Posted on by Fraser Cain

Interview: Dennis Wingo, Author of Moonrush

Let’s assume the money is available and a CISLunar economy is beginning. Where would your job be?

My job would be in two phases.

Phase I is the construction of some portions of the in-space infrastructure needed for the Cis-Lunar economy utilizing my method of in orbit assembly. This would be to construct things like a large solar electric tug (our company Orbital Recovery is developing a small tug to service the GEO comsat market now using conventional methods) that would move heavy payloads from ISS or another orbital facility to the Earth/Moon L1 libration point. This is the optimum location for a supply depot/fueling stop for a Cis-lunar economy. Another piece of hardware would be a reusable lunar lander. It is far easier to build a single stage to orbit vehicle for the Moon versus the earth (2.5 km/sec delta v versus 7 kilometers per second delta v).

Phase II is the development of in-situ resource extraction technology for oxygen, water, and valuable metals such as the Platinum Group metals described in the book. The “waste metals” such as iron, nickel, cobalt, would be used to build up infrastructure on the Moon such as large habitation structures, railroads, power distribution networks, and the like. In phase II we would also develop large heavy lift launch vehicles that would cycle from the Moon’s surface to L1. The amazing thing about President Bush’s announcement on January 14, 2004 was his putting forth the idea of vehicles built on the Moon that would carry us to Mars. If I build a launch vehicle there I am unencumbered with the requirement to make the launch vehicle look like a pencil.

How would you set property rights for Earth’s moon.

Property rights are a difficult subject that brings out heavy emotions on all sides. I would rather do something like establish lease rights for resource utilization on the Moon and then set up open bases that would be available for all who want to use it in favorable locations. There is this idea in the U.N. Outer Space treaty that the Moon is the common heritage of all mankind. Well I agree with that, so is the Earth. That does not preclude the use of the Moon’s resources by folks here on the Earth and there is no way that anyone looking at the problem can make a statement that governments are more capable at extracting those resources than private enterprise. It is funny in a way as over the long term resources are not the greatest value asset on the Moon, there are much more resources in the asteroid belt. The Moon and its environs will be a manufacturing center. Who owns the free space between the Earth and Moon? That is where the long term value places are.

If a CISLunar economy gets going, how long until we get to the next space body and mine it?

The value of the Moon is its time cost of money for the near term. It should be intuitively obvious to the casual observer that the Moon, being three days away, is a more cost effective place to extract resources in the near term than the Near Earth Asteroids (NEA’s). However, that being said, the NEA’s are going to be the much more overall cost effective locations, but only after the infrastructure gets started on the Moon as I described in your first question. I am very certain that we are going to be using Phobos and Deimos as well, both for resources and as a location for a very large base of operations to support Martian development. So, after giving you a long winded answer I expect that it will take less than a decade to do this, again after the Cis-Lunar portion of the economy gets on sound footing.

How could countries get organized to tackle lunar mining? Are there any projects on Earth that could serve as a model?

Well there are huge projects here on the Earth that are direct analogs and companies already in the business of doing it. Take Anglo American Platinum. Recently they spent $3.6 billion U.S. dollars to up the production of Platinum at one mine in South Africa by 74,000 kilograms per year. After the Cis-lunar economy is set up, these numbers are not out of line for a new mine on the Moon. Norlisk, a Russian venture, that owns the Stillwater Platinum mine in Montana is another company. Then you have the mines in Canada at Sudbury that also have the expertise and wherewithal to take on such projects. The Canadian government recently put out a document that stated that just at Sudbury there is over $100 billion dollars worth of nickel still in the ground there. Just one medium nickel/iron impact on the Moon has more Nickel and Platinum Group Metals than that. Again, governments are ill suited to this type of activity as the whole history of the Soviet Union illustrates. As an aside, all of the mines that I mentioned are mining asteroid derived platinum and other metals.

Will there be a point that we’ve wrecked our environment and we’re too late to start mining space?

That is a dang good question. The only thing lacking today to do mining in space, on the Moon, the NEA’s and elsewhere is will. We have the technology, we have the capital, we just don’t seem to be able to get our act together to do it. I think that the reason is that for the last 30 years the guys holding the purse strings have been scientists, concerned with the science value of our nearby celestial orbs. While I am completely supportive of science, science is an inadequate justification for a large scale move into space. It has to be economics. We have it within our power to, within 50 years, to completely eliminate most mining on the Earth, not by legislation but by competition with the much more plentiful resources that are out there waiting to be taken. We have the technical ability to do this and it would be an incredible boon to the terrestrial environment. The World Wildlife Federation just this past week came out with yet another proclamation that we are using more resources from the Earth than is sustainable. Well they should be our greatest supporters because the scale of resource available just between here and Jupiter is billions of times greater than we could possibly use, even with a much larger population than we have today. We do not have a problem with resources. We have a problem of a lack of vision by those in government and in the environmental movement to look at the issues in different ways than has been the norm in the past. The reason for this in the environmental movement is that they are wedded to the central tenant of the “Limits to Growth” that there are no technical solutions to our problem. This is manifestly untrue but is an axiom in those circles. Another reason is that the “space” community, lack the passion of the environmentalist in putting forward our solutions, and rounding up the cash to make it happen. However, I do see hopes out there today that this is changing, and I am doing my part to help. So in the end my answer is that it is up to us and that we do not have to get to that point and we will not unless we are incredibly stupid.

