A Murchison meteorite specimen at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.
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New analysis of the famous Murchison meteorite that crash-landed in Australia over 40 years ago shows the space rock contains millions of previously unidentified organic compounds. Researchers say the meteorite, which is over 4.65 billion old – and likely older than our Sun — offers evidence that the early solar system likely had a higher molecular diversity than Earth, and may offer clues to the origins of life on our planet.
Pair of grains from the Murchison meteorite.
Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin from the Institute for Ecological Chemistry in Neuherberg, Germany and his colleagues examined the carbon-rich meteorite with high-resolution structural spectroscopy and found signals representing more than 14,000 different elementary compositions, including 70 amino acids in a sample of the meteorite.
Schmitt-Kopplin said that given the ways in which organic molecules with the same composition can be arranged in space, the meteorite should contain several million different organic chemicals.
The Murchison meteorite landed near a town of the same name in 1969. Witnesses saw a bright fireball which separated into three fragments before disappearing, leaving a cloud of smoke. About 30 seconds later, a tremor was heard. Many specimens were found over an area larger than 13 square km, with individual masses up to 7 kg; one, weighing 680 g, broke through a barn roof and fell in some hay. The total collected mass exceeds 100 kg.
Earlier analysis of the space rock revealed the presence of a complex mixture of large and small organic chemicals.
The meteor probably passed through primordial clouds in the early solar system, picking up organic chemicals. The authors of the paper suggest that tracing the sequence of organic molecules in the meteorite may allow them to create a timeline for the formation and alteration of the molecules within it.
Cassini's Mimas, from 70,000 km (Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
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On February 13, 2010, Cassini flew by Saturn’s moon Mimas, coming as close as 9,500 km.
It passed directly over Herschel, a giant crater whose creation almost shattered the moon … and which, in its appearance in some earlier images, earned Mimas the nickname “Death Star”, after the iconic Star Wars prop.
The Cassini team has just released some “Raw Previews” of Cassini’s close encounter; time to feast your eyes.
35,000 km-distant Herschel, from Cassini (unprocessed image; credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
The Cassini Equinox Mission, of which the Mimas flyby is but a small part, is a joint United States and European endeavor. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. Herschel, from 16,000 km above (unprocessed image; credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Source: CICLOPS (Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations)
Now that we’ve discovered the easy constellation of Orion “The Hunter”, it’s time to take a look at what else is around! Instead of chasing down game with a bow and magic sword, this time we’ll be cowboys and rope the heavenly steer – Taurus – and take him for a ride! There won’t be any rodeo clowns to keep us safe. Just you and me and a starry night. Your mission? Locate Orion again. Now connect the three stars that make up his “belt” from left to right and keep drawing the line until you reach the next bright star. What we’re looking for is hiding just above Orion’s right shoulder…
Throughout history, almost every culture has seen this grouping of stars as a Bull. It is believed that there are cave paintings that depict Taurus and its many myths include it being everything from a giant white bull set out to capture a princess to one of the labors of Hercules. Maybe it was even one of the animals that Orion was hunting! Right now, one of the best times to find Taurus is about an hour after the Sun sets. If you live in the northern hemisphere, Taurus will be high to the south/southwest. For those near the equator, you’ll see this constellation well overhead and slightly to the west. For those who view from the southern hemisphere, Taurus will appear low to the northwest. But, no matter where you live, if your skies are bright from light pollution, you will have difficulty seeing the many faint stars that belong to the constellation of Taurus. So how do you find it? It’s easy! Look for the bright orange alpha star – Aldebaran. Now you’re looking the “Bull” right in the eye…
Giant star Aldebaran is one of the brightest of all the stars in the night sky and is about 65 light years away from Earth. At about 44 times the size of our Sun, it’s no wonder we can see it easily! If you were to look at Aldebaran with a telescope, you’d discover it is not alone – there are five other faint stars nearby, making it a multiple star system. As your eyes begin to adjust to the dark, you’ll slowly notice that Alpha Tauri is part of a V-shaped pattern of stars called an “asterism”. This marks the head of the bull and you’ve roped your first deep sky object with just your eyes!
