Ultraviolet Source Helps NASA Spacecraft Measure the Origins of Space Weather
NIST’s unique 'sliding spark source' (inside the glass tubing) feeds ultraviolet (UV) light into NASA’s Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation instrument, designed to measure magnetic fields on the sun. (Credit: Reader/NIST)
With a brilliant, finely tuned spark of ultraviolet (UV) light, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) helped NASA scientists successfully position a crucial UV sensor inside a space-borne instrument to observe a “hidden” layer of the Sun where violent space weather can originate.
Dark spots on the Sun release particles and electromagnetic fields into space. As these particles and fields pass through the Sun’s “transition region,” 5,000 kilometers above the surface, they can gather considerable steam, resulting in violent episodes of “space weather” that can damage Earth-orbiting satellites and disrupt electronic communications.
The powerful magnetic fields in the transition region can be studied indirectly, by observing the UV light emanating from that region. The fields slightly shift the colors (wavelengths) of UV light released by charged atoms (ions) in their vicinity. Measuring how much these wavelengths shift can yield information on the magnetic field’s strength.
The catch is you can’t do it from Earth, where the atmosphere absorbs the UV light, so a team at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., constructed a rocket-borne instrument, known as the Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation (SUMI), designed to take pictures of these magnetic fields from space. (more…)
University of Colorado Students Help NASA Decommission Satellite
CU-Boulder student command controllers Melanie Dubin, left, and Andrew Berg, center, work with professional command controller Matt Dahl to upload commands to a satellite at the Mission Operations Center at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. (Credit: Photo by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado)
University of Colorado at Boulder undergraduates, who have been helping to control five NASA satellites from campus, participated in the unusual decommissioning of a functioning satellite with a failed science payload in recent days, bringing the craft into Earth re-entry to burn up yesterday.
The satellite, known as the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, orbited Earth for seven years, gathering valuable data on the polar regions and helping scientists develop a better understanding of ice sheets and sea ice dynamics. The CU-Boulder control team at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics — made up primarily of undergraduates who work side-by-side with LASP professionals — uploaded commands for the satellite to burn its remaining fuel and switched off the transmitter.
The satellite successfully re-entered Earth’s atmosphere Aug. 30 and largely burned up, with pieces of debris falling into the Barents Sea — which is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Norway and Russia — said LASP Missions Operations and Data Systems Director Bill Possel. Built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. of Boulder, the ICESat spacecraft worked perfectly throughout the entire mission, said Possel. (more…)
Mars’s Mysterious Elongated Crater
Orcus Patera is an enigmatic elliptical depression located between the volcanoes of Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons. This well-defined depression extends approximately 380 km by 140 km in a NNE–SSW direction. It has a rim that rises up to 1800 m above the surrounding plains, while the floor of the depression lies 400–600 m below the surroundings. The straight graben that cut across its rim are clearly seen in this image. (Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum))
Orcus Patera is an enigmatic elliptical depression near Mars’s equator, in the eastern hemisphere of the planet. Located between the volcanoes of Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons, its formation remains a mystery.
Often overlooked, this well-defined depression extends approximately 380 km by 140 km in a NNE–SSW direction. It has a rim that rises up to 1800 m above the surrounding plains, while the floor of the depression lies 400–600 m below the surroundings.
The term ‘patera’ is used for deep, complex or irregularly shaped volcanic craters such as the Hadriaca Patera and Tyrrhena Patera at the north-eastern margin of the Hellas impact basin. However, despite its name and the fact that it is positioned near volcanoes, the actual origin of Orcus Patera remains unclear
Aside from volcanism, there are a number of other possible origins. Orcus Patera may be a large and originally round impact crater, subsequently deformed by compressional forces. Alternatively, it could have formed after the erosion of aligned impact craters. However, the most likely explanation is that it was made in an oblique impact, when a small body struck the surface at a very shallow angle, perhaps less than five degrees from the horizontal. (more…)
When Galaxies Collide: How the First Super-Massive Black Holes Were Born
In the image, the panel illustrates the complexity of dynamical evolution in a typical collision between two equal-mass disk galaxies. The simulation follows dark matter, stars, gas, and supermassive black holes, but only the gas component is visualized. Brighter colors indicate regions of higher gas density and the time corresponding to each snapshot is given by the labels. The first 10 panel images measure 100 kpc on a side, roughly five times the diameter of the visible part of the Milky Way galaxy. The next five panels represent successive zooms on the central region. The final frame shows the inner 300 pc of the nuclear region at the end of the simulation. (Credit: Ohio State University)
Astronomers believe they have discovered the origin of our universe’s first super-massive black holes, which formed some 13 billion years ago.
