NASA's Dawn spacecraft,designed and built by Orbital ATK,has gotten a second mission extension to further explore dwarf planet Ceres.The new orbit will enable its closest approach to the celestial body located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter,to within 120 miles/200 km of the surface.Its previous closest approach had been 240 miles/385 km.The orbit will also become Dawn's permanent home once it runs out of hydrazine fuel,which will probably be in late 2018.The Dawn mission team doesn't want the spacecraft to contaminate Ceres by landing on it or crashing into it.*
In the new orbit,Dawn will study the composition of Ceres' upper layer with its gamma ray and neutron spectrometer.Of particular interest is the amount of ice that may be present on and near the surface.Dawn's camera will also take visible light images of Ceres' surface geology,while its visible and infrared mapping spectrometer will take measurements of Ceres' mineralogy.Another highlight will be Dawn's presence during Ceres' perihelion,or closest approach to the Sun,in April 2018.Ice on and near Ceres' surface may turn to water vapor or even the weak transient atmosphere previous observations by ESA's Herschel Space Observatory have documented.Ground-based observatories will also be tapped for this study of Ceres' perihelion behaviour.The prime cause of the fleeting atmosphere,which lasts about a week per occurrence,is currently suspected to be solar wind protons bombarding Ceres in the course of the solar cycle and interacting with ice on and in its outer layer,irrespective of Ceres' distance from the Sun.*
Managed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,Dawn's mission science is headed by UCLA.International partners on the mission include The German Aerospace Center;the Max Planck Institue for Solar System Research;the Italian Space Agency;and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute.*
Orbital ATK Inc (OA)
Showing posts with label European Space Agency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European Space Agency. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
What NASA Astronomers Do - observational specialist graphs his career and the history of the science
Dr.Ted Gull,astronomer emeritus at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,Maryland,described what it has been like to be an astronomer for the past 50 years-perhaps a harder job than people think-to a handful of astronomy buffs at C.Burr Artz Library in Frederick,Maryland as part of the library's Discover Space initiative this summer.Dr.Gull has been with NASA for 37 of those years,during which he has authored 597 papers.He is still continuing his research beyond his retirement two years ago.As an emeritus at GSFC,he gets a study carrel in an office he shares with 12 other people,and a computer.He has traveled so widely since retirement,he and his wife have only been home eight months over the past two years.He's been working in Sweden,Italy and Chile,among other places.*
Dr.Gull graduated from MIT in 1966,one of a group of twelve physics majors who went on to get degrees in astronomy.In the 1960s,he pointed out,photo diodes were used to measure the light of a star,one star at a time.Images were captured on 14x14 glass plates coated with a photo-sensitive emulsion-at Mt.Palomar,California,for instance,home of the then stupendous 200-inch Hale Telescope.Spectrographs were then,as they are now,one of the major tools that astronomers use.A spectrograph is a device that separates light into its wavelengths and records the data,or spectrum.University of Wisconsin astronomer Blair Savage put it this way:
A picture may be worth a thousand words;but a spectrum is worth a thousand pictures.*
Until the 1980s,Dr.Gull recalled,astronomy was very laborious,carried out in very cold conditions at night.Astronomers often worked 18 hour days preparing observations,calibrating telescopes,making the observations at night,developing and cataloging the photographic plates.It was like this until the advent of the CCD solid state devices,or charged coupled devices,which directly recorded the images,read them electronically,and provided data for processing by computer.We are developing new CCD detectors every day for future missions-and they have many military applications as well.*
The early space telescopes were OAO-1 and OAO-2 (Copernicus).Such astronomy projects took months,years-even decades-to develop.They were computer-controlled,but with primitive computers at first.The iPhone 7 is a thousand times faster than those computers were.Eventually,however,as technology progressed,observatory observations started being made in university offices hundreds or even thousands of miles from the actual telescopes.Yet even today someone still has to be on site at the observatory to operate the telescope,make sure it's working right and make weather observations.You still need clear skies for observing.*
The International Ultraviolet Explorer Telescope lasted for 18 years,from 1978-96,until its funding ran out.It was the first remotely interactive observatory.From its data,thousands of published papers and over 100 PhD theses were generated.Indeed,papers based on its data are still being written to this day.*
Dr.Gull worked directly with the astronauts for two years between the Apollo and Space Shuttle eras,preparing them for Space Shuttle astronomy projects.*
The Astro-1 space telescope was attached to the Space Shuttle.Dr.Gull was chief scientist of the mission.It was the mission from hell,Dr.Gull joked.Initially,it was to be on five different shuttle missions,and two astronomers were to fly on the shuttle as mission specialists.Dr.Gull removed himself from consideration for becoming an astronaut-a decision he doesn't regret.The Space Shuttle Challenger accident led to a hiatus of four and a half years for Astro-1,but it finally got to fly on 2-11 December 1990,and a second time five years later,which went beautifully.Astro-1 was beset by hardware problems,but they were all resolved.In the end,Astro-1 got 50% of the observations they had hoped for,and its data generated 100 papers.*
The Hubble Space Telescope was conceived by Lyman Spitzer in the 1940s as a way to circumvent the murkiness of the Earth's atmosphere,as you cannot see ultraviolet radiation through the atmosphere.Launched in 1990,it is still operational after 26 years in orbit.Its mirror is 2.4 meters in aperture.HST needed periodic upgrades and repairs.The correction of lenses and mirrors were needed;and gyros,computers and solar panels had to be changed over the course of five servicing missions.The last repair mission was in 2009,and HST is still working beautifully.
