Space rescue headlines a year of great possibilities

THIS past year was quite a year for astronomy and space topics. It will be hard to beat, but there will be plenty of interest in 2023.

In terms of human spaceflight, the year opens, as 2022 ended, with a problem for people aboard the International Space Station, who no longer have a “quick getaway” should an emergency arise that requires fast evacuation. It is because the Russian Soyuz craft, docked to the ISS as a “lifeboat”, developed a leak in its coolant system and has been judged to be unsuitable for use.

Russia still, of course, has the capability to send craft back and forth, and this week it was announced another Soyuz would be sent up to replace the inoperable one. It needs to be empty, so it will be launched without a crew on February 20; let us hope all goes well!

Thoughts had also turned to SpaceX’s proven Crew Dragon craft, but the spacesuits used by the crew are made to be compatible with the spacecraft, so suits being used aboard the ISS are unsuitable for a return that way.

China, too, opens the year with a problem. Its Zhurong Mars rover, which landed on the Red Planet in 2021, has not “woken up” after the Martian winter. Mission controllers are concerned the fierce winter dust storms have covered its solar panels so much that they cannot provide enough electricity. The same happened to NASA’s Insight lander – the famous craft that detected “marsquakes” – in December, and that mission was declared over soon before Christmas. China is trying to get pictures of Zhurong from its Tianwen-1 orbiter in an attempt to verify the dust coverage.

Sadly, I doubt that we shall ever hear from Zhurong again, but I would like to be proved wrong over the coming weeks.

This year will bring the first total solar eclipse to be seen from Australia since 2012. On April 20, the very narrow central path of the eclipse will start in the southern Indian Ocean, clip the West Australian coast at Exmouth, then pass over East Timor and West Papua before finishing in the Pacific Ocean north of the Equator. This is a type called a hybrid eclipse. At the start and end of the shadow’s path, the moon will not appear large enough to completely cover the sun. However, where the path crosses land, the sun will be briefly blocked out completely – for one minute in Western Australia. Other parts of Australia will witness a partial eclipse. From Hobart, at most 12.5 per cent of the sun’s diameter will be obscured, reaching that peak at 2.06pm.

We will no doubt see more great results from the spacecraft at Mars and Jupiter, and, of course, from the James Webb Space Telescope.

There will be many space launches in 2023, including those by SpaceX, Blue Origin and Boeing, which will probably make this year the most significant so far for the private space industry. I am especially looking forward to further news from the Australian company Skykraft as to the progress of the first five satellites aimed at improving air navigation, which were launched less than two weeks ago.

For solar system research, an exciting space launch is planned for October, when NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will start its journey to the asteroid of the same name. Psyche is one of the “main belt” asteroids, meaning it is one of the vast majority of such objects orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. It was only the 16th to be found, discovered by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis (1819-92) in 1852, and named after the beautiful Psyche, the Greek personification of the soul. The great significance of that asteroid is that our measurements show that it seems to be a rocky core of a once much larger object. For the first time we shall be able to observe a core directly, but we shall have to await the spacecraft’s 2029 arrival.

Soon before Psyche heads into space, there will be the return of a canister of material from the asteroid Bennu, which will come down over Utah in the US on September 24. The sample, with a mass of about 60g, will be a real treasure as it unfolds more mysteries of the composition of asteroids.

So there is plenty to come this year – including here in Tasmania, where I am sure we shall see further progress with the collaboration between the state government, Hensoldt and the University of Tasmania on their important project to track orbiting objects.