Space news and Exploration II

Theoretical study suggests huge lava tubes could exist on moon
9 hours ago by Elizabeth K. Gardner
theoreticals.jpg

The city of Philadelphia is shown inside a theoretical lunar lava tube. A Purdue University team of researchers explored whether lava tubes more than 1 kilometer wide could remain structurally stable on the moon. Credit: Purdue University/courtesy of David Blair
Lava tubes large enough to house cities could be structurally stable on the moon, according to a theoretical study presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference on Tuesday (March 17).



Read more at: Theoretical study suggests huge lava tubes could exist on moon
 
Successful Test Flights for Mars Landing Technology

It's tricky to get a spacecraft to land exactly where you want. That's why the area where the Mars rover Curiosity team had targeted to land was an ellipse that may seem large, measuring 12 miles by 4 miles (20 by 7 kilometers).

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have been developing cutting-edge technologies that would enable spacecraft to land at a specific location on Mars -- or any other planetary body -- with more precision than ever before. In collaboration with Masten Space Systems in Mojave, California, they have recently tested these technologies on board a high-tech demonstration vehicle called the Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-flight Testbed (ADAPT).
 
Bigelow Aerospace's Inflatable Habitat Ready for Space Station Trip
Bigelow Aerospace s Inflatable Habitat Ready for Space Station Trip

A new, inflatable addition to the International Space Station is ready for its close-up.

NASA officials viewed Bigelow Aerospace's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) at the company's facility in Las Vegas on March 12. BEAM is scheduled to depart later this year for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and then blast toward the station atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster.

BEAM's time attached to the orbiting lab should provide a key test for expandable space habitats, which represent a dramatic departure from traditional metallic designs.

"We're fortunate to have the space station to demonstrate potential habitation capabilities like BEAM," Jason Crusan, director of Advanced Exploration Systems at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement. "Station provides us with a long-duration microgravity platform with constant crew access to evaluate systems and technologies we are considering for future missions farther into deep space."

bigelow-aerospace-beam-inflatable-module.jpg

Founded in 1999 by entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, Bigelow Aerospace has as a goal the creation of a new paradigm in space commerce and exploration via the development and use of expandable habitat technology. Expandable habitats are viewed as offering dramatically larger volumes than rigid, metallic structures as well as enhanced protection against both radiation and physical debris.

Additionally, expandable habitats are lighter than traditional systems, take up less room in a rocket fairing for launch, and are seen by advocates as a less-costly alternative.

As an example, BEAM will measure just 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide in its packed configuration aboard SpaceX's robotic Dragon resupply spacecraft. Once is deployed and inflated, it will add an additional 565 cubic feet (16 cubic m) of volume — about the size of a large family camping tent — that is accessible to astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Technology demonstration
NASA awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace to provide BEAM, which will arrive at the space station in 2015 for a two-year technology demonstration.

After the module is berthed to the station's Tranquility node, astronauts will activate a pressurization system to expand the structure to its full size using air stored within the packed module.

Space station crewmembers will periodically enter the module to gather performance data and conduct inspections. Following the test period, the module will be jettisoned from the station and burn up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere.
 
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Saturn's Moon Enceladus Might Have Warm Ocean
Water Up to 194 Degrees Fahrenheit

Hydrothermal activity would mean there is a heat source in Enceladus's core that is interacting with rocks that are heating the Saturn moon's ocean. That means there could be life on the ocean floor as Earth has life at hot vents on ocean bottoms.



— “We think that the temperature at least in some part of the ocean
must be higher than 190 degrees Fahrenheit. If you could swim a little bit
further from the really hot part, then it could be comfy.”

- Sean Hsu, Ph.D., Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Univ. of Colorado

— “[For such heat] the most exciting possibility is that there's ongoing chemical reactions between the rock inside Enceladus and the water.”

- Bill McKinnon, Ph.D., Planetary Scientist, Washington Univ.-St. Louis



EnceladusNASA.jpg
Saturn's moon Enceladus is one of the brightest objects in our solar system
because it is covered in water ice that reflects sunlight.

Earthfiles.com Science Saturn s Moon Enceladus Might Have Warm Ocean Water Up to 194 Degrees Fahrenheit
 
U. K. Scientists “Confident” That Gliese 581d Is
A “Habitable Planet” Orbiting Red Giant Gliese 581.

“The existence (or not) of planet GJ 581d orbiting red giant Gliese 581
is significant because it was the first Earth-like planet discovered in the
‘Goldilocks’-zone around another star and it is a benchmark case
for the Doppler technique.”

