Tag Archive for 'NASA'Page 2 of 19

Water Water Everywhere (Even on Titan)

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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.

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Tastes Like Chicken Broth?

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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.

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Happy 50th NASA! Now What?

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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.

Back to the Moon - with Company

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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.

Fly Me to the Moon….

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on July 26, 2008
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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.

In Interview, NASA’s “Spock” Comes off as Almost Human

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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.

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Constellation Crumbling

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Doug
on July 25, 2008
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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.”

Trench on Mars Ready for Next Sampling by NASA Lander

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PHOENIX MISSION UPDATE
24 July 2008

NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has groomed the bottom of a shallow trench to prepare for collecting a sample to be analyzed from a hard subsurface layer where the soil may contain frozen water.

Images received Thursday morning confirmed that the lander’s robotic arm had scraped the top of the hard layer clean during activities of Phoenix’s 58th Martian day, or sol, corresponding to overnight Wednesday to Thursday.

The Phoenix team developed commands for sending to the spacecraft Thursday to complete two remaining preparations necessary before collecting a sample and delivering it to the lander’s Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA). One part of the plan for Sol 59 (overnight Thursday to Friday) would assure that the scoop is empty of any soil collected earlier. Another would complete a final cleaning of any volatile materials from the oven that will receive the sample.

In the past two weeks, the team has refined techniques for using a powered rasp on the back of the arm’s scoop to cut and collect shavings of material from the bottom of the trench. The trench, informally named “Snow White,” is 4 to 5 centimeters deep (about 2 inches), about 23 centimeters wide (9 inches), and about 60 centimeters long (24 inches) long.

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Phoenix Pulls an All-Nighter

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PHOENIX MISSION UPDATE

TUCSON, Ariz. – Phoenix early Tuesday finished its longest work shift of the mission. The lander stayed awake for 33 hours, completing tasks that included rasping and scraping by the robotic arm, in addition to atmosphere observations in coordination with simultaneous observations by NASA’sMars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

“Our rasping test yesterday gave us enough confidence that we’re now planning for the next use of the rasp to be for acquiring a sample to be delivered to TEGA,” said Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. TEGA is Phoenix’s Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, an instrument that heats samples in small ovens and uses a mass spectrometer to study the vapors driven off by the heating.

As preparation for that sample delivery in coming days, the Phoenix team developed plans to command the lander Tuesday evening to conduct 80 scrapings of the bottom of a trench informally named “Snow White.” The scraping is designed to freshly expose frozen material and ready the surface for using the rasp.

Picture caption: This animation combines two images of the trench informally named “Snow White” taken by the Surface Stereo Imager. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University

Scientists Meet at Ames to Plan Out Lunar Trips

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Scientists and engineers are meeting this week at NASA Ames Research Center in California to plan out humanity’s return to the moon.

NASA plans GPS-like system for return to the moon
Scientific American

NASA has coughed up $1.2 million for a navigation system that will help astronauts find their way around the lunar surface when they return in 2020. The Lunar Astronaut Spatial Orientation and Information System (LASOIS) is designed to function  much the same way as a global positioning system (GPS).

Scientists swap moon, Mars exploration plans
San Francisco Chronicle

“Christopher P. McKay, a NASA scientist at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, has one overriding question for the future of human exploration on the moon and Mars.

“Could astronauts stay on the moon for any length of time where lunar gravity is six times weaker than it is on Earth or on Mars, where the gravity is an insupportably three times weaker than Earth’s?

“If those questions can’t be answered, McKay said, we may visit those distant places, but we won’t be able to stay.”

NASA: The Moon is not enough
The Register (UK)

“NASA and its international aeronautical cohorts have some serious explaining to do before they start rocketing folks to the Moon again.

“They better convince the public why it’s so important for our species to invest hand-over-fist just to root around some boring gray orbital dust ball - a dust ball we already stuck a flag in a full score and 19 years ago.

“Perhaps they’re preaching to the choir, but this week a gathering of scientists are giving this sort of time-tested anti-space exploration diatribe a workout at the NASA/AMES Research Center in Mountain View, California.”