Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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June 6th, 2015
Mapping UFO sightings.
Credit: Max Galka/Metrocosm
Max Galka is a New Yorker “fascinated by data” and has just issued on Metrocosm a new data-rich look at UFO sightings.
Metrocosm is an exploration of urban life through the lens of statistics, data, and quantitative visualization.
Galka cofounded Revaluate, a real estate data business. Prior to that he modeled natural disaster risks and occasionally still does amateur hurricane predicting. Recently, he mapped federally regulated weapons; why another mansion tax is not what New York City needs; as well as creating a visual history of gender and employment.
But a new addition is his interactive UFO map. Galka details UFO reports and, in some cases, makes use of photo/video evidence.
Up close contact! Scene from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers circa 1956.
Credit: Columbia Pictures
Top ten
In his new posting, the most reported UFO sightings, according to Galka, are listed in a kind of Top Ten, David Letterman fashion:
Assuming that more reported sightings equate to more credibility, Galka notes that these are the 10 most “credible” UFO sightings in recent history in the United States:
— Tinley Park Lights, Tinley Park, IL (10/2004 77 reports
— Cone of Light, East Coast (9/2009) – 75 reports
— Tinley Park Lights, Tinley Park, IL (10/2005) – 72 reports
— Phoenix Lights, Phoenix, AZ (3/1997) – 65 reports
— Blue-Green Fireball, the Midwest (7/1997) – 63 reports
— Tinley Park Lights, Tinley Park, IL (8/2004) – 45 reports
— Blue-Green Fireball, the Midwest (11/1999) – 43 reports
— Washington Fireball, Renton, WA (7/2012) – 40 reports
— Rockford Lights, Rockford, IL (1/2001) – 25 reports
— Lights Over New Jersey Turnpike, Carteret, NJ (7/2001) – 25 reports
The big spike!
Credit: Max Galka/Metrocosm
Possible explanations
Galka points out that Illinois is involved in six of the ten UFO sightings that he has listed, as well as several other mass UFO sightings further down the list.
“I thought that was interesting because when you look at the total UFO reports per capita, Illinois actually ranks pretty low compared with other states,” Galka observes. “Aside from Chicago, it does not appear there is much correlation between mass UFO sightings and big airports.”
Some of the larger number of UFO sightings also coincide with large meteor showers or spacecraft launches, Galka points out. “Though when I looked into it,” he adds, “the effect did not come out very strong.”
Galka said that one pattern he did notice was that many of the mass UFO sightings occur on particular dates. He plotted the number of UFO sightings for each day of the year.
One message from this part of the research is that UFOs, flying those lengthy interstellar distances, clearly want to take part in U.S. Independence Day – July 4. That or ET is trying to find movie star Will Smith and set him straight.
To access Galka’s UFO research, go to:
For more information on Galka’s new work and related UFO research, go to this informative Washington Post article by Abby Ohlheiser:
“The surprising places where Americans are running into UFOs” at:
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This diagram illustrates the positions of Mars, Earth and the sun during a period that occurs approximately every 26 months, when Mars passes almost directly behind the sun from Earth’s perspective.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity and Opportunity rover operators are prepared this month when Mars passes almost directly behind the Sun from Earth’s perspective, celestial geometry called Mars solar conjunction.
Mars solar conjunction happens about every 26 months.
Because the Sun disrupts radio transmissions between Earth and Mars during conjunction, there is a moratorium on sending commands to spacecraft on the surface of Mars or in orbit around Mars.
The “Spirit of St. Louis Crater” and a rock spire called “Lindbergh Mound” are shown in this false-color image from Opportunity’s panoramic camera (Pancam). The names carry references to Charles Lindbergh’s ocean crossing in the airplane Spirit of St. Louis, designed by Charles D. Hall. Lindbergh named the plane to recognize financial backing for the flight from St. Louis residents, including Harold M. Bixby and Harry H. Knight.
Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
Long-running rover
Opportunity is the longest-running rover on Mars – landing on the Red Planet in January 2004.