- Guillem Anglada-Escude, Ph.D., Queen Mary University of London

Gliese581dRealGoldilocksPlanet030915.jpg

This is an artist's illustration of a newly reaffirmed "Goldilocks planet"
20 light-years from Earth orbiting a red dwarf sun, Gleise 581, that is only
about 29% the size of our sun. In 2009, when a spectrometer picked up a
"wobble" change in the wavelength of light around Gleise 581, scientists said
the wobble indicated a planet larger than Earth in the habitable zone that was not
too hot, not too cold, just right for life to exist. Then almost as quickly as
the new planet was announced, Pennsylvania State University scientists dismissed
it as "star system noise or interference," not a real planet. Illustration
courtesy Queen Mary Univ. of London.

Describing their model as more accurate to apply to the existing 2009 data, Queen Mary University of London astrophysicist Guillem Anglada-Escude, Ph.D., and his colleagues have published in the March 6, 2015 Science journal that they are "confident" that the signal of GJ 581d is a real one, despite stellar variability. “There are always discussions among scientists about the ways we interpret data, but I’m confident that GJ 581d has been in orbit around Gliese 581 all along.
 
Solar-Eclipse-Seen-From-Space_photo_medium.jpg

Solar Eclipse Seen From Space

The European Space Agency's Proba-2 had ringside seats for Friday's eclipse. The sun-watching minisatellite used its SWAP imager to capture the event as the Moon passed between the Earth and Sun. SWAP records what it sees in the ultraviolet wavelengths and caught the Sun's corona as the eclipse occurred.
 
New Alliance To Promote Space Development and Settlement Policies

WASHINGTON — On the heels of a closed-door meeting that concluded space development and settlement should be long-term goals of the United States, a separate group of 11 organizations announced a new coalition that will promote policies to achieve those goals.

The Alliance for Space Development (ASD), led by the National Space Society and the Space Frontier Foundation, plans to advocate for legislation and other initiatives to achieve its goal of accelerating the development and settlement of space.
 
U. K. Scientists “Confident” That Gliese 581d Is
A “Habitable Planet” Orbiting Red Giant Gliese 581.

“The existence (or not) of planet GJ 581d orbiting red giant Gliese 581
is significant because it was the first Earth-like planet discovered in the
‘Goldilocks’-zone around another star and it is a benchmark case
for the Doppler technique.”

- Guillem Anglada-Escude, Ph.D., Queen Mary University of London

Gliese581dRealGoldilocksPlanet030915.jpg

This is an artist's illustration of a newly reaffirmed "Goldilocks planet"
20 light-years from Earth orbiting a red dwarf sun, Gleise 581, that is only
about 29% the size of our sun. In 2009, when a spectrometer picked up a
"wobble" change in the wavelength of light around Gleise 581, scientists said
the wobble indicated a planet larger than Earth in the habitable zone that was not
too hot, not too cold, just right for life to exist. Then almost as quickly as
the new planet was announced, Pennsylvania State University scientists dismissed
it as "star system noise or interference," not a real planet. Illustration
courtesy Queen Mary Univ. of London.

Describing their model as more accurate to apply to the existing 2009 data, Queen Mary University of London astrophysicist Guillem Anglada-Escude, Ph.D., and his colleagues have published in the March 6, 2015 Science journal that they are "confident" that the signal of GJ 581d is a real one, despite stellar variability. “There are always discussions among scientists about the ways we interpret data, but I’m confident that GJ 581d has been in orbit around Gliese 581 all along.
It would be amazing if we could find and get to a planet where we would be the dominant species and take it over. We need a way to travel 20 light years in 40 years.
 
Within 25 light years

I'd look at Gliese 667 Cc Gliese 667 Cc - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia This world is only slightly further and has a esl of .84! While Gliese 832 c is even closer then Gliese 581d at 16 light years and has .81 esl!!! Gliese 832 c - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

A couple of other worlds that are closer but aren't confirmed are
Kapteyn b - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia a little over 13 light years .67 esl or slightly more favorable then mars with its .64!
and Tau Ceti e - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia 11.9 light years! .78 esl...


In fact Gliese 581d only has a esl of .53. Worse then mars....
 
Chinese space authorities have announced plans to launch more than 40 different spacecraft into orbit this year.

China to send over 40 spacecraft in 20 launches in 2015
2013 saw Chinese space authorities conduct 16 separate launches.

Zhao Xiaojin, director of the Space Department with the China Aerospace and Science Technology Corporation says most of the spacecraft to be put into orbit this year will be satellites.

"They will be mainly communication satellites, or geosynchronous satellites orbiting at the height of 36-thousand miles. There will also be some remote sensing satellites sent up to observe the earth, as well as navigation satellites for the Beidou system."

