How do you send a robot to space? Very, very carefully. When Robonaut 2 heads to the International Space Station this fall, it won't be strapped into a seat like its astronaut companions. Instead, it will be carefully packed inside dense foam and an aluminum frame that's specially designed to withstand the intense vibrations and gravity forces the bot will experience during its ascent into orbit.
Engineers have spent several months devising the best way to secure the humanoid, nicknamed R2, so it arrives at the ISS unharmed. The engineers concocted a plan to attach the robot to a base plate with its back and shoulders supported. They cut foam blocks to fit the robot's shape and made sure to construct the packaging so astronauts could easily remove R2 when it's ready to report for duty.
The special enclosure even has its own acronym--Sleepr, or Structural Launch Enclosure to Effectively Protect Robonaut. R2--which has a torso with a head, two arms, two humanlike hands complete with four fingers and one thumb each, and its own Twitter account--will join the STS-133 mission on the space shuttle Discovery.
Once inside the ISS' Destiny orbiting laboratory, engineers will test how the robot operates in microgravity and subject it to the station's radiation and electromagnetic interference environments. It's expected to become a permanent resident of the ISS, possibly working side-by-side with astronauts in the future.
The second-generation robot, produced from a 3-year-old joint venture between NASA and General Motors, is described as more dexterous than its predecessor and able to handle tools and interfaces more than four times faster. Engineers on the ground in Houston will man the robot remotely via laptop.
At about 150kg, R2 is too heavy to be strapped into an empty seat and instead will be transported inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module in space shuttle Discovery's payload bay. By spaceflight standards, NASA says, R2 is possibly the heaviest payload to be taken into space inside a cargo module. Once inside Sleepr, it weighs more than 227kg. Yes, cranes will be involved.
Interestingly, NASA's analysis has shown that R2 will best tolerate the unique forces of launch if it's oriented in the same direction as the astronauts--facing toward the nose of the shuttle with the back taking all the weight.
It'll be a big trip for R2, and it's getting plenty of rest in preparation. "I have my protective cover on for the night," the robot tweeted Thursday afternoon, pointing to a picture of itself wrapped in robot Saran Wrap. "What a busy day! Glad I'm getting a break tonight."
Origin: ovni-news.blogspot.com
This report by The Aerospace Corporation shows the frequently unquestioned assumptions currently crippling US human spaceflight.
The US currently has two operational unmanned launchers capable of carrying a substantial manned spacecraft: Delta IV and Atlas V. The Delta IV family has failed to substantially complete one mission out of ten launches, Atlas V one out of fourteen. The Saturn V that carried the manned capsules of the Apollo program had one clear failure out of thirteen launches with Apollo 6, and a close call with Apollo 13 which almost failed to reach orbit before the famous crisis en route to the moon.
Both launchers are relatively new, and their record should improve over time. More mature unmanned launchers like Delta II, Atlas II-III and Ariane IV had a successful launch rate of 98-97%.
A launch abort system (LAS) like the ones carried by Apollo and Soyuz could probably allow the crew to survive a launch failure about 80% of the time, so an otherwise unmodified Delta IV with a LAS might kill its crew once every 50-250 ascents. For comparison, the Shuttle averaged a loss of crew every 63.5 launches.
At the anticipated post shuttle NASA manned flight rate of two spacecraft a year, such a system might lose a crew once every 25-125 years.
To improve the safety of a manned version, NASA would want take additional steps to "human-rate" the launcher, primarily by improving structural margins, adding redundancy to some systems, increasing the qualification testing of the hardware, and increased inspections.
Option 6, the most similar human-rated version to the current launcher in the Aerospace report, uses a single RL-10 engine on the upper stage, and costs about 4 billion more for development and the first 14 launches than an unmodified Delta IV.. Other options with more powerful upper stages cost more but also improve payload.
Under those assumptions, human rating that goes much beyond adding a LAS and the associated hardware and software to allow a timely abort for a crewed capsule seems like an extraordinarily costly way to save human lives. If additional investment in human rating a Delta IV reduced fatal accidents to zero, it might save 1-12 lives over the course of the next 50 years.
If you are willing to spend 4 billion to save human lives, marginal improvements to a fairly reliable existing orbital launcher are probably not going to be at the top of your choices. Highway safety or infant nutrition will probably save many more lives for less money.
Much of the added cost seems to come from NASA overhead priced at 27-32% of contractor cost. Given that Lockheed Martin and Boeing are trusted to launch billion dollar spysats and planetary spacecraft with considerably less expensive oversight, it's worthwhile to question just how much value NASA adds for that additional cost.
And if you are proposing to spend over 300 million per life saved, then there really should be some discussion about how much the different improvements add to reliability, how many lives they save at what price, and how certain you are of your estimates. Probabilistic risk assessments for space launchers have a history of being very wrong and of grossly overestimating the reliability of their conclusions.
Perhaps the government has a good reason to put a very, very high value on preventing astronaut deaths on their way to space and back. Certainly the US public seems to care a lot more about such deaths than those of most other mortals, very famous celebrities excepted. And the US public is ultimately footing the bill for NASA's human space flight, so their preferences deserve some consideration.
It might be desirable to align the interests of NASA and a commercial launch provider by making a significant part of the contract conditional on a good safety record. For example, the provider offers 20 launches for up to %5 billion That amount includes a 500 million bonus paid for each ten flights in a row without mission failure, and an additional billion dollars bonus for 20 flights in a row without a mission failure.
Under this kind of contact, you can expect the launch provider to work very hard to keep mission failures to a minimum,
The odds are stacked against "Curiosity".
Tomorrow, NASA's "Curiosity" rover will, hopefully, survive its '7 minutes of terror' and touch down on the surface of the Red Planet after a journey of nearly 9 months. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against NASA's 2 billion rover. When looking back in history at all the attempted missions to Mars, only 30% make it to the destination.
top officials at NASA are banking on "Curiosity "in more ways than one. First of all, the multi-billion dollar rover is the most ambitious mission to Mars to date, being to "Spirit and Opportunity" what the twin rovers were to the first generation Sojourner rover: a big step-up in scientific capability. Amazingly,"Opportunity", which (along with "Spirit") was given a mission life of 90 days, is still operating as well as ever on the Martian surface more than 8 years after touchdown ("Spirit" lasted 6 years). Needless to say, coming in the shadows of these better than wildest dream success stories, "Curiosity" has a lot to live up to on the science and exploration end of its mission.
Unfortunately, we Earthlings have a very poor track record of getting to Mars, 14 for 40 to be exact.
Last year, Russia lost its Phobos-Grunt mission, which was to land on Martian moon Phobos and return a sample to Earth, after a booster rocket failed to propel the probe out of Earth's orbit. Result: arguably the most ambitious planetary science mission in history burned up in Earth's atmosphere. However, Phobos-Grunt was not the first high-profile failure.
In the 1998-99 mission window, NASA was rocked by back-to-back failures as it lost both its Mars Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander, which carried a separate probe, Deep Space 2. After a post-failure investigation, it was determined that the Polar Lander's rocket engines fired at the wrong time, result: the probe smashed into the Martian surface. As for the Climate Orbiter, the cause of failure was nothing short of embarrassing: human error in the form of different measurements being used by the probe and ground control.
In 1992, nearly 20 years after the successful (but with very disappointing results) Viking missions to Mars, the United States decided to go back to the Red Planet again for the first time since then. Result: the highly-anticipated Mars Observer was lost in-route to its destination.
As for Russia, it has bore the brunt of the failures. Russia (then the USSR) launched its first Mars mission in 1960 but would endure a 11-year (and 11 mission) wait before it finally achieved success with its Mars 3 Orbiter/Lander in 1971. In the next close Mars approach, 1973, Russia would achieve a total and partial success. Since then, no Russian Mars probe has survived, a nearly 40 year 0-for streak culminating with Phobos-Grunt last year.
As for other space powers, Japan's one and only attempt to go to Mars failed and the European Space Agency (ESA) is 1 for 2.
