The Washinghton Post: Turkmenistan sets up national space agency
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — The energy-rich Turkmenistan is aiming to join the ranks of space nations.
The official newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan reported Tuesday that President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov has signed a decree authorizing the creation of the National Space Agency.
Earlier this month, U.S. space transportation company SpaceX vice president Christophe Bauer announced that his company would launch a satellite for the Central Asian nation in 2014.
The country’s last brush with space came in 2005, when the Turkmens secured a slot on a Russian rocket to send a capsule containing then-President Saparmurat Niyazov’s self-penned holy text into orbit. The eccentric leader died in 2006 after two decades of iron-fisted rule.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Endeavour Crew Prepares for Wednesday Landing
eweek.com: Endeavour Crew Prepares for Wednesday Landing
Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew prepare for their return to Earth after the spacecraft's final mission skyward.
Space shuttle Endeavour’s crew is wrapping up final preparations for its planned landing on Wednesday morning at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the space agency reported. The crew is preparing to stow the Ku-Band antenna, used for high-data rate communications and television from space, and will sleep before the re-entry sequence. The astronauts on Endeavour got a special wakeup call Monday to kick off a day devoted to preparing the orbiter and its crew for their return to Earth this week.
The wakeup call featured the original composition “Dreams You Give” by Brain Plunkett, the second place winner in the Space Shuttle Program’s Original Song Contest, which drew more than 1,300 entries. More than a million votes were cast online by the general public to choose two songs from among 10 finalists to be played to the astronauts; the top vote-getter will be played to wake up the crew tomorrow.
At 8:06 p.m. EDT all six crewmembers will start their day talking about the flight in a series of interviews with various major news outlets, and an hour later Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Greg Johnson and Flight Engineer Roberto Vittori will take their places on Endeavour’s flight deck and work with the entry flight control team on a routine pre-entry checkout of the shuttle’s flight control systems and reaction control system jets.
Most of the rest of the crew’s day will be spent packing items throughout the crew cabin in preparation for the planned landing at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday morning, the space agency reported. The crew also took time for a tribute to Endeavour, speaking about the history of the youngest space shuttle and the work accomplished by its crews during its 25 trips to space.
Endeavour was NASA's fifth and final space shuttle orbiter to join the fleet at Kennedy Space Center. Endeavour also is known inside the space agency by its designation Orbiter Vehicle-105, or OV-105. Construction of Endeavour began on Sept. 28, 1987, and it rolled out of the assembly plant in Palmdale, Calif., in April 1991. For the first time, a national competition involving students in elementary and secondary schools produced the name of the new orbiter.
After receiving 6,154 entries, representing more than 70,000 students, NASA chose Endeavour. The name comes from a ship chartered to traverse the South Pacific in 1768 and captained by 18th century British explorer James Cook, an experienced seaman, navigator and amateur astronomer.
Among Endeavour’s missions was the first to include four spacewalks, and then the first to include five. Its STS-67 mission set a length record of almost two full days longer than any shuttle mission before it. Its airlock is the only one to have seen three spacewalkers exit through it for a single spacewalk. And in its cargo bay, the first two pieces of the International Space Station (ISS) were joined together.
Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew prepare for their return to Earth after the spacecraft's final mission skyward.
Space shuttle Endeavour’s crew is wrapping up final preparations for its planned landing on Wednesday morning at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the space agency reported. The crew is preparing to stow the Ku-Band antenna, used for high-data rate communications and television from space, and will sleep before the re-entry sequence. The astronauts on Endeavour got a special wakeup call Monday to kick off a day devoted to preparing the orbiter and its crew for their return to Earth this week.
The wakeup call featured the original composition “Dreams You Give” by Brain Plunkett, the second place winner in the Space Shuttle Program’s Original Song Contest, which drew more than 1,300 entries. More than a million votes were cast online by the general public to choose two songs from among 10 finalists to be played to the astronauts; the top vote-getter will be played to wake up the crew tomorrow.
At 8:06 p.m. EDT all six crewmembers will start their day talking about the flight in a series of interviews with various major news outlets, and an hour later Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Greg Johnson and Flight Engineer Roberto Vittori will take their places on Endeavour’s flight deck and work with the entry flight control team on a routine pre-entry checkout of the shuttle’s flight control systems and reaction control system jets.
Most of the rest of the crew’s day will be spent packing items throughout the crew cabin in preparation for the planned landing at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday morning, the space agency reported. The crew also took time for a tribute to Endeavour, speaking about the history of the youngest space shuttle and the work accomplished by its crews during its 25 trips to space.
Endeavour was NASA's fifth and final space shuttle orbiter to join the fleet at Kennedy Space Center. Endeavour also is known inside the space agency by its designation Orbiter Vehicle-105, or OV-105. Construction of Endeavour began on Sept. 28, 1987, and it rolled out of the assembly plant in Palmdale, Calif., in April 1991. For the first time, a national competition involving students in elementary and secondary schools produced the name of the new orbiter.
After receiving 6,154 entries, representing more than 70,000 students, NASA chose Endeavour. The name comes from a ship chartered to traverse the South Pacific in 1768 and captained by 18th century British explorer James Cook, an experienced seaman, navigator and amateur astronomer.
Among Endeavour’s missions was the first to include four spacewalks, and then the first to include five. Its STS-67 mission set a length record of almost two full days longer than any shuttle mission before it. Its airlock is the only one to have seen three spacewalkers exit through it for a single spacewalk. And in its cargo bay, the first two pieces of the International Space Station (ISS) were joined together.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Endeavour leaves International Space Station on final journey
The Telegraph (UK): Endeavour leaves International Space Station on final journey
The US space shuttle Endeavour is on its way back to Earth after leaving the International Space Station on its final journey before entering retirement.
Endeavour's last mission is the penultimate flight for the 30-year-old US shuttle program, which will end for good after the Atlantis mission to the orbiting research lab, scheduled to begin July 8.
It uncoupled from the space station when it was 215 miles (350km) over La Paz, Bolivia, NASA said.
It was followed by one-lap of the station to allow the six crew to take photos of the space lab.
Endeavour's 16-day mission began with the shuttle's launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 16 and will conclude when the shuttle lands back on Earth early on Wednesday.
During nearly 11 days at the space station, the crew delivered and installed the Alpha-Magnetic Spectrometer-2, which will be left at the space station to scour the universe for clues about dark matter and antimatter.
The shuttle commander is Mark Kelly, whose lawmaker wife Gabrielle Giffords is recovering from a bullet wound to the head. The Arizona congresswoman was shot by a lone gunman during a meeting with local voters in January. Six people were killed.
Miss Giffords was granted leave by her rehabilitation doctors to watch the launch from Kennedy Space Center along with other astronaut family members two weeks ago, but is not expected to return for the middle-of-the-night landing.
After the final shuttle missions, the three spacecraft in the flying fleet and the prototype Enterprise will be sent to different museums across the country.
Discovery, the oldest in the group, was the first shuttle to retire after its final journey to the ISS ended in March. Endeavour is the youngest, and flew its first space mission in 1991. It is now ending its 25th and final mission.
Endeavour is the sixth and last US space shuttle ever built, and was commissioned after the Challenger exploded in 1986.
The US space shuttle Endeavour is on its way back to Earth after leaving the International Space Station on its final journey before entering retirement.
Endeavour's last mission is the penultimate flight for the 30-year-old US shuttle program, which will end for good after the Atlantis mission to the orbiting research lab, scheduled to begin July 8.
It uncoupled from the space station when it was 215 miles (350km) over La Paz, Bolivia, NASA said.
It was followed by one-lap of the station to allow the six crew to take photos of the space lab.
Endeavour's 16-day mission began with the shuttle's launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 16 and will conclude when the shuttle lands back on Earth early on Wednesday.
During nearly 11 days at the space station, the crew delivered and installed the Alpha-Magnetic Spectrometer-2, which will be left at the space station to scour the universe for clues about dark matter and antimatter.
The shuttle commander is Mark Kelly, whose lawmaker wife Gabrielle Giffords is recovering from a bullet wound to the head. The Arizona congresswoman was shot by a lone gunman during a meeting with local voters in January. Six people were killed.
Miss Giffords was granted leave by her rehabilitation doctors to watch the launch from Kennedy Space Center along with other astronaut family members two weeks ago, but is not expected to return for the middle-of-the-night landing.
After the final shuttle missions, the three spacecraft in the flying fleet and the prototype Enterprise will be sent to different museums across the country.
Discovery, the oldest in the group, was the first shuttle to retire after its final journey to the ISS ended in March. Endeavour is the youngest, and flew its first space mission in 1991. It is now ending its 25th and final mission.
Endeavour is the sixth and last US space shuttle ever built, and was commissioned after the Challenger exploded in 1986.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
NASA Art: 50 Years of Exploration Opens at the National Air and Space Museum
ArtDaily.com: NASA Art: 50 Years of Exploration Opens at the National Air and Space Museum
WASHINGTON, D.C.- You don't have to be a rocket scientist or an astronaut to work for NASA. Engineers, pilots, physicists, astrobiologists, and, yes, artists, too, have helped further the mission of the space agency. In 1962, NASA administrator James E. Webb invited a group of artists to illustrate and interpret the agency’s missions and projects. Artists, participating in the NASA art program, many of them renowned, have been documenting the extraordinary adventure of spaceflight ever since. Granted special access to historic moments, they have offered their perspectives on what they have witnessed.
"NASA | ART," on view from May 28 to Oct. 9, features works by artists as diverse as Annie Leibovitz, Alexander Calder, Nam June Paik, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol and William Wegman. The exhibition includes drawings, photographs, sculpture and other art forms and media from the collections of NASA and the National Air and Space Museum. These more than 70 works—ranging from the illustrative to the abstract—present a different view of NASA than the one in history books or news shows.
Several of the artists have captured the faces and personalities of the men and women who have flown in space. Other members of the team—scientists, engineers, technicians, managers and thousands of others who made the space program possible—are also portrayed. Bunkers, gantries, radio dishes and the towering Vehicle Assembly Building of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida attracted other program artists, some of whom were struck by the co-existence of the space-age architecture of the Cape with the beaches, swamps, birds and animals that surround the space-age facility.
SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 50 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. Exhibition descriptions and tour schedules are available at www.sites.si.edu
WASHINGTON, D.C.- You don't have to be a rocket scientist or an astronaut to work for NASA. Engineers, pilots, physicists, astrobiologists, and, yes, artists, too, have helped further the mission of the space agency. In 1962, NASA administrator James E. Webb invited a group of artists to illustrate and interpret the agency’s missions and projects. Artists, participating in the NASA art program, many of them renowned, have been documenting the extraordinary adventure of spaceflight ever since. Granted special access to historic moments, they have offered their perspectives on what they have witnessed.
"NASA | ART," on view from May 28 to Oct. 9, features works by artists as diverse as Annie Leibovitz, Alexander Calder, Nam June Paik, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol and William Wegman. The exhibition includes drawings, photographs, sculpture and other art forms and media from the collections of NASA and the National Air and Space Museum. These more than 70 works—ranging from the illustrative to the abstract—present a different view of NASA than the one in history books or news shows.
