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The first planet from the Sun is Mercury, orbiting the Sun at an average distance of 57.91 million km. It’s also the smallest planet in the Solar System, measuring just 4,879 kilometers across. Mercury is named after the Roman god of commerce; he was the same entity as the Greek god Hermes – the messenger of the gods.
Mercury is a desolate, sun-baked world pockmarked by impact craters. It lacks any atmosphere, so the intense heat from the Sun escapes back into space on the planet’s night side. At noon on Mercury’s equator, temperatures can rise to 700 kelvin (426 °C), but on the night side of Mercury, it dips down to 100 kelvin (-173 °C). But Mercury isn’t the hottest planet in the Solar System; that’s actually Venus – its heat-trapping atmosphere boosts its temperature to 735 kelvin (461 °C).
Early astronomers didn’t even realize that Mercury was a single planet. They thought that it was actually two separate planets; one for when Mercury was seen after sunset, and another object for when it was seen in the morning before sunrise. Even the first rudimentary telescope couldn’t resolve the surface of Mercury, and it wasn’t until the first mission to pass Mercury in 1974, that astronomers could really see what Mercury looked like.
Mercury takes 88 days to complete one orbit around the Sun. Compare this to Venus, which takes 224.7 days, and Earth which takes 365.25 days. Since Mercury is the first planet in the Solar System, it has the fastest orbit, and then each planet has a successively longer orbit. Mercury’s day is almost as long as its year; 58.6 days.
It’s the smallest planet in the Solar System, but it’s the second densest. It has a density of 5.427 g/cm3. This is just after Earth, with a density of 5.515 g/cm3. Astronomers think that Mercury has a large metallic core, surrounded by a rocky mantle and a thin crust of rock. It doesn’t seem to have any active volcanism, but there might still be some venting of gasses which cont into a thin atmosphere around Mercury.
Artists impression of the 'hot Jupiter' HD209458b, which has incredible storms. Credit: ESO.
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Likely, future interstellar flights will not include the exoplanet HD209458b as a featured get-away destination. Not only is this extrasolar planet a scorchingly hot world where the poisonous carbon monoxide atmosphere is being evaporated, but new observations show this gas giant also has superstorms with winds of 5,000 to 10,000 km per hour. “It’s definitely not a place for the faint-hearted,” said Ignas Snellen, from Leiden University in the Netherlands who led a team of astronomers using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to observe HD209458b, one of the most-studied planets orbiting around other stars. But Snellen told Universe Today that being able to detect this superstorm is extremely exciting and bodes well for finding possible life on other, more Earth-like planets.
“Astronomers have tried to do this for more than a decade,” Snellen said in an email, “basically since the first exoplanets were discovered. We now learn a lot about this gas-giant’s atmosphere, like what kind of gases are there, how hot is it, about its circulation. But we really would like to do this for Earth-like planets. This will be interesting, because using the same techniques we could find out whether there could be life on these planets.”
HD209458b (unofficially called Osiris) is an exoplanet with about 60% the mass of Jupiter orbiting a sun-like star located 150 light-years from Earth towards the constellation of Pegasus.
It orbits at a distance of only one twentieth of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, and is heated intensely by its parent star, a yellow dwarf with 1.1 solar masses, and a surface temperature of 6000 K. The planet has a surface temperature of about 1000 degrees Celsius on the hot side. But as the planet always has the same side to its star, one side is very hot, while the other is much cooler.
Just as big temperature differences on Earth cause high winds, the same processes cause high winds on HD209458b. But even Earth’s hurricanes are nothing compared to this exoplanet’s superstorms.
Using the powerful CRIRES spectrograph on the VLT the team from Leiden University’s Institute for Space Research (SRON), and MIT in the United States were able to detect and analyze faint fingerprints which showed the high winds. They observed the planet for about five hours, as it passed in front of its star. “CRIRES is the only instrument in the world that can deliver spectra that are sharp enough to determine the position of the carbon monoxide lines at a precision of 1 part in 100,000,” said team member Remco de Kok. “This high precision allows us to measure the velocity of the carbon monoxide gas for the first time using the Doppler effect.”
The astronomers were also able to directly measured the velocity of the exoplanet as it orbits its home star, a first for exoplanet study. “The planet moves with 140 km/sec, and the star moves at 84 meters/second,” said Snellen, “so more than a thousand times slower. Both star and planet orbit the common center of gravity of the system. Having both velocities, using Newton’s laws of gravity we can simply solve for the masses of the two objects.”
