Congressional Harassment of SpaceX

Did SpaceX make too many waves trying to save the U.S. taxpayers some space dollars?  It certainly looks that way as congressmen from multiple states tied to the status quo rocket program ask more and more questions of SpaceX, criticizing the firm for an "epidemic of anomalies" in a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.  It seems the Dragon and Falcon projects make these congressmen nervous.  They write:

In the interest of full disclosure and accountability to the American taxpayer, we request that NASA publicly release all anomalies and mishap information, un-redacted, so that Congress can gain a better understanding of what has occurred and ensure full transparency...Again, because the vehicles in question were funded by American taxpayer dollars, there should be no issue in making this report publicly available.

The only problem is that the Falcon did not involve U.S. taxpayer dollars, not that technicalities like this ever bothered the Congress.  And I cannot help wondering if SpaceX's current lawsuit challenging the Air Force's purchase of Atlas and Delta rockets from a competitor located in the states of these congressmen has anything to do with it.

I would like to think this Congress sees the space program as more than a jobs program, and understands that cheaper rockets and related missions means even more missions for other space priorities.  Then again, this is an election year, so space can wait, again.  Maybe funding space museums should be our new priority since we do not seem to interested in bringing the space program into a new era of competition.  I am sure congressional members with museums in their districts will agree.

Great Image: The Jellyfish Supernova

Okay, that is not the official name, but the supernova labeled SN 1006 (a pretty boring title) looks a lot like a giant floating jellyfish.  The type of strange anomaly the USS Enterprise might investigate, or at least a curious astronomer as far back as 1006 AD.  And speaking of curious astronomers, NASA is on top of this one and has this description:

A new star, likely the brightest supernova in recorded human history, lit up planet Earth's sky in the year 1006 AD. The expanding debris cloud from the stellar explosion, found in the southerly constellation of Lupus, still puts on a cosmic light show across the electromagnetic spectrum. In fact, this composite view includes X-ray data in blue from the Chandra Observatory, optical data in yellowish hues, and radio image data in red. Now known as the SN 1006 supernova remnant, the debris cloud appears to be about 60 light-years across and is understood to represent the remains of a white dwarf star. Part of a binary star system, the compact white dwarf gradually captured material from its companion star. The buildup in mass finally triggered a thermonuclear explosion that destroyed the dwarf star. Because the distance to the supernova remnant is about 7,000 light-years, that explosion actually happened 7,000 years before the light reached Earth in 1006. Shockwaves in the remnant accelerate particles to extreme energies and are thought to be a source of the mysterious cosmic rays.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Zolt Levay (STScI)

Varying Religious Views on Space Travel

"I do believe there can’t be other intelligent beings in outer space because of the meaning of the gospel,”states Ken Ham, president and founder of the creationist organization Answers in Genesis.  According to the news coverage of Mr. Ham's remarks, any space aliens are going to hell.

I will admit it is not the most enlightened view, but the religious community has a variety of opinions on this matter.  For example, Pope Francis is a little more open-minded about the issue, and even seeks to add aliens to his flock.  A Vatican Radio story noted the Pope would baptize anyone coming to the church, with the Pope noting the Church needs to move "beyond the limits, go ever forward." 

In other news, the General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments (GAIAE) in the United Arab Emirates, issued a fatwa warning Muslims against a Mars mission.  The fatwa was primarily aimed at the Mars One mission, where individuals are not expected to return from Mars.  In this sense, GAIAE is equating the mission to suicide.  Luckily, Muslims in general have been more favorable to space exploration, going as far as creating a guidebook for Muslims working on the International Space Station. 

Interesting Facts About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

For the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing, Popular Science magazine published an article "Ten Things You Didn't Know About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing."  The stories are taken from Craig Nelson's book Rocket Men.  They bear mentioning again five years later.  You can read all 10 by going to the link (or read the book for even more facts), but here are three of my favorites:

-- The "one small step for man" wasn't actually that small. Armstrong set the ship down so gently that its shock absorbers didn't compress. He had to hop 3.5 feet from the Eagle's ladder to the surface.

-- When Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface, he had to make sure not to lock the Eagle's door because there was no outer handle.

-- The toughest moonwalk task? Planting the flag. NASA's studies suggested that the lunar soil was soft, but Armstrong and Aldrin found the surface to be a thin wisp of dust over hard rock. They managed to drive the flagpole a few inches into the ground and film it for broadcast, and then took care not to accidentally knock it over.

I imagine the Moon missions would have ended that day if the astronauts had locked themselves outside of the capsule.  Many, many other little things had to go right for that mission and those that followed.  The Apollo missions represent the true triumph of the human spirit, and ingenuity as well.

A Talk with Freeman Dyson

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) posted an insightful interview with well-known physicist Freeman Dyson covering various topics, including finding alien life and humans in space. 

