Despite Financial/Political Difficulties NASA Constellation Engineers Move Forward

Never mind all of the controversy and confusion surrounding NASA's budget, their new leader and the possible delays for the shuttle retirement; I have some good news for you!  NASA's engineers working on the Constellation program are actually making some serious progress.

Ares I-X, the code name for the first Ares rocket to be tested, will lift off from Kennedy Space Center early this summer. It should climb to around 25 miles (40.2 km) in a two-minute powered test of the first stage and its recovery system. The test is meant to find out if there are any basic design flaws that need to be fixed before the more complex components are added to the rocket.  This just goes to show that no matter how powerful the computers and simulations are these things just have to be tested the old fashion way.

There are countless teams and individuals working on this project and if this test is a successful it will help immeasurably in boosting moral and renewing faith in the whole Constellation program.  Not to mention it will help keep it on track for the Design Review scheduled for 2010.

Here is the base of the Ares rocket being put together in Virginia's Langley Research Center.

This picture gives a good perspective of the size of the rocket and what it should look like as it gets closer to completion.

And here are a quick video of NASA in the Inaugural Parade with Barack smiling (which hopefully is a good sign for NASA!)

Source: nasa.gov

Thanks for reading!

The Fool

Methane on Mars: Biological or Geological?

I have been absent from New Frontiers for quite some time.  This was mainly due to lack of time, but because there have been many developments in the area of space exploration and astronomy I have decided to make time for this site and I hope you enjoy!

A great deal of buzz is being generated over NASA's recent findings on the release of methane on Mars.  The methane has been released during specific seasons and has been measured multiple times over the past decade.  Methane (CH4) can be a product of either geological or biological processes.  Though 90% of Earth's CH4 has biological origins.  One of NASA's Goddard research scientists had the following comments:

"Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 indicates some ongoing process is releasing the gas," said Dr. Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "At northern mid-summer, methane is released at a rate comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara, Calif."

The next step is sending a mission up to Mars to determine the origin of the releases.  If it was microbes creating the gas then they would be several meters under the surface of the Red Planet and we would need the ability to drill this deep.  Scientists are taking this into account and could possibly outfit the Mars Science Laboratory Rover with a drill to take some samples.  

Either way something has to be going on to produce the methane and it will be very interesting to discover its source, whether biological, which could make this one of the greatest discoveries of our time, or just geological which would still change everything we thought we knew about our dusty neighbor.

Exciting stuff isn't it?  I will keep you updated with anything that comes up, and what is being planned to dig up the answer to this mystery.

Here is an interesting video from NASA on the methane discovery

Source:  NASA

I hope you enjoyed it!

The Fool 

Quote of the day:  

If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them. 

~Issac Assimov

Carnival of Space Review and Shuttle Launch STS-123

Well today I have an assortment of topics, I am reviewing my favorite stories from this week's Carnival of Space. Also I have a wrap-up for the latest shuttle launch.

Well this week's Carnival was hosted on Missy's Window and I have for you my top three stories from this Carnival:

-One story that I really liked was over on Centauri Dreams and discussed really many novel ways of colonizing the Cosmos. Though they focused on the idea of letting a von Neumann probe find a promising planet and using the matter it finds there to establish a colony and fill it with settlers. Not the normal kind of flesh and bone human settler, but an uploaded consciousness that would be able to take physical (robotic) form to explore the new environment. They also talk about the Singularity which is an interesting topic of debate, but anyway, go ahead and check it out, and make sure that you read some of the comments, they are interesting.

-FlyingSinger on Music of the Spheres has an article about how you can become a space tourist now, and for free. The way to do this is ORBITER, a free space flight simulation where you can launch the Space Shuttle from Kennedy Space Center to deploy a satellite, rendezvous with the International Space Station or take the futuristic Delta-glider for a tour through the solar system. It is a relatively realistic sim and a good bit of fun, give it a go!

-Ethan from Starts with a Bang puts in his say for the ever continuing debate about dark matter and the acceleration of the universe. An interesting article and pretty simple compared to some that explain in too scientific of terms for most people to understand.

If you want to check out the whole Carnival go to Missy's Window.

