The Rosetta spacecraft takes a selfie Oct. 7 with its target, 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, from an altitude of about 9.9 miles (16 kilometers). Credit: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA
So this spacecraft — taking this picture — is going to land on the surface of THAT comet. Doesn’t this give you a pit in your stomach? This is a selfie taken from the Philae spacecraft that, riding piggyback, captured the side of the Rosetta spacecraft orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The image is so close-up — just 9.9 miles (16 kilometers) from 67P’s surface — that mission planners can even spot Landing Site J on the comet’s smaller lobe.
“Two images, one with a short exposure time, one with a longer one, were combined to capture the whole dynamic range of the scene, from the bright parts of the solar arrays to the dark comet and the dark insulation cladding the Rosetta spacecraft,” the European Space Agency stated.
It’s quite the zoom-in after the last selfie that Philae produced for the public in September, which was taken from 31 miles (50 kilometers) away. The spacecraft is expected to make the first touchdown ever on a comet next month. Rosetta, meanwhile, will keep following 67P as it gets closest to the sun in 2015, between the orbits of Earth and Mars.
Tomorrow (Oct. 15), mission managers will announce if Site J is go or no go for a landing. More information is coming from Rosetta’s examination of the site from its new, lower altitude of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers).
Artist's conception of CubeSats near Europa (left) and Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL
When you’ve got a $2 billion mission concept to head to Europa, it’s likely a good idea to pack as much science on this mission as possible. That’s the thinking that NASA had as it invited 10 universities to send their ideas for CubeSats — tiny satellites — that would accompany the Europa Clipper mission to the Jupiter system.
Europa Clipper is only on the drawing board right now and not fully funded, and should not be confused with the lower-cost $1 billion Europa mission that NASA proposed earlier this year (also not fully funded). But however NASA gets there, the agency is hoping to learn if the moon could be a good spot for life.
Each university is being awarded up to $25,000 to develop their ideas further, and they will have until next summer to work on them. Investigations include searching the surface for future landing sites, or examining Europan properties such as gravity, its atmosphere, magnetic fields or radiation.
Two reddish spots (Thera and Thrace) stick out on this image of Europa taken by the Galileo orbit in the 1990s. NASA says they display “enigmatic terrain.” Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
“Using CubeSats for planetary exploration is just now becoming possible, so we want to explore how a future mission to Europa might take advantage of them,” said Barry Goldstein, pre-project manager for the Europa Clipper mission concept, in a press release.
If Europa Clipper flies, it would do at least 45 flybys at altitudes between 16 miles and 1,700 miles (25 kilometers and 2,700 kilometers.) Part of its expense comes from the long distance, and also from all the radiation shielding the spacecraft would need as it orbits immense Jupiter.
Science instruments are still being figured out, but some ideas include radar (to look under Europa’s crust), an infrared spectrometer (to see what is on the ice), a camera to image the surface and a spectrometer to look at the moon’s thin atmosphere.
While there are no Europa missions officially booked now, NASA does have an active spacecraft called Juno that will arrive at Jupiter in July 2016.
Artist's conception of one of the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft. Credit: NASA
A NASA spacecraft has been out of radio contact for about two weeks, but the agency is still holding out hopes for a rescue. One of the STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) spacecraft stopped phoning home to Earth on Oct. 1 “immediately after a planned reset of the spacecraft”, NASA said in an update last week.
If the STEREO-Behind spacecraft can’t be recovered, this could cause a data gap in the mission next year — which is unique because it looks at the far side of the Sun. On the website, NASA didn’t say how badly solar weather forecasts are affected, but in other materials they have said both STEREO spacecraft are a crucial part of this work.
STEREO’s pair of satellites (STEREO-Ahead and STEREO-Behind) aim to better map Sun eruptions (known as “coronal mass ejections”) whose charged particles can disrupt satellite communications during solar storms. The mission has been ongoing since 2006 and they’ve viewed the far side of the Sun since 2011. What caused one of them to stop talking to us is unknown, but NASA said recovery attempts are ongoing.
The satellites’ orbits around the Sun are similar to the Earth’s, but one circles a bit faster and the other a bit slower. Next year, geometry (a solar conjunction) means the Sun will block our view of one of the spacecraft at a time. As NASA explained in a July update, “radio receivers on Earth will not be able to distinguish STEREO’s signal from the sun’s radiation.”
