Daily Archives: May 24, 2021

The Lewis Center for Educational Research has been selected as one of only nine educational institutionsacross the United States toparticipate in a program allowingstudents to communicate with astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

The program known as NASAs Amateur Radio on the International Space Station,or ARISS is an international organization comprised mostly of volunteers that lets students talk to the space travelers using radio equipment in use by the general public.

We are thrilled to be included in this years group of schools to receive an ARISS contact, said Lisa Lamb, the Lewis Centers president/CEO. As soon as the new school year begins, our students will engage in weekly lessons to make the most of our radio contact with the astronauts on the ISS.

Students will learn about life aboard the space station, and participate in lesson plans and after school activities implemented to enhance the education experience, according to a school statement.

Our students have long studied robotic and radio missions in space, said Amy Ritter, the Lewis Centers STEMcoordinator.With ARISS, they will talk directly to our astronauts and learn about living in the space they have studied. This is such a powerful way to connect them to the future Artemis missions.

Artemis is a NASA program that intendsto send the first woman and person of color to the moon with an additional goal of establishing a sustainable community there.

The Lewis Center has a longstanding partnershipwith NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and operates the Goldstone-Apple Valley Radio Telescope, or GAVRT, a donation from the space agency.

Earlier this year, students cheered inside the schools Mission Control as the Perseverance Rover landed on Mars in February.

Lewis Center officials said students were already waiting in anticipation for the upcoming ARISS communication.

Im super excited to get to talk to astronauts living on the Space Station, student Natalie Ritter said in a statement.

Scheduling will take place after Lewis Center officials submitan equipment plan that demonstrates the educational institutions ability to execute the ham radio contact, according to ARISS.

In addition tothe Academy for Academic Excellence in Apple Valley, the Lewis Center also operates the Norton Science & Language Academy in San Bernardino.

Daily Press reporter Martin Estacio may be reached at760-955-5358 or MEstacio@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio.

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Lewis Center selected for NASA program that connects students to International Space Station astronauts - VVdailypress.com

The view from SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour of the International Space Station, as well as the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft Resilience, as the capsule approached to dock on April 24, 2021.

NASA TV

Discovery on Tuesday announced a competitive adventure TV show called "Who Wants To Be An Astronaut?" that will launch the winning contestant to the International Space Station.

The eight part series is scheduled to take place in 2022, with the winner expected to get a seat on Axiom Space's AX-2 mission and spend eight days onboard the ISS. Axiom is currently working toward its AX-1 mission, scheduled for January 2022, which will launch a fully private crew using a SpaceX rocket and capsule.

"This is an incredibly exciting time for space storytelling that gives us an opportunity to see the Earth from a vantage point few have ever experienced," Discovery's Science Channel executive vice president Scott Lewers said in a news release. "It is truly the next frontier for those who not only dream of traveling into space, but are also curious about the mysteries of the universe. We are looking forward to taking our audience on this unprecedented journey."

Discovery's TV show is open to members of the public, with an online application asking for a one-minute video and answers to questions including: "Why you deserve a chance to travel to space, what it would mean to you, and why you want to participate."

The TV show itself "will be grueling," with a series of "extreme challenges" that Discovery says are designed to test contestants "on the attributes real astronauts need most, and as they undergo the training necessary to qualify for space flight and life on board the space station."

A panel of expert judges, yet to be named, will pick "one lucky candidate" to then fly to space.

It is the latest in a number of spaceflight contests, with Elon Musk's SpaceX set to launch the Inspiration4 mission in September (which held public competitions for two of the four seats), Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin holding an online public auction for a seat on its first space tourism flight scheduled for July 20, and U.S. production company Space Hero announcing a similar reality TV show to Discovery's also launching with Axiom and scheduled for 2023.

The TV show's announcement comes after telecom giant AT&T on Monday announced the combination of content unit WarnerMedia with Discovery to form a new media giant.

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Discovery adventure TV show to launch winning contestant to the space station - CNBC

This might look like Mars, but it's actually a shot of Earth snapped by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

Earth and Mars look pretty different from each other. We see Mars as a dry dusty, reddish place while Earth looks blue and green with swirly white clouds. Can planets cosplay as each other? Earth tried.

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet had to question where he was in the solar system when he looked out the window of the International Space Station this month and snapped a photo of Earth looking a lot like Mars.

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"No cloud in sight and the red and ochre colors stretching to the horizon,"Pesquet wrote. "This is how I imagine the Perseverance rover would have seen Mars on its approach to landing."

ESA highlighted the image last week after Pesquet shared the photo on social media, saying, "I had to do a double-take when I saw this view: not Mars but our own amazing planet!"

The wide desert expanses of Earth can act as Mars doppelgangers when seen from the proper angle. Despite initial appearances, there are some clues this isn't Mars. There are hints of clouds on the right side of the image and the curving blue area across the top is a telltale sign of our planet's more substantial atmosphere.

