<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword>'s deal with <keyword id="11985276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="roscosmos" source="Orion">Roscosmos</keyword> means <keyword id="11908743" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacex" source="Orion">SpaceX</keyword> will launch Russian cosmonauts to the <keyword id="12060330" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="iss" source="Orion">ISS</keyword> this year.</li><li>In September, Anna Kikina will be the first Russian to launch on SpaceX's Crew Dragon, per Reuters.</li></ul><p><keyword id="11897862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk" source="Orion">Elon Musk</keyword>'s SpaceX is set to fly Russian cosmonauts to the International <keyword id="12324095" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="space-station" source="Orion">Space Station</keyword> (ISS) this year under a new NASA deal with <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword>'s <keyword id="11895441" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="space" source="Orion">space</keyword> agency, Roscosmos, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/nasa-russian-space-agency-sign-deal-share-space-station-flights-roscosmos-2022-07-15/">Reuters</a>.</p><p>NASA and Roscosmos told Reuters on Friday they have signed an agreement to exchange flights to the ISS. This means that US astronauts will be able to fly to Russia's Soyuz, while cosmonauts ride on American <keyword id="11897867" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="rockets" source="Orion">rockets</keyword>.</p><p>"Flying integrated crews ensures there are appropriately trained crew members on board the station for essential maintenance and spacewalks," NASA said in a statement to Insider.</p><p>NASA said the first flights under the new deal will launch in September. US astronaut Frank Rubio will fly from Russia's Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan to the ISS. In exchange, cosmonaut Anna Kikina will launch on SpaceX's Crew Dragon from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said.</p><p>Kikina will be the first Russian to travel in the Crew Dragon capsule, which has so far visited the ISS <a href="https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/dragon/">31 times</a>. Crew Dragon started flying to the ISS in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/international-space-station-welcomes-first-spacex-crew-dragon-with-nasa-astronauts">2020</a> after the US Space Shuttle Program ended and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-boeing-relaunch-failed-spaceship-test-flight-for-nasa-2022-5">NASA</a> relied on Soyuz rockets to send its astronauts to and from the space laboratory.</p><p>"The agreement is in the interests of Russia and the United States and will promote the development of cooperation within the framework of the ISS program," Roscosmos said in a statement to Reuters. The agency also said it will allow for the "exploration of outer space for peaceful purposes."</p><p>The agreement follows Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, leading to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-says-the-west-is-banning-russian-gold-imports-2022-6">tensions</a> between the White House and the Kremlin.</p><p>SpaceX and Roscosmos didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.</p><p>Not long after the deal was announced, Russian President Vladimir Putin <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-fires-russias-space-chief-dmitry-rogozin-who-trolled-elon-musk-2022-7">fired Dmitry Rogozin</a> as Russia's space chief, <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/news/68946">the Kremlin announced on Friday</a>. There was no reason given for his dismissal. Yuriy Borisov, who was recently dismissed as deputy prime minister, was <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/news/68947">announced</a> as the replacement for Rogozin.</p>

SpaceX will fly Russian cosmonauts to the ISS under new NASA deal with Russia's space agency

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="13767728" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="dmitry-rogozin" source="Orion">Dmitry Rogozin</keyword> has been fired as Russia's <keyword id="11895441" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="space" source="Orion">space</keyword> chief, the Kremlin announced on Friday.</li><li>The dism<keyword id="12060330" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="iss" source="Orion">iss</keyword>al follows a new agreement between <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword> and <keyword id="11985276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="roscosmos" source="Orion">Roscosmos</keyword> to integrate ISS flights.</li></ul><p>Dmitry Rogozin has been fired as Russia's space chief by Vladimir <keyword id="11909347" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="putin" source="Orion">Putin</keyword>, <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/news/68946">the Kremlin announced on Friday</a>, following months of acrimony with NASA and other Western figures. </p><p>Rogozin was removed as the chief of Roscosmos after four years in the role. The Kremlin did not give a reason for his dismissal, but it follows <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/nasa-russian-space-agency-sign-deal-share-space-station-flights-roscosmos-2022-07-15/">a new agreement</a> between NASA and Roscosmos to integrate flights to the <keyword id="11969448" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international-space-station" source="Orion">International Space Station</keyword> (ISS).</p><p><a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/news/68947">Yuriy Borisov was announced</a> as Rogozin's replacement after recently being dismissed as <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/news/68944">deputy prime minister</a>.</p><p>Tensions have flared between Western and Russian space organisations since Putin invaded Ukraine in February. </p><p>Rogozin has battled his opponents on Twitter, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronaut-scott-kelly-and-russia-space-chief-trade-twitter-insults-2022-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">trading insults with astronaut Scott Kelly in March</a>, when he claimed Kelly needed a brain examination after he told Rogozin to get a job at McDonald's. </p><p>The former space chief also said <keyword id="11897862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk" source="Orion">Elon Musk</keyword> should be held accountable for sending Starlink satellites to help Ukraine in the early days of the invasion. Musk proceeded to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-russia-space-chief-elon-musk-spacex-rivalry-tweets-2022-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">joke that he might "die under mysterious circumstances."</a></p><p>The relationship between NASA and Roscosmos is seen as vital to safe space exploration, given the partnership developed over the years on the ISS by the US and Russia. </p><p>Roscosmos incrementally boosts the ISS to keep it in orbit. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-international-space-station-crash-us-europe-sanctions-2022-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">Rogozin previously threatened</a> to send the space station crashing into the US or Europe if Russia was hit by sanctions.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-exit-international-space-station-economic-sanctions-ukraine-conflict-2022-4?r=US&amp;IR=T">Russia also signaled its intention</a> to pull out of the ISS altogether in April due to the sanctions.</p><p>Last week, NASA rebuked Roscosmos after Russian astronauts <a href="https://t.me/roscosmos_gk/5556">flew separatist flags</a> on the ISS in support of Russia's invasion. </p><p>Astronaut Kelly appeared to revel in Rogozin's dismissal, <a href="https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/1547957830749065223">suggesting in a tweet</a> that Rogozin get a job at Russia's rebranded McDonald's restaurant called "Tasty and That's It."</p>

Vladimir Putin fires Russia's space chief Dmitry Rogozin, who trolled Elon Musk and astronaut Scott Kelly

