Armed with Science | Tag Archive

Saturday Space Sight: Curiosity Self-Portrait, Wide View

Filed under Photos, Space by jtozer on January 12, 2013 at 7:04 am {no comments}

On the 84th and 85th Martian days of the NASA Mars rover Curiosity’s mission on Mars (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 2012), NASA’s Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture dozens of high-resolution images to be combined into self-portrait images of the rover.

The mosaic shows the rover at “Rocknest,” the spot in Gale Crater where the mission’s first scoop sampling took place. Four scoop scars can be seen in the regolith in front of the rover. A fifth scoop was collected later.

Self-portraits like this one document the state of the rover and allow mission engineers to track changes over time, such as dust accumulation and wheel wear.

Due to its location on the end of the robotic arm, only MAHLI (among the rover’s 17 cameras) is able to image some parts of the craft, including the port-side wheels.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
From www.nasa.gov

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Saturday Space Sight: Ion Thruster Sets World Record

Filed under Photos, Space by jtozer on January 5, 2013 at 7:26 am {no comments}

While the Dawn spacecraft is visiting the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, NASA Glenn has been developing the next generation of ion thrusters for future missions. NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) Project has developed a 7-kilowatt ion thruster that can provide the capabilities needed in the future.

An ion thruster produces small levels of thrust relative to chemical thrusters, but does so at higher specific impulse (or higher exhaust velocities), which means that an ion thruster has a fuel efficiency of 10-12 times greater than a chemical thruster.

The higher the rocket’s specific impulse (fuel efficiency), the farther the spacecraft can go with a given amount of fuel.

Given that an ion thruster produces small levels of thrust relative to chemical thrusters, it needs to operate in excess of 10,000 hours to slowly accelerate the spacecraft to speeds necessary to reach the asteroid belt or beyond.

The NEXT ion thruster has been operated for over 43,000 hours, which for rocket scientists means that the thruster has processed over 770 kilograms of xenon propellant and can provide 30 million-newton-seconds of total impulse to the spacecraft. This demonstrated performance permits future science spacecraft to travel to varied destinations, such as extended tours of multi-asteroids, comets, and outer planets and their moons.

Image Credit: NASA

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Saturday Space Sight: Super Typhoon Bopha

Filed under Photos, Space by jtozer on December 15, 2012 at 7:53 am {no comments}

This still image of Super Typhoon Bopha was taken by Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford from the International Space Station, as the storm bore down on the Philippines with winds of 135 miles per hour.

Parts of the orbital outpost are seen in the picture – the Permanent Multipurpose Module on the left, and Mini-Research Module 1 on the right.

Image credit: NASA, from www.nasa.gov

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Air Force Discovers Secrets Of The Universe?

Filed under Space, STEM by jtozer on December 13, 2012 at 7:09 am {no comments}

This artist’ rendering – a timeline of the universe – shows a representation of the evolution of the universe over 13.7 billion years. (Photo courtesy of NASA/WMAP Science Team)

Looking skyward, scientists worldwide now know the universe’s size, composition, approximate age and rate of expansion, thanks in part to “essential” data derived from a time-sensitive test conducted at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex‘s (AEDC) Mark 1 Aerospace Space Chamber.

On June 30, 2001, a Delta II launch vehicle carried NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) on a mission to make fundamental measurements of cosmology – to literally study the properties of the entire universe.

Jim Burns, AEDC’s space chambers lead, said that the center’s efforts came to light in a recent article published by NASA.

“The solar arrays for NASA‘s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) were tested in Mark 1 during the late 1990s or early 2000,” Burns said. “NASA’s recent story regarding this particular project, like others we’ve supported with testing at AEDC during the 1990s and into this decade, shows the impact our work is having on research today.

“Many years, literally, can transpire between when this type of technology is conceived, developed, and tested at a place like AEDC and before the final mission payoff is realized.”

(more…)

Saturday Space Sight – Bridging Cities of Galaxies

Filed under Photos, Space by jtozer on December 8, 2012 at 7:41 am {no comments}

Planck has discovered a bridge of hot gas that connects galaxy clusters Abell 399 (lower center) and Abell 401 (top left). The galaxy pair is located about a billion light-years from Earth, and the gas bridge extends approximately 10 million light-years between them.

