Posted on by Ken Kremer

Robo Trek Debuts … Robonaut 2 Unleashed and joins First Human-Robot Space Crew

For a moment we had 2 @AstroRobonaut. ISS Commander Scott Kelly and Robonaut 2 pose together in the Destiny laboratory module. Credit: ESA/NASA

Star Trek’s Data must be smiling.

One of his kind has finally made it to the High Frontier. The voyages of Robo Trek have begun !

Robonaut 2, or R2, was finally unleashed from his foam lined packing crate by ISS crewmembers Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli on March 15 and attached to a pedestal located inside its new home in the Destiny research module. R2 joins the crew of six human residents as an official member of the ISS crew. See the video above and photos below.

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The fancy shipping crate goes by the acronym SLEEPR, which stands for Structural Launch Enclosure to Effectively Protect Robonaut. R2 had been packed inside since last summer.

Robonaut 2 is the first dexterous humanoid robot in space and was delivered to the International Space Station by Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-133.

”Robonaut is now onboard as the newest member of our crew. We are happy to have him onboard. It’s a real good opportunity to help understand the interface of humans and robotics here in space.” said Coleman. “We want to see what Robonaut can do. Congratulations to the team of engineers [at NASA Johnson Space center] who got him ready to fly.”

ISS Flight Engineer Cady Coleman and Robonaut 2

Discovery blasted off for her historic final mission on Feb. 24 and made history to the end by carrying the first joint Human-Robot crew to space.

The all veteran human crew of Discovery was led by Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey. R2 and SLEEPR were loaded aboard the “Leonardo” storage and logistics module tucked inside the cargo bay of Discovery. Leonardo was berthed at the ISS on March 1 as a new and permanent addition to the pressurized habitable volume of the massive orbiting outpost.

“It feels great to be out of my SLEEPR, even if I can’t stretch out just yet. I can’t wait until I get to start doing some work!” tweeted R2.

The 300-pound R2 was jointly developed in a partnership between NASA and GM at a cost of about $2.5 million. It consists of a head and a torso with two arms and two hands. It was designed with exceptionally dexterous hands and can use the same tools as humans.

ISS Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli and Robonaut 2

R2 will function as an astronaut’s assistant that can work shoulder to shoulder alongside humans and conduct real work, ranging from science experiments to maintenance chores. After further upgrades to accomplish tasks of growing complexity, R2 may one day venture outside the ISS to help spacewalking astronauts.

“It’s a dream come true to fly the robot to the ISS,” said Ron Diftler in an interview at the Kennedy Space Center. Diftler is the R2 project manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

President Obama called the joint Discovery-ISS crew during the STS-133 mission and said he was eager to see R2 inside the ISS and urged the crew to unpack R2 as soon as possible.

“I understand you guys have a new crew member, this R2 robot,” Obama said. “I don’t know whether you guys are putting R2 to work, but he’s getting a lot of attention. That helps inspire some young people when it comes to science and technology.”

Commander Lindsey replied that R2 was still packed in the shipping crate – SLEEPR – and then joked that, “every once in a while we hear some scratching sounds from inside, maybe, you know, ‘let me out, let me out,’ we’re not sure.”

Robonaut 2 is free at last to meet his destiny in space and Voyage to the Stars.

“I don’t have a window in front of me, but maybe the crew will let me look out of the Cupola sometime,” R2 tweeted from the ISS.

Read my earlier Robonaut/STS-133 stories here, here, here and here.

This isn’t an animation or computer graphics.
I’m in space, says Robonaut 2 from inside the Destiny module at the ISS. Credit: NASA
Robonaut 2 unveiled at the ISS.
Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, is pictured in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station.
Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka and Robonaut 2 inside the ISS
R2A waving goodbye.
Robonaut R2A waving goodbye as Robonaut R2B launches into space aboard STS-133 from the Kernnedy Space Center. R2 is the first humanoid robot in space. Credit: Joe Bibby
R2A waving goodbye to twin brother R2B launching aboad Space Shuttle Discovery on Feb 14, 2011. Credit: Joe Bibby
Discovery launched on Feb. 14 with crew of six human astronauts and R2 Robonaut on STS-133 mission.
First joint Human – Robot crew. Credit: Ken Kremer
The twin brother of the R2 Robonaut and their NASA/GM creators at KSC.
Robonaut 2 and the NASA/GM team of scientists and engineers watched the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery and the first joint Human-Robot crew on the STS-133 mission on Feb. 24, 2011 from the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Ken Kremer
Posted on by Jason Rhian