Several of the artists have captured the faces and personalities of the men and women who have flown in space. Other members of the team—scientists, engineers, technicians, managers and thousands of others who made the space program possible—are also portrayed. Bunkers, gantries, radio dishes and the towering Vehicle Assembly Building of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida attracted other program artists, some of whom were struck by the co-existence of the space-age architecture of the Cape with the beaches, swamps, birds and animals that surround the space-age facility.
SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 50 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. Exhibition descriptions and tour schedules are available at www.sites.si.edu
Friday, May 27, 2011
Revolt of the Apollo Astronauts
SatelliteSpotlight.com: Revolt of the Apollo Astronauts
On the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's call to put men on the moon, a number of Apollo astronauts called out President Obama and NASA for botching up America's space policy. Do they have a point -- or are they just grumpy old men?
In a May 24 USA Today Op-Ed piece, the first man to set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong, Apollo 13 mission commander Jim Lovell, and Apollo 17 mission commander Gene Cernan noted the 2005 Constellation program was effectively shut down in the proposed 2011 budget. Invoking the spirit of President Kennedy, Obama's advisors "ignored NASA's operational mandate" and "strayed widely" from Kennedy's vision and the will of the American people to be the leader in space exploration.
"But today, America's leadership in space is slipping," states the piece. "NASA's human spaceflight program is in substantial disarray with no clear-cut mission in the offing. We will have no rockets to carry humans to low-Earth orbit and beyond for an indeterminate number of years... After a half-century of remarkable progress, a coherent plan for maintaining America's leadership in space exploration is no longer apparent."
The president's 2012 budget keeps funding below Congressionally authorized amounts for development of a large heavy-lift rocket and the multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV), while increasing funding for cooperative R&D of commercial rockets and spacecraft.
Armstrong and company snipe that costs for commercial services to space will be "substantially larger and more time consuming" than entrepreneurs predict, not having factored in NASA-funded development costs.
Meanwhile, Cernan's Apollo 17 lunar module pilot and former Senator Harrison Schmitt goes beyond the USA Today piece to call for the wholesale dismantling of NASA. In his blog piece, "46. Space Policy and the Constitution #4," Schmitt recognizes that budgetary actions for the last 8 years (i.e. during the former Bush administration, as well as current activity) have imposed "immense difficulties." In addition, he notes NASA's transformation from a center of national necessity during the 1970s to a source of pork barrel spending with "NASA Centers, large contractors, or concentrations of sub-contractors."
Schmitt wants to ditch NASA with the start of a new presidential term in 2013, starting from scratch to create a dedicated National Space Exploration Administration (NSEA) to enable exploration of deep space. Existing component parts of NASA would be redistributed among existing agencies with the exception of U.S. obligations on the ISS. NASA's climate and earth science research would go to NOAA; aeronautic R&D would go to the recreation of the NACA. Space sciences activities would be shifted to the National Science Foundation, excluding lunar and planetary science.
NSEA would hire a totally new workforce and have the authority to maintain an average employee age of less than 30; NASA's is over 47. A younger work force would provide the "the imagination, motivation, stamina, and courage of young engineers, scientists, and managers" to be successful in meeting the goal of not being in second place to the Chinese or other nation.
Of the two pieces, I have to say I like Schmitt's better; he recognizes that America hasn't come to this point in time overnight, calling out both Congress for pork-barrel politics and more than one administration for failing to provide leadership and funding. Finally, he proposes a solution, abet a radical one, to "fix" NASA and put the country on a more solid path for future space exploration efforts.
On the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's call to put men on the moon, a number of Apollo astronauts called out President Obama and NASA for botching up America's space policy. Do they have a point -- or are they just grumpy old men?
In a May 24 USA Today Op-Ed piece, the first man to set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong, Apollo 13 mission commander Jim Lovell, and Apollo 17 mission commander Gene Cernan noted the 2005 Constellation program was effectively shut down in the proposed 2011 budget. Invoking the spirit of President Kennedy, Obama's advisors "ignored NASA's operational mandate" and "strayed widely" from Kennedy's vision and the will of the American people to be the leader in space exploration.
"But today, America's leadership in space is slipping," states the piece. "NASA's human spaceflight program is in substantial disarray with no clear-cut mission in the offing. We will have no rockets to carry humans to low-Earth orbit and beyond for an indeterminate number of years... After a half-century of remarkable progress, a coherent plan for maintaining America's leadership in space exploration is no longer apparent."
The president's 2012 budget keeps funding below Congressionally authorized amounts for development of a large heavy-lift rocket and the multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV), while increasing funding for cooperative R&D of commercial rockets and spacecraft.
Armstrong and company snipe that costs for commercial services to space will be "substantially larger and more time consuming" than entrepreneurs predict, not having factored in NASA-funded development costs.
Meanwhile, Cernan's Apollo 17 lunar module pilot and former Senator Harrison Schmitt goes beyond the USA Today piece to call for the wholesale dismantling of NASA. In his blog piece, "46. Space Policy and the Constitution #4," Schmitt recognizes that budgetary actions for the last 8 years (i.e. during the former Bush administration, as well as current activity) have imposed "immense difficulties." In addition, he notes NASA's transformation from a center of national necessity during the 1970s to a source of pork barrel spending with "NASA Centers, large contractors, or concentrations of sub-contractors."
Schmitt wants to ditch NASA with the start of a new presidential term in 2013, starting from scratch to create a dedicated National Space Exploration Administration (NSEA) to enable exploration of deep space. Existing component parts of NASA would be redistributed among existing agencies with the exception of U.S. obligations on the ISS. NASA's climate and earth science research would go to NOAA; aeronautic R&D would go to the recreation of the NACA. Space sciences activities would be shifted to the National Science Foundation, excluding lunar and planetary science.
NSEA would hire a totally new workforce and have the authority to maintain an average employee age of less than 30; NASA's is over 47. A younger work force would provide the "the imagination, motivation, stamina, and courage of young engineers, scientists, and managers" to be successful in meeting the goal of not being in second place to the Chinese or other nation.
Of the two pieces, I have to say I like Schmitt's better; he recognizes that America hasn't come to this point in time overnight, calling out both Congress for pork-barrel politics and more than one administration for failing to provide leadership and funding. Finally, he proposes a solution, abet a radical one, to "fix" NASA and put the country on a more solid path for future space exploration efforts.
Monday, May 23, 2011
NASA Endeavour Space Shuttle Has Damaged Heat Shield
PCWorld: NASA Endeavour Space Shuttle Has Damaged Heat Shield
Space Shuttle Endeavour has been in space for about a week now and the crew has just recently found that there is a damaged tile on the shuttle's heat shield, bringing back horrible images of the Columbia disaster which shattered NASA and the nation back in 2003.
On Saturday at around 3:30 AM EDT, Endeavour's crew and NASA conducted an in-depth analysis of the tile to make sure that it was of no danger to the Shuttle during reentry. The crew lowered a boom with cameras and laser sensors to look at the tile which is behind the right landing gear door.
LeRoy Cain, the deputy program manager and chairman of the mission management team, said that the tile had been cleared and that there was no danger to the shuttle from the damaged tile because the structure beneath the tile will still only reach an estimated 219 degrees Fahrenheit--below its maximum temperature capacity of 350 degrees. To make sure that there is no danger, Endeavour's crew will conduct another inspection before departing the ISS.
The heat shield itself is fairly complicated and is composed of some 20,548 individual tiles that vary from between 1 and 5 inches to account for individual heat loads during reentry. The tiles protect against temperatures up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, well above the capacity of the shuttle's aluminum skin and structure.
While the tiles are firmly glued on to the shuttle with a very durable and heat-resistant adhesive, it's not unreasonable to think that a damaged tile could come off, in which case the heat and intense reentry pressures could gain access to the inside of the shuttle potentially causing a catastrophic failure. In this case, NASA's analysis made sure that there was enough material left to take the heat.
With the damaged tile on everyone's minds, the astronauts still have a busy schedule ahead with the third space walk coming up this Wednesday. Not everything has been going smoothly, on the last space walk the AP reported that bolts started unexpectedly popping off of covers on a massive 10-foot-diameter joint that turn the station's massive 240 foot long solar arrays. Hopefully everything will eventually come together before the shuttle has to return on June 1st.
Space Shuttle Endeavour has been in space for about a week now and the crew has just recently found that there is a damaged tile on the shuttle's heat shield, bringing back horrible images of the Columbia disaster which shattered NASA and the nation back in 2003.
On Saturday at around 3:30 AM EDT, Endeavour's crew and NASA conducted an in-depth analysis of the tile to make sure that it was of no danger to the Shuttle during reentry. The crew lowered a boom with cameras and laser sensors to look at the tile which is behind the right landing gear door.
LeRoy Cain, the deputy program manager and chairman of the mission management team, said that the tile had been cleared and that there was no danger to the shuttle from the damaged tile because the structure beneath the tile will still only reach an estimated 219 degrees Fahrenheit--below its maximum temperature capacity of 350 degrees. To make sure that there is no danger, Endeavour's crew will conduct another inspection before departing the ISS.
The heat shield itself is fairly complicated and is composed of some 20,548 individual tiles that vary from between 1 and 5 inches to account for individual heat loads during reentry. The tiles protect against temperatures up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, well above the capacity of the shuttle's aluminum skin and structure.
While the tiles are firmly glued on to the shuttle with a very durable and heat-resistant adhesive, it's not unreasonable to think that a damaged tile could come off, in which case the heat and intense reentry pressures could gain access to the inside of the shuttle potentially causing a catastrophic failure. In this case, NASA's analysis made sure that there was enough material left to take the heat.
With the damaged tile on everyone's minds, the astronauts still have a busy schedule ahead with the third space walk coming up this Wednesday. Not everything has been going smoothly, on the last space walk the AP reported that bolts started unexpectedly popping off of covers on a massive 10-foot-diameter joint that turn the station's massive 240 foot long solar arrays. Hopefully everything will eventually come together before the shuttle has to return on June 1st.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Endeavour crew hooks up $2 billion cosmic ray detector
USA Today: Endeavour crew hooks up $2 billion cosmic ray detector
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —The International Space Station's signature science experiment, a $2 billion particle physics detector, is securely attached to the outpost.
Endeavour astronauts Thursday morning lifted the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer from the shuttle's payload bay and attached it to the right, space-facing side of the station's structural truss, completing their top mission objective.
The device was confirmed attached at 5:46 a.m. EDT.
"AMS is probably the most significant scientific experiment on the station," radioed Endeavour mission specialist Greg Chamitoff. "We all look forward to seeing what AMS will discover about the nature of the universe."
Power and data connections must be made before the 7.5-ton instrument is operational, but it should begin collecting data soon.
The instrument will sift through cosmic rays travelling from distant reaches of the universe, characterizing the high-energy particles passing through it in the hopes of better understanding the structure and origin of the universe.
The cosmic ray detector is designed to look for dark matter, the mysterious, unseen substance believed to account for most of the universe's mass; antimatter, which according to the Big Bang theory should have existed in equal quantity to matter at the universe's creation; and "strange" matter created experimentally but not found on Earth.
A prototype instrument flew a test run on shuttle Discovery in June 1998, but it has since been upgraded with more sensitive detectors. It features a large permanent magnet and eight detectors to measure particles' speed, direction, mass and charge.
AMS will now operate as long as the station remains in service, at least until 2020.