The discovery fills in a missing chapter of our universe’s early history, and could help write the next chapter — in which scientists better understand how gravity and dark matter formed the universe as we know it.
In the journal Nature, Ohio State University astronomer Stelios Kazantzidis and colleagues describe computer simulations in which they modeled the evolution of galaxies and black holes during the first few billion years after the Big Bang.
Our universe is thought to be 14 billion years old. Other astronomers recently determined that big galaxies formed much earlier in the universe’s history than previously thought — within the first 1 billion years, Kazantzidis explained.
These new computer simulations show that the first-ever super-massive black holes were likely born when those early galaxies collided and merged together.
“Our results add a new milestone to the important realization of how structure forms in the universe,” he said.
For more than two decades, the prevailing wisdom among astronomers has been that galaxies evolved hierarchically — that is, gravity drew small bits of matter together first, and those small bits gradually came together to form larger structures.
Kazantzidis and his team turn that notion on its head.
“Together with these other discoveries, our result shows that big structures — both galaxies and massive black holes — build up quickly in the history of the universe,” he said. “Amazingly, this is contrary to hierarchical structure formation.” (more…)
Researchers Explore Physiological Effects of Space Travel
The final frontier may be no further than Manhattan, Kan., as a team of Kansas State University researchers launches a project funded by a $1.2 million grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The team — composed of Thomas Barstow, professor of kinesiology; Steven Warren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; Russell Taylor, an engineer in the Electronics Design Laboratory; and Carl Ade, a doctoral student in anatomy and physiology, Salina — will research what physical characteristics are necessary for an astronaut to perform lunar tasks. The team also will study ways to assess whether a person has enough physical capacity to perform the tasks.
“Space travel is inherently dangerous,” Barstow said. “The absence of gravity, which we call microgravity or zero gravity, causes our bodies to deteriorate in a variety of ways.”
A microgravity environment causes the weakening of muscles and the immune system, and it deteriorates the cardiovascular system’s ability to regulate blood pressure. Barstow said this can affect an astronaut’s ability to perform necessary tasks, such as climbing ladders, walking or opening doors. For the safety of the astronauts, NASA wants to make sure they are physically fit enough to perform those tasks during future missions to the moon and even Mars. (more…)
International Solar Sail Experts Meet to Discuss Advances in Solar Propulsion of Spacecraft
Advances being made to explore outer space using solar sails were discussed by the more than 60 scientists from 12 nations who attended the Second International Symposium on Solar Sailing (ISSS 2010) held recently at New York City College of Technology (City Tech).
Composed of reflective material just one-fifth the thickness of saran wrap with test models as large as half a football field, solar sails harness the pressure generated by sunlight just as a cloth sail catches the wind, propelling a spacecraft as if it were a sailing ship.
The state of energy-efficient solar sailing space flight technology was discussed by scientists and engineers from Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and United States.
According to a declaration issued by the international experts at the end of the symposium, they unanimously agree that solar sail technology “has significantly advanced in its technology readiness since the first symposium held in Ammersee, Germany (2007). It has been confirmed by flight testing in deep space that solar sail technology is viable for space flight operations. (more…)
Citizen Scientists Asked to Help Make Best Mars Map Ever Even Better
Valles Marineris, the "Grand Canyon of Mars," sprawls wide enough to reach from Los Angeles nearly to New York City, if it were located on Earth. The red outline box shows the location of the second, full-resolution image. (NASA/JPL/Arizona State University )
The best Mars map ever made is now available online for planetary scientists and armchair astronauts alike. And citizen scientists are invited to help make it even better.
