Crewed Variant of X-37 Space Plane Proposed

The X-37, versions of which have flown twice into space already, is now being proposed as a potential means of transportation for crews to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: Boeing

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As reported online at Space.com, the Boeing Company is already working on the CST-100 space taxi as a means of transportation to and from the International Space Station (ISS). But the aerospace firm is not content with just this simple space capsule and is looking into whether-or-not another of Boeing’s current offerings – the X-37B space plane could be modified to one day ferry crew to and from the orbiting laboratory as well.

proposed variant of the spacecraft, dubbed the X-37C, is being considered for a role that has some similarities to the cancelled X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV). The announcement was made at a conference hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and reported on Space.com.

The USAF has already launched two of the X-37B Orbital Text Vehicles (OTV) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Photo Credit: ULA/Pat Corkery

The X-37B or Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) has so far been launched twice by the U.S. Air Force from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. One of the military space planes completed the craft’s inaugural mission, USA-212, on Apr. 22, 2010. The mini space plane reentered Earth’s atmosphere and conducted an autonomous landing at Vandenberg Air Force on Dec. 3, 2010.

The U.S. Air Force then went on to launch the second of the space planes on mission USA-226 on Mar. 5, 2011. With these two successful launches, the longest-duration stay on orbit by a reusable vehicle and a landing under its belt, some of the vehicle’s primary systems (guidance, navigation, thermal protection and aerodynamics among others) are now viewed as having been validated. The vehicle has performed better than expected with the turnaround time being less than predicted.

If the X-37C is produced, it will be roughly twice the size of its predecessor. The X-37B is about 29 feet long; this new version of the mini shuttle would be approximately 48 feet in length. The X-37C is estimated at being approximately 165-180 percent larger than the X-37B. This increase in the size requires a larger launch vehicle.

This larger size also highlights plans to have the spacecraft carry 5 or 6 astronauts – with room for an additional crew member that is immobilized on a stretcher. The X-38, manufactured by Scaled Composites, was designed, built and tested to serve as a lifeboat for the ISS. In case of an emergency, crew members on the ISS would have entered the CRV and returned to Earth – a role that now could possibly be filled by the X-37C. The key difference being that the CRV only reached the point of atmospheric drop tests – the X-37B has flown into space twice.

Certain elements of the X-37C proposal highlight mission aspects of the cancelled X-38 Crew Return Vehicle. Photo Credit: NASA.gov

The crewed variant of the X-37 space plane would contain a pressurized compartment where the payload is normally stored, it would have a hatch that would allow for astronauts to enter and depart the spacecraft. Another hatch would be located on the main body of the mini shuttle so as to allow access to the vehicle on the ground. The X-37C, like its smaller cousin, would be able to rendezvous, dock, reenter the atmosphere and land remotely, without the need of a pilot. Acknowledging the need for pilots to control their own craft however, the X-37C would be capable of accomplishing these space flight requirements under manual control as well.

As mentioned in the Space.com article, one of the other selling points for the X-37C is its modular nature. Different variants could be used for crewed flights or unmanned missions that could return delicate cargo from the ISS. Neither the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, nor commercially-developed capsules are considered as appropriate means of returning biological or crystal experiments to Earth due to the high rate of acceleration that these vehicles incur upon atmospheric reentry. By comparison the X-37B experiences just 1.5 “g” upon reentry.

The launch vehicle that would send the proposed X-37C to orbit would be the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. In provided images the X-37C is shown utilizing a larger version of the Atlas booster and without the protective fairing that covered the two X-37B space planes that were launched.

Book Review: The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane

The Space Shuttle: Celebating Thirty Years Of NASA's First Space Plane is chocked full of great imagery and works to cover each of the shuttle's 135 missions. Photo Credit: Zenith Press

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The space shuttle program is over. The orbiters are being decommissioned, stripped of the components that allowed them to travel in space. For those that followed the program, those that wished they did and those with only a passing interest in what the program accomplished a new book has been produced covering the entirety of the thirty years that comprised NASA’s longest human space flight program. The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane is written by aerospace author Piers Bizony and weighs in at 300 pages in length.

Bizony is a prolific author who has focused a lot of his work on space flight. Some of the books that he has written include (but definitely are not limited to) include: One Giant Leap: Apollo 11 Remembered, Space 50, The Man Who Ran the Moon: James E. Webb, NASA, and the Secret History of Project Apollo and Island in the Sky: The International Space Station.