The crew also is preparing for the mission's first of four planned spacewalks. Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff are scheduled to float outside the station at 3:16 a.m. EDT Friday.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —The International Space Station's signature science experiment, a $2 billion particle physics detector, is securely attached to the outpost.
Endeavour astronauts Thursday morning lifted the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer from the shuttle's payload bay and attached it to the right, space-facing side of the station's structural truss, completing their top mission objective.
The device was confirmed attached at 5:46 a.m. EDT.
"AMS is probably the most significant scientific experiment on the station," radioed Endeavour mission specialist Greg Chamitoff. "We all look forward to seeing what AMS will discover about the nature of the universe."
Power and data connections must be made before the 7.5-ton instrument is operational, but it should begin collecting data soon.
The instrument will sift through cosmic rays travelling from distant reaches of the universe, characterizing the high-energy particles passing through it in the hopes of better understanding the structure and origin of the universe.
The cosmic ray detector is designed to look for dark matter, the mysterious, unseen substance believed to account for most of the universe's mass; antimatter, which according to the Big Bang theory should have existed in equal quantity to matter at the universe's creation; and "strange" matter created experimentally but not found on Earth.
A prototype instrument flew a test run on shuttle Discovery in June 1998, but it has since been upgraded with more sensitive detectors. It features a large permanent magnet and eight detectors to measure particles' speed, direction, mass and charge.
AMS will now operate as long as the station remains in service, at least until 2020.
The crew also is preparing for the mission's first of four planned spacewalks. Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff are scheduled to float outside the station at 3:16 a.m. EDT Friday.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Woman's photos, video of space shuttle launch turn into an online hit
660News: Woman's photos, video of space shuttle launch turn into an online hit
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Groggy from a late night watching the Yankees, frigid from a chilled airplane cabin, Stefanie Gordon stirred to action after the pilot's announcement. Lifting her iPhone to the plane's window, she captured an otherworldly image that rocketed around the globe as fast as her subject: Space shuttle Endeavour soaring from a bank of clouds, its towering plume of white smoke lighting the azure sky.
She had never imagined the response her airborne image — capturing the last launch of Endeavour and the next-to-last space shuttle flight — would ignite. The images and video have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Twitter alone, landed on network newscasts and been published in newspapers worldwide.
In turn, they've made a photographic celebrity of sorts of the unemployed 33-year-old from Hoboken, N.J.
"It just blew up," she said of the attention.
Gordon caught an early Delta flight from New York to West Palm Beach on Monday to visit her parents and had a whole row to herself, never imagining the history she would record.
She stretched out and took a nap. Then she awoke shortly before the pilot announced the descent had begun and a sighting of the shuttle was possible. She had forgotten Endeavour was even taking off at 8:56 a.m. ET, but readied her iPhone just in case.
Then, the pilot came on again, alerting passengers the shuttle was in sight.
"Everybody ran over to the east side of the plane," Gordon said Tuesday, "and all of a sudden there it was in the clouds."
All told, she shot 12 seconds of footage of the shuttle arcing on its simple stream of smoke into space. She also shot three still photographs.
The plane landed minutes later in West Palm Beach and while she was waiting at the luggage carousel, at 9:31 a.m., she began uploading to Twitter. As she waited for her father to pick her up, she realized her work was making a splash.
"My phone just started going crazy," she said.
Among those who reached out to Gordon was Anne Farrar, a photo editor at the Washington Post, who saw the images after they were posted by a friend on Facebook. She said she'd never seen anything quite like this view of a shuttle launch before.
"It was just a really imaginative way to bring it to our readers," Farrar said. "It's almost like an underwater view."
Endeavour is on a 16-day trip — the second to last space shuttle flight. Its main mission is to attach to the space station a $2 billion physics experiment.
The Associated Press contacted Gordon through Facebook and purchased the images. The AP often obtains photos from witnesses, called citizen journalists.
As for Gordon, she lost her job at as a meeting planner at a non-profit organization last month. If the exposure from her pictures helps land her dream job of working in the sports field on special events and promotions, she said, it would all be worth it. Or if someone thinks her photographic eye qualifies her for a permanent job shooting video or photos, she wouldn't turn that down either.
For now, she's basking in the afterglow of her launch shots and hoping for some rest once the media frenzy passes.
"Laying by the pool would be really nice," she said.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Groggy from a late night watching the Yankees, frigid from a chilled airplane cabin, Stefanie Gordon stirred to action after the pilot's announcement. Lifting her iPhone to the plane's window, she captured an otherworldly image that rocketed around the globe as fast as her subject: Space shuttle Endeavour soaring from a bank of clouds, its towering plume of white smoke lighting the azure sky.
She had never imagined the response her airborne image — capturing the last launch of Endeavour and the next-to-last space shuttle flight — would ignite. The images and video have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Twitter alone, landed on network newscasts and been published in newspapers worldwide.
In turn, they've made a photographic celebrity of sorts of the unemployed 33-year-old from Hoboken, N.J.
"It just blew up," she said of the attention.
Gordon caught an early Delta flight from New York to West Palm Beach on Monday to visit her parents and had a whole row to herself, never imagining the history she would record.
She stretched out and took a nap. Then she awoke shortly before the pilot announced the descent had begun and a sighting of the shuttle was possible. She had forgotten Endeavour was even taking off at 8:56 a.m. ET, but readied her iPhone just in case.
Then, the pilot came on again, alerting passengers the shuttle was in sight.
"Everybody ran over to the east side of the plane," Gordon said Tuesday, "and all of a sudden there it was in the clouds."
All told, she shot 12 seconds of footage of the shuttle arcing on its simple stream of smoke into space. She also shot three still photographs.
The plane landed minutes later in West Palm Beach and while she was waiting at the luggage carousel, at 9:31 a.m., she began uploading to Twitter. As she waited for her father to pick her up, she realized her work was making a splash.
"My phone just started going crazy," she said.
Among those who reached out to Gordon was Anne Farrar, a photo editor at the Washington Post, who saw the images after they were posted by a friend on Facebook. She said she'd never seen anything quite like this view of a shuttle launch before.
"It was just a really imaginative way to bring it to our readers," Farrar said. "It's almost like an underwater view."
Endeavour is on a 16-day trip — the second to last space shuttle flight. Its main mission is to attach to the space station a $2 billion physics experiment.
The Associated Press contacted Gordon through Facebook and purchased the images. The AP often obtains photos from witnesses, called citizen journalists.
As for Gordon, she lost her job at as a meeting planner at a non-profit organization last month. If the exposure from her pictures helps land her dream job of working in the sports field on special events and promotions, she said, it would all be worth it. Or if someone thinks her photographic eye qualifies her for a permanent job shooting video or photos, she wouldn't turn that down either.
For now, she's basking in the afterglow of her launch shots and hoping for some rest once the media frenzy passes.
"Laying by the pool would be really nice," she said.
Shuttle Endeavour arrives at space station for final visit, delivers pricey physics experiment
The Washington Post National: Shuttle Endeavour arrives at space station for final visit, delivers pricey physics experiment
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Endeavour and its six astronauts showed up at the International Space Station on Wednesday with the most expensive payload ever carried by a shuttle, a $2 billion magnetic device scientists hope will unravel the mysteries of the cosmos.
Shuttle commander Mark Kelly — the husband of wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — carried out Endeavour’s final docking. The lead flight director described the linkup as “really silky smooth” and noted Kelly has been performing “unbelievably” well in orbit.
Giffords was supposed to undergo surgery in Houston on Wednesday, two days after attending her husband’s launch. Doctors planned to replace part of her skull with a plastic implant. She was shot in the head in early January during a political event in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz.
“If you didn’t know any of that was going on, you wouldn’t have any idea that those kinds of things are going on in his personal life,” flight director Gary Horlacher told reporters. “The surgeons are keeping him informed appropriately.”
Now that he’s at the space station, Kelly can use the Internet-protocol phone there. He also has access to the Internet aboard the orbiting outpost, and can speak privately with NASA’s flight surgeons via Mission Control whenever he wishes.
The two orbiting crews will attach the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the space station Thursday.
Endeavour — making its final journey and the next-to-last flight of NASA’s shuttle era — docked with the space station as the two vessels soared more than 200 miles above the planet, near Chile.
Kelly was the first to float into the space station. He was greeted with handshakes and hugs.
“Hey, you guys wore coordinating shirts,” Kelly told the six space station residents, all dressed in blue polo shirts and tan slacks. “We didn’t do that.”
The combined crews include seven Americans, three Russians and two Italians.
The space station occupants rang the ship’s bell to mark Endeavour’s arrival. It is the 12th and final visit by Endeavour to the space station; after this mission, the baby of NASA’s shuttle fleet will be decommissioned and sent to a museum in Los Angeles.
Atlantis will carry out the final shuttle trip in July.
Kelly and his crew will spend nearly two weeks at the space station. Their main job is to install the 7-ton Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, an international collaboration representing 16 countries and led by Nobel-winning physicist Samuel Ting of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
At the heart of the spectrometer is a 3-foot, doughnut-shaped magnet. The instrument will seek out invisible dark matter as well as antimatter; whether any of this is found or not, the results will help explain what the universe is made of and how it formed.
As soon as the spectrometer is installed, it immediately should begin working. Ting expects to start receiving data within an hour or two.
The AMS will remain anchored to the space station for the rest of its life. The outpost will continue to operate until at least 2020.
Endeavour’s crew also will unload spare parts for the space station and carry out four spacewalks, the first one scheduled for Friday.
Horlacher said he doesn’t dwell on the fact that the AMS constantly seems to be overshadowed by attention on Kelly and Giffords.
“I know folks are kind of focused on Mark and his situation,” he said. “But AMS is going to be around talking to us for a long, long time. So I’m very much looking forward to the results over the years.”
For now, 12 astronauts are aboard the shuttle-station complex. On Monday, three of the six space station residents will climb into their Russian Soyuz capsule and return to Earth after a five-month stay. Endeavour’s two-week launch delay resulted in the mission interruption.
NASA will continue to rely on Russia to transport U.S. astronauts back and forth to the space station for the foreseeable future. The space agency wants private companies in America to take over this operation, hopefully within a few years.
The Obama administration wants NASA focusing on interplanetary travel, once the shuttles are retired.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Endeavour and its six astronauts showed up at the International Space Station on Wednesday with the most expensive payload ever carried by a shuttle, a $2 billion magnetic device scientists hope will unravel the mysteries of the cosmos.
Shuttle commander Mark Kelly — the husband of wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — carried out Endeavour’s final docking. The lead flight director described the linkup as “really silky smooth” and noted Kelly has been performing “unbelievably” well in orbit.
Giffords was supposed to undergo surgery in Houston on Wednesday, two days after attending her husband’s launch. Doctors planned to replace part of her skull with a plastic implant. She was shot in the head in early January during a political event in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz.
“If you didn’t know any of that was going on, you wouldn’t have any idea that those kinds of things are going on in his personal life,” flight director Gary Horlacher told reporters. “The surgeons are keeping him informed appropriately.”
Now that he’s at the space station, Kelly can use the Internet-protocol phone there. He also has access to the Internet aboard the orbiting outpost, and can speak privately with NASA’s flight surgeons via Mission Control whenever he wishes.
The two orbiting crews will attach the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the space station Thursday.
