Earth-Based Photos From 2014

The Huffington Post recently posted some photos under the title 24 Of The Most Awe-Inspiring Astrophotos Of 2014.  I reposted some of my favorites above and below.

NASA's 2015 Budget: What Does the Future Look Like?

Luckily, we did not experience a government shut down this year, which may be a sign that Congress understands the need for a functioning government regardless of its political differences.  Three cheers for common sense, which has never been very common in Washington, DC.  But now that we are left with a 1,600 page signed "Cromnibus" bill, what is in this document and how did NASA fare? It seems NASA will get $18.01 billion this year for its operations and programs, an increase from what the Agency proposed earlier this year in the White House's budget request.

And what programs will be funded?  Spaceflight Insider put together a list of winners:

•  Orion will be funded at $1.194 billion, roughly $150 million more than NASA requested.
• The Space Launch System, the rocket upon which Orion will be launched in coming years, received an additional $320 million over the White House’s budget submission for a total of $1.7 billion for the rocket and an additional $350 million for ground systems.
• Planetary sciences received a startling bump of $100 million specifically to begin developing a probe to land on Jupiter’s Europa moon. Europa’s hypothesized vast subterranean oceans have long caught the eye of astro-biologists as a favorable location for the development of life.
• An infrared telescope housed inside a Boeing 747, named SOFIA, was allocated a substantial $70 million to rescue it from a proposed grounding.
• The National Space Grant College and Fellowship Project and the Experimental Project to Stimulate Competitive Research were both fully funded to a combined total of $58 million.

It would seem the infrastructure for manned missions is well funded in the year to come, an encouraging sign.  However, it also appears Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz could chair the Senate Commerce, Science and Technology subcommittee overseeing NASA's programs.  As a result, this may be the start of a rocky year at NASA.

You can find all of the FY 2015 NASA budget documents here. 

Image Credit: Artist concept of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) 70-metric-ton configuration launching to space. (NASA/MSFC)

More Crowdfunding, But This Time to Mars

It appears crowd funding may be a whole new avenue for space missions.  In an earlier post I mentioned the Lunar Mission One campaign on Kickstarter (which, by the way, reached its funding goal), whereas I recently read of a new crowd funding project for a Mars mission for about the same price tag.  However, this one may not have the same luck. 

Thoth Technology has proposed what it is calling its "Northern Light mission," which has the goal of placing a mini-rover (called Beaver, shown above) on the surface of Mars in 2018.  This little rover will roam the surface and grind away at rocks to learn more about the early atmosphere of Mars.  And unlike other rover missions, the rover will think for itself during much of the 90-day mission.  

Here is how Thoth Technology describes its planned mission:

Over the past few years, we've developed and tested the engineering models for the Northern Light mission. We have created and flown in space infrared instruments to explore the surface, subsurface and atmosphere of Mars.  And we have refurbished Canada's largest radio antenna at the Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) to serve as the Northern Light ground station. The 46 meter radio telescope at ARO is one of the largest fully steerable dishes in the world, In 2008, Thoth acquired and refurbished ARO to provide the crucial link to Northern Light on Mars.

The purpose of this campaign is to raise support for the development of the Northern Light flight hardware and operations. We want to be ready to piggyback a ride to Mars in April 2018. We're also going to make the Northern Light systems available commercially for others to use at the same low cost.

So what does the company need to make this mission a reality?  About CAD$1.1million by January 3rd, which is a very tall order given less than CAD$10,000 has been pledged to date on the Indiegogo site.  Hence, while it seems like a great idea to involve the public in such space missions, Thoth Technology may want to extend the pledge period or find an additional source of funding. 

Noteworthy Quote: Send the International Space Station to a Watery Grave?

"NASA has an important role to play in advancing our nation’s interests in space, but it needs reform. The place to start is by ending U.S. support for the international space station, which at $100 billion holds the Guinness World Record for “most expensive man-made object.” Instead, Congress should direct the agency’s funding toward something more productive."

- Statement by retiring Senator Tom Coburn in a Wall Street Journal editorial titled "NASA is Lost in Space."  In the same piece, the Senator has a other ideas for NASA, noting "What if NASA were directed to focus solely on getting Americans back to the moon, or developing a plan for humans to reach Mars? The resulting innovation would be tremendous for the nation, the aerospace industry and educational opportunities."

