2015年5月31日 星期日

Supernova 1994D and the Unexpected Universe


Long ago, far away, a star exploded. Supernova 1994D, visible as the bright spot on the lower left, occurred in the outskirts of disk galaxy NGC 4526. Supernova 1994D was not of interest for how different it was, but rather for how similar it was to other supernovae. In fact, the light emitted during the weeks after its explosion caused it to be given the familiar designation of a Type Ia supernova. If all Type 1a supernovae have the same intrinsic brightness, then the dimmer a supernova appears, the farther away it must be. By calibrating a precise brightness-distance relation, astronomers are able to estimate not only the expansion rate of the universe (parameterized by the Hubble Constant), but also the geometry of the universe we live in (parameterized by Omega and Lambda). The large number and great distances to supernovae measured over the past few years, when combined with other observations, are interpreted as indicating that we live in a previously unexpected universe. via NASA http://ift.tt/1FLWxty

Space Weird Thing

I recently wrote about Thing Explainer, a book by my friend and xkcd author Randall Munroe that explains complex scientific ides using only the most common 1000 words in the English language (originally motivated by his flippin’ brilliant Up Goer Five comic).

As I wrote that article (also using just the 1000 most common words) I wondered how far someone could take this idea.

Now I know. My dear friends Marian Call and Molly Lewis — geek musicians and very, very clever people — made a music video that is a shot-by-shot recreation of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” using Up Goer Five speak.

Seriously. You have to stop what you’re doing and watch this, because wow. Here is “Space Weird Thing”:

I have a lot of smart friends, and I love them all. Go listen to more of Marian’s music, and Molly’s music, and buy all the things.



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2015年5月30日 星期六

Messier Craters in Stereo


Many bright nebulae and star clusters in planet Earth's sky are associated with the name of astronomer Charles Messier, from his famous 18th century catalog. His name is also given to these two large and remarkable craters on the Moon. Standouts in the dark, smooth lunar Sea of Fertility or Mare Fecunditatis, Messier (left) and Messier A have dimensions of 15 by 8 and 16 by 11 kilometers respectively. Their elongated shapes are explained by an extremely shallow-angle trajectory followed by the impactor, moving left to right, that gouged out the craters. The shallow impact also resulted in two bright rays of material extending along the surface to the right, beyond the picture. Intended to be viewed with red/blue glasses (red for the left eye), this striking stereo picture of the crater pair was recently created from high resolution scans of two images (AS11-42-6304, AS11-42-6305) taken during the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. via NASA http://ift.tt/1QgEZs3

Contact! LightSail Phones Home after 8-Day Silence

The Planetary Society’s LightSail test spacecraft reported for duty this afternoon, heralding the end of an uneasy silence caused by a suspected software glitch.

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Jim Rose

James Turner Rose "James Turner Rose, 1935-2015, known throughout the space community to have been an early pioneer of space as a place for commercial pursuits, Jim Rose was among the first to develop a business proposition that involved capturing...

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How to Make a Rubber Ducky Comet

Before we knew what comets and asteroids looked like up close, it was popular (at least in media) to imagine them as roughly spherical, maybe a bit lumpy.

The reality was way stranger. The first comet seen up close, Halley’s, was actually more elongated, like a rock you might find in your back yard. As we sent space probes to more of these celestial flotsam, we found most were oddly shaped, and some downright bizarre: a double-lobed bowling pin shape kept popping up. Hartley 2, Wild 2, Kleopatra (which looks like a cartoon dog bone!), and now, most recently, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the new home of the Rosetta probe. The solid part of this comet looks like a rubber ducky, with a large, flattish lobe connected somewhat off-center to a smaller, more rounded chunk.

What gives?

I’ve written about this before. My original thinking was that these shapes are due to a slow collision by two bodies, which manage to stick together. 67P, however, has many features that look more like it was one object that has been eroding away in the middle, creating the double-lobed shape.

Now it looks like the former was more important than the latter. A new study has just been published showing that slow-speed collisions between two objects can create the shapes we see.

The researchers used three-dimensional modeling to determine how this could work, and the video above shows a representative example. A larger and small body collide slightly off-center, causing material from the smaller one to splash on to the bigger one, and slowing their relative speed. Their mutual (weak) gravity draws them together again about a day later, and they wind up sticking to each other, forming the familiar two-lobed morphology.

This also explains a peculiar layering seen in some comets, due to the splashing of material from one object to the other. It’s nice when a single model can explain more than one physical characteristic.

Collisions like this may have been common in the very early solar system, when there were a lot more objects out there; as the giant planets formed after a few tens of millions of years, their powerful gravity wound up eliminating many of those comets and asteroids (either by drawing them in and assimilating them, flinging them away and ejecting them from the solar system, or dropping them down in to the inner solar system in an event called the Late Heavy Bombardment, the scars of which are still visible on the Moon today). A collision like this would be rare now.

If this scenario is correct, then, looking at 67P, I have to think both processes are at work there. It originally formed as a slow speed collision, and then erosive processes have been at work for quite some time since. The cliffs on the smaller lobe appear to be due to cleaving or calving of the comet there, and you wouldn’t expect such large flat features after a collision.

That wouldn’t surprise me at all; a lot of the features we see in astronomical objects in the solar system today are the result of many processes, some of them ongoing. These things have been around a long time, after all, and there have been periods of fairly intense activity since the whole place formed some 4.56 billion years ago. It’s incredibly rare to find an intact, pristine time capsule from that time so long ago, and we have to be aware that, in simple terms, stuff happens. So to speak. 

If this model is true, it means that collisions like this were common (since we see double lobes so often) and that most would’ve happened a long time ago. This may be testable by examining these dog bone/rubber ducky/bowling pin objects and seeing if we can determine just when they may have assumed these shapes. If it happened right after the solar system formed, then great! If not, well, then we’ll have to modify the hypothesis or abandon it.

Such is science. We sometimes have to follow a path to a wrong idea to make sure it’s not right. But even then, it may be salvageable, and at worst we’ve learned something anyway. Science is pretty cool that way.



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2015年5月29日 星期五

Saturn at Opposition


Telescopic observers on Earth have been treated to spectacular views of Saturn lately as the ringed planet reached its 2015 opposition on May 23 at 0200 UT. Of course opposition means opposite the Sun in Earth's sky. So near opposition Saturn is up all night, at its closest and brightest for the year. These sharp images taken within hours of the Sun-Earth-Saturn alignment also show the strong brightening of Saturn's rings known as the opposition surge or the Seeliger Effect. Directly illuminated, the ring's icy particles cast no shadows and strongly backscatter sunlight toward planet Earth, creating the dramatic surge in brightness. Saturn currently stands in the sky not far from bright Antares, alpha star of the constellation Scorpius. via NASA http://ift.tt/1SFDkQR

For LightSail Test Mission, Waiting is the Hardest Part

The Planetary Society's LightSail spacecraft is now entering its second week of silence.

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JSC Blog on Courage and Dissenting Opinions

"From: Watkins, Vincent D. (JSC-NA111) Date: Fri, May 1, 2015 at 7:53 AM Subject: Check Out New JSC S&MA Director's Blog To: "JSC-DL-S&MA-ALL-HANDS-(LOC-&-REM)" Great blog on courage and dissenting opinions. Leave a comment and be a part of the discussion!...

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NASA Awards Contract for Facilities Maintenance Services at Ames

NASA has selected prime contractor Jacobs Technology, Inc., of Tullahoma, Tennessee, to provide facilities maintenance support services at the agency’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. This procurement was conducted as a full and open competition.

May 29, 2015
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Actor Jon Cryer Voices New NASA Film to Help Celebrate 50 Years of Spacewalks

On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Ed White became the first American to walk in space. NASA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United States’ first extravehicular activity (EVA) -- better known as a spacewalk -- through a number of commemorative features on NASA Television and NASA.gov.

May 29, 2015
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Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way


This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way. via NASA http://ift.tt/1FHM6qV

ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/28/15

Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Relocation:  This morning the crew completed the Node 3 Forward vestibule outfitting.  The PMM hatch was opened and the crew ingressed the PMM in its new location.  While attempting to install the supply and return Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) jumpers, it was determined that the Node 3 and PMM interfaces are offset, and the vestibule jumpers from the Node 1 Nadir location did not fit.  The crew scavenged and installed an offset jumper at the supply IMV location that had previously been used to support H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) at Node 2 Zenith.  The HTV-5 plan does not require use of this offset jumper.  This puts PMM in a good configuration for nominal operations, since the hatch provides return air exchange.  Kelly deployed the updated EMER-1a and Leak Kit Instructions post-PMM relocation.  Progress 58P Thruster Test: MCC-M performed a test of Progress 58P ДПО thruster #1 to troubleshoot the issue that caused the aborted Reboost on May 16.  The first part of the test was performed to verify the performance of thruster #1 during a 10-second firing of that thruster alone.  The second part of the test was performed to verify software performance around the time of ignition for a planned Reboost.  The Reboost was automatically terminated after 1 second, so very little dV was actually achieved. MCC-M specialist are reviewing the data from this test. Columbus (COL) Water On-Off Valve (WOOV)6 Removal and Replacement (R&R) Prep:  Today Cristoforetti gathered the hardware she will need to perform the COL IFHX WOOV6 R&R tomorrow.  She also prepped the work area for a COL Express Rack (ER) 3 tilt-down by relocating the HAM Video hardware to COL1D2 rackfront and disconnecting almost all of the ER3 umbilicals from the Z-Panel at the Z-Panel at Columbus standoff (TCS jumpers were left mated). Fluid Shifts Baseline Imagery Collection: Today, Kelly is performing his Flight Day 45 baseline imaging for the Fluid Shifts experiment.  With Padalka as the onboard imager and ground remote guidance, ultrasound imaging was taken of arterial and venous measures of the head and neck, cardiac, ophthalmic and portal vein, and tissue thickness of lower and upper body.  Additional measurements using the Cerebral and Cochlear Fluid Pressure (CCFP), Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), ESA’s Cardiolab (CDL) Holter Arterial Blood Pressure Device, and Intraocular Pressure (IOP) using the tonometer were taken as well.  The crew experienced some issues with the Tonometry baseline test, but three successful scans were performed, meeting science requirements.  Additional troubleshooting will be performed tomorrow.  The imagery session was within the 10 day requirement following last week’s dilution measurements.  Fluid Shifts is a joint NASA-Russian experiment that investigates the causes for severe and lasting physical changes to astronaut’s eyes. Because the headward fluid shift is a hypothesized contributor to these changes, reversing this fluid shift with a lower body negative pressure device is investigated as a possible intervention. Results from this study may help to develop preventative measures against lasting changes in vision and eye damage. Exposed Experiment Handhold Attachment Mechanism (ExHAM) Checkout: JAXA robotic ground controllers are performing Day 2 of 3 of the checkout of Fiducial Marker, one of the payloads on the Handhold Experiment Platform (HXP) that was installed this week.  Controllers are utilizing the JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) and Small Fine Arm (SFA).  Tonight the ground will maneuver the SFA to the Video Light Unit (VLU) Reflection Position to acquire an SFA camera view of Fiducial Marker. The ExHAM was deployed through the Airlock via Slide Table, and attached on a Handhold by JEMRMS utilizing the SFA. Array Mark is exposed for a certain period of time in space environment. Images of the sample are taken by the SFA camera, to demonstrate the SFA operation with Array Mark and to evaluate its aged deterioration. After the designated duration of exposure time, ExHAM is detached from the Handhold and taken into the JEM Airlock and returned for analysis. Today’s Planned Activities All activities are on schedule unless otherwise noted. МОRZE. “SPRUT-2″ bio-impedance measurements. / r/g 8935 CPA docking mechanism teardown in Node3 Taking audiogram using EARQ software COSMOCARD. Closeout ops / r/g 8926 Fluid Shift- setup Monitoring Condition of RS Structural Surfaces Using МВП-2К Device  / r/g 8916 МОRZE.  Psychophysiological Evaluation: tests Centrovka, Sensor Removing protective cover from Node3 docking mechanism NEIROIMMUNITET. Questionnaire / r/g 8933 PMM outfitting NEIROIMMUNITET. Psychological test / r/g 8933 IMV valves installation in Node3 Monitoring Condition of RS Structural Surfaces Using МВП-2К Device Tagup with specialist / r/g 8916 МОRZE.  Psychophysiological Evaluation: test SUPOS MORZE. Psychophysiological Evaluation: Strelau Test NANO- material review FLUID SHIFT- activation and start of test FLUID SHIFT- session run with assist Fluid Shifts – session with tonometer PMM hatch opening Data prep on monitoring RSOS structural surfaces condition for downlink / r/g 8916 Rearranging hardware in Node2 ECLSS. Processing system tank R&R Noise level measurements data transfer PROBOY. RSЕ1 laptop ops. / r/g 8934 PROBOY. Proboy simulator ops.  . / r/g 8934 Spacer installation to facilitate opening SM interior panel locks (pan 316 &317) MATRYOSHKA-Р. Photographing spherical phantom in “Kibo” / r/g 8932 BCAT- charge start HMS – defibrillator inspection PROBOY. Data copy and downlink / r/g Taking audiogram using EARQ software USOS window shutter close МОRZE.  Psychophysiological Evaluation: Kettell tests Noise level measurements data transfer HW prep to R&R water valve WOOV6 in Columbus NEIROIMMUNITET. Quesionnaire / r/g 8933 Demating HAM-radio hw from ER3 rack Getting access to WOOV6 in Columbus prior to R&R VCA1 camera setup Pipe line removal from rack ER3 BCAT – battery replacement and image downlink Completed Task List Items None Ground Activities All activities are on schedule unless otherwise noted. Progress Thruster Test Three-Day Look Ahead: Friday, 05/29:  PEPS Inspection, PMM re-label, WOOV6 R&R, Fluid Shifts Saturday, 05/30: Weekly Cleaning; Off Duty Sunday, 05/31: Off Duty  QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:                               Component Status Elektron Off Vozdukh Manual [СКВ] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) Off [СКВ] 2 – SM Air […]

May 29, 2015 at 12:51AM
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Dawn Journal: Spiralling Closer to Ceres

Dawn's Chief Engineer and Mission Director Marc Rayman gives an update as the spacecraft's orbit takes it even closer to the dwarf planet Ceres.

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Crash Course Astronomy: Uranus and Neptune

I’m not gonna lie to you: This is the best cold open of any episode we’ve done so far. I made myself laugh writing it.

Before you comment, PLEASE READ THE FOOTNOTE ON THIS ARTICLE. And if you still feel the need to comment, remember, neither you nor I is funnier than Futurama.

About that pronunciation, this may help as well.

I’ve also written about those giant storms that erupted in Uranus’s atmosphere, an odd hypothesis about why the planet is tipped over, and an interesting claim that Herschel may have seen the rings of Uranus!

As for Neptune, some articles that might interest you: A new moon found by Hubble, a celebration of the completion of one Neptunian orbit since it was discovered in 1846 (including some lovely Hubble pictures), that time the New Horizons Pluto probe saw Neptune and Triton, and what I consider the single finest picture of Neptune that exists.

Also? Neptune is really far away.



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2015年5月28日 星期四

Nearby Spiral Galaxy NGC 4945


Large spiral galaxy NGC 4945 is seen edge-on near the center of this cosmic galaxy portrait. In fact, NGC 4945 is almost the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Its own dusty disk, young blue star clusters, and pink star forming regions standout in the sharp, colorful telescopic image. About 13 million light-years distant toward the expansive southern constellation Centaurus, NGC 4945 is only about six times farther away than Andromeda, the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. Though the galaxy's central region is largely hidden from view for optical telescopes, X-ray and infrared observations indicate significant high energy emission and star formation in the core of NGC 4945. Its obscured but active nucleus qualifies the gorgeous island universe as a Seyfert galaxy and home to a central supermassive black hole. via NASA http://ift.tt/1G1cq2p

NASA's Future Is Hiding In Plain Sight

Planet Labs Turned Its Interns into Company Leaders with This Program, Firstround.com "Seeing the actual hardware there really excites people when they come around," [Chris] Boshuizen says. You know that you're working on game-changing solutions the trick now is to...

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NASA to Hold Media Call to Discuss Surprising Observations of Pluto’s Moons

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 3, to discuss the Hubble Space Telescope’s surprising observations of how Pluto’s moons behave, and how these new discoveries are being used in the planning for the New Horizons Pluto flyby in July.

May 28, 2015
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ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/27/15

Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Relocation:  In support of today’s PMM relocation, the crew has powered up the Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) on the Node 3 Forward hatch and performed the Node 1 Nadir Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) bolt loosening and removal.  Robotic Flight Controllers then unberthed PMM from Node 1 nadir at 05:00 am CDT and are currently maneuvering PMM over to Node 3 Forward for installation.  Once PMM is installed, the crew pressurized and verified integrity of the Node 3 to PMM vestibule, opened the Node 3 hatch, partially removed the Center Disk Cover, and installed power and data jumpers. PMM hatch opening is scheduled for Thursday morning at ~7:45 am CDT. Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Rope Replace:  As part of routine maintenance, Virts has replaced both ARED cable arm ropes. Dynamic Surf-3: Cristoforetti is currently continuing with the Dynamic Surf-3 configuration in the Fluid Physics Experiment Facility (FPEF) housed within the Ryutai rack in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM).  She is verifying the internal camera configuration and settings, and will install the Infrared (IR) Data Imager and Buffer then will install the Dynamic Surf-3 (MD30) core that she configured on Monday.  Later today, Virts will remove the Solution Crystallization Observation Facility (SCOF) payload bus cable and will connect the FPEF payload bus cable and Image Processing Unit (IPU) video cables.  Ground controllers will perform checkouts of the Dynamic Surf-3 payload.  The Dynamic Surf investigation is part of a series of JAXA experiments that Marangoni convection driven by the presence of surface tension gradient as produced by a temperature difference at a liquid/gas interface. Fluid convection observations of a silicone oil liquid bridge that is generated by heating the one disc higher than the other within the FPEF. By observing and understanding how such fluids move researchers can learn about how heat is transferred in microgravity, and ultimately drive the design and development of more efficient fluid flow based systems and devices.  The objective of scientific research on Marangoni convection utilizing microgravity is to make clear the flow transition phenomena from steady to oscillatory, chaotic, and finally turbulent flows. Therefore, it is important to understand an underlying principal of Marangoni convection. The findings and knowledge obtained through the space experiment is applied to industrial processes, as well as fluid physics. Cerebral and Cochlear Fluid Pressure (CCFP) Analyzer Setup and Checkout: Kelly setup the CCFP connecting the hardware to a Human Research Facility (HRF) laptop and then will then perform a checkout and downlink the data for ground teams to evaluate prior to baseline data collections scheduled next week.  The CCFP is one of the multiple pieces of hardware required for the Fluid Shifts experiment.  Fluid Shifts is a joint NASA-Russian experiment that investigates the causes for severe and lasting physical changes to astronaut’s eyes. Because the headward fluid shift is a hypothesized contributor to these changes, reversing this fluid shift with a lower body negative pressure device is investigated as a possible intervention. Results from this study may help to develop preventative measures against lasting changes in vision and eye damage.  Exposed Experiment Handhold Attachment Mechanism (ExHAM) Checkout: JAXA robotic ground controllers are performing Day 1 of 3 of the checkout of Fiducial Marker, one of the payloads on the Handhold Experiment Platform (HXP) that was installed this week.  Controllers are utilizing the JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) and Small Fine Arm (SFA).  Tonight’s activities include obtaining proximity image evaluations at 30 cm from the target, and range interaction evaluations at 40 cm and 50 cm.  The ExHAM was deployed through the Airlock via Slide Table, and attached on a Handhold by JEMRMS utilizing the SFA. Array Mark is exposed for a certain period of time in space environment. Images of the sample are taken by the SFA camera, to demonstrate the SFA operation with Array Mark and to evaluate its aged deterioration. After the designated duration of exposure time, ExHAM is detached from the Handhold and taken into the JEM Airlock and returned for analysis. Today’s Planned Activities All activities are on schedule unless otherwise noted. Self-Reaction Test. Reaction Time Test (morning) CORRECTSIA. Logging Liquid and Food (Medication) Intake On-orbit Hearing Assessment using EARQ PROBOY. RSЕ1 Laptop Ops. PROBOY. Penetration Simulator Ops Node1/PMM vestibule depress, Leak check (Part 2) Powerup of Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) ARED Rope Replacement Node1 Nadir Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Demate Inspecting RS Structural Elements Hull Surfaces using МВП-2К device. HXP – Photography Node1/PMM Vestibule Depress, Leak Check (Part 2) Periodic fitness evaluation – subject XF305 – Camcorder Setup FPEF – Hardware Setup PROBOY. Copy and Downlink Data SEISMOPROGNOZ. Downlink data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (МКСД) HDD (start)  COSMOCARD. Preparation Ops. Starting 24-hr ECG Recording VIRTUAL. Experiment Ops. Node 1 Stowage Reconfiguration ISS HAM Radio Power Down Camcorder Setup Node 3 Forward CBM Premate Status Verification Node 3/PMM Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Capture Inspection of RS Structural Elements Shell Surfaces using МВП-2К device. CORRECTSIA. Logging Liquid and Food (Medication) Intake СОЖ Maintenance PMM Vestibule Outfitting Purging Elektron-VM Liquid Unit (БЖ) after Shutdown Node 1 Stowage Reconfiguration PMM Vestibule Pressurization Node 3 Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) Removal MOTOCARD. Experiment Ops XF305 Camcorder Deactivation FS – Hardware Installation MOTOCARD. Assistance with the Experiment Inspecting RS Structural Elements Shell Surfaces using МВП-2К device. FS – Hardware Checkout Node3 Hatch Opening, PMM Vestibule Outfitting SEISMOPROGNOZ. Download data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (МКСД) HDD (end) and start archiving. Prepare to downlink RS shell structural element surface inspection data JPM Window Shutter Closure FPEF Cable Connection Video Footage of Greetings FS – Hardware Installation Node 1 Stowage Reconfiguration Answers to the Questions from Argumenty I Fakty Newspaper MORZE. Experiment setup CORRECTSIA. Logging Liquid and Food (Medication) Intake Self-Reaction Test. Reaction Time Test (evening) Completed Task List Items None Ground Activities All activities are on schedule unless otherwise noted. PMM relocation related commanding Three-Day Look Ahead: Thursday, 05/28: PMM vestibule outfitting, Node 3 Fwd Stbd IMV Valve Install, PMM hatch opening, Fluid […]

May 28, 2015 at 01:24AM
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Parachute Testing for NASA's InSight Mission


This parachute testing for NASA's InSight mission to Mars was conducted inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, in February 2015. via NASA http://ift.tt/1dzEQnH

Pluto – 47 Days

In 47 days, the New Horizons spacecraft will zip past Pluto and its moons at a relative speed of 14 kilometers per second. As of right now, there’s more than 50 million km still to go.

But earlier in May, the probe turned its cameras toward Pluto and took a series of images. They’re still pixelated, but wow.

As you can see, surface features are getting easier to discern (note that a different part of Pluto was seen by the probe on each day, so you're seeing different features). It’s not just light and dark patches, but they have some shape to them as well. It actually reminds me a bit of seeing Mars through a small ‘scope. Note that on the May 10th image there appears to be a dark chunk taken out of Pluto’s side; that’s an illusion due to that spot being particularly dark; it blends in with the blackness of space and fools your eye into thinking Pluto’s missing a piece.

These images are considerably better than what we saw in April, too:

Not bad. As before, the new images have been carefully planned and post-processed to increase their resolution. These shots were taken from 80, 77, and 75 million km away and are already in many ways better than we can get even with Hubble.

So stay tuned. Every day, New Horizons gets over a million kilometers closer to Pluto, and well be getting some amazing views, culminating in the flyby on July 14. What delights and wonders will we see then?



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Four mission assembly progress reports: ExoMars TGO, InSight, OSIRIS-REx, and BepiColombo

2015 has seen few deep-space-craft launches, but 2016 is shaping up to be a banner year with three launches, followed quickly by a fourth in early 2017. All of the missions under development have reported significant milestones recently.

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2015年5月27日 星期三

Send NASA Your Tax Dollars Because Mars Matters

Science Drives NASA's Journey to Mars, NASA "Repeat after me: Mars matters," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told the auditorium of participants at the May 5, 2015 Humans to Mars Summit organized by the non-profit Explore Mars, Inc. "Mars matters!" everyone...

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Commercial Crew Milestones Met; Partners on Track for Missions in 2017

NASA has taken another step toward returning America’s ability to launch crew missions to the International Space Station from the United States in 2017.

May 27, 2015
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GAO Progress Report on CASIS: Disappointing

International Space Station: Measurable Performance Targets and Documentation Needed to Better Assess Management of National Laboratory, GAO "- CASIS, however, has not been able to fulfill its responsibility in the cooperative agreement to interact with the ISS National Laboratory Advisory...

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Why We Don't Know When the Europa Mission Will Launch

NASA has been vague about when the new mission to Europa will launch. There's a reason for that, and it's not just orbital mechanics.

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NASA Begins Testing Mars Lander in Preparation for Next Mission to Red Planet

Testing is underway on NASA’s next mission on the journey to Mars, a stationary lander scheduled to launch in March 2016.

May 27, 2015
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Astronaut Available to Discuss First, Next 50 Years of Spacewalking

NASA astronaut and veteran spacewalker Mike Foreman is available to discuss with media the dramatic history and exciting future of spacewalking live via satellite from the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

May 27, 2015
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Pretty pictures of the Cosmos: Special Qualities

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares some images of nebulae and a galaxy with some special qualities to each of them.

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All These Worlds Are Yours…

Yesterday, NASA announced the scientific research instruments that will be installed on board the 2020s mission headed for Jupiter’s moon Europa.

The moon has a thick ice shell covering an undersurface ocean, and there’s a lot of interesting chemistry going on in that water. We don’t know if there’s life there, or even if the ocean is habitable, but it’s an incredibly enticing destination. That’s why the (currently not-yet-named) mission is headed that way.

And it’ll have quite the suite of instruments onboard, too: a camera that will map almost the entire moon with 50 meter resolution (and some spots with 0.5 meter resolution!), radar that can determine the thickness of the ice and ocean, a thermal (heat) mapper, an ultraviolet camera, and much more. You can read about them on the NASA press release and in The Planetary Society blog post by Casey Dreier.

I’m excited about this; the NASA fiscal year 2016 budget has $30 million set aside to develop the mission. If things go well, there will be more in the years to come. Europa is one of the three best places to look for life in the solar system — the other two being Saturn’s moons Titan and Enceladus, and a mission there would take longer, be bigger, and cost more money. As much as I want to see more of those worlds, I think going to Europa is a good first step. And if we do find something biologically intriguing there, we’ll be in a better place to send more missions.

Now pardon me while I take something of a left turn.

I follow quite a few planetary science folks on Twitter, and it was Christmas for a lot of them yesterday. My feed was non-stop chatter about the science that’ll be done at Europa. Someone mentioned that of the nine instruments chosen for the mission, three of them have women as Principal Investigators (the person in charge of the project). I checked, and sure enough, it’s true.

Women PIs are not exactly unheard of in NASA, but they’re certainly not at a 50/50 ratio with men (I worked on the proposal for the NuSTAR mission, the first NASA astrophysics observatory with a woman at the helm, and that launched just three years ago). There is nowhere near parity in the sexes at most scientific institutions, so I like to support and highlight women in the field when I can (for example, Sally Ride’s birthday yesterday).

So in the interest of raising a bit of awareness, I tweeted about it:

Seems clear enough. But I got a couple of angry tweets in response; both accused me of being sexist, seeming to think I was somehow amazed that women could actually run NASA science instruments!

Um. I know that we live in an outrage culture, and I also know just how things get misinterpreted on the ‘net. Even so that struck me as a bit of a stretch.

I followed up the tweet with another one expressing my own bafflement as to how I could be accused of that when I was supporting women (especially given the context of my many tweets and blog posts supporting women in STEM), and then got responses saying those first responses must’ve been from, gasp, feminists.

At that point my desk got up close and personal with my forehead. I think pursuing this line of thought is going to lead to an ever-amplified Möbius strip of hollering internuttery, so I’ll leave it to you to follow it if you so choose. Tread carefully.

