What if you believe in something with all your heart and it still doesn’t come true? If you’re Krafft Ehricke then you tell everyone that you can and hope that all together you can make it happen. At least that’s the message from Marsha Freeman’s semi-biography “Krafft Ehricke’s Extraterrestrial Imperative“. Though reading this book may tell you only a bit of Ehricke’s life, it will tell you a lot more about his dreams that he apparently worked toward, with all his heart.
Krafft Ehricke was a compatriot of Wernher von Braun. Both were Germans who brought the V2 rocket into production. After the war, Ehricke joined the German rocketeer group that travelled to the US. There he made significant contributions to the US space program especially with the Centaur upper stage. It, together with the Atlas rocket, made the solar system accessible to humankind. It was also a crowning achievement of Ehricke’s.
While this book provides a little more description of Ehricke’s life, it’s mostly a collection of Ehricke’s efforts to keep space exploration alive. With the Apollo program funding starting to decrease in 1965, Ehricke apparently took it upon himself to advocate for continued and even augmented expenditures.
He describes the Moon as Earth’s seventh continent. He continually vouchsafes space as being a resource to counter the limits to growth dogma of the 1970s. He also wrote of three Laws of Astronautics; the first being that the only limits of humankind are ones placed by himself. The book’s author uses lectures, documents and letters to support this impression of almost frenzied desire to get humankind space bound.
Accompanying these are many illustrative examples of technical solutions; fusion reactors to support life on the Moon, automated vehicles to prepare landing surfaces on the Moon, and, a fictional account of a trip from low Earth orbit to the Martian surface, and back of course. Together, these show a person keenly interested in and technically capable of getting humanity space bound.
This book does great credit to Ehricke’s extraterrestrial imperative. But, it reflects only on this part of his life. As we know, this part, to have humans space bound, remains for humanity to accomplish. As well, the technical capability remains. Still humanity looks for the necessary desire to make it happen. This book has many logical, reasonable, rational arguments for putting people into space.
Yet, these are from a person writing them 40 years ago. Many of the arguments remain and we are still Earth bound. So while the book has some description of Ehricke and a lot of Ehricke’s passion, it is a reflection of what was and adds little to current initiatives to return people to space.
It is surprising to many that the Apollo program began winding down long before a human stepped upon the Moon’s surface. Yet, many recognized the implication of this retreat and sought to do something about it. Marsha Freeman’s book “Krafft Ehricke’s Extraterrestrial Imperative” describes one man’s passionate efforts to keep this dream alive. Sadly, it is still a dream, shared by many but no more real than from many years ago.
From Russia, with love. Here’s a video put together by Roscosmos of launch and mission highlights. Interestingly, in 2010, Russia has made almost a half of all launches in the world – 31 launches of 74. Next was the USA and China with 15 launches each. ESA sent 6 rockets to space, India had 3, South Korea had 1, Japan 2, and Israel 1. Four launches in the world were unsuccessful.
Here are some of the best space and astronomy images from 2010. These are in no particular order or ranking, just our favorites from the year. If you think we’ve missed any, feel free to add or link to in the comment section. This top image, however, might be my personal favorite from 2010, an image of the space shuttle Endeavor backdropped by the breathtaking image of the earth’s atmosphere. This image was captured from the International Space Station the STS-130 mission on February 9, 2010.
A truly alien landscape on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
This might win the prize for weirdest image of the year. This picture of Mars’ surface from the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been compared to a close-up of a man’s face (complete with whiskers) or pine trees growing on the Red Planet. Scientists say the dark streaks are actually trails of debris, created by landslides that occur when carbon dioxide ice melts away from sand dunes near Mars’ north pole.
The most detailed sunspot ever obtained in visible light was seen by new telescope at NJIT's Big Bear Solar Observatory. Credit: Big Bear Solar Observatory
A new type of adaptive optics for solar observations has produced some incredible results, providing the most detailed image of a sunspot ever obtained in visible light. A new telescope built by the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Big Bear Solar Observatory has seen its ‘first light’ using a deformable mirror, which is able to reduce atmospheric distortions. This is the first facility-class solar observatory built in more than a generation in the U.S.