This is affecting the mission in two ways. First, there is a period where the antennas on the spacecraft must be repositioned to avoid getting cooked by the Sun. Some data will flow, but it will be in lower resolution. STEREO-Ahead entered this period on Aug. 20, and STEREO-Behind was supposed to send high-resolution data until Dec. 1.
Then there’s a time when each spacecraft will be completely blocked by the Sun. STEREO-Behind was supposed to enter this period from Jan. 22 to March 23, 2015, with its twin still collecting data at this time. But then will come a period where STEREO-Ahead will be out of contact: March 24 to July 7, 2015. If STEREO-Behind can’t fill in for STEREO-Ahead at this time as planned, a data gap could loom.
Lower-resolution data is then expected from STEREO until 2016, when the geometry means the spacecraft can safely reposition their antennas. While these aren’t the only sun-gazing spacecraft — real-time data is still flowing from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) — NASA has said that the lower data rate and losing contact with one STEREO spacecraft next year will be difficult for solar forecasting.
“Lack of STEREO observations used in NASA research models will severely limit the forecasting of solar storms throughout the solar system,” the agency said in a July Q&A about the 2015 data losses.
On October 31st 2005, trick-or-treaters across the central U.S. eastern seaboard were treated to a brilliant fireball, a celestial spectacle that frequently graces October skies.
Mid- to late October is fireball season, a time when several key meteor showers experience a broad peak. We’re already seeing an uptick in fireball activity as monitored by numerous all-sky cameras this month, including NASA’s system positioned across the United States. Three lesser known but fascinating showers are the chief culprits.
A Bay area fireball captured in 2012. Credit: NASA/Robert P. Moreno Jr.
The main meteor shower on tap for the month of October is the Orionids. This shower radiates from the Club of the constellation Orion, and is the product of that most famous comet of them all, 1P Halley. Halley’s Comet is actually the source of two annual meteor showers, the October Orionids and the May Eta Aquarids. We’re seeing the inward stream of Halley debris in October, and Orionid velocities average a swift 66 kilometres a second. The radiant rides highest for northern hemisphere observers at 4 AM local, and 2014 sees an estimated zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) of 20 predicted to arrive on the mornings of October 21st through the 22nd. The Orionids experience a broad peak spanning October 21st through November 7th, and 2014 sees the peak arrive just two days prior to the Moon reaching New phase. The Orionids have exhibited an uptick in activity as high as 50-75 per hour from 2005-2007, and it’s been suggested that a 12 year peak cycle may govern the Orionids, as the path of meteoroid debris stream is modified by the gravitational influence of the giant planet Jupiter.
A recent early Orionid meteor. Credit: Sharin Ahmad @Shahgazer.
Two other nearby radiants in the sky also produce an exceptionally large number of fireballs in late October: the Southern Taurids and Northern Taurids. These are complex streams laid down by the periodic comet 2P Encke, which possesses the shortest orbital period of any comet known at 3.3 years. Though the ZHR for both is only slightly above the background sporadic rate for northern hemisphere Fall at about five per hour, the Taurids also produce a high ratio of fireballs. The southern Taurids peak in early October and are already active, and the Northern Taurids peak in late October through early November, earning them the nickname the “Fireballs of Halloween”. Unlike many meteor showers, the Northern Taurids are approaching the Earth from behind in our orbit and have a slow relative atmospheric entry velocity of 28 kilometres per second. This makes for long, stately meteor trains often visible in the evening hours before local midnight.
The Taurids also seem to exhibit a seven year periodicity that begs for further study. 2008 was a fine year for Taurid fireballs… could 2015 be next?
Of course, the exact definition of a “fireball” meteor varies by source, though we prefer the definition of a fireball as a meteor brighter than magnitude -3. A fireball reaching -14 (a Full Moon equals magnitude -13, about 2.5 times fainter) is often termed a bolide.
Comet 1P/Halley’s orbital path through the inner solar system. (Credit: NASA/JPL).
Observing meteor showers such as the Orionids is as simple as sitting back and patiently watching the skies. Our own personal rule while starting a meteor vigil is to scan the skies for 10 minutes; one or more meteor sightings is a good sign to keep on watching, while no meteors means it’s time to pack it in and instead maybe write about astronomy. Dark, moonless skies are key, and you can report how many meteors you see to the International Meteor Organization. Be sure to keep a pair of binoculars handy to examine any lingering smoke trails post-fireball passage.
The positions of the radiants of the Orionids and the Taurids, with peak dates. Credit: Stellarium.
