Lt. Cmdr. Hawk and T'Lanna escort guests through the 'Sci-Fi Summer' exhibit. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida is looking to take guests where no one has gone before. During the “Sci-Fi Summer” that is going on now through September at the Visitor Complex guests can see, sit and experience actual artifacts that appeared in the hit TV series and motion pictures.
With a smirk and a wink, Lt. Cmdr. Hawk guides guests on the tour of the exhibit. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com
Guests are greeted by two Starfleet officers; today they were Lieutenant Commander “Hawk” and T’Lanna. Both of whom were part of Starfleet’s temporal division. The fact that they were in the 21st Century and escorting guests around appeared to be a sore point with them – but more on that later.
Your other guide is T'lanna - knowledgeable - but has a bit of a temper. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com
Throughout the Visitor Complex were items from the Star Trek Franchise. The original TV series was represented by the bridge of the Enterprise. Contained within the IMAX building, also has the portal from the original series episode “City on the Edge of Forever.” That is just a small part of the display that is spread throughout the Visitor Complex. One can even find the Scorpion Attack Fighter from Star Trek: Nemesis.
Subtly, here and there the operators of the complex show how science fiction and science fact are tied together. One in particular is a display showing size comparisons between Star Trek vessels and modern spacecraft including the International Space Station and the Saturn V rocket. This allows guests to see how fantasy relates to reality.
“There has always been a kind of synergy between science fiction and science fact, especially with the Star Trek franchise,” said Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Public Relations Manager Andrea Farmer. “We wanted to highlight and honor this – which is one reason we decided to extend the exhibit past summer.”
For both fans and non-fans alike, the exhibit is an addition that makes a trip to the Visitor Complex all the more entertaining. Just heed this advice – be nice to the Vulcan…
Space Shuttles Discovery and Endeavour meet for a nose-to nose encounter of gaping holes at the Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 11. The two NASA shuttles shorn of spaceflight maneuvering capability swapped locations to continue the transition to retirement and public display at museum in Virginia and California respectively. Credit: Mike Deep for Universe Today.
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To see one shorn shuttle is bad enough. Seeing two NASA space shuttles edged together and voluntarily gutted of their spaceflight capability for lack of Federal Government funding in the prime of their lives is beyond sad.
Two of NASA’s trio of space shuttle orbiters – Discovery & Endeavour – switched locations at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on August 11, moving them further down the path to eternal retirement and public exhibit at their future homes in museums. That’s far afield from their intended purpose to soar as spaceships of exploration to the High Frontier.
Space Shuttles Discovery and Endeavour swap locations ahead of nose-to nose rendezvous at KSC on Aug. 11. Discovery is pulled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB, left) as Endeavour is towed out of Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-1, right). The two NASA shuttles switched places to continue the transition to retirement. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)
Discovery and Endeavour briefly met in a matchless nose-to-nose configuration for a roadside photo opportunity between the humongous Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and the processing hanger – dubbed the Orbiter Processing Facility – where the orbiters are prepared for flight.
Space Shuttle’s Discovery and Endeavour swapped places at KSC so that technicians could resume preparations towards the transition and retirement of shuttle Discovery – the first of NASA’s orbiters to be officially withdrawn from active duty spaceflight service.
First, Discovery was backed out of temporary storage from a high bay inside the VAB. Then Endeavour was towed out of Orbiter Processing Facility-1. Technicians then maneuvered the orbiters to a rendezvous point in between on the ground. Just imagine how grand this vista would have appeared in space. Discovery and Endeavour approach roadside rendezvous point at KSC on Aug. 11. Discovery departs the VAB (left) as Endeavour departs OPF-1 (right) on the road to permanent retirement. Credit: Ken Kremer
At last Discovery and Endeavour met for the truly sad nosy encounter of gaping holes where the forward reaction control thrusters once fired to meticulously maneuver the shuttles in orbit. Protective plastic sheeting meant to shield the empty thruster bay from FOD – or Foreign Object Debris – was in tatters and whipping wildly in the wind almost from the moment Discovery emerged from the VAB.
The rear ends of both orbiters looked like the main engines had been sawed off. Both orbiters have been stripped of their trio of mighty space shuttle main engines (SSME’s) and duo of bulbous Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS’s) pods for months of decommissioning work.