Websites developed recently at Arizona State University’s Mars Space Flight Facility, in collaboration with NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Microsoft, make it easy for anyone to trek the craters, volcanoes, and dusty plains of Earth’s small red neighbor world.
“We’ve assembled the best global map of Mars to date,” says Philip Christensen, Regents’ Professor of geological sciences in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “And we made it available via the Internet so everyone can help make it better.”
The map is accessible as an interactive zoomable global map, which is the easiest for most viewers to use. (Advanced users with large bandwidth, powerful computers, and sophisticated software capable of handling gigabyte images, can download the map in sections at full resolution.) (more…)
Discovery: Water on the Moon is Widespread, Similar to Earth’s
Last fall, researchers, including Larry Taylor, a distinguished professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, discovered “lunar dew” on the moon’s surface — absorbed “water” in the uppermost layers of lunar soil. This discovery of water debunked beliefs held since the return of the first Apollo rocks that the moon was bone-dry.
Now, scientists, including Taylor and Yang Liu, research assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, have discovered that water on the moon is more widespread — on the outside and inside of the moon — with some similarities to water in volcanic systems on Earth.
Their research will be featured in the article, “Lunar Apatite with Terrestrial Volatile Abundances” in the July 22 edition of the scientific journal, Nature.
Unlike lunar dew which is believed to come from an outside source such as solar wind which brings hydrogen into contact with the Moon’s oxygen, the water discovered by Taylor and Liu is internal, arising from an entirely different origin. How it got there is not yet known. The water may have been added by impacting comets, which contain ice, during or after the formation of the moon and Earth. (more…)
Wet Era on Early Mars Was Global
Lyot crater is 210km in diameter. The blue lines show the swathes of data taken by the Mars Express OMEGA sensor. The red boxes show the NASA CRISM pointings. The asterisks show the locations where hydrated minerals were detected. The OMEGA swathes were acquired in Dec 2004 (left) and March 2008 (right). The CRISM observations were taken between Jan 2008 and April 2010. (NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/JHU-APL/IAS)
Conditions favourable to life may once have existed all over Mars. Detailed studies of minerals found inside craters show that liquid water was widespread, not only in the southern highlands, but also beneath the northern plains.
ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have discovered hydrated silicate minerals in the northern lowlands of Mars, a clear indication that water once flowed there.
The spacecraft have previously discovered thousands of small outcrops in the southern hemisphere where rock minerals have been altered by water. Many of these exist in the form of hydrated clay minerals known as phyllosilicates, and indicate that the planet’s southern hemisphere was once much warmer and wetter than it is today.
However, until this week, no sites with hydrated silicate minerals had been found in the northern lowlands, where thick blankets of lava and sediments up to several kilometres thick hamper efforts to probe the underlying bedrock.
The first hints that there may be hydrated silicates beneath the northern plains were provided by Mars Express’ OMEGA sensor. However, the outcrops were small and more detailed observations were required to confirm their presence. The OMEGA team sifted higher resolution data from a sensor on NASA’s orbiter. (more…)
Astronomers Witness a Star Being Born
Astronomers caught a glimpse of a future star just as it is being born out of the surrounding gas and dust, in a star-forming region similar to the one pictured above. (Photo: NASA, ESA)
Astronomers have glimpsed what could be the youngest known star at the very moment it is being born. Not yet fully developed into a true star, the object is in the earliest stages of star formation and has just begun pulling in matter from a surrounding envelope of gas and dust, according to a new study that appears in the current issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
The study’s authors—who include astronomers from Yale University, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany—found the object using the Submillimeter Array in Hawaii and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Known as L1448-IRS2E, it’s located in the Perseus star-forming region, about 800 light years away within our Milky Way galaxy.
Stars form out of large, cold, dense regions of gas and dust called molecular clouds, which exist throughout the galaxy. Astronomers think L1448-IRS2E is in between the prestellar phase, when a particularly dense region of a molecular cloud first begins to clump together, and the protostar phase, when gravity has pulled enough material together to form a dense, hot core out of the surrounding envelope. (more…)
The Ongoing Search for Past or Present Life on Mars
Astrobiology published in print and online 10 times a year. (© Mary Ann Liebert Inc., publishers)
The ongoing search for evidence of past or present life on Mars includes efforts to identify organic compounds such as proteins in Martian soil, but their absence to date remains a mystery. A new theory to explain what happens to these carbon-based molecules is presented in an article published in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/ast.
