Path clear
After a detailed search for dust clouds, rings, and other potential hazards, the New Horizons team decides the spacecraft will remain on its original path through the Pluto system instead of making a late course correction to detour around any hazards. Because the probe is traveling at 49,600 km/h (30,800 mph), a particle as small as a grain of rice could be lethal.
We’re breathing a collective sigh of relief knowing that the way appears to be clear. The science payoff will be richer as we gather data from the optimal flight path, as opposed to having to conduct observations from one of the back-up trajectories
Two faces of Pluto
NASA releases photos that show Pluto’s two different faces. The right photo shows a series of four evenly spaced dark spots along the equator. The left photo shows the hemisphere the probe will view as it flies by.
It’s a real puzzle—we don’t know what the spots are, and we can’t wait to find out.
Speeds up
New Horizons fires its thrusters for 23 seconds speeding up about a half mile per hour in order to perfect its course through the Pluto system. Without the adjustment, the probe would have arrived 20 seconds late and 114 miles (184 kilometers) off-target from the spot where it will measure the properties of Pluto’s atmosphere. Those measurements depend on radio signals being sent from Earth to New Horizons at precise times as the spacecraft flies through the shadows of Pluto and Pluto’s largest moon, Charon. The probe is 16 million km (10 million miles) from the Pluto system and about 4.75 billion km (2.95 billion miles) from Earth.
This maneuver was perfectly performed by the spacecraft and its operations team. Now we’re set to fly right down the middle of the optimal approach corridor.
Rocket explodes after launch
A SpaceX rocket on a mission to resupply the International Space Station explodes two minutes and thirty seconds into its flight from Cape Canaveral Florida. The Falcon 9 is carrying about 5,000 pounds of cargo for the space station’s astronauts, including a docking port that would allow future crew missions to dock with the station more easily. The launch was planned to be been the third attempt to land the first-stage booster safely on a barge in the Atlantic ocean. Initial reports said the vehicle had an “anomaly on ascent”, with Musk reporting that the craft experienced a problem shortly before first-stage shutdown related to an “over-pressure event in the upper-stage liquid oxygen tank”. NASA:
SpaceX has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its first six cargo resupply missions to the station, and we know they can replicate that success. We will work with and support SpaceX to assess what happened, understand the specifics of the failure and correct it to move forward. This is a reminder that spaceflight is an incredible challenge, but we learn from each success and each setback.
Charon’s dark pole
NASA releases a photo of Charon showing a dark region near its north pole.
The unambiguous detection of bright and dark terrain units on both Pluto and Charon indicates a wide range of diverse landscapes across the pair. . . . And about Charon—wow—I don’t think anyone expected Charon to reveal a mystery like dark terrains at its pole. Who ordered that?
More terrain revealed
NASA releases a series of photos of Pluto as the New Horizons probe approaches. The close approach hemisphere that the probe will pass by shows the greatest variation in surface features. The probe is 4.7 billion km (2.9 billion miles) from Earth and just 25 million km (16 million miles) from Pluto.
This system is just amazing. The science team is just ecstatic with what we see on Pluto’s close approach hemisphere: Every terrain type we see on the planet—including both the brightest and darkest surface areas —are represented there, it’s a wonderland!
Pluto’s different features
NASA releases a series of photos as the New Horizons probe approaches showing areas of intermediate brightness and also very bright and very dark surface features. The probe is 4.7 billion km (2.9 billion miles) from Earth and 39 million km (24 million miles) from Pluto.
Even though the latest images were made from more than 30 million miles away, they show an increasingly complex surface with clear evidence of discrete equatorial bright and dark regions—some that may also have variations in brightness. We can also see that every face of Pluto is different and that Pluto’s northern hemisphere displays substantial dark terrains, though both Pluto’s darkest and its brightest known terrain units are just south of, or on, its equator. Why this is so is an emerging puzzle.
Antarctic ice shelf disintegrating
NASA reports that the last intact section of the Larsen B Ice Shelf, which has existed for at least 10,000 years, is weakening fast and will likely disintegrate completely in the next few years, contributing further to rising sea levels. What is left covers about 1,600 square km. A NASA glaciologist says analysis of the data reveals that a widening rift in Larsen B will eventually break it apart completely, probably around the year 2020. Once that happens, glaciers held in place by the ice shelf will slip into the ocean at a faster rate and contribute to rising sea levels.
This study of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers provides insights about how ice shelves farther south, which hold much more land ice, will react to a warming climate.
To place boulder in moon’s orbit
0 CommentsNASA plans to launch an unmanned spacecraft that will retrieve a boulder from a nearby asteroid and move it into orbit around the Earth’s moon. Astronauts will then work to collect samples from the boulder.