Next up we have the latest shuttle launch STS-123. The Shuttle Endeavour went up on Tuesday the 11th in the wee hours of the morning just as planned. The purpose of the mission is to deliver the Japanese Kibo Logistics Module and the Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator robotics system to the International Space Station. Here is a countdown to the launch if you missed it with some pictures from people there during the launch, and here is NASA's launch blog. The current mission duration is set for sixteen days though with extension days built in, this mission has the ability to be the longest shuttle flight in history. The completion of the mission will leave nine flights remaining in the Space Shuttle program until its end in 2010, excluding two as-yet-unconfirmed Contingency Logistic Flights. STS-123 is the 25th shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Just go to Wikipedia.org if you want the day by day schedule or if you just want more info. Also if you want to track the International Space Station here's a Google Maps program that lets you do just that.

Source: NASA, Wikipedia.org

Well thanks for reading today, if you have anything to say go ahead and leave a comment or email me at thefoolpg@gmail.com.

The Fool

A Day in Space

Well I found a good deal of interesting stories today so I thought that I would just give a brief summary of all of them with links to the main article.

I found one article on UniverseToday.com that really intrigued me. The story is about the idea of a one man, no return mission to Mars. This one man mission would be much more technologically feasible than the normal mission because it wouldn't require a return rocket and they would need supplies for only one person. The man who came up with the idea, former NASA engineer Jim McLane, believes such an event would unify the world as never before. I don't think that finding volunteers for such a mission would be too hard, and the mission wouldn't be a suicide mission, the astronaut would have supplies sent to the Mars camp site in advance and more people could be sent every 26 months. Also a man and woman could be sent together as a futuristic Adam and Eve. I wish NASA or any space organization would at least consider this idea, I think that it would captivate the whole world and motivate a new generation of astro/cosmo/taikonauts.

Virgin Galactic has leaked a bit of information about their future SpaceShipThree (SS3). SS3, though nothing is set in stone yet, is planed to be a hypersonic point-to-point vehicle. This would provide a rapid trans-Atlantic trip or the frequent London, England to Sydney, Australia journey. Virgin envisions a 2012 time frame for detailed SS3 work to begin on SS3. SS3 will most likely begin if and when SS2 is successful. It seems like a good idea to me, very very quick travel to distant points, I don't see much wrong with that.

You have probably heard of the Rocket Racing League ( RRL) and they, along with the City of Las Cruces, have finally broken ground on the RRL Aerospace Business Park, two hangers at the east end of Las Cruces International Airport will be the first step of construction and should be done by May. The RRL Aerospace Business Park will serve as the headquarters for the RRL and with more than 300 acres of development planned, the business park will not only serve the RRL industry but will evolve into a destination location for fans visiting an RRL museum, Hall of Fame, education centers and other attractions.

Also if you haven't seen or read about it yet, here is the Martian avalanche that was caught on camera while it actually happened.

Thanks for reading today, I hope that I had some stories of interest for you. Just leave me a comment if you need to know more or have anything to say.

Picture Source: Wikipedia.org

The Fool

NASA Constellation Program Part 2: The Orion Crew Vehicle

This is part two of the series on NASA's Constellation program, if you didn't read part one then here it is so that you can catch up. Today we will be discussing the Orion Crew Vehicle and all of the parts that come with it. Well let's go ahead and get right into it.

The Orion Vehicle is being designed to carry a crew of four to six astronauts, and will be launched by the Ares I rocket. It is scheduled to begin flights at the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015 with future flights to the International Space Station. Though flights to and from the ISS isn't Orion's main purpose, its primary function will be human missions to the Moon and Mars. The design of the Orion Vehicle is based heavily on the Apollo command module, with one of the major differences being that Orion can carry up to six passengers while Apollo could carry a max of three. You can see the Orion Vehicle's main components in the diagram.

The Orion Crew Module will be 5 meters by 3.3 meters, mass around 8.5 tonnes, and have an internal volume of 6 cubic meters. Orion will dock by means of the Low Impact Docking System, which is pretty much high tech USB port for spaceships.

The craft's service module will have a pair of deployable circular solar panels that replace the fuel cells that powered Apollo. Orion is propelled by an Aerojet (read more) AJ-10 rocket engine, derived from the second stage of the Delta II rocket. The closed-loop recycling system used will be identical to those units used on both the Mir and International Space Stations.

