2016年3月31日 星期四

Big Dipper to Southern Cross


Welcome to an equatorial night. This remarkable 24 frame night skyscape was captured from Maba Beach on the Indonesian island of Halmahera during the evening of March 4. Seen from a mere 0.7 degrees northern latitude, both famous northern and southern asterisms and navigational aids lie within the panoramic view. The Big Dipper is on the far left and Southern Cross at the far right. Beyond the fading campfire on that night a yellow-orange celestial triangle is set by Mars, Antares, and Saturn. It stands above the rising central Milky Way, or "Miett" in the local Maba language. Of course, you can follow the pole pointing stars in the cup of the Big Dipper or body of the Southern Cross to the north and south celestial poles. Both lie just at the horizon in the view from the island's equatorial beach. via NASA http://ift.tt/1ZNa0Kv

NASAWatch is 20

Keith's note: NASAWatch turns 20 on 1 Apr 2016. It started as "NASA RIFWatch" on 1 Apr 1996 and was first hosted on a Mac Classic II on an ISDN line (see 20 Years Ago Today: The Seeds of...

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In pictures: Russian cargo ship shuffle underway

Russian ISS controllers are in the process of swapping out a trash-filled cargo ship for a new one bearing fresh supplies, following the successful launch of a Progress spacecraft from Kazakhstan today.

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NASA Awards Spacecraft Avionics Development Contract

NASA has selected The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to provide development and operations support for the avionics software suite that will guide the agency's next generation of human rated spacecraft on missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

March 31, 2016
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Hubble Peers Into the Heart of the Milky Way Galaxy


Peering deep into the dusty heart of our Milky Way galaxy using infrared vision, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveals a rich tapestry of more than half a million stars. Except for a few blue foreground stars, the stars are part of the Milky Way’s nuclear star cluster, the most massive and densest star cluster in our galaxy. via NASA http://ift.tt/1VVmCzh

Astronomers Map A Distant Super-Earth, But It’s a Molten Hell

40 light years from Earth lies the binary star 55 Cancri, a cool red dwarf (55 Cancri B) orbiting a star not too different than the Sun (55 Cancri A), though about twice as old. And orbiting closer in to this Sun-like star are at least five planets. One of them, called 55 Cancri e, is basically hell.

It has a radius just under twice Earth’s, and just over eight times our mass. That makes it a super-Earth, bigger than us but smaller than a gas or ice giant like Neptune. It’s a bit denser than Earth, and the surface gravity is over twice Earth’s too.

It orbits the star on a very tight path, just a couple of million kilometers over the star’s surface. It screams around the star so quickly its year is a mere 18 hours long.

And it’s hot. Really hot. How hot? Well, that depends on what you mean. For the first time, astronomers were able to map the temperature changes across the planet, and what they found is that 55 Cancri e is a place you really, really don’t want to be. It’s 1,100° C (2,000° F) there… on the night side.

On the day side, it’s a crispy 2,400° C, or 4,400° F. You might want to bring your SPF a billion*.

But wait! It gets weirder! Bear with me; this’ll take a moment to explain.

The planet orbits the star so closely that from Earth, we see it pass physically in front of the star once per orbit (called a transit) where it blocks a fraction of the star’s light, and then passes behind the star half an orbit later so the star blocks the planet. Over the course of an orbit the planet undergoes a complete set of phases as seen from Earth, like the phases of the Moon. When it’s in front of the star it’s “new”, and we see its unlit backside. As it circles around it’s a crescent, then half full, then gibbous, then full… but when it’s exactly full it’s behind the star. Then it pops out again, and we see the phases in reverse.

We don’t see the phases, actually. The planet is too far away from us and too close to the star. But as it undergoes these phases, the amount of light we see from the planet changes. Incredibly, using Spitzer Space Telescope (and some pretty fancy data processing techniques), a team of astronomers was able to measure this teeny change in the light from the planet.

Here’s what they saw:

This is called an orbital phase diagram. Along the horizontal axis is time in units of one orbit. In that case, 0 is when the planet is directly between us and the star, 0.25 is a quarter of the way around, 0.5 is when it’s directly behind the star, and 1 is when it’s back in front of the star again.

The y axis is brightness, such that 0 is when we only see the star (the planet is hidden). So at x=0, the total light is lower because the planet blocks starlight; at x=0.5 we see just the star, and in between we see the planet plus the star.

Right away, you can see that graceful long up-and-down curve of light across the whole plot. That’s the light of the planet changing with its phase! If we were just seeing the star, that would be a flat horizontal line. But as the planet circles around to the back side of the star its phase increases, and we see more light from it. The reverse is true as it comes back around.

Right away, that’s pretty boggling. We’re seeing the change in light from a planet 400 trillion kilometers away! Wow!

But this is where the weird part comes in. The planet is so close to the star that the gravity (really, the tides) from the star should lock the planet’s day to its year, so that it spins once every 18 hours as it goes around the star once every 18 hours.

The brightest spot on the planet should be directly under the star, what’s called the substellar point. That faces us right before the planet goes behind the star, so the whole system should be brightest when the planet is just about to be blocked.

But look closer. The brightness does peak before eclipse, but then it dips a little. That means the brightest spot on the planet is not the substellar point. For some reason, the hottest part of 55 Cancri e is about 40° east of that point.

What? Why?

That’s a really good question. The astronomers provide two possibilities. One is that the planet has a dense atmosphere, and is redistributing the heat from the star around the planet, and for some reason that has moved the hot spot.

What could such an atmosphere be made of? Hydrogen is very light, so it escapes the planet’s gravity easily (it helps that the planet is really hot, increasing the speed of the molecules to make it easier to escape). In fact no hydrogen has been detected. So the air there might be something much denser and heavier, like vaporized silicates — yes, rock so hot it’s turned into a gas. It would expand on the day side, blow around to the night side, and condense as clouds. Rocky clouds. I suppose that might be similar to a volcanic ash plume.

But an atmosphere efficient enough to move the hot spot so far east should be able to heat the night side of the planet too, yet we see that huge 1300° C temperature difference. So that’s not consistent.

The second possibility is that 55 Cancri e has no atmosphere. In that case the hot spot might be lava flows, molten rock that flows east (or perhaps a volcanic vent at that 40° east location). However, that’s pretty speculative. It might very well be the reason, but at the moment there’s no way to tell. The planet’s a long way away, and we can barely detect it at all.

Still, this is all pretty amazing. We only discovered 55 Cancri e in 2004, and only started getting a decent understanding of it in 2011. Its light was teased out from the star’s just a year after that.

So our exploration of this weird exoplanet has just begun. But we’re already doing so much! Measuring its temperature, and mapping its surface; being able to tell that one side is hotter, and the heat is off-center. Just being able to do this at all is simply amazing.

Not too long in the future we’ll have the James Webb Space Telescope to look at planets like these, and ground-based telescopes equipped with more sensitive detectors as well. We still won’t be able to resolve these exoplanets, see them as disks, but we’ll still learn a vast amount about them.

55 Cancri e may be our version of hell, but for astronomers it’s a delight: A place where we can test our skills, our knowledge, and our hypotheses of how planets form and how they behave. All that, from a tiny spark we can’t even see with our eyes.

Science! I love this stuff.

The uncertainties in those temperatures are only a few hundred degrees, so the difference is quite real.



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ISS Daily Summary Report – 03/30/16