The reason this planet is so well studied is that it is the brightest known transiting system in the sky. “The planet moves, as seen from the Earth, in front of its star once per three-and-a-half days,” said Snellen. “This takes about 3 hours. During these three hours, a tiny little bit of starlight filters through the atmosphere of the planet, leaving an imprint of the molecular absorption lines which we have now measured.”
Also for the first time, the astronomers measured how much carbon is present in the atmosphere of this planet. “It seems that H209458b is actually as carbon-rich as Jupiter and Saturn. This could indicate that it was formed in the same way,” said Snellen.
Snellen hopes that by refining these techniques, astronomers may one day be able to study the atmospheres of Earth-like planets, and determine whether life also exists elsewhere in the Universe.
“However, this will be about one hundred times more difficult than what we do now,” he said. “In particular oxygen and ozone are very interesting. On Earth we only have oxygen in the atmosphere because it is constantly produced by living organism, with photosynthesis of plants. If there would be some kind of global disaster and all the life on Earth would go extinct, including plant life and that in the oceans, all the oxygen in the earth atmosphere would quickly disappear. Hence finding oxygen in the atmosphere of an earth-like planet would be extremely exciting! Something to dream about for the future!”
Don’t miss the Southern California Astronomy Expo (SCAE) on Saturday, July 10th and Saturday, July 17th, 2010 at Oceanside Photo & Telescope! The store will be open from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM on Saturday, July 10th and from 10:00 AM until 7:00 PM on July 17th. Check out the line-up of events they have planned for SCAE…you gotta come! And if you don’t live in the SoCal area? Don’t be discouraged. This isn’t a shameless attempt at advertising – it’s your chance to win some very expensive astronomy equipment. OPT is offering a free, on-line giveaway to Universe Today readers with total prizes worth more than $8000. All you have to do is register to get your chance to win!
Saturday, July 10th – SCAE Swap Meet & Star Party on Palomar Mountain!
Swap Meet at OPT: Bring your gently used (or maybe not so gently used) astronomy gear and join OPT for a day of fun and selling in the parking lot! OPT will provide the tables and you provide everything else. The day will start at 10 AM and end at 4:30 PM. Don’t forget to bring an umbrella or other portable shade with you if you don’t like the sun!
Star Party on Palomar Mountain: The party is far from over after the swap meet ends at OPT, and this year, we are doing something completely different! Since the 10th of July happens to be very close to New Moon, we decided to have a star party at a dark sky site, and what better location than in the shadow of the 200″ Hale Telescope on Palomar? The only thing stopping us was parking considerations, but we solved that one by chartering several buses for the evening to take attendees up to the mountain and back. The star party will start at dusk and go until 11 PM. Staff members from OPT and volunteers will have a variety of telescopes set up to gaze at old favorites like Saturn, Venus, & Mars as well as a myriad of galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and more! Representatives from companies like Apogee, Meade, Celestron, Chronos, and Planewave will also be on hand to demonstrate their telescopes, mounts, and imaging cameras… just wait until you see a galaxy through one of the big scopes out there, or the beautiful images that can be produced with an Apogee CCD camera!
Important Note: The site for this star party does not have parking facilities and you will not be allowed to park along the road. If you want to attend, you MUST ride on one of the buses we will provide. Buses will pick up riders at both a coastal and inland location. A limited number of Star Party Bus Tickets are now available. Ticket prices are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 12. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. You will be mailed a boarding pass for each person in your party, and this boarding pass must be shown each time you board the bus as well as when you enter the star party area. You will also be mailed more information about the bus pick up locations. Since an outdoor star party is definitely dependent on weather, you will receive a refund for the ticket price if the event is officially canceled.
Saturday, July 17th – Telescope & Astronomy Demonstration
On Saturday, July 17th, almost forty telescope, CCD, and other astronomy product manufacturers and organizations will be on hand at OPT to show off their latest and greatest gear, and you’re invited! The SCAE 2010 Telescope & Astronomy Demonstration kicks off at 10 AM and runs through 7 PM. This year there will be more going on than ever to keep you busy and entertained. Special speakers will give presentations in the Gallery throughout the day, your favorite manufacturers will introduce new and exciting products on the Soapbox Stage all day long.
