Mars Science Laboratory: Still Alive, For Now

The Mars Science Laboratory. Credit: JPL

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The Mars Science Laboratory, the next generation of Mars rovers slated to head to Mars in 2009, is still alive, for the time being. The car-sized rover designed to look for life on Mars is over budget and behind schedule due to technical problems, and NASA officials met today to discuss their options. Potentially, Congress could pull the plug on the mission if cost overruns go too high. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and Science Associate Administrator Ed Weiler were briefed, and met with mission managers in attempt to work out a potential solution. In a press briefing today, Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA headquarters said the rover’s progress will be assessed again in January, but the mission will need more money. “This is a really important scientific mission,” McCuistion said. “This is truly the push into the next decade for the Mars program and for the discovery for the potential for life on other planets…I fully believe that Congress will support us as we go forward on this because they recognize the importance of the mission as well.”

The panel of NASA officials at the briefing wouldn’t say where the money will come from or exactly how much will be needed to keep the rover on schedule and provide the engineers the resources they need to overcome the technical problems. But NASA will seek additional money from Congress and/or realign funds from other missions.

“If we’re going to launch in 2009 or 2011 additional budget resources are going to be necessary. The sources of that we cannot release until we get approval from the Office of Management and Budget and Congress,” said McCuistion.

Costs for MSL have already gone from the initial $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion. Launch is scheduled sometime between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, 2009, but could be delayed until 2011 if the problems take more time to be resolved. Earth and Mars come closest to each other approximately every 26 months, providing favorable launch windows.

Problems with parachutes, actuators and other materials have delayed construction of the rover, and currently the contractors are working multiple shifts to make up for lost time. Mission managers hope tests of the rover can begin in November or December.

MSL will be three times as heavy and twice the width of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) that landed in 2004, and will be able to travel twice as far. It will carry ten advanced scientific instruments and cameras. It will make the first precise landing and a predetermined site, using a guided entry system and a soft-landing system called the Sky Crane.

Source: NASA News Audio

Carnival of Space #74

This week the Carnival of Space moves to Kentucky Space. This week we’ve got naked singularities, a tour of the Orion Spur, and images of Saturn’s moon Phoebe.

Click here to read the Carnival of Space #74

And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past carnivals of space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to [email protected], and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let me know if you can be a host, and I’ll schedule you into the calendar.

Finally, if you run a space-related blog, please post a link to the Carnival of Space. Help us get the word out.

Podcast: Alignment with the Galactic Plane, Destruction from Venus, and the Death of the Solar System

Artist impression of a galaxy.

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Another week, another roundup of your questions. This week listeners asked: are we all going to die in 2012 when the solar system passes through the galactic plane? Did Venus make the Moon? And what will extraterrestrials see when the Sun is dead and gone? And there’s even more. If you’ve got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to [email protected] and we’ll try to tackle it for a future show.

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

Alignment with the Galactic Plane, Destruction from Venus, and the Death of the Solar System – Transcript and show notes.

Podcast: The Life of Other Stars

Betelgeuse is a red giant star easily visible in our night sky. Betelgeuse is actally a red super-giant, meaning it has enough mass that it will end as a supernova, rather than as a white dwarf with a planetary nebula. Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope
Betelgeuse is a red super-giant, meaning it has enough mass that it will end as a supernova, rather than as a white dwarf with a planetary nebula. New research suggests that the star could've consumed a smaller companion star. Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope

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Last week we looked at the complete life of the Sun, birth to death. But stars can be smaller, and stars can get much much larger. And with a change in mass, their lives change too. Let’s start the clock again, and see what happens to the smallest stars in the Universe; and what happens to the largest.

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

The Life of Other Stars – Transcript and show notes.

Weekend SkyWatcher’s Forecast – October 10-12, 2008

Greetings, fellow Skywatchers! It’s Friiiiday! Are you ready for the weekend? Sure, it’s going to be a rather moony affair, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy. Why not take the time to hunt down Neptune, or check out a cool crater like Letronne? We can always shoot for a binary star – or two – or just enjoy the solitary pleasures of being alone with Formalhaut. If you’re up to it, we’ll chase the rays from crater Bessel and try our luck with a new variable star. Don’t spend the last few good nights of the year inside hiding… Let’s rock the night together.

