[/caption]
The Japanese lunar orbiter Kaguya will end its two-year mission with a controlled impact on the Moon’s surface on June 10th at 18:30 Universal Time. The impact location is near the southeast limb at 80ºE, 63ºS. If you live in Asia and Australia, you may have the opportunity to observe the impact event, and the Japanese Space Agency –JAXA – wants to hear from you if you plan on watching for the impact. The event may be visible with a bright flash or plume. JAXA is making available precise information on the projected time and location of the event. If you are interested in observing the impact, contact JAXA at [email protected] and provide your name, location, and planned observation method.
Panorama underneath the Spirit rover. Credit: NASA/JPL
[/caption]
The Spirit rover has now taken two sets of close-up images showing the ground where it has been stuck for several weeks. Spirit used the microscopic imager on the robotic arm to peer underneath her own belly in an attempt to determine how the vehicle is embedded, and if there might be something obstructing the rover. Sure enough, the images appear to show a rock or mound of dirt that might be in the way, but more pictures and tests are needed before the rover team can develop a strategy for getting the rover out of its current predicament. Rover project manager John Callas said using the robotic arm for this purpose was never in the original design book, but it appears to have worked quite well.
Spirit is dug in over halfway up her wheels in soil that varies from one side of the rover to the other. The rover engineers and drivers have been worried that Spirit has dug herself down so deep that her belly might be sitting on rocks, and one wheel may be jammed by a rock.
The camera normally take close-up images of Martian rocks and soil. The technique for using it to look underneath the rover was tested on Spirit’s twin, Opportunity, and it worked well. The first set of images are a little out of focus, but according to an article in New Scientist, Spirit took additional images on Tuesday which showed one possible obstruction, but it wasn’t clear whether it was a rock or just a mound of dirt, and it also wasn’t obvious if the object was hitting the rover’s underside.
In an article in Universe Today last week, Callas said that even though this is one of the worst predicaments either rover has ever been in, he is optimistic about getting Spirit unstuck. “We saw that even on the last drive that the rover was still moving, even though it was only fractionally, based on the wheel spin. So, that tells us material is still being transported underneath the wheels. Given enough time and enough wheel spinning we should be able to get out. If that changes, if we get a situation where we have a hundred per cent slip, then we’re in trouble. But we’re not at that point yet, — even if we’re at 99.9%, that makes a big difference between 100%.”
And if this latest attempt doesn’t work, Callas says they have some other ideas up their robotic arm sleeves. “There are some exotic things we would consider if the more traditional methods don’t work,” he said. We have a lot of arrows in our quiver, or tools in our toolbelt to try first. ”
Drawing submitted to JPL by 7-year old Julian. Used by permission.
[/caption]
We’re all concerned about the Spirit rover, currently stuck in some soft soil on Mars. But some people are actually working hard to figure out how to rescue the rover. That includes a 7-year old boy named Julian who sent this drawing in to JPL with his idea of how help Spirit: use the robotic arm as a “tripod” to lift the rover up and help move it out of the spot where it is embedded. Julian, you have a bright future ahead of you as an engineer! “We are getting a lot of interesting suggestions from the public,” said JPL’s John Callas, MER project manager, “and we think that’s wonderful. It shows people are interested in these rovers. We certainly are canvassing the full range of possibilities to get Spirit unstuck.”
And Callas said they are actually planning to use the robotic arm to help get Spirit unstuck, but not quite the way Julian had in mind.
“We’re doing a parallel approach,” Callas told Universe Today, “doing things both on Earth and on Mars. Spirit is using her instruments to assess the terrain and the nature of the materials where she is stuck. Just last night we made the decision to use the robotic arm to look underneath the belly of the rover to see if we can determine how the vehicle is embedded and if it may be high centered on some small rocks under the rover. We’ll also look at the wheels to see how the middle wheels are dug in.”
Callas said this is a technique the robotic arm was never designed to do. “So, we tested it first on Opportunity and it worked quite well, so that’s the plan for what we’ll do with Spirit this weekend.”