61 Progress (61P) Undock: 61P undocked from the Service Module (SM) aft port today at 9:14 AM CDT. The deorbit burn is scheduled for Friday, April 8 at 8:30AM CDT following a non-ISS related, free-flight experiment planned for April 3-7. Fine Motor Skills:  Kopra, Peake, and Williams each completed a session of the Fine Motor Skills experiment when they performed a series of interactive tasks on a touchscreen tablet. Williams took documentary photos of crewmembers positioned in front of the iPad performing the Fine Motor Skills test before transferring and downlinking the photos. This 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’s gravity.  Sprint Ultrasound 2 Operations: Kopra performed the Sprint VO2 Portable PFS hardware setup including power, data, front panel, and gas connections from a temporary stow deployed position. Williams connected the Video Power Converter to a Human Research Facility (HRF) Rack and powered on the Ultrasound 2. Sprint VO2 is a test that measures oxygen uptake, ventilatory threshold, and other physiological parameters for evaluation of Sprint exercise prescription.  It uses the Portable Pulmonary Function System (PFS), CEVIS, PFS Gas Cylinders, Mixing Bag System (MBS), and multiple other pieces of hardware. Ultrasound scans are used to evaluate spaceflight-induced changes in the muscle volume. NanoRacks Module-48 Imagery: Williams took videos and photos of the NanoRacks Module-48 and its contents. NanoRacks Module-48 is a collection of educational materials from Japan Manned Space System (JAMSS) including promotional/printed materials, seeds, and photographs put together by students. Williams will take pictures of the photos to document their presence on orbit. Some of the material will be trashed, however, the seeds will be round tripped and used for educational outreach. Cardio Ox: Williams, with Peake as the operator, performed Cardio Ox ultrasound session. Williams attached the Electrocardiogram (ECG) Electrodes, marked the arteries, and performed ultrasound scanning with operator assistance and remote guidance from ground teams. The goal of Cardio Ox is to determine whether biological markers of oxidative and inflammatory stress are elevated during and after space flight and whether this results in an increased, long-term risk of atherosclerosis risk in astronauts. Dose Tracker: Peake, Williams, and Kopra configured the Dose Tracker application and completed entries for medication tracking. This investigation documents the medication usage of crew members before and during their missions by capturing data regarding medication use during spaceflight, including side effect qualities, frequencies and severities. The data is expected to either support or counter anecdotal evidence of medication ineffectiveness during flight and unusual side effects experienced during flight. Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Exposed Facility Unit (EFU) Adapter, Global Positioning System (GPS)/Wheel Demo Unit Preps: Williams installed the high rate data link to the Ethernet converter for the EFU Adapter.  Peake depressurized the JEM Airlock (JEMAL), performed a leak check and confirmed JEMAL venting. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA’s) EFU Adapter is a new type of JEM exposed facility platform used as an interface between JEM EFU and up to 2 payloads. Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Maintenance: Kopra completed this yearly scheduled maintenance to apply Braycote to the forward frame guide pins and mounting block bushings. This activity is scheduled to ensure that CEVIS can be rotated to the stowed position.  Today’s Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Initiate drain from the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank SEISMOPROGNOZ. Downlink data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (МКСД) HDD (start) r/g 1595 CARDOX – Material Review RGN – Initiate drain into EDV ELECTRONIC NOSE. Experiment Ops / r/g 1804 ENERGY Experiment Conference MOTOCARD. Hardware check.  r/g 1806 Fine Motor Skills – Experiment Ops FINEMOTR – Photography ENERGY – Hardware Gathering DOSETRK – Data Export On-orbit hearing assessment using EARQ WRS Water Sample Analysis Soyuz 720 Samsung Tablet Recharge – initiate USND2 – Hardware Activation JEMAL – Depress and Vent Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation TORU OBT CARDOX – Setup Ops Fine Motor Skills – Test CARDOX – Scanning CARDOX – Battery Installation 24-hour ECG Monitoring (start) / r/g 1798 CARDOX – Measurement Ops Preparation to remove failed ЗУ1Б and replace with ЗУ1А / r/g 1801 Checkout of Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion (CSA-CP) CARDOX – Equipment removal Photo/TV Camcorder Setup Verification Making assessment whether Power Switching Unit БСК-1#10Ю=А457 can be replaced r/g 1800 24-hour BP Monitoring (start) Soyuz 720 Samsung tablet charge – end MAR – Hard Drive Installation into EPM laptop Closing window 6,8,9,12,13,14 shutters / r/g 6965 Common Gas Supply Equipment (CGSE) Gas Bottle Unit CO2 R&R Photo/TV Camcorder Setup Verification USND2 – Hardware Deactivation TOCA – TOCA Analyzer Data Recording Installation of EFU adapter HRDL to Ethernet adapter Closing USOS Window Shutters SEISMOPROGNOZ. Downlink data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (МКСД) HDD (end) and start file compression r/g 1595 JEMAL – Verifying depressurization complete WRS – Recycle Tank Fill from EDV JEM Airlock Depressurization and Vent Confirmation Health Maintenance System (HMS) – ISS Medical Accessories Kit (IMAK) Unpack  СОЖ Maintenance Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation Preparation and Photography of Progress 429 Docking Assembly from SM Window No.26 during undocking from SM Aft / r/g 1803 INTERACTION-2. Experiment Ops r/g 1805 Switch ПрК-ТК PEV to CLOSED position MAR – EPM Rack Hard Drive Installation ISS Safety Video Soyuz 719 Samsung Tablet Recharge – Initiate Complete the Dose Tracker application – Subject ALGOMETRIA. Experiment Ops / r/g 1808 PAO Hardware Setup Crew Prep for PAO / r/g 1797 TV Conference with NTV Channel Correspondent / r/g 1797 Soyuz 719 Samsung Tablet Recharge – terminate Monthly Inspection of T2 Treadmill System CEVIS Monthly Maintenance Photo/TV Camcorder Setup Verification NANO – Photo/Video SPRINT – Hardware Setup Video Footage of Greetings / r/g 1807 HRF2 – Supply Kit Inventory DOSETRK – Questionnaire Search for ODF “Ascent & Descent” in  Soyuz 720 ЗСП recess and report results to MCC INTERACTION-2. Experiment Ops / r/g 1802 ISS HAM Radio Power Up Completed Task List Items None Ground Activities All […]

March 31, 2016 at 12:52AM
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2016年3月30日 星期三

NGC 6188 and NGC 6164


Fantastic shapes lurk in clouds of glowing gas in the giant star forming region NGC 6188. The emission nebula is found about 4,000 light years away near the edge of a large molecular cloud unseen at visible wavelengths, in the southern constellation Ara. Massive, young stars of the embedded Ara OB1 association were formed in that region only a few million years ago, sculpting the dark shapes and powering the nebular glow with stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation. The recent star formation itself was likely triggered by winds and supernova explosions, from previous generations of massive stars, that swept up and compressed the molecular gas. Joining NGC 6188 on this cosmic canvas, visible toward the lower right, is rare emission nebula NGC 6164, also created by one of the region's massive O-type stars. Similar in appearance to many planetary nebulae, NGC 6164's striking, symmetric gaseous shroud and faint halo surround its bright central star near the bottom edge. The impressively wide field of view spans over 3 degrees (six full Moons), corresponding to over 200 light years at the estimated distance of NGC 6188. Three image sets have been included in the featured composite. via NASA http://ift.tt/1RKuBcc

NASA Advisory Council Meeting This Week

NASA Advisory Council Meeting (dial in info, etc.) "In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council. DATES: Thursday, March 31,...

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NASA's Plan For Commercializing Low Earth Orbit Is Still A Mystery

Keith's note: The National Academy of Sciences held a "Full-Day Mini Symposium: NASA Intentions for Commercial LEO" on Wednesday. Below are some Tweets regarding the opening session with Sam Scimemi. Among other things we learned that the 2024 ISS...

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LPSC 2016: So. Much. Ceres.

At last week's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, I enjoyed a large number of talks about Ceres. Now in its Low-Altitude Mapping Orbit, Dawn is showering scientists with high-resolution, color data.

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GAO Report on NASA Cost and Schedule Issues

GAO Report: NASA: Assessments of Major Projects "Although NASA's overall performance has improved, for 8 out of the last 9 years at least one major project has experienced significant cost or schedule growth. Such growth often occurs as projects prepare...

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NASA’s Spitzer Maps Climate Patterns on a Super-Earth

Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have led to the first temperature map of a super-Earth planet -- a rocky planet nearly two times as big as ours. The map reveals extreme temperature swings from one side of the planet to the other, and hints that a possible reason for this is the presence of lava flows.

March 30, 2016
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Earth Art in Northwestern Australia


During an International Space Station flyover of Australia, NASA astronaut Jeff Williams captured a colorful image of the coast and shared it with his social media followers on March 29, 2016, writing, "The unique terrain of the northwestern Australian coast." via NASA http://ift.tt/1q2mrGx

Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Another Scary Record

The north pole’s ice is disappearing as we watch: This year, the Arctic sea ice had the lowest winter maximum extent on record.

Every year the ice melts in the summer and grows in the winter. Although the specific date varies, it generally reaches its maximum amount in March. In 2016, that maximum was likely reached on March 24, with an extent measured at 14.52 million square kilometers.

The problem is that this number is the lowest on record (satellite measurements go back to 1979). That’s 1.12 million sq. km lower than the average — nearly twice the area of Texas. Worse, the average itself is probably artificially low; it’s measured from 1981 to 2010, an era when global warming had already long made its effects known.

I want to be clear here: Last year’s sea ice had a maximum extent of 14.54 million sq. km. This year’s max is technically lower than that, but statistically they are very close. However, the point still stands: Over time, the trend we’re seeing is a loss of sea ice. The 13 lowest maximum extents ever seen have all been in the last 13 years. That is very, very bad.

The Arctic has been experiencing nearly unbelievable record temperatures. December, January, and February were incredibly hot compared to normal. In that last month alone, much of the Arctic saw temperatures over 11° C higher than average — that’s 20° F. This contributed to the record low amounts of ice seen.

“Extent” is essentially the area of ice; technically it’s measured as a region covered by more than 15 percent ice. But it’s only one way to measure the amount of ice. Volume is a better way, because you can get a thin covering of ice that adds a lot to the area but very little to the actual amount. And guess what: The volume of Arctic ice is decreasing over time as well.

Worse (and yes, things get much worse), it’s old ice that we’re seeing disappearing; ice that had been persistent. The new ice is thinner and tends to come and go with the seasons, but old ice provides a baseline. But that’s melting away as well. Every year as more of that melts in the summer, the overall amount of ice will drop.

I have little doubt that deniers will ramp up their blustery lies as they do whenever a record like this occurs. The most common one is that gain in Antarctic sea ice offsets the loss in Arctic sea ice. This is grossly misleading. Antarctic sea ice is transitory, waxing and waning over time but generally staying around the same amount, while Arctic sea ice is in a death spiral:

In fact, some computer models show that the Arctic could see an ice-free summer as early as 2040. The volume of sea ice is dropping at a rate of about 3000 cubic kilometers per decade, and at its minimum (reached in September every year) it’s now at roughly 6000 cubic km. If this rate continues, then yes, 2040 sounds about right.

Combine this with the 420 billion tons of land ice lost from Greenland and Antarctica every year — yes, every year — and you can see we’re running history’s most dangerous experiment on the only planet that can sustain our lives. And be sure of this: We are not seeing changes due to a natural cycle. This is our fault.

The scary thing is, we’re not really sure how this will affect the climate, but no matter how you slice it, it won’t be good. The introduction of billions of tons of fresh water into the oceans can disrupt the way temperatures are regulated across the planet, with vast and severe repercussions.

