astronomy & space stuff
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AURORA ALERT: A strong geomagnetic storm sparked beautiful auroras last night. "I saw them from my bedroom window--without my contacts," says Chris Schierer of Cazenovia, New York, who snapped this picture before dawn on Sept. 11th:
http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/images2005/11sep05/schierer1_strip.jpg
Elsewhere, in Park City, Utah, on Sept. 10th, "the aurora activity was so intense that everyone at our star party was jumping and cheering," says Brian Jolley.
Although the storm is subsiding now, it could be re-energized at any time by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) propelled in our direction from active sunspot 798. Sky watchers everywhere should remain alert for auroras tonight.
http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/images2005/11sep05/schierer1_strip.jpg
Elsewhere, in Park City, Utah, on Sept. 10th, "the aurora activity was so intense that everyone at our star party was jumping and cheering," says Brian Jolley.
Although the storm is subsiding now, it could be re-energized at any time by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) propelled in our direction from active sunspot 798. Sky watchers everywhere should remain alert for auroras tonight.
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AURORA ALERT! A coronal mass ejection (CME) is racing toward Earth and it could spark a severe geomagnetic storm when it arrives--perhaps tonight (Sept. 14th and 15th). People everywhere should be alert for auroras.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/13sep05/20050913_2142_c3_strip.gif
The CME, pictured above, was hurled into space on Sept. 13th by an X1-class explosion at sunspot 798. This remarkable 'spot has produced nine X-flares since Sept. 7th including a record-setting X17-monster. All by itself, sunspot 798 has made Sept. 2005 the most active month on the sun since March 1991.
During the Sept 13th explosion, Thomas Ashcraft of New Mexico heard a strong radio burst on his 22 MHz receiver: listen. The slowly undulating signal is a Type II solar radio burst, generated by a shock wave at the leading edge of the CME. [more]
If this incoming CME does hit Earth's magnetic field as hard as forecasters expect, auroras could appear in places where they are seldom seen: California, Arizona, Texas and elsewhere
http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/images2005/11sep05/Soske2_strip.jpg
Above: Red skies over Grand Mesa, Colorado, on Sept. 11th. "There were more auroras than I could fit in the camera frame. It was terrific!" says photographer Thad V'Soske.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/13sep05/20050913_2142_c3_strip.gif
The CME, pictured above, was hurled into space on Sept. 13th by an X1-class explosion at sunspot 798. This remarkable 'spot has produced nine X-flares since Sept. 7th including a record-setting X17-monster. All by itself, sunspot 798 has made Sept. 2005 the most active month on the sun since March 1991.
During the Sept 13th explosion, Thomas Ashcraft of New Mexico heard a strong radio burst on his 22 MHz receiver: listen. The slowly undulating signal is a Type II solar radio burst, generated by a shock wave at the leading edge of the CME. [more]
If this incoming CME does hit Earth's magnetic field as hard as forecasters expect, auroras could appear in places where they are seldom seen: California, Arizona, Texas and elsewhere
http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/images2005/11sep05/Soske2_strip.jpg
Above: Red skies over Grand Mesa, Colorado, on Sept. 11th. "There were more auroras than I could fit in the camera frame. It was terrific!" says photographer Thad V'Soske.
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linuxgeek
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GIANT COFFEE BEAN: Picture this: a coffee bean the size of Neptune. That's what hyperactive sunspot 798 looked like on Sept. 14th when Jerome Grenier of Paris, France, took its picture:
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/16sep05/Grenier1.jpg
The bright gash splitting this sunspot down the middle is called a "light bridge." The bridge, explains solar physicist David Hathaway, separates positive and negative magnetic polarities in the spot. It's a sign of explosiveness, because opposite polarities bumping together can spark solar flares. Sunspot 798 has unleashed nine X-class flares since Sept. 7th.
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/16sep05/Grenier1.jpg
The bright gash splitting this sunspot down the middle is called a "light bridge." The bridge, explains solar physicist David Hathaway, separates positive and negative magnetic polarities in the spot. It's a sign of explosiveness, because opposite polarities bumping together can spark solar flares. Sunspot 798 has unleashed nine X-class flares since Sept. 7th.
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NASA braces for Rita in Houston
Space agency prepares to evacuate Johnson Space Center
Wednesday, September 21, 2005; Posted: 3:57 p.m. EDT (19:57 GMT)
MELBOURNE, Florida (Reuters) -- NASA prepared on Wednesday to evacuate its Johnson Space Center in Houston and turn over control of the international space station to its Russian partners as Hurricane Rita barreled across the Gulf of Mexico with ferocious winds.
Space agency officials were meeting to discuss storm preparations, NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said.
But many of the space center's 15,000 government and contractor workers were already taking advantage of NASA's liberal leave policy to heed calls from Texas state officials to evacuate the area, he said.
The Johnson Space Center, home to "Mission Control," and the headquarters of NASA's human spaceflight program, is situated less than a quarter-mile from Clear Lake, which is part of Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
Work teams on Tuesday began protecting computers and other electronic devices with plastic sheets and picked up loose objects from around the center. A small group of workers would remain inside Mission Control during the storm, Hartsfield said.
Operations of the space station would be passed to the Russian Mission Control complex outside of Moscow. NASA keeps a small team of flight controllers and support personnel in Russia at all times.
A backup team of space station experts would be secluded at a still-to-be-determined site in the United States to help out in case any emergencies arose on the station, Hartsfield said.
NASA already has been affected by hurricane damage this year. The Michoud Assembly Facility outside of New Orleans and the Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, have been shut since Hurricane Katrina hit.
The New Orleans center, which manufactures the space shuttle fuel tanks, is key to NASA's efforts to resume space shuttle flights, which remain on hold after lingering problems with falling foam marred the agency's first shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Columbia broke apart during landing due to wing damage caused by a piece of foam insulation that broke off from the external tank during launch. Seven astronauts died.
Large pieces of foam insulation also fell off during the launch of the shuttle Discovery on July 26, prompting the agency to ground the fleet again for further repairs.
NASA braces for Rita in Houston
Space agency prepares to evacuate Johnson Space Center
Wednesday, September 21, 2005; Posted: 3:57 p.m. EDT (19:57 GMT)
MELBOURNE, Florida (Reuters) -- NASA prepared on Wednesday to evacuate its Johnson Space Center in Houston and turn over control of the international space station to its Russian partners as Hurricane Rita barreled across the Gulf of Mexico with ferocious winds.
Space agency officials were meeting to discuss storm preparations, NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said.
But many of the space center's 15,000 government and contractor workers were already taking advantage of NASA's liberal leave policy to heed calls from Texas state officials to evacuate the area, he said.
The Johnson Space Center, home to "Mission Control," and the headquarters of NASA's human spaceflight program, is situated less than a quarter-mile from Clear Lake, which is part of Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
Work teams on Tuesday began protecting computers and other electronic devices with plastic sheets and picked up loose objects from around the center. A small group of workers would remain inside Mission Control during the storm, Hartsfield said.
Operations of the space station would be passed to the Russian Mission Control complex outside of Moscow. NASA keeps a small team of flight controllers and support personnel in Russia at all times.
A backup team of space station experts would be secluded at a still-to-be-determined site in the United States to help out in case any emergencies arose on the station, Hartsfield said.
NASA already has been affected by hurricane damage this year. The Michoud Assembly Facility outside of New Orleans and the Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, have been shut since Hurricane Katrina hit.
The New Orleans center, which manufactures the space shuttle fuel tanks, is key to NASA's efforts to resume space shuttle flights, which remain on hold after lingering problems with falling foam marred the agency's first shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Columbia broke apart during landing due to wing damage caused by a piece of foam insulation that broke off from the external tank during launch. Seven astronauts died.
Large pieces of foam insulation also fell off during the launch of the shuttle Discovery on July 26, prompting the agency to ground the fleet again for further repairs.
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Voyager 1 Sends Messages from the Edge
University of Maryland's Frank McDonald, who has worked on the voyager missions from the beginning, said Voyager 1 should reach the heliopause, or end of the solar system in the next eight to ten years. "When we started none of us thought of this mission lasting this long. Now it has gone 28 years, and there is no reason it can't go on for many more."