The abort system uses an abort motor, which is more powerful than the Atlas 109-D booster that launched astronaut John Glenn into orbit in 1962, that would clear the astronauts of any danger that may be threatening them. Now Orion has safely completed its mission and returns to Earth it has a new way of landing. It uses a combination of parachutes and either retrorockets or airbags for capsule recovery, this eliminates the expensive naval recovery. As I said earlier the craft should be in flight by 2014, and since NASA has this as one of its top priorities I think that it may actually be close to on time. Only time will tell. This crew vehicle has a lot of potential for Moon missions and especially for Mars missions; I just hope that it will fulfill that potential.

Now don't forget that tomorrow night we have a full lunar eclipse around 10:30pm EST. It should be a really amazing eclipse and it is the last one until 2010 so don't miss it!

Source: NASA.gov, Wikipedia.com
Image Source: Wikipedia.com

The Fool

The Shuttle Takes its Leave of the ISS, New Exoplanets Found, and NASA's New Missions

Today Atlantis closed the hatches to the ISS, the shuttle will undock from the Station on Monday after its nine day visit. The crew just put the final touches on the Columbus module, such as activating all of the science racks, and rushed to pack up the shuttle for the ride home. Flight director Bob Dempsey said he could not be more pleased with Atlantis' visit. The two crews installed the new European lab, Columbus, and conducted three spacewalks to hook it up and do other space station chores. The Atlantis shuttle aims to land at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday.

Source: Discovery News

Thursday scientists announced that they have found a solar system containing two planets smaller than Jupiter and Saturn. The planets were discovered with a new technique called microlensing. A microlensing event is when two stars line up perfectly in the sky from our perspective on Earth. The closer star acts as a natural lens, magnifying the light from the more distant star. Normally the distant star just brightens, but in special cases such as this one, there can be additional distortions. These distortions are often caused by the gravity of planets around the star. In this case it was planets that caused the distortions, and small planets. The most common type of extrasolar planets (exoplanets) found are the huge gas planets, for the obvious reason that they are large and therefore easier to see. But scientists are most eager to find small, rocky, Earth-like planets so that they can get a better idea of how they form and the number of Earth-like planets in the galaxy. Scientists doubt they will see these planets again because of the very miniscule chance of another microlensing event occurring, though just finding not only exoplanets, but small and rocky exoplanets can be a big break for astronomy.

Source: Universe Today

And to end today's post I thought I would report on NASA's newly proposed initiatives. The first is a new probe that will explore the unknown force driving the expansion of the universe, currently called dark matter by astronomers. The Joint Dark Energy Mission seeks to determine if the universe's rate of expansion varies over time. NASA hopes to begin a competitive process to consider proposals to study the phenomena. Next up NASA plans to begin work on two new spacecraft to measure Earth's soil and ice, information that will be crucial in understanding climate change. NASA is also working on small orbiter to study the lunar atmosphere and dust is scheduled for launch in 2011, with a pair of landers to follow in 2013 or 2014. And NASA's current primary outer planet goal is to have probe conducting follow up studies of the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft and the 1995-2003 Galileo mission on Jupiter.

Source: Discovery News

The Fool

Could a Beatles Song be a Threat to the Human Race?

So I read about it first over at Black Holes and Astrostuff, then on Universe Today, and even after that a few people were talking about it on the forums, so I thought that I would put in a word about the Beatles song being blasted across the galaxy. Well you may or may have not heard about this yet but NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) sent a transmission toward the North Star, Polaris. The transmission sent was the song "Across the Universe" by the Beatles and I guess was intended for any sufficiently advanced extra terrestrial life to listen to. Though what is being said now is that, not just this one transmission, but all of the radio and television leakage into the galaxy, along with info about position in the solar system and information about human biology on the Voyager and Pioneer probes we may just be giving away information that we wouldn't want possibly menacing aliens to have. Pretty much all of the scientific community agrees that an alien threat because of this is really zero, though many people think that we should discuss the issue globally before we move forward with transmitting messages into the cosmos. This discussion began at the SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) "Sound of Silence" meeting where scientists talked about the fact that in spite of 50 years of listening we haven't heard a single signal from ET. Some of the optimistic discussion of the meeting focused on the first of the 42 dishes of the Allen Telescope Array that began operation last year, which will be dedicated entirely to SETI. And the proposed Square Kilometer Array telescope will be sensitive enough to pick up signals such as alien TV and radio.

