PBS: Columbia Shuttle 10th Anniversary

Tonight on PBS you can see Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope, marking the 10th anniversary of the shuttle disaster.  The PBS special will primarily highlight the life of  Colonel Ilan Ramon, a fighter pilot and son of Holocaust survivors who became the first astronaut from Israel.  Here is PBS's description of tonight's program: 

Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope goes behind the scenes to explore the “mission within the mission” for Ramon, who carried into space a miniature Torah scroll that had survived the horrors of the Holocaust, given to a boy in a secret bar mitzvah observed in the pre-dawn hours in the notorious Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. The bar mitzvah boy grew up to become Israel’s lead scientist for the mission, Joachim “Yoya” Joseph.

The film follows the scroll’s path into Ramon’s hands, and the dramatic moment when he tells its story live to the world from the flight deck of Columbia. From the depths of hell to the heights of space, his simple gesture would serve to honor the hope of a nation and to fulfill a promise made to generations past and future. 

Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope includes drawings from the concentration camp made in secret by a camp inmate, and archival NASA footage of the astronauts as they prepared for their mission. Interviewees include Ilan Ramon’s widow, Rona Ramon, and other Columbia crew family members; astronaut Garrett Reisman and other members of NASA’s space program; Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean; former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and many others. The film was shot on location throughout the world, from Jerusalem to the Kennedy Space Center to Washington, D.C. 

Space Art: The Visions of Children

If we want to have a future in space, we need to educate and motivate the children of today. One way to motivate children is to let them share their vision of the future.  The accompanying image was created by Zoya Baakza from The City School, P.A.F. Chapter, in Karachi, Pakistan.  He won third place among the 6th-8th grade entries in the 2012 Space Foundation Student Art Contest.  Go here for all of the 2012 winners. And go here for a video showing the winning entries narrated by astronauts.

The 2013 winners will be selected from the 4,735 entries as part of the International Student Art Contest at the April 8-11, 2013, Space Foundation's 29th National Space Symposium, to be held in Colorado Springs, CO, this year.

Below I provide more art, this time from the 2011 contest winners.

Emilee Ullom, Peyton Elementary, Peyton, Colo.: Second Place, Grades 6-8 Multimedia

 Joann Wong, Sand Creek High School, Colorado Springs, Colo: Second Place, Grades 9-12 Multimedia

Great Image: Spirit on Mars

With all of the attention on Curiosity, we sometimes forget about the earlier Mars rover Spirit that was rolling around on the Red Planet's surface from 2004 to 2010 (when we lost communication).  Above is an 360-degree panoramic image from Spirit while nestled in its "Winter Haven."  Below is the rest of the story from NASA:

This 360-degree view, called the "McMurdo" panorama, comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. From April through October 2006, Spirit stayed on a small hill known as "Low Ridge." There, the rover's solar panels were tilted toward the sun to maintain enough solar power for Spirit to keep making scientific observations throughout the winter on southern Mars. This view of the surroundings from Spirit's "Winter Haven" is presented in approximately true color.

The Pancam began shooting component images of this panorama during the 814th Martian day, or sol, of Spirit's work on Mars (April 18, 2006) and completed the part shown here on Sol 980 (Oct. 5, 2006).

This beautiful scene reveals a tremendous amount of detail in Spirit's surroundings. Many dark, porous-textured volcanic rocks can be seen around the rover, including many on Low Ridge. Two rocks to the right of center, brighter and smoother-looking in this image and more reflective in infrared observations by Spirit's miniature thermal emission spectrometer, are thought to be meteorites. On the right, "Husband Hill" on the horizon, the rippled "El Dorado" sand dune field near the base of that hill, and lighter-toned "Home Plate" below the dunes provide context for Spirit's travels from mid-2005 to early 2006.

Left of center, tracks and a trench dug by Spirit's right-front wheel, which could no longer rotate, exposed bright underlying material. This bright material is evidence of sulfur-rich salty minerals in the subsurface, providing clues about the watery past of this part of Gusev Crater.
A version of the McMurdo panorama without the rover deck, but including a supplemental figure with landscape features labeled, is at PIA01907.