Bizony pulls out all the stops in detailing the shuttle era. From thunder and light - to tragedy, the full spectrum of the shuttle program is highlighted here. Photo Credit: NASA

The book contains 900 color images, detailing the entire history of NASA’s fleet of orbiters. From the first launches and the hope that those initial flights were rich in, to the Challenger tragedy and the subsequent realization that the space shuttles would never be what they were intended to be.

The next phase of the book deals with the post-Challenger period and how NASA worked to find a balance with its fleet of orbiters, while at the same time worked to regain the trust of the America public. The path was both hindered and helped by a single payload – the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane - has stunning imagery on every page, allowing the reader to once again view the majesty that the shuttle program provided. Photo Credit: NASA

When the images the orbiting telescope beamed back turned out fuzzy, NASA was a laughing stock. Hubble would become a sensation and NASA redeemed its name after the first servicing mission to Hubble corrected the problem with the telescope’s mirror.

Hubble was not the only telescope or probe that the shuttle placed in the heavens. It would however, be the only one that NASA’s fleet of orbiters would visit during several servicing missions. Besides Hubble the shuttle also sent the Chandra X-Ray telescope, Galileo probe to Jupiter and the Magellan probe to Venus during the course of the program’s history.

It is currently unknown when the U.S. will launch crews into orbit again. Some aerospace experts have even suggested that the shuttles be pulled out of retirement to help fill this gap - but this is highly unlikely to happen. Photo Credit: NASA

NASA was now on course to begin construction of the most ambitious engineering feat in human history – the International Space Station. The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane details this period, as well as the tragic loss of the shuttle Columbia in 2003 with great care and attention to detail. Many never-before-seen images are contained within and Bizony uses them to punctuate the history that the space shuttle accomplished with every flight.

With a chance of catastrophic failure estimated by some as being as high as one chance in 53 - the shuttle was a risky endeavor. However, given all of the program's accomplishments - it is not a stretch to say that the shuttle made fact out of last century's science fiction. Photo Credit: NASA

The book also contains a detailed diagram of the orbiter (it is long and therefore was produced as a pull-out section. This element is included near the end and acts as a nice punctuation mark to the stream of imagery contained within.

While it required the combined effort of 16 different nations to make the International Space Station work - the space shuttle made the orbiting laboratory a reality. Photo Credit: NASA

The book is not perfect (but what book is). If one did not know better, upon reading this book one would assume that the Delta Clipper (both DC-X and DC-XA) flew once and upon landing caught fire. DC-X flew eight times – not once. Bizony also describes the lunar element of the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) as being a repeat of Apollo. Apollo 17 was the longest duration that astronauts roamed the Moon’s surface – they were there for about three days. The VSE called for a permanent crewed presence on the moon.

For those out there that consider themselves “shuttle huggers” this book is simply a must-have. It is perfect to take to autograph shows to be signed by astronauts (as every mission is detailed, it is a simple matter to have crew members sign on the pages that contain their missions). It is also a perfect gift for space aficionados this holiday season. Published by Zenith Press and retailing for $40.00, The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane is a welcome addition to your home library.

How will the shuttle be remebered? According to Bizony, given the technological restraints and the numerous accomplishments that the orbiter accomplished - it will be remembered in a positive light. Photo Credit: NASA

Behind the Scenes: Curiosity’s Rocket Prepared at Vertical Integration Facility

One of the most incredible things to see at United Launch Alliance's Vertical Integration Facility - is the surrounding area and the adjacent Space Launch Complex-41. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — One of the more dramatic buildings operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is the Vertical Integration Facility or VIF as it is more commonly known. It is in this facility that expendable launch vehicles are brought, lying on their sides – and then hoisted into the vertical position for launch. The current resident in the VIF is the Atlas V 541 (AV-028) that is slated to launch the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

At the top of the 292 –foot-tall structure is a 60 ton crane that initially is used to lift the Atlas’ first stage into the vertical position. The payload, ensconced in the protective fairing, is assembled elsewhere. Once it arrives at the VIF, it is hoisted high into the air using the same crane and then mated with the top of the launch vehicle. Given the delicate nature of this operation technicians take their time in lifting the precious cargo and maneuvering it over the rocket.