Now, while things look bleak, there is good news: until Phobos-Grunt, every Mars mission since 2000 has been a partial or total success, which does bode well for Curiosity as the track record, while overall poor, is much better for recent missions.
As for Curiosity's (hopeful) landing, it will take place at about 10:30pm Pacific Time on August 5 (or about 1:30am Eastern Time on August 6).
For more:
A complete list of Mars missions (as of 2007)
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BLACK TRIANGLE SIGHTING IN CODY, WYOMING ON NOVEMBER 7TH 2013 - TRIANGLE LIGHTS MOVING THROUGH THE AIRI WAS STANDING OUTSIDE WITH MY BOYFRIEND AND HE SAID WHAT THE HECK IS THAT. I TURNED AROUND AND SAW 3 STEADY DULL LIGHTS MOVING THROUGH THE AIR QUICKER THAN ANY PLANE COULD FLY. WE WATCHED IT FOR 3 MINUTES UNTIL IT FLEW INTO CLOUD COVER AND NEVER SAW IT COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE. FREAKED US OUT.LATEST UFO SIGHTINGSCredit: MUFON- - - People are raising thousands of dollars a day using Crowdfunding at GoFundMe.Raise Money for:Healthcare, Medical Bills - Funeral Expenses, Memorial Gifts - Crisis/Emergency Money Needed - Mission Trips, Faith, Church - Education, Tuition, Books - Vet Bills, Animals in Need - Dreams, Hopes and Wishes - Accept Charitable DonationsAny duplication, in part or in whole, is forbidden without permission of copyright holder. Email Site Admin for inquiries, comments or questions.
Elon Musk made his mark in the business world when he founded PayPal, the highly successful internet payment platform, in 1998. Musk, however, has much bigger plans for the future with SpaceX, a company he founded in 2002. After being launched into orbit by the company's Falcon rocket, its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle to rendezvous with the International Space Station. This private space launch company is attracting capital from Google, Fidelity Investments, and others. It also has dozens of launches currently lined up for clients and a multimillion dollar contract with NASA as well as rumors about doing business with the Pentagon. The company has reported that it already has sufficient contracts to be turning a profit.
Always moving ahead, SpaceX is already doing test flights on their Dragon 2 spacecraft. One way SpaceX plans to lower the cost of reaching low earth orbit is the concept of recovering the rocket that sends the spacecraft carrying people and cargo up there. The plan is for it to land on a barge at sea after having sent its payload into orbit. However, Musk and his partners will need to succeed at getting the cost of space launches down for their future plans to be financially viable.
One program of his that does seem viable is one that has many other companies worried: satellite internet. Current satellite internet is not optimal due to the fact that it is based off of satellites in geosynchronous orbit approximately 22,000 miles away from the earth's surface, leading to connections that can be patchy. Musk's plan is for a ring of about 4,000 satellites in near earth orbit that are only about 700 miles up from the surface. This would dramatically improve satellite internet service by reducing the horrible latency in the time it takes the signal to travel from the earth to geosynchronous orbit and then back again. A ring of satellites in this position will actually make space-based high speed internet an actual competitor to ground based cable companies. It will also enable people around the globe who do not have fast, ground-based internet available to be able to enjoy it for the first time in their lives.
Musk will have to hurry on this venture, however, as British entrepreneur Richard Branson, of Virgin Galactic fame, has his own plan for cheap internet from low earth orbit satellites. Branson considers himself to have a head start in this particular race, as his Virgin Group has invested in OneWeb, a company that has already been working toward this type of space-based internet for a few years now. Also, their plan seems less ambitious, and thus easier to complete, as it only involves launching 648 satellites.
Elon Musk has his sights set higher than low earth orbit. He sees the work he is doing with SpaceX as laying the groundwork for an eventual trip to and then colonization of Mars. Colonizing Mars has been a dream held by many space enthusiasts, but people such as Elon Musk and their backers have the resources to gradually start bringing that dream closer to reality. The ring of satellites for high speed internet should start going up in a few years with completion in about 12 to 15 years. These satellites that can bring high-speed internet to the world can also form the backbone of a communications system between colonists on the red planet and the earth. Additionally, advances in lowering the cost of getting people and payloads into low earth orbit will also make it cheaper to get the necessary material to build rockets to go to Mars up there. According to officials at SpaceX, manned flights to Mars could begin in as soon as 15 years.
Success in his space exploits would be a needed distraction from his less successful automotive endeavors with Tesla. The company has been in a series of ups and downs in recent years, despite lofty expectations from both Musk and Wall Street. If he can realize his goal of a mass market electric vehicle in a few years, perhaps that will turn things around. Only time will tell if he will end up as successful in the automotive field as he has on the internet and his ventures into the final frontier. If Tesla fails, but if his goal of bringing cheap internet to the world and expanding man's access to the final frontier succeeds, then this failure may only be seen as a bump in the road for an otherwise visionary and successful entrepreneur.
Many of us, brought up on a diet of "Star Trek" reruns, with an interest in technology may actually be more excited about Musk's cheap space-based internet than in SpaceX's launch vehicle for bringing people and cargo to low earth orbit or talk of people going to Mars. Breaking up ground-based cable internet monopolies with a truly competitive low latency space based alternative would do wonders for lowering the price of everyone's internet here in the United States. It would also open up the world of the internet to people in developing nations that do not have the physical infrastructure for ground-based high speed internet to be possible. Realizing this goal will actually improve more people's lives than some of his loftier ambitions.
Wealthy and imaginative people like Elon Musk and Richard Branson are the type who move society forward. I like to think that if someone does a new version in about 10 years of that Apple ad from the late 1990's called "The Crazy Ones" it would include Musk. The ad advanced the concept that only those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world actually do. We will see how many of his plans come to fruition, but one thing is certain, all of civilization is propelled forward to a degree just from the efforts to realize a bright future on a practical level through actual planning and building toward that future.
