International Space Fellowship

ESO's Very Large Telescope Celebrates 15 Years of Success

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:12:43 +0000

With this new view of a spectacular stellar nursery ESO is celebrating 15 years of the Very Large Telescope — the world's most advanced optical instrument. This picture reveals thick clumps of dust silhouetted against the pink glowing gas cloud known to astronomers as IC 2944. These opaque blobs resemble drops of ink floating in a strawberry cocktail, their whimsical shapes sculpted by powerful radiation coming from the nearby brilliant young stars. This new picture celebrates an important [...]

Spacefleet Updates

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:06:04 +0000

The UK private space organisation "Spacefleet" has a new website at http://spacefleet.co.uk. The organisation also has several new news items and more imagery of the EARL spaceship design. Founded in 2004, Spacefleet's goal is developing a novel low-cost launch system for human and cargo to LEO. Contractor Found For Scale EARL Model They have recently found a contractor and agreed terms on building a scale model of the EARL spacecraft. http://www.kingfisher-aviation.com/ "We [...]

Herschel Space Observatory Finds Galaxy Mega Merger

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:12:05 +0000

PASADENA, Calif. - A massive and rare merging of two galaxies has been spotted in images taken by the Herschel space observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA participation. Follow-up studies by several telescopes on the ground and in space, including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, tell a tale of two faraway galaxies intertwined and furiously making stars. Eventually, the duo will settle down to form one super-giant elliptical galaxy. [...]

Russia’s New Reusable Spacecraft Good for up to 5 Flights

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:42:40 +0000

TOMSK – Russia’s new reusable spacecraft that is being developed by the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation will be able to make up to five space flights, the rocket maker said on Wednesday. The spacecraft’s technical design has been finalized but is yet to be officially approved, Energia deputy general designer Alexander Chernyavsky said on the sidelines of the Innovus forum. The new reusable craft is to replace the Soyuz carrier rocket and is expected to ensure a breakthrough in t [...]

More Fluids Science and Treadmill Installation Work for Station Trio

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:39:14 +0000

The Expedition 36 trio is continuing ongoing fluids science work and the installation of a new treadmill. On the ground in Kazakhstan, three more crew members are preparing for their May 28 launch and docking to the International Space Station. Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy continued his work with the Capillary Flow Experiment-2, also known as Vane Gap. He worked in conjunction with scientists on the ground analyzing the behavior of a dyed fluid in specially-developed science hardware. The s [...]

Forecast for Titan: Wild Weather Could be Ahead

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:34:09 +0000

Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct. Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tries to explain data from the moon obtained so far by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Both models help mission team members plan when and where to look for unusua [...]

Adapter 'Flips' for Progress Toward 2014 Exploration Flight Test

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:12:12 +0000

Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., recently flipped an adapter -- no easy feat when you're talking about 1,000 pounds of aluminum -- furthering progress toward Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1 in 2014 and providing early experience for Space Launch System (SLS) hardware ahead of the rocket's first flight in 2017. The flip is an important step in finishing the machining work on the adapter, which will attach NASA's Orion spacecraft to a United Launch Alliance (UL [...]

First Light Angara Rocket Ready for Launch

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:36:44 +0000

MOSCOW - Russia’s first light-class modification Angara 1.2PP carrier rocket is ready for its maiden launch, its manufacturer Khrunichev Center said on Wednesday. The first Angara will be sent to the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia later this month, the manufacturer said in a statement, but did not give a precise launch date. Meanwhile, the first heavy-class Angara-A5 has been completed and will soon be presented to the public, a Khrunichev spokesman said. The project is bein [...]

Kepler Mission Manager Update

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:29:17 +0000

Following the apparent failure of reaction wheel 4 on May 11, 2013, engineers were successful at transitioning the spacecraft from a Thruster-Controlled Safe Mode to Point Rest State at approximately 3:30 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, May 15, 2013. The spacecraft has remained safe and stable in this attitude and is no longer considered to be in a critical situation. As part of a normal spacecraft response to a pointing error, redundant electronics were automatically powered off to isolate them as a [...]