I cannot stress this enough: Global warming is real, it’s disastrously affecting our climate, and the economic impact alone will be crushing. And that’s not to mention the oceans becoming acidified, extreme weather on the rise, sea levels rising, and a host of other catastrophic effects.

Remember, in November Americans will be voting for President of the United States. On one side of the ballot will be a candidate who understands all this, and will take action. On the other side will be one who actively buries their head in the sand and denies it all.

Choose wisely.



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ISS Daily Summary Report – 03/29/16

Exposed Facility Unit (EFU) Adapter, Global Positioning System (GPS)/Wheel Demo Unit Installation: Peake opened the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Air Lock (AL) inner hatch and extended the Slide Table into the JEM Pressurized Module (JPM). Then, with assistance from Williams, he installed the EFU adapter to the Slide Table. The EFU adapter is a new type of facility platform that is used as an interface between JEM EFU and payloads. Up to 2 payloads can be attached to the EFU adapter by Inter-Vehicular Activity (IVA) in the JPM. Peake also installed the GPS/Wheel demo unit to the EFU adapter and retracted the Slide Table from the JPM back to the JEMAL. Gecko Gripper Setup and Operations: Williams completed Gecko Gripper Force Gauge setup and data point collection. Live HD Camcorder video was used during the experiment to document crew operations. Williams completed the pull testing for all 5 grippers (2 small, 2 medium, and one large).  Williams noted that the large gripper was very weak and sometimes pulled off the wall prior to any crew-induced force being applied to it.  The payload developer is looking into possible causes for that behavior.  The Gecko Gripper investigation tests a gecko-adhesive gripping device that can stick on command in the harsh environment of space. The technology promises to enable many new capabilities, including robotic crawlers that could walk along spacecraft exteriors; grippers that use a touch-to-stick method to catch and release objects; and sensor mounts that can work on any surface and be reused multiple times. Thermolab Instrumentation for Circadian Rhythms: Peake began the first of a three day European Space Agency (ESA) Circadian Rhythms experiment by performing instrumentation with the Thermolab Double sensors, mounting the Thermolab Unit in the belt, connecting and powering on the Thermolab Unit, before beginning a 36 hour continuous measurement. When the measurement was complete, Peake transferred the data and stowed the hardware. The objective of the experiment is to get a better understanding of alterations in circadian rhythms in humans during long-term space flights. Such knowledge will not only provide important insights into the adaptations of the human autonomic nervous system in space over time, but also has significant practical implications by helping to improve physical exercise, rest- and work shifts as well as fostering adequate workplace illumination in the sense of occupational healthcare in future space missions. Marrow: Williams took breath and ambient air samples after waking for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Marrow investigation.  The experiment investigates the effect of microgravity on human bone marrow. It is believed that microgravity, like long-duration bed rest on Earth, has a negative effect on the bone marrow and the blood cells that are produced in the marrow. The extent of this effect, and its recovery, are of interest to space research and healthcare providers on Earth. Dragon On-Board Training (OBT): In preparation for SpX-8 arrival currently planned for April 10, the USOS crew practiced capturing the vehicle. During the session, the crew practiced a 30 meter (30M) approach, two Capture Point hold runs and 2m runs.  Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products (CPA-CP) Maintenance: Kopra completed this routine maintenance to replace the battery packs in all CSA-CPs and zero calibrate all units. Sound Level Meter (SLM) Operations: Kopra measured the acoustic environment in the habitable areas of the ISS including the JPM, Node 2, US Lab, Service Module and Functional Cargo Block (FGB), by taking sound level readings. The data was downlinked to the ground for analysis.  Today’s Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. MARROW – Ambient Air Samples Morning Inspection. SM ПСС (Caution & Warning Panel) Test Calf Volume Measurement / r/g 1787 HRF Urine Sample Collection [Aborted] HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI HRF – Blood Sample Collection (subject) HRF – Blood Sample Collection (operator) HRF – Centrifuge 1 Configuration Verification of anti-virus scan results on Auxiliary Computer System [ВКС] laptops –  Crew handover / r/g 8247 PFS – File transfer preparation VIBROLAB. Monitoring hardware activation / r/g 1790 HRF – Centrifuge 2 Configuration HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI Maintenance of SM АСП-О Hatch Sealing Mechanism And Progress 429 (Aft) Hatch EFU Adapter Item Xfer OTKLIK. Hardware Monitoring / r/g 1588 XF305 Camcorder Setup HRF – Blood Sample Collection Closeout Ops TORU OBT. Tagup with Instructor r/g 1786 Cleaning FGB Gas-Liquid Heat Exchanger (ГЖТ) Detachable Screens 1, 2, 3 HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI ESA Weekly Crew Conference HRF Closeout Ops On-orbit Hearing Assessment using EARQ JEMAL – JEM Airlock Slide Table Extension to JPM Side Bolt Hole Cleaning on JEM AL Slide Table PFS – Conclude File Transfer Attaching Passive Capture Mechanism to AirLock Slide Table WRS – Recycle Tank Fill from EDV EFU – Adapter Installation EFU Adapter Installation Closeout GPS/Wheel Demo Unit Installation СОЖ Maintenance Study of veins in lower extremities / r/g 1788 VIZIR. Running Experiment Ops aided with Photo Image Coordinate Reference System (СКПФ-У) r/g 1789 JEM A/L Slide Table Active Mechanism Tether Loop Installation JEM Airlock Slide Table Retraction into JEM A/L from JPM Initiation of Battery Stowage Assembly (BSA) Operations PAO Hardware Setup HRF Urine Sample Collection PAO Event HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI Onboard Training (OBT) – Dragon Rendezvous and Docking Conference Progress 429 (Aft) Activation, Air Duct Removal / Deactivation/Activation Sony HVR-Z7ECamcorder Setup in SM (for video of SM Aft – Progress interface) Onboard Training (OBT) – Dragon Rendezvous Procedures Review Handover. clamp removal, hatch closure, leak check Removal of Internal Transfer System (ССВП) Quick-Release Screw Clamps and Video Recording of SM Aft –Progress 429 Interface / Deactivation/Activation VIBROLAB. Copy and Downlink Data / r/g 1790 SLM data transfer SM Aft – Progress Hatch Closure / Deactivation/Activation Cleaning ventilation screens on FGB interior panels (panels 201, 301, 401) / FGB System Operations On MCC Go ПрК-СУ and Progress- СУ hatch leak check / Deactivation/Activation OBT – Dragon Robotics Review GECKO – Gripper Setup and Data Collection IMS Delta File Prep MPEG2 Video Downlink of Docking Assembly [СтА] I/F from SM via Ku-band […]

March 30, 2016 at 12:57AM
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2016年3月29日 星期二

NASA's 'Spaceport of the Future' Reaches Another Milestone

NASA has completed a major milestone on its journey to Mars and is ready to begin another phase of work on its spaceport of the future, where the next generation of astronauts will launch to Mars and other deep-space destinations.

March 29, 2016
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NASA’s ‘Spaceport of the Future’ Reaches Another Milestone

NASA has completed a major milestone on its journey to Mars and is ready to begin another phase of work on its spaceport of the future, where the next generation of astronauts will launch to Mars and other deep-space destinations.

March 29, 2016
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NASA Awards Contract for Atmospheric Science Research

NASA has awarded a contract to Science Systems and Applications, Inc. of Lanham, Maryland, to conduct atmospheric sciences support services for the Science Directorate at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, as well as for the broader Earth science community.

March 29, 2016
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NASA Selects Instrument Team to Build Next-Gen Planet Hunter

NASA has selected a team to build a new, cutting-edge instrument that will detect planets outside our solar system by measuring the miniscule “wobbling” of stars. The instrument will be the centerpiece of a new partnership with the National Science Foundation called the NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research program.

March 29, 2016
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We Are Dead Stars

My friend Michelle Thaller is an amazing person. I met her when she was doing public outreach for NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope mission many years ago, and she has since risen in the ranks at NASA to become the Deputy Director of Science Communication there. She has a wide and deep understanding of astronomy, so much so that I asked her to be my science/astronomy advisor on Crash Course Astronomy.

But there’s more to it than that. She has more than knowledge; she has a profound appreciation for astronomy. She’s connected to it, and it informs her life in a deeply fundamental way. She and I see things very similarly in that manner, which is why I so enjoyed her recent TEDxBaltimore talk, “We Are Dead Stars”.

Before we had an understanding of physics and mathematics, we made up stories about how we came to be. Some of them are comforting, some of them hit on some basic truths, and some speak to us emotionally, poetically, or philosophically. That’s fine, but what these myths tend to lack is evidence, or at least a self-consistent narrative based on that evidence (rather than trying to ignore evidence that doesn’t fit the story).

The beauty, the true power of science, is its ability to weave the evidence into a self-consistent story that ever-approaches describing reality, and to test that evidence to make sure it’s true. For example, we measure the speed of light and find it to be rapid, but finite. That means when we see farther back in space, we see farther back in time. If we go back far enough we see a simpler Universe, with only hydrogen and helium in it. Since that dawn of space and time, we see stars making heavier elements and scattering them into space when they die. We are made of these heavier elements, and therefore we are made of dead stars.

This is not just myth. This is fact, based on evidence and investigation and experimentation. And yet it is a story, a wonderful one, of how we came to be. It’s our origin story, and it has the profound and deeply impactful advantage of being true.

You can (and should!) follow Michelle on Twitter, and also subscribe to her podcast, Orbital Path.