This group of stars called the “Hyades” and ancient stories say these stars are the five daughters of Atlas. When their brother Hyas died, Atlas placed the girls in the sky to mourn. Although you cannot see all of them with just your eyes alone, there are many more stars which belong to this group… up to 400! Here on the ground, Aldebaran looks like it might be part of this open star cluster, but the true members are about 150 light years away, about two and half times further than our bright orange friend. If you look at the Hyades with binoculars, you’ll discover that many of the stars form angular pairs, like a giant domino game in the sky! But there is more than one set of “sisters” to find here…
Perhaps by now you’ve noticed a “fuzzy spot” to the northwest of Aldebaran? Now that you’ve roped the Bull and are ready to ride, let’s take a trip 440 light years away to visit with the “Pleiades”. Mankind has also seen and recognized this group of stars for about as long as… well… as long as mankind has been looking at the stars! The Oriental culture refers to them as “Suburu” and the Russians call them “Baba Yaga” – the witch with the fiery broom. They are mentioned in the Bible and the Greeks knew them as the “Seven Sisters”. In India, they are the “Stars of Fire” and native American Indians saw them as seven sisters hiding from the bears. Some cultures refer to the Pleiades as the “Little Eyes” and others associated them with fish caught in a net. Even the ancient Druids got in on the act, because they celebrated All Hallow’s Eve on the date this blue group of stars reached their highest point in the sky at midnight! If you take a look at them with binoculars or a telescope, you might notice a faint whisper of light around these stars that’s called nebulosity. They are passing through a region of dust in outer space and lighting up the cloud. Not bad for a group of stars that’s over 100 million years old!
Now the whistle has blown and it’s time to jump down off the Bull and run to safety, for Taurus is also home to one of the scariest things that can happen in space… A supernova! Now, in our times, we need a telescope to see what is left of an exploding star – but 900 years ago it was so bright that it could be seen during the day! Now all that’s left is a neutron star – a pulsar that sends off radio signals just like a heartbeat… and the “smoking” leftovers of the star’s mass shooting out into space at a speed of 1,500 kilometers per second. But don’t worry… the “Crab Nebula” is about 6,500 light-years from our solar system.
If you don’t find Taurus right away, don’t worry… But keep watching in the days ahead as the Moon gets closer and closer each night. Why? Because you’re in for a very special treat. Be sure to take a look at the constellation of Taurus on the night of February 21, 2010. For many of you, the Moon will cover up (occult) some of the stars of the Pleiades! For others, the Moon may just slide right by the edge… But no matter where you live, the Moon and the Seven Sisters will keep each other company all night long.
Image Credits: Taurus Chart courtesy of University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), Taurus Mythological courtesy of Starry Nights Software, Aldebaran and Hyades illustration courtesy of Wikipedia, the Pleiades and Crab Nebula courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope and occultation chart courtesy of Your Sky.
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Why do some of the supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei create back-to-back jets that can vaporize entire solar systems, while others have no jets at all?
Dan Evans, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI) thinks he knows why; it’s because the jet-producing supermassive black holes are spinning backwards, relative to their accretion disks.
Radio image of a typical DRAGN, showing the main features (Image credit:C. L. Carilli)
For two years, Evans has been comparing several dozen galaxies whose black holes host powerful jets (these galaxies are known as radio-loud active galactic nuclei, or AGN, and are often DRAGNs – double radio source associated with galactic nucleus) to those galaxies with supermassive black holes that do not eject jets. All black holes – those with and without jets – feature accretion disks, the clumps of dust and gas rotating just outside the event horizon. By examining the light reflected in the accretion disk of an AGN black hole, he concluded that jets may form right outside black holes that have a retrograde spin – or which spin in the opposite direction from their accretion disk. Although Evans and a colleague recently hypothesized that the gravitational effects of black hole spin may have something to do with why some have jets, Evans now has observational results to support the theory in a paper published in the Feb. 10 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
Although Evans has suspected for nearly five years that retrograde black holes with jets are missing the innermost portion of their accretion disk, it wasn’t until last year that computational advances meant that he could analyze data collected between late 2007 and early 2008 by the Suzaku observatory, a Japanese satellite launched in 2005 with collaboration from NASA, to provide an example to support the theory. With these data, Evans and colleagues from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Yale University, Keele University and the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom analyzed the spectra of the active galactic nucleus with a pair of jets located about 800 million light years away in an AGN named 3C 33. 1477 MHz image of 3C 33 (Credit: Leahy & Perley (1991))
“It’s the first convincing galaxy of this type seen at this angle where the result is pretty robust,” said Patrick Ogle, an assistant research scientist at the California Institute of Technology, who studies AGN. Ogle believes Evans’s theory regarding retrograde spin is among the best explanations he has heard for why some AGN contain a supermassive black hole with a jet and others don’t.