Where it started: Telegraph.co.uk

The Fool

Deep Impact's New Mission: Finding Exosolar Planets

Well now that NASA's Deep Impact has finished blowing holes in comets, which it did to Comet Tempel 1 in July 2005 to help scientists study what was beneath its surface, it's moving on to discover new worlds, exosolar worlds (planets around stars) to be exact. Between now and Oct. 11, 2010, when Deep Impact has its next flyby with Comet Hartley 2; the probe will be searching for planets. The spacecraft will be focusing its largest telescope at five stars, hoping to catch a glimpse of a planetary transit. This is where a planet dims the light from its parent star as it passes in front. This new mission, now called EPOXI, a hybrid of Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (Epoch) and Deep Impact Extended Investigation (Dixi), began on January 22. The stars that were picked were known to have giant planets with massive atmospheres, like Jupiter in our solar system. Though the scientists of the program hope to find planets more like Earth in size and mass.

Most of the 200 exosolar planets that have been discovered so far have been detected indirectly, by the gravitational pull they exert on their parent star. Though sometimes they can be found when they eclipse their parent star. With this project NASA will hopefully find some Earth-like exoplanets and add to the growing list, and add to the small amount of info that had been gathered on this subject.




Source: NASA News Release
Image Source: NASA.gov


The Fool

Bigelow Aerospace Discusses Launch Sercvices... And the Shuttle Launches!!!

Well to start off I am just going to say that FINALLY the Atlantis Shuttle has lifted off for the International Space Station (ISS), along with seven astronauts, and the European-built Columbus module. The launch went off just after a Russian Progress cargo ship arrived at the ISS, as well as being seven years to the day since the last science laboratory — the U.S. Destiny module — headed toward the station aboard the same space shuttle. Atlantis is scheduled to dock at the orbital lab on Saturday. More Info: space.com.

In other space news Bigelow Aerospace has been meeting with Lockheed Martin lately trying to settle on terms for Bigelow's use of Lockheed's Atlas V launch vehicles to provide crew and cargo transportation services to a Bigelow-built space complex. If you haven't heard much about Bigelow Aerospace then here's some info: Bigelow Aerospace, owned and operated by Robert Bigelow, has been working an expandable module as a space structure that has a flexible outer shell, allowing conservation of diameter for launch and weight overall. Once in orbit, the module gets inflated to allow for greater work, play and living area for astronauts. Bigelow has successfully launched two of its Genesis units that demonstrated the technology and feasibility of its expandable space module technology. As I previously said Bigelow is now working on securing the Atlas V rocket to blast its modules to space. The Atlas V is a reliable, if costly, rocket and I wouldn't doubt that Bigelow soon starts looking for more cost effective methods of launch. During the operational phase, which is currently planned to begin in 2012, up to 12 missions per year are envisioned for the orbital station, increasing as demand dictates. I imagine that this project has quite a bit of potential for income and scientific research. It gives private companies, organizations, individuals, and governments that have the money, the ability to rent their own space station for extended time periods. It should be quite interesting as this progresses, though only time will tell.

Also don't forget to check out this weeks Carnival of Space at the Orbiting Frog. And especially don't miss next weeks Carnival because I will be head Carny and New Frontiers will be hosting it.

Image source: Wikipedia.com, Space.com
Source: Bigelow Press Release

The Fool

Successful SpaceX Test, NASA Looking for New Partner, and Space Meets the Runway

Today I am going to give you a few news stories because I just had a lot of time to spend posting and I found some interesting stories. So first I will start with SpaceX's recent successful engine test.