But this whole thing brought up a point that is worth thinking about. As I said, in most sciences there isn’t parity between men and women. Study after study show that this must have some sort of social basis; women are no less or more suited for science than men. I am no expert on the details, and I leave that for those who are doing the research to investigate. But the conclusion remains.

In an ideal world, science would be science, and anyone of whatever sex who does it for the betterment of humanity is fine by me.

But we don’t live in an ideal world, and we must be practical. Women are not staying in sciences, they aren’t treated the same as men (and it’s generally in a negative sense, unless you’ve been living somewhere under the crust of the Earth for the past, oh, say, century or two), and they are at a disadvantage in many ways compared to their male colleagues. Not an intellectual disadvantage, not a performance disadvantage, not any intrinsic disadvantage, but a socially-engineered one.

If all things are equal except for the societal thing, then how about we fix the societal thing?

One way to do that is to simply make people aware of it. I’m not exactly the swiftest boat on the lake when it comes to things like this, and it took me a long time, but I’m coming around to the notion that sexism pervades everything in our culture*. If I can figure that out (due to the raising of my own awareness by my friends and colleagues), then so can others, and if I can help, well then I will.

And so I do what I can. There may come a time when parity or a close approximation thereof can be achieved. When that day arrives then we won’t need to note when women make strides toward equality, and an achievement in science will be simply that, rather than segregated by the sex of the achiever. But that day is not yet here.

In the meantime we can all work toward it, and work toward the bigger goals of science at the same time. And when we do, we need to remember the mistakes of the past, so that we don’t repeat them — social equality is a dynamic equilibrium; we need to keep working at it to maintain it, lest the scales tip once again.

There are entire worlds to explore out there, folks. Let’s do what we can so we can all explore them.

* It’s more fair to say that sexism is one of the main biases pervading our culture, along with many others such as racism, homophobia, and a host of other prejudices. That list goes on and on, and it might be easier just to say there’s a bias against anything that isn’t white-cis-Christian-middleclass-male, but I don’t want to lose the main point here.



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View From an F-15D


NASA pilot Jim Less and photographer Jim Ross pull their F-15D #897 aircraft away from a KC-135 refueling tanker. NASA is supporting the Edwards Air Force Base F-15 program with safety and photo chase expertise. via NASA http://ift.tt/1AtUvPM

ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/26/2015

Fine Motor Skills (FMS): Kelly and Kornienko performed their Flight Day 60 FMS sessions this morning.  In the Fine Motor Skills experiment, crew members perform a series of interactive tasks on a touchscreen tablet. Fine motor skills are crucial for successfully interacting with touch-based technologies, repairing sensitive equipment, and a variety of other tasks. In Fine Motor Skills, crew members perform a series of interactive tasks on a touchscreen tablet. The investigation is the first fine motor skills study to measure long-term microgravity exposure, different phases of microgravity adaptation, and sensorimotor recovery after returning to Earth gravity.  Handhold Experiment Platform (HXP) Installation: Today, the JEM Airlock outer hatch was opened and slide table extended for the Small Fine Arm (SFA) to grapple the HXP and install on one of the handrails of the JEM Exposed Facility (JEF).  The HXP is composed of several exposure experiments which will remain attached to the JEF for approximately one year, collecting data on material interactions to long duration space exposure. Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Relocation Preparation:  In support of tomorrow’s PMM relocation, the crew installed the Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) on Node 3 Forward hatch this morning.  Later, they configured PMM for egress by deactivating lights, closed Node 1 Remotely Actuated Motorized Valve (RAMV), removed Inter-module Ventilation (IMV) and remaining power and data jumpers, then closed the PMM hatch.  Once the PMM hatch was closed, the crew performed Node 1 Nadir CBM Control Panel Assembly (CPA) installation, connected Node 1 bulkhead feedthrough power cable, installed the Center Disk Cover, closed Node 1 Nadir Hatch, and depressurized the vestibule. PMM relocation from Node 1 Nadir to Node 3 Forward is planned for tomorrow morning starting at approximately 4:30 am CDT. Today’s Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Virus Definition File Update On Auxiliary Computer System Laptops CORRECTION. Logging Liquid and Food (Medication) Intake WRS – Recycle Tank Fill JEMRMS laptop activation JEM airlock table deployment towards JEF PHS equipment setup Spacer installation to facilitate opening SM interior panel locks (pnl 434) (kit with structural elements (004890R, ФГБ1ПГО_4_427_1, CTB No.1112 (004106J)) CONTROL. “Indicator-ISS” payload measurement mode switch CBCS setup JEMRMS – start BUS monitoring Periodic Health Status (PHS) Evaluation Fine Motor Skills – Experiment Ops MORZE. Psychophysiological Evaluation: Cattell Test Central berthing camera setup and checkout on Node3 CALCIUM Experiment. 8th Run. БРИ (Smart Switch Router) Reconfig. PHS data log and equipment stow Periodic Fitness Evaluation (PFE) ISS RS Air Analysis using ГАНК-4М MOTOCARD. Experiment Ops. FINEMOTR – Experiment Ops MOTOCARD. Experiment Assistance Checking ВП-2 (Pilot’s Sight) Functioning and Comm Interfaces. [В3] Fan Grille Scrubbing in DC1 Reorganize the Stow in Node1 PMM Deactivation and Hatch Closure prior to Relocation MORZE. Psychophysiological Evaluation: Strelau Test PMM Vestibule Configuration, Part 1 ИП-1 Positioning Check MORZE. Closeout Ops JEM Airlock Slide Table Retraction and Outer Hatch Closure HXP- photography – part 1 PMM Vestibule Configuration, Part 1 WHC – fill (start) CORRECTION. Logging Liquid and Food (Medication) Intake Monitoring Condition of RS Structural Surfaces Using МВП-2К Device – Preparation. OBSTANOVKA. Obstanovka Data Downlink from БСПН to RSS1 Laptop (start) PROBOY. RSЕ1 Laptop Ops. PROBOY. Penetration Simulator Ops WHC – fill (end) Node1 CPA docking mechanism installation JEMRMS Arm monitoring – end WRS – fill for processing from EDV PMM Vestibule Configuration, Part 1 PROBOY. Data Copy and Downlink JEMRMS USB Memory Virus Check JEMRMS – Data Transfer to SSC, Deactivation and Power Cable Disconnection JEMRMS Bus Monitor Cable Teardown Node 1/PMM Vestibule Depressurization and Leak Check, Part 1 СОЖ Maintenance Spacer installation to facilitate opening SM interior panel locks (pnl 435) (kit with structural elements (004890R, ФГБ1ПГО_4_427_1, CTB №1112 (004106J)) Private Special Conference (PSC) OBSTANOVKA. Obstanovka Data Downlink from БСПН to RSS1 Laptop (termination) CONTENT. Experiment Ops CORRECTION. Logging Liquid and Food (Medication) Intake Completed Task List Items None  Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. CBCS Checkout PMM Deactivation CBM Checkout Node 1/PMM Vestibule Depressurization and Leak Check Three-Day Look Ahead: Wednesday, 05/27:  PMM Relocate and Install, Fluid Shifts Thursday, 05/28: PMM Vestibule outfitting, Node 3 Fwd Starboard IMV Valve Install, Fluid Shifts Friday, 05/29:  PEPS Inspection, PMM re-label, WOOV6 R&R, Fluid Shifts  QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:                               Component Status Elektron On Vozdukh Manual [СКВ] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) On [СКВ] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) Off Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Standby Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Shutdown Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Standby Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Full Up  

May 26, 2015 at 11:48PM
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Time-Lapse: Trails End

Randy Halverson is an amazing astrophotographer, whose gorgeous photos and time-lapse animations have graced this blog numerous times.

His time-lapses show landscapes lit by the setting Sun, roaring thunderstorms, and of course the night sky wheeling overhead… and his newest, Trails End, is magnificent.  He’s posted a trailer for it, and wow. Make sure this is set to the highest resolution you can handle (it’s filmed in 4k!), make it full screen, and turn the volume up.

If you’re heart doesn’t pound at 1:30 when that massive thunderstorm rolls in, then I can’t help you.

As I watched, I was amused to see quite a few geosynchronous satellites in the sky sequences. These are satellite in orbits about 40,000 km from the Earth’s center; in such an orbit they take 24 hours to circle the Earth once, so they appear to stay in more-or-less the same spot in the sky relative to the ground. A trick to finding them in the shots is to not focus on any one part of the sky, but let your gaze take in the whole frame. Stars will move, but the geosynch sats won’t.

At 2:48 I noticed something odd, and Halverson confirmed it: He caught a rocket boosting some satellites into orbit. Also, at 3:20, there’s a meteor that leaves behind a persistent train, a glowing vapor trail. The video slows there for a moment to give you a chance to see it. Very very cool.

Remember, this is just the trailer for the much longer version that’s shot in ultra-high def. If you have a high-res monitor (or a 4k TV!) you could do a lot worse than getting this movie



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2015年5月26日 星期二

Starburst Galaxy M94


What could cause the center of M94 to be so bright? Spiral galaxy M94 has a ring of newly formed stars surrounding its nucleus, giving it not only an unusual appearance but also a strong interior glow. A leading progenitor hypothesis holds that an elongated knot of stars known as a bar rotates in M94 and has generated a burst of star formation in the inner ring. Recent observations have revealed the outer, fainter ring is not closed and relatively complex. M94, pictured here spans about 30,000 light years, lies about 15 million light years away, and can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici). via NASA http://ift.tt/1AqAauz

USAF Gives SpaceX Certification

USAF Space and Missiles System Center Certifies SpaceX for National Security Space Missions "Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, Commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and Air Force Program Executive Officer for Space, has announced the certification...