Pesquet is part of the SpaceX Crew-2 mission that arrived at the ISS in April. He's had his eye on the desert parts of Earth recently and captured a nice view of the "Eye of the Sahara," a dome-shaped geologic structure in Mauritania in Africa.

The ESA astronaut used the occasion of his Earth/Mars photo to give a shout-out to the various science teamscurrently operating missions at the red planet: "Mars robotic exploration and human exploration go hand in hand: exploring farther and extending human presence."

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Earth looks like Mars in surprising astronaut photo from the ISS - CNET

This oblique photograph captures an astronauts perspective of Thailand at night as viewed from the International Space Station. The prominent lights of BangkokThailands capital and most populous cityare the focal point, with the lights of other cities lining the coast of the Gulf of Thailand.

The dark swath of land in the top left is the Malay Peninsula, which separates the Andaman Sea from the Gulf of Thailand. The darker, forested Tenasserim Hills stand out from the lighter-toned, lower coastal plains to the east.

Bangkok is considered a primate citywhere the population is at least double the size of the countrys second largest city. Bangkoks population of more than 10 million is many times greater than Chon Buri (population 1.4 million), the next largest. City lights provide a visual indication of the high population density in and around the city center.

Laem Chabang is visible along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bangkok. It is the countrys largest deep seaport and sees most of the international shipping reaching Thailand.

The green dots sprinkled throughout the Gulf are fishing boats using lights to attract plankton and squid. Fishing is an important industry, as most of Thailands consumption of animal protein comes from seafood. Companies around the Gulf of Thailand are also among the largest foreign suppliers of fish to the United States.

Astronaut photograph ISS064-E-37842 was acquired on February 26, 2021, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 58 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 64 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Laura Phoebus, Jacobs, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC.

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One Night in Bangkok - NASA

A week after its successful Mars landing, China said on Saturday that it had deployed a land rover on the planets surface, a feat that only the United States had accomplished before.

The solar-powered rover, named Zhurong after a god of fire in Chinese mythology, drove down from its landing platform and reached Martian soil on Saturday morning, the China National Space Administration said. It is expected to explore the planets surface for at least 90 days.

The Mars mission, Chinas first, may seem less glamorous than NASAs latest, since it is essentially repeating feats that the Americans accomplished decades ago. Still, it represents another milestone in Chinas ambition to make itself a great space power, as its top leader, Xi Jinping, put it last month.

More potential milestones lie ahead. Heres what to know about them.

In January 2019, China became the first country to land a probe on the far side of the moon, the part that perpetually faces away from Earth. It was Chinas second successful moon landing, after one in 2013.

That year, it put a rover on the moons surface that still operates today, far beyond the three months it was expected to last. As of late April, it had roamed nearly half a mile from its starting point in the Von Krmn crater near the moons southern pole, according to a report on Chinese state television.

In December, China sent yet another craft to the moon. It scooped up nearly four pounds of rocks and soil near a volcanic feature called Mons Rmker and brought them back to Earth the first lunar samples since the ones collected by the Soviet Unions Luna 24 mission in 1976. Some of the samples were put on public display in Beijing with great fanfare.

China names its moon probes after Change, a moon goddess in its mythology. Three more are planned by 2027, featuring additional rovers, a flying probe and even a proposed experiment in 3-D printing in space, according to statements from Chinas space agency.

The missions are meant to lay the foundation for a lunar base and visits by astronauts, or taikonauts, as the Chinese call them, in the 2030s. So far, only the American Apollo programs have put people on the moon.

In March, Russias space agency, Roscosmos, said it would work with China on the construction of a lunar research station, though the countries have yet to offer details of any joint plans.

Chinas launch in April of the main module for its newest orbiting space station drew more international attention than expected for the wrong reasons. After reaching orbit, the main rocket booster tumbled ominously back to Earth in what is called an uncontrolled re-entry. The debris landed in the Indian Ocean in May, narrowly missing the Maldives and spurring criticism of how China carries out the launches of its heaviest rocket, the Long March 5B.

That mission was the first of 11 needed to build Chinas third, and most ambitious, space station by the end of 2022. Two more Long March 5B rockets will carry additional modules, and other variants will launch smaller parts. Four missions, one planned for June, will return Chinese astronauts to space after more than four years.

Chinas first two space stations were short-lived prototypes, but this one is intended to function for a decade or longer. Mr. Xi compared it to the two bombs, one satellite exhortation of Mao Zedongs era, which referred to Chinas race to develop a nuclear weapon, mount it on an intercontinental ballistic missile and put a satellite in orbit. Like all of Chinas accomplishments in space, it is being touted as evidence of the prowess of the Communist Party-run state.

The International Space Station, jointly developed by the United States, Russia and others, is nearing the end of its intended life in 2024. What happens after that is unclear. NASA has proposed keeping the station going for a few more years; Russia has said that it intends to withdraw by 2025.

If the station is decommissioned, Chinas could be the only game in town for some time.

The station named, like the first two, Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace will be able to house three astronauts for long-term missions and as many as six for shorter periods. China has selected a team of 18 astronauts, some of whom are civilians (only one is a woman). The first three are scheduled to spend three months in space, which would surpass the 33-day record for Chinese astronauts set in 2016.