Chinese space authorities do say a number of "cutting-edge" technologies will also be tested for the first time.

This is scheduled to include the launch of the Yuanzheng I upper stage aircraft, dubbed the "space shuttle bus."

The experimental craft is scheduled to independently send a Beidou satellite into orbit after being launched into space from a terrestrial flight pattern in earth's atmosphere.

I wish they'd put up two things, 1. A Chinese Quickscatt satellite to get better surface winds on tropical cyclones and 2. a Chinese Kepler! ;) Both would kick ass.

SpaceX Aims To Debut New Version of Falcon 9 this Summer.


http://spacenews.com/spacex-aims-to-...9-this-summer/
SpaceX plans to inaugurate its new, more-powerful Falcon 9 rocket this summer, using the same Merlin 1D engine with a modified fuel mix and other changes to extend the company’s planned reuse of the first stage to cover all SpaceX launches, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said.

In March 16 and 17 appearances at the Satellite 2015 conference here, Shotwell said the new-version Falcon 9, which has yet to be named, will be about 30 percent more powerful than the rocket’s current version.
 
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...=true#comments
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) teams will meet later in March to take stock of its status and plan the next steps that have come as a bonus.

“We need to consolidate and review the data so far, and also make the next plans,” V. Kesava Raju, Mars Mission Director for post-launch matters, told The Hindu. Detailed analyses of the data it has sent will not be available for some more months, though he said MOM had done a good amount of mapping and imaging. In the six months, the orbiter has been taking Martian surface pictures from distances of around 500 km to 70,000 km. It has mapped the terrain, studied the chemicals present, looked for methane, a sign of ancient or present life, and got a ringside view of a passing comet in October.

Dr. Raju said that as Mars and earth were both moving, the geometry had been changing. This allowed MOM to cover additional Martian surface. So far, MOM’s colour camera focussed on wide-angle long shots of Mars. “Perhaps, we can have imageries of higher resolution from shorter distances,” he said.

European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have received 15 proposals for a joint project between them.

The proposed missions will now be assessed for their technological feasibility and scientific merit. By the end of this year, the pool will be narrowed down to a winner or a handful of contenders, which will enter a study phase of around two years, with a final go-ahead expected in 2017.

The final selected mission will be led by principal investigators affiliated with both European and Chinese institutions, with an aim to launch in 2021.


http://www.nature.com/news/china-and...ission-1.17133
The call is the EU’s first step on the path to more collaboration with China, says Fabio Favata, head of science planning and community coordination at ESA. Whether a bigger joint project follows will depend on how this one fares.

Although proposals can cover any scientific area — bar exploration of the Moon or Mars, which are covered by separate programmes at both agencies — the mission’s scope is limited by its funding. The EU will contribute just more than €50 million (US$53 million) to the project, which China is expected to match.

The call is a “win–win” situation for China and the EU, says Taotao Fang, an astronomer at Xiamen University in China, who is part of the team that proposed the MESSIER orbiter, a telescope studying galaxy formation.

China’s biggest gain will be learning from ESA’s experience in purely scientific missions, which have been rare in China’s space programme, says Linjie Chen, a member of the DSL team and an astrophysicist at the Chinese National Astronomical Observatories in Beijing.

ESA can gain from collaborating with a country with a healthy space programme backed by growing investment, adds Chen. In 2013, China became the first country since the 1970s to put a lander on the Moon. The country is planning a lunar sample-return mission in 2017 and aims to build a space station by 2020. China is also planning to launch four space-science missions, starting with the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) in November.
 
Within 25 light years

I'd look at Gliese 667 Cc Gliese 667 Cc - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia This world is only slightly further and has a esl of .84! While Gliese 832 c is even closer then Gliese 581d at 16 light years and has .81 esl!!! Gliese 832 c - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

A couple of other worlds that are closer but aren't confirmed are
Kapteyn b - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia a little over 13 light years .67 esl or slightly more favorable then mars with its .64!
and Tau Ceti e - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia 11.9 light years! .78 esl...


In fact Gliese 581d only has a esl of .53. Worse then mars....
We need to be able to breath.
 
Within 25 light years

I'd look at Gliese 667 Cc Gliese 667 Cc - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia This world is only slightly further and has a esl of .84! While Gliese 832 c is even closer then Gliese 581d at 16 light years and has .81 esl!!! Gliese 832 c - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

A couple of other worlds that are closer but aren't confirmed are
Kapteyn b - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia a little over 13 light years .67 esl or slightly more favorable then mars with its .64!
and Tau Ceti e - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia 11.9 light years! .78 esl...


