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News of Astronomy, Space, Science, & Technology

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Image: The Stars Around Mars

Stars and Mars

Astronomy Picture of the Day May 10 2008

Wandering through the evening sky, on May 4th planet Mars stood in line with Castor and Pollux, the two bright stars of the constellation Gemini.

In this time exposure of the celestial alignment, Mars actually takes on a distinct yellowish hue, contrasting in color with Pollux; a giant star known to have a Jupiter-class planet, and Castor; itself a multiple star system. Though in mythology Pollux and Castor are twin brothers, the two stars are physically unrelated and are about 34 and 50 light-years distant respectively.

Included in the skyview are Procyon, alpha star of Canis Minor, and famous star cluster M44 also known as the Beehive Cluster. Dust in our own solar system reflecting sunlight creates the faint band of Zodiacal light emerging from the lower right corner of the frame.…

Of course, bright Mars can still be found in the western evening skies and tonight wanders near the crescent Moon.

See Astronomy Picture of the Day for links to further info.

NASA Image of the Day

Image: A Transonic Wind Tunnel

Transonic

NASA Image of the Day Download time: May 10 2008 9:33 AM ET

Grady McCoy stands in the Langley Research Center's 16 foot transonic tunnel, as light reflects off the fan blades in this image from 1990.

As part of a national initiative to optimize government-owned wind tunnels, NASA's Langley Research Center shut down the tunnel and transitioned work to other facilities. The tunnel was placed on mothball status beginning Sept. 30, 2004, meaning that the facility could be made operational within six to 12 months and that maintenance to the tunnel would be limited to facility preservation only.…

The Space Shuttle

Nasa's space shuttle site - For the latest information see NASA human spaceflight page

For info on the Columbia investigation see the STS-107 Investigation Reference page.

The space shuttle in the Wikipedia

The latest news of STS-123 on Space.Com

Astronauts Practice Countdown

Discovery astronauts wrap up rehearsal

floridatoday.com - Space Download time: May 10 2008 9:34 AM ET

Discovery astronauts returned to Houston on Friday after four days of practice in preparation for their May 31 launch.

It went great," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said.

Concluding the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, astronauts and launch managers practiced emergency procedures and a countdown dress rehearsal at 11 a.m. Friday. By 2:15 p.m., the astronauts were winging their way homeward in T-38 training jets, Beutel said.

Shuttle Astronauts Rehearse Launch Day

SPACE.com Download time: May 10 2008 9:34 AM ET

The crew of the space shuttle Discovery successfully completed a dress rehearsal today for their upcoming launch. They capped off their practice run at Cape Canaveral with a simulated countdown to liftoff at 11:00 a.m. EDT.

The seven STS-124 astronauts are scheduled to launch May 31 at 5:02 p.m. EDT to deliver the International Space Station's largest room, the 32,500-pound Japanese Kibo Laboratory. Crewmembers are slated to perform three spacewalks during their planned 13-day mission.…

See SPACE.com for links to further info.

Astronauts board Discovery for countdown rehearsal

Spaceflight Now May 9 2008

The crew of the shuttle Discovery strapped in today for a dress-rehearsal countdown that sets the stage for launch May 31 on a long-awaited flight to deliver Japan's huge Kibo laboratory module to the international space station.

Commander Mark Kelly, pilot Kenneth Ham, flight engineer Ronald Garan, Karen Nyberg, Michael Fossum, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and space station flight engineer Gregory Chamitoff began boarding the shuttle at pad 39A shortly after 8:15 a.m. The practice countdown ended at 11 a.m. with the simulated ignition and shutdown of the ship's main engines.…

The International Space Station

Nasa's ISS site

The Wikipedia article on the Space Station

For the latest information see NASA human spaceflight page

More on the Rough Soyuz Landing

Internal NASA Documents Give Clues to Scary Soyuz Return Flight by James Oberg

ieee spectrum online Download time: May 9 2008 7:58 AM ET

What should have been a routine return from the International Space Station (ISS) on 19 April 2008 quickly turned into a heart-stopping drama for ground controllers and the three astronauts aboard a Soyuz TMA-11. The craft had disappeared during the descent and was then found on a scorched steppe some 400 kilometers from where it was supposed to land. Now the incident is a technological puzzle to space engineers and a potential political challenge to the international partnership behind the ISS.

