Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Rocket Science

Space Monkeys

This is sort of a neat little gadget. It would be nice to have one of these handy for help around the house and garden too.

NASA – Limber Robot Might Hitchhike to Space

Lemurs, those wide-eyed, active, monkey-like animals running around the island in the movie “Madagascar,” are known for their ability to leap. A robotic lemur being tested at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory moves more slowly, but might someday take its own giant leap – by going into space with astronauts.

Image right: The crawling robot, Lemur

“Lemur,” short for the Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot, was originally conceived to help maintain future spacecraft and space stations. It weighs in at just 26 pounds (12 kilograms) and is small enough to hitch a ride on the space shuttle or NASA’s planned crew exploration vehicle.

“Lemur could be an astronaut’s pet monkey,” says JPL engineer Brett Kennedy, principal investigator for the robotic project. “It can perform tasks that are too small for astronauts to do easily. It’s built to get into the nooks and crannies of a structure.”

[more]

12 May 2006 by Aerospace Rocket Science

See Spot Run

The newly-spawned “Red Spot Jr.” Jovian storm system appears that it will overtake “Big Red” in early July. Note the “significant climate change” reference in the article.

From New Scientist:

Hubble watches Jupiter’s ‘Red Spot Races’

Hubble has sent back the clearest pictures yet of Jupiter’s new red spot.

The storm, dubbed “Red Spot Junior” is roughly half the diameter of the Great Red Spot, a huge storm that has churned away on Jupiter for at least 400 years – when humans first started observing the gas giant planet.

On 8 April 2006, the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys took new pictures of the baby storm, which was initially known as White Oval BA before it changed to the same salmon hue as the Great Red Spot (see “Jupiter opens a second red eye”) . The storm formed when three white oval storms merged between 1998 and 2000. Those white storms existed for about 60 years.

Image – NASA – Hubble photos of (top) Jupiter and (bottom) Red Jr.

The red colouring could come from material brought up from deeper within Jupiter’s atmosphere and then altered by the Sun’s radiation. If this is indeed what is happening, it may be a sign that the storm is intensifying.

The newly released images may give weight to the idea that Jupiter is in the middle of significant climate change. Temperatures at some latitudes could be changing by over 5°C, scientists suggest.

Another link to climate is that Red Spot Jr is forming at a latitude of 34° south. Theory has it that this is the where the transfer of heat from the equator to the pole grinds to a halt.

Hmmmmm. It must be all them Jovian SUVs trucking around beneath the clouds causing this colossal climate change.

Update: NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day has a nice close up picture showing Jupiter and both red spots.

04 May 2006 by Astronomy Environment Rocket Science

STS-1 Pilot Crippen Awarded Medal of Honor

I was very fortunate to have been on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards AFB on the day that Crippen and Young arrived on the lakebed in STS-1. The landing happened so quickly that I was astonished. From the twin sonic booms overhead to the touchdown on the lake seemed almost instantaneous — but I shall never forget it. I purchased a button from a lakebed entrepreneur that said “I SAW A SPACESHIP LAND ON EARTH.”I attached the button to my old cowboy hat that I wore in the desert sun. I still have that button somewhere . . .

Commander John Young received his award in 1981, and Crippen’s award was overdue in my opinion. Congratulations Bob Crippen!

NASA — First Shuttle Pilot Crippen Gets Congressional Space Medal of Honor

Former NASA astronaut Bob Crippen, pilot on the first space shuttle mission in 1981, has been honored with the nation’s highest award for spaceflight achievement, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Yesterday evening, at a gala celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle mission, Robert Crippen became the 28th astronaut in history to be awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

The surprise presentation by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin was made before the gathered audience at the National Air and Space Museum, including Crippen’s STS-1 commander and 1981 medal recipient John Young.

“This medal, awarded by the Congress of the United States, commemorates publicly what all of us who know Bob Crippen already understood: he is an authentic American hero,” said Griffin.

“It was such a surprise. I am totally overwhelmed,” said Crippen in a statement released after the ceremony. “Just look at the names of the people who are on the list. They are heroes in the truest sense of the word and I can’t believe someone would think to include me in such distinguished company. I’m so honored.”

The award commends astronauts whose efforts in space exemplify actions of tremendous benefit to mankind. The medal, which has also been given to astronauts who died in the line of duty, was last presented in 2004 to the crew of STS-107. The award was first given in 1978 to astronauts Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and posthumously to Virgil “Gus” Grissom.

27 Apr 2006 by Aerospace People Rocket Science

ACE in the Sky

Although extremely rare, auroras are occasionally seen in Southern California. I can recall a time when I saw the red glow in the northern sky from Palos Verdes Peninsula.

A space probe called Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), measures attributes of the solar wind. ACE is useful to forecast (short term – an hour or so) fluctuations in the solar wind that may cause power-grid outages and extraordinary auroras under the right conditions. SpaceWeather.com points out that there are no plans to replace this resource when it ceases to function. From SpaceWeather.com:

COMMENTS, PLEASE: NASA’s ACE spacecraft is almost four years past its intended lifetime. Although ACE measurements of the solar wind flowing past Earth are crucial to space weather forecasts, there is no plan to replace ACE when the craft ceases to function. NOAA is seeking public comment on this state of affairs. If you enjoy auroras, please let them know that ACE needs a successor.

