Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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August 2nd, 2016
Curiosity Navcam Right B image taken on Sol 1417, August 1, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity rover has just entered Sol 1419 of its exploration of Mars.
A scripted plan now being implemented is focused on setting up the robot for its next drill hole.
“Originally there was going to be no science block at all, but we ended up with a little bit more power than expected,” reports Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) team on the mission.
Curiosity Navcam Right B image taken on Sol 1417, August 1, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“So we managed to fit in a ChemCam observation of the expected drill target, called ‘Marimba’ along with Mastcam documentation,” Anderson adds.
The brush off
Once that was done, Curiosity dumped its sieved sample from a previous drill at “Oudam” and did some contact science on Marimba.
The dust off! NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) — located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm — on August 2, 2016, Sol 1418.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
This included Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) activities of the drill location before and after brushing the dust off, Mastcam inspection of various rover components, and the “pre-load” test where researchers make sure the rock can handle the pressure exerted by the drill.
“If all of that goes well,” Anderson reports, “we should be able to drill later this week!”
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VSS Unity begins to stretch its legs with the first tests conducted out of the Air and Space Port hangar in Mojave, California.
Credit: Virgin Galactic
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA-AST) has awarded Virgin Galactic an operating license for SpaceShipTwo – a passenger-carrying suborbital space ship.
In an August 1 statement from Virgin Galactic, Virgin Galactic Senior Vice President of Operations Mike Moses reports:
“The granting of our operator license is an important milestone for Virgin Galactic, as is our first taxi test for our new spaceship. While we still have much work ahead to fully test this spaceship in flight, I am confident that our world-class team is up to the challenge,” Moses said.
“August is off to a good start! More on recent progress & ongoing testing coming soon,” says a Virgin Galactic blog today.
New vehicle
In late October of 2014, the SpaceShipTwo program suffered a major catastrophe, killing one pilot and seriously injuring the other.
The license award announced today comes as the new vehicle — VSS Unity — begins to stretch its legs with the first tests conducted out of the Air and Space Port hangar in Mojave, California.
Virgin Galactic’s suborbital vehicle – VSS Unity.
Credit: Virgin Galactic
Unity conducted the first taxi test today to evaluate and calibrate the navigation and communications/telemetry systems, according to Virgin Galactic.
License review process
“The license award, which will ultimately permit commercial operations of the vehicle, was the culmination of several years of in-depth interaction with the FAA,” adds the Virgin Galactic press statement. “The license review process consists of an in-depth review of the vehicle’s system design, safety analysis and flight trajectory analysis, culminating in FAA-AST approval.”
Virgin Galactic was founded by Sir Richard Branson and owned by the Virgin Group and Aabar Investments PJS.
Earlier image of Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic.
Credit: Virgin Galactic
To date, 700 men and women from over 50 countries have reserved places to fly on Virgin Galactic’s reusable space launch system, consisting of carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo and spacecraft SpaceShipTwo.
SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo are manufactured and tested in Mojave, California by its manufacturing wing, The Spaceship Company. Spaceflight operations will be based at Spaceport America in New Mexico, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
China’s Chang’e 3 Moon lander, imaged by Yutu lunar rover. continues to serve as an astronomical observation outpost.
Credit: NAOC
China’s lunar lander, Chang’e-3, with the country’s first lunar rover aboard, successfully landed on the moon on December 14, 2013. That event marked China’s first successful soft-landing on the surface of an extraterrestrial body.
Chinese space officials noted last week that the lander has entered its 33rd dormancy period, calling it a record for the longest work time by a lunar probe.
The still active lander has collected significant amounts of data and images of the Moon in the past two and half years, “getting three ‘first’ research findings in the human lunar exploration history,” according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
Image of China’s Chang’e 3 lunar lander taken by Yutu rover. Equipment on the stationary lander continues to operate after landing on the Moon in December of 2013.
Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lunar penetrating radar
The Chang’e-3 lander is equipped with three categories of scientific devices, including a descent camera, a lunar-based optical telescope, and an extreme ultraviolet imager, exploring the lunar, the universe and the plasmasphere around the Earth.
As reported in a July 29th CCTV-Plus video: Chang’e-3 obtained the world’s first geological section map of the Moon with a lunar penetrating radar, which provided an important scientific basis to know the evolution history of the Moon and explore its resources.
The map showed the features and the evolution history of the geological structure that is 330 meters deep under the lunar surface, and discovered a new rock – the lunar basalt.
China’s Yutu Moon rover.
Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
“The radar detected three layers of basalt under the ground…especially that the top layer was 195 meters deep. This indicates that until the late period, about more than two billion years, there were still huge amounts of magma that were erupting. This shows that the activity of the magma on the Moon lasted longer than expected before,” explains Lin Yangting, a researcher of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Chang’e-3’s latest data showed that the lunar soil is five meters deep, almost doubling the previous data obtained by other countries.
