Space and Astronautics News

09/02/10: Tropical storm Fiona heads near Bermuda.

Space and Astronautics News — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:00:00 +0000

TROPICAL STORM FIONA ADVISORY NUMBER  12
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL     AL082010
1100 AM AST THU SEP 02 2010

...FIONA TURNS TO THE NORTH-NORTHWEST...TROPICAL STORM WARNING
ISSUED FOR BERMUDA...


SUMMARY OF 1100 AM AST...1500 UTC...INFORMATION
-----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...24.4N 65.8W
ABOUT 550 MI...885 KM S OF BERMUDA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...50 MPH...85 KM/HR
PRESENT MOVEMENT...NNW OR 330 DEGREES AT 17 MPH...28 KM/HR
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1002 MB...29.59 INCHES

GOES satellite image: visible wavelengths; credit: NOAA

GOES satellite image: infrared wavelengths; credit: NOAA

This graphic shows an approximate representation of coastal areas under a hurricane warning (red), hurricane watch (pink), tropical storm warning (blue) and tropical storm watch (yellow). The orange circle indicates the current position of the center of the tropical cyclone. The black line, when selected, and dots show the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast track of the center at the times indicated. The dot indicating the forecast center location will be black if the cyclone is forecast to be tropical and will be white with a black outline if the cyclone is forecast to be extratropical. If only an L is displayed, then the system is forecast to be a remnant low. The letter inside the dot indicates the NHC's forecast intensity for that time. Credit: NOAA

WATCHES AND WARNINGS
--------------------
CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY...

THE BERMUDA WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR
THE ISLAND OF BERMUDA.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* BERMUDA.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN 36 HOURS.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.


DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 1100 AM AST...1500 UTC...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM FIONA WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 24.4 NORTH...LONGITUDE 65.8 WEST.  FIONA IS
MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHWEST NEAR 17 MPH...28 KM/HR..  A TURN
TOWARD THE NORTH IS EXPECTED TONIGHT...WITH A MOTION TOWARD THE
NORTH AND THEN NORTH-NORTHEAST FORECAST BY LATE FRIDAY.  ON THE
FORECAST TRACK THE CENTER OF FIONA IS EXPECTED TO PASS NEAR BERMUDA
LATE FRIDAY OR EARLY SATURDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REMAIN NEAR 50 MPH...85 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS.  SLOW WEAKENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 115 MILES...185 KM
FROM THE CENTER...MAINLY TO THE EAST.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1002 MB...29.59 INCHES.


HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
----------------------
WIND...TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED IN BERMUDA BY LATE
FRIDAY.

RAINFALL...STORM TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE
POSSIBLE IN BERMUDA.


NEXT ADVISORY
-------------
NEXT INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY...200 PM AST.
NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY...500 PM AST.

FORECASTER BLAKE/PASCH

- courtesy of NOAA National Hurricane Center

09/02/10: Dangerous category 4 hurricane Earl heads for North Carolina.

Space and Astronautics News — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:00:00 +0000

HURRICANE EARL ADVISORY NUMBER  33
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL     AL072010
1100 AM EDT THU SEP 02 2010

...DANGEROUS HURRICANE EARL HEADING FOR THE OUTER BANKS OF NORTH
CAROLINA...HURRICANE WARNINGS ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF
MASSACHUSETTS...


SUMMARY OF 1100 AM EDT...1500 UTC...INFORMATION
-----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...30.9N 74.8W
ABOUT 300 MI...485 KM S OF CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA
ABOUT 765 MI...1230 KM SSW OF NANTUCKET MASSACHUSETTS
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...140 MPH...220 KM/HR
PRESENT MOVEMENT...N OR 355 DEGREES AT 18 MPH...30 KM/HR
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...932 MB...27.52 INCHES

WATCHES AND WARNINGS
--------------------
CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY...

A HURRICANE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE COAST OF MASSACHUSETTS
FROM WESTPORT EASTWARD AROUND CAPE COD TO HULL INCLUDING
MARTHAS VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET ISLAND.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FROM NEW HAVEN CONNECTICUT
TO WEST OF WESTPORT...INCLUDING BLOCK ISLAND.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...