NASA's Voyager 1 has passed into the border region at the edge of the solar system and now is sending back information about this never-before-explored area, say scientists at the University of Maryland.
"We have confirmed, for the first time, that Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock on Dec. 16, 2004," said Frank McDonald, a senior research scientist at the university's Institute for Physical Science and Technology, and a coauthor on two of four Voyager 1 research papers published in the Sept. 23 issue of Science. The termination shock marks the beginning of a transition region at the edge of the solar system that is known as the heliosheath.
"Until now there has been debate among scientists on whether Voyager 1 had crossed the termination shock as early as 2002 or not until December 16, 2004," said McDonald, who coauthored "Crossing the Termination Shock into the Heliosheath: Magnetic Fields," and "Voyager 1 Explores the Termination Shock Region and the Heliosheath Beyond."
Matthew Hill, George Gloeckler and Douglas C. Hamilton, scientists in the University of Maryland's Space Physics Group, were among the coauthors of a third article, "Voyager 1 in the Foreshock, Termination Shock and Heliosheath," which presents other new observations on the spacecraft's entrance into the heliosheath. Gloeckler and his Space Physics Group built the Low Energy Charged Particle (LECP) instrument, one of the five main instruments on Voyager.
"The termination shock -- a shock wave in the solar wind, that marks the slowing of the supersonic solar wind to subsonic speed -- had been universally thought to be a prodigious accelerator of particles and our findings largely confirm that," said Hill, a research scientist in the department of physics. "This paper describes a remarkable increase in particle intensity with energetic characteristics unlike anything we have seen before. In addition, the LECP instrument indirectly determines that the solar wind speed in the heliosheath is clearly subsonic."
However, Hill explained that one very surprising finding was that certain particles called anomalous cosmic rays do not appear to be accelerated at the termination shock, or at least not in the area where Voyager 1 crossed. This is despite the "near unanimity of opinion" among scientists that these rays would be accelerated.
"This finding has the potential to turn three decades of anomalous cosmic ray research on its head," said Hill.
Solar Wind Blows Bubble Around Solar System
Our sun is surrounded by a bubble known as the heliosphere ("helio" means sun) that extends well beyond the solar system's outermost planets. This bubble is formed by the solar wind -- electrically charged particles that blow out from the sun at a million miles per hour. As the sun races around the center of our Milky Way galaxy at some 560,000 miles per hour, this bubble, or heliosphere, shoves through the clouds of dust, gas and charged particles that whirl between the stars.
At the outer edge of the heliosphere, is the heliosheath, a transition or border region where the solar wind is directly influenced by the pressure of the interstellar clouds through which our solar system travels. Uncertainly about when Voyager 1 entered the heliosheath, stems from the fact that the exact location and size of this transition region are not static, but change based on the relative pressures of the solar wind and the opposing interstellar clouds.
The beginning of the heliosheath region is marked by the termination shock, the point at which the solar wind abruptly slows. The termination shock gets its name from the shockwave produced by the slowing of the solar wind. This shockwave is similar to the sonic boom that occurs on Earth when an airplane crosses the subsonic-supersonic barrier. The outermost edge of the heliosheath is the heliopause, which marks the end of our solar system. At the heliopause, the force or pressure of solar wind is stopped, balanced by that of the pressure from the interstellar clouds.
Beyond the Solar System
Voyager 1 and its twin spacecraft Voyager 2 are now part of a NASA Interstellar Mission to explore the outermost edge of the sun's domain and beyond. Both Voyagers are capable of returning scientific data from a full range of instruments, with adequate electrical power and attitude control propellant to keep operating until 2020.
Maryland's McDonald, who has worked on the Voyager missions from the beginning, said Voyager 1 should reach the heliopause, or end of the solar system in the next eight to ten years. "When we started none of us thought of this mission lasting this long. Now it has gone 28 years, and there is no reason it can't go on for many more."
When the Voyagers were launched in 1977, their mission was to explore the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. However, after completing their initial assignments, the pair just kept going and going. Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, the only spacecraft to have visited these outer planets. It now follows its twin and could cross the termination shock and enter the heliosheath by 2008.
The Voyagers each carry a message to any extraterrestrials they might encounter. Each messages is carried by a phonograph record -- a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.
NASA Missions Carry UM Instruments
Experiments built by the University of Maryland space physics group are currently operating on 13 spacecraft, including the two Voyager spacecraft. Other missions carrying the group's sensors include Cassini, the Ulysses probe to the solar poles and near-Earth missions such as Geotail, the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX), WIND, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE).
Maryland's Space Physics Group specializes in measurement of space plasmas and ions found in solar, planetary, and interplanetary environments. The work includes studies of the composition and ionization states of the solar wind, solar energetic particles, and interstellar neutral atoms, which have been "picked up" in the solar wind. This work, carried on at Maryland since the late 1960s, has given key insights into solar energetic particle acceleration and conditions in the solar atmosphere.
Other work has provided fundamental information about the energizing of particles by traveling interplanetary shocks and such diverse topics as the origin of oxygen and sulfur ions in Jupiter's magnetosphere from the volcanoes on the moon Io and the composition and energy content of the Earth's radiation belts.
The plasma and energetic particle observations carried out by the Space Physics Group require novel instrumentation carried on Earth-orbiting satellites and deep-space probes. Instruments are designed and constructed on campus by the group's technical staff, with participation by graduate as well as undergraduate students.
Voyager 1 Sends Messages from the Edge
University of Maryland's Frank McDonald, who has worked on the voyager missions from the beginning, said Voyager 1 should reach the heliopause, or end of the solar system in the next eight to ten years. "When we started none of us thought of this mission lasting this long. Now it has gone 28 years, and there is no reason it can't go on for many more."
NASA's Voyager 1 has passed into the border region at the edge of the solar system and now is sending back information about this never-before-explored area, say scientists at the University of Maryland.
"We have confirmed, for the first time, that Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock on Dec. 16, 2004," said Frank McDonald, a senior research scientist at the university's Institute for Physical Science and Technology, and a coauthor on two of four Voyager 1 research papers published in the Sept. 23 issue of Science. The termination shock marks the beginning of a transition region at the edge of the solar system that is known as the heliosheath.
"Until now there has been debate among scientists on whether Voyager 1 had crossed the termination shock as early as 2002 or not until December 16, 2004," said McDonald, who coauthored "Crossing the Termination Shock into the Heliosheath: Magnetic Fields," and "Voyager 1 Explores the Termination Shock Region and the Heliosheath Beyond."
Matthew Hill, George Gloeckler and Douglas C. Hamilton, scientists in the University of Maryland's Space Physics Group, were among the coauthors of a third article, "Voyager 1 in the Foreshock, Termination Shock and Heliosheath," which presents other new observations on the spacecraft's entrance into the heliosheath. Gloeckler and his Space Physics Group built the Low Energy Charged Particle (LECP) instrument, one of the five main instruments on Voyager.
"The termination shock -- a shock wave in the solar wind, that marks the slowing of the supersonic solar wind to subsonic speed -- had been universally thought to be a prodigious accelerator of particles and our findings largely confirm that," said Hill, a research scientist in the department of physics. "This paper describes a remarkable increase in particle intensity with energetic characteristics unlike anything we have seen before. In addition, the LECP instrument indirectly determines that the solar wind speed in the heliosheath is clearly subsonic."
However, Hill explained that one very surprising finding was that certain particles called anomalous cosmic rays do not appear to be accelerated at the termination shock, or at least not in the area where Voyager 1 crossed. This is despite the "near unanimity of opinion" among scientists that these rays would be accelerated.
"This finding has the potential to turn three decades of anomalous cosmic ray research on its head," said Hill.
Solar Wind Blows Bubble Around Solar System
Our sun is surrounded by a bubble known as the heliosphere ("helio" means sun) that extends well beyond the solar system's outermost planets. This bubble is formed by the solar wind -- electrically charged particles that blow out from the sun at a million miles per hour. As the sun races around the center of our Milky Way galaxy at some 560,000 miles per hour, this bubble, or heliosphere, shoves through the clouds of dust, gas and charged particles that whirl between the stars.
