Universe Today

March 13, 2008December 26, 2015 by Nicholos Wethington

Ancient Lake on Mars Found by HiRISE a Good Place to Look for Life

Despite what it might look like, this is not the beach of a lakeside resort here on Earth. It’s what remains of a dried up lake on the surface of Mars, yet another fantastic image brought to us by the cameras on the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE.) This is a closeup of the largest of the “fans” leftover from the lake in the bottom of Holden Crater, an 87-mile (140-kilometer) wide crater in the bottom of the larger Holden Basin on Mars.

What’s interesting about a dried up lake bed, besides the spectacular image? Well, it’s the perfect place to start a search for life on Mars. A nice, calm lake would be a likely place for life to form. This site is one of the six possible landing sites for the NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, which launches next year and will try to answer the question of whether life on Mars existed at one time, or continues to thrive there.

In addition to the possiblity that the lake was at one time inhabited by Martian life, the crater is full of rocks and sediment that are of interest to geologists studying the history of Mars. Called “megabreccia”, the floor of the crater contains a mixture of boulders, sediment and clay. Before the impact that formed the crater, sediments were deposited in the bottom of Holden Basin by channels of water running across the basin. Blocks of the surface as large as 50 meters (164 feet) across were thrown up when the crater was made.

“When large craters form, they produce very large blocks of material. We see them on Earth. Popigai Crater in Russia is one example. But we’d never seen them on Mars, and we knew they ought to be there. Now we’ve seen them with HiRISE,” said John Grant of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, who is the first author on a paper about Holden Crater recently published in the journal Geology.

The crater’s history is even more complicated: the rim of the crater was breached by surrounding water, creating a massive flood that stirred up the sediments on the bottom and re-filled the crater. Boulders and debris from the event are strewn over the top of the megabreccia, and are also covered in fine sediment and clay that settled on them from the lake before it dried up. The volume of water in this catastrophic flood would have been larger than that contained within Lake Huron.

Both images used here are in false color to help reveal details. This second image shows the layers produced by the impact and subsequent flooding, most noticeable on the walls in the upper left-hand corner. Mars was likely wetter during its early history, and the flow of water later in its life was probably reserved to catastrophic events such as the breach of Holden crater.

Images like this and more have been really pouring in from HiRISE. To see more, check out their site and our coverage here at UT on this fantastic image of an avalanche in progress on Mars, and this picture of the Earth and Moon together in one beautiful shot.

Source: University of Arizona Press Release

March 12, 2008December 26, 2015 by Ian O'Neill

Orion Crew Module to Begin Testing in Run-up to 2020 Mission (Gallery)

The first tests of Constellation Program technology will start toward the end of 2008. In the first tests, a mock-launch will demonstrate the safety measures worked into the design. The crew module will blast away from the rocket boosters and take the (unmanned) capsule away to safety from the launch pad. This is an important design implication as NASA demonstrates the Constellation Program’s safety measures should the crew inside Orion get into difficulty as man is launched back into space, to the Moon and Mars, starting in 2020…

The Constellation Program is NASA’s vision for the future of space exploration. The Orion module has been developed over many years, and now the module is set for extensive testing, beginning at the end of this year. The Orion module, intended for a four to six-person crew, will be launched by an Ares 1 rocket and sent into Earth orbit, lunar expeditions and, ultimately, Mars missions. It is also expected to become NASA’s principal “shuttle” to and from the International Space Station. Although 2020 is the projected launch date of a Constellation manned mission, preparations need to be started as soon as possible. All areas of the new Constellation technology will need to be tested here on Earth before an astronaut sets foot inside the new space vehicle.

Gallery: The development of the Orion module mock-up being readied for tests in New Mexico.

First up are safety tests on a mock-up Orion module. The module will be launched during a 90-minute “Pad Abort-1” test to test the effectiveness of an ejection system where the Orion module will be blasted clear of the booster rockets during this critical phase of any space mission – when the rocket tanks are full of fuel prior to blast off. This will allow the safe return of astronauts should there be any problems before launch. These first tests will stay within the atmosphere above the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, firing the dummy Orion module a mile high and a mile wide of the launch pad.

