Posted on by Ian O'Neill

Griffin: China Could Beat US in Moon Race

Long March II F rocket carrying Chinas second manned spacecraft Shenzhou VI in 2005 (Xinhua)

More bad news for NASA: even their administrator thinks China could beat the US to the Moon. Speaking with the BBC today, Michael Griffin shared his views about the Chinese space aspirations, pointing out that the super-state could, if they wanted to, send a manned mission to the lunar surface within a decade. NASA’s return mission to the Moon is planned to launch, at the earliest, in 2020, so this news is bound to knock the wind out of the US space agency’s hopes to continue where it left off in 1972…

In the last five years, China has been teetering on the edge of a full-manned space program. In 2003, the nation became only the third country to put a national into space (following the Russia and the USA), blasting Yang Liwei into orbit for 21 hours on the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. Shenzhou 6 was launched with two astronauts (or “taikonauts”) on board, spending five days orbiting the Earth in 2005. This year, shortly after the Beijing Olympics in October, China is sending another manned mission into orbit, only this time it is hoped a spacewalk will be possible. With this rapid succession of successful manned launches, it comes as no surprise that attention is swinging away from NASA and to China for the next big step into space.

The last time man set foot on the Moon was in 1972 when Eugene Andrew Cernan, last man on the Moon, boarded the Apollo 17 lunar module. That was 36 years ago and space flight has changed significantly since then, now NASA has more competition, as highlighted by Griffin during a visit to London:

“Certainly it is possible that if China wants to put people on the Moon, and if it wishes to do so before the United States, it certainly can. As a matter of technical capability, it absolutely can.” – Dr Michael Griffin

As to whether it actually matters whether China are the next to land on the Moon is open to interpretation. After all, the first nation to set foot on Earth’s natural satellite was the USA, so is a return trip a big psychological “victory” for China? “I’m not a psychologist, so I can’t say if it matters or not. That would just be an opinion and I don’t want to air an opinion in an area that I’m not qualified to discuss,” Griffin added.

Recently, there has been increased cooperation between the US and China when sharing science and information. “We do have some early co-operative initiatives that we are trying to put in place with China, mostly centred around scientific enterprises. I think that’s a great place to start,” he said. Although many will view an early Chinese lunar mission as a NASA failure, both nations appear to be trying to forge close relationships that could possibly lead to joint space missions in the future. After all, even at the peak of the Cold War, the US and Russia began working on a common goal.

“I think we’re always better off if we can find areas where we can collaborate rather than quarrel. I would remind your [audience] that the first US-Soviet human co-operation took place in 1975, virtually at the height of the Cold War. And it led, 18 years later, to discussions about an International Space Station (ISS) programme in which we’re now involved.” – Dr Michael Griffin

Regardless of who gets to the Moon first, Griffin will be feeling the pressure of the “five-year gap” between the Shuttle being retired in 2010 and Constellation completion in 2015, there is still little alternative than relying on Russia and Europe for US access to space. Griffin has tried to increase Constellation funding by $2bn to bring completion forward by a year, but the application was quickly turned down by Congress. Those five long years may be more costly than the US government realizes as NASA loses more footing in manned access to space…

Source: BBC

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Spacewalk Retrieves Explosive Bolt

Two cosmonauts at the International Space Station conducted a spacewalk on Thursday and performed the delicate operation of removing an explosive bolt from the Soyuz capsule attached to the station. Ten explosive bolts in all on the Soyuz break the connections between the spacecraft’s crew capsule and its propulsion module during descent back to Earth. Engineers suspect one bad bolt delayed the compartment’s jettison during landings in October 2007 and April 2008, leading to steep, high-G descents, causing the capsule to land off-course and hit the ground harder than it should. Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko removed the bolt located in the same spot as the ones diagnosed as being faulty on the other capsules. They placed it inside a blast-proof canister, which will be returned home aboard the Soyuz when the crew completes its mission in October.

The spacewalk took 6 hours and 18 minutes to complete. US astronaut Greg Chamitoff remained in the Soyuz during the spacewalk, part of the contingency plan for the unlikely event the Pirs airlock could not be repressurized. Otherwise he would not have had access to the station’s lifeboat through a depressurized Pirs. “We do not like to separate the crew from (the) escape vehicle,” flight director Bob Dempsey told reporters in a briefing last week. “Therefore Greg will be staying in there. He will have some laptops, books and computers to work on while he’s there.”