Friday, October 10, 2008 – Today in 1846, William Lassell was busy at his scope as he made a new discovery – Neptune’s moon Triton. Although our everyday equipment can’t “see” Triton, we can still have a look at Neptune which is also hanging out in tonight’s study constellation of Capricornus less than degree south of the Moon. Try checking astronomy periodicals or many great online sites for accurate locator charts. For some lucky astronomers, it will be an occultation event!

Tonight we’ll let Gassendi be our guide as we head north to examine the ruins of crater Letronne. Sitting on a broad peninsula on the south edge of Oceanus Procellarum, this class V crater once spanned 118 kilometers. Thanks to the lava flows which formed Procellarum, virtually the entire northern third of the crater was submerged, leaving the remaining scant walls to rise no more than a thousand meters above the surface. While this might seem shallow, it’s as high as El Capitan in Yosemite.

Although tonight’s bright skies will make our next target a little difficult to find visually, look around four fingerwidths southwest of Delta Capricorni (RA 21 26 40 Dec -22 24 40) for Zeta…

Also known as 34 Capricorni, Zeta is a unique binary system. Located about 398 light-years from Earth, the primary star is a yellow supergiant with some very unusual properties – it’s the warmest, most luminous barium star known. But that’s not all, because the B component is a white dwarf almost identical in size to our own Sun!

Saturday, October 11, 2008 – If you journey to the Moon tonight, you might return to the southern quadrant along the terminator to have a look at 227 kilometer diameter crater Schickard. You’ll easily note this crater for its smooth gray floor and eye-like appearance. Seen on the oblique, this great crater’s floor is so humped in the middle that you could stand there and not see the crater walls! Be sure to note Schickard for your lunar challenge studies. It’s a fine one!

After having looked at the Moon, take the time out to view a bright southern star – Fomalhaut (RA 22 57 39 Dec -29 37 20). Also known as “The Lonely One,” Alpha Piscis Austrini seems to sit in a rather empty area in the southern skies, some 23 light-years away. At magnitude 1, this main sequence A3 giant is the southernmost visible star of its type for northern hemisphere viewers, and is the 18th brightest star in the sky. The Lonely One is about twice the diameter of our own Sun, but 14 times more luminous! Just a little visual aid is all that it takes to reveal its optical companion…

Sunday, October 12, 2008 – Today in 1891, the Astronomical Society of France was established. Exactly one year later in 1892, astronomy great E. E. Barnard was hard at work using the new tool of photography and became the first to discover a comet – 1892 V – in this way! But Barnard’s main photographic interest was in capturing details of the Milky Way. Just as soon as skies are dark again, we’ll have a look at more of Barnard’s work.

Do you like looking at things which are considered dubious? Then tonight let’s start on the lunar surface and peek at a ray system whose origins are uncertain. You’ll find the bright ring of Bessel almost in the center of Mare Serenitatis, but the ray system is splashed all over it. Did they come from Menelaus on the mare’s edge? Or from as far south as Tycho? Next time the terminator passes over this region, look closely. Do you see the rays now – or just a complicated system of dorsa?

With tonight’s bright skies, it will be difficult to practice any astronomy – or will it? Try re-locating Fomalhaut and drop about a handspan south-southwest into Grus to pick up bright star Beta (RA 22 42 40 Dec -46 53 04).

Around 170 light-years from Planet Earth, Beta is the 59th brightest star in the sky and the second brightest star not to have a proper name. It’s an M-type supergiant, but one that is also slightly irregular – changing by about a third of a magnitude in approximately 37 days. Well evolved, Beta is on its way to becoming a Mira type and is only the size of the orbit of Venus. Its loss of mass could mean it has a dead carbon-oxygen core, and studies at infrared wavelengths point to a shell waiting to be expelled.

In the telescope, you will see Beta also has a visual companion to the south. Although it is unrelated to Beta itself, modern interferometry suggests there may be a true companion star which has yet to be resolved. No matter how you view it, you’ll like Beta for its rich color! Remember its position…

Unitl next weekend and darker skies, have a wonderful journey!

