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Leonid meteor shower is about to start. Bundle up.
astronomy & space stuff
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linuxgeek
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1950258,00.html
Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth
November 17, 2006
It is the stuff of nightmares and, until now, Hollywood thrillers. A huge asteroid is on a catastrophic collision course with Earth and mankind is poised to go the way of the dinosaurs.
To save the day, Nasa now plans to go where only Bruce Willis has gone before. The US space agency is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling through space at more than 30,000 mph. It wants to know whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect such a doomsday object when it is eventually identified. The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036.
Chris McKay of the Nasa Johnson Space Centre in Houston told the website Space.com: "There's a lot of public resonance with the notion that Nasa ought to be doing something about killer asteroids ... to be able to send serious equipment to an asteroid.
"The public wants us to have mastered the problem of dealing with asteroids. So being able to have astronauts go out there and sort of poke one with a stick would be scientifically valuable as well as demonstrate human capabilities."
A 1bn tonne asteroid just 1km across striking the Earth at a 45 degree angle could generate the equivalent of a 50,000 megatonne thermonuclear explosion. Attempting to break it up with an atomic warhead might only generate thousands of smaller objects on a similar course, which could have time to reform. Scientists agree the best approach, given enough warning, would be to gently nudge the object into a safer orbit.
"A human mission to a near Earth asteroid would be scientifically worthwhile," Dr McKay said. "There could be testing of various approaches. We don't know enough about asteroids right now to know the best strategy for mitigation."
Matt Genge, a space researcher at Imperial College, London, has calculated that something with the mass, acceleration and thrust of a small car could push an asteroid weighing a billion tonnes out of the path of Earth in just 75 days.
Gianmarco Radice, an asteroid expert at Glasgow University, said the best approach would be to land a device to dig into the object. "You could place something on the surface to eject material that would push the asteroid in the other direction."
Mirrors, lights and even paint could change the way the object absorbed light and heat enough to shift its direction over 20 years or so. With less notice, mankind could be forced to take more drastic measures, such as setting off a massive explosion on or near the object to change its course. In 2005, Nasa's Deep Impact mission tested a different technique when it placed an object into the path of a comet.
Dr Radice said robots could do the job just as well, doing away with the need for a risky and expensive manned mission. Last year Japan showed with its Hayabusa probe that a remote spacecraft can land on an asteroid.
But with manned missions to the moon and possibly Mars on its to-do list again, Nasa is keen to extend the reach of its astronauts.
Dan Durda, a senior research scientist in the Department of Space Studies at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado said an asteroid landing mission would be a good way test the new Constellation programme spacecraft, the Apollo-style planned replacements for the space shuttle with which Nasa hopes to return to the moon.
He told Space.com: "A very natural, early extension of the exploration capabilities of this new vehicle's architecture would be a "quick-dash" near-Earth asteroid rendezvous mission."
Tom Jones, a former shuttle astronaut, said: "After a lunar visit, we face a long interval in Earth-Moon space while we build up experience and technology for a Mars mission. An asteroid mission could take us immediately into deep space, sustaining programme momentum, adding public excitement and reducing the risk of a later Mars mission."
Europe has its own efforts to tackle asteroids. Its planned Don Quijote mission will launch two robot spacecraft, one to tilt at a harmless passing space rock, and a second to film the collision and watch for any deviation in the asteroid's path.
'Not if, but when...' Hits and near misses
At Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in California, scientists monitor all "potentially hazardous asteroids" that might one day end up on a collision course with Earth. So far they number 831. The next close-ish shave - at a mere 17 times the distance from the Sun to the Earth - will be asteroid 2004QD14 on November 29.
The Earth has a long history of asteroid strikes. Thirty five million years ago, a 5km-wide asteroid ploughed into what is now Chesapeake Bay, in the US, leaving an 80km crater. In 1908, an asteroid devastated swaths of Siberia when it exploded mid-air with the force of 1,000 Hiroshimas. The theory that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a huge asteroid striking Mexico 65m years ago is controversial since scientists uncovered rocks from the crater predating the extinction of the dinosaurs by 300,000 years.
A near miss, when asteroid QW7 came within 4m km of Earth in September 2000, led Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik to declare: "It's not a case of if we will be hit, it is a question of when. Each of us is 750 times more likely to be killed by an asteroid than to win this weekend's lottery."
In January 2002, the former science minister, David Sainsbury, announced the government's response to the threat from hurtling asteroids: a new information centre based in Leicester.
Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth
November 17, 2006
It is the stuff of nightmares and, until now, Hollywood thrillers. A huge asteroid is on a catastrophic collision course with Earth and mankind is poised to go the way of the dinosaurs.
To save the day, Nasa now plans to go where only Bruce Willis has gone before. The US space agency is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling through space at more than 30,000 mph. It wants to know whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect such a doomsday object when it is eventually identified. The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036.
Chris McKay of the Nasa Johnson Space Centre in Houston told the website Space.com: "There's a lot of public resonance with the notion that Nasa ought to be doing something about killer asteroids ... to be able to send serious equipment to an asteroid.
"The public wants us to have mastered the problem of dealing with asteroids. So being able to have astronauts go out there and sort of poke one with a stick would be scientifically valuable as well as demonstrate human capabilities."
A 1bn tonne asteroid just 1km across striking the Earth at a 45 degree angle could generate the equivalent of a 50,000 megatonne thermonuclear explosion. Attempting to break it up with an atomic warhead might only generate thousands of smaller objects on a similar course, which could have time to reform. Scientists agree the best approach, given enough warning, would be to gently nudge the object into a safer orbit.
"A human mission to a near Earth asteroid would be scientifically worthwhile," Dr McKay said. "There could be testing of various approaches. We don't know enough about asteroids right now to know the best strategy for mitigation."