Expedition 36 Installs New Treadmill, Works Science

Klaus Schmidt — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:19:15 +0000

Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin are installing a new treadmill in the Zvezda service module. Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy is working science and maintenance on the U.S. side of the International Space Station. The trio also conducted an emergency drill and held a conference with the ground to review the results. On Monday, Vinogradov and Misurkin removed and disassembled an old treadmill in Zvezda. A new treadmill was delivered on the ISS Progress 51 that d [...]

Hubble Peers Through a Spacetime Magnifying Glass

Klaus Schmidt — Tue, 21 May 2013 06:19:44 +0000

This Hubble image shows the galaxy cluster Abell S1077. Galaxy clusters are large groupings of galaxies, each of them including millions of stars. They are the largest existing structures in the Universe to be held together by their gravity. The amount of matter condensed in such groupings is so high that their gravity is enough to warp the fabric of spacetime, distorting the path that light takes when it travels through the cluster. In some cases, this phenomenon produces an effect somewhat [...]

NASA Builds Unusual Testbed for Analyzing X-ray Navigation Technologies

Klaus Schmidt — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:21:02 +0000

Pulsars have a number of unusual qualities. Like zombies, they shine even though they’re technically dead, and they rotate rapidly, emitting powerful and regular beams of radiation that are seen as flashes of light, blinking on and off at intervals from seconds to milliseconds. A NASA team has built a first-of-a-kind testbed that simulates these distinctive pulsations. The pulsar-on-a-table, known as the Goddard X-ray Navigation Laboratory Testbed, was built to test and validate a next-gen [...]

Station Trio Busy Inside Station, New Trio Prepares for Launch

Klaus Schmidt — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:08:31 +0000

The Expedition 36 trio aboard the International Space Station started its work week taking apart a treadmill and working on science hardware. Another trio is in Kazakhstan counting down to a May 28 launch aboard a Soyuz rocket to join their orbiting crewmates. Commander Pavel Vinogradov was joined by Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin spending most of Monday disassembling a treadmill in the Zvezda service module. It will be replaced by a newer treadmill that was delivered April 26 inside the [...]

NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Drills Second Rock Target

Klaus Schmidt — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:07:17 +0000

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a rock called "Cumberland." Plans call for delivering portions of the sample in coming days to laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is only the second time that a sample has been collected from inside a rock on Mars. The first was Curiosity's drilling at a target called "John Klein" three months ago. Cumberland resembles John Klein and lies about nin [...]

ATK Successfully Completes First U.S.-Based Testing of High Performance Green Propulsion Thruster Technology

Klaus Schmidt — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:20:21 +0000

ATK-Tested HPGP Thruster Technology Provides Increased Performance, Safety and Cost-Effectiveness for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) ARLINGTON, Va. -- ATK (NYSE: ATK), the nation's largest rocket motor producer, has successfully completed the first U.S.-based testing of the High Performance Green Propulsion (HPGP) thruster technology for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The testing was conducted at ATK Defense Group's test facility in Elkton, Md., in April 2013. The AT [...]

Tim Peake to be first British Astronaut in space for over 20 years

Klaus Schmidt — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:15:32 +0000

Former Apache helicopter pilot Tim Peake is to become the first British astronaut to visit the International Space Station, making him the first UK astronaut in space for over 20 years. After more than three years of training with the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Astronaut Programme, Peake has been selected to live and work on the International Space Station (ISS) for six months. He will carry out a comprehensive science programme and take part in a European education outreach programme in [...]

This Week On The Space Show

Klaus Schmidt — Mon, 20 May 2013 07:12:31 +0000

The Space Show, hosted by David Livingston under www.TheSpaceShow.com, will have the following guests this week: 1. Monday, May 20, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PDT (21-22:30 GMT) KIMBERLY ARCAND & MEGAN WATZKE come to discuss their excellent new book, "Your ticket to the Universe: A guide to Exploring The Cosmos." To learn more about this book and our guests, visit http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=onegiantlea20. MEGAN WATZKE has spent her professional career trying to make science accessible and en [...]