Google Lunar X-Prize’s ‘college team’ gaining steam, attention and support

The Google Lunar X-PRIZE team, Omega Envoy, consists primarily of college students and is working to land a rover on the lunar surface. Image Credit: ESI

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ORLANDO – The Google Lunar X-PRIZE (GLXP) recently announced the 29 official teams that will be vying for the $30 million grand prize. One group in particular stands out amongst the list however – Omega Envoy. This team is comprised primarily by college students from the University of Central Florida, working on engineering and other degrees. However, while they may be relatively young, they have drawn the attention of the media, numerous sponsors, NASA and the space industry.

NASA has inked a deal with the tiny band of potential explorers to purchase data from their spacecraft. The space agency awarded the Innovative Lunar Demonstration Data contract to Omega Envoy. This contract is worth up to $10 million. However, while this contract and the growing list of sponsors is impressive, the feat that the team is trying to accomplish is daunting. What they are attempting to do, only nations have done before.

The GLXP requires that to win, the team must safely land a robot on the lunar surface, have it travel 1,500 feet and send back both images and data to Earth. Given the fact that, to date, only the U.S. and Russia have accomplished this before – this is no small task.

Different views of Omega Envoy's proposed lunar rover. Image Credit: ESI

The Google Lunar X-PRIZE is another effort by the X-PRIZE Foundation. The impetus behind this organization is to accelerate space exploration efforts much in the same way that the Orteig Prize accelerated air travel in the 20th Century. That prize was a paltry (by today’s standards) $25,000 for the first person to fly non-stop from New York to Paris (or vice-versa). Its winner, Charles Lindbergh, would go down in history as one of the most famous aviators of all time. It is with this premise in mind that the X-PRIZE Foundation works to inspire today’s explorers and innovators.

The Omega Envoy team under Earthrise Space Inc., has been growing, gaining experience and the attention of major aerospace players - including NASA. Photo Credit: ESI

For the original Ansari X-PRIZE it took an established (if somewhat outside of the mainstream) aerospace company with years of experience to finally accomplish the objectives laid out. Scaled Composites, renowned for their kit aircraft; successfully sent a manned spacecraft into sub-orbital space, returned safely and then sent the same spacecraft, SpaceShipOne; back into space within the required two weeks.

The non-profit organization that oversees all aspects of Omega Envoy, Earthrise Space Inc. (ESI), works to provide services to private companies, government agencies, as well as educational institutions that currently have the resources to explore space and are looking for low cost products that will accomplish their requirements. They feel that this will enhance the accessibility of technology and increase educational interest amongst the workforce that drives the space.

“Aside from the GLXP, ESI intends to continuously schedule lunar deliveries for scientific payloads and robotics,” said Earthrise Space Institute’s Project Director Ruben Nunez. “Other mission objectives for Omega Envoy entail the visual feedback of a scientific payload that will analyze the lunar terrain.”

This illustration displays what Omega Envoy's lunar lander craft might look like. Image Credit: ESI

Through the Google Lunar X-PRIZE and government contracts such as the contract with NASA, it is hoped that this initiative will enable the creation of a new economic system to support lunar exploration as well as Technology Readiness Level (TRL) advancement of innovative, commercial space systems.

“I am fortunate in that I had the opportunity to witness what Omega Envoy is capable of producing when I field tested their prototype rover during the 2009 FMARS (Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station) Expedition,” said Joseph Palaia 4Frontiers’ Vice President. “There is little doubt in my mind that this team is fully capable of accomplishing the objectives laid out in the GLXP.”

One of the Omega Envoy team members, Joseph Palaia; took a prototype of the rover to be field tested during the 2009 FMARS Expedition. Photo Credit: Joseph Palaia
Posted on by Ken Kremer

NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Delivers Treasure Trove of Data

LOLA data give us three complementary views of the near side of the moon: the topography (left) along with new maps of the surface slope values (middle) and the roughness of the topography (right). All three views are centered on the relatively young impact crater Tycho, with the Orientale basin on the left side. The slope magnitude indicates the steepness of terrain, while roughness indicates the presence of large blocks, both of which are important for surface operations. Lunar topography is the primary measurement being provided, while ancillary datasets are steadily being filled in at the kilometer scale. Credit: NASA/LRO/LOLA Science Team

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NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has completed its initial phase of operations during the exploration phase which lasted one year from Sept. 15, 2009 through Sept. 15, 2010 and has now transitioned to the science phase which will last for several more years depending on the funding available from NASA, fuel reserves and spacecraft health. The exploration phase was in support of NASA’s now cancelled Project Constellation

To mark this occasion NASA released a new data set that includes an overlap of the last data from the exploration phase and the initial measurements from the follow on science mapping and observational phase.