This week’s awesome images are: Apollo 16 image of Letronne – Credit: NASA, Zeta Capricorni – Credit: Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech, Schickard region – Credit: Oliver Pettenpaul, Fomalhaut – Credit: Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech, Bessel Rays – Credit: David Richards and Beta Gruis – Credit: Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech. Thank you so much! Seeing these photographs contributes so much to our understanding of both history and what we’re seeing!

365 Days of Astronomy Podcast

Hopefully you’ve heard about the International Year of Astronomy — a year long celebration in 2009 of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first look through the telescope. One part of that celebration is the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast. There will be one podcast per day, every day, for all 365 days of 2009. The podcasts will be 5 to 10 minutes in duration, and will be available through the 365 Days of Astronomy website and an RSS feed. The 365 Days team has just put out a trailer encouraging everyone to listen every day:

Want to be part of the project?

Not only will you have the chance to listen each day, but you can participate as well. The podcast episodes will be written, recorded and produced by people around the world. Each day will have a specific topic or theme based on The 365 Days of Astronomy Calendar, a daily calendar of astronomical events, themes and ideas created by the IYA.

People participating can choose their own topics, all of which will need to be approved ahead of time. For all the details head on over to the website. And if you’ve never recorded anything before, never fear. There’s even information on how to record a podcast, as well as much more.

You can also follow 365 Days of Astronomy on Twitter.

And, if you thought you’ve heard the voice on the video before, its none other than the golden voice of Mat Kaplan from Planetary Radio.

How Many Moons Does Jupiter Have?

Io Transit by Paul Haese

When it comes to the mighty Jupiter – and seeing Jupiter’s moons through a small telescope or binoculars – timing is everything. Jupiter’s satellites are constantly on the move, and almost any time you observe you’ll see at least one. The four largest of Jupiter’s moons are known as the Galileans, and go by the names of Europa, Callisto, Ganymede and Io. But which one is which and how do you know what you’re looking at?

Thanks to some very cool tools like Sky & Telescope’s Jupiter’s Moon you can tell exactly what time a Jovian event is about to happen and observe it yourself. For example:

Saturday, May 17, 2008

17:36 UT, Io’s shadow begins to cross Jupiter.
18:42 UT, Io begins transit of Jupiter.
19:54 UT, Io’s shadow leaves Jupiter’s disk.
21:00 UT, Io ends transit of Jupiter.

Io Transit by Paul Haese

What transpires will look very much like this awesome photo done by Paul Haese. Jupiter Transit events are easy to observe even with a small telescope, but it does require some techniques. First of all, you cannot simply glance in the eyepiece and see it happening with ease. It does require higher magnification and patience! The trick is to get comfortable and just watch… During your extended observing session, moments of stability will come and go and it won’t take long before you notice a phenomena that recurs. The body of Jupiter’s moons are a little more difficult to spot, but the shadow becomes very easy when you take your time and really look!

So what happens if your equipment or skies aren’t up to the task? Never fear… You’re not left out of the game. Timing is everything. Begin by observing Jupiter well in advance of the event and take note of the Galilean moon’s position. By checking every few minutes or so, you will notice when one is about to go into transit because you’ll see it near Jupiter’s limb. Keep watching… Because it will simply disappear! (This is also a great clue for larger telescopes to understand where to look and where the shadow will appear.)

While viewing through the average telescope isn’t going to be as good as what can be seen photographically, just timing and participating in an event is a wonderful opportunity to expand your astronomy knowledge and experience. Watching a Galilean moon transit Jupiter, or Jupiter’s Red Spot is something which can be done from light polluted skies and doesn’t require a lot of technical skills – just patience. Mark your calendars for 3:50 Universal Time on May 22nd when Jupiter will appear to have no moons at all! Try following the event in advance of the predicted time and report what happens. So how many moons does Jupiter have? The real answer is 63. But the question should be…

How many can you see?

This incredible image of an Io transit was done by Paul Haese, a member of MRO, using a Peltier cooled C14 and Skynyx 2-0 monochrome camera with RGB Astronomik filters. Paul’s planetary imaging skills are legendary. The UK has Damien Peach, the US has Don Parker and AU has Paul Haese! Thank you so much for sharing…

ExoFly: Future Space Exploration Super Hero?

