Tomasz Nowakowski

February 20th, 2017

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Expedition 28 flight engineer, floats freely in the Harmony node of the International Space Station. His long-duration flight aboard thespace station lasted from June to November 2011. Photo credit: NASA

In an interview with Astrowatch.net, veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fossum talked about his career as an astronaut, recollecting unforgettable and thrilling moments in space.

Astrowatch.net: You grew up during the Apollo era. How much did Moon landings inspire you to become an astronaut?

Mike Fossum: I was born two months after the launch of Sputnik and grew up enthralled with the space program. I distinctly remember the night the dream of flying in space became personal to me. I was laying on my back as our Boy Scout campfire died down, looking up at a beautiful star-filled sky. I was about 12 years old and the dream became crystal clear: I want to reach for those stars, too. This seemed like an impossible dream and it faded over time, but it did help motivate me throughout my education and early work career.

Astrowatch.net: How much did your education in systems engineering and physical science, together with your Air Force experience, prepare you for being an astronaut?

Fossum: For me, this was the perfect preparation for a career as an astronaut. I enjoyed my undergraduate work in mechanical engineeringbut wanted to broaden myself in the field of systems engineering. In that program, I learned more about other discipline areas and how the design of complex systems requires a balance of many conflicting considerations. I later earned another masters degree in physical science, which had a strong emphasis on space science. I had always had a strong interest in our natural world, including things like geology and astronomy. This program allowed me to learn about planetary geology, how stars work, and the science of creation.

My defining years in the Air Force were as a Flight Test Engineer at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB). I loved the challenge of figuring out how we could test new systems and technology to ensure it was safe and performed the mission properly. We tested some new ideas which did not work during those years. Some might consider those failures, but I call it a success when we were able to run a disciplined series of tests and could definitively prove something was not a good idea.

NASA X-38 flight test engineer Mike Fossum is all smiles following the first free flight of the first X-38 prototype in March 1998. Two months after this photo was taken Fossum was selected as an astronaut. Photo Credit: Ed Hengeveld

Astrowatch.net: You began your career at NASA as a systems engineer. Could share some details about this job? What were you responsible for?

Fossum: I actually worked at two different times at NASA. From 1982 to 1984, I was detailed from the Air Force to NASAs Johnson Space Center (JSC) and served as a Space Shuttle procedure specialist. My job was to help manage the complex procedures used by the astronauts to operate the Space Shuttle orbiter and its systems. I directly supported every flight in Mission Control during those years beginning with STS-3 (NASAs third Space Shuttle mission).

When I came back to NASA as a civilian in 1993, I started working on a project for NASA dedicated to buying Russian Soyuz spacecraft that could be used as an emergency escape vehicle for the International Space Station (ISS). Later that year, NASA started a major effort to redesign the Space Station and to include the Russians as new partners in the program. I worked for two to three years to help finalize the designs and the details of how the elements would come together. This involved a lot of work in the robotics and spacewalk areas. I wrote the flight test plan for the Simplified Aid for EVA (extravehicular activity) Rescue, or SAFER a self-rescue backpack to be worn by spacewalking astronauts. I later convinced the ISS program that we needed to invest in this capability to protect our crews.

In another challenge, I worked closely with astronaut Charles Lacy Veach to justify the need for the ISS cupola to provide direct viewing for robotics support. Having had the pleasure of using the cupola on orbit, I cannot imagine the ISS without this incredible asset.

Astrowatch.net: What was your role in the development of the X-38 experimental re-entry vehicle?

Fossum: Together with Col. Don Reed, I helped lead the flight test program for the X-38 test program. We both had military flight test experience and were brought onto the team as the first test vehicle, V-131, was nearing readiness for [a]test. We supported parafoil and systems testing at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, and led the efforts at NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB (now NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center) for the captive carry and free flight program of the X-38 test vehicle.

Astrowatch.net: Could you recall the moment when you were chosen by NASA as an astronaut in 1998? What did you feel back then, what was your reaction?

Fossum: I was at Yuma supporting an X-38 test and heard a phone ringing in an empty conference room. On a whim, I went in and answered the phone. Duane Ross (NASA veteran managing astronaut candidate selection and training at JSC) was on the other end and asked me if I was still interested in being an astronaut. I was in shock and stammered something about maybe that would work out and hung up on him. I literally fell to my knees with a prayer of thanks for making this dream come true after so many years.

I must note that I submitted my first application in 1985 and went through five interviews before I was finally selected 13 years later, so my emotions were definitely very high.I was told I could not tell anyone but my wife until NASA made the public announcement the next day, but it was impossible to keep the secret from the NASA friends with whom I was deployed in Arizona. When they saw my face, they knew something big had just happened and quickly guessed the truth. There was no time for celebration until much later that evening because we were preparing for a test mission in a few hours.

Mike Fossum, STS-121 mission specialist, works in the Questairlock of the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Discovery was docked with the outpost. An Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit is visible at bottom. Photo Credit: NASA

Astrowatch.net: Which of your three spaceflights do you remember the most and why?

Fossum: It is very hard to narrow this down all were very special but I will have to say it was my first flight (STS-121 July 4, 2006). We were on a return-to-flight mission after the accident (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on Feb. 1, 2003). There was a lot of internal controversy concerning the integrity of the foam on the external tank and whether or not NASA was ready to attempt another flight before making more modifications to the foam. The NASA Administrator, Mike Griffin, spent three hours meeting with our crew in quarantine the night before the final Flight Readiness Review (FRR). He wanted to look each one of us in the eyes to make certain we were ready to proceed. There were tough calls being made by the managers and careers were on the line, but he wanted to hear directly from the individuals who would be on the rocket.

The launch was spectacular with an astonishing rush of acceleration as the rocket burned fuel. When we reached orbit and the main engines abruptly shut down, my arms and checklist floated up from my stomach. My job was to get photos of the external fuel tank as it fell away, so I immediately removed my helmet and gloves, unstrapped, and floated up to the window.

Since I got there in about a minute, we had not pitched around enough to see the external fuel tank. Instead, I was looking at an expanse of the blue Atlantic Ocean with a dappling of white clouds. Also visible was the blackness of space with a thin, curved band of atmosphere separating the two. It suddenly hit me this was not a photo or a video replay but this was me looking back at planet Earth through a window from space! I wondered if this might also be Gods view looking down from above and I said a quick prayer of thanks for getting us to orbit safely and for making my lifelong dream come true. Then the external tank came into view and I got to work.

In short, that first ride to orbit and view of the Earth below is a vivid memory I hope will never fade.

Astrowatch.net: How much does a Soyuz flight differ from a Space Shuttle mission?

Fossum: There are a huge number of differences. [A] Space Shuttle mission lasts only about two weeks. The Soyuz flight to [the] ISS is almost half a year. Space Shuttle was spacious inside while the Soyuz is a tight fit, but excellent for [a] crew of three and some cargo. [A] Space Shuttle launch included a lot of dynamic vibrations from the solid rocket boosters. Soyuz was smooth all the way up, except for a brief bump between the second and third stage. Space shuttle landings were so smooth, it was hard to tell exactly when touchdown occurred. The same is not true for the landing of a Soyuz!

Astrowatch.net: What were your duties when you served as the ISS commander during Expedition 29 in 2011?

Fossum: As the ISS commander, my job was to look out for the safety and well-being of my crew, to take good care of the ISS, and to accomplish our mission objectives. The greatest challenge we faced was a delay in Soyuz launch operations after the failure of [the] Progress [M-12M] cargo mission. Due to similarities in the rockets, the second half of my crew was delayed for two months. Not only were we short-handed, but nobody was certain when they would arrive, so we had to prepare for the possibility of extending our mission by two months and even leaving the ISS before the next crew arrived. A lot of work went into this, but, in the end, we were only extended by a week and the new guys arrived with four days of overlap to hand over the keys.

Astrowatch.net: You have conducted an impressive number of seven spacewalks. Which one was the most challenging?

Fossum: My most difficult EVA was probably my first during STS-121. During this EVA, my lead, Piers Sellers, and I were tasked with trying to determine if we could perform the kinds of dynamic tasks which might be required to repair damage to the orbiters thermal protection system.

In order to get access to a potential repair site, we needed to extend the reach of the shuttle remote manipulator system and provide a work platform for the EVA crew. This was done with the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) a new boom system which had a suite of inspection sensors on one end.

This photo was taken at the moment when Mike Fossum was free-floating and looking back down the arm. His EVA partner, Piers Sellers, is partially obscured behind the OBSS. The photo made the cover of Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. Photo Credit: NASA

Piers went up first for a solo run, then the arm was maneuvered back to the orbiters payload bay. I secured my feet in the footplate while Piers hung onto the side and we were lifted into free space for the tests. To excite structural modes in the extended system, I made big, intentional moves with my waist and legs, then held still while the dynamics damped out. It is important to note that my heels were loosely rotated into a boot plate and I was positioned such that I could not see anything made by a human the ISS and orbiter were out of my view. The only sense of security I had was pressing my heels outward to ensure I remained firmly attached to the boot plate.