This brand new Hubble photo is of a small portion of one of the largest seen star-birth regions in the galaxy, the Carina Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)
This image was released in commemoration of the 20th Birthday of the Hubble Space Telescope. The amazing view of what has been nicknamed “Mystic Mountain,” is just a small portion of one of the largest known star-birth regions in the galaxy, the Carina Nebula. Three light-year-tall towers of cool hydrogen laced with dust rise from the wall of the nebula. The scene is reminiscent of Hubble’s classic “Pillars of Creation” photo from 1995, but even more striking. “Mystic Mountain has clouds of gas and dust, that have not only baby stars, but also baby solar systems,” said John Grunsfeld, Hubble-hugger, repairman and now the Deputry Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute. “4.5 billion years ago, this may be what our solar system looked like.”
Marius Hills region on the Moon, from LRO's Wide Angle Camera. Image processing by Maurice Collins
Here’s a look at the Moon in a way we’ve never quite seen it before: a close up, but wide angle view. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera actually consists of three cameras: there are two narrow-angle cameras which make high-resolution, black-and-white images of the surface, with resolutions down to 1 meter (about 3.3 feet). A third, a wide-angle camera (WAC), takes color and ultraviolet images over the complete lunar surface at 100-meter (almost 330-foot) resolution. However, the raw wide-angle images are somewhat distorted by the camera, but Maurice Collins, a Moon enthusiast from New Zealand, found that putting several images together in a mosaic removes a lot of the distortions and produces a much clearer image. The results are nothing short of stunning; this jaw-dropping image of the Marius Hills region of the Moon is one example. For more, see Maurice’s website, Moon Science .
Comet Hartley 2 can be seen in glorious detail in this image from NASA's EPOXI mission. It was taken as the spacecraft flew by around 6:59 a.m. PDT (9:59 a.m. EDT), from a distance of about 700 kilometers (435 miles). The comet's nucleus, or main body, is approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long and .4 kilometers (.25 miles) at the 'neck' or most narrow portion. Jets can be seen streaming out of the nucleus. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMDAn Extraordinary Celestial Spiral. Credit: ESA/NASA & R. Sahai
The Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys has captured a remarkable image of a spiral in space earlier this year. No, not a spiral galaxy, (and not another Norway Spiral!) but the formation of an unusual pre-planetary nebula in one of the most perfect geometrical spirals ever seen. The nebula, called IRAS 23166+1655, is forming around the star LL Pegasi (also known as AFGL 3068) in the constellation of Pegasus.
LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) mosaic of the lunar South Pole region, width ~600 km. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.
More wide angle Moon (guess I can’t get enough from The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter….) This wide-angle mosaic of the South Pole shows Cabeus Crater, where LCROSS impacted in 2009, as well as the Aitken Basin, which contains impact melt that will allow scientists to unambiguously determine the basin’s age, plus Shackleton crater, the region touted as the perfect place for future outposts and huge telescopes. The permanently shadowed regions in this crater wonderland could harbor reservoirs of ice and other volatiles contain a “priceless record of water composition dating back to the beginning of our Solar System, an incomparable dataset for astrobiology investigations,” said Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. “Additionally, these volatile deposits could serve as a tremendously valuable resource for future explorers.”
Shuttle underbelly as seen from the ISS. Credit: NASA
The underside of the space shuttle Discovery is visible in this view from the International Space Station, captured after the shuttle undocked on April 17. The pretty feature on Earth below is the south end of Isla de Providencia, about 150 miles off the coast of Nicaragua.
Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson reflects on the view from the ISS's Cupola. Credit: Doug Wheelock/NASA
Another favorite from the ISS and the Cupola.
'Blazing Bristlecone' by Tom Lowe of the USA, winner of this years Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.A ghostly nebula, IRAS 05437+2502, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a ghostlike nebula known as IRAS 05437+2502. The nebula is a small star-forming region filled with dark dust that was first noted in images taken by the IRAS satellite in infrared light in 1983.
