NASA News: NEOWISE Spots Hazards & Mining Possibilities

A recent NASA story notes that the NEOWISE project, an unplanned extension of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), has found more potentially hazardous asteroids than initially estimated by scientists (also called PHAs by those government types who can find a acronym for anything - AFA).  These PHAs can most likely make it through our atmosphere and do some serious damage below.  NASA findings indicate there are about 4,700 PHAs with diameters larger than 330 feet.  And where did they come from?  Most likely collisions in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

This could be good news for those who plan to mine the asteroids, such as Planetary Resources.  The company has a simple mission:

Planetary Resources’ mission is clear: apply commercial, innovative techniques to explore space. We will develop low-cost robotic spacecraft to explore the thousands of resource-rich asteroids within our reach. We will learn everything we can about them, then develop the most efficient capabilities to deliver these resources directly to both space-based and terrestrial customers. Asteroid mining may sound like fiction, but it’s just science.

Whether or not we need to go so far for such resources is another question.  Of course, this is something the private sector can decide.  As Slate noted: 

This space-mining venture is either going to be a spectacular success or a spectacular failure. Either way, the emphasis will be on spectacular. And the best part of all is that U.S. taxpayers won’t bear the risk if these extraordinary plans fail to pan out.

Hubble: There's an App for That

Do you need a little inspiration when going about your errands?  Is the night sky still hours away yet you want to see something interesting now?  Well, download the HubbleSite app from the iTunes store and you will have the universe at your fingertips. 

Here is the quick description from the app site: 

HubbleSite, the online home of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, invites you to help choose the world’s most popular Hubble images. Get wallpaper, Hubble facts, and more.

Hubble’s vast collection of images awaits your critical and discerning eye. Become part of the Hubble mission by voting for the most spectacular and awe-inspiring sights from Hubble’s archive.

The app provides a selection of Hubble wallpaper images, chosen and edited for visually stunning results on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Plus, get facts about Hubble history; the telescope; and the scientific discoveries it’s revealed, from the age of the universe to the mysterious force known as dark energy. The app has been optimized for iPhone and iPod Touch’s Retina display.

For over 20 years, Hubble has orbited the Earth, beaming home images of celestial splendor. Join in the excitement of the Hubble mission.

And if you need more, try out the  Hubble Top 100 app from the European Southern Observatory.  

Another Chinese Space Launch

China sent its first woman astronaut (Liu Yang) to space this week as the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft successfully docked with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space laboratory on Monday.  The Tiangong-1 was placed in orbit last fall as a prototype of a larger station to follow in 2020.  Over a 10-day period, three Chinese astronauts will stay aboard the "space station" to conduct tests. 

The great space race continues, with both the private sector (SpaceX) and other nations taking the lead.  China has already moved up its manned moon-landing to 2016, showing an increasing confidence in its space capabilities.  While the U.S. has lost its shuttles and will lose the $100 billion International Space Station by 2020, others are stepping up the challenge with broad plans for expansion.  SpaceX is even talking about $500,000 trips to Mars while the U.S. has no such plans on the drawing board. 

Great Images: Death of a Star

This computer-generated image from NASA shows the death of a red giant as it is consumed by a black hole (PS1-10jh) located 2 billion light-years from Earth.  The destruction was captured in 2010 by NASA's orbiting Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and the ground-based Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii.

More on GALEX:  GALEX is an orbiting space telescope observing galaxies in ultraviolet light across 10 billion years of cosmic history. Launched into orbit on April 28th, 2003 and originally planned as a 29-month mission, its mission lifetime was extended. 

GALEX’s observations are telling scientists how galaxies, the basic structures of our Universe, evolve and change. Additionally, GALEX observations are investigating the causes of star formation during a period when most of the stars and elements we see today had their origins.

Led by the California Institute of Technology, GALEX is conducting several first-of-a-kind sky surveys, including an extra-galactic (beyond our galaxy) ultraviolet all-sky survey. During its mission GALEX will produce the first comprehensive map of a Universe of galaxies under construction, bringing us closer to understanding how galaxies like our own Milky Way were formed.

