Space exploration thread

[longknife]

Private Space Plane Arrives in California for Key Flight Tests


by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer

Date: 17 May 2013 Time: 03:53 PM ET

Private Space Plane Arrives in California for Key Flight Tests | Dream Chaser | Space.com

Dream Chaser Hauled

A private space plane has arrived at a NASA facility in California to undergo tests that will help vet its ability to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

A test version of the Dream Chaser space plane arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in southern California on Wednesday (May 15) aboard a flatbed truck, wrapped in a protective white caul for the overland journey from Colorado.

Here's a neat picture of what's under the tarp:

 

[longknife]

Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion


The moon has a new hole on its surface thanks to a boulder that slammed into it in March, creating the biggest explosion scientists have seen on the moon since they started monitoring it.

The meteorite crashed on March 17, slamming into the lunar surface at a mind-boggling 56,000 mph (90,000 kph) and creating a new crater 65 feet wide (20 meters). The crash sparked a bright flash of light that would have been visible to anyone looking at the moon at the time with the naked eye, NASA scientists say.

"On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said in a statement. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before."


Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion

And, thanks to our many miles of atmosphere, rocks this size burn up far before they could crash into our surface.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Scientists Shape First Global Topographic Map of Saturn's Moon Titan

Scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, giving researchers a valuable tool for learning more about one of the most Earthlike and interesting worlds in the solar system.

Titan is Saturn's largest moon — at 1,600 miles (2,574 kilometers) across it's bigger than planet Mercury — and is the second-largest in the solar system. Scientists care about Titan because it's the only moon in the solar system known to have clouds, surface liquids and a mysterious, thick atmosphere. The cold atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, like Earth's, but methane on Titan acts the way water vapor does on Earth, forming clouds and falling as rain and carving the surface with rivers. Organic chemicals, derived from methane, are present in Titan's atmosphere, lakes and rivers and may offer clues about the origins of life.

"Titan has so much interesting activity — like flowing liquids and moving sand dunes — but to understand these processes it's useful to know how the terrain slopes," says Ralph Lorenz, of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., who led the map-design team. "It's especially helpful to those studying hydrology and modeling Titan's climate and weather, who need to know whether there is high ground or low ground driving their models."

Scientists Shape First Global Topographic Map of Saturn's Moon Titan

 

[ScienceRocks]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LtI1V624vWM]SpaceX Fairing Separation Test - YouTube[/ame]

SpaceX Fairing Separation Test

 

[RoadVirus]

Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion


The moon has a new hole on its surface thanks to a boulder that slammed into it in March, creating the biggest explosion scientists have seen on the moon since they started monitoring it.

The meteorite crashed on March 17, slamming into the lunar surface at a mind-boggling 56,000 mph (90,000 kph) and creating a new crater 65 feet wide (20 meters). The crash sparked a bright flash of light that would have been visible to anyone looking at the moon at the time with the naked eye, NASA scientists say.

"On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said in a statement. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before."


Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion

And, thanks to our many miles of atmosphere, rocks this size burn up far before they could crash into our surface.

We hope.

 

[ScienceRocks]

SpaceX Leases Pad in New Mexico for Next Grasshopper Tests

SpaceX Leases Pad in New Mexico for Next Grasshopper Tests | SpaceNews.com

WASHINGTON — The next phase of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s (SpaceX) experimental Grasshopper program, a key part of the Hawthorne, Calif., rocket maker’s attempt to build a reusable space booster, will be based at New Mexico’s Spaceport America under the terms of a three-year lease the spaceport announced May 7.

From Spaceport America, which is about 50 kilometers southeast of Truth or Consequences, N.M., and about 60 kilometers west of the restricted air space over the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range, Grasshopper could fly much higher than the 760-meter ceiling the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed for launches from SpaceX’s rocket test site in McGregor, Texas.

“Spaceport America offers us the physical and regulatory landscape needed to complete the next phase of Grasshopper testing,” Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said in the Spaceport’s May 7 press release about the lease.

Essentially, that means SpaceX “can fly [Grasshopper] at higher altitudes and along different trajectories” than those allowed at McGregor, SpaceX spokeswoman Christina Ra said May 9.

