Dextre Robot at Work on the Space Station

Dextre Robot at Work on the Space Station

New Space Station Robot Asks to be Called "Dextre the Magnificent"

Water on the Space Station

Future astronauts poised to blast off for an extended stay on the International Space Station (ISS) might first consider dashing to the restroom for a quick splash at the lavatory, or better yet, a luxurious hot shower. Once on board the ISS, spacefarers are in for a steady diet of sponge baths using water distilled from -- among other places -- their crewmates breath.

If you're squeamish, read no farther, because the crew will eventually include lab rodents -- and they'll be breathing, too. All of the denizens of the space station lose water when they exhale or sweat. Such vapors add to the ambient cabin humidity, which is eventually condensed and returned to the general water supply.

Sometimes it's better not to think about where your next glass of water is coming from!

Rationing and recycling will be an essential part of daily life on the ISS. In orbit, where Earth's natural life support system is missing, the Space Station itself has to provide abundant power, clean water, and breathable air at the right temperature and humidity -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, indefinitely. Nothing can go to waste.

In this article, the first of a series about the practical challenges of living in space, Science@NASA will examine how the Space Station's Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), under continuing development at the Marshall Space Flight Center, will help astronauts use and re-use their precious supplies of water. Future installments will explore air management, thermal control and fire suppression -- in short, all of the things that will make the Space Station comfortable and safe.

Bird Team Clears Path for Space Shuttles

Birds fly where they will and there's no way to predict when one or more might strike the space shuttle during launch or landing. To reduce the chances, Kennedy Space Center makes use of several bird-deterrent methods.

As a shuttle glides to a stop at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, NASA's contrator team, EG&G feels a sense of accomplishment in creating the safest environment possible for its return.According to Ron Feile, EG&G air traffic controller, NASA's Space Shuttle Program mandates that NASA has a hazard management plan. The SLF plan includes the use of pyrotechnics, propane cannons and bird-watch activities.

About five hours before a shuttle's first landing opportunity, several EG&G workers are stationed at the SLF's Landing Aids Control Building, the control tower and at the runway overrun area monitoring bird activity.

Air traffic controller Vaden DeJarnette said that large flocks of birds can be detected on radar as they fly over or around the SLF.

"We mostly rely on communications from the bird-watcher and our own visual confirmation," DeJarnette said.

An astronaut flying in the Shuttle Training Aircraft over Kennedy communicates runway conditions, including weather, wind and bird concerns back to the shuttle crew.

Inside the control tower, EG&G air traffic controller Donny Linton monitors the runway for birds and keeps in touch with bird-watcher Bob Smith, who is stationed in a specially equipped truck on the ground.According to Ron Feile, EG&G air traffic controller, NASA's Space Shuttle Program mandates that NASA has a hazard management plan. The SLF plan includes the use of pyrotechnics, propane cannons and bird-watch activities.

About five hours before a shuttle's first landing opportunity, several EG&G workers are stationed at the SLF's Landing Aids Control Building, the control tower and at the runway overrun area monitoring bird activity.

Air traffic controller Vaden DeJarnette said that large flocks of birds can be detected on radar as they fly over or around the SLF.

"We mostly rely on communications from the bird-watcher and our own visual confirmation," DeJarnette said.

An astronaut flying in the Shuttle Training Aircraft over Kennedy communicates runway conditions, including weather, wind and bird concerns back to the shuttle crew.

Inside the control tower, EG&G air traffic controller Donny Linton monitors the runway for birds and keeps in touch with bird-watcher Bob Smith, who is stationed in a specially equipped truck on the ground.According to Ron Feile, EG&G air traffic controller, NASA's Space Shuttle Program mandates that NASA has a hazard management plan. The SLF plan includes the use of pyrotechnics, propane cannons and bird-watch activities.

About five hours before a shuttle's first landing opportunity, several EG&G workers are stationed at the SLF's Landing Aids Control Building, the control tower and at the runway overrun area monitoring bird activity.

Air traffic controller Vaden DeJarnette said that large flocks of birds can be detected on radar as they fly over or around the SLF.

"We mostly rely on communications from the bird-watcher and our own visual confirmation," DeJarnette said.

An astronaut flying in the Shuttle Training Aircraft over Kennedy communicates runway conditions, including weather, wind and bird concerns back to the shuttle crew.

Inside the control tower, EG&G air traffic controller Donny Linton monitors the runway for birds and keeps in touch with bird-watcher Bob Smith, who is stationed in a specially equipped truck on the ground.Smith fires shotguns and pistols loaded with blanks to scare large flocks of birds away from the runway. From time to time, he sounds a special siren from his truck or uses a remote control to set off cannons.

A series of 25 liquid propane cannons, placed in strategic locations along the east and west sides of the SLF runway, are controlled by air traffic controllers in the tower and remotely by bird-watchers in the field. These cannons, installed in September 2007, are fired randomly by zone, individually or all at once. Each rotates in a 360-degree pattern for the greatest effect.

Bird-watcher Kurt Asche said that Ospreys have tried to build nests in the landing facility's Mate-Demate Device and that it's a popular hangout for vultures.

"The bird threat can come from any direction, at any time, day or night," Asche said.

He also said shooting blanks at birds requires timing.

"There are times not to shoot at them. You don't want a flock of birds flying around as the shuttle is landing," Asche said.

Feile said the SLF team also monitors bird activity when crews are at the center for Shuttle Training Aircraft practice.

"It gets more interesting during the winter months with the addition of migratory birds from the north," Feile said. "It's just the nature of doing business on a wildlife refuge."

Lighting Up the Night - Nasa space information

Viewed from the Banana River Viewing Site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery arcs through a cloud-brushed sky, lighted by the trail of fire after launch on the STS-128 mission. Liftoff from Launch Pad 39A was on time at 11:59 p.m. EDT. The first launch attempt on Aug. 24 was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. The second attempt on Aug. 25 also was postponed due to an issue with a valve in space shuttle Discovery's main propulsion system.