More on Pan-STARRS:  The Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System is a wide-field imaging facility developed at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy. The combination of relatively small mirrors with very large digital cameras results in an economical observing system that can observe the entire available sky several times each month. The prototype single-mirror telescope PS1 is now operational on Mount Haleakala; its scientific research program is being undertaken by the PS1 Science Consortium - a collaboration between ten research organizations in four countries,

A major goal of Pan-STARRS is to discover and characterize Earth-approaching objects, both asteroids and comets, that might pose a danger to our planet.  Its vast database is also ideal for research in several other astronomical areas, particularly those which involve an aspect of time variability.

Ray Bradbury: The Loss of a Dark Magician

Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there.

It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.

 ― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

I have read a fair amount of science fiction over the years and Ray Bradbury was always one of my favorites.  He was certainly a gardener.  While his view of the future was not as consistently dark as Philip K. Dick's version, he often had a warning wrapped within his fascinating and insightful tales.  Given his lack of a college education and inability to drive a car, I find his understanding of the past, present, and future to be all the more amazing.  He was a man full of stories that needed to be shared. 

Hopefully, Bradbury's death last week at the age of 91 will only increase the attention paid to his work and cause us all to dream a little more and think harder about the world we want to inhabit.  As Bradbury said, in reference to his story Fahrenheit 451, "There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them."

The New York Times published a nice summary of Bradbury's take on the future called Uncle Ray's Dystopia, which was filled with examples of his warning about technology. The author sums up Bradbury's vision in this way: 

There’s already been a lot of rhapsodizing about Ray Bradbury’s “sense of wonder,” the dark magic and October chill he infused into his work. But let’s not turn him into something harmless, a kindly, childlike uncle spinning marvelous tales of rocket ships and dinosaurs. Don’t forget that he was also the crazy uncle, the dangerous one, a malcontent and a crank, alarming everyone at the dinner table with impassioned rants and dire warnings.

I think its time to take his stories off the shelf and read through them again.  I am sure I will see them in a new light now that many years have passed.  And I know I will miss the dark magician and his dire warnings.  As Bradbury noted in his own words, "People call me a science fiction writer, but I don't think that's quite true. I think that I'm a magician who is capable of making things appear and disappear right in front of you and you don't know how it happened."

Space Art by David A Hardy

I have seen David A. Hardy's art in The Planetary Society's magazine The Planetary Report, so I decided to check out his webpage. I was impressed with the variety of pieces.  I recommend a visit to Mr. Hardy's site at AstroArt.org.  One of my favorites was Sagan's Moon shown to the left.  Here is how he explains this painting:

Carl Sagan commissioned this acrylic painting of a Jupiter-type exoplanet with an earthlike moon, seen from another, airless moon. There is no reason why a large satellite of a gas-giant should not have air and water, and therefore life – though it's seasons and the pattern of night, day and eclipses would be complicated!

Note Regarding the Image:  All material is Copyright ©David A. Hardy/AstroArt.org. It is NOT 'public domain', and any unauthorised use will be detected and action taken.

SpaceX: We Have Liftoff!

Yesterday (May 22nd), at 3:44 am EST, SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a rendezvous with the International Space Station.  While much more remains to be done, this is a hopeful start to a new era in space. 

“We obviously have to go through a number of steps to berth with the Space Station, but everything is looking really good and I think I would count today as a success no matter what happens with the rest of the mission,” CEO Elon Musk said in a SpaceX press release.

Musk went on to state,

This mission heralds the dawn of a new era of space exploration, one in which there is a significant commercial space element. It is like the advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s when commercial companies entered what was originally a government endeavor. That move dramatically accelerated the pace of advancement and made the Internet accessible to the mass market. I think we’re at a similar inflection point for space. I hope and I believe that this mission will be historic in marking that turning point towards a rapid advancement in space transportation technology.

NASA's Administrator Charles Bolden had his own sentiments as well:
 
I want to congratulate SpaceX for its successful launch, and salute the NASA team that worked alongside them to make it happen. 

