Universe Today

March 22, 2014April 26, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Check Out These Online Astronomy Classes and Contests

Here are a few upcoming and ongoing astronomy classes and photography contests that our readers may be interested in.

Once a year, the One-Minute Astronomer — aka Brian Ventrudo — offers a detailed course called “The Art of Stargazing,” and you need to act fast on this one, as the final signup date is March 24, 2014. This 12-month course breaks down everything you need to know about stargazing into bite-sized pieces… detailed sky tours, choosing and using the best binoculars and telescope for you, and a smattering of science to help you understand a little about your place in the universe. It also shows you how to find and enjoy hundreds of achingly beautiful sights you will remember for the rest of your life.”

You have until noon (GMT) this Monday, March 24 to begin your personal odyssey through the heavens. As the Brian says, “You’ll come away from The Art of Stargazing with everything you need to become a skilled backyard stargazer.”

The cost is $197 USD, and there are payment plans, as well as a lifetime of followup information and email advisories. Get all the details here.

As always, you can find other ongoing classes at the CosmoQuest Academy. They regularly have new classes as well as opportunities for citizen science with their Moon Mappers, Asteroid Mappers and Planet Mappers programs.

There are also two astrophotography contests going on right now:

Ciel et Espace Photos in France is having their Photo Nightscape Awards, and are looking for submissions of Earth and night sky photos. Photos must be taken between January 1, 2014 and August 31, 2014. One photo submission per photographer, and all formats are accepted: panoramic, square, mosaics.

Prizes will be awarded Sunday, November 9, 2014 at the Rencontres Sky and Space (NCE) which will take place from 8 to 11 November 2014 at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie.

They have two categories: pro and amateur. Prizes include a trip to the Very Large Telescope from ESO, a trip to the Alqueva Dark Sky Resever in Portugal for first prizes, and second prizes are a pair of Binocular from Nikon.

The judge for the contest is Miguel Claro, whose astrophotography we feature often here on Universe Today.

Get more information and find all the rules here.

A second photo contest comes from our friends at TWAN—The World At Night with their 5th annual International Earth and Sky Photo Contest, which is part of Global Astronomy Month in April 2014. The TWAN the contest is open to anyone of any age, anywhere around the world.

This year’s contest theme, “Dark Skies Importance,” has two categories: “Beauty of the Night Sky” and “Against the Lights.” Photos submitted to the contest should address either category: either to impress people on how important and amazing the starry sky is or to impress people on how bad the problem of light pollution has become. Both categories illustrate how light pollution affects our lives. Photographers can submit images to one or both categories.

Submitted photographs must be created in the “TWAN style” — showing both the Earth and the sky — by combining elements of the night sky (e.g., stars, planets, the Moon or celestial events) in the backdrop of a beautiful, historic, or notable location or landmark. This style of photography is called “landscape astrophotography”. This is similar to general “Nightscape Photography” but with more attention to the sky, astronomical perspectives, and celestial phenomena.

Find out more here.

March 22, 2014April 26, 2016 by Ken Kremer

SpaceX Resets Space Station Launch with Revolutionary Rocket Legs and Robonaut Legs to March 30

The Dragon spacecraft, filled with about 4,600 lbs of cargo bound for the space station, is mated with Falcon 9. Credit: SpaceX

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Following last week’s sudden and late in the processing flow postponement of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch, SpaceX announced a reset of its next cargo mission launch for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS) to a new target date of Sunday, March 30.

The commercially developed Falcon 9 booster and Dragon cargo vessel are slated for a spectacular night time liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:50 p.m. EDT on March 30, SpaceX announced on Friday.

This mission, soaring to space under a resupply contract to NASA, could ignite a revolution in both rocketry and robotics.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket sports a quartet of never before tried landing legs and the Dragon freighter is loaded with a set of lanky legs to enable mobility in space for NASA’s Robonaut 2 standing at the cutting edge of space robotics technology.

Launch preparations were suddenly halted less than 72 hours prior to the then planned March 16 early morning launch because of unspecified technical issues concerning the sudden discovery of “contamination,” sources told me.

The Falcon 9 rocket with landing legs in SpaceX’s hangar at Cape Canaveral, Fl, preparing to launch Dragon to the space station this Sunday March 30. Credit: SpaceX

“To ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance and allow additional time to resolve remaining open items, the team is taking additional time to resolve open items and ensure SpaceX does everything possible on the ground to prepare for a successful launch,” according to a statement from SpaceX.

