Wow… If you had a chance to watch our live remote telescope today, then you were in for an awesome view. This was my first opportunity to call the shot as to where the telescope was aimed and I’ve always wanted to see NGC 2516 with my own eyes. Needless to say, despite small aperture and viewing with a remote camera, I wasn’t disappointed – I was blown away. Did we save a replay for you? Darn right we did…
The following factual information is a cut and paste from Wikipedia:
NGC 2516 – “The Diamond Cluster”: Constellation – CARINA
Southern open cluster NGC 2516, The Diamond Cluster, was discovered by Abbe Lacaille in 1751-1752.
Called “The Diamond Cluster” because of its stellar clarity, the cluster itself is easily visible with the naked eye from dark skies but binoculars will yield a much better view.
The Diamond Cluster contains two beautiful 5th magnitude red giants and three double stars. A small telescope would be required to split the double stars. It contains about 100 stars that appear about the same size as a full moon.
NGC 2516 and the recently discovered nearby star cluster Mamajek 2 in Ophiuchus have similar age and metallicity. Recently, kinematic evidence was presented by E. Jilinksi and coauthors that suggests that these two stellar groups may have formed in the same star-forming complex some 135 million years ago.
Now that we’ve seen NGC 2516, did you happen to notice a little “artifact” that cruised through the picture right before the end? It would appear the southern hemisphere has its share of satellites, too! As always, you can visit the remote telescope by clicking on the IYA “LIVE Remote Cam” Logo to your right. We’ll be broadcasting whenever skies are clear and dark in Central Victoria! Enjoy…
An international collaboration of astronomers is reporting an unusual spike of atmospheric particles that could be a long-sought signature of dark matter.
The orbiting PAMELA satellite, an astro physics mission operated by Italy, Russia, Germany and Sweden, has detected a glut of positrons — antimatter counterparts to electrons — in the energy range theorized to be associated with the decay of dark matter. The results appear in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.
Dark matter is the unseen substance that accounts for most of the mass of our universe, and the presence of which can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. When dark matter particles are annihilated after contact with anti-matter, they should yield a variety of subatomic particles, including electrons and positrons.
Antiparticles account for a small fraction of cosmic rays and are also known to be produced in interactions between cosmic-ray nuclei and atoms in the interstellar medium, which is referred to as a ‘secondary source.”
Previous statistically limited measurements of the ratio of positron and electron fluxes have been interpreted as evidence for a primary source for the positrons, as has an increase in the total electron-positron flux at energies between 300 and 600 GeV. Primary sources could include pulsars, microquasars or dark matter annihilation.
Lead study author Oscar Adriani, an astrophysics researcher at the University of Florence in Italy, and his colleagues are reporting a positron to electron ratio that systematically increases in a way that could indicate dark matter annihilation.
The new paper reports a measurement of the positron fraction in the energy range 1.5–100GeV.
“We find that the positron fraction increases sharply over much of that range, in a way that appears to be completely inconsistent with secondary sources,” the authors wrote in the Nature paper. “We therefore conclude that a primary source, be it an astrophysical object or dark matter annihilation, is necessary.” Another feasible source for the anitmatter particles, besides dark matter annihilation, could be a pulsar, they note.
PAMELA, which stands for a Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light Nuclei Astrophysics, was launched in June 2006 and initially slated to last three years. Mission scientists now say it will continue to collect data until at least December 2009, which will help pin down whether the positrons are coming from dark matter anihilation or a single, nearby source.
Source: Nature (there is also an arXiv/astro-ph version here)
New research is casting doubt on the prevailing view that the heaviest galaxies in the universe started out small and gained mass by devouring other matter that ventured too close.
Peering at galaxies two-thirds of the way back in time to the Big Bang, an international team of astronomers is suggesting that some of the giants we see today were just as massive in that earlier age as they are now.
The new findings were released today in the journal Nature.
Lead author Chris Collins, an astronomer at the United Kindgdom’s Liverpool John Moores University, and his colleagues made their discovery using one of the largest optical telescopes in the World, called Subaru (named after the Japanese word for the Pleiades star cluster), located on the Island of Hawaii and owned by the National Observatory of Japan.
They focused on brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), located at the centers of galaxy clusters. The massive galaxies constitute a separate population from bright elliptical galaxies, and both their predictability and extreme luminosity have motivated their use as standard candles for cosmology, the authors point out.