Matt Genge, a space researcher at Imperial College, London, has calculated that something with the mass, acceleration and thrust of a small car could push an asteroid weighing a billion tonnes out of the path of Earth in just 75 days.
Gianmarco Radice, an asteroid expert at Glasgow University, said the best approach would be to land a device to dig into the object. "You could place something on the surface to eject material that would push the asteroid in the other direction."
Mirrors, lights and even paint could change the way the object absorbed light and heat enough to shift its direction over 20 years or so. With less notice, mankind could be forced to take more drastic measures, such as setting off a massive explosion on or near the object to change its course. In 2005, Nasa's Deep Impact mission tested a different technique when it placed an object into the path of a comet.
Dr Radice said robots could do the job just as well, doing away with the need for a risky and expensive manned mission. Last year Japan showed with its Hayabusa probe that a remote spacecraft can land on an asteroid.
But with manned missions to the moon and possibly Mars on its to-do list again, Nasa is keen to extend the reach of its astronauts.
Dan Durda, a senior research scientist in the Department of Space Studies at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado said an asteroid landing mission would be a good way test the new Constellation programme spacecraft, the Apollo-style planned replacements for the space shuttle with which Nasa hopes to return to the moon.
He told Space.com: "A very natural, early extension of the exploration capabilities of this new vehicle's architecture would be a "quick-dash" near-Earth asteroid rendezvous mission."
Tom Jones, a former shuttle astronaut, said: "After a lunar visit, we face a long interval in Earth-Moon space while we build up experience and technology for a Mars mission. An asteroid mission could take us immediately into deep space, sustaining programme momentum, adding public excitement and reducing the risk of a later Mars mission."
Europe has its own efforts to tackle asteroids. Its planned Don Quijote mission will launch two robot spacecraft, one to tilt at a harmless passing space rock, and a second to film the collision and watch for any deviation in the asteroid's path.
'Not if, but when...' Hits and near misses
At Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in California, scientists monitor all "potentially hazardous asteroids" that might one day end up on a collision course with Earth. So far they number 831. The next close-ish shave - at a mere 17 times the distance from the Sun to the Earth - will be asteroid 2004QD14 on November 29.
The Earth has a long history of asteroid strikes. Thirty five million years ago, a 5km-wide asteroid ploughed into what is now Chesapeake Bay, in the US, leaving an 80km crater. In 1908, an asteroid devastated swaths of Siberia when it exploded mid-air with the force of 1,000 Hiroshimas. The theory that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a huge asteroid striking Mexico 65m years ago is controversial since scientists uncovered rocks from the crater predating the extinction of the dinosaurs by 300,000 years.
A near miss, when asteroid QW7 came within 4m km of Earth in September 2000, led Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik to declare: "It's not a case of if we will be hit, it is a question of when. Each of us is 750 times more likely to be killed by an asteroid than to win this weekend's lottery."
In January 2002, the former science minister, David Sainsbury, announced the government's response to the threat from hurtling asteroids: a new information centre based in Leicester.
Fagin
little fishie
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- 101,650
Lost in Space
NASA losing hope of finding Mars probe
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer 49 minutes ago
WASHINGTON -
NASA's best effort to find a missing Mars space probe have failed, scientists said Tuesday as they began to lose hope for the 10-year-old planet-mapping workhorse.
After more than two weeks of silence from the Mars Global Surveyor, NASA will make other tries to locate it, but scientists were pessimistic.
"We may have lost a dear old friend and teacher," Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program said in a news conference.
The $154 million surveyor, which was supposed to last only two years but continued sending data for almost a decade, is the oldest of six different active space probes on or circling the red planet.
Among its accomplishments are more than 240,000 pictures of Mars, offering the best big-picture view of the planet. Meyer credited the probe with proving that Mars once had water.
"Every good thing comes to an end at some point," said Arizona State University scientist Phil Christensen. "It certainly in my mind greatly exceeded our wildest expectations of what to hope for. It revolutionized what we were thinking about Mars."
On Monday night, NASA had hoped to catch a glimpse of the surveyor from the camera on the new Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. But the orbiter failed to spot it.
Now NASA will try an even less likely search effort. Engineers will send a signal to the silent spacecraft, asking it to turn on a beacon on one of the two Mars rovers below. If the rover beacon turns on, NASA could figure out where the lost Mars Surveyor is, said project manager Tom Thorpe.
"While we have not exhausted everything we can do ... we believe the prospect for recovery of MGS is not looking very good at all," said Fuk Li, Mars program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which controls the probe. "We're still holding out some hope."
NASA will keep trying small-scale communications efforts. Experts believe the surveyor, which lost contact Nov. 2, probably developed a problem with a device that moves solar panels causing it to lose communication.
The entire Mars Global Surveyor program cost $247 million, including launch expenses and a decade of in-flight operations. NASA had just approved a two-year mission extension for $6 million a year.
Launched on Nov. 7, 1996, the probe gave scientists the best topographic map of any planet in the solar system, said Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres, who didn't have an instrument on board the probe but was part of NASA's scientific review team.
The probe gave Earth its first detailed views of massive dust storms and gullies. It also revealed a new mystery about Mars: It once had a magnetic field.
The low-cost probe rose "from the ashes" of a dramatic Mars failure, Squyres said. In 1993, the $813 million Mars Observer disappeared just before getting to the planet. Most of that probe's instruments were built again and included on the Mars Global Surveyor.
Christensen called the global surveyor "a workhorse" because of its numerous and diverse scientific instruments.