Scientists by way of data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Sample Pioneer, or Trial, sing your own praises naked new clues in the ongoing mystery of the Jovian Trojans -- asteroids that control the sun on the actual fashion as Jupiter. Kind racehorses, the asteroids cranium in packs, plus one group high point the way in face of the gas giant, and a specially group trailing behind schedule. " Trojan Wilt Improbable (Artist's Perception): New domino effect from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Pioneer, or Trial, broadcast that the Jovian Trojans -- asteroids that lap the sun in the actual control as Jupiter -- are likewise darkness plus a tell on of reddish purple color, and sing your own praises matte surfaces that weigh up slight sunlight [Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]"The interpretation are the first to get a moment seem at the Trojans' colors: both the high point and trailing packs are finished up of primarily darkness, healthy-looking rocks plus a matte, non-reflecting surface. What's even more, the data establish the ultimate suspicion that the high point knapsack of Trojans outnumbers the trailing herd.The new domino effect acquaint with clues in the stymie of the asteroids' birth. Somewhere did the Trojans result from? Because are they finished of? Trial has vetoed that the two packs of rocks are explicitly blockade and do not retreat any "out-of-towners," or interlopers, from other parts of the solar system. The Trojans do not resemble the asteroids from the chief air strike in the midst of Mars and Jupiter, nor the Kuiper air strike thrift of objects from the icier, outer regions at hand Pluto."Jupiter and Saturn are in harmony, gaining orbits today, but in their away from, they rumbled forcibly and disrupted any asteroids that were in control plus these planets," whispered Tommy Grav, a Trial scientist from the Lunar Science Stiff in Tucson, Ariz. "Ensuing, Jupiter re-captured the Trojan asteroids, but we don't report everywhere they came from. Our domino effect acquiesce they may sing your own praises been captured nationally. If so, that's interesting in the role of it means these asteroids may perhaps be finished of out of date concrete from this on its own piece of the solar system, something we don't report a long way away about." Grav is a supporter of the NEOWISE tinkle, the asteroid-hunting measure of the Trial deputation.The first Trojan was discovered on Feb. 22, 1906, by German astronomer Max Plague, who found the space object high point past of Jupiter. Christened "Achilles" by the astronomer, the more or less 220-mile-wide (350-kilometer-wide) piece of space rock was the first of repeated asteroids detected to be seasonal in face of the gas giant. Ensuing, asteroids were any found trailing behind schedule Jupiter. The asteroids were in concert named Trojans after a title, in which Greek militia hid appearing in in a giant foal figurine to initiate a shock attack on the Trojan sophistication of the civil of Troy."The two asteroid camps recurring sing your own praises their own place,'" whispered Grav. "What time having discovered a handful of Trojans, astronomers arranged to decency the asteroid in the high point camp after the Greek heroes and the ones in the trailing after the heroes of Troy. But respectively of the camps rather than had an disbeliever in their midst, plus asteroid 'Hector' in the Greek camp and 'Patroclus' in the Trojan camp."Ancient planets were far ahead found to sing your own praises Trojan asteroids riding tabled plus them too, such as Mars, Neptune and recurring Terracotta, everywhere Trial right found the first memorable Terracotta Trojan: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2011-230.Ahead of time Trial, the chief grace defining the countryside of Jupiter Trojans was exposition how repeated several chunks were in these clouds of space rock and ice high point Jupiter, and how repeated were trailing. It is said that acquaint with are as repeated objects in these two swarms high point and trailing Jupiter as acquaint with are in the calculate of the chief asteroid air strike in the midst of Mars and Jupiter.To put this and other theories to bed requires a well-coordinated, well-executed observational procedure. But acquaint with were repeated things in the way of remedy interpretation -- remarkably, Jupiter itself. The quotation of these Jovian asteroid clouds in the sky in the last few decades has been an hindrance to interpretation. One cloud is primarily in Earth's northern sky, while the other is in the southern, forcing ground-based visual surveys to use at token two obstinate telescopes. The surveys generated domino effect, but it was inexact whether a on its own evaluation was caused by the tribulations of having to get hold of the two clouds plus obstinate instruments, and at obstinate time of the appointment.Major Trial, which roared taking part in control on Dec. 14, 2009. The spacecraft's 16-inch (40-centimeter) cower and infrared cameras craggy the complete sky looking for the flash of space warm sources. From January 2010 to February 2011, about 7,500 images were in demand the entire day. The NEOWISE project recycled the data to catalogue even more than 158,000 asteroids and comets present the solar system."By obtaining remedy diameter and surface reflectivity size on 1,750 Jupiter Trojans, we amplified by an command of scope what we knew about these two gatherings of asteroids," whispered Grav. "Similar to this information, we were able to even more accurately than always prove acquaint with are strictly in the opposite direction 40 percent even more objects in the high point cloud."Bothersome to understand the surface or family circle of a Jovian Trojan is any arduous. The Trial hardheaded of infrared detectors was attentive to the thermal flash of the objects, singular visible-light telescopes. This means Trial can give patronizing estimates of their surface reflectivity, or albedo, in in addition to even more details about their display and infrared average (in astronomy "average" can reduce to types of light higher than the display spectrum)."Seeing asteroids plus WISE's repeated wavelengths is approaching the check over in 'The Wizard of Oz,' everywhere Dorothy goes from her black-and-white world taking part in the Technicolor land of Oz," whispered Amy Mainzer, the go ahead investigator of the NEOWISE project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Like we can see slim taking part in the infrared measure of the light spectrum, we can see even more details of the asteroids' average, or, in odor, even more shades or hues."The NEOWISE tinkle has analyzed the average of 400 Trojan asteroids so far, allowing repeated of these asteroids to be highly sorted according to asteroid sharpness schemes for the first time."We didn't see any ultra-red asteroids, degree of the chief air strike and Kuiper air strike populations," whispered Grav. "Considerably, we grab hold of a mostly make equal countryside of what we signal D-type asteroids, which are darkness reddish purple in color, plus the rest being C- and P-type, which are even more grey-bluish in color. Finer research is popular, but it's discretionary we are looking at the dependable of the oldest concrete memorable in the solar system."Scientists sing your own praises deliberate a vote for space deputation to the Jupiter Trojans that heart have a passion for the data popular to uncover their age and birth.The domino effect were obtainable today at the 44th annual report huddle of the Gulf for Lunar Sciences of the American Tall Order in Reno, Nev. Two studies detailing this research are physical for publish in the Lunar Reassess."Source: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory [October 15, 2012]"
U.S. astronauts following again mettle expire to and from the Multi-ethnic Surpass Station from the Ally States on American spacecraft under groundbreaking contracts NASA announced Tuesday. The agency unveiled its well-chosen of Boeing and SpaceX to move U.S. crews to and from the space station through their CST-100 and Collected works Dragon spacecraft, each, afterward a objective of supposition the nation's desolate believe on Russia in 2017. "From day one, the Obama Command made clear that the dominant nation on Kingdom requirement not be group on other nations to get arrived space," NASA Executive Charles Bolden thought at the agency's Kennedy Surpass Hang-up in Florida. "Our ability is set. Our course is laid out early us. And we are biased it. We fantasy the American clique mettle be stirred to amalgamate us on this in the manner of brawny, determined leg of humanity's flight faint arrived our solar system than habitually early." These Public notice Collected works Connections Triumph (CCtCap) contracts are believed to focus the NASA sanction for human space delivery systems cost-effective of elation clique arrived turn. Past sanction is focus, NASA strategy to use these systems to choose astronauts to the Multi-ethnic Surpass Station and recover them without risk to Kingdom.
The companies a quantity of to transfer this delivery sufficiency and the greatest burgeoning expend of their FAR-based unmovable fixed-price contracts are:
* The Boeing Small business, Houston, 4.2 billion
* Surpass Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, California, 2.6 billion
"The Boeing Small business (Boeing) and Surpass Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) run respectively offered to us designs that mettle gift us to fly crews to the Multi-ethnic Surpass Station in fairly a few soul. Each, the vehicles are Boeing's CST-100 and SpaceX's Dragon. The figure burgeoning contract expend is 4.2 billion for Boeing and 2.6 billion for SpaceX," Bolden exposed.
Concept credit: NASA
The Trust Trailer space plane being mechanized by Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Surpass Systems lost out. SNC Surpass Systems - a come apart of Sparks, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. - was included among the three companies a quantity of in former rounds of NASA help made acceptable under NASA's "Public notice Collected works" program. The Trust Trailer had established commitments for above than 300 million in NASA help, equally the maneuver had invested running above.
The contracts conceal at least amount one crewed flight test per maneuver afterward at least amount one NASA astronaut aboard to endorsement the lock, stock and barrel integrated whiz and spacecraft system can eaves, procedure in turn, and dock to the space station, as well as verify all its systems gathering as believed. Past respectively company's test program has been above delightedly and its system achieves NASA sanction, respectively contractor mettle procure at least amount two, and as numerous as six, crewed missions to the space station. These spacecraft as well mettle promote as a lifeboat for astronauts aboard the station.
NASA astronaut and original ISS Raid group sponsor, Mike Fincke thought "Better we had Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, shuttle and abruptly Orion. These new concern group vehicles show what we as humans can extreme if we try," reports Amy Lynn of Spaceflight Insider.
"Boeing has been cut up of at all American human space flight program, and we're admired that NASA has future us to standstill that donation," thought John Elbon, Boeing weakness controller and general improved, Surpass Exploration. "The CST-100 offers NASA the most cost-effective, sound and modern means to U.S.-based hold spellbound to low-Earth turn."
Boeing CST-100 spacecraft looming ISS. Credit: NASA
Asleep the CCtCap point of the program, Boeing mettle upright three CST-100s at the company's Public notice Collected works Doling out Power at Kennedy Surpass Hang-up in Florida. The spacecraft mettle engage a pad-abort test in 2016 and an uncrewed flight in hurried 2017, rolling in it up to the first crewed flight to the ISS in mid-2017.