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NASA Brings Science of Space Down to Earth for 2015 World Science Festival

From mega space telescopes to space navigation, NASA is bringing a variety of interactive, hands-on activities and exhibits to the more than 100,000 visitors who will attend this year’s World Science Festival in New York Wednesday, May 27 through Sunday, May 31.

May 26, 2015
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Software Glitch Pauses LightSail Test Mission

The Planetary Society’s LightSail test mission has been paused while engineers wait out a suspected software glitch that has silenced the solar sailing spacecraft.

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NASA Television to Air U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony May 30

NASA Television will provide live coverage of the 2015 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 2 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30. The ceremony will take place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction in Florida.

May 26, 2015
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NASA Sets New Launch Window for Supersonic Vehicle Test

The second flight test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) now will launch no earlier than 12:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 a.m. HST) Tuesday, June 2, from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on Kauai, Hawaii. NASA Television coverage will begin at 1 p.m. EDT (7 a.m. HST).

May 26, 2015
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NASA’s Europa Mission Begins with Selection of Science Instruments

NASA has selected nine science instruments for a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa, to investigate whether the mysterious icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life.

May 26, 2015
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Here Are the Science Instruments NASA Will Use to Explore Europa

NASA just announced the science instruments that will be used to understand the enigmatic ocean moon of Europa. The mission is planned to launch sometime in the early 2020s.

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Google Doodle Celebrates Sally Ride’s 64th Birthday

Today, American astronaut Sally Ride would have have been 64 years old.

She died in 2012, but her work lives on as an inspiration to young women who want to touch the stars. Ride was indefatigable in promoting education, in promoting the need to explore space, and working to get girls more involved with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As the first American woman in space her place in history was secure, but she knew what this implied for her as a role model, and maximized that leverage.

Google has helped promote her message today in a series of lovely Doodles, animated images that come up when you open the home page of the search engine. This one is my favorite.

Rather self-explanatory, isn't it? There are five in total; refresh the Google home page to see them all.

Dr. Ride was immortalized when NASA named the GRAIL spacecraft impact site after her. But her legacy was secured by her own doing, by her actions. And we thank her for them.



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BA Video: Close Up on a Comet

In the 1980s, humanity got its first face-to-face view of a comet when a fleet of spacecraft was sent to visit Comet Halley, which was making its first pass into the inner solar system since 1910. We got never-before-seen close-up glimpses of the nucleus of a comet, the inner solid part that creates the gigantic gas cloud and long, beautiful tail.

Over the years more probes were sent to comets like Tempel 1, Hartley 2, and Wild 2. Each is an individual, and each is weird. But all of those missions were flybys; important but brief.

But now we have the Rosetta spacecraft orbiting the comet 67P/Chuyurmov-Gerasimenko, studying it in detail and over a great length of time. We’ve learned so much about it, but also opened up a Pandora’s Box of even deeper mysteries about comets in general, and this comet in particular.

The big one, in my mind, is why it and so many others are shaped like bowling pins: two separate lobes connected by a relatively thin neck of material. We still don’t know when it comes to 67P, but in this week’s Bad Astronomy Video I go over the evidence we have so far.

The Rosetta mission has a nominal lifespan of a year, following 67P as it nears the Sun and becomes more active. There’s a huge amount left to learn, but a corresponding amount we’ll also discover. And that’s one of my favorite facts about science: It’s a jigsaw puzzle with an infinite number of pieces, so the fun of exploration never ends.

For more information about comets, read my article Ten Things You Don’t Know About Comets.

Watch more of Slate’s Bad Astronomy videos with Phil Plait.



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Europa's Jupiter-Facing Hemisphere


This 12-frame mosaic provides the highest resolution view ever obtained of the side of Jupiter's moon Europa that faces the giant planet. It was obtained on Nov. 25, 1999 by the camera onboard the Galileo spacecraft, a past NASA mission to Jupiter and its moons which ended in 2003. via NASA http://ift.tt/1dv2LVx

Sally Ride's Google Doodle

Sally Ride: Behind the Google Doodle that marks the late space pioneer's birthday, Washington Post "Sally Ride, this trailblazing astronaut turned physics professor, for so long keenly studied, and then for so long taught, the laws of bodies in...

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A NASA Spinoff That Saved Lives

Using Space Radar To Hear Human Heartbeats in Nepal, SpaceRef "On 24 April 2015 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal - a nation woefully unprepared to respond to such an event. Dozens of aftershocks have rattled the country daily for...

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ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/25/2015

Fluid Shifts Before, During and After Prolonged Space Flight and Their Association with Intracranial Pressure and Visual Impairment (Fluid Shifts):  Kelly and Padalka performed a system test of the Ultrasound in the Service Module.  The crew configured the ultrasound, laptop, and video, and with assistance from the ground remote guider, then performed an ultrasound scan.  This test of capability is to verify capability in advance of the Fluid Shift ultrasound operations when the crew uses the Lower Body Negative Pressure (Chibis) suit next week.  This week, the crew will be performing their baseline data collections in the United States On-orbit Segment (USOS).  Fluid Shifts is a joint NASA-Russian experiment that investigates the causes for severe and lasting physical changes to astronaut’s eyes. Because the headward fluid shift is a hypothesized contributor to these changes, reversing this fluid shift with a lower body negative pressure device is investigated as a possible intervention. Results from this study may help to develop preventative measures against lasting changes in vision and eye damage. Marangoni Deformation 30 (Dynamic Surf-3):  Cristoforetti set up the Fluid Physics Experiment Facility (FPEF) Dynamic Surf-3 core and body.  She then configured the Dynamic Surf-3 cassette, installed it into the core and body.  The assembly was then installed into the FPEF.  Cristoforetti completed the Dynamic Surf-3 setup activities on Wednesday, with the ground checkout activities later that night. The Dynamic Surf investigation is part of a series of JAXA experiments that Marangoni convection driven by the presence of surface tension gradient as produced by a temperature difference at a liquid/gas interface. Fluid convection observations of a silicone oil liquid bridge that is generated by heating the one disc higher than the other within the Fluid Physics Experiment Facility (FPEF). By observing and understanding how such fluids move researchers can learn about how heat is transferred in microgravity, and ultimately drive the design and development of more efficient fluid flow based systems and devices.  The objective of scientific research on Marangoni convection utilizing microgravity is to make clear the flow transition phenomena from steady to oscillatory, chaotic, and finally turbulent flows. Therefore, it is important to understand an underlying principal of Marangoni convection. The findings and knowledge obtained through the space experiment is applied to industrial processes, as well as fluid physics. Handhold Experiment Platform (HXP) Installation: This week the crew and ground controllers will be installing the HXP on the JEM Exposed Facility (JEF).  Today, ground controllers used the JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) to retrieve the Small Fine Arm (SFA).  On Tuesday, the JEM Airlock (JEMAL) outer hatch will be opened and slide table extended for the SFA to grapple the HXP and install on one of the handrails of the JEF.  The HXP is composed of several exposure experiments which will remain attached to the JEF for approximately one year, collecting data on material interactions to long duration space exposure. Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Loop Scrub:  Virts configured EMU suits 3003 and 3010 for today’s activities.  He then successfully initiated ionic and particulate filtration (scrubbing) on both suits.  Later during biocidal maintenance (iodination), EMU 3010 was unable to establish sufficient cooling water flow to complete the process.  Iodination maintenance was successfully performed on EMU 3003.  A water sample was obtained to determine the effectiveness of the filtering. A portion of this water sample will used for a conductivity test and the remaining water will be sent to the ground for chemical analysis. Ground Teams are currently planning to perform a Fan Pump Separator change out on EMU 3010 during the first week of June. Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Preparation:  In preparation for the upcoming PMM relocation, Kelly has secured PMM Rack hardware and stowage.  In addition, he gathered vestibule outfitting hardware for Node 1 Nadir and Node 3 Forward ports later in the day.  PMM relocation from Node 1 Nadir to Node 3 Forward is planned for Wednesday, May 27th starting at 4:30am CDT.   Today’s Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. MORZE. Bioimpedance  measurements with use of SPRUT-2 device. Tag-up with the specialists CORRECTSIA. Food and liquids (medical preparations) ingestion to be registered in the log.    [ ВКС] laptops antivirus base update ARED – wire ropes lubrication JEMRMS bus monitor cable installation EMU suits backpack change out WRS – processing  tank fill out from EDV container  PUMA device routine test check out JEMRMS manipulator bus monitor activation and start up [Aborted] EMU 3003 suit and   EMU 3010 cooling loop cleaning  initiation MORZE. Psychophysiological Evaluation  обследование :Tsentrovka f tests SENSOR WRS – Water Samples Analysis  Final operations prior to PMM hatches closure KARDIOVEKTOR. Experiment run. Tag-up with the specialists if required FS- Set up of hardware in SM FLUID SHIFTS. Set up and connection of hardware for TV  Footage   (Ku+S-band) JEM – Start of gas mixture delivery. FLUID SHIFTS. Communication  assets configuration for experiment run   JEMRMS Arm monitoring – termination [Aborted] Life on the Station. Photo and video coverage EMU-H2O – conductivity test FLUID SHIFTS.USDN Connection in SM FS-installation of hardware in SM  Node3  forward hatch area clearing Water sampling after  EMU suit cooling loop scrubbing MD30 – Task Familiarization LBNP Exercise  (PRELIMINARY) – Assistance FS- Ultrasound  survey in SM  LBNP Exercise  (PRELIMINARY) Tag-up with the specialists EMU-H2O – conductivity test XF305- Installation of video camera MD30- Preparation for the experiment Run FS- Hardware Disassemble in SM with photo footage  Harmful contaminants measurement with the use of CMS в СМ Installation of shunting plugs on [СтМ ТКГ №425(АО)]. Re-stowage of the bags with the plugs   EMU Suit Cooling Loop scrub –  Iodination FLUID SHIFTS. Disconnecting  Ultrasound P\L   FLUID SHIFTS.   КСПЭ  hardware  Deactivation and Closing Application on  SSC ЦП FS- Transfer of hardware for stowage from SM  TOCA – Data Recording  TOCA –  WWB replacement FLUID SHIFTS. Return to nominal Comm  Configuration CORRECTSIA. Food and liquids (medical preparations) ingestion to be registered in the log Installation of inserts for easy opening of SM interior panel locks (panel 437) (Kit with structural elements (004890R, ФГБ1ПГО_4_427_1, CTB No.1112 […]

May 25, 2015 at 06:25PM
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Climate Change Denial Is a Threat to National Security

First, let me be clear about this reality: Planet Earth is warming because of human activity, because of us, and that is profoundly affecting the climate. There is no honest doubt about this; the overwhelming evidence supports it, so much so that 97% of climate scientists agree on it.