Astrophysicists can see the signatures of x-ray emission from the inner regions of the accretion disk, which is located close to the edge of a black hole, as a result of a super hot atmospheric ring called a corona that lies above the disk and emits light (electromagnetic radiation) that an observatory like Suzaku can detect. In addition to this direct light, a fraction of light passes down from the corona onto the black hole’s accretion disk and is reflected from the disk’s surface, resulting in a spectral signature pattern called the Compton reflection hump, also detected by Suzaku.
But Evans’ team never found a Compton reflection hump in the x-ray emission given off by 3C 33, a finding the researchers believe provides crucial evidence that the accretion disk for a black hole with a jet is truncated, meaning it doesn’t extend as close to the center of the black hole with a jet as it does for a black hole that does not have a jet. The absence of this innermost portion of the disk means that nothing can reflect the light from the corona, which explains why observers only see a direct spectrum of x-ray light.
The researchers believe the absence may result from retrograde spin, which pushes out the orbit of the innermost portion of accretion material as a result of general relativity, or the gravitational pull between masses. This absence creates a gap between the disk and the center of the black hole that leads to the piling of magnetic fields that provide the force to fuel a jet.
While Ogle believes that the retrograde spin theory is a good explanation for Evans’ observations, he said it is far from being confirmed, and that it will take more examples with consistent results to convince the astrophysical community.
The field of research will expand considerably in August 2011 with the planned launch of NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) satellite, which is 10 to 50 times more sensitive to spectra and the Compton reflection hump than current technology. NuSTAR will help researchers conduct a “giant census” of supermassive black holes that “will absolutely revolutionize the way we look at X-ray spectra of AGN,” Evans explained. He plans to spend another two years comparing black holes with and without jets, hoping to learn more about the properties of AGN. His goal over the next decade is to determine how the spin of a supermassive black hole evolves over time.
The cupola, attached to the station's robotic arm, is relocated to Tranquility's Earth-facing port. Credit: NASA TV
The Cupola, which is akin to a ‘bay window’ in a house back on earth, was relocated overnight to the Tranquility modules Earth-facing (nadir) port and put in place at 1:25 AM EST this morning. The so called ‘Room with a View’ was then securely latched and bolted into place. Cupola is an innovative 7 windowed observation dome, built in Italy, that will provide spectacular panoramic views of the Earth, the station and the cosmos and simultaneously function as a robotics work station for approaching cargo ships.
STS 130 Astronauts Terry Virts and Kathryn Hire used the stations Canadian built robotic arm to slowly and methodically drive Cupola from Tranquility’s end port to its new permanent position at a side port looking directly at the Earth. The maneuver took about 2 hours.
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The astronauts dealt with a relatively minor delay in releasing the cupola. Bolts attaching it to its launch position at the end cone on Tranquility had been torqued a little tighter than expected. The problem was resolved by increasing the torque applied by the stations robotic arm to unscrew the bolts and detach Cupola.
First light through the windows is expected on Tuesday after Spacewalkers Patrick and Behnken remove the protective window covers during EVA-3, their final spacewalk of the STS-130 mission. The covers have been in place since before launch to shield the windows from debris and damage.
Earlier STS 130/ISS and SDO articles by Ken Kremer
A multiwavelength look at Cas A. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration
The origin of cosmic rays has been a mystery since their discovery nearly a century ago. But new images from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope may bring astronomers a step closer to understanding the source of the Universe’s most energetic particles. The images show where supernova remnants emit radiation a billion times more energetic than visible light. “Fermi now allows us to compare emission from remnants of different ages and in different environments,” said Stefan Funk, an astrophysicist at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC).