Of course, seeing a Taurid fireball is largely a matter of luck and looking at the right place in the sky at the right time. All-sky cameras work great in this regard, and many amateurs now use tripod mounted DLSRs set to take wide-field exposures of the sky automatically throughout the night. Just watch out for dew! Nearly every meteor we’ve caught on camera turned up only in post review, a testament to how much of the sky a lone pair of eyes still misses.
Spot a fireball? The American Meteor Society maintains a great online database of recent sightings and reports. Keep in mind, lots of “meteor-wrongs” inevitably crop up on Facebook and Twitter during any event, posted by folks eager for likes and retweets. Faves of such spoofers are: the Peekskill meteor train, the reentry of Hyabusa, Mir, and scenes (!) from the movie Armageddon. We’ve seen ‘em all passed off as legit, though you’re more than welcome to try and be original… a majority of initial meteor images almost always come from dash cams (remember Chelyabinsk?) and security cameras.
Finally, in addition to fireballs, there’s another astronomical tie-in for Halloween, as it’s one of four cross-quarter tie-in days approximately mid-way between a solstice and an equinox. The other three are: Lammas Day (August 1st), Groundhog’s Day (February 2nd) and May Day (May 1st). We just think that it’s great — if a bit paradoxical — to see modern day suburbanites dress up as ghouls and goblins as they reenact archaic rites and holidays…
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the fireballs of October this Halloween!
This annotated artist's conception illustrates our current understanding of the structure of the Milky Way galaxy. Image Credit: NASA
Astronomy is notorious for raising more questions than it answers. Take the observation that the vast majority of matter is invisible.
Although astronomers have gathered overwhelming evidence that dark matter makes up roughly 84 percent of the universe’s matter — providing straightforward explanations for the rotation of individual galaxies, the motions of distant galaxy clusters, and the bending of distant starlight — they remain unsure about any specifics.
Now, a group of Australian astronomers thinks there’s only half as much dark matter in the Milky Way as previously thought.
In 1933, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky observed the Coma cluster — a galaxy cluster roughly 320 million light-years away and nearly 2 light-years across — and found that it moved too rapidly. There simply wasn’t enough visible matter to hold the galaxy cluster together.
Zwicky decided there must be a hidden ingredient, known as dunkle Materie, or dark matter, that caused the motions of these galaxies to be so large.
The rotation curve of the Milky Way. Image Credit: Kafle et al.
Then in 1978, American astronomer Vera Rubin looked at individual galaxies. Astronomers largely assumed galaxies rotated much like our Solar System, with the outer planets rotating slower than the inner planets. This argument aligns with Newton’s Laws and the assumption that most of the mass is located in the center.
But Rubin found that galaxies rotated nothing like our own Solar System. The outer stars did not rotate slower than the inner stars, but just as fast. There had to be dark matter on the outskirts of every galaxy.
Now, astronomer Prajwal Kafle, from The University of Western Australia, and his colleagues have once again observed the speed of stars on the outskirts of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. But he did so in much greater detail than previous estimates.
From a star’s speed, it’s relatively simple to calculate any interior mass. The simple equation below shows that the interior mass (M) is equal to the distance the star is from the galactic center (R) times its velocity (V) squared, all divided by the gravitational constant (G):
Kafle and his colleagues used messier physics accounting for the sloppiness of the galaxy. But the point holds, with a star’s velocity, you can calculate any interior mass. And with multiple stars’ velocities you’re bound to be more accurate. The team found the dark matter in our galaxy weighs 800 billion times the mass of the Sun, half of previous estimates.
“The current idea of galaxy formation and evolution … predicts that there should be a handful of big satellite galaxies around the Milky Way that are visible with the naked eye, but we don’t see that,” said Kafle in a news release. This is typically referred to as the missing satellites problem, and it has evaded astronomers for years.
“When you use our measurement of the mass of the dark matter the theory predicts that there should only be three satellite galaxies out there, which is exactly what we see; the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy,” said Kafle.
These new measurements might prove the Milky Way is not quite the behemoth astronomers previously thought. They also help explain why there are so few satellite galaxies in orbit. But first the results will have to be confirmed as they stand up against numerous other ways to weigh the dark matter in our galaxy.
The results have been published in the Astrophysical Journal and are available online.