At the outer edge of the heliosphere, is the heliosheath, a transition or border region where the solar wind is directly influenced by the pressure of the interstellar clouds through which our solar system travels. Uncertainly about when Voyager 1 entered the heliosheath, stems from the fact that the exact location and size of this transition region are not static, but change based on the relative pressures of the solar wind and the opposing interstellar clouds.
The beginning of the heliosheath region is marked by the termination shock, the point at which the solar wind abruptly slows. The termination shock gets its name from the shockwave produced by the slowing of the solar wind. This shockwave is similar to the sonic boom that occurs on Earth when an airplane crosses the subsonic-supersonic barrier. The outermost edge of the heliosheath is the heliopause, which marks the end of our solar system. At the heliopause, the force or pressure of solar wind is stopped, balanced by that of the pressure from the interstellar clouds.
Beyond the Solar System
Voyager 1 and its twin spacecraft Voyager 2 are now part of a NASA Interstellar Mission to explore the outermost edge of the sun's domain and beyond. Both Voyagers are capable of returning scientific data from a full range of instruments, with adequate electrical power and attitude control propellant to keep operating until 2020.
Maryland's McDonald, who has worked on the Voyager missions from the beginning, said Voyager 1 should reach the heliopause, or end of the solar system in the next eight to ten years. "When we started none of us thought of this mission lasting this long. Now it has gone 28 years, and there is no reason it can't go on for many more."
When the Voyagers were launched in 1977, their mission was to explore the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. However, after completing their initial assignments, the pair just kept going and going. Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, the only spacecraft to have visited these outer planets. It now follows its twin and could cross the termination shock and enter the heliosheath by 2008.
The Voyagers each carry a message to any extraterrestrials they might encounter. Each messages is carried by a phonograph record -- a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.
NASA Missions Carry UM Instruments
Experiments built by the University of Maryland space physics group are currently operating on 13 spacecraft, including the two Voyager spacecraft. Other missions carrying the group's sensors include Cassini, the Ulysses probe to the solar poles and near-Earth missions such as Geotail, the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX), WIND, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE).
Maryland's Space Physics Group specializes in measurement of space plasmas and ions found in solar, planetary, and interplanetary environments. The work includes studies of the composition and ionization states of the solar wind, solar energetic particles, and interstellar neutral atoms, which have been "picked up" in the solar wind. This work, carried on at Maryland since the late 1960s, has given key insights into solar energetic particle acceleration and conditions in the solar atmosphere.
Other work has provided fundamental information about the energizing of particles by traveling interplanetary shocks and such diverse topics as the origin of oxygen and sulfur ions in Jupiter's magnetosphere from the volcanoes on the moon Io and the composition and energy content of the Earth's radiation belts.
The plasma and energetic particle observations carried out by the Space Physics Group require novel instrumentation carried on Earth-orbiting satellites and deep-space probes. Instruments are designed and constructed on campus by the group's technical staff, with participation by graduate as well as undergraduate students.
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Annular Solar Eclipse of 2005 October 03
On Monday, October 03, an annular1 eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses the Iberian Peninsula and stretches across the African continent. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes Europe, western Asia, the Middle East, India and most of Africa.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmono/ASE2005/ASE2005fig/ASE2005globe.JPG
The path of the annular eclipse begins in the North Atlantic at 08:41 UT. Rushing southeast, the antumbra quickly reaches the northern coast of Spain and Portugal (08:51 UT). Bisecting the Iberian Peninsula, the antumbra engulfs Madrid (08:56 UT) which lies near the central line. The annular phase will last 04m 11s from this capital city with 90% of the Sun's surface being obscured by the Moon.
Isla de Ibiza straddles the northern path limit as the shadow crosses the western Mediterranean. Upon reaching the African continent, Algiers lies within the shadow's trajectory (09:05 UT) and will experience an annularity of 03m 51s. Following a southeastern course, the antumbra passes through southern Tunisia and central Libya where the Moon's umbral shadow will return six months later during the total eclipse of 2006 Mar 29. After briefly skirting northern Chad, the antumbra sweeps across central Sudan where greatest eclipse occurs at 10:31:42 UT. The annular duration is 4m 31s, and the Sun is 71° above the desolate desert landscape. The central track runs along the southern Sudanese-Ethiopian border before entering northern Kenya where it engulfs much of Lake Rudolf (11:10 UT). Southernmost Somalia is the antumbra's final landfall (11:30 UT) before heading east across the Indian Ocean where the path ends at local sunset (12:22 UT).
This web site has been established for the purpose of providing detailed predictions, maps, figures and information about this important event. Additional and supplemental material for the 2005 Annular eclipse will be published here as it becomes available.
An annular eclipse differs from a total eclipse in that the Moon appears too small to completely cover the Sun. As a result, the Moon is surrounded by an intensely brilliant ring or annulus formed by the uneclipsed outer perimeter of the Sun's disk. The solar corona is not visible during annular eclipses. Furthermore, a solar filter or projection is needed to observe all phases of an annular eclipse (see: Safe Solar Viewing).
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Annular Solar Eclipse of 2005 October 03
On Monday, October 03, an annular1 eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses the Iberian Peninsula and stretches across the African continent. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes Europe, western Asia, the Middle East, India and most of Africa.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmono/ASE2005/ASE2005fig/ASE2005globe.JPG
The path of the annular eclipse begins in the North Atlantic at 08:41 UT. Rushing southeast, the antumbra quickly reaches the northern coast of Spain and Portugal (08:51 UT). Bisecting the Iberian Peninsula, the antumbra engulfs Madrid (08:56 UT) which lies near the central line. The annular phase will last 04m 11s from this capital city with 90% of the Sun's surface being obscured by the Moon.
Isla de Ibiza straddles the northern path limit as the shadow crosses the western Mediterranean. Upon reaching the African continent, Algiers lies within the shadow's trajectory (09:05 UT) and will experience an annularity of 03m 51s. Following a southeastern course, the antumbra passes through southern Tunisia and central Libya where the Moon's umbral shadow will return six months later during the total eclipse of 2006 Mar 29. After briefly skirting northern Chad, the antumbra sweeps across central Sudan where greatest eclipse occurs at 10:31:42 UT. The annular duration is 4m 31s, and the Sun is 71° above the desolate desert landscape. The central track runs along the southern Sudanese-Ethiopian border before entering northern Kenya where it engulfs much of Lake Rudolf (11:10 UT). Southernmost Somalia is the antumbra's final landfall (11:30 UT) before heading east across the Indian Ocean where the path ends at local sunset (12:22 UT).
This web site has been established for the purpose of providing detailed predictions, maps, figures and information about this important event. Additional and supplemental material for the 2005 Annular eclipse will be published here as it becomes available.
An annular eclipse differs from a total eclipse in that the Moon appears too small to completely cover the Sun. As a result, the Moon is surrounded by an intensely brilliant ring or annulus formed by the uneclipsed outer perimeter of the Sun's disk. The solar corona is not visible during annular eclipses. Furthermore, a solar filter or projection is needed to observe all phases of an annular eclipse (see: Safe Solar Viewing).
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Space Shuttle, Station Were Mistakes : NASA Chief
Washington (AFP) Sep 28, 2005
NASA's chief had harsh words for the space shuttle and International Space Station, calling them costly strategic mistakes in an interview out Wednesday that raised doubts about US commitment to getting the shuttle back in flight.
Asked by the daily USA Today if the decision to build a shuttle back in the 1970s, to replace the Apollo program, was a mistake, Michael Griffin said: "It is now commonly accepted that was not the right path. We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can. My opinion is that it was" a mistake.
"It was a design which was extremely aggressive and just barely possible. Had the decision been mine, we would not have built the space station we're building in the orbit we're building it in," Griffin added.
The shuttle fleet, which has flown since 1981, has had two major disasters, with the 1986 Challenger explosion and 2003 in-flight breakup of the Columbia, claiming the lives of 14 astronauts. Amid concerns about the aging fleet, President George W. Bush decided to end flights in 2010.
The Columbia accident suspended flights for two and one half years. Problems with getting the shuttle back in service in mid-2005 lent weight to some people's argument that the current shuttle simply should be abandoned in favor of an upcoming replacement vehicle.
That vehicle was expected to fly from 2012 but might be able to get into service sooner if NASA stops spending on shuttles and instead focuses on it.