Cosmic rays are made up of electrons, positrons and atomic nuclei and they constantly bombard the Earth. In their near-speed-of-light journey across the galaxy, the particles are deflected by magnetic fields, which scramble their paths and mask their origins. When cosmic rays collide with interstellar gas, they produce gamma rays. While instruments can infer the presence of cosmic rays by looking for the glow of gamma ray emissions, so far, no specific sources have been located. .
“Understanding the sources of cosmic rays is one of Fermi’s key goals,” said said Funk, who presented the new images and findings at the American Physical Society meeting in Washington, D.C. on Monday.
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Fermi’s Large Area Telescope (LAT) mapped billion-electron-volt (GeV) gamma rays from three middle-aged supernova remnants — known as W51C, W44, and IC 443 — that were never before resolved at these energies. (The energy of visible light is between 2 and 3 electron volts.) Each remnant is the expanding debris of a massive star that blew up between 4,000 and 30,000 years ago.
In addition, Fermi’s LAT also spied GeV gamma rays from Cassiopeia A (Cas A), a supernova remnant only 330 years old. Ground-based observatories, which detect gamma rays thousands of times more
energetic than the LAT was designed to see, have previously detected Cas A.
“Older remnants are extremely bright in GeV gamma rays, but relatively faint at higher energies. Younger remnants show a different behavior,” explained Yasunobu Uchiyama, a Panofsky Fellow at SLAC. “Perhaps the highest-energy cosmic rays have left older remnants, and Fermi sees emission from trapped particles at lower energies.” Fermi mapped GeV-gamma-ray emission regions (magenta) in the W44 supernova remnant. The features clearly align with filaments detectable in other wavelengths. This composite merges X-ray data (blue) from the Germany/U.S./UK ROSAT mission, infrared (red) from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, and radio (orange) from the Very Large Array near Socorro, N.M. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration, NASA/ROSAT, NASA/JPL-Caltech, and NRAO/AUI
In 1949, physicist Enrico Fermi — for whom the Fermi telescope was named –suggested that the highest-energy cosmic rays were accelerated in the magnetic fields of gas clouds. In the decades that followed,
astronomers showed that supernova remnants are the galaxy’s best candidate sites for this process.
Young supernova remnants seem to possess both stronger magnetic fields and the highest-energy cosmic rays. Stronger fields can keep the highest-energy particles in the remnant’s shock wave long enough to speed them to the energies observed.
The Fermi observations show GeV gamma rays coming from places where the remnants are known to be interacting with cold, dense gas clouds.
“We think that protons accelerated in the remnant are colliding with gas atoms, causing the gamma-ray emission,” Funk said. An alternative explanation is that fast-moving electrons emit gamma rays as they fly past the nuclei of gas atoms. “For now, we can’t distinguish between these possibilities, but we expect that further observations with Fermi will help us to do so,” he added.
Either way, these observations validate the notion that supernova remnants act as enormous accelerators for cosmic particles.
“How fitting it is that Fermi seems to be confirming the bold idea advanced over 60 years ago by the scientist after whom it was named,” noted Roger Blandford, director of KIPAC.
This question was posed in an Astronomy Cast episode a while back. It offers an interesting thought experiment, although a reasonably definitive answer to the question can be arrived at.
Imagine a scenario where a spacecraft gains relativistic mass as it approaches the speed of light, while at the same time its volume is reduced via relativistic length contraction. If these changes can continue towards infinite values (which they can) – it seems you have the perfect recipe for a black hole.
Of course, the key word here is relativistic. Back on Earth, it can appear that a spacecraft which is approaching the speed of light, is indeed both gaining mass and shrinking in volume. Also, light from the spacecraft will become increasingly red-shifted – potentially into almost-blackness. This can be partly Doppler effect for a receding spacecraft, but is also partly a time dilation effect where the sub-atomic particles of the spacecraft seem to oscillate slower and hence emit light at lower frequencies.