The SCAE Online Giveaway, where everyone, even those folks who can’t attend SCAE, can sign up for a chance to win one of four prizes worth a combined total of over $8,000! Sign up begins Monday, June 7th and runs through midnight, July 16th, 2010. Just click HERE to register!!
The Southern California Astronomy Exposition will be located at OPT’s beautiful showroom location. The address is 918 Mission Avenue in Oceanside, California. They are located 250 yards west of Interstate 5 on the corner of Mission Avenue and Horne Street. See you there!
One year ago today, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) officially reached orbit about the Moon, and in the past 12 months has gathered more digital information than any previous planetary mission in history. NASA says that maps and datasets collected by LRO’s state-of-the-art instruments will form the foundation for all future lunar exploration plans, as well as be critical to scientists working to better understand the moon and its environment. To celebrate one year in orbit, here are ten great observations made by LRO.
LRO's Diviner instrument found the coldest place in the solar system. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of California, Los Angeles
1. Coldest Place in the Solar System.
If you think Pluto, a KBO, or the farthest reaches of our solar system are cold, a location closer to Earth is actually colder. Diviner, LRO’s temperature instrument, found a place in the floor of the moon’s Hermite Crater that was detected to be -415 degrees Fahrenheit (-248 Celsius) making it the coldest temperature measured anywhere in the solar system. For comparison, scientists believe that Pluto’s surface only gets down to about -300 degrees Fahrenheit (-184 Celsius). Extremely cold regions similar to the one in Hermite Crater were found at the bottoms of several permanently shaded craters at the lunar south pole and were measured in the depths of winter night.
Enlargement of area surrounding Apollo 11 landing site. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
2. Where Humans Have Walked on the Moon
LRO’s views of the Apollo landing sites are nothing short of stunning, not to mention exciting. Above is LRO’s latest looks at the Apollo 11 landing site, which clearly shows where the descent stage (about 12 feet in diameter) was left behind as well as the astronauts’ tracks and the various equipment they deployed. This LRO data has important scientific value, as it provides context for the returned Apollo samples. Beyond their use for science, the images of all six manned landing sites observed by LRO provide a reminder of NASA’s proud legacy of exploration and a note of inspiration about what humans are capable of in the future.
A pit on the Moon. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
3. Caves on the Moon
What could be more exciting than finding a cave on the Moon, a potential future lunar habitat for human explorers? LRO has now collected the most detailed images yet of at least two lunar pits, quite literally giant holes in the moon. Scientists believe these holes are actually skylights that form when the ceiling of a subterranean lava tube collapses, possibly due to a meteorite impact punching its way through. One of these skylights, the Marius Hills pit, was observed multiple times by the Japanese SELENE/Kaguya research team. With a diameter of about 213 feet (65 meters) and an estimated depth of 260 to 290 feet (80 to 88 meters) it’s a pit big enough to fit the White House completely inside. The image featured here is the Mare Ingenii pit. This hole is almost twice the size of the one in the Marius Hills and most surprisingly is found in an area with relatively few volcanic features.
The Russian Lunokhod rover was imaged by LRO. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
4. Finding Missing Spacecraft
Lunokhod 1 was the name of a Russian robotic rover that landed on the moon in 1970 and navigated about 6 miles (10 km) of the lunar surface over 10 months before it lost contact in September 1971. Scientists were unsure of the rover’s whereabouts, though at least one team of researchers were searching for it, hoping to bounce a laser off of its retroreflector mirrors. This past March however, the LROC team announced they had spotted it, miles from the location the laser team had been searching. Using the info provided by LRO, a laser pulse was sent to Lunokhod 1 and contact was made with the rover for the first time in nearly four decades. Not only did Lunokhod 1’s retroreflector return a signal, but it returned one that was about five times better than those that have routinely been returned by Lunokhod 2’s mirrors over the years.
The Apollo 14 crew came close to seeing the rim of Cone Crater, but not quite. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
5. Apollo 14’s Near Miss of Seeing Cone Crater.
When the Apollo 14 crew of Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walked across their landing site at Fra Maura, they hoped to be able to gather samples from the rim of Cone Crater. But they didn’t ever find the rim, and without a roadmap or guideposts along the way to help them find it, (and also they didn’t have the benefit of riding on the lunar rover so had to walk the entire time). They walked nearly a mile (1400 meters) and the steep incline of the crater rim made the climb difficult, raising the astronaut’s heart rates. Plus the tight schedule of the activity resulted in mission control ordering them to gather whatever samples they could and return to the landing module. They never reached the edge of the crater. Though geologists say it did not greatly affect the success of the scientific goal, the astronauts were personally disappointed in failing to make it to the top. Images from LRO now show precisely just how far the astronauts traveled and how close they came to reaching the crater, their tracks ending only about 100 feet (30 meters) from the rim!
