According to a press release posted on SpaceRef and NASAWatch, Dennis Tito — the first-ever space tourist — is planning to send a human mission to Mars in January 2018 on a round-trip journey lasting 501 days. The trip would be timed to take advantage of the launch ‘window’ when Mars and Earth reach a position in their respective orbits that offers the best trajectory between the two planets.
Reportedly, Tito has created a new nonprofit company called the Inspiration Mars Foundation to facilitate the mission. The mission is intended to “generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration.”
(2/21/13 13:00 UTC) We have an update on this news below:
Tito, along with several other notable people from the space community will provide more information in a press conference set for Wednesday, February 27th. Also at the press conference will be Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter who were members of the Biosphere-2 project, and who are with the Paragon Space Development Corporation, which creates life-support systems, and Jonathan Clark, a medical researcher at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, who may discuss the dangers from radiation to humans in deep space. The press conference will be moderated by journalist Miles O’Brien.
Tito paid about $20 million to visit the International Space Station in 2001.
Another endeavor, the Mars One project, wants to create a human settlement on Mars by 2023.
UPDATE: Spaceflight expert Jeff Foust did a some digging, and posted some insights about this story in his NewSpace Journal. Foust obtained a copy of a paper Tito plans to present at the IEEE Aerospace Conference in March, which discusses conference, a crewed free-return Mars mission that would fly by Mars – no going into orbit or landing. Such a 501-day mission would launch in January 2018, “using a modified SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket,” Foust writes. “According to the paper, existing environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) technologies would allow such a spacecraft to support two people for the mission, although in Spartan condition. ‘Crew comfort is limited to survival needs only. For example, sponge baths are acceptable, with no need for showers,’ the paper states.”
One of the paper’s co-authors is NASA Ames director Pete Worden, the paper outlines how NASA would also have a role in this mission in terms of supporting key life support and thermal protection systems, even though this is a private-sector effort. No estimates of what such a mission would cost are included in the paper, but it does say it would be financed privately. The paper adds that if they miss this favorable 2018 opportunity, the next chance to take advantage of this lower energy trajectory would be in 2031.
Actor Ed Harris portrayed astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff, a 1983 movie following the beginning of the NASA astronaut program. Credit: The Ladd Co. (screenshot)
We’ll be the first to admit that the 1983 movie The Right Stuff takes artistic license when it talks about the Mercury program and other events. It exaggerates problems between the astronauts, portrays the journalists as unthinking buffoons and misrepresents historical events such as breaking the speed of sound.
Late in the three-hour film, the movie turns to astronaut John Glenn‘s first flight in space, which took place on this day in 1962. Glenn was the first American to make an orbital flight of the Earth. He returned a national hero.
Below we’ll highlight a few points of similarity and difference between the movie and John Glenn’s own account of the flight of Friendship 7, which he detailed in his 1999 biography John Glenn: A Memoir. And yes, the rest of this post does contain spoilers for those who haven’t seen the film.
– Visit from Lyndon Johnson. During an aborted launch attempt, the movie shows Lyndon Johnson parked nearby the Glenns’ house in a limousine, ordering an aide to let him inside. Glenn’s wife Annie (through a fellow astronaut wife) keeps informing the hapless assistant that there’s no way Johnson (and the TV cameras he wants to include) can come in. While Glenn’s actual account doesn’t specify where the vice-president of the United States was at that time, he does talk about the request and refusal. “She said she was tired, she had a headache, and she just wasn’t going to allow all those people in her house … I told her whatever she wanted to do, I would back her up 100 percent.”
– Threat to remove Glenn from the flight. In The Right Stuff, Glenn then gets into a shouting argument with a NASA official nearby, who orders him to get on the phone and tell Annie to let the vice-president in. The NASA official threatens to replace Glenn with another astronaut, at which point Glenn’s colleagues surround him and the official backs down. Glenn confirms the incident, but does not mention other astronauts: “I saw red. I said that if they wanted to do that, they’d have a press conference to announce their decision and I’d have one to announce mine, and if they wanted to talk about it anymore, they’d have to wait until I took a shower. When I came back, they were gone and I never heard any more about it.”
John Glenn enters his Friendship 7 spacecraft on On Feb. 20, 1962. Credit: NASA
– Fireflies. An extended sequence in The Right Stuff shows Glenn exclaiming as he sees “fireflies” outside of the spacecraft. The movie doesn’t really explain why they happen, but yes, they actually were there. “I saw around the capsule a huge field of particles that looked like tiny yellow stars,” Glenn wrote in his memoir. “They seemed to travel with the capsule, but more slowly. There were thousands of them, like swirling fireflies.” Glenn added: “They were droplets of frozen water vapor from the capsule’s heat exchanger system, but their fireflylike glow remains a mystery.” However, fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter noted frost flakes from his spacecraft, Aurora 7 on the next Mercury flight after Glenn’s, and floating nearby. They shone when the Sun illuminated the flakes. He also noticed more flakes coming off the side of his spacecraft when he banged the inside.