Although engineers assured the bolt would not denoted, Russian mission control repeatedly told the cosmonauts to go slow and take their time. About halfway into the spacewalk, the bolt had been removed and placed in the container. “Good! Thank God, it is in,” one cosmonaut exclaimed. Mission control then told the cosmonauts to take a five minute break “without any motions, without moving,” before moving on to complete their tasks.

Chamitoff will have another stay in the Soyuz next Tuesday, as Volkov and Kononenko will conduct another spacewalk on July 15 to outfit the Russian segment’s exterior, install one scientific experiment and retrieve another.

News Sources: NASA, NASA TV

Posted on by Ian O'Neill

New Transistor Could Side-Step Space Radiation Problem

A simulation of the impact a cosmic ray has on entering the atmosphere (credit: AIRES package/Chicago University)

Space is a very dangerous place to be, whether you’re a human or a transistor. Highly energetic particles may hit astronauts, causing damage to their DNA, but as computers become more and more powerful (yet more and more sensitive); the hazards to unprotected circuitry are increasing. There are many examples of satellites and robotic space missions getting hit by energetic particles, sometimes with crippling results. Not only are millions of dollars at stake, lives are put at risk too. Now, using a new technique and material, Northwestern University scientists have developed a new type of transistor with a twist and it is currently being tested on the International Space Station…

Only a few days ago, the spectre of space radiation reared its ugly head. On June 4th, NASA reported that the Mars orbiter Odyssey had been switched to “safe mode” after the spacecraft’s onboard circuitry was hit by energetic particles from the Sun or from deep space. Fortunately, to avoid system errors, the satellite switched itself into “safe-mode” to await an investigation by mission control to assess any damage. It is not thought this event has caused any lasting harm to Odyssey, but it did cause delays in communications between Earth and Phoenix.

Other spacecraft have not been so lucky. One of the earliest examples of satellite failure through space radiation was the world’s first communications satellite, Telstar. In 1962, this historic satellite was launched to provide trans-Atlantic communications for the first time. Unfortunately, it was launched too soon after a high-altitude US nuclear weapon test codenamed “Star Fish Prime” (see the archival footage of the test) which resulted in manmade energization of the Earth’s Van Allen Belts, causing artificial aurorae in equatorial locations such as Hawaii. Little was known at this time about the response of electrical equipment inside a high-energy environment and Telstar was soon severely damaged as its transistors succumbed to the high energy particles a few months later.

As we now have a huge armada of satellites in orbit around the Earth, and an increasing number of exploratory craft throughout the solar system, there are many vulnerabilities to energetic particles ejected by the Sun.

To address this problem, scientists from Northwestern University sent their new design of transistor to the ISS in March on board Space Shuttle Endeavour. Since then these microscopic components have been rigorously tested and exposed to a space environment to see how the new material reacts.

Arrays of printed transistors on flexible plastic (Northwestern University)

Traditionally, computer transistors are manufactured from the semi-conducting material silicon dioxide. Your home computer uses them, deep space missions such as the New Horizons Pluto mission use them; silicon-based electronics have revolutionized the computing world. However, silicon dioxide transistors are susceptible to radiation. Should a high energy particle impact one of the microscopic transistors of millions that can be built in a microchip, silicon-based material captures the particle, causing a loss of charge or a build-up of charge. Either way, this is bad for computing as it can result in calculation errors.

The new transistors developed by Northwestern use a new type of gate dielectric material called self-assembled nanodielectric (SAND). SAND has an added benefit – they can be printed and they are flexible. This has obvious applications for flat-screen technology and condensing vastly complex circuitry into a very small space. As this is a departure from silicon dioxide, these transistors appear to be very robust when faced with a high-radiation environment here on Earth.

The ISS experiments are expected to take a year to complete, so the space computing world will be waiting to see if this new technology can revolutionize space-based instrumentation, protecting valuable spacecraft from the ravages of energetic particles…

For more information:

Source: EurikAlert

Posted on by Ian O'Neill

What Do You Do If Someone Blows Up Your Satellite? Call a Space Lawyer

Artist impression of an anti-satellite missile (Jeremy Cook/Popular Mechanics)

As space travel becomes routine and private enterprise gets a foothold in low Earth orbit, it is becoming clear that specialists in the field of space law are required. Until now, lawyers here on the surface have extended their knowledge into space, but there will be a time when terrestrial lawyers will need to be superseded by a space equivalent. For example space lawyers could wrangle who is accountable for the space debris left behind after a satellite gets shot down. What happens if a nation accidentally (or deliberately) destroys another nation’s spy satellite? Does this cause retaliation with global consequences or can the dispute be easily settled in “Space Court” with the help of space lawyers? These are extreme examples, but space lawyers may eventually become a part of everyday life for manned excursions into the cosmos. To mark the beginning of this new era of law, the first space law student graduated from the University of Mississippi on Saturday…

Michael Dodge from Long Beach, Mississippi, graduated last weekend with a special distinction with his degree from the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi. This marks the beginning of a new era for the legalities in the space travel as Dodge is the first ever US space lawyer.