The U.S. flag and the interstage adapter are seen in the image to the left. The photo to the right helps to illustrate the scale needed to assemble the Atlas V. Photo Credits: Jason Rhian

“You get the most amazing view from the top of the VIF,” said Mike Woolley of United Launch Alliance. “From this level you can clearly see not just Launch Complex 41, but a great deal of Florida’s Space Coast.”

Once the fairing and its payload have been safely affixed to the top of the rocket, the doors are opened up and the Atlas V is then rolled out to the adjacent Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41).

At the Vertical Integration Facility's fifh level, the segment of the rocket where the payload (in this case the MSL rover) is attached is the only element of the rocket that is visible. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com

“Once the Atlas V is fully assembled, the completed vehicle is rolled, in the vertical, out to the launch pad.” Woolley said.

Currently on the fifth level the upper part of the Centaur, the all-important rocket that will send the rover on its way to Mars, covered in a protective layer of white plastic, is visible.

One of the easiest ways to display the size of the Atlas - is to actually break up the images. To the left is the top portion, to the right the middle (note the Aerojet Solid Rocket Motors the the right). Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com

Descending down the length of the Atlas V, level by level one gains an appreciation for the sheer scale of the Atlas rocket, its solid rocket motors and the attention to detail needed to launch payloads out of Earth’s gravity well.

On Level One the top of the Atlas’ Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs) produced by Aerojet are visible. At the ground floor, one has the ability to look up (somewhat, platforms and rigging block your view) the length of the rocket. On the ground level, one can plainly see that the twin RD-180 engines are Russian-made – the Cyrillic lettering still grace the engines’ nozzles.

Just inside the VIF one can look up the side of the Atlas V, even though elements of the launch vehicle are obstructed - the sight is still impressive. Photo Credit: Jason Rhian

MSL is the next planetary mission on NASA’s docket, more commonly known as “Curiosity” is a nuclear-powered rover about the size of a compact automobile.

Curiosity is currently slated for a Nov. 25 launch date at 10:21 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41). Members of the media (myself included) got to see the Atlas for this launch being lifted into the air in preparation for the November launch when we were being escorted back to the NASA/LSC press site after the GRAIL launch was scrubbed (GRAIL would go on to be launched two days later).

Assembling Curiosity’s Rocket to Mars

The first stage of the Atlas V rocket for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is lifted into an upright position for placement inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. NASA/Jim Grossmann

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Assembly of the powerful Atlas V booster that will rocket NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory rover to Mars is nearly complete. The Atlas V is taking shape inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The rocket is built by United Launch Alliance under contract to NASA as part of NASA’s Launch Services Program to loft science satellites on expendable rockets.

At Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers guide an overhead crane as it lifts the Centaur upper stage for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V in the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF). Once in position, it will be attached to the Atlas V booster stage, already at the pad. Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

The Atlas V configuration for Curiosity is similar to the one used for Juno except that it employs one less solid rocket motor in a designation known as Atlas 541.

4 indicates a total of four solid rocket motors are attached to the base of the first stage vs. five solids for Juno. 5 indicates a five meter diameter payload fairing. 1 indicates use of a single engine Centaur upper stage.

Blastoff of Curiosity remains on schedule for Nov. 25, 2011, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. The launch window for a favorable orbital alignment to Mars remains open until Dec. 18 after which the mission would face a 26 month delay at a cost likely to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Curiosity is set to touchdown on Mars at Gale Crater between August 6 & August 20, 2012. The compact car sized rover is equipped with 10 science instruments that will search for signs of habitats that could potentially support martian microbial life, past or present if it ever existed.

At the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the Centaur upper stage for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V is in position in the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF). It then will be attached to the Atlas V booster stage, already at the pad. The Atlas V is slated to launch NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission - the compact car-sized Curiosity Mars rover. Credit: NASA
With a unique view taken from inside Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, an overhead crane lifts the Centaur upper stage for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V. Once in position in the VIF it will be attached to the Atlas V booster stage, already at the pad. NASA/Jim Grossmann
Workers guide an overhead crane as it lifts the Centaur upper stage for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V into the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF). NASA/Jim Grossmann
An overhead crane lifts the Centaur upper stage for the Atlas V. NASA/Jim Grossmann
The final solid rocket motor (SRM) hangs in an upright position for mating to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. NASA/Jim Grossmann
A crane lifts the 106.5-foot-long first stage of the Atlas V rocket for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission through the open door of the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41. Credit: NASA/Cory Huston
Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory Rover - inside the Cleanroom at KSC. Credit: Ken Kremer

Meanwhile NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover is nearing 8 continuous years of Exploration and Discovery around the Meridiani Planum region of the Red Planet.