The STS-128 mission is the 30th International Space Station assembly flight and the 128th space shuttle flight. The 13-day mission will deliver more than 7 tons of supplies, science racks and equipment, as well as additional environmental hardware to sustain six crew members on the International Space Station. The equipment includes a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and the COLBERT treadmill.

Symphony in Blue - Nasa Space Shuttle

Like early explorers mapping the continents of our globe, astronomers are busy charting the spiral structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Using infrared images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way's elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was thought to possess four major arms.

This artist's concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way, along with other findings presented at the 212th American Astronomical Society meeting. The galaxy's two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus) can be seen attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms (Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and located between the major arms. The major arms consist of the highest densities of both young and old stars; the minor arms are primarily filled with gas and pockets of star-forming activity.

New look at gravity data sheds light on ocean, climate - Nasa Space Information

A discovery about the moon made in the 1960s is helping researchers unlock secrets about Earth's ocean today.

By applying a method of calculating gravity that was first developed for the moon to data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, known as Grace, JPL researchers have found a way to measure the pressure at the bottom of the ocean. Just as knowing atmospheric pressure allows meteorologists to predict winds and weather patterns, measurements of ocean bottom pressure provide oceanographers with fundamental information about currents and global ocean circulation. They also hold clues to questions about sea level and climate.

"Oceanographers have been measuring ocean bottom pressure for a long time, but the measurements have been limited to a few spots in a huge ocean for short periods of time," says JPL oceanographer Victor Zlotnicki.

Launched in 2002, the twin Grace satellites map Earth's gravity field from orbit 500 kilometers (310 miles) above the surface. They respond to how mass is distributed in the Earth and on Earth's surface -the greater the mass in a given area, the stronger the pull of gravity from that area.

The pressure at the bottom of the ocean is determined by the amount of mass above it. "Ocean bottom pressure is the sum of the weight of the whole atmosphere and the whole ocean," says Zlotnicki. "When winds move water on the surface, ocean bottom pressure changes. When glaciers melt and add water to the ocean, the ocean's mass increases and bottom pressure increases, either at one place or globally."

"Measuring ocean bottom pressure was one of the things we said we wanted to do from the very beginning of the mission," says Grace project scientist Michael Watkins, "but it has been a challenge. The signal is very small and hard to detect."

Gravity changes over the ocean are miniscule compared to those over land. The ocean is a fluid. It yields to pressure and spreads the effect over a vast area. Nothing in the ocean gives as big a gravity signal as a flooding Amazon River or melting glaciers in Greenland or Alaska, changes that Grace can measure fairly easily, says Watkins. "Those hydrology signals are huge in comparison," he says.

However, as the mission progressed, Watkins explains, the science team has found better ways to process Grace data. And by turning to a technique developed for the lunar world, Grace researchers are getting the precise measurements of ocean bottom pressure they were hoping for.

From the moon to the ocean bottom

In the days leading up to the Apollo missions, JPL scientists discovered that certain areas of the moon had higher concentrations of mass than others. The result of these "mass concentrations" was marked differences in the moon's gravity field.

The researchers then devised a new way to calculate the gravity field called a "mascon" (for mass concentration) solution. Mascon solutions break the gravity field into small, individual regions. The more traditional ways of computing gravity, often called harmonic solutions, smooth everything together and calculate gravity for a whole large area or body.

Recently scientists have begun developing mascon solutions for Grace data for use in a variety of studies, and they are revealing fascinating new details about Earth's gravity field. These mascon solutions are also proving to be a key to Grace's ability to measure ocean bottom pressure.

"Some of the very best harmonic solutions show some bottom pressure signals, but the mascon solutions appear to do a better job and provide much higher resolution," says Watkins. "Using a mascon solution with Grace data is a way of weighing each little piece of the ocean," he says. The result is a new view of the gravity field - one that reveals sharp contrasts in gravity precise enough to calculate variations in ocean bottom pressure.

A large field experiment off the coast of Japan provided an unusual and welcomed opportunity to put Grace mascon estimates of ocean bottom pressure to the test. There are few places in the ocean where there are enough data on ocean bottom pressure to validate the satellite's observations.

Oceanographer Jae-Hun Park and his colleagues at the University of Rhode Island compared the Grace measurements with data collected by a large array of pressure-reading instruments stationed on the ocean bottom as part of the Kuroshio Extension System Study. This two-year observational program to study deep ocean currents and fronts ran from 2004 to 2006.

"Our site covered a very wide area of 600 by 600 kilometers (370 miles) with 43 available bottom pressure sensors," says Park. He and his colleagues found that while some of the individual sensors had very high correlations with Grace measurements, others were very low. "These low correlations were small-scale eddies that Grace cannot catch," explains Park. Grace's resolution is about 200 kilometers (125 miles).

However, when they compared the spatially averaged monthly mean ocean bottom pressure measured by the ocean sensors with the latest JPL Grace mascon solution for the center of the array, "we found a high correlation between the Grace measurements and our in-situ measurements," says Park. "This experiment gave us the opportunity to validate the Grace data." The results of the study appeared last year in Geophysical Research Letters.

Grace's new ability to detect small changes in ocean mass - reflected in ocean bottom pressure - will help scientists answer ongoing questions about sea level and climate change. It will help clarify, for example, just how much of sea level change is due to differences in ocean mass, the result of evaporation, precipitation, melting land ice, or river run-off and how much is due to temperature and salinity.

"Now, for the first time with these new mascon solutions," say Zlotnicki, "Grace will allow us to measure changes in ocean bottom pressure globally for long periods of time. This is a new tool for oceanography."

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Status Report

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter put itself into a safe mode Wednesday morning, Aug. 26, for the fourth time this year, while maintaining spacecraft health and communications. While in safe mode, the spacecraft has limited activities pending further instructions from ground controllers.