This is the fifth dataset released so far. All the data is accessible at the Planetary Data System (PDS) and the LROC website and includes both the raw data and high level processed information including mosaic maps and images.

LRO was launched on June 18, 2009 atop an Atlas V/Centaur rocket as part of a science satellite duo with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter & Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

After achieving elliptical orbit, LRO underwent a commissioning phase and the orbit was lowered with thruster firings to an approximately circular mapping orbit at about 50 km altitude.

LRO spacecraft (top) protected by gray colored blankets is equipped with 7 science instruments located at upper right side of spacecraft. Payload fairing in background protects the spacecraft during launch and ascent. Credit: Ken Kremer
LRO was equipped with 7 science instruments that delivered more than 192 terabytes of data and with an unprecedented level of detail. Over 41,000 DVDs would be required to hold the new LRO data set.

“The release of such a comprehensive and rich collection of data, maps and images reinforces the tremendous success we have had with LRO in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and with lunar science,” said Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington according to a NASA statement.

The new data set includes a global map produced by the onboard Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) that has a resolution of 100 meters. Working as an armchair astronaut, anyone can zoom in to full resolution with any of the mosaics and go an exploration mission in incredible detail because the mosaics are humongous at 34,748 pixels by 34,748 pixels, or approximately 1.1 gigabytes.

Browse the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Image Gallery here:

The amount of data received so far from LRO equals the combined total of all other NASA’s planetary missions. This is because the moon is nearby and LRO has a dedicated ground station.

Topographic map from LRO data. Credit: NASA

Data from the other LRO instruments is included in the release including visual and infrared brightness, temperatures maps from Diviner; locations of water-ice deposits from the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) especially in the permanently shadowed areas and new maps of slope, roughness and illumination conditions from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter team.

Additional new maps were generated from data compilations from the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND), the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation and the Miniature Radio Frequency (mini RF) instruments

The combined result of all this LRO data is to give scientists the best ever scientific view of the moon.

“All these global maps and other data are available at a very high resolution — that’s what makes this release exciting,” said Goddard’s John Keller, the LRO deputy project scientist. “With this valuable collection, researchers worldwide are getting the best view of the moon they have ever had.”

Slope image. Credit: NASA
The Atlas V/Centaur carrying NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter & Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite hurtles off Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June18, 2009. Credit: NASA/Tom Farrar, Kevin O'Connell

Source: NASA Press Release

Posted on by Ken Kremer

Endeavour Mated to Rockets for Last Flight Photo Album

Space Shuttle Endeavour in VAB for Final Lift and Mate to Rocket Boosters. Endeavour was attached for the last time to External fuel tank and Solid Rocket Boosters that will power her last ascent to space on the STS-134 mission in April 2011. Then she will be retired from active duty service and sit in a museum yet to be chosen. All the orbiters could be usefully flown for many more years but for lack of money from the US Federal Government. Credit: Ken Kremer

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For the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour, I was privileged to be one of the lucky few to be an eyewitness to how the orbiter was hoisted and attached for the last time to the External fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters that will power her last ascent to space on the STS-134 mission . Thereafter she will be retired from active duty service.

“Lift and Mate” is the formal name for the nearly day and a half long intricate process to join Endeavour to the fuel tank and rocket boosters and took place after the orbiter was hauled inside the 52 story Vehicle Assembly Building atop a 76 wheeled transporter on Feb. 28.

Workers in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) secure yellow metal sling to Endeavour prior to lift from the VAB transfer aisle into High Bay 3 on 1 March 2011. Credit: Ken Kremer

Lift and Mate is a jaw dropping and unforgettable experience because you see the orbiter suspended in mid air as though it was flying in space. While hanging in the air by thin cables, the 100 ton orbiter is reminiscent to me of what astronauts on the International Space Station surely see as the shuttle approaches for docking.

Following the shuttles rollover to the VAB on top on the transporter, technicians initially attached a large yellow, metal sling to Endeavour in the center area of the VAB – known as the transfer aisle.