After completing several test points, we reached the point where I was required to rotate my feet out of the boot plate, climb down to change the configuration of the Articulating Portable Foot Restraint (APFR), then re-ingress the APFR. I was secured to the robotic devices with two tethers, so in no real danger of floating away, but there were a few moments of sheer, stark terror as I floated free and looked back at the very disturbing sight of the long, spindly robotic arms and the safety of our Space Shuttle orbiter a very long distance away. I managed to control my voice, but my heart rate gave me away.

For this first EVA and all subsequent, I maintained a healthy respect for the environment and never allowed myself to feel too confident, lest I get complacent. EVA remains the most dangerous thing we do, other than launch and landing.

Astrowatch.net: How could your spaceflight experience help you in your new role as a vice president of Texas A&M?

Fossum: I have lived a life of service to our country through NASA and the U.S. Air Force. I have been blessed to experience my childhood dream of flying and working in space, and I have greatly enjoyed helping others achieve the same goal while working with amazing teams on the ground who made it possible. At this point in my career, I am proud to serve the university I love which prepared me for this journey, and I look forward to inspiring and equipping our next generation of leaders and explorers. I really am moving from one dream job to another!

Mike Fossum is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of three space flights: STS-121 in 2006, STS-124 in 2008, and Expedition 28/29 in 2011. Fossum has logged more than 194 days in space, including more than 48 hours of EVA time during seven spacewalks. After retiring from NASA in January 2017, Fossum assumed the role of chief operations officer of Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Tagged: Expedition 28 International Space Station Mike Fossum NASA Soyuz Space Shuttle The Range

Tomasz Nowakowski is the owner of Astro Watch, one of the premier astronomy and science-related blogs on the internet. Nowakowski reached out to SpaceFlight Insider in an effort to have the two space-related websites collaborate. Nowakowski's generous offer was gratefully received with the two organizations now working to better relay important developments as they pertain to space exploration.

See the article here:

Reaching for the stars: An interview with former NASA astronaut Mike Fossum - SpaceFlight Insider

Jim Sharkey

February 19th, 2017

This enhanced color composite image, made with data from the framing camera aboard NASAs Dawn spacecraft, shows the area around Ernutet Crater. The bright red portions appear redder with respect to the rest of Ceres. Image & Caption Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA

NASAs Dawn spacecraft has detected evidence of organic materials on Ceres, a dwarf planet that is the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Researchers using Dawns visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) discover the material in and around a crater in Ceres northern hemisphere named Ernutet. Organic materials are of interest to scientists because they are necessary, but not sufficient, components of life on Earth.

Ernutet Crater measures about 32 miles (52 km) in diameter and is located in the northern hemisphere of Ceres. Image & Caption Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA

Organic materials have previously been found inside certain meteorites and inferred from telescopic observations of certain asteroids. Ceres shares many attributes in common with meteorites rich in water and organics; in particular, a group of meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites. The discovery of organics on Ceres strengthens the connection between the dwarf planet, these meteorites, and their parent bodies.

This is the first clear detection of organic molecules from orbit on a main belt body, said Maria Cristina De Sanctis, lead author of the study, based at the National Institute of Astrophysics, Rome.The discovery is reported in the journal Science.

Data presented in the new study supports the idea that organic materials are native to Ceres. Carbonates and clays previously found on Ceres provide evidence for chemical activity in the presence of water and heat. It is possible that the organics were similarly produced in a warm, water-rich environment.

The discovery of organics on Ceres adds to the ingredients found on the dwarf planet that areassociated with life in the past. Previous studies have foundhydrated minerals, carbonates, water ice, and ammoniated clays that must have been altered by water. Salts and sodium carbonate, such asthose foundin the bright areas of Occator Crater, are also thought to have been carried to the surface by liquid.

This discovery adds to our understanding of the possible origins of water and organics on Earth, said Julie Castillo-Rogez, Dawn project scientist based at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

This enhanced color composite image from Dawns visible and infrared mapping spectrometer shows the area around Ernutet Crater on Ceres. Image & Caption Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / ASI / INAF

The organic materials on Ceres are primarily located in an area covering approximately 400 square miles (about 1,000 square kilometers). A very strong signal of organics is visible on the floor of Ernutet Crater, on its southern rim and in an area to the southwest, just outside of the crater. There are smaller organics-rich areas several miles (11 kilometers) west and east of the crater. Organics were also located in a small portion of Inamahari Crater, approximately 250 miles (400 kilometers) from Ernutet.

DawnsVIR instrument was able to detect the organic material because of its special signature in near-infrared light. In enhanced, visible-light images taken by Dawns framing camera, the organic material associated with areas that appear redder than the rest of Ceres. The unique nature of these regions stands out even in low- resolution images from the VIR instrument.

Were still working on understanding the geological context for these materials, said study co-author Carle Pieters, professor of geological sciences at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

After completing nearly two years of observations at Ceres, Dawn is now in an extremely elliptical orbit of the dwarf planet, going for an altitude of 4,670 miles (7,529 kilometers) up to nearly 5,810 miles (9,350 kilometers). On February 23, Dawn will raise its orbit to approximately 12,400 miles (20,000 kilometers), about the same height as GPS satellites above Earth.

The spacecraft will also shift into a different orbital plane, allowing Dawn to study Ceres in a new geometry. In late spring, Dawn will view Ceres with the Sun directly behind the spacecraft, so that Ceres will appear brighter than before, possibly revealing more clues about its nature.

Tagged: Ceres Dawn NASA The Range

Jim Sharkey is a lab assistant, writer and general science enthusiast who grew up in Enid, Oklahoma, the hometown of Skylab and Shuttle astronaut Owen K. Garriott. As a young Star Trek fan he participated in the letter-writing campaign which resulted in the space shuttle prototype being named Enterprise. While his academic studies have ranged from psychology and archaeology to biology, he has never lost his passion for space exploration. Jim began blogging about science, science fiction and futurism in 2004. Jim resides in the San Francisco Bay area and has attended NASA Socials for the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover landing and the NASA LADEE lunar orbiter launch.

Read the original post:

Dawn spacecraft finds evidence of organic materials on Ceres - SpaceFlight Insider

Space ports could be set up and satellites could blast off from regions across the UK under new proposals set to be unveiled this week.

The Spaceflight Bill would allow scientists to conduct experiments in zero gravity - paving the way for the development of vaccines and antibiotics, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.

Science minister Jo Johnson said the bill would "cement the UK's position as a world leader in this emerging market".

Under the proposals, the first commercial flight from a UK space port could lift off by 2020.

Mr Johnson said: "From the launch of Rosetta, the first spacecraft to orbit a comet, to Tim Peake's six months on the International Space Station, the UK's space sector has achieved phenomenal things in orbit and beyond.

"With this week's Spaceflight Bill launch, we will cement the UK's position as a world leader in this emerging market, giving us an opportunity to build on existing strengths in research and innovation."

Aviation minister Lord Ahmad said: "We have never launched a spaceflight before from this country.

"Our ambition is to allow for safe and competitive access to space from the UK, so we remain at the forefront of a new commercial space age."

Grants worth 10m would be made available to help develop commercial launch capability for spaceflight.

The commercial spaceflight market is worth an estimated 25bn over the next 20 years.

The bill will be unveiled in Parliament this week.

View post:

Commercial space flights from UK by 2020 under new Govt plans - Sky News

Bart Leahy

February 17th, 2017

Astronaut Shane Kimbrough tends the Veggie experiment on board the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. Children might not want to hear this, but, if they want to be the first astronaut on Mars, theyll need to eat their vegetables. To account for that painful truth, NASA has several space farming projects to ensure people living and working in space get fresh green stuff as part of their diet.

One project the agency has in work is the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), an experiment scheduled to head to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year.

The Advanced Plant Habitat. Photo Credit: Jim Siegel / SpaceFlight Insider

This 18 18 18-inch (45 45 45-centimeter) enclosure contains a seed bed filled with thick sand-quality clay chips for soil, fertilizer, and pumped-in water. It is covered by a plastic top to keep the surface from floating around.

The enclosure also includes two small robotic arms, which take leaf temperatures and measure the interior humidity.

Thin-stemmed flowering plants called Arabidopsis (the white mice of the plant world) will be tested for different levels of humidity, water, and light, which consists of red, white, and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), to determine which combination of factors most effectively support plant growth.

After the astronauts plug APH into an existing EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) rackaboard, they can monitor the experiment using an existing computer called FARMER or let people on the ground run it.

The system runs on approximately three liters of water and, being a mostly closed-loop system, it can run for as many as six weeks without needing to be refilled.

APH is scheduled to be launched in two parts. The first will launch on Orbital ATKs OA-7 Cygnus launch and the other aboard SpaceXs CRS-11 or CRS-12 Dragon spacecraft.

One NASA plant experiment already aboard the ISS is called Veggie.

Filling approximately a 12 12-inch (30 cm 30 cm) area, Veggie is a soft plastic enclosure that can accordion from six to 12 inches high. The base of the enclosure contains half a dozen plant pillows containing ground clay chips and fertilizer, which substitute for the dirt they would use on Earth.

The enclosure includes an interior fan to draw in space station air and keep it moving around the plants. Without constant air movement, plants in zero gravity tend to build up bubbles of oxygen around themselves.