Image Credit:  NASA

Eta Carinae: Star of Wonder

With Christmas here and the accompanying story of the Star of Bethlehem, it may be worth thinking about another star that could speak to the future, though it may not be something to celebrate.  Eta Carinae, a massive star 7,500 light years away that only 170 years ago was the second brightest star in the sky, could be a real problem in our future.  As Scientific American magazine noted recently,  

...a direct hit by an extremely bright [gamma-ray burst] generated by Eta Carinae could devastate our planet in a manner similar to but far worse than full-scale thermonuclear war. For several searing seconds, the planetary hemisphere facing the faraway star would be bathed in intense high-frequency radiation. The skies would fill with light much brighter than the sun, bright enough to ignite enormous continent-scouring wildfires on half the globe. The energetic burst of light would kick off atmospheric showers of highly penetrating radioactive subatomic particles called muons, which would stream down to poison life on the surface as well as that some distance underground and underwater. Even the far side of the planet facing away from Eta Carinae would not be spared, as the GRB’s intense energy would destroy the entire ozone layer while also sending superstorms rippling around the world. In the aftermath blackened, soot-filled skies would unleash torrents of acid rain, clearing only to soak the surface with damaging ultraviolet radiation. In a literal flash the Earth would become a planetary charnel house, and the shattered biosphere would require millions of years to piece itself back together.

The magazine is citing the worst case scenario outlined in a scientific paper back in 2001.  Of course, nothing at all could happen as well, though some have speculated that past gamma-ray bursts may have accounted for mass extinctions in the Earth's past, such as 450 million years ago.  The article has a good discussion on the various theories surrounding the demise of Eta Carinae.  Of course, the star may have already gone supernova and we have yet to see the results (and potentially feel the results). 

We live in a fascinating and dangerous universe.  Keep that in mind as you enjoy your Christmas meal. 

Kepler is Back!

It's great to see NASA has put the Kepler spacecraft back in action after a hiatus and some retooling.  Under its  second phase, called the K2 mission, Kepler has already detected a new exoplanet.  According to NASA, the planet was discovered during a test run of the K2 mission earlier this year: 

The newly confirmed planet, HIP 116454b, is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth and follows a close, nine-day orbit around a star that is smaller and cooler than our sun, making the planet too hot for life as we know it. HIP 116454b and its star are 180 light-years from Earth, toward the constellation Pisces.

While this may not be a livable planet for our purposes, it shows Kepler is back at work and helping us to expand our knowledge of other planetary systems.  With the costs of new spacecraft and related missions running ever higher, it is nice to know that recycling existing spacecraft can help us to do great science in the meantime.  

Project Orion Re-Imagined

For three nights this week you can watch SyFy's mini-series Ascension that takes a look at what might have been if Freeman Dyson's earlier Project Orion ever took off. The program started last night (December 15th) and runs until tomorrow night (you can also watch the episodes at the SyFy website).  If it is successful, you may be seeing the start of a new series.  Here is the basic premise:

In 1963, the U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world. Nearly 50 years into the journey, as they approach the point of no return, a mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship’s population to question the true nature of their mission.

Yes, the 1950s idea of powering a spacecraft with nuclear bombs was around many years ago and creates a good premise for this science fiction series.  Some estimated that Project Orion could have taken us to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, in as little as 44 years (the SyFy program appears to be using the older calculations estimating a 133 year voyage).  Pretty impressive. We have already gone about that long since the last moon mission in 1972.  And now we need decades just to figure out what to do besides low Earth orbit. 

Great Image: New Stars Form Thousands of Light Years Away

The image above shows almost magical stars about 3,000 light years away in a less than magically named NGC 7822, brought to you by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer.  Here is NASA's description: 

Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, this glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and complex dust sculptures dominate this detailed skyscape taken in infrared light by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite. The atomic emission by the cluster's gas is powered by energetic radiation from the hot stars, whose powerful winds and light also sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse, but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cut off from their reservoir of star stuff. This field spans around 40 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822.