– Activities in orbit. While allowing that The Right Stuff probably had other priorities in mind, the movie does not show Glenn doing much in orbit besides gazing out the window and talking about the aforementioned fireflies. Glenn’s book shows him doing more than that: taking his blood pressure, snapping pictures of the Canaries and Sahara Desert, testing his vision, and doing exercises with a bungee cord to compare his readings to previous ones taken on the ground.
– Lights on in Perth and Rockingham, Australia. Glenn and a ground station in Australia chat about the residents of Rockingham and Perth turning on their lights for him. This actually did happen (and it happened again when Glenn returned to space in 1998.)
– Decision to bring Glenn down after three orbits. The movie accurately says Glenn was go for at least seven orbits, but then shows Glenn being confused when he’s told to come down after only three. Glenn contradicts that directly in his account: “The mission was planned for three orbits, but it meant that I could go for at least seven if I had to.”
The launch of John Glenn on Mercury 6. Credit: NASA
– Heat shield threat. The movie shows Mission Control grappling with a signal indication that the landing bag deployed, which implies that the heat shield might have cut loose prematurely. They recommend Glenn refrain from removing a retrorocket package that usually was jettisoned after the rockets fire for re-entry, and keep it on the spacecraft to hold the heat shield on. Glenn talks at length about the situation in his book, and expresses frustration that he didn’t receive information quickly: “I was irritated by the cat-and-mouse game they were playing with the information.” It turned out to be a false alarm.
– Humming. Glenn hums a lot in the movie during the re-entry, especially as the gravity forces build up on him. The astronaut makes no mention of doing so in his book. Long-standing New York Times spacejournalist John Noble Wilford unequivocally stated the movie was wrong: “Mr. Glenn did not hum ”The Battle Hymn of the Republic” during re-entry,” he wrote in a 1983 review of the movie.
Space shuttle Enterprise soars during its first of five free flights. Credit: NASA
On this day 36 years ago, two astronauts aboard the space shuttle Enterprise took the ship out for its initial test flight. It landed on the back of a 747 before undertaking a series of free flights starting in June that year.
Enterprise was designed as a test ship only, and was never intended to fly in space. Instead, it was used for a series of flying and landing approach tests to see how well the shuttle maneuvered during the landing. The astronauts first flew a series of “captive” flights aboard the 747, then cut the test shuttle loose for five free flights over several weeks.
What lessons were learned and what design changes did NASA implement from the Enterprise test program? And how did Enterprise help shape the future of the space shuttle program? A few clues emerge from the program’s final evaluation report, which was released in February 1978.
– Stopping a hydrazine leak. Hydrazine was used as a fuel for the maneuvering thrusters on the space shuttle, but the chemical is toxic and shouldn’t be exposed to humans. During the first captive flight, an auxiliary power unit was turned on about 18 minutes in. That was part of the plan, but the next part wasn’t: NASA observed fuel was being used much faster than expected in the next 25 minutes. It turned out that a bellows seal in the fuel pump had failed and caused “significant hydrazine leakage” in the shuttle’s aft bay.
– Preventing brake trouble or ‘chattering’. The first indication of trouble came after the second free flight. The astronauts felt a “chattering” (low-frequency vibration) sensation during braking as they were slowing down on the runway. This 16-hertz vibration happened again during “hard” braking on Flight 3. In light of the vibration, the brake control was modified and the astronauts did not feel the vibrations on Flights 4 and 5.
– Minimizing computer vibration. Enterprise’s Computer 2 fell out of sync with its fellow computers as the shuttle separated from the 747 on Flight 1, causing several computer errors. (The other three redundant computers effectively voted the computer off the island, to use Survivor parlance, and the flight carried on.) Ground tests of similar units revealed that the solder keeping the computer attached to the shuttle cracked when subjected to a slight vibration for a long period of time. NASA modified the attachments and the computers were just fine on Flight 2.
– Astronaut training. The astronauts experienced several control problems during Enterprise’s fifth free landing, when they deployed the speed brake to compensate for a landing that was a little faster than planned. As the pilot tried to control the shuttle’s sink rate, the elevons (a control surface for pitch and roll) were elevated more than usual, causing the shuttle to gently head back into the air and roll to the right before landing again. The astronauts could not see any unusual changes in pitch because the nose of the shuttle was not visible from the cockpit. Further, the center of gravity for the pitch changes was so close to the cockpit that the astronauts could not feel the sensation. “The pilot was unaware of any problem other than that he was landing long and trying to get the vehicle on the ground near the desired touchdown spot,” the NASA report stated. Several recommendations came out of this incident, such as more simulations of landings, modifying the flight control system, and stating that speed brakes should not be used just before landing.