Several sources told me that the problem related to “contamination” that was found in the “unpressurized truck section” at the rear of the Dragon spacecraft.

“An unknown contaminant of unknown origin was found on a blanket in the Dragon trunk,” independent sources said to Universe Today soon after the postponement was announced.

“After careful review and analysis, engineering teams representing both the ISS and SpaceX have determined Dragon is ready to fly ‘as-is.’ All parties agree that the particular constituents observed in Dragon’s trunk are in line with the previously defined environments levels and do not impose additional risk to the payloads,” SpaceX announced in a new statement.

With the contamination issues now resolved, the launch is back on track.

Robonaut 2 engineering model equipped with new legs like those heading to the ISS on upcoming SpaceX CRS-3 launch were on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on March 15, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com — Robonaut 2 engineering model equipped with new legs like those heading to the ISS on upcoming SpaceX CRS-3 launch were on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on March 15, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com

NASA Television will air live coverage on Sunday.

In case the launch is delayed, the backup launch opportunity is at 9:39 p.m. Wednesday, April 2.

Altogether, this unmanned SpaceX CRS-3 mission will deliver over 5000 pounds of science experiments, a pair of legs for Robonaut 2, a high definition imaging camera suite, an optical communications experiment and essential gear, spare parts, crew provisions, food, clothing and supplies to the six person crews living and working aboard the ISS soaring in low Earth orbit under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.

SpaceX is under contract to NASA to deliver 20,000 kg (44,000 pounds) of cargo to the ISS during a dozen Dragon cargo spacecraft flights over the next few years at a cost of about $1.6 Billion.

To date SpaceX has completed two operational cargo resupply missions and a test flight. The last flight dubbed CRS-2 blasted off a year ago on March 1, 2013 atop the initial version of the Falcon 9 rocket.

Following the rescheduled March 30 launch and a series of orbit raising and course corrections over the next two days, Dragon will rendezvous and dock at the Earth facing port on the station’s Harmony module on Wednesday, April 2.

Falcon 9 SpaceX CRS-2 launch of Dragon spacecraft on March 1, 2013 to the ISS from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.- shot from the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building. During 2014, SpaceX plans two flight tests simulating Dragon emergency abort scenarios launching from pad 40. Credit: Ken Kremer/www.kenkremer.com — Falcon 9 SpaceX CRS-2 launch of Dragon spacecraft on March 1, 2013 to the ISS from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.- shot from the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: Ken Kremer/www.kenkremer.com

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, commercial space, Orion, Chang’e-3, LADEE, Mars rover, MAVEN, MOM and more planetary and human spaceflight news.

Learn more at Ken’s upcoming presentations at the NEAF astro/space convention on April 12/13 and at Washington Crossing State Park, NJ on April 6. Also evenings at the Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, March 24/25 and March 29/30
.

And watch for Ken’s upcoming SpaceX launch coverage at Cape Canaveral & the Kennedy Space Center press site.

Ken Kremer

March 21, 2014December 29, 2015 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout – March 21, 2014: Cosmos & Gravitational Waves!

Host: Fraser Cain
Guests: Matthew Francis, Nicole Gugliucci, Brian Koberlein, Morgan Rehnberg, Mike Simmons
Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout – March 21, 2014: Cosmos & Gravitational Waves!”

March 21, 2014December 30, 2015 by Jason Major

Bill Nye on Taking Astronomy with Carl Sagan

“This is how we know nature. It is the best idea humans have ever come up with.”
– Bill Nye, Science Guy and CEO of The Planetary Society

In this latest video from NOVA’s Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers, science guy Bill Nye talks about the incredible influence that Carl Sagan had on his life, from attending his lectures on astronomy at Cornell University to eventually becoming CEO of The Planetary Society, which was co-founded by Sagan in 1980.

“I took astronomy from Carl Sagan.” Now there’s a statement that’ll get people’s attention. (It got mine, anyway.)

See more videos in NOVA’s Secret Life series here.

March 21, 2014December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Space Geek Heaven: Man’s ‘Museum’ Contains Thousands Of Collectables

Part of the vast set of space memorabilia of Joe Lennox, a private collector based in the New York City area. Credit: Joe Lennox

We’re all space geeks at Universe Today and are used to seeing collections of memorabilia, but there’s something about Joe Lennox’s that makes us set our phasers to stunned. Ever since John Glenn first rocketed to space 52 years ago, Lennox has been amassing a collection of newspaper articles, astronaut autographs, books and other memorabilia that he has on display in his New York City-area home.