The university is unique in that it offers the only dedicated aerospace law curriculum in the US which is accredited by the American Bar Association. The degree requires courses in US space and aviation law, international space and aviation law, and remote sensing. Dodge also had to carry out independent research, contributing to the publication of the Journal of Space Law.

“Once I came to the law school, I read that there was an attorney here that specialized in space law. After that, I became curious as to why space needed regulation, and how legal regimes could be constructed to govern such an expanse.” – Michael Dodge

The future promises to be good business for Dodge, as more and more technology and private corporations are launched into orbit, disputes will be commonplace. Recently, the Chinese and US shoot down of satellites caused international condemnation; the left-over debris is considered to be a huge risk to the future of space travel. In this case, what would happen if a multi-million dollar satellite were damaged by an orbiting piece of space junk? Could the satellite owner take legal action against the organization that littered low Earth orbit? Even mundane disputes such as confrontations on the International Space Station would require a specialist’s knowledge in the laws of space.

Many people would argue that there are already too many lawyers here on Earth, but it looks like space lawyers will be a necessary part of mankind’s big step into a new legal frontier…

Source: Space.com

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Buzz Lightyear Joins Space Shuttle Crew

Buzz Lightyear will be on the next space shuttle mission, set to launch on Saturday, May 31. No kidding. “We are thrilled that Buzz’s lifelong dream of space travel finally will come true thanks to NASA,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “This launch fulfills his dream, and we hope it will inspire countless children to stay interested in science and believe in their own dreams.” NASA announced today a new educational initiative partnership with Disney theme parks, which will kick off with space shuttle Discovery’s launch. A 12-inch-tall Buzz Lightyear action figure will be carried aboard the shuttle as part of the partnership to encourage students to pursue studies in science, technology and mathematics, one of NASA’s main educational goals.

Beginning on May 31, new online games will be available on NASA’s Kids Club which will feature Buzz Lightyear. And it sounds like NASA’s “Toys in Space” program might be dusted off or revived.

Disney’s Youth Educational Series and NASA have developed an online program known as the Space Ranger Education Series. It includes educational games for students, as well as materials for educators to download and integrate into their classroom curriculum.

“NASA is excited to help students understand the science and engineering currently underway on the International Space Station,” said Joyce Winterton, NASA assistant administrator for Education.
“The educational games and resources from this partnership will allow students to explore the science and math behind space exploration with a beloved character.”

Source: NASA

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Europe Unveils Concept for Manned ATV

Here’s a futuristic-looking concept for a manned vehicle of the not-so-distant future. Buoyed by the success of the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle, the European space company EADS Astrium unveiled their plans to evolve the ATV – currently a cargo carrier for the International Space Station – to a manned vehicle. There’s just one little hurdle to overcome: currently, the ATV isn’t capable of returning to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere. But Astrium says the cost for the upgrade would be reasonable, and an additional crew-capable vehicle would certainly come in handy for the ISS when the shuttles are retired in 2010.

Jules Verne successfully docked to the space station in April of this year using its sophisticated navigation, rendezvous and docking technologies. Astrium believes a crewed version of the ATV is the logical next step.

The idea is to use the current avionics and propulsion systems of the Jules Verne, but insert a crew compartment in place of the current cargo section.

Astrium says the work to upgrade the vehicle would be done in two stages. The first would be to give the freighter a means of returning non-human items to Earth safely – something it currently can’t do.
Astrium says this stage could be flying by 2013 and would cost “well below one billion euros” to achieve.

If all goes well, the re-entry freight capsule could then be upgraded to carry three astronauts in a second stage of development.

Astrium estimates maiden voyage of a crewed capsule would be 2017 at the earliest. While the US’s new Orion spacecraft is scheduled to be ready by 2014, its always nice to have a back-up.

A model of a proposed European manned spaceship was on display at the Berlin Air Show.