Knowing what you know now but putting yourself in the place of President Kennedy, what if anything would you do differently regarding the 1960’s space initiative.

That is easy, I would have cut off the stupid arguments between the different architectures that went on between Von Braun and Gilruth and went with Von Braun’s Earth Orbit Rendezvous method of going to the Moon. The Saturn I’s and IB’s were in production and flying by 1965 and had the lift capacity of a Delta IV to LEO. The Saturn V with a Skylab type station could have put into place the LEO infrastructure to enable the original Von Braun architecture as outlined in the famous Collier’s articles in the early 1950’s to have happened and the world would be a different place today. It was only in late 1962 that Von Braun caved in order to get us to the Moon by any method, that caused the screw up that has placed out entire civilization at risk by that one decision to abandon the build up in LEO infrastructure. Von Braun saw this in 1962 but knew that we had to beat the Russians and in the end, while we beat the Russians then, we are being beat today by the energy crisis that could end up engulfing the entire world in war. A heck of a bargain.

How does the new US space initiative to return to the Moon support your thinking?

Actually I am very hopeful. It is amazing that president Bush not only mentioned using the resources of the Moon for fuel but also the construction of spaceships there. Even Kennedy did not have that wide ranging of a vision. In execution so far it has been uneven. In February of this year, not long after the president’s announcement, former Congressman Robert Walker spoke at STAIF, a conference in Albuquerque New Mexico about the danger that the “stovepipes” of existing interests within NASA would kill this initiative just as they killed the earlier president Bush’s initiative. He is being proven right in this regard. I truly think that NASA headquarters “gets it” and is trying to do the right thing. The same cannot be said of some of the NASA centers. I ask each and every NASA employee and contractor who thinks that protecting their existing job is the most important thing in the world to ask themselves that is that more important than our collective future? NASA has a choice before it today. There is an old saying that goes “lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way”. Well today there is some great leadership at headquarters and in isolated pockets at the centers. Some are ready to follow just to survive and the rest need to get the hell out of the way.

We cannot go to the Moon or anywhere else with the current NASA/contractor infrastructure inherited from decades of organic growth. O’Keefe knows this, and the defense department knows this as well. It is going to take pressure from inside and outside to make this happen. Burt Rutan fired off the first shot in this new battle. We need those people like Paul Allen, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Robert Bigelow, and Walt Anderson who have the passion and the financial wherewithal to provide the competitive pressure on the existing system. Mr. O’Keefe and Craig Steidle and the people around them are liberating some funds to support the alt.space community as well. NASA has a chance to help make this happen the right way. I hope that each and every morning these guys get up and think that the future of civilization depends on them doing this right. I know that many of us out here think that way. Again, I am very hopeful that we will make this happen.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Expedition 9 Lands Safely

Image credit: NASA
International Space Station Expedition 9 crewmembers, Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Science Officer Mike Fincke landed on target in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 8:36 p.m. EDT Saturday after 188 days in space.

Padalka and Fincke had undocked their Soyuz capsule from the orbiting laboratory at 5:08 p.m. EDT and headed home. With them was Russian Space Forces Test Cosmonaut Yuri Shargin, who had come to the Station with the Expedition 10 crew, Commander Leroy Chiao and Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov. Shargin spent eight days on the Station doing scientific experiments.

With Padalka and Fincke’s launch in April, six months earlier than initial plans, the two-man crew lived and worked on the Station, conducting scientific experiments and maintaining Station systems.

Fincke led the American scientific research agenda, working in the Destiny Laboratory module of the Space Station for advances to further future exploration.

In addition to continued studies on the effects of weightlessness on the human body, Fincke conducted multiple experiments in the physical sciences, completing more than 100 percent of the research agenda with 24 research experiments.

During their mission, Padalka and Fincke received two Russian Progress Cargo supply ships and conducted four spacewalks.

Soon after the crew’s arrival, one of the Station’s control moment gyroscopes, which control the vehicle’s orientation, lost power and shut down, requiring an unplanned spacewalk to replace a circuit breaker for the part. Donning Russian spacesuits, due to a cooling malfunction of the American spacesuits, Padalka and Fincke headed out into the void for their first time, but had to end the spacewalk within minutes when Fincke’s oxygen system was not operating correctly. On their second attempt, the pair navigated around the American side of the Station and successfully replaced the circuit breaker, restoring power to the gyroscope.