Endeavour was then slowly and methodically hoisted on pulleys and chains into the vertical position. The tail came to rest just a few meters from the hard and unforgiving concrete floor. The orbiter was then lifted up to the VAB ceiling and carefully moved over walkways into High Bay 3. Media including myself watched this entire process in total awe from several different levels inside the VAB as Endeavour was lifted past us from just a few meters away.

The final step was to lower Endeavour into position for mating to the fuel tank and solid rocket boosters already awaiting her arrival.
Its hard to believe I was really an eyewitness to this majestic event and also sadly realize it will never happen again.

“The orbiter has a lot of life left in her,” said a top shuttle manager to me. “The shuttle could fly many more missions.”

Large yellow sling set to be attached to Endeavour. Credit: Ken Kremer

NASA will rollout Endeavour to Launch Pad 39 A on March 9 following the landing of Space Shuttle Discovery.

The STS-134 mission will be the 25th and final flight for shuttle Endeavour. Launch is set for April 19. Endeavour will haul the $2 Billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to orbit and attach it to the ISS. AMS will search for dark matter and seek to determine the origin of the universe.

Check out the majestic views of “Lift and Mate” for Space Shuttle Endeavour in my photo album herein

Final “Lift and Mate” of Space Shuttle Endeavour. Photos by Ken Kremer

Space Shuttle Endeavour in VAB for Lift and Mate. Credit: Ken Kremer
Overhead view of Space Shuttle Endeavour in VAB for Lift and Mate. Credit: Ken Kremer
Overhead view of Space Shuttle Endeavour in VAB for Lift and Mate from Level 16. Credit: Ken Kremer
Belly view of Space Shuttle Endeavour coated with thousands of heat shield tiles. Two rectangular attach points hold left and right side main separation bolts from ET Credit: Ken Kremer
Lifting Endeavour. Credit: Ken Kremer
Belly view of Space Shuttle Endeavour and heat shield tiles. Credit: Ken Kremer
Endeavour goes Vertical. Credit: Ken Kremer
Rotating Vertical Endeavour. Credit: Ken Kremer
Lowering Endeavour to Solid Rocket Boosters and External fuel tank inside VAB. Credit: Ken Kremer
Lowering Endeavour in High Bay 3 to SRBs and ET inside VAB. Credit: Ken Kremer
Lowering Endeavour to SRB’s and ET inside VAB. Credit: Ken Kremer
Lowering Endeavour to SRB’s and ET inside VAB. Credit: Ken Kremer
Endeavour disappears behind scaffolding while it is lowered to SRB’s and ET inside VAB. Credit: Ken Kremer
Endeavour disappears behind scaffolding while it is lowered to SRB’s and ET inside VAB. Tip of ET visible here above nose of Endeavour. Credit: Ken Kremer
Ken Kremer and Space Shuttle Endeavour in the VAB for Lift and Mate to Booster rocket
Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Aged Voyager 1 Does In-flight Gymnastics for Science

Voyager 1 Mission
Artist impression of Voyager 1, the first probe to traverse the heliosheath (NASA)

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She might be old, but she’s still got it where it counts. The 33-year old Voyager 1 probe, flying out near the edge of the solar system conducted a roll program, spinning 70 degrees counterclockwise, and held the position by spinning gyroscopes for two hours, 33 minutes. Voyager performed its in-flight gymnastics on March 7, 2011 and scientists hope the maneuver will help answer the question of which direction is the sun’s stream of charged particles turns when it nears the edge of the solar system.

“Even though Voyager 1 has been traveling through the solar system for 33 years, it is still a limber enough gymnast to do acrobatics we haven’t asked it to do in 21 years,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager, based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “It executed the maneuver without a hitch, and we look forward to doing it a few more times to allow the scientists to gather the data they need.”

Voyager needed to get in the right orientation to enable its Low Energy Charged Particle instrument to gather data.

The last time either of the two Voyager spacecraft rolled and stopped in a gyro-controlled orientation was Feb. 14, 1990, when Voyager 1 snapped a family portrait of the planets. See the image here.

The two Voyager spacecraft are traveling through a turbulent area known as the heliosheath,the outer shell of a bubble around our solar system created by the solar wind. The solar wind is traveling outward from the sun at a million miles per hour. Scientists think the wind must turn as it approaches the heliosheath where it makes contact with the interstellar wind — , which originates in the region between stars.