"It really has opened up new vistas of Mars that we hadn't the foggiest notion of," said Arizona State University geologist Ron Greeley.
http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20061121/capt.b7593eeda6f841368e8d08e9ac5c196e.mars_global_surveyor_nyol200.jpg?x=180&y=127&sig=OQBg81mNzn2_46PRjRUTrw--
A computer design downloaded from the internet of the Mars Global Surveyor, is shown in this Jan. 29, 1999 file photo. NASA's best effort to find the missing probe failed Monday night, as scientists at the space agency began to lose hope for the 10-year-old planet-mapping workhorse, which has been silent for more than two weeks. The spacecraft was designed to return detailed photographs of features on Mars: it has beamed back more than 240,000 over t he last decade. (AP Photo/JPL NASA)
source
NASA losing hope of finding Mars probe
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer 49 minutes ago
WASHINGTON -
NASA's best effort to find a missing Mars space probe have failed, scientists said Tuesday as they began to lose hope for the 10-year-old planet-mapping workhorse.
After more than two weeks of silence from the Mars Global Surveyor, NASA will make other tries to locate it, but scientists were pessimistic.
"We may have lost a dear old friend and teacher," Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program said in a news conference.
The $154 million surveyor, which was supposed to last only two years but continued sending data for almost a decade, is the oldest of six different active space probes on or circling the red planet.
Among its accomplishments are more than 240,000 pictures of Mars, offering the best big-picture view of the planet. Meyer credited the probe with proving that Mars once had water.
"Every good thing comes to an end at some point," said Arizona State University scientist Phil Christensen. "It certainly in my mind greatly exceeded our wildest expectations of what to hope for. It revolutionized what we were thinking about Mars."
On Monday night, NASA had hoped to catch a glimpse of the surveyor from the camera on the new Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. But the orbiter failed to spot it.
Now NASA will try an even less likely search effort. Engineers will send a signal to the silent spacecraft, asking it to turn on a beacon on one of the two Mars rovers below. If the rover beacon turns on, NASA could figure out where the lost Mars Surveyor is, said project manager Tom Thorpe.
"While we have not exhausted everything we can do ... we believe the prospect for recovery of MGS is not looking very good at all," said Fuk Li, Mars program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which controls the probe. "We're still holding out some hope."
NASA will keep trying small-scale communications efforts. Experts believe the surveyor, which lost contact Nov. 2, probably developed a problem with a device that moves solar panels causing it to lose communication.
The entire Mars Global Surveyor program cost $247 million, including launch expenses and a decade of in-flight operations. NASA had just approved a two-year mission extension for $6 million a year.
Launched on Nov. 7, 1996, the probe gave scientists the best topographic map of any planet in the solar system, said Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres, who didn't have an instrument on board the probe but was part of NASA's scientific review team.
The probe gave Earth its first detailed views of massive dust storms and gullies. It also revealed a new mystery about Mars: It once had a magnetic field.
The low-cost probe rose "from the ashes" of a dramatic Mars failure, Squyres said. In 1993, the $813 million Mars Observer disappeared just before getting to the planet. Most of that probe's instruments were built again and included on the Mars Global Surveyor.
Christensen called the global surveyor "a workhorse" because of its numerous and diverse scientific instruments.
"It really has opened up new vistas of Mars that we hadn't the foggiest notion of," said Arizona State University geologist Ron Greeley.
http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20061121/capt.b7593eeda6f841368e8d08e9ac5c196e.mars_global_surveyor_nyol200.jpg?x=180&y=127&sig=OQBg81mNzn2_46PRjRUTrw--
A computer design downloaded from the internet of the Mars Global Surveyor, is shown in this Jan. 29, 1999 file photo. NASA's best effort to find the missing probe failed Monday night, as scientists at the space agency began to lose hope for the 10-year-old planet-mapping workhorse, which has been silent for more than two weeks. The spacecraft was designed to return detailed photographs of features on Mars: it has beamed back more than 240,000 over t he last decade. (AP Photo/JPL NASA)
source
Fagin
little fishie
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Briton to rewire orbiting space station
Jacqui Goddard, Miami
It’s a long way to go to change a fuse — and the nine-figure call-out fee might be considered astronomical.
But Nicholas Patrick, a British astronaut, was cleared for launch yesterday as Nasa gave final approval for its most complex shuttle mission in years, to expand the International Space Station and rewire its electrical systems.
The former Harrow schoolboy and Cambridge University engineering graduate is part of a seven-strong crew that is due to lift off next week from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. He will be only the fourth Briton to go into space.
The $450 million (£230 million) mission will be the first time that Nasa has gambled on a night-time shuttle launch since before the Columbia disaster in 2003, when seven astronauts died in re-entry after debris had gouged a hole in their spacecraft during lift-off.
Daylight launches allow analysts to spot debris strikes more clearly than at night. But increased confidence in safety measures, and scheduling pressures — which include the need to get Discovery back before midnight on New Year’s Eve, because its computers are thrown into confusion by changes in the calendar year — prompted Nasa to lift its ban on blasting off in the dark.
It will aim to launch Discovery at 9.36pm next Thursday.
Dr Patrick, 42, from Saltburn, North Yorkshire, and his crewmates are spending their final week in quarantine to avoid illnesses. It is an opportunity, he says, for some rest after the arrival two months ago of his third child and second son, Cameron. “I’m going into quarantine to catch up on some sleep,” he joked.
His wife, Rossana, a doctor, and their two other children, aged 4 and 3, will be at the space centre at Cape Canaveral to watch the launch, with his parents Stewart and Gillian.
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,370143,00.jpg
That's one heck of a house call.
source
Jacqui Goddard, Miami
It’s a long way to go to change a fuse — and the nine-figure call-out fee might be considered astronomical.
But Nicholas Patrick, a British astronaut, was cleared for launch yesterday as Nasa gave final approval for its most complex shuttle mission in years, to expand the International Space Station and rewire its electrical systems.
The former Harrow schoolboy and Cambridge University engineering graduate is part of a seven-strong crew that is due to lift off next week from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. He will be only the fourth Briton to go into space.