Discovery was then pulled into the Orbiter Processing Facility-1 (OPF-1) where the next step is to extract even more of her guts, namely the Auxiliary Power Units (APU’s) and associated systems for “safing” over the coming months. In April 2012, Discovery is scheduled to depart KSC forever and be flown off for permanent public display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. Discovery and Endeavour at roadside rendezvous at KSC. Credit: Mike Deep
Endeavour was towed into the VAB for storage until October, when she will be moved into OPF-2 for further work to ready her for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angles sometime next summer.
Atlantis is next on the chopping block. And America retains zero indigenous capability for human spaceflight.
The situation likely won’t change for at least several years until one of the commercial providers launches a human rated “space taxi” to low earth orbit.
A Perseid through the sky. Credit: Nahum Mendez Chazarra, Rojales, Spain. Click to see this image and more on Flickr
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We made a wish that our readers would send in their images of the Perseid Meteor Shower, and it came true! Despite a full Moon and clouds scattered around the world, we heard from many of you that you saw — and successfully imaged — the 2011 Perseids. Many of you took advantage of Universe Today’s new Flickr group, an easy way to have readers share their astrophotos with us. Above is a colorful image of a Perseid streaking through the sky by Nahum Mendez Chazarra, in Rojales, Spain.
Below, see an image take from up above the world so high: astronaut Ron Garan on board the International Space Station captured his view looking down at a Perseid streaking through sky!
'What a shooting star looks like from space," wrote ISS astronaut Ron Garan on Twitter. Click for larger versionFaint meteor. Credit: Andrei Juravle, Timisoara, Romania. Click for larger version on Flickr
This is another Flickr submission, from Andrei Juravle, Timisoara, Romania. Click to see this image and more from Andrei.
A Chicago meteor! Taken near downtown Chicago under a nearly full moon on August 12th 2011. Credit: Janet Branson. Click through for Flickr version.
Impressive! This image was taken in the light-filled skies of Chicago, Illinois by Janet Branson.
Paul Miller from San Diego, California took the following two very nice images from Mt. Laguna:
Bright Perseid. Credit: Paul MIller, San Diego, California. A Perseid meteor and much more! Credit: Paul MIller, San Diego, CaliforniaA Perseid meteor is caught on camera by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope's mounted low-light Cloudcam before dawn on the morning of August 12, 2011. Still frame cropped and edited by J. Major
Here’s one from our own Jason Major — kind of! He found the Perseid streaking through the sky on footage from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope’s mounted low-light Cloudcam, and created this image.
First meteor! Credit: Leonard Ellul Mercer, Malta, EU
How’s this for beginniner luck?! “Last night I captured my first ever Perseid image with Andromeda on its upper left,” said Leonard Ellul Mercer from Malta. “This is the first time I tried imaging meteors. Was just lucky even though there was a bright full moon overhead.”
Keep imaging, Leonard — nice shot!
Meteor, or something else? Credit: Michaela Knott.
“I took this on August 12, 2011 I’m not sure what it is,” wrote in Michaela Knott, “but I know it’s not a plane (which is what most of what shows up in my time lapse ends up being). This year I think I only saw 2 dozen or so meteors over two nights I went out looking.”
Shot with a Nikon D60, 28mm lens f2.8 10 sec exposure at the Frosty Drew Observatory in Charlestown RI, USA. “It was taken @ 9:42 EST, still pretty early in the evening,” Michaela said.
Timelapse, Perseids and stars on August 12, 2011.Credit: David Parmet. Click to see this image and more on Flickr.
JPL's 'Hot Wheels' - The Mars Science Laboratory or 'Curiosity' is being prepared to launch to mars this November. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA is experiencing what could be dubbed a “summer of planetary exploration.” With the Juno mission to Jupiter on its way as of Aug. 5, NASA is prepping not one but two more missions – this time to terrestrial bodies – specifically the Moon and Mars.
On Sept. 8 NASA is planning to launch GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory). This mirror image spacecraft consists of two elements that will fly in tandem with one another and scan the Moon from its core to its crust. This mission will serve to expand our understanding of the mechanics of how terrestrial bodies are formed. GRAIL will provide the most accurate gravitational map of the Moon to date.