"If we intend to keep our commitments and are unable to finish with the shuttle, then (we) will use the new system. It comes down to writing the check. (The shuttle) might not have been able to fly again at all. Of course, if additional bad things happen, we'll reevaluate," Griffin told The Washington Post on September 22.
Space Shuttle, Station Were Mistakes : NASA Chief
Washington (AFP) Sep 28, 2005
NASA's chief had harsh words for the space shuttle and International Space Station, calling them costly strategic mistakes in an interview out Wednesday that raised doubts about US commitment to getting the shuttle back in flight.
Asked by the daily USA Today if the decision to build a shuttle back in the 1970s, to replace the Apollo program, was a mistake, Michael Griffin said: "It is now commonly accepted that was not the right path. We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can. My opinion is that it was" a mistake.
"It was a design which was extremely aggressive and just barely possible. Had the decision been mine, we would not have built the space station we're building in the orbit we're building it in," Griffin added.
The shuttle fleet, which has flown since 1981, has had two major disasters, with the 1986 Challenger explosion and 2003 in-flight breakup of the Columbia, claiming the lives of 14 astronauts. Amid concerns about the aging fleet, President George W. Bush decided to end flights in 2010.
The Columbia accident suspended flights for two and one half years. Problems with getting the shuttle back in service in mid-2005 lent weight to some people's argument that the current shuttle simply should be abandoned in favor of an upcoming replacement vehicle.
That vehicle was expected to fly from 2012 but might be able to get into service sooner if NASA stops spending on shuttles and instead focuses on it.
"If we intend to keep our commitments and are unable to finish with the shuttle, then (we) will use the new system. It comes down to writing the check. (The shuttle) might not have been able to fly again at all. Of course, if additional bad things happen, we'll reevaluate," Griffin told The Washington Post on September 22.
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U.S.-Russia Space Flight Future in Doubt
September 30, 2005, 11:40 AM EDT
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan -- NASA's top official said Friday that the future of U.S. participation in Russian space flights was in doubt.
Michael Griffin told reporters near the Baikonur cosmodrome that "an acceptable financial agreement" could be reached to resolve Russian demands that the U.S. pay for its participation in future Russian flights.
But Griffin said a U.S. law -- the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 penalizing countries that sell unconventional weapons and missile technology to Iran, including Russia -- could mean an end to "a continuous American presence on the ISS (International Space Station)."
Since the 2003 Columbia disaster grounded the U.S. shuttle fleet, Russia's Soyuz and Progress spacecraft have served as the workhorses of the joint space projects, shuttling crews and cargo to the space station and serving as the station's lifeline.
The shuttle Discovery visited the station in July, but problems with the foam insulation on the shuttle's external fuel tank have cast doubt on when the shuttles will fly again. The shuttles can carry vastly greater loads and crews than the Russian craft.
The U.S. legislation bans payment to Russia in connection with the International Space Station unless U.S. President George W. Bush determines that Russia is taking steps to prevent transfers to Iran of weapons of mass destruction, missile technology and advanced conventional weapons technology.
Russia is building a $800 million nuclear power plant in Iran despite U.S objections that this could help Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
On Saturday, a U.S. astronaut is to join a Russian cosmonaut and an American businessman paying for his flight in blasting off for the orbiting station on a Russian Soyuz rocket. The next Soyuz flight is scheduled for April.
U.S.-Russia Space Flight Future in Doubt
September 30, 2005, 11:40 AM EDT
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan -- NASA's top official said Friday that the future of U.S. participation in Russian space flights was in doubt.
Michael Griffin told reporters near the Baikonur cosmodrome that "an acceptable financial agreement" could be reached to resolve Russian demands that the U.S. pay for its participation in future Russian flights.
But Griffin said a U.S. law -- the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 penalizing countries that sell unconventional weapons and missile technology to Iran, including Russia -- could mean an end to "a continuous American presence on the ISS (International Space Station)."
Since the 2003 Columbia disaster grounded the U.S. shuttle fleet, Russia's Soyuz and Progress spacecraft have served as the workhorses of the joint space projects, shuttling crews and cargo to the space station and serving as the station's lifeline.
The shuttle Discovery visited the station in July, but problems with the foam insulation on the shuttle's external fuel tank have cast doubt on when the shuttles will fly again. The shuttles can carry vastly greater loads and crews than the Russian craft.
The U.S. legislation bans payment to Russia in connection with the International Space Station unless U.S. President George W. Bush determines that Russia is taking steps to prevent transfers to Iran of weapons of mass destruction, missile technology and advanced conventional weapons technology.
Russia is building a $800 million nuclear power plant in Iran despite U.S objections that this could help Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
On Saturday, a U.S. astronaut is to join a Russian cosmonaut and an American businessman paying for his flight in blasting off for the orbiting station on a Russian Soyuz rocket. The next Soyuz flight is scheduled for April.
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Scientists Discover 10th Planet's Moon
October 2, 2005, 1:19 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES -- The astronomers who claim to have discovered the 10th planet in the solar system have another intriguing announcement: It has a moon.
While observing the new, so-called planet from Hawaii last month, a team of astronomers led by Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology spotted a faint object trailing next to it. Because it was moving, astronomers ruled it was a moon and not a background star, which is stationary.
The moon discovery is important because it can help scientists determine the new planet's mass. In July, Brown announced the discovery of an icy, rocky object larger than Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, a disc of icy bodies beyond Neptune. Brown labeled the object a planet and nicknamed it Xena after the lead character in the former TV series "Xena: Warrior Princess." The moon was nicknamed Gabrielle, after Xena's faithful traveling sidekick.
By determining the moon's distance and orbit around Xena, scientists can calculate how heavy Xena is. For example, the faster a moon goes around a planet, the more massive a planet is.
But the discovery of the moon is not likely to quell debate about what exactly makes a planet. The problem is there is no official definition for a planet and setting standards like size limits potentially invites other objects to take the "planet" label.
Possessing a moon is not a criteria of planethood since Mercury and Venus are moonless planets. Brown said he expected to find a moon orbiting Xena because many Kuiper Belt objects are paired with moons.
The newly discovered moon is about 155 miles wide and 60 times fainter than Xena, the farthest-known object in the solar system. It is currently 9 billion miles away from the sun, or about three times Pluto's current distance from the sun.
Scientists believe Xena's moon was formed when Kuiper Belt objects collided with one another. The Earth's moon formed in a similar way when Earth crashed into an object the size of Mars.
The moon was first spotted by a 10-meter telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii on Sept. 10. Scientists expect to learn more about the moon's composition during further observations with the Hubble Space Telescope in November.
Brown planned to submit a paper describing the moon discovery to the Astrophysical Journal next week. The International Astronomical Union, a group of scientists responsible for naming planets, is deciding on formal names for Xena and Gabrielle.
Scientists Discover 10th Planet's Moon
October 2, 2005, 1:19 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES -- The astronomers who claim to have discovered the 10th planet in the solar system have another intriguing announcement: It has a moon.
While observing the new, so-called planet from Hawaii last month, a team of astronomers led by Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology spotted a faint object trailing next to it. Because it was moving, astronomers ruled it was a moon and not a background star, which is stationary.
The moon discovery is important because it can help scientists determine the new planet's mass. In July, Brown announced the discovery of an icy, rocky object larger than Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, a disc of icy bodies beyond Neptune. Brown labeled the object a planet and nicknamed it Xena after the lead character in the former TV series "Xena: Warrior Princess." The moon was nicknamed Gabrielle, after Xena's faithful traveling sidekick.
By determining the moon's distance and orbit around Xena, scientists can calculate how heavy Xena is. For example, the faster a moon goes around a planet, the more massive a planet is.
But the discovery of the moon is not likely to quell debate about what exactly makes a planet. The problem is there is no official definition for a planet and setting standards like size limits potentially invites other objects to take the "planet" label.
Possessing a moon is not a criteria of planethood since Mercury and Venus are moonless planets. Brown said he expected to find a moon orbiting Xena because many Kuiper Belt objects are paired with moons.
The newly discovered moon is about 155 miles wide and 60 times fainter than Xena, the farthest-known object in the solar system. It is currently 9 billion miles away from the sun, or about three times Pluto's current distance from the sun.