The $450 million (£230 million) mission will be the first time that Nasa has gambled on a night-time shuttle launch since before the Columbia disaster in 2003, when seven astronauts died in re-entry after debris had gouged a hole in their spacecraft during lift-off.
Daylight launches allow analysts to spot debris strikes more clearly than at night. But increased confidence in safety measures, and scheduling pressures — which include the need to get Discovery back before midnight on New Year’s Eve, because its computers are thrown into confusion by changes in the calendar year — prompted Nasa to lift its ban on blasting off in the dark.
It will aim to launch Discovery at 9.36pm next Thursday.
Dr Patrick, 42, from Saltburn, North Yorkshire, and his crewmates are spending their final week in quarantine to avoid illnesses. It is an opportunity, he says, for some rest after the arrival two months ago of his third child and second son, Cameron. “I’m going into quarantine to catch up on some sleep,” he joked.
His wife, Rossana, a doctor, and their two other children, aged 4 and 3, will be at the space centre at Cape Canaveral to watch the launch, with his parents Stewart and Gillian.
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,370143,00.jpg
That's one heck of a house call.
source
Fagin
little fishie
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- 101,650
Earth is not safe to live on.
Hawking Says Mankind Must Spread Into Space To Survive
Professor Stephen Hawking, the eminent British scientist and author of A Brief History of Time has warned that mankind will need to leave planet Earth to ensure the long-term survival of the human race.
Hawking, 64, was speaking in London Thursday ahead of the presentation of a major science award, the Royal Society's Copley Medal.
Scientists may be within 20 years of reaching his prediction hat mankind would one day "know the mind of God" by understanding all the laws which govern the universe," Hawking said in a BBC interview.
He said that this knowledge may be vital to the human race's continued existence.
"The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet. Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe," Hawking argued.
"There isn't anywhere like the Earth in the solar system, so we would have to go to another star," he noted.
Hawking, who is wheelchair-bound and now almost completely paralyzed by a type of motor neurone disease, disclosed his ambition to go into space.
He appealed to British tycoon Richard Branson, who is planning a space tourism venture, to make his "dream come true."
© 2006 DPA
link
Hawking Says Mankind Must Spread Into Space To Survive
Professor Stephen Hawking, the eminent British scientist and author of A Brief History of Time has warned that mankind will need to leave planet Earth to ensure the long-term survival of the human race.
Hawking, 64, was speaking in London Thursday ahead of the presentation of a major science award, the Royal Society's Copley Medal.
Scientists may be within 20 years of reaching his prediction hat mankind would one day "know the mind of God" by understanding all the laws which govern the universe," Hawking said in a BBC interview.
He said that this knowledge may be vital to the human race's continued existence.
"The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet. Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe," Hawking argued.
"There isn't anywhere like the Earth in the solar system, so we would have to go to another star," he noted.
Hawking, who is wheelchair-bound and now almost completely paralyzed by a type of motor neurone disease, disclosed his ambition to go into space.
He appealed to British tycoon Richard Branson, who is planning a space tourism venture, to make his "dream come true."
© 2006 DPA
link
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
It's Official: Discovery is 'Go' for Launch on Dec. 7
NASA senior managers wrapped up the two-day flight readiness review on Nov. 29 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At a press conference immediately following the review, William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations, announced Dec. 7 as the launch date for the STS-116 mission to the International Space Station.
+ View Certificate of Flight Readiness
Gerstenmaier was joined at the briefing by Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale and Launch Director Mike Leinbach. Hale pointed out that the launch team had been asked to aim for a launch on Dec. 7 rather than the original target date of Dec. 14.
"I am as proud of the team as I could be for advancing the date, but even more proud of them for doing the work properly and making sure we are safe," Hale commented.
"From the processing perspective we feel really, really good about Dec. 7," Leinbach agreed.
The Shuttle Mission Management Team conducts the review two weeks prior to the opening of the launch window for each space shuttle mission. The group thoroughly evaluates all activities and elements necessary for the safe and successful performance of shuttle mission operations -- from the prelaunch phase through post-landing -- including the readiness of the vehicle, flight crew and payloads.
The launch window for the STS-116 mission extends through Dec. 17. The seven-member flight crew will arrive for launch at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility the afternoon of Dec. 3. Primary payloads on the 12-day mission are the P5 integrated truss segment, SPACEHAB single logistics module and an integrated cargo carrier. The STS-116 mission will be the 20th flight to the station.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-116/lores/sts116-s-001.jpg
It's Official: Discovery is 'Go' for Launch on Dec. 7
NASA senior managers wrapped up the two-day flight readiness review on Nov. 29 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At a press conference immediately following the review, William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations, announced Dec. 7 as the launch date for the STS-116 mission to the International Space Station.
+ View Certificate of Flight Readiness
Gerstenmaier was joined at the briefing by Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale and Launch Director Mike Leinbach. Hale pointed out that the launch team had been asked to aim for a launch on Dec. 7 rather than the original target date of Dec. 14.
"I am as proud of the team as I could be for advancing the date, but even more proud of them for doing the work properly and making sure we are safe," Hale commented.
"From the processing perspective we feel really, really good about Dec. 7," Leinbach agreed.
The Shuttle Mission Management Team conducts the review two weeks prior to the opening of the launch window for each space shuttle mission. The group thoroughly evaluates all activities and elements necessary for the safe and successful performance of shuttle mission operations -- from the prelaunch phase through post-landing -- including the readiness of the vehicle, flight crew and payloads.
The launch window for the STS-116 mission extends through Dec. 17. The seven-member flight crew will arrive for launch at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility the afternoon of Dec. 3. Primary payloads on the 12-day mission are the P5 integrated truss segment, SPACEHAB single logistics module and an integrated cargo carrier. The STS-116 mission will be the 20th flight to the station.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-116/lores/sts116-s-001.jpg
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
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http://space.com/news/061204_nasa_moon.html
NASA Unveils Strategy for Return to the Moon
04 December 2006
HOUSTON, Texas – NASA has decided to pursue a base on the Moon. The space agency rolled out today a strategy and rationale for robotic and human exploration of the Moon—determining that a lunar outpost is the best approach to achieve a sustained, human presence on the Moon.