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-fires-russias-space-chief-dmitry-rogozin-who-trolled-elon-musk-2022-7">Russia's top space official</a> said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-pull-iss-2024-build-own-space-station-roscosmos-putin-2022-7">Roscosmos is pulling out of the International Space Station</a> after 2024.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spacex-contract-roman-space-telescope-falcon-rocket-2022-7">NASA</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-fly-russian-cosmonauts-iss-nasa-deal-roscosmos-space-agency-2022-7">Roscosmos</a> plan to split after the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/8-unforgettable-moments-on-the-international-space-station-2022-7">ISS</a>, but it's unclear when and how the partnership will end.</li></ul><p>Russia is talking about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-pull-iss-2024-build-own-space-station-roscosmos-putin-2022-7">abandoning NASA</a> on the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/international-space-station-swerved-to-avoid-collision-with-russian-debris-2022-6">International Space Station</a>. Though the news shocked many and inspired a flurry of headlines, the threat is neither new nor particularly threatening.</p><p>NASA and Russia's agreement on the ISS is up for renewal in 2024. NASA has already committed to maintaining the station through 2030, but Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, has been dubious about the partnership for years. On Tuesday, the agency's leader made an official-sounding declaration on the matter to President Vladimir Putin.</p><p>"Of course, we will fulfill all our obligations to our partners, but the decision about withdrawing from the station after 2024 has been made," Yuri Borisov, the new director general of Roscosmos, told Putin in a meeting, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/science/russia-space-station.html">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>"I think that by this time we will begin to form the Russian orbital station," he added. "Good," Putin said.</p><div type="image" title="vladimir puting and yuri borisov wearing suits sit at table in office room with wood panels" height="1666" width="2222" msid="93236003" hostid="261"></div><p>While space enthusiasts wrung their hands, the exchange didn't shock space-policy wonks. Borisov's predecessor, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-fires-russias-space-chief-dmitry-rogozin-who-trolled-elon-musk-2022-7">Dmitry Rogozin</a>, who <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/news/68946">Putin fired</a> earlier this month, repeatedly made similar threats.</p><p>"This has been seen as coming for the past two or three years," John Logsdon, the founder of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute, told Insider, adding, "It's nothing new."</p><p>NASA officials told reporters that Russia had not notified them of any new decisions.</p><p>"We've seen this story many times before. Color me skeptical of any immediate changes," Casey Dreier, senior space-policy advisor at The Planetary Society, <a href="https://twitter.com/CaseyDreier/status/1551963172558385152">said</a> on Twitter on Tuesday. </p><div type="image" title="International Space Station astronauts" height="1402" width="1869" msid="93236006" hostid="261"></div><p>On Wednesday, Kathy Leuders, NASA's head of human spaceflight, told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-nasa-sticking-with-space-station-until-least-2028-2022-07-27/">Reuters</a> she'd received word from Russian officials that they intended to keep collaborating on the ISS until completing their own space station. In a Friday <a href="https://www.roscosmos.ru/38035/">statement</a>, translated by Google, Borisov predicted an "avalanche" of technical failures on the Russian segment of the ISS after 2024. At that point, it would be more economical to invest in a new Russian space station, he added.</p><p>"Whether it will be in the middle of 2024 or in 2025 — it all depends," Borisov said.</p><p>When Russia does leave the ISS, it won't necessarily be a disaster for NASA. The agency has been preparing to operate the station without Russia for nearly a decade, as relations between the two space powers frayed.</p><p>"The Russian announcement is not a surprise, and reiterating their current commitment through 2024 is helpful for planning," Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute, said in a written statement shared with Insider. "What comes after 2024 is still very unknown, however, and the real question is when do in-depth technical discussions begin for *how* the transition will be managed (rather then whether there will be a transition)."</p><h2>NASA's been preparing for a break from Roscosmos for almost a decade</h2><div type="image" title="spacewalk international space station cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy" height="1275" width="1701" msid="93236008" hostid="261"></div><p>Roscosmos and NASA had a tense partnership from the beginning. Even as the two agencies were building the first parts of the ISS, NASA was making contingency plans. In the late '90s, Russia was behind schedule building the Zvezda Service Module that would be a core component of the station. NASA built a backup module in case Zvezda never came.</p><p>A decade later, NASA became reliant on Russian hardware. When the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011, the US could only fly its astronauts to and from the ISS aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.</p><p>To dial back that dependence, the Obama administration started funding private development of human-rated spacecraft. The result, SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship, now regularly ferries astronauts to and from the ISS.</p><div type="image" title="nasa astronaut doug hurley spacex crew dragon spaceship capsule demo2 demo 2 mission landing splashdown stretcher thumbs up ok august 2 2020 50186691872_3d34f9f15a_o edit" height="2229" width="2972" msid="93236011" hostid="261"></div><p>NASA's remaining reliance on Russia is aboard the ISS itself. The station was constructed for interdependence: Russia's side relies on solar arrays in the Western section for power, and the station can't maintain altitude without regular boosts from Russian Progress spaceships, which fire their boosters to push the station a little higher about once a month.</p><p>NASA is learning how to do those "orbital reboost" maneuvers with the Cygnus spacecraft developed by its contractor Northrop Grumman. It conducted a successful test of the maneuver in June, a week after an initial test attempt failed.</p><div type="image" title="cygnus spacecraft silver cylinder with two orange and black circular solar arrays below a long robotic arm high above brown earth with lakes" height="1531" width="2042" msid="93236013" hostid="261"></div><p>It's unclear what a transition to a Russia-free ISS might look like. According to Pace, the chief challenges would be orbital reboosts, replacing Moscow ground support, and figuring out what to do with Russia's modules and other ISS hardware.</p><p>"I am confident, without having any specific information, that the US and its partners have thought through what might be done," Logsdon said. Otherwise, they would be "derelict of their duty," he added.</p><h2>The US-Russia space alliance has become increasingly strained</h2><div type="image" title="rocket launches past people watching and taking photos" height="1776" width="2000" msid="93236015" hostid="261"></div><p>Over the years, the NASA-Roscosmos partnership has involved public spats. In 2014, Russia announced that it would <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/5/13/5714650/russia-just-evicted-nasa-from-the-international-space-station">kick NASA off the ISS</a> by 2020 in retaliation for US sanctions over its invasion of Crimea. The threat never came to fruition.</p><p>Last year, a Roscosmos official <a href="https://www.space.com/russia-blames-nasa-astronaut-soyuz-leak">accused</a> a NASA astronaut of having a mental breakdown and drilling holes into a Soyuz spacecraft in 2018. NASA firmly denied the accusations.</p><div type="image" title="spaceships docked to the space station above nighttime earth" height="1666" width="2222" msid="93236018" hostid="261"></div><p>In November, Russia <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-added-1500-space-junk-in-orbit-satelite-test-missile-2021-11">launched a missile</a> at one of its defunct satellites as a weapons test. The explosion scattered thousands of bits of high-speed debris through Earth's orbit, forcing the ISS crew to retreat to their spaceships in case they had to make an emergency exit, and drawing <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-administrator-statement-on-russian-asat-test">condemnation</a> from NASA.</p><p>Tensions escalated when Russia invaded Ukraine. Rogozin, then leading Roscosmos and known for his <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/nasa-roscosmos-russia-bridenstine-rogozin/579973/">inflammatory tweets</a>, got into strongly worded <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronaut-scott-kelly-and-russia-space-chief-trade-twitter-insults-2022-3">Twitter arguments with former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly</a> and Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, a NASA contractor. Rogozin even <a href="https://twitter.com/Rogozin/status/1496934100363587587">suggested</a> that Russia might abandon the ISS to crash into Earth.</p><div type="image" title="three cosmonauts pose with blue and red striped flag inside space station" height="1533" width="2044" msid="93236020" hostid="261"></div><p>Cosmonauts have displayed flags and imagery on the ISS supporting the Russian invasion and occupation of Ukraine, invoking a rebuke from NASA officials.</p><h2>The US and Russia plan to go their own ways after the ISS</h2><div type="image" title="bright moon rises in dark blue sky behind the top of an orange nasa rocket" height="1451" width="1935" msid="93236022" hostid="261"></div><p>Beyond the ISS, US and Russian paths diverge. NASA is funding the development of commercial space stations by three companies — Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman. Its plan is to become a customer, renting room and lab space on an orbiting station operated by a private company.</p><p>Roscosmos says it's planning its own space station, but hasn't shared much detail.</p><p>"You could take that with a grain of salt, given their overall economic situation," Logsdon said.</p><div type="image" title="base camp" height="735" width="981" msid="93236025" hostid="261"></div><p>Both NASA and Roscosmos aim to build new space stations on the moon, but not together.</p><p>NASA has established a set of agreements for the new era of lunar exploration, called the Artemis Accords, which 20 other countries signed. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-artemis-accords-deep-space-exploration-moon-mars-asteroids-comets-2020-10">Russia and China</a> have not signed the accords. Instead, they've said they plan to build their own base, together, on the lunar surface.</p><p>"I think there will be international cooperation among like-minded countries, and the addition of Russia to the International Space Station will be seen as an artifact of the politics of a particular time, and not setting a pattern for the future," Logsdon said.</p>