The mock-up cone-shaped Orion module is almost complete and awaits the installation of all its systems before testing begins.

“The next step is to ship the completed crew module simulator to Dryden, where they will outfit it with the smarts — the computers, the electronics, the instrumentation — all the systems that need to work in conjunction with the structure.” — Phil Brown, Manager, Langley Orion Flight Test Article Project.

Once the module is kitted out, it will be shipped to White Sands some time during the summer so it can be mounted on the Pad Abort-1 tower with escape rocket motor and a guiding rocket motor that will be used to steer Orion clear. This test bed will be fine-tuned and optimized for use when Orion and the Ares rocket go into operation at the end of the next decade.

Source: NASA Constellation Project

March 12, 2008January 24, 2021 by Fraser Cain

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Universe Today – 300,000 visitors, 700,000 pageviews, 35,000 RSS subscribers
Universe Today is one of the top space and astronomy news websites on the Internet, published by Fraser Cain. The site covers breaking news in astronomy research, space sciences, and human and robotic space exploration. It’s aimed at science enthusiasts who don’t necessarily have a science background.

Bad Astronomy – 500,000 visitors, 800,000 pageviews, 13,000 RSS subscribers
Bad Astronomy is the website and blog of the noted astronomer and author Dr. Philip Plait. On the site, he debunks cosmic myths and misconceptions, and uses them to write about real science. Opinionated and funny, he brings an insider’s knowledge about astronomy while still making it fun and entertaining to read. Bad Astronomy was voted the Best Science Blog in the 2007 Weblog Awards.

Star Stryder – 15,000 visitors, 40,000 pageviews, 1,000 RSS subscribers
Written by Dr. Pamela L. Gay, Star Stryder explores astronomy, space science, academia, and the politics that accompanies human exploration of the sky. Best known as the sexy female voice on Astronomy Cast and in the original Slacker Astronomy podcast series, Pamela is a rising star in the world of astronomy blogging, with work appearing in the Open Lab anthology of the best science blogs of 2007. Her writing combines analogy, passion, and a professor’s understanding of where it’s easy to get lost.

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The Bad Astronomy/Universe Today Forum, or BAUTForum is the most popular space and astronomy forum on the entire Internet. At any time, there are more than 1,000 people simultaneously participating in the community, discussing space and astronomy topics, such as telescopes, astrophotography and human spaceflight.

Astronomy Cast – 30,000 visitors, 55,000 pageviews, 200,000 downloads
Astronomy Cast is the most popular astronomy-related podcast, hosted by Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay. Each episode focuses on one specific aspect of astronomy, such as dark matter or the search for alien life. The hosts make the information exciting and accessible through an informal conversation style, and yet they don’t talk down to the listeners.

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March 12, 2008December 26, 2015 by Ian O'Neill

Relief as Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Propulsion System is Fixed

Problems struck the brand new ESA Automatic Transfer Vehicle (A T V) at 260km above the Earth shortly after it was launched into orbit on Sunday. Seven of the 28 attitude control jets and a main engine shut down unexpectedly, forcing the craft to switch to backup systems. The panic has now subsided as commands sent from mission control fixed the glitch and the thrusters switched back online…

Although the ATV has to wait around for NASA’s STS-123 mission to complete after it un-docks with the International Space Station (ISS) in a few days time, “Jules Verne” still has some manouvering to do. After its launch on board an Ariane-5 rocket from South America on March 9th, all systems appeared to be functioning normally. However, problems struck as the ATV began to thrust its way from its original 260km orbit to the ISS orbit of 340km.

ATV project manager John Ellwood gave a statement in Kourou as the troubles surfaced, but appeared undaunted by the problem:

“We’re sitting and thinking about this; we’re not in a rush to do manoeuvres […] We have the 10-day margin before we need to start going into [demonstration manoeuvre] days at the end of the month.”