A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* BOGUE INLET NORTH CAROLINA NORTHEASTWARD TO THE NORTH
CAROLINA/VIRGINIA BORDER INCLUDING THE PAMLICO AND ALBEMARLE
SOUNDS.
* WESTPORT MASSACHUSETTS EASTWARD AROUND CAPE COD TO HULL INCLUDING
MARTHAS VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET ISLAND

A HURRICANE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* NORTH OF THE NORTH CAROLINA/VIRGINIA BORDER TO CAPE HENLOPEN
DELAWARE.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* CAPE FEAR TO WEST OF BOGUE INLET NORTH CAROLINA.
* NORTH OF THE NORTH CAROLINA/VIRGINIA BORDER TO SANDY HOOK NEW
JERSEY...INCLUDING DELAWARE BAY SOUTH OF SLAUGHTER BEACH AND THE
CHESAPEAKE BAY SOUTH OF NEW POINT COMFORT.
* THE EASTERN PORTION OF LONG ISLAND NEW YORK FROM FIRE ISLAND INLET
TO PORT JEFFERSON HARBOR.
* NEW HAVEN CONNECTICUT TO WEST OF WESTPORT MASSACHUSETTS...
INCLUDING BLOCK ISLAND.

A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* NORTH OF HULL MASSACHUSETTS TO EASTPORT MAINE.
* THE COAST OF NOVA SCOTIA FROM PORT MAITLAND TO MEDWAY HARBOUR.
* THE COAST OF LONG ISLAND WEST OF FIRE ISLAND INLET AND PORT
JEFFERSON HARBOR.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA IN THE UNITED
STATES...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE
MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
FORECAST OFFICE. FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA OUTSIDE
THE UNITED STATES...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL
METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.


DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 1100 AM EDT...1500 UTC...THE EYE OF HURRICANE EARL WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 30.9 NORTH...LONGITUDE 74.8 WEST. EARL IS NOW MOVING
TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 18 MPH...30 KM/HR. A TURN TOWARD THE
NORTH-NORTHEAST WITH AN INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS EXPECTED ON
FRIDAY.  ON THE FORECAST TRACK...THE CENTER OF EARL WILL PASS NEAR
THE NORTH CAROLINA OUTER BANKS TONIGHT...AND APPROACH SOUTHEASTERN
NEW ENGLAND FRIDAY NIGHT.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 140 MPH...220 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS.  EARL IS A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON
HURRICANE WIND SCALE.  NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS EXPECTED
TODAY...BUT GRADUAL WEAKENING SHOULD BEGIN ON FRIDAY. 

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 90 MILES...150 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 230
MILES...370 KM.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 932 MB...27.52 INCHES.


HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
----------------------
WINDS...TROPICAL-STORM-FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH THE NORTH
CAROLINA COAST WITHIN THE WARNING AREA BY THIS AFTERNOON.  EVEN IF
THE CENTER OF EARL REMAINS OFFSHORE...HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ARE
EXPECTED TO OCCUR IN THE OUTER BANKS BY TONIGHT.  TROPICAL-STORM-
FORCE WINDS WILL LIKELY REACH THE COAST FROM VIRGINIA NORTHWARD TO
NEW JERSEY TONIGHT OR EARLY FRIDAY.

STORM SURGE...A DANGEROUS STORM SURGE WILL RAISE WATER LEVELS BY AS
MUCH AS 3 TO 5 FEET ABOVE GROUND LEVEL WITHIN BOTH HURRICANE WARNING
AREAS AND THE LOWER CHESAPEAKE BAY.  ELSEWHERE WITHIN THE TROPICAL
STORM WARNING AREA...STORM SURGE WILL RAISE WATER LEVELS BY AS MUCH
AS 1 TO 3 FEET ABOVE GROUND LEVEL.  NEAR THE COAST...THE SURGE WILL
BE ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE AND DESTRUCTIVE WAVES.