The ACE Caltech Website has this additional information about ACE:

From a vantage point approximately 1/100 of the distance from the Earth to the Sun ACE performs measurements over a wide range of energy and nuclear mass, under all solar wind flow conditions and during both large and small particle events including solar flares. ACE provides near-real-time solar wind information over short time periods. When reporting space weather ACE can provide an advance warning (about one hour) of geomagnetic storms that can overload power grids, disrupt communications on Earth, and present a hazard to astronauts.

ACE orbits the [Lagrange] L1 libration point which is a point of Earth-Sun gravitational equilibrium about 1.5 million km from Earth and 148.5 million km from the Sun. With a semi-major axis of approximately 200,000 km the elliptical orbit affords ACE a prime view of the Sun and the galactic regions beyond. The spacecraft has enough propellant on board to maintain an orbit at L1 until ~2019.

25 Apr 2006 by Astronomy Rocket Science

Vandenberg Minotaur Lights

Because of rainclouds in our area, we missed this spectacular light show last evening. However, SpaceWeather.Com, published a couple of nice images of the light show.

Top: View from near Tucson, AZ – Bottom: View from Yucca Valley, CA
Photos from SpaceWeather.Com

From Spaceflight Now:

Six tiny satellites sped into space Friday evening aboard an ultra-fast rocket booster, beginning a five-year mission to examine Earth’s atmosphere and the underlying hints of climate change by employing a novel technique.

The $100 million COSMIC mission that partners the U.S. and Taiwan roared away from the wet and foggy Space Launch Complex 8 on the southern end of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:40 p.m. PDT (9:40 p.m. EDT; 0140 GMT).

The Orbital Sciences Minotaur rocket was gone in a flash, almost instantly disappearing from view of launch pad cameras. The liftoff was delayed an hour-and-a-half after an initial countdown attempt was aborted because of a problem with the system monitoring rocket data.

15 Apr 2006 by Aerospace Rocket Science

Magnetic Moondust

A while back, I referenced a story about moondust smelling like gunpowder. Now, it seems, moondust has magnetic properties as well. Each tiny grain of dust contains a few iron particles. The iron’s magnetic properties allow the smallest dust particles to be swept up by magnets. This is a key discovery for NASA engineers who want to return manned expeditions to the lunar surface where dust has plagued the seals of space suits and contaminated mineral samples and just about everything else. Even astronaut Gene Cernan was a moondust mess after a surface excursion (see picture).

NASA – Magnetic Moondust

April 4, 2006: Thirty-plus years ago on the moon, Apollo astronauts made an important discovery: Moondust can be a major nuisance. The fine powdery grit was everywhere and had a curious way of getting into things. Moondust plugged bolt holes, fouled tools, coated astronauts’ visors and abraded their gloves. Very often while working on the surface, they had to stop what they were doing to clean their cameras and equipment using large–and mostly ineffective–brushes.

Dealing with “the dust problem” is going to be a priority for the next generation of NASA explorers. But how? Professor Larry Taylor, director of the Planetary Geosciences Institute at the University of Tennessee, believes he has an answer: “Magnets.”

[read more]

05 Apr 2006 by Aerospace Rocket Science

Russian Satellite Disabled by Meteor?

A Russian communications satellite in geostationary orbit has apparently taken an “exceptionally rare” meteor impact. The spacecraft’s thermal control system malfunctioned as a result and prompted an attempt by ground controllers to deorbit the spacecraft. Were the satellite to completely fail on station causing the deorbit attempt to be unsuccessful, the residual “space junk” would render a valuable segment of geostationary orbit unusable for re-use for an indeterminate period of time. Available “slots” in the geostationary band are few these days due to high demand.

Don’t think that this is exclusively the Russians’ problem, since many western commercial and military interests vie for slots which are internationally allocated – for military applications, slots are required in view of every location on Earth. For technical reasons (beamwidth and selectivity), geostationary satellites can not be placed at intervals closer than every few degrees. This fact limits the number of satellites that may occupy slots in a thin band of space defined as exactly a specific geostationary distance from the planet and exactly over the equator.

From New Scientist:

Impact suspected for loss of Russian satellite

A Russian communications satellite appears to have been struck by “a sudden external impact”. Its operators say the extent of the damage caused means the satellite will be sent into “space disposal orbit”.

The Russian Satellite Communications Company’s (RSCC) Express-AM11 satellite ran into its trouble at 0341 Moscow time (0041 GMT) on 29 March. Telemetry from the craft indicates that the fluid circuit that is part of the satellite’s thermal control system depressurised very rapidly. Such damage leaves the spacecraft unable to prevent fluctuations in temperature that can cause electronics to fail.

An RSCC statement says that the satellite’s manufacturer, NPO-PM in Krasnoyarsky Krai, Russia, believes the depressurisation was triggered by an external impact on the spacecraft.

31 Mar 2006 by Aerospace Rocket Science

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