Posted on by Fraser Cain

Distant Galaxy is Too Massive For Current Theories

Distant galaxy in a Hubble Ultra Deep Field image. Image credit: Hubble. Click to enlarge.
Two of NASA’s Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, have teamed up to “weigh” the stars in several distant galaxies. One of these galaxies, among the most distant ever seen, appears to be unusually massive and mature for its place in the young universe.

This came as a surprise to astronomers, as the earliest galaxies in the universe are commonly thought to have been much smaller associations of stars that gradually merged to build large galaxies like our Milky Way.

“This galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, appears to have bulked up quickly, within the first few hundred million years after the big bang. It made about eight times more mass in stars than are found in our own Milky Way, and then, just as suddenly, it stopped forming new stars,” said Bahram Mobasher of the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore and the European Space Agency, Paris.

The galaxy was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small patch of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF). The galaxy is believed to be about as far away as the most distant known galaxies. It represents an era when the universe was only 800 million years old. That is about five percent of the universe’s age of 14 billion years.

Scientists studying the UDF found this galaxy in Hubble’s infrared images. They expected it to be young and small, like other known galaxies at similar distances. Instead, they found evidence the galaxy is remarkably mature and much more massive, and its stars appear to have been in place for a long time.

Hubble’s optical-light UDF image is the deepest image ever taken, yet this galaxy was not evident. This indicates much of the galaxy’s optical light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen gas. The galaxy was detected using Hubble’s Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer. It was also detected by an infrared camera on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the European Southern Observatory. At those longer infrared wavelengths, it is very faint and red.

The big surprise is how much brighter the galaxy is in even longer- wavelength infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars, which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The infrared brightness of the galaxy suggests it is massive. “This would be quite a big galaxy even today,” said Mark Dickinson of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, Ariz. “At a time when the universe was only 800 million years old, it’s positively gigantic,” he added.

Spitzer observations were also independently reported by Laurence Eyles from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and Haojing Yan of the Spitzer Science Center, Pasadena, Calif. They also revealed evidence for mature stars in more ordinary, less massive galaxies at similar distances, when the universe was less than one billion years old.

The new observations reported by Mobasher extend this notion of surprisingly mature “baby galaxies” to an object which is perhaps 10 times more massive, and which seemed to form its stars even earlier in the history of the universe.

Mobasher’s team estimated the distance to this galaxy by combining information provided by the Hubble, Spitzer, and VLT observations. The relative brightness of the galaxy at different wavelengths is influenced by the expanding universe and allows astronomers to estimate its distance. They can also get an idea of the make-up of the galaxy in terms of the mass and age of its stars. It will take the next generation of telescopes, such as the infrared James Webb Space Telescope, to confirm the galaxy’s distance.

While astronomers generally believe most galaxies were built piecewise by mergers of smaller galaxies, the discovery of this object suggests at least a few galaxies formed quickly long ago. For such a large galaxy, this would have been a tremendously explosive event of star birth. Mobasher’s results will appear in the Astrophysical Journal on Dec. 20.

For electronic images from the research and information on the Web, visit: http://hubblesite.org/news/2005/28

Original Source: Hubble News Release

Posted on by Fraser Cain

New Horizons Arrives at Cape Canaveral

New Horizons arrives at Cape Canaveral. Image credit: JHU APL. Click to enlarge.
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla. , for fi nal preparations and testing for the probe’s decade-long journey. It will be the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and its moon, Charon.

New Horizons arrived Saturday at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. The spacecraft is in a clean room at KSC. It is scheduled to launch on a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket in January 2006. New Horizons recently completed four months of space-environment tests at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt , Md. , and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel , Md. , where it was designed and built.

Carrying seven scientific instruments the compact, nearly 1,000 pound probe will fly by Pluto and Charon as early as summer 2015. Its mission is to characterize the global geology and geomorphology of the bodies, map their surface compositions, record temperatures and examine Pluto’s complex atmosphere. Flybys of ancient rocky objects farther out in the solar system may be undertaken during an extended mission.