The HST mirrors were modified so as to fit in with the spy satellites the shuttle had to carry as well,Dr.Gull noted.HST is expected to be in orbit until the 2030s.It has a 96 minute orbit and is traveling at 18,000 mph.During its life,we have gone from reel-to-reel tape to all solid state memory.
Everything that goes up into space still has to be radiation-hardened,Dr.Gull added.It takes up to ten years to devise hardening for something.*
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will be launched in 2018 from French Guiana on a European Space Agency Ariane V rocket,which demonstrates the international nature of the programme.It is named after James Webb,the first administrator of NASA.Dr.Gull actually met James Webb and feels that he was a visionary.While Dr.Gull has been photographed next to the JWST,he isn't directly involved with it.Its mission is to peer back to the first stars and galaxies in the universe,in the first 300 million years of the universe's existence.Its mirror is 6.5 meters across.*
As for his own research,there is a nebulous,or gaseous,region in the constellation Orion.Dr.Gull noticed that one of the Orion nebula's stars has an arc around it.That means the star has a wind.The star is moving through an ionised region of the nebula,creating a bow wave.Stars have massive winds,and there are over a dozen examples of this.
His favourite celestial object is the Eta Carinae binary star system.It is a Southern Hemisphere object.Eta Carinae is a massive binary that is nearing the end of its life.Eventually,two supernovae will result from it.Why is this binary so important?The first stars that formed in the universe were massive,and most likely binaries,Dr.Gull explained.This binary system is producing huge amounts of Nitrogen.Our own bodies are made of such star stuff,so we are trying to understand ourselves when we learn what the first stars were like,and how they enrich the interstellar medium.
Dr.Gull continues to do his research using the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory,as well as the Atacama Large Millimeter Array radio telescope in Chile.Such is the life of discovery of a sharp scientific mind engaged in NASA astronomy.
Dr.Gull graduated from MIT in 1966,one of a group of twelve physics majors who went on to get degrees in astronomy.In the 1960s,he pointed out,photo diodes were used to measure the light of a star,one star at a time.Images were captured on 14x14 glass plates coated with a photo-sensitive emulsion-at Mt.Palomar,California,for instance,home of the then stupendous 200-inch Hale Telescope.Spectrographs were then,as they are now,one of the major tools that astronomers use.A spectrograph is a device that separates light into its wavelengths and records the data,or spectrum.University of Wisconsin astronomer Blair Savage put it this way:
A picture may be worth a thousand words;but a spectrum is worth a thousand pictures.*
Until the 1980s,Dr.Gull recalled,astronomy was very laborious,carried out in very cold conditions at night.Astronomers often worked 18 hour days preparing observations,calibrating telescopes,making the observations at night,developing and cataloging the photographic plates.It was like this until the advent of the CCD solid state devices,or charged coupled devices,which directly recorded the images,read them electronically,and provided data for processing by computer.We are developing new CCD detectors every day for future missions-and they have many military applications as well.*
The early space telescopes were OAO-1 and OAO-2 (Copernicus).Such astronomy projects took months,years-even decades-to develop.They were computer-controlled,but with primitive computers at first.The iPhone 7 is a thousand times faster than those computers were.Eventually,however,as technology progressed,observatory observations started being made in university offices hundreds or even thousands of miles from the actual telescopes.Yet even today someone still has to be on site at the observatory to operate the telescope,make sure it's working right and make weather observations.You still need clear skies for observing.*
The International Ultraviolet Explorer Telescope lasted for 18 years,from 1978-96,until its funding ran out.It was the first remotely interactive observatory.From its data,thousands of published papers and over 100 PhD theses were generated.Indeed,papers based on its data are still being written to this day.*
Dr.Gull worked directly with the astronauts for two years between the Apollo and Space Shuttle eras,preparing them for Space Shuttle astronomy projects.*