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Greenland's Ice Sheet From 40,000 Feet


The Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) field campaign team is flying NASA’s G-III aircraft at about 40,000 feet. On a clear day, this altitude also provides a stunning perspective of one of the world’s two great ice sheets (the other is Antarctica). The flight Saturday, March 26, over the northeast coastline was one of those clear days. via NASA http://ift.tt/1RF6bE2

Jupiter Got Whacked By Yet Another Asteroid/Comet!

On Mar. 17, 2016, an amateur astronomer in Mödling, Austria was taking video of Jupiter using a 20 cm telescope. This is a common technique to capture thousands of frames of an object, so that the best parts of each frame can be teased out to create a high-resolution image, removing the distorting effects of the atmosphere.

But he got more than he expected*. At 00:18:33 UTC he captured what looks very much like the impact of a small comet or asteroid into Jupiter! Watch, and keep your eyes on the upper right part of Jupiter’s limb (it might help to change the playback speed to 1/2):

Whoa. The flash is very brief, but definitely there. When I first saw the video I thought it looked very much like an impact, but it could have also been a reflection inside the telescope, or many other non-impacty things.

To confirm it, what we really need is a second observer who happened to be looking at the same time.

Voilà:

That was taken by John McKeon, observing with a 28 cm ‘scope in Swords, just north of Dublin, Ireland, and the timing is consistent with what’s seen in the first video. I would say this is very strong evidence for an actual impact.

As to what did the impacting, that’s less clear. It could be either a small asteroid or a small comet. Given how brief the flash was, and how bright, I’m sure it wasn’t terribly big, probably in the tens-of-meters wide range. I know that sounds small, but remember, Jupiter has ferocious gravity, and velocity is critical here! The energy released by an object slamming into another depends linearly on the mass (double the mass, double the energy), but on the square of the velocity: double the velocity, quadruple the energy.

On average (and ignoring orbital velocity), an object will hit Jupiter with roughly five times the velocity it hits Earth, so the impact energy is 25 times as high. The asteroid that burned up over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013 was 19 meters across, and exploded with the energy of 500,000 tons of TNT.

Now multiply that by 25, and you can see how it doesn’t take all that big a rock to hit Jupiter for us to be able to see it from Earth.

Incidentally, at these huge speeds, hitting the atmosphere is like slamming into a wall. A lot of people get understandably confused how an asteroid can explode due to air, but the pressures involved as it rams through the atmosphere at these speeds are ridiculously huge. The air and rock heat up, the rock starts to fall apart, and each chunk then gets hot, and so on, creating a very rapid cascade that releases the energy of motion in just a second or two.

Bang. Very, very big bang.

Jupiter gets hit a lot. We’ve seen impacts like this before, many times in fact! The most famous is the string of impacts from the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994, which hammered the planet over and again as the comet, broken into a dozen separate pieces by Jupiter’s gravity, slammed into the planet and exploded. In 2009 something relatively big  hit the planet (and Hubble caught the aftermath). It was hit again in June 2010 (with a cool color photo this time), and then again in August 2010. A repeat performance was held in September 2012.

Looking over these observations, it seems that on average Jupiter gets hit by something big enough to see from Earth about once per year. Mind you, we miss ones that happen on the far side of the planet, or when Jupiter is too close to the Sun to be observed.

I’ll note that Jupiter has always been getting hit, but the uptick in detections is because our technology is getting better and less expensive. You don’t need a zillion dollar observatory to catch something like this; an off-the-shelf telescope and video camera can do the trick. I’m not saying it’s easy; astrophotography still takes skill and patience.

But there is no lack of talented and eager amateur astronomers out there willing to put in the time. If I had had tech like this when I was in high school and observing in my yard every clear night, I’d have been videoing Jupiter every night it was up! The hard part, though, is actually finding the event in the footage. As you can see, it only lasts for a second or so, which might be hard to spot in hours of footage. Kudos to the two (so far) who did manage to see it.

So it’s worth the call: If you happened to be taking video of Jupiter that night, please let me know. I don’t think any big observatories will be following up with this event (it wasn’t big enough to leave any visible damage in the cloud tops), but the more info we have on it, the better.

* I sent a note to the astronomer who took this video to get more information, but had not yet received a reply at the time this article was posted.



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ISS Daily Summary Report – 03/28/16

Crew Off Duty: Today was a full off duty day for the USOS crew. This is to pay the crew back for performing Cygnus operations over the weekend. Orbital 6 (OA-6) Capture and Berthing: Cygnus was successfully captured and berthed to the ISS on Saturday. The crew ingressed the vehicle on Sunday, spent 12.5 hours performing cargo transfer operations and cleared the entire corridor of the Cygnus vehicle. In addition, the following activities were completed: Rodent Research 3 Eli Lilly (RR-3) Gather: Williams gathered and organized consumables needed for RR-3 operations which will occur in three blocks of time. Items were gathered to maximize efficiency for each of those time periods. Habitability Human Factors Directed Observations: Kopra completed a session of the Habitability experiment, recording and submitting a walk-through video documenting observations of an area or activity providing insight related to human factors and habitability. NanoRacks Platform-2 Modules Install: Williams installed Modules 16, 18, and 21 in NanoRacks Platform-2.  Module 16 is the parent for three sub-module experiments; Water Purification Through Reverse Osmosis, Protein Crystallization, and High Temperature Dispersion in Microgravity.  Module 18 is the parent for sub-module experiments Plant Inoculation Against Fungal Pathogens in Microgravity and Magnetic Field & Background Radiation Monitoring. Module 21 is the parent for three sub-experiments; Silver Crystal Growth, Memory Loss, Wisconsin Fast Plant Growth in a Vibration Environment. Urine Processing Assembly (UPA): On Saturday, the UPA was taken to standby due to high P16 pressure,  indicating condensation in the bowl.  Later that day, after the system pumped down and dried out, a successful process cycle was completed. On Board Training (OBT) Cygnus Rendezvous Debrief: Today the USOS crew participated in a debrief with ground teams to cover questions and comments related to Cygnus capture and berthing. Today’s Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. HRF Urine Sample Collection HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI Post-sleep Auxiliary Laptop Anti-Virus Update / r/g 8247 PAO Hardware Setup / r/g 1768 Crew Prep for PAO / r/g 1768 Audio Conference with Retro FM Radio Station Hosts. Comm Session Video / r/g 1768 PAO closeout Ops / r/g 1768 DAN. Experiment Ops / r/g 0119 Elektron Liquid Unit (БЖ) capsule repress with N2 from Nitrogen Purge Assembly (БПА-М) Cleaning vent screens on FGB interior panels 116, 316, 231, 431 MPEG-2 video downlink test via KU-band in preparation to Progress 432 docking to the ISS / r/g 1774 Download Pille Dosimeter Readings / r/g 1763 HAM radio session from Columbus Progress 429 (Aft) Stowage and IMS Ops / r/g 1682, 1484 Closing window 6,8,9,12,13,14 shutters / r/g 6965 CALCIUM. Experiment Session 4 r/g 1771 Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation Closing USOS Window Shutters Multi Omics (MO) – Checking packages before stowage HRF Urine Sample Collection Progress 429 (Aft) Stowage Ops with IMS Support / r/g 1682, 1484 Removal of ССД305 Light in Progress 429 (Aft) / Transfer Ops (РПР) ELECTRONIC NOSE. Hardware Test r/g 1772 HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI HRF – Blood Collection Overview Onboard Training (OBT) – Cygnus Ops Conference ELECTRONIC NOSE.  Photography / r/g 1773 WRS – Processing tank filling from EDV [Deferred] Progress 429 (Aft) stowage completion report / r/g 1682, 1484 Photography of [БКДО] device position on MRM2 from window #13 of SM (after Soyuz #720 docking) / r/g 1348 СОЖ Maintenance IMS Delta File Prep Date and Time Synch on 6 RS photo cameras to the station time / r/g 1594 Inspection of Nikon camera digital image sensors / r/g 1767 Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation IDENTIFICATION. Copy ИМУ-Ц micro-accelerometer data to laptop / r/g 1589 HRF Blood Collection Hardware Setup HRF Urine Sample Collection HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI MARROW  Breath And Ambient Air Sample Setup GLACIER1 – Dryer replacement Exercise Data Downlink via OCA COGNITION – Experiment Ops and Filling Questionnaire Preparing for Antivirus scan on Auxiliary Computer Laptops / r/g 8247 Completed Task List Items None Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. 63P docking video test Nominal ground commanding Three-Day Look Ahead: Tuesday, 03/29: Dragon OBT, 46S unpack, EFU Adaptor/GPS/Wheel Demo Unit Installation, SLM Ops Wednesday, 03/30: 61P undock, ENERGY equipment gather, FINE Motor Skills, Cardio Ox, Safety Video Thursday, 03/31: 63P launch, SPRINT VO2 ops, EMU swap, ENERGY Ops, Dragon OBT QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:                               Component Status Elektron Off Vozdukh Manual [СКВ] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) Off [СКВ] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) Off Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Override Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Idle 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

March 29, 2016 at 01:32AM
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Selfies, messages and names delivered for LightSail 2 flight

A miniature DVD containing images of space fans and names of Planetary Society members and supporters is ready to fly in space.