STS-130 launch. Credit: Alan Walters Photo
Here’s a personal favorite — the launch of Endeavour on February 8. Why a favorite? I was there to watch the launch live and in person, which left me speechless. A great shot by UT photographer Alan Walters.
Hubble Views of Comet-like Asteroid P/2010 A2. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)
Hubble took a look at a possible asteroid collision after it was originally seen by ground-based observatories
on January 6, 2010, spotted evidence of an asteroid collision in the asteroid belt, revealing a mysterious X-shaped debris pattern and trailing streamers of dust. With Hubble’s sharp vision, astronomers believe a head-on collision between two asteroids may have occurred. Astronomers have long thought the asteroid belt is being ground down through collisions, but such a smashup has never been seen before.
NGC 1514, sometimes called the 'Crystal Ball' nebula shows a new double ring feature in an image from WISE. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
It’s not like we’ve never seen the planetary nebula NGC 1514 before, but we’ve never seen it though WISE’s infrared eyes, until now. And in a stunning surprise, cylindrical rings appear to be encircling the dying star, like a neon-lit carousel, or perhaps like rolling tire surrounding a glowing blob. “I just happened to look up one of my favorite objects in our WISE catalogue and was shocked to see these odd rings,” said Michael Ressler, a member of the WISE science team at JPL. “This object has been studied for more than 200 years, but WISE shows us it still has surprises.
SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket at 10:43 a.m. EDT. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.Lutetia at closest approach. Image credit: ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
The Rosetta spacecraft flew by asteroid Lutetia, returning the first close up images of this battered, cratered body. Closest approach took place on July 10, at a distance of 3,162 km (1,964 miles). The images show that Lutetia has been on the receiving end of many impacts during its 4.5 billion years of existence. As Rosetta drew close, a giant bowl-shaped depression stretching across much of the asteroid rotated into view. The images confirm that Lutetia is an elongated body, with its longest side around 130 km (80 miles).
Are you among the thousands of amateur astronomers who received a green laser pointer for Christmas and are a bit afraid to take it out of the box? Do the words “You’ll put your eye out.” ring in your head? Like you, I have a green laser pointer… and I’ve accidentally shot myself in the eye. To make matters worse, I’ve even had others inadvertently use my retina as a target. Have I gone blind yet?
The answer is no. But I have gotten a nasty headache and had the “flash bulb” effect for a few hours. It’s true that green lasers aren’t toys, but the reality check is that you really need to mind your manners when using one. “With respect to direct personal danger, potential damage to vision is the only real consideration – there is no risk from radiation or enough power in a beam of less than 5 mW to burn anything. However, from a public policy and regulatory perspective, there are actually three areas of concern.” says Samuel M. Goldwasser. “One – Flash blindness from momentary exposure or permanent damage to vision from prolonged intentional misuse. Laser pointers are usually rated Class IIIa or less which means that the power is low enough that the eye should be protected from permanent damage by natural pupil contraction, blink, and aversion reflexes. Two – Distraction and collateral damage – you wreck your car because someone pointed a laser pointer at you while you were driving. Three – Misinterpretation of intent – you get blown away by someone with a BIG gun who thinks you are targeting them with a laser sight. Or, you are arrested and thrown in the slammer for aiming a laser pointer at a cop (this happened recently).
As Sam’s fine article on Laser Safety goes on to point out: “While I absolutely agree that intentionally aiming a laser of any kind into someone’s eye is basically stupid (unless you are having laser eye surgery), one must be careful in interpreting the meaning of press reports that describe momentary exposure to the beam from a laser pointer waved around an auditorium resulting in instant total loss of vision in all three eyes. One would have to direct the beam into the pupil of the eye from a close distance for a few seconds or more without either the eye or pointer moving, twitching, or blinking. Distance is significant both because even laser pointer beams diverge (especially cheap ones) so less energy is able to enter the pupil of the eye as the source moves further away and it is harder/less likely for it to remain stationary and centered on such a target a few mm across. This is not really possible by accident and even takes significant effort to do intentionally since the eye’s natural pupil contraction, blink, and aversion reflexes will prevent the beam from focusing on a single spot on the retina with a sufficient concentration of energy for more than an instant – not enough time for damage to result. There would have to be cooperation which can only really happen in a game of chicken – but it is hard to protect people from their own stupidity. This does mean, however, as if it isn’t already obvious, that laser pointers should be kept from infants – period, and away from children unless adequately supervised. Adults, on the other hand, presumably know not to stare into painfully bright lights and some may even read the warning labels!”