After all, the ATV has over three weeks to stay in orbit and wait for Space Shuttle Endeavor to leave on March 24th and then dock at the station on April 3rd. Mission engineers had a lot of time on their side. It appears that they only needed a few hours to iron out the problem; all systems appear to be functioning well as of March 12th after new commands were transmitted from mission control.

It appears the problem started after data was received on the ground indicating there was a large difference in pressure between the oxidiser and the fuel entering the ATV’s complex network of pipes and valves connecting the fuel tanks and thrusters. Reacting to the warning, the chains of pipes were shut down, stopping fuel from entering the thrusters. The problem was solved by slowly turning on fuel supplies to each thruster and one of the main engines. The fix appears to be a total success.

The ATV will now carry out practice manoeuvres to prepare it for the ISS docking sequence at the start of next month.

Source: BBC

March 11, 2008December 26, 2015 by Ian O'Neill

Germs Living in Space “Almost Three Times as Likely to Cause Disease”

In one experiment on board Space Shuttle Endeavor (STS-123) launched early this morning (at 2:28 am EST), the reaction of terrestrial bacteria to zero-G will be tested. When compared with test bacteria bred here on Earth, previous studies suggest that germs bred in space are far more potent and are more likely to cause illness to people in space. The Endeavor mission will continue this experiment in the aim to find some way to prevent these microscopic astronauts causing too many problems to the continuing missions on board the International Space Station and future space tourism companies. Until a solution is found, don’t go ordering fish off the in-flight menu on your next spaceship ride…

Wherever humans go, a whole zoo of bacteria will follow. Most of the bacteria hitching a ride on our skin and inside our bodies live in symbiosis with us, but occasionallyÂ problem bugs like salmonella orÂ Escherichia coli (E-coli) can get out of control, causingÂ problems such as common food poisoning to more serious, life-threatening ailments such as tetanus, diphtheria, syphilis, cholera… (the list is pretty long.)

So, as humans venture into space, it is inevitable that bacteria will come too – the whole symbiotic and parasitic jungle – exploring space with us.

Bacteria will mutate, often very quickly, adapting to the environment surrounding the little microbes. Mutation is the difference between a bacteria being harmless to becoming deadly. Mutations help bacteria to survive and as an example, they can become antibiotic resistant. This is a huge problem in places where antibiotics are used very regularly (such as hospitals); genetic information is passed down the generations of bacteria (often doubling in population in a matter of minutes). If just one microbe has the genetic ability to survive a type of antibiotic, its number will multiply, creating a strain of “superbug” that can avoid being killed by antibiotics – one of the most basic examples of “natural selection”. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one particular nasty strain of the otherwise benign Staphylococcus genus which has mutated to resist commonly used antibiotics.

It is of paramount importance to understand how bacteria react to space conditions, so problems with potentially dangerous forms of bacteria, such as MRSA,Â can be avoided.

Scientists have discovered that the fairly common salmonella bacteria, usually responsible for terrible food poisoning outbreaks here on Earth, is far more likely to cause serious disease in space and has a much faster rate of reproductionÂ in zero-G. The virilence of salmonella increases drastically in the absense of gravity. The findings from the 2006 Space Shuttle Atlantis mission showed that space-borne bacteria are three times more likely to cause harm to humans in space than humans on the ground, further work was obviously needed to address this potentially deadly barrier to the success of space missions.

The project leader of these experiments, Dr. Cheryl Nickerson (at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute), hopes to find ways of blocking potentially deadly bacteria from multiplying so quicklyÂ in space and find out why zero-G is such a good environment for bacteria to grow. She headed the 2006 experiments on Atlantis.

“We are very fortunate to get a follow up flight opportunity, because in spaceflight, you only get one shot for everything to go just right […] We saw unique bacterial responses in flight and these responses are giving us new information about how Salmonella causes disease. NASA is giving us the opportunity to independently replicate the virulence studies of Salmonella typhimurium from our last shuttle experiment and to do a follow-up experiment to test our hypothesis about new ways this bacteria causes disease in this unique environment.” – Cheryl Nickerson.