Today marks the beginning of a new era in exploration; a private company has launched a spacecraft to the International Space Station that will attempt to dock there for the first time. And while there is a lot of work ahead to successfully complete this mission, we are certainly off to good start. 

Under President Obama’s leadership, the nation is embarking upon an ambitious exploration program that will take us farther into space than we have ever traveled before, while helping create good-paying jobs right here in the United States of America. 

We’re handing off to the private sector our transportation to the International Space Station so that NASA can focus on what we do best -- exploring even deeper into our solar system, with missions to an asteroid and Mars on the horizon. 

We’re committed to ending the outsourcing of work on America’s space program and bringing these jobs back to the United States. 

And we’re working to promote competition and have multiple private sector partners so we don’t find ourselves in the situation we are today -- having only one way to get to the space station. 

The decision to end the shuttle program back in 2004 was a difficult one. But with the kind of hard work, determination and ingenuity for which NASA and this nation are known, we’re now on the brink of a new future. 

A future that stands on the shoulders of Mercury and Gemini; Apollo and Shuttle. A future that embraces the innovation the private sector brings to the table, and a future that opens up the skies to endless possibilities. ‪ 

Again, congratulations to the SpaceX and NASA teams, and Godspeed Dragon.

Does this make Musk the Google or Facebook of the space program?  We shall see, but SpaceX has done what no other private company has done before.  As with Facebook, the future is unknown and subject to some rough seas ahead, but like NASA I would put my money on Musk and those who follow.

Update:  On May 25th at 12:02 pm EST the Dragon successfully docked with the International Space Station. And at 5:53 am EST today the Dragon hatch was open and the mission was determined to be a success (here is the NASA video of the hatch opening).  That's one big step for SpaceX and an even bigger step for a nation with its hopes set on commercial partners.

Second Update:  On May 31st at 11:42 am EST the Dragon safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 560 miles west of Baja California.

Space X Mission Patch

Each NASA space mission needed a patch to remember the event, and SpaceX is no different.  Above is the official patch for the latest (delayed) mission.  According to Collectspace, the official flight kit" onboard the Dragon includes: 2,000 lapel pins that are in the shape of the space station; 2,900 patches, 4,000 decals and 750 lapel pins with the NASA COTS 2 emblem; 2,500 SpaceX mission patches; and one copper medallion.  These items will be returned to earth, unlike the supplies heading to the International Space Station.  Telephone operators are standing by for your order...

By the Way: Light is Still Pretty Fast

You may remember my earlier piece about the 10 Biggest Science Stories, including this story:

Flying faster than the speed of light just might be possible after all:  Discusses the CERN experiment that found neutrinos may have been traveling faster than light.

We we can re-categorize this story under Worst Science Stories.  It seems the CERN experiment had some problems.  In fact, the scientist associated with the experiment has resigned.  As reported by the Wall Street Journal,

CERN now says it had identified two possible effects that could have affected the interpretation of the data. One relates to a device known as an oscillator that plays a role in synchronizing clocks at the Swiss and Italian ends. If the oscillator was wrongly calibrated, that would mean the neutrinos had actually traveled slower than light, and all would be right with the world.

A separate—and more troublesome—glitch may have occurred in a fiber-optic cable that brings a Global Positioning System, or GPS, signal to a master clock.

"If this is the case, it could have led to an underestimate of the time of flight of the neutrinos," CERN said in a one-paragraph "update" posted on its website.

Even last year there were a number of skeptics about this CERN findings, called OPERA.  As The Telegraph reported last November,

..another group of scientists conducting a separate study on the same beam of neutrinos at Gran Sasso claims their findings "refute a superluminal (faster than light) interpretation of the OPERA result."  Rather than measuring the time it took the neutrinos to travel from CERN to Gran Sasso the second experiment, known as ICARUS, monitored how much energy they had when they arrived.  Physicists believe that travelling even slightly faster than light would cause the particles to lose most of their energy in the process.  But the ICARUS team's calculations, published online last weekend, seemed to show they arrived with exactly the amount of energy particles moving at light speed should have had – and no more.  