Kjell Lindgren (left) and Scott Kelly eat lettuce grown in the Veggie experiment during Expedition 44 in August 2015. Photo Credit: NASA

Veggie project scientist Gioia Massa explained that unlike the APH, the Veggie experiment is actually growing plants that astronauts can eat, like Chinese cabbage, bell peppers, and jalapeno peppers.

Astronauts are allowed to keep and eat half of the crop developed by Veggie, while the other half is packaged up and sent back to Earth for analysis.

Plants could be useful for more than just providing food for space travelers they could also supplement spacecraft life-support systems by providing oxygen.

Raymond Wheeler, Kennedy Space Centers advanced life support lead, is looking into growing plants using whats called controlled environment agriculture.

Plants will be much easier to grow on a planetary body like the Moon or Mars because gravity allows water to flow more naturally than in zero gravity. With planet-based agriculture in mind, Wheeler is studying Earth-based techniques such as hydroponics and LED-lighted greenhouses to maximize plant growth.

When asked whether any particular plants produce more oxygen than others, Wheeler told Spaceflight Insider, No, not really. But the more light plants get, the more oxygen they produce its almost a linear function. The trick is to identify plants that are more light-tolerant.

NASAs advanced greenhouses can produce useful outcomes on Earth as well. While its hard to beat Idaho for growing consumable potatoes in the ground, Wheeler explained that NASAs nutrient-film technique is ideal for growing seed potatoes, which provide the seed stock for the potatoes grown on Earth.

By planting seed potatoes in shallow, tilted trays with a thin layer of nutrient-laden water, they can grow in a clean, disease-free environment, which is better for producing high-quality seeds.

Ralph Fritsche, Kennedy Space Centers project manager for food production, is looking into multiple creative ways to keep plants fed and watered in zero gravity.

One approach to growing food on a Mars mission is to utilize microgreens, which doesnt take up a lot of room and can be cultivated in a couple of weeks. Photo Credit: Jim Siegel / SpaceFlight Insider

Another challenge with growing plants in zero-g is overcoming surface tension, as water tends to form in globules rather than flow in a way plants can access easily.

One approach to embedding seeds in a 3-D-printed, triangle-latticed box that draws water into crevices where roots can get at it.

Some other strong contenders for Mars veggies are microgreens, which are commonly found in salads at upscale restaurants. They dont take up a lot of room, are more flavorful, and can grow in a couple of weeks.

Fritsche also mentioned a project being conducted by the Buzz Aldrin Institute to investigate plants that grow in the Atacama Desert in Chile. It is hoped that edible plants could be combined with Atacama plants to adapt to conditions on Mars.

Something NASA is still working on is determining how much space and mass will be dedicated to providing fresh vegetables on the long haul to Mars. Most of the astronauts food will be prepackaged in some form, yet fresh fruits and vegetables will still be vital for their dietary health.

Fritsche said: The challenge is getting the engineers to talk with the plant biologists to determine the best mix of equivalent system mass.

In short, NASA still needs to determine how much hardware to grow and care for plants is needed compared to just shipping prepackaged foods.

Much of this space farming technology is still a work in progress, and the ISS is the testing ground for a lot of systems. When crews start living and working at more distant destinations, they will need to take a bit of Earth with them, to help them breathe and, yes, to make sure they eat their vegetables.

Tagged: Advanced Plant Habitat CRS-11 Cygnus Dragon International Space Station OA-7 Orbital ATK SpaceX The Range Veggie

Bart Leahy is a freelance technical writer living in Orlando, Florida. Leahy's diverse career has included work for The Walt Disney Company, NASA, the Department of Defense, Nissan, a number of commercial space companies, small businesses, nonprofits, as well as the Science Cheerleaders.

Continued here:

NASA studying farming in space to support trips to Mars - SpaceFlight Insider

WOODBINE The Georgia Spaceflight Act has been approved by the state House and now heads to the Senate for consideration.

The Senate companion bill was also approved, by a 49-2 vote, and now heads to the House for consideration.

State Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, the bills sponsor, said he was encouraged by the support in both houses of the General Assembly.

The significance is that it sends a clear and resounding message that Georgia is ready to welcome commercial space industry-related jobs, he said.

The legislation requires companies in the business of launching rockets in Georgia to train their employees so they understand the risks associated with space flight. Workers in the space flight industry in Georgia will waive the right to sue the companies they work for unless gross negligence can be proven, he said.

The legislation, if approved, will help the efforts to establish a commercial spaceport in Camden County. An ongoing Federal Aviation Administration environ- mental study at the site is expected to be completed later this year.

During discussions about the legislation, Spencer said a lobbyist hired by opponents unsuccessfully tried to block the proposed bill.

The lobbyist and Little Cumberland Island property owners spent a heavy sum of money to try and stop these bills, Spencer said. So far, by my calculations based on last years and this years ethics disclosures, the opposition has spent about $5,000 per no vote for a total of $35,000 paid to lobbyists.

Spencer cautioned the process is not over and we will continue to beat them back and stay vigilant.

Both bills have crossed over and each chamber will review the respective House and Senate bills. Spencer said he expects one of the bills will pass and be sent to Gov. Nathan Deal for his consideration.

Spencer said he expects opponents to continue their fight to kill the legislation.

So far, they are mismatched and spending a lot of money to lose, he said. But we take nothing for granted.

See original here:

Spaceflight legislation passes House, Senate votes - The News (subscription)

Bart Leahy

February 16th, 2017

SpaceX has been working to ready Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets since 2014. Photo Credit: Sean Costello / SpaceFlight Insider

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. For the first time since 2011, a rocket will be sending supplies and a collection of science experimentsfor the International Space Station (ISS) from Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). However, the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) 10 mission, scheduled for Feb. 18, 2017, is not being flown by a NASA launch vehicle, but SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceXs launch from LC-39A also will be a major milestone for Elon Musks rocket company. In addition to being the first flight from the former Apollo and Space Shuttle site, it will mark the companys first flight from Florida since the Sept. 1, 2016, loss of a Falcon 9 during a static fire test. The accident resulted in the loss of both the rocket and Amos-6 satellite on top and severely damaged Space Launch Complex 40, SpaceXs other East Coast launch site, which is just south of LC-39A.

The last time SpaceX launched a Dragon cargo spacecraft to the ISS was on July 18, 2016.

On Feb. 10, 2017, the California-based companyrolledits Falcon 9 and into a vertical position at LC-39A on its new transporter-erector. Two days later, the rocket underwent a static engine test.

In addition to supplies for the station, CRS-10 will deliver severalscience experiments, including the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III instrument, the Microgravity Growth of Crystalline Monoclonal Antibodies for Pharmaceutical Applications experiment, and the Raven spacecraft navigation system, among others.

The Raven technology module. Photo Credit: Chris Gunn / NASA Goddard

SAGE III is a NASA Langley Research Center instrument that will be mounted on the Earth-facing side of ISS to study ozone in the atmosphere. The experiment is a follow-on to several previous experiments.

The original SAGE was launched to follow the Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement, or SAM, flown on the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. SAGE II was a part of the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, or ERBS, which the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger deployed in 1984. SAGE III, designed for the ISS, is a near-duplicate of one launched aboard aRussian Meteor-3M satellite in 2001.

CRS-10 also will bring materials to continue supporting a CASIS experiment monitoring the growth of monoclonal antibodies in zero gravity. Monoclonal antibodies are molecules that attach to other specific molecules in the body to aid in fighting multiple human diseases, including cancer.

The CASIS experiment crystallizes a monoclonal antibody developed by Merck Research Labs. It will use microgravity to grow extremely high-quality crystals, which allow scientists to study the proteins structure, improve drug delivery and manufacturing, anddevelop better methods for storing these molecules.

The Raven investigation studies a real-time spacecraft navigation system that provides the sensors and guidance to see a target and steer toward it safely.

Raven also will enable future exploration missions near Earth and beyond, including satellite servicing and repair, asteroid exploration and redirect missions, and the Orion program.

A previous, single-sensor version of the Raven technology flew as the Relative Navigation Sensor (RNS) Payload on STS-125, the fifth Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission.

The Raven visible camera is a repurposed flight unit from the STS-125 demonstration. It also reuses the flash lidar flown as part of the Sensor Test for RelNav Risk Mitigation (STORRM) demonstration on STS-134.

Over its two-year mission on the ISS, Raven will estimate the relative navigation state of the vehicles visiting the station each year in real time. As vehicles approach and depart from ISS, the instrument will monitor them in action and send thedata to Earth.

NASA operators will then evaluate how Ravens technologies work as a system and make system adjustments to increase its tracking performance. The device is expected to monitor approximately 50 individual rendezvous or departure trajectories over the course of its mission.

An artists illustration of Raven monitoring an approaching spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA Goddard

Other science missions Dragon will carry include the following:

An archive photo of a previous Dragon being attached to a Falcon 9 inside a horizontal integration hangar. Photo Credit: NASA

The Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) will test a charge injection device (CID) in space, attached to the exterior of ISS.A CID-based sensor can be used in astronomy experiments to directly image exoplanets and the distant stars they orbit. If proven successful, this sensor will offer a novel approach to differentiating objects in high-and-low contrast image collection scalable to large aperture space telescopes, airborne and undersea search and rescue, and NASA exploration.