RAINFALL...ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES...WITH ISOLATED
MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 6 INCHES...ARE EXPECTED OVER PORTIONS OF EASTERN
NORTH CAROLINA INCLUDING THE OUTER BANKS.  ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 2
INCHES ARE POSSIBLE FARTHER TO THE NORTH ALONG THE IMMEDIATE
MID-ATLANTIC COAST.

SURF...LARGE SWELLS FROM EARL WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE BAHAMAS
AND THE EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES THROUGH FRIDAY.  THESE
SWELLS WILL LIKELY CAUSE DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS AND RIP
CURRENTS.

NEXT ADVISORY
-------------
NEXT INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY...200 PM EDT.
NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY...500 PM EDT.

FORECASTER AVILA

- courtesy of NOAA National Hurricane Center

07/12/10: NASA's Juno spacecraft prepared for mission to Jupiter.

Space and Astronautics News — Tue 13 Jul 2010 11:23:00 +0000

NASA's Juno spacecraft will be forging ahead into a treacherous environment at Jupiter with more radiation than any other place NASA has ever sent a spacecraft, except the Sun. In a specially filtered cleanroom in Denver, where Juno is being assembled, engineers recently added a unique protective shield around its sensitive electronics. New pictures of the assembly were released today.

"Juno is basically an armored tank going to Jupiter," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, based at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Without its protective shield, or radiation vault, Juno's brain would get fried on the very first pass near Jupiter."

Once the radiation vault was installed on top of the propulsion module, NASA's Juno spacecraft was lifted onto a large rotation fixture to continue with its assembly process. The fixture allows the spacecraft to be turned for convenient access for integrating and testing instruments. Juno's specially designed radiation vault protects the spacecraft's electronic brain and heart from Jupiter's harsh radiation environment. The vault will dramatically slow down the aging effect radiation has on the electronics for the duration of the mission. The image was taken on June 14, 2010, as Juno was being assembled in a clean room at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency, Rome, is contributing an infrared spectrometer instrument and a portion of the radio science experiment. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LMSS.

An invisible force field filled with high-energy particles coming off from Jupiter and its moons surrounds the largest planet in our solar system. This magnetic force field, similar to a less powerful one around Earth, shields Jupiter from charged particles flying off the Sun. The electrons, protons and ions around Jupiter are energized by the planet's super-fast rotation, sped up to nearly the speed of light.

Jupiter's radiation belts are shaped like a huge doughnut around the planet's equatorial region and extend out past the moon Europa, about 650,000 kilometers (400,000 miles) out from the top of Jupiter's clouds.

"For the 15 months Juno orbits Jupiter, the spacecraft will have to withstand the equivalent of more than 100 million dental X-rays," said Bill McAlpine, Juno's radiation control manager, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "In the same way human beings need to protect their organs during an X-ray exam, we have to protect Juno's brain and heart."

The strategy? Give Juno a kind of six-sided lead apron on steroids.

With guidance from JPL and the principal investigator, engineers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems designed and built a special radiation vault made of titanium for a centralized electronics hub. While other materials exist that make good radiation blockers, engineers chose titanium because lead is too soft to withstand the vibrations of launch, and some other materials were too difficult to work with.

Each titanium wall measures nearly a square meter (nearly 9 square feet) in area, about 1 centimeter (a third of an inch) in thickness, and 18 kilograms (40 pounds) in mass. This titanium box - about the size of an SUV's trunk - encloses Juno's command and data handling box (the spacecraft's brain), power and data distribution unit (its heart) and about 20 other electronic assemblies. The whole vault weighs about 200 kilograms (500 pounds).

The vault is not designed to completely prevent every Jovian electron, ion or proton from hitting the system, but it will dramatically slow down the aging effect radiation has on electronics for the duration of the mission.

"The centralized radiation vault is the first of its kind," Bolton said. "We basically designed it from the ground up."