Silly Questions Keep NASA Hopping

Do you remember the calls to NASA back in 2011 related to the non-existent Apollo 18 mission following the movie by the same name? NASA responded as follows:

There never was a DoD-dedicated Apollo mission and no astronauts named Anderson, Walker or Grey were ever selected for NASA's astronaut corps, as the movie depicts, or failed to return from the moon...And for the record, [the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter] LRO found no evidence of an Apollo 18 mission. 

Then last year NASA spent time explaining to the public that the world would not end on December 21, 2012, as part of a Mayan calendar prediction.   Luckily, we are still here to discuss the matter, which further supports NASA's comments that such predictions were silly. 

So now 2013 rolls around and new questions arise concerning the possible construction of a Death Star by the United States government.  Yes, some are petitioning for such a contraption.  Specifically, about 34,000 individuals signed a petition at the We the People site, which stated:

Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016.

By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.

The White House, with NASA's assistance, responded in part by stating:

• The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
• The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
• Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

Okay, I believe in this case at least that the authors of this position, and hopefully most of those signing it, were having a little bit of fun.  And the Administration was smart to use this opportunity to educate the public about the International Space Station, Mars rovers, Voyager spacecraft and more.  In noting the lack of a Death Star, the White House stated:

However, look carefully (here's how) and you'll notice something already floating in the sky -- that's no Moon, it's a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts -- American, Russian, and Canadian -- living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. 

So, should we expect more such questions?  Maybe, but getting them through the system may be more difficult now that the We the People website has upped the number of required signatures from 25,000 to 100,000.  Here is another petition idea that was still floating around as of today: Publicly admit and disclose all information about extra-terrestrial beings, our true history, and peaceful technologies.  This one may require a combined response from NASA and the Department of Defense, though the petition has only 1,833 signatures and a week to go under the 30-day deadline.  However, in response to a similar petition concerning the existence of extraterrestrial life, the White House responded:

The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race. In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye.

By the way, our solar system already has a Death Star, according to NASA.  The image below of Saturn's moon Mimas seems to be a pretty close replica and therefore earned the nick name in the accompanying press release. 

NASA for Sale - Everything Must Go

The story in the Orlando Sentinel starts this way:
 

Does anyone need a 15,000-foot landing strip? How about a place to assemble rocket ships? Or a parachute-packing plant? An array of aerospace tracking antennas? A launchpad?

Make us an offer, says NASA, which is quietly holding a going-out-of-business sale for the facilities used by its space-shuttle program.

If you thought the budget cuts in Washington would be avoided, you have yet to speak with NASA. The space agency needs every penny it can find and it has no time (or money) for nostalgia, such as holding onto the roots of the U.S. space program at the Kennedy Space Center

According to Frank DiBello, president of Space Florida, the marketplace will determine the fate of the Space Center:

"The facilities are not the end game; the market is," DiBello said. "If the infrastructure helps you reach market, then it has value. If it doesn't, then it's just a building, it's just a launchpad, and nobody wants it."

Not the most inspiring thought as we plan for more missions to the moon and Mars.

Kepler: The Planet Finder

I really should have put the Kepler Space Telescope on my list of Great Accomplishments in 2012 since the little spacecraft was very busy in 2012 identifying more possible Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Launched in March 2009, Kepler has already investigated the brightness of more than 150,000 stars, identified more than 2,400 planet candidates, and confirmed more than 100 planets.  Many of these planets are Earth-sized and many are within the "habitable zone."  As part of its next mission, Kepler will begin to focus on Earth-like candidates in 1-year orbits around stars similar to our sun. 

At a January 7, 2013, press conference during the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Long Beach, CA, we learned that we are far from alone:

A new analysis of Kepler data shows that about 17 percent of stars have an Earth-sized planet in an orbit closer than Mercury. Since the Milky Way has about 100 billion stars, there are at least 17 billion Earth-sized worlds out there.

This is a pretty amazing discovery from this little spacecraft.  We went from guessing about our lonely status only a few years back to confirming that we are only one of billions of planets in a similar scenario - talk about a "Kepler moment."  Carl Sagan's book Cosmos provides this quote from the first Kepler that sums it up:

We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens. The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment.

You can get more information on this latest announcement by viewing the accompanying paper on Kepler.

Scary Images: Mars Storm on Earth?