Scientists believe Xena's moon was formed when Kuiper Belt objects collided with one another. The Earth's moon formed in a similar way when Earth crashed into an object the size of Mars.
The moon was first spotted by a 10-meter telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii on Sept. 10. Scientists expect to learn more about the moon's composition during further observations with the Hubble Space Telescope in November.
Brown planned to submit a paper describing the moon discovery to the Astrophysical Journal next week. The International Astronomical Union, a group of scientists responsible for naming planets, is deciding on formal names for Xena and Gabrielle.
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Soyuz spacecraft docks at station
Monday, October 3, 2005; Posted: 6:50 a.m. EDT (10:50 GMT)
KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) -- A Russian Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft docked flawlessly and ahead of schedule Monday at the international space station, delivering U.S. millionaire scientist Gregory Olsen and a new two-man crew.
Since the 2003 Columbia disaster grounded the U.S. shuttle fleet, the United States has depended on Russian Soyuz and Progress craft to ferry its astronauts and supplies to the orbiting space station.
Discovery visited the station in July, but problems with the foam insulation on its external fuel tank cast doubt on when the shuttle would fly again.
Applause erupted from members of Olsen's family, and U.S. and Russian space officials gathered at Russian Mission Control in Korolyov outside Moscow when the docking was announced approximately 5 minutes before the 9:32 a.m. (0532 GMT) target.
It was conducted through automatic systems.
Olsen's 31-year-old daughter, Krista Dibsie, asked by reporters how her father felt, said: "He's never felt better. He actually talked to the doctor and said he felt excellent.
"I can't wait to see him back on Earth," she said, as her 4-year-old son, Justin, sat on her lap while holding his crayon drawings of rockets.
Later Monday morning, the final air locks were to be opened and the Soyuz capsule passengers would meet with Russian Sergei Krikalev and American John Phillips, who have inhabited the orbiting station for six months.
Astronaut William McArthur and cosmonaut Valery Tokarev are to man the station for the next six-month stint, while Olsen is to return to Earth on Oct. 11 with the current crew on a Russian spacecraft.
The Russian rocket blasted into space on October 1, from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (Full story)
On the eve of the blast-off, Russian space officials warned that they could not guarantee McArthur's return next spring unless NASA paid for the flight.
But a U.S. law passed in 2000 penalizes countries that sell unconventional weapons and missile technology to Iran -- and Russia is helping Iran build an $800 million atomic power plant, despite concerns Tehran will build nuclear weapons.
The U.S. Senate has agreed to amend the measure and lift a ban on NASA purchases of Soyuz seats until 2012. The House has yet to act on it.
NASA's international space station program manager, William Gersteinmaier, said Monday that McArthur would get home one way or another.
"We have a way home for him either on the shuttle or on the Soyuz," he told reporters at Russian Mission Control, but would not say whether the astronaut would be able to return to Earth on schedule in April.
Anatoly Perminov, chief of the Russian space agency, said the European Space Agency could send up a ship to the station as early as the end of 2006.
The cash-strapped Russian space agency has turned to space tourism to generate money. Olsen is the third non-astronaut to visit the orbiting station, reportedly paying about $20 million.
The first two space tourists were California businessman Dennis Tito and South African Mark Shuttleworth a year later.
Olsen has said he preferred the term "space flight participant" to "space tourist."
Soyuz spacecraft docks at station
Monday, October 3, 2005; Posted: 6:50 a.m. EDT (10:50 GMT)
KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) -- A Russian Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft docked flawlessly and ahead of schedule Monday at the international space station, delivering U.S. millionaire scientist Gregory Olsen and a new two-man crew.
Since the 2003 Columbia disaster grounded the U.S. shuttle fleet, the United States has depended on Russian Soyuz and Progress craft to ferry its astronauts and supplies to the orbiting space station.
Discovery visited the station in July, but problems with the foam insulation on its external fuel tank cast doubt on when the shuttle would fly again.
Applause erupted from members of Olsen's family, and U.S. and Russian space officials gathered at Russian Mission Control in Korolyov outside Moscow when the docking was announced approximately 5 minutes before the 9:32 a.m. (0532 GMT) target.
It was conducted through automatic systems.
Olsen's 31-year-old daughter, Krista Dibsie, asked by reporters how her father felt, said: "He's never felt better. He actually talked to the doctor and said he felt excellent.
"I can't wait to see him back on Earth," she said, as her 4-year-old son, Justin, sat on her lap while holding his crayon drawings of rockets.
Later Monday morning, the final air locks were to be opened and the Soyuz capsule passengers would meet with Russian Sergei Krikalev and American John Phillips, who have inhabited the orbiting station for six months.
Astronaut William McArthur and cosmonaut Valery Tokarev are to man the station for the next six-month stint, while Olsen is to return to Earth on Oct. 11 with the current crew on a Russian spacecraft.
The Russian rocket blasted into space on October 1, from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (Full story)
On the eve of the blast-off, Russian space officials warned that they could not guarantee McArthur's return next spring unless NASA paid for the flight.
But a U.S. law passed in 2000 penalizes countries that sell unconventional weapons and missile technology to Iran -- and Russia is helping Iran build an $800 million atomic power plant, despite concerns Tehran will build nuclear weapons.
The U.S. Senate has agreed to amend the measure and lift a ban on NASA purchases of Soyuz seats until 2012. The House has yet to act on it.
NASA's international space station program manager, William Gersteinmaier, said Monday that McArthur would get home one way or another.
"We have a way home for him either on the shuttle or on the Soyuz," he told reporters at Russian Mission Control, but would not say whether the astronaut would be able to return to Earth on schedule in April.
Anatoly Perminov, chief of the Russian space agency, said the European Space Agency could send up a ship to the station as early as the end of 2006.
The cash-strapped Russian space agency has turned to space tourism to generate money. Olsen is the third non-astronaut to visit the orbiting station, reportedly paying about $20 million.
The first two space tourists were California businessman Dennis Tito and South African Mark Shuttleworth a year later.
Olsen has said he preferred the term "space flight participant" to "space tourist."
linuxgeek
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GHOST OF A SUNSPOT: Last month giant sunspot 798 marched across the face of the sun, exploding as it went, hurling clouds of gas toward Earth and sparking bright auroras. All by itself, the colossal 'spot made Sept. 2005 the most active month on the sun in almost 15 years.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/06oct05/midi360.gif
Now it's back. After a two-week transit around the far side of the sun, sunspot 798 has reappeared at the sun's eastern limb. But it's a ghost of its former self. In fact, it's not even a sunspot anymore. All that's left of the active region are a few bright wisps called "solar faculae." R.I.P. sunspot 798.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/06oct05/midi360.gif
Now it's back. After a two-week transit around the far side of the sun, sunspot 798 has reappeared at the sun's eastern limb. But it's a ghost of its former self. In fact, it's not even a sunspot anymore. All that's left of the active region are a few bright wisps called "solar faculae." R.I.P. sunspot 798.
linuxgeek
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- Feb 1, 2004
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may be the race is back on....
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Chinese astronauts blast off
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Posted: 5:18 a.m. EDT (09:18 GMT)
JIUQUAN, China (AP) -- A rocket carrying two Chinese astronauts has blasted off from a base in China's desert northwest, returning the country's manned space program to orbit two years after its history-making first flight.
The mission, reportedly due to last up to five days, is an effort by the communist government to declare its status as a rising world power with technological triumphs to match its rapid economic growth. It is only the third country to launch a human into orbit on its own, after Russia and the United States.
The Long March rocket carrying astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng lifted off at 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) from the heavily guarded Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.
In a sign of official confidence, the communist government broke with the military-run space program's usual secrecy and showed the launch live on state television.
Images of Fei and Nie in their cockpit as the craft roared toward orbit were broadcast live to hundreds of millions of Chinese television viewers.
"Feeling pretty good," Fei said in the first broadcast comment from the astronauts.
The capsule entered its preset orbit 23 minutes after launch, the government announced.
State television showed Chinese President Hu Jintao watching the liftoff from a command center in Beijing, while Premier Wen Jiabao was on hand at the launch base.
"We await your triumphant return! Good-bye!" a technician at mission control told the astronauts minutes before the liftoff.
Wen declared the launch a success.