When NASA's Galileo spacecraft visited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, its electronics were shielded by special components designed to be resistant to radiation. Galileo also didn't need to survive the harshest radiation regions, where Juno will operate.

But Juno isn't relying solely on the radiation vault. Scientists designed a path that takes Juno around Jupiter's poles, spending as little time as possible in the sizzling radiation belts around Jupiter's equator. Engineers also used designs for electronics already approved for the Martian radiation environment, which is harsher than Earth's, though not as harsh as Jupiter's. Parts of the electronics were made from tantalum, or tungsten, another radiation-resistant metal. Some assemblies also have their own mini-vaults for protection.

Packing the assemblies next to each other allows them to shield their neighbors. In addition, engineers wrapped copper and stainless steel braids like chain mail around wires connecting the electronics to other parts of the spacecraft.

JPL tested pieces of the vault in a radiation environment similar to Jupiter's to make sure the design will be able to handle the stress of space flight and the Jupiter environment, McAlpine said. In a special lead-lined testing tub there, they battered pieces of the spacecraft with gamma rays from radioactive cobalt pellets and analyzed the results for Juno's expedition.

The vault was lifted onto Juno's propulsion module on May 19 at Lockheed Martin's high-bay cleanroom. It will undergo further testing once the whole spacecraft is put together. The assembly and testing process, which also includes installing solar panels for the first-ever solar-powered mission to Jupiter, is expected to last through next spring. Juno is expected to launch in August 2011.

"The Juno assembly is proceeding well," said Tim Gasparrini, Lockheed Martin program manager. "We have a number of the flight and test unit spacecraft avionics components installed into the radiation vault for system testing and we have also just installed the first instrument, the microwave radiometer."

JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute at San Antonio, Texas. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency in Rome is contributing an infrared spectrometer instrument and a portion of the radio science experiment.

- courtesy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

07/05/10: Planck spacecraft helps explain formation of the Universe.

Space and Astronautics News — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:15:00 +0000

European Space Agency

ESA's Planck mission has delivered its first all-sky image. It not only provides new insight into the way stars and galaxies form but also tells us how the Universe itself came to life after the Big Bang.

"This is the moment that Planck was conceived for," says ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, David Southwood. "We're not giving the answer. We are opening the door to an Eldorado where scientists can seek the nuggets that will lead to deeper understanding of how our Universe came to be and how it works now. The image itself and its remarkable quality is a tribute to the engineers who built and have operated Planck. Now the scientific harvest must begin."

From the closest portions of the Milky Way to the furthest reaches of space and time, the new all-sky Planck image is an extraordinary treasure chest of new data for astronomers.

The microwave sky as seen by Planck. This multi-frequency all-sky image of the microwave sky has been composed using data from Planck covering the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 GHz to 857 GHz. The mottled structure of the CMBR, with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the primordial density variations from which today's cosmic structure originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map. The central band is the plane of our Galaxy. A large portion of the image is dominated by the diffuse emission from its gas and dust. The image was derived from data collected by Planck during its first all-sky survey and comes from observations taken between August 2009 and June 2010. This image is a low-resolution version of the full data set. To the right of the main image, below the plane of the Galaxy, is a large cloud of gas in our Galaxy. The obvious arc of light surrounding it is Barnard's Loop - the expanding bubble of an exploded star. Planck has seen whole other galaxies. The great spiral galaxy in Andromeda, 2.2 million light-years from Earth, appears as a sliver of microwave light, released by the coldest dust in its giant body. Other, more distant, galaxies with supermassive black holes appear as single points of microwaves dotting the image. Planck was built for ESA by the Prime Contractor Thales Alenia Space (Cannes, France) with contributions from space industry drawn from ESA's 18 Member States. Because of differing accounting procedures in the many bodies contributing, precise costings are impossible to give. However, the overall cost to ESA and its Member State institutions as well as cooperating agencies world- wide (including NASA and Canadian Space Agency) in round figures is 600 million euros. Credits: ESA/LFI and HFI Consortia

The main disc of our Galaxy runs across the centre of the image. Immediately striking are the streamers of cold dust reaching above and below the Milky Way. This galactic web is where new stars are being formed, and Planck has found many locations where individual stars are edging toward birth or just beginning their cycle of development.