The feature called Maskelyne is one of many newly discovered young volcanic deposits on the moon. Called irregular mare patches, these areas are thought to be remnants of small lava eruptions that occurred recently in the moon's past. To view this image correctly, the large, dark, circular feature right of center is pancake-like dome that rises ABOVE the surrounding lighter-toned terrain. Lower domes, many pitted with small craters, are seen from left to right across the photo. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
The Moon’s a very dusty museum where the exhibits haven’t changed much over the last 4 billion years. Or so we thought. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has provided researchers strong evidence the Moon’s volcanic activity slowed gradually instead of stopping abruptly a billion years ago.
Some volcanic deposits are estimated to be 100 million years old, meaning the moon was spouting lava when dinosaurs of the Cretaceous era were busy swatting giant dragonflies. There are even hints of 50-million-year-old volcanism, practically yesterday by lunar standards.
Ina Caldera sits atop a low, broad volcanic dome or shield volcano, where lavas once oozed from the moon’s crust. The darker patches in the photo are blobs of older lunar crust. As in the photo of Maskelyne, they form a series of low mounds higher than the younger, jumbled terrain around them. Credit: NASA
The deposits are scattered across the Moon’s dark volcanic plains (lunar “seas”) and are characterized by a mixture of smooth, rounded, shallow mounds next to patches of rough, blocky terrain. Because of this combination of textures, the researchers refer to these unusual areas as “irregular mare patches.”
Measuring less than one-third mile (1/2 km) across, almost all are too small to see from Earth with the exception of Ina Caldera, a 2-mile-long D-shaped patch where blobs of older, crater-pitted lunar crust (darker blobs) rise some 250 feet above the younger, rubbly surface like melted cheese on pizza.
Lavas on the moon were thin and runny like this flow photographed in Kilauea, Hawaii. Credit: USGS
Ina was thought to be a one-of-a-kind until researchers from Arizona State University in Tempe and Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in Germany spotted 70 more patches in close-up photos taken by the LRO. The large number and the fact that the patches are scattered all over the nearside of the Moon means that volcanic activity was not only recent but widespread.
Astronomers estimate ages for features on the moon by counting crater numbers and sizes (the fewer seen, the younger the surface) and the steepness of the slopes running from the tops of the smoother domes to the rough terrain below (the steeper, the younger).
“Based on a technique that links such crater measurements to the ages of Apollo and Luna samples, three of the irregular mare patches are thought to be less than 100 million years old, and perhaps less than 50 million years old in the case of Ina,” according to the NASA press release.
Artist concept illustration of the internal structure of the moon. Credit: NOAJ
The young mare patches stand in stark contrast to the ancient volcanic terrain surrounding them that dates from 3.5 to 1 billion years ago.
For lava to flow you need a hot mantle, the deep layer of rock beneath the crust that extends to the Moon’s metal core. And a hot mantle means a core that’s still cranking out a lot of heat.
Scientists thought the Moon had cooled off a billion or more years ago, making recent flows all but impossible. Apparently the moon’s interior remained piping hot far longer than anyone had supposed.
“The existence and age of the irregular mare patches tell us that the lunar mantle had to remain hot enough to provide magma for the small-volume eruptions that created these unusual young features,” said Sarah Braden, a recent Arizona State University graduate and the lead author of the study.
It takes two to tango. The moon’s gravity raises a pair of watery bulges in the Earth’s oceans creating the tides, while Earth’s gravity stretches and compresses the moon to warm its interior. Illustration: Bob King
One way to keep the Moon warm is through tidal interaction with the Earth. A recent study points out that strains caused by Earth’s gravitational tug on the Moon (nearside vs. farside) heats up its interior. Could this be the source of the relatively recent lava flows?
So the pendulum swings. Prior to 1950 it was thought that lunar craters and landforms were all produced by volcanic activity. But the size and global distribution of craters – and the volcanoes required to produce them – would be impossible on a small body like the Moon. In the 1950s and beyond, astronomers came to realize through the study of nuclear bomb tests and high-velocity impact experiments that explosive impacts from asteroids large and small were responsible for the Moon’s craters.
This latest revelation gives us a more nuanced view of how volcanism may continue to play a role in the formation of lunar features.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter turned for a quick look at Earth and one of our closest planetary neighbors—Mars. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University,
Wow, this doesn’t happen very often: Earth and Mars together in one photo. To make the image even more unique, it was taken from lunar orbit by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This two-for-one photo was was acquired in a single shot on May 24, 2014, by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) on LRO as the spacecraft was turned to face the Earth, instead of its usual view of looking down at the Moon.
