Elizabeth Howell is the senior writer at Universe Today. She also works for Space.com, Space Exploration Network, the NASA Lunar Science Institute, NASA Astrobiology Magazine and LiveScience, among others. Career highlights include watching three shuttle launches, and going on a two-week simulated Mars expedition in rural Utah. You can follow her on Twitter @howellspace or contact her at her website.
Artist's impression of the MESSENGER spacecraft, with Mercury in the background. Credit: JHUAPL
If all goes well — and there’s no guarantee of this — NASA’s venerable Mercury sentinel may have an extra month of life left in it before it goes on a death plunge to the planet’s surface. Managers think they have found a way to stretch its fuel to allow the spacecraft to fly until April, measuring the planet’s magnetic field before falling forever.
Success will partially depend on a maneuver that will take place on Jan. 21, when MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) will raise its minimum altitude. But moreover, pushing the impact back to April will be the first extended test of using helium as a propellant in hydrazine thrusters, components that were not actually designed to get this done. But the team says it is possible, albeit less efficiently.
“Typically, when … liquid propellant is completely exhausted, a spacecraft can no longer make adjustments to its trajectory,” stated Dan O’Shaughnessy, a mission systems engineer with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
“However, gaseous helium was used to pressurize MESSENGER’s propellant tanks, and this gas can be exploited to continue to make small adjustments to the trajectory.”
A crater on Mercury at the edge of the larger Oskison crater located in the plains north of Caloris basin. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
However long the mission does end up lasting, MESSENGER has shown us some unexpected things about the planet that is closest to the Sun. Turns out that water ice likely lies in some of the shadowed craters on its surface. And that organics, which were possibly delivered to Earth via comets and asteroids, are also on Mercury.
Atmospheric changes have been seen in the tenuous gases surrounding Mercury, showing a definite influence from the nearby Sun. And even the magnetic field lines on the planet are influenced by charged particles from our closest star.
And with MESSENGER viewing the planet from close-up, NASA and Johns Hopkins hope to learn more about volcanic flows, how crater walls are structured, and other features that you can see on the airless planet. Despite a 10-year mission and more than three years orbiting Mercury, it’s clear from MESSENGER that there is so much more to learn.
A raw shot from the front hazcam of NASA's Opportunity rover taken on Sol 3757, on Aug. 19, 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Feel like visiting a dwarf planet today? How about a comet or the planet Mars? Luckily for us, there are sentinels across the Solar System bringing us incredible images, allowing us to browse the photos and follow in the footsteps of these machines. And yes, there are even a few lucky humans taking pictures above Earth as well.
Below — not necessarily in any order — are some of the best space photos of 2014. You’ll catch glimpses of Pluto and Ceres (big destinations of 2015) and of course Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (for a mission that began close-up operations in 2014 and will continue next year.) Enjoy!
The Philae that could! The lander photographed during its descent by Rosetta. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for Rosetta Team/The Aurora Borealis seen from the International Space Station on June 28, 2014, taken by astronaut Reid Wiseman. Credit: Reid Wiseman/NASA.NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover captures a selfie to mark a full Martian year — 687 Earth days — spent exploring the Red Planet. Curiosity Self-Portrait was taken at the ‘Windjana’ Drilling Site in April and May 2014 using the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the roboic arm. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSThis global map of Dione, a moon of Saturn, shows dark red in the trailing hemisphere, which is due to radiation and charged particles from Saturn’s intense magnetic environment. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science InstituteComet Siding Spring shines in ultraviolet in this image obtained by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. Credit: Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics/University of Colorado; NASAThis “movie” of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon b yNASA’s New Horizons spacecraft taken in July 2014 clearly shows that the barycenter -center of mass of the two bodies – resides outside (between) both bodies. The 12 images that make up the movie were taken by the spacecraft’s best telescopic camera – the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) – at distances ranging from about 267 million to 262 million miles (429 million to 422 million kilometers). Charon is orbiting approximately 11,200 miles (about 18,000 kilometers) above Pluto’s surface. (Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took this image of a “circular feature” estimated to be 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) in diameter. Picture released in December 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of ArizonaJets of gas and dust are seen escaping comet 67P/C-G on September 26 in this four-image mosaic. Click to enlarge. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAMCeres as seen from the Earth-based Hubble Space Telescope in 2004 (left) and with the Dawn spacecraft in 2014 as it approached the dwarf planet. Hubble Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Parker (Southwest Research Institute), P. Thomas (Cornell University), L. McFadden (University of Maryland, College Park), and M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI). Dawn Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA. Photo Combination: Elizabeth Howell
Jupiter's Europa passes in front of fellow moon Io in this sequence of images taken from the Gemini North observatory Dec. 16, 2014. Credit: Gemini Observatory
On Christmas Eve, as millions upon millions of people focused on wrapping gifts and getting ready for the holidays, an amateur astronomer gave a small gift to the world. The person turned a telescope and camera to Jupiter and caught volcanic Io going across the face of the gas giant. This happened just a few days after professional astronomers caught a rare eclipse involving that very same moon.