On January 18, SpaceX had the first successful test of its multistage Falcon 9 medium to heavy lift rocket. The engines operated at full power, generating over 180,000 pounds of force, equivalent to a Boeing 777 at full power, and consuming 700 lbs per second of fuel and liquid oxygen during the run. Elon Musk says that no real problems were encountered during the test and he hopes to soon have the full complement of nine Merlin engines up and running. The next run, scheduled for February, will use three engines operating for a full first stage mission duty cycle of three minutes. This first stage will get the 180 ft long Falcon 9 vehicle to more than ten times the speed of sound; the Falcon 9 second stage will continue accelerating the payload to a final velocity that may be in excess of Mach 30 for missions beyond low Earth orbit. The next tests will be with 5, 7, and finally all 9 engines firing. SpaceX hopes to have the Falcon 1 ready by this spring and the Falcon 9 ready by the end of 2008. For more info, pics, and some videos go to the press release.


In other news NASA has kicked Rocketplane Kistler out of a commercial partnership where they are trying to develop a spaceship to service the International Space Station. NASA is currently trying to find another partner to take Rockerplane's spot alongside SpaceX, who is also in the partnership. NASA will be splitting $485 million between two companies for their work on vehicles that will travel to the ISS with crews and supplies. Rocketplane was kicked out when they failed to meet the required $500 million of privately raised cash. Rocketplane attempted to file a lawsuit about the severed partnership but their claim was denied. NASA hopes to have a new partner by the end of February. For some more information here is the link.


Finally let's look into the future. Imagine the near future when people will regularly be in outer space and in zero gravity. Will space suits become a fashion statement and zero-g outfits all the rage. That is the idea at the Hyper Space Couture Design Contest. In this contest designers come up with outfits for the passengers of the upcoming suborbital flights. This contest is hosted by Rocketplane Kistler. Virgin Galactic is also working on outfits though they won't comment. More info on space fashion.


Well just to end this post I wanted to ask some of my readers if you like longer posts like this one or shorter posts. I enjoy writing both kinds so I was just going to ask.


Thanks for reading,
The Fool

NASA Constellation Program Part 1: Overview

I thought that I would do a little series on NASA's Constellation Program just to inform thouse who don't know too much about it, and to update those who are keeping track of this project's progress. So to start off this post will be an overview of the whole program and then I will go into more depth on its individual parts in later posts and add updated information as it comes in.

The main purpose of the Constellation program is to design and build the spacecraft for America's next generation of human spaceflight. The program's current projects are the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, the Orion crew capsule, the Earth Departure Stage and the Altair lunar lander. Once completed these spacecraft will be able to perform all of America's duties in space such as supplying the ISS, and hopefully landing on the Moon and eventully Mars.

The main goals of the NASA's Constellation program are to keep an American presence in suborbital space, to return to the moon and hopefully establish an outpost, to prepare to explore Mars and possibly get humans there by 2050.

The development of this program was started politically by the Vision for Space Exploration which George Bush proposed in 2004. This Vision has good intentions and should keep NASA busy, though I would imagine, and almost hope, that private companies exceed NASA's unambitious goals.

But to me the Constellation program is interesting and has a good bit of potential so I will continue this series with the next part being on the Orion crew exploration vehicle.

Image source: nasa.gov

The Fool

Some Interesting NASA News

Sorry that I haven't posted in a few days but I was shredding up the ski slopes and didn't have access to the Internet. But anyway, I am back.

Today I am going to report on some NASA news. To start with NASA has hopefully fixed the fuel sensor problem that has grounded the Space Shuttle since Dec 6, 2007. NASA Engineers have traced the problem back to a loose electrical plug in circuits that carry the signal from the sensors, through the bottom wall of the orange external tank, to the shuttle computers. Their solution of soldering the prongs of the plug to the sockets to ensure a good path for the electrical signal, should hopefully do the trick and keep the shuttle on track for the February 7th launch date. The technicians haven't found what caused the plug to become loose and though this worries them it won't stop the launch. Atlantis will carry an ESA payload named "Columbus." The shuttle has been delaying many other planned launches to the ISS so hopefully it will get off the ground this time, I guess we will see.

And in other news NASA officials are trying to develop a NASA-based Massive Multiplayer Online that is something like Second Life, but with a space and astronomy spin. They hope to have the official report on the idea by Feburary 15th with proposals coming out in March. The game could really be something with a great deal of educational value and it could actually accomplish something if it got large amounts of motivated scientists together where they would be able to experiment and develop ideas that NASA could use. Some people think the game could be a little dry and John over at WIRED suggests that they add space orcs for a little action, and I can't say that that is such a bad idea. Well I hope that NASA brings this idea into reality, or at least virtual reality. I would imagine that it could be quite enjoyable Only time will tell.