So, back on Earth, ongoing measurements may indicate the spacecraft is becoming more massive, more dense and much darker as its velocity increases.
But of course, that’s just back on Earth. If we sent out two such spacecraft flying in formation – they could look across at each other and see that everything was quite normal. The captain might call a red alert when they look back towards Earth and see that it is starting to turn into a black hole – but hopefully the future captains of our starships will have enough knowledge of relativistic physics not to be too concerned.
So, one answer to the Astronomy Cast question is that yes, a very fast spacecraft can appear to be almost indistinguishable from a black hole – from a particular frame (or frames) of reference.
But it’s never really a black hole.
Centaurus A with jets powered by a supermassive black hole within - the orange jets are as seen in submillimetre by the Atacama Pathfinder and the blue lobes are as seen by the Chandra X-ray space telescope.
Special relativity allows you to calculate transformations from your proper mass (as well as proper length, proper volume, proper density etc) as your relative velocity changes. So, it is certainly possible to find a point of reference from which your relativistic mass (length, volume, density etc) will seem to mimic the parameters of a black hole.
But a real black hole is a different story. Its proper mass and other parameters are already those of a black hole – indeed you won’t be able to find a point of reference where they aren’t.
A real black hole is a real black hole – from any frame of reference.
(I must acknowledge my Dad – Professor Graham Nerlich, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Adelaide and author of The Shape of Space, for assistance in putting this together).
If humanity ever intends upon on settling Mars (by settling I mean a one way trip with no plans on returning back to Earth), they are going to need a whole lot of chickens if they want to survive–let alone thrive–upon the red planet.
Aside from providing an excellent source of protein, chickens could help future settlers raise not only crops (such as wheat, barely, etc.) upon the barren Martian soil, but also help colonists keep the lights on through a very useful by-product (aka chicken dung).
Unlike Earth, Martian dirt is very hostile towards plant life. Unless we can genetically alter plants to grow upon the red planets soil, future settlers will have to heavily rely upon the home world for their daily bread.
Future scientists could help reduce or (even better) eliminate that need by using chicken manure, which (as far as animal dung goes) has one of the highest concentration of nutrients available, making it a perfect choice for raising plants on Mars.
But providing food for plants isn’t the only reason why future Martian colonists will probably choose these ugly (yet useful) creatures, as chicken dung can also be used for energy as well.
Using an old scientific process called pyrolysis (which is cooking biomass like manure without the presence of oxygen), future settlers could turn this smelly chicken manure into biochar (which is a charcoal like product).
Just like many farmers on Earth, future colonists could turn biochar into bio-fuel, helping to power their future space settlements along with Martian solar panels (or an underground nuclear reactor).
While other types of animals manure could also be used for raising crop or keeping the lights on, it would be much easier (not to mention cheaper) transporting chickens en mass than larger animals.
This is mainly due to the fact than an egg (averaging about 57 grams), weigh much less than say, a baby calf (which would weigh 32 kilograms at birth), making chickens the logical choice as far as future space animals go.
Although humans may eventually import other animals to Mars (whether for food or as pets), it may not be surprising to see chickens accompany future explorers in their quest to conquer the red planet.
Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick and Robert Behnken work outside the International Space Station during the second spacewalk of the STS-130 mission. Credit: NASA TV
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(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the flight of Endeavour)
Astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick completed the second of their three spacewalks (EVAs) planned for the STS-130 mission early this Sunday morning Feb 14 at 3:14 AM EST. The pair worked essentially as plumbers today during the spacewalk which began at 9:20 PM Saturday night. They successfully accomplished all their assigned tasks overnight by connecting crucial Tranquility feed lines to the International Space Station (ISS).
“It was an extremely exciting and successful day on the International Space Station, one that I’m very proud of,” said Flight Director Bob Dempsey. “The team has been working for over two years to make today happen. And it did, and it was extremely successful and I’m very pleased with the way it has gone. Everything was accomplished as we had planned.”
The main goal of EVA 2 was to route four newly redesigned ammonia coolant lines from the new Tranquility life support module to the Destiny laboratory module thereby hooking Tranquility into the space stations existing cooling system. Tranquility could not be fully activated and powered up for use by the ISS crew until fulfilling this essential plumbing job to install the custom built ammonia lines.
