Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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October 14th, 2015
Credit: NASA/JPL/CalTech
The NASA Curiosity Mars rover is dumping and “thwacking” away on the Red Planet, explains Lauren Edgar, a research geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Sol 1133 on Mars involved the rover dumping the “Big Sky” sample and “thwacking” CHIMRA (the Collection and Handling for in-Situ Martian Rock Analysis) to clean out any remnants of the sample.
This action was taken in preparation for the next drill sample, Edgar says, that will likely be the Greenhorn” target in today’s plan. In addition to these arm activities, the plan also included several ChemCam and Mastcam observations of “Greenhorn” and “Gallatin Pass” to assess chemical variations across a fracture.
Meanwhile, a new Curiosity selfie has been released showing the robot at “Big Sky.”
In addition, a set of new research papers has been issued via the Oct. 13, 2015 issue of Science magazine:
— Deposition, exhumation, and paleoclimate of an ancient lake deposit, Gale crater, Mars
— A Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars
These can be viewed here:
http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission/science/researchpapers/
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Credit: World View Enterprises, Inc
Just in time for the upcoming holidays!
The high-roller Neiman Marcus Christmas Book includes the opportunity to be a part of a World View test flight.
World View is offering edge of your seat, edge of space travel via high-altitude balloon.
Credit: World View Enterprises, Inc
“World View offers a gentle, comfortable, and life-changing travel experience to the edge of space for private citizens,” explains the Tucson, Arizona-based company.
Fantasy gift
The exclusive World View package is featured as “Fantasy Gift” in the Iconic Neiman Marcus Christmas Book.
Credit: Neiman Marcus
The annual Neiman Marcus book includes products for the ultimate wish list, from exquisite “His and Hers” gifts to highly anticipated luxury automobiles.
Two-part adventure
For $90,000, the up-and-going, two-part adventure begins in 2016 with a behind the scenes invitation to a World View test flight.
“In 2017, you and five companions will experience 360 degree views of Earth as a high-altitude balloon lifts your luxury pressurized capsule 100,000 feet above our planet,” the catalog explains.
This package also includes luxurious accommodations at the Miraval Resort in Tucson, Arizona. Each package comes with a private tour of Biosphere 2 with an original “biospherian” member and now World View CEO, Jane Poynter.
In-flight bar, bathroom
Passengers will experience multiple hours of flight and have access to wireless internet, an in-flight bar and a lavatory.
Credit: World View Enterprises, Inc
“These modern accommodations are possible thanks to World View’s high-altitude balloon technology, which allows for a smooth and gentle journey without extreme g-forces from rockets,” explains World View.
With the purchase of the World View Exploration at the Edge of Space, Neiman Marcus will donate $1,500 to The Heart of Neiman Marcus Foundation. Gift limited to ten Neiman Marcus customers.
Credit: World View Enterprises, Inc
For more information, visit:
http://www.worldviewexperience.com
You can peruse this special offer in the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book at:
Contemplating a future on Mars?
Credit: The Martian, 2015 Twentieth Century Fox
Stephen Petranek’s new book is titled How We’ll Live on Mars, issued by TED Books.
But as far as moving to Mars…you better pack a shovel, the author suggests.
One of the main problems is that the thinner Martian atmosphere ensures that the surface of Mars gets pelted with dangerous levels of radiation day after day.
Petranek discusses this problem in a recently issued video, and also outlines other strategies for not dying a painful death on Mars.
The posting comes via “Big Think” – a knowledge forum.
For this video and other related items go to:
http://bigthink.com/videos/stephen-petranek-on-how-to-survive-the-radiation-on-mars
The U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Space held a hearing on Friday, October 9th focused on the impact of the president’s budget on programs being built for a trip to Mars and other deep space destinations.
Witnesses discussed NASA’s plans for future major tests and milestones of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew vehicle, as well as how the administration’s budget request affects these programs.
Doug Cooke (left) and Dan Dumbacher testify before House Subcommittee on Space.
Credit: Subcommittee on Space
The hearing took place a day after release of NASA’s Journey to Mars report which contained no budget, schedule, or deadlines.