Engineers have begun the process of diagnosing the problem prior to restoring the orbiter to normal science operations, a process expected to take several days. They will watch for engineering data from the spacecraft that might aid in identifying the cause of event and possibly of previous ones. The orbiter spontaneously rebooted its computer Wednesday, as it did in February and June, but did not switch to a redundant computer, as it did in early August.

To help in investigating a root cause of the three previous anomalies, engineers had programmed the spacecraft to frequently record engineering data onto non-volatile memory. That could give an improved record of spacecraft events leading up to the reboot.

"We hope to gain a better understanding of what is triggering these events and then have the spacecraft safely resume its study of Mars by next week," said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Manager Jim Erickson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The spacecraft has been investigating Mars with six science instruments since it reached that planet in 2006. It has returned more data than all other current and past Mars missions combined.

Second Test Rover Added to Driving Experiments

Testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in August 2009 is assessing possible maneuvers that the Mars rover Spirit might use for escaping from a patch of soft soil where it is embedded at a Martian site called "Troy".

A second, lighter-weight test rover has entered the testing setup at JPL where rover team members are assessing strategy for getting Spirit out of soft soil where it is embedded on Mars.

The rover team has begun using a test rover that does not carry a science payload or robotic arm, as do Spirit and Opportunity on Mars, and the primary engineering test rover at JPL. While the primary test rover's weight on Earth is greater than Spirit's weight on Mars, the second rover is even lighter on Earth and closer to the weight of Spirit on Mars.

Making comparisons between motions of the two test rovers in duplicated drives will aid the rover team in interpreting effects of differing gravity on rover mobility. The testing team plans to run such comparisons both in the soft, fluffy material being used to simulate the soil at Spirit's current location and also on coarser, crushed rock that offers better traction.

"There is no perfect Earth analog for Spirit's current situation," said JPL's John Callas, project manager for the twin Mars Exploration Rovers. "There's less gravity on Mars, little atmosphere, and no moisture in the soil where Spirit is. It is not anything like being stuck in sand or snow or mud on Earth. Plus, since the rover moves only about as fast as a tortoise, you cannot use momentum to help. No rocking back and forth as you might do on Earth."

The comparison experiments with the two test-rover siblings to Spirit and Opportunity precede a planned "dress rehearsal" long-duration test of driving as far in the test setup as the distance that Spirit would need to achieve on Mars to escape its predicament at the site called "Troy."

The team has also made further assessments of the position of a rock underneath Spirit relative to the rover's center of gravity. Part of the strategy for getting Spirit free will be to avoid getting in a position with the center of gravity directly over a rock touching the rover.

Mission Managers to Meet Today - Nasa Space shuttle

The testing of the liquid hydrogen fill and drain valve in shuttle Discovery’s main propulsion system is complete. The valve and its position indicator both operated normally during yesterday’s testing. And all leak checks were within specification.

The evaluation of the low-level hydrogen leak detected in a tail service mast on the mobile launcher platform on Launch Pad 39A following Tuesday's launch scrub is complete, and no leaks were detected.

All the test data will be brought to the mission management team for review at the noon EDT meeting. Mission managers also will meet at 2:15 p.m. to give the “Go - No Go” for tanking.

Discovery's seven astronauts are sleeping and will wake up for their launch day preps at 1:30 p.m. The launch countdown is to resume at the T-11 hour point at 8:57 a.m. this morning.

If Discovery gets the “Go”, tanking commentary on NASA TV will begin at 2:45 p.m. and fueling operations will start at approximately 3 p.m. Launch commentary will begin tonight at 7 p.m.

Suit Ports - NASA space shuttle

The Lunar Electric Rover (LER) is equipped with a time and space saving concept called suit ports. The suit ports are located on the aft bulkhead of the LER, and are designed to allow astronauts to quickly go from driving in a shirtsleeve environment to Extravehicular Activity (EVA) in their space suits. The suit port will allow the crew to enter and exit their EVA suits via a rear-entry hatch, while never having to bring the suit inside, keeping the internal cabin mostly free of dust. The suit port will also minimize the loss of consumables when it is depressurized for EVA, extending duration of an LER sortie. The crew uses alignment guides for docking to the suit port, and electromechanical mechanisms to lock and unlock the suit in place and also to open and close hatches. This is an upgrade from last year’s suit port concept that used all mechanically-actuated mechanisms with levers that the crew had to move. This suit port concept also includes an environmental shelter for the suits that will protect them from dust, thermal extremes, and micrometeoroid protection.

Space Shuttle Discovery Ready for Flight

Space shuttle Discovery is in the final stages of preparation before its flight to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Fueling of Discovery's external tank with 500,000 gallons of super-cold liquid oxygen and hydrogen is scheduled to begin at 4:11 p.m. EDT, depending on weather conditions at the time.

The "topping off" of propellants into the tank will continue until Discovery's liftoff. All systems aboard the shuttle are functioning normally and no issues are being reported. Weather continues to be 80 percent acceptable for a 1:36 a.m. Tuesday launch.

Coverage of Discovery's liftoff on the STS-128 mission begins Monday at 8:30 p.m. Follow the countdown with NASA's launch blog and live commentary broadcast on NASA TV.
Discovery Readies for Station Resupply Flight
Space shuttle Discovery will carry the Leonardo supply module to the International Space Station during STS-128, along with a new crew member for the station, Nicole Stott.

Commanded by veteran astronaut Rick "C.J." Sturckow, the STS-128 mission crew will deliver refrigerator-sized racks full of equipment, including the COLBERT treadmill, an exercise device named after comedian Stephen Colbert.

Stott will take the place of Tim Kopra, who moved into the station during STS-127. Pilot Kevin Ford and Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, Jose Hernandez, John "Danny" Olivas and Sweden's Christer Fuglesang round out the crew.