The base would be built in incremental steps, starting with four-person crews making several seven-day visits. The first mission would begin by 2020, with the base growing over time, beefed up with more power, mobility rovers and living quarters.
The Moon base would eventually support 180-day lunar stays, a stretch of time seen as the best avenue to establish a permanent presence there, as well as prepare for future human exploration of Mars.
Here at the NASA Johnson Space Center, space agency planners detailed a global exploration strategy, outlining the themes and objectives of 21st century lunar exploration and the hardware needed to regain a foothold on the Moon.
NASA’s lunar plan also encourages participation by other nations, as well as non-governmental organizations and commercial groups.
Location, location, location
“We’re going to go after a lunar base,” said Scott Horowitz, NASA associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. The lunar base will be the central theme in NASA’s going back to the Moon effort, he said, in preparation to go to Mars and beyond.
As to where on the Moon such a post might be positioned—like real estate here on Earth—it’s location, location, location.
“What we’re looking at are polar locations…both the north pole and south pole,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale. Picking between the two poles will be done once NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter begins surveying the Moon after its launch in October 2008.
One particular area that’s already receiving high marks by NASA’s lunar architecture team is at the South Pole—a spot on the rim of Shackleton Crater that’s almost permanently sunlit.
“It’s also adjacent to a permanently dark region in which there are potentially volatiles that we can extract and use,” said NASA’s Doug Cooke, Deputy Associate Administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.
Sphere of economic value
A key technology yet to be defined is a lunar lander—hardware that can be used in piloted or unpiloted mode to develop a capability on the Moon more rapidly. “The more you can land the better it is,” Cooke added.
The lander will be designed to touchdown anywhere on the Moon…likened to a lunar pickup truck, Horowitz said.
“The door is wide open in terms of participation by internationals,” Dale noted, and that includes providing power, habitats, mobility on the lunar surface, as well as technology to use the resources on the Moon to life off the land.
Dale said that 2007 will feature “extensive dialogue with other countries” about the ways in which they want to participate in exploration activities. “I wouldn’t see it evolving as the same way as the International Space Station,” she told SPACE.com.
NASA’s lunar strategy is evolving from dialogue that has already taken place with 13 other space agencies, Dale explained. The framework for moving forward with other nations will be put in place next year, she said.
A Moon outpost would yield tangible science benefits, as well as enlarge the sphere of economic activity beyond low Earth orbit, Horowitz suggested.
International participation
The role of international cooperation in bringing the vision into sharper focus is also being advanced by NASA chief, Mike Griffin.
For example, on December 1, Griffin spoke to the British Royal Society in London, England and pointed to the need for navigation infrastructure on the Moon for future explorers and scientists.
Griffin spotlighted the scheduled launch in 2008 of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter with its laser altimeter and other instruments that can produce an accurate global map of the Moon for upcoming expeditions there.
“We’re still formulating our plans for providing communication and navigation for future explorers on the Moon, but I can foresee NASA collaborating with other spacefaring nations like the United Kingdom in providing such infrastructure,” Griffin told the British Royal Society.
NASA has nearly 60 on-going space and Earth science missions, Griffin observed, and over half of these missions have some form of international participation.
“Two-thirds of all NASA missions currently under development incorporate international partners. And of course, NASA’s premier human spaceflight program, the development of the International Space Station, is an effort involving some 15 nations,” Griffin said.
NASA Unveils Strategy for Return to the Moon
04 December 2006
HOUSTON, Texas – NASA has decided to pursue a base on the Moon. The space agency rolled out today a strategy and rationale for robotic and human exploration of the Moon—determining that a lunar outpost is the best approach to achieve a sustained, human presence on the Moon.
The base would be built in incremental steps, starting with four-person crews making several seven-day visits. The first mission would begin by 2020, with the base growing over time, beefed up with more power, mobility rovers and living quarters.
The Moon base would eventually support 180-day lunar stays, a stretch of time seen as the best avenue to establish a permanent presence there, as well as prepare for future human exploration of Mars.
Here at the NASA Johnson Space Center, space agency planners detailed a global exploration strategy, outlining the themes and objectives of 21st century lunar exploration and the hardware needed to regain a foothold on the Moon.
NASA’s lunar plan also encourages participation by other nations, as well as non-governmental organizations and commercial groups.
Location, location, location
“We’re going to go after a lunar base,” said Scott Horowitz, NASA associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. The lunar base will be the central theme in NASA’s going back to the Moon effort, he said, in preparation to go to Mars and beyond.
As to where on the Moon such a post might be positioned—like real estate here on Earth—it’s location, location, location.
“What we’re looking at are polar locations…both the north pole and south pole,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale. Picking between the two poles will be done once NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter begins surveying the Moon after its launch in October 2008.
One particular area that’s already receiving high marks by NASA’s lunar architecture team is at the South Pole—a spot on the rim of Shackleton Crater that’s almost permanently sunlit.
“It’s also adjacent to a permanently dark region in which there are potentially volatiles that we can extract and use,” said NASA’s Doug Cooke, Deputy Associate Administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.
Sphere of economic value
A key technology yet to be defined is a lunar lander—hardware that can be used in piloted or unpiloted mode to develop a capability on the Moon more rapidly. “The more you can land the better it is,” Cooke added.
The lander will be designed to touchdown anywhere on the Moon…likened to a lunar pickup truck, Horowitz said.