Image Credit: WISE, IRSA, NASA; Processing & Copyright : Francesco Antonucci

Preparing to Live on Mars

With all the talk about rocketing to Mars, we need to ensure we conduct studies as well regarding how we will live on Mars.  And this is where the Mars Society's MarsDesert Research Station comes into the picture.  The stations are "laboratories for learning how to live and work on another planet."  Various prototypes house four to six crew members and give scientists a chance to see how humans will fare in an harsh, isolated environment.  Crew members include geologists, astrobiologists, engineers, mechanics, physicians and others, who may live in the habitat for weeks or even months. 

Here is how Crew 140, which served a mission from April to August this year, wrote about some of the lessons learned in the final missionreport: 

The greenhouse on Mars will be the main power source of life of the first inhabitants on the Martian surface. Due to the strong ultra violet rays on the Red Planet, Luciana Tenorio (Crew Journalist & EVA Engineer), considered a fabric/filter 100% UV, besides the material of the fabric is a nonwoven polyester which covers the aluminum frames (icosahedrons). This small shelter from the harmful UV rays was born from the need for shade during the days of solar intensity on Mars, in the Utah desert, where the greenhouse plants die burned by the strong intensity through the skin of polycarbonate (actual covering of the greenhouse). The project of Luciana was testing this second skin over the fourth rib of the greenhouse structure to see how the plant growing developments takes place during our two weeks of the research. During the first week the temperature inside the greenhouse lowered a little bit, but in the second week the temperature grew much more outside. As the project spanned only a very small portion of the greenhouse, we feel that it would have been very successful in achieving its goals if it had been placed over the entire surface of the Greenhab.

I am glad eager volunteers are adding to our knowledge about how to live on Mars.  You can volunteer to join a mission or simply donate to these missions. 

It's Nice to Hear from Carl Sagan Again

Erik Wernquist has created a fascinating short film Wanderers combining the voice of Carl Sagan, images from NASA, and his own imagination to share his dream about a solar system explored and occupied by our descendents.  Here is his story:

The film is a vision of our humanity's future expansion into the Solar System. Although admittedly speculative, the visuals in the film are all based on scientific ideas and concepts of what our future in space might look like, if it ever happens. All the locations depicted in the film are digital recreations of actual places in the Solar System, built from real photos and map data where available. For those interested in learning more of the places featured in the film, I recommend turning to the gallery section.

The title WANDERERS refer partly to the original meaning of the word "planet". In ancient greek, the planets visible in the sky were collectively called "aster planetes" which means "wandering star". It also refers to ourselves; for hundreds of thousands of years - the wanderers of the Earth. In time I hope we take that leap off the ground and permanently become wanderers of the sky. Wanderers among the wanderers.

There is no apparent story - other than what you might imagine for yourself - and the idea is primarily to show a glimpse of the fantastic and beautiful nature that surrounds us on our neighboring worlds - and above all, how it might appear to us if we were there.

As some may notice I have borrowed ideas and concepts from science fiction authors such as Kim Stanley Robinson and Arthur C. Clarke, just to name a few. And visually, I of course owe many tips of my hat to painter Chesley Bonestell - the legendary master of space art.

More directly, I have also borrowed the voice of astronomer and author Carl Sagan to narrate the film. The audio I used are excerpts from his own reading of his book 'Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space' (1994) - needless to say, a huge inspiration for this film.

I believe Carl Sagan would be very pleased with this film and the idea that we continue to dream and develop steps to explore our solar system and beyond. 

Image Credit:  Erik Wernquist's image "Cape Verde" on Mars.

Orion: Mission Accomplished

The Orion mission has been a complete success.  NASA's press release said it all:

It was just the kind of mission NASA hoped for, all the while knowing that the first mission by any spacecraft often turns up significant glitches. That was not the case this time though. The cone-shaped Orion held up to all the pressures of launch and ascent into orbit, then made two passes through the high radiation of the Van Allen belts before facing the searing plunge into Earth's atmosphere and splashing down under three billowing parachutes.

Watching the spacecraft descend through the sky over the Pacific Ocean in real time via an unmanned aircraft system dispatched from NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, Orion managers and NASA's senior leadership seemed to hold their breath until the first drogue parachutes deployed from the nose of Orion. Gasps turned quickly to applause and hugs moments later when the huge main parachutes opened to slow the capsule to a gentle 20 mph splashdown 270 miles west of Baja California.

 Here is a NASA video showing the countdown, launch, and ascent. 

