That Pet Rock of yours lose a bit of its luster over the years? Not to worry, NASA plans to put one big enough for the whole world to share in orbit around the moon by the start of the next decade. Here’s how. More »
A NASA funded project designed to create a sensor for tracking asteroids has passed a key design test. The test was designed to assess the performance of the Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) in an environment mimicking the temperatures and pressure of deep space. The NEOCam is a key instrument that will be used in a proposed space-based asteroid-hunting telescope.
NASA believes that this sensor will be a vital component in its efforts to identify, capture, and relocate an asteroid closer to Earth for exploration by astronauts. NASA previously announced its plans to capture an asteroid and place in orbit around the moon. NASA wants to capture that asteroid and send astronauts to investigate by 2021.
NASA describes a near-Earth object as either an asteroid or comet with an orbit that brings it within 28,000,000 miles of the Earth as it orbits the sun. NASA says the problem with discovering and identifying these near Earth objects is that a small, light-colored space rock can look the same as a big, dark one. This is the reason why NASA says data collected using optical telescopes relying on visible light can be deceiving.
This is where infrared sensors come in, when space rocks are observed in infrared you see thermal emissions that are able to better define the size of an asteroid and tell you something about the composition of rock. NASA’s proposed plans for the sensor are to place it inside of a space-based telescope that would be located about four times the distance between Earth and Moon away from our planet.
[via NASA]
Asteroid tracking sensor passes critical design test is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will be conducting its first test launch of its Antares rocket on April 18th, and if all goes well, the company will be well on its way on delivering on its $1.9 billion contract with NASA. The contract requires Orbital to complete 8 unmanned cargo missions to the International Space Station (ISS) using its Antares rocket and its Cygnus Capsule.
However, not only will this test launch show whether or not Orbital is ready to deliver on its contract, it will also put Wallops Island into the spotlight as well. William Wrobel, director of the Wallops Island-based NASA facility hopes that this test launch will show that the facility is more than just a research facility, and that it is capable of doing “regular flights out of here to the space station”, just like the NASA facilities in Florida, California, and Texas.
During the test launch, the Antares rocket will carry a simulated version of the Cygnus capsule to an altitude of 155 to 185 miles above Earth. It will also be delivering 4 small satellites into orbit. If everything is successful, Orbital will be well on its way to a test launch of its Cygnus Capsule in November. The Cygnus capsule is expected to carry 5,952 pounds of supplies to the ISS.
Orbital is one of two private companies contracted by NASA, with the other being SpaceX. Orbital is still quite a ways behind SpaceX, because while its Cygnus capsule would burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere upon re-entry, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule can return to Earth just fine, and can also bring with it supplies, equipment, and science experiments from the ISS. Orbital has yet to complete one of its 8 required cargo missions, however SpaceX has already completed 2 out of its 12 missions required from its $1.6 billion contract with NASA.
Orbital is mostly known for launching small satellites into space. It is also getting more into developing missile defense systems, with it completing around 50 launches for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Air Force, Army, and Navy. If the Antares rocket test launch is successful, it will also be diving into the medium-size rockets business. The Antares rocket test launch will also prove beneficial to the NASA’s Wallops Island facility as well. Virginia Officials believe that the publicity generated from the event will entice more space and tech companies to do business with them.
[via Washington Post]
NASA’s Wallops Island to secure spotlight with Orbital’s Antares rocket test launch is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has beamed back some very interesting images of Saturn’s largest moon Titan. The images were sent back by the Cassini spacecraft and show that an icy cloud is beginning to grow over the south pole of the moon. NASA says that that icy cloud indicates that fall has begun on Titan’s southern hemisphere.
Scientists and researchers don’t know what the cloud is made up of, but a similar cloud has been dissipating over Titan’s north pole where springtime has begun. The NASA researchers associate the cloud forming over the southern pole of the moon with winter weather. NASA says that the interesting thing about the cloud forming over the south pole is that this is the first time this sort of cloud has been detected anywhere other than the north pole of the moon.
Titan is very interesting to astronomers and scientists, it is the second largest moon in the entire solar system. Titan is also the only moon that has clouds and a dense atmosphere similar to a planet. Observations made by the Cassini spacecraft have noted that warmer air from the southern hemisphere of the moon rises into the atmosphere and then gets dumped on the moon’s North pole.
As that air descends from high in the atmosphere to the North pole of Titan it cools and forms the icy cloud. While here on earth we get several seasons in a single calendar year, Titan has a much longer seasonal pattern. The north pole of Titan begin transitioning from winter to spring in August of 2009. However, the first signs of the ice cloud in the southern hemisphere weren’t spotted until July of 2012. While scientists don’t know what the clouds on Titan are made from, they do know a few things the cloud cover isn’t made from. Scientists have ruled out chemicals such as methane, ethane, and hydrogen cyanide.
[via Space.com]
Icy clouds over Titan’s south pole hint that fall has come is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
On Thursday, April 11, the sun let off an M6.5 solar flare and its accompanying coronal mass ejection, more commonly called a CME, which is directed at Earth. The solar particles that result from such an event are traveling at a speed of about 600 miles per second, and are expected to reach Earth Friday night into the weekend. Such an event disrupted some radio communications.
Before you begin imaging a scenario similar to certain end-of-times movies where characters go from innocently watching television to being shrouded in darkness and chaos, keep in mind this event will be far less eventful, possibly disrupting radios and GPS starting Friday night. Because the event was observed, some preparations can be made in anticipation of the incoming solar particles, helping protect satellites and other vulnerable equipment from damage.