“The door is wide open in terms of participation by internationals,” Dale noted, and that includes providing power, habitats, mobility on the lunar surface, as well as technology to use the resources on the Moon to life off the land.
Dale said that 2007 will feature “extensive dialogue with other countries” about the ways in which they want to participate in exploration activities. “I wouldn’t see it evolving as the same way as the International Space Station,” she told SPACE.com.
NASA’s lunar strategy is evolving from dialogue that has already taken place with 13 other space agencies, Dale explained. The framework for moving forward with other nations will be put in place next year, she said.
A Moon outpost would yield tangible science benefits, as well as enlarge the sphere of economic activity beyond low Earth orbit, Horowitz suggested.
International participation
The role of international cooperation in bringing the vision into sharper focus is also being advanced by NASA chief, Mike Griffin.
For example, on December 1, Griffin spoke to the British Royal Society in London, England and pointed to the need for navigation infrastructure on the Moon for future explorers and scientists.
Griffin spotlighted the scheduled launch in 2008 of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter with its laser altimeter and other instruments that can produce an accurate global map of the Moon for upcoming expeditions there.
“We’re still formulating our plans for providing communication and navigation for future explorers on the Moon, but I can foresee NASA collaborating with other spacefaring nations like the United Kingdom in providing such infrastructure,” Griffin told the British Royal Society.
NASA has nearly 60 on-going space and Earth science missions, Griffin observed, and over half of these missions have some form of international participation.
“Two-thirds of all NASA missions currently under development incorporate international partners. And of course, NASA’s premier human spaceflight program, the development of the International Space Station, is an effort involving some 15 nations,” Griffin said.
linuxgeek
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
The Countdown is On
The STS-116 launch countdown began at 11 p.m. EST Monday at the T-43 hour mark. Included in the countdown are nearly 28 hours of built-in hold time prior to liftoff at 9:35 p.m. launch on Thursday.
The Countdown is On
The STS-116 launch countdown began at 11 p.m. EST Monday at the T-43 hour mark. Included in the countdown are nearly 28 hours of built-in hold time prior to liftoff at 9:35 p.m. launch on Thursday.
Fagin
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The clock is ticking
Dec. 5, 2006, 10:59AM
Forecast mostly good as shuttle countdown clock begins
By MARK CARREAU
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Cloudy skies, gusty winds and the possibility of rain showers could be factors as NASA attempts to launch the shuttle Discovery and a crew of seven astronauts at night for the first time in four years, forecasters said today.
Discovery's liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 8:36 p.m. CST Thursday. The countdown for the 12-day assembly mission to the international space station got under way late Monday.
Though the weather outlook for Thursday night is 70 percent favorable, a cool front is expected to push through the shuttle port earlier in the day. The front's passage will leave isolated rain showers and low clouds in its wake which could be a problem, Kathy Winters, NASA's launch weather officer, said today.
The outlook turns worse for launch opportunities Friday and Saturday. Gusty winds, low clouds and the possibility of showers lower the prospects of favorable conditions to just 40 percent for both days, Winters said.
Shuttle managers hope Discovery's crew can lift off by Dec. 17. They could stretch the launch campaign through Dec. 26 before they would be forced to wait until mid-January to begin the mission.
Discovery's crew has trained to deliver and install an 11-foot-long extension to the station's solar power generation system. During three spacewalks, the astronauts will also re-wire the station's electrical distribution system. The work is intended to prepare the orbital outpost for the addition of European and Japanese research modules and a larger crew of resident astronauts.
If Discovery can lift off by Dec. 17, mission managers will avoid a time consuming procedure to re-boot the shuttle's computers over New Year's Eve. When the shuttle fleet was developed in the 1970s, the space agency did not envision a flight that would keep the spacecraft in orbit over the transition from one year to another.
However, Discovery commander Mark Polansky and his crew are trained to make changes to the shuttle's software over New Year's Eve and New Year's Day that would accomplish the task. Shuttle managers would prefer the shuttle be docked to the space station during a re-boot procedure that could take up to eight hours.
Meanwhile, Russia's Mission Control supervised a maneuver by the space station on Monday afternoon that increased the prospects for a timely liftoff.
The maneuver will enable the shuttle crew to launch any day through Dec. 23 and reach the station on the third day of their flight. When the maneuver was attempted last Wednesday, propulsion system computers interrupted the maneuver when they detected an imbalance in the station's 470,000 pound structure.
Without Monday's corrective maneuver, Discovery's astronauts could not rendezvous with the station until fourth day of flight on about half of their launch opportunities.
Monday's maneuver was carried out by thrusters on a Russian Progress cargo capsule docked to the back end of the station.
link (their misspellings/typos remain uncorrected)
Dec. 5, 2006, 10:59AM
Forecast mostly good as shuttle countdown clock begins
By MARK CARREAU
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Cloudy skies, gusty winds and the possibility of rain showers could be factors as NASA attempts to launch the shuttle Discovery and a crew of seven astronauts at night for the first time in four years, forecasters said today.
Discovery's liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 8:36 p.m. CST Thursday. The countdown for the 12-day assembly mission to the international space station got under way late Monday.
Though the weather outlook for Thursday night is 70 percent favorable, a cool front is expected to push through the shuttle port earlier in the day. The front's passage will leave isolated rain showers and low clouds in its wake which could be a problem, Kathy Winters, NASA's launch weather officer, said today.
The outlook turns worse for launch opportunities Friday and Saturday. Gusty winds, low clouds and the possibility of showers lower the prospects of favorable conditions to just 40 percent for both days, Winters said.
Shuttle managers hope Discovery's crew can lift off by Dec. 17. They could stretch the launch campaign through Dec. 26 before they would be forced to wait until mid-January to begin the mission.