In October, New Horizons will undergo a series of functional tests, readiness checks, and an “end-to-end” test with the tracking facilities of NASA’s Deep Space Network. In November, hydrazine fuel for attitude control and course correction maneuvers will be loaded and the spacecraft will undergo a final spin-balance test.

At the Atlas Space Operations Center on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, processing has begun on the Atlas V. Stacking of the vehicle will begin in early October and completed in late October or early November. In November, a launch countdown rehearsal will be performed. In December, the flight-ready spacecraft will be transported to Launch Complex 41 for hoisting a top the Atlas V.

Following final launch approval, liftoff is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2006 , during a two-hour launch window that opens at 2:07 p.m. EST. Launch windows are also available daily from Jan. 12 through Feb. 14, 2006 .

New Horizons is the first mission in NASA’s New Frontiers program of medium-class planetary missions. APL will operate the spacecraft for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Principal Investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) leads the New Horizons science and mission team. SwRI directed development of the mission’s seven science instruments.

The National Research Council ranked the first reconnaissance of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt at the top of its priority list for planetary missions to be launched in this decade. A close-up look at these mysterious worlds will provide new information about the origin and evolution of our solar system.

For information on the mission, visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu.

Original Source: JHU APL News Release

Artist illustration of SMART-1. Image credit: ESA. Click to enlarge.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

SMART-1’s Mission Extended a Year

Artist illustration of SMART-1. Image credit: ESA. Click to enlarge.
ESA’s SMART-1 mission in orbit around the Moon has had its scientific lifetime extended by ingenious use of its solar-electric propulsion system (or ‘ion engine’).

In February this year, the SMART-1 mission was granted financial support to extend the mission by one year, starting at the end of July 2005. However, whether SMART-1 could actually survive that length of time all depended on the propulsion system, the ion engine, and the small amount of xenon fuel left on board.

Without using the remaining fuel and letting the orbit decay naturally, SMART-1 would have ended its mission sometime before May 2006. Engineers and flight controllers at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, were aware that the ion engine could not use all the fuel left on board. They had to keep two kilograms of fuel to maintain sufficient gaseous pressure inside the tank to be able to control the engine thrust.

However, ESA and industry worked together to find a way to stretch the technology of SMART-1’s engine to set a new record. New simulations and analysis allowed the SMART-1 flight control team to successfully operate the engine until the almost the last drop of fuel was consumed and an orbit with one-year lifetime was reached.

A series of re-boost manoeuvres, beginning in August 2005 has allowed the mission to be extended by one year, until July 2006. The engine was shutdown finally on 17 September after the last of these re-boost operations. SMART-1 is now coasting around the Moon ready to restart science observations on 1 October.

These re-boosts also brought the spacecraft into the optimal orbit to perform the more complex scientific observations to come in the extended phase. This orbit will have a perilune (lowest point of its orbit) closer to the equator than before, with very good solar illumination conditions over the whole year.

“This mission has given ESA a valuable experience about electric propulsion operations and navigation that can be exploited in future missions,” says Octavio Camino-Ramos, SMART-1 Spacecraft Operations Manager at ESOC.

From now on SMART-1 will be left in a natural orbit determined by lunar gravity, but also by perturbations by Earth and the Sun. Analyses show that SMART-1 will end its life naturally, through impact with the Moon surface, around mid August 2006.

Bernard Foing, ESA’s SMART-1 Project Scientist, said, “The first scientific phase of the mission, from March to July 2005, was essentially dedicated to simple observations of the Moon and the study of the behaviour of spacecraft and instruments in the difficult thermal conditions of the lunar environment. From early October, with the extended scientific phase, SMART-1 will perform more complex science operations.”

This autumn, science operations will include so-called ‘push broom’ observations, in which the spacecraft will be able to take colour images of the Moon surface by superimposing sequences of images of the same area taken with different colour filters.

