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Transcript/Script The Week in Space {17MARCH2022}
HEADLINE: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Snaps Galactic Photobomb
TEASER: Plus a modern take on 1970s-era lunar rover; spacewalk amid heightened tensions
PUBLISHED AT: Thursday, 03/17/2022 at 3:01
BYLINE: Arash Arabasadi
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washington
VIDEOGRAPHER: AP/ REUTERS/ NASA TV/ NASA/ VENTURI ASTROLAB
SCRIPT EDITORS: Bowman, MAS
NOTE: PART NO OBSCURE LOGO
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AP/ REUTERS/ NASA TV/ NASA/ VENTURI ASTROLAB
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __
TRT: 3:01
VID APPROVED BY: BR
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATE: ))
[[INTRO: NASA’s new eye in the sky snapped a pic of a star and its ancient galactic buddies. Plus, a spacewalk amid another week of heightened global tensions, and rolling out the next generation lunar rover. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.]]
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((NARRATOR))
We begin this week outside the International Space Station, where NASA astronauts Kayla Barron and Raja Chari ((SHA-ree)) spacewalked to install mod ((modification)) kits ahead of the rollout of a third solar array. This comes after weeks of threats from the head of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, to withdraw support and cosmonauts from the ISS, retaliation against Western sanctions as Russia continues waging war on neighboring Ukraine. The station’s manager, at a briefing on Earth, said so far, that’s not happened.
[RADIO TRACK: Joel Montalbano spoke on NASA TV.]
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((Joel Montalbano, Manager of the International Space Station))
“At this time, there is no indication from our Russian partners that they want to do anything different. So, we are planning on continuing operations as we are today.”
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((NARRATOR))
Futurism dot com reporting Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin, the Twitter-source for threats of abandoning the ISS, tweeted “written appeals to NASA” and other space agencies to lift sanctions. The site reports Rogozin now forbids agency employees from traveling abroad, fearing they won’t return to Russia.
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In other news, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – seen here on Earth – captured…
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…this still image from space of a star in a recent test shot. The image shows Webb’s infrared capabilities, as the star is 100-times fainter than what our eyes can see.
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That’s because it’s two-thousand lightyears away.
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Adding to NASA scientists’ excitement is the photobomb of ancient stars and galaxies in the background, themselves likely billions of lightyears away. For reference, one lightyear is more than nine-and-a-half trillion kilometers ((9.7)).
[RADIO TRACK: At a NASA briefing, operations project scientist, Jane Rigby, explains the difference between Webb and its predecessor, the Hubble Telescope.]
((Jane Rigby, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center))
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“The engineering images that we saw today are as sharp and as crisp as the images that Hubble can take but are at a wavelength of light that is totally invisible to Hubble. So, this is making the invisible universe snapping into very, very sharp focus.”
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The test photo in Webb’s “fine phasing”-stage makes way for the first science images, which we can expect in June or July.
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Finally this week, ahead of NASA’s plans for extended stays on the Moon, comes a prototype of the next-generation lunar rover. Los Angeles-based startup Venturi Astrolab created the Flexible Logistics and Exploration-vehicle, or FLEX for short. Its creators say FLEX can handle tasks that would otherwise bog down astronauts.
[RADIO TRACK: Founder and CEO, Jaret Matthews, explains to Reuters.]
((Jaret Matthews, Founder and CEO of Venturi Astrolab))
“Astronaut time is, of course, really precious. They’re only going to be on the surface for days at a time, at least in the first phase, the first missions. And so, it’s important to have platforms that can do things like construction, infrastructure development, conduct science, explorations even before the astronauts arrive.”
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Creators say FLEX can drive by remote control or astronauts on board. Run by solar-powered batteries, the company says FLEX can drive two astronauts for eight continuous hours or survive 300 hours in the extreme cold of lunar darkness. NASA has yet to adopt FLEX for its Artemis program.
Arash Arabasadi, VOA News
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Washington D. C.
Embargo DateMarch 17, 2022 16:54 EDT
Byline
Arash Arabasadi, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