“I wish I had been able to go on for longer but Jupiter went behind the house just before the transit ended. The transit is 102 frames (306 captures in total, RGB separate). Seeing was rather poor and a small amount of dew formed resulting in reduced brightness and contrast in some parts of the GIF,” wrote Reddit user IKYLSP.
“Something rather interesting with this one is the brief appearance of Ganymede from behind the planet’s shadow just before it’s eclipsed by the planet. If you zoom in you can actually see it as a half-moon shape which is really awesome.”
Jupiter’s moon Europa passes in front of Io in this picture captured from the Gemini North observatory on Dec. 16, 2014. Credit: Gemini Observatory
Speaking of half-moons, check out another awesome animation of Io taken from the Gemini North observatory on Dec. 16. Here, you can see icy Europa passing in front of the volcanic moon from the telescope’s perspective. Here’s part of what the observatory wrote about the rare event:
Observations of Jupiter’s volcanically active moon Io, obtained that night as part of a program led by Katherine de Kleer of UC Berkeley to watch for volcanic outbursts, revealed an unusual event involving Io and another large jovian moon, Europa. According to de Kleer, the images captured an occultation event in which Europa briefly blocked some of the light from Io, “…giving Io a very un-Io-like appearance!” These sorts of events occur when we observe the moons’ orbits edge-on, and can occasionally view the moons passing in front of one another.
And below you can see individual frames from the eclipse.
Jupiter’s Europa passes in front of fellow moon Io in this sequence of images taken from the Gemini North observatory Dec. 16, 2014. Credit: Gemini Observatory
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield in the Cupola of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/CSA
While the world was enchanted with Chris Hadfield’s social media posts last year, a new video has the retired astronaut talking about loftier things. Say, for example, how humanity landed a camera on the Saturn moon Titan back in 2005. Or to be more practical, the fact that smallpox was eradicated in its naturally occurring form.
In his talks and books, Hadfield describes himself as one who never focuses on complaining. He was almost yanked from his command of the International Space Station due to a medical issue, but he pressed on and convinced the doctors to let him fly. And in this new video, he focuses on what humans do generally to make the world better — imperfect as it is.
“There are problems with everything, and nothing’s perfect, but that shouldn’t be cause to moan. That should be cause to achieve. Our world is a better place than we often claim it to be,” Hadfield said. “We live the way we do,” he added, “because people chose to tackle their problems, head on.”
The video appears to have a heavy emphasis on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a gigantic philanthropic network that works to improve lives in the developing world and also for the disadvantaged in the United States. But there are many ways to give back to your community, even through gestures as simple as volunteering.
Here are some examples in the space world (note that these aren’t necessarily endorsements for the organizations, but just ideas for making contributions in space and astronomy):
Cosmoquest, which runs online astronomy courses and also allows citizens to map extraterrestrial bodies right alongside astronomers.