Water on the moon
According to the CCTV-Plus video, Chang’e-3’s optical telescope working in the ultraviolet band got the latest data about the water content on the lunar surface, “proving for the first time that there is no water on the Moon.”
“We measured the content of water on the lunar surface and above, and got the historically smaller value, which is also in line with the expectations of the experts on the formation of the Moon,” said Wei Jianyan, researcher of National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“The smaller the measured value, the smaller possibility of existence of water in figuring out whether there is water on the Moon,” the CCTV-Plus video adds.
The shadow knows! China’s Chang’e 3 landing site as seen via NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Credit: National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Earth’s plasmasphere
The world’s first extreme ultraviolet imager installed on the Chang’e-3 lander also obtained a large amount of plasmasphere images of the Earth.
The plasmasphere is the first of the natural screens surrounding the Earth, which can extend to around 40,000 kilometers away from the surface of the Earth. It can prevent the interference of the solar wind, high-energy particles and most of the cosmic rays.
“The Earth’s plasmasphere is in the innermost of the Earth’s magnetosphere. If the magnetosphere is interfered, the shape, position and structure of the plasmasphere will be affected. Therefore by detecting the structure and evolution of the Earth’s plasmasphere, we can monitor the influence of the solar activities to the earth,” says He Han, associate researcher of National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
1,300 images
The huge impulse of the solar storm will severely destroy the communication functions of the artificial objects that are running along the earth, such as the navigation satellite, the communication satellite and manned spacecrafts.
It is the exclusive ability of Chang’e-3 to observe the change of the plasmasphere as an indicator to monitor the solar storm.
The extreme ultraviolet imager on the Chinese lander has already collected more than 1,300 images of the Earth’s plasmasphere.
Curiosity Front Hazcam Left B image taken on Sol 1416, July 31, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is presently at work on Sol 1417.
Back on Sol 1414, the rover drove nearly 145 feet (44 meters), wheeling into an area with larger blocks of bedrock.
“This looks like a good area to drill into the Murray Formation, so nearby targets were selected and we are planning a short drive to position the vehicle for drilling,” reports Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.
But first, the robot’s Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) and Mastcam were slated to observe bedrock targets “Chibia” and “Dondo.”
Curiosity Navcam Left B image taken Sol 1416, July 31, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Brushed spot
Mastcam will also measure the dust in the atmosphere and take an image of the Sol 1414 ChemCam Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) target.
From there, the arm was to be deployed for lots of contact science and standard images of the wheels, Herkenhoff adds.
Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) was on tap to take pictures of Chibia before the robot’s Dust Removal Tool (DRT) was to brush it off, then take lots of stereo images of the brushed spot.
Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image taken on Sol 1417, July 31, 2016.
MAHLI is located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Search for clouds, dust devils
MAHLI was also set to acquire a full suite of images of Dondo before the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) was to measure its elemental chemistry.
After sunset, the APXS was to be placed on Chibia for an overnight integration.
Early on Sol 1417, Curiosity’s Navcam is scheduled to search for clouds and dust devils. Mastcam was also to measure atmospheric dust, and ChemCam will measure atmospheric chemistry.
Drill campaign
“The bump to the potential drill targets will be followed by acquisition of imaging and other data needed to plan the drill campaign and other activities next week,” Herkenhoff explains.
Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image taken on Sol 1417, July 31, 2016.
MAHLI is located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Finally, the AEGIS is slated to be used for the first time to autonomously select two targets and acquire ChemCam data on both of them.
“This is a very full and complex plan,” Herkenhoff concludes.
From Sol 1410 to Sol 1412, Curiosity had driven a straight line distance of about 147.85 feet (45.06 meters).
Since touching down in Bradbury Landing in August 2012, Curiosity has driven 8.40 miles (13.51 kilometers).
NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security – Regolith Explorer asteroid sample return mission.
Credit: NASA/Goddard
NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security – Regolith Explorer asteroid sample return mission is best called — for breathing purposes — as OSIRIS-REx). It is the first U.S. mission to collect a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for study.
OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to be launched on September 8, 2016 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
The launch window opens at 7:05pm EDT and lasts for approximately 120 minutes.
OSIRIS-REx undergoing pre-launch checkout.
Credit: NASA/KSC
The big day
“With only 39 days to go until we launch OSIRIS-REx our schedule is packed with activities,” explains Dante Lauretta, a professor of planetary science in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. He is the Principal Investigator for the NASA OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission.
“The big day!” is near at hand. “If the weather is clear and we don’t have any wayward aircraft or boats in restricted areas,” the Atlas V will send OSIRIS-REx on its way to Bennu and back, Lauretta notes via a July 31 blog.