CRS-10is scheduled to lift off at 10:01 a.m. EST (15:01 GMT) Feb. 18. The weather outlook for the mission is iffy with a 40 percent chance of a violation of launch constraints. The primary concern a thick cloud layer.

Should a 24-hour delay occur, the weather improves slightly to a 30 percent chance of a weather violation. The primary concern for Feb. 19 is cumulus clouds and precipitation.

Video courtesy of NASA Goddard

Tagged: CRS-10 Dragon Falcon 9 International Space Station Launch Complex 39A Lead Stories NASA SpaceX

Bart Leahy is a freelance technical writer living in Orlando, Florida. Leahy's diverse career has included work for The Walt Disney Company, NASA, the Department of Defense, Nissan, a number of commercial space companies, small businesses, nonprofits, as well as the Science Cheerleaders.

Read this article:

SpaceX Dragon delivering the science on CRS-10 - SpaceFlight Insider

Indias space agency has released stunning video captured by cameras mounted on-board a rocket that launched this week with 104 satellites.

The views begin with the blastoff of the 145-foot-tall (45-meter) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from Indias east coast, then the separation of the rockets six strap-on solid rocket boosters and main stages.

The video then jumps to the deployment of the Cartosat 2D environmental satellite, the missions primary passenger, to begin its tasks aiding Indian infrastructure planners and mapmakers. Two Indian-built nanosatellites carrying experimental Earth observation sensors are then seen flying away from the PSLVs fourth stage in orbit 300 miles (500 kilometers) above the planet.

Next comes the release of 101 CubeSats from 25 QuadPacks mounted on the rocket. The deployments from both sides of the rocket occurred at intervals of every few seconds, taking around 10 minutes for all of the tiny spacecraft to fly free of the rocket.

Most of the satellites seen in the video are CubeSats built and owned by Planet, a San Francisco-based company with a fleet of more than 140 mini-observatories looking down on Earth.

Tiny reaction wheels derived from the motors used in dental drills were to gain pointing control of each of Planets 88 CubeSats, and the satellites which are not equipped with rocket thrusters will be spread out along their orbital path by tilting into the rarefied air flow in the uppermost reaches of Earths atmosphere, generating minute drag forces, according to a representative of the company.

Other CubeSats on the mission included eight commercial weather satellites for Spire Global, another San Francisco company, and experimental and educational payloads for institutions in Switzerland, Israel, the Netherlands, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.

Read our full story for details on the mission.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

See the article here:

Don't miss this spectacular video of 104 satellites deployed in space - Spaceflight Now

File photo of a Dragon supply ship berthed at the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

The 10th dedicated cargo delivery mission by SpaceXs Dragon spacecraft, and the first to liftoff from launch pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, will carry more than 5,000 pounds of equipment to the International Space Station.

The spacecraft is set for launch no earlier than Saturday, Feb. 18, and should reach the space station Monday, Feb. 20. A Falcon 9 rocket will send the Dragon cargo carrier into orbit for the two-day transit to the research outpost.

SpaceX has launched nine resupply missions to the space station to date, including one cargo capsule lost in a launch failure. One more Dragon spacecraft flew to the space station in May 2012 on a demonstration mission.

In addition to more than 3,000 pounds of cargo inside Dragons pressurized cabin, the spacecrafts external trunk is packed with two experiment packages to be mounted outside the space station by the robotic arm.

One of the instruments, NASAsStratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment 3, will study ozone and aerosol tiny particles in the atmosphere from an observing post on one of the space stations external payload platforms.

Another unpressurized payload is sponsored by the U.S. militarys Space Test Program, hosting a suite of 13 experiments for the Defense Department and NASA.

Among STP-H5s investigations: NASAs Raven autonomous space navigation demonstration designed to support future satellite servicing missions, NASAs Lightning Imaging Sensor, NASAs SpaceCube-Mini miniaturized computer processor, the Air Forces Spacecraft Structural Health Monitoring payload to capture how fasteners, glue and mechanical parts respond to the harsh environment of space, the Air ForcesRadiation Hardened Electronic Memory Experiment, and two Naval Research Laboratory payloads intended to study the structure, composition and density of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.

NASA has provided a breakdown of the cargo manifest listed below.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

Read more from the original source:

Cargo manifest for SpaceX's 10th space station resupply mission - Spaceflight Now

File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket inside a SpaceX hangar at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX

Rainy weather expected across Central Florida this weekend has a 50-50 chance of preventing the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Saturday on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, U.S. Air Force forecasters said Wednesday.

The official weather outlook issued by the Air Forces 45th Weather Squadron calls for thick clouds and isolated rain showers at Cape Canaveral during Saturdays launch countdown.

Liftoff is timed for 10:01 a.m. EST (1501 GMT), roughly the moment the space stations orbital path is positioned above Floridas Space Coast.

But meteorologists are tracking a upper-level trough expected to strengthen over the Gulf of Mexico on Friday.

On Saturday, this upper-level trough will migrate east, bringing the clouds and rain over the Florida peninsula, the Air Force weather team wrote in Wednesdays forecast. The clouds and rain will gradually increase through the countdown and be entrenched over the spaceport by midday. The primary weather concern for launch Saturday is the thick cloud cover and rain showers associated with the upper-level trough.

There is a 50 percent chance the weather conditions will violate one of the Falcon 9s launch rules.

The outlook calls for mostly cloudy skies, isolated rain showers, southeast winds of 10 to 15 mph, and a temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

If the launch is delayed to Sunday, the weather should improve, with a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions.

On Sunday, the cloudiness and rain associated with the upper-level trough will continue to slowly move east, diminishing through the countdown, forecasters wrote. The main weather concern will be cumulus clouds associated with lingering instability.

The 213-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket will take off from launch pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, a complex just inland from the beach originally constructed for Saturn 5 moon rockets in the 1960s and modified in the late 1970s to support space shuttle flights.

SpaceX signed a 20-year lease for the launch pad in 2014, and the company has temporarily transferred all of its Florida launches to pad 39A while workers repair damage to nearby pad 40 after a rocket exploded there in September.

Crews finished modifications and testing of the historic Apollo-era launch pad with a fueling and hotfire test of the Falcon 9s first stage engines Sunday. The successful test verified the new RP-1 and liquid oxygen fueling system installed by SpaceX at pad 39A.

Technicians rolled the rocket back inside SpaceXs hangar at the southern perimeter of the launch facility for attachment of the Dragon cargo capsule loaded with supplies for the space station and its six-person crew, including a lightning imager and an instrument to monitor the health of the atmospheres ozone layer.

The Dragon supply ship will carry 5,266 pounds (2,389 kilograms) of cargo on SpaceXs 10th logistics launch to the orbiting research outpost. If the mission takes off as scheduled Saturday, the cargo carrier will reach the space station Monday, with grapple by the robotic arm expected around 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT).

SpaceX has two cargo transportation contracts with NASA for at least 26 space station supply shipments through 2024.

The rocket is expected to return to the pad this week, riding a new transporter-erector that will hoist the Falcon 9 vertical on the launch mount over the flame trench.

After liftoff, the Falcon 9s first stage will return to Cape Canaveral from the edge of space, targeting a rocket-assisted vertical touchdown at SpaceXs Landing Zone 1 about 9 miles (15 kilometers) south of pad 39A. The recovery would mark the third time a Falcon 9 booster stage has landed at Cape Canaveral, and the first time in daylight.

Final regulatory approval for the launch and landing from the Federal Aviation Administration is still pending.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

Read more:

Weather could stand in way of Falcon 9 launch Saturday - Spaceflight Now

Bart Leahy

February 16th, 2017

The Hubble Space Telescope as seen by the departing STS-125 crew after a week servicing the observatory in 2009. Photo Credit: NASA

The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump administrationadvisers are considering a public-private crewed mission aboard the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)Dream Chaser spacecraft to keep the aging Hubble Space Telescope (HST) operational. The proposed mission, which would not happen before 2019, would require support from the next NASA administrator.

The crew variant of Dream Chaser. Image Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation

The Journal suggested the mission would align well with the Trump administrations desire to advance public-private partnerships while also advancingmissions that could be accomplished within the presidents current four-year term.

According to the Journal story, Mark Sirangelo, head of SNCs space systems unit, told a conference last week that Dream Chaser could be used as an exploration vehicle, a free-flight science laboratory and a servicing vehicle for in-orbit satellites and spacecraft. Additionally, an SNC representative stated that Dream Chaser was designed from the beginning to be a multi-mission orbital transportation system eventually targeting servicing, repair and assembly of technology in space.

The Journal story also stated that updatingHubblewould require relatively few additional dollars because the telescope has a modular design and Dream Chasers cargo variant already is undergoing flight tests. The vehicle would need additional life-support systems as well as a launch abort system designed to protect the crew in the event of an explosion or serious problem on the pad or during early phases of its ascent.

However, before Dream Chaser can be sent to chase Hubble in its 335-mile (539-kilometer) orbit, it first has to fly into space.

SNC is still conducting development and testing activities on the spacecraft at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in California as part of its Commercial Resupply Services contract. Another glide test of the vehicle is scheduled for spring 2017, with the first cargo launch to the International Space Station scheduled for sometime in 2019.

Having launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-31 in 1990, Hubbles primary mirror was discovered to have improperly manufactured optics, requiring its first servicing mission. That mission,STS-61, launched aboard Shuttle Endeavor in 1993. It corrected the optics and installed additional instruments to support the telescopes science mission.