Artist rendition of th ExoFly on Mars. Courtesy Ray Villard

This is perhaps the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Ray Villard, the news director for the Hubble Space Telescope, also writes a blog for Discovery called Cosmic Ray (love that name!) He recently wrote about a dragonfly-like robotic device being developed by the Technical University Delft, Wageningen University in the Netherlands. It’s call the ExoFly, and Ray described it as a “dragonfly-on-steroids … a nimble flapping aerobot.” It could be the next generation of robotic planetary explorers. It’s a small, lightweight autonomous machine capable of flying, hovering, landing and taking off like an insect. Ray says this type of vehicle would “open up a new exploration niches that it not easily reachable by rovers or airborne vehicles on far flung worlds.” Actually, it might work best in conjunction with a future big rover, flying ahead to search for interesting or dangerous terrain, and the rover would provide a “landing pad” for the ExoFly’s home base. While the ExoFly may be small, its name sounds like a potential super hero, and its capabilities could be in the exploration super hero category, as well.

Take a look at the incredible video of the ExoFly below:

The ExoFly would be great for exploring Mars, and Titan, too. Small onboard cameras would provide a unique overhead but close-up view of the terrain in geological terms that would be different from, and could compliment, a rover.

The prototype ExoFly weighs less than an ounce, has a wingspan of only a foot, and can fly for 12 minutes on batteries.

A Mars ExoFly would need a longer wingspan and carry a miniaturized high-resolution digital video camera, sensors, navigation system and instruments.

Check out all of Ray Villard’s ideas for this future flying robot at Cosmic Ray.

Image and video credit: T.E. Zegers

Source: Cosmic Ray (with a head nod to Disco Dave Mosher for his Twitter Tweet)

Energizer-Bunny Odyssey Spacecraft Will Keep Going

Artists depiction of Odyssey at Mars. Credit: NASA

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Seems like everyone at Mars is getting an extended mission these days – every spacecraft, that is. The Mars Odyssey orbiting spacecraft, the longest-serving of six spacecraft now studying Mars, has gotten another two-year extension of its mission. And mission extensions are great opportunities to try something new, so Odyssey is altering its orbit to get a different and better look at Mars with its Thermal Emission Imaging System which maps minerals on Mars in infrared. During this third mission extension, which goes through September 2010, Odyssey will also be able to point its camera with more flexibility than ever before. Odyssey is another Energizer Bunny-like spacecraft: it has been going and going since it reached Mars in 2001.

The orbit adjustment will allow Odyssey’s Thermal Emission Imaging System to look down at sites when it’s mid-afternoon, rather than late afternoon, as it has been doing so far. The multipurpose camera will take advantage of the infrared radiation emitted by the warmer rocks to provide clues to the rocks’ identities.

“This will allow us to do much more sensitive detection and mapping of minerals,” said Odyssey Project Scientist Jeffrey Plaut of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena , Calif.

The mission’s orbit design before now used a compromise between what works best for the Thermal Emission Imaging System and what works best for another instrument, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer.

To change its orbit, the operations team at JPL and Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver fired Odyssey’sthrusters for nearly 6 minutes on Sept. 30, the final day of the mission’s second two-year extension.

This image from Odyssey shows a surface changed by floods. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
This image from Odyssey shows a surface changed by floods. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

“This was our biggest maneuver since 2002, and it went well,” said JPL’s Gaylon McSmith, Odyssey mission manager. “The spacecraft is in good health. The propellant supply is adequate for operating through at least 2015.”

Odyssey’s orbit a sun-synchronous polar orbit at Mars. The local solar time has been about 5 p.m. at whatever spot on Mars Odyssey flew over as it made its dozen daily passes from between the north pole region to the south pole region for the past five years. (Likewise, the local time has been about 5 a.m. under the track of the spacecraft during the south-to-north leg of each orbit.)

