Upcoming International Space Station Conference

The 3rd International Space Station Research and Development Conference takes place in Chicago next month.  From June 17-19, 2014, participants will meet at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago to discuss a variety of topics such as:

- Life Sciences in Microgravity;
- ISS: Pathways to Mars; and
- Entrepreneurship on the ISS- Case Studies.
 

There is still time to register.  

It is good to see the science and planning continues while NASA and its Russian counterparts still argue about the future of the space station.  Ultimately we want to ensure we continue to obtain solid achievements from our $100 billion investment, whether we do it in unison with or without the Russians.

NASA Cannot Do it Alone

Maybe we need Hollywood to help us to dream.  Whether it is the hopeful future portrayed by Star Trek, the encounter with a alien race in the movie Contact, or the horrible space accident in the most recent move Gravity, it always helps to have the imaginative powers of Hollywood on your side.  The same is true with the upcoming Christopher Nolan move Interstellar.  If this trailer does not get you excited about what may be out there and what we may yet do as a space-faring people, I am not sure what will. 

Great Image: Moon and Saturn Occultation

 

The composite image above shows the Moon Saturn Occultation from May 14th.  Created by amateur astronomer Paul Steward (see more of his work here), it was highlighted by Phil Plait in his Slate magazine column:

While these two tracks cross each other, it’s relatively rare for the Moon and Saturn to be at the same place at the same time. But it does happen, and it’s called an occultation. The Moon slowly covers Saturn, blocking it for some time, then once again moves out of the way to reveal the ringed planet. In this case, the timing of the May 14 occultation made it visible only for observers in the southern hemisphere, specifically Australia and New Zealand.

Image Credit:  Paul Steward, New Zeland

...and the End of the Universe

PBS has created a short video to discuss the life expectancy of the Earth and the universe itself.  The 5 and a half minute video is called The Far Future of the Universe and is part of PBS digitalstudios' It's okay to Be Smart series.  In the video, host Joe Hanson provides a number of useful mileposts for the future, including:

• In 100,000 years not a single constellation we know today will be recognizable;
• In 600 million years photosynthesis will end for 99 percent of the Earth's plants;
• In 1 billion years the sun will boil away the Earth's oceans and only bacteria will remain (see image above - the Earth looks like Mars);
• In 4 billion years the Milky Way galaxy will collide with the Adromena galaxy;
• In 7.9 billion years our Sun will expand to swallow Mercury and Venus; and
• In 110 trillion years all stars throughout the universe will flicker out.

But wait, there's more.  The Earth still may still exist after all of that.  Go to the video to learn more.  It is a fascinating tale.   

The Beginning of the Universe...

If you want to see how the universe expanded into what we see today, or at least see a computer simulation of this process, you should visit the Illustris project.  Here is how the site defiines the project:

The Illustris project is a set of large-scale cosmological simulations, including the most ambitious simulation of galaxy formation yet performed. The calculation tracks the expansion of the universe, the gravitational pull of matter onto itself, the motion or "hydrodynamics" of cosmic gas, as well as the formation of stars and black holes. These physical components and processes are all modeled starting from initial conditions resembling the very young universe 300,000 years after the Big Bang and until the present day, spanning over 13.8 billion years of cosmic evolution. The simulated volume contains tens of thousands of galaxies captured in high-detail, covering a wide range of masses, rates of star formation, shapes, sizes, and with properties that agree well with the galaxy population observed in the real universe. We are currently working to make detailed comparisons of our simulation box to these observed galaxy populations, and some exciting promising results have already been published.

In an MIT press release, we learn about how this simulation is the first successful attempt to account for our current universe:

“For the past two decades, cosmologists have been unable to produce galaxies like the Milky Way in their simulations,” says David Spergel, a professor of astronomy at Princeton University. “We have long debated whether this failure was due to complex dark matter physics, unknown stellar feedbacks, or the difficulties in simulating the highly non-linear multi-scale process of galaxy formation … With their simulations, [the researchers] finally produce galaxies that look like our own.”

And this is quite a project in terms of the scientists, computer resources, and sources of funding.  The MIT press release noted that the paper, “Properties of galaxies reproduced by a hydrodynamic simulation,” was co-written by 10 authors at several institutions: the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA); the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies in Germany; the University of Heidelberg; the Kavli Institute for Cosmology and the Institute of Astronomy, both in Cambridge, England; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.

The computing centers used to run the simulation were the Harvard Odyssey and CfA/ITC cluster; the Ranger and Stampede supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center; the CURIE supercomputer at CEA/France; and the SuperMUC computer at the Leibniz Computing Centre in Germany.

Support for the research came from the German Research Foundation, the European Research Council, NASA, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.

Image Credit:  Illustris project

ISS Crew and Dragon Return to Earth

Last week we saw the return of three of the crew from the International Space Station (ISS) after 188 days in space. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft successfully landed in Kazakhstan with the Expedition 39 crew, including Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA. Mastracchio was busy during this last mission with three spacewalks to repair both a cooling pump and a computer backup.  NASA stated the next crew is not expected to launch to the ISS until May 28th.  

