Universe Today

March 12, 2013December 23, 2015 by Ken Kremer

NASA’s KaBOOM Experimental Asteroid Radar Aims to Thwart Earth’s Kaboom

Installation of new KaBOOM asteroid detection radar dish antenna system at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

Over the past month, about a half dozen rather large asteroids have careened nearby our home planet and in one case caused significant injury and property damage with no forewarning – showcasing the hidden lurking dangers from lackluster attitudes towards Asteroid Detection & Planetary Defense.

Now in a prescient coincidence of timing, NASA is funding an experimental asteroid radar detection array called ‘KaBOOM’ that may one day help thwart Earth’s untimely Ka-boom – and which I inspected first-hand this past week at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC),following the SpaceX Falcon 9 blastoff for the ISS.

“KaBOOM takes evolutionary steps towards a revolutionary capability,” said Dr. Barry Geldzahler, KaBOOM Chief Scientist of NASA Headquarters, in an exclusive interview with Universe Today.

If successful, KaBOOM will serve as a prelude to a US National Radar Facility and help contribute to an eventual Near Earth Object (NEO) Planetary Defense System to avert Earth’s demise.

“It will enable us to reach the goal of tracking asteroids farther out than we can today.”

First some background – This weekend a space rock the size of a city block whizzed past Earth at a distance of just 2.5 times the distance to our Moon. The asteroid – dubbed 2013 ET – is noteworthy because it went completely undetected until a few days beforehand on March 3 and measures about 460 feet (140 meters) in diameter.

KaBOOM experimental asteroid radar array at KSC consists of three 12 meter wide dish antennas mounted on pedestals at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

2013 ET follows close on the heels of the Feb. 15 Russian meteor that exploded violently with no prior warning and injured over 1200 people on the same day as Asteroid 2012 DA 14 zoomed past Earth barely 17,000 miles above the surface – scarcely a whisker astronomically speaking.

Had any of these chunky asteroids actually impacted cities or other populated areas, the death toll and devastation would have been absolutely catastrophic – potentially hundreds of billions of dollars !

Taken together, this rash of uncomfortably close asteroid flybys is a wake-up call for a significantly improved asteroid detection and early warning system. KaBOOM takes a key step along the path to those asteroid warning goals.

KaBOOM asteroid radar under construction near alligator infested swamps at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com) — KaBOOM asteroid radar under construction near alligator infested swamps at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

‘KaBOOM’ – the acronym stands for ‘Ka-Band Objects Observation and Monitoring Project’ – is a new test bed demonstration radar array aimed at developing the techniques required for tracking and characterizing Near Earth Objects (NEO’s) at much further distances and far higher resolution than currently available.

“The purpose of KaBOOM is to be a ‘proof of concept’ using coherent uplink arraying of three widely spaced antennas at a high frequency; Ka band- 30 GHz,” KaBOOM Chief Scientist Geldzahler told me.

Currently the KaBOOM array consists of a trio of 12 meter wide radar antennas spaced 60 meters apart – whose installation was just completed in late February at a remote site at KSC near an alligator infested swamp.

I visited the array just days after the reflectors were assembled and erected, with Michael Miller, KaBOOM project manager of the Kennedy Space Center. “Ka Band offers greater resolution with shorter wavelengths to image smaller space objects such as NEO’s and space debris.”

“The more you learn about the NEO’s the more you can react.”

“This is a small test bed demonstration to prove out the concept, first in X-band and then in Ka band,” Miller explained. “The experiment will run about two to three years.”

Miller showed how the dish antennae’s are movable and can be easily slewed to different directions as desired.

“The KaBOOM concept is similar to that of normal phased arrays, but in this case, instead of the antenna elements being separated by ~ 1 wavelength [1 cm], they are separated by ~ 6000 wavelengths. In addition, we want to correct for the atmospheric twinkling in real time,” Geldzahler told me.

Why are big antennae’s needed?