The aeroshell that will cover both the MSL rover and its jetpack landing system. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com
When it comes to upcoming projects that have “celebrity” status – few can compete with the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) or Curiosity. The six-wheeled rover was part of a media event Friday Aug. 12 that included the “Sky-Crane” jetpack that is hoped will safely deliver the car-sized rover the Martian surface. Also on display was the back half of the rover’s aeroshell which will keep the robot safe as in enters the red planet’s atmosphere.
Numerous engineers were available for interview, one expert on hand to explain the intricacies of how Curiosity works was the Rover Integration Lead on the project, Peter Illsley.
One fascinating aspect of MSL is how the rover will land. As it pops free of the aeroshell, a jet pack will conduct a powered descent to Mars’ surface. From there the rover will be lowered to the ground via wires, making Curiosity look like an alien spider descending from its web. Once the rover makes contact with the ground, the wires will be severed and the “Sky-Crane” will fly off to conduct a controlled crash. Ben Thoma, the mechanical lead on this aspect of the project, described how he felt about what it is like to work on MSL.
MSL is slated to launch this November atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 541 rocket. If everything goes according to plan the rover will begin exploring Mars’ Gale Crater for a period of approximately two years. In every way Curiosity is an upgraded, super-charged version of the rovers that have preceded her. The Pathfinder rover tested out many of the concepts that led to the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity and now MSL has incorporated lessons learned to take more robust scientific explorations of the Martian surface.
The "Sky-Crane" jetpack that will be used to slowly lower the MSL rover to the Martian surface. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com
UT reader Bryan Stewart sent us this great video, and wrote, “I was out on the 10th shooting video with my d7000 and 300mm lens of an ISS pass and got surprised by a Perseid meteor.”
The save-the-Earth rehearsal mission Don Quijote, commissioned by the European Space Agency, is planned to test the potential of a real life-or-death mission to deflect a mass-extinction-inducing asteroid from a collision course with Earth.
Currently at ‘concept’ stage, the Don Quijote Near Earth Asteroid Impact Mitigation Mission – has been modelled on a proposed flight to either 2002 AT4 or 1989 ML, both being near-Earth asteroids, though neither represent an obvious collision risk. However, subsequent studies have proposed that Amor 2003 SM84 or even 99942 Apophis may be more suitable targets. After all, 99942 Apophis does carry a marginal (1 in 250,000) risk of an Earth impact in 2036.
Whatever the target, a dual launch of two spacecraft is proposed – an Impactor called Hidalgo (a title Cervantes gave to the original Don Quixote) and an Orbiter called Sancho (who was the Don’s faithful companion).
While the Impactor’s role is self-explanatory, the Orbiter plays a key role in interpreting the impact – the idea being to collect impact momentum and trajectory change data that would then inform future missions, in which the fate of the Earth may really be at stake.
The extent of transfer of momentum from Impactor to asteroid depends on the Impactor’s mass (just over 500 kilograms) and its velocity (about 10 kilometres a second), as well as the composition and density of the asteroid. The greatest momentum change will be achieved if the impact throws up ejecta that achieve escape velocity. If instead the Impactor just buries itself within the asteroid, not that much will be achieved, since its mass will be substantially less than any mass-extinction-inducing asteroid. For example, the object that created the Chicxulub crater and wiped out the dinosaurs (yes, alright – except for the birds) is thought to have been in the order of 10 kilometres in diameter.
So before the impact, to assist future targeting and required impact velocity calculations, the Orbiter will make a detailed analysis of the target asteroid’s overall mass and its near-surface density and granularity. Then, after the impact, the Orbiter will assess the speed and distribution of the collision ejecta via its Impact Camera.
However, accurately measuring the degree of deflection achieved by the impact represents a substantial challenge for the mission. We will need much better data about the target asteroid’s mass and velocity than we can establish from Earth. So, the Orbiter will do a series of fly-bys and then go into orbit around the asteroid to assess how much the asteroid is affected by the spacecraft’s proximity.
A precise determination of the Orbiter’s distance from the asteroid will be achieved by its Laser Altimeter, while a Radio Science Experiment will precisely determine the Orbiter’s position (and hence the asteroid’s position) relative to the Earth.