Second Test Rover Added for 'Free Spirit' Tests

Testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in August 2009 is assessing possible maneuvers that the Mars rover Spirit might use for escaping from a patch of soft soil where it is embedded at a Martian site called "Troy." In this image from Aug. 21, 2009, members of the rover team at JPL plan for starting to use a second rover in the test setup.

The second rover, called the Surface System Testbed Lite (far right) is lighter weight than the primary engineering test rover, called the Surface System Testbed (left foreground). The lighter version does not carry a science payload and robotic arm, as Spirit, Opportunity and the Surface System Testbed do.

Making comparisons between motions of the two test rovers in duplicated drives will aid the rover team in interpreting effects of differing gravity on rover mobility. An object that weighs 10 pounds on Earth weighs just 3.8 pounds on Mars, due to the smaller mass of Mars compared to Earth.

Ares DM-I Motor Test: Turning Sand to Glass

SHAZAM!!! Like a mighty bolt of lightning, NASA's new Ares I rocket first stage motor will be tested later this month sending a plume of fire reaching temperatures more than 3300 degrees Fahrenheit and smoke hurdling for hundreds of yards.

The five-segment solid rocket development motor, or DM-1, will be tested at Alliant Techsystem's (ATK) test stand in Promontory, Utah on August 27. An interesting byproduct of the test is a geographical change that will take place when 50 cubic yards of sand is transformed into a shimmering glass field.

The art of glass making has been around for centuries. No one knows exactly when or where glass was first made. Evidence shows that it may have originated in Mesopotamia, where pieces of glass have been found, believed to date from the third millennium BC.

When Googling the term "making glass" on the Internet you will learn the process involves basic materials like sand, soda and lime. It also requires very high heat in excess of about 2,912 degrees Fahrenheit.

The load measurement system on ATK's test stand which is attached to the thrust block. (ATK)

But engineers at NASA and ATK will use a slightly different method when they conduct the first full-scale, full-duration test firing of the first stage motor for the Ares I rocket.

Four dump truck loads of sand are placed over the aft end of the test stand as a thermal protection barrier to the concrete pad. The intense temperatures escaping the motor at Mach 3, penetrate the sand six inches deep, as the result, a glass field is formed in the wake of the plume.

"The glass has a green tint to it based on the minerals that are in the sand," said Kevin Rees, director of test and research services at ATK Space Systems. "It eventually crumbles and erodes as it is exposed to weather elements, but right after a test it is fun to see the glimmer reflecting off the glass that was sand a few minutes before."

Newly installed mid-span support for the Ares I five-segment solid rocket motor. (ATK)

So the next time you see a test of a solid rocket motor, you'll know that this ultimate "high temp" oven is doing more than just paving the path for America's future in space.

For more information about the Ares rockets or to watch the DM-1 hot fire test live, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ares

Space Shuttle Mission: STS-128

Discovery Readies for Station Resupply Flight
Space shuttle Discovery will carry the Leonardo supply module to the International Space Station during STS-128, along with a new crew member for the station, Nicole Stott.

Commanded by veteran astronaut Rick "C.J." Sturckow, the STS-128 mission crew will deliver refrigerator-sized racks full of equipment, including the COLBERT treadmill, an exercise device named after comedian Stephen Colbert.

Stott will take the place of Tim Kopra, who moved into the station during STS-127. Pilot Kevin Ford and Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, Jose Hernandez, John "Danny" Olivas and Sweden's Christer Fuglesang round out the crew.

Space Shuttle Mission: STS-128

Discovery Readies for Station Resupply Flight
Space shuttle Discovery will carry the Leonardo supply module to the International Space Station during STS-128, along with a new crew member for the station, Nicole Stott.

Commanded by veteran astronaut Rick "C.J." Sturckow, the STS-128 mission crew will deliver refrigerator-sized racks full of equipment, including the COLBERT treadmill, an exercise device named after comedian Stephen Colbert.

Stott will take the place of Tim Kopra, who moved into the station during STS-127. Pilot Kevin Ford and Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, Jose Hernandez, John "Danny" Olivas and Sweden's Christer Fuglesang round out the crew.

NASA Gives 'Go' For Space Shuttle Discovery Launch On Aug

has completed a two-day review of space shuttle Discovery's readiness for flight and selected Aug. 25 as the official launch date for the STS-128 mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 1:36 a.m. EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Discovery's launch date was announced after a flight readiness review at Kennedy. During the meeting, senior NASA and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission and determined the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready for launch pending the resolution of one remaining issue. An orbiter power controller that failed to operate properly was replaced, and an analysis was completed. The issue is expected to be closed when final data from the analysis is presented at the mission management team meeting on Aug. 23.

The readiness review included a thorough discussion about foam insulation that covers the shuttle's external fuel tank. The foam helps prevent ice from developing when super-cold propellants are loaded prior to launch. During shuttle Endeavour's liftoff on July 15, foam separated from the intertank area and the liquid oxygen tank's ice frost ramps. The foam loss led to a detailed examination that determined Discovery is acceptable to fly.

"There was an excellent discussion on foam loss that included input from multiple teams including our NASA safety and engineering communities," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington, who chaired the day and a half meeting. "After examining the foam releases on recent flights and completing a lot of testing and analysis to improve our understanding of the relative risks, we concluded that we're ready to go fly. The teams are continuing to learn about foam and have planned additional tests and analysis to continue to improve our understanding of foam loss mechanisms and risks."

The 13-day flight will deliver science and storage racks, a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment, an air purification system and a treadmill named after comedian Stephen Colbert. The name Colbert received the most entries in NASA's online poll to name the station's Node 3. NASA named the node Tranquility.

Astronaut Rick Sturckow will command Discovery. He will be joined by Pilot Kevin Ford and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester, Jose Hernandez, Danny Olivas and European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang. NASA astronaut Nicole Stott will fly to the complex aboard Discovery to begin a three-month mission as a station resident. She replaces NASA's Tim Kopra, who will return home on Discovery.