“The reason we are using large antennas is to send more powerful radar signals to track and characterize asteroids farther out than we can today. We want to determine their size, shape, spin and surface porosity; is it a loose agglomeration of pebbles? composed of solid iron? etc.”

Such physical characterization data would be absolutely invaluable in determining the forces required for implementing an asteroid deflection strategy in case the urgent need arises.

How does KaBOOM compare with and improve upon existing NEO radars in terms of distance and resolution?

“Currently at NASA¹s Goldstone 70 meter antenna in California, we can track an object that is about 0.1 AU away [1 astronomical unit is the average distance between the Earth and the sun, 93 million miles, so 0.1 AU is ~ 9 million miles]. We would like to track objects 0.5 AU or more away, perhaps 1 AU.”

“In addition, the resolution achievable with Goldstone is at best 400 cm in the direction along the line of sight to the object. At Ka band, we should be able to reduce that to 5 cm – that’s 80 times better !”

“In the end, we want a high power, high resolution radar system,” Geldzahler explained.

Thumbs Up for Science & Planetary Defense ! Ken Kremer; Universe Today and Mike Miller; NASA KSC KaBOOM project manager. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com) — Thumbs Up for Science & Planetary Defense !
Ken Kremer; Universe Today and Mike Miller; NASA KSC KaBOOM project manager. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

Another significant advantage compared to Goldstone, is that the Ka radar array would be dedicated 24/7 to tracking and characterizing NEO’s and orbital debris, explained Miller.

Goldstone is only available about 2 to 3% of the time since it’s heavily involved in numerous other applications including deep space planetary missions like Curiosity, Cassini, Deep Impact, Voyager, etc.

‘Time is precious’ at Goldstone – which communicates with some 100 spacecraft per day, says Miller.

“If/when the proof of concept is successful, then we can envision an array of many more elements that will enable us to reach the goal of tracking asteroids farther out than we can today,” Geldzahler elaborated.

A high power, high resolution radar system can determine the NEO orbits about 100,000 times more precisely than can be done optically.

Lead KaBOOM scientist Barry Geldzahler ‘assists’ with dish antenna installation at the Kennedy Space Center; - I’m from Headquarters and I’m here to help’ - is Barry’s mantra. Credit: NASA — Lead KaBOOM scientist Barry Geldzahler ‘assists’ with dish antenna installation at the Kennedy Space Center; – ‘I’m from Headquarters and I’m here to help’ – is Barry’s mantra. Credit: NASA/KSC

So – what are the implications for Planetary Defense ?

“If we can track asteroids that are up to 0.5 AU rather than 0.1 AU distant, we can track many more than we can track today.”

“This will give us a better chance of finding potentially hazardous asteroids.”

“If we were to find that a NEO might hit the Earth, NASA and others are exploring ways of mitigating the potential danger,” Geldzahler told me.

Kaboom’s ‘First light’ is on schedule for late March 2013.

These are the Last Close-up Images of the Moon Rhea from Cassini

Cassini looks over the heavily cratered surface of Rhea during the spacecraft's flyby of the moon on March 10, 2012. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.

“Take a good, long, luxurious look at these sights from another world,” said Cassini Imaging Team Leader Carolyn Porco, “as they will be the last close-ups you’ll ever see of this particular moon.”

On Saturday, March 9, 2013 Cassini made the last close flyby of Rhea during its mission, coming within 620 miles (997km) of the surface of the moon. Cassini’s mission is slated to end in 2017 with a controlled fall into Saturn’s atmosphere. Cassini has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004 and is in its second mission extension.

“Our mission at Saturn has been ongoing for nearly 9 years and is slated to continue for another 4,” Porco said in an email message. “Targeted flybys of the moons Dione, in June and August of 2015, and Enceladus, in October and December of 2015, are all that remains on the docket for detailed exploration of Saturn’s medium-sized moons.”

See more below:

This raw, unprocessed image of Rhea was taken on March 9, 2013. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Besides these great final shots, NASA said the primary purpose of this last close flyby of Rhea was to probe the internal structure of the moon by measuring the gravitational pull of Rhea against the spacecraft’s steady radio link to NASA’s Deep Space Network here on Earth. The results will help scientists understand whether the moon is homogeneous all the way through or whether it has differentiated into the layers of core, mantle and crust.