"The Shenzhou 6, which has attracted worldwide attention, has successfully launched," the premier said.
'Pride to humankind'
The manned space program is a key prestige project for China's ruling Communist Party, which hopes that patriotic pride at its triumphs will help to shore up the party's public standing amid frustration at official corruption and social problems.
In Beijing, hundreds of people gathered on a plaza outside the Chinese capital's main train station to watch the launch on a giant television screen. Some clasped their hands in anxiety as the rocket surged skyward.
"The Shenzhou liftoff brings pride to our divine land, pride to our Chinese people, pride to our country and pride to humankind," said one man, who would give only his surname, Zhu.
The mission by Fei and Nie, both former fighter pilots, is expected to be longer and riskier than the 2003 flight, which carried one astronaut and lasted just 21 1/2 hours.
The government has not said how long the flight will last, but news reports say it could be up to five days. The official China News Service said Wednesday the capsule was expected to orbit the Earth 80 times before landing in China's northern grasslands.
Wen, the premier, visited Fei and Nie before dawn in their quarters at the Jiuquan base and called their flight a "glorious and sacred mission," the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
"You will once again show that the Chinese people have the will, confidence and capability to mount scientific peaks ceaselessly," Wen was quoted as saying. He said he spoke for Hu and the party leadership.
Xinhua said that during their flight, the astronauts will take off their 22-pound (10-kilogram) space suits to travel back and forth between the two halves of their vessel -- a re-entry capsule and an orbiter that is to stay aloft after they land.
Fei's and Nie's identities were not announced until early Wednesday, hours before their flight. Xinhua said the astronauts -- known in Chinese as yuhangyuan, or "travelers of the universe" -- were picked from a field of six finalists.
Nie was one of three finalists for China's first space mission in 2003 but lost out to Yang Liwei, also a former fighter pilot, who became a national hero.
Some reporters barred
Foreign reporters were barred from the launch base near the former Silk Road oasis of Jiuquan. A handful of Chinese reporters were allowed to be on hand for the liftoff, but authorities at the last minute turned back Hong Kong reporters who had been invited to attend.
The Chinese reporters were warned that they might be ordered to hand over film or video -- a possible image-control measure in case anything went wrong.
Other reporters who tried to get near the base were stopped at roadblocks up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.
State television showed taped images of Fei and Nie, dressed in space suits, walking through the predawn darkness and a light snowfall toward the bus that would carry them to the launch pad. A senior officer saluted them and they waved to cheering technicians who held Chinese and military flags aloft.
The Shenzhou -- or Divine Vessel -- capsule is based on Russia's workhorse Soyuz, though with extensive modifications. China also bought technology for spacesuits, life-support systems and other equipment from Moscow, though officials say all of the items launched into space are Chinese-made.
China has had a rocketry program since the 1950s and fired its first satellite into orbit in 1970. It regularly launches satellites for foreign clients aboard its giant Long March boosters.
Chinese space officials say they hope to land an unmanned probe on the Moon by 2010 and want to launch a space station.
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Chinese astronauts blast off
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Posted: 5:18 a.m. EDT (09:18 GMT)
JIUQUAN, China (AP) -- A rocket carrying two Chinese astronauts has blasted off from a base in China's desert northwest, returning the country's manned space program to orbit two years after its history-making first flight.
The mission, reportedly due to last up to five days, is an effort by the communist government to declare its status as a rising world power with technological triumphs to match its rapid economic growth. It is only the third country to launch a human into orbit on its own, after Russia and the United States.
The Long March rocket carrying astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng lifted off at 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) from the heavily guarded Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.
In a sign of official confidence, the communist government broke with the military-run space program's usual secrecy and showed the launch live on state television.
Images of Fei and Nie in their cockpit as the craft roared toward orbit were broadcast live to hundreds of millions of Chinese television viewers.
"Feeling pretty good," Fei said in the first broadcast comment from the astronauts.
The capsule entered its preset orbit 23 minutes after launch, the government announced.
State television showed Chinese President Hu Jintao watching the liftoff from a command center in Beijing, while Premier Wen Jiabao was on hand at the launch base.
"We await your triumphant return! Good-bye!" a technician at mission control told the astronauts minutes before the liftoff.
Wen declared the launch a success.
"The Shenzhou 6, which has attracted worldwide attention, has successfully launched," the premier said.
'Pride to humankind'
The manned space program is a key prestige project for China's ruling Communist Party, which hopes that patriotic pride at its triumphs will help to shore up the party's public standing amid frustration at official corruption and social problems.
In Beijing, hundreds of people gathered on a plaza outside the Chinese capital's main train station to watch the launch on a giant television screen. Some clasped their hands in anxiety as the rocket surged skyward.
"The Shenzhou liftoff brings pride to our divine land, pride to our Chinese people, pride to our country and pride to humankind," said one man, who would give only his surname, Zhu.
The mission by Fei and Nie, both former fighter pilots, is expected to be longer and riskier than the 2003 flight, which carried one astronaut and lasted just 21 1/2 hours.
The government has not said how long the flight will last, but news reports say it could be up to five days. The official China News Service said Wednesday the capsule was expected to orbit the Earth 80 times before landing in China's northern grasslands.
Wen, the premier, visited Fei and Nie before dawn in their quarters at the Jiuquan base and called their flight a "glorious and sacred mission," the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
"You will once again show that the Chinese people have the will, confidence and capability to mount scientific peaks ceaselessly," Wen was quoted as saying. He said he spoke for Hu and the party leadership.
Xinhua said that during their flight, the astronauts will take off their 22-pound (10-kilogram) space suits to travel back and forth between the two halves of their vessel -- a re-entry capsule and an orbiter that is to stay aloft after they land.
Fei's and Nie's identities were not announced until early Wednesday, hours before their flight. Xinhua said the astronauts -- known in Chinese as yuhangyuan, or "travelers of the universe" -- were picked from a field of six finalists.
Nie was one of three finalists for China's first space mission in 2003 but lost out to Yang Liwei, also a former fighter pilot, who became a national hero.
Some reporters barred
Foreign reporters were barred from the launch base near the former Silk Road oasis of Jiuquan. A handful of Chinese reporters were allowed to be on hand for the liftoff, but authorities at the last minute turned back Hong Kong reporters who had been invited to attend.
The Chinese reporters were warned that they might be ordered to hand over film or video -- a possible image-control measure in case anything went wrong.
Other reporters who tried to get near the base were stopped at roadblocks up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.
State television showed taped images of Fei and Nie, dressed in space suits, walking through the predawn darkness and a light snowfall toward the bus that would carry them to the launch pad. A senior officer saluted them and they waved to cheering technicians who held Chinese and military flags aloft.
The Shenzhou -- or Divine Vessel -- capsule is based on Russia's workhorse Soyuz, though with extensive modifications. China also bought technology for spacesuits, life-support systems and other equipment from Moscow, though officials say all of the items launched into space are Chinese-made.
China has had a rocketry program since the 1950s and fired its first satellite into orbit in 1970. It regularly launches satellites for foreign clients aboard its giant Long March boosters.
Chinese space officials say they hope to land an unmanned probe on the Moon by 2010 and want to launch a space station.
linuxgeek
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DANCING PROMINENCE: Who says solar activity is low? This morning in Germany, Stefan Seip photographed a solar prominence, and he swears he saw a dancer among the fiery plumes:
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/12oct05/seip_wide.gif
Staring at prominences on the sun is a bit like staring at clouds on Earth: with enough imagination, you can see all sorts of fantastic shapes. In fact, solar prominences are clouds. Unlike Earth-clouds, however, which tend to be cold and watery, solar clouds are hot and made mostly of hydrogen. This cloudy prominence will likely persist for another day or so. What shape will it be tomorrow?
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/12oct05/seip_wide.gif
Staring at prominences on the sun is a bit like staring at clouds on Earth: with enough imagination, you can see all sorts of fantastic shapes. In fact, solar prominences are clouds. Unlike Earth-clouds, however, which tend to be cold and watery, solar clouds are hot and made mostly of hydrogen. This cloudy prominence will likely persist for another day or so. What shape will it be tomorrow?
linuxgeek
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- Feb 1, 2004
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Chinese astronauts return from space
Posted: October 16, 2005
Returning home to a hero's welcome, two astronauts parachuted to a soft landing in the steppes of northern China shrouded in a veil of pre-dawn darkness to punctuate a five-day flight in space that served as a key test before more complex missions are undertaken in the next few years.