The effects of climate change are profound. We are already seeing more extreme weather, more powerful tropical storms, more wildfires. As the sea level rises coastal populations are threatened, including military bases.

I have been saying for a long time that climate change is a threat to our national security, and it’s long past time to call out those who would deny this as abetting that threat.

President Obama did just this last week, in a speech at the US Coast Guard Academy. My Slate colleague Eric Holthaus wrote all about this, and I strongly urge you to read that article. Obama used words like “negligence” and “dereliction of duty”:

After all, isn’t that the true hallmark of leadership?  When you’re on deck, standing your watch, you stay vigilant.  You plan for every contingency.  And if you see storm clouds gathering, or dangerous shoals ahead, you don't sit back and do nothing.  You take action -- to protect your ship, to keep your crew safe.  Anything less is negligence.  It is a dereliction of duty.  And so, too, with climate change.  Denying it, or refusing to deal with it endangers our national security.  It undermines the readiness of our forces.

This sentiment was reinforced in a tweet from the President:

Take a moment and ponder this. The President of the United States of America said that people who deny the reality of climate change are a threat to national security. And he strongly implied that members of Congress who do so are guilty of dereliction of duty.

I agree. And they do so on the basis of what is at best wrong information, and at worst a passel of lies.

The only doubt is manufactured, sole-sourced by the fossil fuel industry. Senators, Congresscritters, “think tanks”, sponsored by fossil fuel (and using the same tactics as the tobacco industry) — the doubt they sow is as fake as three dollar bill, and just as obvious (and embarrassing). From ridiculous and patently false claims that global warming has slowed, that the world can’t be warming because winter still exists, that (seriously) plants like carbon dioxide so we’re just feeding them; these people’s only purpose is to slow any real progress on fixing the planetary mess we’re in.

And in that way, they are making things far, far worse.

As the latest example, look at an OpEd in Forbes magazine written by Heartland Institute’s James Taylor (yes, that Heartland Institute). Taylor has a history of cherry-picking and distorting results from real climate scientists, and he’s doing the same thing here.

In the OpEd, he claims that global warming has not caused global sea ice retreat. This is a gross distortion of reality. The truth is that in the arctic we’re seeing record low levels of sea ice year after year, including just this year, when in March the north pole saw the lowest maximum ice extent on record.

It takes a very twisted view of the world to claim global warming isn’t doing anything to polar ice not two months after that record was broken. And as we know very, very well, Arctic sea ice is on a long, drastic decline that does not show any signs of recovery at all.

But note how Taylor phrases it, using “global” ice. That includes Antarctic sea ice, but as I have written about over and over again, that is really unfair. Antarctic sea ice is very different than at the north pole; Antarctica is a continent and conditions there are literally polar opposites. The southern sea ice fluctuates quite a bit year to year, and in fact wind-driven snow can be increased by global warming (warmer air can hold more moisture), so glossing over local conditions the way Taylor does is at best misleading.

And in actual fact, land ice in Antarctica is melting away extremely rapidly, and worldwide we’re losing 450 billion tons of land ice every year.

That doesn’t sound at all like what Taylor is claiming, does it? I guess he doesn’t know (or doesn’t say) that his corporate sponsors are using the ongoing decrease in arctic ice as a reason to explore more drilling sites in north polar waters.

I’ll also note Taylor links to some satellite data from the University of Illinois Polar Research Group to make his claim… and that same group has issued a rebuttal saying Taylor cherry-picked his data and refutes his claim. Oops.

As much as I loathe what Taylor is doing and saying, I reserve my strongest feelings for people like Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahaoma), my own Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colorado), and virtually all the GOP presidential candidates, who claim with various degrees of head-in-the-sandness that humans aren’t causing global warming.

These people have a sworn duty to protect the people of our nation. What they are doing is the exact opposite in every way. They cut NASA’s funding to investigate climate change. They even cut the Pentagon’s funding to act on it. The Pentagon.

In the medium to long run these politicians are putting us at greater risk from drought, wildfire, extreme weather, and rising sea levels. In the near run they are cruelly crippling our ability to do the kind of research that has made the United States of America a world leader in scientific innovation.

They claim to love this country. But they sure don’t act that way.

I have written about the reality of global warming and the lies of the deniers so often that to list them all would be counterproductive. Instead, here are some highlights that you can use to counter the denial; check links therein to find even more.

How to Lie With Data (or, “Melting Away Global Warming”)
New Observations Confirm Greenland, Antarctica Losing Land Ice Rapidly
The Top of the World Sinks Ever Lower
New Study: Climate Scientists Overwhelmingly Agree Global Warming Is Real and Our Fault
Slaying the Zombie Ideas of Climate Change Denial

… and, of course, always check Skeptical Science when you hear a claim from someone saying global warming isn’t real. The vast, overwhelming amount of the time, that claim is nitrogen-rich.



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2015年5月25日 星期一

The Galaxy Tree


First came the trees. In the town of Salamanca, Spain, the photographer noticed how distinctive a grove of oak trees looked after being pruned. Next came the galaxy. The photographer stayed up until 2 am, waiting until the Milky Way Galaxy rose above the level of a majestic looking oak. From this carefully chosen perspective, dust lanes in the galaxy appear to be natural continuations to branches of the tree. Last came the light. A flashlight was used on the far side of the tree to project a silhouette. By coincidence, other trees also appeared as similar silhouettes across the relatively bright horizon. The featured image was captured as a single 30-second frame earlier this month and processed to digitally enhance the Milky Way. via NASA http://ift.tt/1FOKoa8

It's Crowded Downtown

Funny. I was thinking I want to just post a big, gorgeous, colorful photo showing a bunch of different astronomical objects in one scene, and then I found a note from Derek Demeter, Planetarium Director at the Seminole State College of Florida. He’s an accomplished astrophotographer, and took this stunning picture of the galactic center last October:

Holy wow! Isn’t that gorgeous? Even better, there’s some very interesting stuff going on here. Let me break it down for you.

This photo was taken of an area of the sky toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Like looking downtown from a big city’s suburb, this is the direction where all the action is. The bright pink nebula in the center is M8, the Lagoon Nebula, a star-forming gas cloud roughly 4000-6000 light years away. The pink is due to warm hydrogen, glowing as its energized by the young, hot, massive stars actively bring born in the nebula.

To its upper right is M20, the Trifid Nebula, a smaller but still iconic gas cloud that appears to be trifurcated by three dark lanes of dust that meet in its center. It really does look like a cosmic flower. Note the blue cloud to its upper right; that’s dust reflecting the light from young hot stars (which happen to be blue). It’s roughly the same distance from Earth as the Lagoon.

Below center is the sparkly orange brilliance of Mars. When Demeter took this picture, it was about 250,000,000 km from Earth. For comparison, the Lagoon was about 200 million times farther away.

And all this is superposed on the magnificence of the stars of the Milky. You can pick out thousands of them easily enough… but you may also notice that yellowish, washed out glow suffusing the shot. Those are stars too! Millions of them, billions, all so far away their light merges into a background glow. The blackness in the center of the image is where you see fewer distant stars because their light is blocked by thick clouds of dust; complex organic molecules created when stars are born and when they die. In space it’s ethereally thin, but you’re looking through a lot of space here. It adds up.

Amazing, isn’t it, just how much is here to see? If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my words immersed in astronomy, it’s this: There is no such thing as just a pretty picture.

Speaking of which, check out more of Demeter's work on his 500px page.



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2015年5月24日 星期日

Space Shuttle Rising


What's that rising from the clouds? The space shuttle. Sometimes, if you looked out the window of an airplane at just the right place and time, you could have seen something very unusual -- a space shuttle launching to orbit. Images of the rising shuttle and its plume became widely circulated over the web shortly after Endeavour's final launch in 2011 May. The above image was taken from a shuttle training aircraft by NASA and is not copyrighted. Taken well above the clouds, the image can be matched with similar images of the same shuttle plume taken below the clouds. Hot glowing gasses expelled by the engines are visible near the rising shuttle, as well as a long smoke plume. A shadow of the plume appears on the cloud deck, indicating the direction of the Sun. The US Space Shuttle program concluded in 2011, and Endeavour can now be visited at the California Science Center. via NASA http://ift.tt/1Q42sgb

Real-time sunset on Mars

Pause your life for six minutes and watch the Sun set....on Mars. Thank you, Glen Nagle, for this awe-inspiring simulation based on Curiosity's sol 956 sunset images.