The last six sol conjunction plan for Opportunity has been completed, said Ray Arvidson, Mars Exploration Rover (MER) deputy principal investigator at Washington University in St. Louis.
“We have the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) down on a breccia target called Private William Bratton on the northern rim of Spirit of St. Louis crater. Breccia refers to a rock formed from another rock that was broken up and/or shattered in some way.
The shallow Spirit of St. Louis Crater is about 110 feet (34 meters) long and about 80 feet (24 meters) wide, with a floor slightly darker than surrounding terrain. Lindbergh Mound is about 7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) tall, rising higher than the crater’s rim.
Opportunity’s Front Hazcam image on Sol 4035.
Credit: NASA/JPL
Get to the valley
With limited storage on the Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft, Opportunity can only gather during conjunction some optical depth measurements, some repeat images of the surface for change detection, and a few hours of APXS integrations.
“We will start up again on June 24, finish up measurements on the rim of Spirit of St. Louis crater and head east to Marathon valley and the smectite [clay mineral] exposures,” Arvidson explained.
Navigation Camera onboard Opportunity snagged this image on Sol 4036.
Credit: NASA/JPL
“Fall season is almost upon us so there is some urgency to get to the valley,” Arvidson told Inside Outer Space.
Track changes
“Opportunity is in good shape,” said James Rice, a senior scientist for the Mars Exploration Rover Project and a MER geology team leader at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.
Opportunity’s Microscopic Imager took image on Sol 4035.
Credit: NASA/JPL
“We are parked on north rim of the Spirit of St. Louis crater doing some minimal conjunction science,” Rice told Inside Outer Space.
Images taken by the rover are looking for any changes in its tracks and on the robot’s deck, as well as monitor atmospheric dust, Rice said.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way. It is located about 25,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), close to the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Credit: NASA/Space Telescope Science Institute
U.S. President Obama’s Chief Science Advisor — Dr. John P. Holdren — sent out a note earlier this week from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
“Here’s what I passed along internally Monday morning,” Holdren wrote.
“Today’s morning report from NASA contains a Hubble photo I thought worth sharing,” Holdren noted. “The astonishing density of stars — most of which, we now know, have planets — really does make one wonder whether there’s anybody else out there. And this is just one piece of our own galaxy. There are an estimated 100 billion other galaxies in the observable universe. Enjoy!”
“P.S. — The President liked this photo so much, he tweeted about it!,” Holdren added.
Souls behind the Sols. Curiosity controllers celebrate 1,000 sols of Mars exploration.
Credit: JPL
Control teams are wrapping up operations of the NASA Curiosity Mars rover – preparing for the upcoming solar conjunction.
Solar conjunction is the period when Earth and Mars, in their march around the Sun, are obscured from each other by the Sun. That means no communication between Earth and the two active Mars rovers – Curiosity and Opportunity.
This year, solar conjunction is from about June 7 to June 21, 2015.
Post-conjunction
Efforts are underway on planning for the resumption of activities after conjunction.
This image was taken by Curiosity’s Front Hazcam: Right B on June 2, 2015, Sol 1003.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“We don’t know precisely when tactical planning will resume, as the ability to communicate with spacecraft as Mars passes behind the Sun depends on variable solar activity,” says Ken Herkenhoff of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Center in Flagstaff, Arizona and a mission team member on Curiosity.
“The expectation is that the next tactical planning day will be June 25th (Sol 1026), but the schedule probably won’t firm up until that week”, Herkenhoff notes.
Sailing past 1,000 sols
Of late, Curiosity’s Mastcam has taken images of the Sun to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere.
Mastcam is also taking images of various targets near the rover, to be compared with images of the same targets taken after conjunction, Herkenhoff adds, to look for changes caused by Martian winds.
Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) created this product by merging two to eight images previously taken by the MAHLI, located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. The rover performed the merge on May 29, 2015, Sol 998.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“During the break from tactical operations, the science team will have more time to analyze the wealth of data the rover has returned over the past 1000 sols,” Herkenhoff explains.
Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012.
Credit: The Planetary Society
The Planetary Society looks ready to shed a little light on the situation – a Wednesday, June 3rd deployment of LightSail’s reflective sails.
Launched on May 20, LightSail will not be eye-catching visible until the sails are deployed and the best times to see the spacecraft are dusk and dawn.
While LightSail is almost ready for its moment in the Sun, “the bad news is that with the sail deployed, the rate of decay will be enormous, and difficult to predict with precision,” notes satellite watcher, Ted Molczan of Toronto, Canada.
But this afternoon, LightSail sent home pieces of two test images taken by one of the spacecraft’s onboard cameras, explains Jason Davis of The Planetary Society. “More of the images will be assembled with each successive ground station pass,” Davis said.
“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission.” – The Outer Limits
Jason Davis of The Planetary Society: “The coolest jumbled JPG from a spacecraft you’ll see all day.”
Credit: The Planetary Society
Magnitude of the situation
Meanwhile, the good news, according to sky watcher Molczan, is that his preliminary estimate — with the sail deployed — the standard visual magnitude of LightSail will be in the magnitude 2 to 3 on high-elevation, well illuminated passes.
To keep an eye on LightSail’s condition and whereabouts over Earth, go to:
Credit: CMSE/Wei Yan Juan
European Space Agency (ESA) director, Jean-Jacques Dordain and Yu Tongjie, Director of the China Manned Space Agency, met May 27 to continue and promote strategic cooperation on long-term objectives and implementation steps.
The two organizations are fleshing out the signing of cooperative agreements and scoping out more than a dozen specific areas of technical talks, according to the China Manned Space Engineering (CMSE) Office.
Credit: CMSE/Wei Yan Juan
The discussions, according to CMSE, are opening the door to manned space-European Union cooperation, and promote the establishment of a European Ministerial Conference on China.
Cooperative areas
Last year, in a December 11 meeting in Beijing, ESA and the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) signed an agreement to work together in the human spaceflight arena.
Under that ESA/CMSA agreement, three potential cooperation areas were identified:
— Implementation of joint scientific experiments and studies in different fields by utilizing in-orbit infrastructures(such as the International Space Station and the Chinese Space Station) and ground facilities, including space life and physical sciences, microgravity research, space biology and medicine, and technology research;
— Astronaut selection, training, medical operations and astronaut flights;
— Space infrastructure cooperation in human exploration of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and beyond.
Credit: MGM/United Artists
In outer space nobody can hear you scream – but give it time and you’ll be listening to some of the ethereal sounds used in the movie epic: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Take a view and turn the volume up for this recent Progress rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station.
Go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axPoEmtEw14&feature=youtu.be
NOTE: Special thanks also to Mike Okuda and Dwayne Day for their contributions to this visual feast.
You could consider them trial balloons, in the juggernaut jargon of Washington, D.C. politics.
The prospect that China may be invited to climb onboard the International Space Station seems airborne for discussion.
Apollo-Soyuz link-up: On July 17, 1975 two Cold War-rivals met in space.
Credit: NASA
No telling, but perhaps the overtures are just in time for the 40th anniversary of the joint Apollo-Soyuz (U.S.-Russia) mission in 1975 this coming July?
My colleague, co-author of Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration, Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin, is a firm supporter of this idea. Check out the just-released paperback with a new, special essay.
Inside Space City
There are a number of opinion pieces, broadcasts, and reports worth reading about such a possibility.
For example, take a view of “Inside Space City,” a world exclusive CNN interview with three of China’s top astronauts with one Chinese astronaut calling for cooperation, access to International Space Station.
Go to:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/28/asia/china-space-mckenzie/index.html
Also, take a read of “The Silly Reason the Chinese Aren’t Allowed on the Space Station,” by Jeffrey Kluger, Editor at Large for TIME magazine.
Go to:
http://time.com/3901419/space-station-no-chinese/#3901419/space-station-no-chinese/
Chinese space travelers in training.