Hubble Space Telescope being lifted from the payload bay of Atlantis following repairs during STS-125. Photo Credit: NASA

Four subsequent missions in 1997, 1999, 2002, and 2009 replaced items such as spectrographs, thermal insulation, gyroscopes, batteries, computers, and other components.

With these repairs, James Jeletic, deputy project manager of Hubble operations at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, told CBS News in 2013 that he believed Hubble could operate up to 2020.

Without a reboost, Hubblewill re-enter Earths atmosphere sometime between 2030 and 2040.

Dream Chasers availability aside, the question remains: Is a sixth mission to Hubble a good investment of NASAs time and limited budget?

Jim Muncy, a long-time space lobbyist with PoliSpace and senior adviser to the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, told Spaceflight Insider:

I think the concept of using a commercial crewed vehicle to service Hubble makes a lot of sense. Its good to see SNC thinking creatively they have always talked about DreamChaser as a platform as well as a crew/cargo transporter, so this makes sense. Its not clear to me whether or not a Dragon or Starliner could carry out the same sort of mission.The SNCs cargo variants expendable mission module could make for a great airlock to allow crew to egress.But none of these vehicles have an arm for grappling Hubble [] so youd have to do some interesting EVA work to tether them together.

When asked if Hubbles role could be supplemented by existing ground-based telescopes, Dr. Tom Brown, Mission Head of the Hubble Space Telescope, told Spaceflight Insider:

Hubble is currently performing well, and it provides unique capabilities that are not achievable from any ground facility in existence or planned (e.g., ultraviolet imaging and spectroscopy, high-resolution optical imaging with low backgrounds).We expect Hubble to provide these capabilities for at least a few years of overlap with the upcoming mission of the James Webb Space Telescope, launching in late 2018. Beyond that, the Space Telescope Science Institute has no official position regarding the servicing of Hubble to extend its lifetime.

Dr. Garth Illingworth, an astronomer at the Lick Observatory, has used Hubble to study the formation of galaxies. Regardingthe potential worth of a Hubble servicing mission. Dr. Illingworthtold Spaceflight Insider:

The question of the worth of another servicing mission hinges on a careful evaluation of the capabilities of the upcomingWFIRST[Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope] Hubble-like telescope (similar in size) and on what we would do differently with Hubble. I have heard some interesting ideas for instruments that would be great to have on Hubble. While I might love to have Hubble serviced again, one needs a hard-nosed evaluation of the science that would be gained to decide if it is worth the cost.

What we would try to do in space for astrophysics depends a lot of what is judged to lead to the most interesting scientific results. This is always a topic of much discussion among scientists. And ultimately we look to the Decadal Survey to establish our priorities.

While JWST is not serviceable, we expect that most future telescopes will be potentially serviceable. Current plans are to make WFIRST serviceable []. And larger future telescopes beyond will surely be serviceableand maybe even will be assembled and tested in space by astronauts and robotic capability.

The James WebbSpace Telescope (JWST), Hubbles designated successor observatory, is scheduled to launch to the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point aboard an Ariane 5 rocket in 2018. One argument for updating Hubble is that could serve as a backup space telescope in case JWST suffers a failure of some kind.

As Illingworth noted, unlike Hubble, JWSTis not designed to be serviced in space.Lynn Chandler with NASAs JWST Communications group told Spaceflight Insider,

In the early days of the Webb project, studies were conducted to evaluate the benefits, practicality and cost of servicing Webb either by human space flight, by robotic missions, or by some combination such as retrieval to low-Earth orbit. Those studies concluded that the potential benefits of servicing do not offset the increases in mission complexity, mass and cost that would be required to make Webb serviceable, or to conduct the servicing mission itself.

Whether NASA decides to pursue this commercial Hubble servicing mission will be up to the next agency administrator. As with any new presidential administration, the answer, for now, is wait and see.

Tagged: Dream Chaser Hubble Space Telescope James Webb Space Telescope Lead Stories NASA Sierra Nevada Corporation

Bart Leahy is a freelance technical writer living in Orlando, Florida. Leahy's diverse career has included work for The Walt Disney Company, NASA, the Department of Defense, Nissan, a number of commercial space companies, small businesses, nonprofits, as well as the Science Cheerleaders.

Here is the original post:

Trump space advisors considering Hubble servicing mission - SpaceFlight Insider

First Coast News , WTLV 3:09 PM. EST February 16, 2017

Georgia Capitol Building (Photo: FCN)

The Georgia House of Representatives passed a bill 162-5 that would define procedures for space flight in Georgia, as well as bring jobs to the state.

HB1, the Georgia Space Flight Act, is sponsored by Georgia Representative Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine). It would limit a "willing participant's" ability to sue for damages relating to space flight activities, as well as require the participant to give informed consent.

Proponents of the bill also say it will bring jobs to the state.

"Today's passage of HB1 sends a clear message to the commercial space industry that Georgia is serious about bringing much needed high-tech jobs to our state," said Rep. Spencer. "Georgia and Camden County are becoming well positioned as an attractive hub for the (space) industry's future business activities and operations, bringing significant economic and inspirational benefits to the citizens of Georgia."

The commercial space industry continues to grow from its current base of $330 billion per year, Spencer says.

( 2017 WTLV)

More:

Georgia Space Flight Act passes in the House, closer to bringing jobs to Camden County - Firstcoastnews.com

Indias Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on the coast of the Bay of Bengal, sending 104 satellites spaceward. (ISRO Photo)

A record-setting flock of 104 satellites was successfully deployed into orbit overnight after the launch of an Indian rocket. Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries played a part in getting nine of those satellites where they needed to go.

Indias Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, or PSLV, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota at 9:28 a.m. local time today (7:58 p.m. PT Tuesday).

The missions main payload was the Indian Space Research Organizations Cartosat 2D, a car-sized satellite designed for environmental mapping. Another 88 Dove nanosatellites, each about the size of a toaster oven, will become part of Planets Earth-observing constellation.

Eight more nanosatellites were launched for Spire Global, which is filling out a constellation to monitor weather as well as aviation and maritimetraffic. This is the second Spire PSLV mission facilitated by Spaceflight Industries, which handles launch logistics.

Spaceflight also arranged to get Israel Aerospace Industries BGUSat nanosatellite on the flight. BGUSat is a research spacecraft built by students at Ben Gurion University to perform cloud imaging and measure atmospheric background radiation.

Sixmore research satellites rounded out the flock, which represented the highest number of satellites launched on a single rocket. ISRO said all 104 satellites were successfully deployed into pole-to-pole orbits within a half-hour after launch.

The mission marked a numerical milestone for Spaceflight Industries as well as for Indias space effort.

Weve hit (and passed) the 100-satellite milestone, Spaceflight said in a pre-launch blog posting. With this launch, weve sent103 satellites to space since our first one in 2013. The team at Spaceflight is proud of this achievement, and to be part of enabling the growth of commercial enterprises and new science missions in space.

In addition to launch logistics, Spaceflight is building its own spacecraft for its BlackSky Earth-observing constellation. Its first BlackSky Pathfinder satellite was launched on a PSLV rocket last September, and the second Pathfinder is due to be sent into orbit later this year.

Eventually, Spaceflights BlackSky subsidiary aims to have 60 satellites sending down on-demand imagery from low Earth orbit.

Original post:

104-satellite launch marks success for India (and Seattle's Spaceflight Industries) - GeekWire

Paul Knightly

February 16th, 2017

Three potential landing sites for NASAs Mars 2020 rover. Image Credit: NASA

The number of potential landing sites for the Mars 2020 rover has been narrowed down to three, from a list of eight, following a conference of scientists last week. The top three landing sites that were selected were in Northeast Syrtis Major, Jezero Crater, and the Columbia Hills in Gusev Crater. The landing sites in the Columbia Hills and Syrtis Major display evidence of geothermal and mineral hot springs that could have been conducive to hosting primitive life, and Jerezo Crater shows evidence that it was once a lake of liquid water.

This image lies in the middle of a candidate landing site in the Northeast part of Syrtis Major, a huge shield volcano, and near the Northwest rim of Isidis Planitia, a giant impact basin. Image & Caption Credit: NASA / JPL-CALTECH / MSSS / JHU-APL

Northeast Syrtis Major was once influenced by volcanic activity that warmed underground sources of water ice that reached the surface as mineral hot springs. These hot springs could have hosted microbial life similar to organisms that have been found in similar environments on Earth. The area also displays layered terrain that holds a record of the interactions between water and minerals throughout early Martian history.

On ancient Mars, water-carved channels and transported sediments to form fans and deltas within lake basins. Examination of spectral data acquired from orbit shows that some of these sediments have minerals that indicate chemical alteration by water. Here in Jezero Crater delta, sediments contain clays and carbonates. The image combines information from two instruments on NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars and the Context Camera. (Reference: Ehlmann et al. 2008.) Image & Caption Credit: NASA / JPL-CALTECH / MSSS / JHU-APL

Jezero Crater is an example of the on-again/off-again nature of liquid water on Mars. There is evidence that the crater was filled and drained of water on at least two different occasions around 3.5 billion years ago. Channels can be seen leading into and out of the crater, and there is spectral evidence that suggests clay minerals were formed and deposited as sediment in the lake. These clay minerals are similar to the sediments being examined by the Curiosityrover in Gale Crater and could have played host to microbial life.