Behnken and Patrick spent the first half of EVA-2 connecting the four external ammonia jumper hoses which convey ammonia that works as a coolant to dissipate heat generated by the electronics and systems inside the module. The set up is comprised of two independent loops (A and B) with two lines each, a supply and a return line. The 16 ft long flex lines were also routed through brackets on the Unity node to which Tranquility is attached on the left side. Newly attached Tranquility and Cupola modules (center, left) jut out from the main line of habitable ISS modules running from left to right at center. Credit: NASA TV
After connecting the four jumper hoses the astronauts methodically wrapped them with a long sheet of protective multi layer insulation, or MLI. During the EVA, the astronauts then flipped open the control valves for one of the two external loops (A) and successfully initiated the flow of ammonia coolant though the newly installed set of custom hoses. The second “B” loop will be activated on the third, and last, spacewalk of the STS 130 mission.
NASA astronauts Terry Virts (right), STS-130 pilot; Nicholas Patrick (left) and Stephen Robinson, both mission specialists, are pictured in the newly-installed Tranquility node of the International Space Station . Credit: NASA
With coolant flowing as intended, another team of astronauts inside the ISS began powering up and fully activating the stations newest room for the first time. They turned on the interior lights, ventilation, air conditioning, computers and other life support and environmental control systems which this room was specifically designed to house.
Once again the highly trained and professional astronauts made an extremely difficult job look relatively easy. The only problem was quite minor. Patrick reported that a small quantity of ammonia of leaked out of a reservoir as he uncapped a connector on the Unity module before he could hook up the jumper hose. He said that ammonia particles, which had solidified in the cold vacuum of space, splashed onto the exterior of his spacesuit. This spray of ammonia automatically qualifies as a contamination incident although Patrick did not find any particles actually adhering to his suit. The pair had been trained for exactly this occurrence since a tiny leakage of this type was not entirely unexpected. The spacewalk continued as planned.
Since ammonia is highly toxic, the spacewalkers took care to “bake out” their suits and test for any residual contamination when they arrived back at the airlock at the conclusion of the EVA. None was detected and they ingressed the station as planned.
The final tasks of EVA 2 involved outfitting the nadir docking port of Tranquility for the relocation of the Cupola module to another berthing port and installing exterior handrails.
The Story behind the Urgently Redesigned Ammonia Hoses
NASA and contractor teams had to work quite swiftly to redesign and construct four new custom ammonia hoses. The arduous task was only completed a few days before the then targeted launch date of Feb. 7. Otherwise a significantly curtailed mission involving only partial activation of Tranquility or a launch delay or would have been necessitated.
At the Kennedy Space Center press site I spoke with Eric Howell of Boeing in detail about the intense effort to construct and certify the hoses for the External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS). I had the opportunity to inspect the flexible metal hoses and their individual components first hand and hold and touch them with my own hands. I was quite surprised to find that they were rather sharp and easily capable of causing a deadly air leak gash into a spacewalkers glove.
“The 1 inch diameter hoses are constructed of Inconel, which is resistant to a highly corrosive substance like ammonia. The flexible, convoluted tube is covered by a metal braid which carries the entire load and provides all the strength to maintain the tubes integrity and prevent it from bursting. The individual strands of wire are 1/11,000 inch in diameter,” Howell explained to me.
“Normally it takes about 9 months to design and test the ammonia hoses. We had to get this job done in about 25 days. There was a weld quality issue with the original set of flight hoses. The weld was separating (yielding) from the metal braid carriers under pressure testing with nitrogen. To fix the hose bursting problem, we changed the design of the weld and the welding process to obtain a full depth of penetration.” Redesigned ammonia coolant line and components on display at The KSC press center. Credit: Ken Kremer
“The hoses are designed to operate at 500 psi. To qualify for flight they are tested for 25 cycles at 2000 psi (4 x operating pressure). The original hoses burst at 1600 psi. So we redesigned the hoses and modified the nut collar at the end which we found was too short.”