When it comes to green laser pointers, just remember to mind your manners. Accidentally getting “flashed” – or flashing someone else will make you look like one of the most horribly irresponsible astronomers known to mankind. Using a green laser pointer at a star party when someone is doing long exposure deep sky photography might also result in getting your tripod wrapped around your neck. At the same time, responsible use of a green laser pointer gives you an invaluable educational tool that’s as impressive as it is useful.
Just mind your manners…
If you’d like to know more about lasers and safety – from simple barcode scanners to your CD player and more – please visit Samuel M. Goldwasser’s Laser Safety pages. Also, many thanks to the HoTech Corporation for use of the photos.
Astronaut Cady Coleman and cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev inside the living area of the Soyuz TMA-20. Credit: Roscosmos.
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Cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev recently arrived at the International Space Station, along with astronauts Cady Colemand from the US and Paolo Nespoli from the European Space Agency. Kondratyev has a blog, which he has been updating regularly and he has included several pictures. Most interestingly, he has quite a few images taken inside the Soyuz after launch as the crew was on their way to meet up with the ISS. Very few interior images of the Soyuz during flight have been made available before. Below are some that Kondratyev shared.
Dmitry Kondratyev inside the Soyzu either before or during launch. Credit: Roscosmos
Still feeling the effects of gravity, Kondratyev looks buried among all the supplies stuffed into the Soyuz.
The weightlessness from being orbit seems to provide more room inside the Soyuz. Credit: Roscosmos. Coleman and a checklist feel the effects of weightlessness. Credit: Roscosmos.After reaching orbit and checking all systems, the crew took off their launch suits and dressed in more comfortable flight suits. Credit: Roscosmos.Coleman and Nespoli stretch out in the Soyuz living area and grab a bite to eat. Credit: RoscosmosThe view of Earth from the Soyuz TMA-20. Credit: Roscosmos. Kondratyev and Coleman inside the Soyuz living area. Credit: Roscosmos
Kondratyev wrote in his blog: “For two days we had two hours of relaxation for sleep. Sleeping crew members are able to choose any convenient location and arbitrary orientation in space. At other times, we learned to eat in weightlessness, Earth watched and talked with TsUPom, check the efficiency of vehicle systems.”
Sleeping arrangements on the Soyuz. Credit: Roscosmos.
See more images and read about life on the ISS at Kondratyev’s blog.
Ready for the final Where In The Universe Challenge of 2010? Take a look and see if you can name where in the Universe this image is from. Give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft, telescope or instrument responsible for the image. We provide the image today, but won’t reveal the answer until later. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. And Please, no links or extensive explanations of what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess.
UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below.
This 2003 image from the Hubble Advanced Camera for Survey provided a unique view of the dust disk around a young, 5-million-year-old star. The star, called HD 141569A, lies 320 light-years away in the constellation Libra and appears to be a member of a triple-star system. This false color, coronagraphic view portrays the system if astronomers could view it from above. See more about this image at the HubbleSite.
Santa Maria is a football-field-size crater - about 90 m wide and 12 m deep - which dominates the scene in this stereo view from NASA's Opportunity rover. Opportunity sits about 5 meters from the steep western edge of this scientifically interesting impact crater which displays signatures of water bearing minerals at the center of this mosaic. Opportunity arrived here following a 25-meter (82-foot) drive on the 2,451st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Dec. 16, 2010). The rover used its navigation camera to take the frames combined into this mosaic. The scene appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left. It combines images taken with the left eye and right eye of the navigation camera. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell.