The rim of Cabeus Crater. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
6. Mountains on the Moon.
On the Earth, we are taught that mountains form over millions of years, the result of gradual shifting and colliding plates. On the moon however, the situation is quite different. Even the largest lunar mountains were formed in minutes or less as asteroids and comets slammed into the surface at tremendous velocities, displacing and uplifting enough crust to create peaks that easily rival those found on Earth. On a few occasions in the past year, NASA has tilted the angle of LRO to do calibrations and other tests. In such cases the camera has the opportunity to gather oblique images of the lunar surface like the one featured here of Cabeus Crater providing a dramatic view of the moon’s mountainous terrain. Cabeus Crater is located near the lunar south pole and contains the site of the LCROSS mission’s impact. Early measurements by several instruments on LRO were used to guide the decision to send LCROSS to Cabeus. During the LCROSS impact LRO was carefully positioned to observe both the gas cloud generated in the impact, as well as the heating at the impact site.
Lunar rilles. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/LSI
7. Lunar Rilles: Mysterious Channels on the Moon
Rilles are long, narrow depressions on the lunar surface that look like river channels. Some are straight, some curve, and others, like the ones highlighted here, are called “sinuous” rilles and have strong meanders that twist and turn across the moon. Rilles are especially visible in radar imagery, like that gathered by LRO’s Mini-RF instrument. The formation of lunar rilles is not well understood. It is believed there may be many different formation mechanisms including ancient magma flows and the collapse of subterranean lava tubes. Imagery from LRO will help researchers to better understand these mysterious “river-like” lunar features.
Areas of constant sunlight on the Moon's south pole. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard
8. Areas of Near Constant Sunlight at the South Pole
One of the most vital resources LRO is searching for on the moon is solar illumination. Light from the sun provides both warmth and a source of energy, two critical constraints to exploration efforts. The moon’s axis is only slightly tilted so there are areas in high elevations at its poles that remain almost constantly exposed to the sun. Using LRO’s precise measurements of topography scientists have been able to map illumination in detail, finding some areas with up to 96% solar visibility. Such sites would have continuous sun for approximately 243 days a year and never have a period of total darkness for more than 24 hours.
With Moon Zoo, you can count craters and boulders on the Moon to help lunar scientists. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
9. Moon Zoo lets you Help Lunar Scientists.
The latest Citizen Science project from the Zooniverse, Moon Zoo uses about 70,000 high resolution images gathered by LRO, and in these images are details as small as 50 centimeters (20 inches) across. ‘Zooites’ are asked to categorize craters, boulders and more, including lava channels and later, comparing recent LRO images to ones taken years ago by other orbiting spacecraft.
The first tasks are counting craters and boulders. By comparing and analyzing these feature counts across different regions as well as other places like the Earth and Mars, Zooites can help scientists gain a better understanding of our solar system’s natural history.
The Moon's far side -- the part we never see from Earth. Credit: NASA/Goddard
10. Getting a Good Look at the Far Side.
Tidal forces between the moon and the Earth have slowed the Moon’s rotation so that one side of the moon always faces toward our planet. Though sometimes improperly referred to as the “dark side of the moon,” it should correctly be referred to as the “far side of the moon” since it receives just as much sunlight as the side that faces us. The dark side of the moon should refer to whatever hemisphere isn’t lit at a given time. Though several spacecraft have imaged the far side of the moon since then, LRO is providing new details about the entire half of the moon that is obscured from Earth. The lunar far side is rougher and has many more craters than the near side, so quite a few of the most fascinating lunar features are located there, including one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system, the South Pole-Aitken Basin. The image highlighted here shows the moon’s topography from LRO’s LOLA instruments with the highest elevations up above 20,000 feet in red and the lowest areas down below -20,000 feet in blue.