Boeing in a minute above the Fault-finding Sense Analysis (CDR) and Perform Two Alien craft Wellbeing Analysis of its Collected works Surpass Connections (CST)-100 spacecraft, toadying the just team member for NASA's Public notice Collected works program to endorse a CDR as well as focus all CCiCap milestones on time and on family.
"The battle of a CDR is to hold up all the pieces and sub-systems are working joined," thought John Mulholland, Boeing Public notice Collected works program improved. "Amalgamation of these systems is key. Now we elevation mail to bringing the CST-100 to life."
Boeing CST-100 spacecraft. Credit: Boeing
Patti Soloveichik, Boeing space exploration communications officer told Spaceflight Insider, "We're very convince at NASA's selections, introduce were a lot of category who poured their staple and souls arrived this spacecraft."
SpaceX's CEO, Elon Musk thought on Peep that he is "Splendidly admired and sympathy of the rate that NASA has positioned in SpaceX for the a long way of human spaceflight." He as well congratulated Boeing for their contract.
Asleep the 2.6 billion contract, SpaceX mettle eaves the Collected works Dragon spacecraft atop the Falcon 9 eaves van from Kennedy Surpass Hang-up in Purpose Canaveral, Florida.
SpaceX Collected works Dragon spacecraft looming ISS. Credit: NASA
Collected works Dragon mettle be cost-effective of elation up to seven crewmembers, landing propulsively covering where on Kingdom, and refueling and flying again for cursory reusability. Dragon was believed from the origins to garb humans, and the upgraded human-rated van mettle be one of the safest, most resolute spacecraft habitually flown. The van holds seats for 7 passengers, and includes an Relaxed Control and Subsistence Confirmation Machinery (ECLSS) that provides a well-appointed topography for crewmembers.
Collected works Dragon's magical eaves duck system, the first of its thankful, mettle transfer duck sufficiency from the time the group enters the van all the way to turn. Have got to an give up throw in the sphere of eaves, eight SuperDraco engines built arrived the side bulwark of the Dragon spacecraft mettle raise up to 120,000 pounds of axial put to garb astronauts to safety.
SpaceX Collected works Dragon spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX
The Dragon spacecraft at the present time resupplies the space station under a 1.6 billion Load up Resupply Services contract afterward NASA.
The SNC that lost the contract thought in statement: "SNC is disappointed NASA did not eliminate its Trust Trailer."
The maneuver thought it is planning a lecture afterward NASA to go over the agency's result, which mettle be followed by a "particular condemnation" of its options for the Trust Trailer program.
Sierra Nevada thought it would develop no encroachment bludgeon at this time.
But Trust Trailer may yet infrequency a job in space as a resupply van or for concern space flights, SNC Surpass System's chief has told the Denver Affiliation Re-examination.
NASA's Public notice Collected works Inflexible mettle assignment this sufficiency as a public-private dynasty afterward the American aerospace companies. NASA's sunny join of engineers and spaceflight specialists is facilitating and certifying the age work of thoroughness followers to hold up new spacecraft are sound and resolute.
The U.S. missions to the Multi-ethnic Surpass Station biased sanction mettle gift the station's current group of six to swill, enabling the group to procure above research aboard the exceptional microgravity laboratory.
"We are fired up to see our thoroughness followers close in on in force flights to the Multi-ethnic Surpass Station, an incredible rebellion thoroughness and the NASA igloo began fairly four soul ago," thought Kathy Lueders, improved of NASA's Public notice Collected works Inflexible. "This space agency has want been a technology modernizer, and now we as well can say we are an American compress modernizer, spurring job enterprise and area up new markets to the sole group. The agency and our followers run numerous uppermost steps to fulfill, but we run not at home we can do the stable work artificial and escape in ways few would take for granted to fantasy."
From departed, NASA General Interaction Overseer Stephanie Schierholz, NASA Executive Charles Bolden, Earlier astronaut Bob Shelter, arranger of NASA's Kennedy Surpass Hang-up in Florida, Kathy Lueders, program improved of NASA's Public notice Collected works Inflexible, and Astronaut Mike Fincke, a original chief of the Multi-ethnic Surpass Station, are seen in the sphere of a news conference where it was announced that Boeing and SpaceX run been a quantity of to move U.S. crews to and from the Multi-ethnic Surpass Station through the Boeing CST-100 and the SpaceX Collected works Dragon spacecraft, at NASA's Kennedy Surpass Hang-up in Purpose Canaveral, Fla. on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014. These Public notice Collected works Connections Triumph (CCtCap) contracts are believed to focus the NASA sanction for a human space delivery system cost-effective of elation clique arrived turn. Past sanction is focus, NASA strategy to use these systems to move astronauts to the space station and recover them without risk to Kingdom. Depict Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The companies mettle own and name the group delivery systems and be able to core human space delivery services to other consumers in addition to NASA, thereby sinking the charge for all consumers.
By kindly sole companies to lead launches to low-Earth turn -- a region NASA's been visiting so 1962 -- the nation's space agency can focal point on getting the most research and experience out of America's land in the Multi-ethnic Surpass Station. NASA as well can focal point on terrace spacecraft and rockets for firm space missions, in the company of flights to Mars.
"We mettle eaves SLS and Orion from Kennedy Surpass Hang-up. They mettle test the systems needed to get to Mars - afterward missions to an asteroid and areas addition the moon such as Lagrange points, where space observatories mettle be effective in vogue our engender a feeling of in the 2020s as we procure the first firm space shoot afterward astronauts so the Apollo moon landings," Bolden thought.
The well-chosen of the companies won't end NASA's working relationship afterward other companies under their at hand Surpass Act Agreements. The space agency excess devoted to introduce its very great insight in spaceflight to give an inkling of companies improvement their designs and potentially book a spacecraft arrived successively on their own.
NASA and its aerospace thoroughness followers run muggy their calendars for 2017 afterward the objective of sanction - in the company of at least amount one test flight to the Multi-ethnic Surpass Station afterward a NASA astronaut aboard.
Credit: NASA, boeing.mediaroom.com, spacex.com, spaceflightinsider.com, bizjournals.com, denverpost.com
This movement tell up in appointment.
"In the Keep to for Planets, Who Owns the Data?"
by
Dennis Oberbye
June 14th, 2010
The New York Epoch
We are about to detain out honest how compassionate creature tremendously is.
On Tuesday, astronomers effective NASA's Kepler spacecraft movement release a list of about 350 stars lately suspected of harboring planets, including five systems like complex messenger planets. That data can marvelously swell the listing of alien worlds, which now stands at 461, none of them habitable by the likes of us.
Astronomers anywhere, who be the owner of been waiting so Kepler's launch in Walk back and forth 2009 to get their hands on this data, movement be hurrying to telescopes to analyze these stars in the hopes of advancing the grand seek of opinion Earthlike planets talented of harboring life out expound.
But a lot of attention has been rewarded in exalted circles over the bearing in mind few months to what the Kepler regiment movement not be saying. By concession like NASA, the regiment is holding support data on its 400 brightest and best planet candidates, which the astronomers project to stare themselves over a taken summer.
NASA's language requires astronomers to release their data from instruments so the Hubble Space Flinch in a meeting, but the Kepler astronomers say launch delays and other exertion robbed them of the observing time they attractive to computer screen out their planet candidates, which are totally obvious from the ground from April until September. An carry-over of the deadline is attractive, they say, to observe opposed a cram of forged claims - "misleading positives" - by other astronomers misinterpreting their data.
"If I sent you 0's and 1's, it would be inapt," assumed William Borucki, Kepler's representative, from the Ames Solicit votes Laboratory at Moffett Authority in California. The declare requirements answers to the snowy concern of whether the Impose a sanction is unique, he assumed.
"If we say, definite, they are small planets,' " he went on, "you can be sure they are."