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Spectacular new images of a gorgeous gaping hole on Mars are streaming back to Earth from NASA’s Opportunity Mars Rover. So let’s take a 3 D stroll placing all of us at Santa Maria Crater – “On Mars”. Via the photo mosaics above and below, we will circle in three dimensions about the stunningly beautiful Santa Maria Crater. At the southeast portion of the rim, the crater also possesses a scientific goldmine of hydrated mineral deposits. These minerals are indicative of the past flow of liquid water on Mars, an essential requirement for the formation of life.
Opportunity made landfall at the western edge of Santa Maria on Dec. 15 (Sol 2450) after a long and arduous journey of some 19 km since departing from Victoria Crater over 2 years ago in September 2008. She crawled closer to the rim the next day on Dec. 16 (Sol 2451) unveiling a magnificent vista of jumbled ejecta rocks, steep sloped cliffs and undulating sand dunes across the crater floor.
“Santa Maria is a relatively fresh impact crater. It’s geologically very young, hardly eroded at all, and hard to date quantitatively. On the order of 10 million years old or less,” said Ray Arvidson in an interview from Washington University in St. Louis. Arvidson is the deputy principal investigator for the Spirit and Opportunity rovers.
Santa Maria from Palos Promontory on Mars.
Imagine yourself at the steep cliff walls of Santa Maria crater at a place called Palos. To get a sense of scale in 2 D, human sized figures (2 m tall) have been strategically placed at multiple locations near and far, around and inside this gorgeous panoramic vista. Opportunity drove closer and snapped these images just 2.5 meters from the crater’s edge on Sols 2453 & 2454. Mosaic Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell, James Canvin. Annotations of Mysterious men in black hats and their cousins, the French climbers by FredK and ElkDanGrove at unmannedspaceflight.com
“Santa Maria is the freshest big guy that Opportunity has seen and has a raised rim,” Arvidson told me. “It is much younger than Endurance Crater which Opportunity visited a few months after landing on Mars way back in 2004 and is roughly the same diameter.” See the entire Opportunity traverse map below.
“The crater is young enough that the interesting hydrate outcrops may not be coated with the nanophase iron oxide dust. There is virtually no erosion. We can see the ejecta rays and blocks,“ said Arvidson.
While sitting just five meters from the rim on Dec. 16, Opportunity imaged the football field sized crater – some 90 m wide – with both its left and right eye navigation cameras. A mosaic of these images was stitched together by NASA to create a stunning 360 degree stereo panoramic vista. The images are snapped from the same height seen by an adult to give the perspective that a human eye would see when standing “On Mars”.
The crater is the centerpiece of the stereo image above, which shows the crater’s sharp rim and rocks ejected from the impact that had excavated the crater. You will need to whip out your red-cyan stereo glasses to experience the full three-dimensional effect of the scene. Be sure to wear the red lens on the left, and try not to fall off the cliff.
Click here for the entire 360-degree high resolution stereo view – its 10 MB in all. South is at the center. North is at both ends. The view is presented as a cylindrical-perspective projection. The wheel tracks left behind in the Martian dirt – as the rover approached the crater – are seen at the far right and are also highlighted in our 2 D mosaic below.
Off in the distance, several portions of the rim of Endeavour Crater are visible as bumps on the horizon. Endeavour is the ultimate target of Opportunity’s long term trek across the Martian dunes at the Meridiani Planum region and is some 22 kilometers in diameter.
“Endeavour shows significant signatures of phylloslicates, or clay minerals, and water bearing sulfate minerals which formed in the presence of liquid water,” Arvidson explained. “The phyllosilicates formed at the crater rim about 3.8 to 4.2 Billion years ago and predate the sedimentary rocks which are younger than 3.8 billion years.”
Pictured below is a collection of stereo photo mosaics for a North to South up close tour around the rim of Santa Maria. Several of the images were created by members of unmannedspaceflight.com.