“Multi-colour observations, surveys of the composition of the Moon, studies of polar regions illumination, the search for ice, support for future international lunar missions, and low-altitude observations until impact are our major objectives for this year,” added Bernard Foing.

Original Source: ESA News Release

Posted on by Fraser Cain

What’s Up This Week – September 26 – October 2, 2005

M2. Image credit: Doug Williams/REU Program NOAO/AURA/NSF. Click to enlarge.
Monday, September 26 – Tonight our journey might seem like a simple one, but the rewards are great. First you must start by identifying bright Beta Aquarii about a fist’s width above the northeastern most corner star of Capricornus. Continue northward about another five degrees, because I’m going to introduce you to the M2.

First seen by Maraldi in 1746 and later cataloged by Messier in 1760, the M2 is easily seen in both binoculars and small telescopes. The awesome globular cluster is around 50,000 light years away, putting it far more distant than the M13, and it’s positioned in the general direction of our own galaxy’s southern pole. Containing at very least 100,000 stars, including red and yellow giants, even small optics will immediately pick up on the M2’s strong, bright core and larger scopes will resolve out an impressive amount of the fainter members. It’s a good one!

Tuesday, September 27 – Tonight’s destination is not an easy one, but if you have a 6″ or larger scope, you’ll fall in love a first sight! Let’s head for Eta Pegasi and slightly more than 4 degrees north/northeast for the NGC 7331.

This beautiful, 10th magnitude, tilted spiral galaxy is very much how our own Milky Way would appear if we could travel 50 million light years away and look back. Very similar in both structure to ourselves and the “Great Andromeda”, this particular galaxy gains more and more interest as scope size increases – yet it can be spotted with larger binoculars. At around 8″ in aperture, a bright core appears and the beginnings of wispy arms. In the 10″ to 12″ range, spiral patterns begin to emerge and with good seeing conditions, you can see “patchiness” in structure as nebulous areas are revealed and the western half is deeply outlined with a dark dustlane. But hang on… Because the best is yet to come!

Wednesday, September 28 – Tonight return to the NGC 7331 with all the aperture you have. What we are about to look at is truly a challenge and requires dark skies, optimal position and excellent conditions. Now breathe the scope about one half a degree south/southwest and behold one of the most famous galaxy clusters in the night.

In 1877, French astronomer – Edouard Stephan was using the first telescope designed with a reflection coated mirror when he discovered something a bit more with the NGC 7331. He found a group of nearby galaxies! This faint gathering of five is better known as “Stephan’s Quintet” and its members are no further apart than our own Milky Way galaxy.

Visually in a large scope, these members are all rather faint, but their proximity is what makes them such a curiosity. The Quintet is made up of five galaxies numbered NGC 7317, 7318, 7318A, 7318B, 7319 and the largest is 7320. Even with a 12.5″ telescope, this author has never seen them as much more than tiny, barely there objects that look like ghosts of rice grains on a dinner plate. So why bother?

What our backyard equipment can never reveal is what else exists within this area – more than 100 star clusters and several dwarf galaxies. Some 100 million years ago, the galaxies collided and left long streamers of their materials which created star forming regions of their own, and this tidal pull keeps them connected. The stars within the galaxies themselves are nearly a billion years old, but between them lay much younger ones. Although we cannot see them, you can make out the soft sheen of the galactic nucleii of our interacting group.

Enjoy their faint mystery!

Thursday, September 29 – Tonight let’s relax a little bit and have a look at a superb open cluster that stays superb no matter if you use small binoculars or a big telescope. Of whom do I speak so highly? M34…

Easily found on Perseus west border by scanning between Beta Perseii (Algol) and Gamma Andromeda (Almach), the M34 was discovered by Messier in 1764. Containing around 80 members, the central knot of stars is what truly makes it beautiful. At around 1400 light years away, this stellar collection is believed to be around 10 million years old. While binocular users are going to be very happy with this object, scopists are going to appreciate the fact that there is a double right in the heart of M34. This fixed pair is around magnitude 8 and separated by about 20″.

