Space news and Exploration II

[ScienceRocks]

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/NAS...rival_999.html

With its biggest orbit maneuver since 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will prepare this week for the arrival of NASA's next Mars lander, InSight, next year.

A planned 77-second firing of six intermediate-size thrusters on July 29 will adjust the orbit timing of the veteran spacecraft so it will be in position to receive radio transmissions from InSight as the newcomer descends through the Martian atmosphere and touches down on Sept. 28, 2016. These six rocket engines, which were used for trajectory corrections during the spacecraft's flight from Earth to Mars, can each produce about 22 newtons, or five pounds, of thrust.

"Without making this orbit change maneuver, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter would be unable to hear from InSight during the landing, but this will put us in the right place at the right time," said MRO Project Manager Dan Johnston of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Russia Formally Commits to International Space Station Through 2024 http://oak.ctx.ly/r/3gayt

 

[ScienceRocks]

Philae lander finds ingredients for life
Complex molecules that could be key building blocks of life, the daily rise and fall of temperature, and an assessment of the surface properties and internal structure of the comet are just some of the highlights of the first scientific analysis of t...

 

[ScienceRocks]

Study says that brown dwarfs, sometimes called 'failed stars,' can produce powerful auroras: http://go.nasa.gov/1N2l3sL





Very cool maps with the informal feature names on #Pluto and #Charon ! #PlutoFlyby @NewHorizons2015

 

[ScienceRocks]

NASA developing lunar drones



NASA is developing lunar drones to explore and collect samples from lava tunnels left from ancient volcanoes. (I believe the first picture used on the DM article is actually for use on Mars as it uses fans rather than cold gas thrusters that are present on the images further down).

 

[ScienceRocks]

Strange red "arcs" discovered on Saturnian moon Tethys
By Anthony Wood - August 3, 2015 2 Pictures

New images taken from NASA's Cassini spacecraft appear to show unusual redish arcs marking the surface of the Saturn's icy moon Tethys. The strange features cover significant stretches of the moon's surface, and have left astronomers baffled as to their origins.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Curiosity’s 3 Year Martian Road-Trip Tells Tantalizing Tales Of Water | Video http://dlvr.it/Bl6QB5


The Not Planets World, comparing surface area of the non-planets in our solar system to Earth, by @kristofferaberg.

 

[ScienceRocks]

A small Colorado company has successfully tested a new type of propulsion technology that it believes could eventually enable low-cost, single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicles.

Startup Makes Progress in Beamed Propulsion for Reusable Launch Vehicles

Broomfield, Colorado-based Escape Dynamics announced July 17 it carried out a small-scale test in the laboratory of its beamed microwave thruster.

 

[danielpalos]

I still vote for rail gun technology that can "shoot" "cannon ball" sized probes that can accomplish a solar system survey and then position themselves for better use by academia.

 

[ScienceRocks]

27m27 minutes ago

Japan's space agency managed to adjuste the course of its Venus orbiter five ... https://www.inside.com/space/u6ko3/Japan-s-space-agency-managed-to-adjuste-the-course?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=twitterhandle&utm_campaign=@GoInsideSpace… #space #news

 

[ScienceRocks]

Escape Dynamics Microwave launch designs and technical details

Escape Dynamics primary objective is to develop a rapidly reusable, single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) launch system and introduce space access solutions to customers at a price point 10x below the cost of current alternatives. Escape Dynamics recently completed tests where propulsion was generated using microwaves. Escape Dynamics is developing...
Read more »

 

[ScienceRocks]

New record: Keck Observatory measures most distant galaxy
A team of astrophysicists using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii has successfully measured the farthest galaxy ever recorded and more interestingly, captured its hydrogen emission as seen when the Universe was less than ...

 

[ScienceRocks]

Diminutive Lunar IceCube satellite to scan Moon for water and other resources
By David Szondy - August 6, 2015 4 Pictures

Recently, NASA has been looking at CubeSats as a way of carrying out economical deep space missions. One of the first of these may be shoebox-sized satellite called the Lunar IceCube, which is designed to look for water ice and other resources on the Moon. Tentatively aimed to launch on the first Orion mission scheduled to fly by 2018, it is intended to not only uncover materials for future deep-space missions and lunar colonization, but also as a technology demonstrator for a new class of interplanetary probes.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Salt flat indicates some of the last vestiges of Martian surface water http://buff.ly/1PaPLRP

 

[I amso IR]

If all the major space players and private enterprise got involved, we could probably create a craft to go to the nearest star, but, more likely, we will just continue being the parasites we are on this planet and eventually kill it off and us along with it.

I amso IR;

Short of a massive number of nuclear weapons or an occasional comet, meteor, or space alien of incredibly advanced knowledge, chances of us, we, they and them destroying earth are slim to none. At present there are so many millions of acre's of unused farm land, food shortage's would be a form of genocide as opposed to starvation from hunger. Food shortages are a product stemming from commercial business farms not individual farmers. Control the food supply and you control the populations. Finally, building the space ship you desire is possible and could be commenced near the orbiting earth station currently in orbit around earth. It is not a matter of can we do it, but rather when we do it. When NASA is comfortable with the knowledge base, only then will NASA be comfortable doing the project. And SpaceX can spout all they want, but they still need to be able to land their reusable rocket for starters. Giving one's life to land on Mar's with no chance of return is stupidity. Being able to transport living quarters and everything else needed to sustain life for an indefinite period is the problem. Getting there, no problem, staying there and surviving, problem, coming back, semi problem, dying there, no problem. Overall rating, problems. By the way, I'm 75 and way too old to consider the trip. I really like mother earth.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Astronomers discover a tenth transiting "Tatooine"
Astronomers at the 29th International Astronomical Union General Assembly will announce on August 14 the discovery of a new transiting "circumbinary" planet, bringing the number of such known planets into double digits. A ...

 

[ScienceRocks]

DARPA funds next phase of XS-1 spaceplane project

DARPA awarded Virgin Galactic and two others contracts to investigate how spaceplane could slash cost of putting satellites into space. DARPA aims to build a reusable vehicle that it hopes will provide “quick, affordable and routine” access to space, which it says is “increasingly critical for both national and economic security”. Darpa...

 

[ScienceRocks]

NASA marks Curiosity's third anniversary with new interactive online tools
By David Szondy - August 8, 2015 6 Pictures

The Curiosity rover has now been on Mars for three years, and to mark the occasion, NASA has released two new tools designed to both educate the public and help scientists select future landing sites. The tools allow visitors to learn more about Curiosity and its mission and explore the Martian surface by climbing aboard Curiosity for a virtual tour.

 

[ScienceRocks]

This image shows the far side of the moon, illuminated by the sun, as it crosses between the DSCOVR spacecraft's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) camera and telescope, and the Earth - one million miles away.


http://www.scienceda...50805191732.htm

 

[ScienceRocks]

Cassini sees Rhea's cratered landscape with Saturn's ringplane and atmosphere as a background http://buff.ly/1HMJwnI





Today Cassini images a crescent Titan from 1.72 million kilometers (1.07 million miles) away http://buff.ly/1Rnqjxf