Bottom line, though, was NASA said the approach and landing tests accomplished all objectives. The authors of the report called for modifications to these problems and a few others, but said as soon as these situations were addressed the shuttle was performing well enough for further flights. You can read the whole report here.
Enterprise is now on display at the Intrepid Air & Space Museum in New York, but is temporarily closed to the public as the shuttle undergoes repairs from damage incurred during Hurricane Sandy.
Canadarm pictured through a winow aboard the ISS will be used to grapple the SpaceX Dragon after planned March 1 liftoff. Credit: NASA/Thomas Mashburn
Wouldn’t you love to wake up to this gorgeous view of our home planet as a big hand waves a friendly good morning ?!
Well, having survived high speed wayward Asteroids and Meteors these past few days, the human crew circling Earth aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is game to snatch a flying Space Dragon before too long.
NASA will dispatch astronaut fun to orbit in the form of the privately built SpaceX Dragon in a tad less than two weeks time that the crew will ensnare with that robotic hand from Canada and join to the ISS.
On March 1 at 10:10 AM EST, a Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket is slated to blast off topped by the Dragon cargo vehicle on what will be only the 2nd commercial resupply mission ever to the ISS.
The flight, dubbed CRS-2, will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying about 1,200 pounds of vital supplies and science experiments for the six man international crew living aboard the million pound orbiting outpost.
SpaceX Dragon spacecraft stands inside processing hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Teams had just installed the spacecraft’s solar array fairings. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The ISS would plummet from the sky like a flaming, exploding meteor and disintegrate without periodic and critical cargo and fueling resupply flights from the ISS partner nations.
There will be some heightened anticipation for the March 1 SpaceX launch following the premature shutdown of a 1st stage Merlin engine during the last Falcon 9 launch in 2012.
The solar powered Dragon capsule will rendezvous with the ISS a day later on March 2, when NASA astronauts Kevin Ford and Tom Marshburn will reach out with the Canadian built robotic marvel, grab the Dragon by the proverbial “tail” and attach it to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
The Dragon will remain docked to the ISS for about three weeks while the crew unloads all manner of supplies including food, water, clothing, spare parts and gear and new science experiments.
Then the astronauts will replace all that cargo load with numerous critical experiment samples they have stored during ongoing research activities, as well as no longer needed equipment and trash totaling about 2300 pounds, for the return trip to Earth and a Pacific Ocean splashdown set for March 25 – as things stand now.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket before May 2012 blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on historic maiden private commercial launch to the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer/www.kenkremer.com
SpaceX is under contract to NASA to deliver about 44,000 pounds of cargo to the ISS during a dozen flights over the next few years at a cost of about $1.6 Billion.
SpaceX comprises one half of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program to replace the cargo up mass capability the US lost following the retirement of NASA’s space shuttle orbiters in 2011.
SpaceX also won a NASA contract to develop a manned version of the Dragon capsule and aims for the first crewed test flight in about 2 to 3 years – sometime during 2015 depending on the funding available from NASA.
The US is now totally dependent on the Russians to loft American astronauts to the ISS on their Soyuz capsules for at least the next 3 to 5 years directly as a result of the shuttle shutdown.
Along with SpaceX, Orbital Sciences Corp also won a $1.9 Billion cargo resupply contract from NASA to deliver some 44,000 pounds of cargo to the ISS using the firm’s new Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule – launching 8 times from a newly constructed pad at NASA’s Wallops Island Facility in Virginia.
The maiden launch of Orbital’s Antares/Cygnus system has repeatedly been delayed – like SpaceX before them.
NASA hopes the first Antares/Cygnus demonstration test flight will now occur in March or April. However, the Antares 1st stage hot fire test scheduled for earlier this week on Feb. 13 had to be aborted at the last second due to a technical glitch caused by a low nitrogen purge pressurization.
For the SpaceX launch, NASA has invited 50 lucky social media users to apply for credentials for the March 1 launch
Watch for my upcoming SpaceX launch reports from the Kennedy Space Center and SpaceX launch facilities.
SpaceX technicians lift a solar array fairing prior to installation on the company’s Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft will launch on the upcoming SpaceX CRS-2 mission. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
DE-STAR, a proposal to blow up asteroids as they bear down on Earth. Credit: Philip M. Lubin
The uncanny — but unrelated — combination of today’s close flyby of Asteroid 2012 DA14 and the meteor that created an airburst event over Russia has many wondering how we could deal with future potential threats to Earth from space. A group of researchers are hoping to aim a laser-blasting vaporizer in its direction and blow it away.
Dubbed DE-STAR, or Directed Energy Solar Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation, the theoretical orbital system is designed to convert the sun’s energy into laser blasts that would annihilate any cosmic intruders bearing down on Earth.
Although the system sounds like a plot from a science fiction movie, the researchers — led by scientists at two California universities — maintain that it is built on sound principles.
“This system is not some far-out idea from Star Trek,” stated Gary Hughes, a researcher and professor from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in a press release.