The LRO imaging team said seeing the planets together in one image makes the two worlds seem not so far apart, and that the Moon still might have a role to play in future exploration.
“The juxtaposition of Earth and Mars seen from the Moon is a poignant reminder that the Moon would make a convenient waypoint for explorers bound for the fourth planet and beyond!” said the LRO team on their website. “In the near-future, the Moon could serve as a test-bed for construction and resource utilization technologies. Longer-range plans may include the Moon as a resource depot or base of operations for interplanetary activities.”
Watch a video created from this image where it appears you are flying from the Earth to Mars:
The LROC team said this imaging sequence required a significant amount of planning, and that prior to the “conjunction” event, they took practice images of Mars to refine the timing and camera settings.
When the spacecraft captured this image, Earth was about 376,687 kilometers (234,062 miles) away from LRO and Mars was 112.5 million kilometers away. So, Mars was about 300 times farther from the Moon than the Earth.
The NAC is actually two cameras, and each NAC image is built from rows of pixels acquired one after another, and then the left and right images are stitched together to make a complete NAC pair. “If the spacecraft was not moving, the rows of pixels would image the same area over and over; it is the spacecraft motion, combined with fine-tuning of the camera exposure time, that enables the final image, such as this Earth-Mars view,” the LRO team explained.
Check out more about this image on the LRO website, which includes a zoomable, interactive version of the photo.
Artist's concept of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), currently scheduled to be added to the International Space Station in 2015. Credit: Bigelow Aerospace.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are going to be getting an addition in the near future, and in the form of an inflatable room no less. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is the first privately-built space habitat that will added to the ISS, and it will be transported into orbit aboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket sometime next year.
“The BEAM is one small step for Bigelow Aerospace,” Bigelow representative Michael Gold told Universe Today, “but is also one giant leap for private sector space activities since the BEAM will be the first privately owned and developed module ever to be part of a crewed system in space.”
If you could stand on the Moon and look back at the Earth, what would you see? How would it compare from our familiar vantage point?
We know what the Moon looks like from Earth, but what would the Earth look like from the Moon?
Pretty strange, actually.
The Moon is tidally locked to us, and it presents only one face to the Earth.
If you were on the near side of the Moon, the Earth would always be in the sky. And if you were on the far side, you’d never see it.
Also, it’s weird there. So you’d probably want to move.
If you were standing on the Moon, looking up, you’d see the Earth, hanging in the sky forever, or for however long your robot body holds out.
It would go through phases, like the Moon, moving from total darkness, though quarter illumination, Full Earth, and back again. But the features on the Earth would be changing. The face of the Earth would be illuminated, and you’d see the entire planet turning throughout the day and you could use it to cheat on Geography tests.
It wouldn’t be totally dark on the night side because “humans”. You’d see those beautiful blobs of stringy light on the shadowed parts of the Earth.
Our Moon follows an elliptical path around the Earth, getting as close as 363,000 km and as far as 405,000 km.
This means the Earth would get bigger and smaller in the sky. As Earth is much larger than the Moon, it would take up 13 times as much area.
The Earth wouldn’t actually hang motionless in the sky. We see lunar libration from our perspective, which lets us peek around the corner of the Moon. But from the Moon, we’d see the Earth move back and forth in the sky over 27 days.
Earthrise (credit—Apollo 8/NASA)
Remember this famous Earthrise photo captured by Apollo 8? It’s on every single sales brochure for lunar real estate.
Don’t be fooled, if you were on the Moon, you’d never see an Earthrise like that.
In fact, the only way to get a view like that is be on a spacecraft orbiting the Moon.
If I lived on the Moon, I’d want property Earthside.
Would you like to see the Earth from the Moon? What other views of the Solar System would you like to get?
And if you like what you see, come check out our Patreon page and find out how you can get these videos early while helping us bring you more great content!
ISS-RapidScat instrument, shown in this artist's rendering, was launched to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX CRS-4 mission on Sept. 21, 2014 and attached at ESA’s Columbus module. It will measure ocean surface wind speed and direction and help improve weather forecasts, including hurricane monitoring. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Johnson Space Center.
NASA inaugurated a new era of research for the International Space Station (ISS) as an Earth observation platform following the successful installation and activation of the ISS-RapidScat science instrument on the outposts exterior at Europe’s Columbus module.
The ISS Rapid Scatterometer, or ISS-RapidScat, is NASA’s first research payload aimed at conducting near global Earth science from the station’s exterior and will be augmented with others in coming years.