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2016年3月28日 星期一

Orions Belt and Sword over Teides Peak


The southern part of Orion, the famous constellation and mythical hunter, appears quite picturesque posing here over a famous volcano. Located in the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa, the snow-peaked Teide is one of the largest volcanoes on Earth. Lights from a group planning to summit Teide before dawn are visible below the volcano's peak. In this composite of exposures taken from the same location one night last month, the three iconic belt stars of Orion are seen just above the peak, while the famous Orion Nebula and the rest of Orion's sword are visible beyond the volcano's left slope. Also visible in the long duration sky image are the Horsehead Nebula, seen as a dark indentation on the red emission nebula to the belt's left, and the Flame Nebula, evident just above and to the right of the Horsehead. via NASA http://ift.tt/1LTXjvg

CASIS Is Not The Best Way To Use a Space Station

"As for CASIS' media prowess, their claims know no bounds and often make no sense. On page 13/14 of their 2015 Annual Report CASIS makes absurd claims with no explanation whatsoever - such as claiming that their 4th annual...

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NASA Awards Information Technology Services Contract

NASA has awarded an Information Technology Services (ITS) contract to SaiTech, Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland, for provision of a wide range of IT services to be performed at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

March 28, 2016
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Significant Command and Control System Problems for SLS and Orion

NASA OIG Audit of the Spaceport Command and Control System for SLS and Orion "The SCCS development effort has significantly exceeded initial cost and schedule estimates. Compared to fiscal year 2012 projections, development costs have increased approximately 77 percent to...

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Psychedelic Stroboscopic Easter Eggs

Via Laughing Squid and Evil Mad Scientist, I saw this fantastic video made by Jiri Zemanek from Czech Technical University; it shows patterns dancing on Easter Eggs seemingly by magic. Watch:

How is this possible?

I’ve described this effect before. Video is an illusion; it’s really a series of still images that are shown so rapidly our eyes and brain interpret them as continuous motion. If you can time some sort of motion correctly, you can trick the camera (and the viewer) into seeing motion that isn’t really there. It’s why you sometimes see car wheels apparently spinning backwards in TV shows. Really the wheel is making almost one complete turn between video frames, so when you play the video back it looks like the wheel is rotating the wrong way.

In the case of eggs, patterns are drawn on the eggshell such that spinning the egg causes the same sort of beating with the video frame rate. A simple case would be to draw a series of dots around an egg forming a tilted circle around it. If you spin the egg such that the next dot comes into view just as the camera takes a video frame, it’ll appear that the dot moves up and down. With time.

In the video the patterns are substantially more complicated, but the principle is the same. They were drawn using Egg-Bot, an open-source art robot, which you can buy at that link (and the Electro-Kista, which you can also get online). Very cool.

Of course, you can also decorate eggs in a new version of the old-fashioned way like my friend Jenny did. That’s cool too. Either way, you have 364 days to think about it.



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Simulated Atmosphere of a Hot Gas Giant


The turbulent atmosphere of a hot, gaseous planet known as HD 80606b is shown in this simulation based on data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.Spitzer measured the whole heating cycle of this planet, determining its coolest (less than 400 degrees Fahrenheit) and hottest (2,000 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures. via NASA http://ift.tt/22HDjDz

20 Years Ago Today: The Seeds of NASAWatch

Keith's note: NASA Watch officially turns 20 on Friday, 1 April. It started in 1996 as "NASA RIF Watch". The "RIF" was dropped when the threat of a RIF (Reduction in Force) under NASA Administrator Dan Goldin subsided. This...

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Trump’s Faith in Denial

First, off, I know: Dissecting anything Trump says is like digging a hole in water. If you debunk one sentence, another one comes to fill in the hole. It’s pretty clear that he’ll say anything — and I do mean anything (warning: clicking that will make your brain barf) — as long as it’s red meat to his audience*.

Still, he’s the GOP front-runner, and that means he has to deny climate science. That’s as de rigueur for the party as Muslim bashing these days, so it’s not even a question that he’ll do that.

Whereas more skilled — but still dead wrong — politicians like Ted Cruz and Lamar Smith are familiar with the science (the better to deny it), Trump’s handle on it appears to be covered in butter. He just seems to be against climate science for some reason. Those reasons are unclear.

He recently did an interview with The Washington Post’s editorial board, and was asked about climate change. This disaster ensued:

HIATT: Last one: You think climate change is a real thing? Is there human-caused climate change?
TRUMP: I think there’s a change in weather. I am not a great believer in man-made climate change. I’m not a great believer. There is certainly a change in weather that goes – if you look, they had global cooling in the 1920s and now they have global warming, although now they don’t know if they have global warming. They call it all sorts of different things; now they’re using “extreme weather” I guess more than any other phrase. I am not – I know it hurts me with this room, and I know it’s probably a killer with this room – but I am not a believer. Perhaps there’s a minor effect, but I’m not a big believer in man-made climate change.

It’s tempting, instead of picking apart this Gordian knot of nonsense, to employ Solomon’s solution and cut it in half, simply saying, “Trump is wrong about everything.”

Still, a quickie debunking of this bag of fertilizer might be handy at family gatherings:

First: Weather isn’t climate. You can’t disprove global warming because it got cold out one day. As the great Stephen Colbert put it:

Remember, weather is your mood; climate is your personality.

Second: Global warming is happening whether or not you believe in it. Science isn’t faith based. And the fact that humans are causing it is just that: a fact.

Third: There was no cooling in the 1920s; in fact that was the start of a multi-decadal warming trend that lasted until just after World War II (followed by a brief cooling trend, possibly due to increased aerosols dimming incoming sunlight together with some pretty big volcanic eruptions which did the same thing).

There was a cooling trend from 1900 to 1910 or so, which may have been natural cycling of global temperatures. That happens. But when you look at the data from 1975 to now, the trend is obvious. The natural cycles are being overwhelmed by human-induced global warming.

Fourth: No one is “using ‘extreme weather’” instead of global warming. That’s like calling a sore throat a virus. The latter causes the former. In fact, you could say it this way: Global warming is causing climate change which is increasing the instances and severity of extreme weather.

Also, the idea of using the term “climate change” instead of “global warming” was a GOP strategy in the first place. When Republicans talk about scientists changing the term global warming to climate change it makes my irony gland explode.

OK, so when it comes to climate science Trump is the wrongiest wrong of wrongness. But wait! He can be wronger! Here’s the next exchange with The Washington Post editorial board:

STROMBERG: Don’t good businessmen hedge against risks, not ignore them?
TRUMP: Well I just think we have much bigger risks. I mean I think we have militarily tremendous risks. I think we’re in tremendous peril. I think our biggest form of climate change we should worry about is nuclear weapons. The biggest risk to the world, to me – I know President Obama thought it was climate change – to me the biggest risk is nuclear weapons. That’s – that is climate change. That is a disaster, and we don’t even know where the nuclear weapons are right now. We don’t know who has them. We don’t know who’s trying to get them. The biggest risk for this world and this country is nuclear weapons, the power of nuclear weapons.

“Militarily tremendous risks”? I wonder if he asked, y’know, the military about that?

Because they would have told him that climate change is a serious threat to national security. So is climate change denial.

I’ll agree with Trump that nuclear weapons are a clear danger, because duh — and his point that we don’t know where they all are is arguably valid — but that risk is a potential one. Climate change is real, it’s now, and it’s more than a risk. It’s a direct threat.

We need a leader who understands this, and one who relies on the experts’ opinions instead of making one up.

Don’t forget Trump said this:

When caught out on how ridiculous a claim this was, he tried to pass this off as a joke. I’m not buying it.

We shouldn’t buy anything he — or any of the GOP candidates — is selling. 

* And just as an aside, it really bugs me when people start off a comment about him with, “Trump wants to …” No. Stop. What’s really happening is Trump says he wants to do something. Does he really want to build a wall, throw out Muslims, or whatever outrageous thing flits into his brain? We don’t know. He lies as glibly and easily as he declares bankruptcy.

Who understands anything, actually.



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2016年3月27日 星期日

NGC 6357: Cathedral to Massive Stars


How massive can a normal star be? Estimates made from distance, brightness and standard solar models had given one star in the open cluster Pismis 24 over 200 times the mass of our Sun, making it one of the most massive stars known. This star is the brightest object located just above the gas front in the featured image. Close inspection of images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, however, have shown that Pismis 24-1 derives its brilliant luminosity not from a single star but from three at least. Component stars would still remain near 100 solar masses, making them among the more massive stars currently on record. Toward the bottom of the image, stars are still forming in the associated emission nebula NGC 6357. Appearing perhaps like a Gothic cathedral, energetic stars near the center appear to be breaking out and illuminating a spectacular cocoon. via NASA http://ift.tt/22ENYyP

The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth. The Rest of Us ...

Neil deGrasse Tyson: 'The delusion is thinking that SpaceX is going to lead the space frontier The Verge Neil deGrasse Tyson to Elon Musk: SpaceX Is "Delusional" About Mars, Motley Fool "In less than 10 years from now, SpaceX may...

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The Tribeca Film Festival Pulls Anti-Vax “Documentary”

The Tribeca Film Festival is an extremely popular New York-based event designed to showcase the city as a destination for independent movie-makers. That’s great, and I’m glad it exists and supports non-Hollywood creators. However, this year they almost made a massive mistake that would have hurt them—and very likely others—in the long run.

Until yesterday, they were planning on airing an anti-vaccination film almost guaranteed to be full of dangerous misinformation. The good news is, after facing pressure from the media and scientists, they made the right decision: They pulled it from their lineup, and my sincere thanks goes to them for doing so. But it’s worth discussing, because things like this have happened before, and no doubt will again.

The “documentary” is called Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, which right away gives you an idea of what it’s about. The trailer is available on the official film site, and it is loaded with anti-vax propaganda (they refused to provide screeners of the documentary to journalists). 

Moreover, the film was directed by Andrew Wakefield. Yes, that Wakefield, the de-listed and disgraced doctor who started the modern anti-vax movement. I’ll get to him in a moment.