The Shenzhou 6 return capsule floated to Earth in Siziwang Banner, a county in north China's Inner Mongolia province. Touchdown was at 2033 GMT (4:33 p.m. EDT) Sunday, or in the wee hours of Monday morning in Beijing, state media sources reported.
The mission ended with a duration of 115 hours and 32 minutes, or around four-and-a-half hours shy of a full five days in space. During that time, the craft flew over two million miles and completed over 75 trips around Earth.
Recovery teams had been on standby throughout the mission, and they soon swept in to the landing site to retrieve astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng from their seats inside the spacecraft. Officials say Shenzhou 6 landed less than a mile from the expected touchdown point, and around four miles from the site of the ending of the Shenzhou 5 mission in 2003, which was China's first manned spaceflight.
Rescue forces consisted of around fourteen ground vehicles, at least four helicopters, and a team of some 300 people, who worked feverishly to quickly get to the capsule, which reports indicate landed upright, the Xinhua news agency said.
Helicopter pilots first sighted a light signal from the spaceship less than ten minutes after landing, and ground teams reached the capsule less than a half-hour later. Still clad in their spacesuits, the astronauts emerged from the hatch around an hour after touchdown, with Fei Junlong appearing first, followed by Nie.
Xinhua reported the pair was in good spirits and excellent health after their historic voyage, and images from Inner Mongolia showed the crew sitting in chairs re-adapting to Earth's gravity after receiving bouquets of flowers. Both said they were feeling well.
After brief medical checks and a photo opportunity, the astronauts then boarded a transport helicopter for the trip to a local airport, during which they ate a light meal -- their first on Earth in five days.
Once at the airport, the crew transferred to an airplane that took them to Beijing, where crowds of engineers and politicians awaited them. Also, the astronauts were to be re-united with their families upon arrival. The departure from Inner Mongolia occurred just three hours after their fiery return from space.
Monday morning's landing was heralded with praise from Chinese leaders gathered at the Beijing control center. Wu Bangguo, chairman of the standing committee of China's National People's Congress, gave remarks after space commander Chen Bingde declared success. Included in the speech were official congratulatory messages from the communist party and China's central military commission.
Premier Wen Jiabao met with the crew before they left the planet and observed the blastoff at Jiuquan launch center last Wednesday. President Hu Jintao spoke with the crew in space on Saturday.
The return of Shenzhou 6 had been expected to occur early Monday, Beijing time. However, this mission's landing was several hours earlier than that of Shenzhou 5, which touched down at around sunrise.
In preparation for their homecoming, Fei and Nie donned their white spacesuits used during launch and re-entry in their final hours in space.
Officials at the mission's Beijing control center first sent the command to jettison the craft's orbital habitation module at 1944 GMT (3:44 p.m. EDT), leaving it to stay in orbit for several more months to conduct further tests and experiments without human presence. The propulsion module and entry vehicle remained attached, and braking rockets were then ordered to fire moments later to slow the spacecraft to allow its return.
Before encountering the upper fringes of Earth's atmosphere, the disposable propulsion block was released from the return capsule. It is purposely designed to burn up during re-entry.
The craft's ground track took it over the Atlantic Ocean before the retrofire maneuver took place off the west coast of South Africa, experienced satellite observer Ted Molczan told Spaceflight Now.
As Shenzhou 6 fell toward Earth, Molczan said it passed over central Africa, Saudi Arabia, and made landfall in Asia near Pakistan before entering Chinese airspace, which Xinhua reported occurred at 2008 GMT (4:08 p.m. EDT).
Shenzhou 6's crew was cut off from communicating with controllers for several minutes due to a blackout period as it streaked through the upper atmosphere surrounded by high temperature plasma particles. However, communications were soon regained and ground radars picked up returns from the craft before it deployed a sequence of three parachutes to stabilize and slow the capsule. As it reached a point just a few feet above the surface, detectors sensed the approaching ground and thrusters were fired to further soften the impact.
China's second human spaceflight picked up where Yang Liwei left off in the flight of Shenzhou 5 in 2003, during which Yang became China's first man in space. That 21-hour mission was eclipsed in duration five-fold this time around.
Other firsts in the Chinese space program included the opening and entry of the astronauts into the orbital module, which housed additional supplies such as a sleeping bag, tastier food and drink rations, and sanitation equipment.
The crew also completed a number of unspecified experiments in the life and material sciences, Earth observation, and environmental studies.
Perhaps the most crucial objective of the mission involved the testing of the functionality of the spacecraft far beyond what was learned during the comparatively straightforward flight of the first manned mission. The astronauts reportedly conducted anti-disturbance tests to ensure the craft could handle rough movement inside the capsule, and planners pushed the limits of the design to gain confidence in its performance before more ambitious missions in the future.
The next mission in line is Shenzhou 7, which could launch as soon as late next year. Earlier reports have indicated the program's first spacewalk could be attempted on this flight. Later in the sequence, orbital rendezvous and docking operations are planned before China is expected to launch its first space station after 2010.
Chinese astronauts return from space
Posted: October 16, 2005
Returning home to a hero's welcome, two astronauts parachuted to a soft landing in the steppes of northern China shrouded in a veil of pre-dawn darkness to punctuate a five-day flight in space that served as a key test before more complex missions are undertaken in the next few years.
The Shenzhou 6 return capsule floated to Earth in Siziwang Banner, a county in north China's Inner Mongolia province. Touchdown was at 2033 GMT (4:33 p.m. EDT) Sunday, or in the wee hours of Monday morning in Beijing, state media sources reported.
The mission ended with a duration of 115 hours and 32 minutes, or around four-and-a-half hours shy of a full five days in space. During that time, the craft flew over two million miles and completed over 75 trips around Earth.
Recovery teams had been on standby throughout the mission, and they soon swept in to the landing site to retrieve astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng from their seats inside the spacecraft. Officials say Shenzhou 6 landed less than a mile from the expected touchdown point, and around four miles from the site of the ending of the Shenzhou 5 mission in 2003, which was China's first manned spaceflight.
Rescue forces consisted of around fourteen ground vehicles, at least four helicopters, and a team of some 300 people, who worked feverishly to quickly get to the capsule, which reports indicate landed upright, the Xinhua news agency said.
Helicopter pilots first sighted a light signal from the spaceship less than ten minutes after landing, and ground teams reached the capsule less than a half-hour later. Still clad in their spacesuits, the astronauts emerged from the hatch around an hour after touchdown, with Fei Junlong appearing first, followed by Nie.
Xinhua reported the pair was in good spirits and excellent health after their historic voyage, and images from Inner Mongolia showed the crew sitting in chairs re-adapting to Earth's gravity after receiving bouquets of flowers. Both said they were feeling well.
After brief medical checks and a photo opportunity, the astronauts then boarded a transport helicopter for the trip to a local airport, during which they ate a light meal -- their first on Earth in five days.
Once at the airport, the crew transferred to an airplane that took them to Beijing, where crowds of engineers and politicians awaited them. Also, the astronauts were to be re-united with their families upon arrival. The departure from Inner Mongolia occurred just three hours after their fiery return from space.
Monday morning's landing was heralded with praise from Chinese leaders gathered at the Beijing control center. Wu Bangguo, chairman of the standing committee of China's National People's Congress, gave remarks after space commander Chen Bingde declared success. Included in the speech were official congratulatory messages from the communist party and China's central military commission.
Premier Wen Jiabao met with the crew before they left the planet and observed the blastoff at Jiuquan launch center last Wednesday. President Hu Jintao spoke with the crew in space on Saturday.
The return of Shenzhou 6 had been expected to occur early Monday, Beijing time. However, this mission's landing was several hours earlier than that of Shenzhou 5, which touched down at around sunrise.
In preparation for their homecoming, Fei and Nie donned their white spacesuits used during launch and re-entry in their final hours in space.