Original News Source: BBC

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

The Wizard Takes Off Without Dorothy: Skydiver’s Balloon Leaves Him Behind

We can only imagine the disappointment skydiver Michel Fournier must have felt watching his helium balloon take off without him, a la Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz.” Today, Fournier was going to attempt a record setting skydiving leap from 130,000 feet (40,000 meters), about three times higher than commercial airplanes fly. But the helium balloon he was going to use to soar to the stratosphere detached from the capsule that would have carried him heavenward. Reportedly, the balloon cost at least $200,000 USD and Fournier, 64, was said to have already exhausted his finances. The former paratrooper had planned to make the attempt Monday, but had to postpone his plans because of weather conditions. What a bummer.

The balloon was inflated on the ground at the airport in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. The balloon detached and drifted away into the sky without the capsule.

Fournier appeared disappointed as he left the capsule and walked to the hanger.

Attempts in 2002 and 2003 ended when wind gusts shredded his balloon before it even became airborne.

Fournier’s jump would have broken the record for the fastest and longest free fall, the highest parachute jump and the highest balloon flight. He also hoped to bring back data that will help astronauts and others survive in the highest of altitudes.

An army of technicians, data crunchers, balloon and weather specialists arrived recently in North Battleford, a city of 14,000 near the Saskatchewan-Alberta line, for the attempt.

Fournier had planned to make the jump in his native France, but the government denied him permission because it believed the project was too dangerous. He then came to North Battleford, an agricultural and transportation hub northwest of Saskatoon.

Original News Source: PhysOrg

Posted on by Ian O'Neill

Navigation for Spaceships Using X-ray Pulsars: Introducing XNAV

Pulsar diagram (© Mark Garlick)

This could be the ultimate galactic GPS system: using pulsars as an interstellar navigation tool. Rapidly spinning neutron stars emit focused beams of X-rays into space and many, with accuracy as good as an atomic clock, have been mapped by astronomers. Now these pulsars may have a very important practical use. These interstellar beacons may be used to get a fix on the position of spacecraft and guide them around space…

Ever since the first X-ray pulsar was discovered in 1967 (called Centaurus X-3, the third X-ray source discovering in the constellation of Centaurus with a period of 4.84 seconds), astronomers have been busy mapping the distribution of these rapidly spinning stellar objects. Pulsars are the embodiment of a neutron star binary system; the neutron star strips the material from its stellar neighbour, accelerating the gas to about half the speed of light, blasting hot collimated X-ray emissions from its poles. As the pulsar spins, these beams of light act like a lighthouse, and should they be directed toward the Earth, we observe a highly accurate periodic flashing of X-rays.

At the beginning of this month, the IEEE/ION Position, Location and Navigation Symposium (PLANS) 2008 conference in Monterey, California featured two interesting concepts for the use of these highly accurate X-ray sources. The first proposal called “Noise Analysis for X-ray Navigation Systems” headed by John Hanson of CrossTrac Engineering, introduces a scaled-up version of terrestrial GPS, using pulsars rather than man-made satellites. The system is called X-ray navigation, or “XNAV” for short. Primarily focusing on space missions beyond Jupiter, XNAV would use the Solar System as the base co-ordinate and then measure the phase of the incoming X-ray emission from the mapped pulsars. As the X-ray pulses are so accurate, onboard systems could measure and compare the signal from multiple pulsar sources and automatically deduce the position of the spacecraft to a high degree of certainty. I suppose it would be an advanced 3D version of the traditional sextant as used by ships to measure the elevation of stars above the Earth’s horizon.

The second concept entitled “Online Time Delay Estimation of Pulsar Signals for Relative Navigation using Adaptive Filters“, is headed by Amir Emadzadeh at the UCLA Electrical Engineering Department. Emadzadeh suggests that the location of two spacecraft can be worked out if both ships are looking at the same, known pulsar. The periodic emission measured by both ships will have a differential time delay proportional to the distance between the ships. In addition, the UCLA group suggest a method to derive their relative inertial position by observing a distribution of X-ray sources throughout the cosmos.

These are very interesting concepts, but until we begin routinely venturing beyond the orbit of Jupiter I doubt we’ll see these ideas come to fruition any time soon…

Original source: Space.com
Additional info: IEEE/ION PLANS 2008 conference

Posted on by Ian O'Neill

Soyuz Hard Landing: Equipment Module Failed to Separate – Official

The Soyuz landing site was a bit of a mess (AP)

Its official, last month’s Soyuz emergency landing was due to a technical fault just before re-entry. A Russian space agency official has made an announcement indicating that one of the spaceship’s modules failed to separate, putting the crew into a “ballistic re-entry”. After the event, a Russian agency source said the lives of the crew were on a “razor’s edge”, but the hardy Soyuz re-entry capsule landed the astronauts just about in one piece…