In June 2010, when Voyager 1 was about 17 billion kilometers (about 11 billion miles) away from the sun, data from the Low Energy Charged Particle instrument began to show that the net outward flow of the solar wind was zero. That zero reading has continued since. The Voyager science team doesn’t think the wind has disappeared in that area, but perhaps has just turned a corner. But where does it go from there: up, down or to the side?

“Because the direction of the solar wind has changed and its radial speed has dropped to zero, we have to change the orientation of Voyager 1 so the Low Energy Charged Particle instrument can act like a kind of weather vane to see which way the wind is now blowing,” said Edward Stone, Voyager project manager. “Knowing the strength and direction of the wind is critical to understanding the shape of our solar bubble and estimating how much farther it is to the edge of interstellar space.”

Voyager engineers performed a test roll and hold back on Feb. 2, just to make sure the spacecraft was still capable. No problems for the old girl, and spacecraft had no problem in reorienting itself and locking back onto its guide star, Alpha Centauri.

This artist's concept shows NASA's two Voyager spacecraft exploring a turbulent region of space known as the heliosheath, the outer shell of the bubble of charged particles around our sun. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

There will be five more of these maneuvers over the next seven days, with the longest hold lasting three hours 50 minutes. The Voyager team plans to execute a series of weekly rolls for this purpose every three months.

Over the next few months, scientists will analyze the data.

“We do whatever we can to make sure the scientists get exactly the kinds of data they need, because only the Voyager spacecraft are still active in this exotic region of space,” said Jefferson Hall, Voyager mission operations manager at JPL. “We were delighted to see Voyager still has the capability to acquire unique science data in an area that won’t likely be traveled by other spacecraft for decades to come.”

Voyager 2 was launched on Aug. 20, 1977. Voyager 1 was launched on Sept. 5, 1977. On March 7, Voyager 1 was 17.4 billion kilometers (10.8 billion miles) away from the sun. Voyager 2 was 14.2 billion kilometers (8.8 billion miles) away from the sun, on a different trajectory.

The solar wind’s outward flow has not yet diminished to zero where Voyager 2 is exploring, but that may happen as the spacecraft approaches the edge of the bubble in the years ahead.

Voyager is just another good old girl.

Source: JPL

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Awe-Inspiring Flythrough of the Saturn System

Ever imagine creating your own IMAX movie? Cinematographer Stephen Van Vuuren is working to do just that, and has created flythough sequences from thousands of images from the Cassini spacecraft’s tour of the Saturn system. The video above is just a sampling of this non-profit, giant-screen art film effort “that takes audiences on a journey of the mind, heart and spirit from the big bang to the near future via the Cassini-Huygens Mission at Saturn,” according to the “Outside In” website.

Continue reading “Awe-Inspiring Flythrough of the Saturn System”

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Where to Next? Decadal Survey Prioritizes Future Planetary Missions

Concept for the MAX-C-Rover to Mars, a priority mission recommended for NASA

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The planetary science community has released their “Decadal Survey” a set of recommendations and a wish list of future missions to explore the solar system. But, as panel chair Steve Squyres said in his presentation of the survey at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference on late Monday afternoon, NASA’s current budget projections could mean the end of large, flagship missions.

“The budget we had to work with is a projection by OMB (Office of Management and Budget) of what the future of planetary exploration might look like,” Squyres said. “If implemented, it would mean the end of flagships programs in planetary science. But this is not set in stone by any means. This budget is the first step in the process from the executive branch of the government. There are many more steps involving the other branches, and Congress is answerable to its constituents, and that includes us. So those of us who care have an obligation to speak to our representatives and let them know what missions we would like to see.”

The Decadal Survey, a lengthy 400-page document supported by NASA, the National Research Council and the National Science Foundation, “transcends Congress and changes in administration and is our guiding light that moves us forward year after year, said Jim Green, NASA’s Planetary Science Chief.

Squyres said the Decadal Survey is “an extraordinary event where a governmental entity looks toward its constituency for input and actually listens to them.”

In total, the committee – made up of planetary scientists — identified 25 mission candidates for detailed studies.

Flagship missions were recommended in the report, but with the caveat that if they can’t stay under a certain budget, those missions will either be delayed or canceled. And if NASA doesn’t have enough money or cannot stay within budget, the space agency should focus on smaller, cheaper missions first. These recommendations appear to be a direct result of the money issues of the James Webb Space Telescope and the Mars Science Laboratory Rover.