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Wait. That’s the Same Comet?

The folks at the European Space Agency released a new picture of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and I have to admit that it threw me.

Huh. That’s the comet? Where’s the second lobe?

For a second I thought we were just seeing it end-on, so that the bi-lobed rubber ducky shape wasn’t obvious. But then I realized the part we’re seeing is too thin; the big bottom lobe is much wider than seen here. I did a bunch of rotations and such in my head, and quickly concluded there’s simply no angle on the comet that would produce this view.

My brain really jammed at that point, and I had to concede: I didn’t understand the photo. I read the accompanying text to find out what was going on, and got a good chuckle. I forgot about the Sun.

Here’s the same photo, with the contrast/brightness wildly stretched:

Aha! The smaller lobe is there, a barely darker black against the black sky. The reason it can’t be seen is that it’s in the bigger lobe’s shadow. And also, the bottom of the bigger lobe is flattened, shaped more like a river rock than a potato. At this angle it looks foreshortened, so that fooled me as well.

I love puzzles, and I love getting as far as I can before going to the answer key, but this still felt a little like cheating, since I couldn’t figure it out all out by myself. Drat!

But there’s one thing I did see I do understand. Look to the left, just below the tip of the lobe. See that luminous line dropping down? Care to guess what that is?

Hint: The plumes you see coming from the comet are actually jets of gas, caused by the Sun heating the ice in the comet, turning it directly into a gas*.

Got it now? That vertical line is the shadow of the solid part of the lobe on the gas surrounding the comet. Comets are so weird: They can cast shadows on themselves!

I’ve spent a lot of my life interpreting astronomical images, squeezing the science out of them by analyzing their shapes, contours, brightness, colors, and more. This picture is a good reminder not to take experience for granted, nor to invest too much confidence in it.

Any of us can be fooled at any time. That’s an uncomfortable but necessary piece of information to always keep in mind.

* Also making it useful for the annual Pacific Tech “Smart People on Ice” show. And yes, I did just watch “Real Genius” for the 300th time the other night. Why do you ask?



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2015年5月23日 星期六

NGC 7822 in Cepheus


Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, the glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and dark shapes are highlighted in this colorful skyscape. The image includes data from narrowband filters, mapping emission from atomic oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur into blue, green, and red hues. The atomic emission is powered by energetic radiation from the hot stars, whose powerful winds and radiation also sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse, but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cutoff from their reservoir of star stuff. This field spans around 40 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822. via NASA http://ift.tt/1LvbrpX

How Do Clouds Form?

As someone who loves looking at clouds, and may have a somewhat scientifically directed brain, I’m fascinated by the shapes and structures of clouds. Where I live, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, provides endless examples of them.

I write about them a lot, but I don’t think I’ve ever explained just how clouds form. After all, it’s a little weird: A typical storm cloud can have a mass of millions of tons, yet they float! I know this is because they’re less dense than air, but that still seems weird.

But, if you watch this great video on how clouds form by my friends at Minute Earth, you’ll understand exactly how this all works.

There were two parts in that video that I want to emphasize. One was just why clouds are buoyant; it’s for the same reason a helium balloon is. At a given temperature, a volume of a gas will have the same number of atoms or molecules in it no matter what those atoms or molecules are. Helium atoms have way less mass than oxygen and nitrogen, so it weighs less, so up it goes. And it’s the same for humid air!

The other part was why clouds have flat bottoms. The video makes that really obvious: As you go up in altitude, the temperature of the air drops (this is called the lapse rate, which for some reason is a term I think is really cool). Water vapor (water as a gas) is transparent, so you don’t see that big bubble of rising humid air until gets to the part of the atmosphere where it’s cool enough for the water to condense into droplets (and becomes visible). If the air over a wide area over the ground all reaches that temperature at the same altitude, it forms a plane parallel to the ground. As the humid air rises through that plane it condenses, forming a cloud that is round on top and flat on the bottom. It’s actually a bit of an illusion; the parcel of rising air is still balloon-shaped (very roughly), but you only see it where the water condenses.

I have to admit: I knew all the pieces of this, but hadn’t really put it all together in my head all at once. Seeing it drawn out this way in animated form made it very clear (so to speak, har har).

At the top of this post is a picture of clouds forming with flat bottoms, and you can see their bottoms are all at about the same altitude. I have always thought this would explain why we see the sky as a flattened dome over our heads; A cloud directly overhead is close to us, but one near the horizon is much farther away, giving the sky a flattened look. The perspective effect is strong; you can see how the clouds appear to bunch together when they’re farther away. That’s not real; they’re probably scattered just as much 50 km away as they are overhead, it’s just that when they’re farther away you see more of them in the same area of sky because they appear smaller with distance.

If all of this seems obvious to you, then yay! But I know that many times, when we live our lives in the natural world, there’s a lot of stuff we see, and even a lot of pieces of it we understand. But putting it all together, turning it from a lot of jigsaw puzzle pieces into a single glorious picture, well, sometimes you need someone to show you that part.

If you want more about clouds, then watch this other video by my pal Joe Hanson from It’s Okay To Be Smart. There’s a lot more there.

Tip o’ the brolly to the good folks (who are also friends of mine!) at Science Alert, too, for linking to both videos.



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2015年5月22日 星期五

A Dark and Dusty Sky


In the dusty sky toward the constellation Taurus and the Orion Arm of our Milky Way Galaxy, this broad mosaic follows dark and faint reflection nebulae along the region's fertile molecular cloud. The six degree wide field of view starts with long dark nebula LDN 1495 stretching from the lower left, and extends beyond the (upside down) bird-like visage of the Baby Eagle Nebula, LBN 777, at lower right. Small bluish reflection nebulae surround scattered fainter Taurus stars, sights often skipped over in favor of the constellation's better known, brighter celestial spectacles. Associated with the young, variable star RY Tau, the yellowish nebula VdB 27 is toward the upper left. Only 400 light-years or so distant, the Taurus molecular cloud is one of the closest regions of low-mass star formation. At that distance this dark vista would span over 40 light-years. via NASA http://ift.tt/1K7yTsl

Tons of fun with the latest Ceres image releases from Dawn

Fantastic new images of Ceres continue to spill out of the Dawn mission, and armchair scientists all over the world are zooming into them, exploring them, and trying to solve the puzzles that they contain.

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Space Station Module Relocation Makes Way for Commercial Crew Spacecraft

The International Space Station Program will take the next step in expanding a robust commercial market in low-Earth orbit when work continues Wednesday, May 27, to prepare the orbiting laboratory for the future arrival of U.S. commercial crew and cargo vehicles. NASA Television will provide live coverage of the activity beginning at 8 a.m. EDT.

May 22, 2015
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Dragon-Eye View of SpaceX Pad Abort Launch

On May 5, 2015, SpaceX tested its launch abort system: A set of powerful rockets on the Dragon space capsule that can pull the Dragon away from the Falcon rocket underneath in case of catastrophe.

SpaceX just released video taken from a camera on the Dragon capsule, and it’s pretty dang dramatic. Come along for the ride:

Whoa. SpaceX said the capsule went from 0 to 160 kph in 1.2 seconds, which is an acceleration of four times Earth’s gravity. It reached a top speed of 550 kph, arcing nearly 1200 meters into the air.

You can see the trunk jettisoned at 0:30 (in a real flight, this sits under the Dragon and contains unpressurized cargo and the capsule’s solar panels). At the time I wondered where the trunk landed after the test; from this it looks like it came down in the water; it looks to me the capsule was already past the shoreline when the trunk jettisoned.

Seconds later the drogue chutes deploy to stabilize the capsule, then the three main parachutes release. Weirdly, the video stops just before the capsule splashes down. Perhaps we’ll see more of that later.

This test was critically important: NASA requires any human-rated vehicle pass stringent tests, including the ability to get astronauts away from the rocket stack in case of emergency. If SpaceX had failed this test, it would have been a major setback to getting Americans back into space on an American rocket. As it happens, things look to have gone pretty well.

The SuperDraco thrusters used for this test have double duty with Dragon; besides being there if needed in an emergency, they can be used on-orbit for maneuvering the capsule. SpaceX plans on being ready to put humans into space by 2017. They are also currently building the next generation Falcon Heavy rocket with plans for a test launch later this year.



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Coronal Loops Over a Sunspot Group


The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory images the solar atmosphere in multiple wavelengths to link changes in the surface to interior changes. When AIA images are sharpened a bit, such as this AIA 171Å channel image, the magnetic field can be readily visualized through the bright, thin strands that ar via NASA http://ift.tt/1Q1m9oI

Crash Course Astronomy: The Lord of the Rings

Who out there doesn’t need a little more Saturn in their life? I can deliver.

This was a cool one to record. Even though we’d done 17 episodes before, I like to play with the format a little bit. I was a little more relaxed when we shot this, leaning back in the chair more and just having more fun with it. I hope that shows.

I know I’ll get asked about this, so to head the question off: Yes, Saturn’s rings really are thinner to scale than paper, by a lot. I’ve done the math.

For clarity, I’ll note that there are places where Saturn’s rings are thicker than 10 meters; they range up to a kilometer thick in some regions. But bear in mind that’s still compared to their 300,000 km diameter! That’s a heckuva ratio.

And why not: Here’s an article I wrote about what would happen if Saturn made a close approach to Earth, inspired by a very cool video showing what it would look like. You’ll like it.

