Space Scan

What surprised the NASA scientists once again, is the gradually revealing Mars’ yet another unexpected feature – which are very dark and nearly circular, appearing to be openings to underground spaces! Thanks to its orbiting spacecraft, Mars Odyssey. Are the seven dark, circular openings ‘caves’ on the slopes of a Martian volcano? The images sent back from the spacecraft seems to be something like caves. The Mars Odyssey spacecraft has sent back images of very dark, nearly circular features that appear to be openings to underground spaces. Glen Cushing of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Team and Northern Arizona University said, They are cooler than the surrounding surface in the day and warmer at night. Their thermal behavior is not as steady as large caves on Earth that often maintain a fairly constant temperature, but it is consistent with these being deep holes in the ground. But, what leaves the scientists pondering is whether these are just deep vertical shafts or openings into spacious caverns — entries to the Mars’ subsurface? Whatever, this eventually provides the experts with expectations that these caves might have ever protected life in the past or even presently – perhaps, a future shelter for humans!

It seems that everyone is talking about the Moon these days — not just how to get there, but what to do once landed there! NASA is planning to reach the moon and set up base, including a pair of small and pressurized rovers with range of nearly 600 miles. NASA officials states the kind of equipment, living facilities and vehicles astronauts that would be used for an extended lunar mission, planned for the year 2020. The agency has proposed the first proposal on last December for a polar lunar base, which is powered by near constant sunlight on solar panels. The new rover will not be as much longer as the buggies the Apollo astronauts drove but the idea is to pressurize rovers, so that astronauts could drive in their sleeves shirts rather than requiring full suits. This will support missions across the lunar surface of up to two weeks. Doug Cooke, the NASA official leading the lunar study group, stated that earlier proposals will carry stage-wise habitation modules to the moon, which might be supplanted by a proposal to heave a single large module to the moon on an unnamed cargo ship.

Illustrations Courtesy of NASA, Boeing [inset] Do you know, for every pound of payload headed for the lunar surface, NASA has to invest on hundreds more pounds of hardware and propellant during low Earth orbit? Not just that! Even many a times, it is also on the launch pad! Even NASA’s modern-day replacement for the ‘Saturn V’ – the Ares V vehicle — will be weighing more than 3500 tons prior to its launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. But, reaching the moon, it will land just 18 tons of weight. Illustration by Transluszent.de This obviously cost NASA billions of dollars, during each post-shuttle era launch. The rocket equation although is frustrating for the agency, the consequence – unfortunately — is inevitable. In a bid to find ways to get more lunar payload ‘bang’ for its transport vehicle ‘buck’, Boeing has come up with, perhaps, the ‘ultimate problem solver.’ It proposed that a low Earth orbit gas station or a propellant depot — needed to refill the lunar-injection vehicle tanks – be used to fill up NASA’s new lander. This would eventually not just help deliver dramatically more efficient payloads to the moon surface, but the gas station could also provide even more benefits than just an improved lunar payload! Want to know more on NASA’s current mission plan on the lines of the Boeing proposal?

The hunt for water deposits in moon and Mars by the NASA is on the move with the usage of the Russian technology. The U.S and Russian space chiefs, Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator and Michael Griffin, Russian Space Agency chief, released a mutual statement on Wednesday. By the October 2008, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) of NASA will carry the Russian instrument, called LEND for snooping of water resources under the moon’s poles. The Russian instrument, LEND which has already won the international contest for the best device. The working of equipment is based on nuclear tecnology, which is been used in oil industry. This instrument works very specifically for locating water resources as said by Dr. Gordon Chin, project scientist for LRO. NASA rover to explore Mars in 2009 will carry a similar instrument. Via: AP

Astronomers have found yet another sun. Well, actually another calling the spacial object a sun like star would be right. The star popularly known as HIP 56948, is a little more than 200 light years away from Earth. The observations of this star was made by the 2.7 meter telescope at the Mc Donald observatory in Texas, US. This is a good place to start off with extra terrestrial intelligence. Sun’s twin would make a great hunting ground for alien life. Like they say, where there’s sun, there’s life. Sun like stars have been discovered and analyzed previously by astronomers and scientists from other disciplines as well. HIP 56948 is a better match to the sun than other sun like stars. The only problem with this star is the fact that it is 200 light years away. Being that far, no signals could travel that distance from earth, making things difficult for astronomers and scientists. The new star is about one billion years older than the Sun. As far as finding intelligent life source is concerned, I think it’s very rare. Why? Well, first of all it’s a mistake of nature. One thing that confuses me in the newscientist article is the word hunt for life. Hopefully they just used the word hunting in the sense of looking. Whatever it is, HIP 56948 is the new twin of sun.

Besides the fear of planets colliding with each other, there’s always the threat from a giant asteroid. In an effort to protect the earth from the asteroids, the mirrors became their answer. Scientists use mirrors to direct the rays of sun towards the asteroid. The heat from the solar rays will ultimately destroy any asteroid. Out of nine ways of destroying an asteroid, scientists think that this procedure works the best for them and it is relatively safer. Up to 5000 mirrors could be used to deflect the solar radiation towards the asteroids. At least this is what the researchers at Glasgow University think might save the earth from the ultimate annihilation. The mirrors can project the sun rays onto a small area of the asteroid. The small area is no more than 1.5 meter across. The tiny slit in the rock will generate temp. of 2100 C(3812 F). This temp. should be more than enough to heat the surface and and convert the object to gas. I think this is probably the most unique way. Using this mirror method, the research team has proved that this is a win win situation against the asteroid. The research compared the mirror and sun ray method with eight others. Here’s a brief look at several other methods: types of nuclear explosion, fix an electronic propulsion system with the asteroid, Mass driver system and Kinetic impactor which can knock the asteroid off the orbit The study took into consideration the number of spacecraft and crew members needed, warning time, as well as the current readiness technology used. Now we can sleep peacefully knowing that we have better protection against the asteroid threat.