Among the highest recommendations for the big flagship missions are a double rover mission to Mars working in cooperation with the European Space Agency, sending NASA’s Mars Astrobiology Explorer Cacher (MAX-C) rover, (which could be a sample return mission) and ESA’s ExoMars Rover to the Red Planet which could both help determine whether the planet ever supported life and could also help answer questions about its geologic and climatic history. NASA’s part of that joint mission should not exceed $2.5 billion, which is actually $1 billion less than the independent estimates provided to the committee. However, the panel suggested that both space agencies work to make the missions cheaper by reducing the scope of the mission (and they provided a checklist of how to do that).

The second highest recommendation for the flagship missions is to study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and its subsurface ocean — one of the most promising environments in the solar system for supporting life. But again, NASA should fly the Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO) only if NASA’s budget for planetary science is increased, or if the JEO’s mission scope is made more affordable. The independent estimate put the price tag at $4.7 billion. The committee concluded that unless costs could be brought down, conducting JEO would preclude too many other important missions.

“De-scoping is a difficult thing,” Squyres said at the conclusion of his presentation. “It requires discipline, it requires leaving behind some of our most cherished hopes for what a mission might be.”

But Squyres reminded those in attendance of two famous de-scoped missions. One mission, originally called the Grand Tour ended up being cut because it was alltogether too large in scope and budget. It later became Voyager, and scientists later worked out a way to make the Grand Tour happen. The other mission was the VIRM mission to Venus, which was a radar and mapping mission to Venus, which was too expensive, and it was massively de-scoped to became the Magellan mission.

“Voyager and Magellan both revolutionized our understanding of five planets, so de-scoping — when done right — can lead to revolutionary missions,” Squyres said.

Other missions would be the first in-depth exploration of an ice giant plant – an orbiter to Uranus — and another to Saturn’s geyser-filled moon, Enceladus.

The Decadal Survey takes input from planetary scientists, and Squyres said the science community stressed the importance of smaller missions – known as New Frontier class missions — which would provide science quicker, cheaper and more frequently than the big flagship missions. Also, they said NASA should place high priority on research and development and technology funding.

Recommendations for New Frontiers missions for 2013-2022 include a Comet Surface Sample Return mission, and Io orbiter, a probe to deploy into Saturn’s atmosphere, a network of lunar landers and orbiters, and a Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return.

Squyres said the panel proceeded knowing their recommendations should be science-driven and but also that the missions would have to be maintainable within the projected budgetary resources. So, not just the science but the costs of the science.

“Science return per dollar — I understand science return is not highly definable in terms of cost,” Squyres said, which sometimes makes the projections difficult.

Other missions were recommend based on balance across the solar system and balance on mission size between the smaller and larger missions. Other criteria were the missions’ readiness of appropriate technologies, and availabilities of trajectories in the next 10 years — “You have to be able to get from here to there,” Squyres said.

They also recommended funding for current missions to continue or be extended including, MESSENGER, Dawn, Kepler, GRAIL, New Horizons, Juneo, Cassini, the current Mars missions, including the Mars Science Laboratory and MAVEN, and the LADEE lunar mission.

Posted on by Anne Minard

Solar System’s Story Revealed in a Pea

False-color compositional x-ray image of the rim and margin of a ~4.6 billion-year-old calcium aluminum refractory inclusion (CAI) from the Allende carbonaceous chondrite. Credit: Erick Ramon and Justin Simon

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Feast your eyes on some of the solar system’s earliest materials: the pink core comprises melilite, spinel and perovskite. The multi-colored rim contains hibonite, perovskite, spinel, melilite/sodalite, pyroxene, and olivine. This close-up reveals part of a pea-sized chunk of meteorite, a calcium-aluminum rich inclusion, formed when the planets in our solar system were still dust grains swirling around the sun — and it can tell an early part of the story about what happened next.

Pieces of the Allende meteorite, the largest carbonaceous chondrite ever found on Earth. Estimated to have been the size of a car, it broke up as it fell through the atmosphere in 1969, showering the ground in Chichuahua, Mexico, with hundreds of pieces, many collected for subsequent study. Credit: NASA

Meteorites have puzzled space scientists for more than 100 years because they contain minerals that could only form in cold environments, as well as minerals that have been altered by hot environments. Carbonaceous chondrites, in particular, contain millimeter-sized chondrules and up to centimeter-sized calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions, like the one shown above, that were once heated to the melting point and later welded together with cold space dust.

“These primitive meteorites are like time capsules, containing the most primitive materials in our solar system,” said Justin Simon, an astromaterials researcher at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, who led the new study. “CAIs are some of the most interesting meteorite components. They recorded the history of the solar system before any of the planets formed, and were the first solids to condense out of the gaseous nebula surrounding our protosun.”