Russia and NASA have been on edge for years. Threats to leave the International Space Station are no surprise.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia said Tuesday that it would end its role in the International Space Station from 2024.</li><li>The decades-long project had been a symbol of US-Russia cooperation, but came under strain recently.</li></ul><p>Russia said Tuesday it will pull out of the International Space Station (ISS), ending decades of cooperation with the US and other spacefaring nations.</p><p>The announcement was made by the agency's head after a discussion with President Vladimir Putin, <a href="https://tass.ru/kosmos/15312529">the Russian state news outlet TASS reported. </a></p><p>It remarks reported by TASS, the head of Russia's Roscosmos agency, Yuri Borisov, said that Russia would fulfil its existing commitments but would do no more.</p><p>The agency had hinted that it may pull out of the ISS earlier this year as relations between Russia and the West tanked in the wake Putin's invasion of Ukraine.</p><p>The decision Tuesday, Borisov said, was final.<a href="https://tass.ru/kosmos/15312529"></a></p><p>Russia will focus its efforts on building its own space station, which it wants to start building in 2024, Borisov said.</p><p>There are currently two manned space stations orbiting the earth: the ISS and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-space-station-nears-completion-sharpens-us-china-space-rivalry-2022-5">Tiangong, China's space station that is nearing completion.</a></p><p>Despite the announcement, Roscosmos has not officially announced its withdrawal to NASA, a senior NASA official said, <a href="https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1551908450866810882?s=20&amp;t=3AXC518S7r46WalDTVLNNg">according to Reuters space reporter Joey Roulette.</a></p><p>The ISS is 24 years old and nearing the end of its life, but <a href="https://www.space.com/how-to-destroy-a-space-station-safely">NASA has previously said it could keep it going until 2030.</a></p><p>Borisov, formerly the prime minister of Russia, <a href="http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/68946">took the lead of Roscosmos on July 15, replacing former director-general Dmitry Rogozin on July 15.</a></p><p>Though Russia has been mulling over pulling out of the ISS for years, tensions between NASA and Roscosmos have been rising over the war in Ukraine.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-exit-international-space-station-economic-sanctions-ukraine-conflict-2022-4">Former Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin predicted in April that Russia would pull out of the ISS</a>, but hinted that the decision could change if Western sanctions were lifted.</p><p>NASA also issued a rare statement condemning the use of the ISS for "for political purposes to support [the] war against Ukraine" after Roscosmos published pictures of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/07/07/nasa-russia-ukraine-space-station-rebuke/">ISS cosmonauts holding flags of the Luhansk People's Republic, a breakaway region in Ukraine that Russia claimed to be protecting by mounting its invasion.</a></p>

Russia says it is pulling out of the International Space Station from 2024, ending decades of collaboration with NASA

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5da733354af9093a3e6f5843-1106/borisov.png" border="0" alt="borisov" data-mce-source="NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)" data-mce-caption="This Hubble image, taken on Oct. 12, 2019, is the sharpest view of the comet 2I/Borisov to date." data-link="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-observes-1st-confirmed-interstellar-comet" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-observes-1st-confirmed-interstellar-comet">NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)</a></span></p><p class="caption">This Hubble image taken October 12, 2019 is the sharpest view of the comet 2I/Borisov to date.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa">NASA</a>'s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/hubble-space-telescope">Hubble Space Telescope</a> has snapped a clear photo of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">the second interstellar visitor ever detected in our solar system</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/image-reveals-second-interstellar-object-comet-tail-2019-9">The comet</a>, called 2I/Borisov, came from an unknown star system. It's hurtling past the sun at 110,000 miles per hour and is expected to pass close to Mars later this month.</li><li>The photos and time-lapse video from Hubble show a halo of dust surrounding the object's unseen core, just like comets from our own solar system. That's very different than the first <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/interstellar-space">interstellar</a> object ever detected, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/oumuamua">'Oumuamua</a>, which was an inactive rock.</li><li>Astronomers worldwide are racing to study 2I/Borisov with other telescopes. More Hubble observations are scheduled for the coming months.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>The second interstellar visitor ever detected is plummeting into our solar system, and NASA's Hubble telescope just snapped a clear photo of it.</p><p>The comet, known as 2I/Borisov, came from another star system, though astronomers don't know exactly where yet. It's named for the amateur astronomer who first spotted it on August 30: Gennady Borisov, who lives in Crimea. Nearly a month later, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) confirmed the object's interstellar origins.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">It's official: The second interstellar visitor ever discovered is about to fly through our solar system</a></em></p><p>The comet is hurtling past the sun at speeds of 110,000 miles per hour, then is expected to fly near Mars this month, passing outside the planet's orbit and getting no closer to Earth than 190 million miles (300 million kilometers).</p><p>2I/Borisov is only the second interstellar object ever found to be passing through our solar system. The first such object, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">mysterious</a> and cigar-shaped <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">'Oumuamua</a> (which a few scientists controversially argued <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">could be alien</a> in origin), sped past Earth at a distance of 15 million miles in October 2017.</p><p>"The main difference from 'Oumuamua and this one is that we got it a long, long time in advance, " <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eso.org%2F%7Eohainaut%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivier Hainaut</a>, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">told Business Insider</a> in September. "Now astronomers are much more prepared."</p><p>NASA turned the lens of its most powerful space telescope, Hubble, toward the comet and snapped the clearest photo of it yet on October 12. The agency released the image on Wednesday. At the time of the photo, 2I/Borisov was 260 million miles from Earth.</p><p>"Whereas 'Oumuamua appeared to be a rock, Borisov is really active, more like a normal comet. It's a puzzle why these two are so different," David Jewitt, the astronomer who led the Hubble team that observed the comet, said in a <a href="https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2019/news-2019-53#section-id-2">press release</a>.</p><h2>2I/Borisov looks like comets from our solar system </h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5da749f3cc4a0a7ab475205d-2000/c2019q4 skitch.jpg" border="0" alt="interstellar comet C 2019 Q4 skitch" data-mce-source="Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA/Composite image by Travis Rector" data-link="https://www.gemini.edu/node/21240" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gemini.edu/node/21240">Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA/Composite image by Travis Rector</a></span></p><p class="caption">Gemini Observatory's two-color composite image of 2I/Borisov (called C/2019 Q4 at the time), in September 2019. Blue and red dashes are background stars that appear to streak as the comet moves.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The new image reveals a concentration of dust surrounding the comet's core, though the core itself is too small for Hubble to see. NASA has <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2019-185">estimated</a> that the core is between 1.2 and 10 miles (2 and 16 kilometers) in diameter. </p><p>That dust halo is characteristic of comets - they hold ice that gets heated up by nearby stars, leading them to shoot out gas and grit into space. The dust could make 2I/Borisov simpler to track than 'Oumuamua, since dust brightly reflects sunlight.</p><p>The Hubble team also shared a time-lapse video clip (below) of the comet; the footage spans seven hours of observations, which is why stars are streaked across the background.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5da73ad4cc4a0a625a644932-1148/borisov gif.gif" border="0" alt="borisov gif" data-mce-source="NASA, ESA and J. DePasquale (STScI)" data-mce-caption="Hubble reveals a central concentration of dust around the comet's unseen nucleus." data-link="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-observes-1st-confirmed-interstellar-comet" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-observes-1st-confirmed-interstellar-comet">NASA, ESA and J. DePasquale (STScI)</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Hubble image reveals a central concentration of dust around the comet's unseen nucleus.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Observations of 2I/Borisov could tell astronomers about the structure and chemistry of the materials that form in whichever star system the object came from. So far, it looks a lot like the comets from our own solar system. </p><p>"Though another star system could be quite different from our own, the fact that the comet's properties appear to be very similar to those of the solar system's building blocks is very remarkable," Amaya Moro-Martin, an astronomer at the Space Telescope <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> Institute, said in the release.</p><h2>Astronomers will watch the interstellar object with as many telescopes as possible</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ac3456325c48d2f008b47ea-2000/hubble space telescope nasa.jpg" border="0" alt="Hubble Space Telescope NASA" data-mce-source="NASA/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="NASA's Hubble Space Telescope." /><p class="source"><span>NASA/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">NASA's Hubble Space Telescope orbits Earth.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>More Hubble observations of the comet are scheduled through January 2020, and astronomers have submitted proposals for even more after that.</p><p>"New comets are always unpredictable," Max Mutchler, another member of the Hubble team, said in the release. "They sometimes brighten suddenly or even begin to fragment as they are exposed to the intense heat of the sun for the first time. Hubble is poised to monitor whatever happens next with its superior sensitivity and resolution."</p><p>Meanwhile, astronomers are grabbing observation time with every other available telescope, including what Hainaut called the "big guys," like the Very Large Telescope in Chile.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5da743dbcc4a0a70ed03b1d2-2000/thumb15-potw1036a.jpeg" border="0" alt="Very Large Telescope four lasers 5" data-mce-source="ESO" data-mce-caption="The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile." /><p class="source"><span>ESO</span></p><p class="caption">The Very Large Telescope is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Astronomers expect 2I/Borisov to be brightest in mid-December, when it will get closest to the sun. Mid-sized telescopes should be able to keep observing it until April 2020. After that, larger, more sophisticated telescopes can continue watching it until October 2020, when it will fade back into interstellar space.</p><p>Overall, the fact that 2I/Borisov was detected just two years after 'Oumuamua suggests that interstellar visitors may be far more common than scientists previously thought. A recent <a href="https://news.yale.edu/2019/09/26/get-ready-more-interstellar-objects-yale-astronomers-say">study</a> found that a few such large objects likely enter our solar system every year, along with hundreds more small objects that are harder to detect.</p><p>Each new object that astronomers identify can teach us something new about other star systems.</p><p>"Here we have something that was born around another star and traveling toward us," Hainaut said. "It's the next best thing to sending a probe to a different solar system."</p><p><em>Dave Mosher contributed reporting to this story.</em></p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-scientists-oumuamua-interstellar-object-alien-spacecraft-solar-sail-2018-11">Why Harvard scientists think this interstellar object might be an alien spacecraft</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/vUc4wG0y-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