Astronomers Without Borders brings astronomy education across the world, particularly to developing countries.
Uwingu says that half of its donations goes to grants to support learning in astronomy.
Other examples of space-y charity could include volunteering or donating to a local school or university, joining one of the numerous volunteer organizations in astronomy, or getting involved in a space advocacy group.
Vertical structures cause shadows on Saturn's B ring in this August 2009 picture from the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
From a distance, Saturn’s rings look like a sheer sheet, but peer up close and you can see that impression is a mistake. Shadows from rubble believed to be two miles (3.2 kilometers) high are throwing shadows upon the planet’s B ring in this image from the Cassini spacecraft.
While the picture is from 2009, it caught the eye of the lead of the Cassini imaging team, who wrote eloquently about it in a blog post recently celebrating the link between wonder and the holidays.
“I have often thought: What a surreal sight this would be if you were flying low across the rings in a shuttle craft. To your eyes, the rings would seem like a gleaming white, scored, gravelly sheet below you, extending nearly to infinity,” wrote Carolyn Porco, the lead imager for the mission at the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPS).
“And as you flew, you would see in the distance a wall of rubble that, eventually, as it neared, you would come to realize towered two miles above your head. There isn’t another sight like it in the Solar System!”
A 2007 artist impression of the aggregates of icy particles that form the ‘solid’ portions of Saturn’s rings. These elongated clumps are continually forming and dispersing. The largest particles are a few metres across.They clump together to form elongated, curved aggregates, continually forming and dispersing. Credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Colorado
Besides the inherent beauty and delicacy of this picture, another notable feature is how hard it is to capture. According to CICLOPS, one can only take this photo during Saturn’s equinox — once every 15 years in Earth time! That’s because the angle of the Sun’s light reaches the plane of the rings, allowing shadows to fall. The area itself is likely filled with moonlets of a kilometer (0.62 miles) in size.
“It is possible that these bodies significantly affect the ring material streaming past them and force the particles upward, in a ‘splashing’ manner,” the CICLOPS website notes.
We’ve included more pictures of Saturn’s rings below, all taken from the Cassini spacecraft. The machine is healthy and working hard after about 10.5 years working at the planet. One of its major tasks now is to observe changes in the planet and particularly its large moon, Titan, as the system nears the solstice.
Saturn’s rings. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.Enceladus and Tethys hang below Saturn’s rings in this image from the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSRaw Cassini image of Titan and Enceladus backdropped by Saturn’s rings. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science InstituteA close look at Enceladus, with Saturn’s rings in the background. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science InstituteThe Cassini spacecraft looks close at Saturn to frame a view encompassing the entire C ring. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSIRaw image of Saturn’s rings. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science InstituteRhea poses with Saturn’s rings; Janus and Prometheus are off in the distance. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Click for larger versionSpokes visible in Saturn’s B ring. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science InstituteLooming vertical structures, seen here for the first time and created by Saturn’s moon Daphnis, rise above the planet’s otherwise flat, thin disk of rings to cast long shadows in this Cassini image. Credit: CICLOPS
Images from the Rosetta spacecraft show Philae drifting across the surface of its target comet during landing Nov. 12, 2014. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
It seems a lot of the space stories of this year involve spacecraft making journeys: bouncing across a comet, or making their way to Mars. Private companies also figure prominently, both in terms of successes and prominent failures.
These are Universe Today’s picks for the top space stories of the year. Disagree? Think we forgot something? Let us know in the comments.
10. End of Venus Express
Artist’s impression of Venus Express performing aerobreaking maneuvers in the planet’s atmosphere in June and July 2014. Credit: ESA–C. Carreau
This month saw the end of Venus Express’ eight-year mission at the planet, which happened after the spacecraft made a daring plunge into part of the atmosphere to learn more about its properties. The spacecraft survived the aerobraking maneuvers, but ran out of fuel after a few engine burns to raise it higher. Soon it will plunge into the atmosphere for good. But it was a productive mission overall, with discoveries ranging from a slowing rotation to mysterious “glories”.