“Opportunity will drive in a counterclockwise direction around Santa Maria to reach the very interesting hydrated sulfates on the other side. We’ll make 3 stops or more depending on what we see”
Stereo view of the sharp northern rim of Santa Maria on Sol 2451. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Stu AtkinsonConvoluted martian rocks in 3 D close up at the sharp northern rim of Santa Maria. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Walfy at unmannedspaceflight.com
“On Dec. 19 (Sol 2454) we bumped the vehicle even closer to the rim from the initial approach point, to a promontory we’ve nicknamed ‘Palos’, stated Arvidson. “Opportunity was a mere 2.5 meters from the edge. At ‘Palos’, the rover collected the first set of long baseline, high resolution stereo images for creating a 3 D digital elevation map.”
“The coves at Santa Maria will be named after the islands which Columbus visited, using the native American language. All the rocks and boulders strewn about will be named after the sailors on the voyage with Columbus,” explained Arvidson.
“This past weekend we drove about 20 meters southeast towards the second location named ‘Wanahani’. On Tuesday of this week (Dec. 28) we bumped to the edge. The plan is to photograph the ejecta rocks and collect the next set of long baseline, high resolution stereo images.”
The third stop – which must be reached before Solar Conjunction in mid January 2011- will take Opportunity to the science hot spot detected by the powerful CRISM mineral mapping spectrometer circling above Mars aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
“With CRISM we are trying to cover all the rim segments to better understand the nature and geologic setting of the iron and magnesium smectite clay mineral exposures. The southeast portion of Santa Maria is generally the location of the CRISM spectra that show hydrated sulfates. Opportunity will go to the southeast rim and try and find a nice outcrop on the rim side to do measurements to field verify the expected mineralogy,” explained Arvidson.
“We might do a toe dip with the wheels but there is no plan to go inside.”
“We will use the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) to drill into a selected target. That spot will be named after ‘Columbus’.
The exposures of hydrated sulfates have a bright toned appearence in the images.
“With the sun over the camera’s shoulder there is a phenomenon called opposition effect in which rocks and soils become particularly bright when the sun-camera-surface line up, Arvidson told me. “But, it also may be that the bright looking rocks are intrinsically bright and not coated with the nanophase iron oxide coatings we have seen on previous outcrops. All in the realm of testable working hypotheses.”
“On Dec. 30 we are planning another CRISM spectral mapping campaign with MRO over Santa Maria,” said Arvidson. “Using a new technique which gimbals, or swivels, the CRISM optics we hope to use a pixel overlap technique to improve the ground resolution from 18 meters across to 6 meters across. This data will be used in tactical decisions about where to drive on Mars.”
Read more of my interview with Ray Arvidson in the next feature story describing the exciting plan for science exploration at Santa Maria and Endeavour, the outlook for Spirit and more – along with new mosaics from “Wanahani”.
Hydrated Sulfates in 3 D at Santa Maria.
This cropped 3 D segment shows the location of the bright toned exposures of hydrated sulfate minerals detected inside the southeast rim of the steep walled crater. Deposits of hydrated sulfates are an indicator of the past flow of liquid water on Mars. They were detected from orbit by the CRISM mapping spectrometer aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Opportunity will go to the SE rim and try to do measurements to field verify the expected mineralogy. Credit: NASA/JPL/CornellLooking in stereo to the steep walled southern rim of Santa Maria.
Opportunity will drive to the south rim in January 2011. Cape Tribulation is in the background and located at the western rim of the huge Endeavour Crater which possesses deposits of clay minerals, or phyllosilicates, which form in the presence of neutral liquid water. Cape Tribulation is about 100 meters tall. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/NickF at unmannedspaceflight.com‘Crocodile Tail’ in 3D.