“We’re good for about 350,000 feet,” or roughly 100 kilometers, Christine Anderson, executive director of Spaceport of America, said in a phone interview May 8. That altitude is the internationally recognized boundary of space.

Under the terms of the three-year deal, which was signed in late April, SpaceX will pay Spaceport America $6,600 a month to lease a launchpad and a small mission control facility, Ra said. Anderson said SpaceX also will pay a $25,000 fee for every Grasshopper flight from the commercial spaceport.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Private Mars Flyby Mission Ponders NASA & Commercial Rockets
SPACE.comBy Clara Moskowitz | SPACE.com – Fri, May 17, 2013..
Private Mars Flyby Mission Ponders NASA & Commercial Rockets
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The organizers of a private plan to send two people on a round-trip flyby of Mars in 2018 are choosing between a variety of commercial rockets and a NASA booster for the mission.

The nonprofit Inspiration Mars foundation was founded by entrepreneur and space tourist Dennis Tito, who flew to the International Space Station in 2001 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Tito said the flyby mission is aimed at inspiring the public about space exploration and accelerating humanity's quest to visit Mars by taking advantage of a rare launch opportunity that allows for a relatively brief 501-day round trip.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Warp speed, Scotty: Faster than light drives a reality?

NASA appears to be debating a way to permanently colonize another planet, boldly going where no one has ever gone -- and where no one could come back, some fear. (Paramount)


In the "Star Trek" TV shows and films, the U.S.S. Enterprise's warp engine allows the ship to move faster than light, an ability that is, as Spock would say, "highly illogical."

However, there's a loophole in Einstein's general theory of relativity that could allow a ship to traverse vast distances in less time than it would take light. The trick? It's not the starship that's moving — it's the space around it.

In fact, scientists at NASA are right now working on the first practical field test toward proving the possibility of warp drives and faster-than-light travel. Maybe the warp drive on "Star Trek" is possible after all.

'Nature can do it. So the salient question is, can we?'

- Physicist Harold 'Sonny' White, with NASA's Johnson Space Center


According to Einstein's theory, an object with mass cannot go as fast or faster than the speed of light. The original "Star Trek" series ignored this "universal speed limit" in favor of a ship that could zip around the galaxy in a matter of days instead of decades. They tried to explain the ship's faster-than-light capabilities by powering the warp engine with a "matter-antimatter" engine. Antimatter was a popular field of study in the 1960s, when creator Gene Roddenberry was first writing the series. When matter and antimatter collide, their mass is converted to kinetic energy in keeping with Einstein's mass-energy equivalence formula, E=mc2.

Read more: Warp speed, Scotty: Faster than light drives a reality? | Fox News

 

[ScienceRocks]

Forecast for Titan: Wild weather could be ahead

52 minutes ago

Forecast for Titan: Wild weather could be ahead
Ligeia Mare, shown in here in data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, is the second largest known body of liquid on Saturn's moon Titan. It is filled with liquid hydrocarbons, such as ethane and methane, and is one of the many seas and …more
(Phys.org) —Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct. Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tries to explain data from the moon obtained so far by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Both models help mission team members plan when and where to look for unusual atmospheric disturbances as Titan summer approaches.

The other model about hurricanes, recently published in Icarus, predicts that the warming of the northern hemisphere could also bring hurricanes, also known as tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones on Earth gain their energy from the build-up of heat from seawater evaporation and miniature versions have been seen over big lakes such as Lake Huron. The new modeling work, led by Tetsuya Tokano of the University of Cologne, Germany, shows that the same processes could be at work on Titan as well, except that it is methane rather than water that evaporates from the seas. The most likely season for these hurricanes would be Titan's northern summer solstice, when the sea surface gets warmer and the flow of the air near the surface becomes more turbulent. The humid air would swirl in a counterclockwise direction over the surface of one of the northern seas and increase the surface wind over the seas to possibly 45 mph (about 70 kilometers per hour).

"For these hurricanes to develop at Titan, there needs to be the right mix of hydrocarbons in these seas, and we still don't know their exact composition," Tokano said. "If we see hurricanes, that would be one good indicator that there is enough methane in these lakes to support this kind of activity. So far, scientists haven't yet been able to detect methane directly."