“There may be no ’safe haven’ for these organic molecules on Mars,” conclude Ilya Shkrob, Sergey Chemerisov, and Timothy Marin, from Argonne National Laboratory and Benedictine University, in Illinois, in their article entitled “Photocatalytic Decomposition of Carboxylated Molecules on Light-Exposed Martian Regolith and its Relation to Methane Production on Mars.”
Unlike on Earth, where plants and other organisms convert carbon dioxide and water into organic compounds via photosynthesis, the authors propose that the opposite happens on the surface of Mars. The iron oxides that make up Martian soil and give the planet its distinctive red color are photocatalysts. They use energy from ultraviolet light absorbed through the thin Martian atmosphere to oxidize carbon-containing organic molecules trapped in soil particles, converting them to carbon dioxide and gases such as methane. (more…)
Could Life Survive on Mars? Yes, Expert Says
This is Lost Hammer Spring on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut Territory, Canada. (Dept. Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Montreal)
Researchers at McGill’s department of natural resources, the National Research Council of Canada, the University of Toronto and the SETI Institute have discovered that methane-eating bacteria survive in a highly unique spring located on Axel Heiberg Island in Canada’s extreme North. Dr. Lyle Whyte, McGill University microbiologist explains that the Lost Hammer spring supports microbial life, that the spring is similar to possible past or present springs on Mars, and that therefore they too could support life.
The subzero water is so salty that it doesn’t freeze despite the cold, and it has no consumable oxygen in it. There are, however, big bubbles of methane that come to the surface, which had provoked the researchers’ curiosity as to whether the gas was being produced geologically or biologically and whether anything could survive in this extreme hypersaline subzero environment. “We were surprised that we did not find methanogenic bacteria that produce methane at Lost Hammer,” Whyte said, “but we did find other very unique anaerobic organisms – organisms that survive by essentially eating methane and probably breathing sulfate instead of oxygen.” (more…)
Life on Mars: University of Leicester to Detect Clues for Alien Existence
Model ExoMars Rover chassis undergoing tests on Tenerife. (Image: Astrium Ltd)
A development model of the Mars Rover, called Bridget, was on display at the University today- Friday June 4- providing invited schoolchildren as well as staff and students with an exciting glimpse into the shape of things to come.
The event coincides with celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of space research at the University of Leicester.
Scientists from the University of Leicester are involved in five instruments on board the ExoMars mission, including building the hardware for three of the instruments on board the craft. The ExoMars mission is one of the key missions under the remit of the newly formed UK Space Agency.
ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars) is a European-led robotic mission to Mars, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. It is part of ESA’s Aurora programme for robotic exploration of the Solar System and its aim is to further characterise the chemical, geological and possible biological environment on Mars in preparation for robotic missions and then human exploration. Data from the mission will also provide invaluable input for broader studies of exobiology - the search for life on other planets. (more…)
Experts Forecast 2010 and Future Space Law and Policy Issues
Space is a ‘global commons’ that enhances prosperity and security, but there is demand for more effective governance of outer space. (NASA)
Varied uses of outer space present a wide-array of present-day and future legal and policy challenges - to international institutions, commercial enterprises, and the U.S. government.
These issues were highlighted by experts taking part in Space Law and Policy 2010, convened May 11 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Building in Washington, D.C. This first-ever symposium was sponsored by the International Institute for Space Law-International Academy of Astronautics symposium, held in partnership with Secure World Foundation, Arianespace and the European Space Policy Institute.
The seminar examined the breadth and reach of space regulations on international and U.S. activities — civil, commercial and governmental.
“Speakers at this event demonstrated in several different ways the critical need to develop appropriate legal mechanisms to assure the sustainability of space applications,” said Dr. Ray Williamson, Executive Director of Secure World Foundation (SWF).
