It turns out that the moons of the outer solar system are shaping up to be some of the most dynamic destinations in terms of planetary exploration. Image Credit: NASA / JPL
Far from the warm inner regions of the solar system, in orbit around the great gas giants are moons full of surprises. One has a riot of active volcanoes and a surface that is red, yellow, and brown because its blanket of sulfur compounds. Another has a thick atmosphere of nitrogen and lakes of methane. At least one has a deep watery underground ocean. There is even talk of life on some of these remote, icy satellites, and scientists would love to send out probes to target them.
Project Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter relaxes aboard the recovery helicopter following his 5-hour trip aboard the Aurora 7 spacecraft. Carpenter became the second American to orbit the earth on May 24, 1962. Recovery took a bit longer than planned after Carpenter overshot the planned landing target by 290 miles.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The launch of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV medium rocket carrying the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS-5) satellite for the U.S. Air Force was scrubbed today due to a problem with the ground support system helium pressurization line (this according to representatives at ULA). The launch has been rescheduled to take on Friday, May 24, at 8:27 p.m. EDT. Engineers will have 30 minutes to get the Delta IV of the pad before the launch window closes. Weather conditions tomorrow are improved, providing an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions for launch.
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Hubble Space Telescope, as seen from the Shuttle Atlantis during the fourth servicing mission in May 2009. Photo Credit: NASA
The atmosphere is a problem for astronomers for two big reasons: it’s turbulent, so it smears out the light from cosmic objects, and it blocks out huge swathes of the electromagnetic spectrum. To see the universe in extreme clarity and observe in regions of the spectrum such as the far ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma-rays, instruments have to be lofted into space.
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission plan. Image Credit: ISRO.
The India Space Research Organisation, ISRO, is preparing for the launch of its Mars Orbiter Mission by November 2013, which will see the Mangalyaan Mars probe lift off from ISRO’s launch site at Sriharikota, on the east coast of the India mainland. ISRO’s primary goal for the mission is simply to prove its technological capability to achieve Mars orbit, which would make it the fourth space agency to achieve such a feat after NASA, Roscosmos, and the European Space Agency.
Continue reading India’s Mars Orbiter Mission Primed and Ready
Photo of Chrysler artist Cece Bibby talking with Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter. Photo Credit: NASA
Mercury-Atlas 7 astronaut Scott Carpenter chats with Chrysler graphic artist Cece Bibby in the white room at Pad 14 in May 1962. Bibby was putting the finishing touches on the Aurora 7 artwork painted on the side of Carpenter’s spacecraft.
United Launch Alliance is currently planning to launch a Delta IV Medium+ 5,4 rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 in Florida. Photo Credit: Jason Rhian / AmericaSpace
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — No sooner has the smoke and fire settled from last Wednesday’s liftoffof an Atlas V to deliver the GPS IIF-4 satellite into orbit, United Launch Alliance (ULA) is primed to rattle Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., again on Thursday, 23 May, with the roar of a Delta IV Medium booster from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-37. The mission will insert the fifth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-5) into orbit on behalf of the U.S. Air Force. Originally scheduled to fly Wednesday, 22 May, a decision was made at the weekend to delay by 24 hours. “During acceptance testing for another mission,” explained ULA in a Sunday news release, “an avionics box that is used for controlling the Delta booster RS-68 engine experienced an anomaly.” As a result, ULA has replaced the box “with one that has been inspected and confirmed not to have the suspect condition.”
Continue reading WGS-5 Launch to Mark Delta IV’s Return to Flight
United Launch Alliance is currently planning to launch a Delta IV Medium rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 in Florida. Photo Credit: Jeffrey J. Soulliere
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — Everything is moving ahead with a planned Thursday evening launch attempt of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta-IV medium rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s (CCAFS) Space Launch Complex 37. The Wideband Global Satellite 5 (WGS-5) will be the payload for this mission. As long as weather and technical issues allow, the launch is scheduled to occur tomorrow at 8:26 p.m. EDT. Engineers have roughly 32 minutes to get the rocket off the pad before the close of the launch window at 8:58 p.m. EDT.
Continue reading Launch Viewing Guide: Delta IV Medium (WGS-5)
The Kepler Space Telescope has had another of its reastion wheels fail, meaning the spacecraft’s mission of finding Earth-like worlds is probably over. Image Credit: NASA
Launched on March 7, 2009, NASA’sKepler space telescope, designed to hunt for Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars, has proved to be an outstanding success and has surpassed its initial planned lifetime of 3.5 years. But the recent failure of one of its three remaining reaction wheels—a fourth had stopped working earlier—has put the mission in jeopardy. In fact, it’s quite possible that Kepler has made its last planet-seeking observation. So what comes next?
AS10-34-5115 The ascent stage of the Apollo 10 Lunar Module rises up from the Moon. Photo Credit: John Young / NASA
Remembering Apollo 10 — The Lunar Module “Snoopy” is shown in this rendezvous image taken by astronaut John Young aboard the Command Module “Charlie Brown.” Astronauts Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan had just completed checking out the LM systems a final time, thus paving the way for a lunar landing by Apollo 11 two months later.
This image shows a cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster in development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., that uses xenon ions for propulsion. An earlier version of this solar-electric propulsion engine has been flying on NASA's Dawn mission to the asteroid belt. This engine is being considered as part of the Asteroid Initiative, a proposal to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. This image was taken through a porthole in a vacuum chamber at JPL where the ion engine is being tested. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Read More