Just a quick note.  It was so much easier to find Internet stories on the success of the CERN experiment rather than its failure.  This says a lot about our news reporters, where the breaking news is put on page one and the correction of the story on page 16.  I wanted to make sure I did not do that here (besides, I don't have a page 16 on the blog).

The Pending Launch of Falcon 9

On April 30, SpaceX successfully completed a 2 second static fire the Falcon 9's engines in preparation for the upcoming launch. SpaceX is hoping for a May 19th launch target with a backup on May 22nd.  With a successful mission, including the docking of the Dragon capsule with the International Space Station (ISS), the American space industry gets closer to filling the transportation gap left behind by the space shuttles. 

Should all go well, Space X will continue with it $1.6 billion contract with NASA to conduct 12 cargo missions to the space station with its Dragon spacecraft.  And it cannot come soon enough.  The Falcon 9 launch and dragon visit was initially scheduled for last year, and even the May launch seems optimistic to some.

And Space X has competition, with Orbital Technologies, Corp., also preparing for a test flight later this year.  Orbital Technologies has a $1.9 billion contract to provide eight cargo delivery missions to the ISS. The company will use its Antares rocket to place the Cygnus spacecraft in orbit. 

You have to love this new private sector space race!

Update:  According to NASA,  the May 19th launch has been scrubbed and the new goal is May 22nd or 23rd.  NASA reported the following: 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 aborted its launch May 19 moments after its engines ignited when computers detected higher pressure readings than allowed. The center engine pressure built above limits and a shutdown occurred one-half second before liftoff, SpaceX officials said.

The next launch attempt could come as early as Tuesday, May 22, but that determination won't be made until the engine itself is inspected, said Gwynne Shotwell, president of Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorne, Calif., known as SpaceX. There also is an opportunity May 23.

Great Images: Old Moon in Turin

This photo, first shared by Space.com, was taken by Stefano De Rosa on December 4, 2011 outside the Basilica of Superga on the hills outside Turin. 

And We Were Worried About the Chinese

As we contemplate the latest race to the moon and potential plans for a moon base (yes, as discussed by Newt Gingrich), maybe we need to consider whether or not someone has already beat us to the moon.  Could an earlier German space program have placed a secret base on the moon?  The answer is no, but its the great premise of Iron Sky released at the Berlin Film Festival last month.  This hilarious little film set in 2018 breathes life back into the "attack from mars" genre, with a fun twist.  I mean, a secret Nazi base on the dark side of the moon that attacks Earth with spacecraft shaped like Zeppelins?  This film teaser tells it all.  At this point with all of the space program in a funk, I am happy to see any off-planet attention.

That is not to say Hollywood is missing in action (Iron Sky is a product of Finland), but a number of the more films coming out of California have been pretty bleak.  Yes, we have a new Star Trek motion picture on the horizon, but I am thinking back to Melancholia and Another Earth. 

In the case of Melancholia, you have a newly identified stray planet dancing in the Earth's orbit until it decides the dance is over (see image to right).  This makes for a very dark movie, not to say the action before the disaster gives us any reason to be cheering for Earth.  The film is beautiful to watch.  Ultimate destruction has never been so amazing.  And where did this new planet come from?  We don't get much from the movie, though is was not really intended as a scientific film.  One character does make an interesting comment noting that with the extinguishing of life on Earth all life will disappear from the universe.  But I think that's the depression talking.

Another Earth is a quirky film on the appearance of a mirror Earth slowly arriving and then pairing up with our Earth.  Again, this is not intended as a scientific film but rather a statement about possibilities and how things could be different if one event in a life were to change. 

Hence, planets are backdrops to stories rather than the main characters.  That is fine in itself.  But we need to be adventurers acting on the universe to learn more this world of ours.  We do not want to sit here waiting for the universe to come to us, maybe with disastrous consequences.  Colonies in our solar system and elsewhere can protect us from an extinction event like Melancholia.  And I too am interested in other Earths, but they will be found on a much more distant horizon using telescopes that will entail millions if not billions of dollars in expenditures.  Disney spent $250 million on a dud movie about travel to Mars in John Carter, while we earthlings continue to ponder whether or not we really have the funds and ambitions to make a trip to Mars a reality.  I look forward to more hopeful movies that dream about space missions beyond our small, blue planet.  And, just as importantly if not more so, I look forward to steps that will turn these dreams into reality.  To go where no man has gone before (sorry, I could not help myself).