Read Ken’s continuing features about Curiosity and Opportunity starting here:
Encapsulating Curiosity for Martian Flight Test
Dramatic New NASA Animation Depicts Next Mars Rover in Action
Opportunity spotted Exploring vast Endeavour Crater from Mars Orbit
Twin Towers 9/11 Tribute by Opportunity Mars RoverNASA Robot arrives at ‘New’ Landing Site holding Clues to Ancient Water Flow on Mars
Opportunity Arrives at Huge Martian Crater with Superb Science and Scenic Outlook
Opportunity Snaps Gorgeous Vistas nearing the Foothills of Giant Endeavour Crater
Opportunity Rover Heads for Spirit Point to Honor Dead Martian Sister; Science Team Tributes

Buried Treasure: Astronomers Find Exoplanets Hidden in Old Hubble Data

The left image shows the star HR 8799 as seen by Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) in 1998. The center image shows recent processing of the NICMOS data with newer, sophisticated software. The processing removes most of the scattered starlight to reveal three planets orbiting HR 8799. Based on the reanalysis of NICMOS data and ground-based observations, the illustration on the right shows the positions of the star and the orbits of its four known planets. (Credit: NASA; ESA; STScI, R. Soummer)

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Over the past 21 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has gathered boatloads of data, with the Hubble archive center filling about 18 DVDs for every week of the telescope’s life. Now, with improved data mining techniques, an intense re-analysis of HST images from 1998 has revealed some hidden treasures: previously undetected extrasolar planets.

Scientists say this discovery helps prove a new method for planet hunting by using archived Hubble data. Also, discovering the additional exoplanets in the Hubble data helps them compare earlier orbital motion data to more recent observations.

How did astronomers detect the previously unseen exoplanets, and can the methods used be applied to other HST data sets?

This isn’t the first time hidden exoplanets have been revealed in HST data – In 2009 David Lafreniere of the University of Montreal recovered hidden exoplanet data in Hubble images of HR 8799. The HST images Lafreniere studied were taken in 1998 with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). The outermost planet orbiting HR 8799 was identified and demonstrated the power of a new data-processing technique which could tease out faint planets from the glow of their central star.

Four giant planets are now known to orbit HR 8799, the first three of which were discovered in 2007/2008 in near-infrared images taken with instruments at the W.M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini North telescope by Christian Marois of the National Research Council in Canada. In 2010 Marois and his team uncovered a fourth, innermost, planet. What makes the HR 8799 system so unique is that it is the only multi-exoplanet star system that has been directly imaged.

The new analysis by Remi Soummer of the Space Telescope Science Institute has found all three of the outer planets. Unfortunately, the fourth, innermost planet is close to HR 8799 and cannot be imaged due obscuration by the the NICMOS coronagraph that blocks the central star’s light.

When astronomers study exoplanets by directly imaging them, they study images taken several years apart – not unlike methods used to find Pluto and other dwarf planets in our solar system like Eris. Understanding the orbits in a multi-planet system is critical since massive planets can affect the orbits of their neighboring planets in the system. “From the Hubble images we can determine the shape of their orbits, which brings insight into the system stability, planet masses and eccentricities, and also the inclination of the system,” says Soummer.

Making the study difficult is the extremely long orbits of the three outer planets, which are approximately 100, 200, and 400 years, respectively. The long orbital periods require considerable time to produce enough motion for astronomers to study. In this case however, the added time span from the Hubble data helps considerably. “The archive got us 10 years of science right now,” Soummer says. “Without this data we would have had to wait another decade. It’s 10 years of science for free.”

Given its 400 year orbital period, in the past ten years, the outermost planet has barely changed position. “But if we go to the next inner planet we see a little bit of an orbit, and the third inner planet we actually see a lot of motion,” Soummer added.

When the original HST data was analyzed, the methods used to detect exoplanets such as those orbiting HR 8799 were not available. Techniques to subtract the light from a host star still left residual light that drowned out the faint exoplanets. Soummer and his team improved on the previous methods and used over four hundred images from over 10 years of NICMOS observations.

