The End of a Very Successful Mission

On Sept. 15, Cassini will dive straight into Saturn, collecting data from the planet's atmosphere and firing it back to Earth in the 1 to 2 minutes before breaking apart. The dive will bring an  end to the probe's 13-year extended mission in the Saturn system, where it has unearthed many incredible and unexpected science discoveries. 

On Sept. 13 and 14, Cassini's cameras will take the probe's last images of the system. 

On Sept. 15, starting at 4:37 a.m. the "final plunge" will begin as the spacecraft gets into position to sample the atmosphere. Normally,there is at least an hours-long delay between when the probe collects data and transmits it back to Earth, but because Cassini will only be able to transmit for 1 to 2 minutes during the final plunge, the probe will send data within 2 to 3 seconds of collecting it, Cassini scientists have said. The spacecraft will transmit data back to Earth from eight of its 11 instruments, but it will not have enough bandwidth to send images (which require larger data files), which is why the probe will take its final snapshots of the system on Sept. 14.

To read the complete article, click HERE

Mars exploration took a big leap 20 years ago on July 4, 1997.  NASA's Pathfinder mission touched down on the Red Planet, delivering a lander and a small rover called Sojourner — the agency's first wheeled Mars craft — to the surface.

Pathfinder helped pave the way for two decades of eight other NASA robots to have reached Mars, and five of them remain active today.

NASA Plans a Probe to the Sun

NASA is sending the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft to within 4 million miles of the sun in 2018. And the agency is taking every precaution to keep the craft from melting.

NASA plans to launch the Solar Probe Plus mission to the sun. Earth is about 93 million miles  from the sun, and Solar Probe Plus is slated to get within 4 million miles of the blazing star. 

For complete article, select HERE

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope Discovers Record Setting Planets in Habitable Zone

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered a planetary system known to contain seven Earth-size planets around a single star. Three of these planets are located in the habitable zone, the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water. The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star. All of these seven planets could have liquid water, under the right atmospheric conditions, but the chances are highest with the three in the habitable zone.

For complete article select  HERE

The Dawn spacecraft has detected organic compounds on Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. These findings, combined with the fact that Ceres has abundant water and maybe even internal heating, suggests that primitive life could have developed on Ceres.


For complete article select HERE

The Universe Is Expanding Faster Than Scientists Thought

 

Scientists trained the Hubble Space Telescope view of the galaxy UGC 9391, which contains variable stars and supernovas that scientists studied to calculate a newly precise value for Hubble's constant.  What they found was the universe expanding 5 to 9 percent faster than astronomers had thought.

Scientists used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study 2,400 Cepheid stars and 300 Type Ia supernovas.

These are two different universe phenomenon allow scientists to measure distances across the universe. Cepheids pulse at predictable rates and Type Ia supernovas blaze up with consistent luminosity.  This allowed the distances to the 300 supernovas, which lie in a number of different galaxies. Then, the researchers compared these figures to the expansion of space, which was calculated by measuring how light from faraway galaxies stretches as it moves away from Earth, to determine how fast the universe is expanding — a value known as the Hubble constant.

The new value for the Hubble constant comes out to 45.5 miles per second per megaparsec. (One megaparsec is equivalent to 3.26 million light-years.)

The new figure is 5 to 9 percent higher than previous estimates of the Hubble constant, which relied on measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation which is an "echo" of the universe's creation 13.8 billion years ago.

More information available click HERE

RIP Eugene Cernan

U.S. Navy Captain Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, died Monday, Jan. 16,

Previous to the final Apollo mission, Cernan piloted the Gemini 9 mission with Commander Thomas P. Stafford on a three-day flight in June 1966. Cernan logged more than two hours outside the orbiting capsule.

In May 1969, he was the lunar module pilot of Apollo 10, the first comprehensive lunar-orbital qualification and verification test of the lunar lander. The mission flew the lunar module to within eight nautical miles of the moon's surface.

for more click here

The bladed terrain of Pluto’s Tartarus Dorsa region, that were photographed by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its epic flyby in July 2015, as ice ridges 1,650 feet or so tall.  On Earth, these structures rise just a few feet above the ground in cold, mountainous regions of Earth.