Government, industry and academic leaders from around the globe took part in the meeting, including senior officials from Arianespace, Intelsat, the European Space Agency, the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State, NASA and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. (more…)
Immune System Compromised During Spaceflight, Study Finds
Ty Lebsack (right) and Jose Munoz-Rodriguez used “gene chips” to analyze the expression levels of more than 20,000 genes. A laser scans the chip for fluorescent markers serving as an indirect indication of the level of gene activity. Software then analyzes the resulting pattern of microscopically small dots on the chip and displays it on a computer monitor. (University of Arizona)
Astronauts are known to have a higher risk of getting sick compared to their Earth-bound peers. The stresses that go with weightlessness, confined crew quarters, being away from family and friends and a busy work schedule - all the while not getting enough sleep - are known to wreak havoc on the immune system.
A research group led by immunobiologist Ty Lebsack at the University of Arizona has discovered that spaceflight changes the activity of genes controlling immune and stress response, perhaps leading to more sickness.
Between spaceflight affecting a crew’s susceptibility to infections and previous observations of sickness-causing microbes thriving in a near-zero gravity environment, long journeys to far-away destinations such as Mars pose a big challenge to manned space missions.
“Taken together, our results hint at the possibility that an astronaut’s immune system might be compromised in space,” said Lebsack of the UA’s department of immunobiology in the College of Medicine. (more…)
Low-Maintenance Strawberry May Be Good Crop to Grow in Space
by Brian Wallheimer
Purdue's Gioia Massa, from left, Cary Mitchell and Judith Santini found that a particular type of strawberry seems to meet NASA guidelines for foods that could be grown in space. (Purdue Agricultural Communication photo/Tom Campbell)
Astronauts could one day tend their own crops on long space missions, and Purdue University researchers have found a healthy candidate to help satisfy a sweet tooth - a strawberry that requires little maintenance and energy.
Cary Mitchell, professor of horticulture, and Gioia Massa, a horticulture research scientist, tested several cultivars of strawberries and found one variety, named Seascape, which seems to meet the requirements for becoming a space crop.
“What we’re trying to do is grow our plants and minimize all of our inputs,” Massa said. “We can grow these strawberries under shorter photoperiods than we thought and still get pretty much the same amount of yield.”
Seascape strawberries are day-neutral, meaning they aren’t sensitive to the length of available daylight to flower. Seascape was tested with as much as 20 hours of daylight and as little as 10 hours. While there were fewer strawberries with less light, each berry was larger and the volume of the yields was statistically the same. (more…)
The Awesome Power of Supermassive Black Holes
Black holes have long been beloved of science fiction writers for their destructive capabilities and peculiar ability to warp space time. Now a study led by researchers from The University of Nottingham reveals the awesome power of supermassive black holes — the ability to strip massive galaxies of the cool gases required to form new stars, leaving ageing red giants to splutter out of existence with no stars to replace them.
The study, led by Asa Bluck in the School of Physics and Astronomy, used images of unprecedented depth and resolution from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory to detect black holes in distant galaxies. Researchers looked for galaxies emitting high levels of radiation and x-rays — a classic signature of black holes devouring gas and dust through accretion, or attracting matter gravitationally.
As this matter swirls around the event horizon of a black hole it heats up and radiates energy — as an accretion disc. The study, which was funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council and NASA and was a collaboration between researchers at The University of Nottingham and Imperial College London, gleaned some startling results. In supermassive black holes this radiation can reach huge proportions, emitting X-ray radiation in far greater quantities then is emitted by the rest of the objects in the galaxy combined — meaning that the black hole ‘shines’ far brighter than the entire galaxy it lies at the heart of. In fact, the amount of energy released is sufficient to strip the galaxy of gas at least 25 times over. (more…)
To Sleep or Not to Sleep? Math Software to Help Plan Astronaut Schedules
Operated by Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Robert Thirsk with assistance from European Space Agency Astronaut Frank De Winne and NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, Canadarm2 guides the unpiloted Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) a safe distance from the International Space Station to be released into the Earth's orbit. October 30, 2009 (Credit: NASA)
Shifting work schedules can wreak havoc on a person’s ability to get enough sleep, resulting in poor performance on the job.
