August 16, 2002
New Space Command Office Blends Agency Needs
The Air
Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado announced August 16 it
has activated the Space Situational Awareness Integration Office
(SSAIO).
This new office is tasked to bring together military
and government agencies involved in surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence,
weather, command, control, and communications required for operating in
space.
Those agencies include the U.S. Strategic Command,
Air Force, Army, Navy, and National Agencies including the National Security
Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, National Imagery and Mapping Agency,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, and others.
SSAIO
officials will research and analyze the space situational needs and capabilities
of the U.S. military services and various government agencies and integrate
these into a coherent system of systems. This will enable the U.S. government to
improve its overall capabilities, to include the systems procured and how this
hardware is integrated and operated, said Lt. Col. Tom Simpson
, SSAIO Acting Director.
Special Weekend Skywatching Offer: An Asteroid, a Comet, and Much
More!
Back in July, we tried to sell you on the idea of looking for asteroid 2002
NY40, which this weekend passes close enough to Earth to be visible in
binoculars and small telescopes. Time is running out! Just see our
Sky Map and Full Story, no obligation.
And, as an added bonus, we'll throw in
this free comet! But you better hurry, comet C/2002
O6 will be visible in binoculars and small telescopes for a limited time.
That's not all! We'll also throw in these remarkable
Space Station spotting tips to
keep you busy between asteroid and comet hunting. Stuck at the beach? Never
mind. Now you can watch the Sun seemingly grow flat and fat as it sets,
then learn from us the secrets behind this and other tricks of light (like the
Amazing Green Flash!) all with our new guide to the Mysteries of the Sun.
August 15, 2002
Queen Inquires about Asteroid Threat
The Queen of England , while touring the National Space Center in Leicester
recently, asked what we would do if an asteroid were headed toward Earth,
according to an article in the Leicester Mercury. She was told there are methods --
not yet proven -- being discussed for how to push such an object off course. While at the center, the Queen
also met with Helen Sharman
, Britain's
first woman astronaut.
Contact Lost With CONTOUR
Spacecraft
Mission
operators are looking for a signal from CONTOUR
, more than four
hours after a scheduled maneuver to send the spacecraft from Earth's orbit onto
a path to encounter multiple comets. [read complete story here.]
CONTOUR's STAR 30 solid-propellant rocket motor was
programmed to ignite at 4:49 a.m. EDT and deliver 1,920 meter-per-second boost
which CONTOUR needed to escape Earth's orbit. At about 140 miles (225
kilometers) above the Indian Ocean, the spacecraft was too low for NASA's Deep
Space Network (DSN) antennas to track it at the scheduled time of the burn.
The CONTOUR mission operations team at the Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory expected to regain contact at
approximately 5:35 a.m. EDT to confirm the burn, but by 9 a.m. EDT the DSN had
not acquired a signal.
The mission operations team is working through
several backup plans to establish contact with the spacecraft, searching along
the predicted trajectories for a successful burn.
CONTOUR, a Discovery-class mission to explore the
nucleus of comets, was built and managed by the John Hopkins Laboratory Applied
Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., for NASA.
The Summer of Mysterious Red Moon
A devout SPACE.com fan from Northern California (okay, she's the
mother of the writer of this item) e-mailed overnight to share a sky
observation: "The setting Sun was bright red, and we just looked at the Moon and
it's just as red," she said. "First time I've noticed a setting Moon that was so
red."
She knew the basic reason: Forest fires had been burning in the region for
weeks and a new one had just started up a few miles away. But people wonder
about the specifics. During fires earlier this summer in the Southwest, the
National Weather Service got lots of inquiries about the discolored Moon and
redder-than-normal sunsets.
Here's the science: Shorter wavelengths of light (like
blue) are scattered by dust particles more than longer wavelengths (like red).
If the atmosphere is clear or the Moon (or Sun) high overhead, most all the
light gets through and we see a white object. When the object is near the
horizon, its light travels through more atmosphere to reach our eyes. Add smoke,
stir, and the blue can't get through. That solved, check out these cool
Mysteries of the Sun.
Something puzzling you? Send an E-mail to Robert Roy Britt.
August 14, 2002
Space Adventures and National Space Society
Announce Joint Venture
The
National Space Society (NSS) and Space
Adventures
, Ltd., announced Wednesday a joint program to promote commercial
space exploration and to advance the day when humans will live and work in
space. The two organizations will work together on a number of space tourism
initiatives including joint conferences and events.
“Tourism
will be critical in creating the market for space settlement,” NSS Vice
President of Public Affairs Christopher M. Pancratz
said in a press release. “This opportunity allows NSS to partner with the
premier space tourism provider in anticipation that mass-market space tourism
will soon begin with sub-orbital flights to altitudes exceeding 100
km.”
The partnership is also intended to provide NSS
members with unique benefits and to bring space advocates closer to the next
frontier through a number of Space Adventures’ experiences. NSS members will
receive discounts on select programs such as terrestrial tours, zero-gravity and
supersonic jet flights, and sub-orbital space flights. Space Adventures will
also operate an NSS members-only tour.
“We are
proud to be partnering with NSS, the world’s oldest active space advocacy
organization,” said Space Adventures President and CEO Eric
Anderson
. “Space Adventures looks forward to making the dream of space
travel a reality for their members and the general public.”
Space Adventures is also offering a free
one-year NSS membership with the purchase of select space
experiences.
Astronaut Gus Loria to Remain With Astronaut
Office
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronaut Gus Loria
will remain in the astronaut office and available for future flight
assignments, NASA spokesman Doug Peterson
told SPACE.com Wednesday.