Spirit has also been busy taking remote sensing images of the surrounding terrain with all its instruments to try to characterize the soils and their properties. Callas said “soils” because there actually appears to be two different types of materials where the rover is stuck, with a different type of soil on the left side of the rover from the right. Workers at JPL start digging to replicate Spirit's situation on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL
The rover team will use the data to create a soil simulant to be used in the JPL test bed, basically a large sandbox where an engineering model of the rover identical to Spirit and Opportunity can be used to simulate Spirit’s predicament. There, the team can experiment with how best to get the rover out.
However, the test has been held up because of problems with work station that controls the test facility, but Callas said they are hoping by later today (Friday) to get started with the simulations.
They’ll start by putting the simulated Mars regolith, which is called baghouse dust, (ground basaltic material, Callas said) and use enough to test just one wheel of the rover. “If it exhibits the same characteristics we’re seeing on Mars, then we’ll truck in tons of that material to do the tests with the rover,” said Callas. If not, they’ll have to go back to the drawing board. Spirit's wheels embedded in the Martian regolith. Credit: NASA/JPL
Spirit has long been without the use of her right front wheel, which doesn’t help the situation, and recently the left middle wheel was jammed, but now appears to be working again. The one piece of good news is that Mars itself provided a little help by sending a gust of wind Spirit’s way, cleaning off the solar panels, making more energy available to the rover. Spirit now has over 80% of its potential power, with 843 watt hours available, as opposed to earlier where the rover was operating at less than 200 watt hours.
Callas said he is optimistic about getting Spirit unstuck. “We saw that even on the last drive that the rover was still moving, even though it was only fractionally, based on the wheel spin. So, that tells us material is still being transported underneath the wheels. Given enough time and enough wheel spinning we should be able to get out. If that changes, if we get a situation where we have a hundred per cent slip, then we’re in trouble. But we’re not at that point yet, — even if we’re at 99.9%, that makes a big difference between 100%.”
And if this latest attempt doesn’t work, Callas says they have some other ideas up their robotic arm sleeves. “There are some exotic things we would consider if the more traditional methods don’t work,” he said. We have a lot of arrows in our quiver, or tools in our toolbelt to try first. ”
[/caption]
The Mars Science Laboratory rover, scheduled for launch in 2011, now has a new name, thanks to a sixth-grade student from Kansas. Twelve-year-old Clara Ma submitted the winning entry, “Curiosity” in the name-the-rover contest for schoolchildren, sponsored by NASA. “We have been eager to call the rover by name,” said Pete Theisinger, who manages the JPL team building and testing Curiosity. “Giving it a name worthy of this mission’s quest means a lot to the people working on it.”
For winning the naming contest, Clara gets to sign her name directly on the rover. But you can send your name to Mars with Curiosity, too.
A NASA panel selected the name following a nationwide student contest that attracted more than 9,000 proposals via the Internet and mail. The panel primarily took into account the quality of submitted essays. Name suggestions from the Mars Science Laboratory project leaders and a non-binding public poll also were considered.
“Students from every state suggested names for this rover. That’s testimony to the excitement Mars missions spark in our next generation of explorers,” said Mark Dahl, the mission’s program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Many of the nominating essays were excellent and several of the names would have fit well. I am especially pleased with the choice, which recognizes something universally human and essential to science.” Clara Ma
Ma decided to enter the rover-naming contest after she heard about it at her school.
“I was really interested in space, but I thought space was something I could only read about in books and look at during the night from so far away,” Ma said. “I thought that I would never be able to get close to it, so for me, naming the Mars rover would at least be one step closer.”
“Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone’s mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day,” Ma wrote in her winning essay. “Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn’t be who we are today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder.”
Space shuttle Atlantis landed safely in California on Sunday morning after “dynamic and unpredictable” weather kept the orbiter from returning to Florida. Atlantis touched down on runway 22 of Edwards Air Force Base at 11:39 am EDT (1539 GMT) Sunday, the first of two opportunities to land the shuttle in California. Atlantis spent nearly 13 days in orbit on the STS-125 mission, successfully repairing and upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope during a series of five spacewalks. Atlantis will be ferried to Kennedy Space Center on top of a modified 747 in about a week. Next shuttle mission: STS-127, slated for liftoff on June 13, on a trip to the International Space Station.
Remembering Phoenix
Do you remember what you were doing a year ago? You may recall the Phoenix Mars lander touched down on the Red Planet a year ago, and if you were on Twitter back then, you could follow the spacecraft’s progress via the fledgling social networking device. The “voice” of Phoenix’s Twitter account, Veronica McGregor, is re-living the events of a year ago by re-posting her “Tweets” in real time as they were written a year ago. It is a fun way to stroll down memory lane.