“We constructed four new multi-segmented hoses built by splicing together 3 to 5 shorter segments which we found lying around in storage throughout several NASA centers. Each of the original hoses that failed were constructed from two segments. The outer metal braid was then covered by a fiberglass sleeve to provide thermal protection. The new hoses were rush shipped from NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala on Jan 29 after a final checkout for approval by the Endeavour spacewalkers who were quite concerned,” Howell concluded.
Side view of the Tranquility and Cupola modules during my visit inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at the Kennedy Space Center. The Cupola is covered by protective blankets and sports two grapple fixtures for the robotic arms to latch onto. Delivery of the modules is the primary goal of the STS130 flight of shuttle Endeavour. The two modules combined weigh over 13.5 tons. Tranquility has six docking ports and is 7 meters (21 ft) in length and 4.5 meters (14.7 ft) in diameter with a pressurized volume of 75 cubic meters (2650 cubic ft). Credit: Ken Kremer
Cupola Relocation and Extra day in Space
Transfer of the Cupola, which had been scheduled for this evening (Sunday, Feb 14) has been put on hold pending resolution of a clearance issue on Tranquilities end docking port to which Cupola is currently attached. The astronauts were unable to attach a protective cover onto the port from inside Tranquility. Several protruding bolts are interfering with attempts to lock the cover in place. The cover shields the port from debris and extreme temperatures when nothing is attached to it.
The astronauts did receive other very good news today when NASA managers decided to extend the STS 130 flight by one day bringing it to14 days in all and thus allowing a total of 9 days of joint docked operations with Endeavour at the orbiting outpost.
The extra flight day will permit Endeavour’s crew additional time to move the space toilet, water recycling, oxygen generation and exercise equipment into the now activated Tranquility. Those relocations had been on hold pending the repairs to the urine recycling system conducted earlier in the flight, and enough run time on the system to generate needed samples for return to Earth for analysis. Landing at the Kennedy Space Center is now targeted for 10:24 PM on Feb 21, weather permitting.
Update: NASA gave the go ahead late this afternoon (Feb 14) to start relocating Cupola late this evening. Watch for a report upon completion sometime overnight.
Earlier STS 130/ISS and SDO articles by Ken Kremer
Sharpless 2-106 (Gemini Observatory/AURA, right; left: copyright Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; All rights reserved)
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About 2,000 light-years away, in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan), lies Sharpless 2-106 (after Stewart Sharpless who put the catalog together in 1959), the birth-place of a star cluster-to-be.
Two recent image releases – by Subaru and Gemini – showcase their new filter sets and image capabilities; they also reveal the stunning beauty of the million-year-long process of the birth of a star.
Sharpless 2-106 (Gemini Observatory/AURA)
The filter set is part of the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) toolkit, and includes ones centered on the nebular lines of doubly ionized oxygen ([OIII] 499 nm), singly ionized sulfur ([SII] 672 nm), singly ionized helium (HeII 468nm), and hydrogen alpha (Hα 656 nm). The filters are all narrowband, and are also used to study planetary nebulae and excited gas in other galaxies.
The hourglass-shaped (bipolar) nebula in the new Gemini image is a stellar nursery made up of glowing gas, plasma, and light-scattering dust. The material shrouds a natal high-mass star thought to be mostly responsible for the hourglass shape of the nebula due to high-speed winds (more than 200 kilometers/second) which eject material from the forming star deep within. Research also indicates that many sub-stellar objects are forming within the cloud and may someday result in a cluster of 50 to 150 stars in this region.
The nebula’s physical dimensions are about 2 light-years long by 1/2 light-year across. It is thought that its central star could be up to 15 times the mass of our Sun. The star’s formation likely began no more than 100,000 years ago and eventually its light will break free of the enveloping cloud as it begins the relatively short life of a massive star.
For this Gemini image four colors were combined as follows: Violet – HeII filter; Blue – [SII] filter; Green – [OIII] filter; and Red – Hα filter. Sharpless 2-106 (Copyright Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. All rights reserved)
The Subaru Telescope image was made by combining images taken through three broadband near-infrared filters, J (1.25 micron), H (1.65 micron), and K’ (2.15 micron).