Testifying at the hearing:
— Doug Cooke, Owner, Cooke Concepts and Solutions; Former Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems, NASA
Cooke’s testimony is available at:
— Dan Dumbacher, Professor of Engineering Practice, Purdue University; Former Deputy Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA
Dumbacher’s testimony is available at:
NOTE: Archived video of the hearing is available on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtoUE3dJ-mLUo5dwGs7hXOw
Also there’s a detailed charter/backgrounder on deep space exploration issues available at:
UPDATE:
From David Smith, lead scientist for E-MIST, to Inside Outer Space:
Yes it was a perfect flight, thanks for checking in. Payload worked
as we needed it to, and the gondola was recovered quickly (it’s back at Ft
Sumner already) – we didn’t get a 24 hour float but knew beforehand that was out of reach due to weather conditions. The float time (8 hrs 20 min) was more than sufficient for us. Looking forward to analyzing the samples soon!
David
Is the 5th time the charm?
After a string of weather delays, the Exposing Microorganisms in the Stratosphere (E-MIST) 2015 Flight Mission has a good chance of a balloon liftoff this morning.
“Very good sign… high probability of launch this morning,” E-MIST Principal Investigator, David J. Smith at NASA’s Ames Research Center told Inside Outer Space.
E-MIST mounted to the balloon gondola on Sept. 13, 2015 at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. The big red arrow is pointing to E-MIST.
Credit: NASA
That payload will be onboard the Long-Duration Balloon (LDB) Test Flight II, departing from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico.
Mars-like conditions
On the E-MIST science flight, researchers will monitor bacterial survival in the Mars analog environment to help NASA predict — and prevent — microbial contamination of the Red Planet by exploring spacecraft.
Earth’s stratosphere mimics key surface conditions on Mars. The air is thin, cold, dry, and irradiated.
The payload will transport known quantities of Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032, a highly-resilient bacterial strain originally isolated from a spacecraft assembly facility, to the stratosphere for up to 24 hours.
Pre-launch photo looks down on the E-MIST payload from the top of the balloon gondola at Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. Several instruments/sensors and four sample-holding canisters can be seen on the front face of the payload.
Credit: NASA
The upcoming sendoff into the stratosphere will mark the second flight of the E-MIST hardware — the first full science mission using the system — is from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
Electron micrograph of spores of the bacterium Bacillus pumilus on the E-MIST hardware.
Credit: NASA
Watch the flight online!
During the experiment, the public can watch the progress of the flight unfold by following the links to Fort Sumner Operations from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website at:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nas-csbf-operations
Also, you can go to:
http://towerfts.csbf.nasa.gov/
For video on the launch day: click “Near Real Time Video” under “Fort Sumner Operations.” Then click on “Fort Sumner UStream Video Feed.”
For real-time payload position information on the launch day: click “CSBF Test Flight II” listed under the section “Fall 2015 Flights Below.”
Credit: Christina Korp
Attention: All would-be Mars explorers! World Space Week supporters too.
Want to get the word(s) out on getting to the Red Planet?
There’s a Limited Edition of this Buzz Aldrin collectible Tee-shirt. Sweatshirts are also available.
They are only available to order until Oct 19th.
“One hundred percent of the proceeds support the ShareSpace Foundation which addresses science literacy by igniting children’s passion for science, technology, engineering, arts and math…STEAM,” adds Aldrin.
For more information, go to:
NASA released today the agency’s master plan for Mars titled: NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration.
The journey to Mars passes through three thresholds, each with increasing challenges as humans move farther from Earth. NASA and our partners are managing these challenges by developing and demonstrating capabilities in incremental steps.
Earth Reliant exploration: Focused on research aboard the ISS.
Proving Ground: NASA will learn to conduct complex operations in a deep space environment that allows crews to return to Earth in a matter of days.
Earth Independent: Activities build on what we learn on ISS and in cislunar space to enable human missions to the Mars vicinity, including the Martian moons, and eventually the Martian surface.
For a detailed look at this new NASA document, go to:
Credit: NASA artwork
A paper to be published tomorrow, Oct. 9 in the journal Science by members of the Mars Science Laboratory team for the Curiosity rover, describes ancient water flows and lakes on Mars, and what this might mean about the planet’s ancient climate.