By the Way: Here is What Happened to the Phobos-Grunt

I wanted to revisit my earlier story on the failed Russian Phobos-Grunt probe, since I left the origin of the problems as a mystery.  In February, the results of an inter-agency committee tasked to study the failure reported an on-board computer reboot "influenced" by heavy charged particles was the main cause:

...the emergency situation onboard had been caused by a restart of two semi-sets (processors) of the TsVM22 computer in the onboard calculation complex, BVK, Roskosmos said. As a result of such "dual restart," the nominal pre-programmed flight sequence was interrupted and the spacecraft entered solar orientation, simultaneously waiting for ground commands in X-band frequencies. However the spacecraft was designed to communicate in X-band only during the cruise stage of the flight (between the Earth and Mars, following the escape from the Earth orbit), Roskosmos admitted.

 

The most likely factor which caused a "double restart" was a local influence of heavy charged particles from space, Roskosmos concluded. This influence led to errors in the random-access memory modules, OZU, in the TsVM22 computer during the second orbit of the mission. Errors in RAM modules could be caused by intermittent interference caused by heavy space particles on particular cells in computer modules, which contain two chips of the same type -- WS512K32V20G24M. The influence of heavy particles caused a distortion of the computer code and activated a "guard" timer, which in turn triggered a reboot. Existing certification documents do not regulate the particular model of heavy particle influence, Roskosmos said. The investigation commission recommended to develop and implement new certification guidelines which would contain updated models of ionized radiation in space.

What is also interesting is how the Russians are willing to give it another try.  According to Science magazine,

Lev Zelenyi, director of the Russian Academy of Science's Space Research Institute (IKI), said at a 1 February press conference that the team behind the mission was keen to try again. A repeat would only cost half as much as the first time round, he noted, because the infrastructure for the mission is already in place. Zelenyi told Science that this is still just an IKI proposal and is not yet funded. Phobos-Grunt-2 would be "improved and simplified," he says, and would use a Soyuz Fregat booster rather than the Zenit booster of the original craft. 

I am glad the Russians are no longer blaming outside parties and they are willing to give Phobos another try.  Whether China and the Planetary Society are up for another mission remains to be seen, but this is a hopeful restart.

Great Images: Hubble Captures Star Clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Here is another great image from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory: 

 

The double cluster NGC 1850 lies in a neighboring satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. It has two relatively young components. The main, globular-like cluster is in the center. A smaller cluster is seen below and to the right, composed of extremely hot, blue stars and fainter red T-Tauri stars. The main cluster is about 50 million years old; the smaller one is 4 million years old. 

A filigree pattern of diffuse gas surrounds NGC 1850. Scientists believe the pattern formed millions of years ago when massive stars in the main cluster exploded as supernovas.

Discovery Over D.C.

This past week saw the Space Shuttle Discovery flying over Washington, D.C., on its way to the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.  Discovery, the first orbiter retired from NASA’s shuttle fleet, completed 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited the Earth 5,830 times, and traveled 148,221,675 miles.  It will replace another shuttle, the Enterprise, which will be traveling to NYC.  

I am just glad someone notified Washington, D.C., about the flight, unlike a Air Force One flyby in NYC years ago that led to jeers rather than cheers (and some running for cover). 

The nation witnesses the mothballing of another phase of its space mission while not really knowing what is to follow.  While we hear about a possible trip to an asteroid in 2025, we are not hearing anything to stir the soul. 

This flyby cost about anywhere from $8 million to $11 million, according to U.S. News and World Report, but we have endless funds for our space program, right?  We had to get it to D.C. somehow, but I also wish we had such funds for more space contests so we could create the next amazing craft to someday populate more museums.  I remember visiting a sad little space museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the remnants of their space program was on display.  A mighty program had come to this (though we are still dependent on some of the Russians to get to the International Space Station, of course).  I know the Smithsonian will do better, but we need more than nostalgia - we need new ideas and greater dreams. 