In addition, Cassini’s imaging cameras will take ultraviolet, infrared and visible-light data from Rhea’s surface. The cosmic dust analyzer will try to detect any dusty debris flying off the surface from tiny meteoroid bombardments to further scientists’ understanding of the rate at which “foreign” objects are raining into the Saturn system.

“We’re nearing the end of this historic expedition,” Porco said. “Let’s enjoy the finale while we can.”

This raw, unprocessed image of Rhea was taken on March 10, 2013 and received on Earth March 10, 2013. The camera was pointing toward Rhea at approximately 280,317 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

See more of the raw images from the flyby at the CICLOPS website.

March 12, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

SpaceX Grasshopper Takes a Leap Into a ‘Ring of Fire’

The SpaceX Grasshopper during its test flight on March 7, 2013. Credit: SpaceX.

Last week, SpaceX’s Grasshopper took its highest leap ever, doubling its past flights. On March 7, 2013, the vertical and takeoff and landing (VTVL) vehicle, rose 24 stories or 80.1 meters (262.8 feet), hovered for approximately 34 seconds and then landed safely – and more accurately than ever before. The goal of Grasshopper is to eventually create a reusable first stage for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which would be able to land safely instead of falling back into the ocean and not being usable again.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed this video this weekend during the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, calling the Grasshopper’s flight a “Johnny Cash Hover Slam,” since the video includes Cash’s iconic song, “Ring of Fire.” A cowboy dummy was strapped to the side of the rocket for good measure (and perhaps good luck, since the previous test fight included the cowboy).

The test was completed at SpaceX’s rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas.

This is Grasshopper’s fourth in a series of test flights, with each test demonstrating exponential increases in altitude. Last September, Grasshopper flew to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), in November, it flew to 5.4 meters (17.7 feet) and in December, it flew to 40 meters (131 feet).

Grasshopper stands 10 stories tall and consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.

March 11, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

The Challenges of Photography Aboard the ISS

Astronaut Don Pettit with some of his cameras on board the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Don Pettit has always been one of our favorite astronauts. From his “Saturday Morning Science” and “Science Off the Sphere” to his Zero-G coffee cup, he offered a take on living and working in space that was always just a bit different from the rest of the astronaut corps. During his last stay on the International Space Station, he took photography to a new level, and fellow astrophotographer Christoph Malin has paid a fitting tribute to Pettit with this wonderful new video, which not only showcases Pettit’s work (and Malin’s too!), but allows him to explain the challenges of astrophotography aboard the ISS.

“It can not be emphasized enough, how Dr. Pettits innovative photographic work and his passion has changed the way we see earth from space,” Malin wrote on his Vimeo page. You can read about the genesis of this project at Malin’s website.

Enjoy.

“Making the invisible visible” – the ISS Image Frontier from Christoph Malin on Vimeo.

March 11, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

A Day in the Life of a Living Mars

A conception of an ancient and/or future Mars, flush with oceans, clouds and life. Credit: Kevin Gill.

Back in January we posted some intriguing images showing concepts of what a terraformed “living Mars” might look like from orbit. With a bit of creative license, software engineer Kevin Gill turned the Red Planet into its own version of the Blue Marble. He’s now created an animation showing a rotating Mars and compressed 24 hours to one minute.

Kevin explains how he did the animation:

The base two dimensional elevation model was generated using data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft and satellite imagery from the Blue Marble Next Generation project. Sea level was set non-scientifically, but such that it would flood much of Valles Marineris as well as provide shoreline near the cliffs on the outer edges of Olympus Mons. The clouds are straight from NASA’s Blue Marble NG project and height mapped (rather arbitrarily, but looks good) by relative opacity (The more opaque a point, the higher up in the atmosphere I put it). This was rendered using a digital elevation modeling program I am writing, jDem846, with some extras baked in through its scripting interface, and encoded to video with ffmpeg. Because I defaulted to Earth-based time, each frame is about one minute in time over twenty-four hours.