Good News for U.S. Rocket Makers

With the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, it was only a matter of time before Congress finally understood that our continued reliance of Russia for many parts of our space program, including Rocket parts, was untenable.  According to Space News, the Hill is close to an agreement on banning Russian rocket engines:

U.S. lawmakers have finalized legislation that will prohibit the future use of a Russian-built rocket engine that is routinely used to launch U.S. national security satellites. 

The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2015, recently finalized by House and Senate negotiators, also requires the Defense Department to replace the Russian engine, dubbed RD-180, with an American-made propulsion system by 2019.

This could be great news for SpaceX, or it could mean another large government-funded project to build a new rocket engine.  I prefer we use the private-sector talents we have at the moment to keep things moving. The Pentagon appears to agree.  In a letter to Congress, the Department of Defense stated:

The Department firmly believes that it should not allocate resources to develop yet another engine that would fail to be integrated into a viable launcher, especially when it can meet the assured access to space requirement with existing privately funded vehicle families.

I am glad the Congress is moving in this direction. It may be disruptive for a period, but the Department of Defense still has a few years worth of Russian rockets in storage to provide it with some breathing space.  

All Eyes Are Watching Orion

Is Orion the start of great things? The controversial and expensive spacecraft is NASA's best hope at the moment to get to Mars and beyond (and maybe an asteroid before that).  And the test tomorrow may bring us closer to those goals.

In its press release, http://www.nasa.gov/content/orion-poised-for-first-trip-to-space, NASA stated:

From the launch on a gigantic United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy on Dec. 4 from Florida to the expected splashdown under billowing parachutes, the mission will test many of the riskiest events Orion will see when it sends astronauts to an asteroid and onward toward Mars in the future.

"Orion is the exploration spacecraft for NASA, and paired with the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket it will allow us to explore the solar system," said Mark Geyer, program manager of Orion, which is based at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

After the recent U.S. spacecraft mishaps, we need a success story. And while we might have been able to develop cheaper systems steered towards other destinations, this is what we have at the moment. All the government eggs for a manned space mission are now in one basket. 

Godspeed, Orion.

Update:  Weather issues have delayed the launch by a day.   If the weather cooperates, the launch should occur Friday morning at 7:05am ET.

Second Update:  The Friday launch was successful (as shown below). At the time of this posting the mission was still ongoing.

Interstellar and the Critics

Now that a few weeks have passed, it is easier to see what Christopher Nolan created in his film Interstellar.  Beware readers that I may release too many details here, so Spoiler Alert!

I watched Interstellar when it first came out and was somewhat underwhelmed. The underlying premise was a little hard to swallow - mankind had advanced to the point of secretly developing massive spacecraft to take humans to Saturn and beyond, but had completely failed to resolve a climate adjustment and crop development here on Earth. And more to the point, a secret government-funded space program existed side-by-side with a government denying the Apollo missions. This was more unbelievable than wormholes to another galaxy (and why another galaxy when we have hundreds of billions of potential planets in our galaxy? - even the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine wormhole only went to another quadrant of our galaxy). And why choose planets around a black hole?  Billions of potential planets and this is what they have to chose from?   It may make for great drama, but it is a dumb plot. 

Others agree.  David Corn in his Mother Jone's article "What's Wrong with the Science of Interstellar?" noted that he discussed the film with astrobiologist David Grinspoon, who said:

For instance, they describe this ecological disaster on Earth. I like the fact they are talking about that and raising consciousness. It's clear that it's climate change and we screwed up the Earth…That's a good theme. But the specific things they say about it—they say there's this blight [attacking all crops] that's building up the nitrogen [in the atmosphere] and that's going to draw down the oxygen. Anybody who knows about planetary atmosphere is going to sit there at that point and go, "That's a bunch of BS." It's not that that ruins the movie for most people. But why couldn't they have run that by somebody? It wouldn't change the plot…There are aspects to the planets they get to which also don't make sense from basic physics. There's a planet with ice clouds…That's BS…Something like that would fall. Because of gravity! Is that so crucial to the plot? There's a planet around a black hole…Some physicists might quibble whether that's even possible or stable. But one obvious problem is, when they landed there it was daylight. But there's no sun and a black hole doesn't put out light. So where is the light coming from?