The improvements on the previous technique included increasing contrast and minimizing residual starlight. Soummer and his team also successfully removed the diffraction spikes, a phenomenon that amateur and professional telescope imaging systems suffer from. With the improved techniques, Soummer and his team were able to see two of HR 8799’s faint inner planets, which are about 1/100,000th the brightness of the host star in infra-red.

Soummer has made plans to next analyze 400 more stars in the NICMOS archive with the same technique, which demonstrates the power of the Hubble Space Telescope data archive. How many more exoplanets are uncovered is anyone’s guess.

Finding these new exoplanets proves that even after the HST is no longer functioning, Hubble’s data will live on, and scientists will rely on Hubble’s revelations for years as they continue in their quest to understand the cosmos.

Source: Hubble Space Telescope Mission Updates

Martian Atmosphere Supersaturated with Water?

Artist's impression of the Mars Express spacecraft in orbit. Image Credit: ESA/Medialab

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Last week, scientists announced findings based on data from the SPICAM spectrometer onboard ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft. The findings reported in Science by Maltagliati et al (2011), reveal that the Martian atmosphere is supersaturated with water vapor. According to the research team, the discovery provides new information which will help scientists better understand the water cycle and atmospheric history of Mars.

What processes are at work to allow large amounts of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere?

The animated sequence to the left shows the water cycle of the Martian atmosphere in action:

When the polar caps of Mars (which contain frozen Water and CO2) are warmed by the Sun during spring and summer, the water sublimates and is released into the atmosphere.

Atmospheric winds transport the water vapor molecules to higher altitudes. When the water molecules combine with dust molecules, clouds are formed. If there isn’t much dust in the atmosphere, the rate of condensation is reduced, which leaves water vapor in the atmosphere, creating a supersaturated state.

Water vapor may also be transported by wind to the southern hemisphere or may be carried high in the atmosphere.In the upper atmosphere the water vapor can be affected by photodissociation in which solar radiation (white arrows) splits the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, which then escape into space.

Scientists had generally assumed that supersaturation cannot exist in the cold Martian atmosphere, believing that any water vapor in excess of saturation instantly froze. Data from SPICAM revealed that supersaturation takes place at altitudes of up to 50 km above the surface when Mars is at its farthest point from the Sun.

Based on the SPICAM data, scientists have learned that there is more water vapor in the Martian atmosphere than previously believed. While the amount of water in Mars’ atmosphere is about 10,000 times less water vapor than that of Earth, previous models have underestimated the amount of water in the Martian atmosphere at altitudes of 20-50km, as the data suggests 10 to 100 times more water than expected at said altitudes.

“The vertical distribution of water vapour is a key factor in the study of Mars’ hydrological cycle, and the old paradigm that it is mainly controlled by saturation physics now needs to be revised,” said Luca Maltagliati, one of the authors of the paper. “Our finding has major implications for understanding the planet’s global climate and the transport of water from one hemisphere to the other.”

“The data suggest that much more water vapour is being carried high enough in the atmosphere to be affected by photodissociation,” added Franck Montmessin, Principal Investigator for SPICAM and co-author of the paper.

“Solar radiation can split the water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen atoms, which can then escape into space. This has implications for the rate at which water has been lost from the planet and for the long-term evolution of the Martian surface and atmosphere.”

However, water vapour is a very dynamic trace gas, and one of the most seasonally variable atmospheric constituents on Mars.

Source: ESA/Mars Express Mission Updates

Ed Weiler – NASA Science Leader and Hubble Chief Scientist Retires

Dr. Ed Weiler retired on Sept 30, 2011 as the NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA HQ, Washington, DC after 33 distinguished years at NASA, including 10 years as Chief of all NASA Space Science and nearly 20 years as Chief Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope. In this photo, Weiler ‘Hugs Hubble' after launch of STS-125 on the final shuttle mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope in May 2009. A happy and relieved Weiler chats post-launch inside the KSC Press Center about Hubble and NASA Space Science. Credit: Ken Kremer

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Ed Weiler, NASA’s Science leader in charge of the robotic missions that continually produce scientific breakthroughs that amaze all humanity and longtime Chief Scientist on the Hubble Space Telescope that has completely revolutionized our understanding of humanities place in the Universe, retired today (Sept. 30) from NASA after a distinguished career spanning almost 33 years.