Kevin told us that this project was “something that I did both out of curiosity of what it would look like and to improve the software I was rendering this in,” he said via email. “I am a software engineer by trade and certainly no planetary scientist, so with the exception of any parts derived from actual data, most of it is assumptions I made based on simply comparing the Mars terrain to similar features here on Earth (e.g. elevation, proximity to bodies of water, physical features, geographical position, etc) and then using the corresponding textures from the Blue Marble images to paint the flat image layer in a graphics program.”

This is a fun and thought-provoking look at what Mars may have looked in the past … or if things had worked out just a little differently in our Solar System!

March 11, 2013December 30, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

A Shot of Philosophical Espresso: “The Mirroring Mind”

How does the mind work? What is reality? Self-professed wonder junkie Jason Silva has a new video, which debuted this weekend at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. Hit ‘play’ and get ready for a fast ride!

THE MIRRORING MIND – by @JasonSilva from Jason Silva on Vimeo.

March 11, 2013April 26, 2016 by David Dickinson

Update: Comet PANSTARRS Makes Its Northern Hemisphere Debut

Comet PANSTARRS as seen from Arizona on March 10, 2013. Credit and copyright: Chris Schur.

The first of three bright comets anticipated in 2013 became visible to North American observers this past weekend. Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS is now currently visible low to the southwest at dusk, if you know exactly where to look for it.

Observers in the southern hemisphere have been enjoying this comet for the past few weeks as it reached naked eye visibility above 6^th magnitude around late February and began its long trek northward. Comet PanSTARRS is on a 106,000+ year orbit with a high inclination of 84.2° with respect to the ecliptic. This also means that PanSTARRS is currently moving roughly parallel to the “0 Hour” line in Right Ascension (The same point occupied by the Sun during next week’s Vernal Equinox on March 20^th) and is only slowly gaining elevation on successive evenings.

CometPANSTARRS from Michael Zeiler on Vimeo.

Observers in Hawaii and Mexico picked up PanSTARRS late last week, and scattered reports of sightings from the southern continental United States started trickling in Saturday night on the evening of March 9^th. We managed to grab Comet PanSTARRS low to the southwest on Sunday evening on March 10^th, about 30 minutes after local sunset.

Comet PanSTARRS seen from Hudson Florida on the evening of March 10th (Photo by Author).

We were surprised by the star-like appearance of the coma, about +1^stto 2^nd magnitude with a tiny fan-shaped tail. The comet was visible in binoculars only (I used our trusty pair of Canon 15×45 Image-Stabilized binocs for the task) and I couldn’t yet pick out the comet with the naked eye.

Several sightings westward followed. Clay Davis based in Santa Fe, New Mexico noted a visual magnitude of -0.5, saying that PanSTARRS was “Brighter than Mars” at magnitude +1 but “A challenge to keep in view.” Note that observer estimations of the brightness of comets can vary based on local sky conditions. Also, unlike a pinpoint star, the brightness of comets extends over its visible surface area, much like a faint nebula. The first sightings of the comet for many observers has been contingent on the weather, which can trend towards overcast for much of North America in early March. From our +28.5° northern latitude vantage point here just north of Tampa Bay Florida we had about a 10 minute window from when the sky was dark enough to spy PanSTARRS before it set below the local horizon.

Here are a few more images from Universe Today readers:

Comet Pan-STARRS as imaged by Robert Sparks (@HalfAstro) on the night of March 10th from Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved, part of the Universe Today photo gallery. — Comet PanSTARRS as imaged by Robert Sparks (@HalfAstro) on the night of March 10th from Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved, part of the Universe Today photo gallery.

First views of Comet PANSSTARRS from Tucson, Arizona. Credit and copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter.

Comet PANSTARRS from Puerto Rico on March 10, 2013. Credit and copyright: Efrain Morales.