As a child, he had to fight to save stuff with his sister; they eventually agreed to a “joint venture”, Lennox said. For 10 years, they clipped newspapers, wrote to NASA astronauts and space program employees (collecting their responses), and started branching out to movies and other things covering space exploration. Their mother allowed them to display the items in a back bedroom. Eventually, the interest of Lennox’s sister faded, but his only deepened.

The collection has been through a few moves; his parents moved in 1978, meaning the stuff had to be stored wherever Lennox could find storage space until he and his wife bought their own house in 1990. There’s a spare bedroom available to display the collection, but the pictures indicate it’s simply bursting with items.

“My only problem is I don’t have enough room, because obviously as the years go by, I write (more) letters and purchase things,” Lennox told Universe Today.

Patches adorn a wall in the private collection of Joe Lennox, a New York City-area space fan who has a vast space-y collection. Credit: Joe Lennox

Lennox makes sure to display his collection as carefully as he can. Scrapbook pages are acid-free, and letters are stored in acid-free folders as well. He says he has received space hardware (sometimes flown hardware) from contractors and others over the years, which he keeps in sealed display cases. Anything that remains outside of a sealed environment gets covered with a cloth when he’s not showing off the collection to house visitors.

It would be very difficult for a space fan to build such a collection today, he adds. NASA’s rules about “flown items” and other space memorabilia are tougher, with most items going to places such as the Smithsonian. Fewer people seem to answer his letters, too, Lennox said. “In the old days, if I wrote 100 letters, I would venture to say we got 95 really, really good responses. Today, if I wrote 100 letters I might get five responses. It’s very depressing, I got to tell you.”

With Lennox’s interest, a natural next question would be to ask if he ever considered working for NASA itself. While he never got that chance, the story ends up being a good one for the schoolkids he regularly speaks with.

Joe Lennox speaking with schoolchildren about space exploration in this undated photo. Credit: Joe Lennox

Lennox said he never wanted to be an astronaut — “I’m not smart enough and don’t have the courage” — but he did have aspirations to be a flight controller. He said he began his university engineering studies with the idea for working for NASA, and happily worked away at his degree for a year and a half. Then he discovered he was going blind, requiring two corneal transplants.

The transplants worked, but it delayed his studies by four years and his eyesight was not as good as it used to be, meaning Lennox felt it was best to switch careers. He ended up in the banking industry, still writing letters to NASA and others the entire time. Now retired, he’s switching his energies over to teaching kids about space.

“I give presentations throughout New Jersey, 45 or 50 a year, where I go and I teach people about the space program,” he said. “I teach kids, I teach adults, I have probably 30 or 40 different presentations.”

His big message: “I want the children to understand they should never give up on their goals. If they have a goal in their life and it seems it can’t be reached because of health, like me, or money or relocation or whatever, they still can do it.”

You can see more pictures of Lennox’s “museum” below or at his website. He said he has willed the collection to an Orlando-area museum upon his death, meaning it could be viewable by the public in generations to come.

Books from the collection of Joe Lennox, a space fan with a vast collection of space memorabilia in the New York City area. Credit: Joe Lennox

A signed picture from now-retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is part of the large space memorabilia collection that Joe Lennox has. The inscription reads, "To Joe Lennox: Many thanks for your unparalleled support and enthusiasm. Chris Hadfield / STS-74 / MS1." Credit: Joe Lennox — A signed picture from now-retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is part of the large space memorabilia collection that Joe Lennox has. The inscription reads, “To Joe Lennox: Many thanks for your unparalleled support and enthusiasm. Chris Hadfield / STS-74 / MS1.” Credit: Joe Lennox

An Apollo 11 first-day cover in the collection of Joe Lennox, a New York City-area space collector. Credit: Joe Lennox

Joe Lennox's collection includes a vast set of space-related items, including some that he says were used by astronauts. Source: Joe Lennox — Joe Lennox’s collection includes a vast set of space-related items, including some that he says were used by astronauts. Source: Joe Lennox

March 21, 2014April 26, 2016 by Bob King

360 Degrees of Milky Way at Your Fingertips

A screen grab of the new zoomable Milky Way mosaic that uses Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope viewer. Click to use. Credit: NASA

Touring the Milky Way’s a blast with this brand new 360-degree interactive panorama. More than 2 million infrared photos taken by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope were jigsawed into a 20-gigapixel click-and-zoom mosaic that takes the viewer from tangled nebulae to stellar jets to blast bubbles around supergiant stars.