STS-125 crew members aboard Atlantis (pictured above) will hang out at least a day longer in space, following foul weather that prevented a timely landing today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
And the forecast isn’t looking any sunnier for at least a little while.
There’s a 70 percent likelihood that storms will stick around today, with that chance dropping slightly to 60 percent through Saturday. By early next week, the chance of thunderstorms will have dropped below 50 percent.
NASA Flight Director Norm Knight and the entry team will evaluate weather conditions at Kennedy before permitting Atlantis and its crew to land at 9:16 a.m. Saturday. A second Kennedy landing opportunity is at 10:54 a.m. The shuttle also has landing opportunities at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 10:46 a.m. and 12:24 p.m.
If Atlantis does not land Saturday, there are multiple landing opportunities Sunday at Kennedy, Edwards, or White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
Meanwhile, here are some ways to keep current on the mission’s finale:
ESA's 35-metre deep-space ground station at New Norcia, Australia. Credit: ESA
[/caption]
For the first time in spaceflight history, a satellite has used mobile phone technology to radio back to Earth. The Herschel spacecraft – which launched on May 14, called home two days later using the same technology used in GSM mobile phone networks to send test data to ESA’s deep space tracking station. “Herschel’s 1.5-Mbps test transmission – roughly the same data rate provided by a home broadband Internet connection – was picked up at ESA’s ESTRACK station at New Norcia, Australia, on Saturday, as the satellite was travelling some 280 000 km from Earth,” said John Dodsworth, the Herschel-Planck Flight Operations Director.
This marks the first-ever use of Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) modulation in space. GMSK is commonly used in Global System for mobile Communication (GSM) mobile phone networks due to its very efficient use of bandwidth and power. Plot showing Herschel's mobile phone call received at New Norcia station
In a typical GSM mobile phone network, the same technology transmits data at a somewhat lower speed. The Planck spacecraft that was launched along with Herschel also uses GMSK technology, and its transmission capability will be tested later during the satellite’s commissioning phase.
During their missions, the GMSK-based radio links will be used by both spacecraft to transfer data gathered by their scientific instruments and on-board subsystems, providing information on flight status and overall health.
The development was driven by the need to use bandwidth more efficiently in view of the growing number of ESA missions that require X-band communications via the Agency’s deep space ground stations.
The GSM standard is the most popular modulation standard for mobile phone networks in the world. According to the GSM Association, terrestrial GSM networks now cover more than 80% of the world’s population in more than 212 countries and territories – and will soon extend 1.5 million kms further to L2, Herschel and Plank’s final orbital destination.
The Herschel and Planck spacecraft successfully launched together Thursday from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The Ariane V rocket performed flawlessly, with the rocket’s trajectory matching exactly the predicted flight path. The two spacecraft separated individually and in different directions from the launch vehicle, about four minutes apart, after spinning to orient themselves correctly for their high elliptical orbits. Just 40 minutes after lift-off, Herschel and Planck sent their first radio signals to Earth, confirming that they both are operating in good shape. In a few months, they will arrive at the L-2 (Lagrange) point in space, 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth, beyond the Moon’s orbit. By early next year, they’ll begin operations to open new windows on the Universe. Herschel will be studying star formation while Planck will be looking back at the Big Bang.
Herschel will be looking at specific points in space while Planck will look at the whole sky. Herschel in 3-D. Credit: Nathanial Burton-Bradford.
This 3-D image of Herschel was created by Nathanial Burton-Bradford. Check out other images at his Flickr page.
Named after the 18th century astronomer who discovered infrared light, the Herschel spacecraft is 7 meters in length and 4 meters wide. The telescope mirror is 3.5 meters wide, 4 times bigger than previous space telescope, and will collect long-wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most distant objects in the Universe. The mirror is also a technological wonder: it uses 12 silicon carbide petals fused together into a single piece. Herschel will be the only space observatory to cover a spectral range from the far infrared to sub-millimeter.