Friday, September 30 – Today in 1880, Henry Draper must have been up very early indeed when he took the first photo of the Great Orion Nebula (M42). Although you might not wish to set up equipment before dawn, you can still use a pair of binoculars to view this awesome nebula! You’ll find Orion high in the southeast for the Northern Hemisphere, and the M42 in the center of the “sword” that hangs below its bright “belt” of three stars.

While you’re out, take advantage of some very beautiful sky scenery. To the west, Mars dominates the sky as the brightest object and the Pleiades so nearby doubles the pleasure. More? Then look east and catch Saturn’s act and it still remains very close to the “Beehive”. All of these can be see with the unaided eye and make getting up early a pleasure!

Saturday, October 1 – In 1897, the world’s largest refractor (40″) debuted at the dedication of the University of Chicago’s Yerkes Observatory. Also today in 1958, NASA established by an act of Congress. More? In 1962, the 300-foot radio telescope of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) went live at Green Bank, West Virginia. It held its place as the world’s second largest radio scope until it collapsed in 1988.

One this universal date, viewers in Alaska will have the opportunity to watch the very last of the Moon occult Sigma Leonis. Be sure to check this IOTA webpage for times and locations.

For those of you who have waited on the weekend to enjoy dark skies, then let’s add another awesome galaxy to the collection. Tonight set your sights towards Alpha Pegasi and drop due south less than 5 degrees to pick up NGC 7479.

Discovered by William Herschel in 1784. this tantalizing 11 magnitude barred spiral galaxy has had a supernova in its nucleus as recently as 1990. While the 16th magnitude event is no longer visible, smaller telescopes will easily pick out bright core and elongation of the central bar. Larger aperture will find this one a real treat as the spiral arms curl both over and under the central structure, resembling a ballet dancer “en pointe”.

Congratulations! You’ve just observed Caldwell 44.

Sunday, October 2 – Do I always save the best for last? You bet. And tonight it’s my favourite galaxy structure – edge-on.

The NGC 7814 is easy enough to find. Just head towards Gamma Pegasi and look in your finderscope for a star that is around 3 degrees to the northwest. At low power you will see the galaxy to the southeast of this star as a scratch of light. Up the power in both aperture and magnification and enjoy! This galaxy has a deeply concentrated nucleus and a very prominent dissecting dark dustlane.

By the way… It’s Caldwell 43. 😉

Here’s hoping that all of you have clear, dark skies! Until next week? May all your journeys be at light speed…. ~Tammy Plotner

Posted on by Mark Mortimer

Report from Toronto’s Lunar Conference

Paul Campbell took this amazing picture of the Moon. Image credit: Paul Campbell. Click to enlarge.
ILEWG is a public forum sponsored by the world’s space agencies to support “international cooperation towards a world strategy for the exploration and utilization of the Moon – our natural satellite”. An example objective is the ready and free sharing of data to any and all parties. This allows for judicious review and most importantly avoids duplication. Also, by coordinating onboard experiments beforehand, agencies can avoid duplicating research and wasting scarce funding. Given the costs and risks associated with each expedition, together with the scarcity of public funds, avoiding duplication is a necessary goal.

Exploring the Moon never stopped after the Apollo program. However, researchers have had to fight for funding on an equal basis with every other government department. In consequence, the number of missions have been few and far between. Now, only one satellite, Smart-1, orbits the Moon. This will change. For returning to the Moon, setting up a base, and then continuing on to Mars, we will need to know more of the Moon to minimize the cost and maximize the benefit. The Holy Grail for lunar exploration is water ice. Finding sufficient, recoverable quantities would greatly facilitate a human presence (as in drinking water) and further exploration (as in rocket fuel production). Without water ice, we either use brute force to raise sufficient quantities out of Earth’s gravity well or invent new techniques. Both these represent signficantly greater challenges. Nevertheless, the researchers at ILEWG are well aware of their knowledge gaps and are actively preparing missions to fill these in.

