Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Aerospace

ISS Pass at Dusk

ISS Pass at Dusk

I’m just getting around to posting about the International Space Station (ISS) passing over the Arizona High Desert last week. It was a pretty good pass, the ISS being visible almost from the west horizon to the southeast horizon. The maximum elevation above the horizon for this pass was 78°.

We use the on-line SpaceWeather.com satellite flybys tracker to predict when a suitable satellite pass will occur. We use the filter function to display only the ISS, since those are usually the most dramatic flyovers.

The remarkable thing about the photo is that I candidly snapped the flyover using my less-than-optimum pocket camera, a Canon PowerShot A1400, and got this relatively good image of the ISS as it passed high over the parapets of our little house. Click on the image to enlarge.

07 Nov 2014 by Aerospace Arizona Photography

A Personal History

Planner

I attended a time management seminar as a requisite to becoming a senior technical group leader when I worked in the aerospace industry in 1991. The seminar was based on the popular Franklin Planner organizing tools.

For over fifteen years, I faithfully recorded notes, personal and vocational goals in my planner. I retained the records in binders, one for each year I used the system. I was organized, believe me.

As we cleaned out the old stuff from the house in California after completing the sale, I elected to bring my volumes of planner with us to Arizona, so I could review, and dispose of the old notes as appropriate.

There were a lot of important events I recorded. I looked in the initial 1991 volume today and found the page where my first grandchild was born. That was the granddaughter who just recently gave birth to my first great grandson last month.

It will be conflicting to me, but, since we don’t really have a place to store them, I will probably gather them up and have them shredded. Way too much personal and potentially dangerous (i.e. identity theft) information. Nothing too incriminating . . . 😉

07 Oct 2014 by Aerospace California Retirement

Observing ISS Passes Overhead

ISS

For the last couple of days, we have been getting overhead passes of the International Space Station suitable for observing at dusk or a little after. The satellite tracker from SpaceWeather.com allows us to input a zip code and it will return a listing of satellite passes observable from the location selected. The tracker has the option of selecting a subset of satellites and in our case, we selected passes from the ISS since they are usually more dramatic and bright as compared to most other orbiting objects.

Last night and tonight, we had very good passes and, weather permitting, we should have two more, tomorrow and Monday evening observable overflights. In the image above, I halfheartedly snapped a photo of Friday night’s pass of the ISS and damned if it didn’t show up when I downloaded it to the computer. Click on the image to enlarge.

UPDATE (08/24/2014): Damsel and I went out again this evening to see the overflight of the ISS. We saw it, alright, but the display of stars and the Milky Way dominated the night sky. As the ISS flew from west-northwest toward the southeast, it encountered Arcturus, the constellation Scorpio and then winked out across the terminator as it entered the Milky Way. What a spectacle! We love our dark desert skies!

23 Aug 2014 by Aerospace Arizona Rocket Science Something Shiny

ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment

Southeast Asia

This is an interesting thing to watch live streaming from the International Space Station. It is a high definition view of the Earth below taken from one of four HD cameras aboard the ISS. I screen captured the image above of somewhere over Southeast Asia as the ISS sailed off to the south pacific. Read the entire description of the experiment at APOD.

This is a good site to find out the current location of the ISS. Click on the image to enlarge.

UPDATE: I watched the streaming video as the ISS approached the terminator and was surprised to see the full moon rising in the distance.

Full Moon Rising

UPDATE II: This is looking back at the setting moon at about 1815UTC 5/16/2014 as the ISS passed into western Canada.

Moonset

Click on the images to enlarge.

14 May 2014 by Aerospace Astronomy Rocket Science

Mars Rover Opportunity Tenth Anniversary

Opportunity

Originally envisioned as a three-month Martian experiment, rover Opportunity managed to exceed its lifetime projection forty fold. I missed posting this yesterday, so here it is today.

From APOD and NASA:

On January 25 (UT) 2004, the Opportunity rover fell to Mars, making today the 10th anniversary of its landing. After more than 3,500 sols (Mars solar days) the golf cart-sized robot from Earth is still actively exploring the Red Planet, though its original mission plan was for three months. This self-portrait was made with Opportunity’s panoramic camera earlier this month. The camera’s supporting mast has been edited out of the image mosaic but its shadow is visible on the dusty solar panels arrayed across the rover’s deck. For comparison, a similar self-portrait from late 2004 is shown in the inset. Having driven some 39 kilometers (24 miles) from its landing site, Opportunity now rests at Solander Point at the rim of Endeavour Crater.

26 Jan 2014 by Aerospace Astronomy Rocket Science

Mars Rover Opportunity 10 Year Anniversary

opportunity.jpg

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the deployment of the Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Spirit has not been heard from for several years, but Opportunity keeps on chugin’ along. This is quite an achievement for JPL, NASA and the subcontractors that put these remarkable spacecraft together. Several years ago, Damsel and I visited JPL and took the tour that included the ground facilities for the rover program. It was quite impressive.

Here is an excerpt from Dr. Tony Phillips’ article about Opportunity:

Opportunity’s Improbable Anniversary

July 1, 2013: When NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity blasted off from Cape Canaveral in 2003, many onlookers expected a relatively short mission. Landing on Mars is risky business. The Red Planet has a long history of destroying spacecraft that attempt to visit it. Even if Opportunity did land safely, it was only designed for a 3-month mission on the hostile Martian surface.

Few, if any, imagined that Opportunity would still be roving the red sands of Mars–and still making discoveries–ten years later.

On July 7, 2013, Opportunity celebrates the 10th anniversary of its launch and more than 9 years on Mars.

07 Jul 2013 by Aerospace Rocket Science

Third Van Allen Radiation Belt Discovered

NASA’s twin Van Allen Probes, launched just last August, have revealed a previously unknown third radiation belt around Earth. Video and highlighted quote courtesy NASA.

Van Allen Probes Discover a New Radiation Belt

Previous observations of the Van Allen belts dating back to the late 1950s have documented two distinct regions of trapped radiation surrounding our planet, known as the inner and outer radiation belts. Particle sensors aboard the twin Van Allen Probes quickly revealed to scientists the existence of a transient, third radiation belt. Scientists observed the third belt for four weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the sun annihilated it.

What a surprise – the Sun modulates the Van Allen Belts.

01 Mar 2013 by Aerospace Environment Science

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