The Astro-1 space telescope was attached to the Space Shuttle.Dr.Gull was chief scientist of the mission.It was the mission from hell,Dr.Gull joked.Initially,it was to be on five different shuttle missions,and two astronomers were to fly on the shuttle as mission specialists.Dr.Gull removed himself from consideration for becoming an astronaut-a decision he doesn't regret.The Space Shuttle Challenger accident led to a hiatus of four and a half years for Astro-1,but it finally got to fly on 2-11 December 1990,and a second time five years later,which went beautifully.Astro-1 was beset by hardware problems,but they were all resolved.In the end,Astro-1 got 50% of the observations they had hoped for,and its data generated 100 papers.*
The Hubble Space Telescope was conceived by Lyman Spitzer in the 1940s as a way to circumvent the murkiness of the Earth's atmosphere,as you cannot see ultraviolet radiation through the atmosphere.Launched in 1990,it is still operational after 26 years in orbit.Its mirror is 2.4 meters in aperture.HST needed periodic upgrades and repairs.The correction of lenses and mirrors were needed;and gyros,computers and solar panels had to be changed over the course of five servicing missions.The last repair mission was in 2009,and HST is still working beautifully.
The HST mirrors were modified so as to fit in with the spy satellites the shuttle had to carry as well,Dr.Gull noted.HST is expected to be in orbit until the 2030s.It has a 96 minute orbit and is traveling at 18,000 mph.During its life,we have gone from reel-to-reel tape to all solid state memory.
Everything that goes up into space still has to be radiation-hardened,Dr.Gull added.It takes up to ten years to devise hardening for something.*
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will be launched in 2018 from French Guiana on a European Space Agency Ariane V rocket,which demonstrates the international nature of the programme.It is named after James Webb,the first administrator of NASA.Dr.Gull actually met James Webb and feels that he was a visionary.While Dr.Gull has been photographed next to the JWST,he isn't directly involved with it.Its mission is to peer back to the first stars and galaxies in the universe,in the first 300 million years of the universe's existence.Its mirror is 6.5 meters across.*
As for his own research,there is a nebulous,or gaseous,region in the constellation Orion.Dr.Gull noticed that one of the Orion nebula's stars has an arc around it.That means the star has a wind.The star is moving through an ionised region of the nebula,creating a bow wave.Stars have massive winds,and there are over a dozen examples of this.
His favourite celestial object is the Eta Carinae binary star system.It is a Southern Hemisphere object.Eta Carinae is a massive binary that is nearing the end of its life.Eventually,two supernovae will result from it.Why is this binary so important?The first stars that formed in the universe were massive,and most likely binaries,Dr.Gull explained.This binary system is producing huge amounts of Nitrogen.Our own bodies are made of such star stuff,so we are trying to understand ourselves when we learn what the first stars were like,and how they enrich the interstellar medium.
Dr.Gull continues to do his research using the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory,as well as the Atacama Large Millimeter Array radio telescope in Chile.Such is the life of discovery of a sharp scientific mind engaged in NASA astronomy.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Aerospace Engineering:Critical Design Review Completed for ESA Orion Service Module
NASA and the ESA completed a critical design review culminating in a final review board on 16 June 2016 for the European-built Orion Service Module.The OSM,manufactured by Airbus Group SE,will power,propel and cool the Orion capsule in deep space,along with providing air,water and storage capacity for Orion's crew.
No new major issues were identified during an initial scan of the review,NASA said.Indeed,numerous items were processed and closed out,assuring engineers the OSM design is mature enough to continue with fabrication,assembly,integration and testing.While Airbus builds the OSM,Lockheed Martin is serving as prime contractor of the Orion spacecraft itself.*
The CDR set April 2017 as the target for OSM delivery to Kennedy Space Center for final processng for its late 2018 launch on the unmanned Exploration Mission-1,when it will be stacked atop the new Space Launch System rocket and beneath the Orion spacecraft.