On two subsequent planned spacewalks, Padalka and Fincke replaced a set of samples being tested for their ability to withstand the space environment; they changed out a thruster residue experiment that had gathered data for more than two years; and installed radio antennas and upgraded navigational aids needed for next year’s arrival of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).

Aside from their planned mission activities, the ninth crew to live on Station experienced a series of events that kept them connected to Earth during their six-month orbital stay.

During an unrelenting hurricane season, Padalka and Fincke captured the fury of an alphabet of tropical weather systems in the Atlantic and Caribbean: Alex, Bonnie, Charley, Frances and Ivan with digital cameras onboard.

From space, they observed both life and death. The crew celebrated the birth of Fincke’s baby daughter, Tarali Paulina, a first-time event for a Station resident and noted the death of former American President Ronald Reagan who first directed the construction of an orbital outpost.

Padalka and Fincke also did their part in inspiring the next generation of explorers in several Earth-bound activities, including a question-and-answer session to students on eating, a life necessity, in space.

Returned to Earth, Padalka and Fincke will take part in debriefings and medical activities in Star City, Russia. They will then travel to Houston in mid-November for further post-flight activities.

Station activities were handed over to the orbiting laboratory’s new residents, Expedition 10 crewmembers Commander Leroy Chiao and ISS Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov who arrived eight days ago.

Their mission includes two spacewalks, arrival of two unpiloted Progress supply capsules, and preparation for the arrival of the first Space Shuttle to visit the International Space Station since the Space Shuttle Columbia accident.

Science will continue, much of it with facilities and samples already on the Space Station. The Expedition 10 research agenda remains flexible. It includes experiments in human life sciences and space operations.

Chiao and Sharipov also will work with the Station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2. Their activities will focus on observations outside of the Station, maintaining operator proficiency, and completing the checkout of the Canadarm2 system.

Original Source: NASA News Release

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Cassini’s First Titan Flyby Tomorrow

Long hidden behind a thick veil of haze, Titan, the only known moon with an atmosphere, is ready for its close-up on Oct. 26, 2004. This visit by the Cassini spacecraft may settle intense speculation about whether this moon of Saturn harbors oceans of liquid methane and ethane beneath its coat of clouds.

Cassini will fly by Titan at a distance of 1,200 kilometers (745 miles), with closest approach at 9:44 a.m. Pacific Time. This flyby will be nearly 300 times closer than the first Cassini flyby of Titan, on July 3.

This is one of 45 planned flybys of Titan during the four-year tour. Subsequent flybys will bring the spacecraft even closer. Scientists believe Titan’s atmosphere is similar to that of early Earth.

“Cassini will see Titan as it has never been seen before. We expect the onboard instruments will pierce the moon’s dense atmosphere and reveal a whole new world,” said Dr. Charles Elachi, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and team leader for the Cassini radar instrument.

One important goal of this flyby is to confirm scientists’ model of Titan’s atmosphere to prepare for the Huygens probe descent. The probe, built and managed by the European Space Agency, will be cut loose from its mother ship on Christmas Eve and will coast through the atmosphere of Titan. On the way down, the probe will sample the atmosphere with a sophisticated set of scientific instruments.

“Titan has been lying still, waiting. Cassini may finally show us if what we thought of this moon is true, and whether the Huygens probe touchdown will be a splash,” said Dr. Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Huygens project manager and project scientist for the European Space Research and Technology Center, Noordwijk, Netherlands.

Eleven of Cassini’s 12 instruments will be aimed at Titan during this encounter. Scientists hope to learn more about Titan’s interior structure, surface, atmosphere and interaction with Saturn’s magnetosphere. This first in-place sampling of Titan’s atmosphere will help in understanding the atmosphere’s density and composition, which, in turn, will help aid management of the Huygens probe. This flyby will mark the first time Cassini’s imaging radar is used to observe Titan, and is expected to provide topographical maps and show whether there is a liquid or solid surface.

“We know our instrument will see through the haze to Titan’s surface,” said Dr. Robert H. Brown, team leader for the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, University of Arizona, Tucson. “This encounter is about digging down below the atmosphere and getting our first glimpse of Titan geology.”

Cassini’s ion and neutral mass spectrometer will taste mysterious, subtle flavors in Titan’s atmosphere. “Our instrument will scoop up a breath of Titan’s puffy atmosphere during the flyby,” said Roger Yelle, instrument team member, also with the University of Arizona. The experiment will measure how many molecules of different masses it gathers in the gulp of Titan’s mostly nitrogen, methane-laced atmosphere.

Titan is Saturn’s largest moon. It is larger than Mercury or Pluto and is the second largest moon in the solar system, after Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. Titan is a cold place thought to be inhospitable to life at 95 degrees Kelvin (minus 289 degrees Fahrenheit).