Discovery's crew has trained to deliver and install an 11-foot-long extension to the station's solar power generation system. During three spacewalks, the astronauts will also re-wire the station's electrical distribution system. The work is intended to prepare the orbital outpost for the addition of European and Japanese research modules and a larger crew of resident astronauts.
If Discovery can lift off by Dec. 17, mission managers will avoid a time consuming procedure to re-boot the shuttle's computers over New Year's Eve. When the shuttle fleet was developed in the 1970s, the space agency did not envision a flight that would keep the spacecraft in orbit over the transition from one year to another.
However, Discovery commander Mark Polansky and his crew are trained to make changes to the shuttle's software over New Year's Eve and New Year's Day that would accomplish the task. Shuttle managers would prefer the shuttle be docked to the space station during a re-boot procedure that could take up to eight hours.
Meanwhile, Russia's Mission Control supervised a maneuver by the space station on Monday afternoon that increased the prospects for a timely liftoff.
The maneuver will enable the shuttle crew to launch any day through Dec. 23 and reach the station on the third day of their flight. When the maneuver was attempted last Wednesday, propulsion system computers interrupted the maneuver when they detected an imbalance in the station's 470,000 pound structure.
Without Monday's corrective maneuver, Discovery's astronauts could not rendezvous with the station until fourth day of flight on about half of their launch opportunities.
Monday's maneuver was carried out by thrusters on a Russian Progress cargo capsule docked to the back end of the station.
link (their misspellings/typos remain uncorrected)
Fagin
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Ties in with post 771
Permanent moon base planned NASA wants to start building way station for Mars voyages near south pole by 2024
David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
NASA announced plans Monday to begin building a permanent base on the moon by 2024, four years after the space agency starts sending crews of four astronauts there for week long exploratory missions.
The base would probably be located near the lunar south pole and be staffed by rotating teams of international astronauts for up to six months at a time, according to NASA officials.
The teams will be equipped for extended travel across the cratered lunar surface and will start preparing the base as a way station for an eventual human mission to Mars, the officials said.
No price tag has yet been set for the lunar venture, but the space agency's lunar exploration chief conceded that participation by other space-faring nations as well as U.S. industries will be critical for success of the costly, risky and technically demanding effort.
Deputy NASA Administrator Shana Dale, who led a news briefing at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said the agency will send a series of manned spacecraft starting in 2014 to orbit both polar regions of the moon and scout out possible landing sites in search of evidence of natural resources and potential hazards to exploring lunar vehicles.
The first astronaut teams, she said, would land in 2020 -- as President Bush has proclaimed -- and start building the permanent base from which the international teams could explore the lunar surface for miles around aboard mobile solar-powered craft in preparation for the Mars mission Bush has also envisioned. No target date has been set for any human mission to Mars, where the robot spacecraft Opportunity and Spirit are still exploring the surface nearly four years after they landed there on what was scheduled as a three-month mission.
A successful manned mission to the moon in 2020 would come 51 years after the astronauts of Apollo 11 made the world's first lunar landing and 48 years after Apollo 17 ended that ambitious space venture.
Dale said NASA experts have already consulted more than 1,000 scientists, engineers and other space specialists in 14 nations to set the long-term strategy for lunar exploration and to design the architecture of the orbiters, the landing craft and the bases that will ultimately be required.
The manned lunar venture could cost $500 billion or more, experts have estimated. It will be up to future presidents and Congress to provide the money.
Even now, all the schedules are tentative and detailed plans are still being developed, Dale said. A NASA-sponsored international space exploration conference focusing on the moon, Mars and beyond is under way in Houston, she said.
The original Apollo astronauts landed near the moon's equator and ventured as far as 21 miles across the surface, but the new plans call for a base at one of the poles because the polar regions are sunlit 70 to 80 percent of the year and that means easy access to solar power, said Doug Cooke, NASA's exploration systems chief. Eventually, with sturdy vehicles, the lunar explorers could roam for scores of miles across the surface.
The Shackleton crater near the south pole would be the most likely location for the moon base, Cooke said, because a 300-acre flat site -- almost the size of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. -- lies nearby. That would give astronauts a natural place to land and would put the base close to deep, dark craters where water may exist that could yield hydrogen, oxygen and perhaps other volatile chemicals for creating rocket fuel for return voyages to Earth.
"There could even be cometary ices that have lain there for billions of years," Cooke said.
Major scientific goals would be achieved by returning to the moon, said Dale and Scott Horowitz, a retired astronaut who is another NASA deputy administrator for space exploration.
Dale, for example, envisioned placing arrays of space telescopes on the moon's far side where no atmosphere or sunlight would obscure their unlimited vision.
Horowitz said mobility of the exploring crews would be crucial: "Everything from a guy walking around in a spacesuit to a team riding away in a fully pressurized space vehicle -- maybe equipped with a backhoe to dig up lunar dirt," as he put it.
At NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, where scientists first analyzed the moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts more than three decades ago, engineers have long been noted for expertise in developing pressurized suits for space travel and will work with colleagues at the Johnson center to create new gear and respirator masks that could resist the razor-sharp particles of moon dust.
The first new robot reconnaissance mission to the moon will actually start next year, with the launch of a spacecraft called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which will circle the poles on the lookout for natural resources that might prove useful to later astronauts.
The orbiter will also carry a smaller craft called the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, that was designed by Ames engineers and scientists to take a first look for signs of water in the moon's rocks. In 2009, the spacecraft's Centaur rocket stage will deliberately crash into the Shackleton crater near the south pole, while instruments on the observing stage seek for evidence of water in the plume of moon dust kicked up by the impact.
link (typos are the word for the day)
Permanent moon base planned NASA wants to start building way station for Mars voyages near south pole by 2024
David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
NASA announced plans Monday to begin building a permanent base on the moon by 2024, four years after the space agency starts sending crews of four astronauts there for week long exploratory missions.