Analysing the light from these remote galaxies, the astronomers effectively weighed them and found that despite feeding on a constant diet of small galaxies, the heaviest galaxies have not increased their weight over the last 9 billion years. In a universe whose age is 13.7 billion years old, these results spark a debate as to how these galaxies put on so much weight in the first few billion years after the Big Bang.
“Current predictions using simulations run on super computers suggest that at such a young age these galaxies should be only 20 percent of their final weight, so to find galaxies so large suggests that galaxy formation is a much more rapid process than we previously thought,” Collins said, “and perhaps the theories are missing some important physics.”
John Stott, Collin’s colleague at LJMU and a co-author on the paper, said the team was “surprised to find that the largest and brightest galaxies in the Universe have remained essentially unchanged for the last 9 billion years, having grown rapidly soon after the Big Bang.”
One possibility being considered is that the galaxies formed by the collapse of an already massive cloud at the dawn of the universe.
MORE ABOUT LEAD IMAGE: The image shows the central 1.5 x 1.5 arc min of the cluster corresponding to 0.75 Mpc at this distance. The clusters X-ray emission is used to pinpoint the location of the brightest galaxy in the cluster as shown by the green contours which represent the X-ray intensity as measured by the XMM-Newton X-ray satellite.
Attention Universe Today Readers! “100 Hours of Astronomy” is about to begin and we’ve got a very special gift just for you. How would you like to decide where to aim our IYA remote telescope? While Saturday, April 3, celebrates the global Star Party where many telescopes (both remote and live) will be open to the public, we couldn’t help but wonder about those who might not be able to make it out, didn’t live near an event – or had bad weather. So, we decided to do something about it. Rather than only give you the 100 hours of telescope time over the next few days, we’re going to give you 100 hours of IYA remote telescope targeting choices and only start the clock ticking when the sky is clear and the scope is running! Are you ready to choose your coordinates and save your astrophoto to show to the world? Then grab your star charts and step inside for some instructions…
Beginning at 9:00 UT on April 2, 2009 the IYA “Galactic TV” Remote Telescope located in the southern hemisphere will be yours when it comes to choice of objects for viewing. If you’ve ever wondered what a particular NGC looks like – then now is your chance to find out! However, you’ll need to remember that this is a “real” telescope with real limitations working from a real sky… and that means doing a little astronomical homework on your part. Are you ready to begin? Good!!
For those of us familiar with northern hemisphere skies, this means totally reversing the way we think. The ecliptic plane will now be to the north, positioned approximately 60 degrees above the horizon from our telescope’s point of view and the southern pole will be positioned roughly 40 degrees above the horizon. This means that constellations familiar to us – like Orion – will begin past the meridian to the high west at nightfall. Good constellations to choose objects from (for example) would be Carina, Vela, Crux, Centaurus, Circinus, Pavo, Indus, Tucana, Hydra, Lupus, Pices Austrinus and Scorpius. But, don’t forget that we share common sky, too! Anything rising to the east can also be seen.
The next step in choosing a target is what our telescope is capable of. When it comes to field of view, you’re in luck at a full degree of “eyepiece space”. This means that anything that measures 60 arc minutes or less in size will fit inside the camera screen with ease. You will need to choose your object by magnitude as well. During perfect dark sky conditions our 80mm telescope can achieve around magnitude 8 deep sky (such as galaxies and nebulae), but remember… there will be Moon present for at least part of the evening. This will limit what the telescope can “see” at a particular time. While the Moon is out, choose bright open star clusters and save galaxies or nebula for the hours before dawn. Also remember our telescope is very small, so it has a limited resolution factor – it won’t be able to split very close double stars.
Now… Are you ready for the fun part?! All you have to do is post your object request here. You don’t need to be an astronomer, know how to operate a telescope or how to control astrophotography equipment to enjoy our IYA remote scope! Just post the common name (like Eta Carinae), OR catalog number (such as NGC 2516, Messier, IC or others) of your request, OR type in the coordinates (RA and Dec), add your name and location, and the Southern Galactic Telescope Hosting Facility will take care of the rest. When your object is targeted, here is what your screen will look like:
So what happens if you’re not home or at your computer when your request appears? Not to worry. We thought of that, too. Southern Galactic has kindly agreed to take a photo snap of your screen and save it for you! Because this wonderful project is meant to inspire everyone around the world to use a telescope, we’ll save these images and post the collection every few days for the duration of the 100 hours of the IYA remote telescope event and folks everywhere will have an opportunity to enjoy the target you have chosen and to see who selected it.