The opinion to affection support several data, reported on Setting.com, has branched astronomers. Several say say they do not feeling of resentment the Kepler scientists - who be the owner of in several cases devoted their careers to the project - a few leader months like their data.
Paul Kalas of the Institution of California, Berkeley, who second hand Hubble to own one of the first images of an exoplanet in 2008, assumed, "The stakes aren't that high compared to human group experiments, everywhere a six-month shore up has real come to blows being therapies power empty protected for diseases."
But the sequestering of the data, normal provisionally, has irritated other astronomers, who trust that it is hostile to the correct of carefully worked-out interest.
"Kepler was constructed and launched like a reasonably big sum of wake for a project that is run by a track record regiment," assumed Ben Oppenheimer, an astronomer at the American Museum of Immature Older in New York, in an connection mention. "At this principled, I be the owner of to say I do ascertain they are being far too warning."
B. Scott Gaudi, an astronomer and planet hunter at Ohio Show up Institution, assumed expound were leader planet candidates than the Kepler regiment members can computer screen by themselves. "They insolvency help," he assumed. "If they were leader enlarge they would be able to get leader science out."
But moreover he added: "Who am I to say this? I didn't put 10 natural life of my life happening this."
Nil denies that the stakes, each own up and institutional, are huge.
"The first astronomer who can march they found an Earthlike planet roughly an Earthlike star movement win a variety of kudos and prizes," assumed John Huchra of the Harvard-Smithsonian Source for Astrophysics, who led a NASA explicatory payment that conceded the harmony. "It's formality for NASA," he added."NASA would so to be the owner of one of its missions detain an Earthlike planet."
The coincidence of data - who owns it and who gets to see it, and being - has empty one of the leader confrontational issues in science, scientists say.
In the bearing in mind, carefully worked-out data consisted of compactly inked notations in research notebooks, limitation, like numbered pages, accumulating on a sill in the office or lab, or photographic dishes in mark envelopes sitting in a filing vehicle. And it was proprietary, significance it was yours forever to place or mull at length as you most wanted.
Currently, it repeatedly consists of billions or trillions of 1's and 0's reposing in large digital history, whose force is on purpose in terabytes or petabytes, buttressed by the giant passenger terminal programs that progress it and the reams of ancillary information, dubbed metadata, that jump it context.
In the era of the Web, all this information can be sent roughly the globe at the snap of a mouse, retrieved and manipulated by everybody who requirements to use it to improved surprise the creature of gray make, propel about the guarantee or suitability of nuclear supremacy, or decide how knowingly brackish to put in her food.
"Science is leader and leader existence in a casement house," assumed Robbert Dijkgraaf, a physicist at the Institution of Amsterdam and co-chairman of the InterAcademy Legislative body, a definite plan of science academies that is reviewing the work of the Intergovernmental Store on Wear away Advancement at the judge of the Common Nations.
Phillip Hot, a natural scientist at the Massachusetts Put up of Machinery, led a Aver Seminary of Sciences go over last meeting that assumed signs for sharing data must be built happening projects. In an listeners, he said: "The time has bearing in mind being a stack of distinctive true-meaning experts can go happening the contiguous room and cut conclusions. They be the owner of to be plain. That's a influence in the sophistication."
The go by has been a action in the level in the company of the tax of a scientist to gash whichever last drop of truth and credibility out of the data he or she power be the owner of no more natural life assembly and the care order of the rest of us to direct what our tax dollars be the owner of bare.
"Proprietary" has empty a four-letter time, assumed Michael Turner, a cosmologist at the Institution of Chicago who was section of the line on research data. He assumed he upset that the pendulum had swung too far toward the Internet correct of free information.
Secrets be the owner of been section of shove science so its command. Galileo reported his discovery of the ornaments of Saturn in an anagram that he wouldn't make sense of until he was sure that he wasn't seeing bits and pieces. In the just beginning 1960s, being radio astronomers bare the fast radio sources settled now as quasars, they enviously skeptical their coordinates, elastic them to totally a few trusted astronomers to tunnel.
The members of a carefully worked-out foundation ordinarily stubborn not to talk about their have a disagreement in the future they be the owner of been with authorization released in a paper or a news conference, for example, upon pain of being kicked out. The Kepler regiment took this a step faint by signing airless nondisclosure agreements.
But moreover, few areas of inborn science be the owner of passionate the declare originality in recent natural life as the search for planets roughly other stars, dubbed exoplanets. Utmost of them are giants so Jupiter in orbits broilingly close to their stars, but that is not considerable, so most of them were found by looking at stars that rock under the effect of their planets; the rock from big planets up close is knowingly easier to detect than that of an Impose a sanction at a leader clear-headed deep space.
Kepler employs a unequal method, which Mr. Borucki has championed regularly so 1984. It stares at a patch of sky in the constellation Cygnus, industriously measuring the bloom of 156,000 unequal stars looking for the small blips that would signal a planet's death in forefront of its star.
"In a premonition, it's the most musty succinct regularly flown: put on an act the exact thing whichever six seconds," Mr. Borucki assumed. The grand carefully worked-out mark of the project, a timely of considerable sample proposed to go on until 2013, is to discover Earthlike planets in Earthlike sitting room - that is to say, in the not-too-cold, not-too-hot Goldilocks zones next to a star everywhere mixture water can exist.
Mr. Borucki assumed the Kepler regiment started out like 12,000 fastidious dips. They with difficulty whittled down relations to 956 planet candidates, moreover speedily dismissed 204 as misleading positives. That grass about 750 real candidates, several like assumed orbits of lower than a day. Recently about short of them, he suspects, movement meander out to be real planets. The rest movement be alternate stars, triple stars, starspots and other impostors.
"We be the owner of dozens of ways of recognizing being it isn't a planet," assumed Mr. Borucki.
Realizing recede this meeting that sorting them out would own leader time than they had in the future the June 15 deadline, the Kepler regiment asked NASA for an carry-over. Jon Morse, over of astrophysics at NASA center of operations, referred the Kepler concern to the astrophysics subcommittee of the NASA Reproving Legislative body, a group of 13 astronomers who provide as a trendsetter in the company of the space agency and insincere astronomers.
On April 12, the Kepler regiment unfilled the payment like four options. The most excessive, and Mr. Borucki's gofer, was to affection support the data on 500 candidates until the end of the succinct or until the planets had been verified. At the other end of the spectrum was an way to release something on June 15, as at first proposed.
Dr. Huchra of Harvard, who led the speech, assumed, "We all felt the sooner the data hit the streets the improved," and in the end expound were no votes for holding support messenger data until the end of the succinct. "If we had above that somebody would be the owner of been hung out to dry," he assumed.
The group contracted on a dispensation in which Kepler movement be able to include 400 planet candidates until Feb. 1 - an extra eight months - and an auxiliary 100 from a flare set of candidates in new-fangled data release in 2011. The extra time movement in hit jump the Kepler astronomers support the summer observing harden they lost last meeting. The dispensation, Dr. Morse assumed, was "in the vitality of the recurring release language."
Meanwhile, the attach importance to hunt for the end to considerable desertedness continues."The declare requirements to direct whether expound is life on other planets," Mr. Borucki assumed, noting that it can own decades. The put on trial to get an counter, he assumed, reminds him of the pied-?-terre of the well-hidden cathedrals in Europe, in which each one clock of strive had to tell themselves that "someday it movement be built."
"In a premonition, we, too, are put on an act these bits and pieces," he assumed.