Preparing for Flight - NASA Space Shuttle

Technicians carefully position an Orion flight test crew module to be airlifted from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The crew module will be used for the Orion Launch Abort System Pad Abort-1 flight test, the first of five planned Orion Launch Abort System Pad flight tests in NASA's Constellation program, which are scheduled for early 2010.

Planned Rover Test to Run a Week or More - Nasa Space Station

Mars rover team members are planning a long-duration experiment with the test rover at JPL beginning next week. This test will check whether favorable motion seen in earlier tests can be sustained to gain as much distance in the sandbox as Spirit would need to complete on Mars to escape its predicament.

The team expects to drive the test rover for several hundred meters, or yards, worth of wheel rotations over the course of a week or more without starting over. Steering direction will be changed several times during the run. Earlier tests have run for one or two days. In between tests, the team resets the sandbox to simulate Spirit's current starting position at the Mars location called "Troy."

Based on test results, the team might begin sending driving commands to Spirit during the second week of September. Any progress by Spirit toward getting out of the soft soil where it is embedded is expected to be slow. With its right front wheel disabled since 2006, Spirit's success at getting out of the sand trap is not guaranteed. Both Spirit and Opportunity have operated on Mars more than five years longer than their initially planned missions of three months.

During the weeks of testing at JPL designed to identify the best escape strategy, Spirit has been productively using the tools on its robotic arm to analyze multiple layers of soil at Troy.

Five Things About Viewing Mars in August

1. How did the “Mars in August” e-mail get started in the first place?

In 2003, when Mars neared opposition — its closest approach to Earth in its 22-month orbit around the sun — it was less than 56 million kilometers (less than 35 million miles) away. This was the closest it had been in over 50,000 years. The e-mail that circulated back then said that Mars, when viewed through a telescope magnified 75 times, would look as large as the moon does with the unaided eye. Even back in 2003, to the unaided eye, Mars looked like a reddish star in the sky to our eyes, and through a backyard telescope it looked like a small disc with some dark markings and maybe a hint of its polar ice cap. Without magnification, it never looked as large as the moon, even back in 2003!

2. Can the moon and Mars ever look the same size?

No. The moon is one-quarter the size of Earth and is relatively close — only about 384,000 kilometers (about 239, 000 miles) away. On the other hand, Mars is one-half the size of Earth and it orbits the sun 1-1/2 times farther out than Earth’s orbit. The closest it ever gets to Earth is at opposition every 26 months. The next opposition is in January 2010.

At that time, Mars will be 98 million kilometers (61 million miles) from Earth, almost twice as far as in 2003. So from that distance, Mars could never look the same as our moon.

3. Is Mars visible in August 2009?

Mars rises in the east at about 1:30 a.m. this month and is best seen closer to dawn. It is a ruddy star-like object about the same brightness as the brightest stars you’ll see. Look for Mars above the constellation Orion in the pre-dawn sky. The moon is close by on the mornings of August 15 and 16. The brighter object in the sky below and left of Mars is Venus!

4. Can I see Mars and the moon at the same time this month?

If you get up before sunrise on August 15 and 16, you can see the waning crescent moon pass by Mars. The next two mornings, August 17 and 18, you’ll see the moon pass by Venus, which is the bright object below Mars in the morning sky. This will be a great time to compare the sizes of the moon and Mars for yourself!

5. Will the “Mars in August” e-mail return next year?

Most certainly! But next year, you’ll be armed with facts, and perhaps you will have looked at the red planet for yourself and will know what to expect. And you will know exactly where to put that email. In the trash!

Mars salt deposit discovery points to a new place to hunt for life's ancient traces

Scientists using a camera designed and operated at Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Facility have discovered the first evidence for deposits of chloride minerals - salts - in numerous places on Mars. These deposits, say the scientists, show where water was once abundant and may also provide evidence for the existence of former Martian life.

A team of scientists led by Mikki Osterloo, of the University of Hawaii, used data from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter to discover and map the Martian chloride deposits. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

Developed at Arizona State University, THEMIS is a multi-wavelength camera that takes images in five visual bands and 10 infrared ones. At infrared wavelengths, the smallest details THEMIS can see on the Martian surface are 330 feet (100 meters) wide.

The scientists found about 200 individual places in the Martian southern hemisphere that show spectral characteristics consistent with chloride minerals. These salt deposits occur in the middle to low latitudes all around the planet within ancient, heavily cratered terrain. The team's report appears in the March 21, 2008 issue of the scientific journal Science.

Besides Osterloo, the team includes Philip Christensen, Joshua Bandfield, and Alice Baldridge of Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Facility; Victoria Hamilton and Scott Anderson of the University of Hawaii; Timothy Glotch of Stony Brook University; and Livio Tornabene of the University of Arizona.

Osterloo found the sites by looking through thousands of THEMIS images processed to reveal, in false colors, compositional differences on the Martian surface. As she explains, "I started noting these sites because they showed up bright blue in one set of images, green in a second set, and yellow-orange in a third."

Says team member Christensen, "THEMIS gives us a good look at the thermal infrared, the best part of the spectrum for identifying salt minerals by remote sensing from orbit."

When plotted on a global map of Mars, the chloride sites appeared only in the southern highlands, the most ancient rocks on Mars.

Lay of the Land

Christensen goes on to characterize the sites' geological setting. "Many of the deposits lie in basins with channels leading into them," he says. "This is the kind of feature, like salt-pan deposits on Earth, that's consistent with water flowing in over a long time."

Christensen, a Regents' Professor of Geological Sciences at ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, designed THEMIS and is the instrument's principal investigator.