To detect cold, dark objects, Herschel has to be even colder. 2,400 liters of liquid helium cools the spacecraft to -273 Celsius. Like a thermal camera can see a person’s body heat, Herschel will look beyond dust and gas to see inside star forming regions, study comets and look into the distant universe where galaxies collide and give birth to stars. Scientists are planning for at least three years of operation from Herschel. Planck. Credit: ESA
Planck will be sweeping the whole sky continuously to map out a picture of the Universe as it was 13.7 billion years ago. The spacecraft is four by four meters, with a 1.5 meter primary mirror that is surrounded with a baffle to limit any stray light from nearby objects, the Sun, Earth and Moon. Planck’s detectors have to be cold as well, and will be chilled to between 273 C to just 1/10th of degree above Absolute Zero.
Routine observations with Planck are expected to last for at least 15 months. The mission could be extended depending on the status of helium 3 isotope that is being used to chill the spacecraft.
Planck will test key questions in cosmology, investigating the cosmic microwave background, to ascertain the primordial constituents of the universe, and look for existence of gravitational waves. Planck will journey back in time, while giving us a better understanding of the future.
Ariane V with the Herschel and Planck spacecraft ready to launch. Credit: ESA-CNES-Arianespace / Optique Vidéo du CSG
[/caption]
The launch of the Herschel and Planck spacecraft is scheduled for 13:12 GMT (9:12 EDT) this morning (Thursday). You can watch it live, starting at 12:40 GMT (8:40 EDT) at this link.
The two spacecraft are launching together in what was originally a cost saving move, but the complexity of preparing two spacecraft at once has caused frequent delays and cost overruns. However, now that launch day is here, hopefully the cutting-edge technologies included in both spacecraft will soon pay off in new discoveries astronomy and cosmology. Read more about the two spacecraft here.
Also, Robert Simpson at Orbiting Frog has some interactive features that show the altitude, velocity and acceleration of the Ariane rocket as it progress through the air into space. You can even click and drag to zoom in on a section of these charts, and move your mouse around inside them to get more information.
And the first of five spacewalks for the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission starts at around 9:00 am EDT, and will be pretty much an all-day event. Watch live on NASA TV.
Wheel slippage during attempts to extricate NASA's Mars Rover Spirit from a patch of soft ground during the preceding two weeks had partially buried the wheels by the 1,899th Martian day, or sol, of the Spirit's mission on Mars (May 6, 2009). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
[/caption]
Of all the perilous situations and technological issues the two Mars rovers dealt with, soft soil wasn’t tops on my list of what might mean the end of roving on Mars. The Spirit rover is stuck in an area of soft sand-like soil, slipping severely during recent attempts to drive, sinking the wheels about halfway into the ground. The rover engineers and scientists has suspended driving Spirit temporarily while studying the ground around the rover and planning simulation tests of driving options with a test rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
“Spirit is in a very difficult situation,” JPL’s John Callas, MER project manager said Monday. “We are proceeding methodically and cautiously. It may be weeks before we try moving Spirit again. Meanwhile, we are using Spirit’s scientific instruments to learn more about the physical properties of the soil that is giving us trouble.”
Spirit has overcome problems with her flash drive, survived climbing and descending Husband Hill with a malfunctioning front wheel, and recently prevailed over problems caused by cosmic ray hit which caused memory problems and “amnesia.” Things were looking up for Spirit as three times in the past month, wind has removed some of the dust accumulated on Spirit’s solar panels, increasing the rover’s capability for generating power.
Spirit has been driving counterclockwise from north to south around a low plateau called “Home Plate” for two months. The rover progressed 122 meters (400 feet) on that route before reaching its current position.
In the past week, the digging-in of Spirit’s wheels has raised concerns that the rover’s belly pan could now be low enough to contact rocks underneath the chassis, which would make getting out of the situation more difficult. The right-front wheel on Spirit stopped working three years ago. Driving with just five powered wheels while dragging or pushing an immobile wheel adds to the challenge of the situation.
“The improved power situation buys us time,” Callas said. “We will use that time to plan the next steps carefully. We know that dust storms could return at any time, although the skies are currently clear.”
Opportunity also had problems with soft soil, running aground in a dune called “Purgatory” back in 2005. Extricating the rover from the dune required more than five weeks of planning, testing, and carefully monitored driving. So, don’t give up hope yet of the engineers figuring out how to get Spirit out of the bind she is in.