NASA's Hubble space telescope just took incredible photos of a visiting comet from another star system

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-to-build-moon-station-five-years-lunar-soil-bricks-2023-4">China</a>, the US, and Russia are all <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">aiming for the moon</a> as they develop <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-plans-three-moon-missions-after-discovering-new-lunar-mineral-2022-9">new space missions</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-luna-25-crash-land-on-moon-2023-8">Russia</a> was a major contender in the first space race, but now it can't even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-india-moon-landing-cost-cheap-compared-to-nasa-russia-2023-8">land a robot on the moon</a>.</li></ul><p>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-china-race-to-the-moon-photos-launches-2022-11">new space race</a> is on. China, Russia, and the US (with its international allies) are all plotting huge new moonshots.</p><p>The US and its allies have a lunar roadmap, while Russia and China are teaming up on their own plan. But both partnerships aim to build permanent, astronaut-staffed bases on the lunar surface and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/moon-mining-space-race-helium-metals-india-chandrayaan-russia-luna-2023-8">mine the moon's resources</a> to help rocket people to Mars.</p><div type="image" title="moon astronauts artemis" height="2160" width="3840" msid="103310404" hostid="261" sizebytes="672158"></div><p>But in the "lunar gold rush," in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronauts-cannot-wear-axiom-black-spacesuit-on-moon-2023-3">NASA's</a> <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/the-lunar-gold-rush-how-moon-mining-could-work">words</a>, Russia isn't as daunting a competitor as it once was.</p><p>In the first space race, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/soviet-satellite-chinese-rocket-might-crash-in-space-2020-10">Soviet Union</a> sent the first satellite and the first humans into Earth's orbit, nailed the first-ever soft landing on the moon, and completed a total of seven successful lunar landings.</p><p>But the new Russia, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, hasn't <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">been to the moon</a> at all. In fact, it just failed its first attempt at a lunar landing since 1976.</p><div type="image" title="surface of moon grey rocky cratered with luna 25 spacecraft piece visible in upper left corner" height="1500" width="2000" msid="103310408" hostid="261" sizebytes="224372"></div><p>Even before that failure, public statements from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-bill-nelson-warns-china-claim-moon-territory-lunar-resources-2023-1">NASA's chief</a> indicated that he saw China, not Russia, as a competitor for lunar territory.</p><p>"We better watch out that they don't get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, 'Keep out, we're here, this is our territory,'" Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator, previously told <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/01/we-better-watch-out-nasa-boss-sounds-alarm-on-chinese-moon-ambitions-00075803">Politico</a>.</p><p>Indeed, in recent years China has successfully landed robotic moon missions, as well as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-space-station-nears-completion-sharpens-us-china-space-rivalry-2022-5">completed its own small space station</a> in Earth's orbit and flown astronauts to and from it. The nation seems to be making steady progress toward its space goals, which include sending humans to the moon and Mars, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/science/china-space-moon-mars.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a> has reported.</p><div type="image" title="China rover dark side of the moon" height="1800" width="1800" msid="103310412" hostid="261" sizebytes="96290"></div><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-inspector-satellite-chasing-secret-us-military-satellite-cat-mouse-2023-4">Russia</a>, meanwhile, is floundering. Photos of the space efforts of the US, China, and Russia reveal how far behind the former space power has fallen.</p><h2>NASA photographed the Russian moon lander's likely crash site</h2><p>The uncrewed Luna-25 lander was supposed to touch down in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-scientist-microbial-life-hiding-on-moon-south-pole-2023-6">the moon's south pole region</a>.</p><div type="image" title="rocket launching into cloudy blue skies" height="1500" width="1999" msid="103310415" hostid="261" sizebytes="142642"></div><p>That would have made Russia the first country to reach the area, which is rich in water-ice and therefore a key strategic position in the race for lunar territory. Such a momentous first would have asserted Russia as a considerable competitor in the great return to the moon.</p><p>But instead, on August 20, the spacecraft mis-fired its engines, pushed itself onto an unplanned path, and "ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface," according to a Google translation of the mission <a href="https://iki.cosmos.ru/missions/luna-25">webpage</a>.</p><p>Three days later, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-moon-rover-to-collect-first-samples-lunar-south-pole-2023-8">India stuck the landing with its own robot</a> and claimed first nation to the moon's south-pole region.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-moon-crater-could-be-russia-luna-25-crash-site-2023-9">NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted what may be the gravesite of Luna-25</a>. Its photos, below, reveal a new crater that probably came from the Russian lander crashing into the moon.</p><div type="image" title="gif alternating between two images of the grey rocky lunar surface showing the appearance of a new crater" height="1300" width="1300" msid="103310417" hostid="261" sizebytes="123556"></div><h2>NASA and China have both flown successful moon missions recently</h2><p>The kickoff stages of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-launching-artemis-mega-rocket-orion-spaceship-around-the-moon-2022-8">NASA's new moon program, called Artemis</a>, are in full swing. The agency built fresh hardware — a new rocket called the Space Launch System and its new Orion spaceship — and flew it around the moon for the first time last year.</p><div type="image" title="spaceship with nasa logo in black space with moon and earth in distance" height="1536" width="2048" msid="103310420" hostid="261" sizebytes="98922"></div><p>NASA is on track to add humans on the next flight. Then, on a third flight, NASA plans to offload the astronauts onto a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-russia-space-chief-elon-musk-spacex-rivalry-tweets-2022-3">SpaceX</a> Starship, which should lower them to the surface of the moon for the first human landing there since 1972. </p><p>China's space agency, the China National Space Administration, isn't flying human-rated spacecraft around the moon yet. But it currently has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-cube-discovered-by-chinese-rover-is-just-a-rock-2022-1">a rover on the far side of the moon</a>, and one of its moon missions brought lunar samples to Earth in 2020.</p><div type="image" title="shiny golden orb with tiny rocks inside hangs in a blue box on display" height="1500" width="1999" msid="103310422" hostid="261" sizebytes="114892"></div><p>Further, NASA and China both <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-to-attempt-mars-rover-landing-2021-5">landed rovers on Mars</a> in 2021. Russia is far behind after its moon crash.</p><div type="image" title="china mars rover zhurong" height="1800" width="2400" msid="103310424" hostid="261" sizebytes="162656"></div><p>"The consequences of the Luna-25 catastrophe are enormous," Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, told the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-moon-luna25-spacecraft-mission-33c9884c907998f06bf9562be6d47445" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AP</a>.</p><p>"It raises doubts about Russia's claims of a great power status in the eyes of the global community. Many would decide that Russia can't fulfill its ambitions either in Ukraine or on the moon because it lives not by its modest current capability but rather fantasies about its great past," he said.</p><h2>The US and China are innovating, while Russia's space tech ages</h2><div type="image" title="orange space launch system rocket stands upright against blue sky" height="1666" width="2222" msid="103310427" hostid="261" sizebytes="98384"></div><p>After the Luna-25 failure, Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov acknowledged that the new space race is not like the old one.</p><p>"We have to essentially master all the technologies all over again — of course, at a new technical level," Borisov told Russian state media, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/22/world/russia-luna-25-chandrayaan-3-global-space-race-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>.</p><p>So far, that doesn't seem to be happening. Russia's launch systems date back to the 1960s and have started to show their age with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/soyuz-capsule-leak-russia-possible-rescue-mission-3-astronauts-space-station">leaks</a> and other issues in recent years.</p><div type="image" title="two giant green scaffolded arms raise up toward a standing rocket to support it with blue sky in the background" height="1439" width="1919" msid="103310429" hostid="261" sizebytes="164206"></div><p>With all this in mind, Ars Technica's space editor, Eric Berger, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/08/putin-wanted-to-make-russia-great-again-in-space-heres-why-he-failed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dubbed</a> the Luna-25 failure a "death knell" for President Vladimir Putin's civil space program. Berger cited other underlying issues that are stifling Russia's space ambitions, like budget cuts, quality control, and corruption.</p><p>Meanwhile, China has built its own space station, developed spaceships to take astronauts there, and nursed a thriving landscape of space startup companies, one of which recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-beats-spacex-blue-origin-orbit-methane-rocket-2023-7">launched the world's first methane-fueled rocket</a> to orbit.</p><div type="image" title="China said it's sending a new batch of astronauts in the coming days to space station Tiangong as it nears completion. Here, students watch a televised lecture by three astronauts currently on Tiangong on March 23, 2022." height="2490" width="3320" msid="103310430" hostid="261" sizebytes="440974"></div><p>In the US, NASA is working with an array of private companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, to upgrade everything from rockets and spaceships to moon landers and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-evaluating-proposals-for-private-space-stations-2021-9">space stations</a>.</p><h2>More and more, Russia is on its own</h2><p>The European Space Agency was originally a collaborator on the Luna-25 mission, providing a camera for landing operations. But ESA backed out after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, asking Roscosmos to remove the camera from the spacecraft and saying it would not participate in the ensuing missions, Luna-26 and Luna-27.</p><p>Western sanctions have harmed Russia's space program in other ways, limiting its access to high-quality microchips, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-moon-luna25-spacecraft-mission-33c9884c907998f06bf9562be6d47445" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AP</a> reported.</p><p>So far, Russia's attempt to prove its 21st-century deep-space prowess has fallen short.</p><p>As Victoria Samson, the Washington office director for the Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes peaceful space exploration, told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/22/world/russia-luna-25-chandrayaan-3-global-space-race-scn/index.html">CNN</a>: "Russia's Cold War legacy will be just that — a legacy — unless they can actually do this themselves."</p>