Weiler is departing NASA during what has been dubbed the “Year of Space Science”- the best year ever for NASA Space Science research. The two most recent successes are the launch of JUNO to Jupiter and the twin GRAIL probes to the Moon. Blastoff of the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory rover is slated for late November 2011.

Weiler’s official title is associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at agency Headquarters in Washington, DC. In that capacity he was responsible for overseeing NASA’s science and research programs in Earth science, heliophysics, planetary science and astrophysics.

Weiler was appointed to lead SMD in 2008. He holds this position now for the second time after serving in between as Director of NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland from 2004 to 2008. His earlier stint as associate administrator lasted from 1998 to 2004 for what was then called the Space Science Enterprise.

Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Probably the job he loved best was as Chief Scientist of the Hubble Space Telescope from 1979 to 1998, until he was promoted to the top rung of NASA management.

I was very lucky to meet and chat with Ed Weiler while I was covering the final space shuttle flight – STS-125 – to repair and upgrade Hubble. STS 125 blasted off in May 2009 and accomplished every single objective to catapult Hubble to the apex of its capabilities.

At the recent launch of the twin GRAIL lunar mapping probes, I spoke with Weiler about a wide range of NASA missions. Watch for my upcoming interview with Ed.

Weiler is very hopeful that Hubble will continue to operate for several more years at least.

NASA issued this statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, “Ed leaves an enduring legacy of pride and success that forever will remain a part of NASA’s science history. His leadership helped inspire the public with each new scientific discovery, and enabled NASA to move forward with new capabilities to continue to explore our solar system and beyond.”

The successes under Weiler’s leadership include NASA’s great observatory missions, unprecedented advances in Earth science and extensive exploration of Mars and other planets in our solar system. These advances have rewritten science textbooks and earned enormous support for NASA’s science programs from the general public.

The Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are just one example of the science missions approved and funded during Weiler’s tenure.

Weiler’s leadership has been instrumental in securing continued support and funding for NASA Space Science from Congress and the White House. He has received numerous prestigious awards including the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and several Presidential Rank Awards for Meritorious Executive and Distinguished Executive.

Ed Weiler remembers Spirit at JPL symposium. Credit: AP

Citizen Science: Help Find Life on Mars

This photo was taken by a DeepWorker submersible in Kelly Lake. Credit: NASA

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Interested in helping NASA scientists pinpoint where to look for signs of life on Mars?

If so, you can join a new citizen science website called MAPPER, launched in conjunction with the Pavilion Lake Research Project’s 2011 field season.

How can the MAPPER and Pavilion Lake Research projects help scientists look for off-Earth life?

Since 2008, the Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) has used DeepWorker submersible vehicles to investigate the underwater environment of two lakes in Canada (Pavilion and Kelly). With the MAPPER project, citizen scientists can work with NASA scientists and explore the lake bottoms from the view of a DeepWorker pilot.

The PLRP team’s main area of focus are freshwater carbonate formations known as microbialites. By studying microbialites that thrive in Pavilion and Kelly Lake, the scientists believe a better understanding of how the formations develop. Through a greater understanding of the carbonate formations, the team believes they will gain deeper insights into where signs of life may be found on Mars and beyond.

To investigate the formations in detail, video footage and photos of the lake bottom are recorded by DeepWorker sub pilots. The data requires analysis in order to determine what types of features can be found in different parts of the lake. Analyzing the data allows the team to answer questions such as; “how does microbialite texture and size vary with depth?” and “why do microbialites grow in certain parts of the lake but not in others?”.

The amount of data to analyze is staggering – if each image taken were to be printed, the stack would be taller than the depth of Pavilion Lake (over 60 meters). If each image were reviewed one-by-one, the PLRP’s team would never be able to complete their work. Distributing the work to the general public solves the problem, due in part by spreading the massive work out over many volunteers across the Internet.

Since the PLRP 2011 field season Morphology Analysis Project for Participatory Exploration and Research (MAPPER) MAPPER has been open to the general public. By opening MAPPER to the public, anyone can explore Pavilion and Kelly Lake as full-fledged members of PLRP’s Remote Science Team.

So how do volunteers use MAPPER to help the PLRP team?

Once volunteers create an account at: getmapper.com, the volunteers complete a brief tutorial, which provides the necessary training to tag photos in the PLRP dataset. MAPPER has ease-of-use in mind, providing users with a simple interface, which makes tagging features like sediment, microbialites, rocks, and algae easy. In case a user is unsure of how to tag a photo, examples and descriptions of each feature are available.