We’ll honor as many requests as possible each night – allowing ample viewing time for each object, take your snapshot for the library and select one as the video of the day. Some may appear before others depending on the position or magnitude demands, but we’ll do our very best to give you all you ask for. So what are you waiting for? Get your star charts out and start posting your requests here right now!
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A new class of galaxy clusters has been identified by volunteers and astronomers of the Galaxy Zoo project, together with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. These clusters are rare, and have apparently gone unnoticed before, despite their unusual linear properties. Astronomers believe the identification of these types of clusters depend on the visual inspection of large numbers of galaxies, a feat which has only recently been made possible by the Galaxy Zoo project, and this may explain why they haven’t been discovered until now. “Space is, after all, really big,” said the Galaxy Zoo scientists, “and full of really surprising things.”
These clusters are unusually elongated, possess young and highly dynamic galaxy populations, and most unexpectedly, present neatly typeset, left-justified, messages written in the English language. One sample even includes punctuation similar to an exclamation mark. (See image below.) SDSS colour composite image (vri) for another unusual galaxy cluster, at RA = ?2h61m12s, Dec = +124?17?72?? , identified by Galaxy Zoo participants.
The occurrence of these new galaxy phenomena could potentially lend support to some of the more exotic models for Dark Energy or modified gravity, which one of the Universe Today trolls may find extremely notable. More controversially, as most occurrences of English sentences are considered to be the work of intelligent beings, the existence of these messages might indicate intelligent life beyond our own.
Conversely, however, they could indicate that many phenomena usually attributed to intelligent life on Earth may actually occur spontaneously, without any thought necessarily being involved at all. While these new discoveries may have profound implications for cosmology, the most important thing to consider is the date of this publication, being April 1.
The Galaxy Zoo team stresses that, despite their implausible appearance, the galaxies comprising each individual character in the figures presented here are taken directly from the SDSS multicolour composite imaging. Note, however, that some degree of translation and rotation has been performed to the individual characters, for presentation purposes.
The injured long-tailed bat clings onto Discovery's external fuel tank (NASA)
[/caption]NOTE:This was the Universe Today’s contribution to April Fools Day, just in case you were wondering. However, it isn’t a joke that a bat died during a shuttle launch. Brian will forever be remembered by the Brian Bat Foundation…
On Sunday, March 15th, Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Cape Canaveral, beginning the highly successful STS-119 mission to “power up” the International Space Station (ISS). Unfortunately, a tiny stowaway was discovered clutching onto the external tank of the shuttle and refused to budge. For the whole of Sunday, NASA waited for the free-tailed bat (unofficially named “Brian” by yours truly) to fly away. Alas, Brian held on to Discovery all the way up to launch. NASA even took a photo of the shuttle as it cleared the launch tower, Brian still attached. He wasn’t frozen to the external tank (infrared images showed the bat was warm), a wildlife expert studied the last pictures of Brian, informing the space agency that Brian had in fact suffered a broken wing and was unable to fly away, even as the rockets ignited.
Although NASA was not thought to be responsible for the death of the little animal at first (calling the whole incident “sad but unavoidable”), a Florida state official is pursuing legal action against the ground staff at the Cape. According to state animal protection law, NASA may be charged with negligence, after making little effort to prevent “animal interaction” with the launchpad and apparent unwillingness to remove Brian by hand before launch. However, as investigated by the local press, there are far more animal deaths during shuttle launches than we realise…
NASA can be prosecuted under the same animal protection rules that cover Florida highways (Ian O'Neill)“First and foremost, the safety of the crew must be ensured,” said NASA spokeswoman Francis Rae, “it is unfortunate that the agency could be reprimanded over the death of an animal, but in the interest of safety and smooth launch operations, we will enact any preventative measures deemed necessary by the state.”
It turns out that NASA is a little shocked that a Florida official has decided to pursue the issue. NASA and Florida have enjoyed very close ties ever since the beginning of the Space Age and this is the first accusation of criminal negligence over the death of an animal (possibly in reaction to the huge international interest in the story). Little did the agency realise that the death of one unfortunate bat could land them in court.