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted incessantly about the film, but most were not very helpful and cited things such as the number of female scientists, as if he had not seen Jodie Foster in the earlier film Contact.  He made up for it later with this video on the film.

Bill Nye the Science Guy had his own view of things in this video, calling it "charming science fiction."  He also challenges us to go to Antarctica before worrying about living on Mars or other planets.  Maybe it makes more sense to fix they Earth than run away to another planet hoping it is better (or livable). 

My favorite review of the film was Ryan Gilbey's piece in The New Statesman where he called the robots "sentient filing cabinets" and noted:

It's hard to care about the future of civilization when we meet so few members of it worth saving...

Movie critic David Denby in The New Yorker probably had the best wrap-up:

...over all, “Interstellar,” a spectacular, redundant puzzle, a hundred and sixty-seven minutes long, makes you feel virtuous for having sat through it rather than happy that you saw it. 

So many times we hear the book was better than the movie. I hope this is the case with Kip Thorne's version of events. 

Great Image: Titan and Saturn's Rings

With other things happening around the solar system, we can forget about the ongoing mission of NASA's Cassini spacecraft as it orbits Saturn.  After 10 years, we are still getting valuable information and images from this distant aircraft.  Here is NASA's story for this image:

When orbiting Saturn, be sure to watch for breathtaking superpositions of moons and rings. One such picturesque vista was visible recently to the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn. In 2006 April, Cassini captured Saturn's A and F rings stretching in front of cloud-shrouded Titan. Near the rings and appearing just above Titan was Epimetheus, a moon which orbits just outside the F ring. The dark space in the A ring is called the Encke Gap, although several thin knotted ringlets and even the small moon Pan orbit there.

Cassini celebrated its 10th year in orbit back in June, when NASA highlighted some of its discoveries over this period:

-- The Huygens probe makes first landing on a moon in the outer solar system (Titan)
-- Discovery of active, icy plumes on the Saturnian moon Enceladus
-- Saturn's rings revealed as active and dynamic -- a laboratory for how planets form
-- Titan revealed as an Earth-like world with rain, rivers, lakes and seas
-- Studies of Saturn's great northern storm of 2010-2011
-- Studies reveal radio-wave patterns are not tied to Saturn's interior rotation, as previously thought
-- Vertical structures in the rings imaged for the first time
-- Study of prebiotic chemistry on Titan
-- Mystery of the dual, bright-dark surface of the moon Iapetus solved
-- First complete view of the north polar hexagon and discovery of giant hurricanes at both of Saturn's poles

Visit the Cassini mission site for more on the spacecraft as well as additional images.

Top Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA

You Can Contribute to a Lunar Mission

Lunar Mission Ltd. is looking for investors via Kickstarter for a lunar mission.  Once funded, in about 10 years time Lunar Mission One will conduct science on the surface of the Moon to learn more about this orbiting body:

The spacecraft platform will drill down to a depth of at least 20 metres – about 10 times further than drilled before – though potentially as deep as 100 metres. This will enable us to access and analyse lunar rock that is 4.5 billion years old. By studying this ancient lunar rock we hope to shine some light on the following: What are the origins of the Moon? How did the late heavy bombardment of the inner solar system shape the history of our planet? Might the Moon be suitable for a permanently manned base for space exploration?

In addition to the science, contributors can leave something behind on the moon as well.  Contributions at certain levels will provide the donor with a "Digital Memory Box" where they can upload message, photos, videos, and more.  This information will be buried into the Moon's surface.

The current Kickstarter campaign is designed to raise about £600,000 (or about $900,000) to support continued planning for the mission.  Later on the sales of memory boxes to the general public should generate additional revenues to fund the rest of the mission.

Lunar Mission One, like Mars One, is another way to stimulate public interest in space projects and give them a sense of investment.  It reminds me of The Planetary Society's efforts to put members names on as many Mars missions and other missions as possible, which have included:  OSIRIS-REx, MAVEN, Hayabusa 2, IKAROS,  Akatsuki, Glory, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Kaguya (SELENE), Phoenix, Dawn, New Horizons, Deep Impact. Cosmos 1, Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, Hayabusa (MUSES-C), Stardust - Cassini-Huygens, Mars Pathfinder, and Mars '96. An impressive list. 