Endeavour — making its final journey and the next-to-last flight of NASA’s shuttle era — docked with the space station as the two vessels soared more than 200 miles above the planet, near Chile.
Kelly was the first to float into the space station. He was greeted with handshakes and hugs.
“Hey, you guys wore coordinating shirts,” Kelly told the six space station residents, all dressed in blue polo shirts and tan slacks. “We didn’t do that.”
The combined crews include seven Americans, three Russians and two Italians.
The space station occupants rang the ship’s bell to mark Endeavour’s arrival. It is the 12th and final visit by Endeavour to the space station; after this mission, the baby of NASA’s shuttle fleet will be decommissioned and sent to a museum in Los Angeles.
Atlantis will carry out the final shuttle trip in July.
Kelly and his crew will spend nearly two weeks at the space station. Their main job is to install the 7-ton Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, an international collaboration representing 16 countries and led by Nobel-winning physicist Samuel Ting of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
At the heart of the spectrometer is a 3-foot, doughnut-shaped magnet. The instrument will seek out invisible dark matter as well as antimatter; whether any of this is found or not, the results will help explain what the universe is made of and how it formed.
As soon as the spectrometer is installed, it immediately should begin working. Ting expects to start receiving data within an hour or two.
The AMS will remain anchored to the space station for the rest of its life. The outpost will continue to operate until at least 2020.
Endeavour’s crew also will unload spare parts for the space station and carry out four spacewalks, the first one scheduled for Friday.
Horlacher said he doesn’t dwell on the fact that the AMS constantly seems to be overshadowed by attention on Kelly and Giffords.
“I know folks are kind of focused on Mark and his situation,” he said. “But AMS is going to be around talking to us for a long, long time. So I’m very much looking forward to the results over the years.”
For now, 12 astronauts are aboard the shuttle-station complex. On Monday, three of the six space station residents will climb into their Russian Soyuz capsule and return to Earth after a five-month stay. Endeavour’s two-week launch delay resulted in the mission interruption.
NASA will continue to rely on Russia to transport U.S. astronauts back and forth to the space station for the foreseeable future. The space agency wants private companies in America to take over this operation, hopefully within a few years.
The Obama administration wants NASA focusing on interplanetary travel, once the shuttles are retired.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Nearing space station, Endeavour crew checks heat shield
Reuters: Nearing space station, Endeavour crew checks heat shield
(Reuters) - Shuttle Endeavour closed in on the International Space Station on Tuesday while astronauts checked the ship's heat shield for any damage from Monday's launch.
Endeavour, which is making its 25th and final spaceflight, is due to arrive at the orbital outpost at 6:16 a.m. EDT Wednesday. It carries a $2 billion particle physics experiment and a pallet of spare parts for the station.
"Endeavour is performing absolutely flawlessly," flight director Gary Horlacher told reporters Tuesday.
The launch had been delayed two weeks by a faulty heater in one of the ship's onboard power generators.
The six-man crew, led by four-time veteran Mark Kelly, spent their first full day in orbit using a sensor-studded boom on the shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm to scan Endeavour's heat shield for damage.
The routine inspection was added after the 2003 Columbia explosion, which was traced to wing damage from a debris impact during launch. The shuttle broke apart as it flew through the atmosphere for landing, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
In addition to delivering the station's premier science instrument and critical spare parts, Endeavour's crew will make four spacewalks and tackle other maintenance jobs needed to get the station ready for operations after the shuttle program ends.
NASA plans a final shuttle mission to the station in July to deliver a year's worth of supplies.
NASA is retiring its three-ship fleet due to high operating costs and to develop new spaceships that can travel to other destinations beyond the station's 220-mile-high orbit.
Endeavour is due back at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 1.
(Reuters) - Shuttle Endeavour closed in on the International Space Station on Tuesday while astronauts checked the ship's heat shield for any damage from Monday's launch.
Endeavour, which is making its 25th and final spaceflight, is due to arrive at the orbital outpost at 6:16 a.m. EDT Wednesday. It carries a $2 billion particle physics experiment and a pallet of spare parts for the station.
"Endeavour is performing absolutely flawlessly," flight director Gary Horlacher told reporters Tuesday.
The launch had been delayed two weeks by a faulty heater in one of the ship's onboard power generators.
The six-man crew, led by four-time veteran Mark Kelly, spent their first full day in orbit using a sensor-studded boom on the shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm to scan Endeavour's heat shield for damage.
The routine inspection was added after the 2003 Columbia explosion, which was traced to wing damage from a debris impact during launch. The shuttle broke apart as it flew through the atmosphere for landing, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
In addition to delivering the station's premier science instrument and critical spare parts, Endeavour's crew will make four spacewalks and tackle other maintenance jobs needed to get the station ready for operations after the shuttle program ends.
NASA plans a final shuttle mission to the station in July to deliver a year's worth of supplies.
NASA is retiring its three-ship fleet due to high operating costs and to develop new spaceships that can travel to other destinations beyond the station's 220-mile-high orbit.
Endeavour is due back at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 1.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Space Shuttle Endeavour Blasts Toward International Space Station One Last Time
PopSci: Space Shuttle Endeavour Blasts Toward International Space Station One Last Time
NASA's youngest space shuttle left Earth for the last time Monday, carrying a physics experiment and spare parts to the International Space Station. It was a bittersweet moment for shuttle followers who watched the shuttle's picture-perfect liftoff with the knowledge that there's only one of these left.
Commander Mark Kelly had some poignant words in the moments before ignition.
"As Americans, we endeavor to build a better life than the generation before and we endeavor to be a united nation," Kelly said. "In these efforts we are often tested. It is in the DNA of our great country to reach for the stars and explore. We must not stop."
This was at least in part a tacit reference Kelly's wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically injured in a shooting rampage at a town hall meeting with constituents earlier this year. Giffords attended the launch.
The shuttle was supposed to launch two weeks ago, but engineers found an electrical problem in a heating system designed to keep one of the spacecraft's power systems warm in space. They replaced some electrical wiring and tested the system before giving the green light for launch on Monday morning.
Endeavour will dock with the ISS Wednesday morning. The 16-day mission includes four spacewalks, in which astronauts will deliver spare parts for the Dextre robot, new communications antennae and a high-pressure gas tank. The shuttle is also delivering the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which will search for dark matter and other cosmic phenomena.
The crew is leaving behind a piece of their ship — Endeavour's orbiter boom sensor system, which could serve as an extension for the station's robotic arm. After Endeavour undocks, Kelly and pilot Greg H. Johnson will ease the shuttle back toward the station to test a new docking system that could help a future shuttle replacement.
Endeavour is carrying two first-time astronauts and the final international astronaut to fly on the shuttle. The last mission, Atlantis' June 28 launch, will be crewed by Americans.
Endeavour crew recreates 'Star Trek' movie poster
The only problem is the poster is from the "relaunch" of Star Trek, not the original, best series!
MSNBC: Endeavour crew recreates 'Star Trek' movie poster
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The six astronauts flying on NASA's final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour are a serious bunch, but they've got a fun streak too. Case in point: The astronauts apparently like the science fiction franchise "Star Trek" enough to re-enact its most recent movie poster.
Creating custom mission posters based on popular movies has long been a tradition for NASA shuttle and space station crews. [Gallery: NASA's Most Offbeat Mission Posters]
But while past mission posters have recreated the film versions of "Ocean's Eleven" or the Matrix and Harry Potter movies, the six-man STS-134 crew of Endeavour chose something a bit more space-y: the 2009 reboot of "Star Trek," directed by J.J. Abrams.
"That was my idea!" Endeavour mission specialist Drew Feustel told SPACE.com.
Feustel said he had seen the movie during a previous spaceflight, when he launched on Atlantis in May 2009 to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.
"That movie came out basically the day we launched and we were fortunate to have that movie uplinked to us on orbit," Feustel said. "I really liked the movie. I thought it was pretty neat."
Endeavour's STS-134 astronauts are slated to launch aboard shuttle Endeavour from here at Kennedy Space Center on Monday at 8:56 a.m. EDT (1256 GMT). It will be the last voyage for Endeavour before the orbiter is retired. [Photos: Endeavour's Final Mission]
Advertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesSpace, the real final frontier
Feustel said he suggested the latest "Star Trek" film as the theme for the STS-134 poster, and the rest of the crew agreed.
But Feustel's crewmate Greg Chamitoff remembered it differently.
"I kept trying to remember whose idea that was, and I think it might have been mine," Chamitoff said in an interview.
Regardless of the origin of the poster idea, the crew seemed to unite behind the concept.
"A lot of us are ["Star Trek" fans]," Chamitoff said of the Endeavour astronauts.
The poster features the six astronauts looking stoically ahead, their faces each in half shadow, with a dark background and "STS-134" in Star Trek font underneath. Leading the crew, in the James T. Kirk position, is Endeavour commander Mark Kelly.
"It's a pretty close approximation," Feustel said of the finished product. "It looks pretty cool; we like it."
NASA and "Star Trek"
The poster is not the STS-134 crew's only connection to the famous science fiction TV and movie franchise.
In May 2005, mission specialist Mike Fincke appeared as an extra during the final episode of the show "Star Trek: Enterprise." He visited the set during vacation, along with fellow astronaut Terry Virts, who also appeared in the episode. Fincke played an NX-01 engineer on the fictional starship.
The International Space Station's Expedition 21 crew (the current crew is Expedition 27) also donned Star Trek uniforms for their mission poster in 2009.
On Endeavour's last mission before the orbiter is retired, the space shuttle will visit the International Space Station to deliver spare hardware and a new $2 billion astrophysics experiment to search for exotic particles.
In an odd side-note, Kelly and Chamitoff also have another movie-themed poster under their belt. Both astronauts were on the crew of NASA's STS-124 flight to the space station in 2008. That crew's choice of a film to emulate: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." Kelly commanded that mission on the shuttle Discovery.
The mission's new name, according to the poster? "STS-124 and the Order of Discovery."
Friday, May 13, 2011
Astronomers have no clue what's in 96 percent of the universe
Mother Nature Network: Astronomers have no clue what's in 96 percent of the universe
NEW YORK — All the stars, planets and galaxies that can be seen today make up just 4 percent of the universe. The other 96 percent is made of stuff astronomers can't see, detect or even comprehend.
These mysterious substances are called dark energy and dark matter. Astronomers infer their existence based on their gravitational influence on what little bits of the universe can be seen, but dark matter and energy themselves continue to elude all detection.
"The overwhelming majority of the universe is: who knows?" explains science writer Richard Panek, who spoke about these oddities of our universe on Monday (May 9) at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) here in Manhattan. "It's unknown for now, and possibly forever."
In Panek's new book, The 4 Percent Universe (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), Panek recounts the story of how dark matter and dark energy were discovered. It's a history filled with mind-boggling scientific surprises and fierce competition between the researchers racing to find answers.
Dark matter
Some of the first inklings astronomers had that there might be more mass in the universe than just the stuff we can see came in the 1960s and 1970s. Vera Rubin, a young astronomer at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, observed the speeds of stars at various locations in galaxies.
Simple Newtonian physics predicted that stars on the outskirts of a galaxy would orbit more slowly than stars at the center. Yet Rubin's observations found no drop-off at all in the stars' velocities further out in a galaxy. Instead, she found that all stars in a galaxy seem to circle the center at roughly the same speed.