For the new paper, which appears in Science today, Simon and his colleagues performed a micro-probe analysis to measure oxygen isotope variations in micrometer-scale layers of the core and outer layers of the ancient grain, estimated to be 4.57 billion years old.

All of these calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions, or CAIs, are thought to have originated near the protosun, which enriched the nebular gas with the isotope oxygen-16. In the inclusion analyzed for the new study, the abundance of oxygen-16 was found to decrease outward from the center of the core, suggesting that it formed in the inner solar system, where oxygen-16 was more abundant, but later moved farther from the sun and lost oxygen-16 to the surrounding 16O-poor gas.

Credit: Justin Simon/NASA

Simon and his colleagues propose that initial rim formation could have occurred as inclusions fell back into the midplane of the disk, indicated by the dashed path A above; as they migrated outward within the plane of the disk, shown as path B; and/ or as they entered high density waves (i.e., shockwaves). Shockwaves would be a reasonable source for the implied 16O-poor gas, increased dust abundance and thermal heating. The first mineral layer outside the core had more oxygen-16, implying that the grain had subsequently returned to the inner solar system. Outer rim layers had varying isotope compositions, but in general indicate that they also formed closer to the sun, and/or in regions where they had lower exposure to the 16O-poor gas from which the terrestrial planets formed.

The researchers interpret these findings as evidence that dust grains traveled over large distances as the swirling protoplanetary nebula condensed into planets. The single dust grain they studied appears to have formed in the hot environment of the sun, may have been thrown out of the plane of the solar system to fall back into the asteroid belt, and eventually recirculated back to the sun.

This odyssey is consistent with some theories about how dust grains formed in the early protoplanetary nebula, or propylid, eventually seeding the formation of planets.

Perhaps the most popular theory explaining the composition of chrondrules and CAIs is the so-called X-wind theory propounded by former UC Berkeley astronomer Frank Shu. Shu depicted the early protoplanetary disk as a washing machine, with the sun’s powerful magnetic fields churning the gas and dust and tossing dust grains formed near the sun out of the disk.

Once expelled from the disk, the grains were pushed outward to fall like rain into the outer solar system. These grains, both flash-heated chondrules and slowly heated CAIs, were eventually incorporated along with unheated dust into asteroids and planets.

“There are problems with the details of this model, but it is a useful framework for trying to understand how material originally formed near the sun can end up out in the asteroid belt,” said coauthor Ian Hutcheon, deputy director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Glenn T. Seaborg Institute.

In terms of today’s planets, the grain probably formed within the orbit of Mercury, moved outward through the region of planet formation to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and then traveled back toward the sun again.

“It may have followed a trajectory similar to that suggested in the X-wind model,” Hutcheon said. “Though after the dust grain went out to the asteroid belt or beyond, it had to find its way back in. That’s something the X-wind model doesn’t talk about at all.”

Simon plans to crack open and probe other CAIs to determine whether this particular CAI (referred to as A37) is unique or typical.

Source: Science and a press release from the University of California at Berkeley.

Posted on by Ken Kremer

Discovery and Robonaut Unveiled for February 24 Blast Off

The twin brother of the R2 Robonaut awaits launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-133 mission, its 39th and final fligh to space. Credit: Ken Kremer

[/caption]Space Shuttle Discovery is unveiled for blastoff at 4:50 p.m. today, Feb. 24 from launch Pad 39 A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida . This is roughly the moment when Earth’s rotation carries the launch pad into the plane of the orbit of International Space Station (ISS)

The rotating service structure was retracted on Wednesday night starting around 8 p.m. Feb. 23 over about 25 minutes under a light fog.

In a major milestone, the External Fuel tank has been successfully loaded with 535,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen to power Discovery’s three main engines during the 8 1/2-minute climb into orbit. A dangerous leak of gaseous hydrogen is what caused the launch scrub last Nov. 5.

Pumps will continue to trickle propellants into the tank to replace the small amounts that evaporate during the countdown.

It’s an absolutely gorgeous day here at KSC with clear blue skies, calm winds and a crackling excitement that permeates the air for everyone here for the launch.

Discovery unveiled for Feb 14 launch with 6 astronauts and R2 Robonaut on STS-133 mission.. Credit: Alan Walters, awalterphoto.com

The weather forecast has been upgraded to 90% GO from 80% yesterday which was cloudy and overcast. A few low lying clouds are the only concern.