Magnetic loops carry gas and dust above disks of planet-forming material circling stars, as shown in this artist's conception. These loops give off extra heat, which NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope detects as infrared light. The colors in this illustration show what an alien observer with eyes sensitive to both visible light and infrared wavelengths might see. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC) — Magnetic loops carry gas and dust above disks of planet-forming material circling stars, as shown in this artist’s conception. These loops give off extra heat, which NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope detects as infrared light. The colors in this illustration show what an alien observer with eyes sensitive to both visible light and infrared wavelengths might see. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

The new composite, using infrared images taken over the past decade, was compiled by a team led by UW-Madison astronomer Barbara Whitney and unveiled at a TEDactive conference in Vancouver, Canada Thursday. Unlike visual light, infrared penetrates the ubiquitous dust concentrated in the galactic plane to reveal structures otherwise obscured.

Catching a GLIMPSE of the Milky Way in this short video presentation

“For the first time, we can actually measure the large-scale structure of the galaxy using stars rather than gas,” explained Edward Churchwell, UW-Madison professor of astronomy and team co-leader. “We’ve established beyond the shadow of a doubt that our galaxy has a large bar structure that extends halfway out to the sun’s orbit. We know more about where the Milky Way’s spiral arms are.”

Named GLIMPSE360 (Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire project), the deep infrared survey captures only about 3% of the sky, but because it focuses on the plane of the Milky Way, where stars are most highly concentrated, it shows more than half of all the galaxy’s 300 billion suns.

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy with several prominent arms containing stellar nurseries swathed in pink clouds of hydrogen gas. The sun is shown near the bottom in the Orion Spur. Credit: NASA

Using your imagination to hover high above the galactic plane, you’d see the Milky Way is a flat spiral galaxy sporting a stubby bar of stars crossing its central bulge. The solar system occupies a tiny niche in a minor spiral arm called the Orion Spur two-thirds of the way from the center to the edge. At 100,000 light years across, the Milky Way is vast beyond comprehension and yet it’s only one of an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

Bubbles of gas and sites of star formation are seen in this close up from a region in the constellation Sagittarius. Credit: — Bubbles of gas and sites of star formation are seen in this close up in a region in the constellation Sagittarius. Credit:

While you and I sit back and marvel at all the stellar and nebular eye candy, the Spitzer images are helping astronomers determine where the edge of the galaxy lies and location of the spiral arms. GLIMPSE images have already revealed the Milky Way to be larger than previously thought and shot through with bubbles of expanding gas and dust blown by giant stars.

Spitzer can see faint stars in the “backcountry” of our galaxy — the outer, darker regions that went largely unexplored before.

Barbara Whitney, co-leader of the GLIMPSE360 team

“There are a whole lot more lower-mass stars seen now with Spitzer on a large scale, allowing for a grand study,” said Whitney. “Spitzer is sensitive enough to pick these up and light up the entire ‘countryside’ with star formation.”

The new 360-degree view will also help NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope target the most interesting sites of star-formation, where it will make even more detailed infrared observations.

When you play around with the interactive mosaic, you’ll notice a few artifacts here and there among the images. Minor stuff. What took some getting used to was how strikingly different familiar nebulae appeared when viewed in infrared instead of visual light. The panorama is also available on the Aladin viewing platform which offers shortcuts to regions of interest.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and host of the new Cosmos TV series, gave the third line of our “cosmic address” as the Milky Way after ‘Earth’ and ‘Solar System’. After a few minutes with GLIMPSE360 you’ll better appreciate the depth and breadth of our galactic home.

March 21, 2014December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

A Terrifying Virtual View Of Floating Away From The Space Station

A virtual-reality view of what it would look like if you were floating away from the International Space Station. Credit: European Space Agency (YouTube)

You wanna talk about fear? This view would likely be many people’s worst nightmare — being in a spacesuit, untethered, floating away from the International Space Station and its relative safety. NASA has astronauts covered for this Gravity-type scenario, however, with a sort of jet backpack that can send astronauts back to safety.

A new video featuring European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst (also embedded below) explains the steps an astronaut would take to swing back to safety. “We actually train how to use that in the virtual reality lab,” he said shortly after the video showed an astronaut floating away.

The key lies in a system called SAFER (Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue), which Gerst has practiced on numerous times (virtually) in preparation for his flight in May, which could involve spacewalks if NASA addresses a spacesuit water leak problem in time.

“You have to train it for a while to operate and actually come back, and not miss the station and fly into the blackness of space,” Gerst said.