Officials at the mission's Beijing control center first sent the command to jettison the craft's orbital habitation module at 1944 GMT (3:44 p.m. EDT), leaving it to stay in orbit for several more months to conduct further tests and experiments without human presence. The propulsion module and entry vehicle remained attached, and braking rockets were then ordered to fire moments later to slow the spacecraft to allow its return.
Before encountering the upper fringes of Earth's atmosphere, the disposable propulsion block was released from the return capsule. It is purposely designed to burn up during re-entry.
The craft's ground track took it over the Atlantic Ocean before the retrofire maneuver took place off the west coast of South Africa, experienced satellite observer Ted Molczan told Spaceflight Now.
As Shenzhou 6 fell toward Earth, Molczan said it passed over central Africa, Saudi Arabia, and made landfall in Asia near Pakistan before entering Chinese airspace, which Xinhua reported occurred at 2008 GMT (4:08 p.m. EDT).
Shenzhou 6's crew was cut off from communicating with controllers for several minutes due to a blackout period as it streaked through the upper atmosphere surrounded by high temperature plasma particles. However, communications were soon regained and ground radars picked up returns from the craft before it deployed a sequence of three parachutes to stabilize and slow the capsule. As it reached a point just a few feet above the surface, detectors sensed the approaching ground and thrusters were fired to further soften the impact.
China's second human spaceflight picked up where Yang Liwei left off in the flight of Shenzhou 5 in 2003, during which Yang became China's first man in space. That 21-hour mission was eclipsed in duration five-fold this time around.
Other firsts in the Chinese space program included the opening and entry of the astronauts into the orbital module, which housed additional supplies such as a sleeping bag, tastier food and drink rations, and sanitation equipment.
The crew also completed a number of unspecified experiments in the life and material sciences, Earth observation, and environmental studies.
Perhaps the most crucial objective of the mission involved the testing of the functionality of the spacecraft far beyond what was learned during the comparatively straightforward flight of the first manned mission. The astronauts reportedly conducted anti-disturbance tests to ensure the craft could handle rough movement inside the capsule, and planners pushed the limits of the design to gain confidence in its performance before more ambitious missions in the future.
The next mission in line is Shenzhou 7, which could launch as soon as late next year. Earlier reports have indicated the program's first spacewalk could be attempted on this flight. Later in the sequence, orbital rendezvous and docking operations are planned before China is expected to launch its first space station after 2010.
linuxgeek
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ECLIPSE OF THE HUNTER'S MOON: According to folklore, October's full moon is called the "Hunter's Moon" or sometimes the "Blood Moon." It gets its name from hunters who tracked and killed their prey by autumn moonlight, stockpiling food for the winter ahead. The Hunter's Moon of 2005 is due Oct. 17th. Creatures of the forest, beware!
This morning the Hunter's Moon grazed Earth's shadow, producing a partial lunar eclipse widely visible from the Pacific side of Earth (map). In Hong Kong, an astrophotographer named Wah! snapped this picture:
http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/17oct05/wah2_strip.jpg
This morning the Hunter's Moon grazed Earth's shadow, producing a partial lunar eclipse widely visible from the Pacific side of Earth (map). In Hong Kong, an astrophotographer named Wah! snapped this picture:
http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/17oct05/wah2_strip.jpg
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ISS orbit correction canceled after engine malfunction
19.10.2005, 02.07
MOSCOW, October 19 (Itar-Tass) --A cargo ship docked at the International Space Station (ISS) fired its engine Wednesday to raise the space research platform into a higher orbit but in about three minutes the engine failed and the operation was canceled.
An expert from the Mission Control Center told Tass, “ the Progress spacecraft docked to the ISS fired its engines at 01:09 Moscow time but 170 seconds after the engines suddenly stopped functioning.”
According to the expert, the orbit correction was canceled while reasons of the failure were investigated.
Previous reports said the correction was to boost the space station more than 10 kilometers further from Earth into an orbit that was to reach 356.8 kilometers on the average.
Normally, ISS daily goes down by 100-150 meters experts say.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/images/issalt.gif
ISS orbit correction canceled after engine malfunction
19.10.2005, 02.07
MOSCOW, October 19 (Itar-Tass) --A cargo ship docked at the International Space Station (ISS) fired its engine Wednesday to raise the space research platform into a higher orbit but in about three minutes the engine failed and the operation was canceled.
An expert from the Mission Control Center told Tass, “ the Progress spacecraft docked to the ISS fired its engines at 01:09 Moscow time but 170 seconds after the engines suddenly stopped functioning.”
According to the expert, the orbit correction was canceled while reasons of the failure were investigated.
Previous reports said the correction was to boost the space station more than 10 kilometers further from Earth into an orbit that was to reach 356.8 kilometers on the average.
Normally, ISS daily goes down by 100-150 meters experts say.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/images/issalt.gif
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linuxgeek
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Saturn moon is a frigid world
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A close flyby of Saturn's grayish moon Dione reveals it is a mature, frigid world with hints of tectonic activity, new observations suggest.
The U.S.-European Cassini spacecraft flew within 310 miles (500 kilometers) of the Dione's pale surface last week, showing it possessed a heavily cratered surface but no presence of an atmosphere.
Cassini scientists compared the frozen Dione to another Saturn moon, Enceladus, which recently was found to have active ice volcanoes and a significant atmosphere.
"Dione seems to be an older sibling of Enceladus," said Bonnie Buratti, a Cassini scientist. "Enceladus is the up-and-coming moon, complete with a recently active history, while Dione is the older, more mature moon."
Orbiting Saturn within the tenuous E-ring, Dione possesses fine streaks that crosscut its surface. Parallel grooves splash across the terrain, which are interrupted by larger, asymmetrical bright fractures. Scientists believe the cracks and fractures were caused by tectonic activity.
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/TECH/space/10/19/sci.us.saturnmoon.ap/story.dione.ap.jpg
Saturn moon is a frigid world
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A close flyby of Saturn's grayish moon Dione reveals it is a mature, frigid world with hints of tectonic activity, new observations suggest.
The U.S.-European Cassini spacecraft flew within 310 miles (500 kilometers) of the Dione's pale surface last week, showing it possessed a heavily cratered surface but no presence of an atmosphere.
Cassini scientists compared the frozen Dione to another Saturn moon, Enceladus, which recently was found to have active ice volcanoes and a significant atmosphere.
"Dione seems to be an older sibling of Enceladus," said Bonnie Buratti, a Cassini scientist. "Enceladus is the up-and-coming moon, complete with a recently active history, while Dione is the older, more mature moon."
Orbiting Saturn within the tenuous E-ring, Dione possesses fine streaks that crosscut its surface. Parallel grooves splash across the terrain, which are interrupted by larger, asymmetrical bright fractures. Scientists believe the cracks and fractures were caused by tectonic activity.
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/TECH/space/10/19/sci.us.saturnmoon.ap/story.dione.ap.jpg
linuxgeek
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AURORA WATCH: A solar wind stream will buffet Earth's magnetic field this weekend, possibly sparking a geomagnetic storm. Sky watchers especially in Alaska and Canada should be alert for auroras.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/23oct05/coronalhole_soho.gif
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/23oct05/coronalhole_soho.gif
linuxgeek
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HERE COMES MARS: Mars is about to make its closest approach to Earth for the next 13 years. Date: Oct. 30th. Distance: 69 million km. That's close. The view of Mars through backyard telescopes is already spectacular and getting better.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/24oct05/skymap_north.gif
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/24oct05/skymap_north.gif
linuxgeek
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ZIG-ZAG MARS: For most of 2005, Mars drifted eastward among the stars of Aries and Taurus. On October 1st, the planet reversed course. Now Mars is moving westward. Astronomers call this "retrograde motion," and it's a sign that Earth and Mars are about to have a close encounter ...
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/27oct05/koehn360b.gif
Above: Mars does a loop-de-loop in the constellation Aries. Image credit: Larry Koehn.
... and not just any close encounter. On Oct. 30th, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth for the next 13 years. Look for it, rising in the east at sunset, a brilliant orange "star" outshining everything around it.
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/27oct05/koehn360b.gif
Above: Mars does a loop-de-loop in the constellation Aries. Image credit: Larry Koehn.
... and not just any close encounter. On Oct. 30th, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth for the next 13 years. Look for it, rising in the east at sunset, a brilliant orange "star" outshining everything around it.