Russia dominated the first space race, but now it can't even land on the moon. Photos show the US and China are way ahead.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>India made history Wednesday as the first nation to land a spacecraft on the moon's south pole.</li><li>Days earlier, Russia's space agency said "the race for the development of the natural resources of the moon has begun."</li></ul><p>"To the moon" is no longer a rallying call just for the crypto crowds, as a global race to explore the celestial body heats up.</p><p>On Wednesday, India made history as the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-india-attempt-first-ever-moon-landing-2023-8#:~:text=India%20on%20Wednesday%20achieved%20a,south%20pole%20of%20the%20moon.">first nation to land a spacecraft</a> on the moon's south pole, an unexplored region of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-scientist-microbial-life-hiding-on-moon-south-pole-2023-6">icy craters</a> and minerals. </p><p>The Chandrayaan-3 mission was India's second attempt, and its success stood in stark contrast to the failures of other countries in reaching the pole. Just days prior to the touchdown, Russia's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-space-program-in-decline-china-leaping-forward-us-intel-2023-4">Luna-25 vessel</a> crash landed when approaching the surface.</p><p>Despite Russia's botched mission, Yury Borisov, chief of the state space agency, said that returning to the moon was a matter of national interest. </p><p>"This is about ensuring defensive capabilities and achieving technological sovereignty," he told Russia-24. "Today, it is also of a practical value because, of course, the race for the development of the natural resources of the moon has begun."</p><p>China and the US are also competitors in this lunar race, as the two nations share similar plans to reach the south pole, which is said to be rich in water.</p><p>Water could be a source of fuel for spacecraft, allowing the moon to act as a layover for missions to Mars and other areas of deep space. Water would also be necessary for any people living on a future colony. </p><p>Other resources on the moon could make mining lucrative. Estimates of the value of the moon's commodities range widely.</p><p>In 2015, NASA said the moon holds "<a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/the-lunar-gold-rush-how-moon-mining-could-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hundreds of billions of dollars</a>" of untapped resources, calling it a potential "lunar gold rush."</p><p>In addition to water, NASA pointed to helium-3, which could be used in nuclear fusion. It also noted rare earth metals like lanthanides, scandium, and yttrium, which are used in electronics and mostly produced in China.</p><p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10879023/Who-snap-piece-multi-quadrillion-pound-moon-pie.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimates cited in the Daily Mail</a> last year valued the moon's water at more than $200 billion, its helium at $1.5 quadrillion, and its metals at $2.5 trillion. Besides the rare earths, other minerals include basalt, iron, quartz, silicon, platinum, palladium, rhodium, and titanium.</p><p>The moon isn't the only celestial body loaded with lucrative elements. A 173-mile-wide asteroid known as 16 Psyche is thought to be made up of gold, iron, and nickel. The ore on the asteroid has been <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/asteroid-psyche-iron-nickel-gold-nasa-10-quintillion-metals-spacex-2023-7">estimated to be worth about $10 quintillion</a>. Another asteroid, Davida, is thought to be worth $27 quintillion.</p><p>The 2015 US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act gives companies the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-mining-company-earth-startups-raw-materials-cobalt-gold-platinum-2021-3?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets" rel="">legal right to the materials mined</a> in space. And firms have already sprung up to test technology that could theoretically make this work.</p>

The race to the moon is heating up as lunar resources could top $1 quadrillion in value

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-fires-russias-space-chief-dmitry-rogozin-who-trolled-elon-musk-2022-7">Russia's top space official</a> says the country will <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-pull-iss-2024-build-own-space-station-roscosmos-putin-2022-7">leave the International Space Station after 2024</a>.</li><li>The Russian sections of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/8-unforgettable-moments-on-the-international-space-station-2022-7">ISS</a> will have an "avalanche" of technical failures around that time, he said.</li></ul><p>The director of Russia's space program has warned that chaos in the cosmos awaits when Russia leaves the International Space Station after 2024.</p><p>That's when Roscosmos director Yuri Borisov expects an "avalanche" of technical failures aboard the ISS due to its aging hardware, according to a <a href="https://www.roscosmos.ru/38035/">statement</a> published on the website of Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, on Friday.</p><p>"If we talk about the timing of the termination of Russia's participation in the ISS project, we announced that we intend to do this not from 2024, but after 2024," Borisov said, according to a Google translation of his statement. "Based on the opinion of our strength engineers, reliability specialists, who predict that after 2024, avalanche-like processes are possible due to the failure of various equipment in the ISS modules."</p><div type="image" title="astronaut mark vande hei and cosmonaut pyotr dubrov use computer on space station" height="1666" width="2222" msid="93222484" hostid="261" sizebytes="392222"></div><p>Borisov added that Russia could exit the ISS in the middle of 2024, when the nation's commitment on the station expires, or even closer to 2025.</p><p>NASA expects to continue operating the ISS through 2030, despite technical issues accelerating in recent years.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cracks-on-space-station-serious-former-nasa-astronaut-2021-9#:~:text=Former%20NASA%20astronaut%20Bill%20Shepherd,and%20there%20are%20probably%20more.">Cracks</a> have appeared on Russia's segment of the station. In 2020, <a href="https://balthazarkorab.com/2020/10/10/toilet-breaks-in-russian-module-on-iss/">a toilet on the segment went bust</a>, <a href="https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Temperature_Increasing_on_Russian_Zvezda_Module_as_Air_Continues_to_Leak_From_ISS_999.html">temperatures mysteriously increased</a>, and an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/international-space-station-oxygen-supply-system-failure-2020-10">oxygen-supply system broke down</a>. In September 2019, the Zvezda module, which provides living quarters for the cosmonauts, started leaking air.</p><div type="image" title="international space station above blue earth clouds" height="1733" width="2311" msid="93222485" hostid="261" sizebytes="445282"></div><p>With such problems accelerating, Borisov said it would be more economical for Russia to invest in building a new station.</p><p>"Today, the time that our cosmonauts, including American astronauts, spend on searching for possible malfunctions and eliminating them, begins to exceed all reasonable limits," Borisov added. "This is done at the expense of scientific research. When you spend time on recovery, it does not remain for scientific programs," he said.</p><p>After facing global sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, in early 2022, Russia announced that it would <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-stopping-rocket-engine-sales-to-us-due-to-sanctions-2022-3">stop selling rocket engines</a> to the US. It has also halted scientific collaboration with Germany onboard the ISS.</p>

Russian space official predicts 'avalanche' of technical failures on the International Space Station after 2024