Based on the trailer, it appears to focus on the claim that in 2014 a whistleblower in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) leaked information that there was a massive cover-up inside the agency about a purported connection between vaccines and autism.

This conspiracy theory lit up social networks, but there’s one problem: It’s baloney. It’s been debunked numerous times; Snopes.com has a good overview, and you can get details at Science-Based Medicine, Harpocrates Speaks, and in numerous articles by Orac at Respectful Insolence.

Let me be clear: This CDC conspiracy theory is on the level of the Apollo Moon hoax. It’s nonsense. But apparently the people behind Vaxxed think it’s real.

The Vaxxed trailer employs a lot of typical anti-vax rhetoric, for example confusing causation with correlation (that is, confusing timing with cause; children start showing signs of autism around the same time they get vaccinated, so anti-vaxxers assume that vaccines cause autism). It also features a laundry list of anti-vaxxers in it, including Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana), Rep. Bill Posey (R-Florida), Dr. Jim Sears, and MIT Senior Research Stephanie Seneff.

Again, let me be very, very clear: Vaccines don’t cause autism. Study after study after study shows this to be the case.

In other words, given what the trailer shows, this documentary is what comes out the south end of a north-facing bull.

And, amazingly, it gets worse. As I said, it was directed by Andrew Wakefield. If you need a reminder: This is a man who wrote the 1998 paper in The Lancet claiming to connect vaccines and autism… which was retracted by the journal when it was found that Wakefield acted unethically, even fraudulently. His license was revoked by the UK General Medical Council as a result of these actions. It turns out that at the time he was developing an alternative version of the MMR vaccine, so he was financially motivated to fear-monger the standard shot. And I do mean motivated: He stood to make tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars had he been successful. Then, once the fear took hold, vaccine rates dropped in the UK, and measles made a roaring comeback, he had the gall to try to shift the blame to the UK government for the outbreaks.

Yeah, quite a guy. So why the hell was Tribeca even thinking of showing anything created by this man?

It turns out it was due to Robert De Niro.

De Niro is a co-founder of the festival, and has an autistic son. At Respectful Insolence, Orac quotes from a letter he received from the Tribeca group:

I wanted to provide you with following statement from Robert De Niro, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, regarding Vaxxed at the Festival:

Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined. In the 15 years since the Tribeca Film Festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming. However this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening VAXXED. I am not personally endorsing the film, nor am I anti-vaccination; I am only providing the opportunity for a conversation around the issue.

I understand the need to have a discussion about this issue… but that discussion has already been held, many times, and the conclusion is clear: Wakefield is a quack (at best), and vaccines don’t cause autism.

My heart goes out to De Niro, and the love he has for his family is obvious. His desire to use this platform as a soapbox to get information out is laudable, but in this case it’s misinformation; what he’s doing is promoting an extraordinarily dangerous movement, one that most definitely is connected with outbreaks of harmful and potentially fatal infectious diseases. We’ve seen this over and again.

Worse still, a panel discussion planned for after the film screening was clearly biased toward anti-vaxxers, including reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who is an unwavering supporter of Wakefield even in the face of the tsunami of evidence against him.

Even with De Niro’s possibly well-intentioned desires, airing this film wouldn’t invoke “a discussion”. It would’ve been a tacit (and, given the panel after, overt) approval of a group of people who ignore overwhelming scientific evidence at the very real risk of peril to public health. The anti-vaccination movement is a direct threat to children too young to be vaccinated—some of whom die from these diseases—the elderly, and to the immunocompromised.

I love my family too, one of whom is immunocompromised. So to me, this is personal as well. That’s why my daughter, my wife, and I are fully vaccinated. We get our boosters on schedule, too.

So after all that, I’m very glad Tribeca decided to pull the film from the lineup. In doing so, De Niro said,

My intent in screening this film was to provide an opportunity for conversation around an issue that is deeply personal to me and my family. But after reviewing it over the past few days with the Tribeca Film Festival team and others from the scientific community, we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for.

Precisely right. And kudos to him for saying so.

[Note: I wrote the first draft of this article before Tribeca decided to pull the film, and most of the original article remains intact; I’ll note that De Niro says essentially what I did: This discussion about vaccines and autism is over.]

I’m sure the anti-vaxxers will moan and wail over free speech — they always do when someone decides not to air their nonsense — but it’s not a free speech issue at all. First, Tribeca is not the United States government, so the First Amendment doesn’t apply. They have full discretion over the films they choose. Second, the anti-vaxxers still have the ability to spread their message on social media and on the usual websites and TV shows, as dangerous as this is.

So we must remain vigilant. Anti-vaxxers buy space on billboards, they get airlines to air puff piece interviews on the in-flight TV (one that was eventually pulled as well), they get on TV talk shows (Katie Couric apologized for that, sort of). Their view is sympathetic: They want to help people, they have families they want to protect, they are mothers and fathers. But the bottom line is they’re wrong, and what they’re saying is dangerous.

I’m very happy Tribeca reconsidered this. They’ve done the right thing. Good on them.



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2016年3月26日 星期六

Sostice to Equinox Cubed


This 3 month long exposure packed the days from December 22, 2015 through March 20 into a box. Dubbed a solargraph, the unconventional, unfolded picture was recorded with a pinhole camera made from a cube-shaped container, its sides lined with photographic paper. Fixed to a single spot for the entire exposure, the simple camera recorded the Sun's path through Hungarian skies. Each day a glowing trail was burned into the photosensitive paper. From short and low, to long and high, the trails follow the progression from winter solstice to spring equinox. Of course, dark gaps in the daily sun trails are caused by cloud cover. Sunny days produce the more continuous bright tracks. via NASA http://ift.tt/1XUvcwF

We Can’t Live Without Cosmos 

We Can’t Live Without Cosmos is a sweet, short, Oscar-nominated animated film. It was written and directed by Konstantin Bronzit, and tells the tale of two men, constant friends, who apply for the Russian cosmonaut program.

The story is lovely, and I found myself laughing delightedly at the sheer joy unabashedly radiating from the two friends. That to me sets it apart from other stories of its kind.

I won’t spoil the ending. Just watch.

The story strikes me as being very Russian; it reminds me of several folk tales I read about years ago, when I became entranced by Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Understand the cruelty of the mindless Universe, accept it, but also find the joy and friendship in life. It’s not a stereotypical American way of seeing things, necessarily (overcome the obstacles, ingenuity and stick-to-itiveness will prevail!), but it’s one that still resonates with me.



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2016年3月25日 星期五

Close Comet and the Milky Way


Comet 252P/Linear's lovely greenish coma is easy to spot in this expansive southern skyscape. Visible to the naked eye from the dark site near Flinders, Victoria, Australia, the comet appears tailless. Still, its surprisingly bright coma spans about 1 degree, posed here below the nebulae, stars, and dark rifts of the Milky Way. The five panels used in the wide-field mosaic were captured after moonset and before morning twilight on March 21. That was less than 24 hours from the comet's closest approach, a mere 5.3 million kilometers from our fair planet. Sweeping quickly across the sky because it is so close to Earth, the comet should be spotted in the coming days by northern hemisphere comet watchers. In predawn but moonlit skies it will move through Sagittarius and Scorpius seen toward the southern horizon. That's near the triangle formed by bright, yellowish, Mars, Saturn, and Antares at the upper left of this frame. via NASA http://ift.tt/1MGkwf2

ISS Daily Summary Report – 03/25/16

Crew Off Duty: Today was a half duty day and Monday will be a full off duty day for the USOS crew. This is to pay the crew back for performing Cygnus operations this weekend.   Orbital 6 (OA-6): Kopra and Peake participated in a Cygnus rendezvous conference with ground teams to prepare for OA-6 capture tomorrow at 5:40AM CDT and berthing approximately 3 hours later.  Vehicle ingress and cargo transfer operations will occur on Sunday.   Education Payloads Operations (EPO) – AstroPi File Transfer and De-installation: Peake copied files from the AstroPi Micro standard definition card to an SSC for downlink prior to deinstalling AstroPi in Node 2. AstroPi is composed of RaspberryPi B+, Sense HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) and a camera module. Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that enables students to explore computing and learn how to program. Two AstroPi are on board: AstroPi Vis, with visible light camera, and AstroPi IR, with an infrared camera. Both AstroPi programs were written by the winners of a student competition and collect data from sensors (i.e., inertial movement, barometric pressure, relative humidity and temperature) which will be shared with schools.   Space Headaches: Peake completed his weekly Space Headaches questionnaire. Headaches can be a common complaint during spaceflight. The Space Headaches experiment will provide information that may help in the development of methods to alleviate associated symptoms and improvement in the well-being and performance of crew members in space.   Habitability Human Factors Directed Observations: Peake completed a session of the Habitability experiment by uploading the iSHORT app. He recorded and submitted a walk-through video documenting observations of an area or activity providing insight related to human factors and habitability. The Habitability investigation collects observations about the relationship between crew members and their environment on the ISS. Observations can help spacecraft designers understand how much habitable volume is required, and whether a mission’s duration impacts how much space crew members need.   Emergency Hardware Familiarization: Kopra and the 46S crew reviewed locations of equipment and positions of valves used in emergencies in both Russian and US segments. The crew conferred with ground teams at Mission Control Center (MCC) – Houston, MCC-Moscow, Columbus Control Center and JAXA Control Center during the review. They also practiced donning and purging emergency masks and demonstrated ability to communicate with the ground while wearing the masks.   Today’s Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. ISS crew and ГОГУ (RSA Flight Control Team) weekly conference r/g 1725 IMS Tagup (S-band) Removing two TV cameras СА1,2 and light units СГ2-14В from Soyuz 720 [CA]  (TV Cameras (2) to stowage in Soyuz 719 [БО] for return, light units – to Soyuz 720 [БО] for disposal) On MCC Go: ТА251М (ЛКТ4В2) Remove & Replace in SM r/g 1753 PILOT-T. Preparation for the experiment r/g 1760 EPO-ASTROPI – File Transfer EPO-ASTROPI – Hardware Removal PILOT-T. Experiment Ops. r/g 1760 Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation PILOT-T. Experiment Ops.  r/g 1761 Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation HABIT – Walkthrough Video Gathering  Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) and Vestibule Outfitting Kit Equipment Cygnus Cargo Operations Review Review of Cygnus Capture Day Key Reminders PILOT-T. Closeout Ops r/g 1761 VIZIR. Infrared Coordinate Reference System [СКП-И] service application file downlink r/g 1759 Cygnus – Docking Conference. ISS Emergency Hardware Familiarization OBT СОЖ Maintenance Ghost Camera Setup Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) Installation and Checkout Progress 429 (Aft) stowage for disposal and IMS Ops / r/g 1484, 1682 SHD – Weekly Questionnaire Emergency Mask OBT CALCIUM. Experiment Session 3 r/g 1758 Closure of SM window shutters 6,8,9,12,13,14 / r/g 6965 IMS Delta File Prep Cygnus – Cargo Operations Tagup Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation   Completed Task List Items None   Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Cygnus PROX GPSR data monitoring Cygnus rendezvous conference Nominal ground commanding   Three-Day Look Ahead: Saturday, 03/26: Cygnus capture/berth Sunday, 03/27: Cygnus ingress, cargo transfer ops Monday, 03/28: Crew 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 Conditioner System (“SKV2”) On Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Override Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Norm Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Full Up  