Credit: CMSE
Divergent views
Should the United States cooperate with China in Space? That question is explored by a recent paper, authored by Ronald Turner of Analytic Services Inc.
This paper explores the rationales behind the two divergent views on U.S.-China cooperation in space, and suggests that limited engagement with the Chinese, through NASA, would benefit the United States.
Turner flags two specific near-term objectives that should be considered by the United States:
— Join the European Space Agency in ongoing discussions with the Chinese for joint space science in the next five years
— Invite a Chinese astronaut to the International Space Station
This paper is available at:
http://www.anser.org/babrief-us-china-space-coop
The International Space Station: Open airlock for Chinese space travelers?
Credit: NASA
China Dream, Space Dream
China’s progress in space technologies and implications for the United States is explored in a study by the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC).
Authored by Kevin Pollpeter, Eric Anderson, Jordan Wilson, and Fan Yang of the IGCC, they point out that “although China’s space program may pose challenges for the United States and its space power neighbors, it may also present opportunities for scientific collaboration on the Earth’s environment and outer space. In addition, it may make human spaceflight safer by providing additional capabilities to rescue stranded or imperiled astronauts through the use of common docking apparatus.”
This paper can be found here:
http://origin.www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Research/China%20Dream%20Space%20Dream_Report.pdf
Bottom line
Meanwhile, China is readying the Tiangong-2 space lab to be lofted around 2016, say Chinese space officials.
China’s space station in the 2020s.
Credit: CASC
Once that facility is in Earth orbit it will be followed by a piloted Shenzhou-11 spacecraft and first use of the Tianzhou cargo craft to rendezvous with and support lab operations.A core module for a larger space station is also on China’s agenda, to be lofted around 2018. That station is expected to be completed around 2022.
Back to orbiting olive branches between two space powers.
There’s a possible bottom line to all this: A convergence of coincidence or a lead-lined trial balloon that’s DOL – “doomed on liftoff?”
You be the judge and please share your opinions!
The Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) test vehicle is seen during the full mission dress rehearsal, Friday, May 29, 2015, at the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kauai, HI. The LDSD crosscutting technology demonstration mission will test breakthrough entry, descent and landing technologies that will enable large payloads to be landed safely on the surface of Mars.
Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The second flight test of NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) now will launch no earlier than 10:30 a.m. PDT (1:30 p.m. EDT, or 7:30 a.m. HST) Tuesday, June 2, from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on Kauai, Hawaii.
NASA Television coverage will begin at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT, or 7 a.m. HST) and go to:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
NASA’s LDSD project is designed to investigate and test breakthrough technologies for landing future robotic and human Mars missions and safely returning large payloads to Earth.
The Moon sets during the full mission dress rehearsal for the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), Friday, May 29, 2015, U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kauai, HI. The LDSD crosscutting technology demonstration mission will test breakthrough entry, descent and landing technologies that will enable large payloads to be landed safely on the surface of Mars.
Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The test, performed over the Pacific Ocean, will simulate the supersonic entry and descent speeds at which the spacecraft would be traveling through the Martian atmosphere.
NASA’s LDSD program is part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, which innovates, develops, tests and flies hardware for NASA’s future missions.
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket successfully launched the U.S. Air Force X-37B space plane on May 20.
Credit: ULA
A global team of vigilant satellite watchers has spotted the Air Force’s unpiloted winged craft, the X-37B space plane, now circling the Earth on its fourth Orbital Test Vehicle mission (OTV-4).
Operated by the U.S. Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office, the secretive robotic spacecraft was orbited on May 20 by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 501 booster from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Previous mission photo shows launch processing of a Boeing-built X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.
Credit: Boeing
The rapid discovery of OTV-4 in orbit has already led to some interesting facts.
For my new story on sighting the space plane, go to:
Air Force’s Mysterious X-37B Space Plane Spotted by Amateur Astronomers
by Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist
May 29, 2015 07:00am ET
http://www.space.com/29516-x37b-space-plane-amateur-photos.html