The Fool

Mercury's Dark Side is Unmasked by Messenger

If you pay much attention to many other space/astro news sites or blogs then you most likely already know that NASA's MESSENGER craft has recently flown by Mercury and taken the first ever pictures of one of its hemispheres.

When Mariner 10 flew past Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975, the same hemisphere was in sunlight during each encounter. As a consequence, Mariner 10 was able to image less than half the planet. Planetary scientists have wondered for more than 30 years about what spacecraft images might reveal about the hemisphere of Mercury that Mariner 10 never viewed.

The MESSENGER probe flew closer to the first rock from the sun than any previous man-made craft, around 124 miles from its surface. The image on the right was taken at a distance of about 17,000 miles, about 80 minutes after MESSENGER's closest approach to the planet, using a filter sensitive to light near the red end of the visible spectrum. NASA has also said that more pictures will be on the way, so as soon as I get them I will put them up.

Image: Mercury, hidden hemisphere. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

More Info: MESSENGER homepage
Picture Perfect Little Mercury
The Side Nobody has Seen

The Fool

NASA is Open to Your Suggestions on their Altair Lunar Lander

I just read about this over at Universe Today and thought that I would report on the story also.

NASA's Constellation program has released an announcement asking any private individuals or groups to submit their evaluations of the new design of the Altair Lunar Lander. The Altair spacecraft will deliver four astronauts to the lunar surface late in the next decade. NASA plans to establish an outpost on the moon through a sustainable and affordable series of lunar missions beginning no later than 2020.

Here is NASA's reason for asking for the public's help in their own words:

"By soliciting ideas and suggestions from industry and the science community,
NASA hopes to foster a collaborative environment during this early design
effort," said Jeff Hanley, the Constellation Program manager. "Such
collaboration will support the development of a safe, reliable and
technologically sound vehicle for our crews."

NASA expects to award study contracts in the first quarter of 2008. A total of $1.5 million is available for awards. The maximum individual award amount is $350,000. The contract performance period is six months. If you want to apply here is the link.

This process should actually help NASA to develop a better craft, and possible bring the cost down because the contract won't simply be given the same people as always. For more info on the Constellation program go here.

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jan/HQ_08008_Altair.html

The Fool

Barack Obama and Outer Space

I have been browsing around lately and I read a post over at http://www.spacepolitics.com/ and in a post by Darnell at http://www.colonyworlds.com/ about Barack Obama's space policy. The source for both of the is http://www.spaceref.com/ .

Obama has been much more supportive of NASA and its needs than many of his opponents. SpaceRef says that Obama supports development of the Ares 1 and Orion, completion of the ISS, robotic space exploration, and climate change research. Obama has said that he would talk with other nations about the need to stop space weaponization and work together. One subject that Obama was weak on in his recent statement in SpaceRef is actual human exploration, he focuses more on robotic and research missions. This disappoints me a little, though progress is progress and as long things are being done that is good. One other presidential candidate that may bring good news for the space community is John McCain who says that he would like to bring humans to space as soon as possible. This is a developing story and I will report on it as more news comes out. It is up to the space community to make space an important issue in politics.

The Fool

NASA spacecraft has a date with Mercury next week

Next week NASA's MESSENGER probe will skim just 124 miles (200 km) above Mercury's uncharted hemisphere. The craft's closest pass will occur at 2:04 p.m. EST (1904 GMT) on Monday. It will conduct three flybys that will help it reduce speed and ultimately enter Mercury's atmosphere. Launched in August of 2004 MESSENGER will be the first spacecraft to visit Mercury since NASA's Mariner 10 probe swung past the planet three times between 1974 and 1975. MESSENGER will enter orbit in 2011 for a one-year science campaign. The mission will have a total price tag of around $446 million and will probe the secrets of Mercury, from its wispy thin atmosphere to an unusually dense interior. The mission will also generate the first maps of some 55 percent of the planet's rocky surface. The craft will travel a total distance of 4.9 billion miles to get to Mercury. Over half of the planet hasn't been mapped and the flyby will take the first photos of it in 33 years. The team from NASA is anxious for the first of the nearly 1200 photos to start flowing in.