The Australian scientists have designed a new lunar habitat, dubbed as Luna Gaia, which would enable astronauts to live in outer space with adequate air, water, and food. The new space habitat is 90 to 95 percent self-sufficient, reports Cosmos Magazine. The upcoming lunar habitat is based on closed-loop life support system which recycles and regenerates all material within the system without too much depending upon outside sources. Hence, the project would save billions of dollars that are being incurred on supply trips. An international team of 30 space scientists are working on the proposed habitat, whose location is the north pole of the moon as it gets sunlight and other useful materials. The Luna Gaia project uses the most sophisticated technologies like Micro-Ecological Life Support System, alternative (MELIiSSA) to filter water, recycle carbon dioxide, and derive edible material from waste products. The Luna Gaia project would enable nearly 11 astronauts to settle in the habitat for two to three years with vegetal diets. It would immensely benefit the environment on Earth with recycling and other sustainable practices. The scientists will take 20 to 30 years to complete the project.

Time and again United States is proving its commitment for technological and space research for enhancement of quality of life of its countrymen. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), one of the world’s most superior space research organizations is getting ready to launch its latest space shuttle Discovery into its orbit. Scheduled to be launched on October 23, 2003, the launch activities begin at 18.00 GMT on October 21 itself. Considering the amount of work and manpower involved NASA officials and scientists feel that the time is just enough to complete all the tasks before the craft can be launched into space. This Discovery mission is titled STS-120 and will keep the shuttle Discovery for two weeks in space. Commenting on the preparations for the launch NASA test director Charlie Balckwell-Thompson said that there was a large contingent of scientists working for the success of this mission. Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said, All our systems are in good shape. This time around Discovery will ferry the Italian-built Harmony module to the International Space Station (ISS). According to payload Manager Glenn Chin there will be no problem due to this module as the new station segment weighs more than 31,000 pounds and will serve as a connecting point for laboratory modules from NASA and the European and Japanese space agencies. It will function effectively and bring back valuable research data for furthering space explorations. Kathy Winters, NASA’s weather officer, is guarded in her confidence about the launch. Her concerns stem from the fact that the region has been experiencing rain showers and clouds which could be a deterring factor for the launch. There is only 60 percent chance of a favorable weather on the launch date at the exact time. Seven ace astronauts and scientists are expected to be aboard the Discovery. They are already at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and are going through final checklists and preparations both of the craft and of their own for Tuesday’s lift off. Among the practice events are simulated space shuttle landings which happened on Saturday morning with Pam Melroy and George Zamka achieving it perfectly on a Gulf-stream business jet modified to give them the same experience as a shuttle landing. The shuttle is expected to complete its mission and return to earth on November 6, 2007. This one of the several shuttle launches that NASA undertakes in a year. We are waiting for the day when Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) can achieve similar take offs and landings frequently from Sri Hari Kota space center in India. Looking at these things sometimes one wonders whether the fast growth of our economy, alleged success in IT and BT sectors are any indications of success in the space sector too. If one has to achieve success in space it is only through more research, rocket launches and space shuttle deployments. All this requires massive budgetary outlays and serious political will. Do we have it in us???

It’s time for yet another shuttle mission. Irrespective of the poor weather, the shuttle blasted off at around 11:38 p.m. local time. The Shuttle flight STS 120 took off in order to install the ‘Harmony’ node in the ISS. This time, the mission to the International Space Station (ISS), was a complete Italian show. On Monday evening the weather conditions were poor for the launch. The blast off had to be postponed till Tuesday morning when the weather window cleared up. After the launch, Harmony will be on it’s way for a two week long mission. During the two weeks, about 5 space walks would be carried out. Still wondering what exactly is Harmony? Well, here’s your answer. Harmony is going to be the living quarters for the ISS folks. It will be just an expansion of living and working space in the space station. It will be a link to three labs on board the ISS. Harmony will also act as a future docking station for the Japanese HTVs as well as other shuttle missions to the ISS. Harmony space node weighs about 14 tonnes and is about 4.6m wide. Worldwide contributions are being made to the ISS. The US, Japan, Italy and Russia are the ones mostly contributing to the International space hub. This shuttle mission will pave way for the Columbus lab set to fly in December. I hope everything works out for the folks up there.

A lot of things are happening in the International Space Station over the past couple of months. Recently, the astronauts are trying to install a solar powered tower in the international space station. This involves a space walk which has high stakes. Apparently, the solar wings of the space station seem to be malfunctioning. So Scott Parazynski will be attempting what we call an exploratory solar wing ‘surgery’. He will be going around looking for problems with the solar wings. Due to this work, the shuttle Discovery will be in the orbit for an extra day. This day was allotted for the detailed inspection of the International space station. A robotic arm will also help the space walkers as well. This is because, the panels are huge, roughly about 240 feet in size. I am positive that it would be a huge problem to manually lift or move the awkward solar panels around, specially in space. This is sort of an international mission for the international space station. It is going to be a joint venture of European space labs and Japanese space labs. The best part is: the shuttle crew was awakened on Tuesday by an early morning song "Malaguena Salerosa" by Chignon.