NASA MISSION UPDATE
5 August 2008
Phoenix Mars mission scientists spoke today on research in progress concerning an ongoing investigation of perchlorate salts detected in soil analyzed by the wet chemistry laboratory aboard NASA’s Phoenix Lander.
“Finding perchlorates is neither good nor bad for life, but it does make us reassess how we think about life on Mars,” said Michael Hecht of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), the instrument that includes the wet chemistry laboratory.
If confirmed, the result is exciting, Hecht said, “because different types of perchlorate salts have interesting properties that may bear on the way things work on Mars if — and that’s a big ‘if ‘ — the results from our two teaspoons of soil are representative of all of Mars, or at least a significant portion of the planet.”
Continue reading ‘Phoenix Lander Finds Perchlorates in Soil’
The always candid and occasionally bewildering Mike Griffin made an appearance in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin last week at the AirVenture 2008 air show. Despite being overshadowed by Richard Branson’s Super Terrific Happy Hour (a.k.a., WhiteKnightTwo), the NASA administrator still managed to create controversy while giving our nation’s school children a South Park-style lesson in blame shifting.
The comments involved a possible five-year gap between shuttle and Orion flights. Aero-News.net has this account:
“A common thread throughout the hour-plus discussion was the logic, or lack thereof, of discontinuing the Space Shuttle until a replacement vehicle was in operation. According to NASA’s website, the current plan includes phasing out the Space Shuttle in 2010 and using Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft to shuttle astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) until a US replacement is developed. ‘The US and its partners have invested $100 billion in the [ISS],’ said Griffin, ’so it does seem short-sighted to not spend the $3 billion a year to maintain the Shuttle.’
And who does the NASA leader blame for this problem? It ain’t Canada.
“Directing his comments to the children in the audience, “Sometimes Washington does silly things.’”
This comment speaks for itself, really.
These trenches on Mars glisten with white spots of ice.
White House Briefed On Potential For Mars Life
Craig Covault
Aviation Week & Space Technology
“The White House has been alerted by NASA about plans to make an announcement soon on major new Phoenix lander discoveries concerning the ‘potential for life’ on Mars, scientists tell Aviation Week & Space Technology.
“Sources say the new data do not indicate the discovery of existing or past life on Mars. Rather the data relate to habitability–the ‘potential’ for Mars to support life–at the Phoenix arctic landing site, sources say.”
NASA PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2008
NASA scientists have concluded that at least one of the large lakes observed on Saturn’s moon Titan contains liquid hydrocarbons, and have positively identified the presence of ethane. This makes Titan the only body in our solar system beyond Earth known to have liquid on its surface.
Scientists made the discovery using data from an instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft. The instrument identified chemically different materials based on the way they absorb and reflect infrared light. Before Cassini, scientists thought Titan would have global oceans of methane, ethane and other light hydrocarbons. More than 40 close flybys of Titan by Cassini show no such global oceans exist, but hundreds of dark lake-like features are present. Until now, it was not known whether these features were liquid or simply dark, solid material.
“This is the first observation that really pins down that Titan has a surface lake filled with liquid,” said Bob Brown of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Brown is the team leader of Cassini’s visual and mapping instrument. The results will be published in the July 31 issue of the journal Nature.
Continue reading ‘Water Water Everywhere (Even on Titan)’
MARS PHOENIX MISSION UPDATE
31 July 2008
Laboratory tests aboard NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander’s robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples.
“We have water,” said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. “We’ve seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted.”
With enticing results so far and the spacecraft in good shape, NASA also announced operational funding for the mission will extend through Sept. 30. The original prime mission of three months ends in late August. The mission extension adds five weeks to the 90 days of the prime mission.
“Phoenix is healthy and the projections for solar power look good, so we want to take full advantage of having this resource in one of the most interesting locations on Mars,” said Michael Meyer, chief scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Continue reading ‘Tastes Like Chicken Broth?’
