Space Scan

Japanese astronauts to devour ramen noodles, rice balls and green tea onboard ISS

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:12:34 +0000

I always wondered what the astronauts cooked up for lunch in space. It seems like my staple food Ramen, has sneaked it’s way in the Astronaut menu. Along with Top Ramen and Nissin products, Japanese astronauts will also be able to munch on rice balls and green tea. But, wondering what flavor of Ramen is going to go to space? Try Soy sauce, tonkotsu or pork flavored Ramen or curry versions of Ramen will be served for lunch and other meals. These flavors of Ramen make up the Space Ram bunch. “Space Ram” basically referred to Space Ramen. Not only Ramen, but also 29 other dishes will tag along with these brave astronauts. There will be simmered mackerel, Japanese curry and other hot soups for these space people. These foods will be specially prepared by Nissin food products in collaboration with JAXA. A Japanese astronaut Souichi Noguchi loves Top Ramen. It’s my favorite food as well. Besides the Japanese astronauts and Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station rely on Ramen as well. Bonus packs are sometimes served on board. Image Credit: NASA Explores and NASA gov

Space Adventures elucidate the future of tourism; plans paid trips to Moon

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:12:05 +0000

Are you guys fed up by going to a beach or a hill station on vacations…? How about a trip to the moon…? If you really are an adventure freak and want to go to the nearest celestial neighbor of Earth, then you surely are in good luck. Space Adventures is planning private trips to the Moon aboard Russian spacecraft Soyuz. The trip which will cost you a whooping $100 million will carry two passengers at a time along with a crew member. Eric Anderson the president and CEO of Space Adventures stated that he is confident that the tickets for the first mission will be sold by the end of the year. The company will conduct the missions on the trusted Russian technology, its Soyuz spacecraft. A pilot and two passengers will leave Earth in the spacecraft, which will ferry them to orbit. Later they will be linked up with an unpiloted kick stage for a boost that will finally take them to Moon. The mission seems simple on paper but actually it will make use of the most advanced technology present on the planet. Anderson also stated that the Soyuz was originally designed as a circumlunar spacecraft however till now it has not flown private passengers to the Moon. He also said that he is fully confident in this hi-tech Russian technology and also thinks that the mission can be conducted any day and that too without a test flight. All the Soyuz will need is some upgrades to the communication system and a bigger window from which the passengers can admire the beauty of the Moon. However, the passengers and the pilot will not go into lunar orbit. This will later be added to convince more millionaires to go for a space flight. The flight costs $100 million dollars per passenger that means the entire trip will fetch $200 million. Anderson however believes that the mission can be conducted in under $200 million. Space Adventures is not just shooting an arrow in the dark by saying that the company will conduct private missions to the Moon. The company has a good reputation and is one of the best in the world in this business. The group has handled five private trips to the ISS and has had people like Charles Simonyi as their clients. Currently the company is dealing with some more flights to the ISS and has stated that customers are lined up for flights to this orbiting outpost in 2008, 2009 and even further. The group is also conducting talks with the Russian space agency in an effort to increase the number of Soyuz launches each year. The number is set to increase from the current two to about four by 2009 and in future the number can increase even further. Space Adventures has sold almost $200 million worth of spaceflights and have booked more flights into the future. The company now aims to train private passengers so that they can also go out for a stroll in space. However, for this they will have to get approval from NASA and all other space agencies who are working on the International Space Station. Via: Foxnews

NASA’s satellite spies mysterious ‘noctilucent’ clouds

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:11:16 +0000

All of us know that our atmosphere is fast changing and humans are the only beings responsible for that. Till now Earth was not giving us any visual signs of the damage caused to its atmosphere. But now a new NASA satellite has recorded the first detailed images from space of a mysterious type of cloud known as “night-shining” or “noctilucent” clouds. Till now these bright lights were seen only in the polar regions, however, now these clouds are on the move and are brightening several other parts of the northern hemisphere. Atmospheric scientists have stated that it is clear that these clouds are changing, which might be a sign that the atmosphere is changing. However, they are not too sure about the possible causes of these changes. Till now all they know is that there is some connection between the clouds and the changes in the lower atmosphere. This could also be a potential warning that our Earth environment is being changed. The satellite named Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere imaged these clouds on May 25. People on the ground began seeing them on June 6 over Northern Europe. The clouds are formed some 50 miles above the surface of Earth, in the layer of atmosphere known as Mesosphere. AIM will now record two complete cycles of these clouds so that researchers can figure out why these clouds are being formed and how they might be related to the global climate change. Via: MSNBC