To see the comet we suggest;

A clear uncluttered southwestern horizon;
A reasonably clear sky;
Binoculars.

First naked eye sightings of the comet for U.S. and European latitudes should be forthcoming over the next few evenings. PanSTARRS just passed perihelion yesterday on March 10^th at 0.3 Astronomical Units from the Sun (or 46.5 million kilometres, just inside the orbit of Mercury).

Comet PanSTARRS looking west at 8PM EDT from latitude 30 degrees north. (Created by the author using Starry Night). — Comet PanSTARRS looking west at 8PM EDT the evening of March 12th from latitude 30 degrees north. (Created by the author using Starry Night).

And Comet PanSTARRS may put on its best show over the next few nights. The Moon reaches New phase today at 3:51PM EDT/ 19:51 UT and starts lunation number 1116. On the next few evenings, the slim crescent Moon will slide by Comet PanSTARRS. Look for the 2% illuminated Moon 5° to the lower right of the comet on the evening of Tuesday March 12^th. On the next evening, the 5% illuminated Moon will be 9° above Comet PanSTARRS on Wednesday, March 13^th. The age of the Moon will be 28 hours old on Tuesday evening and 52 hours on Wednesday the 13^th respectively, an easy catch. The Moonwatch website is a great place to check for those early lunar crescent sighting possibilities worldwide. Note that Comet PanSTARRS also passes less than 30’ from the planet Uranus (about the diameter of the Full Moon) on the evening of the 12^th at 8 PM EDT/24UT. +6^th magnitude Uranus may just be visible near the head of the comet using binoculars or a small telescope. Keep in mind, they just appear to be close as seen from our Earthly vantage point. PanSTARRS is currently 1.1 A.U.s from the Earth, while Uranus is on the other side of the solar system at 21 A.U.s distant!

Comet PanSTARRS looking west at 8PM EDT from latitude 30 degrees north on the evening of March 13th. (Created by the author using Starry Night).

PanSTARRS also crosses the Celestial Equator today on March 11^th and the Ecliptic on March 13^th. Observers from dark sky sites may get the added bonus of the zodiacal light, a true photographic opportunity!

Spacecraft studying the Sun are also giving us views of Comet PanSTARRS from a different perspective. NASA’s twin STEREO A & B spacecraft are positioned to monitor the Sun from different vantage points along the Earth’s orbit. Often, they see comets as an added bonus. Comet PanSTARRS has just moved into the field of view of STEREO-B’s Heliospheric Imager and has given us amazing views of the comet and the Earth in the distance over the past week.

The view of Comet PanSTARRS from NASA's STEREO Behind observatory. (Credit: NASA/SECCHI). — The view of Comet PanSTARRS from NASA’s STEREO Behind observatory. (Credit: NASA/SECCHI).

From STEREO, the remarkable fan-shaped dust tail of PanSTARRS stands out in profile. The dust tail of a comet always points away from the Sun. Driven by the solar wind, a comet’s tail is actually in front of it as it heads back out of the solar system! An ultimate animation of Comet PanSTARRS just came to our attention today via @SungrazerComets on Twitter;

Animation of comet 2011 L4 PanSTARRS entering STEREO-B's HI camera, note the twin ion/dust tail reminiscent of Hale-Bopp! (Credit: NASA/STEREO/NRL). — Animation of comet 2011 L4 PanSTARRS entering STEREO-B’s HI camera, note the twin ion/dust tail reminiscent of Hale-Bopp! (Credit: NASA/STEREO/NRL).

As of this writing, PanSTARRS seems to be performing as per predictions with an observed magnitude of around +1. The comet will continue on its northward trek, becoming a circumpolar object for observers based around latitude 50° north on April 2nd. Comet PanSTARRS should dip back below +6^th magnitude around April 15th.

Comet PanSTARRS as imaged by Mike Weasner from Cassiopeia Observatory in southern Arizona on the night of March 10th. Used with permission.

