Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Swirly Southern Picture Of Jupiter Makes Us Want To Visit Right Now

A view the Cassini spacecraft took during its flyby of Jupiter's southern pole in 2000. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Gimme a rocketship – we want to see what those bands are made of! This is a strange view of Jupiter, a familiar gas giant that humanity has sent several spacecraft to. This particular view, taken in 2000 and highlighted on the European Space Agency website recently, shows the southern hemisphere of the mighty planet.

The underneath glimpse came from the Cassini spacecraft while it was en route to Saturn. Lucky for researchers, at the time the Galileo Jupiter spacecraft was still in operation. But now that machine is long gone, leaving us to pine for a mission to Jupiter until another spacecraft gets there in 2016.

That spacecraft is called Juno and is a NASA spacecraft the agency sent aloft in August 2011. And here’s the cool thing; once it gets there, Juno is supposed to give us some insights into how the Solar System formed by looking at this particular planet.

Juno will repeatedly dive between the planet and its intense belts of charged particle radiation, coming only 5,000 kilometers (about 3,000 miles) from the cloud tops at closest approach. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Juno will repeatedly dive between the planet and its intense belts of charged particle radiation, coming only 5,000 kilometers (about 3,000 miles) from the cloud tops at closest approach. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

“Underneath its dense cloud cover, Jupiter safeguards secrets to the fundamental processes and conditions that governed our Solar System during its formation. As our primary example of a giant planet, Jupiter can also provide critical knowledge for understanding the planetary systems being discovered around other stars,” NASA wrote on the spacecraft’s web page.

The spacecraft is supposed to look at the amount of water in Jupiter’s atmosphere (an ingredient of planet formation), its magnetic and gravitational fields and also its magnetic environment — including auroras.

Much further in the future (if the spacecraft development is approved all the way) will be a European mission called JUICE, for Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer.

Artist's impression of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) near Jupiter and one of its moons, Europa. Credit: ESA/AOES
Artist’s impression of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) near Jupiter and one of its moons, Europa. Credit: ESA/AOES

The mission will check out the planet and three huge moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, to get a better look at those surfaces. It is strongly believed that these moons could have global oceans that may be suitable for life.

Earlier this month, the European Space Agency approved the implementation phase for JUICE, which means that designers now have approval to come up with plans for the spacecraft. But it’s not going to launch until 2022 and get to Jupiter until 2030, if the schedule holds.

Meanwhile, observations of Jupiter do continue from the ground. One huge finding this year came from the Hubble Space Telescope, which confirmed observations that the Great Red Spot is shrinking for reasons that are yet unknown.

Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Bizarre Mars: Did Lava Bubbles Wrinkle This Giant Circle?

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 Arizona

NASA is puzzled by this “enigmatic landform” caught on camera by one of its Mars orbiters, but looking around the region provides some possible clues. This 1.2-mile (2-kilometer) feature is surrounded by relatively young lava flows, so they suspect that it could be some kind of volcanism in the Athabasca area that created this rippled surface.

“Perhaps lava has intruded underneath this mound and pushed it up from beneath. It looks as if material is missing from the mound, so it is also possible that there was a significant amount of ice in the mound that was driven out by the heat of the lava,” NASA wrote in an update on Thursday (Dec. 4).

“There are an array of features like this in the region that continue to puzzle scientists. We hope that close inspection of this … image, and others around it, will provide some clues regarding its formation.”

The picture was captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), a University of Arizona payload which has released a whole slew of intriguing pictures lately. We’ve collected a sample of them below.

These transverse aeolian ridges seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are caused by wind, but scientists are unsure why this image (released in December 2014) shows two wavelengths of ripples. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
These transverse aeolian ridges seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are caused by wind, but scientists are unsure why this image (released in December 2014) shows two wavelengths of ripples. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
This area south of Coprates Chasma is an example of sulfate and clay deposits on Mars, showing water once flowed readily in this region. Why the water evaporated from the Red Planet is one question scientists are hoping to answer with missions such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which took this image (released in December 2014). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
This area south of Coprates Chasma is an example of sulfate and clay deposits on Mars, showing water once flowed readily in this region. Why the water evaporated from the Red Planet is one question scientists are hoping to answer with missions such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which took this image (released in December 2014). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Arabia Terra, one of the dustiest regions on Mars, is filled with dunes such as this one captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and released in December 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Arabia Terra, one of the dustiest regions on Mars, is filled with dunes such as this one captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and released in December 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Why NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Flew Old, Slow Computers Into Orbit