Screenshot of Mapper in action. Image Credit: NASA

In a manner similar to online games, each photo tagged earns the volunteer points which can be used to unlock new activities. Volunteers can also compete with other Remote Science Team members on the MAPPER leaderboard. Volunteers can also check to see how close each dataset is to being completely reviewed and see how much they have contributed to said dataset, as well as seeing what features have been tagged the most. Volunteers who tag a photo as ‘cool’ save said image to their Cool Photos album, allowing them to easily find the image at a later date.

PLRP Remote Science Team members from across North America, Europe and Asia have already been making discoveries in Pavilion and Kelly Lake. If you’d like to become a PLRP Remote Science Team member, visit: www.getmapper.com
You can also learn more by visiting the MAPPER Facebook page

SGU-24 Starts Soon

Our good friends at the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe are about to punish themselves in a feat of skepticism that will shock and amaze mankind for generations to come. What will be seen, can never be unseen!

To help raise money for the show, the rogues have decided to put on a 24-hour video show, drawing in legends and supporters from across skeptic-kind. At some point you’ll see Adam Savage, Phil Plait, Richard Wiseman, Brian Brushwood, Richard Saunders, George Hrab, and more.

And you’ll also see me and Dr. Pamela Gay, my co-host from Astronomy Cast (I think we’re scheduled for 3pm Eastern time on Saturday).

The show gets started at 8:00pm Eastern Time on Friday, September 23rd, and runs for 24 non-stop hours.

You can find more, and actually watch the show here.

And if you really want to show your support for the SGU, take a moment and donate. Show them how much you appreciate their science news and skepticism.

Rheasilvia – Super Mysterious South Pole Basin at Vesta is Named after Romulus and Remus Roman Mother

A False-Color Topography of Vesta's South Pole. This false-color map of the giant asteroid Vesta was created from stereo images obtained by the framing camera aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. The image shows the elevation of surface structures with a horizontal resolution of about 750 meters per pixel. The terrain model of Vesta's southern hemisphere shows a big circular structure with a diameter of about 300 miles (500 kilometers), its rim rising above the interior of the structure for more than 9 miles (15 kilometers.) Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Video caption: Rheasilvia Impact Basin and Vesta shape model. This false-color shape model video of the giant asteroid Vesta was created from images taken by the framing camera aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Rheasilvia – South Pole Impact Basin – shown at bottom (left) and head on (at right). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

‘Rheasilvia’ – that’s the brand new name given to the humongous and ever more mysterious South Pole basin feature being scrutinized in detail by Dawn, according to the missions top scientists in a Universe Today exclusive. Dawn is NASA’s newly arrived science orbiter unveiling the giant asteroid Vesta – a marvelously intriguing body unlike any other in our Solar System.

What is Rheasilvia? An impact basin? A crater remnant? Tectonic action? A leftover from internal processes? Or something completely different? That’s the hotly debated central question consuming loads of attention and sparking significant speculation amongst Dawn’s happily puzzled international science team. There is nothing closely analogous to Vesta and Rhea Silvia – and thats a planetary scientists dream come true.

“Rheasilvia – One thing that we all agree on is that the large crater should be named ‘Rheasilvia’ after the mother of Romulus and Remus, the mythical mother of the Vestals,” said Prof. Chris Russell, Dawns lead scientist, in an exclusive interview with Universe Today. Russell, from UCLA, is the scientific Principal Investigator for Dawn.

“Since we have never seen any crater just like this one it is difficult for us to decide exactly what did happen,” Russell told me. “The name ‘Rheasilvia’ has been approved by the IAU and the science team is using it.”

Craters on Vesta are being named after the Vestal Virgins—the priestesses of the Roman goddess Vesta. Other features will be named for festivals and towns of that era. Romulus and Remus were the mythical founders of Rome.
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‘Rheasilvia’ has the science team in a quandary, rather puzzled and reevaluating and debating long held theories as they collect reams of new data from Dawn’s three science instruments – provided by the US, Germany and Italy. That’s the scientific method in progress and it will take time to reach a consensus.

