Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

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Mars Human Exploration and Habitat Visualization

I was poking around on the NASA website looking for something entirely different (Pictures of Pluto and Charon), when I stumbled across a page entitled Where on Mars Might Humans First Land? The very detailed and impressive video above is also embedded in that page which describes potential areas of human exploration of the red planet.

The NASA webpage referenced above describes how Exploration Zones (EZ) will be selected and implemented on Mars:

While it is too early to identify where the first humans will land exactly, they will land in a pre-designated EZ, and begin building the infrastructure to support human life on Mars. New orbital and surface data from the Red Planet, contributions from our partners and advances in space exploration capabilities over the next several years will ultimately determine the exact configuration of the first human landing site(s).

Based on current studies in hardware and operations necessary for a sustainable human presence on Mars, the animation [above] represents work of the Human Spaceflight Architecture Team’s Evolvable Mars Campaign. It illustrates just one of many potential concepts for how an EZ might evolve over the course of multiple human and automated cargo missions spanning upwards of two decades.

The video above has no oral narration, but animated graphics appear designating the various features of an EZ. It is worth your time to watch the under-seven-minute video if you’re a space exploration junkie like me.

As an aside, I have bookmarked another Mars exploration site, Explore Mars Now, which features an interactive exploration habitat a bit different than in the video. Both are well-done.

I hope that I live long enough to see the first stages of human exploration of the Martian surface, but as the article describes the timeframe, it will be decades before anything comes to fruition.

05 Jan 2016 by Aerospace Rocket Science

First Color Image of the Pluto/Charon System

nh-first-pluto-charon-color-image.jpg

NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto released this image yesterday of planet Pluto and it’s satellite Charon. The distance between the imaging spacecraft and the two objects was about 71 million miles when this photo was taken.

At first glance, the colors appear to be quite close to those depicted in space artist Dan Durda’s 2001 illustration (commissioned by NASA) of the planetary system panorama seen here. The reddish color of Pluto is brighter than its grayish companion. Click on the image to enlarge.

New Horizons at Pluto

NASA Press Release:

First Pluto-Charon Color Image from New Horizons

This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on April 9 and downlinked to Earth the following day. It is the first color image ever made of the Pluto system by a spacecraft on approach. The image is a preliminary reconstruction, which will be refined later by the New Horizons science team. Clearly visible are both Pluto and the Texas-sized Charon. The image was made from a distance of about 71 million miles (115 million kilometers)—roughly the distance from the Sun to Venus. At this distance, neither Pluto nor Charon is well resolved by the color imager, but their distinctly different appearances can be seen. As New Horizons approaches its flyby of Pluto on July 14, it will deliver color images that eventually show surface features as small as a few miles across.

Some of us have been waiting for fifteen years to see the images from New Horizons. We’re looking forward to seeing more as the spacecraft looms closer.

15 Apr 2015 by Aerospace Astronomy Rocket Science Technobabble

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

Mars Science Laboratory – Curiosity Rover

Curiosity RoverOn August 5, 2012, The Curiosity Rover landed on Mars for its two-year-long mission to look for signs of life on the red planet. Curiosity was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet’s “habitability.”

This image was featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day yesterday, but at a much larger and higher resolution. The composite image was constructed from 55 different images wherein the robotic arm holding the camera was digitally removed, making it appear as if it weren’t a self-portrait. Click on the image to enlarge.

To find out about the possibility of life (past or present), the rover carries the biggest, most advanced suite of instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the martian surface. The rover will analyze samples scooped from the soil and drilled from rocks. The record of the planet’s climate and geology is essentially “written in the rocks and soil” — in their formation, structure, and chemical composition. The rover’s onboard laboratory will study rocks, soils, and the local geologic setting in order to detect chemical building blocks of life (e.g., forms of carbon) on Mars and will assess what the martian environment was like in the past.

Portions of the description above, came from the Mars Science Laboratory Overview website.

28 Dec 2012 by Aerospace Rocket Science Technobabble

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