Researchers funded by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) have developed software that uses mathematical models to help astronauts and ground support personnel better adjust to shifting work and sleep schedules. Outside the space program, the software could help people who do shift or night work or who experience jet lag due to travel across time zones.
“The best methods that we know to help people operate at peak performance are first to ensure that they get adequate sleep, and second that their work schedules are designed to be aligned with the natural body clock,” said project leader Dr. Elizabeth Klerman, associate team leader for NSBRI’s Human Factors and Performance Team.
According to Klerman, a physician in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, the software has two components. The Circadian Performance Simulation Software (CPSS) uses complex mathematical formulas to predict how an individual will react to specific conditions. CPSS also allows users to interactively design a schedule, such as shifting sleep/wake to a different time, and predicts when they would be expected to perform well or poorly.
The second component, known as Shifter, then “prescribes” the optimal times in the schedule to use light to shift a person’s circadian rhythm in order to improve performance at critical times during the schedule. (more…)
Astronomers Upset the Theory of Planetary Formation
Tim Lister and Rachel Street, project scientists at the UCSB-affiliated Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network. (Credit: George Foulsham, Public Affairs, UCSB)
The discovery of nine new planets challenges the reigning theory of the formation of planets, according to new observations by astronomers. Two of the astronomers involved in the discoveries are based at the UC Santa Barbara-affiliated Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT), based in Goleta, Calif., near UCSB.
Unlike the planets in our solar system, two of the newly discovered planets are orbiting in the opposite direction to the rotation of their host star. This, along with a recent study of other exoplanets, upsets the primary theory of how planets are formed. There is a preponderance of these planets with their orbital spin going opposite to that of their parent star. They are called exoplanets because they are located outside of our solar system.
These and other related discoveries are being presented at the UK National Astronomy Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, this week. This is the first public mention of the new planets and the research will be described in upcoming scientific journal articles.
“Planet evolution theorists now have to explain how so many planets came to be orbiting like this,” said Tim Lister, a project scientist at LCOGT. Lister leads a major part of the observational campaigns along with Rachel Street of LCOGT, Andrew Cameron of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and Didier Queloz, of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.
(more…)
Successful Launch for ESA’s CryoSat-2 Ice Satellite
Europe's first mission dedicated to studying the Earth’s ice was launched today from Kazakhstan. From its polar orbit, CryoSat-2 will send back data leading to new insights into how ice is responding to climate change and the role it plays in our ‘Earth system’. (ESA)
Europe’s first mission dedicated to studying the Earth’s ice was launched today from Kazakhstan. From its polar orbit, CryoSat-2 will send back data leading to new insights into how ice is responding to climate change and the role it plays in our ‘Earth system’.
The CryoSat-2 satellite was launched at 15:57 CEST (13:57 UTC) on a Dnepr rocket provided by the International Space Company Kosmotras from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The signal confirming that it had separated from the launcher came 17 minutes later from the Malindi ground station in Kenya.
CryoSat-2 replaces the original CryoSat satellite that was lost in 2005 owing to a launch failure. The mission objectives, however, remain the same: to measure changes in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that overlie Antarctica and Greenland, as well as variations in the thickness of the relatively thin ice floating in the polar oceans.
“We know from our radar satellites that sea ice extent is diminishing, but there is still an urgent need to understand how the volume of ice is changing,” said Volker Liebig, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes. “To make these calculations, scientists also need information on ice thickness, which is exactly what our new CryoSat satellite will provide. We are now very much looking forward to receiving the first data from the mission.” (more…)
New Book Evaluates Sustainable Use of Outer Space
A new publication provides a fresh comprehensive evaluation on how to achieve the sustainable use of space by means of respecting fairness and responsibility.
The Fair and Responsible Use of Space - An International Perspective has been released as the fourth volume in the series “Studies in Space Policy” edited by the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) and published by SpringerWienNewYork.
“We hope that this book will be a highly useful resource in the current efforts to find appropriate mechanisms for the fair and responsible use of outer space,” said Dr. Ray Williamson, Executive Director of Secure World Foundation.