Pending Space Junk: A Very Close Call with the ISS

Is anyone else concerned that our $100 billion International Space Station (ISS) could have been gold-plated space debris last weekend?  It was a scary situation with the astronauts huddled in the Soyuz capsules hoping for the best.  This piece of debris threatening the ISS was from an old one-ton Russian Cosmos 2551 satellite that collided with an Iridium 33 satellite in 2009. The earlier Russian collision left behind thousands of pieces that need to be tracked forevermore since they threaten space craft. In June 2011 the astronauts had a similar close call with this same Russian space junk, causing them to also take shelter in the capsules.

This past January, the ISS also needed to fire its thrusters to dodge debris from a Chinese weather satellite intentionally destroyed by the Chinese military back in 2007.  And in April 2011 the ISS astronauts had to stay in the capsules to avoid this very junk.  It is not clear why the Chinese are creating lethal space junk while also planning to put their own manned space station into orbit. 

It would seem orbiting the Earth is becoming more dangerous each day.  Fortunately, we have the U.S. military's space surveillance network (SSN) tracking much of this debris.  The mission of SSN is to:

• Analyze new space launches and evaluate orbital insertion
• Detect new man-made objects in space
• Chart present position of space objects and plot their anticipated orbital paths
• Produce and maintain current orbital data of man-made space objects in a space catalog
• Inform NASA and other government entities if objects may interfere with the orbits of the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and operational satellite platforms
• Predict when and where a decaying space object will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere
• Prevent a returning space object, which to radar looks like a missile, from triggering a false alarm in missile-attack warning sensors of the U.S. and other countries
• Determine which country owns a re-entering space object
• Predict surface impacts of re-entering objects and notify the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Public Safety Canada if an object may make landfall in North America or Hawaii.

Of course, SSN can only track the larger pieces of space junk, though even debris the size of a grain of sand can cause serious problems.  SSN is already tracking space junk that is at least 4 inches (10 cm) in low-Earth orbit, the region where the ISS operates. In total, some 19,000 man made objects this size or bigger were orbiting Earth as of July 2009, mostly in low-Earth orbit.

What we really need to be wary of is the Kessler syndrome, proposed by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978.  This idea related to a cascade of collisions in low-Earth orbit leading to the abandonment of this area, and potentially space exploration, because of the significant danger to all spacecraft.  What can we do?  Future postings will discuss some of the ideas being proposed to clean up this space debris.

2012 and Still Here, For Now at Least

With all of the predictions (and bad films) concerning the destruction of Earth in 2012, I am happy to report we have survived the first three months of the year.  Not that the world is a very safe place. In fact, the solar storm on March 9th and 10th did some real damage. 

The Pentagon is reporting the solar flares shut down some of its satellites.  While everything eventually rebooted, it would have not been a great situation in a time of war.  According to the U.S. News and World article, NASA believes the recent wave of solar storms will intensify through the end of 2012.  Even so, General William Shelton, head of the Air Force's Space Command Shelton, stated the military's satellites will be able to withstand these  future storms.  "I don't believe that anything—short of something truly catastrophic, that would be catastrophic to those of us on Earth as well, I don't believe there's a scenario where we'd wholesale lose spacecraft," Shelton said.

We had a little bit of warning about his latest storm, though it was predicted for 2013. The Telegraph noted back in 2010 that  

National power grids could overheat and air travel severely disrupted while electronic items, navigation devices and major satellites could stop working after the Sun reaches its maximum power in a few years. 

Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes “from a deep slumber” sometime around 2013, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. 

In a new warning, Nasa said the super storm would hit like “a bolt of lightning” and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world’s health, emergency services and national security unless precautions are taken.

Of course, this idea could be put to the test again in 2020, when a much large solar storm may hit the Earth.   Some put such chances at only 12 percent, though the impact could be tremendous.  