Having then established the Orbiter as a reference point, the effect of the collision of the Impactor will be assessed. However, a significant confounding factor is the Yarkovsky effect – the effect of solar heating of the asteroid, which induces the emission of thermal photons and hence generates a tiny amount of thrust. The Yarkovsky effect naturally pushes an asteroid’s orbit outwards if it has a prograde spin (in the direction of its orbit) – or inwards if it has retrograde spin. Hence, the Orbiter will also need a Thermal Infrared Spectrometer to separate the Yarkovsky effect from the effect of the impact.
To estimate the effect of Hidalgo's collision, the Yarkovsky effect must be acounted for. Heating of an asteroid's surface by the Sun causes thermal radiation. The nett cumulative momentum of that radiation is from surfaces that have just turned out of the Sun's light (i.e. 'dusk'). In asteroids with prograde spin, this will push the asteroid into a higher orbit - i.e. further away from the Sun. But, for asteroids with retrograde rotation, the orbit decays - i.e. towards the Sun.
And of course, given the importance of the Orbiter as a reference point, the effect of solar radiation on it must also be measured. Indeed, we will also need to factor in that this effect will change as the shiny new spacecraft’s highly-reflective surfaces lose their sheen. Highly reflective surfaces will emit radiation, almost immediately, at energy levels (i.e. high momentum) almost equivalent to the incident radiation. However, low albedo surfaces may only release lower energy (i.e. lower momentum) thermal radiation – and will do so more slowly.
To put it another way, a mirror surface makes a much better solar sail than a black surface.
So in a nutshell, the Don Quijote impact mitigation mission will require an Impactor with a Targeting Camera – and an Orbiter with an Impact Observation Camera, a Laser Altimeter, a Radio Science Experiment and a Thermal Infrared Spectrometer – and you should remember to measure the effect of solar radiation pressure on the spacecraft early in the mission, when it’s shiny – and later on, when it’s not.
Or you can “watch” a visual graph is with the Meteorscan Meteor Live View created at the Norman Lockyer observatory in Devon England
How do these work? Basically these transmitters are at a distance where they are beneath the horizon from the radio receivers perspective. If you tune into this far of transmitter all you would normally get is static as it is so far away and hidden, due to being below the horizon.
Credit: IMO
When a meteor strikes Earth’s atmosphere it decelerates rapidly. The friction created by the air causes the meteor to burn up at extremely high temperatures creating the white “shooting star” that we are all familiar with. This process also ionizes the air along the trail making it possible to reflect radio waves.
The reflected signals are picked up by the radio receiver and can be heard as pings or whistles. Data can also be displayed on a computer in the form of different types of graph.
Meteor Live View Credit: Adrian West
There will also be a live audio and video stream, along with a live “Stay Up All Night” chat about the Perseids with NASA astronomer Bill Cooke and his team from the Marshall Space Flight Center as they answer your questions about the Perseids via live Web chat. Join them on Friday, Aug. 12 at 11 p.m. EDT — 03:00 UTC GMT — then make plans to stay “up all night” until 5:00 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 13.
Of course, as we have mentioned before, you can join in with watching the Perseids with the rest of the world via Twitter and the #Meteorwatch hashtag. Even if you can’t see any meteors, you can see where other people are watching them with the Twitter Meteor Map
Check out all these fantastic and interesting meteor tools and hopefully you’ll have a chance to go out and enjoy the shower with your eyes when the sky clears.
Gaia BH1 is a Sun-like star co-orbiting with a black hole estimated at 10 times the Sun's mass. Credit: ESO/L. Calcada
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Yes. We thought we knew everything there was to know about black holes. We know they are massive and compact. We know they possess a gravity so intense that it even bends “space time”. We know they won’t even allow light to escape. But what we weren’t really prepared for is that our human line of reasoning might be wrong. Black holes might consume everything… But they leak information.
Thanks to a new study done by Professor Samuel Braunstein and Dr Manas Patra of the University of York, we just might need to realign our way of thinking about black holes and one of the most fundamental forces of Nature – gravity. Professor Braunstein says: “Our results didn’t need the details of a black hole’s curved space geometry. That lends support to recent proposals that space, time and even gravity itself may be emergent properties within a deeper theory. Our work subtly changes those proposals, by identifying quantum information theory as the likely candidate for the source of an emergent theory of gravity.”