Read more at: Forecast for Titan: Wild weather could be ahead

 

[ScienceRocks]

Destination Moon: Private Spaceflight Companies Eye Lunar Bases


by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer

Date: 23 May 2013 Time: 04:06 PM ET

Pit stop, the moon! Lunar extraction of minerals and ice are envisioned as near-term objectives for space mining advocates.


Human exploration of deep space is looking more and more like a tag-team affair, with NASA jetting off to asteroids and Mars while the private sector sets up shop on the moon.

While NASA has no plans to return humans to the lunar surface anytime soon, private industry is eyeing Earth's nearest neighbor intently, said Bigelow Aerospace founder and president Robert Bigelow

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Private Spaceflight Companies Eye Moon Bases | Space.com

 

[ScienceRocks]

Cosmic Swirly Straws: Galaxies Fed by Funnels of Fuel
Cosmic swirly straws: Galaxies fed by funnels of fuel

May 24, 2013 — Computer simulations of galaxies growing over billions of years have revealed a likely scenario for how they feed: a cosmic version of swirly straws.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Space station astronauts snap amazing photos of Alaskan volcanic eruption

Space station astronauts snap amazing photos of Alaskan volcanic eruption - CSMonitor.com

Pavlof Volcano has been erupting for over a week, releasing a humongous plume of ash, steam, and smoke visible from the International Space Station. The eruption has quieted down, but seismic data suggests that it's not over.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Asteroid capture: NASA plans to drag space rock into lunar orbit

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden dropped by JPL on Thursday to outline the agency's plans to capture an asteroid, and to look at a model of a powerful new ion thruster that has enough strength to drag a space rock into orbit around the moon.


NASA unveiled a multistep plan to rendezvous with a smallish asteroid, put it in what looks like a giant reflective garbage bag, and bring it into lunar orbit, earlier this year.

Once the space rock is in a stable orbit around the moon, astronauts could land on it and bring small chunks of it back to Earth.

Asteroid capture: NASA plans to drag space rock into lunar orbit - latimes.com

 

[ScienceRocks]

New Technique Could Probe Rocky Alien Planet Surfaces


New Technique Could Probe Rocky Alien Planet Surfaces | Space.com

Artist's concept of Kepler-10b, which was detected by NASA's Kepler mission. Kepler scientists say it's the first "unquestionably rocky" alien planet ever found.


Numerous rocky, Earth-like worlds have been discovered by transit surveys such as NASA's Kepler mission.

For those familiar with the transit of Venus last year, exoplanet transits are the same idea — an exoplanet crosses the face of its parent star as perceived by observers on or near Earth. By comparing the amount of starlight the transiting planet blocks and the total starlight emitted by the host star, astronomers can determine the radius of a transiting planet.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Big weather on hot Jupiters
Among the hundreds of new planets discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft are a class of exotic

worlds known as "hot Jupiters." Unlike the giant planets of our own solar system, which remain at a safe distance from the sun, these worlds are reckless visitors to their parent stars. They speed around in orbits a fraction the size of Mercury's, blasted on just one-side by starlight hundreds of times more intense than the gentle heating experienced by Jupiter here at home."

Meteorologists watching this video are probably wondering what kind of weather a world like that might have. The short answer is "big."

Heather Knutson of Caltech made the first weather map of a hot Jupiter in 2007.

Read more at: Big weather on hot Jupiters

 

[ScienceRocks]

New report indicates private industry interested in building moon base

Phys.org) —Two months ago NASA commissioned Bigelow Aerospace to conduct a survey of the corporate sector to learn about private enterprise plans for space exploration. While the report has not yet been completed, Bigelow president Robert Bigelow and NASA's head of space operations William Gerstenmaier held a teleconference with reporter's to discuss findings thus far.

Read more at: New report indicates private industry interested in building moon base

 

[ScienceRocks]

Manned lunar colony by 2020? One company says it has plans to make that happen

Science Recorder | Drew Adams | Tuesday, May 28, 2013

NASA and the Obama Administration are seeking to accomplish a great deal by 2035, including putting astronauts on an asteroid and, later, on the planet Mars. Private industry does not wish to be left out of the process, however, and one in particular is staking its claim on the moon itself.