One report, Severe Space Weather Events--Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts: A Workshop Report, highlights one of the most famous solar storm called The Carrington event of 1959:

Notable for both its scientific and its technological impact, the Carrington event was probably the most important space weather event of the past 200 years. It initially attracted scientific attention because it disrupted telegraphic communication for as long as 8 hours, presented a visual panoply of nighttime lights to observers, and was widely reported in newspapers.  [R. James Caverly of the Department of Homeland Security] reasoned that a contemporary Carrington event would lead to much deeper and more widespread social disruptions than those of 1859. Basic to his contention are the enormous changes to the nation’s infrastructure over the past century and a half and the virtual certainty of additional changes in the future.

Today scientists have a better understanding of the technical causes and implications of space weather, and even of appropriate technical responses to it, than they did in the past. Knowledge of the social, institutional, and policy implications of space weather is growing but is still rudimentary. The disruption of the telegraph system in 1859 caused problems in communication, but because modern society is so dependent on large, complex, and interconnected technical systems—and because these systems not only are vital for the functioning of the economy but also are vulnerable to electromagnetic events–a contemporary repetition of the Carrington event would cause significantly more extensive (and possibly catastrophic) social and economic disruptions. [Todd La Porte, Jr., of George Mason University] said that understanding the consequences resulting from interdependencies of infrastructure disrupted during significant space weather is essential. Caverly stated that although systems may be well designed themselves, there is a need to consider the “system of systems” concept and to examine the associated dependencies in detail. He added that today there is growing awareness among planners, managers, and designers of this necessity.

So relax, we have a few years to figure this out, though the way our society is going I can picture quite a fuss if the iPhone and Facebook generation (and whatever follows) goes without an electrical connection for more than 30 seconds.  It could get ugly.

Great Images: Spitzer Capture Planet UX Tau A

Here is another great image from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

This is an artist's rendition of the one-million-year-old star system called UX Tau A, located approximately 450 light-years away. Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope showed a gap in the dusty planet-forming disk swirling around the system's central sun-like star.

Spitzer saw a gap in UX Tau A's disk that extends from 0.2 to 56 astronomical units (an astronomical unit is the distance between the sun and Earth). The gap extends from the equivalent of Mercury to Pluto in our solar system, and is sandwiched between thick inner and outer disks on either side. Astronomers suspect that the gap was carved out by one or more forming planets.

Does China Already Have a Space Station?

In a previous post, I discussed China's efforts to build its own space station.  But now I am wondering if they need to go to all that trouble.  A February 29 NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report noted someone may have obtained information to control the International Space Station as well as our other space missions:

Between April 2009 and April 2011, NASA reported the loss or theft of 48 Agency mobile computing devices, some of which resulted in the unauthorized release of sensitive data including export-controlled, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and third-party intellectual property. For example, the March 2011 theft of an unencrypted NASA notebook computer resulted in the loss of the algorithms used to command and control the International Space Station. Other lost or stolen notebooks contained Social Security numbers and sensitive data on NASA’s Constellation and Orion programs. 

While it is not certain the Chinese have access to this data, the Chinese have been caught plenty of other times trying to penetrate NASA's systems. Here are a few more from the OIG report:

-- In November 2011, [Jet Propulsion Laboratory] IT Security reported suspicious network activity involving Chinese-based IP addresses. Our review disclosed that the intruders had compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users, giving the intruders access to most of JPL’s networks. The OIG continues to investigate this matter.

-- As a result of an OIG investigation and lengthy international coordination efforts, a Chinese national was detained in December 2010 by Chinese authorities for violations of Chinese Administrative Law. This case resulted in the first confirmed detention of a Chinese national for hacking activity targeting U.S. Government agencies. Seven NASA systems, many containing export-restricted technical data, were compromised by the Chinese national.

And the Chinese are not alone.  In the report, the OIG noted the Agency has dealt with approximately 5,400 computer security incidents in 2010 and 2011, while investigators have conducted more than 16 separate investigations of similar breaches in the past few years, several of which have resulted in the arrests and convictions of foreign nationals in Estonia, Great Britain, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, Romania, and Turkey.  A nation that cannot keep its secrets cannot keep its lead.  So maybe we will see Portugal on the moon before we have a chance to return.