This approximate true-color image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows a rock outcrop dubbed Longhorn, and behind it, the sweeping plains of Gusev Crater. On the horizon, the rim of Gusev Crater is clearly visible. The view is to the south of the rovers current position. The image consists of four frames taken by the 750-, 530- and 430-nanometer filters of Spirits panoramic camera on sol 210 (August 5, 2004). Image & Caption Credit: NASA / JPL-CALTECH / MSSS / JHU-APL

The Columbia Hills were famously explored by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit between 20032010 where it discovered evidence the area once hosted a hot spring with liquid water similar in composition to hot springs found on Earth. If selected as the final landing site, the Mars 2020 rover would further inspect hot spring sediments to investigate their potential to host life. Mars 2020 will also revisit an outcrop that was visited by Spirit which in a recent analysis by scientists was thought to resemble a fossilized mat of microbial organisms that have been found in similar hot spring sediments on Earth. This particular outcrop represents the strongest evidence for fossilized life to have been found on the Martian surface to date.

The Mars 2020 rover is designed to address several key scientific objectives and the effectiveness of the potential landing sites to meet those objectives factored into the selection of the final three landing sites. Those objectives are the following:

Additionally, the Mars 2020 landing site must also meet the following criteria:

The three finalist landing sites were selected from an original list of 8 which also included Eberswalde Crater, Holden Crater, Mawrth Vallis, Nili Fossae, and Southwest Melas Chasma. The rover is currently under development and is similar in construction and function to Curiosity and is targeted to launch during the summer of 2020 and landing on Mars in early 2021.

Tagged: Mars Mars 2020 NASA The Range

Paul is currently a graduate student in Space and Planetary Sciences at the University of Akransas in Fayetteville. He grew up in the Kansas City area and developed an interest in space at a young age at the start of the twin Mars Exploration Rover missions in 2003. He began his studies in aerospace engineering before switching over to geology at Wichita State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in 2013. After working as an environmental geologist for a civil engineering firm, he began his graduate studies in 2016 and is actively working towards a PhD that will focus on the surficial processes of Mars. He also participated in a 2-week simluation at The Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station in 2014 and remains involved in analogue mission studies today. Paul has been interested in science outreach and communication over the years which in the past included maintaining a personal blog on space exploration from high school through his undergraduate career and in recent years he has given talks at schools and other organizations over the topics of geology and space. He is excited to bring his experience as a geologist and scientist to the Spaceflight Insider team writing primarily on space science topics.

Read more from the original source:

Potential Landing Sites for Mars 2020 Narrowed Down to Three - SpaceFlight Insider

Quixel, a studio most recognized for its hand in developing graphics technologies for game franchises such as Battlefield, Destiny, Doom, Starcraft, and Dark Souls, has announced that its debut VR title is now available on Steam for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to plummet to the earth in a failing spacecraft? Homebound is your (one-way) ticket to exactly that, as you become a lone astronaut struggling to survive a disaster as your ship hurdles out of control towards the planet.

As an increasingly sinister-sounding computer AI guides you through the ship, youll start with menial tasks that allow you to explore the spacecraft and experience the joy of weightlessness (and ruffled potato chips). The mood will start to get creepy as you discover more of your environment, with the trailer implying that there is more to your mission than just being a good astronaut. Youll inevitably press a stereotypical big red button, at which point things take an intense turn for the worse, as explosions tear through the ship and send it crashing towards Earth. (Get it? Homebound!)

Homebound was created using Quixel Suite, the texturing toolkit used in many of the aforementioned AAA game titles. The engine purportedly offers increased visual fidelity, with the company claiming its Megascans technology delivers the most believable surfaces to date in VR. Whether that's true or not, you'll need significant horsepower under the hood to meet Homebound's recommended specs, which calls for a GTX 980ti and an Intel Core i7 processor. Windows 10 is also preferred, with the spec list suggesting DirectX 12 as the recommended API.

You can download Homebound now from Steam, for a limited-time price of $7. The promotion ends on February 23, when the game returns to its full price of $9.

Read the original post:

Try To Survive A Doomed Space Flight In 'Homebound' - Tom's Hardware

Indias Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is scheduled to fire into orbit early Wednesday with 104 satellites on-board, setting a record for the largest flock of spacecraft ever launched on a single rocket.

Most of the payloads cocooned inside the PSLVs nose shroud are as small as a toaster oven, set to join commercial fleets tasked with daily imaging of the Earth and the collection of weather data to improve forecast models.

The 145-foot-tall (44-meter), four-stage PSLV is set for liftoff at 0358 GMT Wednesday (10:58 p.m. EST Tuesday) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, Indias launch base on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

The launch is scheduled for 9:28 a.m. local time in India.

The prime passenger aboard the rocket is the Indian Space Research Organizations Cartosat 2D environmental satellite, a 1,574-pound (714-kilogram) observatory to help analysts update maps, plan urban and rural infrastructure, monitor coastlines and track water usage.

Deployment pods mounted on the PSLVs upper stage also hold 96 CubeSats made by Planet and Spire Global, two San Francisco companies adding to commercial satellite constellations.

Planets 88 spacecraft awaiting blastoff will nearly double the number of satellites the company has launched since its founding in 2010. The majority of Planets orbiting camera platforms have been ejected from the International Space Station in orbits that do not fly over the entire globe, while the satellites going up from India will launch into polar orbit, enabling worldwide coverage.

The small 10.3-pound (4.7-kilogram) CubeSats, nicknamed Doves, carry a sharp-eyed camera, extendable solar panels, and high-speed data transmitters to beam images to antennas around the world. Each flock of Planet satellites debuts upgraded technology, with the suite of spacecraft launching Wednesday named Flock 3p.

This is the fifteenth time Planet is launching Dove satellites; and it will be our biggest launch to date, Planet wrote in an update on its website earlier this month. Combined with the 12 satellites of Flock 2p operating in a similar orbit, this launch will enable Planets 100 satellite line scanner constellation of Doves. With our RapidEye satellites and Doves operating in other orbits, Planet will be imaging the entire Earth daily.

Planets satellites do not have the high resolution of larger, more expensive Earth observatories like those owned and operated by DigitalGlobe but their large numbers allow customers to refresh views of a specific location on the ground more often.

The launch of 88 Dove satellites comes less than two weeks after Planet announced the acquisition of Terra Bella from Google, which has a constellation of seven higher-resolution spacecraft capable of recording high-definition video during passes over ground targets.

Eight 10.1-pound (4.6-kilogram) Lemur satellites owned by Spire Global are also set for launch Wednesday.

The shoebox-sized craft carry GPS radio occultation antennas, using satellite navigation signals passed through Earths atmosphere to derive temperature and humidity profiles that can be fed into numerical forecast models.

Spires satellites also track ships out of range of terrestrial receivers.

The company has launched a total of 21 CubeSats, some of which have ended their missions.

Spire won a $370,000 contract from NOAA in September to supply pilot data for the weather agency to determine the informations usefulness. If the pilot program proves fruitful, NOAA could place an order for more weather data from Spire and other commercial satellite startups to supplement measurements from government-owned satellites.

Seattle-based Spaceflight Services booked the Spire satellites aboard Indias PSLV mission, along with an Israeli CubeSat named BGUSat developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and Ben Gurion University. BGUSat, conceived as an educational research project, will take pictures of clouds from space and measure atmospheric background radiation.

The other international payloads stowed for Wednesdays launch are four CubeSats for institutes and companies in the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan.

ThePiezo Electric Assisted Smart Satellite Structure, or PEASSS, project will validate a new class of composite structures and power systems for future space missions.

Backed by European Union research and development funding, the PEASS mission will help develop, manufacture, test and qualify smart structures which combine composite panels, piezoelectric materials, and next-generation sensors, for autonomously improved pointing accuracy and power generation in space, officials wrote on the mission website.

Smart structures will enable fine angle control, thermal and vibration compensation, improving all types of future Earth observations, such as environmental and planetary mapping, border and regional imaging, according to mission officials.

The 6.6-pound (3-kilogram) PEASSS spacecraft was developed by a consortium of Dutch companies and scientific institutes.

The Swiss-headquartered company SpacePharma is launching its first satellite Wednesday. Named DIDO 2, the 9.3-pound (4.2-kilogram) CubeSat is the first in a line of small spacecraft SpacePharma hopes to send into orbit hosting miniature microgravity research experiments.

The student-built Al-Farabi 1 and Nayif 1 CubeSats from Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, respectively, are also heading to space on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Al-Farabi 1 will test out a communications system, and Nayif 1 carries an amateur radio transponder.

The 101 international CubeSats are stored inside 25 QuadPacks built by Innovative Solutions in Space, a Dutch firm specializing in arranging rideshare launches for small satellites.

Two Indian nanosatellites, named INS 1A and 1B, round out the 104 spacecraft awaiting blastoff.