"It means that galaxies should be flying apart, should be completely unstable," Panek said. "Something's missing here."
But research by other astronomers confirmed the odd finding. Ultimately, based on observations and computer models, scientists concluded that there must be much more matter in galaxies than what's obvious to us. If the stars and gas that we can see inside galaxies are only a small portion of their total mass, then the velocities make sense.
Astronomers nicknamed this unseen mass dark matter.
Where is it?
Yet, in the nearly 40 years that followed, researchers still haven't been able to figure out what dark matter is made of.
A popular hypothesis is that dark matter is formed by exotic particles that don't interact with regular matter, or even light, and so are invisible. Yet their mass exerts a gravitational pull, just like normal matter, which is why they affect the velocities of stars and other phenomena in the universe. [Video: Dark Matter in 3D]
However, try as hard as they might, scientists have yet to detect any of these particles, even with tests designed specifically to target their predicted properties.
"I think on the dark matter side there is some discouragement among the people who are kind of mid-career," Panek said. "They went into this field thinking, 'OK, we're going to solve this problem and then we'll build from there.' But 15, 20 years later, they're saying, 'I've invested my career in this and I don’t know if I'm going to find anything in my lifetime.'"
Still, many hold out hope that we're getting close and that experiments such as the newly built Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Geneva may finally solve the puzzle.
Dark energy
Dark energy is possibly even more baffling than dark matter. It's a relatively more recent discovery, and it's one that scientists have even less of a chance of understanding anytime soon.
It all started in the mid-1990s, when two teams of researchers were trying to figure out how fast the universe was expanding, in order to predict whether it would keep spreading out forever, or if it would eventually crumple back in on itself in a "Big Crunch."
To do this, scientists used special tricks to determine the distances of many exploded stars, called supernovas, throughout the universe. They then measured their velocities to determine how fast they were moving away from us.
When we view very distant stars, we are viewing an earlier time in the history of the universe, because those stars' light has taken millions and billions of light-years to travel to us. Thus, looking at the speeds of stars at various distances tells us how fast the universe was expanding at various points in its lifetime.
Astronomers predicted two possibilities: either the universe has been expanding at roughly the same rate throughout time, or that the universe has been slowing in its expansion as it gets older.
Shockingly, the researchers observed neither possibility. Instead, the universe appeared to be accelerating in its expansion.
That fact could not be explained based on what we knew of the universe at that time. All the gravity of all the mass in the cosmos should have been pulling the universe back inward, just as gravity pulls a ball back down to Earth after it's been thrown into the air.
"There's some other force out there or something on a cosmic scale that is counteracting the force of gravity," Panek explained. "People didn't believe this at first because it's such a weird result."
Fierce competition
Scientists named this mysterious force dark energy. Though no one has a good idea of what dark energy is, or why it exists, it is the force that appears to be counteracting gravity and causing the universe to accelerate in its expansion.
The lack of a good explanation for dark energy hasn't seemed to dampen scientists' enthusiasm for it.
"What I hear again and again is how excited people are to be working in this field right now, when this revolution is going on," Panek told SPACE.com. "The problems are so great and profound, they're actually rather thrilled with it."
Overall, dark energy is thought to contribute 73 percent of all the mass and energy in the universe. Another 23 percent is dark matter, which leaves only 4 percent of the universe composed of regular matter, such as stars, planets and people.
This bizarre, but apparently true, conclusion was reached at about the same time by the two groups working to measure the expansion of the universe. The competition between the groups became very contentious, Panek said, and they grew to dislike each other quite a lot.
Ultimately, though, members of both teams should reap the rewards of finding one of the biggest surprises in the history of science.
"I think that it's kind of assumed the dark energy will win the discoverers the Nobel," Panek said. "There certainly is that assumption that it's just a matter of years."
NEW YORK — All the stars, planets and galaxies that can be seen today make up just 4 percent of the universe. The other 96 percent is made of stuff astronomers can't see, detect or even comprehend.
These mysterious substances are called dark energy and dark matter. Astronomers infer their existence based on their gravitational influence on what little bits of the universe can be seen, but dark matter and energy themselves continue to elude all detection.
"The overwhelming majority of the universe is: who knows?" explains science writer Richard Panek, who spoke about these oddities of our universe on Monday (May 9) at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) here in Manhattan. "It's unknown for now, and possibly forever."
In Panek's new book, The 4 Percent Universe (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), Panek recounts the story of how dark matter and dark energy were discovered. It's a history filled with mind-boggling scientific surprises and fierce competition between the researchers racing to find answers.
Dark matter
Some of the first inklings astronomers had that there might be more mass in the universe than just the stuff we can see came in the 1960s and 1970s. Vera Rubin, a young astronomer at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, observed the speeds of stars at various locations in galaxies.
Simple Newtonian physics predicted that stars on the outskirts of a galaxy would orbit more slowly than stars at the center. Yet Rubin's observations found no drop-off at all in the stars' velocities further out in a galaxy. Instead, she found that all stars in a galaxy seem to circle the center at roughly the same speed.
"It means that galaxies should be flying apart, should be completely unstable," Panek said. "Something's missing here."
But research by other astronomers confirmed the odd finding. Ultimately, based on observations and computer models, scientists concluded that there must be much more matter in galaxies than what's obvious to us. If the stars and gas that we can see inside galaxies are only a small portion of their total mass, then the velocities make sense.
Astronomers nicknamed this unseen mass dark matter.
Where is it?
Yet, in the nearly 40 years that followed, researchers still haven't been able to figure out what dark matter is made of.
A popular hypothesis is that dark matter is formed by exotic particles that don't interact with regular matter, or even light, and so are invisible. Yet their mass exerts a gravitational pull, just like normal matter, which is why they affect the velocities of stars and other phenomena in the universe. [Video: Dark Matter in 3D]
However, try as hard as they might, scientists have yet to detect any of these particles, even with tests designed specifically to target their predicted properties.
"I think on the dark matter side there is some discouragement among the people who are kind of mid-career," Panek said. "They went into this field thinking, 'OK, we're going to solve this problem and then we'll build from there.' But 15, 20 years later, they're saying, 'I've invested my career in this and I don’t know if I'm going to find anything in my lifetime.'"
Still, many hold out hope that we're getting close and that experiments such as the newly built Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Geneva may finally solve the puzzle.
Dark energy
Dark energy is possibly even more baffling than dark matter. It's a relatively more recent discovery, and it's one that scientists have even less of a chance of understanding anytime soon.
It all started in the mid-1990s, when two teams of researchers were trying to figure out how fast the universe was expanding, in order to predict whether it would keep spreading out forever, or if it would eventually crumple back in on itself in a "Big Crunch."
To do this, scientists used special tricks to determine the distances of many exploded stars, called supernovas, throughout the universe. They then measured their velocities to determine how fast they were moving away from us.
When we view very distant stars, we are viewing an earlier time in the history of the universe, because those stars' light has taken millions and billions of light-years to travel to us. Thus, looking at the speeds of stars at various distances tells us how fast the universe was expanding at various points in its lifetime.
Astronomers predicted two possibilities: either the universe has been expanding at roughly the same rate throughout time, or that the universe has been slowing in its expansion as it gets older.
Shockingly, the researchers observed neither possibility. Instead, the universe appeared to be accelerating in its expansion.
That fact could not be explained based on what we knew of the universe at that time. All the gravity of all the mass in the cosmos should have been pulling the universe back inward, just as gravity pulls a ball back down to Earth after it's been thrown into the air.
"There's some other force out there or something on a cosmic scale that is counteracting the force of gravity," Panek explained. "People didn't believe this at first because it's such a weird result."
Fierce competition
Scientists named this mysterious force dark energy. Though no one has a good idea of what dark energy is, or why it exists, it is the force that appears to be counteracting gravity and causing the universe to accelerate in its expansion.
The lack of a good explanation for dark energy hasn't seemed to dampen scientists' enthusiasm for it.
"What I hear again and again is how excited people are to be working in this field right now, when this revolution is going on," Panek told SPACE.com. "The problems are so great and profound, they're actually rather thrilled with it."
Overall, dark energy is thought to contribute 73 percent of all the mass and energy in the universe. Another 23 percent is dark matter, which leaves only 4 percent of the universe composed of regular matter, such as stars, planets and people.
This bizarre, but apparently true, conclusion was reached at about the same time by the two groups working to measure the expansion of the universe. The competition between the groups became very contentious, Panek said, and they grew to dislike each other quite a lot.
Ultimately, though, members of both teams should reap the rewards of finding one of the biggest surprises in the history of science.
"I think that it's kind of assumed the dark energy will win the discoverers the Nobel," Panek said. "There certainly is that assumption that it's just a matter of years."
No, you are not losing your mind
If there were posts here yesterday that you read, which are not here today, it's because...they're not here.
Blogger.com, the platform that hosts this blog, was down for much of yesterday afternoon and all night...just coming up now (11 am mountain time.) And all posts made in the last couple of days have disappeared.
Supposedly, those posts will be restored. I'll give them a day to do so, and if not, will re-post them tomorrow.
Sorry for the inconvenience!
Blogger.com, the platform that hosts this blog, was down for much of yesterday afternoon and all night...just coming up now (11 am mountain time.) And all posts made in the last couple of days have disappeared.
Supposedly, those posts will be restored. I'll give them a day to do so, and if not, will re-post them tomorrow.
Sorry for the inconvenience!
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Washington Worries China Will Challenge U.S. Dominance in Space
Space.com: Washington Worries China Will Challenge U.S. Dominance in Space
U.S. power brokers aren't sure how to handle China's rapidly expanding space capabilities, according to testimony at a congressional hearing yesterday (May 11).
China recently demonstrated the ability to destroy satellites on orbit, and it's ramping up plans for a space station and a possible manned lunar landing in the next decade or so. At a hearing on "The Implications of China's Military and Civil Space Programs," a range of experts discussed what these developments might mean for the United States.
While opinions and viewpoints varied, a few key themes emerged, including the need to engage with China to better understand just what the nation hopes to achieve in space.
"There's still a lack of clear understanding of what Beijing's goals are, and how we interact with those," Ben Baseley-Walker of the Secure World Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to space sustainability, told SPACE.com. Baseley-Walker attended the hearing, which took place at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
China's space capabilities ramping up
In 2007, China destroyed one of its own satellites on orbit during an anti-satellite test, showcasing an ability that makes the United States and other nations nervous. Since then, the country has conducted other tests advancing its military space capabilities, including a 2010 missile-interception demonstration.
Beijing is also ramping up its human spaceflight program. In 2003, China became the third nation to launch a person into space, and it has flown several manned missions since.
The country also hopes to build a large space station between 2015 and 2022, according to hearing panelist Alanna Krolikowski, a visiting scholar at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute.
And, beyond that, China appears to be gearing up for a manned lunar landing. The nation's human spaceflight program aims to complete an in-depth concept study on the subject by about 2020, Krolikowski said at the hearing.
These developments have some politicians and policy experts worried. They think China may be positioning itself to challenge outright the United States' dominance in space, which currently gives America a huge advantage on the battlefield.