Opportiunity drove past this amazing looking ejecta rock at the outskirts of Santa Maria Crater while approaching the rim. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Stu AtkinsonRover wheel tracks on Mars
This mosaic of images from Sol 2451 (Not in 3 D) shows the tracks from Opportunity’s wheels on the approach to the steep crater rim on Sol 2450. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell, Marco Di Lorenzo, Ken KremerThe Long Journey to Santa Maria:
This collage of two maps and a 2 D close up panorama of Santa Maria crater (bottom right) shows the route traversed by the Opportunity Mars rover during her nearly 7 year long overland expedition across the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. Opportunity arrived at the rim of Santa Maria Crater on Dec. 16, 2010 on Sol 2451 and will drive around the edge in a counterclockwise direction to examine rocks which are indicative of the past flow of liquid water. The next destination is Endeavour Crater - some 22 km wide - to investigate water bearing minerals at Cape York and Cape Tribulation which she will reach sometime in 2011. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell, Marco Di Lorenzo, Ken Kremer
One final rocket launch in 2010 took place as Arianespace successfully launched the Hispasat 1E and KOREASAT 6 telecommunication satellites aboard an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. Liftoff was at 4:27 p.m. EST (21:27 GMT).
KOREASAT 6 is a commercial telecommunications satellite of the KT Corporation of the Republic of Korea and was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation. Hispasat 1E is a telecommunications satellite designed to expand Hispasat’s coverage in Europe, the Americas, and North Africa.
This is the sixth and final flight of the year for Arianespace’s heavy-lift rocket.
Apollo 11 landing site. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University, 3-D by Nathanial Burton-Bradford.
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With the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera constantly snapping images of the lunar surface, we have been able to see most of the Apollo landing sites with better and better detail. Image editing wizard Nathanial Burton-Bradford has now “3-D-ified” all the landing sites except Apollo 16, and by viewing these images with 3-D glasses (the ones with red and cyan lenses) the lunar landers are easily visible and really stand out. Other features such as tracks and experiments left by the Apollo astronauts become more visible as well. See more images below, and click on the images for larger versions, or see Nathanial’s Flickr page for more!
The Apollo 12 landing site. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University, 3-D by Nathanian Burton-BradfordApollo 14 landing site. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University, 3-D by Nathanial Burton-Bradford.Apollo 15 landing site. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University, 3-D by Nathanial Burton-Bradford.Apollo 17 landing site. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University, 3-D by Nathanial Burton-Bradford
And for good measure, here’s one of the impact crater created by the Apollo 17 Saturn booster.
The crater made by the Apollo 17 booster. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University, 3-D by Nathanial Burton-Bradford.
2010 was packed with interesting, exciting and breakthrough events and discoveries. We asked you to vote on the top 10 stories of the year, and below are the results. Some of you asked how we chose the 17 news stories to pick from and perhaps thought we missed out on some rather important astronomical discoveries of the year. The stories to vote on were chosen based on the “most viewed” articles in 2010 from our Google Analytics, and some were single articles, while some were a combination of articles on the same topic (for example, there was lots of exoplanet news this year). The survey was done with “Survey Monkey,” which worked out great. Thanks to everyone for the kind comments on the survey, which ranged from “Keep up the great work” to” Love Ya!! Such a fantastic articles, keep going!!” to “I want more cosmology on UT.”
We’ll continue to do our best to provide great coverage on everything space and astronomy-related in the years to come, and, yes we hope to expand in different areas, too. Thanks to all our readers for your continued support and comments! Also, thanks to our excellent staff of writers who contributed news articles this past year: Tammy Plotner, Nicholos Wethington, Jon Voisey, Mark Thompson, Mike Simonsen, Steve Nerlich, Jason Rhian, Jean Tate, Ken Kremer, Mark Mortimer, Darnell Clayton, Ryan Anderson, and the Spacevidcast crew.
And now, without further ado, the Top 10 Stories of 2010, as chosen by our readers:
10. Bacteria Found that can Live on Arsenic
Despite the pre-announcement hype, NASA did not find life on another planet, but found life here on Earth that can live and grow almost entirely on a poison, arsenic, and incorporates it into its DNA. This announcement was soon met with opposition — not only for the science, but for how the hype got completely out of hand.
9. Solar Dynamics Observatory gives us a New View of the Sun
Large eruptive prominence on the sun's edge, as seen by SDO. Credit: NASA
The Solar Dynamics Observatory launched in February of this year, and has been sending back a non-stop stream of data and images of the Sun like we’ve never seen before. SDO showed us almost up-to-the-minute views of a looping solar prominence, and have provided solar physicists with new details in helping them to understand the Sun.