The Orion spacecraft floats in the Pacific Ocean after an uncrewed orbital flight test Dec. 5, 2014. In the background is the recovery ship, the USS Anchorage. Credit: NASA

It’s funny to think that your smartphone might be faster than a new spaceship, but that’s what one report is saying about the Orion spacecraft. The computers are less-than-cutting-edge, the processors are 12 years old, and the speed at which it “thinks” is … slow, at least compared to a typical laptop today.

But according to NASA, there’s good reasoning behind using older equipment. In fact, it’s common for the agency to use this philosophy when designing missions — even one such as Orion, which saw the spacecraft soar 3,600 miles (roughly 5,800 kilometers) above Earth in an uncrewed test last week and make the speediest re-entry for a human spacecraft since the Apollo years.

The reason, according to a Computer World report, is to design the spacecraft for reliability and being rugged. Orion — which soared into the radiation-laden Van Allen belts above Earth — needs to withstand that environment and protect humans on board. The computer is therefore based on a well-tested Honeywell system used in 787 jetliners. And Orion in fact carries three computers to provide redundancy if radiation causes a reset.

Up close view of Orion inside the mobile service tower pad 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida one day prior to launch. Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com
Up close view of Orion inside the mobile service tower pad 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida one day prior to launch. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com

“The one thing we really like about this computer is that it doesn’t get destroyed by radiation,” said Matt Lemke, NASA’s deputy manager for Orion’s avionics, power and software team, in the report. “It can be upset, but it won’t fail. We’ve done a lot of testing on the different parts of the computer. When it sees radiation, it might have to reset, but it will come back up and work again.”

A 2013 NASA presentation points out that the agency is a common user of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronics. This usually happens for three reasons: officials can’t find military or aerospace alternatives, unknown risks are a part of the mission, or a mission has “a short lifetime or benign space environment exposure”. NASA makes sure to test the electronics beyond design limits and will often make accommodations to make it even safer. Ideally, the use of proven hardware overall reduces risk and cost for a mission, if used properly.

“The more understanding you have of a device’s failure modes and causes, the higher the confidence level that it will perform under mission environments and lifetime,” the presentation says. “Qualification processes are statistical beasts
designed to understand/remove known reliability risks and uncover unknown risks inherent in a part.”

Artist's conception of NASA's Space Launch System. Credit: NASA
Artist’s conception of NASA’s Space Launch System. Credit: NASA

In fact, the rocket that is eventually supposed to pair up with Orion will also use flight-tested systems for at least the first few flights. The Space Launch System, which NASA hopes will heft Orion on the next test flight in 2017 or 2018, will use solid rocket boosters based on those used with the shuttle. But NASA adds that upgrades are planned to the technology, which flew on shuttle missions in space starting in 1981.

“Although similar to the solid rocket boosters that helped power the space shuttle to orbit, the five-segment SLS boosters include several upgrades and improvements implemented by NASA and ATK engineers,” NASA wrote in a 2012 press release. “In addition, the SLS boosters will be built more affordably and efficiently than shuttle boosters, incorporating new and innovative processes and technologies.”

A handful of other prominent space recycling uses in space exploration:

Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Crazy Space Christmases: Moon Readings, Food Cans And Emergency Repairs

"AstroButch [Butch Wilmore] has set up our Xmas tree in the lab and hung socks for us," tweeted astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti from the International Space Station Dec. 7, 2014. Credit: Samantha Cristoforetti/Twitter

If you think the upside-down Christmas tree above is bizarre — that’s one of the latest activities of Expedition 42 astronauts in space right now — think back to the history of other holidays in orbit.

We’ve seen a vital telescope undergo repairs, an emergency replacement of part of a space station’s cooling system, and even a tree made of food cans. Learn more about these fun holiday times below.

Reading from above the moon (Apollo 8, 1969)

In this famous reading from the Bible, astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders shared their experience looking at the Moon on Dec. 24, 1968. The Apollo 8 crew was the first to venture to lunar orbit, just seven months before the Apollo 11 crew made it all the way to the surface.