RapidScat is designed to monitor ocean winds for climate research, weather predictions, and hurricane monitoring.
The 1280 pound (580 kilogram) experimental instrument is already collecting its first science data following its recent power-on and activation at the station.
“Its antenna began spinning and it started transmitting and receiving its first winds data on Oct.1,” according to a NASA statement.
The first image from RapidScat was released by NASA on Oct. 6, shown below, and depicts preliminary measurements of global ocean near-surface wind speeds and directions.
Launched Sept. 21, 2014, to the International Space Station, NASA’s newest Earth-observing mission, the International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer to measure global ocean near-surface wind speeds and directions, has returned its first preliminary images. Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech
The $26 million remote sensing instrument uses radar pulses to observe the speed and direction of winds over the ocean for the improvement of weather forecasting.
“Most satellite missions require weeks or even months to produce data of the quality that we seem to be getting from the first few days of RapidScat,” said RapidScat Project Scientist Ernesto Rodriguez of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, which built and manages the mission.
“We have been very lucky that within the first days of operations we have already been able to observe a developing tropical cyclone.
“The quality of these data reflect the level of testing and preparation that the team has put in prior to launch,” Rodriguez said in a NASA statement. “It also reflects the quality of the spare QuikScat hardware from which RapidScat was partially assembled.”
RapidScat, payload was hauled up to the station as part of the science cargo launched aboard the commercial SpaceX Dragon CRS-4 cargo resupply mission that thundered to space on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sept. 21.
Dragon was successfully berthed at the Earth-facing port on the station’s Harmony module on Sept 23, as detailed here.
It was robotically assembled and attached to the exterior of the station’s Columbus module using the station’s robotic arm and DEXTRE manipulator over a two day period on Sept 29 and 30.
Ground controllers at Johnson Space Center intricately maneuvered DEXTRE to pluck RapidScat and its nadir adapter from the unpressurized trunk section of the Dragon cargo ship and attached it to a vacant external mounting platform on the Columbus module holding mechanical and electrical connections.
Fascinating: #Canadarm & Dextre installed the #RapidScat Experiment on Columbus! @ISS_Research @NASAJPL @csa_asc. Credit: ESA/NASA/Alexander Gerst
The nadir adapter orients the instrument to point at Earth.
The couch sized instrument and adapter together measure about 49 x 46 x 83 inches (124 x 117 x 211 centimeters).
Engineers are in the midst of a two week check out process that is proceeding normally so far. Another two weeks of calibration work will follow.
Thereafter RapidScat will begin a mission expected to last at least two years, said Steve Volz, associate director for flight programs in the Earth Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, at a prelaunch media briefing at the Kennedy Space Center.
RapidScat is the forerunner of at least five more Earth science observing instruments that will be added to the station by the end of the decade, Volz explained.
The second Earth science instrument, dubbed CATS, could be added by year’s end.
The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) is a laser instrument that will measure clouds and the location and distribution of pollution, dust, smoke, and other particulates in the atmosphere.
CATS is slated to launch on the next SpaceX resupply mission, CRS-5, currently targeted to launch from Cape Canaveral, FL, on Dec. 9.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule packed with science experiments and station supplies blasts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, at 1:52 a.m. EDT on Sept. 21, 2014, bound for the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
This has been a banner year for NASA’s Earth science missions. At least five missions will be launched to space within a 12 month period, the most new Earth-observing mission launches in one year in more than a decade.
ISS-RapidScat is the third of five NASA Earth science missions scheduled to launch over a year.
NASA managers show installed location of ISS-RapidScat instrument on the ESA Columbus module on an ISS scale model at the Kennedy Space Center press site during launch period for the SpaceX CRS-4 Dragon cargo mission. Posing are Steve Volz, associate director for flight programs in the Earth Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, and Howard Eisen, RapidScat Project Manager. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.
Learn more about Commercial Space Taxis, Orion and NASA Human and Robotic Spaceflight at Ken’s upcoming presentations:
Oct 14: “What’s the Future of America’s Human Spaceflight Program with Orion and Commercial Astronaut Taxis” & “Antares/Cygnus ISS Rocket Launches from Virginia”; Princeton University, Amateur Astronomers Assoc of Princeton (AAAP), Princeton, NJ, 7:30 PM
Oct 23/24: “Antares/Cygnus ISS Rocket Launch from Virginia”; Rodeway Inn, Chincoteague, VA