Yet the ILEWG participants aren’t accepting the status quo with NASA being the only player in town. In addition to other national space agencies, there were many individuals and corporations who were promoting their own style of space exploration and utilization. Lunar telescopes, mines and tourist hotels were just some opportunities deemed potential. To facilitate these ventures, conference attendees were treated to lectures on property rights, the common heritage of humankind and investment financing. For instance, without any arbitration medium, imagine sitting at your new observatory on the moon only to feel blasting from a nearby mining operation! These additional conference contributors, and their ability to think outside the box, demonstrate the desire and ability of the big, independent players at ILEWG.

However, even though great thinkers and doers were present, this doesn’t guarantee a lunar ‘gold rush’ happening any time soon. After all, if there were quick riches to be made, we would have had colonies already turning the lunar regolith into Swiss cheese. Instead, we’ve had to rely on public funds, i.e. taxpayer’s dollars. And unless some unforeseen magic appears, we will need a huge amount of this money to build a suitable infrastructure to reliably establish a human presence on the Moon’s surface. This showcases one omission from ILEWG. Very little attention was given to promoting lunar and space activities to the general public. Given the incessant demand for public funds that comes from every quarter, there needs to be solid and continual vindication for lunar base allocations. Alongside the great thinkers and doers, we need exuberant public relations experts to sell this endeavour.

Without the public’s interest, we will neither establish lunar colonies nor ever move off of Earth. The preponderance of technical data and investigations at the ILEWG conference demonstrate that we have the technical ability. But where is the justification? There is precious little economic justification. The monetary cost and consumption of Earth’s natural resources for people to live and work on the Moon is far greater than the equivalent cost of doing business on Earth. Further, the Moon has no unique qualities, after all, the Moon’s surface is very similar to the Earth’s. So, though service and resource providers may facilitate lunar colonies, they will not economically create such a colony.

But I am a believer. We need to step off of Earth and give ourselves a future that encompasses more than this one planet. We know our planet’s environment changes drastically. We know large asteroids regularly pummel the Earth’s surface. We know our Sun’s radiation fluctuates and the Sun itself will undergo a final tumultuous collapse. Restricting our children to the confines of the Earth’s surface is an artificial limiter that prevents our species from being the best it can be. We can do better. So get involved, talk to people, remind them that space is still a new harsh environment onto which we have barely stepped. Make them believe in a future more challenging and rewarding than simply lying on the ground at night wondering what the shiny dots above might be.

Whether, homesteaders, governments or organizations are the instigators, the Moon is our stepping stone off the Earth. The organization ILEWG is helping coordinate research and exploration amongst nations to quicken the building of our society off world. The gravity well that is Earth will remain for as long as the Earth so let’s acknowledge this, not as a barrier, but as a test to our civilization. Let’s work together and pass this test and decide our future, or we will stay moribund on Earth waiting for the future to decide our fate.

Written by Mark Mortimer

Posted on by Fraser Cain

ESA Picks an Asteroid to Move

Computer animation of Don Quijote and its asteroid target. Image credit: ESA. Click to enlarge.
Based on the recommendations of asteroid experts, ESA has selected two target asteroids for its Near-Earth Object deflecting mission, Don Quijote.

Don Quijote is an asteroid-deflecting mission currently under study by ESA?s Advanced Concepts Team (ACT). Earlier this year the NEO Mission Advisory Panel (NEOMAP), consisting of well-known experts in the field, delivered to ESA a target selection report for Europe?s future asteroid mitigation missions, identifying the relevant criteria for selecting a target and picking up two objects that meet most of those criteria. The asteroids? temporary designations are 2002 AT4 and 1989 ML.