The gargantuan size is predicted by the same theory that explains the formation of these features on Earth. 

On Earth however the structures are made up of snow or water ice, whereas Pluto's ridges are mostly methane and nitrogen ices. 

Researchers say that Pluto's structures probably formed within the past few tens of millions of years.

Listener Joe mentioned something of note concerning the most recent NASA crew to the ISS.

Peggy Whitson will be spending her next birthday aboard the ISS.  She will be 57 years old.  The oldest to date had been Barbara Morgan, who was 55 during her tour aboard the station. 

This of course is NOT Whitson's first tour of duty aboard the station.  Whitson first served a duty on the space station in 2012 and has accumulated a total of 377 days in space, plus a history of performing successful spacewalks. 

Aside from being the oldest female astronaut to reach the ISS, Whitson will also break the world record this expedition for the longest time spent in space, a record currently held by NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams with 534 days under his belt.

For more - click HERE

Schiaparelli's Crash Site Seen By NASA MRO Probe

Schiaparelli, was due to touch down on Mars Wednesday morning (Oct. 19).   However the lander stopped communicating with ESA mission control about 1 minute before its planned touchdown.

The lander's crash site was photographed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and seemed to confirm what ExoMars team members had suspected — that Schiaparelli died a violent death.

It would appear that Schiaparelli dropped from a height of between 1.2 to 2.5 miles. This then would indicate that the lander impacted at a considerable speed, somewhere in excess of 186 mph.

It is also possible that the lander exploded on impact, as its thruster propellant tanks were likely still full.  those tanks were still full because Schiaparelli's data indicate that the lander didn't fire its descent-slowing thrusters nearly as long as it was supposed to, ESA officials said.

For more information please click  HERE 

http://www.space.com/34472-exomars-mars-lander-crash-site-photos.html

Schiaparelli's Crash Site Seen By NASA MRO Probe

Schiaparelli, was due to touch down on Mars Wednesday morning (Oct. 19).   However the lander stopped communicating with ESA mission control about 1 minute before its planned touchdown.

The lander's crash site was photographed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and seemed to confirm what ExoMars team members had suspected — that Schiaparelli died a violent death.

It would appear that Schiaparelli dropped from a height of between 1.2 to 2.5 miles. This then would indicate that the lander impacted at a considerable speed, somewhere in excess of 186 mph.

It is also possible that the lander exploded on impact, as its thruster propellant tanks were likely still full.  those tanks were still full because Schiaparelli's data indicate that the lander didn't fire its descent-slowing thrusters nearly as long as it was supposed to, ESA officials said.

For more information please click  HERE 

http://www.space.com/34472-exomars-mars-lander-crash-site-photos.html

NASA Has a Near Perfect Launch of the The OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft

      

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft, started it's mission 7:05pm EDT Thursday September 22nd. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft  is designed to rendezvous with, study, and return a sample of the asteroid Bennu to Earth. Asteroids like Bennu are remnants from the formation of our solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists suspect that asteroids may have been a source of the water and organic molecules for the early Earth and other planetary bodies. 

NASA's first asteroid sampling mission could revolutionize our understanding of the early solar system.

OSIRIS-REx separated from its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 8:04 p.m. The solar arrays deployed and are now powering the spacecraft.

For more, please click HERE

Beam Me Up Episode 472 - Expanded Horizons by Gustavo Bondoni

Beam Me Up 472 is up and ready.  

After my opening comments I play all along the watch tower performed by Jimmi Hendrix (again one of my all time favs) 

From the blog I have a sound byte from Elon Musk thanking  Nevada allowing his giga factory to build affordable electric cars.

NASA TV will be showing the latest spacewalk on the ISS.

Nelson sends over links for audio of Asimov's Foundation series.

Expanded Horizons by Gustavo Bondoni is my final offering of #472 

Enjoy

Beam Me Up Episode 472 link

NASA TV to Air U.S. Spacewalk

On Sept. 1, two NASA astronauts will spacewalk outside the International Space Station for the second time in less than two weeks.