Food can “Christmas tree” (Skylab 4, 1973)

A "Christmas tree" created out of food cans by the Skylab 4 crew in 1973. Credit: NASA
A “Christmas tree” created out of food cans by the Skylab 4 crew in 1973. Credit: NASA

Living on the Skylab station taught astronauts the value of improvisation, such as when the first crew (under NASA’s instructions) repaired a sunshield to stop electronics and people from roasting inside. Skylab 4 took the creativity to Christmas when they created a tree out of food cans.

Hubble Space Telescope repair (STS-103, 1999)

The Hubble Space Telescope during a 1999 repair mission with STS-103 crew members Mike Foale (left, for NASA) and Claude Nicollier (European Space Agency). Credit: NASA
The Hubble Space Telescope during a 1999 repair mission with STS-103 crew members Mike Foale (left, for NASA) and Claude Nicollier (European Space Agency). Credit: NASA

When the Hubble Space Telescope was in hibernation due to a failed gyroscope, the STS-103 crew made repairs in December 1999 that culminated with the final spacewalk on Christmas Day. The telescope remains in great shape to this day, following another repair mission in 2009.

First Christmas on the International Space Station (Expedition 1, 2000)

The Expedition 1 crew with fresh oranges on the International Space Station in December 2000. From left, Yuri Gidzenko (Roscosmos), Bill Shepherd (NASA) and Sergei Krikalev (Roscosmos). Credit: NASA
The Expedition 1 crew with fresh oranges on the International Space Station in December 2000. From left, Yuri Gidzenko (Roscosmos), Bill Shepherd (NASA) and Sergei Krikalev (Roscosmos). Credit: NASA

The Expedition 1 crew was the first on the International Space Station to spend Christmas in orbit. “On this night, we would like to share with all-our good fortune on this space adventure; our wonder and excitement as we gaze on the Earth’s splendor; and our strong sense — that the human spirit to do, to explore, to discover — has no limit,” the crew said in a statement on Christmas Eve, in part.

Ammonia tank replacement (Expedition 38, 2013)

Just last year, an ammonia tank failure crippled a bunch of systems on the International Space Station and forced spacewalkers outside to fix the problem, in the middle of a leaky suit investigation. The astronauts made the final repairs ahead of schedule, on Christmas Eve.

Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Did Philae Land In That Comet Crater? One Month Later, The Search Continues

A mosaic of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken Dec. 2 with the Rosetta spacecraft. The shadowed area is a crater in which Philae is expected to be. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

Don’t forget about Philae! The comet lander made a touchdown a month ago this week on its target, marking the first time we’ve ever made a soft landing on such a body. Celebrations were quickly mixed with confusion, however, as controllers realized the spacecraft drifted quite a ways off target. In fact, we still don’t know exactly where it is.

The parent Rosetta spacecraft is working well in orbit and still transmitting images of the comet while Philae hibernates in a shady spot below. This latest image here shows a clear view of where the European Space Agency thinks the lander arrived — somewhere in the rim of that shadowy crater you see up front.

“The internal walls are seen in quite some detail. It is thought that Philae’s final touchdown site might be located close to the rim of this depression, but further high-resolution imaging is still being obtained and analyzed to confirm this,” the agency wrote in a statement concerning the image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

This is based on data collected from Philae in a brief science surge on the surface. Recently, information based on measured magnetic fields showed the spacecraft likely hit an object — perhaps a crater rim — as it drifted for two hours on the surface, unsecured by the harpoons that were supposed to fire to hold it in place.

The distortion at bottom of this mosaic of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko occured as imagers made image joining adjustments for the comet's rotation and the movements of the Rosetta spacecraft. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
The distortion at bottom of this Dec. 1, 2014 mosaic of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko occured as imagers made image joining adjustments for the comet’s rotation and the movements of the Rosetta spacecraft. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

Searches for the lander are ongoing, but it’s hard to pick it out on such a boulder-strewn landscape. Yet the agency is doing its mightiest, and has made some progress on the problem since the landing took place. Rosetta caught several glimpses of the lander during its journey across the surface. And they have data from an experiment that communicated between Rosetta and Philae which could help pinpoint the location.

Rosetta science results have been quiet in the past week, although ESA has released several images of the comet. This comes as the agency has been criticized for its data release policy regarding the mission. It’s a vigorous debate, with there being examples of more open missions (such as Curiosity) and more closed missions (such as the Hubble Space Telescope) to compare Rosetta’s releases with.