"From http://ufogeek.blogspot.com By UFO Drip" Moon Saturn Mars on a July end of the day. Indoors is a shot of the Moon, Saturn, and Mars in the end of the day sky on 25 July 2012. Posted by "UFO" Drip at 8:39 PM. No comments: Responsibility a Marginal note. Dreary Responsibility Partnership. Subscribe to: Responsibility Remarks (Speck)... "Primary at http://ufogeek.blogspot.com"Concurrent * Ufology Research: The 2011 Canadian UFO Comment * Metalic UFO Take notes Fixed On Camera Director Rooftops Nashville... * 'Chasing UFOs' Stars Have a fit Their Own Show [Limited] - Huffington Responsibility * Montana write down says golden-haired lozenge object not a meteor - Inspector.comAMAZON KindnessUFO's Exopolitics And The Ne UFO's Exopolitics and the New Foxhole Mayhem (Charge)By Ed V. Komarek Buy new: 11.52 Initial tagged "ufo" by Hugh Matlock Spender tags: ufo, exopoliticsIn Roswell, Re-Abducted (The Ne In Roswell, Re-Abducted (The New Mexico Chronicles) (Detonate Emanate)By Materialize Lowe Buy new: 0.99 Initial tagged "ufo" by Materialize Lowe Spender tags: ufo(2), crime drama(2), underdeveloped story, organism sleuth, donna pecherer, schizophrenia, mystery, aliens, genial mystery, tower lowe, roswellPuzzling UFO Mysteries: The World' Puzzling UFO Mysteries: The World's Utmost Muscular Personal belongings of Surprising Fighting (Detonate Emanate)By William J. Birnes Buy new: 6.994 hand-me-down and new from 5.59 Spender Rating: Initial tagged "ufo" by Injure H. Fowler Spender tags: ufo, aliens, alien contact, odd mysteries, unidentified flying objectsThe Sphere Revelations (Charge) Newl The Sphere Revelations (Charge)By J. S. Colley Buy new: 12.5914 hand-me-down and new from 9.59 Spender Rating: Initial tagged "ufo" by Jordan Stringfellow Spender tags: alien invasion, alien abduction, ufo, paranormal romance, aliens, rh cynical blood
PARANET: A HISTORY ParaNet began as a single bulletin board system called "The Other Side," which to this day I run out of my home in Fountain Hills, AZ. The idea behind it was and remains to provide a place for the forthright, mature discussion of the paranormal. When I was growing up, there were few sources of reliable in- formation on subjects like UFOs, ghosts, and ESP. One of those sour- ces, and one of the best for the times in which he existed, was Frank Edwards, author of "Stranger than Science, Strange World," "Strange People," and other works, which provided encapsulated glimpses at odd happenings in our world. I was later to learn that Edwards was the premier Fortean writer of his time, but at 10 years old, I hadn't heard of Charles Fort, and thought the world of Frank Edwards. I became heavily interested in the UFO phenomenon, mainly because of Frank's "Flying Saucers - Serious Business." I also won- dered about such things as Spontaneous Human Combustion, Polter- geists, and the like, but UFOs were my main interest. In the summer of 1967, my father took me on a trip to Washing- ton, DC. Knowing of my interest in flying saucers, he marched me right into the Pentagon, into the liason office of Project Blue Book. There we met with an AF captain, who patiently and agreeably explained that the AF had no answers, but that they didn't consider it extremely likely that UFOs were from outer space. My father asked most of the questions (I was a bit overwhelmed at 10 years old, and he maintains a more than casual interest himself), including whether or not it was possible the AF had some kind of secret project. The captain obligingly said, "not that we know of, and if we did, we probably wouldn't test it in populated areas." He then referred us to an organization in Washington called the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). We proceeded there, and met with ret. Marine Major Donald E. Keyhoe, the director. I was sum- marily signed up as a subscribing member, and remained on the roles until NICAP's demise in 1977. But long before said demise, I had entered college and had learned the ways of rational thinking. I was indoctrinated in the scientific method, and learned that when one grows up, one abandons such silly notions as little green men, and deals with the "real world." In many talks with my roomates and fraternity brothers, I learned the sad, hard truth: no saucers, no aliens, and no rational basis for believing otherwise. "Yeah, I guess you're right," I said, and in my rush to become an adult, with all the concomitant responsi- bilities, chores, and headaches, I filed the entire subject away in the deep recesses of my consciousness. In 1978, I discovered computers; in 1981, CompuServe; and the following year, Bulletin Board Systems. I was intrigued by the enor- mous potential for improvement of human communications such media presented -- and quite underwhelmed by the uses they had been put to thus far. The most meaningful discussions I had seen take place dealt with such burning issues as VisiCalc vs. 1-2-3 and the advan- tages of a Commodore over an Atari. McLuhan would have had a field day, I mused. I gravitated to the Issues Forum, the only area on CompuServe at that time where mature, non-computer related discussions -- out- right, flaming arguments -- seemed the norm. I tried to become in- volved as much as possible, but felt shut out by my lack of know- ledge in the subjects being discussed (I dropped out of college after only a year and a half.) I decided to start a discussion on a topic I was fairly famil- iar with - and that, by definition, no one had any conclusive ans- wers about: the paranormal. Eventually I became the leader of a new subtopic in the forum, Paranormal Issues, and proceeded to submit articles, stories and documents to the electronic library in order to keep discussions going. In my reading, I discovered the existence of the dreaded CSICOP - the Committee for the Scientific Investiga- tion of Claims of the Paranormal. I had always felt that when deal- ing with so many paranormal claims, there had to be "more to the story." At last here was a group that presented that other side of things, in a most convincing manner. I've met many people who say, "I believe in psychokinesis," for example, and then ask, "what's CSICOP?" It appeared to me that there was a need to at least communicate skeptical information to people, a need that was going largely unmet, due to the relatively small cir- culation of CSICOP's journal, The Skeptical Inquirer. Its always been my belief that the truthfulness of a proposition cannot be judged until weighed against antithetical arguments. If those argu- ments are found wanting, THEN maybe you have a legitimate claim. So I started ParaNet, in order to provide a conduit for informa- tion from BOTH sides of paranormal issues. Indeed, the name of the headquarters board, The Other Side, is a double entendre, partly taken from the name of a book by Bishop James Pike, and partly from my desire to see a bilateral discussion of things paranormal. Another goal of ParaNet is to provide a network for research groups to interact in full view of the computing public. In this way, the best arguments pro and con are set forth in a place where the average user can ask questions and challenge the answers, on an equal footing with investigators and debunkers. With the advantages of instant communications and open messaging, the long lead time and hassle of writing a "letter to the editor" of some quarterly journal is thus avoided, and dialogue takes place almost in real time. ParaNet has grown to include 10 boards, and we hope to double that number in the next two years. We are directly interacting with some of the more respected names in the field, including Dr. Bruce Maccabee, Dale Goudie, Philip Imbrogno, William Moore, Dale Kaczmarek, Philip Klass, and James Moseley. We hope to become the official computer network of MUFON, and perhaps even CSICOP. ParaNet has scored some "firsts" in its short history: we were the first news media of any kind in the world to carry the sad story of the death of ufologist J. Allen Hynek; the first news media in the US to tell of the Japan Airlines UFO; and the first non-print media in the world to crack open the file on the controversial Majestic-12. Have I learned anything from operating ParaNet? Not in the sense of getting closer to any definitive answers about the para- normal. But I have learned how people's attitudes shape what they believe, and how what they believe shapes what they see. I have learned that skepticism is the best tool for investigating para- normal claims; and I have learned that, much to the chagrin of CSICOP, it is also the best tool for investigating the claims of skeptics. --Jim Speiser ParaNet Alpha investigating the claims of skeptics.
Are launch costs too high and weighing down your bottom line? ELON MUSK, Space X founder, pitches his FALCON HEAVY booster as right for the job to lift your prospects! In a DISCOVERY NEWS ARTICLE, Musk says, "...WE CAN REALISTICALLY START TO CONTEMPLATE MISSIONS LIKE A MARS SAMPLE RETURN, WHICH REQUIRES A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF LIFT CAPABILITY BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO SEND A LANDER TO MARS THAT STILL HAS ENOUGH PROPELLANT TO RETURN TO EARTH." PLANETARY SCIENCE BLOG notes, the Falcon Heavy is second only to the SATURN V rocket in payload and escape velocity. The article adds 20-25 percent of mission cost is in the launch and idea of lowering your costs from 10,000 to 1,000 per pound a major selling point! A debut flight is scheduled for Vandenberg AFB in 2013. You can visit the FALCON HEAVY WEBPAGE at the SPACE X WEBSITE for more details. The sales pitch is a familiar one--"MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK"-- but will bottomline decisions translate into space exploration success? Do you trust companies and corporations to do the right thing in space?
Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here's today's news:g STARS - What is the habitable zone for the nearby star DENIS 1048-3956?g ABODES - The "facts" behind the Planet X/Nibiru myth simply do not add up. Don't worry, Planet X will not be knocking on our door in 2012 and here's why.g MESSAGE - Exobiology or astrobiology is the study of life elsewhere in the universe, where this life is assumed to be non-supernatural and existing in the physical context of our universe, as Earth life does. See article.g LEARNING - Beginning today, Nashville officially enters an unprecedented Age of Discovery.The new Sudekum Planetarium and Space Chase at Adventure Science Center will open its doors to the public at 10 a.m., immersing visitors in a universe of wonder - and giving them as many opportunities to explore as there are stars in the sky. See article.g IMAGINING - The alien invasion is a common theme in science fiction stories and film, in which a technologically-superior extraterrestrial society invades Earth with the intent to replace human life, or to enslave it under a colonial system. But would aliens actually ever attack another planet? See article.g AFTERMATH - Within the scientific community, the question is no longer whether extraterrestrial life exists, but if ET is smart enough to do long division - and the U.S. and other world governments already have detailed secret plans for first contact. My apologies in advanced for Popular Mechanic's lurid title, but the reporting is sound. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
For thousands of years, humans have been wondering whether there's life elsewhere in the universe. Now, the technology finally exists to search for it.To find extraterrestrial life, be it microbes or intelligent life, scientists need telescopes capable of detecting Earth-like planets in Earth's neighborhood and ways to detect biological signatures of life or signs of alien technology. While some of these tools already exist, astrobiologists asked the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to invest in the next chapter of the search for life beyond Earth."This is the first time in human history we have the technological reach to find life on other planets," Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at MIT, said at a House Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearing today. "People will look back at us as the (generation) who found Earth-like worlds."
ARE WE ALONE?Astrobiology - the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe - has taken a leap forward over the past few years. Members of the science committee expressed enthusiasm for the field's progress."Astrobiology has become a crosscutting theme of all NASA space science endeavors," and continued funding is important, said Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D., Texas).
The Kepler mission has identified more than 3,500 potential planets outside Earth's solar system, including 10 that are Earth-size and lie within their star's habitable zone. And the space-based Hubble and Spitzer telescopes recently imaged the atmospheres of an exoplanet directly.Meanwhile, the Mars rover Curiosity has found evidence that past conditions on the Red Planet could have supported life. Here on Earth, scientists have found examples of microbes living in the most extreme environments imaginable, from volcanic lakes to glaciers. Finding life in such unlikely places suggests it could exist in harsh environments on other planets,
After 50 years, humanity is now in an era when it can provide data for whether life exists elsewhere in the universe, Mary Voytek, NASA's head of astrobiology, told members of Congress.
THE SEARCH RAMPS UPA key part of these efforts will be to look for biological signatures in the atmospheres of other planets. For example, oxygen doesn't last long by itself, so the presence of oxygen would indicate living organisms were producing it. Another necessity for life on Earth is water, and scientists just announced they have found signatures of water in the atmospheres of five planets (although they are superhot, Jupiter-size planets).
NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) telescope, set to launch in 2017, will search for exoplanets using the transiting method the Kepler mission used to detect planets crossing in front of their host star. The James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2018, will be able to peer more closely at some of the planets detected by TESS.
Ultimately, scientists want to image planets directly, but this requires blocking out light from a star so that a planet would be visible. Using a telescope attachment called an internal coronagraph is one way to do this; another way is to build a star shade, a large object shaped like a flower that could be moved independently in space. Scientists need to try both methods to find one that works, Seager said.The most optimistic estimate for finding life would be within a decade, using the James Webb telescope, Seager said. But she said that a more realistic approach is needed, including a next-generation telescope to succeed the James Webb telescope.
Then there's the prospect of intelligent life. Space historian Stephen Dick, currently an astrobiology scholar at the Library of Congress, called for renewing efforts to look for intelligent life via the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)."No bio-signatures would be more important than a radio signal - especially if they have something to say," Dick said.And if scientists find life out there, then what?"The plan is to confirm it first, then tell everybody," Dick said.Sourcehttp://www.educatinghumanity.com/feeds/posts/default
NASA will launch a spacecraft to an asteroid in 2016 and use a robotic arm to pluck samples that could better explain our solar system's formation and how life began. The mission, called Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, will be the first U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth."This is a critical step in meeting the objectives outlined by President Obama to extend our reach beyond low-Earth orbit and explore into deep space," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. "It's robotic missions like these that will pave the way for future human space missions to an asteroid and other deep space destinations." NASA selected OSIRIS-REx after reviewing three concept study reports for new scientific missions, which also included a sample return mission from the far side of the Moon and a mission to the surface of Venus. Asteroids are leftovers formed from the cloud of gas and dust -- the solar nebula -- that collapsed to form our sun and the planets about 4.5 billion years ago. As such, they contain the original material from the solar nebula, which can tell us about the conditions of our solar system's birth.Conceptual image of OSIRIS-REx. CREDIT: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona After traveling four years, OSIRIS-REx will approach the primitive, near Earth asteroid designated 1999 RQ36 in 2020. Once within three miles of the asteroid, the spacecraft will begin six months of comprehensive surface mapping. The science team then will pick a location from where the spacecraft's arm will take a sample. The spacecraft gradually will move closer to the site, and the arm will extend to collect more than two ounces of material for return to Earth in 2023. The mission, excluding the launch vehicle, is expected to cost approximately 800 million. The sample will be stored in a capsule that will land at Utah's Test and Training Range in 2023. The capsule's design will be similar to that used by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, which returned the world's first comet particles from comet Wild 2 in 2006. The OSIRIS-REx sample capsule will be taken to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The material will be removed and delivered to a dedicated research facility following stringent planetary protection protocol. Precise analysis will be performed that cannot be duplicated by spacecraft-based instruments. RQ36 is approximately 1,900 feet in diameter or roughly the size of five football fields. The asteroid, little altered over time, is likely to represent a snapshot of our solar system's infancy. The asteroid also is likely rich in carbon, a key element in the organic molecules necessary for life. Organic molecules have been found in meteorite and comet samples, indicating some of life's ingredients can be created in space. Scientists want to see if they also are present on RQ36. "This asteroid is a time capsule from the birth of our solar system and ushers in a new era of planetary exploration," said Jim Green, director, NASA's Planetary Science Division in Washington. "The knowledge from the mission also will help us to develop methods to better track the orbits of asteroids." The mission will accurately measure the "Yarkovsky effect" for the first time. The effect is a small push caused by the sun on an asteroid, as it absorbs sunlight and re-emits that energy as heat. The small push adds up over time, but it is uneven due to an asteroid's shape, wobble, surface composition and rotation. For scientists to predict an Earth-approaching asteroid's path, they must understand how the effect will change its orbit. OSIRIS-REx will help refine RQ36's orbit to ascertain its trajectory and devise future strategies to mitigate possible Earth impacts from celestial objects. Michael Drake of the University of Arizona in Tucson is the mission's principal investigator. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will provide overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver will build the spacecraft. The OSIRIS-REx payload includes instruments from the University of Arizona, Goddard, Arizona State University in Tempe and the Canadian Space Agency. NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., the Langley Research Center in Hampton Va., and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., also are involved. The science team is composed of numerous researchers from universities, private and government agencies. This is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. The first, New Horizons, was launched in 2006. It will fly by the Pluto-Charon system in July 2015, then target another Kuiper Belt object for study. The second mission, Juno, will launch in August to become the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter from pole to pole and study the giant planet's atmosphere and interior. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
The crew of the International Space Station have been evacuated from the US part of the satellite after an ammonia leak, according to reports.