A study commissioned by NASA claims that astronauts might be able to live on the Moon by 2020. Bigelow Aerospace, the Las Vegas-based firm that conducted the study, stated that many of the roughly 20 companies surveyed showed an excited interest in the ambitious goal of a more commercialized space.

The firm also interviewed foreign space agencies and research groups as they pursue the idea of fully operating a space habitat market consisting of inflatable living quarters on the moon’s rocky surface.

Private industry interest in the moon comes after President Obama allocated a $105 million budget to NASA to begin pursuing projects that would hopefully locate, capture, and manipulate an asteroid into the moon’s orbit so that the space agency might access it by 2025. They also plan to put humans on Mars by an estimated 2035. These focuses leave the moon wide open for exploration by others.

Read more: Manned lunar colony by 2020? One company says it has plans to make that happen | Science Recorder

I hope someone can get us to the moon and set up the industry.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Crowdfunded telescope puts your photo in space
By Julianne Pepitone @julpepitone May 30, 2013: 12:57 PM ET


Planetary Resources' Kickstarter-funded telescope puts your photo in space - May. 30, 2013
arkyd space telescope
Planetary resources wants to raise $1 million on Kickstarter by June 30 to get its first Arkyd telescope into space in 2015.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

For just $25, you can go to space ... sort of. Planetary Resources launched a Kickstarter campaign on Wednesday for "the first publicly accessible space telescope," and backers will be able to use it in a variety of ways.

Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company, ultimately wants to build a fleet of Arkyd telescopes that can find asteroids -- then launch robotic spacecraft that can mine those asteroids for raw materials like precious metals and water.

To garner interest in its mission, the first Arkyd is focused on education and public access. In order to get that first telescope into space in 2015, the company wants to raise $1 million on Kickstarter by June 30.

A donation of $25 scores a backer a "space selfie," in which a user sends in a picture to be uploaded to a screen on the side of the telescope. The company then snaps a photo of the picture with the telescope and

 

[ScienceRocks]

Rounded pebbles on Mars reveal past flowing water
Updated 1:09 pm, Thursday, May 30, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A fresh analysis by NASA's Curiosity rover confirms a stream once ran through Gale Crater on Mars.

During a pit stop last year, Curiosity came upon hundreds of smooth, round pebbles that look strikingly similar to deposits in river banks on Earth.

Scientists believe the rover rolled onto an ancient streambed, but needed to study the stones in more detail. So Curiosity snapped high-resolution pictures and fired its laser at several pebbles to analyze the chemical makeup.

Researchers say the roundness of the stones was shaped by a fast-flowing stream that probably was ankle to waist-deep. Curiosity landed in the crater near the equator last summer.

The analysis appears in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

Read more: Rounded pebbles on Mars reveal past flowing water - SFGate

 

[ScienceRocks]

Asteroids Provide Sustainable Resource, Study Finds
Asteroids provide sustainable resource, study finds

May 30, 2013 — The prospects of a robotic manufacturing base operating off Earth is not as far-fetched as it used to be according to a study published by a team of NASA researchers led by a Kennedy Space Center physicist.

Because asteroids are loaded with minerals that are rare on Earth, near-Earth asteroids and the asteroid belt could become the mining centers for remotely operated excavators and processing machinery. In 20 years, an industry barely imagined now could be sending refined materials, rare metals and even free, clean energy to Earth from asteroids and other bodies.

In their paper called "Affordable, Rapid Bootstrapping of the Space Industry and Solar System Civilization," published in the Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Phil Metzger, Anthony Muscatello, Robert Mueller and James Mantovani detail an intriguing path toward developing a self-sustaining, space-based industry that would use resources from asteroids and other heavenly bodies to meet the needs of humanity.

"Now that we know we can get carbon in space, the basic elements that we need for industry are all within reach," Metzger said. "That was game-changing for us. The asteroid belt has a billion times more platinum than is found on Earth. There is literally a billion times the metal that is on the Earth, and all the water you could ever need."

"You could grow an industry that is a million times bigger than the United States' in the main asteroid belt," Metzger said. "Then you really are capable of terraforming planets and doing all the other great things because it wouldn't cost you anything" in terms of labor, resources or materials.