Here is a picture MESSENGER took from around 3 million miles away from Mercury:

The Fool

NASA to repair Hubble Telescope in August

At the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society NASA officials said the planned August 2008 shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope would include the installation of a pair of new scientific instruments, as well as an attempt to fix two older modules that produced important work before failing. The Atlantis shuttle will carry seven astronauts on an eleven day mission that will have the sole purpose of fixing and upgrading the telescope. Along with the new instruments, an assortment of gyroscopes, thermal blankets and batteries will be installed, aiming to extend the telescope's operating life until 2013. After this mission the Hubble Space Telescope will be able to continue in it's exploration of the known and unknown universe and add to its long list of achievements.

The Fool

Quadrantid Meteor Shower Tonight

Sorry to get the news to you so late, but I hope that you have already heard about the Quadrantid Meteor Shower that will be peaking tonight or really tomorrow morning around 1:40 am eastern time or 10:40 pm tonight pacific standard time. This is one of the years higher rate showers with a possible peak of 100 meteors per hour though more likely around 60-70 per hour. The conditions are perfect tonight for viewing on the east coast with a not too bright moon and very clear skies. The only problem is the cold weather so if you are going to go out tonight be sure to bundle up. The radiant, or source of the meteors, is the Bootes constellation which contains the bright star Arcturus and is near the handle of the big dipper. The parent object of this shower had long been assumed to be comet 96P/Macholz, but recent investigations have shown it to be a degassed comet body, asteroid 2003 EH1, discovered during the LONEOS search program on March 6th, 2003. It is possible this object is the lost comet C/1490 Y1. Also a few NASA scientists will be flying in a Gulfstream V aircraft to study the shower.

Well I hope that you can make it out there tonight to see a few shooting stars. And good luck with seeing as many as you can. If you do get out there and see anything interesting I would love to hear about it so you can email me at thefoolpg@gmail.com or of course leave a comment on this post.

Thanks,
The Fool

NASA shuttle lanuch delayed yet again

The already delayed date of January 10 on which NASA had planned its next attempt to launch the Atlantis shuttle will again be pushed back possibly days though probably weeks. This delay is for the same reason as the first, problems with electrical connectors in the spaceship’s external fuel tank. These failures of shuttle fuel gauges are part of a critical safety system and the shuttle cannot launch if they are in jeopardy. NASA executives say that saftey is very much ahead of the schedule and they will make sure that everything is in top shape before the launch. At this point, it appears all the work can be done while Atlantis is on the launch pad.

The space agency has been struggling with sporadic fuel gauge problems for two years, ever since flights resumed following the 2003 Columbia tragedy. The gauges prevent the shuttle’s main engines from running on an empty tank, which could be catastrophic. As you probably know the shuttle's estimated date for retiring is 2010 and it is a good thing in my opinion that they are being retired, even though they were great machines and innovations in their day they a falling apart now. Hopefully Atlantis will get off the ground safely and the shuttles will last at least until 2010. Only time will tell.

The Fool

Asteroid may hit Mars next month

A small asteroid discovered November 20 may strike Mars next month. Astronomers with NASA's Near Earth Object (NEO) Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, calculate the odds of a January 30 collision at 1 in 75. While this is remote, it's less so than last week's estimated 1-in-350 chance. An armada of spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet — the European Space Agency's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey — would have ringside seats to view the strike and its after-effects. Even Earth-based telescopes could potentially observe the impact because Mars is near opposition and, therefore, unusually close. Astronomers say asteroid 2007 WD5 is about 160 feet (50 meters) across. If it struck Mars, the energy would be similar to the 1908 Tunguska blast in Siberia, where a stony asteroid exploded above the taiga. The blast felled and scarred trees over 810 square miles (2,100 square km). One difference: Tunguska was an air burst and left no crater, whereas 2007 WD5 likely would reach Mars' surface intact. This would be an interesting event and would provide some good knowledge on asteroid collisions and would pretty quite a good show. Although only time will tell if this event will occur.

The Fool