2010 was the year we learned more about the geysers on Enceladus, and the Cassini spacecraft sent back more astonishing images of the geysers and the “tiger stripe” regions from which the geysers emanate. One new study even suggested that an exotic form of warm, bubbly mineral water could be what feeds the mysterious jets.
7. Hayabusa Returns To Earth with Samples of Asteroid
The recovery team handles the heat sheild for the Hayabusa sample return capsule. Credit: JAXA, Hayabusa Twitter feed.
Japan’s little spacecraft that could returned to Earth this summer, making a fiery reentry in the Australian outback, overcoming several problems and obstacles. Later, scientists opened the sample return container revealing small particles which are likely from asteroid Itokawa.
Artist's impression of an anomalous X-ray pulsar. Credit: ESA
Observational data from nine pulsars, including the Crab pulsar, suggest these rapidly spinning neutron stars emit the electromagnetic equivalent of a sonic boom, and a model created to understand this phenomenon shows that the source of the emissions could be traveling faster than the speed of light. Researchers say as the polarization currents in these emissions are whipped around with a mechanism likened to a synchrotron, the sources could be traveling up to six times light speed, or 1.8 million km per second. However, although the source of the radiation exceeds the speed of light, the emitted radiation travels at normal light speed once it leaves the source. “This is not science fiction, and no laws of physics were broken in this model,” said John Singleton of Los Alamos National Laboratory at a press briefing at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington, DC. “And Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity is not violated.”
5. SpaceX Makes Great Strides in Commercial Space Endeavours.
SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphot.com) for Universe Today.
SpaceX’s launch of the Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule leads the way for commercial companies to bring cargo and crew the International Space Station, providing new access to space that may one day lead to a cheaper way for the general public to be involved in space travel.
One commenter said, “SpaceX has the opportunity to totally alter mankind’s access to space. I didn’t think they could do it, but they have.” Another said, “The potential of human space flight is the most important to me.”
4. More Mysteries of Titan Revealed
Crescent Titan. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
2010 was the year we learned more about Titan, as the Cassini spacecraft continues to send back more incredible images and data of Saturn’s largest Moon. Scientists were able to discern more about the weather on Titan, and they also saw clouds in the Moon’s atmosphere, plus one researcher found that Titan’s atmosphere could produce the building blocks of life, while another group found evidence of cryovolcanoes on Titan.
3. The Discovery (or not) of Exoplanet Gliese 581g
Artists impression of Gliese 581g. Credit: Lynette Cook/NSF
In September, astronomer Steven Vogt and his team announced what they claimed was the closest Earth-sized planet found so far that also exists in the habitable zone around its star. The planet, During a press conference, Vogt was quoted as saying, “Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say, my own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent. I have almost no doubt about it.” Although the announcement created a lot of excitement, almost immediately after the announcement, another group of planet hunters said they could not find evidence of the planet in their data. Only further review will say for sure if Gliese 581g is there or not, but one thing is certain: the Gliese system is the most interesting planetary system we’ve found yet.
2. Exoplanets Galore!
A gallery of six exoplanets that have retrograde orbits (artist concepts). ESO/A. C. Cameron
One commenter said, “Exoplanet science and discovery has the potential to alter our fundamental views not only of the universe but our place within it. It will affect all of mankind one day.”
Jon Voisey has written several articles on extra solar planets recently. You can read all about them under the category of of “Exoplanet.”
Craters at the north pole of the Moon. Red mean fresh craters and green means anomalous craters. Credit: NASA
The Mini-SAR radar instrument on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and the Mini-RF instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter are revealing there are likely massive amounts of water in the permanently shadowed craters at the poles, with over 600 million metric tons at the north pole alone. “If that was turned into rocket fuel, it would be enough to launch the equivalent of one Space Shuttle per day for over 2,000 years,” said Paul Spudis, principal investigator for the Mini-SAR. He said the ice would have to be several meters thick to give this signature they are seeing.
This has huge implications for future human and robotic exploration of the Moon.
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