Cassini has performed flawlessly since entering orbit around Saturn on June 30. The team believes that on Tuesday night, all will proceed as planned.

“This is not the same white-knuckle situation we had during Saturn orbit insertion, but there are some things we can’t control,” said Earl Maize, deputy project manager for the Cassini-Huygens mission at JPL. “If a spacecraft anomaly should occur, or if the weather at the tracking stations does not cooperate, the science return may be limited or lost. Although this is an unlikely scenario, the possibility still exists.” Cassini will have only one opportunity to send the data back to Earth before the data are overwritten on the recorders by data from the next set of observations. The first downlink of data by NASA’s Deep Space Network occurs at 6:30 p.m. PDT.

More information on the Cassini-Huygens mission is available at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.

Original Source: NASA/JPL News Release

Posted on by Mark Mortimer

Review: Moonwatch

The book inside is Peter Grego’s Moon Observer Guide. You can read our review of this book here. To sum up, this book talks about types of viewing equipment, how to record observations and what are the neat things too look for. The book is quite comprehensive though for more detail, it’s the map you’ll need.

The Moon map by John Murray gives an index of over 500 prominent features on the Moon’s visible side. Of course in addition to rilles, craters and mares, you will see bright red marks for our probes and landers. This poster would look sharp mounted on any wall. North is at the top so all the names read easily for people in the northern hemisphere. Maybe there is another version for viewers in the southern hemisphere otherwise they will need to turn the map around and learn to read upside down! The map comes folded at 13 by 23 cm and unfolds to about 100 by 70 cm.

The last item, and itself a very nice touch, is a broad sheet with photographs of the Moon. There are 26 images on each side of the sheet which effectively makes for a photograph for each Earth night. An image is about 11 centimetres in diameter. One side has photographs of the view from Earth’s northern hemisphere and the other from Earth’s southern hemisphere though from a quick perusal there’s not much difference between the two.

With this package it’s quite easy and fun to look at the Moon in the night sky. Compare the Moon to one of the photographs on the sheet then go to the book to identify the features then go to the Moon map to pick up on small features or special locations. It’s simple to do and very informative. With Moonwatch – A Complete Starter Pack for the Lunar Observer, Firefly publishers have put together a great Christmas gift great or a good any-day addition to a club or group that wants to get into lunar watching.

To read more reviews, or order the book online, visit Amazon.com.

Review by Mark Mortimer

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Reminder: Plan for the Lunar Eclipse

As we reported a week ago, there’s going to be a lunar eclipse on October 27/28 which will be visible from the Americas and Western Europe. This’ll be the last chance to see a total lunar eclipse for a while, so I highly suggest – no, I demand – that you set aside some time on Wednesday evening to enjoy it. We’re having an eclipse party with some friends.

If it’s cloudy in your area, or you live in a part of the world that just can’t see it, don’t worry, I’ll be putting together my regular list of astrocameras focused on the Moon. If you’re going to be broadcasting coverage of the eclipse onto the Internet, please email me at [email protected] so that we can get as complete a coverage as possible.

Thanks!

Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Spirit Steering Problem Returns

A problem that affects the steering on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has recurred after disappearing for nearly two weeks.

Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are working to fully understand the intermittent problem and then implement operational work-arounds. Meanwhile, Spirit successfully steered and drove 3.67 meters (12 feet) on Oct. 17.

Rover engineers are also analyzing a positive development on Spirit’s twin, Opportunity: a sustained boost in power generation by Opportunity’s solar panels.

Both rovers have successfully completed their three-month primary missions and their first mission extensions. They began second extensions of their missions on Oct. 1.

Rover engineers refrained from driving Spirit for five days after an Oct. 1 malfunction of a system that prevents wheels from being jostled in unwanted directions while driving. Each of the front and rear wheels of the rover has a motor called a steering actuator. It sets the direction in which the wheel is headed. The steering actuators are different from the motors that make the wheels roll, and hold the wheel in a specific direction while driving. A relay used in turning these steering actuators on and off is the likely cause of the intermittent nature of the anomaly.

The relay operates Spirit’s right-front and left-rear wheels concurrently, and did not operate as commanded on Oct. 1. Subsequent testing showed no trace of the problem, and on Oct. 7, the rover steered successfully and drove about 2 meters (7 feet), putting it in position to examine a layered rock called “Tetl” for several days. However, the anomaly occurred again on Oct. 13, and the problem appeared intermittently in tests later last week.

“We are continuing tests on Spirit and in our testbed here at JPL,” said Jim Erickson, Mars Exploration Rover project manager at JPL. One possible work-around would be to deliberately blow a fuse controlling the relay, disabling the brake action of the steering actuators. The rovers could be operated without that feature. “The only change might be driving in shorter steps when the rover is in rugged terrain,” Erickson said.