Osterloo notes, "The deposits range in area from about one square kilometer to about 25 square kilometers," or about 0.4 square mile to about 10 square miles. She adds, "Because the deposits appear to be disconnected from each other, we don't think they all came from one big, global body of surface water." Instead, she says, "They could come from groundwater reaching the surface in low spots. The water would evaporate and leave mineral deposits, which build up over years."

The scientists think the salt deposits formed mostly in the middle to late Noachian epoch, a time that researchers have dated to about 3.9 to 3.5 billion years ago. Several lines of evidence suggest that Mars then had intermittent periods of substantially wetter and warmer conditions than today's dry, frigid climate.

Looking for Life

Up to now, scientists looking for evidence of past life on Mars have focused mainly on a handful of places that show evidence of clay or sulfate minerals. The reasoning is that clays indicate weathering by water and that sulfates may form by water evaporation.

The new research, however, suggests an alternative mineral target to explore for biological remains. Says Christensen, "By their nature, salt deposits point to a lot of water, which could potentially remain standing in pools as it evaporates." That's crucial, he says. "For life, it's all about a habitat that endures for some time."

There may also be a concentrating effect, Christensen adds. "The deposits lie in what are probably sedimentary basins. If you look upstream, you might find only a trace of organic materials because they're thinly dispersed." But over a long period of time, he explains, "The water flowing into a basin can concentrate the organic materials and they could be well preserved in the salt."

Whether or not the Red Planet ever had life is the biggest scientific question driving Mars research. On Earth, salt has proven remarkably good at preserving organic material. For example, bacteria have been revived in the laboratory after being preserved in salt deposits for millions of years.

NASA is currently studying potential landing sites for its Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), a new-generation rover due for launch in fall 2009. Sites featuring clay deposits number heavily in the short-list of candidate places to send the rover.

Christensen says, "Scientists have studied Martian clay mineral sites for years now, and it's natural they should be considered as targets for the Mars Science Laboratory rover. However, the discovery of chloride minerals in topographic basins within the oldest rocks on Mars should also be considered as an alternative mineralogy for MSL or future rovers to explore."

"This discovery demonstrates the continuing value of the Odyssey science mission, now entering its seventh year," says Jeffrey Plaut, Odyssey project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The more we look at Mars, the more fascinating a place it becomes."

Tiny star's giant planet a 'spare gas tank' - nasa space information

The discovery of a giant planet orbiting the tiny star VB10 made headlines earlier this year as the smallest star ever to be found harboring a planet. But Greg Laughlin, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, suggests that the VB10 system could also be a glimpse into the very distant future of our own galaxy.

"VB10 is the lowest-mass star we know of and is about as low-mass as a star can be," says Laughlin, co-writer of the book "The Five Ages of the Universe," which deals with the far-off future of our Milky Way galaxy. "Stars that small are very stingy with their energy production and burn so slowly that VB10 will be shining for the next 10 trillion years."

By the time VB10 runs out of fuel, Laughlin explains, the galaxy will have become a very different place. "Most of the other stars in the galaxy will have burned out," including our own sun, Laughlin says. "Stars like VB10 will be all that's left shining."

Over its lengthy lifetime, VB10 and its companion planet will witness spectacular changes in the neighborhood. "The Milky Way and Andromeda are on track to collide in about 5 billion years," Laughlin says. "Because stars are all so far apart --picture grains of sand separated by miles of empty space --there won't be any stellar collisions. But the gas clouds in each galaxy will smack into each other and create an intense burst of star formation."

This period, in which the galactic average of one new star a year will increase to between 10 and 50, will be, "the last baby boom" of the new combination galaxy, Laughlin says. As star formation decreases and old stars burn out, "the backdrop will slowly fade away, leaving behind stars that are 'built to last' like VB10," he says.

And as if 10 trillion years weren't a long enough lifespan, Laughlin explains that the gigantic planet orbiting VB10, which is 6.4 times the size of Jupiter, will eventually serve, quite literally, as the star's "extra gas tank."

"VB10 b's orbit will slowly tighten, and the planet will eventually merge with its star," Laughlin says. "The planet's gas will be a shot of fresh hydrogen to VB10 and should give it enough fuel to burn another 100 billion years -- basically forever."

VB10 was the first system to be discovered using astrometry, and Laughlin is hopeful that future astrometric missions, such as NASA's SIM Lite, will be able to find many similar systems. "SIM will be able to find a ton of objects like this," he says.

With their incredible endurance and "extra gas tank" planets, stars like VB10 ensure that, several quadrillion years from now and long after most other objects have faded into darkness, there will still be stars twinkling in the sky.

Scientific Laws often found inconsistent with science fiction

NASA rocket scientists often perform feasibility studies which examine a spacecraft design based on the laws of science (physics, mechanics, chemistry, etc.). Scientists, also, use spacecraft design conventions known as "rules of thumb" to determine whether a spacecraft concept has merit. A basic engineering education includes an introductory course in college physics. The same material is covered in less depth in high school physics as well as grade school science. A student can learn much about the laws of science by attempting an informal feasibility study on a spacecraft from a science fiction comic book, a sci-fi magazine cover, or a STAR WARS or STAR TREK video. Listed below are some of the laws of science often violated by artists and authors. Included are descriptive examples of errors often revealed by such feasibility studies.

One of the best ways of determining what is scientifically reasonable is to imagine yourself inside the subject vehicle. Next, try to compare the vehicle to driving a car, piloting an airplane, or even riding a bicycle. These vehicles must obey the laws of science. Each requires a means of steering, an engine or motor for transporting the vehicle, and a way of positioning the driver or passengers in order for them to control and ride inside the vehicle. When something does not seem correct about the science fiction art, try to classify which of the items below may be violated by the drawing.

For example, some artists fail to draw a viewing window for the pilot of a spacecraft to see where the craft is going. Others, leave out a hatch for the astronaut to enter or leave the vehicle. Can you imagine a car without doors? Below is a list of some of the most obvious abuses of the laws of science in science fiction art.