The Economist has a think-piece about the future of NASA, which turns 50 years old this year. “America’s space agency has reached middle age,” the magazine observes. “Will it now recapture the glory of its youth, or dwindle into decrepitude?”
The article really doesn’t have any clear answers, although the writer does deconstruct several rationales put forth by NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and speculates on whether virtual reality will allow almost anyone to visit the Moon and Mars without having to actually go there. Or even give NASA billions of dollars to send anyone. “That, perhaps, is a more subtle threat than NASA realises,” the author observes.
The moon beckons again - for U.S., 8 other nations
Mike Swift
San Jose Mercury News
In hopes of discovering clues to the origin of life on Earth, the United States and eight other nations signed a landmark agreement at NASA’s Ames Research Center this week that scientists hope will lay the groundwork for a new generation of lunar exploration and science.
Unlike the all-American Apollo program, the new agreement sees a multinational fleet of robot spacecraft returning to the moon in coming years, with the maturing space programs of countries like India, Germany and South Korea playing key roles in an effort that ultimately would lead to the return of astronauts.
“It’s sort of like the beginning of a beautiful friendship, like at the end of ‘Casablanca,’ ” James Green, director of NASA’s planetary science division, said at Moffett Field this week.
ISRO to launch Chandrayaan-I in September
DailyIndia.com
India will launch its first lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-I, in September. The spacecraft will map the moon with a high-resolution high-resolution stereo camera with a resolution of 16 feet. The orbiter’s other instruments include near-infrared and X-ray spectrometers and a laser altimeter.
LRO Launch Delayed to 2009
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
NASA will delay the launch of its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) from November to late February or early March 2009 because of a launch conflict with the Department of Defense.
The orbiter will map the moon and collect mineralogy data. The mission has a piggyback payload, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which is designed to send the rocket’s spent upper stage crashing into the moon to search for evidence of water ice.
The Guardian has a very well-written story based on an interview it conducted with Mike Griffin during his recent visit to London. The paper reports that the NASA administrator, famous for comparing himself to the greatest Vulcan who ever served in Star Fleet, was in a less than chipper mood on the eve of his agency’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
“For some reason, though - perhaps it’s the windowless room in the basement of the US embassy in London, or the entourage of identical suits looking on from the sidelines - Griffin, who was passing through London on the way to a heads of space agencies meeting in Paris, does not seem like a man about to crack open the party poppers.”
In the interview, Griffin comes off sympathetically - a man truly committed to making humanity a space-faring civilization - eve if he is periodically clueless. He urges the British to join America in sending humans to the moon, defends the expected five-year gap between space shuttle and Orion flights, and claims that NASA is well on its way toward accomplishing George W. Bush’s vision despite all the problems you’ve been reading about with the Constellation program.
“We’re on the right path and it is of course fragile, but I think it’s crucial we remain on it,” he told the paper.
Continue reading ‘In Interview, NASA’s “Spock” Comes off as Almost Human’
Another week, another crack in NASA’s Constellation facade….
“Concerned by reports that the Ares rockets and Orion crew capsule are beset by cost overruns, schedule delays and complex technical woes, [Buzz] Aldrin says he wants to create a panel of experts to make sure that Constellation is the right way to go.
“‘We need to stick with the mission but rethink some of the ways we implement it,’ said Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. ‘It doesn’t pay to stick with a bad idea.’”
Chief Engineer outlines Ares I-X issues - includes Thrust Oscillation
NASASpaceflight.com
“A report from Ares I-X’s Chief Engineer has called for the strengthening of the vehicle’s hardware, due to the red risks associated with Thrust Oscillation near the end of first stage burn - which is also threatening the vehicle’s Flight Termination System (FTS) components.
“The vehicle is also requiring mitigation of other multiple issues and concerns - found during the vehicle’s Critical Design Review (CDR) Phase II meeting, though launch remains on track for the Spring of 2009.”