As these activities continue, however, Rosetta will remain transmitting information from 67P through at least part of 2015, watching the comet increase in activity as both draw closer to the Sun. Jets and gas are visible already in some of the recent images of the comet, which you can see below.

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko viewed by the Rosetta spacecraft on Nov. 30, 2014 showing off layered material in the "neck" of the comet. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko viewed by the Rosetta spacecraft on Nov. 30, 2014 showing off layered material in the “neck” of the comet. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Erupting gas and dust is just visible in the "neck" region of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in this montage taken Nov. 26, 2014 by the Rosetta spacecraft. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Erupting gas and dust is just visible in the “neck” region of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in this montage taken Nov. 26, 2014 by the Rosetta spacecraft. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Gas and dust stream from Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in this mosaic from the Rosetta spacecraft taken Nov. 20, 2014. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Gas and dust stream from Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in this mosaic from the Rosetta spacecraft taken Nov. 20, 2014. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Opportunity Mars Rover Treks Past 41 Kilometers Towards ‘Marathon Valley’

Artist's conception of a Mars Exploration Rover, which included Opportunity and Spirit. Credit: NASA

The Opportunity Mars rover is busy on its wheels as it moves towards “Marathon Valley”, a location that could include clay minerals — a sign of past water in the region. After successfully passing 41 kilometers (25.47 miles) in total driving a few weeks ago, the rover is closing out its 11th year on Mars with guided and unguided drives towards that destination.

As of late November, the latest status update available from NASA, the rover is just about a half-mile (1 kilometer) from Marathon Valley and busy collecting measurements on an interesting geologic feature en route. This followed several hundred feet of driving that took place just before.

The rover is now racing to finish its work as the Martian winter approaches. Its science activities are still being disrupted by rover difficulties, according to the Planetary Society, which follows weeks of memory problems that have plagued Opportunity through the fall. But Opportunity is still trekking despite these aging issues and transmitting raw imagery from the surface of Mars, which you can see below.

A rough panorama of the Opportunity rover's surroundings on Mars based on three images taken on Sol 3,861 in December 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ. Panorama: Elizabeth Howell
A rough panorama of the Opportunity rover’s surroundings on Mars based on three images taken on Sol 3,861 in December 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ. Panorama: Elizabeth Howell
A shot across the Martian vista taken by the Opportunity rover on Sol 3,862 in December 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
A shot across the Martian vista taken by the Opportunity rover on Sol 3,862 in December 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
Tracks from the Opportunity Mars rover on Sol 3,861 in December 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
Tracks from the Opportunity Mars rover on Sol 3,861 in December 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
Many of Opportunity's photos from Mars in early December 2014, such as this one on Sol 3,860, focused on details of the terrain beneath. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
Many of Opportunity’s photos from Mars in early December 2014, such as this one on Sol 3,860, focused on details of the terrain beneath. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Pluto Spacecraft Wakes Up For An Exciting Close Encounter Next Year

Artist's conception of the New Horizons spacecraft at Pluto. Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute (JHUAPL/SwRI)

Pluto, humanity is getting ready to change your image. The New Horizons spacecraft is awake once more after emerging from hibernation as planned yesterday (Dec. 6). And after a decade of sailing through space, there will be a historic first encounter with the dwarf planet in July.

The story may not end there, either. Mission managers are working hard to make the case that since New Horizons is way “out there” anyway, it would be a great idea to put the spacecraft past another object later in the mission. That hope rides heavily on the success of the Pluto encounter July 14.

“Technically, this was routine, since the wake-up was a procedure that we’d done many times before,” said Glen Fountain, New Horizons project manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, in a statement. “Symbolically, however, this is a big deal. It means the start of our pre-encounter operations.”

The New Horizons spacecraft takes off on Jan. 19, 2006 from the Kennedy Space Center for its planned close encounter with Pluto. Credit: NIKON/Scott Andrews/NASA
The New Horizons spacecraft takes off on Jan. 19, 2006 from the Kennedy Space Center for its planned close encounter with Pluto. Credit: NIKON/Scott Andrews/NASA

It’s been a neat few years for the mighty machine, even before getting to the main event. New Horizons launched from the Kennedy Space Center in 2006 and made a close pass by Jupiter and its moons in 2007, doing some science en route — including catching a huge explosion from Io, a volcanic moon.