An astronaut floating away from the International Space Station in virtual-reality training for emergencies. Credit: European Space Agency/YouTube (screenshot)

The Russian Orlan spacesuit (which Gerst is also trained on) does not have such a system, but Roscosmos gets around that by having a different procedure for spacewalking than the Americans. The Russians mandate a minimum of two attachment points to station at all times, whether it’s a pair of tethers or a tether and a gripped hand.

Gerst emphasizes a floating away scenario is unlikely, in either case — it would involve losing the anchor, losing the tether and also losing your grip all at the same time. While this has never actually happened, NASA did test the SAFER system in space on STS-64 in 1994 with a crew member standing by on the Canadarm robotic arm if something went wrong. In 2000, two astronauts aboard STS-92 each did a 50-foot flight with the system.

In 2006, the SAFER system got a little loose on the back of astronaut Piers Sellers, necessitating a tether fix. NASA emphasized that the system was not in danger of being lost.

You can view the section on SAFER in the video below at around 6 minutes. Gerst recorded this as a summary of his training ahead of Expedition 40/41, which lifts off in May.

March 20, 2014April 26, 2016 by Ken Kremer

NASA Unveils Orion’s Powerful Delta IV Heavy Rocket Boosters for Dec. 2014 Blastoff

Two of the three United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV heavy boosters for NASA’s upcoming Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission were unveiled during a media event inside the Horizontal Integration Facility at Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana spoke to the media along with NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot and Tony Taliancich, ULA director of East Coast Launch Operations. Credit: Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – Production and assembly of virtually all of the key hardware elements for NASA’s eagerly anticipated Orion EFT-1 uncrewed test flight are either complete or nearing completion at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral.

Two of the three first stage boosters comprising the mammoth Delta IV Heavy rocket that will propel Orion to high Earth orbit have arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and were unveiled this week by top NASA managers at a media briefing attended by Universe Today.

The triple barreled Delta IV Heavy rocket is currently the most powerful rocket in America’s fleet and the only one capable of launching the Orion EFT-1 capsule to its intended orbit of 3600 miles altitude above Earth.

Due to urgent US national security requirements, the maiden blastoff of the unmanned Orion pathfinder capsule – that will one day send humans back to the Moon and beyond Earth’s realm – has just been postponed about three months from September to December 2014 in order to make way for the accelerated launch of recently declassified US Air Force Space Surveillance satellites – as I reported here.

The center and starboard side boosters recently arrived at the Cape aboard a barge from Decatur, Alabama where they were manufactured by United Launch Alliance (ULA).

The remaining port side booster and the Centaur upper stage are due to be shipped by ULA to Cape Canaveral in April.

“It’s great to see Orion, the next step in our journey of exploration, said NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot. “And it’s very exciting to see the engines integrated into the booster.”

“This mission is a stepping stone on NASA’s journey to Mars. The EFT-1 mission is so important to NASA. We will test the capsule with a reentry velocity of about 85% of what expect on returning [astronauts] from Mars.”

“We will test the heat shield, the separation of the fairing and exercise over 50% of the eventual software and electronic systems inside the Orion spacecraft. We will also test the recovery systems coming back into the Pacific Ocean.”

Despite the EFT-1 launch postponement, Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana said technicians for prime contractor Lockheed Martin are pressing forward and continue to work around the clock at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in order to still be ready in time to launch by the original launch window that opens in mid- September 2014.

“The contractor teams are working to get the Orion spacecraft done on time for the December 2017 launch,” said former shuttle commander Cabana.

“They are working seven days a week in the Operations and Checkout High Bay facility to get the vehicle ready to roll out for the EFT-1 mission and be mounted on top of the Delta IV Heavy.”

“I can assure you the Orion will be ready to go on time, as soon as we get our opportunity to launch that vehicle on its first flight test and that is pretty darn amazing.”

“It’s great to see all the hardware and boosters that will take Orion to orbit.”

Delta 4 Heavy rocket and super secret US spy satellite roar off Pad 37 on June 29, 2012 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA’s Orion EFT-1 capsule will blastoff atop a similar Delta 4 Heavy Booster in December 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com

Universe Today also confirmed with Cabana that NASA will absolutely not delay any Orion processing and assembly activities.

“Our plan is to have the Orion spacecraft ready because we want to get EFT-1 out so we can start getting the hardware in for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) and start processing for that vehicle that will launch on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in 2017,” Cabana told me standing besides the Delta IV boosters inside the ULA Horizontal Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral.