A CME that is Earth-bound, according to NASA, can result in a geomagnetic storm as it colides with the magnetosphere. In addition, this particular event caused what is reported as a weak solar energetic particle event close to our planet, which results when charged particles are thrust towards Earth. Harmful radiation can result from such an event, but is of no concern to us because it is blocked by the atmosphere.
Says NASA, an M-class solar flare is ten times weaker than an X-class solar flare, and is the weakest flare still capable of creating solar storms near our planet. The result from this particular event was an R2 radio blackout, which is low on a scale that ranges from R1 to R5. Still, this is the strongest solar flare that has happened this year, and is ahead of anticipated increased activity later this year. This is the result of the sun’s 11-year activity cycle approaching solar maximum in the ebb and flow of things.
[via NASA]
Sun unleashes solar flare and Earth-bound coronal mass ejection, disrupts radios is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
In 1971, the Soviets landed a spacecraft on Mars, which ultimately met an unfortunate fate and died in a somewhat unknown location. Now, over four decades later, it is believed parts of that spacecraft were photographed by NASA‘s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter years ago, only to have been overlooked for half a decade and eventually spotted by enthusiasts on an Internet forum.
The community at VK.com/Curiosity_Live crowdsourced a mission to find the Soviet Union’s long-lost Mars 3 spacecraft, with the site’s leader, Vitali Egorov of St. Petersburg, Russia, creating models of what hardware from the spacecraft should look like. With this reference, the community combed through a large image taken five-years ago by NASA’s MRO, identifying what is believed to be the craft’s parachute, lander, terminal retrorocket, and heat shield.
The HiRISE image in which the possible spacecraft parts were discovered is massive with 1.8 million pixels, which NASA says would require approximately 2500 average computer monitors to view. In light of the discovery, it was recommended that a new image be taken of the location where the hardware parts were discovered, which ultimately happened on March 10 of this year. The new image looks at the area in color and in different angles, which should provide a better idea of what the original image shows.
Said Alfred McEwen, HiRISE Principal Investigator from the University of Arizona, said: “Together, this set of features and their layout on the ground provide a remarkable match to what is expected from the Mars 3 landing, but alternative explanations for the features cannot be ruled out. Further analysis of the data and future images to better understand the three-dimensional shapes may help to confirm this interpretation.”
[via NASA]
NASA’s orbiter possibly spots lost 1970′s Soviet lander is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Early this morning, while most of us were resting peacefully in our beds, everyone’s favorite flaming ball of plasma decided to give NASA’s cameras a little show. More specifically, the Solar Dynamics Observatory managed to capture our sun’s biggest solar flare of the year thus far. More »
Many have lamented the seeming decline of the US space program. While we’re not expecting an immediate return to the halcyon days, the President’s proposed federal budget for fiscal 2014 could see some renewed ambition. NASA’s slice of the pie includes a plan that would improve detection of near-Earth asteroids, send a solar-powered robot ship (like the NASA concept above) to capture one of the space rocks and tow it back to a stable orbit near Earth, where researchers could study it up close. The agency would have humans setting foot on the asteroid by 2025, or even as soon as 2021. It’s a grand goal to say the least, but we’d potentially learn more about solar propulsion and defenses against asteroid collisions.
If NASA’s plans mostly involve the future, the US Air Force budget is looking into the past. It’s setting aside $35 million for a long-discussed resurrection of the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite, also known as DSCOVR — a vehicle that was scuppered in 2001 due to cost overruns, among other factors. Run by NOAA once aloft, the modernized satellite would focus on warning the Earth about incoming solar winds. That’s just one of the satellite’s original missions, but the November 2014 launch target is relatively realistic — and we’ll need it when the satellite currently fulfilling the role is overdue for a replacement.
Via: Space.com
Source: NASA, AP (Yahoo)
The problem with exploring our solar system today is that we lack the technology to make voyages between planets quick enough. It’s nearly impossible to visit other planets because of slow propulsion systems that expose astronauts to cosmic radiation and require huge amounts of fuel. To solve this problem, researchers from the University of Washington working on a new fusion-powered spacecraft.
The scientists believe that the fusion-powered spacecraft would theoretically be able to get astronauts to Mars and back in only 30 days – siginficantly faster than current technology. NASA currently estimates with modern liquid-fueled rocket engines a round-trip to and from Mars would take four years and cost at least $12 billion. The Fusion Drive involves “a type of plasma is encased in its own magnetic field” according to the researchers. The process is also described as a “unique manipulation of nuclear fusion.”
According to the researchers, using fusion fuel material the size of a grain of sand would have the same energy content as a gallon of rocket fuel. The fusion drive project is being funded from NASA via the Innovative Advanced Concept Program. NASA was so impressed with the research that it gave the project additional funding.
[via PCMag]
NASA’s Kepler space telescope hasn’t exactly been a slouch when it comes to planet hunting, but that effort will soon be getting a considerable boost courtesy of a new mission selected by NASA as part of its Explorer program. Dubbed the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (or TESS), this new space telescope will one-up Kepler with the ability to perform an all-sky survey (an area 400 times larger than previous missions) to search for transiting exoplanets, with an eye towards planets comparable to Earth in size. TESS was developed by an MIT-led team, and will be placed in what they describe as a new “Goldilocks” orbit, allowing it to travel close enough to the Earth every two weeks for a high-speed data downlink while still remaining safely beyond the harmful radiation belts. It’s now set for launch in 2017, when it will be joined by the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), an addition to the International Space Station also selected as part of the Explorer program last week that will use a process called X-ray timing to study neutron stars.
Via: New Scientist
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