Since then, the spacecraft has dutifully been sending back pictures from across the Solar System, including a picture of Neptune’s moon Triton, and several of Pluto — the first time a spacecraft will venture that far. In between the science work and checking out systems, New Horizons spent two-thirds of the journey sleeping to conserve energy for the big show.

Up next for the spacecraft will be several weeks of checkouts and also putting together the commands to make sure New Horizons is successfully guided past Pluto and its moons (a process that got complicated over the years as more moons were discovered.) After that, if the spacecraft holds out and the budget is approved, managers want to swing it past a Kuiper Belt Object.

Two potential targets for the New Horizons mission emerge in these Hubble Space Telescope multiple-exposure images. Both are about four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away. NASA, ESA, SwRI, JHU/APL, and the New Horizons KBO Search Team
Two potential targets for the New Horizons mission emerge in these Hubble Space Telescope multiple-exposure images. Both are about four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away. NASA, ESA, SwRI, JHU/APL, and the New Horizons KBO Search Team

The Kuiper Belt is a collection of icy bodies past Neptune’s orbit. These small worlds are believed to be building blocks of the Solar System, showing off a time billions of years ago when there were no planets or moons — just chunks of rocks and ice, which slowly collided and coalesced over millions of years to form the familiar landscape we see today.

New Horizons team members plan to ask for more money for this mission in late 2016, as they gather information via the Hubble Space Telescope and other sources to make their case. (They already have some targets in mind.) But the focus will definitely be on Pluto in the coming months.

Next year, by the way, will see another planned close encounter with a dwarf planet when NASA’s Dawn spacecraft gets to Ceres in the spring.

Posted on by Ken Kremer

The Dawn of Orion and the Path Beyond Earth: Spectacular Launch Gallery

Orion’s inaugural launch on Dec. 5, 2014 atop United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket at Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida at 7:05 a.m. Credit: Alex Polimeni/Zero-G News/AmericaSpace

Orion’s inaugural launch on Dec. 5, 2014 atop United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket at Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida at 7:05 a.m. Credit: Alex Polimeni/Zero-G News/AmericaSpace
Expanded with a growing gallery![/caption]

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – After four decades of waiting, the dawn of a new era in space exploration finally began with the dawn liftoff of NASA’s first Orion spacecraft on Friday, Dec. 5, 2014.

The picture perfect liftoff of Orion on its inaugural unmanned test flight relit the path to send humans beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since the launch of Apollo 17 on NASA’s final moon landing mission on Dec. 7, 1972.

NASA’s first Orion spacecraft blasts off at 7:05 a.m. atop United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy Booster at Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Dec. 5, 2014. Launch pad remote camera view. Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com
NASA’s first Orion spacecraft blasts off at 7:05 a.m. atop United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy Booster at Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Dec. 5, 2014. Launch pad remote camera view. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com

Orion soared to space atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket at 7:05 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Enjoy the spectacular launch photo gallery from my fellow space journalists and photographers captured from various up close locations ringing the Delta launch complex.

67362_1507407749532079_1400751375240688366_n

Tens of thousands of spectators descended upon the Kennedy Space Center to be an eyewitness to history and the new space era – and they were universally thrilled.

Orion is the first human rated spacecraft to fly beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 and was built by prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

10623672_1507407529532101_2295273501116938835_o

10344383_1507407539532100_7969689180969692155_o

The EFT-1 mission was a complete success.

The Orion program began about a decade ago.

America’s astronauts flying aboard Orion will venture farther into deep space than ever before – beyond the Moon to Asteroids, Mars and other destinations in our Solar System starting around 2020 or 2021 on Orion’s first crewed flight atop NASA’s new monster rocket – the SLS – concurrently under development.

1909510_10204709397868312_6000402173516112643_o

544947_10205270421179290_3522729129561283620_n

Watch for Ken’s ongoing Orion coverage from onsite at the Kennedy Space Center about the historic launch on Dec. 5.