Chapters of the book draw upon the contributions of several renowned experts that took part in a November 2008 conference on the same topic, convened in Vienna, and jointly organized by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), Secure World Foundation (SWF) and ESPI, which served as conference coordinator and host.
The mission of ESPI is to provide decision-makers with an independent view and analysis on mid- to long term issues relevant to the use of space. (more…)
Team of Scientists Reports Discovery of a New Planet
Avi Shporer with a graph that shows how the observed light intensity emanating from a star drops when the newly discovered planet moves in front of the star. (George Foulsham)
An international team of scientists, including several who are affiliated with UC Santa Barbara, has discovered a new planet the size of Jupiter. The finding is published in the March 18 issue of the journal Nature.
The planet, called CoRoT-9b, was discovered by using the CoRoT space telescope satellite, operated by the French space agency, The Centre National d’Études Spatiales, or CNES. The newly discovered planet orbits a star similar to our sun and is located in the constellation Serpens Cauda, at a distance of 1500 light-years from Earth.
The European-led discovery involved 60 astronomers worldwide. The team included UCSB postdoctoral fellow Avi Shporer, who also works with the UCSB-affiliated Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT), based in Goleta, California. Three more LCOGT scientists –– Tim Lister, Rachel Street, and Marton Hidas –– also contributed.
“CoRoT-9b is the first transiting extrasolar planet that is definitely similar to a planet in our solar system, namely Jupiter,” said Shporer. “What is special about this planet is that it transits a star, and it is a temperate planet. It has great potential for future studies concerning its physical characteristics and atmosphere.” The planet is mostly made of hydrogen and helium, but may contain up to 20 Earth masses of heavier elements including rock and water under high pressure. It thus appears to be very similar to the solar system’s giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn. (more…)
Princeton Scientists Say Einstein’s Theory Applies Beyond the Solar System
by Kitta MacPherson
Princeton University scientists (from left) Reinabelle Reyes, James Gunn and Rachel Mandelbaum led a team that analyzed more than 70,000 galaxies and demonstrated that the universe -- at least up to a distance of 3.5 billion light years from Earth -- plays by the rules set out by Einstein in his theory of general relativity. (Photo: Brian Wilson)
A team led by Princeton University scientists has tested Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity to see if it holds true at cosmic scales. And, after two years of analyzing astronomical data, the scientists have concluded that Einstein’s theory, which describes the interplay between gravity, space and time, works as well in vast distances as in more local regions of space.
The scientists’ analysis of more than 70,000 galaxies demonstrates that the universe — at least up to a distance of 3.5 billion light years from Earth — plays by the rules set out by Einstein in his famous theory.
Ever since the physicist Arthur Eddington measured starlight bending around the sun during a 1919 eclipse and proved Einstein’s theory of general relativity, the scientific world has accepted its tenets. But until now, according to the team, no one had tested the theory so thoroughly and robustly at distances and scales that go beyond the solar system.
Reinabelle Reyes, a Princeton graduate student in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences, along with co-authors Rachel Mandelbaum, an associate research scholar, and James Gunn, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy, outlined their assessment in the March 11 edition of Nature. (more…)
New Asteroid Threat Reports Highlight Legal and Institutional Issues
New reports underscore legal and institutional issues in establishing a global detection and warning network to deal with possible Near Earth Object (NEO) threats to Earth. (Don Davis/NASA)
In a presentation at the United Nations, Secure World Foundation (SWF) released the findings of a group of international experts that outlines needed steps and concerns in establishing a global detection and warning network to deal with possible Near Earth Object (NEO) threats to Earth.
An additional report, sponsored by SWF, has been issued by the space law department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, examining the legal and institutional issues linked to potential future threats posed by NEOs.
The findings presented to the UN were the result of a workshop organized earlier this year by Secure World Foundation in coordination with the Association of Space Explorers and the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRECTEALC). The meeting was hosted by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico City.
An interdisciplinary group, including asteroid tracking specialists, space scientists, former astronauts, United Nations authorities, and disaster management, risk psychology and warning communication experts gathered to take part in the seminal workshop held January 18-20 in Mexico City. (more…)
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