I wish the project team luck and will make my own Kickstarter contribution shortly.

Update:  Lunar Mission One's funding drive was a success. So what is the next step.  According to the mission site, now it is time to do some fine-tuning of the mission:

In January, Lunar Missions Ltd will assemble the initial project team to plan the fine details of the next six months – which will be project managed by RAL Space.  This is an incredibly complex programme involving at least four core project teams: Mission, Education, Science and Marketing.

Sputnik II - No Longer a Worthy Russian Venture

Russia's leader Vladimir Putin left the G-20 Summit in Australia earlier than expected last weekend after a number of world leaders made it clear they were not impressed with his foreign policy.  The recent Russian invasion (again) of Ukraine, bomber flyovers of European capitols, submarine missions into Scandinavian waters, threats to send bombers into the Gulf of Mexico, and related events are tiring the other nations.  One of the last straws for the Australians was the presence of Russian warships off the coast of Australia and Putin's claim that they were there measuring the climate.  If so, their measurements should have shown the climate has soured and Russia has few if any friends. 

And now the Russians have a new mission called Sputnik, but this one is not aimed at space but at other nations where the Russian version of the news will be sent around the world via radio and Internet in 30 languages.  This $140 million project will try to put a new spin on Russian invasions and bullying as we sink into a new Cold War.  The Russians claim the project is already broadcasting in English, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese and has offices in Washington, Cairo, Beijing and Montevideo.

At Sputniknews you can find stories such as "Moscow Concerned About US Not Informing on Plans to Close Guantanamo Prison," which is really rich coming from the country that invented gulags.  And you can also read about the "7th Russian Aid Convoy for Eastern Ukraine," which is a nice cover for tanks and missile carriers. 

It is a sad day when the term Sputnik now means Russia turning inward and chasing its tail rather than reaching out to the stars and demonstrating its scientific abilities.  If Russia wants to use a well-worn Russian word, how about "Perestroika"?  If the word means "restructuring," then at least it reflects what is happening, though in this case it is not Russia restructuring internally but instead restructuring the truth for its own benefit. 

Image:  Director General of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency Dmitry Kiselеv at the presentation of a major international news brand "Sputnik"
Image Credit:  RIA Novosti / Alexey Filippov

More Reading on Mars

The Planetary Society's website has a helpful recommended reading list on Mars.  Here are some of the books recommended under fiction if you are looking for a good yarn:

• Across the Zodiac (1880)
• Melbourne and Mars: My Mysterious Life on Two Planets (1889)
• Unveiling a Parallel (1893)
• Journey to Mars (1894)
• A Prophetic Romance (1896)
• The War of the Worlds (1898)
• Edison’s Conquest of Mars (1898)
• A Honeymoon in Space (1900)
• Gullivar of Mars (1905)
• Doctor Omega (1906)
• Le prisonnier de la planète Mars [Vampires of Mars] (1908) and its sequel La guerre des vampires [War of the Vampires] (1909)
• Red Star (1908)

For instance, here is how Edison's Conquest of Mars is described on Amazon:

Following in the footsteps of one of the greatest science fiction masterpieces ever written, this long-forgotten sequel to The War of the Worlds boasts Thomas Edison as its hero. Originally published in the late 1800s, this is one of the rarest and most important cornerstones of the science fiction genre. Turning the original Wells tale on its head, this novel weaves a distinct and astonishing story of humans invading Mars, marking the invention of the space techno-thriller. Presenting a cornucopia of technical ingenuity, this edition marks a variety of firsts in the genre: the first space battle ever to appear in print, the original fictional example of alien abduction, the introduction of the theory that the pyramids were constructed by extraterrestrials, and the first truly functional spacesuits. Complete and unabridged for the first time ever—including the original illustrations—this narrative also features an introductory essay by acclaimed author Robert Godwin.

If you need a break from current events, reading one of these book may be a fun way to spend an evening.  

More on the Orbital Sciences Mishap

To date most of the stories on the Orbital Sciences' explosion last month placed blame on the Soviet-era engines in the Antares rocket.  CEO David Thompson recently noted, "Current evidence strongly suggest that one of the two AJ26 main engines that powered Antares' first stage failed about 15 seconds after ignition."   