“All the components of this system pretty much exist today. Maybe not quite at the scale that we’d need – scaling up would be the challenge – but the basic elements are all there and ready to go. We just need to put them into a larger system to be effective, and once the system is there, it can do so many things.”
Construction details were not clear in a press release advertising DE-STAR, but the researchers describe astonishing results from even a modest-sized version of the system.
DE-STAR was modeled at several different sizes. At 328 feet (100 meters) in diameter, which is double the International Space Station’s size, it could “start nudging comets or asteroids out of their orbits,” Hughes stated.
A 6.2 mile (10-kilometer) DE-STAR version could send 1.4 megatons of energy daily to the marauding asteroid, providing enough juice every year to kill a space rock as big as 1,640 feet (500 meters) across. (That’s more than 10 times the size of 2012 DA14, which came within 17,200 miles of Earth Feb. 15.)
“Our proposal assumes a combination of baseline technology –– where we are today –– and where we almost certainly will be in the future, without asking for any miracles,” added Philip Lubin, who is with the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Besides asteroid annihilation, DE-STAR could give a fuel boost to long-distance space travellers.
A proposed DE-STAR 6 (size not disclosed) is advertised as able to push “a 10-ton spacecraft at near the speed of light, allowing interstellar exploration to become a reality without waiting for science fiction technology such as ‘warp drive’ to come along.”
The press release did not reveal a budget for any version of the DE-STAR, how it would be constructed, or how quickly the system could begin fencing with asteroids.
Researchers emphasized, however, that system proposals such as theirs must be taken seriously to ward off incoming space rocks.
“We have to come to grips with discussing these issues in a logical and rational way,” stated Lubin.
“We need to be proactive rather than reactive in dealing with threats. Duck and cover is not an option. We can actually do something about it and it’s credible to do something. So let’s begin along this path. Let’s start small and work our way up. There is no need to break the bank to start.”
Rover self portrait MAHLI mosaic taken this week has Curiosity sitting on the flat rocks of the “John Klein” drilling target area within the Yellowknife Bay depression. Note gradual rise behind rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Marco Di Lorenzo/www.KenKremer.com.
Earth’s most advanced planetary robot ever has successfully bored into the interior of Martian rock and collected fresh samples in a historic first time feat in humankinds exploration of the cosmos.
NASA’sCuriosity drilled a circular hole about 0.63 inch (16 mm) wide and about 2.5 inches (64 mm) deep into a red slab of fine-grained sedimentary rock rife with hydrated mineral veins of calcium sulfate – and produced a slurry of grey tailings surrounding the hole. The team believes this area repeatedly experienced percolation of flowing liquid water eons ago when Mars was warmer and wetter – and potentially more hospitable to the possible evolution of life.
The precision drilling took place on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 on Sol 182 of the mission and images were just beamed back to Earth today, Saturday, Feb 9. The rover simultaneously celebrates 6 months on the Red Planet since the nail biting touchdown on Aug. 6, 2012 inside Gale Crater.
The entire rover team is overjoyed beyond compare after nearly a decade of painstakingly arduous efforts to design, assemble, launch and land the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover that culminated with history’s first ever drilling and sampling into a pristine alien rock on the surface of another planet in our Solar System.
“The most advanced planetary robot ever designed now is a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate.
“This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August, another proud day for America.”
Drilling goes to the heart of the mission. It is absolutely essential for collecting soil and rock samples to determine their chemical composition and searching for traces of organic molecules – the building blocks of life. The purpose is to elucidate whether Mars ever offered a habitable environment suitable for supporting Martian microbes, past pr present.
The high powered drill was the last of Curiosity’s 10 instruments still to be checked out and put into full operation.
Curiosity’s First Sample Drilling hole is seen in this image at a rock called “John Klein”. The drilling took place on Feb. 8, 2013, or Sol 182 of operations. Several preparatory activities with the drill preceded this operation, including a test that produced the shallower hole on the right two days earlier, but the deeper hole resulted from the first use of the drill for rock sample collection. The image was obtained by Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). The sample-collection hole is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) deep. The “mini drill” test hole near it is the same diameter, with a depth of 0.8 inch (2 centimeters). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The rover plunged the rotary-percussion drill located on the end of her 7 foot (2.1 m) robot arm into a flat outcrop of rocks named “John Klein”; where she is currently toiling away inside a shallow basin named Yellowknife Bay, and that witnessed many episodes of streaming water billions of years ago.
Ground controllers will now command the rover to pulverize and sieve the powdery rocky material through screens that will filter out any particles larger than six-thousandths of an inch (150 microns) across.
Thereafter comes the ultimate test – when the processed Martian powders are delivered by the robot arm to Curiosity’s miniaturized CheMin and SAM analytical labs though a trio of inlet ports located atop the rover deck for thorough analysis and scrutiny.
Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to take the images combined into this mosaic of the drill area, called “John Klein.” The label “Drill” indicates where the rover ultimately performed its first sample drilling. Shown on this mosaic are the four targets that were considered for drilling, all of which were analyzed by Curiosity’s instrument suite. At “Brock Inlier,” data from the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and images from the Mars Hand Lens imager (MAHLI) were collected. The target “Wernecke” was brushed by the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) with complementary APXS, MAHLI, and Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) analyses. Target “Thundercloud” was the subject of the drill checkout test known as “percuss on rock.” The target Drill was interrogated by APXS, MAHLI and ChemCam. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“We commanded the first full-depth drilling, and we believe we have collected sufficient material from the rock to meet our objectives of hardware cleaning and sample drop-off,” said Avi Okon, drill cognizant engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena.
Rock tailings generated from the 5/8 inch (16 mm) wide drill bit traveled up narrow flutes on the bit and then inside the drill’s chambers for transfer to the process handling mechanisms on the arm’s tool turret.
“We’ll take the powder we acquired and swish it around to scrub the internal surfaces of the drill bit assembly,” said JPL’s Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer. “Then we’ll use the arm to transfer the powder out of the drill into the scoop, which will be our first chance to see the acquired sample.”
A portion of the material will first be used to scour and cleanse the labyrinth of processing chambers of trace contaminants possibly brought from Earth before launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida back in Nov. 2011.
Curiosity accomplished Historic 1st drilling into Martian rock at John Klein outcrop on Feb 8, 2013 (Sol 182), shown in this context mosaic view of the Yellowknife Bay basin taken on Jan. 26 (Sol 169) where the robot is currently working. The robotic arm is pressing down on the surface at John Klein outcrop of veined hydrated minerals – dramatically back dropped with her ultimate destination; Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)/Marco Di Lorenzo
The rock Curiosity drilled is called “John Klein” in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011.
Curiosity represents a quantum leap in capability beyond any prior landed mission on the Red Planet. The car sized 1 ton rover sports 10 state-of-the-art science instruments from the US and collaborators in Europe.
The 1 ton robot will continue working for several additional weeks investigating Yellowknife Bay and the Glenelg area – which lies at the junction of three different types of geologic terrain.
Thereafter, the six-wheeled mega rover will set off on a nearly year long trek to her main destination – the sedimentary layers of the lower reaches of the 3 mile (5 km) high mountain named Mount Sharp – some 6 miles (10 km) away.
What a hole on Mars ! Alien hole on an Alien Planet. Curiosity precisely bores to a depth of 2.5 inches (64 mm) into water altered rock. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSSide view of Curiosity’s Drill Bit Tip. The bit is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters) wide. This view from the remote micro-imager of the ChemCam instrument merges three exposures taken by the camera at different focus settings to show more of the hardware in focus than would be seen in a single exposure. Images taken on Sol 172, Jan 29, 2013. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/LPGNantes/CNRS
Orbital Antares rocket at Wallops Island Pad. Credit: Orbital Sciences
Orbital Sciences Corporation has at last scheduled a critical engine test for the firm’s new commercially developed Antares medium class rocket for Feb. 12 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s (MARS) Pad-0A.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility will provide launch range support for the Antares rocket test which is a key milestone on the path to a flight that is crucial for eventual resupply of the International Space Station (ISS).
The window for the 29 second long engine test is 6-9 p.m EST. There will be no live broadcast or formal viewing of the test since it is only operational in nature.
For this hot fire test only the first stage of the Antares rocket will be rolled out to the launch pad – the first of its kind constructed in America in several decades.
The first stage of the Antares rocket stands on the pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. Credit: Orbital Sciences
During the test, the Antares’ dual AJ26 first stage rocket engines will generate a combined total thrust of 680,000 lbs. In a unique capability for its duration, the rocket will be held down on the pad and accounts for the huge water tower built nearby.
The goal of the hot fire test is a complete checkout of the rocket’s first stage and all the support systems at Pad-0A being utilized for the first time.
Antares is the launcher for Orbital’s unmanned commercial Cygnus cargo spacecraft that NASA’s hopes will further reestablish American resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) lost with the shuttle’s shutdown.
If successful, a full up test flight of the 131 foot tall Antares with a Cygnus mass simulator bolted on top is planned for the maiden launch in roughly 4 to 6 weeks later, perhaps by late March 2013.
Antares/Cygnus will provide a similar service to the Falcon 9/Dragon system developed by SpaceX Corporation – which has already docked twice to the ISS during historic linkups in 2012.
Both the Orbital and SpaceX systems were developed under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to replace the ISS cargo capability previously tasked to NASA Space Shuttle’s.
A docking demonstration mission to the ISS would follow later in 2013 which would be nearly identical in scope to the SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon demonstration flight successfully accomplished in May 2012.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket liftoff on May 22, 2012 from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on the first commercial mission to the International Space Station. Orbital hopes to duplicate the SpaceX feat in 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer
The Antares first stage is powered by a pair of Soviet era NK-33 engines built during the 1960 and 1970’s as part of Russia’s ill-fated N-1 manned moon program. The engines have since been upgraded and requalified by Aerojet Corp. and integrated into the Ukrainian built first stage rocket as AJ-26 engines.