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6358826" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Russia">Russia</keyword> could leave the International <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">Space</keyword> Station as soon as 2025, its deputy prime minister said.</li><li>Roscosmos, Russia's NASA equivalent, aims to launch its own space station by 2030.</li><li>Such a move could end a decades-long relationship in space that survived political strains on Earth.</li></ul><p>Russia could quit the International Space Station to focus on its ambition to launch a space station of its own by 2030, Russian officials said.</p><p>Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov raised the prospect of Russia leaving in a Sunday interview with state TV, <a href="https://tass.com/science/1279547">reported in English by the TASS newswire</a>.</p><p>Per TASS, Borisov did not commit to leaving, but noted that Russia's existing commitment only extends to the end of 2024, and that Russia was not happy with the current condition of the <keyword id="6416825" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ISS">ISS</keyword>.</p><p>Russia has been involved in the ISS, contributing equipment and astronauts, since its launch in 1998. The ISS is the only space station with people on board.</p><p>A few days after, on Wednesday, the head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency spoke of an independent Russian space station being in operation by 2030, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/apr/22/russia-well-leave-international-space-station-and-build-our-own">the Guardian</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a1518565-e643-42ae-a650-02e9c3bdd657">the Financial Times</a>.</p><p>The first module for the Russian space station <a href="https://tass.com/science/1280385">will be ready by 2025, Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, has said</a>. </p><p>The agency is said to be awaiting final approval from President Vladimir Putin to proceed. Reports in Russian media have differed as to how likely this is to come.</p><p>In 2020, the ISS celebrated <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-space-station-is-about-celebrate-20-years-human-presence-2020-10">20 years of continuous human occupation</a>, even though engineers gave it a 15 year life expectancy. The space station is starting to show signs of age, with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-space-station-is-about-celebrate-20-years-human-presence-2020-10">broken toilets and air leaks</a>.  </p><p>A Russian cosmonaut who returned to Earth from the Space Station on April 17 said that <a href="https://tass.com/science/1279993">there is no reason to leave the ISS</a>.</p><p>The "station's condition is quite good," Sergei Ryzhikov <a href="https://tass.com/science/1279993">said in an interview</a>.</p><p>The continuation of the collaboration after 2024 will hinge on a technical inspection, Rogozin <a href="https://tass.com/science/1279547">said at a press briefing</a>.</p><p>He pushed back on the suggestion that a Russian departure would be abrupt. "We are talking about our gradual exit from this project," he said on Facebook in reply to a user comment, <a href="https://tass.com/science/1280385">TASS reported</a>.</p><p>If it happens, a Russian departure would be a blow to decades of US-Russia collaboration in space. Russia and the US, along with other partners, have collaborated to keep the space station operational since 1998.</p><p>It has been a bastion of international cooperation between the two nations since <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo-soyuz/index.html">their collaboration on the Apollo-Soyuz Test project in the 70s.</a></p><p>Separation between the two nations' space programs has been increasing over the past couple of years.</p><p>Earlier this year, Russia signed a deal with China to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-china-sign-memorandum-on-lunar-research-station-2021-3">build a space station on the Moon</a>, after <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a1518565-e643-42ae-a650-02e9c3bdd657">rebuffing NASA's plan to return to the moon</a>. </p><p>Rogozin had previously <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/12/21512712/nasa-roscosmos-russia-dmitry-rogozin-artemis-moon-interntational-cooperation">criticised the US plan</a> as too "US-centric" and a "departure of our American partners from the principles of cooperation and mutual support that developed during cooperation on the ISS," <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/12/21512712/nasa-roscosmos-russia-dmitry-rogozin-artemis-moon-interntational-cooperation">The Verge reported</a>. </p><p>China and Russia also refused to sign the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-artemis-accords-deep-space-exploration-moon-mars-asteroids-comets-2020-10">Artemis Accords</a>, a US-drawn agreement that aims to govern the rules of space exploration.</p>

Russia threatens to abandon the International Space Station and build its own

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6358826" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Russia">Russia</keyword> is building a nuclear-powered <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword>craft that can transport heavy cargo in deep space.</li><li>The spacecraft is scheduled to launch on a mission to <keyword id="34757" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jupiter">Jupiter</keyword> in 2030.</li><li>Russia eventually hopes to build a nuclear-powered space station using similar technology.</li></ul><p>Russia is planning to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to the <keyword id="42440" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Moon">moon</keyword>, then <keyword id="6436894" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="venus">Venus</keyword>, then Jupiter.</p><p><keyword id="184775" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Roscosmos">Roscosmos</keyword>, Russia's federal space agency, <a href="https://tass.com/science/1292721/amp">announced Saturday</a> that its "space tug" - the term for a spacecraft that transports astronauts or equipment from one orbit to another -  is scheduled to launch on an interplanetary mission in 2030.</p><p>The spacecraft's energy module, named "Zeus," is designed to generate enough power to propel heavy cargo through deep space. It's essentially a mobile nuclear-power plant.</p><p>Several countries have their eyes on similar technology as a way to shorten trips in space. Right now, spacecraft rely on solar power or gravity to accelerate. But that means it could take more than three years for astronauts to conduct a round-trip visit to Mars. NASA estimates that a nuclear-powered spacecraft could <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/nuclear-propulsion-could-help-get-humans-to-mars-faster">shave a year off that timeline</a>.</p><p>The US hopes to put a nuclear-power plant - a 10-kilowatt reactor integrated with a lunar lander - on the moon as early as 2027. So far, however, NASA has only sent one nuclear reactor to space, on a satellite in 1965. Other spacecraft, like the Mars Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, are also nuclear-powered, but they don't use a reactor.</p><p>Russia, meanwhile, has put more than 30 reactors in space. It's "Zeus" module would advance those efforts by using a 500-kilowatt nuclear reactor to propel itself from one planet to the next, <a href="https://sputniknews.com/russia/202105221082968626-russias-roscosmos-shows-design-of-future-nuclear-powered-spacecraft/">according to Russian state news agency Sputnik</a>.</p><p>The mission plan calls for the spacecraft to approach the moon first, then head toward Venus, where it can use the planet's gravity to shift directions toward its final destination, Jupiter. That would help conserve propellant. </p><p>The entire mission would last 50 months (a little over four years), according to Alexander Bloshenko, Roscosmos' executive director for long-term programs and <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>. During a presentation in Moscow on Saturday, Bloshenko said Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences are still working to calculate the flight's ballistics, or trajectory, as well as the amount of weight it can carry.</p><p>The mission may ultimately be a precursor to a new frontier of Russian spaceflight: Sputnik <a href="https://sputniknews.com/russia/202105221082968626-russias-roscosmos-shows-design-of-future-nuclear-powered-spacecraft/">reported</a> that Russia is designing a space station that uses the same nuclear-powered technology. </p><h2>Nuclear energy has advantages over solar power in space</h2><div type="image" title="nuclear thermal propulsion nasa" height="846" width="1502" msid="82954080" hostid="261"></div><p>Most spacecraft get their energy from a few sources: the sun, batteries, or unstable atoms called radioisotopes.</p><p>NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter, for instance, uses solar panels to generate electricity. Solar power can also be used to charge batteries in a spacecraft, but the energy source becomes less potent as a spacecraft gets farther from the sun. In other cases, lithium batteries can help power shorter missions on their own. The Huygens probe, for instance, used batteries to briefly land on Saturn's moon, Titan, in 2005.</p><p>NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft use radioisotopes (sometimes called "nuclear batteries") to survive the harsh environments of the outer solar system and interstellar space, but that's not the same as bringing a nuclear reactor on board.</p><p>Nuclear reactors offer several advantages: They can survive cold, dark regions of the solar system without requiring sunlight. They're also reliable for long periods of time - the "Zeus" nuclear reactor is designed to last 10 to 12 years. Plus, they can propel spacecraft to other planets in less time.</p><p>But <keyword id="43462" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nuclear-power">nuclear power</keyword> has its challenges, too. Only certain types of fuel, like highly enriched uranium, can withstand a reactor's extremely high temperatures - and they may not be the safe to use. In December, the US prohibited the use of highly enriched uranium to propel objects into space if a mission is possible with other nuclear fuel or non-nuclear power sources. </p><h2>Russia is gearing up for a nuclear-powered space station</h2><div type="image" title="Soyuz MS 17 .JPG" height="2258" width="2937" msid="82954083" hostid="261"></div><p>Russian engineers began developing the "Zeus" module in 2010 with the goal of sending it to orbit within two decades. They're on track to meet that mark.</p><p>Engineers started manufacturing and testing a prototype in 2018, Sputnik <a href="https://sputniknews.com/science/202001281078164545-russian-space-agency-confirms-plans-to-launch-nuclear-powered-space-tug-by-2030/">reported</a>. Roscosmos also <a href="https://sputniknews.com/russia/202012111081431355-russia-begins-development-of-nuclear-tug-for-flights-to-moon-jupiter-venus/">signed a contract</a> last year worth <a href="https://sputniknews.com/russia/202012111081431355-russia-begins-development-of-nuclear-tug-for-flights-to-moon-jupiter-venus/">4.2 billion rubles ($57.5 million)</a> that put Arsenal, a design company based in St. Petersburg, in charge of a preliminary design.</p><p>The technology could aid Russia's efforts to develop a new space station by 2025. The BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56812294">reported last month</a> that Russia plans to cut ties with the International Space Station - which it shares with the US, Japan, Europe, and Canada - that year.</p><p>Russia launched the ISS in partnership with the US in 1998. But Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/04/russia-mulls-withdrawing-international-space-station-after-2024">told the state TV channel Russia 1 last month</a> that the ISS's condition "leaves much to be desired." Indeed, the station has recently experienced air leaks and a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/international-space-station-oxygen-supply-system-failure-2020-10">breakdown of its oxygen-supply system</a>.</p><p>NASA has cleared the ISS to fly <a href="https://www.space.com/how-to-destroy-a-space-station-safely">until at least 2028</a>, but the agency will likely <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-station-getting-old-companies-making-new-versions-2020-11#:~:text=The%20ISS%20is%20getting%20old,life%20expectancy%20of%2015%20years.&amp;text=%22I%20think%20it's%20an%20incredibly,a%20press%20call%20last%20month.20month.">deorbit the station</a> in the next 10 to 15 years.</p>