While I already mentioned some of the devastating dust storms of the past, I was surprised to see red dust storms happening here on Earth right now.  The recent fires in Australia have created some massive dust storms off the coast of Western Australia that have to be seen to be believed.  Below is an image of a "red wave" provided by The Newcastle Herald. The paper noted that "The Bureau of Meteorology said the incredible sight of a 'red wave' at sea was created  as wind and rain caused the storm to dump the sand and dust it had taken from the land." 

You can find more images here, such as the two below.

Special Delivery: Martian Meteorite

While we are spending significant resources putting rovers on the surface of Mars, we are finding that the very treasure we are seeking is literally in our own back yard.  A Martian meteorite that found in the Sahara desert back in 2011, called "black beauty" due to its coal-like coloring, is estimated to be about 2 billion years old and provides evidence of a wetter Mars.  The News International noted:

The abundance of water molecules in the meteorite -- about 6,000 parts per million, 10 times more than other known rocks -- suggests water activity persisted on the Martian surface when it was formed.

The baseball size meteorite is officially known as NWA 7034 because of where it was found - Northwest Africa.  The basalt rock is from a volcanic past, the same period being studied by the Opportunity and Spirit rovers. 

In terms of such space rocks, The Guardian story on the meteorite stated:

About 65 Martian rocks have been recovered on Earth, mostly in Antarctica or the Sahara. The oldest dates back 4.5bn years to a time when Mars was warmer and wetter. About half a dozen Martian meteorites are 1.3bn years old and the rest are 600m years or younger.

Here is the more scientific statement on the meteorite from the authors of a paper titled Unique Meteorite from Early Amazonian Mars: Water-Rich Basaltic Breccia Northwest Africa 7034:

We report data on the martian meteorite, Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, which shares some petrologic and geochemical characteristics with known martian (SNC, i.e., Shergottite, Nakhlite, and Chassignite) meteorites, but also possesses some unique characteristics that would exclude it from the current SNC grouping. NWA 7034 is a geochemically enriched crustal rock compositionally similar to basalts and average martian crust measured by recent rover and orbiter missions. It formed 2.089 ± 0.081 Ga, during the early Amazonian epoch in Mars' geologic history. NWA 7034 has an order of magnitude more indigenous water than most SNC meteorites, with up to 6000 ppm extraterrestrial H₂O released during stepped heating. It also has bulk oxygen isotope values of Δ¹⁷O = 0.58 ± 0.05‰ and a heat-released water oxygen isotope average value of Δ¹⁷O = 0.330 ± 0.011‰, suggesting the existence of multiple oxygen reservoirs on Mars. 

I think my summary was easier to digest.

Great Accomplishments in 2012

Before we get too far into 2012, I wanted to highlight some of the great space-related achievements from last year.  While there were many noteworthy events, a few come to mind as setting the stage for years to come.  Here are four that I have selected.

-- SpaceX:  The company's successful resupply mission to the International Space Station has created a new relationship between the U.S. space program and the private sector.  Today private companies are in a position to replace NASA for routine missions.  The question now is whether they someday supplant NASA.

-- Higgs Bosom:  The discovery of this mysterious particle explaining most of the universe will keep scientists busy for years.  Brian Cox, the English professor and particle physicist, stated in The Guardian:

The hubristic nature of daring to imagine it, of daring to say: "This is how I think the universe works", is truly brilliant. It's difficult for anyone to get their head around – it's only a century ago that Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus. We didn't even know that atoms existed 150 years ago. This will speed up our understanding of the universe rapidly.

-- Voyager Exiting the Solar System:  The two Voyager spacecraft are crossing the border between home and the unknown as they exited our solar system and began a new journey.  They are still part of the protecting heliosphere of our system, but not for much longer. What is amazing beyond this feat is that we can still communicate with both spacecraft 35 years after their launch. According to NASA, the signal from Voyager 1 takes approximately 17 hours to travel to Earth. The durability of these craft and ingenuity of our space program is pretty amazing. 

-- Curiosity on Mars:  The successful landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars was a solid accomplishment for NASA and mankind.  With its cluster of sophisticated instruments, we have a chance to learn much more about the Red Planet and its origins.  With the success of Curiosity, NASA is planning a second rover.  Nothing breeds optimism (and duplication) like success. 

Update:  Scientific American released its own list of Top 10 Science Stories of 2012.  We certainly agree on many topics.