GROVER Explores the Ice of Greenland

Even with all the debates about NASA and Earth sciences, the space Agency continue with its work to study our environment and provide some insights on our changing climate.  For instance, the Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research (GROVER) is currently exploring a 2-mile thick ice sheet in Greenland. The 6-foot tall, solar-powered rover was developed by engineering students to explore the northern area and conduct a variety of experiments from May 3 to June 8.  You can learn more about the mission via this video.  Who said you needed another planet to have a cool rover?

Russian Space Program: High Expectations, but Questionable Delivery

Russian President Putin is again talking about building a space station, but with recent rocket failures, it appears Russian needs to get back to basics.  Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin stated:

The task to create a new orbital station has been set by the president. This week we will report plans on the development of piloted cosmonautics to the president.

However, this announcement follows the second failure of a major rocket mission in the past month, the first being the Russian resupply spacecraft Progress 59 to the International Space Station followed by the failure of a Russian Proton-M rocket carrying a Mexican satellite.  

And all of this follows continued stories of budget cuts, construction problems at Vostochny Cosmodrome, the new space launch facility, and continued corruption within the space program.  Quoting the Deputy Prime Minister again, he stated:

With such a level of moral decay, one should not be surprised at the high accident rate.

In these tight times, expansion and corruption are not good bed fellows.  Russia needs to refocus its priorities and clean up its ranks if it wants to get off the ground. 

Image Credit:   Business Insider.  Then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, second right, looks at a plan while visiting a site of a new launch facility, cosmodrome Vostochny, outside Uglegorsk, some 3,600 miles (5800 kilometers) east of Moscow, Russia, in 2010.

Noteworthy Quote: Russian Rocket Roulette

"Yet why send hundreds of millions of dollars more to cash-strapped Russia when engines from three American companies will be able to launch rockets that can do the same job as Russian-engine-fitted Atlas V rockets? At about $100 million a launch with an American-made rocket compared with ULA’s $400 million a launch, that’s a bargain in more ways than one."

-- Ron Wahid in a Wall Street Journal editorial titled "American Plays Russsian Rocket Roulette."   The three American companies he mentions are SpaceX, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Blue Origin. 

Light Spots on Ceres: Is it a Shopping Center?

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is asking for your guess about the bright spots spotted on Ceres.  JPL asks:

Can you guess what's creating those unusual bright spots on Ceres? On March 6, NASA's Dawn spacecraft began orbiting Ceres, the largest body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Even before the spacecraft arrived at the dwarf planet, images revealed mysterious bright spots that captivated scientists and observers alike. Until Dawn gets a closer look over the next few months, it's anyone's guess what those spots could be. So, go ahead! Cast your vote...

The possible options are (1) volcano, (2) geyser, (3) rock, (4) ice, (5) salt deposit, and (6) other. You can see a better image below, taken on May 16th by the Dawn spacecraft.  I believe the most likely source of the light is reflection on ice, but you never know.  When I voted (no peaking), about 30 percent voted for ice, but 38 percent voted for "other."  I would like to know what some of those "other" scenarios might be, but we may not know for some time (or ever).  The mystery continues.

Solar Sail Trials Begin

Yesterday the Planetary Society's solar sail prototype was sent aloft on an Atlas V rocket.  It shared the rocket with the Air Force's X-37B unmanned space shuttle, which was be carrying its own science missions. The LightSail project is designed to test alternative propulsion technology:

Solar sails use the sun’s energy as a method of propulsion—flight by light. Light is made of packets of energy called photons. While photons have no mass, a photon traveling as a packet of light has energy and momentum.  Solar sail spacecraft capture light momentum with large, lightweight mirrored surfaces—sails. As light reflects off a sail, most of its momentum is transferred, pushing on the sail. The resulting acceleration is small, but continuous. Unlike chemical rockets that provide short bursts of thrust, solar sails thrust continuously and can reach higher speeds over time.

The Planetary Society reported on the initial success of the launch, noting:

The first of The Planetary Society’s two LightSail spacecraft is now in space following a late morning launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 11:05 a.m. EDT (15:05 UTC). The Centaur upper stage and primary payload are in their preliminary orbit, with LightSail and its CubeSat companions bolted near the aft section in the secondary ULTRASat payload. LightSail spacecraft separation is expected to occur at 1:05 p.m. EDT.

Spacecraft separation also went without a hitch and the mission is well underway.  You can continue to track the progress of mission by going here.  If all goes well, a second, full mission will take place in 2016.

Update:  If you would like to contribute to the 2016 Lightsail mission you can do so via  Kickstarter.  As of May 23rd, the site has garnered more than $700,000 in pledges, which is excellent since the goal was only $200,000.
Second Update:  The Planetary Society has declared the Lightsail mission to be a success, even with the multiple communication glitches.  You can listen to the press conference on the mission here.  

Great Image: Mauna Kea

Photos do not get more magical than the one above. The combination of galaxy gazing and ongoing plate tectonics is pretty impressive as we consider other planets and moons in the same circumstances, with some in our own solar system.

Here is the full story from NASA:

What if you could stand at the top of a volcano and peer out across the universe? If the timing is right, you might see an amazing panorama like the one featured here. In this case, the volcano is the Hawaii's Mauna Kea, and the time was a clear night last summer In the foreground of this south-facing panorama lies a rugged landscape dotted with rocks and hardy plants. Slightly above and further out, a white blanket of clouds spreads horizontally to the horizon, seemingly dividing heaven and Earth. City lights illuminate the clouds and sky on the far left, while orange lava in the volcanic caldera of Kilauea lights up the clouds just left of center. The summit of an even more distant Hawaiian volcano, Mauna Loa, is visible in dark silhouette near the central horizon. Green airglow is visible above the clouds, caused by air molecules excited by the Sun during the day. The Moon is the bright orb on the right. A diffuse band of light-colored zodiacal light extends up from the far right. Most distant, the dramatic central band of our Milky Way Galaxy appears to rise vertically from Mauna Loa. The person who witnessed and captured this breathtaking panorama stands before you in the image center. 

Image Credit & Copyright: Shane Black Photography; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt.

Budget Priorities at NASA: Earth Sciences Come Out Last

The battle over climate change continues, with NASA's budget being taken hostage by the Republicans as part of their strategy. I guess the strategy is that you eliminate the scientific evidence and then you have a clear path to your own strorytelling.  In discussing the Committee's priorities, Chairman Lamar Smith stated: 

The Obama administration has consistently cut funding for these human space exploration programs, while increasing funding for the Earth Science Division by more than 63 percent. The bill provides authorization levels consistent with NASA’s budget request, providing that current restraints within the Budget Control Act are satisfied.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is not happy with the budget outcome, stating:

The NASA authorization bill making its way through the House of Representatives guts our Earth science program and threatens to set back generations worth of progress in better understanding our changing climate, and our ability to prepare for and respond to earthquakes, droughts, and storm events.

NASA leads the world in the exploration of and study of planets, and none is more important than the one on which we live.

In addition, the bill underfunds the critical space technologies that the nation will need to lead in space, including on our journey to Mars.

Earth sciences will continue to be funded, thought this funding will drop by about $300 million. And while some (such as Senator Cruz) may argue it is a new priority at NASA, Factcheck.org disagrees:

Cruz also suggested that the “core mission” of NASA does not include earth sciences. In fact, studying the Earth and atmosphere has been central to NASA’s mission since its creation in 1958.

All parts of government are facing cuts because no one seems to like to pay taxes for anything, from roads to National Parks. That said, we still have a budget that may take us to Europa, continues to fund the next generation of space telescopes, and contributes to future Mars missions (though not every past Mars mission is safe).  Things could be worse under this Congress.  At least we have yet to deny the lunar missions altogether (sorry, I was thinking about that scene in Interstellar).

Image:  Administrator Bolden at an earlier budget hearing. 

UAE to Join the Mars Club

Whatever happened to starting small with a probe to the moon and then heading to the planets?  The United Arab Emirates (UAE) plans to launch a probe to Mars in the next six years.  The UAE will build the spacecraft while an international source will provide the rocket. 

According to the UAE press, this mission will be different from previous mission:

Its unique orbits and instruments will produce entirely new types of data that will enable scientists to build the first truly holistic models of the Martian atmosphere.

This mission will produce the first truly global picture of the Martian atmosphere. It will study how the lower and upper layers of the atmosphere interact with each other. It will search for connections between today’s Martian weather and the ancient climate of the Red Planet.

The road to Mars is littered with the debris of past missions by the Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Europeans, and, yes, the Americans (do not mention metric).  Even so, India successfully launched a Martian probe, so the competition only increases.  If the Marsshot has replaced the moonshot, that is not such a bad thing.  I would rather nations parade their rockets for interplanetary travel rather than their rockets of war.  And it is nice to have some hopeful news from this part of the world.  I hope it continues.

Image Credits:  Kamran Jebreili/AP (top image) and Emirates247 (bottom image)

Video Clip: The Fermi Paradox

This video on the Fermi Paradox by Kurz Gesagt is a thought-provoking piece on the absence of other known civilizations in our galaxy.  He also talks about the impossibility of travel to any other galaxies outside our cluster due to increasing distances. It is a very sobering piece, though I think we have plenty to explore in our own neighborhood, particularly if the space is available for settlement.  

Unless, as he postulates, a Type III civilization that controls the entire Milky Way is zapping potential civilizations that rise to threaten the neighborhood.  Think of it as the opposite of Star Trek where the Vulcans step in and help an emerging Earth.  This bleak scenario is close to ideas expressed by Dr. Hawking, where he noted we could get into trouble as we become a space-faring civilization.  Plenty to ponder as we move forward with SETI and space travel.

Mr. Gesagt has other informative video, including videos on the big bang and our moon.  I recommend you take a look at these videos as well. 

Brain Damaged Astronauts?

Are astronauts at risk of brain damage on the long trip to Mars?  Media reports about a recent study with mice and radiation indicates this may be the case.  As a result, astronauts may arrive in Mars with impaired brain functions due to cosmic rays, which is not the way to start scientific research on the Martian surface.  This is not a new finding as much as more studies on a well studied issue.  

But Dr. Robert Zubrin, President of the The Mars Society, was not concerned.  In a recent bulletin, he stated the new study has no relationship to a real world Mars trip, noting:

The principle difference is that the rate that the dose was administered to the mice under study was 4 million times faster than that which would be dealt to travelers in interplanetary space. In addition, the total cumulative dose delivered to the mice inside of 30 seconds was about 50% greater than the GCR dose that astronauts would receive over the course of a 2.5 year Mars mission.

Dr. Zubrin basically called the study misinformation that should not block continued efforts to travel to Mars.  Of course, these cosmic rays present a challenge associated with any space travel, but this may simply be an engineering issue that can be overcome in time. Knowing the risks helps in planning any interplanetary ventures.