“NASA enjoys total freedom of the airspace above the state, however the agency must still abide by the laws of the state, no matter how insignificant the rules may appear when compared with the endeavors of US activities in space.” — Statement by the District Attorney’s Office, Florida
According to local press, NASA can be fined for the preventable death of the bat under the same state laws that govern goods transportation (i.e. company-owned vehicles are liable if they hit endangered animal species on Florida highways). Therefore, if a truck hit a free-tailed bat on a freeway, and the driver was pulled over by a police officer, the company who owns the truck would be accountable. “This is exactly the same rule that is being applied to NASA, a free-tailed bat was killed during the operations of the shuttle. In the county’s eyes, that’s no different from a Walmart truck running over a protected animal. Like a cougar [the state animal],” reported the Orlando Sentinel.
The Ares V at the launchpad, plus artist's impression of what the anti-bat mesh would look like on launch day (NASA)Regardless of the outcome to the possible legal action, NASA has already prepared plans for an anti-bird/anti-bat mesh that will surround the launchpad after exterior inspection but before launch. This is where NASA tripped up, they performed an inspection on Saturday, March 14th, of Discovery’s external tank, but the pneumatic cranes (used to lift inspectors to the upright shuttle) were removed from the launchpad on launch day. Therefore, if NASA had to remove Brian by hand (if they knew he was injured), the Discovery launch would have been delayed further still, to wait for cranes and personnel to arrive on the scene.
This preventative measure isn’t thought to affect the remaining shuttle launches (before the shuttle is decommissioned in 2010), but the mesh will be built into the launch tower of the Constellation Program scheduled for launch in 2015 (pictured above).
“Estimates place the cost of the mesh at around $10 million,” said Rae. “However, if you factor in unforeseen project overruns and design issues, that cost could easily triple. Possibly more. We simply do not have the technology to fabricate such a large, lightweight net. It will, however, be worth it in the long-run.”
It would appear the mesh couldn’t come too soon for one NASA employee. Soon after Discovery launched on that fateful Sunday night, the Orlando Sentinel interviewed launch safety officer Aniline Lo who went into some detail about the real costs of a shuttle launch.
“…of course animals die during launches. We’ve had collisions with eagles during ascent, we’ve even found dead rats, mice and gophers left on the pad, there has also been injuries to some larger animals in the past. As the Cape is surrounded by water, it is hard to prevent alligators straying too close […] shuttle exhaust can hurt these reptiles, making them difficult to treat. It also seems the flash from the boosters cause confusion in some animals, including rabbits, actually attracting them to the launch pad at lift off. That always ends very badly.” — Aniline Lo, NASA Safety Officer
Lo then went into detail about the clean-up operation after launch. “It’s a shame, the adrenaline is pumping through your body before launch, but it is up to my team to clear up the mess which is the downer,” she said. “If you thought roadkill was bad, imagine it roasted. Hundreds of thousands of dollars post-launch could be saved in man-hours [for clean-up operations] if these animals are prevented from getting near to the rockets.”
The sad story of Brian the Bat captivated the world, but it looks like his demise was the tip of the iceberg. He was first named on the social networking site Twitter and on Astroengine.com. On launch day @DiscoveryBat appeared on Twitter, apparently tweeting from space and tweeting to this day. Even mainstream media refer to the ill-fated free-tailed bat as “Brian”. Consequently, the Brian Bat Foundation was set up to recognise animal endeavours in space. However, it appears the Foundation’s scope must now be extended to all the birds, angry alligators and rabbits on, or near, the shuttle’s launchpad during lift-off.
The Mars 500 simulation participants enter their new home. Image Credit: ESA
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Earlier today in Moscow, six people were locked inside a hermetically sealed living space, where they will remain for the next 105 days. They will eat dehydrated food, have limited contact with the outside world and will be constantly monitored. No, it’s not another season of ‘Big Brother’, but a joint experiment by the European Space Agency and the Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences to study the effects a mission to Mars would have on a human crew.
The crew consists of six volunteers, two selected by the ESA and four by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Oliver Knickel, a 34-year old German engineer, and Cyrille Fournier, a 40-year old French airline pilot will represent the ESA. The four Russian crew members are Oleg Artemyez, a 37-year old cosmonaut, Sergei Ryazansky a 34-year old cosmonaut and biologist, Alexei Baranov a 34-year old doctor, and Alexei Shpakov, 25, who is a sports physiologist.
These six, along with two alternate candidates willing to step in at the last minute, were chosen from over 5600 applicants for the first stage in the Mars 500 isolation study. The crew will live in a small, cramped module designed to simulate a potential craft that would send astronauts to Mars. The Mars mission mock-up is located inside a research facility at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow.