Spirit has driven a total of 3,647 meters (2.27 miles) since landing, more than six times the distance set as a goal for the mission. Its current target is a layered rock called “Uchben” in the “Columbia Hills.” Opportunity has driven 1,619 meters (just over a mile). Its latest stop is a lumpy boulder dubbed “Wopmay” inside “Endurance Crater.”

The daily power supply for each rover comes from 1.3 square meters (14 square feet) of solar panels converting sunlight into electricity. Just after the landings in January, the output was about 900 watt-hours per day for each rover — enough to run a 100-watt bulb for nine hours. As anticipated, output gradually declined due to dust buildup and the martian seasonal change with fewer hours of sunlight and a lower angle of the Sun in the sky. By July, Spirit’s daily output had declined to about 400 watt-hours per day. It has been between 400 and 500 watt-hours per day for most of the past two months.

Opportunity, closer to Mars’ equator and with the advantage of a sunward-facing tilt as it explored inside the southern half of a crater, maintained an output level between 500 and 600 watt-hours per day in June, July and August. Since early September, the amount of electricity from Opportunity’s solar panels has increased markedly and unexpectedly, to more than 700 watt-hours per day, a level not seen since the first 10 weeks of the mission.

“We’ve been surprised but pleased to see this increase,” said Erickson, “The team is evaluating ways to determine which of a few different theories is the best explanation.”

Possible explanations under consideration include the action of wind removing some dust from the solar panels or the action of frost causing dust to clump. “We seem to have had several substantial cleanings of the solar panels,” Erickson said.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Additional information about the project is available from JPL at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/ and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at http://athena.cornell.edu.

Original Source: NASA/JPL News Release

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Frame Dragging Confirmed

An international team of NASA and university researchers has found the first direct evidence the Earth is dragging space and time around itself as it rotates.

The researchers believe they have measured the effect, first predicted in 1918 by using Einstein’s theory of general relativity, by precisely observing shifts in the orbits of two Earth-orbiting laser-ranging satellites. The researchers observed the orbits of the Laser Geodynamics Satellite I (LAGEOS I), a NASA spacecraft, and LAGEOS II, a joint NASA/Italian Space Agency (ASI) spacecraft.

The research, reported in the journal Nature, is the first accurate measurement of a bizarre effect that predicts a rotating mass will drag space around it. The Lense-Thirring Effect is also known as frame dragging.

The team was led by Dr. Ignazio Ciufolini of the University of Lecce, Italy, and Dr. Erricos C. Pavlis of the Joint Center for Earth System Technology, a research collaboration between NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

“General relativity predicts massive rotating objects should drag space-time around themselves as they rotate,” Pavlis said. “Frame dragging is like what happens if a bowling ball spins in a thick fluid such as molasses. As the ball spins, it pulls the molasses around itself. Anything stuck in the molasses will also move around the ball. Similarly, as the Earth rotates, it pulls space-time in its vicinity around itself. This will shift the orbits of satellites near Earth.” The study is a follow-up to earlier work in 1998 where the authors’ team reported the first direct detection of the effect.

The previous measurement was much less accurate than the current work, due to inaccuracies in the gravitational model available at the time. Data from NASA’s GRACE mission allowed for a vast improvement in the accuracy of new models, which made this new result possible.

“We found the plane of the orbits of LAGEOS I and II were shifted about six feet (two meters) per year in the direction of the Earth’s rotation,” Pavlis said. “Our measurement agrees 99 percent with what is predicted by general relativity, which is within our margin of error of plus or minus five percent. Even if the gravitational model errors are off by two or three times the officially quoted values, our measurement is still accurate to 10 percent or better.” Future measurements by Gravity Probe B, a NASA spacecraft launched in 2004, should reduce this error margin to less than one percent. This promises to tell researchers much more about the physics involved.

Ciufolini’s team, using the LAGEOS satellites, previously observed the Lense-Thirring effect. It has recently been observed around distant celestial objects with intense gravitational fields, such as black holes and neutron stars. The new research around Earth is the first direct, precise measurement of this phenomenon at the five to 10 percent level. The team analyzed an 11-year period of laser ranging data from the LAGEOS satellites from 1993 to 2003, using a method devised by Ciufolini a decade ago.

The measurements required the use of an extremely accurate model of the Earth’s gravitational field, called EIGEN-GRACE02S, which became available only recently, based on an analysis of GRACE data. The model was developed at the GeoForschungs Zentrum Potsdam, Germany, by a group who are co-principal investigators of the GRACE mission along with the Center for Space Research of the University of Texas at Austin.

LAGEOS II, launched in 1992, and its predecessor, LAGEOS I, launched in 1976, are passive satellites dedicated exclusively to laser ranging. The process entails sending laser pulses to the satellite from ranging stations on Earth and then recording the round-trip travel time. Given the known value for the speed of light, this measurement enables scientists to precisely determine the distances between laser ranging stations on Earth and the satellite.