Are your quantum mechanics a bit rusty? Then blame a few holes in these theories. “This vision was motivated in part by Jacobson’s 1995 surprise result that the Einstein equations of gravity follow from the thermodynamic properties of event horizons.” says the team. “Taking a first tentative step in such a program, we derive the evaporation rate (or radiation spectrum) from black hole event horizons in a spacetime-free manner. Our result relies on a Hilbert space description of black hole evaporation, symmetries therein which follow from the inherent high dimensionality of black holes, global conservation of the no-hair quantities, and the existence of Penrose processes. Our analysis is not wedded to standard general relativity and so should apply to extended gravity theories where we find that the black hole area must be replaced by some other property in any generalized area theorem.”
Like your elderly neighbor whose curtains twitch each time you take your telescope into the yard at night and hastens to grab the telephone to tell other neighbors, information can leak from a black hole. The neighbor knows you’re out there… And soon enough, the rest of the neighbors know as well. Professor Braunstein says: “Our results actually extend the predictions made by well-established techniques that rely on a detailed knowledge of space time and black hole geometry.”
Dr Patra adds: “We cannot claim to have proven that escape from a black hole is truly possible, but that is the most straight-forward interpretation of our results. Indeed, our results suggest that quantum information theory will play a key role in a future theory combining quantum mechanics and gravity.”
This weekend should be the peak of the 2011 Perseid meteor shower. If you have any luck taking images of the event, we’d love to see them and share them with the world! To enable this, Universe Today has started a Flickr Group, where people can upload their astrophotos, which will make it easier for us to share everyone’s photos. If we use your image, we will give you full credit and link back to your Flickr account. Or if you’d rather submit your images via email, send them to Nancy, along with a little info about it (where/when/equipment/etc.)
We hope to soon begin a new ‘Amateur Astrophoto of the Day’ feature where we will use pictures people have sent us via Flickr as well, so look for more info on that soon.
In the meantime, get out and enjoy the Perseids, and remember you can share the experience with others via Twitter with MeteorWatch, led by UT’s Adrian West! Follow the #Meteorwatch hashtag, and Adrian’s @VirtualAstro Twitter feed.
NASA’s twin GRAIL Science Probes ready for Lunar Expedition. GRAIL B (left) and GRAIL A (right) spacecraft are mounted side by side on top of a payload adapter inside the clean room at Astrotech Space Operations facility. The spacecraft await lunar launch on Sept. 8, 2011. Credit: Ken Kremer
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NASA’s GRAIL twins – dubbed GRAIL-A & GRAIL-B – are ready to embark on America’s next science expedition to the moon in less than 1 month’s time from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
The twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft have been exhaustively tested, fueled for flight and mounted side-by-side on a specially designed payload adapter inside the controlled environment of a clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville, Fla.
The next processing step is to encapsulate the lunar probes inside their protective payload fairing. The duo are set to be shipped from Astrotech to their Cape Canaveral launch pad next week on Aug. 16, where they will be mated to an already assembled Delta II booster.
Liftoff of the GRAIL twins is slated for Sept. 8 at 8:37 a.m. EDT by a Delta II Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 17 at Cape Canaveral for a nearly four month voyage to the moon.
After entering lunar orbit, the two GRAIL spacecraft will fly in a tandam formation just 50 kilometers above the lunar surface with an average separation of 200 km during the 90 day science phase.
Side view of twin GRAIL probes
The GRAIL spacecraft are mounted to a 3 inch high Launch Vehicle Adapter Assembly and 20 inch Payload Adapter spacer ring on top of a 30-inch high GSE stand. Credit: Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)
GRAIL’s mission goal is to map the moon’s gravity field to high precision and thereby deduce the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core. This will also lead to a better understanding of the composition of the moon’s interior, according to Sami Asmar, GRAIL co-investigator from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasasdena, Calif., during an interview inside the Astrotech clean room at a photo opportunity for the media. A gravity experiment is also aboard the just launched Jupiter bound Juno spacecraft.
GRAIL Photo Album special taken from inside the Astrotech cleanroom facility.
Twin GRAIL lunar probes inside clean room at Astrotech. Credit: Ken KremerClose up of twin lunar probes, GRAIL- B (left) & GRAIL- A (right). Credit: Ken KremerGRAIL-B solar panels. Credit: Ken KremerGRAIL Science and Launch team inside clean room at Astrotech. Credit: Ken KremerGRAIL Co-Investigator Sami Asmar (left) from JPL and Ken Kremer discuss science objectives inside clean room at Astrotech.