This is obviously a high priority experiment for NASA and the future of manned missions into space. More precautions and safeguards need to be put into place so humankind can adapt to this new, microscopic threat, not from unknown alien bacteria, but from our own germs.

Source: EurekAlert

March 11, 2008March 11, 2008 by Fraser Cain

Party Videos of Endeavour’s Launch

Whenever we report on the launch of the shuttle, the video footage and pictures come directly from NASA. That’s great, for high resolution, and all. Don’t worry, we’ll be burying you with it over the course of STS-123. But I think there’s something missing from it. The exhilaration (I can only assume) that comes when you watch a shuttle actually take off.

So, I’m going to show you a few videos of the shuttle’s night launch captured at parties at homes near the Cape. It’s not as good quality as NASA might provide. But there an emotional impact from the people in the room that more than offsets this. You lucky, lucky people.
Continue reading “Party Videos of Endeavour’s Launch”

March 11, 2008December 26, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Endeavour’s Launch Lights Up the Night Sky

With a spectacular and rare nighttime launch, space shuttle Endeavour lit up the dark sky and rocketed flawlessly to orbit. The shuttle launched at 2:28 am EST to begin its chase of the International Space Station. During the planned 16-day mission, the crew’s two prime objectives are to deliver and attach to the ISS the first component of Japan’s new laboratory called Kibo, as well as Canada’s new robotics system, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre. STS-123 is the 25th shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

The launch of the first section of the Kibo lab is Japanâ€™s first contribution to the space station. For the first time since space station construction began nearly 10 years ago, all five major partners will have hardware as part of the orbiting complex.

NASA astronaut Dominic Gorie commands a crew of six, including Pilot Greg Johnson and Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Robert Behnken, Mike Foreman, Garrett Reisman and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi. Johnson, Behnken and Foreman are making their first spaceflight. The crew has a busy flight, with five spacewalks for station construction. They will also test different repair techniques for damaged shuttle tiles.

Reisman will stay on board the station, replacing Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Leopold Eyharts, who arrived at the ISS aboard Atlantis in February, and he will return to Earth with the Endeavour crew.

Original News Source: NASA

March 10, 2008December 26, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Binocular Astronomy: Get Sirius!

For urban and suburban dwellers, practicing binocular astronomy can sometimes be discouraging because of the lack of faint marker stars to help locate deep sky objects. Right now, early evening dark skies are the perfect opportunity to spot the brightest star in the night sky – Sirius – and let it lead you on to some deep sky gems! So print off this article, grab your binoculars and a good friend and get outside!

Just after sky dark, head outside and look basically south for the “Scorching One”. Even if you don’t use binoculars, this 8.6 distant light year beauty sparkles and twinkles like a true diamond. Even though it’s only the atmosphere which causes the effect, Sirius’ beauty has been noted throughout ancient history in both culture and mythology. Small wonder, it’s twice as large as our own Sun and 25 times more luminous! One of the earliest star charts done by Ptolemy recorded Sirius’ position and in 1676 Edmund Halley noted its movement. While today we understand that stars with large proper motion mean they are closer to us than further away, it was definitely an eye-opening experience for early astronomers.

Now, open your eyes wide by using binoculars of any size and center on Sirius. Move slowly south about one average binocular field until you see a compression of stars. Congratulations! You’ve just spotted Messier Object 41. As incredible as it may seem, this bright cluster of stars may have also been noticed by Aristotle as far back as 325 BC… without modern optics! Spanning about 25 light years across, there are about 100 stars which are true members of the cluster. if you thought Sirius was bright, then take a close look for a reddish central star. It’s 280 times brighter yet than Sirius! Thank heavens it’s about 2,300 light years away or there would be no such thing as a “dark sky”.

Now head back to Sirius and let’s take a hop Northeast just a little more than two binocular fields. Do you see that small heart-shaped collection of stars? It’s Messier Object 50. Although this galactic cluster contains about twice as many stars as M41, they are so faint they are difficult to see from light polluted skies. If you have larger binoculars, you can probably even spot some color differences between members.