With this input and the support of ESA?s Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) experts, the Advanced Concepts Team has now completed an extensive assessment of suitable mission architectures, launch strategies, propulsion system options and experiments.

The current scenario envisages two spacecraft in separate interplanetary trajectories. One spacecraft (Hidalgo) will impact an asteroid, the other (Sancho) will arrive earlier at the target asteroid, rendezvous and orbit the asteroid for several months, observing it before and after the impact to detect any changes in its orbit.

Industrial studies are now about to start; it will be down to European experts to propose alternative solutions for the design of the low-cost NEO precursor mission. This will be the first step towards the development of a means to tackle asteroid impacts ? one of the few natural disasters that our technology can prevent.

A near miss?
While the eyes of the world were on the Asian tsunami last Christmas, one group of scientists were watching uneasily for another potential natural disaster ? the threat of an asteroid impact.

On 19 December 2004 MN4, an asteroid of about 400 m, lost since its discovery six months earlier, was observed again and its orbit was computed. It immediately became clear that the chances that it could hit the Earth during a close encounter in 2029 were unusually high. As the days passed the probability did not decrease and the asteroid became notorious for surpassing all previous records in the Torino and Palermo impact risk scales – scales that measure the risk of an asteroid impact just as the Richter scale quantifies the size of an earthquake.

Only after earlier observations of the object were found and a more accurate trajectory was computed did it become clear that it would not impact the Earth ? at least not in 2029. Impacts on later dates, though unlikely, have not been totally ruled out. It is extremely difficult to tell what will happen unless we come up with a better way to track this or other NEOs and if necessary take steps to tackle them.

Most world experts agree that this capability is now within our reach. A mission like ESA?s Don Quijote could provide a means to assess a threatening NEO and take concrete steps to deflect it away from the Earth.

But every good performance needs rehearsing and in order to be ready for such a threat, we should try our hardware on a harmless asteroid first. Don Quijote would be the first mission to make such an attempt. The big question was: which asteroid and what should it be like?

Looking for the perfect target
The NEO population contains a confusing variety of objects, and deciding which physical parameters are most relevant for mitigation considerations is no trivial task. But the NEOMAP experts took on the challenge and in February 2005 provided ESA with their recommendations on the asteroid selection criteria for ESA?s deflection rehearsal.

People might wonder whether performing a deflection test, such as that planned for Don Quijote, represents any risk to our planet. What if things go wrong? Could we create a problem, rather than learn how to avoid one?

Experts world-wide say the answer is no. Even a very dramatic impact of a heavy spacecraft on a small asteroid would only result in a minuscule modification of the object?s orbit. In fact the change would be so small that the Don Quijote mission requires two spacecraft ? one to monitor the impact of the other. The second spacecraft measures the subtle variation of the object?s orbital parameters that would not be noticeable from Earth.

Target objects can also be selected so that all possible concerns are avoided altogether, by looking into the way the distance between the asteroid?s and the Earth?s orbits changes with time. If the target asteroid is not an ?Earth crosser?, as is the case with NEOs in the ?Amor? class (which have orbits with perihelion distance well in excess of 1 AU), testing a deflection manoeuvre represents no risk to the Earth.

Other considerations related to the orbit of the target asteroid are also important, especially the change of orbital velocity that is required by the spacecraft to ?catch up? with the target asteroid ? the so-called ?delta V?. This should be sufficiently small to minimise the required amount of spacecraft propellant and enable the use of cheaper launchers, but high enough to allow the same spacecraft to be used with a number of possible targets.

Navigation and deflection measurements requirements set some heavy constraints on the target selection. The shape, density, and size are all important factors, but are often poorly known. A spacecraft orbiting an asteroid needs to know about the object?s gravitational field in order to navigate. The ?impactor spacecraft? must know the position of the centre of mass to define the point it is aiming for.