NASA Television will provide complete coverage beginning at 6:30 a.m. EDT, with the six-and-a-half hour spacewalk scheduled to begin about 8 a.m.

Working on the port side  truss, Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins will retract a thermal radiator that is part of the station’s cooling system. The radiator is a backup that had been deployed previously as part of an effort to fix an ammonia coolant leak. They’ll also tighten struts on a solar array joint, and install the first of several enhanced high-definition television cameras that will be used to monitor activities outside the station, including the comings and goings of visiting cargo and crew vehicles.

This will be the 195th spacewalk in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the fifth of Williams’ career and the second for Rubins. As was the case for their first spacewalk together Aug. 19, Williams will be designated as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), wearing a spacesuit with a red stripe, while Rubins will be EV2, wearing a suit with no stripes.

NASA Orders Second SpaceX Crew Mission to International Space Station

Friday, NASA took an important step in returning U.S. astronaut launches to U.S. soil.

This came in the form of a second post-certification mission from commercial provider SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. 

This will increase  America’s human spaceflight launch capability and increase the time U.S. crews can dedicate to scientific research, which is helping prepare astronauts for deep space missions, including the Journey to Mars.

Please click HERE for the complete NASA article.

NASA Rolls out new Mission Patch

wow, if there was any lingering suspicion that the folks at nasa and The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space  were not full on nerds. One only has to check the next mission patches

CASIS announced  that Groot and Rocket the Raccoon will be featured on a mission patch that will represent all payloads that will head to the national laboratory on the International Space Station.

NASA Launches Huge RECON SAT for NRO

The worlds currently largest rocket active has successfully launched with the top secret NROL-37 payload for the United States. The Delta IV Heavy was launched from Space Launch Complex 37B on June 11th 2016. This was the 32nd Delta IV launch, and the 9th Delta IV Heavy launch.

Juno to view Jupiter's Cloud-tops Close Up

On July 4, NASA will fire, for 35 minutes, the main engine of its spacecraft Juno, a basketball court sized, solar powered spacecraft moving its orbit to within 2,900 miles of the cloud tops of our solar system’s largest planet - Jupiter.

The purposed burn will place it into a polar orbit around the gas giant. During the flybys of a series of 37 planned close approaches Juno will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its auroras to learn more about the planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

To get more information, click HERE for the complete NASA article.

Mercury Transits Sun

Did you get a chance to catch Mercury as the planet transited the sun Monday?  If not I have a small cut of a video that NASA put on YouTube. Plus a 49 year record of  Mercury transiting.

    Transits of Mercury:  1901-2050 


                           Date       Universal    Separation*     
                                        Time    (Sun and Mercury)

                        1907 Nov 14     12:06         759"     
                        1914 Nov 07     12:02         631"     
                        1924 May 08     01:41          85"     
                        1927 Nov 10     05:44         129"     
                        1937 May 11     09:00         955"     
                        1940 Nov 11     23:20         368"     
                        1953 Nov 14     16:54         862"
                        1957 May 06     01:14         907"      
                        1960 Nov 07     16:53         528"      
                        1970 May 09     08:16         114"     
                        1973 Nov 10     10:32          26"     
                        1986 Nov 13     04:07         471"     
                        1993 Nov 06     03:57         927"     
                        1999 Nov 15     21:41         963"     (graze)
                        2003 May 07     07:52         708"     
                        2006 Nov 08     21:41         423"     
                        2016 May 09     14:57         319"     
                        2019 Nov 11     15:20          76"     
                        2032 Nov 13     08:54         572"     
                        2039 Nov 07     08:46         822"     
                        2049 May 07     14:24         512"     

          * distance (arc-seconds) between the centers of the Sun and Mercury

More BEAM From Bigelow

I didn't think it would be too long before news about the 'expandable module' from Bigelow Aerospace started catching more attention. 

Well we know that Bigelow's BEAM or Bigelow Expandable Activity Module was launched aboard SpaceX's Dragon supply vehicle  April 8 and will be attached to the ISS April 16 but will not be expanded until the end of May.  

There is a ream of information on the NASA site.  Please check it out HERE