Let’s get Sirius again. This time we’re headed almost due east about another two binocular fields. Messier Object 47 is quite bright by comparison, and with good reason; it’s much closer than the other two clusters. This time we’re only looking about 1,600 light years away. Like its other two star-studded companions, it’s about the same age, but has fewer stars. This particular cluster curiosity was an instance where Charles Messier messed up. He recorded its position wrong! For now? Have a look around. These bright clusters are easily seen from most locations and all you have to do is…

Binocular astronomy: Get Sirius!

March 10, 2008December 26, 2015 by Fraser Cain

The World’s Most Powerful Telescope Sees First Light

First light is a big deal. That’s when a new observatory opens up for the first time and gathers light on its detectors. It’s even a bigger deal when the world’s most powerful telescope sees the night sky for the first time. Astronomers get ready for the Large Binocular Telescope.

I’ve been writing stories about the LBT for years now, so it seems a little surreal to be reporting on its first light. But here we are. So, for those of you who haven’t been obsessing about this monster since it was first conceived, here’s the breakdown.

The Large Binocular Telescope, in case you hadn’t guessed, is actually two 8.4-metre telescopes perched side-by-side. Although they’re separate, they work together to act like a single, much larger telescope. They have the light-collecting power of an 11.8-metre telescope, and their combined light produces an image sharpness of a single 22.8-metre scope.

The first light images for the LBT were captured in January, and show the galaxy NGC 2770, located 102 million light-years away. The same scene was captured in ultraviolet and green light to show the regions of active star formation. And then it was captured again in red to show the older, cooler stars. Finally, a third composite image was put together that shows both features at the same time.

Now for a bit of history. The observatory’s structure was moved up to the top of Arizona’s Mount Graham in 2002. The first mirror was delivered in 2003, and aligned in 2004. The second mirror was delivered in 2005, and the first individual images where captured soon after that. But it wasn’t until this year that both halves were brought together to act as a single large observatory.

The first light is a great step. I can’t wait for the discoveries to pour in.

Original Source: University of Arizona News Release

March 10, 2008December 26, 2015 by Fraser Cain

Are There Planets Around Alpha Centauri?

We’re holding out hope for the next generation of planet-finding observatories to locate Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. But hold on, maybe we don’t need a super space observatory like ESA’s Darwin just yet. In fact, if our nearest neighbour Alpha Centauri has Earth-sized planets, we should be able to detect them with established techniques… right now, with the observatories we have today.

University of California researcher Javiera Guedes has developed a computer simulation that shows that Alpha Centauri B – the largest star in the nearby triple-star system – should have terrestrial planets orbiting within its habitable zone, where liquid water can exist.

They ran several simulations of the system’s first 200 million years. In each instance, despite different parameters, multiple terrestrial planets formed around the star. In every case, at least one planet turned up similar in size to the Earth, and in many cases this planet fell within the star’s habitable zone.

Guedes and co-author Gregory Laughlin think there are several reasons why Alpha Centauri B makes an excellent candidate for finding terrestrial planets. Perhaps the best reason is that Alpha Centauri is just so close, located a mere 4.3 light years away. But it’s also positioned well in the sky, giving it a long period of observability from the Southern Hemisphere.

Most of the 228 extrasolar planets discovered to date have been with the Doppler technique. This is where a planet pulls its parent star back and forth with its gravity. The star’s relative velocity in space changes the wavelength of light coming from it which astronomers can detect. Until now, only the largest planets, orbiting at extremely close distances from their parent stars have been discovered.

But with a nearby star like Alpha Centauri B, much smaller planets could be detected.

The researchers are proposing that astronomers dedicate a single 1.5-metre telescope to intensively monitor Alpha Centauri over a period of 5 years. In that time, any change in the star’s light should be detectable by this telescope.

“If they exist, we can observe them,” said Guedes.

Original Source: UCSC News Release