9. Continued discoveries by Curiosity and Opportunity
1 Martian Year on Mars! Curiosity treks to Mount Sharp in this photo mosaic view captured on Sol 669, June 24, 2014. Navcam camera raw images stitched and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Methane? Organics? Water? Mars appears to have had these substances in abundance over its history. Continued work from the Curiosity rover — passing its second Earth year on Mars — found methane fluctuating in Gale Crater, and the first confirmed discovery of organics on the Martian surface. Opportunity is almost 11 years into its mission and battling memory problems, but the rover is still on the move (passing 41 kilometers) to an area that could be full of clay.
8. Siding Spring at Mars and the level of study of the comet by other missions at Mars
Comet Siding Spring near Mars in a composite image by the Hubble Space Telescope, capturing their positions between Oct. 18 8:06 a.m. EDT (12:06 p.m. UTC) and Oct. 19 11:17 p.m. EDT (Oct. 20, 3:17 a.m. UTC). Credit: NASA, ESA, PSI, JHU/APL, STScI/AURA
We had a rare opportunity to watch a comet make a grazing pass by Mars, not close enough to pose significant danger to spacecraft, but definitely close enough to affect its atmosphere! Siding Spring caught everyone’s attention throughout the year, and did not disappoint. The numerous spacecraft at the Red Planet caught glimpses, including from the surface and from orbit. It likely created a meteor shower and could alter the Martian atmosphere forever.
7. Kepler K2
Illustration of the Kepler spacecraft (NASA/Kepler mission/Wendy Stenzel)
The Kepler space telescope lost the second of its four pointing devices last year, requiring a major rethink for the veteran planet hunter. The solution was a new mission called K2 that uses the pressure of the Sun to maintain the spacecraft’s direction, although it has to flip every 83 days or so to a new location to avoid the star’s glare. It’s not as precise as before, but with the mission approved we now know for sure K2 can locate exoplanets. The first confirmed one is a super-Earth.
6. MAVEN at Mars
An artist’s conception of MAVEN orbiting Mars. Image Credit: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center
Where did the Martian atmosphere go? Why was it so thick in the past, allowing water to flow on the surface, and so thin right now? The prevailing theory is that the Sun’s pressure on the Martian atmosphere pushed lighter isotopes (such as that of hydrogen) away from the planet, leaving heavier isotopes behind. NASA is now investigating this in more detail with MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution), which arrived at the planet this fall.
5. India’s MOM
Artist’s impression of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). Credit ISRO
India made history this year as only the third entity to successfully reach the Red Planet (after the United States and Europe). While updates from the Mars Orbiter Mission have been slow in recent weeks, we know for sure that it observed Siding Spring at Mars and it has been diligently taking pictures of the Red Planet, such as this one of the Solar System’s largest volcano and a huge canyon on Mars.
4. Accidents by Virgin and Orbital
NTSB investigators are seen making their initial inspection of debris from the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo. The debris field stresses over a fiver mile range in the Mojave desert. (Credit: Getty Images)
In one sobering week in October, the dangers of space travel were again made clear after incidents affected Virgin Galactic and Orbital Sciences. Virgin lost a pilot and seriously injured another when something went seriously awry during a flight test. Investigators have so far determined that the re-entry system turned on prematurely, but more details are being determined. Orbital meanwhile suffered the catastrophic loss of one of its Antares rockets, perhaps due to Soviet-era-designed engines, but the company is looking at other ways to fulfill its NASA contractual obligations to send cargo to the International Space Station.
3. SpaceX rocket landing attempts
The Falcon 9 rocket with landing legs in SpaceX’s hangar at Cape Canaveral, Fl, preparing to launch Dragon to the space station this Sunday March 30. Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX is attempting a daunting technological feat, which is bringing back its rocket first stages for re-use. The company is hoping that this will cut down on the costs of launch in the long term, but this technological innovation will take some time. The Falcon 9 rocket stage that made it back to the ocean in July was deemed a success, although the force of the landing broke it apart. Next, SpaceX is trying to place its rocket on an ocean platform.