The image shows the two galaxy clusters as seen at optical wavelengths with ground-based telescopes and through the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect (in orange) with the Planck satellite.

Image credits: Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect: ESA Planck Collaboration; optical image: STScI Digitized Sky Survey
From www.nasa.gov

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National Guard Joins Mars Rover Team on Airdrop Problems

Filed under Space by jtozer on December 5, 2012 at 7:10 am {no comments}

From left, Col. Edward Black, Dr. Don Erbschloe and Dr. Adam Steltzner of NASA share ideas Nov. 6, 2012, at the AATTC in St. Joseph, Mo. Steltzner joined with Air Mobility experts from across the Air Force to consider problems in airdrops. (Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael Crane)

The phase lead and development manager for the Entry Descent and Landing on the Mars Science Laboratory Project met with Air Mobility experts from across the Air Force.

Dr. Adam Steltzner is among the top NASA engineers in the nation, and he was invited to the 139th Airlift Wing, Missouri Air National Guard Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center (AATTC) on Rosecrans Air National Guard Base to speak about airdrop missions during their annual Mobility Air Force Tactics Review Board.

His knowledge and accomplishments in airdrop are renowned. In August, he headed the team that successfully landed the Curiosity Rover on Mars.

Although worlds apart, Air Mobility officials believe that problem solving with NASA may help improve their airdrop missions on Earth, and vice versa.

“We were invited to come out and speak with the airdrop guys about our precision airdrop … a little bit different, a different planet, but it has some opportunities,” Steltzner said.

(more…)

Saturday Space Sight: A Nearby Stellar Cradle

Filed under Photos, Space by jtozer on December 1, 2012 at 7:22 am {no comments}

The Milky Way and other galaxies in the universe harbor many young star clusters and associations that each contain hundreds to thousands of hot, massive, young stars known as O and B stars.

The star cluster Cygnus OB2 contains more than 60 O-type stars and about a thousand B-type stars. Deep observations with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have been used to detect the X-ray emission from the hot outer atmospheres, or coronas, of young stars in the cluster and to probe how these fascinating star factories form and evolve.

About 1,700 X-ray sources were detected, including about 1,450 thought to be stars in the cluster. In this image, X-rays from Chandra (blue) have been combined with infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (red) and optical data from the Isaac Newton Telescope (orange).

Image provided by NASA

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Remote-Controlled Aircraft Work Hard for Science

Filed under STEM, Technology by jtozer on November 29, 2012 at 7:30 am {no comments}

Remote sensing technologies on airborne scientific missions have added new depth and dimension to scientific observation. Yet they come at a cost – literally. Flying data-gathering missions for scientists, land managers, and hazard-mitigation agencies can cost upward of $30,000 an hour.

The U.S. Geological Survey is leading a federal initiative to make this high-quality science less costly, more accessible, and more environmentally friendly by using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) developed for the U.S. military to survey remote areas, monitor wildlife populations, and gather data on potential hazards on federal lands throughout the United States.

Lance Brady of the US Bureau of Land Management launches a USGS Raven aircraft June 21, 2012 at Glines Dam/Lake Mills on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, Wash. Dr. Doug Clark of the Bureau of Reclamation, in background, looks on. USGS, Reclamation, BLM and other agencies are cooperating on science missions to study hydrology, sedimentation, revegetation and other issues relating to the removal of two dams on the Elwha.

The science missions yield peaceful civilian uses for past-generation military technology. A roadmap adopted by the Department of the Interior (DOI) in 2010 tasks the USGS with developing certification, pilot training and proof-of-concept UAS missions through 2014 for its own USGS science centers and on behalf of federal agencies including the Office of Surface Mining (OSM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Forest Service. DOI’s Office of Aviation Services (OAS) is charged with developing aircraft airworthiness and operator certification, including training.

USGS scientists and pilots are now monitoring feral animals and invasive vegetation in Hawaii,shoreline erosion on the Missouri River on behalf of the Lower Brule Sioux people in South Dakota, spotting underground mine fires in West Virginia, and tracking the population density of sandhill cranes in Colorado. The missions save several thousands of dollars over equivalent human missions and are far safer than low-flying conventional aircraft.

Based in Denver, the USGS Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office has conducted missions all over the United States. The planes and their operators are subject to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and DOIOAS rules and regulations.