Asteroids come in all sort of flavours, but as far as composition is concerned two main types dominate. Our still rudimentary knowledge of the abundance of asteroids of different types in the near-Earth asteroid population indicates that the next hazardous asteroid is more likely to be a ?C-type?, than an ?S-type?. C-types have dark surfaces with a carbonaceous spectral signature, while S-types have brighter surfaces, their spectra matching closely that of silicates. The surface properties of the target asteroid -and in particular the percentage of light that it reflects – are a critical factor in the final phase of the impactor spacecraft navigation. The brighter it looks the easier it is to aim at. However for a rehearsal the target should not be too easy.

ESA has selected asteroids 2002 AT4 and (10302) 1989 ML as mission targets because they represent best compromise among all the (sometimes conflicting) selection criteria. A decision on which of the two will become the final destination of both Sancho and Hidalgo spacecraft will be made in 2007.

Don Quijote ? the knight errant rides again
The phase of internal studies on the Don Quijote mission is now over, and it is time for the space industry to suggest suitable design solutions. ESA has made an open invitation to European space companies to submit proposals on possible designs. The selection of the most promising ones will take place towards the end of the year. In early 2006, two teams should start working on their interpretations of this technology demonstration mission. A year later, once the results are available, ESA will select the final design to be implemented, and then Don Quijote will be ready to take on an asteroid!

Additional Notes
Don Quijote is a NEO deflection test mission based entirely on conventional spacecraft technologies. It would comprise two spacecraft – one of them (Hidalgo) impacting an asteroid at a very high relative speed while a second one (Sancho) would arrive earlier at the same asteroid and remain in its vicinity before and after the impact to measure the variation on the asteroid?s orbital parameters, as well as to study the object.

Asteroid 2004 MN has now been given an official designation, (99942) Apophis. Recent observations using Doppler radar using Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico have reduced the impact probability during future encounters to very small levels, though they have not totally ruled out an Earth impact. In 2029, the asteroid will have the closest approach ever witnessed for an object of this size, swinging by the Earth at a distance of around 32,000 kilometres. Its trajectory will be well within the geosynchronous orbit used by most telecommunications and weather satellites, and the object will be visible to the naked eye. Further radar measurements are expected in 2013.

Original Source: ESA News Release

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Delta Launches New GPS Satellite

Boeing Delta II rocket launching new GPS satellite. Image credit: Boeing. Click to enlarge.
A Boeing [NYSE: BA] Delta II launch vehicle today successfully delivered the first of the modernized Block IIR Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to space for the U.S. Air Force.

The Delta II rocket carrying the GPS IIR-14 (M) spacecraft lifted off from Space Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., yesterday at 11:37 p.m. EDT. Following a nominal 24-minute flight, the rocket deployed the satellite to a transfer orbit.

“We are honored to be the United States Air Force’s choice to launch the GPS satellites and proud to have delivered the first modernized spacecraft to its targeted orbit. Tonight’s success is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of Boeing’s Delta team,” said Dan Collins, vice president, Boeing Expendable Launch Systems.

The Boeing Delta II 7925-9.5 configuration vehicle used for this mission featured a Boeing first stage booster powered by a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine and nine Alliant Techsystems (ATK) solid rocket boosters. An Aerojet AJ10-118K engine powered the storable propellant restartable second stage. A Thiokol Star-48B solid rocket motor propelled the third stage prior to spacecraft deployment. The rocket also flew with a nine-and-a-half-foot diameter Boeing payload fairing.

A redundant inertial flight control assembly built by L3 Communications Space & Navigation provided guidance and control for the rocket that enabled a precise deployment of the satellite.

The GPS IIR-14 (M) mission also marked the 100th flight of the Delta II using the ATK 40-inch diameter version solid rocket motors.

Boeing provides launches for the GPS program aboard Delta II vehicles and has a planned GPS manifest through at least 2007.

The GPS network supports U.S. military operations conducted from aircraft, ships, land vehicles and by ground personnel. Additional use includes mapping, aerial refueling and rendezvous, geodetic surveys, and search and rescue operations.