Less spectacular but perhaps more intriguing is the mottled backdrop at the top and bottom. This is the 'cosmic microwave background radiation' (CMBR). It is the oldest light in the Universe, the remains of the fireball out of which our Universe sprang into existence 13.7 billion years ago.

While the Milky Way shows us what the local Universe looks like now, those microwaves show us what the Universe looked like close to its time of creation, before there were stars or galaxies. Here we come to the heart of Planck's mission to decode what happened in that primordial Universe from the pattern of the mottled backdrop.

The microwave pattern is the cosmic blueprint from which today's clusters and superclusters of galaxies were built. The different colours represent minute differences in the temperature and density of matter across the sky. Somehow these small irregularities evolved into denser regions that became the galaxies of today.

The CMBR covers the entire sky but most of it is hidden in this image by the Milky Way's emission, which must be digitally removed from the final data in order to see the microwave background in its entirety.

When this work is completed, Planck will show us the most precise picture of the microwave background ever obtained. The big question will be whether the data will reveal the cosmic signature of the primordial period called inflation. This era is postulated to have taken place just after the Big Bang and resulted in the Universe expanding enormously in size over an extremely short period.

Planck continues to map the Universe. By the end of its mission in 2012, it will have completed four all-sky scans. The first full data release of the CMBR is planned for 2012. Before then, the catalogue containing individual objects in our Galaxy and whole distant galaxies will be released in January 2011.

"This image is just a glimpse of what Planck will ultimately see," says Jan Tauber, ESA's Planck Project Scientist.

This multi-frequency all-sky image of the microwave sky has been composed using data from Planck covering the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 GHz to 857 GHz. The mottled structure of the CMBR, with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the primordial density variations from which today's cosmic structure originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map. The central band is the plane of our Galaxy. A large portion of the image is dominated by the diffuse emission from its gas and dust. The image was derived from data collected by Planck during its first all-sky survey, and comes from about 12 months of observations. To the right of the main image, below the plane of the Galaxy, is a large cloud of gas in our Galaxy. The obvious arc of light surrounding it is Barnard's Loop - the expanding bubble of an exploded star. Planck has seen whole other galaxies. The great spiral galaxy in Andromeda, 2.2 million light-years from Earth, appears as a sliver of microwave light, released by the coldest dust in its giant body. Other, more distant, galaxies with supermassive black holes appear as single points of microwaves dotting the image. Derived from observations taken between August 2009 and June 2010, this image is a low-resolution version of the full data. Credits: ESA/LFI and HFI Consortia

- courtesy of European Space Agency

07/3/10: Progress M-06M/38P to reattempt docking with ISS on Sunday.

Space and Astronautics News — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Progress M-06M/38P will make another rendezvous and docking attempt tomorrow (7/4) for Contact at about 12:17pm EDT. During the previous rendezvous, the automated KURS rendezvous sequence was aborted (cause currently under assessment) by the Progress MCS (Motion Control System) between two nominal burns (Impulse-4 and Imp-5). 38P did not perform any abort burns since it was on a passively-safe flyby path from the outset (as per ballistic trajectory design). - NASA

07/01/10: Scientists detect ancient carbon in Apollo 17 Moon rock.

Space and Astronautics News — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:23:00 +0000

Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, mission commander, walks toward the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) during extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site of NASA's sixth and final Apollo lunar landing mission. The photograph was taken by astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. While astronauts Cernan and Schmitt descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Challenger" to explore the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "America" in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA

In a new analysis of a lunar sample collected by Apollo 17, researchers have detected and dated carbon on the Moon in the form of graphite - the sooty stuff of pencil lead - which survived from around 3.8 billion years ago, when the Moon was heavily bombarded by meteorites. Up to now, scientists thought the trace amounts of carbon previously detected on the surface of the Moon came from the solar wind.