Orion and its Ground Systems Development Program that provides the facilities and ground support at KSC to prepare SLS and Orion for deep space missions,successfully completed their own joint CDR in March 2016.*
Airbus Group SE (Euronext:EAD),Lockheed Martin (LMT)
No new major issues were identified during an initial scan of the review,NASA said.Indeed,numerous items were processed and closed out,assuring engineers the OSM design is mature enough to continue with fabrication,assembly,integration and testing.While Airbus builds the OSM,Lockheed Martin is serving as prime contractor of the Orion spacecraft itself.*
The CDR set April 2017 as the target for OSM delivery to Kennedy Space Center for final processng for its late 2018 launch on the unmanned Exploration Mission-1,when it will be stacked atop the new Space Launch System rocket and beneath the Orion spacecraft.
Orion and its Ground Systems Development Program that provides the facilities and ground support at KSC to prepare SLS and Orion for deep space missions,successfully completed their own joint CDR in March 2016.*
Airbus Group SE (Euronext:EAD),Lockheed Martin (LMT)
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
NASA and ESA:Orion Program Draws Them Even Closer
On 30 November,several NASA officials,plus Orion Program prime contractor Lockheed Martin and their European partners held a press conference to mark the start of testing of the European Service Module for the Orion spacecraft.The ESM test article was recently flown to the US on a huge Russian Antonov aircraft and trucked to the NASA Glenn Research Center in Clevelend and Sandusky,Ohio.The ESM will be certified for flight on Exploration Mission 1 in 2018,an unmanned mission that will be the first flight of Orion on the new Space Launch System rocket,which will take the spacecraft to the Moon and back.*
This is another step along that journey of designing a vehicle that's going to take us farther than human beings have gone ever,said GRC director Jim Free.It's really about ensuring the success of EM-1.GRC is the only place you can test a vehicle this size in its launch configuration.The huge vibration table here shakes the vehicle and the vacuum chamber simulates what space is like for the vehicle.At GRC's multiple locations for testing and getting qualified for flight,there will be ESM solar array deployment and firing pyrotechnics.It's all about ensuring mission success,meeting the flight and mission requirements here on the ground.
With the ESM Orion Service Module,we're building on the international partnership of the ISS.*
This is a significant milestone,said Greg Williams of NASA headquarters in Washingon,DC.What's more important is,we don't want to go it alone.We want exploration to be together.Orion and the Exploration Systems program will be the same as ISS.
We're building hardware,testing hardware,testing software.All the pieces are coming together.In the SLS program,tanks are being welded together;there is fabrication and testing.The huge Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center is being recertified;pads are being refurbished.It's really exciting to see we're on this march to EM-1.*
The vibration table and acoustic chamber here at GRC are unique in the world,said Mark Kirasich,Orion Program Manager,Johnson Space Center,Houston.We have to make sure we can survive that and the thermal extremes.We welcomed the ESA three years ago.Their ESM will provide Orion with propulsion,attitude control and abort capability.Its large solar arrays power the equipment and its radiators keep the equipment and astronauts comfortable.Its water and gas tanks are for drinking and breathing.
Down in Louisiana,the EM-1 crew module is almost complete;in early January,it will be shipped to KSC for the production and outfitting phase.*
This Saturday will be the first anniversary of EFT-1,the first test flight of Orion,said Dr.Mike Hawes,Orion Program Manager at Lockheed Martin.Five of the seven EM-1 crew module welds are complete.We are delivering computer boards to the ESA.We all believe exploration has to be an international venture.We work day in and day out with the Airbus team.The service module has to be totally interactive with the crew module.The crew module is the brains,directing the ESM's solar arrays and firing.The ISS proves that these partnerships can work on a vast scale.ESM is really building on that.We're testing Orion components on the ISS.*
It's a real team achievement,said Nico Dettman,head of the ESA's Development Department.I've seen a tremendous development in cooperation of the teams,a continuation of the ISS program.It's the first time ESA is embarking on a human mission beyond low earth orbit.*
On this programme,we are the partner of Lockheed Martin,building for the agencies,said Dr.Oliver Jukenhoefel,ESM Program Manager for Airbus Defence&Space.Our ESM couldn't fly alone;there is no onboard computer.The whole mission control is done by the crew module and NASA.Collaboration on a daily basis is not easy.The ESM test article is the majority of the mechanical.Space is in our DNA.The Orion Program is the best place we can be and we want to be in it for a very long period.*
The whole reason we're going to the Moon is for practice and as a staging area for equipment going to Mars,added NASA's Greg Williams.We need to develop equipment for deep space habitation;deep space propulsion ( needed first for the Asteroid Redirect Mission);and a landing capability for the Martian atmosphere.We are thinking ahead.Development and testing activities are underway.A lot is being tested on the ISS.Many componenets are either being designed or developed.It's a long,expensive proposition.We would love to see astronauts from several nations involved when we first set foot on the red planet.