Hao Chun, the director of Chinas Manned Space Agency, told the state news media that astronauts from other nations would be allowed to visit, whether aboard Chinese spacecraft or their own, though they would need a docking mechanism in line with Chinese standards, which differ from those on the International Space Station. He said some foreign astronauts were learning Mandarin in preparation.

In one go, Chinas Mars mission, called Tianwen (Questions to Heaven) after a classic poem, completed a trifecta of feats that NASA accomplished over a number of years. It reached orbit around the planet in February, safely put a craft on the surface on May 15 and has now released a land rover.

The Soviet Union was the first country to land a craft on Mars, in 1971, but seconds after touching down, the lander stopped communicating, probably because of a sandstorm. It transmitted a single incomplete or indecipherable image. Since then, a number of other attempts to reach the surface, made by several countries, have failed.

Until this month, only the United States had managed successful Mars landings eight in all, the most recent by the Perseverance rover in February. (China tried to send an orbiter to Mars in 2011, but the Russian rocket that was carrying it failed to get out of orbit, and both crashed back to Earth.)

Four days after Chinas lander touched down on Utopia Planitia, a large basin in the northern hemisphere where NASAs Viking 2 landed in 1976, the countrys space agency released its first photographs from the planets surface and said the mission was proceeding as planned.

The agency released two black-and-white photos on Saturday of the rover on the surface. The rover will conduct experiments studying Marss topography, geology and atmosphere. One goal is to better understand the distribution of ice in the region, which, in theory, could help sustain future visits by people.

China has said it plans to send a second lander to Mars by 2028 and, ultimately, to bring samples back from the planet. Its a complex feat that NASA and the European Space Agency are already working on, with hopes that soil and rocks collected by Perseverance can be brought home in 2031. Chinas mission could happen this decade, setting up a potential race.

In addition to the possibility of a future crewed mission to Mars, China is planning a single, 10-year mission to collect a sample from an asteroid and pass by a comet. It has also proposed orbiters for Venus and Jupiter. In 2024, it plans to launch an orbiting telescope similar to the Hubble, which first launched in 1990.

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Chinas Ambitious Plans in Space: The Moon, Mars and Beyond - The New York Times

A GLOWING UFO was spotted flying past the International Space Station during a live stream.

Video shows the triangular-shaped vessel with four beaming lights travelling through space - and the clip has sent sky-watcher's tongues wagging.

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The sighting was analysed by YouTube account UFO Sightings Daily, but the footage of the unexplained flying object was originally broadcast as part of the ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment.

UFO enthusiast Scott Waring, who analyses the clip, adamantly told viewers he believed it was "100% alien".

"This is a single glowing object," he explained. "This object has four powerful glowing areas, each corner of it is glowing and the centre of the front of it is also glowing which I assume is either part of a cockpit or part of the propulsion.

"It's absolutely mind-blowing... It is an alien craft... I believe this is 100% alien."

He excitedly details the events of the live stream while continually zooming in on the UFO to gain a closer look at the craft.

Scott continued: "We've seen lots ofaliencraft lately, released by United States military, it's getting in the news. People are shrugging it off like it doesn't matter.

"You can't ignore the facts that are right in front of us and this was recorded by the multi-billion dollar camera on the International space station.

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"That makes it undeniable evidence recorded by NASA themselves on live cam."

The alien expert then uses digital software to focus on the features of the triangle-shaped object, and suggests a "solid" structure can be seen between the glowing lights.

Scott's opinions of the sightings were echoed by extraterrestrial fanatics in the comment section, who thanked him for sharing the "undeniable" content.

One exclaimed: "This is really good evidence Scott as you said undeniable!"

"Definitely a triangle looks like one ship, amazing. I cant wait to see what else they( U.S) are going to show us," another wrote.

A third commenter said:"Agree this is definitely a triangle craft .. as everyone is so focused on Mars Scotty picks up the Golden stuff I love to view especially by the ISS! TRUE GOLD!"

Some conspiracy theorists took the opportunity to dig deeper, suggesting the footage should prompt: "NASA and the government to be giving the people the truth now."

"How can they keep this hidden any longer when the evidence is in front of people's eyes," the viewer continued.

It comes amid a number of unexplained sightings by the US military that are shrouded by claims of a cover-up.

The US Senate Intelligence Committee has now asked the Director of National Intelligence to work with the Defense Department to provide a report by June 25 on the observations.

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The request came after revelations in 2017 that the Pentagon was researching a series of unexplained intrusions into military airspace, including mysterious objects captured on video stalking US Navy ships.

Defense officials have since confirmed a number of UFO sightings and even shared sensational videos which document unexplained encounters in the sky, now often referred to as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

The most recent footage was confirmed as genuine to The Sun Online last month - with a video and series of photos showing a mysterious phenomena encountering US warships and fighter planes.

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Triangle-shaped UFO spotted flying past International Space station as viewers claim glowing aircraft is... - The Irish Sun