From last week’s thruster maneuver, that synchronization will gradually change over the next year or so. Its effect is that the time of day on the ground when Odyssey is overhead is now getting earlier by about 20 seconds per day. A follow-up maneuver, probably in late 2009 when the overpass time is between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m., will end the progression toward earlier times.

This will also allow the camera away to be pointed in different directions, instead of just the straight-down pointing that has been used throughout the mission. Doing this will allow the team to fill in some gaps in earlier mapping and also create some stereo, three-dimensional imaging.

The downside of this is one instrument will likely stop being used. The gamma ray detector, one of three instruments in Odyssey’s Gamma Ray Spectrometer suite, needs a later-hour orbit to avoid overheating of a critical component. But the neutron spectrometer and high-energy neutron detector are expected to keep operating.

The Gamma Ray Spectrometer provided dramatic discoveries of water-ice near the surface throughout much of high-latitude Mars, the impetus for NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander mission. The gamma ray detector has also mapped global distribution of many elements, such as iron, silicon and potassium, a high science priority for the first and second extensions of the Odyssey mission. A panel of planetary scientists assembled by NASA recommended this year that Odyssey make the orbit adjustment to get the best science return from the mission in coming years.

Odyssey will continue providing crucial support for Mars surface missions as well as conducting its own investigations. It has relayed to Earth nearly all data returned from NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity . It shares with NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter the relay role for Phoenix. It has made targeted observations for evaluating candidate landing sites.

Source: Odyssey home page

NASA Does Space-Age Archaeology, Uncovering Apollo Heatshields to Help with Orion

Matt Gasch of NASA Ames and Betsy Pugel of NASA Goddard examine the remains of a 1966 Apollo test vehicle heat shield (Smithsonian Museum/Eric Long)

[/caption]NASA scientists currently working on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle had the rare opportunity to unpack a little piece of history. A visit to Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum led them to uncover crates containing the heat shields used during the development of the Apollo Program, some 35 years ago. The shielding has not seen light of day since 1966 when it was dropped from low Earth orbit and protected a test vehicle from fiery re-entry. The NASA scientists hope to learn more about the thermal response of the old heat shield to improve the shielding of the Orion return vessel a whole generation after the pioneering lunar missions…

On July 31st and August 1st, the NASA crew descended on Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum Garber Facility to do a bit of space-age archaeology. The facility makes it their job to collect, preserve and restore anything space and aircraft related, ensuring the Apollo heatshieilds were in perfect condition (or as “perfect” as they can be after undergoing re-entry over three decades ago) for the Orion development teams from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. What they unpacked was a space geek’s dream.

We started working together at the end of June to track down any Apollo-era heat shields that they had in storage,” said Elizabeth Pugel from the Detector Systems Branch at Goddard. “We located one and opened it. It was like a nerd Christmas for us!

Scientists examine the 1966 Apollo test vehicle heat shield (Smithsonian Museum/Eric Long)
Scientists examine the 1966 Apollo test vehicle heat shield (Smithsonian Museum/Eric Long)

The NASA team managed to eventually track down heat shield material from a test re-entry from low Earth orbit on August 26th, 1966. This material will prove useful in the continuing development of the Constellation Program’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle so more information can be gained about the material’s reaction to extreme heat as it was dropped through the atmosphere.

We are examining the design of the carrier structure (the metal structure that connects the heat shield to the vessel that contains the astronauts) and the heat shield material’s thermal response,” Pugel added.

The Smithsonian has been generous in their providing large pieces of the heat shield that we will be doing destructive and non-destructive testing on during the months before Orion’s Preliminary Design Review,” said Matthew Gasch from NASA Ames. “This information will further our confidence in our design and materials development.”

It might seem strange that NASA scientists are researching re-entry technology from the Apollo era, after all the Orion cone-like design borrows its shape from the Apollo Program’s Saturn V Command Module (amongst others), but that is where the 20th century similarity ends. Orion will be packed with the most advanced 21st century computing, electronics, life support, propulsion and heat protection systems.

Orion aside, I would have loved to have been there when the NASA Orion scientists cracked open the wooden Apollo crates (using crowbars, naturally), to find them filled with the dusty artefacts from the beginning of the space age (but then again, I might be watching way too much Indiana Jones movies…).

Source: NASA