In fact Gliese 581d only has a esl of .53. Worse then mars....
We need to be able to breath.


The telescopes of the 2020's will hopefully answer this question.
 
Extrasolar Planets Are, Almost, Everywhere

The search for extrasolar planets
But then along came NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. Over the past few years Kepler has been able to detect thousands of exoplanets and hundreds of multi-exoplanet systems.

Along with my PhD student Tim Bovaird and Master’s student Steffen Jacobsen, we reasoned that if the TB relation had been such a useful (if somewhat imperfect) guide for predicting planets in our solar system, maybe it would be useful in predicting planets in the new exoplanetary systems detected by Kepler.

We checked the hundred or so systems where Kepler had found at least a few planets and we found that the majority of these exoplanetary systems adhered to the Titus-Bode relation even somewhat better than our solar system did.

Thus, we became convinced that the horse still had some miles left in her – that the semi-taboo Titus-Bode relation could provide useful hints about the periods of as-yet-undetected planets around other stars.

Resurrection
Last year we used a generalised Titus-Bode relation to analyse 68 multi-planet systems with four or more detected exoplanets. We made predictions for the existence of more planets in these systems, based on the Titus-Bode relation.

So far, 5% of our predictions have been confirmed. This may sound like a small percentage, but given the inability of the Kepler telescope to see Earth-sized planets or smaller, a 5% detection rate is what you would expect to see if all the predictions were true.

habitable-zone.jpg

The Goldilocks zone or habitable zone around a star is where the temperature is just right to have liquid water. Our new result suggests that there are, on average, two planets in the habitable zone.
Credit: Aditya Chopra, ANU, adapted from NASA/JPL
View full size image
Almost all of the exoplanets detected by Kepler are larger than Earth and very close to their host stars. This is almost certainly a selection bias.

It is very difficult for the Kepler telescope to spot planets that are far enough away from their host stars to be in the habitable zone (where the temperatures are in the range where H2O will be liquid water).

Using the Titus-Bode relation is a controversial indirect technique, but I think it’s the best one we have if we are interested in answering the question: How many planets (on average) are in the habitable zones of stars?

How many potentially habitable planets?
Our answer to this question is 2 ± 1 and was published this week in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The figures (above and below) illustrate our result.

potential-habitable-planets-chart.jpg

The names on the left are the names of 31 Kepler exoplanetary systems. The blue dots are exoplanets detected by Kepler. Red and gray squares are our Titus-Bode-based predictions. The green horizontal band is the habitable zone. For comparison, the first system (at the top) is our solar system. The Earth is in the middle of the habitable zone.
Credit: Author provided
View full size image
With about 300 billion stars in our galaxy, our result means there are 600 ± 300 billion planets in circumstellar habitable zones in our galaxy.

In the observable universe there are about 100 billion galaxies. Thus there are approximately 1022 stars in the observable universe and twice that many planets in circumstellar habitable zones in the universe.

That’s a lot of real estate for alien development. Not all of these habitable zone planets will be wet and rocky like the Earth, but a fair fraction (about 30%) should be. Now we need some zippy interstellar spaceships to colonise and over-populate all these worlds before the aliens do.
 
Are there volcanoes on Ceres?
James Sullivan | @kingpiranha825| March 19, 2015


Are there volcanoes on Ceres Science Recorder
Since its launch in September of 2007, Dawn has traveled over 3.1 billion miles to its rendezvous with Ceres.


The elusive bright spots found on dwarf planet Ceres might actually be volcanoes of ice – spouting hot water vapors off into space, meaning that perhaps this realm too might be a suitable place for life to exist. Images of the Dawn probe suggest that beneath its surface may be a life-giving ocean.

It is also likely that the plumes seen in the picture could be the result of patches of ice catching sunlight, an effect similar to that produced by comets.

The theories were proposed this week at the latest Lunar and Planetary Science conference held outside of Houston. They hope to learn more by mid-April, at which point the Dawn spacecraft will emerge from the dark side of Ceres, within the asteroid belt.

In January of 2014, the Herschel space observatory made the first official detection of water vapor on Ceres. In 2004, the Hubble telescope released images from the Hubble space telescope indicating the presence of water ice.

Two light spots were seen inside one of the craters in black-and-white images that were beamed to Earth back in mid-February when Dawn homed in on Ceres. A full, nine-hour rotation of the dwarf planet, revealed its brightest spot, overlooking a crater rim.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft began its orbit of Ceres early on Friday morning and will soon document all there is about it. Of course, the obvious question is whether it is capable of supporting life.

“We believe this could be some kind of outgassing,” said the camera’s supervisor, Andreas Nathues to New Scientist on Tuesday.
 