“We have tended to think of Mars as being simple,” says John Grotzinger, the California Institute of Technology’s (Caltech) Fletcher Jones Professor of Geology, chair of the Division of Planetary and Geological Sciences, and lead author of the paper.
A view from the Kimberley formation looking south. The strata in the foreground dip towards the base of Mount Sharp, indicating the ancient depression that existed before the larger bulk of the mountain formed.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“We once thought of the Earth as being simple, too. But the more you look into it, questions come up because you’re beginning to fathom the real complexity of what we see on Mars. This is a good time to go back to reevaluate all our assumptions. Something is missing somewhere,” Grotzinger adds.
Gale crater
Since August 2012, NASA’s Curiosity robot has been wheeling its way through Gale Crater territory. That site is estimated to be between 3.8 billion and 3.6 billion years old.
According to a Caltech press statement released today:
“As Curiosity has trekked across Gale Crater, it has stopped to examine numerous areas of interest. All targets are imaged, and soil samples have been scooped from some; the rocks in a select few places have been drilled for samples. These samples are deposited into the rover’s onboard laboratories. Using data from these instruments, as well as visual imaging from the onboard cameras and spectroscopic analyses, [Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)] scientists have pieced together an increasingly coherent and compelling story about the evolution of this region of Mars.”
A Curiosity rover image taken at the Hidden Valley site, en-route to Mount Sharp. A variety of mudstone strata in the area indicate a lakebed deposit, with river- and stream- related deposits nearby.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Wetter scenario
In mid-September 2014, the rover reached the foothills of Aeolis Mons, a three-mile-high layered mountain nicknamed “Mount Sharp” in honor of the late Caltech geologist Robert Sharp. Curiosity has been exploring the base of the mountain since then.
The latest results from Curiosity indicate that wetter scenarios about the area are correct for the lower portions of Mount Sharp. Based on the new analysis, the filling of at least the bottom layers of the mountain occurred mostly by ancient rivers and lakes.
Given the rover’s arrival at that locale, scientists are seeing finely laminated mudstones in abundance. These silty layers in the strata are interpreted as ancient lake deposits.
For an informative and rich-with-detail account of the new findings and research, go to:
http://www.caltech.edu/news/wet-paleoclimate-mars-revealed-ancient-lakes-gale-crater-48249
Curiosity Front Hazcam Right image taken on October 8, 2015, Sol 1127.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is wrapping up Sol 1127 operations.
On the prior Sol, images show that the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) was well centered over the pre-sieve dump pile of Martian material.
The APXS measures the abundance of chemical elements in rocks and soils.
This 2012 image shows the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) in center onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover, with the Martian landscape in the background.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
APXS is placed in contact with rock and soil samples on Mars and exposes the material to alpha particles and X-rays emitted during the radioactive decay of the element curium.
The Sol 1127 activities of Curiosity also saw use of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to inspect the wheels of the rover and to monitor damage caused by trekking over rough terrain.
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 October 8, 2015, Sol 1127.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“After the wheel imaging, there’s just enough time for a short drive to another potential drill target and post-drive imaging,” explains Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.
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.
Mars Ice House by Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office.
NASA has awarded the top three design finalists in the 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge.
A total of $40,000 was awarded to teams during the New York Maker Faire on Sunday, September 27th.
The competition is part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges program and is managed by America Makes, a partnership of organizations focused on accelerating capabilities and adoption of additive manufacturing technology.
Judging factors
The first-place award of $25,000 went to Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office in New York, New York for their design, Mars Ice House.
Second place awarded to Team Gamma.
Second place and $15,000 was awarded to Team Gamma of Foster + Partners.
Third place was awarded to Team LavaHive of Vienna, Austria.
Teams were judged on many factors, including architectural concept, design approach, habitability, innovation, functionality, Mars site selection and 3-D print constructability.
First milestone
The design competition is the first milestone of the 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge, which seeks to foster the development of new technologies necessary to additively manufacture a habitat using local indigenous materials with, or without, recyclable materials, in space and on Earth.
Team LavaHive
NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program is part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Additional information
More than 165 submissions were received, and the 30 highest-scoring entries were judged, displayed at the Maker Faire event in New York.
For more information about the winning team and Mars Ice House, go to:
Additional information on the competition can be found here:
