planned correction of the orbit. As in the first case (21 February), everything went normally. Time adjustment of the engine was 333 seconds (February 21 - 300 seconds). Total momentum is ~ 3.5 m / s.
More on yesterday's meeting LOCT scientists reported that they were able to correlate the terrestrial and space observation of January 25. To obtain valid scientific results will take another month. The news, of course, is good, but the rate of :-\
About 3 months ago I made an interview with one of the project scientists for the german website raumfahrer.net. We talked about the science as well as the project history (especially since the launch, how they got the system to work). If you are interested I could post an english version here. Please some feedback: Do you want to read all this in english?
German version (3 parts):
http://www.raumfahrer.net/news/astronomie/17042013190758.shtml
http://www.raumfahrer.net/news/astronomie/18042013224629.shtml
http://www.raumfahrer.net/news/astronomie/20042013013103.shtml
About 3 months ago I made an interview with one of the project scientists for the german website raumfahrer.net. We talked about the science as well as the project history (especially since the launch, how they got the system to work). If you are interested I could post an english version here. Please some feedback: Do you want to read all this in english?
German version (3 parts):
http://www.raumfahrer.net/news/astronomie/17042013190758.shtml
http://www.raumfahrer.net/news/astronomie/18042013224629.shtml
http://www.raumfahrer.net/news/astronomie/20042013013103.shtml
Is there just one spacecraft? How much would it cost I wonder to launch an identical one in a mostly opposing orbit?Yes, there is only one satellite. A second similar satellite would cost about 200+ million $ I think, but this is only a personal estimate.
A Reuters article could do wonders to this mission awareness.Yes, you are right.... I hope that this mission will get some broader coverage when results are released. A paper published in Nature or Science would for sure give a little boost. At the moment there are some papers under preparation about the results of the ESP, so maybe then the Reuters article (or whoever similar) may come...
RadioAstron Announcement of Opportunity - 2Looks like all goes well and they do their work. Hopefully it does not last to long until real scientific papers are released... (but recall, VLBI-papers are called "fast" when they are published 2 years after observation... so just be patient)
The space VLBI Mission RadioAstron, led by the Astro Space Center (ASC)
of Lebedev Physical Institute, provides a range of specific and unique
capabilities for detecting and imaging sources of cosmic radio emission
at the highest angular resolution. The optimal utilization of these
capabilities relies on the construction and execution of a balanced
scientific program for the Mission. The scientific program of
RadioAstron consists of three major parts: the Early Science Program
(ESP), Key Science Program (KSP), and General Observing Time (GOT)
projects. The Early Science Program, which finished in June 2013,
explored the main scientific capabilities of RadioAstron observations
and paved the way for the subsequent KSP and GOT programs.
RadioAstron KSP observations commenced in July 2013. The KSP is aimed
specifically at focusing on the areas of strongest scientific impact of
RadioAstron and ensuring a long-lasting scientific impact for the
Mission. KSP observations within the AO-1 period are being carried out
between July 2013 and June 2014, inclusive.
We present the first polarimetric space VLBI imaging observations at 22 GHz. BL Lacertae was observed in 2013 November 10 with the RadioAstron space VLBI mission, including a ground array of 15 radio telescopes. The instrumental polarization of the space radio telescope is found to be within 9%, demonstrating the polarimetric imaging capabilities of RadioAstron at 22 GHz. Ground-space fringes were obtained up to a projected baseline distance of 7.9 Earth's diameters in length, allowing us to image the jet in BL Lacertae with a maximum angular resolution of 21 μas, the highest achieved to date. We find evidence for emission upstream of the radio core, which may correspond to a recollimation shock at about 40 μas from the jet apex, in a pattern that includes other recollimation shocks at approximately 100 μas and 250 μas from the jet apex. Polarized emission is detected in two components within the innermost 0.5 mas from the core, as well as in some knots 3 mas downstream. Faraday rotation analysis, obtained from combining RadioAstron 22 GHz and ground-based 15 GHz and 43 GHz images, shows a gradient in rotation measure and Faraday corrected polarization vector as a function of position angle with respect to the core, suggesting that the jet in BL Lacertae is threaded by a helical magnetic field. The intrinsic de-boosted brightness temperature in the unresolved core exceeds 3×1012 K, suggesting at the very least departure from equipartition of energy between the magnetic field and radiating particles.
Astrophysicists have spotted a faraway object that's hotter than any contemporary theory can explain, a discovery that might require scientists rewriting galaxy operation manuals for years to come. The first fruits of these mind-boggling observations were just published by an international group of scientists led by the Russian astrophysicist Yuri Kovalev in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"I believe that behind this remarkable result lies a new chapter in the exploration of the faraway universe," said Nikolai Kardashev, the head of the Spektr-R (Radioastron) orbital observatory project, which was instrumental in the latest breakthrough.