But this is but Act One in a forecasted three act cometary saga for 2013. Comet C/2012 F6 Lemmon will grace early dawn skies in April for northern hemisphere observers, and then all eyes will be on Comet C/2012 S1 ISON for the hoped for grand finale later this year. Interestingly, ESA’s Solar Heliospheric Observatory will get a look at this sungrazing comet as it passes through its LASCO C3 camera’s field of view. Clear skies, and may 2013 go down as the Year of the Comet!

-Check out photos of Comet PanSTARRS and more being added daily to the Universe Today’s Flickr gallery.

March 11, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Top 9 Weird Asteroid Names (and 1 Awesome Asteroid Moon Name)

An illustration of the Jabberwocky first published in 1871. Credit: Public domain/Wikipedia

Cats, celebrities and fictional creatures all have a home in the asteroid belt. That’s because the people that found these asteroids often have the privilege of naming the minor planets after anything they want — with a few guidelines, of course.

So what are the rules? According to the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, all “minor planets” should adhere to the following guidelines:

– 16 characters long, or less;

– One word, if possible;

– Pronounceable, non-offensive and not too similar to names of other minor planets or natural planetary satellites;

– If named after a military/political persona, 100 years must have passed since the person died or the event occurred;

– No commercial names;

– Names of pets are strongly discouraged. (More on that later.)

Below are some of the more whimsical names of asteroids. What’s awesome about them is how willing the discoverer was to show his or her light side on what must have been a solemn occasion for them.

9) James Bond (9007): This actually isn’t too surprising, since Bond has been to space a few times, most notably attempting “re-entry” during the film Moonraker. Still, it’s a fair stretch from flying the space shuttle to navigating the asteroid belt.

8) Odysseus (1143): This ever-patient sailor probably would have been unhappy with a trip into space in addition to seeing his friends die in war, fighting with the Cyclops and getting stranded far from home.

7) Beowulf (38086): Named after the hero in an Old English epic poem. He’ll be handy in case we come across any Grendel-like creatures in outer space.

6) Tomhanks (12818) and (5) Megryan (8353): Cue the “sleepless in space” jokes, which accelerated in other media when the two asteroids came within 40 million miles of each other in 2011 (relatively close for asteroids.) That said, Tom Hanks is a well-known advocate of the space program. He starred in Apollo 13, was prominent behind the scenes in HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon miniseries and is a friend of astronauts.

4) Apophis (99942): This asteroid has come under a lot of scrutiny because for a while, astronomers weren’t clear on if it would hit the Earth. But we know now it is definitely not a threat. The asteroid is actually named after a nemesis character in the sci-fi series Stargate SG-1.

3) Monty Python (13681): The famed British comedy troupe now has a permanent monument to their silly walks and elderberry insults in space. Not only that, but each of the members of the group has an asteroid named after him.

2) Mr. Spock (2309): This asteroid was not named after the famous Star Trek character, but after the cat of discoverer James B. Gibson. The feline, like its namesake, was also “imperturbable, logical, intelligent, and had pointed ears,” according to a notice published in September 1985 in the Minor Planet Center.

1) Jabberwock (7470): In the ultimate expression of gyring and gimbling in the wabe, Lewis Carroll’s famous Jabberwocky poem has a namesake. We just hope it didn’t inherit the jaws and claws.

We also wanted to mention another named asteroid, even though we don’t think it has a weird name at all: Asteroid 158092 Frasercain, named after our esteemed publisher of Universe Today. This asteroid was officially designated on August 21, 2008. You can read about it here.

Also, while looking for silly asteroid names, we stumbled across one that is quite meaningful and perhaps the most appropriate space name ever.

45 Eugenia has a moon called Petit-Prince, honoring Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. The children’s book follows the exploit of a boy who lived on an asteroid and explored other asteroids, as well as Earth.

You can explore the database for yourself here.

March 9, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Lessons From a Space Dummy

Ivan Ivanovich, currently on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Credit: Eric Long, courtesy of the National Air and Space Museum.

Before a man could head into space, the Russians felt a mannequin needed to get there first.