“What concerns me most about the Chinese space program is that, unlike the U.S., it is being led by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)," Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) testified at the hearing. "There is no reason to believe that the PLA’s space program will be any more benign than the PLA’s recent military posture."
Is Beijing a threat?
The White House has recently stated a willingness to work with China on expensive, difficult space projects, such as a manned mission to Mars. Wolf thinks this is a bad idea, citing the potential threat China poses as well as its abysmal human-rights record.
"The U.S. has no business cooperating with the PLA to help develop its space program," said Wolf, who chairs the commerce, justice and science subcommittee of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
However, other panelists cited the possible benefits to the United States of such cooperation, which range from expanding opportunities for American businesses to increasing space security. If the United States thinks China can become a "normal" spacefaring country, keen to exploit space commercially, collaboration is probably a good idea, according to Krolikowski.
"As China invests in and derives greater benefit from space, it will acquire the same stake in creating a predictable, stable, safe and sustainable space environment that the U.S., Canada, Japan and European and other countries already share," Krolikowski said.
Cooperation and engagement could also help reveal China's goals for space. Does China, for example, hope to dominate military space aggressively in the near future, or is it concerned more about self-defense?
"While China’s capabilities in space are known to U.S. observers, its intentions are not," Krolikowski said.
According to Baseley-Walker, panelists stressed the importance of getting to the bottom of those intentions. It's difficult to draw up and implement effective policy, after all, without a basic understanding of where China is coming from, and where it's going.
U.S. power brokers aren't sure how to handle China's rapidly expanding space capabilities, according to testimony at a congressional hearing yesterday (May 11).
China recently demonstrated the ability to destroy satellites on orbit, and it's ramping up plans for a space station and a possible manned lunar landing in the next decade or so. At a hearing on "The Implications of China's Military and Civil Space Programs," a range of experts discussed what these developments might mean for the United States.
While opinions and viewpoints varied, a few key themes emerged, including the need to engage with China to better understand just what the nation hopes to achieve in space.
"There's still a lack of clear understanding of what Beijing's goals are, and how we interact with those," Ben Baseley-Walker of the Secure World Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to space sustainability, told SPACE.com. Baseley-Walker attended the hearing, which took place at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
China's space capabilities ramping up
In 2007, China destroyed one of its own satellites on orbit during an anti-satellite test, showcasing an ability that makes the United States and other nations nervous. Since then, the country has conducted other tests advancing its military space capabilities, including a 2010 missile-interception demonstration.
Beijing is also ramping up its human spaceflight program. In 2003, China became the third nation to launch a person into space, and it has flown several manned missions since.
The country also hopes to build a large space station between 2015 and 2022, according to hearing panelist Alanna Krolikowski, a visiting scholar at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute.
And, beyond that, China appears to be gearing up for a manned lunar landing. The nation's human spaceflight program aims to complete an in-depth concept study on the subject by about 2020, Krolikowski said at the hearing.
These developments have some politicians and policy experts worried. They think China may be positioning itself to challenge outright the United States' dominance in space, which currently gives America a huge advantage on the battlefield.
“What concerns me most about the Chinese space program is that, unlike the U.S., it is being led by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)," Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) testified at the hearing. "There is no reason to believe that the PLA’s space program will be any more benign than the PLA’s recent military posture."
Is Beijing a threat?
The White House has recently stated a willingness to work with China on expensive, difficult space projects, such as a manned mission to Mars. Wolf thinks this is a bad idea, citing the potential threat China poses as well as its abysmal human-rights record.
"The U.S. has no business cooperating with the PLA to help develop its space program," said Wolf, who chairs the commerce, justice and science subcommittee of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
However, other panelists cited the possible benefits to the United States of such cooperation, which range from expanding opportunities for American businesses to increasing space security. If the United States thinks China can become a "normal" spacefaring country, keen to exploit space commercially, collaboration is probably a good idea, according to Krolikowski.
"As China invests in and derives greater benefit from space, it will acquire the same stake in creating a predictable, stable, safe and sustainable space environment that the U.S., Canada, Japan and European and other countries already share," Krolikowski said.
Cooperation and engagement could also help reveal China's goals for space. Does China, for example, hope to dominate military space aggressively in the near future, or is it concerned more about self-defense?
"While China’s capabilities in space are known to U.S. observers, its intentions are not," Krolikowski said.
According to Baseley-Walker, panelists stressed the importance of getting to the bottom of those intentions. It's difficult to draw up and implement effective policy, after all, without a basic understanding of where China is coming from, and where it's going.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Ugly Truth of Space Junk: Orbital Debris Problem to Triple by 2030
Space.com: Ugly Truth of Space Junk: Orbital Debris Problem to Triple by 2030
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Dealing with the decades of detritus from using outer space -- human-made orbital debris -- is a global concern, but some experts are now questioning the feasibility of the wide range of "solutions" sketched out to grapple with high-speed space litter.
What may be shaping up is an "abandon in place" posture for certain orbital altitudes -- an outlook that flags the messy message resulting from countless bits of orbital refuse.
In a recent conference here, Gen. William Shelton, commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, relayed his worries about rising amounts of human-made space junk.
"The traffic is increasing. We've now got over 50 nations that are participants in the space environment," Shelton said last month during the Space Foundation’s 27th National Space Symposium. Given existing space situational awareness capabilities, over 20,000 objects are now tracked. [Worst Space Debris Events of All Time]
"We catalog those routinely and keep track of them. That number is projected to triple by 2030, and much of that is improved sensors, but some of that is increased traffic," Shelton said. "Then if you think about it, there are probably 10 times more objects in space than we're able to track with our sensor capability today. Those objects are untrackable … yet they are lethal to our space systems -- to military space systems, civil space systems, commercial -- no one’s immune from the threats that are on orbit today, just due to the traffic in space."
Tough neighborhood
From a probability point of view, General Shelton added, smaller satellites, more debris, more debris is going to run into more debris, creating more debris. [Video: Fragmentation: Growing Threat of Space Junk]
"It may be a pretty tough neighborhood," Shelton continued, in low-Earth orbit and geosynchronous Earth orbit "in the not too distant future."
When asked if the U.S. Air Force plans on funding space debris mitigation capability, Shelton responded: "We haven’t found a way yet that is affordable and gives us any hope for mitigating space debris. The best we can do, we believe, is to minimize debris as we go forward with our operations. As we think about how we launch things, as we deploy satellites, minimizing debris is absolutely essential and we’re trying to convince other nations of that imperative as well."
Shelton said that, unfortunately, with the duration of most things on orbit, "you get to live with the debris problem for many, many years and in some cases decades. So minimizing debris is important to us and it should be to other nations as well."
Point of no return
The concern over orbital debris has been building for several reasons, said Marshall Kaplan, an orbital debris expert within the Space Department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
In Kaplan's view, spacefaring nations have passed the point of "no return," with the accumulation of debris objects in low-Earth orbits steadily building over the past 50 years.
Add to the clutter, the leftovers of China’s anti-satellite (ASAT) test in 2007.
"The fact that this single event increased the number of debris objects by roughly 25 percent was not as important as the location of the intercept. The event took place at an altitude of 865 kilometers, right in the middle of the most congested region of low-orbiting satellites," Kaplan pointed out.
Toss into the brew the collision of an Iridium satellite with an expired Russian Cosmos spacecraft in February 2009 -- at an altitude similar to that of China’s ASAT test.
As a result of 50 years of launching satellites and these two events, the altitude band from about 435 miles (700 km) to a little over 800 miles (1,300 km) has accumulated possibly millions of debris objects ranging from a few millimeters to a few meters, Kaplan said.
Complex and very expensive
"The buildup of debris is not a naturally reversible process. If we are to clean up space, it will certainly be complex and very expensive. If we continue, as we have, to use these very popular orbits in near-Earth space, the density of debris and collision events will surely increase," Kaplan told SPACE.com.
The good news is that no immediate action is necessary in terms of removing debris objects, Kaplan advised, as experts estimate that the situation will not go unstable anytime soon.
"But, when it does, operational satellites will be destroyed at an alarming rate, and they cannot be replaced. We must prepare for this seemingly inevitable event," Kaplan said. While there are many options for debris removal that have been proposed, he feels that none are sensible.
"Barring the discovery of a disruptive technology within the next decade or so, there will be no practical removal solution," Kaplan added. "We simply lack the technology to economically clean up space." [Lasers Could Zap Space Junk Clear From Satellites]
For Kaplan, the issue of dealing with orbital debris will become dire.
"The proliferation is irreversible. Any cleanup would be too expensive. Given this insight, it is unlikely spacefaring nations are going to do anything significant about cleaning up space," Kaplan said. "The fact is that we really can't do anything. We can't afford it. We don't have the technology. We don't have the cooperation. Nobody wants to pay for it. Space debris cleanup is a 'growth industry,' but there are no customers. In addition, it is politically untenable."
All that being said, can anything be done? Kaplan says he can imagine the future … and things don't look pretty.
"There is a good chance that we may have to eventually abandon all active satellites in currently used orbits," Kaplan said. "One possible scenario for the future is that we may phase out this generation of spacecraft while replacing them with a brand-new infrastructure of low-orbiting constellations of small satellites, each of which partially contributes to collecting desired data or making communications links."
These constellations could be placed below 370 miles (600 km), thus avoiding the debris issue.
"Such a new infrastructure could be developed over the next 20, 30 or 40 years," Kaplan said. "We should have plenty of time to make the transition, so let's use it wisely. We all caused this problem … there is no doubt about that. And, nobody will claim somebody else did it."
Meanwhile, outer space is still "big" … but it’s getting smaller.
"The question is: when is it going to get too small? That’s the real question, and we don't know," Kaplan said. "Nobody is really going to yell uncle until we have some more serious collisions. That could happen anytime or it could happen in 20 years, we just don't know."
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Dealing with the decades of detritus from using outer space -- human-made orbital debris -- is a global concern, but some experts are now questioning the feasibility of the wide range of "solutions" sketched out to grapple with high-speed space litter.
What may be shaping up is an "abandon in place" posture for certain orbital altitudes -- an outlook that flags the messy message resulting from countless bits of orbital refuse.
In a recent conference here, Gen. William Shelton, commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, relayed his worries about rising amounts of human-made space junk.
"The traffic is increasing. We've now got over 50 nations that are participants in the space environment," Shelton said last month during the Space Foundation’s 27th National Space Symposium. Given existing space situational awareness capabilities, over 20,000 objects are now tracked. [Worst Space Debris Events of All Time]
"We catalog those routinely and keep track of them. That number is projected to triple by 2030, and much of that is improved sensors, but some of that is increased traffic," Shelton said. "Then if you think about it, there are probably 10 times more objects in space than we're able to track with our sensor capability today. Those objects are untrackable … yet they are lethal to our space systems -- to military space systems, civil space systems, commercial -- no one’s immune from the threats that are on orbit today, just due to the traffic in space."
Tough neighborhood
From a probability point of view, General Shelton added, smaller satellites, more debris, more debris is going to run into more debris, creating more debris. [Video: Fragmentation: Growing Threat of Space Junk]
"It may be a pretty tough neighborhood," Shelton continued, in low-Earth orbit and geosynchronous Earth orbit "in the not too distant future."