INS 1A and 1B, each weighing about 20 pounds (9 kilograms), will demonstrate a new type of camera and gather measurements of Earths atmosphere and the space environment.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

Read the original post:

Indian rocket set to place 104 satellites in orbit - Spaceflight Now

An artists concept of X-37B in orbit. Credit: Boeing

CAPE CANAVERAL The enigmatic X-37B spaceplane, launched into low-Earth orbit on an experimental military mission in 2015, continues to circle the planet despite a flurry of landing rumors.

The X-37 is still on-orbit. The program is conducting a regularly scheduled exercise this week, said Capt. Annmarie Annicelli, media operations officer at the Pentagons Air Force Press Desk.

Internet chatter buzzed in recent days about a potential landing of the stubby-winged spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility as early as this morning.

But the Pentagon put those rumors to rest with its brief but pointed statement.

The X-37B was launched on May 20, 2015 and spent its 636th day in space today on a classified mission.

This fourth flight of the unmanned and reusable spaceplane program carried at least two payloads on its latest voyage. The military revealed before the ship took off that it was carrying an experimental electric propulsion thruster to be tested in orbit and a pallet to expose sample materials to the space environment.

What else, if anything, the vehicle is carrying in its pickup truck-size cargo bay is unknown.

As of today, the X-37B program has used twin reusable vehicles to amass 2,004 cumulative days in space on four flights since 2010, launching like a satellite atop Atlas 5 rockets and then landing like an airplane.

The three previous flights landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But the Air Force and builder Boeing have worked to consolidate all X-37B launch and landing operations at the Kennedy Space Center to use the former hangars and runway from the now-retired civilian program.

See the rest here:

No imminent X-37B landing planned - Spaceflight Now

A powerful Ariane 5 rocket rolled out of its vertical assembly hangar to a tropical launch pad on the shores of South America on Monday, and these photos show the booster on the eve of liftoff.

Standing 180 feet (55 meters) tall, the Ariane 5 is scheduled for blastoff Tuesday with the Sky Brasil 1 and Telkom 3S communications satellites. It will be the 91st launch of an Ariane 5 rocket since 1996, and the first of up to seven Ariane 5 flights planned by Arianespace in 2017.

The images below show the Ariane 5 emerging from the final assembly building in French Guiana for the 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) journey to the ELA-3 launch zone. Officials also released photos of the rocket after arriving at the launch pad, which sits in a clearing about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the Atlantic coast.

The rocket is composed of a core stage and upper stage, each consuming cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants, and two side-mounted solid rocket boosters with pre-packed powder fuel.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

Continue reading here:

Photos: Ariane 5 rocket in position for first launch of 2017 - Spaceflight Now

The delta inside Jezero Crater offers one of the best locations on Mars to look for the remains of ancient microbes, according to scientists. Jezero Crater received the most votes during a ranking of potential destinations for NASAs Mars 2020 rover last week. This image combines information from two instruments on NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: the context camera and CRISM spectrometer. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHUAPL

A rover NASA plans to launch to Mars in 2020 will likely explore one of three locations selected last week by a scientific advisory group, which picked candidate landing sites that were once homes to ancient lakes and hot springs.

Were looking for a site thats ancient around 4 or so billion years old because thats when we think Mars had water flowing and a more clement environment, said Jack Mustard, a professor at Brown University who sits on the Mars landing site selection board. We need to be able to characterize the habitability of that environment and look for preserved biosignatures. And in addition to the science on the ground, we need to find the right samples to return later.

The six-wheeled robot, similar in appearance and capability to NASAs Curiosity rover currently on Mars, will look for signs of past Martian life, assess the habitability of the environment, and measure the chemical, mineral and organic make-up of rocks, with an emphasis on hunting for biosignatures, the natural relics left behind by alien microbes.

Its other chief objectives will be to collect at least 30 test tube-sized core samples for possible retrieval and return to Earth on a future mission, and test a new device to generate oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere, validating a tool future missions could employ to produce breathable air, water and rocket fuel.

Scientists met last week in California to narrow a list of eight potential destinations selected in 2015. Acting on the advice of the 172 researchers, NASA settled on three finalists Saturday, setting the stage for a final decision by top agency managers in 2018 or 2019.

The robotic mission, officially named Mars 2020 for now, will launch in July 2020 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket and reach the red planet in February 2021, descending through the atmosphere with the assistance of a heat shield, parachutes and braking rockets before cables unreel to place the rover on the surface.

The sky crane descent system is based on the technology demonstrated with the landing of Curiosity on Mars in August 2012.

The shortlist of landing sites includes the Columbia Hills, a range of heights in 4-billion-year-old Gusev Crater where NASAs Spirit rover landed in January 2004.

Spirit found evidence that the region had a watery past after climbing from its touchdown point in the basin of Gusev Crater into rounded highlands named for the astronauts who died aboard the shuttle Columbia.

The rover drove 4.8 miles (7.7 kilometers) during its mission, and kept going after one of its wheels stopped turning. The inoperable right-front wheel dragged up white soil the rovers spectrometer determined the material was nearly pure silica and scientists linked the unexpected discovery with the presence of ancient hot springs and steam vents.

Such an environment could have hosted microbes billions of years ago, making it an ideal location to land the Mars 2020 rover, scientists said.

Spirit reached a feature named Home Plate, the remnant of a hydrovolcanic explosion involving three key ingredients for life: heat, energy and water. The Spirit rover, which functioned 25 times longer than its 90-day design life, also found outcrops of carbonate in the Columbia Hills, deposits which scientists say were emplaced during a wetter period of Martian history.

Data gathered by Spirit also indicate Gusev Crater could have periodically flooded and made shallow lakes.

Proponents of the Columbia Hills site also tout the possibility of sending the Mars 2020 rover to inspect Spirit where it bogged down in a sand pit in 2009 and likely froze its internal electronics during a frigid Martian winter. NASA last heard from Spirit in March 2010 and gave up on recovering the mission in May 2011.

Information on Spirits condition could give engineers insight into how extreme temperature swings, dust storms and possible micrometeorites affect hardware like coatings, optics, actuators and cabling on Mars, providing a bonus opportunity for a long duration exposure experiment, scientists said.

This data will aid in design of future surface systems, equipment and structures for both manned and robotic exploration of Mars, scientists wrote in a presentation backing the Columbia Hills site.

Spirit ended its mission before reaching several more geologic features scientists wanted to visit.

The other two potential targets for the Mars 2020 rover are Jezero Crater, home to an ancient river delta, and a region named Northeast Syrtis, a location that appears to be rich in layered clays with some of the oldest terrain found on Mars.

Jezero and Northeast Syrtis about 30 miles (50 kilometers) apart lie at about 18 degrees north latitude. Neither place has been explored on the surface.

Jezero Crater tells a story of the on-again, off-again nature of the wet past of Mars, NASA wrote in a description accompanying the landing site announcement. Water filled and drained away from the crater on at least two occasions. More than 3.5 billion years ago, river channels spilled over the crater wall and created a lake.

Imagery obtained from NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show clear evidence of a dried-up river delta that fed a lake. Scientists think the delta deposits, which came from a watershed stretching 4,600 square miles (nearly 12,000 square kilometers), offer one of the best places on Mars to look for preserved organic matter and biomarkers in samples the rover could scoop up and store for return to Earth by a later mission.

Any organic matter that might have been in that [watershed] is going to get concentrated in an area we can explore with a rover, said Tim Goudge, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin who made the case for Jezero Crater.

That makes it easier to maybe find the needle in the haystack because youre potentially collecting lots of needles in one spot, Goudge said in a Brown University press release.

Once the Jezero lake dried up, water may have continued to flow into the crater, stacking layers of clay minerals that hardened to form sedimentary rock.

Conceivably, microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of these wet times, officials wrote in Saturdays announcement following the science meeting. If so, signs of their remains might be found in lakebed sediments.

Jezero received the most votes during the landing site conclave.

Orbital observations show the nearby Northeast Syrtis site, the second-leading vote-getter, is covered in the remains of an underground hydrothermal system. Supporters of this landing destination point to scattered patches of carbonate, made from interactions between water and the mineral olivine, a process that produces hydrogen molecules, a possible energy source for microbes.

On Earth, we have evidence of these ancient lineages of bacteria that lived off of rocks in the subsurface, feeding off of chemical energy, Mustard said in Browns press release. Here we have that feedstock and there was water, so that makes it really exciting.

The age of some of the exposed rocks at Northeast Syrtis also makes for an attractive target.

The rocks we would touch down on would be 4 billion years old, older than any rocks on Earth, said Mike Bramble, a Brown graduate student who also presented at last weeks landing site meeting. So thats a chance to answer all kinds of questions about the formation of Mars and the formation of planetary surfaces in general.

All three candidate landing sites meet NASAs engineering requirements, providing a safe, relatively flat and boulder-less location for the rover to touch down on the surface.

Scientific concerns will drive mission managers recommendation of one or two primary landing sites at a future meeting. Officials at NASA Headquarters charged with a final decision are expected to endorse one of the top destinations scientists recommend.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

Read the original:

Scientists narrow list of landing sites for NASA's next Mars rover - Spaceflight Now

February 14, 2017 by Chris Gebhardt

Not even two days after historic launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center was revived by SpaceX following retirement of the Space Shuttle, the historic Shuttle Landing Facility at the Florida spaceport is preparing toonce again host an end of mission landing as the Air Forces X-37B mini spaceplane returns from a near two year mission on orbit.