“If launch is delayed – we can try again on September 9. Our last opportunity to launch this year is October 12 so we have plenty of chances to get off the Earth,” Lauretta explains.
Hit list
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is traveling to Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid whose regolith may record the earliest history of our solar system. Bennu may contain the molecular precursors to the origin of life and the Earth’s oceans.
This asteroid is also on the “hit list” – that is it’s one of the most potentially hazardous asteroids, as it has a relatively high probability of impacting the Earth late in the 22nd century.
OSIRIS-REx will determine Bennu’s physical and chemical properties, which will be critical to know in the event of an impact mitigation mission.
On the more cheerful side, asteroids like Bennu contain natural resources such as water, organics, and precious metals. In the future, these asteroids may one day fuel the exploration of the solar system by robotic and crewed spacecraft.
Site inspection
If the launch of the spacecraft goes as planned, in August 2018 the approach by OSIRIS-REx’s to Bennu will begin, rendezvousing with the space rock.
The spacecraft will begin a detailed survey of Bennu two months after slowing to encounter Bennu.
This “site inspection” process will last over a year, and, as part of it, OSIRIS-REx will map potential sample sites.
Touchy-feely technology
In picking the final site, the spacecraft will then briefly touch the surface of Bennu to retrieve a sample. The sampling arm will make contact with the surface of Bennu for about five seconds, during which it will release a burst of nitrogen gas.
The Touch-and-Go Sample Arm Mechanism (TAGSAM) is tested in a Lockheed Martin facility, developer of the hardware. The TAGSAM arm will be responsible for collecting a sample from Bennu’s surface.
Credit: Lockheed Martin Corporation
This touchy-feely procedure will cause rocks and surface soil to be stirred up and captured in the sampler head.
The spacecraft has enough nitrogen to allow three sampling attempts, to collect between 60 and 2000 grams 2–70 ounces (60–2000) grams.
Back home
In March 2021, the window for departure from the asteroid will open, and OSIRIS-REx will begin its return journey to Earth, arriving two and a half years later in September 2023.
The sample return capsule will separate from the spacecraft and enter the Earth’s atmosphere. It will be slowed by a heat shield and then a parachute, landing at the Utah Test and Training Range.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company built OSIRIS-REx at its facility near Denver. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is providing overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
Scene from “Mars,” a National Geographic Channel miniseries due to air in November.
Credit: National Geographic, Imagine,RadicalMedia,Robert Viglasky
The global event series MARS, produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, is landing on the TV watch list, premiering on the National Geographic Channel in 171 countries and 45 languages this November.
National Geographic will extend the MARS storytelling in an unprecedented cross-platform effort, including a six-part digital companion prequel series.
As part of rollout activities, I am pleased to have authored the companion standalone book for National Geographic: “MARS: Our Future on the Red Planet,” on sale October 25.
Credit: National Geographic
You’ll find scenes from the miniseries in the book, along with some 200 color images that underscore the technical, physiological, psychological, sociological, political, biological, cultural and ethical issues that confront the human reach to the Red Planet.
Present day future
MARS, the TV miniseries, is set both in the future and in the present day. This six-part series tells the story from the vantage point of a fictitious crewed mission in 2033.
MARS envisions the future of space travel funded through a corporate-public partnership of two fictional organizations:
- The Mars Mission Corporation (MMC), a consortium of aerospace corporations formed in 2022 and headquartered in London that builds and manages the technological hardware for the Mars program.
- The International Mars Science Foundation (IMSF), which was created by a coalition of space-faring nations to carry out a mission to Mars.
The scripted portion focuses on Earth’s first crewed mission to MARS aboard the spacecraft Daedalus. Its maiden voyage in 2033 is crewed by a carefully selected international crew of six uniquely qualified astronauts.
Miniseries features international crew destined for Mars.
Credit: National Geographic, Imagine,RadicalMedia
Multi-planet species?
The MARS miniseries – as does the companion book — showcases a collection of interviews with the top scientific minds currently working to overcome the many obstacles that stand in the way of eventual human missions to Mars.
Among those interviewed is Elon Musk, chief rocketeer at SpaceX:
“The future of humanity is fundamentally going to bifurcate along one of two directions: either we’re going to become a multi-planet species and a spacefaring civilization, or we’re going to be stuck on one planet until some eventual extinction event. In order for me to be excited and inspired about the future, it’s got to be the first option,” Musk says in the series.
Resources
To view a July 29th trailer for National Geographic Channel’s global event series MARS, premiering in November, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwUB0GYjHN0
Before MARS premiers, there will be an extensive digital virtual-reality experience available at:
For more information on the book – Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet — to be released October 25th, go to:
https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/product/books/books/new-books/mars
Also go to Amazon at:
Special salute to Apollo 11’s 47th anniversary held at the Kennedy Space Center, Star Trek’s George Takei and moonwalker, Buzz Aldrin.