GPS provides military and civilian users three-dimensional position location data in longitude, latitude and elevation as well as precise time and velocity. The satellites orbit the earth every 12 hours, emitting continuous navigation signals. The signals are so accurate, time can be figured to within one millionth of a second, velocity within a fraction of a mile-per-second and location to within 100 feet.

The new GPS IIR-14 (M) is the first of the modernized GPS satellites that incorporates various improvements to provide greater accuracy, increased resistance to interference and enhanced performance for users.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world’s largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.5 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems; the world’s largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world’s largest satellite manufacturer and a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA’s largest contractor; and a global leader in sustainment solutions and launch services.

Original Source: Boeing News Release

Posted on by Mark Mortimer

Book Review: The Dancing Universe

To understand physics is to understand the motion of the objects surrounding our everyday lives. Studying wheels that turn on the ground is simple. Studying galaxies that spin is another thing altogether. However, the principles of a galaxy’s motion and that of a wheel are amazingly similar. Sometimes all we need do is build an imaginary scenario in our minds to postulate one truth, once given another.

Gleiser really promotes this idea of mental model building in his book as he chronologically steps through 3000 years of history. Further, by placing the reader beside the historical figure, he gives a feel for the real person. He does this by locating the person geographically, identifying supporters and detractors, and adding descriptions of any relevant tools. For example, Philolaus of Croton, around 450 BC, lived in Southern Italy but was encouraged by an unfriendly mob to move to Greece. Using Pythagorean principles, he postulated a framework of celestial objects that explained day and night on Earth. In so doing he was the first to place the sun at the centre of the universe. Philolaus had no tools at hand, but he did live with a collection of like minded thinkers. In a style like this, Gleiser not only shows the contributions of many people but he also shows how society’s collective knowledge replaced the belief that god(s) were responsible.

The chronological sequence gets a rough start as Gleiser begins by thoroughly assessing primitive philosophy. The first chapter delves into creation myths of long ago when people without much information tried to build a comprehension of their existence. With this, a reader may expect a strong leaning toward philosophy throughout. This is not the case, as aside from particular researchers involved with both physics and philosophy, the remaining contents fixates purely on the progress of physics. As expected, there are: the Greeks and their postulating, the trials between the Roman Catholic church and science, the empowerment of universities, and the transcendence of the individual. Some early researchers referred to may be unknown, but otherwise Gleiser includes all the big names.

This study of the main contributors turns out to be Gleiser’s actual intent. He uses this book as the text in a large physics class for non-science majors. Hence, though he alludes to the value of physics, he focuses on the people and their contributions. He likely has been doing this for some time as all his descriptions are extremely clear, simple and easy to follow. For instance, he uses the traditional means of describing special relativity; this being a person in a train and another at the station. Yet, he clearly describes the experimental basis for never having light at rest and thus needing light to have the same speed independent of the observer. No equations reside in the pages, nor pictures, though a few simple diagrams facilitate understanding. Because of this, Glacier’s non-science majors are likely very thankful.

However, Glacier short changes his students. Though his knowledge of physics and refined presentation skills comes across very well, he doesn’t tempt the students (or other readers) to deepen their understanding. For example, there is no push for them to spend more time wondering why the physical laws exist and are (apparently) universal. I liked the very brief discussion regarding the big bang and the time immediately before and after. Sadly, I didn’t really see any hooks that might draw in a reader. As such, this book is a great review and summary but does very little to encourage the advancement of knowledge, i.e., the making of new researchers.

The very word cosmology engenders visions of apparently unending borders. Going on a mission to explore where none have gone before seems like the only game in town. Marcelo Gleiser in his book The Dancing Universe provides some real background for those non-specialists who want to know more about the borders. And should society’s interest continue to grow, there just might come a time when people can travel to find if a border exists.

Review by Mark Mortimer

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