It was on this day (March 9) in 1961 that Ivan Ivanovich — the mannequin, or space dummy — made his first flight in a Sputnik. He then took another turn in space later that month before being placed into storage for decades. United States businessman (and failed presidential candidate) Ross Perot bought him at auction in the 1990s, and lent him to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. He’s on display there today.

Universe Today caught up with Cathleen Lewis, the museum’s curator of international space programs and spacesuits in the division of space history. She explained that the mannequin was actually designed and built by three organizations:

– Zvezda (aka JSC Zvezda and RD&PE Zvezda), a firm known for high-altitude suits and spacesuits;

– The Institute for Bio-Medical Problems, which performed aerospace medicine research;

– The Moscow Institute for Prosthetics, which built the mannequin using specifications from the first two groups.

Yuri Gagarin - first human in space. Credit: Russian Archives — Yuri Gagarin – first human in space. Credit: Russian Archives

Here are some of the lessons the Russians learned from Ivan Ivanovich’s flight, according to Lewis:

– What the environment is like inside the spacecraft. While the Soviets had already sent dogs and other animals into space in that time, Lewis said they were sent up in their own self-contained canisters. The chest cavity of Ivan included accelerator and angular rate changes to see what gravity changes he was experiencing. He also measured the level of radiation. Notably, Ivan actually went up twice before the first man in space (Yuri Gagarin), but the reasons are still unclear. “One assumes that because they did do it twice, they weren’t satisfied with the result the first time,” Lewis said. “But there were not a lot of modifications [between flights], so it might have been a testing failure or ambiguity in the results.”

– The communications network. During the early years of the space program, the Americans had a number of ground and ship stations scattered around the world. These stations allowed constant, but not completely continuous, contact with the astronauts. The Soviets had a much smaller network, and wanted to know exactly when the cosmonauts would be audible to ground control. The solution? Recorded singing. “They were broadcasting a song, a folk song from the spacecraft,” she said. The song had an unintended consequence: those listening in from other countries thought there was an actual cosmonaut on board, leading to rumors that other cosmonauts died before Gagarin’s flight, she said.

– Limited public outreach. In the closed Soviet society of the time, public broadcasts of missions generally happened after the fact. Engineers had to figure out how not to alarm the locals if Ivanovich ended up falling nearby a populated area and officials could not retrieve him first. They therefore wrote the word “mannequin” on Ivan to make sure people understood what was going on. It turned out the precaution was never needed, though. “He was more on target than Gagarin,” Lewis said.

March 9, 2013December 23, 2015 by Ken Kremer

Plastic Wrapped Shuttle Atlantis Slated for Grand Public Unveiling in June

Space Shuttle Atlantis enveloped in plastic shrink-wrap for protection from ongoing construction debris inside her magnificent new futuristic museum pavilion home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex in Florida. She will be unveiled to the public in June 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

Imagine visiting Star Fleet headquarters in the 23nd Century and being engulfed by a holodeck journey to a 21st century NASA Space Shuttle; complete with a full sized Hubble Space Telescope – perhaps the important science instrument ever constructed and an outstanding legacy of the Space Shuttle Program.

Well that’s the thrilling new experience awaiting the visiting public and space enthusiasts alike starting this summer at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (KSCVC) in Florida – after the ghostlike Space Shuttle Atlantis (see photo album above & below) is unveiled from a thick coating of shrink wrapped plastic.

But – there is one important caveat regarding the holodeck dream sequence.

Starting on June 29 you will be seeing the ‘real deal’, an actual space flown NASA Space Shuttle Orbiter – not a high tech imaginary glimpse, engineering reproduction or holodeck recreation.

During the recent SpaceX CRS-2 launch events, I was very fortunate to take a behind the scenes inspection tour all around of the new ‘Space Shuttle Atlantis’ pavilion that’s been under construction at the Kennedy Visitor Complex for a year and is now racing towards completion.

And Atlantis is still supremely impressive beneath that white plastic wrap – unlike any shuttle view I’ve see over the years.