Russia plans to launch a nuclear-powered spacecraft that can travel from the moon to Jupiter

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d7fafd92e22af1bd85ea7ed-2000/c2019q4.jpg" border="0" alt="C_2019_Q4" data-mce-source="Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA" data-mce-caption="Gemini Observatory two-color composite image of C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) which is the first interstellar comet ever identified. This image was obtained using the Gemini North Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) from Hawaii's Maunakea. Blue and red dashes are images of background stars which appear to streak due to the motion of the comet. Composite image by Travis Rector." data-link="https://www.gemini.edu/node/21240" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gemini.edu/node/21240">Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA</a></span></p><p class="caption">Gemini Observatory's two-color composite image of C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), which is likely the first interstellar comet ever identified. Blue and red dashes are background stars that appear to streak as the comet moves.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Astronomers have likely <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">detected an interstellar object</a> approaching our solar system - only the second time such an object has been observed.</li><li>A new image provides the clearest picture we have so far of the object, called C/2019 Q4.</li><li>The photo shows a cloud of dust surrounding the object and a tail of gas trailing behind it, confirming that the likely interstellar visitor is a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rosetta-comet-67p-timelapse-video-dust-stars-2018-4">comet</a>.</li><li>Telescope observations have provided more evidence that the comet came from another star system, according to a study that's not yet peer-reviewed.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>The Gemini Observatory in Hawai'i has captured a new and revealing image of a mysterious object that's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">likely the first interstellar comet</a> humans have ever detected.</p><p>The comet, called C/2019 Q4, appears to be streaking towards our solar system from an unknown origin point in another star system.</p><p>Astronomers pointed a Gemini telescope, located on top of the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawai'i, at the object on September 10. Astronomers in Spain also leveraged the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma to get a glimpse.</p><p>Together, the telescopes revealed a fuzzy haze of dust surrounding the object, as well as a "faint, broad tail" of gas trailing behind it, according to a team of researchers in Poland who analyzed the observations. These are two "canonical signatures" of a comet, they said.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong></em><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">NASA says a new comet is likely an 'interstellar visitor' from another star system - the second ever detected</a></em></p><p>The findings were made available online in the repository <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.05851">arXiv</a>, but have not yet been peer-reviewed. However, they serve as additional evidence that the comet does indeed have interstellar origins. </p><p>"Both orbital and morphological properties of this body show that this is the first certain case of an interstellar comet," the study authors wrote.</p><h2>Scientists are trying to confirm that C/2019 Q4 comes from another star system</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d7fcea52e22af256411e573-889/gemini north.jpg" border="0" alt="gemini north" data-mce-source="Gemini Observatory/AURA/Joy Pollard" data-mce-caption="Gemini North (foreground) and the Canada-France-Hawai'i Telescope domes in the pre-dawn twilight, with the Milky Way arching overhead near the summit of Mauna Kea. Gemini North is part of the international community of observatories built to take advantage of the superb atmospheric conditions on this long dormant volcano." data-link="http://www.gemini.edu/gallery/media/gemini-north-under-milky-bow" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.gemini.edu/gallery/media/gemini-north-under-milky-bow">Gemini Observatory/AURA/Joy Pollard</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Gemini North (foreground) and Canada-France-Hawai'i Telescope in the pre-dawn twilight, with the Milky Way arching overhead, near the summit of Mauna Kea.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Gennady Borisov, an amateur astronomer in Crimea, first spotted C/2019 Q4 in the sky on August 30. Since then, astronomers worldwide have been trying to determine whether the comet has an orbit that's elliptical (oval-shaped and around the sun) or hyperbolic (checkmark-shaped, and on an open-ended trajectory).</p><p>It seems much more likely that its path is hyperbolic, though more observations are required to know for sure. In particular, astronomers are trying to ascertain C/2019 Q4's eccentricity, or how extreme its orbit is. </p><p>"The error indicates it's still possible that's within the solar system," <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eso.org%2F%7Eohainaut%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivier Hainaut</a>, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">previously</a> told Business Insider. "But that error is decreasing as we get more and more data, and the eccentricity is looking interstellar."</p><p>If the measure of eccentricity is smaller than 1, Hainaut said, that indicates an object from within our solar system. If it's larger, that suggests it's an interstellar object. The researchers behind the Gemini observations say their data shows an eccentricity of at least 3.</p><h2>This object is different than 'Oumuamua</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5baa8772ea40026e608b4568-899/oumuamua-interstellar-comet-asteroid-object-esa-hubble-nasa-eso-m-kornmesser.jpg" border="0" alt="oumuamua interstellar comet asteroid object esa hubble nasa eso m kornmesser" data-mce-source="ESA/Hubble; NASA; ESO; M. Kornmesser" data-mce-caption="An artist's depiction of interstellar object 'Oumuamua, which astronomers believe is a comet (not an asteroid)." data-link="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/06/Artist_impression_of_Oumuamua" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/06/Artist_impression_of_Oumuamua">ESA/Hubble; NASA; ESO; M. Kornmesser</a></span></p><p class="caption">An artist's depiction of interstellar object 'Oumuamua.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The first interstellar object ever detected, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">mysterious</a> and cigar-shaped <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">'Oumuamua</a>, zoomed through our solar system in 2017. </p><p>'Oumuamua did not exhibit the comet-like traits of C/2019 Q4. In fact, 'Oumuamua didn't look at all like the kind of interstellar object scientists had expected to see. That led some to argue that it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">may have been alien</a> in origin, though that's highly unlikely.</p><p>This new comet seems to be more in line with scientists' expectations about objects from other star systems.</p><p>"The discovery of this object indicates that interstellar comets might be common and creates a tremendous opportunity to study the first such object in detail," the study authors wrote.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomer-discovered-interstellar-black-hole-2016-12">Astronomers think they've just discovered an 'Interstellar' black hole</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/SJhsBkd3-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

A new image of a mysterious object careening toward our solar system strongly suggests it's the first comet from another star system