NASA and Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. developed Gravity Probe B. It will precisely check tiny changes in the direction of spin of four gyroscopes contained in an Earth satellite orbiting 400-miles directly over the poles. The experiment will test two theories relating to Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, including the Lense-Thirring Effect. These effects, though small for Earth, have far-reaching implications for the nature of matter and the structure of the universe.

Original Source: NASA News Release

Posted on by Fraser Cain

The Virgo Galaxy Cluster is Still Being Formed

An international team of astronomers [2] has succeeded in measuring with high precision the velocities of a large number of planetary nebulae [3] in the intergalactic space within the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. For this they used the highly efficient FLAMES spectrograph [4] on the ESO Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory (Chile).

These planetary nebulae stars free floating in the otherwise seemingly empty space between the galaxies of large clusters can be used as “probes” of the gravitational forces acting within these clusters. They trace the masses, visible as well as invisible, within these regions. This, in turn, allows astronomers to study the formation history of these large bound structures in the universe.

The accurate velocity measurements of 40 of these stars confirm the view that Virgo is a highly non-uniform galaxy cluster, consisting of several subunits that have not yet had time to come to equilibrium. These new data clearly show that the Virgo Cluster of galaxies is still in its making.

They also prove for the first time that one of the bright galaxies in the region scrutinized, Messier 87, has a very extended halo of stars, reaching out to at least 65 kpc. This is more than twice the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

A young cluster
At a distance of approximately 50 million light-years, the Virgo Cluster is the nearest galaxy cluster. It is located in the zodiacal constellation Virgo (The Virgin) and contains many hundreds of galaxies, ranging from giant and massive elliptical galaxies and spirals like our own Milky Way, to dwarf galaxies, hundreds of times smaller than their big brethren. French astronomer Charles Messier entered 16 members of the Virgo cluster in his famous catalogue of nebulae. An image of the core of the cluster obtained with the Wide Field Imager camera at the ESO La Silla Observatory was published last year as PR Photo 04a/03.

Clusters of galaxies are believed to have formed over a long period of time by the assembly of smaller entities, through the strong gravitational pull from dark and luminous matter. The Virgo cluster is considered to be a relatively young cluster because previous studies have revealed small “sub-clusters of galaxies” around the major galaxies Messier 87, Messier 86 and Messier 49. These sub-clusters have yet to merge to form a denser and smoother galaxy cluster.

Recent observations have shown that the so-called “intracluster” space, the region between galaxies in a cluster, is permeated by a sparse “intracluster population of stars”, which can be used to study in detail the structure of the cluster.

Cosmic wanderers
The first discoveries of intracluster stars in the Virgo cluster were made serendipitously by Italian astronomer, Magda Arnaboldi (Torino Observatory, Italy) and her colleagues, in 1996. In order to study the extended halos of galaxies in the Virgo cluster, with the ESO New Technology Telescope at La Silla, they searched for objects known as “planetary nebulae” [3].

Planetary nebulae (PNe) can be detected out to large distances from their strong emission lines. These narrow emission lines also allow for a precise measure of their radial velocities. Planetary Nebulae can thus serve to investigate the motions of stars in the halo regions of distant galaxies.

In their study, the astronomers found several planetary nebulae apparently not related to any galaxies but moving in the gravity field of the whole cluster. These “wanderers” belonged to a newly discovered intracluster population of stars.

Since these first observations, several hundreds of these wanderers have been discovered. They must represent the tip of the iceberg of a huge population of stars swarming among the galaxies in these enormous clusters. Indeed, as planetary nebulae are the final stage of common low mass stars – like our Sun – they are representative of the stellar population in general. And as planetary nebulae are rather short-lived (a few tens of thousand years – a blitz on astronomical timescales), astronomers can estimate that one star in about 8,000 million of solar-type stars is visible as a planetary nebula at any given moment. There must thus be a comparable number of stars in between galaxies as in the galaxies themselves. But because they are diluted in such a huge volume, they are barely detectable.

Because these stars are predominantly old, the most likely explanation for their presence in the intracluster space is that they formed within individual galaxies, which were subsequently stripped of many of their stars during close encounters with other galaxies during the initial stages of cluster formation. These “lost” stars were then dispersed into intracluster space where we now find them.

Thus planetary nebulae can provide a unique handle on the number, type of stars and motions in regions that may harbour a substantial amount of mass. Their motions contain the fossil record of the history of galaxy interaction and the formation of the galaxy cluster.

Measuring the speed of dying stars
The international team of astronomers [2] went on further to make a detailed study of the motions of the planetary nebulae in the Virgo cluster in order to determine its dynamical structure and compare it with numerical simulations. To this aim, they carried out a challenging research programme, aimed at confirming intracluster planetary nebula candidates they found earlier and measuring their radial velocities in three different regions (“survey fields”) in the Virgo cluster core.

