Archive for July, 2016
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July 3rd, 2016
Credit: ShareSpace Foundation
A ShareSpace Foundation Gala event will be held on the 47th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic return to Earth – and the 50th anniversary of Star Trek!
Joining Buzz Aldrin is Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu, George Takei, serving as host of the ShareSpace Foundation’s Apollo 11 Anniversary Gala. Star Trek alumna Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) as well as several other guest stars and astronauts are also taking part in the celestial celebration.
Star-studded evening
The event takes place on July 23, 2016 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with festivities taking place underneath a restored Saturn V rocket, the huge booster used for the Apollo lunar landing program. A specially crafted four-course dinner will be served underneath the restored Moon booster.
Credit: ShareSpace Foundation
Long-time space news reporter John Zarrella (CNN) will serve as the evening’s emcee. NASA astronauts from each era of human space flight will commemorate the 47th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission as well as the 50th anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series.
The star-studded evening includes an Apollo 11 Memorabilia Silent Auction and special raffle, available only to gala attendees. Also, as part of the anniversary salute, Aldrin and Takei will share their experiences during a time when space travel transitioned from fantasy to reality. There will be a professional photo opportunity with Aldrin and Takei, among additional surprise benefits.
Credit: ShareSpace Foundation
ShareSpace benefit
Event proceeds benefit Buzz Aldrin’s ShareSpace Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to igniting children’s passions for science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) by providing educators with interactive and engaging hands-on educational activities.
Credit: ShareSpace Foundation
For detailed information on the July 23 event and purchasing tickets, go to:
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Curiosity Navcam Left B image taken on Sol 1387, July 1, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The very independent Curiosity Mars rover is to be busy wheeling into the long 4th of July weekend.
A number of sols are being planned by Earth operators, explains Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.
At this writing, Curiosity is just wrapping up Sol 1387 activities.
Rock, soil targets
Anderson says that the plan for this sol was having the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) to find analyze two targets: a rock named “Noordoewer” and a soil named “Savates.”
Curiosity image taken by Rear Hazcam Left B on Sol 1387, July 1, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Mastcam was also set to document those targets and take a mosaic of the “Murray Buttes”. After that, the rover was to perform a short drive, followed by post drive imaging, Anderson notes.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image taken on June 30, 2016, Sol 1386.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Lastly, a request is in, Anderson adds, for the rover’s Navcam to take imagery of Mt. Sharp along with the post drive imaging to help target more long distance ChemCam Remote Microscopic Imager (RMI) images.
“On Sol 1388, we have an easy day: ChemCam has a calibration observation and Navcam has a couple of atmospheric monitoring observations,” Anderson explains.
This map shows the route driven by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity through the 1387 Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars (July, 01, 2016).
From Sol 1386 to Sol 1387, Curiosity had driven a straight line distance of about 41.43 feet (12.63 meters).
Since touching down in Bradbury Landing in August 2012, Curiosity has driven 8.22 miles (13.23 kilometers).
The base image from the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) in NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