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d794a102e22af02163dcc48-1248/interstellar-object-candidate-gb00234-map-orbit-illustration-solar-system-gravity-orbitalsimulator-orbital-simulator.png" border="0" alt="interstellar object comet candidate gb00234 map orbit illustration solar system gravity orbitalsimulator orbital simulator" data-mce-source="OrbitalSimulator.com" data-mce-caption="Astronomers think object gb00234 could be an interstellar object, such as a comet from another star system. This rough simulation shows the object's possible orbital path (green) through the solar system, passing between the orbits of Jupiter (purple) and Mars (orange)." data-link="http://orbitsimulator.com/gravitySimulatorCloud/simulations/1568147419153_gb00234.html" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://orbitsimulator.com/gravitySimulatorCloud/simulations/1568147419153_gb00234.html">OrbitalSimulator.com</a></span></p><p class="caption">Astronomers think object C/2019 Q4 (green line) could be an interstellar object, perhaps a comet from another star system.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Astronomers think they've detected an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-civilizations-may-have-already-colonized-galaxy-study-2019-8">interstellar object</a> approaching our solar system.</li><li>Called "C/2019 Q4" (formerly "gb00234"), the object appears to be following a path originating from outside the solar system. It may pass near Mars in October.</li><li>This would be only the second interstellar object ever observed in our solar system. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-not-alien-spacecraft-study-2019-7">first such visitor</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/oumuamua">'Oumuamua</a>, took scientists by surprise in 2017. This time, they're getting ready to watch C/2019 Q4 with "everything" they can, one astronomer said.</li><li>If C/2019 Q4 is indeed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">interstellar</a>, scientists should be able to study the object until it grows too dim to see in early 2021.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Astronomers may have spotted the second object ever to visit our solar system from another star system. The object may even fly near Mars later this year, though it's still far away.</p><p>The scientists' hunch is strong but not yet certain: Right now, the chances are much higher that the object, known as "C/2019 Q4" (formerly "gb00234"), is interstellar, rather than an asteroid or comet from within the solar system.</p><p>The first such interstellar object ever detected - the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">mysterious</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">controversial</a> cigar-shaped space rock '<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">Oumuamua</a> - zoomed through our solar system in 2017.</p><p>Amateur Ukrainian astronomer Gennady Borisov may have been the first to spot C/2019 Q4 in the sky on August 30. It hasn't yet entered our solar system, but astronomers have been collecting data in hopes of plotting the object's path through space and figuring out where it came from.</p><p>"It's so exciting, we're basically looking away from all of our other projects right now," <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eso.org%2F%7Eohainaut%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivier Hainaut</a>, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory, told Business Insider on Wednesday. Hainaut was part of a global team of astronomers that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0254-4/">studied</a> 'Oumuamua as it passed through the solar system two years ago.</p><p>"The main difference from 'Oumuamua and this one is that we got it a long, long time in advance, " he added. "Now astronomers are much more prepared."</p><p>Early images suggest C/2019 Q4 is followed by a small tail or halo of dust. That's a distinct trait of comets - they hold ice that gets heated up by nearby stars, which leads them to shoot out gas and grit into space. The dust could make C/2019 Q4 simpler to track than 'Oumuamua, since dust brightly reflects sunlight.</p><p>This could also allow scientists to more easily study the object's composition, since telescope instruments can "taste" light to look for chemical signatures. </p><p>"Here we have something that was born around another star and traveling toward us. It's the next-best thing to sending a probe to a different solar system," Hainaut said.</p><h2>Astronomers are preparing to watch the object with as many telescopes as possible</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57695a48dd0895aa298b4aaf-2000/thumb15-potw1036a.jpeg" border="0" alt="Very Large Telescope four lasers 5" data-mce-source="ESO" data-mce-caption="The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile." /><p class="source"><span>ESO</span></p><p class="caption">The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Astronomers around the globe are grabbing every telescope available to plot C/2019 Q4's path through space. The goal: See if the object has an orbit that's elliptical (oval-shaped and around the sun) or hyperbolic (checkmark-shaped, and on an open-ended trajectory).</p><p>As of now, it seems much more likely that its path is hyperbolic, though astronomers say more observations are required to know for sure. In particular, they're trying to ascertain C/2019 Q4's eccentricity, or how extreme its orbit is.</p><p>"The error indicates it's still possible that's within the solar system," Hainaut said. "But that error is decreasing as we get more and more data, and the eccentricity is looking interstellar."</p><p>The object's seemingly high velocity and its comet-like shroud of dust also tilt the scales toward interstellar, Hainaut added.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d794a732e22af02382350a5-800/interstellar-object-candidate-gb00234-map-orbit-illustration-solar-system-gravity-orbitalsimulator-orbital-simulator-labeled.png" border="0" alt="interstellar object comet candidate gb00234 map orbit illustration solar system gravity orbitalsimulator orbital simulator labeled" data-mce-source="OrbitalSimulator.com" data-mce-caption="Astronomers think object gb00234 could be an interstellar object, such as a comet from another star system." data-link="http://orbitsimulator.com/gravitySimulatorCloud/simulations/1568147419153_gb00234.html" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://orbitsimulator.com/gravitySimulatorCloud/simulations/1568147419153_gb00234.html">OrbitalSimulator.com</a></span></p><p class="caption">This rough simulation shows C/2019 Q4's possible orbital path (green) through the solar system. It may pass between the orbits of Jupiter (purple) and Mars (orange) in late October.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"It could be a few days or a few weeks before we have enough data to definitively say. But even with the very best data, we may need more," he said. "It's frustrating."</p><p>When 'Oumuamua sped past Earth at a distance of just 15 million miles in October 2017, astronomers had no idea it was coming.</p><p>"We had to scramble for telescope time," Hainaut said. "This time, we're ready."</p><p>If it's interstellar, C/2019 Q4 would reach its closest point to the sun at the end of December, and scientists should be able to observe it through about January 2021.</p><p>Hainaut and his colleagues have some smaller telescopes queued up for observations, but he said he'd like to use "everything" to observe C/2019 Q4. His team is trying to get time on the "big guys": the Very Large Telescope in Chile, the Keck Observatory, the Gemini telescope in Hawaii, and more.</p><p>He said one colleague is also "polishing a proposal" to have the Hubble Space Telescope take a look, while other teammates are seeking the use of NASA's two infrared space telescopes: Spitzer and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explore (WISE).</p><h2>Scientists remain cautious about C/2019 Q4's identity, though</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5baa872291ff6de45f8b4568-1280/oumuamua-interstellar-comet-asteroid-object-esa-hubble-nasa-eso-m-kornmesser.jpg" border="0" alt="oumuamua interstellar comet asteroid object esa hubble nasa eso m kornmesser" data-mce-source="ESA/Hubble; NASA; ESO; M. Kornmesser" data-mce-caption="An artist's depiction of interstellar object 'Oumuamua, which astronomers believe is a comet (not an asteroid)." data-link="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/06/Artist_impression_of_Oumuamua" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/06/Artist_impression_of_Oumuamua">ESA/Hubble; NASA; ESO; M. Kornmesser</a></span></p><p class="caption">An artist's depiction of interstellar object 'Oumuamua.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Although many astronomers are excited about C/2019 Q4, more work has to be done to confirm it as interstellar.</p><p>"This is not the first object since 2017/1I, better known as ʻOumuamua, to show a hyperbolic orbit," Michele Bannister, a planetary astronomer at Queen's University Belfast, <a href="https://twitter.com/astrokiwi/status/1171724557952200706" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> on Wednesday.</p><p>Bannister noted that, with such limited observations, an object that appears to be interstellar orbit can turn out to have an orbit within our solar system.</p><p>"Sometimes, we just have to wait for the motion of the heavens. And make more observations," she <a href="https://twitter.com/astrokiwi/status/1171727224212545541" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.</p><p>Those observations aren't easy, Hainaut said, due to C/2019 Q4's position relative to the sun - there's a very limited window of time before dawn when astronomers can see it.</p><p>"It's hard to see, but we have the best guys doing astrometry, trying to measure its position in the sky," he said. "It could be a few days or a few weeks before we have enough data to definitively say."</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">Mysterious space objects like 'Oumuamua will visit our solar system again. Scientists may intercept the next one with a robotic probe.</a></em></p><p>If C/2019 Q4 does turn out to be a second interstellar object, that would bode well for a proposed mission Hainaut is working on to send robotic probes into space to intercept future objects like this.</p><p>"One of the main issues is: How many of these are they? If we detect one every century, it's hard to plan a mission to intercept one," he said.</p><p>If these objects come every couple of years, on the other hand, astronomers might even be able to get choosy about which object to intercept.</p><p>"This suggests we can afford to wait one or two or three years to get the right one, and maybe not the first one we spot after organizing a mission," Hainaut said.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-scientists-oumuamua-interstellar-object-alien-spacecraft-solar-sail-2018-11">Why Harvard scientists think this interstellar object might be an alien spacecraft</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/vUc4wG0y-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

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