March 25, 2016 at 11:39PM
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Hillary Clintons Wants Area 51 Transparency (Slow News Day)

Hillary On Area 51 Secrets: 'I Think We Ought To Share It With The Public', Daily Caller "Hillary Clinton says barring any national security risk, she would like to open up the government files on Area 51 to the public...

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A Giant Martian Cone Defies the Wind

Mars is seriously pretty.

That shot, taken by the HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a towering cone-shaped hill in a sand dune field.

First of all, just take a moment to think about that. This is a photo of a weird geological feature in the middle of a field of blowing dunes on another planet.

That never, ever gets old.

I love the feel of this photo. The wind blows from the left, and flows around the unnamed dome. As it does, sand piles up on the windward side, and wraps around both sides of the dome. Because the wind is focused by the shape of the hill, it blows with some force behind it, strong enough to clear the sand away and reveal the rocky surface below. The craters and other features look sharp compared to the dunes themselves, which are sculpted into fantastic flowing shapes by the aeolian forces.

So just what is that dome? My first thought is that it was volcanic. That’s possible, but it’s hard to say. I talked to Ross Beyer, a planetary scientist who also writes captions for HiRISE images, including this one. He mentioned that there are other features poking up nearby, and none exhibit the dome’s striking circular symmetry.

Over time, hills poking up tend to be eroded by winds, and obviously winds are at work here. But the shape would be unusual; I’d expect it to be more teardrop-shaped, like a sandbar. That’s more typical of erosion from winds that come persistently from one direction. If you look at the dome’s flanks, you’ll see lots of striations, which indicate “mass wasting”: landslides. That makes it hard to say what the original shape of this hill was.

Beyer also said a lot of the features in this region are sedimentary sandstone. This is in a spot called Ganges Chasma, a deep canyon off one end of the monstrous Valles Marineris. Long ago, this whole area was under water — Ganges Chasma probably formed from catastrophic flooding — and the floor is deposited sandstone (where I live in Colorado has a similar but somewhat more gentle history). Then the water dried up, the winds picked up, and erosion began.

Beyer noted the dome seems to have a cap on it; that could be tougher rock that resists erosion, which may have helped shaped this feature. That reminds me of hoodoos, those weird cylindrical spires in Arizona you’ve seen pictures of a million times in (think any background in a Road Runner cartoon).

Whatever it is, it’s pretty old. It has craters on its flanks, which means it’s been around long enough to get hit a few times by small asteroids. Tens of millions of years, I’d wager, at the very least. Probably a whole lot older than that.

This image has quickly become one of my favorites, just for its sheer beauty. I love the contrast of liquid softness and literally imposing rock. The theme of symmetry runs strong as well.

Oh, Mars. We may never know what this feature is until we go there and poke at it with a geologist’s hammer. The list of Martian geologic formations that need such treatment is long indeed. I wonder if, generations hence, some young person will stand on the apex of this hill, look around, and wonder when this view was first discovered…



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Hubble Looks Into a Cosmic Kaleidoscope


This cosmic kaleidoscope of purple, blue and pink marks the site of two colliding galaxy clusters. via NASA http://ift.tt/22KovR5

ISS Daily Summary Report – 03/24/16

USOS Crew Half Duty Day: Today and tomorrow are half-duty days for the USOS crew. They will spend this weekend performing Cygnus operations including vehicle capture and berthing Saturday and ingress and cargo transfer operations on Sunday. Monday will be a full off duty day for the crew. Multi-Omics Saliva Operations: Peake continued support of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Multi-Omics investigation by collecting body samples this morning and inserting them in a Minus Eight-degree Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The Multi-Omics investigation evaluates the impacts of space environment and prebiotics on astronauts’ immune function, by combining the data obtained from the measurements of changes in the gut microbiological composition, metabolites profiles, and the immune system. Habitability Human Factors Post Questionnaire PI Conference: Kopra and Peake configured the INT-P Camcorder to participate in the live video downlink of Habitability and Human Factors post-Questionnaire PI Conference. The investigation collects observations about the relationship between crew members and their environment on the ISS. Observations can help spacecraft designers understand how much habitable volume is required, and whether a mission’s duration impacts how much space crew members need. On-Board Training (OBT) Cygnus Capture: The USOS crew members completed another practice session in preparation for Cygnus capture on Saturday. They performed three Capture Point hold runs and two meter runs.  Today’s Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Multi Omics (MO) – Saliva Sample Collection Multi Omics (MO) – Sample Insertion into MELFI Multi Omics (MO) – Equipment Stowage Multi Omics (MO) – Questionnaire Daily Planning Conference (S-band) Video Footage of Greetings / r/g 1752 CARDIOVECTOR. Experiment Ops r/g 1734 OTKLIK. Hardware Monitoring / r/g 1588 CARDIOVECTOR. Photography of the Experiment Ops / r/g 1735 IDENTIFICATION. Copy ИМУ-Ц micro-accelerometer data to laptop / r/g 1589 MOTOCARD. Experiment Ops r/g 1742 MOTOCARD. Operator Assistance with the Experiment / r/g 1743 Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation Soyuz 720 Transfers and IMS Ops / r/g 1691 СОЖ Maintenance HABIT – Adjusting camcorder and conducting conference PAO Hardware Setup Crew Prep for PAO Counter Measure System (CMS) Harmful Contaminant Measurements in SM – Handover / r/g 1737 Counter Measure System (CMS) Harmful Contaminant Measurements in SM / r/g 1737 PAO Event Analysis of SM Atmosphere for Freon Using Freon Leak Analyzer/Detector (ФИТ) – Handover r/g 1751 HABIT – Conference Ops On-board Training (OBT) Cygnus Rendezvous Review Soyuz 720 Transfers and IMS Ops / r/g 1691 On MCC GO ISS О2 Repress from Progress 429 (Aft) Cleaning FGB ЦВ1 Circulation Fan Screens On MCC GO De-installation of ЛКТ1В3 in Progress 429 r/g 1753 OBT – ROBoT onboard simulator – Session 2 Selection of Personal Hygiene Article for Priority Use / r/g 1754 Preparing for ТА251М (ЛКТ4В2) Replacement. r/g 1753 Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation CONTENT. Experiment Ops / r/g 1736 TORU Test with Docked Progress 429 (SM Aft) r/g 1749 Camcorder Setup to View LAB RWS Monitor 3 Crew conference with Astronaut Office Flight Director / ISS Crew Tagup Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation COGNITION – Experiment Ops Completed Task List Items None Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. OBT RoBOT support Nominal ground commanding Three-Day Look Ahead: Friday, 03/25: Cygnus capture review/rendezvous conference, OBT ISS emergency hardware familiarization Saturday, 03/26: Cygnus capture/berth Sunday, 03/27: Cygnus ingress, cargo transfer ops QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:                               Component Status Elektron Off Vozdukh Manual [СКВ] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) Off [СКВ] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) On Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Override Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Norm Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Full Up

March 25, 2016 at 12:50AM
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2016年3月24日 星期四

Hickson 91 in Piscis Austrinus


Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies, now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs). This sharp telescopic image captures one such galaxy group, HCG 91, in beautiful detail. The group's three colorful spiral galaxies at the center of the field of view are locked in a gravitational tug of war, their interactions producing faint but visible tidal tails over 100,000 light-years long. Their close encounters trigger furious star formation. On a cosmic timescale the result will be a merger into a large single galaxy, a process now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. HCG 91 lies about 320 million light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. But the impressively deep image also catches evidence of fainter tidal tails and galaxy interactions close to 2 billion light-years distant. via NASA http://ift.tt/1T7z7XN

Media Invited to See NASA's Green Propulsion Spacecraft

Media are invited to see a NASA spacecraft that is safer on the ground and more efficient in space during a tour March 31 at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, showcasing NASA's Green Propulsion Infusion Mission (GPIM).