This is far from an easy task. The emission in the main Oxygen emission line from a planetary nebula in Virgo is comparable to that of a 60-Watt light bulb at a distance of about 6.6 million kilometres, about 17 times the average distance to the Moon. Furthermore intracluster planetary nebula samples are sparse, with only a few tens of planetary nebulae in a quarter of a degree square sky field – about the size of the Moon. Spectroscopic observations thus require 8 metre class telescopes and spectrographs with a large field of view. The astronomers had therefore to rely on the FLAMES-GIRAFFE spectrograph on the VLT [4], with its relatively high spectral resolution, its field of view of 25 arcmin and the possibility to take up to 130 spectra at a time.

The astronomers studied a total of 107 stars, among which 71 were believed to be genuine intracluster planetary candidates. They observed between 21 and 49 objects simultaneously for about 2 hours per field. The three parts of the Virgo core surveyed contain several bright galaxies (Messier 84, 86, 87, and NGC 4388) and a large number of smaller galaxies. They were chosen to represent different entities of the cluster.

The spectroscopic measurements could confirm the intracluster nature of 40 of the planetary nebulae studied. They also provided a wealth of knowledge on the structure of this part of the Virgo cluster.

In The Making
In the first field near Messier 87 (M87), the astronomers measured a mean velocity close to 1250 km/s and a rather small dispersion around this value. Most stars in this field are thus physically bound to the bright galaxy M87, in the same way as the Earth is bound to the Sun. Magda Arnaboldi explains: “This study has led to the remarkable discovery that Messier 87 has a stellar halo in approximate dynamical equilibrium out to at least 65 kpc, or more than 200,000 light-years. This is more than twice the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and was not known before.”

The velocity dispersion observed in the second field, which is far away from bright galaxies, is larger than in the first one by a factor four. This very large dispersion, indicating stars moving in very disparate directions at different speeds, also tells us that this field most probably contains many intracluster stars whose motions are barely influenced by large galaxies. The new data suggest as a tantalizing possibility that this intracluster population of stars could be the leftover from the disruption of small galaxies as they orbit M87.

The velocity distribution in the third field, as deduced from FLAMES spectra, is again different. The velocities show substructures related to the large galaxies Messier 86, Messier 84 and NGC 4388. Most likely, the large majority of all these planetary nebulae belong to a very extended halo around Messier 84.

Ortwin Gerhard (University of Basel, Switzerland), member of the team, is thrilled: “Taken together these velocity measurements confirm the view that the Virgo Cluster is a highly non-uniform and unrelaxed galaxy cluster, consisting of several subunits. With the FLAMES spectrograph, we have thus been able to watch the motions in the Virgo Cluster, at a moment when its subunits are still coming together. And it is certainly a view worth seeing!”

More information
The results presented in this ESO Press Release are based on a research paper (“The Line-of-Sight Velocity Distributions of Intracluster Planetary Nebulae in the Virgo Cluster Core” by M. Arnaboldi et al.) that has just appeared in the research journal Astrophysical Journal Letters Vol. 614, p. 33.

Notes
[1]: The University of Basel Press Release on this topic is available at http://www.zuv.unibas.ch/uni_media/2004/20041022virgo.html.

[2]: The members of the team are Magda Arnaboldi (INAF, Osservatorio di Pino Torinese, Italy), Ortwin Gerhard (Astronomisches Institut, Universit?t Basel, Switzerland), Alfonso Aguerri (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Spain), Kenneth C. Freeman (Mount Stromlo Observatory, ACT, Australia), Nicola Napolitano (Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, The Netherlands), Sadanori Okamura (Dept. of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, Japan), and Naoki Yasuda (Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Japan).

[3]: Planetary nebulae are Sun-like stars in their final dying phase during which they eject their outer layers into surrounding space. At the same time, they unveil their small and hot stellar core which appears as a “white dwarf star”. The ejected envelope is illuminated and heated by the stellar core and emits strongly in characteristic emission lines of several elements, notably oxygen (at wavelengths 495.9 and 500.7 nm). Their name stems from the fact that some of these nearby objects, such as the “Dumbbell Nebula” (see ESO PR Photo 38a/98) resemble the discs of the giant planets in the solar system when viewed with small telescopes.

[4]: FLAMES, the Fibre Large Array Multi-Element Spectrograph, is installed at the 8.2-m VLT KUEYEN Unit Telescope. It is able to observe the spectra of a large number of individual, faint objects (or small sky areas) simultaneously and covers a sky field of no less than 25 arcmin in diameter, i.e., almost as large as the full Moon. It is the result of a collaboration between ESO, the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, the Observatoire de Gen?ve-Lausanne, and the Anglo Australian Observatory (AAO).