The Soyuz modules (NASA)
It was a rough ride when South Korea’s first astronaut, Yi So-yeon, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and American astronaut Peggy Whitson left the International Space Station on April 19th. At the time, the “ballistic re-entry” was shrouded in misinformation and media spin after the Russian space agency made attempts to deflect attention away from the troubled re-entry. As the dust settled a couple of days on, the facts slowly leaked though to the world’s media. Rather than re-hashing the events as they happened, check out the four days of Universe Today coverage from April 20th-24th:

Today, the first official word from Moscow appears to confirm the initial idea that there was some problem with the separation of the descent module from another module before it hit the Earth’s atmosphere. There is no mention whether the ballistic trajectory was caused by a short circuit, and there is no blame placed on any member of the crew (originally the agency cited the Soyuz commander to be at fault, making an unscheduled course correction).

The head of the Russian manned space program, Alexei Krasnov said the Soyuz TMA-11 equipment bay module was supposed to separate after the spaceship detached from the ISS. The capsule would have then been able to smoothly enter the atmosphere for a controlled re-entry. Instead the module remained attached, forcing the ballistic re-entry. The resulting drop through the atmosphere exerted forces of several Earth gravities on the crew. It is not clear at what point the equipment module was ripped free from the descent capsule, but the crew still sustained a hard landing, making sure they will never forget that journey.

The final official report on the Soyuz hard landing is pending…

Source: ABC

Posted on by Ian O'Neill

The Human Brain in Space: Euphoria and the “Overview Effect” Experienced by Astronauts

The integration of spirituality and science have been taught by scholars of many faiths for years (mi2g.com)

Could be the best example yet of being “spaced out”? When in space, astronauts have repeatedly reported inexplicable euphoria, a “cosmic connection” or an increased sensitivity to their place in the Universe. The experience sounds like the ultimate high, or the ultimate enlightening; it would appear that without trying, astronauts are able to attain a similar mental state as meditating Buddhist monks. So what is happening when the human body is in space? Does zero-gravity create new connections in the brain? Or is it a natural human response to the vastness of space and realizing just how small we are in comparison? What ever the reason, it looks like even when astronauts are back on solid ground, they have changed profoundly…

On March 6th, 1969, Rusty Schweikart experienced a feeling that the whole universe was profoundly connected. At the time, he was on a postponed space walk outside his Apollo 9 Lunar Module, carrying out tests for the forthcoming Moon landings. Already having suffered from space sickness (hence delaying the EVA) he felt a euphoric sensation:

“When you go around the Earth in an hour and a half, you begin to recognize that your identity is with that whole thing. That makes a change… it comes through to you so powerfully that you’re the sensing element for Man.” – Russell “Rusty” Schweikart.

Two years later, Apollo 14 astronaut, Edgar Mitchell (joint record holder with Alan Shepard for longest ever Moon walk of 9 hours and 17 minutes) reported experiencing an “Overview Effect”. He described the sensation gave him a profound sense of connectedness, with a feeling of bliss and timelessness. He was overwhelmed by the experience. He became profoundly aware that each and every atom in the Universe was connected in some way, and on seeing Earth from space he had an understanding that all the humans, animals and systems were a part of the same thing, a synergistic whole. It was an interconnected euphoria.

Schweikart and Mitchell’s experiences are not isolated anomalies, many other astronauts since the 1970’s have reported this Overview Effect. Andy Newberg, a neuroscientist/physician with experience in space medicine, hopes to find out whether this is an actual psychological phenomenon. Perhaps there is a medical reason for an actual change in an astronaut’s brain function when in space. What’s more, he’s noticed a psychological change in the men and women that have come back from space:

“You can often tell when you’re with someone who has flown in space, its palpable.” – Andy Newberg

Newberg has scanned many brains to try to understand how humans reach this euphoric state on Earth. The religious communities, transcendental mediators and others around the world are able to experience similar states and have been the focus of interest to neuroscientists. In some cases, the meditation leads some people to view the whole cosmos as an interconnected quantum web, where consciousness is not separate, but a part of the Universe. Now Newberg hopes to monitor the brain of one of the first space tourists so a better grasp of the brain function of a human in zero-G can be understood.

Edgar Mitchell has said that his personal event has changed his life, revealing a Universe that had remained hidden until he experienced the Overview Effect on that Apollo 14 mission in 1971. Whether this effect is a physical change in the brain, or a deeper, yet to be discovered event, Newberg hopes to find some answers.

Source: The Daily Galaxy