Tens of millions of US East Coast residents in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions have never seen anything as powerful as an Antares rocket launch in their neighborhood.
“Antares is the biggest rocket ever launched from Wallops,” NASA Wallops spokesman Keith Koehler told me.
Image Caption: This image of comet ISON (C/2012 S1) ) from NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft clearly shows the coma and nucleus on Jan. 17/18, 2013 beyond the orbit of Jupiter. See the dramatic new movie sequence below. It combines all 146 80-second clear filter exposures for a total integration time of 11680 seconds (about 3.25 hours). Individual frames were shifted to align the comet at the center before coadding. By keeping the comet centered and adding all of the images together, the stars effectively get smeared so the long streaks are the trails of background stars. Some have called it the “Comet of the Century.” Credit: NASA
NASA’s legendary Deep Impact comet smashing spacecraft has just scored another major coup – Imaging the newly discovered Comet ISON. The comet could possibly become one of the brightest comets ever late this year as it passes through the inner Solar System and swings around the Sun for the very first time in history – loaded with pristine, volatile material just raring to burst violently forth from the eerie surface, and is therefore extremely interesting to scientists. See the Movie below
“Comet ISON was just imaged by Deep Impact out by Jupiter on Jan. 17 and 18,” said Dr. Jim Green, Director of NASA Planetary Sciences at NASA HQ, in an exclusive interview with Universe Today on the campus of Princeton University. “We will try to look at ISON with the Curiosity rover as it flies past Mars, and with other NASA assets in space [along the way]. It should be spectacular!”
“We are all, ops team and science team, thrilled that we were able to make these observations when the comet was still more than 5 AU from the sun,” said Deep Impact Principal Investigator Prof. Michael A’Hearn of the University of Maryland, in an exclusive interview with Universe Today.
ISON could potentially become the next “Great Comet”, according to NASA. Deep Impact is the first spacecraft to observe ISON.
“We are continuing to observe ISON – it is observable from Deep Impact into mid-March 2013,” A’Hearn told me.
ISON will be the 4th comet observed by Deep Impact. On July 4, 2005 the spacecraft conducted a close flyby of Comet Tempel 1 and delivered a comet smashing impactor that made headlines worldwide. Next, it flew near Hartley 2 in Nov. 2010. In January 2012, the spacecraft performed a long distance imaging campaign on comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd). And it has enough fuel remaining for an Asteroid encounter slated for 2020 !
“NASA’s assets at Mars should be able to observe ISON because it will fly really, really close to Mars!” Green said with a big smile – and me too, as he showed me a sneak preview of the brand new Deep Impact movie.
“ISON observations are in the cue for Curiosity from Mars surface and from orbit with NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) – and we’ll see how it works out. It should be pretty spectacular. We will absolutely try with Curiosity’s high resolution Mastcam 100 camera.”
“LRO (NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) also has a good shot at ISON.”
“Because of the possibility of observations of for example ISON, with probes like Deep Impact is why we want to keep NASA’s [older] assets viable.”
146 visible light images snapped by Deep Impact just days ago on Jan. 17 and 18, have been compiled into a dramatic video showing ISON speeding through interplanetary space back dropped by distant star fields – see above and below. The new images were taken by the probes Medium-Resolution Imager (MRI) over a 36-hour period from a distance of 493 million miles (793 million kilometers).
“A composite image, combining all of the Jan 17/18 data – after cleaning up the cosmic rays and improving the S/N (signal to noise ratio) clearly shows the comet has a coma and tail,” said Tony Farnham, a Deep Impact research scientist at the University of Maryland, to Universe Today.
Video Caption: This series of images of comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) was taken by the Medium-Resolution Imager (MRI) of NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft over a 36-hour period on Jan. 17 and 18, 2013. At the time, the spacecraft was 493 million miles (793 million kilometers) from the comet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
ISON is a conglomeration of ice and dust and a long period, sun-grazing comet.
“It is coming in from the Solar System’s Oort cloud at the edge of the Solar System”, said Green, and was likely disturbed out of its established orbit by a passing star or other gravitational effects stemming from the Milky Way galaxy. “It will pass within 2.2 solar radii during perihelion and the Sun will either blast it apart or it will survive.”
Despite still being in the outer Solar System and a long distance from the Sun, ISON is already quite “variable” said A’Hearn, and it’s actively spewing material and ‘outgassing”.
The tail extending from the nucleus was already more than 40,000 miles (64,400 kilometers) long on Jan. 18. It’s a science mystery as to why and the Deep Impact team aims to try and determine why.
In addition to imaging, Deep Impact will also begin collecting long range spectral observations in the next week or so to help answer key questions.
“In mid-February, the solar elongation will allow IR (infrared) spectra for a few weeks,” A’Hearn elaborated.
“The 6-7% variability that we observed in the first day of observing shows that there is variable ‘outgassing’, presumably modulated by rotation of the nucleus. We hope to pin down the rotational period with the continuing images.”
“The interesting question is what drives the outgassing!”
Since ISON is still a very great distance away at more than 5 AU, data collection will not be an easy task. The comet is 5.1 AU from the Sun and 5.3 AU from Deep Impact. And the mission could also be imperiled by looming slashes to NASA’s budget if the Federal sequester actually happens in March.
“Getting spectra will be a real challenge because, at these large heliocentric and geocentric distances, the comet is really faint. However, maybe we can test whether CO2 is driving the outgassing,” Ahearn explained.
“Since we have the only facility capable of measuring CO2, it will be important to observe again in our second window in July-August, but that depends on NASA finding a little more money for us.”
“We, both the ops team and the science team, are funded only for the observations through March,” A’Hearn stated.
Although observing predictions for the brightness of comets are sometimes notoriously wrong and they can fade away precipitously, there is some well founded hope that ISON could put on a spectacular sky show for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
The comet will continue to expand in size and grow in brightness as it journeys inward.
“ISON might be pretty spectacular,” said Green. “If things work out it might become bright enough to see during the day and be brighter than the Moon. The tail might be 90 degrees.”
Image caption: This is the orbital trajectory of comet C/2012 S1 (ISON). The comet is currently located just inside the orbit of Jupiter. In November 2013, ISON will pass less than 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) from the sun’s surface. The fierce heating it experiences during this close approach to the sun could turn the comet into a bright naked-eye object. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The best times to observe the comets head and growing tail will be from Nov. 2013 to Jan. 2014, if it survives its closest approach to the Sun, known as perihelion, on Nov. 28, 2013 and doesn’t break apart.
There’s no need to worry about doomsday predictions from conspiracy theorists. At its closest approach next Christmas season on Dec. 26, 2013, ISON will pass by Earth at a safe distance of some 40 million miles.
A pair of Russian astronomers only recently discovered the comet on Sept. 21, 2012, using the International Scientific Optical Network’s 16-inch (40-centimeter) telescope near Kislovodsk.
The study of comets has very important implications for understanding the evolution of not just the Solar System but also the origin of life on Earth. Comets delivered a significant portion of the early Earth’s water as well as a range of both simple and complex organic molecules – the building blocks of life.
Image caption. Deep Impact images Comet Tempel 1 alive with light after colliding with the impactor spacecraft on July 4, 2005. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
Image caption: Before and after comparison of Curiosity’s 1st ever drill test into Martian rock. Drill bit penetrated several mm and vibrations apparently unveiled hidden, whitish mineral by dislodging thin dust layer at John Klein outcrop in Sol 176 images. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo
A robot from Earth has successfully drilled into a Martian rock for the first time ever and exposed pristine alien material for high powered science analysis.
NASA’s car sized Curiosity rover deliberately plunged the drill bit on the end of her 7 foot (2.1 m) robot arm into a flat outcrop of rocks possessing hydrated mineral veins, that is situated inside a shallow basin named Yellowknife Bay where water repeatedly flowed.
“The drill test was done. The mission has been spectacular so far,” said Dr. Jim Green, Director of NASA Planetary Sciences Division at NASA HQ, in an exclusive interview today with Universe Today on the campus of Princeton University. “The area is tremendously exciting.”
And what’s even more amazing is that as Curiosity hammered straight down into the rock outcrop, it appears that the resulting vibrations also simultaneously uncovered a hidden vein of whitish colored material that might be calcium sulfate – as the Martian ground shook and a thin layer of rust colored soil was visibly dislodged.
The robot is working at a place called Glenelg – where liquid water once flowed eons ago across the Red Planet’s surface.
“This area is really rich with all the cracks in the rocks and the veins. It’s really fabulous,” Green told me. “The landing was an engineering feat that enabled us to do all this great science that comes next.”
Image caption: Curiosity views 1st plunge of the hammering drill bit up from raised position, at left, to rock outcrop penetration, at right, on Jan 31, 2014, Sol 174 using the front hazard avoidance camera. 3 mile (5 km) high Mount Sharp ultimate destination offers dramatic backdrop. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo
Drill, Baby, Drill !! — Drilling is essential toward achieving Curiosity’s goal of determining whether Mars ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life, past or present
The drill bit penetrated a few millimeters deep into the intriguing outcrop called ‘John Klein’ as planned during the drill tests run on Jan 31 and Feb 2, 2013 (or Sols 174 & 176), Green elaborated. The results were confirmed in new images snapped by Curiosity over the past few days, that trickled back to Earth this weekend across millions of miles of interplanetary space.
Several different cameras – including the high resolution MAHLI microscopic imager on the arm tool turret – took before and after up-close images to assess the success of the drilling maneuver.
Image caption: Curiosity tool turret located at end of robotic arm is positioned with drill bit in contact with John Klein outcrop for 1st hammer drilling into Martian rock surface on Jan 31, 2013. It’s nearby a spot that was brushed earlier. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo
The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) was also placed in contact with the ground to determine the chemical composition of the rock drill test site and possible calcium sulfate vein and investigate its hydration state.
The drill test marks an historic first time achievement in the annuls of space exploration.
NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers successfully abraded numerous rocks but are not equipped with penetrating drills or sample acquisition and analysis instruments.
During this initial test, Curiosity’s hi-tech drill was used only in the percussion mode – hammering back and forth like a chisel. No tailings were collected for analysis. The 5/8-inch (16 mm) wide bit will be rotated in upcoming exercises to bore several test holes.
Green told me that the Curiosity science and engineering team says that this initial test will soon be following up by more complex tests that will lead directly to drilling into the interior of a rock for the first ever sampling and analysis of fresh, rocky Martian material.
“The drill test results are looking good so far,” Green said. “Depending on the analysis, it’s possible that the initial test bore hole could be drilled as early as tonight. Sampling could follow soon.”
The science and engineering team are wisely being “ultra careful” says Green, in slowly and methodically checking out the highly complex drill.
“We are motivated to work in a stepwise fashion to get it right,” Green elaborated.
“The drilling has got to be done carefully. We are still in checkout mode and the drill is the last instrument of Curiosity’s ten science instruments to be fully checked out.”
Image caption: Close-up view of Curiosity drill bit penetrating John Klein outcrop during 1st ever drill test into Martian rock on Jan 31, 2013 (Sol 174). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity can drill to a depth of about 2 inches (5 cm) into rocks. Ultimately a powdered and sieved sample about half an aspirin tablet in size will be delivered to the SAM and CheMin analytical labs on the rover deck.
“The drilling is going very well so far and we’re making great progress with the early steps,” said Curiosity project scientist Prof John Grotzinger to the BBC.
Drilling goes to the heart of the mission. The cored rock samples will be analyzed by the duo of chemical spectrometers to ascertain their elemental composition and determine if organic molecules – the building blocks of life – are present.
The 1 ton robot will spend at least several weeks or more investigating Yellowknife Bay and Glenelg – which lies at the junction of three different types of geologic terrain.
Thereafter, the six-wheeled mega rover will set off on a nearly year long trek to her main destination – the sedimentary layers of the lower reaches of the 3 mile (5 km) high mountain named Mount Sharp.
As the Martian crow flies, the breathtaking environs of Mount Sharp are some 6 miles (10 km) away.
Feb 4: Dr Jim Green, Director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, is presenting a free public lecture at Princeton University at 8 PM titled: “The Revolution in Planetary Science.” Hosted by the Amateur Astronomers Assoc of Princeton. Location: Peyton Hall, Astrophysics Dept. on Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ.
Image caption: Curiosity conducted Historic 1st drilling into Martian rock at John Klein outcrop shown in this context view of the Yellowknife Bay basin where the robot is currently working. The robotic arm is pressing down on the surface at John Klein outcrop of veined hydrated minerals – dramatically back dropped by her ultimate destination; Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo
Image caption: Close-up view of Curiosity drill bit. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
This brief quote by the late Carl Sagan is wonderfully illustrated in the beautiful and poignant short film “Stardust,” directed by Mischa Rozema of Amsterdam-based media company PostPanic. Using actual images from space exploration as well as CGI modeling, Stardust reminds us that everything we and the world around us are made of was created inside stars… and that, one day, our home star will once again free all that “stuff” back out into the Universe.
The film was made in memory of talented Dutch designer Arjan Groot, who died of cancer in July 2011 at the age of 39.
“I wanted to show the universe as a beautiful but also destructive place. It’s somewhere we all have to find our place within. As a director, making Stardust was a very personal experience but it’s not intended to be a personal film and I would want people to attach their own meanings to the film so that they can also find comfort based on their own histories and lives.”
– Mischa Rozema, director
Credits:
A PostPanic Production
Written & directed by Mischa Rozema
Produced by Jules Tervoort
VFX Supervisor: Ivor Goldberg
Associate VFX Supervisor: Chris Staves
Senior digital artists: Matthijs Joor, Jeroen Aerts
Digital artists: Marti Pujol, Silke Finger, Mariusz Kolodziejczak, Dieuwer Feldbrugge, Cara To, Jurriën Boogert
Camera & edit: Mischa Rozema
Production: Ania Markham, Annejes van Liempd
Audio by Pivot Audio , Guy Amitai
Featuring “Helio” by Ruben Samama
Copyright 2013 Post Panic BV, All rights reserved
In the grand scheme of the universe, nothing is ever wasted and it finds comfort in us all essentially being Stardust ourselves. Voyager represents the memories of our loved ones and lives that will never disappear.
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