Scan through my photo album walking around Atlantis – covered in 16,000 square feet of shrink wrap plastic – and the Star Fleet like pavilion that truly reminded me of an exciting Star Trek adventure ; to see what’s in store soon. The orange exterior pavilion facade is meant to evoke the scorching heat of reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Shrink-wrapped Space Shuttle Atlantis inside museum home under construction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex in Florida - mounted on pedestals. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com) — Shrink-wrapped Space Shuttle Atlantis inside museum home under construction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex in Florida – mounted on steel pedestals. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

The plastic wrap is protecting the orbiter from construction debris and will be unfurled in May. Then the payload bay doors will be carefully opened and the Canadian built remote manipulator system (RMS) — or robotic arm — will be installed and extended.

Inside her new 90,000-square-foot home, everyone will be treated to breathtaking, up close views of the real ‘Space Shuttle Atlantis’ mounted high on steel pedestals – tilted at exactly 43.21 degrees – simulating the outlook as though she was ‘in flight’ orbiting Earth and approaching the International Space Station (ISS).

The ISS and Hubble are the primary legacies of the Space Shuttle program. Atlantis flew 33 total space missions, spent 307 days in orbit and conducted the final flight of the shuttle era.

Rear-side view of plastic wrapped Space Shuttle Atlantis inside museum home under construction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com) — Rear-side view of plastic wrapped Space Shuttle Atlantis inside museum home under construction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex in Florida. Walkways will provide exquisite up close viewing access. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

You’ll gaze from stem to stern and from above and below – and all while peering down into the humongous open cargo bay, up to the heat shield tiles, or across to the engines, wings, tail and crew flight deck. Walkways will provide exquisite up close viewing access.

Atlantis rises some 30 feet off the ground. Although her nose soars 26.5 feet above ground the portside wingtip sits only 7.5 feet from the floor. The wing tip top soars 87 feet from the ground.

And sitting right beside Atlantis will be a co-orbiting, high fidelity full scale replica of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope which was deployed and upgraded by the astronaut crews of six space shuttle missions.

ISS module mockups, simulators and displays will tell the story of the massive stations intricate assembly by several dozen shuttle crews.

Star Fleet like headquarters- still under construction - is the permanent new home for Space Shuttle Atlantis due to open in June 2013 the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com) — Star Fleet like headquarters- still under construction – is the permanent new home for Space Shuttle Atlantis due to open in June 2013 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

More than 60 exhibits, hands- on activities and artifacts surrounding Atlantis will tell the complete story of the three-decade long Space Shuttle program and the thousands of shuttle workers who prepared all five orbiters for a total of 135 space missions spanning from 1981 to 2011.

Atlantis has been lovingly preserved exactly as she returned upon touchdown at the shuttle landing strip at the conclusion of her last space mission, STS-135, in July 2011 – dings, dents, scorch marks, you name it. And that is exactly as it should be in my opinion too.

Rear view of plastic wrapped Space Shuttle Atlantis with soaring tail at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

Shuttle Atlantis was towed to the Visitor Complex in November. The orbiter is housed inside a spanking new six- story museum facility constructed at a cost of $100 million that dominates the skyline at the largely revamped Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Rear view of plastic wrapped Space Shuttle Atlantis and 3 main engines at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

Standing tall right outside the entry to the museum pavilion, visitors will see full scale replicas of the twin solid rocket boosters mated to the orange external fuel tank, suspended 24 feet above ground – and reaching to a top height of 185 feet. They will be erected vertically, precisely as they were at the Shuttle Launch Pads 39 A and 39 B. It will give a realistic sense of what it looked like atop the actual shuttle launch complex.

The mighty steel framework for holding the boosters in place (in case of hurricane force winds up to 140 MPH) was coming together piece by piece as workers maneuvered heavy duty cranes before my eyes during my pavilion museum tour just days ago.

Well, get set to zoom to space as never before beginning on June 29 with the last shuttle orbiter that ever flew in space.

Ken Kremer