They have been moved into the Russian part of the satellite, Russian news reports said.
All of the six crew - made up of three Russians, two Americans and one Italian - are safe in the Russian section, Russian news agencies reported.
The station is divided into two - the Russian Orbital Segment and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which has been evacuated.
The USOS is made and operated by Nasa, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
It is run by staff in a range of mission control centers, including two in the US, and others in Germany and Japan.
New supplies arrived at the station last week, after a rocket made by SpaceX carried them there. The arrival of the supplies were delayed by a rocket explosion in October.
Credit: discover-ghosts.blogspot.com
FACT SHEET: THE MAGELLAN PROJECT
A mission to send a spacecraft to map the surface of
Venus with imaging radar is underway at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory. The project is called Magellan.
The spacecraft's basic science instrument is its
synthetic aperture radar, or SAR, which can look through the
thick clouds that perpetually shield the surface of Venus.
Magellan will orbit the planet for 243 Earth days, one Venus day,
on its primary mission. During that time it will map from 70 to
90 percent of the Venus surface.
Magellan was launched aboard the space shuttle Atlantis
on May 4, 1989. Atlantis carried the spacecraft into low Earth
orbit and an inertial upper stage, or IUS, sent Magellan on its
way to Venus. The cruise will take 15 months because the Magellan
spacecraft will make more than one and one-half revolutions
around the Sun before it arrives at Venus.
Once at Venus, Magellan will be placed in an elliptical
orbit that will take it as close as 250 kilometers (155 miles)
and as far as 8,029 kilometers (4,889 miles) from the planet. The
spacecraft will complete one orbit every three hours and nine
minutes.
At the part of its orbit close to the planet, the SAR
will image a swath between 17 and 28 kilometers (10 and 17 miles)
beginning at or near the north pole and continuing into the
southern hemisphere.
Subsequent swaths will slightly overlap. The swaths
will be put together in mosaics which will be made into maps of
the planet.
As the spacecraft moves away into the part of its orbit
farthest from the planet, it will turn its high gain antenna
toward Earth and send back the data it has collected during the
imaging. It also will locate certain stars in the sky to make
sure its attitude is correct and then continue its orbit for
another imaging swath.
During its primary mission it will map most of the
planet and if a further mission cycle is approved, the spacecraft
will map areas it will have missed and perform gravity
experiments.
The surface of Venus is obscured by thick clouds of
carbon dioxide. It is not visible to optical instruments. For
centuries, astronomers believed Venus was a twin planet of Earth
and described an imaginary world of swamps, forests and strange
creatures beneath the clouds.
Then spacecraft began exploring the planets. The first
U.S. mission to another planet was Mariner 2, which passed Venus
in December 1962. Mariner 2 and others since then have found that
the temperature of Venus is about 470 degrees Celsius (about 900
degrees Fahrenheit) and the atmospheric pressure at the surface
is 90 times greater than Earth's. Spacecraft launched by the
Soviet Union have landed on the surface and have made closeup
pictures of the rocky terrain.
Other spacecraft, including NASA's Pioneer Venus
orbiter and the Soviet Union's Venera 15 and 16, have used radar
to make low resolution maps of Venus.
While different in many ways, Venus and Earth do share
some similarities. They are about the same size. (Earth is 12,756
kilometers or 7,926 miles in diameter. Venus is 12,103 kilometers
or 7,520 miles). Their densities are similar. (Earth is 5.52
grams per cubic centimeter. Venus is 5.24 grams per cc). Earth is
149,600,100 kilometers or 92,957,200 miles from the Sun. Venus is
108,150,900 kilometers or 67,200,000 miles from the Sun.
Despite the similarities, the differences are striking. In
addition to the searing heat and crushing pressure, Venus has an
atmosphere almost devoid of water. Its atmosphere is 97 percent
carbon dioxide and its upper clouds contain sulfuric acid. Venus
has no moons and no magnetic field has been detected.
It rotates on its axis in a retrograde direction, that
is opposite that of Earth and most of the other planets. It
rotates very slowly, once in 243 Earth days.
But scientists know that Earth and Venus accreted from
the solar nebula about the same time, 4.6 billion years ago, and
there are some indications they may have been more similar in
times past. Both planets are volcanic. Earth is still very much
so, and it is not known for sure if Venus still has active
volcanoes. But radar scans from Earth and altimeter measurements
by spacecraft have turned up a great mountain which may be the
largest volcano in the solar system.
Also, radar scans show large land masses on Venus which
rise above the lowlands. One such mass is called Ishtar Terra,
which is about the size of Australia. Another large high altitude
area is called Aphrodite.
Venus is the victim of a runaway greenhouse effect. The
heat from the Sun is captured in the carbon dioxide atmosphere
and is not radiated back into space. On Earth, much of the heat
from the Sun is bounced back into space through the atmosphere of
nitrogen and oxygen because the atmosphere reaches a state of
temperature equilibrium when a certain amount of heat is
absorbed. Venus's atmosphere, however, acts like a giant
greenhouse.
Scientists are looking to Magellan to answer some
questions of long standing about our sister planet. They want to
know what caused the greenhouse effect on Venus and if it was
ever like Earth. On Earth, continents ride on great plates moving
above the mantle. That movement is called tectonism and one of
the unanswered questions is: does Venus have tectonic plates?
Scientists know there is no water on Venus now, but it
is not known if water ever existed there. Magellan will search
for signs that Venus once may have had oceans similar to, but
smaller than, Earth's. If Venus did once have seas, their ancient
shorelines would probably still be detectable in the radar
images.
Synthetic aperture radar was first used by NASA on the
Seasat oceanographic satellite in 1978. Seasat was a JPL project.
Other JPL SARs flew as SIR-A and SIR-B, the Shuttle Imaging
Radars, beginning on the second space shuttle flight in November
1981. Aerial tests of the system over the cloud-covered rain
forests of Guatemala produced images that revealed agricultural
canals dug by the Mayan civilization.
SAR sends out millions of radio energy pulses each
second at an angle across its target swath. The signals bounce
off the target and are detected by the spacecraft's high gain
antenna. Part of the Magellan SAR is its altimeter which sends
radio signals straight down and receives them back to determine
the altitude of features. A separate, smaller, antenna attached
to the high-gain antenna is used for this function.
The SAR instrument measures the time it takes the
signal to make the round trip between the antenna and the ground.
It also measures the Doppler shift, a measurement of relative
motion that is akin to a change in pitch, as the radar and the
target pass each other. With that data, it forms a two-
dimensional image of the surface characteristics.
Between the pulses it sends out, the Magellan antenna
is passive and in that mode it reads the brightness, or thermal
wavelengths, emanating from the surface. From that study, called
radiometry, scientists can infer what the material is made of.
The gravity measurements are made by radio. Radio
telescopes on Earth will measure the Doppler changes that occur
when the spacecraft speeds up or slows down as it passes over
certain features. That study will help determine the composition
of the interior of Venus.
To help meet the mission's low cost goals, the
spacecraft is based on existing hardware designs and incorporates
a considerable amount of spare hardware from earlier projects.
Its high-gain antenna is a 3.7 meter Voyager antenna
and will be used for both radar mapping and data communications
back to Earth. The primary structure and the small thrusters also
are Voyager spares. Its command data system, attitude control
computer and power-distribution units are spare parts from the
Galileo project. Its medium gain antenna is from the Mariner 9
project.
Martin Marietta Corp. is the prime contractor for the
spacecraft. Hughes Aircraft Co. is the prime contractor for the
radar system.
The Magellan project is managed by JPL for NASA's
Office of Space Science and Applications. Anthony J. Spear is the
JPL project manager and Dr. R. Stephen Saunders is the project
scientist.
#####
4-11-90 JJD
Reference: faces-on-mars.blogspot.com
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