2. Orion flight
Orion Service Module fairing separation. Credit: NASA TV
NASA’s spacecraft for deep space exploration (Orion) successfully finished its first major uncrewed test this month, when it rode into orbit, made a high-speed re-entry and successfully splashed down in the ocean. But it’s going to be a while before Orion flies again, likely in 2017 or even 2018. NASA hopes to put a crew on this spacecraft type in the 2020s, potentially for trips to the Moon, an asteroid or (more distantly) Mars.
1. Rosetta
New Rosetta mission findings do not exclude comets as a source of water in and on the Earth’s crust but does indicate comets were a minor contribution. A four-image mosaic comprises images taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera on 7 December from a distance of 19.7 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (Credit: ESA/Rosetta/Navcam Imager)
It’s been an exciting year for the Rosetta mission. First it woke up from a lengthy hibernation, then it discovered that Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko looks a bit like a rubber duckie, and then it got up close and released the Philae lander. The soft touchdown did not go as planned, to say the least, as the spacecraft bounced for two hours and then came to rest in a spot without a lot of sunlight. While Philae hibernates and controllers hope it wakes up again in a few months, however, science results are already showing intriguing things. For example, water delivered to Earth likely came mostly from other sources than comets.
Taking the Chinese Yutu rover out for a spin on the Moon. The mission began in December 2013. Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
It’s been just over a year since China wowed the world with the first soft Moon landing in almost 40 years. The Chang’e-3 robotic lander made it all the way to Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on Dec. 14, 2013, quickly deploying the Yutu rover for a spin.
Mission updates have been sparse in recent months, but the Planetary Society and a forum on Unmanned Spaceflight recently pointed out a new image archive. These pictures are so high-definition, it’s almost as good as being on the Moon beside the rover.
While some of the images are familiar to followers of the mission, what makes the image archive stick out is how high-definition many of them are.
China’s Yutu rover scoots around on the Moon in this undated photo. The mission began in December 2013. Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
A few great shots have been sent back from the surface, including a set from January that was combined into a 360-degree panorama by Marco Di Lorenzo and Universe Today’s Ken Kremer. But this archive contains a wealth of them.
The lander/rover team made it to the surface last year equipped with high-definition video cameras, prepared to catch some of the first new views of the lunar surface from close up since the Apollo robotic/human and Soviet robotic moon landing era of the 1960s and 1970s.
Chang’e-3 viewed from the Yutu lunar rover. The mission began in December 2013. Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shortly before Yutu entered a planned hibernation for its second lunar night (about two weeks on Earth) in January, a technical problem was reported that was later identified as a problem with its solar panel.
A “control circuit malfunction”, according to the Xinhua news agency, left the rover at risk of not waking up after that second hibernation. The mast it controlled was supposed to lower and protect some of the rover’s sensitive electronics. Yutu survived the night, but was left unable to move through the third lunar day.
According to the Planetary Society (based on Chinese news media reports), there are no current status updates for Yutu, but Chang’e-3 is still working a year after the landing.
The Yutu rover leaves the Chang’e-3 lunar lander in December 2013. Credit: Chinese Academy of SciencesThe Chang’e-3 mission’s view of lunar rocks. The mission began in December 2013. Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
A diver tests out a spacesuit in NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston in December 2014. Credit: Zugzwang5 (imgur)
If you’ve spent any length of time underwater, you appreciate just how much drag it creates on your limbs — especially if you’re wearing a little clothing or carrying around diving equipment. Now, try to imagine using a pressurized spacesuit in that environment. You’re already puffed up like a balloon and have the drag to contend with.
Few of us will get that experience — NASA won’t let just anybody try on an expensive suit — but luckily for us, a person saying he is a diver (identifying himself only as Zugzwang5) posted about the experience on Reddit. The pictures alone are incredible, but the insights the diver provides show just how tough an astronaut has to be to get ready for spacewalking.