Forbes magazine provided more information on these Russian rockets:

The rocket’s two engines were modified Soviet-era hardware initially acquired from Russia in the late 1990s by the now defunct Kirkland, Wa.-based Kistler Aerospace Corporation. At the time, prior to its merger with Rocketdyne, the Sacramento, Ca.-based Aerojet Corporation had been subcontracted by Kistler to modernize the engines. However, Aerojet subsequently gained title to the engines as part of Kistler’s bankruptcy settlement.  “They were originally developed by the Soviet Union for their N-1 manned lunar rocket which experienced several failures resulting in the Soviet cancellation of their manned lunar landing program,” said Bill Ketchum, a retired General Dynamics Corporation aerospace engineer, familiar with such systems.

So Orbital Sciences used engines from the 1970s, which were associated with a failed Soviet lunar mission, as the foundation for their work with NASA?  Was anyone watching the hen house?  I prefer SpaceX's approach of building everything in-house.  I would prefer NASA and the Air Force would do the same rather than also relying on Russian rockets.  

On November 5th, Orbital Sciences restated it intentions to fulfill the International Space Station (ISS) commitment:

Under the new approach and in line with Orbital’s existing CRS contract, all remaining cargo will be delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of 2016. There will be no cost increase to NASA and only minor adjustments will be needed to the cargo manifest in the near term...To maintain the CRS program’s critical ISS supply line, Orbital plans an early introduction of its previously selected Antares propulsion system upgrade in 2016. This will be preceded by one or two non-Antares launches of the company’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the ISS in 2015-2016, employing the spacecraft’s compatibility with various launch vehicles and its flexibility to accommodate heavier cargo loads as launcher capacity permits. In addition, the company expects repairs to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) launch complex at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility to be undertaken quickly, allowing launch operations to continue at Wallops Island with the upgraded Antares beginning in 2016.

In other words, the program will continue, but the Cygnus cargo capsule will be carried on third-party rockets for now.  Maybe SpaceX Falcons?  This is not a very encouraging sign, but hopefully a short-term solution for one of the only two private sector suppliers for the ISS.

Philae: The Little Ship that Could

The European Space Agency's (ESA) little Philae has gone to sleep for the moment on the surface of Comet 67p, but the very fact it is on the back of this monster rock 300 million mile away as it careens towards the sun is nothing but amazing.  After a bumpy landing and bad placement on the comet's surface, the lander's batteries slowed died due to a lack of solar energy.  Luckily, the lander had already sent back the data it was supposed to measure for ESA scientists to analyze.  ESA's mission website stated:

From now on, no contact will be possible unless sufficient sunlight falls on the solar panels to generate enough power to wake it up. The possibility that this may happen later in the mission was boosted when mission controllers sent commands to rotate the lander’s main body with its fixed solar panels. This should have exposed more panel area to sunlight.

In the meantime, Rosetta will continue to continue to orbit the comet and send back more data on the comet for continued analysis. The adventure continues.

Top Image:  Panoramic shot from Philae from the surface of Comet 67p. The three feet of Philae’s landing gear can be seen in some of the frames.
Bottom Image:  Philae's scientific instruments.
Image Credit:  ESA

Great Image: Cat's Eye Nebula

With all the fascinating images in the movie Interstellar, we could forget that nature itself it stunningly beautiful all by itself, as demonstrated by this Hubble Space Telescope image of the Cat's Eye nebula (or NGC 6543).  Here is NASA's tale of this amazing picture:

The alluring Cat's Eye nebula, however, lies three thousand light-years from Earth across interstellar space. A classic planetary nebula, the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) represents a final, brief yet glorious phase in the life of a sun-like star. This nebula's dying central star may have produced the simple, outer pattern of dusty concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions. But the formation of the beautiful, more complex inner structures is not well understood. Seen so clearly in this digitally sharpened Hubble Space Telescope image, the truly cosmic eye is over half a light-year across. Of course, gazing into this Cat's Eye, astronomers may well be seeing the fate of our sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about 5 billion years.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Philae Attempts a Comet Landing Later Today

After a 10 year trip, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft will deploy its probe called Philae to the surface of Comet 67p, which is the size of Mont Blanc (see the ESA image of the comet over Paris below).  With all the plans for manned missions to more local destinations, this is a fascinating pursuit that could only entail robotics to be accomplished with a reasonable amount of funds.  And the landing, involving harpoons, will be a risky operation.