Astronauts will conduct spacewalks outside Orion to study and collect samples of the asteroid boulder wearing new spacesuits designed for deep space missions.
Collecting these samples will help astronauts and mission managers determine how best to secure and safely return samples from future Mars missions.
Discovers ancient ocean on Mars
NASA finds evidence that a massive ocean once covered one-fifth of Mars’s surface (nearly half of its northern hemisphere). The size of this body of water is comparable to Earth’s Atlantic Ocean; however the Mars ocean contained more water (20 million cubic kilometers) than the Atlantic contains now.
Ultimately we can conclude this idea of an ocean covering 20% of the planet which opens the idea of habitability and the evolution of life on the planet…e now know Mars was wet for a much longer time than we thought before…Ten years ago, the story of water on Mars was an occasional flood of rocky debris every 100m years that then switched off again. We now know it’s more continuous. There were long-standing bodies of water: lakes, deltas and perhaps even seas.
NASA scientist: First step to moving off Earth
NASA’s head of planetary science, Jim Green, says the touchdown on the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet is evidence the solar system is now in the grasp of wider human exploration:
How audacious! How exciting! The solar system is mankind’s — this mission is the first step to take it. It’s ours… It’s these steps that will lead us beyond this planet and on to Mars and out into the solar system. I truly believe that a single-planet species will not survive long. It’s our destiny to move off this planet.
NASA sends condolences
NASA sends its condolences to Virgin Galactic:
While not a NASA mission, the pain of this tragedy will be felt by all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploration. Space flight is incredibly difficult, and we commend the passion of all in the space community who take on risk to push the boundaries of human achievement.
Rocket explodes on launch
0 Comments
The unmanned Orbital CRS-3 rocket operated by a contractor explodes at the space launch facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. It was due to resupply the International Space Station. Orbital Sciences:
There has been a vehicle anomaly…The vehicle suffered a catastrophic failure.
Video of Antares rocket explosion
0 CommentsFull video shows the Antares rocket launching at 06:22 Eastern. Seconds after liftoff the lower section of the rocket catches fire in an explosion and it falls back onto the launch pad, creating another large explosion.
Maven arrives in Martian orbit
NASA’s Maven satellite arrives in orbit around mars, after travelling for 10 months through space. Maven has been captured on orbit by the gravity of the Red Planet. Maven is set to study the high atmosphere of the planet, to determine what robbed it of most of its air. Researcher from University of Colorado, Boulder:
I’m hoping Maven will be a mission of discovery, that almost everything we observe will lead us to fundamental new insights about the Mars environment today and how it has evolved over time.
Lifts off with ISS supplies
An unmanned Dragon capsule from SpaceX lifts off from Cape Canaveral, FL, and rockets to the International Space Station, carrying the first 3D printers for astronauts in orbit. In addition, the ship had batteries for spacesuits, clothes, food and a device which measures the speed of the winds in the ocean. The launch went smoothly. NASA:
What a beautiful morning it was.
Uses 3D printer for spare parts
0 Comments
Nasa is sending a 3D printer into space where it hopes astronauts will be able to use it to create spare parts for the International Space Station. The printer, made by a California company called Made In Space, is among more than 5,000lbs of cargo inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule which is due to launch on Saturday. Jeff Sheehy:
If we’re really going to set up shop on Mars, we really can’t afford to bring everything we need for an indefinite amount of time. We’ll need to get to the point where we can make things that we need as we go.
NASA: Glass not optimal for space
After conducting a series of underwater tests, NASA concludes that Glass is not a useful tool for astronauts in its current state due to its limited battery and difficulty of use:
Google Glass is a promising technology but needs to overcome battery life, display viewing and scrolling issues in order to be an operational useful tool.
Colorado water loss
0 CommentsA satellite study from NASA’s Grace mission in association with the University of California, Irvine reveals that more than 75% of the water loss in the Colorado River Basin comes from underground sources.
We don’t know exactly how much groundwater we have left, so we don’t know when we’re going to run out,” said Stephanie Castle, a water resources specialist at the University of California, Irvine, and the study’s lead author. “This is a lot of water to lose. We thought that the picture could be pretty bad, but this was shocking.
Find aliens within 20 years
0 CommentsNasa scientists are certain that humanity will detect alien life within decades with the aid of more powerful new telescopes. Matt Mountain, director and Webb telescope scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore says:
What we didn’t know five years ago is that perhaps 10 to 20 percent of stars around us have Earth-size planets in the habitable zone. It’s within our grasp to pull off a discovery that will change the world forever.