As for Saturn itself, now is a great time to go out and see it. By a funny coincidence, Saturn is at opposition tonight: That means it’s opposite the Sun in the sky, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise. It’s up all night, and that also means it’s as close to Earth as it will get for the year (about 1.34 billion km). If you want to see the planet for yourself — and oh my, yes you do — the next few weeks are the best time to do it.

Find a local observatory or nearby astronomy club; I imagine they’ll have viewings. I expect some people will be thinking of buying a telescope, too, so read this first!

Saturn through a telescope can be literally life-changing. It changed mine, and it’s done so for others. Go look.



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2015年5月21日 星期四

NGC 6240: Merging Galaxies


NGC 6240 offers a rare, nearby glimpse of a cosmic catastrophe in its final throes. The titanic galaxy-galaxy collision takes place a mere 400 million light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. The merging galaxies spew distorted tidal tails of stars, gas, and dust and undergo fast and furious bursts of star formation. The two supermassive black holes in the original galactic cores will also coalesce into a single, even more massive black hole and soon, only one large galaxy will remain. This dramatic image of the scene is a composite of narrowband and near-infrared to visible broadband data from Hubble's ACS and WPC3 cameras, a view that spans over 300,000 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6240. via NASA http://ift.tt/1FyeyfY

NASA TV to Air Announcement of Instruments for Europa Mission

NASA will announce on Tuesday, May 26, the selection of science instruments for a mission to Europa, to investigate whether Jupiter’s icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life.

May 21, 2015
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LightSail Update: All Systems Nominal

It's been 24 hours since The Planetary Society’s LightSail spacecraft was deposited into space yesterday afternoon. All systems continue to look healthy.

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NASA, Canadian Agency Renew Agreement to Reduce Aviation Icing Risks

NASA and the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada have renewed a partnership agreement to continue critical research in the area of aircraft engine icing.

May 21, 2015
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NASA Announces Opportunities to Advance ‘Tipping Point’ and Emerging Space Technologies

NASA announced Thursday two opportunities for public-private partnerships to achieve the agency’s goals of expanding capabilities and opportunities in space. Through both solicitations, NASA is seeking industry-developed space technologies that can foster the development of commercial space capabilities and benefit future NASA missions.

May 21, 2015
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Critical NASA Research Returns to Earth Aboard U.S. SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft

SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:42 p.m. EDT Thursday with almost 3,100 pounds of NASA cargo from the International Space Station, including research on how spaceflight and microgravity affect the aging process and bone health.

May 21, 2015
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NASA's WISE Spacecraft Discovers Most Luminous Galaxy in Universe

A remote galaxy shining with the light of more than 300 trillion suns has been discovered using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The galaxy is the most luminous galaxy found to date and belongs to a new class of objects recently discovered by WISE -- extremely luminous infrared galaxies, or ELIRGs.

May 21, 2015
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Gosh

I’ve been listening to electronica music for a long time (like, a really long time; as in I have Isao Tomita albums), and it’s interesting to me that variations of it are still popular. I can’t keep up with kids these days (STAY OFF MY ELECTRONS), so when a publicist sent me a note about Jamie XX, well, I’d never heard of him.

But she said the video for his new song “Gosh” has cool planetary visuals, so I figured what the heck. I clicked the link, and I have to admit: Yeah, the video has stunning visuals. It starts slow, so give it a chance.

I have to admit to chuckling when the rotating arm of the spaceship swings into view fully a minute into the video, after the very long approach sequence to Mars. That was well done. And the parts with spaceships and space stations set against the planet’s limb are really beautiful. Not to mention looking down on the dunes, craters, and other landscapes. The bits at the end with water-filled craters are really, really nice, jumping into the future after the planet is terraformed. That was pretty cool.

The music isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but after listening to it a couple of times it grew on me. I have pretty eclectic taste (I’ll listen to the Captain America 2 soundtrack then ABBA then Shostakovich all without a break), but this was still something of a stretch. But I do kinda like it.

And I like that the video is slow, languid, letting you linger over each scene. It’s nice to know that some people making visual art still appreciate simple beauty and give you a chance to soak it in.

And who knows? What’s art today may very well be fact in a century or two. That’s the point.



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SpinSat Investigation Tests New Technology, Returns Data


Equipment and data from the SpinSat investigation returns to Earth today, May 21, 2015, with splashdown of the sixth SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. This Nov. 28, 2014 photograph by NASA astronaut Terry Virts captures the predeploy of SpinSat, which was launched into orbit from the station. via NASA http://ift.tt/1KmpTCL

NASA Invites Universities to Submit Innovative Early-Stage Technology Proposals

NASA is seeking proposals from universities for early stage technology development that will support the agency's long-term plans for human exploration of Mars and scientific study of our solar system and beyond.

May 21, 2015
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Media Accreditation Opens for Launch of Ocean-Measuring Satellite

Registration is open for U.S. and international media to cover the July 22 launch of Jason-3, the fourth mission in a series of satellite missions that measure the height of the ocean surface.

May 21, 2015
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The RD-180 Addiction

America Plays Russian Rocket Roulette, Wall Street Journal "But recent allegations that Mr. Putin's cronies gain big rewards from the RD-180s (by inflating delivered engine costs and taking other markups via various middlemen) are damaging to the pro-Russian-rocket side. After...

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ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/20/15

Double Cold Bag (DCB) Packing:  Virts and Kelly packed the +4 degrees Celsius (°C) DCB with conditioned Ice Bricks and samples from Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI)-2 and -32°C DCBs with Ice Bricks and frozen samples from MELFI-3.  The +4°C DCB will be returning with Cell Shape and Expression, CASIS PCG-3, Nematode Muscles, and NanoRacks Module-53 samples.  The -32°C DCB will be returning with frozen HRP samples.  Once packed, the DCBs were placed in Dragon prior to hatch closure. SpaceX-6 Departure Preparations:  This morning, the crew completed final cargo loading. Later, they configured Dragon’s pressurized segment for departure and closed its hatch.  Once the Dragon hatch was closed, they configured the Node 2 vestibule by removing Air Revitalization System (ARS) and data jumpers then installed the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Controller Panel Assemblies (CPAs). SpaceX-6 unberth activities are scheduled to start this evening at 11:30pm CDT and Dragon release at ~6:04am CDT Thursday morning utilizing the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). Node 3 Forward 2 Stowage Removal:  In preparation for Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) relocation next week, Virts removed stowage from the Node 3 Forward location. PMM relocation from Node 1 nadir to Node 3 forward is planned for Wednesday, May 27th.   Today’s Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Dragon – Transfers Ops Rendezvous and Prox Ops Program (RPOP) –  Adjustment Anemometer Handover from USOS to RS Activity with IVA Tools СТТС Configuration for MRM1 Dragon Transfer Ops Preparing for measuring air flow using anemometer Velocicalc 9565 in MRM1 and on SM Power Supply System units. Tagup with specialists Velocicalc 9565 Anemometer Setup for Operation. Tagup with specialists WRS – Recycle Tank Fill Measuring air flow using anemometer Velocicalc 9565 in MRM1 and on SM Power Supply System units. Tagup with specialists Dragon Transfer Ops RELAKSATSIYA Hardware Setup CEVIS Exercise Crew Medical Officer (CMO) Proficiency Training Dragon Cargo Operations Conference RELAKSATSIYA Comm reconfig for nominal ops Makita Tool Battery Cycling – Hardware Prep СОЖ Maintenance RELAKSATSIYA Closeout Ops Makita battery pre-charge installation Dragon Transfer Ops Makita charge monitoring Anemometer Handover from RS to USOS WRS – Recycle Tank Fill Work Maintenance Area Setup in DC1. Transfer to DC1 and Activation of Orlan suit No.5.Tagup with DRAGON – Dragon Egress in Preparation for Departure Makita Tool battery discharge Dragon – Hatch Closure Dragon Vestibule Configuration for Demate Recovery of Measuring System ИК-0702М in Orlan Suit No. 5. Tagup with specialists Installation of Node 2 Nadir CBM Controller Panel Assembly (CPA) Water Supply Hardware Audit [СBО] Installation of Makita tool battery for charging Monitor Makita Tool battery charge Recovery of space suit No.4 left sleeve for nominal operations Powerup of Cupola and LAB Robotic Workstation (RWS) Display and Control Panel (DCP) Orlan Suit No.5 and No.4 Closeout Ops Installation of Camcorder in the LAB at LAB RWS 3 to monitor RWS commanding from the ground Closing USOS Window Shutters End Makita Tool battery charge, log charge time into the table, remove battery from the charger, stow equipment IDENTIFIKATSIYA. Copy ИМУ-Ц micro-accelerometer data to laptop БД-2 Exercise, Day 1 IMS Delta File Prep UDOD. Copy and Downlink Data CASKAD. Thermostat Deactivation and Equipment Transfer to [CA]  Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Node 2 Nadir CBM Preparations for Demate Dragon Prop and GNC Equipment Checkout Starboard TRRJ Video Survey Three-Day Look Ahead: Thursday, 05/21: SSRMS walk off, Dragon N2 vestibule demate/depress, Dragon unberth/landing, ACE M-3 sample prep, COL stowage relocate Friday, 05/22: Ocular Health, EVA Loop Scrub, Biolab Microscope cassette removal Saturday, 05/23:  Weekly Cleaning, Crew Off Duty QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:                               Component Status Elektron On Vozdukh Manual [СКВ] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) Off [СКВ] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) On Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Standby Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Shutdown Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Standby Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Full Up  

May 21, 2015 at 01:10AM
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