In an interview, Rosetta mission manager Fred Jansen stated:

If there are problems – for example with the lander’s battery power levels – on 12 November we will halt its release, though that will mean a delay of two or three weeks before we can manoeuvre Rosetta back to the right point above the landing zone.

Once it lands, Philae's scientific probing should tell us more about the contents of this ancient object and whether they were the source of the oceans on Earth.  For more on the mission you can visit this mission site. 

Update:  Philae successfully landed on the comet at 11:05am ET.  A great accomplishment for the Europeans.

Good News From Last Week

While the private space industry is still focused on the two failures last week, the Chinese government has plenty to celebrate after a successful flyby moon mission last week. The image above, taken by the Chang'e 5-T1 spacecraft, offered a fascinating reverse image of the Moon and its master. 

The Chang'e 5-T1 is part of a series of missions to the Moon. It started in 2007 with the Chang'e 1 mapping the moon, the Chang'e 2 orbiting the moon, the Chang'e 3 moon rover (Yutu), and eventually the Chang'e 5, planned for 2017, which will land on the Moon, extract samples, and return them to Earth.  The graphic below puts it all into perspective.

The Science of Interstellar

This week on the Discovery Channel you can learn more about the ideas that went into making the current film Interstellar. The program, The Science of Interstellar, is narrated by Matthew McConaughey, one of the film actors (famous as well his other space-related role in the Carl Sagan-inspired movie Contact).  

As with Contact and other movies about the mysteries of our universe, let's hope the new film inspires a new generation of seekers and scientists. After last week's disasters, we need to keep the big picture in mind.

Noteworthy Quote: Leaving Humans on Other Planets

"These people have been trained and given the great historical value of being the first human beings in history to occupy another planet and people want to bring them back?...Let me ask those people who want to bring them back, what are you going to do with them back here on Earth that will in any way [justify] the billions and billions of dollars that have been invested in those human beings to put them on Mars?"

- Statement by former astronaut Buzz Aldrin discussing flying people to Mars (see London's Daily Mail) 

Footnote:  Maybe we should have left Buzz on the moon.  It was pretty expensive bringing him back.  

Second Space Disaster in a Week: One Dead

This has not been a good week for the private sector space industry.  Earlier today, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashed in the California desert during a test flight, killing one pilot and injuring a second pilot.  The spacecraft, built for space tourists, was using a new rocket fuel, which may have contributed to the accident. 

On its website, Virgin Galactic stated:

Virgin Galactic's partner Scaled Composites conducted a powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo earlier today. During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle. The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft landed safely. Our first concern is with crew and their families. We will work closely with relevant authorities to determine the cause of this accident and provide updates as soon as we are able to do so.

It has been 10 years since SpaceShipOne opened the door to space tourism, and this crash can only increase the wait for the hundreds who put down money to be part of the project. 

At a press conference earlier today, Stuart Witt, responsible for the Mojave Air and Space Port, said: 

We are doing this for you and your generation. It is a cause far greater than any one of us singularly. I compare it to the Magellan expedition [the first circumnavigation of the Earth].’

I don't think Magellan was running a tourist outfit back then, but I understand the sentiment.

Image Credit:  KABC-TV/AP Photo

Disaster Strikes Orbital Sciences' Rocket

Orbital Sciences' third resupply mission to the International Space Station ended in disaster earlier today as the rocket exploded shortly after liftoff in Virginia. Fortunately, the mission was only carrying cargo and not astronauts. Expect an extensive inquiry.  Stay tuned.

Update: I corrected my posting to note this was Orbital Science's third planned mission to the ISS. In terms of the accident, the company's website stated:

Orbital Sciences Corporation confirms that today’s Antares rocket launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility was not successful. Shortly after lift-off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at 6:22 p.m. (EDT), the vehicle suffered a catastrophic failure. According to NASA’s emergency operations officials, there were no casualties and property damage was limited to the south end of Wallops Island. Orbital has formed an anomaly investigation board, which will work in close coordination with all appropriate government agencies, to determine the cause of today’s mishap.

This may mean more work for SpaceX to pick up the slack.