SpaceX's Dragon was also released earlier today for its return to the Pacific Ocean (see picture above).  The Dragon first arrived on April 20th with about 2.5 tons of crew supplies, cargo, and science gear.  This is SpaceX's third successful delivery to the ISS. Hopefully, sooner rather than later we can get crew members onto the ISS with the help of SpaceX and other U.S. parties. 

Image Credit:  NASA

Why Are We Using Russian Rockets?

I can understand that we are dependent on the Russians for a lift to the International Space Station (ISS) while we rebuild our spacefaring capacity after the loss of the shuttle program.  However, we are also dependent on Russian rockets in other parts of our space program, such as the Atlas rockets.  I was reading about how a federal judge recently lifted a temporary injunction against the United Launch Alliance's (ULA) procurement of Russian rocket engines.  Per the Red Orbit article, SpaceX had complained that ULA was violating the U.S. sanctions against Russia.  While the U.S Government determined this was not the case, I still wonder whether this is wise regardless of the sanctions.  The U.S. should be building more of it space program at home, so I agree with SpaceX even if its argument is a little self-serving. 

And what is ULA, which attacked SpaceX's concerns, stating "SpaceX’s actions are self-serving, irresponsible and have threatened the U.S.’s involvement with the International Space Station and other companies and projects working with Russian State entities"?  Per its webpage, ULA is a joint venture between Lockheed-Martin and Boeing running the Atlas V, Delta II, and Delta IV rocket programs.  Its customers include NASA, the Pentagon, and our spy agencies.  And is it a monopoly, as claimed by SpaceX?  Yes, albeit a regulated monopoly as is much of the space and defense industry where a few firms control most of the contracts.  This has been an a sad reality for a long time, which may explain some of the decline in America's space ventures (that, and a short-sighted Congress).  Luckily, we have many new space adventurists with new ideas, with SpaceX being one of many up-and-coming companies willing to offer new approaches to the help America to the stars, or at least low-Earth orbit. 

But the real issue on the table is whether this American monopoly should use Russian rockets.  And I would rather we develop what we need at home but keep some other options on the shelf, which could include a few Russian products.  While some may argue foreign parts are cheaper, we may need to dig deeper into Elon Musk's arguments in his testimony before the Senate in March, when he stated:

 In FY13 the Air Force paid on average in excess of $380 million for each national security launch, while subsidizing ULA’s fixed costs to the tune of more than $1 billion per year, even if the company never launches a rocket.  By contrast, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 price for an EELV mission is well under $100M—at least a $280 million per launch difference, which in many cases could pay for the satellite and launch combined – and SpaceX seeks no subsidies to maintain our business. To put this into perspective, had SpaceX been awarded the missions ULA received under its recent non-competed 36 core block buy, we would have saved the taxpayer $11.6 billion.

And leaving costs and the embargo to one side, we really need to rethink our space program procurement.  We need a little more common sense in the program.  Elon Musk made this as his last point in the March testimony:

Our Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles are truly made in America.  We design and manufacture the rockets in California and Texas, with key suppliers throughout the country, and launch them from either Vandenberg AFB or Cape Canaveral AFS.  This stands in stark contrast to the United Launch Alliance’s most frequently flown vehicle, the Atlas V, which uses a Russian main engine and where approximately half the airframe is manufactured overseas.  In light of Russia’s de facto annexation of the Ukraine’s Crimea region and the formal severing of military ties, the Atlas V cannot possibly be described as providing “assured access to space” for our nation when supply of the main engine depends on President Putin’s permission. 

The part about "President Putin's permission" does not sound that far fetched after the comments a few weeks back by Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s space program, who said "I suggest the US deliver its astronauts to the ISS with a trampoline."

Time to wake up, America.  If you build your house on a pile of sand, do not be surprised when it is all washed away. 

Bing Brings you Saturn

Today's homepage image on Bing was an image of Saturn taken by the Cassini probe.  I cannot remember the last time Bing highlighted an astronomy issue like this (though I am sure it happens and I just missed it).  Here is the story that goes along with today's image:

The sixth planet in our solar system, Saturn, with its distinctive rings, is probably the most recognizable planet after Earth—at least to us Earthlings. A NASA spacecraft called Cassini-Huygens took this photo. The craft’s sole mission was to fly directly to Saturn and then explore the planet as well as its rings and moons.

A recent discovery on one of Saturn’s smaller moons, Enceladus, has scientists clamoring for more information. Data collected by Cassini-Huygens has revealed a body of water, probably about the size of Lake Superior, below the moon’s surface. The discovery of water has suddenly made Enceladus a prime target in the search for life beyond Earth, since water is the basis for all life as we know it.

That discovery may prompt scientists to launch an additional satellite to Saturn, but it would be years before data would reach Earth. Saturn’s far away. Really far away. About 745 million miles away when Earth and Saturn are at their closest. Okay, that doesn’t mean anything to us, either, but consider, for example, that Cassini-Huygens launched in 1997, but didn’t enter Saturn’s orbit until 2004. We could be waiting awhile before learning if we have neighbors in the solar system.

Image Credit per Bing: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI