Asteroid Day?

Did you know that tomorrow is Asteroid Day?  Nor did I, but you can learn more about it by visiting Asteroidday.org, which notes it is "A global awareness movement to protect Earth from asteroid impacts."  You might as well call it World Scare Day as you watch the video on the website, with Queen playing in the background as the world is obliterated. 

In support of this special day, you can go to Change.org where you learn:

There are a million asteroids in our solar system that have the potential to strike Earth and destroy a city, yet we have discovered less than 10,000 — just one percent — of them. We have the technology to change that situation.

If that concerns you, then you can sign a petition asking for the following:

1. Employ available technology to detect and track Near-Earth Asteroids that threaten human populations via governments and private and philanthropic organisations.
2. A rapid hundred-fold (100X) acceleration of the discovery and tracking of Near-Earth Asteroids to 100,000 per year within the next ten years.
3. Global adoption of Asteroid Day, heightening awareness of the asteroid hazard and our efforts to prevent impacts, on June 30 annually.

The list of signatories is pretty impressive, though I did not see any U.S. congressmen or senators who might be in the best position to push for some funding.  Fortunately, the US is already putting a fair amount of resources into the search for dangerous asteroids, so maybe some other organizations will set up to help out. 

SpaceX Explosion: Maybe Low Earth Orbit is Not so Routine After All

It appears getting supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) is becoming quite the challenge.  For the third time in about nine months, a resupply mission has ended in failure (the first failure being in October with Orbital Sciences and the second taking in place in April with a Russian launch).  This time it was SpaceX that experienced the disaster about 2 and a half minutes into the launch earlier today. 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden had this to say about the failure:

We are disappointed in the loss of the latest SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. However, the astronauts are safe aboard the station and have sufficient supplies for the next several months. We will work closely with SpaceX to understand what happened, fix the problem and return to flight. The commercial cargo program was designed to accommodate loss of cargo vehicles. We will continue operation of the station in a safe and effective way as we continue to use it as our test bed for preparing for longer duration missions farther into the solar system. 

Administrator Bolden also noted that the Russians and Japanese have missions that will go up shortly to keep the ISS well-supplied.  This is encouraging, yet the decline is successful missions is very worrying, particularly since this same technology is (Russians) or will be (Space X) used for human transportation.  

So far, the SpaceX website has nothing on the incident.  The last piece for the press is from June 25.  I am sure quite a bit more information from NASA and SpaceX is to follow.   You can watch for more news at this link. 

The European Space Agency's PRIDE

The European Space Agency's (ESA) unmanned Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) space shuttle/spaceplane, part of its Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator for Europe (PRIDE), was on display last week at the Paris Air and Space Show.  Showing the wear of a February test (see above), the spaceplane represents ESA's answer to the U.S. Air Force's X37B unmanned space shuttle, though with more science and less intrigue. 

Under PRIDE, ESA's is attempting to design a space vehicle that can provide all of the following:  

- Reusable launchers stages (lower and upper),

- Robotic exploration (for example, sample return from Mars or asteroid),

- Servicing of orbital infrastructures (for example, International Space Station),

- Servicing of future generation satellites (for example, in-orbit refuelling or disposal),

- Microgravity experiments (for example, optimum time/cost ratio),

- Earth sciences (for example, high-altitude atmospheric research), and

- Earth observation (for example, crisis monitoring).

That is quite a list.  And, of course, these type of spaceplane and reusable rockets are the focus of multiple projects around the world.  For instance, in addition to SpaceX's Falcon, earlier this month the European Airbus Defence and Space unveiled the Advanced Expendable Launcher with Innovative engine Economy (Adeline), though it will not be ready until 2025-2030. And Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is developing the reusable rocket New Shepard (shown below). 

So the race is on and future missions and governments funding those missions will be the winners. 

Another Great Image: Tethys 'Eyes' Saturn

 

My first thought when seeing the image was the earlier Star Wars film where the Death Star was rounding a targeted planet.  However, this shot was taken from the Cassini spacecraft and shows the moon of Tethys.  Here is the rest of the story from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

The two large craters on Tethys, near the line where day fades to night, almost resemble two giant eyes observing Saturn.

The location of these craters on Tethys’ terminator throws their topography into sharp relief. Both are large craters, but the larger and southernmost of the two shows a more complex structure. The angle of the lighting highlights a central peak in this crater. Central peaks are the result of the surface reacting to the violent post-impact excavation of the crater. The northern crater does not show a similar feature. Possibly the impact was too small to form a central peak, or the composition of the material in the immediate vicinity couldn’t support the formation of a central peak.

In this image Tethys is significantly closer to the camera, while the planet is in the background. Yet the moon is still utterly dwarfed by the giant Saturn.

This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Tethys. North on Tethys is up and rotated 42 degrees to the right. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on April 11, 2015.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 75,000 miles (120,000 kilometers) from Tethys. Image scale at Tethys is 4 miles (7 kilometers) per pixel.

And let's not forget Mimas, another moon of Saturn, that has even greater resemblance to the Death Star up close. 

Alien Ocean: NASA's Mission to Europa

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory released this video on NASA's planned mission to Jupiter's moon Europa.  It discusses the space agency's plan to send a spacecraft to conduct flybys of the moon to better understand its composition, its presumed liquid water oceans, and its potential for life.  Unlike other missions that orbit the object being observed, the radiation around the moon would soon cook any nearby spacecraft.  So instead NASA hopes that multiple flybys, and even a potential fly-through of any plumes, will provide us with the necessary information to make some solid determinations about Europa. It is an ambitious plan, but as spacecraft such as Galileo, Voyager, Cassini, New Horizons, and others have proven, we are up to the task.

Great Image: Close-up of Comet 67P

It almost looks fake with that shadow underneath it, but this is a shot of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken on June 7th by the Rosetta spacecraft at a distance of 203 kilometers.  Such shots, in addition to the now operational Philae lander, shows the ESA mission has been a tremendous success already and more science is to come.

Image Credit:  ESA -European Space Agency

TV: The Astronaut Wives Club

Tonight ABC premieres its new series The Astronaut Wives Club. The story of the families the astronauts left behind is an interesting way to remember the period, though I don't remember a television series that really highlighted the astronauts themselves during this period.  Other than I Dream of Jeannie, how many astronauts from this period did you ever see on a television screen, fictional or otherwise?

USA Today had nothing nice to say about the new show, stating:

...one of the great moments in American history is rushed through with the speed and depth of a mediocre primetime soap. The men have affairs. The women one up each other at photo shoots, while hiding secrets and throwing out a few proto-feminist proclamations. Jaws are clenched, reputations are trashed, smiles are flashed through tears — and before you know it, a second man is ready to head into space.

Maybe this will stimulate some interest in the astronauts themselves and usher in a program that puts them at the center of the action.  And no genies this time.  Is that too much to hope for? 

New NASA Video on the Hubble Space Telescope

A new NASA video titled "Oh Planet, What Art Thou?" continues the celebration of Hubble's 25th anniversary by noting how the telescope has helped to determine the composition of exoplanet atmospheres.  And while Hubble has focused on larger planets, the new James Webb Space Telescope should assist with smaller planets.  

Philae is Back Online

The Philae comet lander has started communicating again.  It has been quiet since landing on the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last November.  As had been hoped, the lander's proximity to the sun has allowed its batteries to recharge. 

In a press release from the European Space Agency, project manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec stated:

Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available...The lander is ready for operations.

An earlier story in The New Scientist also noted the orbiting Rosetta spacecraft may have located Philae on the surface of the comet (see below).  Of course, wherever it is at the moment, it is now communicating with scientists, which is the main issue.  However, whether or not this location will permit continued sunlight to charge the batteries is another question that could affect the duration of these communications.   

Kickstarter Campaign by Spock's Son

Okay, it is a Kickstarter campaign by Leonard Nimoy's son Adam to produce a documentary about his dad.  Here is more on the Kickstarter project to make the film "For the Love of Spock" in time for the 50th anniversary of Star Trek:

This film was originally conceived as a tribute to Mr. Spock to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original series. Now, with Dad's passing on February 27th, the film will also explore the incredible career and artistry of Leonard Nimoy. But what has become increasingly apparent as I continue to work on this project is that it's also a personal journey. 

Although I had initially intended to take a somewhat detached, objective view of the subject matter, more and more people involved in this film have urged me to interject some of my own perspective on what it was like growing up with Mr. Spock in the house, and how Dad's new-found celebrity and meteoric career affected my life.

Here is a short clip describing the project as well.

The goal is to raise $600,000.  About $180,00 has already been raised, which is a great start.  Donations will be accepted through July 1 and the project will continue only if the donation goal can be reached. 

Adam notes:

No film project of this scale is without its own risks and challenges - but we're confident that we've assembled the right team to make this film professionally and within our deadline. And with the generous time and support of writers, directors and actors associated with STAR TREK (people like our narrator, Zachary Quinto) who have already agreed to appear on camera, I have no doubt that we will be able to tell the story that my dad and I intended.

This would be a nice and lasting tribute to his father beyond all the other ways we will remember him.

New York Times: Maintain the Russian Rocket Ban

It is nice to see the Russian rocket ban is getting more attention these days, as in this New York Times editorial:

The core problem is that the United States let itself become dependent on Russian rocket engines for national security missions. After the Cold War, it made sense to encourage cooperation between the nations and offer opportunities to Russian scientists and technicians so they would be less likely to sell their skills to Iran and North Korea. But in recent years, Mr. Putin has become increasingly at odds with the United States. Meanwhile, United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of the defense giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing also known as ULA, has become the Pentagon’s primary rocket maker and gets its engines from NPO Energomash, a Russian company that reportedly has close ties to Mr. Putin...After leaning on France to cancel the sale of two ships to Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine, the United States can hardly insist on continuing to buy national security hardware from one of Mr. Putin’s cronies.

Sadly, the Obama administration seems to be going soft on sanctions, which is ridiculous since it has already gone soft on a military option.  What is left?  Someday I hope relations with a new Russian regime improve, but in the meantime it is in the interest of the United States to build its own rockets for its own missions. 

Image Credit:  Photo taken by 23-year old Lana Sator who sneaked into the Russian Energomash's manufacturing plant.

ana Sator in the Energomash plant.

ana Sator in the Energomash plant.