Some of the graphite revealed by the new study appeared in a rare rolled form known as "graphite whiskers", which scientists believe formed in the very high-temperature reactions initiated by a meteorite impact. The discovery also means that the Moon potentially holds a record of the carbon input by meteors into the Earth-Moon system when life was just beginning to emerge on Earth. The research is published in the July 2 issue of the journal Science.

"The solar system was chaotic, with countless colliding objects 3.9 billion years ago," explained lead author Andrew Steele, based at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. "Volatiles - compounds like water and elements like carbon - were vaporized under that heat and shock. These materials were critical to the creation of life on Earth."

Raman spectroscopy of a lunar sample collected by Apollo 17 reveals graphite whiskers, shown in yellow. Image credit: Andrew Steele, Carnegie Institution.

"Materials that fell on the early Earth fell on the Moon as well, because the two bodies basically share the same gravity well," said Marc Fries, a planetary scientist who conducted the research while working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and is now based at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz. "This sample is like a pristine page from Earth's past, before plate tectonics and other forces erased the history of this ancient carbon material on Earth."

While the sample from the Mare Serenitatis area came back to Earth in 1972, the research team, led by scientists at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science, used a new technique known as Raman spectroscopy on the sample. Previous techniques enabled scientists to get a sense of the composition, but this kind of spectroscopy is more sensitive and also allows scientists to create an image of the minerals. The graphite whiskers appeared to be a few micrometers in diameter and up to about 10 microns long.

Scientists were surprised at the finding of graphite and graphite whiskers.

"It shows that modern spatially resolved techniques could be used to discover further surprises in the now 40-year-old Apollo collection," said co-author Mihaela Glamoclija, based at the Carnegie Institution.

The scientists ruled out the possibility that the graphite was a result of contamination, because graphite whiskers, in particular, form under very hot conditions, between 1,830 and 6,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,273 to 3,900 Kelvin). They also ruled out the solar wind as the source, because the graphite and graphite whiskers were much larger than carbon implanted by the solar wind, and while contamination occurred throughout the sample, the graphite was restricted to a discrete blackened area of the sample.

"We believe that the carbon we detected either came from the object that made the impact basin, or it condensed from the carbon-rich gas that was released during impact," said co-author Francis McCubbin, of the Carnegie Institution.

The research was partly funded by the NASA Astrobiology, Mars Fundamental Research, and the Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research programs in NASA's Planetary Division in Washington. The California Institute of Technology manages JPL for NASA.

- courtesy of:- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Carnegie Institution

07/01/10: NASA sets launch target dates for Space Shuttles Discovery and Endeavour.

Space and Astronautics News — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:22:00 +0000

Image credit: NASA

NASA is targeting approximately 4:33 p.m. EDT [20:33 UT) on Nov. 1 for the launch of space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 mission and 4:19 p.m. EST (21:19 UT) on Feb. 26, 2011, for the liftoff of shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 flight from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The target dates were adjusted because critical payload hardware for STS-133 will not be ready in time to support the previously planned Sept. 16 launch. With STS-133 moving to November, STS-134 cannot fly as planned, so the next available launch window is in February 2011.

NASA will schedule the official launch date for each mission following the agency's Flight Readiness Reviews, which typically occur about two weeks prior to launches. All target launch dates are subject to change.

STS-133 poster. Image credit: NASA

STS-134 poster. Image credit: NASA

Launch Target	Assembly Flight	Launch Vehicle	Element(s)
Sept. 8, 2010	39P	ISS Progress 39	Logistics and resupply
Sept. 29, 2010	24S	Soyuz TMA-20 Expedition 25	Crew transport
Oct. 27, 2010	40P	ISS Progress 40	Logistics and resupply
Nov. 1, 2010	ULF5	Discovery STS-133	EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4) Permanent Multi-Purpose Module (PMM)
Dec. 27, 2010	41P	ISS Progress 41	Logistics and resupply
Feb. 26, 2011	ULF6	Endeavour STS-134	EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 3 (ELC3) Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS)
Dec. 2011	3R	Russian Proton	Multipurpose Laboratory Module with European Robotic Arm (ERA)

- courtesy of NASA

07/01/10: Cassini images Mimas above the ringplane of Saturn.