Large public crowds have gathered at public viewing areas along Florida’s Space Coast. The hotels are full of folks excited to see the historic final launch of Discovery on its 39th and final mission.

The Johannes Kepler ATV is due to dock at the ISS at about 12 noon. A successful docking is an essential prerequisite to clear Discovery for liftoff.

The countdown clock is ticking down towards the final blastoff of Discovery.

The veteran crew of five men and one woman led by Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey arrived on Sunday on a wave of T-38 jets.

The primary goal of the STS-133 mission is to deliver the “Leonardo” Permanent Multipurpose Module to the ISS. The R2 Robonaut is packed Inside Leonardo along with science equipment, spare parts, clothing food and assorted gear.

The twin brother of R2 is on hand at KSC to watch his brothers launch. He also sports a fancy new set of wheels patterned after the rocker bogie system of NASA’s Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

Posted on by Ken Kremer

Sounds of Comet Tempel 1 smashing into Stardust-NExT

News conference held Feb. 15 following the flyby of comet Tempel 1 by the Stardust-NExT spacecraft on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14. The spacecraft's closest approach was a distance of 112 miles. Participants are: Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Washington; Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator, Cornell University; Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, University of Washington, Seattle; and Pete Schultz, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, Brown University.

As Stardust-Next was racing past Comet Tempel at 9.8 km/sec, or 24,000 MPH, it encountered a hail of bullet like particles akin to a warplane meeting the fury of armed resistance fighters which potentially could have utterly destroyed the probe.

NASA has released a cool sound track of the sounds of thousands of cometary dust particles pelting Stardust-NExT. The audio was recorded by an instrument aboard the spacecraft called the Dust Flux Monitor which measures sound waves and electrical pulses from dust impacts.

Telemetry downlinked after the Feb. 14 flyby indicates the spacecraft flew through waves of disintegrating cometary particles.

“The data indicate Stardust went through something similar to a B-17 bomber flying through flak in World War II,” says Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator from the University of Washington in Seattle.

I contacted co-investigator Don Brownlee for further insight into the sounds and sights of the Tempel 1 flyby.

“The 12 biggest particles penetrated the centimeter thick front honeycomb plate of the whipple meteoroid shield and were detected with the Dust Flux Monitor Instrument,“ Brownlee told me. “The instrument had two type of sensors made in a collaboration between the University of Chicago and the University of Kent in the UK.
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The shielding was installed to protect Stardust from the hail of cometary particles during its prior flyby at Comet Wild 2 in 2004. Brownlee was the Principal Investigator for Stardust during its original mission at Wild 2.

I asked Brownlee if the shields were essential to the spacecraft surviving the Tempel 1 flyby ?

“Yes,’ he replied.

“A total of approximately 5,000 particle impacts were detected,” Brownlee said. This was over a period of about 11 minutes during closest approach. The movie is in real time and is a visual representation of the sounds. It covers just a portion of the flyby.

“Like at Wild 2, the particles came out in bursts and clumps. The Tempel 1 flyby, the Wild 2 flyby and the recent imaging of Comet Hartley confirm that fragmenting. Dust and ice clods are commonly released into space by comets.”

“The biggest at Wild 2 was about 0.5 cm and this time at Tempel 1 they were probably a bit bigger. The penetrating impacts at Tempel 1 were about twice what they were at Wild 2 ….. Also about twice as fast!”

“The data indicate Stardust went through something similar to a B-17 bomber flying through flak in World War II,” said Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator from the University of Washington in Seattle. “Instead of having a little stream of uniform particles coming out, they apparently came out in chunks and crumbled.”

To my eye, I was surprised that the flyby images seemed to surpass those at Wild 2. Brownlee agreed.

“I was surprised,” said Brownlee. “The team did a terrific job and the images are better than before. Tempel is a little closer to the sun, the flyby was a little closer, the pictures were taken at a much higher rate and the imaging team put in a great effort to plan the exposures and to clean up the camera before the encounter. The mirror was scanning at it’s maximum rate!”

Listen to the Stardust-NExT post flyby briefing

News conference held Feb. 15 following the flyby of comet Tempel 1 by the Stardust-NExT spacecraft on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. The spacecraft’s closest approach was a distance of 112 miles. Participants are: Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Washington; Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator, Cornell University; Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, University of Washington, Seattle; and Pete Schultz, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, Brown University.