March 24, 2016
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Photos of Commercial Launches From CCAFS Are Forbidden Without Written Permission

Keith's note: According to KSC Daily News for Thursday, March 24, 2016 it looks like you now need formal (that usually means written) permission from some unidentified "appropriate approval authority" at CCAFS to take pictures of "commercial launch sites,...

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Russian Space Station Cargo Ship Launch, Docking to Air on NASA TV

NASA Television will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of an unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress 63P, to resupply the International Space Station.

March 24, 2016
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Alluvial Fans in Saheki Crater, Mars


Alluvial fans are gently-sloping wedges of sediments deposited by flowing water. Some of the best-preserved alluvial fans on Mars are in Saheki Crater, an area that has been imaged many times previously. via NASA http://ift.tt/1UKgLwX

Clouds and haze and dust, oh my!

What types of aerosols do we find in the atmospheres around the Solar System, and why does what we call them—clouds vs. haze vs. dust—matter? Sarah Hörst explains.

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NASA Highlights Array of Experiments Launching on Next SpaceX Cargo Mission

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, March 28, to discuss cutting edge science investigations launching aboard the upcoming SpaceX commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station.

March 24, 2016
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ISS Daily Summary Report – 03/23/16

Orbital 6 (OA-6) Launch: Cygnus launched successfully last night at 10:05PM CDT. Capture is scheduled for 5:40AM CDT this Saturday with vehicle ingress on Sunday and the beginning of cargo transfer operations. Robonaut Troubleshooting: Kopra set up a camcorder to capture standard definition video downlinks of Robonaut operations in the US Lab. He used the oscilloscope, multimeter and current probe to help guide ground teams with this troubleshooting by disengaging the controller card and successfully powering Robonaut without the controller card. The data collected from today’s activity will be analyzed by the ground to determine the cause of the fault in the power supply. Robonaut is a humanoid robot designed with the versatility and dexterity to manipulate hardware, work in high risk environments, and respond safely to unexpected obstacles. Robonaut is comprised of a torso with two arms and a head, and two legs with end effectors that enable the robot to translate inside the ISS by interfacing with handrails and seat track. In the future, it will perform tasks both inside and outside the ISS. The Robonaut Teleoperations System enables Robonaut to mimic the motions of a crewmember wearing specialized gloves, a vest and a visor providing a three-dimensional view through Robonaut’s eyes. Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, and Experimental Satellites (SPHERES): Peake set up the EXPRESS Laptop Computer (ELC) and SPHERES work area and loaded the SPHERES and Avionics Stack with test session specific programs before beginning a test run. After completing the test session, Peake downloaded the data and disassembled the SPHERES and Docking Port hardware before re-assembling the Vertigo Goggles. SPHERES are bowling-ball sized spherical satellites that will be used inside the ISS to test a set of well-defined instructions for spacecraft performing autonomous rendezvous and docking maneuvers. Three free-flying spheres will fly in the cabin of the ISS, performing flight formations. Each satellite is self-contained with power, propulsion, computers and navigation equipment. The results are important for satellite servicing, vehicle assembly and formation flying spacecraft configurations. Space Automated Bioproduct Lab 1 (SABL1) Locker Troubleshooting: SABL was to undergo a two week checkout of the new facility in the Lab but the SABL hardware was powered off after the hardware temperature rose beyond the nominal range. Today Williams set up the XF305 Camcorder and removed SABL1 from the EXPRESS Rack 8 (ER8). He successfully repaired a dent in the inlet screen, then powered up SABL1 outside the ER to verify nominal fan/screen operation. SABL1 was re-installed in the ER and both SABL1 and 2 were powered on. The Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Quick Disconnect (QD) leaked during installation of SABL2, but stopped after the crew tightened it during their operations today. SABL is required for use with the Micro-10 investigation that has hardware arriving on SpX-8. SABL supports a wide variety of experiments in the life, physical and material sciences with a focus on supporting research of biological systems and processes. It is capable of supporting life science research on microorganisms, small organisms, animal cells, tissue cultures and small plants. Manufacturing Device – Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) Locker Preparation: In preparation for the Manufacturing Device that arrives on OA-6, Williams removed the ER locker, installed the vent closeout panel, and completed the Solid State Power Control Module (SSPCM) Access hole gray tape installation. The AMF enables the production of components on the ISS for both NASA and commercial objectives. Parts, entire experiments, and tools can be created on demand utilizing the AMF. It is also capable of producing parts out of a wide variety of thermopolymers including engineered plastics. OA-6 Arrival Preparations: In preparation for OA-6 arrival scheduled for this Saturday, the crew completed the following: On-Board Training (OBT) Cygnus Vehicle Operations: The USOS crew members reviewed training materials covering Cygnus attached phase operations. The review included an overview of Cygnus hardware, stowage and attached phase configuration. Node 3 (N3) Cleanup: Williams removed items from N3 and relocated to the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) in preparation for OA-6 and SpX-8 arrival. Today’s Planned Activities All activities are on schedule unless otherwise noted. МО-8. Configuration Setup МО-8. Body Mass Measurement r/g 1729 МО-8. Closeout Ops Video Downlink End SPHERES – Battery Replacement ROBONAUT – Installation of camcorder for EPO video WRS Maintenance Faulty Operation of CPCI Robonaut. Removal of GoPro cameras in Soyuz 720. Transfer of Video to Hard Drive Filling (separation) of EDV (KOV) for Elektron or EDV-SV MD – Setup Ops SPHERES – Data Export COSMOCARD. Closeout Ops r/g 1716 WRS Maintenance СОЖ Maintenance SPHERES – Camera Setup and Video Recording CARDIOVECTOR. Experiment Ops r/g 1730 Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation CARDIOVECTOR. Photography of the Experiment Ops / r/g 1731 Collect SM and FGB Air Samples Using АК-1М Sampler r/g 1732 SPHERES – Battery Stowage Soyuz 720 Transfers and IMS Ops / r/g 1691 SPHERES – Running Tests UDOD. Experiment Ops using DYKNANIYE-1 and SPRUT-2 Sets r/g 1744 UDOD. Photography of the Experiment Ops / r/g 1745 Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation DOSETRK – Software Update Terminating charge of Soyuz 720 GoPro HERO3 Camcorder battery pair 1 and initiating charge of pair 2 DOSETRK – iPad configuration R2 – Hardware Deactivation and Stowage Familiarization with Auxiliary Computer System [ВКС] r/g 1740, 1741 DOSETRK – Data Export Station Support Computer (SSC) System Log-in SPHERES – Data Export Space Automated Bioproduct Lab 1 (SABL1) Locker Troubleshooting Crew time for ISS adaptation and orientation CALCIUM. Experiment Session 2 r/g 1733 DOSETRK – Data Export Progress 429 (Aft) Stowage and IMS Ops / r/g 1682, 1484 HABIT – Video of the Experiment [Deferred] Stow Earlier Installed Formaldehyde Monitoring Kit (FMK) Terminating charge of Soyuz 720 GoPro HERO3 Camcorder battery pair 2 Cygnus Ops Review GoPro cameras stowage in Soyuz 720 Verify ИП-1 sensor position – Handover / SM Pressure Control & Atmosphere Monitoring System Verification of ИП-1 Flow Sensor Position / SM Pressure Control & Atmosphere Monitoring System Multi Omics (MO) – Saliva collection equipment setup MERLIN Desiccant Swap N3 Cleanup CONTENT. Experiment Ops […]

March 24, 2016 at 12:36AM
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Red Canaries

I recently posted some very pretty natural color images taken by the new Earth-observing satellite Sentinel-3A, a European bird designed to watch over our changing climate and environment.

But its fleet of detectors also takes data in parts of the electromagnetic spectrum our eyes cannot see, like infrared. Check out the image at the top of this post: It shows the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco, verdant jungle islands that are vividly green.

… except here they look red! Why?

Displaying color images is fun. In general, you start with three images taken using three filters — say, one each that lets through blue, green, and red light — and then add them together using software. You can choose how to display each filtered image; to make a “natural color” photo (like the way our eye would see the scene) you make green look green (pick the green channel in the software), blue blue, and red red.

But when you have an image that uses infrared or some other “invisible” color, you can pick how you want to show it. Usually the images are displayed in chromatic order, so the one with the longest wavelengths is shown as red, the shortest as blue, and the one in the middle green.

That’s how the Canary Islands image above was displayed. As it happens, in the near-infrared, vegetation is highly reflective, way more even than for green light. So when you add in the near-IR image, plants look very red. Water red and IR light, so it looks darker and bluer than usual. Sand is more reflective at redder wavelengths but still reflects well in the green, so it looks yellowish. Clouds reflect everything, so they just look white.

Neat, eh? You may think Canaries are yellow, but clearly they can also be red. Or green*.

But there’s more! North of the Canaries is Madeira, another volcanic island which can be seen in the original, full-size image from Sentinel-3A. Madeira rises just under 2000 meters above the ocean surface, enough to affect air flow. Winds from the northeast blew past it during the time Sentinel-3B took this shot, creating a bow wave around the island and a clear spot downwind, and lovely if broken-up von Kármán vortices (fish-tail disturbances in the flow; seriously, click that link because they are so very, very cool), too.

Images like these are important so scientists can keep track of vegetation growth and die-off, of course. But I can use them to show you a world you literally can’t sen otherwise, something I love to do. I like it when everyone wins.

* I’m making a pun here. Canary birds are yellow, but the island group is actually named after dogs, the Latin for which is Canis.



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