NEWTON'S THIRD LAW: Every action requires an equal and opposite reaction. This is Newton's third law. It is taught in science in elementary school. It is one of the scientific laws often found inconsistent with sci-fi artwork. Showing a spacecraft doing a space maneuver without steering thrusters is an example of violating this law of science. Having two opposing spacemen boxing in space as though on Earth is another example of its abuse. The first time a punch landed, the fighters would separate so dramatically that the fight would end.

EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF RELATIVITY: The fastest speed possible is the speed of light which is approximately 186,000 miles per second. This is a part of Einstein's theory. In certain conditions, it can be considered as a law of science. Einstein's equation states that the mass of an object times the speed of light squared equals the energy contained within an object. Einstein's equation demonstrates that when an object approaches the speed of light its mass increases toward infinity. The speed of light is a limiting speed of starships. Einstein's theory also deals with time. According to Einstein, as a starship's speed approaches the speed of light, the passage of time slows with respect to the launch site where the mission began. Those on board the starship grow older more slowly than those remaining on the home planet. Authors writing about trips to the stars often violate Einstein's theory when they speak of faster than light propulsion, warp drive, alternate universes, and other means of placing the setting of their story at light year distances from Earth.

CENTRIPETAL FORCE: Centripetal force is the force that causes a mass to travel in an arc or circular orbit. It is equal to the object's mass times its tangential velocity squared divided by the radius of the arc or circular path. The "pulling away of the mass from the radius of curvature of the arc (the orbit)" is due to the inertia of the object causing it to try to move in a straight line. The pulling away is a result of Newton's First Law. (Newton's First Law: An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.)

THE LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION: Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force proportional to the product of the masses of the particles and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Newton's law of universal gravitation is often ignored in sci-fi art. To show a hovering flying saucer, suspended above a planet's surface without visible rocketry, rotating propellers or helicopter rotors is a violation of Newton's law of gravitation.

THE GAS LAW: The gas law is PV = nRT where P is the pressure of a gas on the walls of a closed container and V is the volume of the container. The constants, n and R, relate P and V to the temperature of the gas, T. Showing astronauts in the vacuum of space without pressure suits violates the gas law. Space station crew quarters must be pressurized. Exit from space vehicles requires airlocks to preserve air pressure within pressurized compartments. Opening a pressurized compartment to the vacuum of space without an airlock rapidly releases precious oxygen. Drawing such activity as a nominal procedure causing no detrimental results on the crew is a violation of the gas law.

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Rocket to Launch Inflatable Re-entry Capsule - Nasa Space Information

Inflatable aircraft are not a new idea. Hot air balloons have been around for more than two centuries and blimps are a common sight over many sports stadiums. But it's hard to imagine an inflatable spacecraft.

Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE)
Click image to enlarge

NASA engineers check out the Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) in the lab. Credit: NASA/Sean Smith

› IRVE Fact Sheet (pdf)
Researchers from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., are working to develop a new kind of lightweight inflatable spacecraft outer shell to slow and protect reentry vehicles as they blaze through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

They will test a technology demonstrator from a small sounding rocket to be launched at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va. The launch is scheduled for Aug. 17.

The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment, or IRVE, looks like a giant mushroom when it's inflated. For the test, the silicon-coated Kevlar aeroshell is vacuum-packed inside a 16-inch (40.6 cm) diameter cylinder, but once it unfurls and is pumped full of nitrogen it is almost 10 feet (3 m) wide.

Engineers say the concept could help land bigger objects on Mars. "We'd like to be able to land more mass on Mars," said Neil Cheatwood, IRVE's principal investigator and chief scientist of the Hypersonics Project within NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program. "To land more mass you have to have more drag. We need to maximize the drag area of the entry system. We want to make it as big as we can, but the limitation has been the launch vehicle diameter."

Black Brant IX rocket

A Black Brant 9 rocket similar to the one that will lift the Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) to an altitude of about 130 miles (209 km) above the Earth. Credit: NASA
According to Cheatwood, the idea of inflatable decelerators has been around for 40 years, but there were technical issues, including concerns about whether materials could withstand the heat of re-entry. Since then materials have advanced and because of numerous Mars missions, including rovers, landers and orbiters, there's more understanding of the Martian atmosphere.

That means researchers can now test a subscale model of a compact inflatable heat shield with the help of a small two-stage rocket. The vehicle is a 50-foot Black Brant 9 that will lift IRVE outside the atmosphere to an altitude of about 130 miles (209 km). Engineers want to find out what the re-entry vehicle will do on the way down.

"The whole flight will be over in less than 20 minutes," said Mary Beth Wusk, IRVE project manager. "We separate from the rocket 90 seconds after launch and we begin inflation about three-and-a-half-minutes after that. Our critical data period after it inflates and re-enters through the atmosphere is only about 30 seconds long."

Cameras and sensors on board will document the inflation and high-speed free fall and send information to researchers on the ground.

After its brief flight IRVE will fall into the Atlantic Ocean about 90 miles down range from Wallops. No efforts will be made to retrieve the experiment or the sounding rocket.

The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment is an example of how NASA is using its aeronautics expertise to support the development of future spacecraft. NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington funded the flight experiment as part of its hypersonics research effort.

NASA Targets August. 24 for STS-128 Launch - Nasa Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle Program is targeting Discovery's STS-128 launch for Aug. 24 at 1:58 a.m., though the official launch date will not be set until the agency-level Flight Readiness Review is conducted Aug. 18. In the meantime, teams will continue to analyze foam loss from the external tanks on the STS-125 and STS-127 missions.

Seven astronauts who will fly to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery began subtle changes in their daily routine to adjust their body clocks for the mission's schedule. The process is called sleep-shifting and it basically gets the crew members accustomed to being awake when they wouldn't normally be.