The 105-day study will simulate all aspects of a mission to Mars. The crew will have no communication with the outside world besides delayed radio communication with mission control, and radio contact with friends and family, much like that of astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Simulated emergencies such as equipment failure will test the ability of the crew to overcome difficulties that may endanger an actual mission, and there is the danger of real emergencies from disease or injury inside their sealed facility.
The crew will be far from bored during the simulation, as they will perform scientific, maintenance and quotidian duties much as they would on a real mission. A greenhouse will also need tending to provide the crew with fresh vegetables, and there will be a gym available to the participants to help keep them fit. Instructions from the mission directors and reports from the crew will be on a 20-minute delay, as would be the case on a real Mars mission.
The habitable area of the isolation facility has 6 individual rooms for the participants, a kitchen/dining room, living room, main control room and toilet. In addition to the habitable module, there is also a Mars lander module, which the crew during the longer 500-day mission scheduled for later this year will use to simulate a landing on Mars. A medical module and utility module will house other equipment necessary for such a long-term mission.
An external view of the Module for Mars 500 Image Credit: ESA
A potential manned mission to Mars would pose many challenges to the astronauts involved, and the Mars 500 series of isolation studies hopes to try and work out any ‘kinks’ while humans are still safely on the planet.
“It is of paramount importance to understand the psychological and physiological effects of long-duration confinement, to be able to prepare the crews in the best way possible and to learn about important aspects of the vehicle design. To contribute to their psychological well-being and long-term performance, we need to learn how to support the crew with optimum nutrition, artificial light, appropriate medical countermeasures and also planned and off-nominal task management.” – Martin Zell, Head of the ISS Utilisation Department in ESA’s Directorate of Human Spaceflight
ESA crewmembers Cyrille Fournier and Oliver Knickel will keep a diary of their experience, which will be available on the European Space Agency site here.
Fournier wrote in anticipation of the program, “During the study I look forward to observing how communications develop and how relationships are established between crew members. I expect that each of us will feel both highs and lows, mentally, physically and socially. I am however optimistic about how the experiment will turn out as I strongly believe the group, as a whole, will be able to overcome momentary and personal downs.”
As always, we’ll keep you posted here on Universe Today as to how the simulation goes.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 Team.
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The Red River reached a record high of 40.82 feet at Fargo, North Dakota on March 28, 2009, and flood stage for the river is 18 feet. This image, taken by the Advanced Land Imager on the Earth Observer-1 (EO-1) satellite on March 28, shows the swollen river, held in place by reinforced levees as it snakes through the region. Below you can compare images taken on March 28 and March 14 with NASA’s Aqua satellite, to show how the flooding increased between the two dates. I have a personal interest in this natural disaster, as I grew up near Fargo and have family living there. Today, with the river easing slowly down to 38 feet, the Red River Valley was hit by a blizzard of between 10-20 inches of heavy, wet snow, according to KVLY- KX4 meteorologist Mick Kjar (who happens to be my brother). So when this snow begins to melt, the river is expected to rise again.
Red River Flooding, taken March 28 by MODIS on NASA's Aqua Satelite. Red River in early March. Credit: MODIS on NASA's Aqua satellite.
The snow that covered the region in both images was both the cause of the flood and the reason that the water stopped rising. The river flooded as melting snow from a deeper-than-average snowpack filled the basin, said the National Weather Service. While the return of colder weather has helped ease the flooding, the extra snow today will cause problems when it warms up again.
The Red River made an important drop today that took some pressure off Fargo-Moorhead’s levee system. The Red is now down just below 38 feet. That’s an important threshold because Fargo’s permanent levee system is built to about 38 feet in most spots. Still, forecasters believe the river could rise again once all the snow melts, so they won’t say the threat is over.
In these images, the scene is entirely white except for the river due to snowfall. In the top image, bridges on the two main roads, Interstate 94 near the bottom and Highway 10 near the top were both closed due to flooding.
The Senate Budget Committee has given the green light to fund NASA’s shuttle program past the end of 2010, when the program is set to retire.
But NASA isn’t asking for an extension.
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson requested the $2.5 billion provision, which was included in the broader five-year spending plan that passed committee Monday afternoon. His office argues that launching nine missions in 18 months puts too much pressure on the agency, and could compromise safety.
NASA is preparing to launch the shuttle Atlantis on May 12 for a servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope, and the eight remaining missions are dedicated to completing the International Space Station.