The base would probably be located near the lunar south pole and be staffed by rotating teams of international astronauts for up to six months at a time, according to NASA officials.
The teams will be equipped for extended travel across the cratered lunar surface and will start preparing the base as a way station for an eventual human mission to Mars, the officials said.
No price tag has yet been set for the lunar venture, but the space agency's lunar exploration chief conceded that participation by other space-faring nations as well as U.S. industries will be critical for success of the costly, risky and technically demanding effort.
Deputy NASA Administrator Shana Dale, who led a news briefing at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said the agency will send a series of manned spacecraft starting in 2014 to orbit both polar regions of the moon and scout out possible landing sites in search of evidence of natural resources and potential hazards to exploring lunar vehicles.
The first astronaut teams, she said, would land in 2020 -- as President Bush has proclaimed -- and start building the permanent base from which the international teams could explore the lunar surface for miles around aboard mobile solar-powered craft in preparation for the Mars mission Bush has also envisioned. No target date has been set for any human mission to Mars, where the robot spacecraft Opportunity and Spirit are still exploring the surface nearly four years after they landed there on what was scheduled as a three-month mission.
A successful manned mission to the moon in 2020 would come 51 years after the astronauts of Apollo 11 made the world's first lunar landing and 48 years after Apollo 17 ended that ambitious space venture.
Dale said NASA experts have already consulted more than 1,000 scientists, engineers and other space specialists in 14 nations to set the long-term strategy for lunar exploration and to design the architecture of the orbiters, the landing craft and the bases that will ultimately be required.
The manned lunar venture could cost $500 billion or more, experts have estimated. It will be up to future presidents and Congress to provide the money.
Even now, all the schedules are tentative and detailed plans are still being developed, Dale said. A NASA-sponsored international space exploration conference focusing on the moon, Mars and beyond is under way in Houston, she said.
The original Apollo astronauts landed near the moon's equator and ventured as far as 21 miles across the surface, but the new plans call for a base at one of the poles because the polar regions are sunlit 70 to 80 percent of the year and that means easy access to solar power, said Doug Cooke, NASA's exploration systems chief. Eventually, with sturdy vehicles, the lunar explorers could roam for scores of miles across the surface.
The Shackleton crater near the south pole would be the most likely location for the moon base, Cooke said, because a 300-acre flat site -- almost the size of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. -- lies nearby. That would give astronauts a natural place to land and would put the base close to deep, dark craters where water may exist that could yield hydrogen, oxygen and perhaps other volatile chemicals for creating rocket fuel for return voyages to Earth.
"There could even be cometary ices that have lain there for billions of years," Cooke said.
Major scientific goals would be achieved by returning to the moon, said Dale and Scott Horowitz, a retired astronaut who is another NASA deputy administrator for space exploration.
Dale, for example, envisioned placing arrays of space telescopes on the moon's far side where no atmosphere or sunlight would obscure their unlimited vision.
Horowitz said mobility of the exploring crews would be crucial: "Everything from a guy walking around in a spacesuit to a team riding away in a fully pressurized space vehicle -- maybe equipped with a backhoe to dig up lunar dirt," as he put it.
At NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, where scientists first analyzed the moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts more than three decades ago, engineers have long been noted for expertise in developing pressurized suits for space travel and will work with colleagues at the Johnson center to create new gear and respirator masks that could resist the razor-sharp particles of moon dust.
The first new robot reconnaissance mission to the moon will actually start next year, with the launch of a spacecraft called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which will circle the poles on the lookout for natural resources that might prove useful to later astronauts.
The orbiter will also carry a smaller craft called the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, that was designed by Ames engineers and scientists to take a first look for signs of water in the moon's rocks. In 2009, the spacecraft's Centaur rocket stage will deliberately crash into the Shackleton crater near the south pole, while instruments on the observing stage seek for evidence of water in the plume of moon dust kicked up by the impact.
link (typos are the word for the day)
linuxgeek
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Discovery
T-20 minutes to launch and still a go.
I think we are going to be able to watch this one from our balcony.
edit: or not. finally got the NASA channel on, and they are currently red lighted seeing if the clouds will clear.
T-20 minutes to launch and still a go.
I think we are going to be able to watch this one from our balcony.
edit: or not. finally got the NASA channel on, and they are currently red lighted seeing if the clouds will clear.
Last edited:
linuxgeek
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Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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God speed, Discovery- T-minus 40 minutes and counting...first night launch in over 4 years..
http://countdown.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/cdt/
http://countdown.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/cdt/
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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We are "Go"
20 minutes and counting in 10 minute safety hold..
http://countdown.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/cdt/
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/159158main_sts116-s-002.jpg
Space Shuttle Discovery are, front row (from the left), astronauts William A. Oefelein, pilot; Joan E. Higginbotham, mission specialist; and Mark L. Polansky, commander. On the back row (from the left) are astronauts Robert L. Curbeam, Nicholas J.M. Patrick, Sunita L. Williams and the European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang, all mission specialists. Williams will join Expedition 14 in progress to serve as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station.
20 minutes and counting in 10 minute safety hold..
http://countdown.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/cdt/
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/159158main_sts116-s-002.jpg
Space Shuttle Discovery are, front row (from the left), astronauts William A. Oefelein, pilot; Joan E. Higginbotham, mission specialist; and Mark L. Polansky, commander. On the back row (from the left) are astronauts Robert L. Curbeam, Nicholas J.M. Patrick, Sunita L. Williams and the European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang, all mission specialists. Williams will join Expedition 14 in progress to serve as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station.
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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20 minutes and counting, next built in hold at T-minus 31 seconds...still good for 2047hrs launch.........
Lost Cause
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We are "GO!"
3 minute count coming up-
3 minute count coming up-
Lost Cause
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Here we go!!!! *7 minutes* 
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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1 minute!!! *holds breath!*
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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