Although the technical investigation will take weeks to resolve, NASA and Russian engineers have come to several credible preliminary conclusions. And internal NASA documents, such as "15S Ballistic Entry Outbrief" by George Kafka, chief of the Safety & Mission Assurance Directorate for the ISS program, reveal a plausible idea of what probably happened.

During the landing, space officials at mission control in Moscow and at the recovery site seriously worried for at least half an hour—and some even believed, briefly, that the crew had been killed. The landing seemed to be a replay of a near disaster from almost 40 years ago, and it threatened to have the first Russian in-flight fatalities since 1971.…

What's Happening on the Space Station

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 9 May 2008

SpaceRef ISS Top Stories Download time: May 10 2008 9:34 AM ET

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Off-duty holiday for the crew: Russia's Victory Day, one of the most sacred national holidays for the Russian people, commemorating the dozens of millions of their countrymen fallen in the Great Patriotic War (World War II).

FE-2 Reisman began the day with the periodic (monthly) CSA-CP (Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products) maintenance/checkout, today changing out the battery on the prime unit.…

Space Station Tricorder

Space Station Tricorder

Science @ NASA Download time: May 10 2008 9:33 AM ET

Any Trekkies out there? Remember the tricorder? Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock both carried them, and they came in mighty handy exploring "strange new worlds...where no one has gone before."

On the International Space Station, astronauts are carrying an experimental device that looks strikingly similar: LOCAD-PTS, short for Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System. This handheld biological lab is the first step along the path to developing something akin to Dr. McCoy's medical tricorder.

"LOCAD is like that tricorder in that it is portable, rapid, and detects a biochemical molecule," says Heather Morris, LOCAD scientist from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and an admitted Star Trek fan. But while tricorders could do almost anything from checking vital signs to finding alien life, LOCAD is a little more specialized: "LOCAD is specifically designed to detect and identify microbes on space station surfaces."

The Space Station on the Colbert Report

ISS Astronaut on Colbert Report

Universe Today Download time: May 10 2008 9:33 AM ET

The Colbert Report has gone galactic! ISS astronaut Garrett Reisman joked with Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central last night. It's a very fun interview. Laser cannons and alien puppet masters are mentioned.

Source: Comedy Central

The Space Shuttle

Nasa's space shuttle site - For the latest information see NASA human spaceflight page

For info on the Columbia investigation see the STS-107 Investigation Reference page.

The space shuttle in the Wikipedia

The latest news of STS-123 on Space.Com

Discovery On Track for Launch

Space Shuttle Discovery in Good Shape for May Launch

SPACE.com Download time: May 9 2008 7:59 AM ET

NASA's shuttle Discovery is on track to ferry seven astronauts and a large Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS) later this month.

Shuttle commander Mark Kelly told reporters Thursday that Discovery's preparations are going extremely smoothly for its planned May 31 launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

"From what I was told yesterday, the condition of the orbiter and the number of problems we've had with it have been at a historic low," Kelly said from Discovery's seaside Pad 39A launch site. "So that makes us feel really good."…

See SPACE.com for links to further info.

Discovery's troubles are few

floridatoday.com - Space Download time: May 9 2008 7:58 AM ET

Shuttle Discovery is cooperating with efforts to launch May 31.

n fact, commander Mark Kelly said Thursday morning that the orbiter is in excellent shape, with few of the nagging technical problems that often show up just before launch.…

Privatizing Spaceflight

The commercialization of space

Space tourism

Development of manned spacecraft financed by private business or individuals

The X-PRIZE for privately financed spaceflight

SpaceShipOne wins the X-Prize

The Virgin Galactic website

The Space Adventures website

The Rocketplane website

Starchaser Industries

The Blue Origin website

The XCOR website

The Armadillo Aerospace website

The private launch firm SpaceX

Bigelow Aerospace — the space hotel people

America's Space Prize for the development of a privately developed, reusable spacecraft capable of reaching earth orbit

New Record for Space Hotel Prototype

Private Space Station Prototype Hits Orbital Milestone

SPACE.com Download time: May 9 2008 7:59 AM ET

A prototype module for a private space station has passed an orbital milestone after completing its 10,000th trip around the Earth.

Genesis 1, an inflatable module built by the Las Vegas, Nev.-based firm Bigelow Aerospace, passed the 10,000-orbit mark as it nears the beginning of its third year of unmanned operations, its builders announced late Thursday.…

See SPACE.com for links to further info.