When asked if the U.S. Air Force plans on funding space debris mitigation capability, Shelton responded: "We haven’t found a way yet that is affordable and gives us any hope for mitigating space debris. The best we can do, we believe, is to minimize debris as we go forward with our operations. As we think about how we launch things, as we deploy satellites, minimizing debris is absolutely essential and we’re trying to convince other nations of that imperative as well."
Shelton said that, unfortunately, with the duration of most things on orbit, "you get to live with the debris problem for many, many years and in some cases decades. So minimizing debris is important to us and it should be to other nations as well."
Point of no return
The concern over orbital debris has been building for several reasons, said Marshall Kaplan, an orbital debris expert within the Space Department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
In Kaplan's view, spacefaring nations have passed the point of "no return," with the accumulation of debris objects in low-Earth orbits steadily building over the past 50 years.
Add to the clutter, the leftovers of China’s anti-satellite (ASAT) test in 2007.
"The fact that this single event increased the number of debris objects by roughly 25 percent was not as important as the location of the intercept. The event took place at an altitude of 865 kilometers, right in the middle of the most congested region of low-orbiting satellites," Kaplan pointed out.
Toss into the brew the collision of an Iridium satellite with an expired Russian Cosmos spacecraft in February 2009 -- at an altitude similar to that of China’s ASAT test.
As a result of 50 years of launching satellites and these two events, the altitude band from about 435 miles (700 km) to a little over 800 miles (1,300 km) has accumulated possibly millions of debris objects ranging from a few millimeters to a few meters, Kaplan said.
Complex and very expensive
"The buildup of debris is not a naturally reversible process. If we are to clean up space, it will certainly be complex and very expensive. If we continue, as we have, to use these very popular orbits in near-Earth space, the density of debris and collision events will surely increase," Kaplan told SPACE.com.
The good news is that no immediate action is necessary in terms of removing debris objects, Kaplan advised, as experts estimate that the situation will not go unstable anytime soon.
"But, when it does, operational satellites will be destroyed at an alarming rate, and they cannot be replaced. We must prepare for this seemingly inevitable event," Kaplan said. While there are many options for debris removal that have been proposed, he feels that none are sensible.
"Barring the discovery of a disruptive technology within the next decade or so, there will be no practical removal solution," Kaplan added. "We simply lack the technology to economically clean up space." [Lasers Could Zap Space Junk Clear From Satellites]
For Kaplan, the issue of dealing with orbital debris will become dire.
"The proliferation is irreversible. Any cleanup would be too expensive. Given this insight, it is unlikely spacefaring nations are going to do anything significant about cleaning up space," Kaplan said. "The fact is that we really can't do anything. We can't afford it. We don't have the technology. We don't have the cooperation. Nobody wants to pay for it. Space debris cleanup is a 'growth industry,' but there are no customers. In addition, it is politically untenable."
All that being said, can anything be done? Kaplan says he can imagine the future … and things don't look pretty.
"There is a good chance that we may have to eventually abandon all active satellites in currently used orbits," Kaplan said. "One possible scenario for the future is that we may phase out this generation of spacecraft while replacing them with a brand-new infrastructure of low-orbiting constellations of small satellites, each of which partially contributes to collecting desired data or making communications links."
These constellations could be placed below 370 miles (600 km), thus avoiding the debris issue.
"Such a new infrastructure could be developed over the next 20, 30 or 40 years," Kaplan said. "We should have plenty of time to make the transition, so let's use it wisely. We all caused this problem … there is no doubt about that. And, nobody will claim somebody else did it."
Meanwhile, outer space is still "big" … but it’s getting smaller.
"The question is: when is it going to get too small? That’s the real question, and we don't know," Kaplan said. "Nobody is really going to yell uncle until we have some more serious collisions. That could happen anytime or it could happen in 20 years, we just don't know."
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Great shuttle photos are rocket science
Orlando Sentinel: Great shuttle photos are rocket science
by Mark Russell
On Friday, NASA announced that space shuttle Endeavour's last launch has been scheduled for May 16 at the earliest. It could be delayed again, but our coverage plan for the second-to-last shuttle launch will not need any tweaking.
It is a ritual in the newsroom, repeated several times a year with a few notable exceptions. We write human-interest stories about the astronauts and the Space Coast. And, of course, we solicit readers' and web users' shuttle memories and photographs of the launch.
Shuttle launches are defining news events for the region, shared by hundreds of thousands of people and talked about for years. Those lucky enough to see a launch in person talk about the photos they took and the rumble they felt on takeoff. And, we draft a disaster plan to be prepared in the unlikely event of a shuttle mishap.
The photographs of shuttle launches are among the most memorable images the Sentinel publishes in print and online. And getting those images is not easy.
Sentinel photographers covering launches are located at the closest viewing locations. The press site where the Sentinel has an office is 2.9 miles from the launch pad, close enough to hear not only the engine roar but feel the effects of the rocket's thrust. By contrast, the VIP viewing site is 3.5 miles from the pad.
One Sentinel photographer will be at a VIP site, capturing images of dignitaries viewing the launch. At the canceled Endeavour launch on April 29, President Obama and his family, along with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, were among hundreds of VIPs at Kennedy Space Center. Giffords is married to shuttle Commander Mark Kelly. At the scrubbed launch two Fridays ago, an estimated 750,000 people were in Titusville and the surrounding areas to see history unfold on the launch pad.
For an even better angle of the Endeavour launch, when it happens, longtime shuttle photographer Red Huber will be on top of the 526-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building.
Because the photographers can't get any closer than several miles from the launch pad, they are allowed to set out cameras positioned on tripods near the pad. These "remotes" are put into boxes to protect them from the elements in the mangrove swamps and left there overnight. Electronic sound triggers fire the cameras when the roar of the rockets happens the next day.
"What photographers try to do is capture the intersection of man, machine and nature," said Orlando Sentinel Visuals Editor Bonita Burton, who oversees the photography team. "The most memorable images are the ones that highlight the contrast between the quiet beauty and the explosive, electric moment of a launch."
The Sentinel's Red Huber has been setting up these remotes since the first launch exactly 30 years ago. He has only missed photographing three launches.
Typically, Huber puts six to seven cameras in different positions around the pad. The cameras are retrieved several hours after the shuttle has launched. The resulting photos are often the most spectacular images of the launch.
But the process is not without some challenges. For example, sometimes the remote cameras are triggered early or don't fire at all.
"I've been very fortunate. I've had a few failures, but I've learned from them," said Huber, a 39-year Sentinel veteran. "There's a lot of planning and preparation that go into this before this weeks before the launch.
"After more than 130 launches, it's tough to come up with something different, but I am usually able to come up with something fresh and memorable."
Sometime later this month — and then with the slated June 28 launch of Atlantis — we will see those fresh images and what Huber and the other photographers deliver for the last two launches.
by Mark Russell
On Friday, NASA announced that space shuttle Endeavour's last launch has been scheduled for May 16 at the earliest. It could be delayed again, but our coverage plan for the second-to-last shuttle launch will not need any tweaking.
It is a ritual in the newsroom, repeated several times a year with a few notable exceptions. We write human-interest stories about the astronauts and the Space Coast. And, of course, we solicit readers' and web users' shuttle memories and photographs of the launch.
Shuttle launches are defining news events for the region, shared by hundreds of thousands of people and talked about for years. Those lucky enough to see a launch in person talk about the photos they took and the rumble they felt on takeoff. And, we draft a disaster plan to be prepared in the unlikely event of a shuttle mishap.
The photographs of shuttle launches are among the most memorable images the Sentinel publishes in print and online. And getting those images is not easy.
Sentinel photographers covering launches are located at the closest viewing locations. The press site where the Sentinel has an office is 2.9 miles from the launch pad, close enough to hear not only the engine roar but feel the effects of the rocket's thrust. By contrast, the VIP viewing site is 3.5 miles from the pad.
One Sentinel photographer will be at a VIP site, capturing images of dignitaries viewing the launch. At the canceled Endeavour launch on April 29, President Obama and his family, along with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, were among hundreds of VIPs at Kennedy Space Center. Giffords is married to shuttle Commander Mark Kelly. At the scrubbed launch two Fridays ago, an estimated 750,000 people were in Titusville and the surrounding areas to see history unfold on the launch pad.
For an even better angle of the Endeavour launch, when it happens, longtime shuttle photographer Red Huber will be on top of the 526-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building.
Because the photographers can't get any closer than several miles from the launch pad, they are allowed to set out cameras positioned on tripods near the pad. These "remotes" are put into boxes to protect them from the elements in the mangrove swamps and left there overnight. Electronic sound triggers fire the cameras when the roar of the rockets happens the next day.
"What photographers try to do is capture the intersection of man, machine and nature," said Orlando Sentinel Visuals Editor Bonita Burton, who oversees the photography team. "The most memorable images are the ones that highlight the contrast between the quiet beauty and the explosive, electric moment of a launch."
The Sentinel's Red Huber has been setting up these remotes since the first launch exactly 30 years ago. He has only missed photographing three launches.
Typically, Huber puts six to seven cameras in different positions around the pad. The cameras are retrieved several hours after the shuttle has launched. The resulting photos are often the most spectacular images of the launch.
But the process is not without some challenges. For example, sometimes the remote cameras are triggered early or don't fire at all.
"I've been very fortunate. I've had a few failures, but I've learned from them," said Huber, a 39-year Sentinel veteran. "There's a lot of planning and preparation that go into this before this weeks before the launch.
"After more than 130 launches, it's tough to come up with something different, but I am usually able to come up with something fresh and memorable."
Sometime later this month — and then with the slated June 28 launch of Atlantis — we will see those fresh images and what Huber and the other photographers deliver for the last two launches.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
It Took More Than 50 Years, But NASA Proves That Einstein Was Correct
PC Magazine: It Took More Than 50 Years, But NASA Proves That Einstein Was Correct
NASA's six-year Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission has confirmed two major predictions from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
The four ultra-precise gyroscopes used by GP-B measured the hypothesized geodetic effect, or the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and frame-dragging, which is the amount a spining object pulls space and time with it as it rotates.
To do this, GP-B was pointed at a single star, IM Pegasi, while in orbit around Earth. NASA said that if gravity had no effect on space and time, the gyroscopes on GP-B would point in the same direction indefinitely while in orbit. However, researchers found that the gyroscopes experienced very small changes in spin direction as Earth's gravity pulled at them, confirming Einstein's theories.
"The mission results will have a long-term impact on the work of theoretical physicists," said Bill Danchi, senior astrophysicist and program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Every future challenge to Einstein's theories of general relativity will have to seek more precise measurements than the remarkable work GP-B accomplished."
"Imagine the Earth as if it were immersed in honey. As the planet rotates, the honey around it would swirl, and it's the same with space and time," Francis Everitt, GP-B principal investigator at Stanford University, said in a statement. "GP-B confirmed two of the most profound predictions of Einstein's universe, having far-reaching implications across astrophysics research. Likewise, the decades of technological innovation behind the mission will have a lasting legacy on Earth and in space."
The GP-B experiment launched in 2004 and completed its data collection by December 2010. But it is actually one of the longest running NASA projects ever, with the idea first suggested in 1959. Several years later, NASA received funding to develop a relativity gyroscope experiment, which eventually led to the development of technologies that allowed airplanes to land by themselves and help determine the universe's background radition, among other things. The measurement also helped NASA physicist John Mather develop the Bing Bang Theory, for which he earned a Nobel Prize, NASA said.