Prior to Dawn’s orbital insertion in July 2011, the best views of Vesta were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and clearly showed it wasn’t round. Scientists interpreted the data as showing that Vesta’s southern hemisphere lacked a South Pole! And, that it had been blasted away eons ago by a gargantuan cosmic collision that excavated huge amounts of material that nearly utterly destroyed the asteroid.

The ancient collision left behind a colossal 300 mile (500 km) diameter and circular gaping hole in the southern hemisphere – nearly as wide as the entire asteroid (530 km) and leaving behind an as yet unexplained and enormous central mountain peak, measuring some 9 miles (15 km) high and over 125 miles (200 km) in diameter. The mountain has one of the highest elevations in the entire solar system.

“We are trying to understand the high scarps that we see and the scarps that should be there and aren’t,” Russell explained. “We are trying to understand the landslides we think we see and why the land slid. We see grooves in the floor of the basin and want to interpret them.

“And the hill in the center of the crater remains as mysterious today as when we first arrived.”

Viewing the South Pole of Vesta and Rheasilvia Impact Basin
This image obtained by Dawns framing camera and shows the south pole of the giant asteroid Vesta. Scientists are discussing whether the Rheasilvia circular structure that covers most of this image originated by a collision with another asteroid, or by internal processes early in the asteroid's history. Images in higher resolution from Dawn's lowered orbit might help answer that question. The image was recorded from a distance of about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers). The image resolution is about 260 meters per pixel. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Another top Dawn scientist described Rheasilvia in this way:

“I would say that the floor of the impact feature contains chaotic terrain with multiple sets of intersecting grooves, sometimes fairly straight and often curvy, said Carol Raymond to Universe Today. Raymond is Dawn’s Deputy Principal Investigator from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

“The crater rim is not well-expressed”, Raymond told me. “We see strong color variations across Vesta, and the south pole impact basin appears to have a distinct spectral signature.

“The analysis is still ongoing,” Russell said.


“The south is distinctly different than the north. The north has a varied spectrum and the south has a distinct spectral feature but it has little variation.” Time will tell as additional high resolution measurements are collected from the forthcoming science campaign at lower orbits.

Russell further informed that the team is rushing to pull all the currently available data together in time for a science conference and public briefing in mid-October.

“We have set ourselves a target to gather everything we know about the south pole impact feature and expect to have a press release from what ever we conclude at the GSA (Geological Society of America) meeting on October 12. “We will tell the public what the options are.”

“We do not have a good analog to Vesta anywhere else in the Solar System and we’ll be studying it very intently.”

Impressive South Pole MountainTop at Rheasilvia Crater on Vesta
This mountain, which measures about 125 miles (200 kilometers) in diameter at its base, is one of the highest elevations on all known bodies with solid surfaces in the solar system. The image has been recorded with the framing camera aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft from a distance of about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers). The image resolution is about 260 meters per pixel. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Right now Dawn is using its ion propulsion system to spiral down four times closer to Vesta, as it descends from the initlal survey orbit(about 2700 km, 1700 mi) to the new science orbit, elegantly named HAMO – or High Altitude Mapping Orbit (about 685 km.)

“Our current plan is to begin HAMO on Sept. 29, but we will not finalize that plan until next week,” Dr. Marc Rayman told Universe Today. Rayman, of NASA’s JPL, is Dawn’s Chief Engineer.

“Dawn’s mean altitude today (Sept. 20) is around 680 km (420 miles),” said Rayman .

“Dawn successfully completed the majority of the planned ion thrusting needed to reach its new science orbit and navigators are now measuring its orbital parameters precisely so they can design a final maneuver to ensure the spacecraft is in just the orbit needed to begin its intensive mapping observations next week.”

Watch for lots more stories upcoming on Vesta and the Dawn mission

Read Ken’s continuing features about Dawn
Space Spectacular — Rotation Movies of Vesta
3 D Alien Snowman Graces Vesta
NASA Unveils Thrilling First Full Frame Images of Vesta from Dawn
Dawn Spirals Down Closer to Vesta’s South Pole Impact Basin
First Ever Vesta Vistas from Orbit – in 2D and 3D
Dawn Exceeds Wildest Expectations as First Ever Spacecraft to Orbit a Protoplanet – Vesta
Dawn Closing in on Asteroid Vesta as Views Exceed Hubble
Dawn Begins Approach to Asteroid Vesta and Snaps First Images
Revolutionary Dawn Closing in on Asteroid Vesta with Opened Eyes