In terms of alien life, he says we are probably focusing on the wrong targets if we look primarily at planets and ignore the more voluminous parts of space that may harbor life, from asteroids to comments.  As far as humans in space, he does not see a human space colony for at least 100 years. 

Check out this link for the full interview.

45th Moon Landing Anniversary

Forty-five years ago this very day the Apollo 11 crew landed on the Moon and astronaut Neil Armstrong stated "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin visited the Moon's surface for about 22 hours before returning the the command module, where astronaut Michael Collins was waiting for them. The picture above is pretty dramatic, yet the world first saw the mission on television via the poor-quality video shown below.  NASA has restored the video showing about two and a half hours "extravehicular activity."  This was a amazing day in history, and hopefully we will have many more space moments in the future.  We have not returned to the Moon since 1972.  It may be time to revisit the Moon as part of plans to move further out into the solar system.

Big Holes in the Earth, Including Russia

With all the talk about the new 100 foot diameter hole appearing in the Yamal Peninsula in northern Siberia, one would assume that (1) climate change is a new concept and (2) holes in the Earth are unusual.  In terms of the first point, I am not sure why we are surprised that a northern Russian region with permafrost may experience some settling and melting as areas on the Earth continue to warm. 

And as far as holes go, I am much more concerned about sink holes appearing in populated areas, such as the hole below in Guatemala City formed in June 2010 after Tropical Storm Agatha.

And how about man-made holes?  The hole below is a more amazing image as it sits at the edge of a city.  This hole is found in the Siberian town of Mirny, though this one is a man-made diamond mine about 3,900 feet in diameter.  The air space is closed above the Mirny mine since it is known to modify the air temperature in such a way that is can suck in aircraft (as it did with a helicopter years back).  Now that is scary.

Cygnus a Success

The International Space Station (ISS) crew welcomed the Cygnus spacecraft yesterday as it resupplies the station with a variety of items, including spacewalking equipment, Earth-imaging nanosatellites, and hardware to  allow free-flying robots to conduct 3-D mapping inside the station. Nanosatelites?  Free-floating robots?  The ISS appears to be an experiment base for the next phase of the space program, which sounds like a very useful role.

This private space launch by Orbital Sciences represents the second successful mission by this company in addition to the multiple successful missions by SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.  All of this fares well for a nation that wants to become more independent of the Russians and fill in a gap left by the previous Space Shuttle missions.

A Cloud City on Venus?

While most eyes are on Mars and the Moon for future settlements, some people are talking about Venus as another good location for human colonization.  A recent Citylab story noted the following:

The second planet from the Sun might seem like a nasty place to build a home, with a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead and an atmosphere so dense it would feel like being submerged beneath 3000 feet of water. But the air on Venus thins out as you rise above the surface and cools considerably; about 30 miles up you hit the sweet spot for human habitation: Mediterranean temperatures and sea-level barometric pressure. If ever there were a place to build a floating city, this would be it.

Some of this conversation stems from a 2003 NASA paper by Geoffrey A. Landis titled "Colonization of Venus,"  where he stated:

 At cloud-top level, Venus is the paradise planet...at an altitude slightly above fifty km above the surface, the atmospheric pressure is equal to the Earth surface atmospheric pressure of I Bar. At this level, the environment of Venus is benign.

 - above the clouds, there is abundant solar energy 

- temperature is in the habitable "liquid water" range of 0-5OC 

- atmosphere contains the primary volatiles required for life (Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Sulfur)

- Gravity is 90% of the gravity at the surface of Earth. 

While the atmosphere contains droplets of sulfuric acid, technology to avoid acid corrosion are well known, and have been used by chemists for centuries.

In short, the atmosphere of Venus is most earthlike environment in the solar system. Although humans cannot breathe the atmosphere, pressure vessels are not required to maintain one atmosphere of habitat pressure,and pressure suits are not required for humans outside the habitat.

This is certainly an interesting idea, as is the idea of living on asteroids and other areas.  Of course, we are still trying to see if we can support a return trip to the Moon, so funding may be limited for extraterrestrial city-building for some time.  However, big dreams never hurt and may stimulate more creative and productive thinking about our future in the solar system. 

TV: Houston, We Have A Growing Problem

If you are looking for something different to take your mind off of NASA's funding woes, you might enjoy an evening of television entertainment from CBS.  Tonight you can watch the premiere of the new series produced by Steven Spielberg titled Extant, where Halle Berry plays a returning astronaut from a solo space station mission.  But she has a secret, and its not the fact that she has a robotic son.  That's the normal part.  The problem is that she is also mysteriously pregnant.  Here is a trailer if you want to see more.  It is not Gravity, but we have to take what we can get in this summer season.