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Orion and Earth and planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

1556432_10152535281502358_8249788738009004794_o

10818397_10152533860107358_4165018015924567588_o

10846045_10205270942192315_2996680947459947271_n

10846147_10205270417619201_4265473521206996346_n

10846488_864699793560364_3321837170085673485_n

10565273_910004025690112_7567901707640800198_n

Apollo 17 launch on Dec. 7, 1972. Credit: Julian Leek
Apollo 17 launch on Dec. 7, 1972. Credit: Julian Leek

1506827_10204422300109282_7367959124543755021_n

10362621_10202151736073421_1135789633135700041_n

10845986_10202153042506081_798115921998272984_n

10430851_10205613710411767_4576755758759417739_n

NASA’s first Orion spacecraft blasts off at 7:05 a.m. atop United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy Booster at Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Dec. 5, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
NASA’s first Orion spacecraft blasts off at 7:05 a.m. atop United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy Booster at Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Dec. 5, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Orion at dawn moments before liftoff on Dec. 5, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com
Orion at dawn moments before liftoff on Dec. 5, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Venus Express May Be Out Of Fuel After Death-Duelling Maneuvers

Artist's concept of Venus Express. Credit: ESA

After more than eight years orbiting a hellish planet, Venus Express is showing its age. The spacecraft made some risky maneuvers this summer, dipping down into the atmosphere as it nears the end of its mission. Now, the European Space Agency reports it has mostly lost contact with the probe. The reason could be lack of fuel.

The “anomaly” started Nov. 28 when the agency’s operations center lost touch with the spacecraft. Since then, ground stations at ESA and NASA have been trying to hail the probe. All they’ve received since then is a little bit of telemetry showing that the spacecraft has it solar panels pointing towards the Sun, and it’s slowly rotating.

Artist's conception of Venus Express doing an aerobraking maneuver in the atmosphere in 2014. Credit: ESA–C. Carreau
Artist’s conception of Venus Express doing an aerobraking maneuver in the atmosphere in 2014. Credit: ESA–C. Carreau

“It is possible that the remaining fuel on board VEX was exhausted,” ESA wrote in a blog post, pointing out that in recent weeks it has been trying to raise the spacecraft’s altitude for more science observations. But with the spacecraft spinning, its high-gain antenna is likely out of contact with Earth and it’s hard to reach it.

“The operations team is currently attempting to downlink the table of critical events that is stored in protected memory on board, which may give details of the sequence of events which occurred over the past few days,” ESA added. “The root cause of the anomaly (fuel situation or otherwise) remains to be established.”

We’ll keep you posted as events arise.

Source: European Space Agency

Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Titan’s Atmosphere Still Baffles Us A Decade After Huygens Landing

Artist depiction of Huygens landing on Titan. Credit: ESA

It’s almost exactly 10 years ago that humanity parachuted a spacecraft into Titan, that moon of Saturn that could hold chemistry similar to what sat on Earth before life arose. Called Huygens, the probe survived for just about an hour on the surface on Jan. 14, 2005, transmitting information back about conditions there and on the way down.

Huygens is long dead, but its carrier craft is doing just fine. On Dec. 10, Cassini will make the 107th close pass by Titan to learn more about the moon’s atmosphere. Although Huygens made it to the surface fine, showing at least a basic understanding of how a parachute behaves on Titan, there’s still so much more we need to learn.

Specifically, Cassini’s different instruments have been coming up with different answers for Titan’s atmospheric density, so this flyby is hoping to resolve some of that. In part, they hope to get more accurate measurements by measuring how much drag the spacecraft experiences when it flies past the moon.

Titan's landscape as seen by the Huygens probe descent through Saturn's largest moons atmosphere (credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, UA, Rene Pascal)
Titan’s landscape as seen by the Huygens probe descent through Saturn’s largest moons atmosphere (credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, UA, Rene Pascal)

When Huygens probed the atmosphere on its way down, scientists figured that its measurements agreed in many ways with those taken by the flying-by Voyager 2 spacecraft previously. That said, the probe also discovered “a significant correspondence of wind shear and buoyant stability structures” in the stratosphere and lower tropopause of Titan, according to a 2006 presentation on Huygens results.

And Cassini made several atmospheric discoveries of its own, such as the haze of Titan acting as an ozone layer, that glints of light off of Saturn can change air currents in the atmosphere, and that the atmosphere itself might be older than Saturn.

And in a spectacular recent reminder that we can make Titan discoveries from Earth, the powerful ALMA radio telescope array found an unusual organics distribution in Titan’s atmosphere.