In the meantime, the Spektr-R space observatory presses on mission. Launched on a Ukrainian-built Zenit rocket on July 18, 2011, the satellite is about to exceed its five-year manufacturer warranty.Although harsh conditions of space, particularly radiation, are taking their toll on the spacecraft, the flight control team so far has managed to continue a productive scientific mission by switching to backup systems. According to Kovalev, technical issues have not yet degraded the scientific results.
Inspired by the success of Spektr-R, Russian scientists proposed a much more complex space radio telescope known as Spektr-M or Millimetron. The new instrument will be able to register millimeter and sub-millimeter bands of electromagnetic spectrum not only in conjunction with ground-based antennas but also on its own, peering farther into the Universe than any ground-based telescope can. Because of its high cost and many technical hurdles, though, Spektr-M is not expected to blast off into orbit before 2025.
- The RadioAstron Announcement of Opportunity - 6 (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/ao-6/radioastron_ao6.pdf); - The RadioAstron User Handbook (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/documents/rauh/en/rauh.pdf); - Full Proposal template: LaTeX file (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/ao-6/radioastron_ao6_proposal_template.tex) and pdf file; (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/ao-6/radioastron_ao6_proposal_template.pdf) - All-sky uv-coverage simulations with Pushchino and Green Bank tracking stations: pdf file (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/ao-6/ao6_allsky_uvplots_pu_and_gb.pdf); - ASCII table (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/ao-6/ao6_sources_visibility_prediction__RA171116.zip) with RadioAstron AO-6 visibility prediction for selected targets from the RadioAstron list of observed sources, its visual representation can be found here (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/ao-6/ao6_sources_visibility_prediction__RA171116.pdf); - Fakerat full binary package (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/software/fakerat/ver_67/fakerat_dist_20171221.tgz) (is tested to work with most Linux distributions) including installation README, manual, and predicted RadioAstron orbit for AO6 (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/ao-6/ra171119-200815.org); - RadioAstron observations status summary (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/documents/ra_obs_summary.pdf); - All documents collected together in a zip-file (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/ao-6/radioastron_ao6.zip). Also see acknowledgments (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/publications/ackmnt.html) for RadioAstron publications (http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/publications/publ.html). |
The Astrophysical Journal
Sun-sized Water Vapor Masers in Cepheus A
A. M. Sobolev1, J. M. Moran2, M. D. Gray3, A. Alakoz4, H. Imai5, W. A. Baan6, A. M. Tolmachev4, V. A. Samodurov4,7, and D. A. Ladeyshchikov1
Published 2018 March 26 • © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 856, Number 1
Article information
Abstract
We present the first VLBI observations of a Galactic water maser (in Cepheus A) made with a very long baseline interferometric array involving the RadioAstron Earth-orbiting satellite station as one of its elements. We detected two distinct components at −16.9 and 0.6 km s−1 with a fringe spacing of 66 μas. In total power, the 0.6 km s−1 component appears to be a single Gaussian component of strength 580 Jy and width of 0.7 km s−1. Single-telescope monitoring showed that its lifetime was only eight months. The absence of a Zeeman pattern implies the longitudinal magnetic field component is weaker than 120 mG. The space–Earth cross power spectrum shows two unresolved components smaller than 15 μas, corresponding to a linear scale of 1.6 × 1011 cm, about the diameter of the Sun, for a distance of 700 pc, separated by 0.54 km s−1 in velocity and by 160 ± 35 μas in angle. This is the smallest angular structure ever observed in a Galactic maser. The brightness temperatures are greater than 2 × 1014 K, and the line widths are 0.5 km s−1. Most of the flux (about 87%) is contained in a halo of angular size of 400 ± 150 μas. This structure is associated with the compact H ii region HW3diii. We have probably picked up the most prominent peaks in the angular size range of our interferometer. We discuss three dynamical models: (1) Keplerian motion around a central object, (2) two chance overlapping clouds, and (3) vortices caused by flow around an obstacle (i.e., von Kármán vortex street) with a Strouhal number of about 0.3.
Control Over Russia's Only Space Telescope Lost - Scientists
© Sputnik / Oleg Urusov
10:58 12.01.2019 (updated 12:27 12.01.2019)
The connection with Russia's only space telescope, Spektr-R, is partially lost; the device isn't accepting commands from the Earth, Nikolai Kardashev, the head of the Astro Space Centre at the PN Lebedev Physics Institute told Sputnik.
“We're trying to fix the problem […], there are different communications systems; some of them work, some do not work. We still receive some signals. Such failures have occurred earlier. It can return to normal,” the scientist explained.