Using the spacesuit compared to a wetsuit, wrote Zugzwang 5 on Reddit, was “incredibly cumbersome”. He says he’s a contracted diver for Oceaneering working at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, which has a model of the International Space Station in a huge pool for astronauts to practice spacewalking. Usually he’s inside a wetsuit, but the spacesuit was a completely different experience, he said.
There’s so much resistance from the suit and the water every motion takes tremendous effort. You might not guess it from my pictures, but I’m actually pretty fit, and I was exhausted by the end of the day. The hardest thing to get used to was moving up and down in the water column. I’ve been diving so long controlling my buoyancy is basically a force of will at this point, having to actually crawl and direct myself up and down was such a weird feeling.
A diver at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston tries out a spacesuit during a practice dive in December 2014. Credit: Zugzwang 5/imgur
Near the end of the marathon session, the diver had to bring back a simulated “incapacitated” astronaut to the airlock underwater, which he wrote was an extremely difficult task — especially while so tired.
So, for a real astronaut to pass their final evaluation they have to do a flawless incapacitated crew member rescue. this is actually very difficult as safely manipulating another suit is even more tiring and cumbersome than just moving your own. not only that but the airlock is very small, and safely (using proper tether technique) hooking someone else up into it is a surprisingly complex procedure where you have zero extra space to work with. Thirty minutes usually ends up being hardly enough time for the new guys, and even a vet will take more than 20.
An artist concept of the view from an airship orbiting Venus. Credit: NASA Langley HAVOC team.
Venus presents a special challenge to space explorers. Yes, there is a surface, but hellish temperatures and atmospheric pressure on the surface of Venus has a tendency to crush spacecraft fairly quickly. Short of building a submarine-rated surface explorer, maybe there’s a better way to look at the hothouse planet? A newly proposed NASA concept suggests using airships. Yes, airships with people in them.
But as you will see below, balloons and airships have been discussed extensively in the past decade by NASA and the Europeans as the best way of exploring Venus without needing to touch its hellish surface.
Venus may seem nothing but a distraction to an agency that is talking about exploring Mars in the 2030s (with Orion’s recent uncrewed test being the first advertised step of that, although critics say it won’t get us to the Red Planet). Leaving that aside, however, exploring Venus by balloon is not a new idea at all, even within NASA. The backers of the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) even argue we should head to Venus before Mars, as one of the co-leads recently told Universe Today.
“A human mission to Venus is not on a lot of people’s radar, but we’ve really enjoyed working on the concepts for this mission,” said Langley’s Chris Jones, project co-lead, in an interview with Universe Today’s Nancy Atkinson. “This was an internal study: what does the future of humankind in space look like? Frankly, we see Venus as potentially no later than the second planetary destination that humans might go to, after Mars or even before Mars.”
Artist’s conception of the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) mission, a far-out concept being developed by NASA, approaching the planet. Credit: NASA Langley Research Center/YouTube (screenshot)
Why? Jones explained that because it takes a shorter time to get to Venus, that makes it a “stepping stone or practice run” to get humans to Mars. “The best would be a long lived surface lander, but technology issues for surface robotic missions are pretty significant, and a human mission to surface is nearly insurmountable. What’s left is a good platform for a science mission at mid-level altitudes, and it paints a good picture for a human mission in the atmosphere at 50 kilometers.”
The proposed flight profile of the HAVOC airship at Venus. Credit: Space Mission Analysis Branch, NASA Langley Research Center.
The clouds of Venus, Jones said, present an ideal spot for humans to roam from a spacecraft. The conditions at 50 kilometers (31 miles) above the surface are about the same pressure and atmosphere as Earth.
“Air itself is a lifting gas at those altitudes,” he added, “so you don’t have to bring some ridiculous supply of helium for this to work. And the rest of the environmental parameters at 50 kilometers are actually quite nice: the gravity is about the same as on Earth’s surface, the atmospheric pressure is about the same as Earth, and we can potentially manufacture a significant amount of that air by processing carbon dioxide. These are some of the facts we saw early on that inspired us to do this.”