“We are confident that we can fly out the shuttle manifest before the end of 2010,” said John Yembrick, a spokesman out of NASA’s Washington headquarters.
Nelson’s office isn’t as optimistic.
“Given that there are roughly only 18 months but nine flights left, we have a concern that may be unrealistic,” said Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Nelson’s office. He cited the Challenger and Columbia accidents, where “the investigation board in both cases identified scheduling pressure as a contributing factor to those accidents.”
Artist's rendering of the next-generation Orion crew exploration vehicle docked to a lunar lander in lunar orbit. (Obsolete configuration.) Credit: Lockheed Martin Corp.
In the past, NASA has been “overly optimistic about schedules for shuttle missions,” McLaughlin said. But in reality, the agency has gotten four or five launches off the ground in each of the past several years. “It doesn’t take but a bad hurricane season and the best laid plans can fall apart. Could NASA do it? Yeah. But a lot of things would have to go right.”
The $2.5 billion provision, if it passes the full Senate and House, would alleviate the pressure, Nelson thinks, by opening up the possibility for additional funding in 2011 — and allow NASA to proceed with safety as a first concern. The measure would soften a firm line both the Bush and Obama administrations have taken on retiring the program by the end of 2010.
The Budget Committee’s decision sends a strong signal that the shuttle shouldn’t be retired on a date-certain, but only when all the missions are completed, Nelson reportedly said immediately after the Thursday vote.
Concept of Ares I, left, the crew launch vehicle and Ares V, the cargo launch vehicle. Credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
Meanwhile, NASA is looking forward to the next generation of launch vehicles, Orion (above, concept credit Lockheed Martin Corp.) and the Ares series. The vehicles are designed to return people to the moon — and perhaps even Mars — to live and explore. The first Ares test flight is planned for later this year.
The gap between the planned shuttle retirement in 2010, and the availability of the next generation launch vehicles, will be five years. During that time the United States is likely to partner with Russia to use Soyuz launch vehicles for low-orbit work and as the space station’s docked emergency vehicle — which is part of the astronauts’ escape plan in the event of debris hits or other dangers aboard the ISS.
It is also possible that commercial vehicles could rise to the challenge before 2015, NASA’s Yembrick said. NASA has awarded two contracts to companies that will deliver cargo to the space station after the retirement of the space shuttle: Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia, and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California.
“Once they’ve proven that they can successfully deliver cargo, we also may one day look at purchasing crew services,” Yembrick said. “We don’t want to speculate when that may occur.”
Sources: Spaceref, interviews with Dan McLaughlin and John Yembrick.
In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians attach straps from a crane in order to lift the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit, or SIC&DH. Image Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
NASA began the process of moving and juggling space shuttles around for the next mission, the important Hubble Telescope repair mission. Space shuttle Atlantis moved out to launch pad 39A today in preparation for the STS-125 mission, which will send seven astronauts to repair Hubble. Targeted liftoff date is May 12. Additionally, a replacement for the faulty instrument that delayed the mission last fall arrived at Kennedy Space Center, and will be loaded on the shuttle while it’s on the pad. This mission will require a second shuttle to be ready for liftoff in the event a problem arises with Atlantis in orbit, and Endeavour will head out to launch pad 39B on April 17. After Atlantis is cleared to land, Endeavour will move to Launch Pad 39A for its upcoming STS-127 mission to the International Space Station, slated to launch in mid-June. Moving a shuttle out to the launch pad takes about six hours, but this video does it in about 3 minutes – so enjoy the sped-up show; it’s a nice video showing the process.
Atlantis arrived at Launch Pad 39A at approximately 9:10 a.m. EDT Tuesday on top of a giant crawler-transporter, after leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building at 3:54 a.m. The crawler travels less than 1 mph during the 3.4-mile journey.
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Atlantis’ 11-day mission is the final shuttle flight to Hubble. During five spacewalks, astronauts will install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones and replace other Hubble components. Their work will hopefully extend Hubble’s life through at least 2014, and give Hubble six working, complementary science instruments with better capabilities.
Screenshot from NASA TV during Atlantis' trip to the launchpad.
And if you recall, the “rescue” shuttle is necessary because Atlantis will not be going to the International Space Station, nor could it get there if a problem arose because Hubble and the ISS are in different orbits. This has been the policy ever since the Columbia shuttle accident in 2003.