Side view of two Delta IV heavy boosters powered by RS-68 engines inside Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral for NASA’s upcoming Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission. Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com — Side view of two Delta IV heavy boosters powered by RS-68 engines inside Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral for NASA’s upcoming Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com

The two-orbit, four- hour EFT-1 flight will lift the Orion spacecraft and its attached second stage to an orbital altitude of 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station (ISS) – and farther than any human spacecraft has journeyed in 40 years.

Although the mission will only last a few hours it will be high enough to send the vehicle plunging back into the atmosphere and a Pacific Ocean splashdown to test the craft and its heat shield at deep-space reentry speeds of 20,000 mph and endure temperatures of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit – like those of the Apollo moon landing missions.

The EFT-1 mission will provide engineers with critical data about Orion’s heat shield, flight systems and capabilities to validate designs of the spacecraft, inform design decisions, validate existing computer models and guide new approaches to space systems development. All these measurements will aid in reducing the risks and costs of subsequent Orion flights before it begins carrying humans to new destinations in the solar system.

“Orion EFT-1 is really exciting as the first step on the path of humans to Mars,” said Lightfoot. It’s a stepping stone to get to Mars.”

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Orion, Chang’e-3, Orbital Sciences, SpaceX, commercial space, LADEE, Mars rover, MAVEN, MOM and more planetary and human spaceflight news.

Learn more at Ken’s upcoming presentations at the NEAF astro/space convention, NY on April 12/13 and at Washington Crossing State Park, NJ on April 6. Also evenings at the Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, March 24/25 and March 29/30

Ken Kremer

March 20, 2014December 23, 2015 by Mark Mortimer

Book Review: “Our Mathematical Universe – My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality”

Mathematics seems to be the bane of many people, and especially many authors. Editors will often say that putting any mathematical equation into a book will sideline it to a destiny of either a textbook or dust collector. So what is an author to do? It appears Max Tegmark plays this line by continually talking about mathematics but never actually using any in his book ‘Our Mathematical Universe – My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality.’ From a publisher’s view, this is a keen gambit. From a reader’s point of view, there may be referrals to some fancy equations but the lack of mathematics serves to convey this author’s message very well.

Max Tegmark is a professor of physics at MIT and a leading expert on theories of the Universe. But he writes with aplomb about a subject of which few people have much grasp and fewer people can manipulate. In a nutshell, he runs through the tenants of extreme physics both in the time and size dimensions, that is, from quarks to galaxies and from the big bang to whatever string theory may have in store for us.

The tentative hypotheses defining our future drive most of the original work in this book. Specifically starting from the Uncertainty Principle, the author argues that all possibilities can and indeed will occur. Just try following along with his argument about a quantum machine gun to determine life and/or death (but don’t try this at home). He then goes on to argue that an infinite number of universes are needed to enable all these options. Next, and apparently his personal purpose of the book, is his appreciation that given these probability states and the finite representation for basic physical entities in our universe, such as the dark-energy density, then our universe and indeed any universe is equivalent to a mathematical structure. This prognosis is his rationale for entitling his book Our Mathematical Universe. He then goes on to claim that this underlying mathematical structure should be the much sought after Theory of Everything. However, he readily admits in his book that he hasn’t got all the details just yet.

While Tegmark has presumably written this book for the lay person, there is a strong sense of an academic grounding in the writing style. The subject is solidly technical with only the occasional interpose of the author’s personal life. There’s a bit about his family, though not much more than that he has one. There’s much more about the physicists that have touched upon his career as well as conferences he’s attended and papers that he’s written. But still, the feeling of being near textbook like does appear. Perhaps this is what makes this book a bit more of a challenge to read. It’s not the difficult prose but the author’s many thought experiments usually based upon mathematical arguments. Reading it requires hard thinking that puts into question your very existence and indeed whatever you may think the purpose may be of your existence. But the reading can be very rewarding even for the lay purpose who’s looking for the latest in cosmology and physics.

So, this book is what we get apparently when a professor has become tenured. It’s a solid personal view that has more to do with what they feel is correct than what is the social or academic norm. Tegmark admits to and writes of some very off norm points in his life. His book ‘Our Mathematical Universe – My Quest for the Ultimate nature of Reality’ may be his most off putting. But equally, he shows the true value of universities, where the best and brightest can advance the knowledge of our species for all to share and from which all profit.

March 20, 2014December 29, 2015 by Susie Murph

Carnival of Space #345

This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by our pal Ray Sanders at his Dear Astronomer blog.

Click here to read Carnival of Space #345.

And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space.

If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to [email protected], and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, sign up to be a host. Send an email to the above address.