Extrasolar Planets Are, Almost, Everywhere

The search for extrasolar planets
But then along came NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. Over the past few years Kepler has been able to detect thousands of exoplanets and hundreds of multi-exoplanet systems.

Along with my PhD student Tim Bovaird and Master’s student Steffen Jacobsen, we reasoned that if the TB relation had been such a useful (if somewhat imperfect) guide for predicting planets in our solar system, maybe it would be useful in predicting planets in the new exoplanetary systems detected by Kepler.

We checked the hundred or so systems where Kepler had found at least a few planets and we found that the majority of these exoplanetary systems adhered to the Titus-Bode relation even somewhat better than our solar system did.

Thus, we became convinced that the horse still had some miles left in her – that the semi-taboo Titus-Bode relation could provide useful hints about the periods of as-yet-undetected planets around other stars.

Resurrection
Last year we used a generalised Titus-Bode relation to analyse 68 multi-planet systems with four or more detected exoplanets. We made predictions for the existence of more planets in these systems, based on the Titus-Bode relation.

So far, 5% of our predictions have been confirmed. This may sound like a small percentage, but given the inability of the Kepler telescope to see Earth-sized planets or smaller, a 5% detection rate is what you would expect to see if all the predictions were true.

habitable-zone.jpg

The Goldilocks zone or habitable zone around a star is where the temperature is just right to have liquid water. Our new result suggests that there are, on average, two planets in the habitable zone.
Credit: Aditya Chopra, ANU, adapted from NASA/JPL
View full size image
Almost all of the exoplanets detected by Kepler are larger than Earth and very close to their host stars. This is almost certainly a selection bias.

It is very difficult for the Kepler telescope to spot planets that are far enough away from their host stars to be in the habitable zone (where the temperatures are in the range where H2O will be liquid water).

Using the Titus-Bode relation is a controversial indirect technique, but I think it’s the best one we have if we are interested in answering the question: How many planets (on average) are in the habitable zones of stars?

How many potentially habitable planets?
Our answer to this question is 2 ± 1 and was published this week in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The figures (above and below) illustrate our result.

potential-habitable-planets-chart.jpg

The names on the left are the names of 31 Kepler exoplanetary systems. The blue dots are exoplanets detected by Kepler. Red and gray squares are our Titus-Bode-based predictions. The green horizontal band is the habitable zone. For comparison, the first system (at the top) is our solar system. The Earth is in the middle of the habitable zone.
Credit: Author provided
View full size image
With about 300 billion stars in our galaxy, our result means there are 600 ± 300 billion planets in circumstellar habitable zones in our galaxy.

In the observable universe there are about 100 billion galaxies. Thus there are approximately 1022 stars in the observable universe and twice that many planets in circumstellar habitable zones in the universe.

That’s a lot of real estate for alien development. Not all of these habitable zone planets will be wet and rocky like the Earth, but a fair fraction (about 30%) should be. Now we need some zippy interstellar spaceships to colonise and over-populate all these worlds before the aliens do.

60 minutes did a story o Neal degrasse Tyson. He is a rock star who sells out stadiums.
 
Shock wave experiment provides the best look yet at 'Warm dense matter' at cores of giant planets
35 minutes ago
55109500d7e9b.jpg

This illustration shows a cutaway view of Jupiter, which is believed to contain "warm dense matter" at its core. A study at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser has provided the most detailed measurements yet of a material's …more
In an experiment at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists precisely measured the temperature and structure of aluminum as it transitions into a superhot, highly compressed concoction known as "warm dense matter."



Read more at: Shock wave experiment provides the best look yet at Warm dense matter at cores of giant planets
 
Wandering Jupiter accounts for our unusual solar system
Wandering Jupiter accounts for our unusual solar system e Science News

Published: Monday, March 23, 2015 - 16:33 in Astronomy & Space
Jupiter may have swept through the early solar system like a wrecking ball, destroying a first generation of inner planets before retreating into its current orbit, according to a new study published March 23 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings help explain why our solar system is so different from the hundreds of other planetary systems that astronomers have discovered in recent years. "Now that we can look at our own solar system in the context of all these other planetary systems, one of the most interesting features is the absence of planets inside the orbit of Mercury," said Gregory Laughlin, professor and chair of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and coauthor of the paper. "The standard issue planetary system in our galaxy seems to be a set of super-Earths with alarmingly short orbital periods. Our solar system is looking increasingly like an oddball."

The new paper explains not only the "gaping hole" in our inner solar system, he said, but also certain characteristics of Earth and the other inner rocky planets, which would have formed later than the outer planets from a depleted supply of planet-forming material.
 

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