Sixteen seventh-graders at Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, Calif., found the Martian pit feature at the center of the superimposed red square in this image. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
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Tip number one on “How to impress your classmates:” Find a mysterious cave on Mars. A group of 16 seventh-graders at Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, California, USA found a dark pit that appears to be an opening to a cave on Mars. Dennis Mitchell’s science class were examining Martian lava tubes as their project in the Mars Student Imaging Program offered by NASA and Arizona State University, which takes advantage of the huge database of images taken by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The students found the skylight pit on the slope of an equatorial volcano named Pavonis Mons, and it appears to be an entrance to an underground lava tube. Similar ‘cave skylight’ features have been found elsewhere on Mars, but this is the first seen on this volcano.
“The students developed a research project focused on finding the most common locations of lava tubes on Mars,” Mitchell said. “Do they occur most often near the summit of a volcano, on its flanks or the plains surrounding it?”
Mitchell said he and his students have been surprised how much interest there has been nation-wide in their discovery. “They were kind of shocked about the interest, and I think that they are just now starting to realize that they made a pretty neat discovery.”
The imaging program allows students in upper elementary grades through to college to participate in Mars research by having them develop a geological question to answer, and then directing the teams for the Mars-orbiting camera to take an image to answer their question. Since MSIP began in 2004, more than 50,000 students have participated.
Now, because of this find, the HiRISE high resolution camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will take follow-up images of the pit to provide a better look at the object. HiRISE can image the surface at about 30 centimeters (12 inches) per pixel, which may allow a look inside the hole in the ground. This is part of the HiWISH program, where the public can submit suggestions to the science team for locations on Mars to the camera to image.
“It gives the students a good understanding of the way research is conducted and how that research can be important for the scientific community. This has been a wonderful experience,” Mitchell said.”
“Yeah it was a lot of fun because it wasn’t like any other science that we did, because we actually got to interact with real scientists instead of just people out of the book and stuff,” said 13-year-old Kody Rulofson, one of the students in Mitchell’s class.
Kody’s mother, Doni Rulofson said Kody and his twin brother Chase, also in the class, are inspired by the experience they had finding the cave. “They’re excited. They’re just beyond belief, they’re like, ‘we knew it was something really cool but we had no idea it was this much of an interest to NASA.'”
Odyssey has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2001, returning data and images of the Martian surface and providing relay communications service for Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Find out more about Odyssey here.
MRO has been in orbit since 2006, and has also amassed a huge database of images, which can be seen here.
The launch of Israel's Ofeq 9 satellite with the Shavit launch vehicle on June 22, 2010. Image courtesy Israeli Aerospace Industries, Ltd.
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Israel launched an “Ofeq 9” satellite on Tuesday, an advanced remote sensing satellite that likely is capable of high resolution surveillance to monitor Iran’s nuclear program. The satellite was launched on Israel’s Shavit launch vehicle.
The Israel Defense Ministry gave no public details on the satellite, only releasing this statement following the launch: “A few minutes ago the State of Israel launched the Ofek-9 (Horizon-9) satellite from the Palmachim base (Israel’s Air Force test range). The results of the launch are being examined by the technical team.”
But in an Israel Defense Ministry document provided to Universe Today, the Ofeq 9 satellite was listed as capable of scanning a swath 7 km wide, with a resolution better than 70 cm and a pointing accuracy to within 20 meters. The satellite will initially be launched to an elliptical transfer orbit – 620 x 307 Km, and following the checkout, the final orbit will be approximately 500 km above Earth.
The Shavit launcher is a 3-stage launcher, 20 meters high and weighs approximately 30 tons.
With the launch of Ofeq-9, Israel has six spy satellites in space.
The satellite was made by Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. The Shavit launcher has been in use since 1988, when the first Ofeq satellite was put into orbit.
Israel, which has the Middle East’s sole undeclared nuclear arsenal, regards Iran as its principal threat after repeated predictions by the Islamic republic’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the Jewish state’s demise, according to news reports from Jerusalem. Israel suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear program, a claim Tehran denies.
Sources: SpaceTravel.com, and special thanks to Avi Blizovsky, Editor Hayadan Science News in Israel.
And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to [email protected], and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let Fraser know if you can be a host, and he’ll schedule you into the calendar.
Finally, if you run a space-related blog, please post a link to the Carnival of Space. Help us get the word out.
Hubble view of the huge star formation region N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Credit: NASA, ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain).