Space Capsule Returns Cosmic Rodents to Earth after Month-Long Flight

Klaus Schmidt — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:38:37 +0000

MOSCOW – The returnable capsule of a biological research satellite has landed in the Russian Orenburg Region near the border with Kazakhstan, bringing mice, Mongolian gerbils, geckos and various microorganisms and plants back to Earth after their month-long flight, Mission Control said on Sunday. “The descent vehicle separated from the equipment module of the Bion-M spacecraft at 6:32 a.m. Moscow time [02:32 GMT]. After successfully passing through the dense layers of the Earth’s atmosp [...]

NASA’s STEREO Detects a CME From the Sun

Klaus Schmidt — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:11:03 +0000

On 5:24 a.m. EDT on May 17, 2013, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME, a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later and affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground. Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, show that the CME left the sun at speeds of around 745 miles per second. The solar material in CM [...]

Bright Explosion on the Moon

Klaus Schmidt — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:07:26 +0000

For the past 8 years, NASA astronomers have been monitoring the Moon for signs of explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the lunar surface. "Lunar meteor showers" have turned out to be more common than anyone expected, with hundreds of detectable impacts occurring every year. They've just seen the biggest explosion in the history of the program. "On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid [...]

Russia to Move Angara Rocket to Plesetsk Center by June

Klaus Schmidt — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:31:18 +0000

MOSCOW – Russia’s new super-heavy class Angara carrier rocket will be delivered to the Plesetsk space center for further testing by June, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. “The work on the rocket at the Khrunichev space company is almost completed,” Rogozin said at a meeting with Moscow University students on Friday. “The Angara will be loaded on a railroad platform and sent to Plesetsk,” he added. Rogozin did not say when the rocket, capable of delivering up to 75 [...]

Russia, France Planning 7 Kourou Launches by 2015

Klaus Schmidt — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:29:23 +0000

MOSCOW – Russia and France will carry out seven Soyuz-ST carrier rocket launches from the Kourou space center in French Guiana by the end of 2014, Russia’s Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said. Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin and President of France’s Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) Jean-Yves Le Gall reaffirmed the launch schedule under the 2008 contract between Roscosmos and French space company Arianespace during a meeting in Moscow on Friday. “The partners are plannin [...]

Station Crew Wraps Up Week With Combustion Research

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:18:27 +0000

The trio of Expedition 36 crew members aboard the International Space Station wrapped up the workweek Friday with combustion and biological research, while three additional crew members continue preparations to join their crewmates in space in less than two weeks. Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy started his day with the Seedling Growth experiment as he harvested thale cress plants that began growing on Saturday when the cassettes containing the seedlings were hydrated by ground command. Cassid [...]

Mars Rover Opportunity Examines Clay Clues in Rock

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:16:05 +0000

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's senior Mars rover, Opportunity, is driving to a new study area after a dramatic finish to 20 months on "Cape York" with examination of a rock intensely altered by water. The fractured rock, called "Esperance," provides evidence about a wet ancient environment possibly favorable for life. The mission's principal investigator, Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., said, "Esperance was so important, we committed several weeks to getting this one measureme [...]

The Joint US–Russian One-Year Mission: Establishing International Partnerships and Innovative Collaboration

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:02:55 +0000

Scientists, engineers, educators, physicians and space explorers from around the world are convening this month at Rice University in Houston at the annual International Space Medicine Summit. This summit provides an opportunity for space professionals in the international community to identify space medicine research goals and national policies that foster collaboration, communication and cooperation between spacefaring nations. This year's summit occurs at an ideal time, as the International S [...]

Station Conducts Science, Chats with Star Trek Cast

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:58:22 +0000

The three-person Expedition 36 crew aboard the International Space Station supported botanical and complex fluid experiments Thursday while awaiting the arrival of three additional crewmates in less than two weeks. Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy of NASA spent most of his morning working with the Binary Colloid Alloy Test-4 experiment, which looks at the formation of crystals in well-mixed samples containing microscopic spheres suspended in a liquid. Cassidy took multiple photos of samples tha [...]

NASA's Asteroid Sample Return Mission Moves into Development

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:56:16 +0000

NASA's first mission to sample an asteroid is moving ahead into development and testing in preparation for its launch in 2016. The Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) passed a confirmation review Wednesday called Key Decision Point (KDP)-C. NASA officials reviewed a series of detailed project assessments and authorized the spacecraft's continuation into the development phase. OSIRIS-REx will rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in [...]

Galaxy's Ring of Fire

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:45:32 +0000

Johnny Cash may have preferred this galaxy's burning ring of fire to the one he sang about falling into in his popular song. The "starburst ring" seen at center in red and yellow hues is not the product of love, as in the song, but is instead a frenetic region of star formation. The galaxy, a spiral beauty called Messier 94, is located about 17 million light-years away. In this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, infrared light is represented in different colors, with blue having the [...]

Nine-Year-Old Mars Rover Passes 40-Year-Old Record

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:40:50 +0000

PASADENA, Calif. -- While Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited Earth's moon for three days in December 1972, they drove their mission's Lunar Roving Vehicle 19.3 nautical miles (22.210 statute miles or 35.744 kilometers). That was the farthest total distance for any NASA vehicle driving on a world other than Earth until yesterday. The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity received confirmation in a transmission from Mars today that the rover drov [...]

Weather on the Outer Planets Only Goes So Deep

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:23:07 +0000

Weizmann Institute researchers and their colleagues set an upper limit for the thickness of jet streams on Uranus and Neptune. What is the long-range weather forecast for the giant planets Uranus and Neptune? These planets are home to extreme winds blowing at speeds of over 1000 km/hour, hurricane-like storms as large around as Earth, immense weather systems that last for years and fast-flowing jet streams. Both planets feature similar climates, despite the fact that Uranus is tipped on its s [...]

South Africa's new radio telescope reveals giant outbursts from binary star system

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:17:52 +0000

An international team of astronomers have reported the first scientific results from the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7) in South Africa, the pathfinder radio telescope for the $3 billion global Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. The results appear in the latest issue of the prestigious international astronomical journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS). Using the seven-dish KAT-7 telescope and the 26 m radio telescope at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Obser [...]

4th Boeing GPS IIF Satellite Joins Constellation on Orbit

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:54:58 +0000

Improves accuracy and capability of worldwide navigation system. EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – With today’s launch of the fourth GPS IIF satellite, Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Air Force continue modernizing the Global Positioning System that millions of people worldwide rely on as a navigation and timing resource. The IIF offers improved navigational accuracy and anti-jamming resistance, along with a stronger military signal and longer design life. Boeing has been a prime GPS contractor s [...]

Asteroid 1998 QE2 to Sail Past Earth Nine Times Larger Than Cruise Ship

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:52:47 +0000

On May 31, 2013, asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail serenely past Earth, getting no closer than about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers), or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon. And while QE2 is not of much interest to those astronomers and scientists on the lookout for hazardous asteroids, it is of interest to those who dabble in radar astronomy and have a 230-foot (70-meter) -- or larger -- radar telescope at their disposal. "Asteroid 1998 QE2 will be an outstanding rad [...]

Kepler Mission Manager Update On Reaction Wheel Failure

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:26:00 +0000

At our semi-weekly contact on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, we found the Kepler spacecraft once again in safe mode. As was the case earlier this month, this was a Thruster-Controlled Safe Mode. The root cause is not yet known, however the proximate cause appears to be an attitude error. The spacecraft was oriented with the solar panels facing the sun, slowly spinning about the sun-line. The communication link comes and goes as the spacecraft spins. We attempted to return to reaction wheel control a [...]

NASA-Built Nanosatellite Launch Adapter System Ready for Flight

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:19:11 +0000

Nanosatellites now have their own mass transit to catch rides to space and perform experiments in microgravity. A new NASA-designed and developed satellite deployer, dubbed the Nano Launch Adapter System (NLAS), is scheduled to demonstrate the capability to launch a flock of satellites into space later this year. Capable of carrying up to 24 nanosatellite units, or more than 100 pounds of secondary payloads into orbit, the deployer is complete and ready for flight. NLAS is designed to sit ben [...]