On Tuesday, SPACE.com
reported that Loria had himself bumped from shuttle Endeavour's
scheduled November flight because of an injury he sustained at home that put him
behind in his training.
Although NASA won't offer any more details about the injury itself because
of medical privacy rules, Peterson was able to confirm that Loria will not be
leaving the astronaut office.
Paul Lockhart, who was pilot on Endeavour's STS-111 mission completed in
June, will take Loria's seat as pilot on the November mission.
Internet Link Moves Gemini Closer to Becoming
First "Cyber Observatory"
A unique
combination of international cooperation and the latest Internet technology will
allow Gemini Observatory
to become the first
international "cyber observatory."
Gemini, with funding and support from the National
Science Foundation (NSF), is blazing an Internet pathway that will provide its
globally separated telescopes with a reliable data transfer connection. The
connection will allow real-time remote observations and sharing of scientific
data generated by the twin 8-meter telescopes located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and
on Cerro Pachón in the Chilean Andes.
The link was enabled by the support and technology of
Internet2, a university-led networking research and development consortium, and
AMPATH, a Florida International University Internet portal to research
institutions in South America. It was inaugurated today at a four-way
videoconferencing event at NSF in Arlington, Va., at Florida International
University in Miami, in Hawaii and in Chile.
Wayne Van Citters , director of NSF's astronomy
division, said, "Gemini has laid the foundation for a new way of doing astronomy
that will allow us to see farther, fainter and sharper than ever before. This
exemplifies what can be achieved through international scientific cooperation."
Gemini is a partnership of seven countries--the United States, Canada, the
United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. NSF serves as executive
agency for the partnership.
The new link will mean Gemini can achieve its "cyber
observatory" goal at about one-tenth the cost of establishing a similar
high-quality connection through commercial channels. The connection has been
under development for five years.
August 13, 2002
Our Nearly Impossible Universe
In 1998, astronomers learned that our expanding universe was moving out at an
accelerating pace, and they've been mostly baffled about this acceleration ever
since. Now a team of theorists says such a universe is destined to repeat
itself, but that the odds it would generate a world like our own are
infinitesimal.
The claim is from a new study led by Leonard
Susskind of Stanford University
and is reported in an online sister publication to the journal Nature by science writer
Philip Ball
.
Susskind and his colleagues say that either space is not accelerating for the
reasons scientists expect, or there is some undiscovered principle of physics
behind it. Ball writes: "Arranging the cosmos as we think it is arranged, say
the team, would have required a miracle." We're not going to argue, but we
will continue to wait for hard
evidence before we believe. Want to know more? Fasten your brain belt and
read Ball's article.
Ukraine/Russia to Launch Five Satellites in
December
Kyiv. Aug 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The
Ukrainian-Russian joint venture Kosmotras, which upgrades SS-18 combat carrier
vehicles (aka 'Satan' by NATO standards) into Dnepr civilian carrier rockets,
plans to put five foreign satellites into orbit in December.
Two
American LatinSat satellites, a German Rubin,
an Italian UniSat and a Saudi SaudiSa
t will be put into a round orbit at an
altitude of 650 kilometers. The satellites' weight will range from ten to 30
kilograms, a source in the Kosmotras company told Interfax.
Under a program of cluster launches, Kosmotras will
launch small and very small satellites for universities and state and commercial
firms.
The cost of a cluster launch of five to seven small
satellites to a solar-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 600-800 kilometers
ranges from $6 million to $8 million. The launch of one space vehicle costs
$10,000 - 15,000 per kilogram.
August 12, 2002
Perseid Meteor Shower PerformsAn observer on vacation in Nags Head, NC phoned SPACE.com this morning to report
counting 1 meteor per minute under slightly hazy skies. That was about the
maximum rate expected for clear, dark skies, so the report is a hint that the
Perseid meteor shower performed well this year. Other seasoned observers
reported impressive rates in the nights and mornings leading up to the expected
peak of Monday morning.
The Perseid shower tails off quickly now but should still
be worth some outside time tonight and early Tuesday.
Viewer's Guide
Look Ma, No Air!
Biologists have long expected that even in the early days of life on Earth,
when organisms breathed primarily methane, any significant communities needed
some oxygen to assist their consumptive ways. The atmosphere, then, would have
been rich in oxygen. But a study in the Aug. 9 issue of the journal
Science casts doubt on that idea by reporting the discovery of bacteria
whose culinary habits are unique.
|
CLICK TO ENLARGE
|
The newfound bacteria, co-existing with critters called archaea, form reefs
as tall as a house on the floor of the Black Sea. In technical terms, the
organisms use sulfate to oxidize methane, yielding sulfide and bicarbonate.
Practically speaking, there is no oxygen down there, which means that the
methane-consuming bacteria do not require oxygen to thrive.
"The microbial reefs discovered at Black Sea methane seeps suggest how large
parts of the ancient ocean might have looked when oxygen was a trace element in
the atmosphere, long
before the onset of metazoan evolution," concludes the international team of
scientists, led by Walter Michaelis at the University of Hamburg. Metazoa are
multi-celled creatures, the things whose arrival did require oxygen and which signaled the beginning of
serious evolution away from scum and toward
sentient beings. That would be you.
Mini-astronotes: On this day in 1960, the
Echo 1 satellite was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral.
The Echo satellites were NASA's first experimental communications satellite
project. Each spacecraft was a large metallized balloon designed to act as a
passive communications reflector to bounce communication signals transmitted
from one point on Earth to another. Following the failure of the launch vehicle
carrying Echo 1, Echo 1A (commonly referred to as Echo 1) was
successfully orbited, and was used to redirect transcontinental and
intercontinental telephone, radio, and television signals.
Missed something from last week? Astronotes
Archive
advertisement