Credit: Rob Varnas
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida – A convergence of reality and science fiction took center stage here July 23 during a salute to the 47th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the 50th anniversary of the iconic Star Trek television show and follow-on franchise.
An audience of some 250 people took part in the evening event; a scene dominated by a huge Saturn 5 booster perched overhead. The occasion raised funds for Aldrin’s ShareSpace Foundation – a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring children to be passionate regarding science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
The Apollo 11 anniversary gala was hosted by George Takei, best known for his portrayal of Mr. Sulu in the acclaimed television and film series Star Trek.
Apply warp speed and view my new Space.com story on the event. Go to:
George Takei, William Shatner Help NASA Celebrate Apollo 11 Anniversary
July 29, 2016 07:00 am ET
http://www.space.com/33585-star-trek-apollo-11-anniversary-event.html
Space Launch System.
Credit: NASA
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued two new reports on the overall status of NASA’s Space Launch System and the space agency’s next piloted program, Orion.
What GAO found in summary is that the SLS has resolved some technical issues and matured its design since GAO’s July 2015 report, but pressure remains on the program’s limited cost and schedule reserves.
This pressure, in turn, threatens its committed November 2018 launch readiness goal, the GAO reported.
Software: substantial risk
In reviewing the Orion program, what GAO found the project has overcome several technical challenges and made design changes to the crew capsule to reduce risk.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft headed outward to Mars.
Credit: Lockheed Martin
Known challenges, however, remain—such as development of the service module and the crew capsule heat shield, among others—that could cause cost increases and schedule delays as the program undergoes integration and test.
“Technical challenges are inherent in complex programs such as Orion, but if not carefully managed, they could result in cost overruns and schedule delays. For example, the program has identified software development as an area of substantial risk with a potential cost impact of more than $90 million and which may result in schedule delays,” the GAO report explains.
Resources
Reports:
NASA Human Space Exploration: Opportunity Nears to Reassess Launch Vehicle and Ground Systems Cost and Schedule: GAO-16-612, July 27.
- Report: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-612
- Highlights: http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/678693.pdf
- Podcast: http://www.gao.gov/multimedia/podcasts/678379
Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle: Action Needed to Improve Visibility into Cost, Schedule, and Capacity to Resolve Technical Challenges: GAO-16-620, July 27.
- Report: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-620
- Highlights: http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/678705.pdf
- Podcast: http://www.gao.gov/multimedia/podcasts/678379
Taming a resource-rich Mars can assure that future inhabitants live long and prosper. This image taken by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover: Mastcam Right image taken on Sol 1301, April 3, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
A NASA technical memorandum has taken a detailed look at the prospect of putting in place a sustainable colony of people on the Red Planet. Such a settlement can be safe, affordable, and nurture independence of residents on Mars from Earth.
The document is titled Frontier In-Situ Resource Utilization for Enabling Sustained Human Presence on Mars, authored by Robert Moses and Dennis Bushnell of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
Massive resources
“There are massive resources on Mars obtainable from the atmosphere and extracted from the regolith which are capable of supporting human colonization,” the report explains. Using Martian resources, existing technologies could supply water, oxygen, fuel, and building materials, they write, “to relax the dependence on Earth during the buildup of a colony on Mars.”
Early pioneering of Mars is expected to provide a gateway for developing the means to sustain a colony of people.
Credit: NASA/Pat Rawlings
Check out my new Space.com story on this important and wide-ranging paper. Go to:
Mars Colonists Must ꞌLive Off the Landꞌ: NASA Report
July 27, 2016/07:30am ET
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image taken on July 24, 2016, Sol 1410.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 1412.
Last weekend the rover made good progress, driving almost 223 feet (68 meters).
Image taken by Curiosity’s Front Hazcam Left B on Sol 1411, July 25, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Before the drive, Curiosity’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and Mastcam were to observe bedrock targets “Jamba” and “Huambo” and the Right Mastcam was on tap to acquire a 3-image mosaic of a small depression called “Mungo.”
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image taken on July 26, 2016, Sol 1411.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Atmospheric dustiness
After acquiring the post-drive imaging needed to plan future mobility, ChemCam was slated to use special software to autonomously select a new target for a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) raster.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image taken on July 26, 2016, Sol 1411.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
According to Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, the robot’s Navcam was set to search for clouds and dust devils, and its Mastcam would measure the dustiness of the atmosphere. The dust measurements will be repeated at noon and mid-afternoon to look for changes during the day.
Dusty environment of Mars. Curiosity Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 1409, July 24, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Also on tap, Curiosity’s Right Mastcam was to acquire a 14-image mosaic of the Murray Buttes.
Dates of planned rover activities are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.