Hubble captures Jupiter changing its stripes

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:11:06 +0000

According to a team of experts at NASA, Jupiter is changing its stripes, a process which can be due to the change of seasons on this giant planet. These dramatic changes are being captured by the aging Hubble Space Telescope. The changes are due to the change in the color of the planet’s cloud bands which are turning brown from white. Scientists at the space center have also stated that this is not the first time that the planet is changing its rings. According to these researchers Jupiter does not stay in the same color all the time and they are lucky to witness the belts and the bands change color at the same time. Since Jupiter’s year is twelve times that as on Earth the climatic changes are also slow. The difference in the heat of the Sun as received by the planet is the main cause of this change on the surface of Jupiter and along its rings. Since planets orbit in an elliptical orbit their distance from the sun keeps on changing which further changes the amount of heat and light received by the planets. Via: CNN

New twist to the tale of time…before the big bang?

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:10:00 +0000

According to a latest theory developed by some scientists it could be possible to glimpse the Universe before the start of everything that is before the Big Bang. The Big Bang is often thought as the start of everything even time, but this has raised many questions as to what could have been there before that. Recently some scientists have proposed an idea that the Big Bang might have been the explosive beginning of the Universe as we see it today however the era before that can be a totally different one. To get back into that era scientists are depending on the theory of loop quantum gravity, a theory that gives one of the many possible ways our Universe became as it is today. Earlier research suggested that before the Big Bang the universe was a surprisingly small ball, but it was very dense and packed infinite energies and space-time warping. It was a place where all the theories of Physics fail making it impossible to peer before that explosive beginning of everything. The new research on the other hand believes that the levels of energy and space-time warping were incredibly high but were finite and not infinite. Looking at the cosmos today can help in finding clues as to what the whole thing must have looked before the Big Bang. Researchers also believe that this picture of the Universe before the event will be fuzzy due to a kind of ‘cosmic forgetfulness’. This means that some properties of the universe before the Big Bang will be present in the current universe but will be having such a weak influence on the current Universe that we are not even able to determine them. Researchers also commented that this ‘cosmic forgetfulness’ could have totally changed the universe and since history does not repeat itself similarly our universe would have completely forgot its previous state. Image Read

After NASA, ESA too eyeing a next-gen spacecraft

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:09:52 +0000

NASA has already stated that the space agency will be retiring the Shuttle program sometime in 2010 and will be working on a next-gen spacecraft, which they call Orion. This spacecraft will be able to taxi crew from and too the Moon. Some months ago this decision of NASA developed some fear among the Russians as they thought that their highly honored space craft, Soyuz will be playing the role of a space cabbie till the time NASA makes their new spacecraft and after Orion is complete, no one will want to launch in a Soyuz as everyone will prefer the latest technology to take them to the ISS or even beyond. Now some industrial groups in Europe are thinking of some new ideas to develop a launch system that can compete with NASA’s Orion and make them a strong contender in space travel. Some meetings have also been held by the ESA under a development study that also involves brains from Russia and Japan. The discussions at the industrial level will commence this month. ESA wants to develop a crew transport system that is totally independent of the Orion and will replace the shuttles and Soyuz in the next decade. However, experts still feel that this new CSTS or Crew Space Transport System can be an updated and enhanced version of the trusted Soyuz and can also be an entirely different system. ESA also stated that the space agency is keen on developing two systems instead on one so that if any one system suffers a failure then the space program can continue with the other system without any delays. Talking about the industrial partners on the project in Europe include EADS-Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. For Russia, Soyuz manufacturer RKK Energia will be involved. The space agency also hopes that firm decisions on the same can be taken before the meeting of Europe’s space ministers which meet in 2008. ESA has also released a grant of about 18 million Euros for the project. If the project is approved then the space ministers will have to release some hundreds of million of Euros for the completion of the project. The American Orion project is based on the Apollo platform. However, ESA is planning a completely different approach. They will depend on the type of missions which flies in low-earth orbit to the space station or to the Moon and even Mars. ESA’s project will also employ an ATV that is an Automated Transfer Vehicle in its project. This machine is a 20-tonne cargo ship that employs advanced automated rendezvous and docking systems. ESA has also stated that the system will be integrated with different components and they have a modular design in their minds. With all the space majors eyeing Moon and Mars as their targets we will definitely get to see some machines which are the best till now. Lets see who wins this battle by developing the best system till date. Image Via: BBC