According to Nikolai Kardashev, scientists continue to receive data from the orbital telescope, despite its failure to respond to remote commands. Specialists from the company which build the device are working on restoring two-way communications.
Meanwhile, the head of the project told Sputnik that the Russian Spektr-R space telescope project will be terminated if control over the vehicle is not restored.
"If the satellite is not controlled, that will mean termination of the RadioAstron project," Yury Kovalev said.
He added that the next attempt to restore control over the space telescope would take place on Sunday.
On January 14, the station receiving scientific data in the USA managed to record the carrier radiation of a separate transmitter of the Spektr-R apparatus, which indirectly confirms the information that the onboard systems as a whole operate in accordance with the logic embedded in them.
From 19:00 Moscow time on January 14, when the device will be in the radio visibility zone of the Russian stations, work will be continued to restore communication with the radio telescope over the command radio link.
Russian space telescope not responding to Earth’s command
January 13, 16:22 updated at: January 13, 17:44 UTC+3
The effort to establish contact with Spektr-R will continue after 7 p.m. on Monday
MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. Russia’s Spektr-R space radio telescope failed to respond to commands from the Earth on Sunday and the attempts to restore control of it will continue on Monday afternoon, Adviser on Science to Roscosmos State Space Corporation’s Director General Alexander Bloshenko told TASS.
"Today’s program of an effort to try to contact with the spacecraft has ended. Now a meeting of the operational and technical leadership is underway on the outcome," Bloshenko said.
The effort to establish contact with Spektr-R will continue after 7 p.m. on Monday when it will be seen by both earth stations, Medvezhji Ozera and Ussuriysk. "We are planning to repeat today’s program of work," he said.
Spektr-R was launched in 2011 and the warranty period of its active operation expired back in 2014. Before this year, the radio telescope continued tackling targeted tasks, Roscosmos said.
According to Alexander Bloshenko, a scientific advisor to the head of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos, the telescope’s active operations lasted 2.5 times longer than expected.
CEO of Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin has asked to speed up analysis of data from the Spektr-R space radio telescope ahead of the launch of the Spektr-RG observatory that is to replace the Radioastron project satellite in April, Bloshenko told.
"Rogozin has demanded focus be made on the preparations form the April launch of the Spektr-RG that is to replace the Spektr-R, which has outlives its lifespan by 2.5 times. In particular, the corporation’s director general has asked the Russian Academy of Sciences to speed up the analysis of data received from the current orbiter," he said.
Roscosmos told TASS earlier that Sunday’s attempt to regain control of the old Spektr-R satellite had failed. More attempts will be made on Monday.
The Gazeta.ru internet portal said on Friday evening, citing the Radioastron project head and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Kovalev, that there are problems with the Spektr-R spacecraft. Nikolai Kardashev, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and director of the Astrospace Center (the Radiosastron project contractor), told TASS that there are problems with the satellite’s control although a signal from it is received.
The Spektr-R was launched in 2011 and the warranty period of its active operation expired back in 2014. Before this year, the radio telescope continued tackling targeted tasks, Roscosmos said.
So what's the update here? Is there still hope left or is Spectr-R dead for good?
NRAO @TheNRAO
Dosvedanya and Farewell, RadioAstron.
#greenbankobservatory
https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-radioastron-end/#PRimage1 …
Dosvedanya and Farewell, RadioAstron
On May 30, 2019, the Russian RadioAstron satellite — the farthest element of an Earth-to-space radio-telescope system — ended its service. During its mission, RadioAstron helped to capture some of astronomy’s highest-resolution images and studied the extreme physics of astronomical objects by working with telescopes around the world, including the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, W.Va.
Launched in July 2011, RadioAstron used the 43 Meter (140 Foot) Telescope at the Green Bank Observatory as one of only two sites to download data for the Russian-made satellite.
RadioAstron excited the international scientific community for the unique science it enabled. Its high resolution was achieved through a technique known as “Very Long Baseline Interferometry,” which linked various radio antennas on Earth with the orbiting RadioAstron satellite to create a single, virtual telescope that extended into space.
RadioAstron’s achievements included observing a black hole’s jet in the center of the giant galaxy NGC 1275 (also known as radio source Perseus A, or 3C 84) revealing the jet structure 10 times closer to the black hole than previously known; the discovery of galactic water masers as small as the Sun, the smallest maser sources ever observed; and the detection of low frequency interference fringes on long baselines, giving a new understanding of the ionized interstellar medium.
The RadioAstron project was led by the Astro Space Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Lavochkin Scientific and Production Association under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, in collaboration with partner organizations in Russia and other countries. The Green Bank Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
When RadioAstron was launched and up to October 2016, the telescopes at Green Bank were part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which signed the initial contract to collaborate on this mission. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.