Watching the Sky

Sky events visible to the casual observer or amateur astronomer

Buying and Using a Telescope

Two Prominent Constellations

Doorstep Astronomy: See the Big Dipper

SPACE.com Download time: May 9 2008 7:59 AM ET

As soon as darkness falls these evenings, step outside and look skyward. What is the most prominent and easiest star pattern to recognize? If you live in the Northern Hemisphere you only need to look overhead and toward the north where you will find the seven bright stars that comprise the famous Big Dipper.

For most sky gazers, the Big Dipper is probably the most important group of stars in the sky. For anyone in the latitude of New York (41 degrees north) or points northward, it never goes below the horizon. It is one of the most recognizable patterns in the sky and thus one of the easiest for the novice to find.

In other parts of the world, these seven stars are known not as a Dipper, but as some sort of a wagon. In Ireland, for instance, it was recognized as "King David's Chariot," from one of that island's early kings; in France, it was the "Great Chariot." Another popular name was Charles's Wain (a wain being a large open farm wagon). And in the British Isles, these seven stars are known widely as "The Plough."…

See SPACE.com for links to further info.

Targets for Your Telescope This Weekend

The Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast: May 9-11, 2008

Universe Today Download time: May 10 2008 9:33 AM ET

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for a very incredible weekend? The action begins on Friday as we take you on a guided tour of the lunar surface. On Saturday, celebrate Astronomy Day with a very special unaided eye sky event and a return to the Moon. No rest for the wicked on Sunday… Because you'll be seeing double! Time to get out your binoculars and telescopes and turn an eye to the sky, because…. Here's what's up!…

See Universe Today for links to further info.

Mars

Mars and Its Moons

Background information about Mars

NASA's Mars Rover site at JPL

A gallery of Spirit's images and slideshow

A gallery of Opportunity's images and slideshow

Google Mars

Mars Global Surveyor

Mars Odyssey

Mars Express orbiter

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

Mars Phoenix Lander

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Planning a Sample Return Mission

Scientists Revisit Mars Sample Return Plans

SPACE.com Download time: May 9 2008 7:59 AM ET

International planning is under way to reinvigorate plans for a Mars sample return mission, with researchers assessing science priorities and strategies to maximize the scientific output from such an undertaking.

Over the last several years, an armada of orbital and surface missions has revealed Mars to be surprisingly more complex than once thought, imbued with a variety of distinct environments — each of value in terms of possible scientific payback given a sample return effort.

Mars samples returned to state-of-the-art Earth laboratories are considered by many to be the only way to unravel a host of unresolved questions about the red planet. A sample return mission also is viewed by many as a key tool to help space agencies prepare for future human expeditions to Mars.…

See SPACE.com for links to further info.

Testing Prepared the Way to Mars

Intense Testing Paved Phoenix Road to Mars

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features Download time: May 10 2008 9:33 AM ET

When NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander descends to the surface of the Red Planet on May 25, few will be watching as closely as the men and women who have spent years planning, analyzing and conducting tests to prepare for the dramatic and nerve-wracking event known as EDL - Entry, Descent and Landing. For after all their hard work, they know that landing on Mars is not a walk in the park. Less than 50 percent of all previous lander missions have made it safely to the surface.…

Exoplanets

Planets outside the solar system

Formation of planetary systems - including our own Solar System

A list of the currently known exoplanets

See exoplanets.org for further information.

Also see the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia. and Planet Quest at JPL

Space Missons seeking earthlike planets:

• The Kepler Mission
• The Darwin Mission
• The Space Interferometer Mission
• The Terrestrial Planet Finder observatories

Extrasolar planets in the Wikipedia

Surveying Exoplanets

Planets by the Dozen

Science @ NASA Download time: May 9 2008 7:58 AM ET

…This fall, astronomers will start a massive search for new planets by observing about 11,000 nearby stars over 6 years. This number dwarfs the roughly 3,000 stars that astronomers have searched to date for the presence of planets. Scientists estimate that the NASA-funded project, called MARVELS (Multi-object Apache Point Observatory Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey), will find at least 150 new planets—perhaps many more.

"We're looking in particular for giant planets like Jupiter," says Jian Ge, principal investigator for MARVELS and an astronomer at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Ge likens big planets to "beacons of a lighthouse" signaling the presence of entire solar systems. "Once we find a big planet around a star, we know that smaller planets could be there, too."…