Space Telescopes Find Trigger-Happy Star Formation

A new study from two of NASA's Great Observatories provides fresh insight into how some stars are born, along with a beautiful new image of a stellar nursery in our Milky Way galaxy. The research shows that radiation from massive stars may trigger the formation of many more stars than previously thought.

While astronomers have long understood that stars and planets form from the collapse of a cloud of gas, the question of the main causes of this process has remained open.

One option is that the cloud cools, gravity gets the upper hand, and the cloud falls in on itself. The other possibility is that a "trigger" from some external source -- like radiation from a massive star or a shock from a supernova -- initiates the collapse. Some previous studies have noted a combination of triggering mechanisms in effect.


By combining observations of the star-forming cloud Cepheus B from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers have taken an important step in addressing this question. Cepheus B is a cloud of mainly cool molecular hydrogen located about 2,400 light years from Earth. There are hundreds of very young stars inside and around the cloud -- ranging from a few million years old outside the cloud to less than a million in the interior -- making it an important testing ground for star formation.

"Astronomers have generally believed that it's somewhat rare for stars and planets to be triggered into formation by radiation from massive stars," said Konstantin Getman of Penn State University, University Park, Pa., lead author of the study. "Our new result shows this belief is likely to be wrong."

This particular type of triggered star formation had previously been seen in small populations of a few dozen stars, but the latest result is the first time it has been clearly observed in a rich population of several hundred stars.

While slightly farther away than the famous Orion star-forming region, Cepheus B is at a better orientation for astronomers to observe the triggering process. The Chandra observations allowed the astronomers to pick out young stars within and around Cepheus B. Young stars have turbulent interiors that generate highly active magnetic fields, which, in turn, produce strong and identifiable X-ray signatures.

The Spitzer data revealed whether the young stars have a disk of material (known as "protoplanetary" disks) around them. Since they only exist in very young systems where planets are still forming, the presence of protoplanetary disks -- or lack thereof -- is an indication of the age of a star system.

The new study suggests that star formation in Cepheus B is mainly triggered by radiation from one bright, massive star outside the molecular cloud. According to theoretical models, radiation from this star would drive a compression wave into the cloud-triggering star formation in the interior, while evaporating the cloud's outer layers. The Chandra-Spitzer analysis revealed slightly older stars outside the cloud, and the youngest stars with the most protoplanetary disks in the cloud interior -- exactly what is predicted from the triggered star formation scenario.

"We essentially see a wave of star and planet formation that is rippling through this cloud," said co-author Eric Feigelson, also of Penn State. "It's clear that we can learn a lot about stellar nurseries by combining data from these two Great Observatories."

A paper describing these results was published in the July 10 issue of the Astrophysical Journal. The team of astronomers that worked with Getman and Feigelson also included Kevin Luhman and Gordon Garmire from Penn State; Aurora Sicilia-Aguilar from Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie in Germany; and Junfeng Wang from Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The Spitzer observations were taken during the observatory's "cold" mission, before its coolant ran out and it began operating at a warmer temperature.

The Formation of Stars - Nasa Space Shuttle

Cepheus B, a molecular cloud located in our Milky Galaxy about 2,400 light years from the Earth, provides an excellent model to determine how stars are formed. This composite image of Cepheus B combines data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

A molecular cloud is a region containing cool interstellar gas and dust left over from the formation of the galaxy and mostly contains molecular hydrogen. The Spitzer data, in red, green and blue shows the molecular cloud (in the bottom part of the image) plus young stars in and around Cepheus B, and the Chandra data in violet shows the young stars in the field.

The Chandra observations allowed the astronomers to pick out young stars within and near Cepheus B, identified by their strong X-ray emission. The Spitzer data showed whether the young stars have a so-called "protoplanetary" disk around them. Such disks only exist in very young systems where planets are still forming, so their presence is an indication of the age of a star system.

The new study suggests that star formation in Cepheus B is mainly triggered by radiation from one bright, massive star (HD 217086) outside the molecular cloud. According to the particular model of triggered star formation that was tested -- called the radiation- driven implosion (RDI) model -- radiation from this massive star drives a compression wave into the cloud triggering star formation in the interior, while evaporating the cloud's outer layers.

NASA's Orion Launch Safety System - Nasa Space Information

One of the three motors used to test the safety system for the Orion crew exploration vehicle arrived at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico after a 14-hour journey from Salt Lake City. The motor will soon be fully integrated with the other system motors in preparation for the Pad Abort 1, or PA-1, flight test this fall.

The launch abort system is designed to protect the crew onboard Orion by pulling the craft to safety in the event of an emergency on the launch pad or during the initial phase of ascent.

The Pad Abort 1 test will be the first full-scale test flight of the new system. The flight test will be conducted using a fully-integrated launch abort system, which includes the abort motor that first pulls Orion from danger, an attitude control motor to provide directional control, and the jettison motor to separate the system from the crew module. The test at White Sands will use a mockup of the Orion crew module.

The main abort motor will ignite, producing over a half-million pounds of thrust within milliseconds to pull the Orion mockup from the platform. Once the crew module has been reoriented for landing, the launch abort system will be jettisoned and parachutes will slow the capsule’s descent to a safe landing.

The abort motor stands over 17 feet tall, measures three feet in diameter and is equipped with a unique reverse flow manifold that includes four head end turn flow nozzles. The manifold is placed at the forward end of the motor. Rocket plumes exit all four nozzles at 155 degrees, instead of straight out the aft end, creating forward thrust. The reverse flow manifold, which was designed to provide the necessary plume clearance between the system and the Orion crew capsule, is the first of its kind for a high-thrust rocket motor system on a U.S. human space flight vehicle.

In preparation for this test, a series of motor test fires and component tests have been conducted, including a full-scale abort motor test last fall. Following the PA-1 test flight, additional ground and flight tests for the launch abort system are planned over the next several years to support the first operational flight of Orion and Ares I.