There also would be more solar power and protection from radiation than Mars, and the temperature — although fairly hot — would be possible to account for fairly easily in spacecraft designs.
Jones provided some details on how the crew would spend about 30 days exploring the planet after a journey there and back (440 days total). Bear in mind that the mission is just in the early stages of even thinking about development. Cost, timeline, approvals and many other hurdles would need to be overcome before it could even become a reality.
Details of the proposed HAVOC airship mission to Venus. Credit: Space Mission Analysis Branch, NASA Langley Research Center.
“The big parameters of Venus’ atmosphere is the big longitudinal winds,” Jones said. “If you just rode them, it would take you about 110 hours to circle the planet. The other component of winds would push you towards the poles. In order to stay near the equator where there is less turbulence, the airship would ride the longitudinal winds while using a propulsion system to counter those winds pushing you towards the poles.”
The concept arose from science objectives for the planet out of NASA’s Venus Exploration Analysis Group, Jones said, whose aims include understanding the atmosphere and its interaction with the surface. NASA’s Langley Research Center also has human objectives they considered, such as showing how people can work in deep space and develop advanced technologies to accomplish that.
The proposed Venus exploration plan for HAVOC. Credit: Space Mission Analysis Branch, NASA Langley Research Center.
The HAVOC mission would start with a series of phased exploration sorties. The first phase would be examining the Venusian atmosphere with a robotic mission, and the second would be crewed ride to orbit that would include deploying an uncrewed robotic airship in the atmosphere.
The third phase is the 30-day mission described above, while the fourth phase could potentially be as long as a year. If it gets to a Phase 5, that would be a “permanent presence in Venus’ atmosphere”, Jones said.
A size comparison of ships for the proposed HAVOC mission to Venus. Credit: Space Mission Analysis Branch, NASA Langley Research Center.
Of note: balloons have been discussed before within NASA, particularly by Venus exploration advocate Geoffrey Landis of NASA Glenn, and Jones told Universe Today that this new team found much inspiration from Landis’ previous work.
Universe Today interviewed Landis in 2008 about missions he proposed about human-colony airships and uncrewed solar-powered airplanes. And in this 2010 study, he suggested three ideas for exploring the surface using uncrewed low-altitude balloons. One would skim the clouds around 25 kilometers (15.6 miles) and two other concepts (more rigid, naturally), would fly about 5 kilometers (3 miles) high. This was presented at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics meeting that year.
The remaining core of the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC), a far-out mission being developed by NASA, in this artist’s concept. Credit: NASA Langley Research Center/YouTube (screenshot)
“A notable advantage of the carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus is that this allows a much wider range of lifting gasses for a balloon; not merely the hydrogen or helium usually used for terrestrial balloons,” Landis wrote in the paper. “Oxygen and nitrogen, in fact, are lifting gasses in the Venus atmosphere (although not good ones). At the altitudes considered, two other lifting gasses are water (which is a gas at the temperatures considered) and ammonia.”
Landis was also not deterred by harsh surface conditions. While Venus’ surface is difficult — its 480 Celsius (900 Fahrenheit) thick atmosphere destroyed the Soviet Venera probes in minutes — he’s secured early-stage NASA funding for a robotic landsailing rover concept nicknamed “Zephyr”. “Sailing on Venus! How cool is that? The project will have an exceptional public engagement factor,” the description page for the Venus Landsailing Rover reads.
In a nutshell, Glenn has created electronics that can continue to function in temperatures similar to what are found on the surface. Simulations also show that solar cells would work, albeit at reduced efficiency. Hence the idea to use a heavily-reinforced landsail to take advantage of Venus’ 100-times-more-pressure-than-Earth atmosphere at the surface. Wind speeds are less than a meter of second, but have terrific force behind them. And at least some of Venus appears to be flat, with rocks only a centimeter thick in pictures from Venera.