Original Source: ESO News Release

Posted on by Mark Mortimer

Book Review: Moonrush

The main doomsday premise is the exhaustion of the supply of high density, easily transportable energy (read oil and gas). Not only is this supply nearing exhaustion, but the overall population of human beings is still climbing. Using a number of case studies, the reader is shown that the Earth, as a closed system, can’t support the status quo. We either need less people, a lower quality of life or more Earths. The last option, crazy as it sounds, is exactly what Wingo is proposing. Within our Solar System, there are bodies that contain many of the elements that are mined on Earth. These include the rare and valuable platinum group metals, especially palladium, which play a key role in today’s economy and would do so even more in a future hydrogen based economy. Thus we have a proposed solution to the envisioned energy doomsday; that is, to mine for the required minerals on asteroids, comets and moons.

Wingo takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the history of lunar exploration and present day space flight capability (there’s plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the unproductive Apollo missions and the total lack of interest in lunar exploration). By using the results from the Apollo missions and the Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions, Wingo makes a strong case for lunar mining. As a response to the doomsday premise and using the data gathered by these spacecraft, we’re presented with plans to use existing technology to get mining on the Moon. A detailed $16 billion list of components and techniques follows to explain exactly what would get done. Wingo thinks that governments need to provide incentives, minimize obstacles and encourage private enterprise to get mining.

The title is well suited. Like the earlier gold rushes in North America that did so much to open up tracts of land, a Moon rush, with people headed to the Moon to bring minerals back to Earth can also lead to all kinds of innovations. Further, by extracting, smelting and refining off-Earth, we can keep the harmful waste away too. This would be another benefit to life on Earth, as the subtitle states.

The book’s prose lacks a bit. It’s kind of repetitive and I got the impression that it’s a cleaned up version of someone’s class notes. There’s quite a lot of extraneous information, like completely describing the Otto cycle internal combustion engine, and a lengthy study of the stock prices of Boeing and Microsoft. I get how they’re relevant, but I’m not sure it was the best use of space and focus. Still, the chapters are clear and well laid out.

I liked Moonrush. It’s not too technical, and there isn’t a lot of hand waving. The premise is clear and well supported. The historical perspective lends credence and vision. Finally, Wingo does a great job of describing vehicles and methodology that ring true to me (as an armchair Moon miner).

Although Moonrush – Improving Life on Earth with the Moon’s Resources starts on a sour note – you know, the impending doom of the human race – it’s really a positive book that shows how Dennis Wingo has enthusiasm and faith that private enterprise will help get us back to the Moon with 21st century pickaxes and shovels to get the minerals we need without having to wreck our own environment. Maybe doom won’t be around the corner after all. If Paul Allen’s got some pocket change left over, he’d be well advised to kick some cash to help harvest the Moon’s resources.

To read more reviews, or order the book online, visit Amazon.com.

Review by Mark Mortimer

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Huygens Will Listen For Thunderstorms

Image credit: ESA
The sound of alien thunder, the patter of methane rain and the crunch (or splash) of a landing, all might be heard as Huygens descends to the surface of Titan on 14 January 2005.

What?s more, they will be recorded by a microphone on the probe and relayed back so that everyone on Earth can hear the sounds of Titan. Although the Russians took a microphone to Venus in the 1970s, few scientific results came out if that endeavour. A similar microphone for Mars was destroyed when NASA?s Mars Polar Lander crashed a few years ago.

The new microphone is part of the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI), one of six multi-functional experiments carried on the Huygens probe. It is designed to help track down lightning by listening for the clap of thunder usually associated with such an event.

Although there is only a small chance that the spacecraft will pass near a thunderstorm, it is an extremely important investigation to carry out. It may help us to understand if thunderstorms are an important energy source for organic chemistry on Titan.

This may hold clues about how life began on Earth. Titan?s atmosphere is laced with chemicals and many scientists think these are the same as those that formed the building blocks of life on Earth, 4000 million years ago. But how did they join together on Earth to ultimately become DNA?

One possibility is that sudden discharges of energy, as occur in lightning, could have forced the simple chemicals together, making more complicated ones. So Huygens will listen for thunder and ?sniff? for chemicals that might have been produced in lightning strikes.

In fact, a second microphone experiment can also be found on Huygens. It is part of the Surface Science Package (SSP) and contributes to an experiment to measure the speed of sound in Titan?s atmosphere.

These results present an exciting possibility because if the HASI microphone does hear thunder, electrodes on the same instrument will register the lightning?s electrical discharge and scientists will be able to calculate how close Huygens passed to the storm.

If Huygens actually passes through a storm, the microphone will detect the splash of the rain onto the spacecraft casing. Unlike on Earth, this rain will not be water but probably liquid methane.

Marcello Fulchignoni, of the Universit? Denis Diderot, Paris, is the principal investigator of HASI. He says, ?Combined with the camera images, temperature and pressure profiles, and altitude data, the ?soundtrack? will provide a fascinating look at the details of the mission?s descent. We will be working hard to bring the voice of Huygens to the public as soon as we can after the descent.?

Original Source: ESA News Release