Space and Astronautics News — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

A kingly crescent Saturn rests on the right of this Cassini spacecraft portrait while the moon Mimas appears above the rings on the left.

Mimas looks like just a speck of light here but is actually 396 kilometers, or 246 miles, across. This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane. Mimas was brightened by a factor of 1.4 relative to Saturn and the rings.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Nov. 28, 2009 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.5 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 103 degrees. Image scale is 144 kilometers (89 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

- courtesy of NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory

06/28/10: Mars Express finds a windblown plateau and mysterious rocky mounds.

Space and Astronautics News — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:30:00 +0000

European Space Agency

The region around Magellan Crater stretches across 190 x 112 km, and covers an area of about 21 280 sq km, which is roughly the size of Slovenia. It is to the southwest of the volcanic region Tharsis on the southern highlands of Mars. With a ground resolution of about 25 m per pixel, the data were acquired for the region of Magellan Crater at about 34 degrees S/185 degrees E, during Mars Express' orbit 6547 on 6 February 2009. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

When Mars Express set sail for the crater named after Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, it found a windblown plateau and mysterious rocky mounds nearby.

Stretching across 190 x 112 km, this region of Mars covers an area of about 21 280 sq km, which is roughly the size of Slovenia. It is located to the southwest of the volcanic region Tharsis on the southern highlands of Mars, near the crater Magellan.

Named after the famous Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the impact crater is about 100 km across. Only a small portion of the crater rim is visible in this image, sitting at the lower right, because the Mars Express High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) has zeroed in on some intriguing features nearby.

In the west of this region (at the upper edge of the main image) there are light-coloured, irregular protrusions. These features are up to 2 km tall and are probably large rock fragments or mounds of rock. However, their formation is still debated.

The region around Magellan Crater stretches across 190 x 112 km, and covers an area of about 21 280 sq km, which is roughly the size of Slovenia. It is to the southwest of the volcanic region Tharsis on the southern highlands of Mars. Credits: FU Berlin/MOLA

One possibility is that the top layer of rock was shattered by the shockwaves from an impact. Another possible explanation would be from a process called subrosion. On Mars, subrosion is widely observed when rising magma heats frozen ground water, which melts and removes subsurface material as it flows away. This leads to a honeycomb of cavities that eventually collapse due to the weight of the overlying rock layers, leaving the irregular mounds standing.

The northern part of the region (to the right of the main image) displays linear features with a preferential northwest–southeast orientation. These eventually lead to deep, well-defined valleys and are likely to be faults, formed during either an impact event or the upsurge of the Tharsis region that created enormous stresses in the planet's crust. Examining the geometry of fault zones offers clues to the level and the direction of the stress exerted on the rock.

A rather smooth, barely fractured plateau is located almost in the centre of the main image. It is possible the plateau is made up of the same material as the highly fractured mounds in the west. Fine trails run from southwest to northeast across here. These could be an indication of erosion by fine dust particles carried on the wind, sandblasting the plateau smooth.

With a ground resolution of about 25 m per pixel, the data were acquired for the region of Magellan Crater at about 34 degrees S/185 degrees E, during Mars Express' orbit 6547 on 6 February 2009.

Looking towards Magellan Crater across the smooth plateau and the rock mounds of the region. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Deep valleys dominate this section of the Magellan Crater on Mars. They may have been created by the enormous stresses places on the planet's crust by the upsurge of the Tharsis region. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Magellan Crater displays three notable features. Box 1 shows light-coloured, irregular protrusions. Box 2 highlights linear features that lead to deep valleys. Box 3 contains a plateau that may have been eroded smooth by dusty winds. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

This image of Magellan Crater stretches across 190 x 112 km, and covers an area of about 21 280 sq km, which is roughly the size of Slovenia. It is to the southwest of the volcanic region Tharsis on the southern highlands of Mars. The High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA's Mars Express took this image. It was obtained on 6 February 2009, during orbit 6547, and has a resolution of about 25 m per pixel. The image was derived from the HRSC nadir channel, which provides the highest detail of all the channels. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