GP-B also aided in the development of a drag-free satellite concept, which has helped develop the most precise satellite photos ever.
More than 350 college and four dozen high school students have worked on the GP-B project, including Sally Ride, who eventually became the first American woman in space.
GP-B was a joint effort between NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Stanford University, and Lockheed Martin, which designed the space vehicle.
Thursday, meanwhile, also marks the 50th anniversary of Alan Shepard's historic flight, making him the first American in space.
NASA's six-year Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission has confirmed two major predictions from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
The four ultra-precise gyroscopes used by GP-B measured the hypothesized geodetic effect, or the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and frame-dragging, which is the amount a spining object pulls space and time with it as it rotates.
To do this, GP-B was pointed at a single star, IM Pegasi, while in orbit around Earth. NASA said that if gravity had no effect on space and time, the gyroscopes on GP-B would point in the same direction indefinitely while in orbit. However, researchers found that the gyroscopes experienced very small changes in spin direction as Earth's gravity pulled at them, confirming Einstein's theories.
"The mission results will have a long-term impact on the work of theoretical physicists," said Bill Danchi, senior astrophysicist and program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Every future challenge to Einstein's theories of general relativity will have to seek more precise measurements than the remarkable work GP-B accomplished."
"Imagine the Earth as if it were immersed in honey. As the planet rotates, the honey around it would swirl, and it's the same with space and time," Francis Everitt, GP-B principal investigator at Stanford University, said in a statement. "GP-B confirmed two of the most profound predictions of Einstein's universe, having far-reaching implications across astrophysics research. Likewise, the decades of technological innovation behind the mission will have a lasting legacy on Earth and in space."
The GP-B experiment launched in 2004 and completed its data collection by December 2010. But it is actually one of the longest running NASA projects ever, with the idea first suggested in 1959. Several years later, NASA received funding to develop a relativity gyroscope experiment, which eventually led to the development of technologies that allowed airplanes to land by themselves and help determine the universe's background radition, among other things. The measurement also helped NASA physicist John Mather develop the Bing Bang Theory, for which he earned a Nobel Prize, NASA said.
GP-B also aided in the development of a drag-free satellite concept, which has helped develop the most precise satellite photos ever.
More than 350 college and four dozen high school students have worked on the GP-B project, including Sally Ride, who eventually became the first American woman in space.
GP-B was a joint effort between NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Stanford University, and Lockheed Martin, which designed the space vehicle.
Thursday, meanwhile, also marks the 50th anniversary of Alan Shepard's historic flight, making him the first American in space.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
NASA Considering Gas Stations in Space
Fox News: NASA Considering Gas Stations in Space
Any road trip requires a pit stop or two. Soon, trips to space could be no different.
NASA has quietly put out feelers for what the space agency calls an “In-Space Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer Demonstration.” It sounds far more interesting in civilian speak, however -- gas stations in space.
Since the beginning of manned space flight, NASA has utilized the “one-stop shop” approach; both the Apollo missions of the '60s and '70s and the more modern space shuttles carry all the fuel they need for the duration of a mission. But it would be next to impossible for a vehicle to carry all the fuel it would need on a venture into deeper space, said Chris Moore, deputy director of advanced capabilities division for NASA.
“Instead of sending the rockets fully fueled to asteroids or to Mars, we would launch them partially fueled to get more payload into orbit,” Moore told FoxNews.com. “Then we’d top off the propellant by docking with depots in lower Earth orbit."
The system would be set up ahead of time, he said, with depots drifting idly through the blackness while waiting for a rocket to dock. "All the fuel and the propellant depots would be launched before the human mission left for the asteroids or for Mars,” Moore said.
He envisions large arrays of propellant tanks all joined together, with tanks that can be added or removed depending on the length of the deep-space mission.
To establish these zero-gravity way stations, NASA must overcome a number of obstacles. The propellant used for space flight requires extremely cold temperatures, and any solar flares or fluctuations in temperature could cause it to evaporate. So finding a means of maintaining the propellant is a top priority.
Engineers also need to come up with ways to transfer the propellant to the space flight vehicles upon docking. And plans also need to be made on how to get the gas up there in the first place -- which is potentially where private space companies could step in.
“We would launch propellants from Earth on expendable rockets,” Moore told FoxNews.com. “A commercial market could be established where companies could launch propellant into space to the depot. Then NASA could purchase propellant from those companies."
"We could create a small space economy in propellants and refueling,” he suggested.
Private companies such as SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have already launched rockets into lower Earth orbit and could potentially step up to the task of transporting gas to these hypothetical stations. Neither company would comment on future plans.
But private spaceflight companies have weighed in in the past. Boeing proposed it in 2007, for example. "If there were a fuel depot available on orbit, one capable of being replenished at any time, the Earth departure stage could, after refueling, carry significantly more payload to the Moon," reads one slide from a presentation the company made at a spaceflight conference.
Space policy advocates say that this idea has been a long time coming, noting that NASA entertained the concept as early as the '70s. James Muncy, a space policy consultant with PoliSpace, says space depots will soon become the norm when it comes to future space travel.
“We have to think of it in terms of setting up an infrastructure and looking for long-term efficient approaches,” Muncy told FoxNews.com. “People who think of space as a frontier say we should separate the idea of carrying propellant from that of carrying the spacecraft and people.”
Muncy goes so far as to say the concept is common sense, claiming the road trip analogy isn’t too far-fetched.
“Your car isn’t designed to carry 100 gallons of gas. We don’t design vehicles to do that anymore,” Muncy told FoxNews.com. “If we want to keep exploring forever, it has to be affordable and sustainable.”
“We will need the technologies eventually anyway,” added Muncy. “We can’t go to Mars without them.”
Any road trip requires a pit stop or two. Soon, trips to space could be no different.
NASA has quietly put out feelers for what the space agency calls an “In-Space Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer Demonstration.” It sounds far more interesting in civilian speak, however -- gas stations in space.
Since the beginning of manned space flight, NASA has utilized the “one-stop shop” approach; both the Apollo missions of the '60s and '70s and the more modern space shuttles carry all the fuel they need for the duration of a mission. But it would be next to impossible for a vehicle to carry all the fuel it would need on a venture into deeper space, said Chris Moore, deputy director of advanced capabilities division for NASA.
“Instead of sending the rockets fully fueled to asteroids or to Mars, we would launch them partially fueled to get more payload into orbit,” Moore told FoxNews.com. “Then we’d top off the propellant by docking with depots in lower Earth orbit."
The system would be set up ahead of time, he said, with depots drifting idly through the blackness while waiting for a rocket to dock. "All the fuel and the propellant depots would be launched before the human mission left for the asteroids or for Mars,” Moore said.
He envisions large arrays of propellant tanks all joined together, with tanks that can be added or removed depending on the length of the deep-space mission.
To establish these zero-gravity way stations, NASA must overcome a number of obstacles. The propellant used for space flight requires extremely cold temperatures, and any solar flares or fluctuations in temperature could cause it to evaporate. So finding a means of maintaining the propellant is a top priority.
Engineers also need to come up with ways to transfer the propellant to the space flight vehicles upon docking. And plans also need to be made on how to get the gas up there in the first place -- which is potentially where private space companies could step in.
“We would launch propellants from Earth on expendable rockets,” Moore told FoxNews.com. “A commercial market could be established where companies could launch propellant into space to the depot. Then NASA could purchase propellant from those companies."
"We could create a small space economy in propellants and refueling,” he suggested.
Private companies such as SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have already launched rockets into lower Earth orbit and could potentially step up to the task of transporting gas to these hypothetical stations. Neither company would comment on future plans.
But private spaceflight companies have weighed in in the past. Boeing proposed it in 2007, for example. "If there were a fuel depot available on orbit, one capable of being replenished at any time, the Earth departure stage could, after refueling, carry significantly more payload to the Moon," reads one slide from a presentation the company made at a spaceflight conference.
Space policy advocates say that this idea has been a long time coming, noting that NASA entertained the concept as early as the '70s. James Muncy, a space policy consultant with PoliSpace, says space depots will soon become the norm when it comes to future space travel.
“We have to think of it in terms of setting up an infrastructure and looking for long-term efficient approaches,” Muncy told FoxNews.com. “People who think of space as a frontier say we should separate the idea of carrying propellant from that of carrying the spacecraft and people.”
Muncy goes so far as to say the concept is common sense, claiming the road trip analogy isn’t too far-fetched.
“Your car isn’t designed to carry 100 gallons of gas. We don’t design vehicles to do that anymore,” Muncy told FoxNews.com. “If we want to keep exploring forever, it has to be affordable and sustainable.”
“We will need the technologies eventually anyway,” added Muncy. “We can’t go to Mars without them.”
Monday, May 2, 2011
HP bags $2.5bn services contract from NASA
CBR IT Services: HP bags $2.5bn services contract from NASA
NASA employees to collaborate in a secure computing environment
HP enterprise services has been awarded a single-award firm-fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $2.5bn by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Under the contract, which consists four-year base period with two three-year option periods, HP will provide end-user desktop services and devices that will increase NASA's efficiency and allow its employees to collaborate in a secure computing environment.
In addition, as a part of NASA's Agency Consolidated End-User Service (ACES) Program, HP will modernise NASA's entire end-user infrastructure by delivering a full range of personal computing services and devices to more than 60,000 users, said the company.
HP will also provide a variety of computing seat, Tier 2/3 service desk support and collaboration services to manage NASA's end-user infrastructure at all NASA sites across the US.
HP said that the computing seat and cellular seat services are designed with security and collaboration capabilities to help the NASA team safely share information.
HP enterprise services US public sector senior vice-president and general manager Dennis Stolkey said the ACES contract will help evolve NASA's IT environment to a centralised, adaptable IT infrastructure to enable economies of scale, agency-wide visibility and improved management and security.
"HP will build on our deep industry, infrastructure and end-user services expertise to support this significant work for the agency that is pioneering the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research," Stolkey said.
HP will be teaming with other small businesses to meet NASA's small business participation guidelines and diverse mission needs.
NASA employees to collaborate in a secure computing environment
HP enterprise services has been awarded a single-award firm-fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $2.5bn by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Under the contract, which consists four-year base period with two three-year option periods, HP will provide end-user desktop services and devices that will increase NASA's efficiency and allow its employees to collaborate in a secure computing environment.
In addition, as a part of NASA's Agency Consolidated End-User Service (ACES) Program, HP will modernise NASA's entire end-user infrastructure by delivering a full range of personal computing services and devices to more than 60,000 users, said the company.
HP will also provide a variety of computing seat, Tier 2/3 service desk support and collaboration services to manage NASA's end-user infrastructure at all NASA sites across the US.
HP said that the computing seat and cellular seat services are designed with security and collaboration capabilities to help the NASA team safely share information.
HP enterprise services US public sector senior vice-president and general manager Dennis Stolkey said the ACES contract will help evolve NASA's IT environment to a centralised, adaptable IT infrastructure to enable economies of scale, agency-wide visibility and improved management and security.
"HP will build on our deep industry, infrastructure and end-user services expertise to support this significant work for the agency that is pioneering the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research," Stolkey said.
HP will be teaming with other small businesses to meet NASA's small business participation guidelines and diverse mission needs.
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