All of our avionics and electronics have to be radiation-hardened.We,re building places to protect astronauts if we experience a solar flare,a place where they can hide.*
This is another step along that journey of designing a vehicle that's going to take us farther than human beings have gone ever,said GRC director Jim Free.It's really about ensuring the success of EM-1.GRC is the only place you can test a vehicle this size in its launch configuration.The huge vibration table here shakes the vehicle and the vacuum chamber simulates what space is like for the vehicle.At GRC's multiple locations for testing and getting qualified for flight,there will be ESM solar array deployment and firing pyrotechnics.It's all about ensuring mission success,meeting the flight and mission requirements here on the ground.
With the ESM Orion Service Module,we're building on the international partnership of the ISS.*
This is a significant milestone,said Greg Williams of NASA headquarters in Washingon,DC.What's more important is,we don't want to go it alone.We want exploration to be together.Orion and the Exploration Systems program will be the same as ISS.
We're building hardware,testing hardware,testing software.All the pieces are coming together.In the SLS program,tanks are being welded together;there is fabrication and testing.The huge Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center is being recertified;pads are being refurbished.It's really exciting to see we're on this march to EM-1.*
The vibration table and acoustic chamber here at GRC are unique in the world,said Mark Kirasich,Orion Program Manager,Johnson Space Center,Houston.We have to make sure we can survive that and the thermal extremes.We welcomed the ESA three years ago.Their ESM will provide Orion with propulsion,attitude control and abort capability.Its large solar arrays power the equipment and its radiators keep the equipment and astronauts comfortable.Its water and gas tanks are for drinking and breathing.
Down in Louisiana,the EM-1 crew module is almost complete;in early January,it will be shipped to KSC for the production and outfitting phase.*
This Saturday will be the first anniversary of EFT-1,the first test flight of Orion,said Dr.Mike Hawes,Orion Program Manager at Lockheed Martin.Five of the seven EM-1 crew module welds are complete.We are delivering computer boards to the ESA.We all believe exploration has to be an international venture.We work day in and day out with the Airbus team.The service module has to be totally interactive with the crew module.The crew module is the brains,directing the ESM's solar arrays and firing.The ISS proves that these partnerships can work on a vast scale.ESM is really building on that.We're testing Orion components on the ISS.*
It's a real team achievement,said Nico Dettman,head of the ESA's Development Department.I've seen a tremendous development in cooperation of the teams,a continuation of the ISS program.It's the first time ESA is embarking on a human mission beyond low earth orbit.*
On this programme,we are the partner of Lockheed Martin,building for the agencies,said Dr.Oliver Jukenhoefel,ESM Program Manager for Airbus Defence&Space.Our ESM couldn't fly alone;there is no onboard computer.The whole mission control is done by the crew module and NASA.Collaboration on a daily basis is not easy.The ESM test article is the majority of the mechanical.Space is in our DNA.The Orion Program is the best place we can be and we want to be in it for a very long period.*
The whole reason we're going to the Moon is for practice and as a staging area for equipment going to Mars,added NASA's Greg Williams.We need to develop equipment for deep space habitation;deep space propulsion ( needed first for the Asteroid Redirect Mission);and a landing capability for the Martian atmosphere.We are thinking ahead.Development and testing activities are underway.A lot is being tested on the ISS.Many componenets are either being designed or developed.It's a long,expensive proposition.We would love to see astronauts from several nations involved when we first set foot on the red planet.
All of our avionics and electronics have to be radiation-hardened.We,re building places to protect astronauts if we experience a solar flare,a place where they can hide.*
Monday, April 9, 2012
Shop Talk:Recommended Photo
Dear Readers,
A link to an excellent photo of the ESA cargo module docking with the International Space Station is provided in the previous post.I hope you will avail yourselves of this opportunity.Manned spaceflight is very much alive,despite the end of the space shuttle program.
Sincerely,
Andrew Taylor
A link to an excellent photo of the ESA cargo module docking with the International Space Station is provided in the previous post.I hope you will avail yourselves of this opportunity.Manned spaceflight is very much alive,despite the end of the space shuttle program.
Sincerely,
Andrew Taylor
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