This image of the Magellan Crater stretches across 190 x 112 km, and covers an area of about 21 280 sq km, which is roughly the size of Slovenia. It is to the southwest of the volcanic region Tharsis on the southern highlands of Mars. With a ground resolution of about 25 m per pixel, the data were acquired for this region of Magellan Crater at about 34 degrees S/185 degrees E, during Mars Express' orbit 6547 on 6 February 2009. Combining data from the nadir channel and one stereo channel of HRSC produced this 3D image. Stereoscopic glasses are required to see the 3D effect. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

- courtesy of European Space Agency

06/29/10: GOCE satellite maps Earth's gravity.

Space and Astronautics News — Mon, 29 Jun 2010 20:30:00 +0000

European Space Agency

Image credit: GOCE High Level Processing Facility

The first global gravity model based on GOCE satellite data has been presented at ESA's Living Planet Symposium. ESA launched GOCE in March 2009 to map Earth's gravity with unprecedented accuracy and resolution.

The model, based on only two months of data, from November and December 2009, shows the excellent capability of the satellite to map tiny variations in Earth's gravity.

"GOCE is delivering where it promised: in the fine spatial scales," GOCE Mission Manager Rune Floberghagen said.

"We have already been able to identify significant improvements in the high-resolution 'geoid', and the gravity model will improve as more data become available."

The geoid is the shape of an imaginary global ocean dictated by gravity in the absence of tides and currents. It is a crucial reference for accurately measuring ocean circulation, sea-level change and ice dynamics - all affected by climate change.

Chairman of the GOCE Mission Advisory Group and Head of the Institute for Astronomical and Physical Geodesy at the Technische Universität München, Prof. Reiner Rummel, said: "The computed global gravity field looks very promising. We can already see that important new information will be obtained for large areas of South America, Africa, Himalaya, South-East Asia and Antarctica."

"Over continents, and in particular in regions poorly mapped with terrestrial or airborne techniques, we can already conclude that GOCE is changing our understanding of the gravity field," Dr Floberghagen added.

"Over major parts of the oceans, the situation is even clearer, as the marine gravity field at high spatial resolution is for the first time independently determined by an instrument of such quality."

New GOCE models are already yielding a wealth of new information that is useful for many domains of geosciences. GOCE's final gravity map and geoid will be instrumental in advancing science and applications in a broad range of disciplines, ranging from geodesy, geophysics and surveying to oceanography and sea-level research.

"With each two-month cycle of data, the gravity model will become more detailed and accurate. I am convinced that the data will be of great interest to various disciplines of Earth sciences," Prof. Rummel said.

In order to achieve its very challenging mission objectives, the satellite was designed to orbit at a very low altitude, where the gravitational variations are stronger closer to Earth.

Since mid-September 2009, GOCE has been in its gravity-mapping orbit at a mere 254.9 km mean altitude - the lowest orbit sustained over a long period by any Earth observation satellite.

The residual air at this low altitude causes the orbit of a standard satellite to decay very rapidly. GOCE, however, continuously nullifies the drag in real time by firing an ion thruster using xenon gas.

It ensures the gravity sensors are flying as though they are in pure freefall, so they pick up only gravity readings and not the disturbing effects from other forces.

To obtain clean gravity readings, there can be no disturbances from moving parts, so the entire satellite is a single extremely sensitive measuring device.

"The gravity measuring system is functioning extremely well. The system is actively compensating for the effects of atmospheric drag and delivering a continuous set of clean gravity readings," Dr Floberghagen said.

"This in itself is an excellent technical achievement. GOCE has proven to be a nearly perfect satellite for measuring gravity from space."

In May, ESA made available the first set of gravity gradients and 'high-low satellite-to-satellite tracking'. These data are available to scientific and non-commercial users - and much more will come in the following months.

- courtesy of European Space Agency