Kennedy Space Center shines as a multi-user spaceport:

The retirement of the Shuttle fleet left a rather large hole in the Kennedy Space Centers (KSCs) ability to launch and conduct human orbital space operations.

At the conclusion of the historic reusable spaceplane program, NASA vowed to transition KSC from a single-user, single rocket facility into a multi-user, multi rocket spaceport for the 21st century.

The first two steps in that plan were the initiation of reconstruction efforts of pad 39B to prepare it for the ability to launch NASAs Space Launch System rocket for Beyond Earth Orbit missions and the 2014 agreement for a 20-year lease of pad 39A to SpaceX for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

With the final Shuttle launch from pad 39A on 8 July 2011, the pad lay dormant as reconstructive efforts took place ahead of this past weekends return of fire and thrust from rocket engines for SpaceXs static fire of the Falcon 9 rocket that will loft the SpX-10 mission to the Space Station later this week.

After Atlantis final launch from Pad A, the vehicle returned for the final landing of the Shuttle program back at the Kennedy Space Center on 21 July 2011 after which the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) has not since hosted an End Of Mission (EOM) landing of an orbital mission.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, that will change, and two of the Kennedy Space Centers iconic elements will be back in operation within two days of each other.

With Boeing building and processing its CST-100 capsule inside former OPF Bay 3 as part of NASAs Commercial Crew Transportation services contract and last weeks completion of platform installation in the VAB for SLS stacking operations, the Kennedy Space Center is truly shining as a multi-user spaceport.

Specifically for the Air Force, the ability to use the SLF at Kennedy marks what is hoped to be the first of many uses of the SLF as the primary EOM landing facility for the X-37B which the Air Force hopes to launch, land, and refurbish at KSC and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

In fact, after landing, the X-37B is expected to be towed to OPF-1 for post-flight servicing operations.

OTV-4 Fourth flight for X-37B comes to an end:

The fourth flight of the Air Forces experimental X-37B spacecraft assuming a landing on Monday, 14February 2017 will clock in at 636 days and 22 hours (approximate to its anticipated landing time).

If all goes according to plan, the X-37B will approach the Kennedy Space Center for a landing no early than0800EST (1300 UTC) though this time is approximate and based on unverified orbital tracking observations of the X-37B.

Depending on the specific path the X-37B follows in its entry sequence currently understood to be a descending node entry over portions of the United States and Florida large swathes of Central Florida could be graced with twin sonic booms during the morning commute as the X-37B rather insistently heralds its arrival back home.

The ability for this fourth mission to attempt a return to the runway at Kennedy follows three highly successful, completely autonomous deorbit, entry, and landing sequences of the first three X-37B flights, which all ended with precise touchdowns at the runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA.

OTV-2 and OTV-3 landed without incident following a blown tire that led to minor underbelly damage of the OTV-1 vehicle (which subsequently flew the OTV-3 mission).

With an expected mission duration of just under 637days, the fourth flight of the X-37B program will not be the longest with that distinction going to the OTV-3 flight which lasted 674 days and 22 hours.

Nonetheless, the mission will resoundingly beat the OTV-2 mission duration of 468 days and 14 hours and the OTV-1 mission duration of 224 days and 9 hours.

Moreover, the prolonged duration of the current and previous X-37B missions highlight the secretive nature of the spaceplane, its missions, end its designed orbital lifetime which is currently listed as 270 days something which three of the four missions to date have shattered.

Presently, two X-37Bs are known to exist, with the first flying the OTV-1 and -3 missions and the second flying the OTV-2 and -4 (presumably) missions.

In all, each X-37B is 8.92 m (29 feet 3 inches) in length, has a 4.55 m (14 foot 11 inch) wingspan, has a height of 2.9 m (9 feet 6 inches), and has a maximum lift off weight of 4,990 kg (11,000 lbs).

The vehicles are powered by gallium arsenide solar cells with Lithium-ion batteries and contain a 2.1 x 1.2 meters (7 feet x 4 feet) payload bay.

In preparation for landing at Kennedy, teams practiced landing drills and post-landing safing operations as well as emergency drills at the SLF last week.

The X-37B landing also helps explain the until now curious delay to SpaceXs launch of the SpX-10 resupply mission for the International Space Station which had originally been scheduled for the 14th as well the opening day of the X-37Bs landing attemptsat Kennedy.

When the SpaceX mission was delayed, it was stated that range assets necessary for the return to launch site landing of the Falcon 9 core stage were not available from 14-17 February, while all other range assets necessary for launch were available during that window.

While the secretive nature of the mission precludes any exact knowledge of the ground track the X-37B will take, a descending node reentry over large portions of the United States is the likely option given the landing window for the restricted air space in and around the Kennedy Space Center.

A descending node entry would lead toan earliest possiblelanding at 0800EST at Kennedy, which shouldsee the X-37B put on quite a light show for portions of the United States as it reenters the atmosphere in the early morning darkness before crossing the night-day Terminator and heading for a post-sunrise landing in Florida.

While the landing per the restriction notices originally slated to occur on 14 February, there is now evidence that the USAF has scheduled a back-upopportunity fortomorrow, 15 February.

Nonetheless, the NOTAM and flight restriction zone through 3,000 feet around the SLF extendsfrom 0800-1600L on the 14th meaning a landing is possible at any time in that window when orbital mechanics allow.

Thus, 0800 EST was only the earliest possible landing for Tuesdays attempt.

With no proven orbital ground track for OTV-4 since its maneuver last week, there are only good approximations of its suspected landing time hence the estimate of 0748-0800L for the first possible landing opportunity Tuesday.

Moreover, Tuesday was just theopen day of several landing possibilities as the EasternRange, per SpaceXs slip from today to the 18th, was in conflict from 14-17 Februaryshowing that X-37Bs opportunities to land are over days, not hours.

Additionally, after the 0800 hour passed at Kennedy, the NOTAM that was in effect was officially extended to the 15th, with the same general 0800-1600L restriction times.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon aimed at deflecting the interest in the potential landing, citing it the program was conducting a regularly scheduled exercise. However, the NOTAMs remain in place at the time of the update.

(Images: USAF, ULA, Boeing, and NASA)

See the article here:

Air Force's X-37B prepares for landing at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility - NASASpaceflight.com

Laurel Kornfeld

February 14th, 2017

Zooming in on Plutos pattern of pits, as seen by New Horizons. Image Credit: NASA / JHU-APL / SwRI

Seven poster sessions and seven studies based on data returned by the New Horizons mission will be presented at the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, which will be held in The Woodlands, Texas, on March 2024 of this year (2017).

Centered on Pluto and its moons, the Kuiper Belt, and KBOs, the 14 presentations are humorously titled New Horizons Views of Pluto and Charon: So Long, and Thanks for All the Bits.

The posters will be displayed on Tuesday, March 21, at 5:30 p.m. CDT in the Town Center Exhibit Arena, while the papers will be presented on Wednesday, March 22, between 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. CDT in the Montgomery Ballroom.

William McKinnon and Adrienn Luspay-Kuti are chairing the paper presentation event.

Data from NASAs New Horizons mission indicates that at least two (and possibly all four) of Plutos small moons may be the result of mergers between still smaller moons. If this discovery is borne out by further analysis, it could provide important new clues to the formation of the Pluto system. Image & Caption Credit: NASA / JHU-APL / SwRI

Poster sessions include the following:

This annotated version (enhanced) includes an inset diagram showing Charons north pole, equator, and central meridian, with the features highlighted. Image & Caption Credit: NASA / JHU-APL / SwRI

Paper presentations are as follows:

The posters and papers come just after the New Horizons team was awarded the NASA Group Achievement Award, which recognized over 600 people for developing the spacecraft and working on the mission.

Ralph Semmel, director of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, emphasized that unlike many other awards given to the mission team, which focused on specific aspects of the mission, this one acknowledged teamwork by the group as a whole.

This team has worked flawlessly for long periods of time, and very few people understand what it takes to do that, said NASA Planetary Science Director Jim Green. That takes dedication; that takes concentration, [and] that takes everything each and every one of you have to have to burn a hole in steel. Thats what puts you above everything else.

The awards were presented at JHU-APL on January 19, the 11th anniversary of New Horizons launch.

New Horizons team members give the Pluto salute after the NASA Group Achievement Award presentation at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory on Jan. 19 the 11th anniversary of the launch that sent New Horizons toward Pluto and Kuiper Belt. Photo Credit: NASA / JHU-APL / SwRI

Tagged: Charon Lunar and Planetary Science Conference NASA New Horizons Pluto The Range

Laurel Kornfeld is an amateur astronomer and freelance writer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science from Swinburne Universitys Astronomy Online program. Her writings have been published online in The Atlantic, Astronomy magazines guest blog section, the UK Space Conference, the 2009 IAU General Assembly newspaper, The Space Reporter, and newsletters of various astronomy clubs. She is a member of the Cranford, NJ-based Amateur Astronomers, Inc. Especially interested in the outer solar system, Laurel gave a brief presentation at the 2008 Great Planet Debate held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, MD.

More:

New Horizons posters, studies, to be presented at Lunar and Planetary Science Conference - SpaceFlight Insider