Artist’s concept for a landsail rover on Mars, based on an idea by NASA’s Geoffrey Landis. Credit: NASA
Balloons have also been considered by the European Space Agency, particularly in the form of an uncrewed Venus Entry Probe discussed in detail in this presentation by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. It would include a Low Venus Orbiter that would map the planet to complement closer-to-ground measurements, a Venus Relay Satellite that would send information from the balloon, and the “aerobot” itself.
“The aerobot consists of a long-duration balloon and gondola … that will analyze the Venusian middle cloud layer at an altitude of ~55 km, where the environment is relatively benign. The balloon will deploy a swarm of active ‘ballast’ micro-sondes, which, once deployed, will determine vertical profiles of the lower atmosphere,” the presentation reads. More detailed information is available from this 2004 ESA workshop presentation by Surrey and this ESA webpage, which says the study was completed in 2005.
Students have even explored Venusian balloon ideas, such as in the 2014 Summer School Alpbach cosponsored by the European Space Agency. An uncrewed idea called EvolVe suggests a joint orbiter and balloon mission to see how tectonic activity and volcanoes affected the surface of Venus, among other scientific goals. The balloon would hover in the same general region, about 50 to 60 km (31 miles to 37 miles), and probe the surface using radar and other tools. It’s one of two concepts selected for further investigation that could lead to a science conference presentation and/or science journal publication.
A mosaic of images of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko taken from the Rosetta spacecraft Dec. 14. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Remember how breathless we felt when the Philae lander actually made it to the surface of its target comet a few weeks ago? Sure, the maneuvers didn’t go as planned, but the images the spacecraft obtained in its brief spurts of activity on the surface are still being shared and discussed eagerly by scientists (amid a controversial image release policy, to be sure.)
Well, the truck delivery for Philae — the Rosetta spacecraft, still doing maneuvers above — is going to do something special in February. The machine is going to scoot down real close to the comet, just before heating from the Sun could make it dangerous to do so due to gas and dust emissions.
The plan is to bring Rosetta to an astounding four miles (six kilometers) above Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, so close that the images sent back to Earth will have a resolution of just a few inches per pixel. Scientists hope to learn more about how reflective the comet is and also to better understand how gas is emitted as 67P draws close to the Sun.
A mosaic of images of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko taken from the Rosetta spacecraft Dec. 14. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
“As the comet becomes more and more active, it will not be possible to get so close to the comet. So this opportunity is very unique,” stated Matt Taylor, the Rosetta project scientist from the European Space Research and Technology Center, in a NASA press release.
Rosetta’s closest view of the comet previous to this was a six-mile (10 kilometer) mapping orbit that it did for a short time before moving to release the Philae lander. After that, its orbit was expected to range between 20 km and 50 km (12.4 miles and 18.6 miles) through the end of this month.
Philae, meanwhile, made it down to the surface and did manage to send pictures back during its approximately 60 hours of activity, before shutting down due to a lack of sunlight hitting its solar panels. Philae is now wedged in a shady spot on the comet, but it’s possible more sunlight could fall in that area when the comet nears its closest approach to the Sun in 2015, between the orbits of Earth and Mars.
The European Space Agency is saying that about 20% of the mission’s science is expected to flow from Philae (at most), and 80% from Rosetta. Early results from both spacecraft present some intriguing properties about the comet. Based on the ratio of isotopes (types) of hydrogen on the comet, it’s more likely that it was asteroids that delivered water to Earth. Also, Philae was unable to dig very far into the surface, implying that underneath the dust must be something like a thick layer of ice.
A recent Rosetta blog post on the European Space Agency says that the team expects to take a break for the holidays from posting — unless, of course, they manage to track down the Philae lander in pictures. The location of the spacecraft is still unknown, but it’s believed that Rosetta’s high-resolution camera may be able to catch the lander or its glint — coupled with clues Philae’s experiments gave to its location.