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Within the Large Magellenic Cloud is one of the most active star forming regions in our nearby Universe. This new Hubble image highlights N11 – also known as the Bean Nebula — a beautiful region of energetic star formation. The billowing pink clouds that look like cotton candy and bright bubbles of glowing gasses and are telltale signs that stars are being created. Click the image for a larger, hi-res version.
Beans, bubbles and candy aren’t the only terrestrial shapes to be found in this spectacular image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
If you zoom into upper left (click this link for a zoom video) you’ll find a rose: The Rose Nebula LHA 120-N 11A. Its rose-like petals of gas and dust are illuminated from within, thanks to the radiation from the massive hot stars at its centre. N11A is relatively compact and dense and is the site of the most recent burst of star development in the region.
If you live in the southern hemisphere, both the Large Magellanic Cloud and its small companion, the Small Magellanic Cloud, are easily seen with the unaided eye. That’s a sight I would someday love to see!
John Glenn flew on the space shuttle in 1998. Credit: NASA
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US spaceflight legend John Glenn has weighed in on the current human spaceflight debate, releasing an 8-page paper outlining his feelings and a potential plan to allow US astronauts to keep launching on US vehicles. While Glenn supports President Barack Obama’s plan to extend operations of the International Space Station and to forego returning to the Moon for the time being, he thinks retiring the space shuttles at this point is a mistake.
“The world’s only heavy lift spacecraft and the U.S.’s only access to space should stay in operation until suitably replaced by a new and well tested heavy lift vehicle,” Glenn wrote. “The Shuttle system is working extremely well, has had systems upgrades through the years, and has had “the bugs” worked out of it through many years of use. The Shuttle is probably the most complex vehicle ever assembled and flies in the harshest of environments. Why terminate a perfectly good system that has been made more safe and reliable through many years of development?”
But Glenn said the US also needs to develop heavy lift capability, and do it sooner rather than later. And while he supports the plan for NASA to contract with commercial companies to ferry astronauts and some cargo to and from the ISS, he also said NASA can’t rely solely on commercial space vehicles, which at present are unproven in their reliability.
Keeping the space shuttle program going would cost about $1 Billion a year. “That is a very small price to pay for maximizing the benefits from a $100 Billion national investment, and may even be cheaper than the final bill from the Russians,” Glenn said.
He blames NASA’s current predicament on Congress for not adequately funding the Constellation program.
He erred, however, in his statement that the “U.S. for the first time since the beginning of the Space Age will have no way to launch anyone into space – starting next January.” NASA did not launch humans into space from July 1975 to April 1981 – the end of Apollo and Skylab until the beginning of the shuttle era, as well as when spacecraft were grounded following the Apollo 1 fire in 1967, the Challenger accident in 1986 and the Columbia accident in 2003.
Glenn is the latest former astronaut to join the debate on NASA’s future and while some ex-astronauts are staunchly against cutting the Constellation program to return to the Moon, and others wholly endorse the plan, Glenn seemingly takes a middle ground.
Here are his suggested objectives:
Short Term
Extend the Shuttle. It is key to ISS ready access. Phase-in new space access providers only as they become experienced and have proven reliability.
Maximize research on the ISS – plan with the science community.
Use the ISS for long term Mars mission training.
Develop a fully tested replacement heavy-lift capability.
Long Term
Robotic exploration of Mars and other destinations such as asteroids.
Continue ISS research as long as it is making substantial contributions.
Increase preparation and planning for a Mars mission.
Determine – earth-to-Mars, or assembled-in-earth-orbit – to Mars.
Set a firm schedule –Go for Mars.
You can read Glenn’s full statement here.
This is not the first time Glenn has proposed to keep the shuttles flying. In 2008, he said “The shuttles may be old, but they’re still the most complex vehicles ever put together by people, and they’re still working very well,” he said after a Capitol Hill ceremony marking NASA’s 50th anniversary.
Satellite image of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, as seen on June 19, 2010. Credit: MODIS Rapid Response Team.
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Here’s the latest satellite image of the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil keeps spreading towards the northeast, and appears as a maze of silvery-gray ribbons in this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. The MODIS team said that the spot of black just north of the location of the oil well may be smoke; reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say that oil and gas continue to be captured and burned as part of the emergency response efforts.
Below is a video from reporter David Hammer from the Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans, Louisiana, who is covering the BP oil spill, explaining the latest developments as of June 21,2010. Apologies for the 15 second ad at the beginning, but Hammer provides a good overview of what has been happening.