NASA’s Dawn all set to be launched, will explore Vesta and Ceres

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:09:01 +0000

Ceres, initially an asteroid and recently a dwarf planet is all set to be explored by Dawn. Ceres a newly made dwarf planet some 590 miles is big enough that it has a gravitational field which has made it round. However, it also has failed to pass the planet definition passed by the IAU. Ceres was discovered in 1801 and at that time was declared a planet since it occupied a place in the solar system where astronomers were confident of finding a planet. But after this discovery more and more so called planets were found in the same region which later took the planet status away from Ceres. Later when Pluto was demoted then astronomers developed a new class of planets known as “Dwarf Planets” and Pluto, Eris and Ceres were all classed under this category. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will explore these dwarf planets. The spacecraft is set to be launched atop a Delta II rocket. Initially the spacecraft will visit Vesta, in October 2011 and then depart in April 2012 to Ceres where it will reach in February 2015. Till date not many space agencies have considered asteroids as a possible exploration area except a few that pose some danger to Earth. They are often regarded as the left over pieces of the solar system that did not come together to form a planet. But now astronomers think that they are the building blocks of all rocky planets like Earth, Venus and Mars and are the best places to search for clues that now are not available on any of the above mentioned planets. The spacecraft will initially explore Vesta which is an irregularly shaped bone-dry rock some 330 miles wide with n inner core of iron. This can mean that Vesta formed earlier than most of the planets and the amounts of radioactive elements were so large on the planet that they evaporated all the water and melted all rocks allowing iron to move into the center. Ceres is however a totally different land, it has no iron core and has a outer coating of dust but it appears to have a thick layer of ice some 60 miles deep that is wrapped around a ball of rock. Dawn will carry a camera and two spectrometers that can detect the presence of elements and minerals. The main target of interest is a 285-mile-wide crater in the southern part of Vesta, where the scientists hope to see if the mix of minerals is different underground. For all this exploration work the spacecraft has to leave Earth initially. Earlier the spacecraft was scheduled to launch on June 20, however, some last minute glitches forced NASA to delay the launch till July 7. NASA cannot afford any more delays as they have to launch the Mars Phoenix probe by August 25, else Mars and Earth will be out of range for the next two years. Moreover, NASA too will be under $25 million if Dawn is not launched on this date and after November, Ceres and Vesta too will be too far away from each other and Dawn will not be able to reach Ceres from Vesta. Via: NYTimes

Genesis II launched and functioning, ‘Space Hotel’ another step closer to reality

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:08:52 +0000

Scientists have always shown us the future by telling us something about future machines and gadgets. Space hotel is one such dream which Bigelow Aerospace has promised. The company has moved another step to fulfill the dream by launching Genesis II a prototype of an inflatable space hotel. The prototype launched atop Dnepr rocket on Thursday from the SC Kosmotras Cosmodrome in Russia. Shortly after the launch the module reached orbit and transmitted signals to mark its arrival into the orbit. The next day Genesis II deployed its solar panels and inflated itself to achieve its maximum width of 2.4 meters. Similar to Genesis 1, Genesis II is also a one-third scale prototype of the actual space hotel. Aboard the Genesis II are 22 cameras and some new systems that were not aboard the earlier Genesis 1. Scientists associated with the technology have stated that the eventual plan is to put a habitat fit to sustain human life by 2015. When this main module is in space it will be further be connected by additional modules to build up a space station. This dream once accomplished will surely fetch some more space tourists who will want to stay in a hotel that makes use of the best technology ever developed by man. Via: Universetoday

Astronomers examine pulsing red giant S Orionis, Sun too has the same future

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:07:57 +0000

Astronomers have used the largest telescopes available on the planet to examine and study the glassy layers of a red giant star called S Orionis. S Orionis is a red giant star that pulsates in a size from a diameter roughly equal to the orbit of Mars to that of Jupiter in every 410 days. Red giants are enlarged stars. When stars burn off their hydrogen reserves they begin to burn helium this causes radiation that increases the size of the star to up to 100 times its original size. Our Sun will also have the same future and will become a red giant after some five billion years. At that time our Sun will get enormous and will consume many planets of the solar system. During the red giant phase of a star, it pushes stellar gas and dust into space. S Orionis also sheds about the mass of Earth each year. This material which escapes the gravity of a star forms beautiful planetary nebulas. But eventually this mass is pulled back into the star and then this is the start of a new cycle. Earlier it was not known as to what this material mainly comprises of but a research carried out by some researches discovered that the star’s dusty shell consists of corundum and moreover these researchers also discovered that the corundum was twice as large as previously thought. This research required the expertise of the best telescopes present in the world and the task was accomplished by the Very Long Baseline Array, which is a series of 10 telescopes spread over 5,350 miles that can see radio waves and the infrared-seeing Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Chile. These telescopes are so powerful that if a person uses them, he can read a newspaper in California while sitting in New York. The waves of S Orionis look like a blob of emission so the team of researchers had to record the masers from the star. Masers are naturally occurring lasers. This star’s red giant formation has shown us the future of our Sun, which too will have the same fate after about 5 billion years. Via: usatoday

NASA learns to save money, assigns new missions to old spacecrafts

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:07:50 +0000

NASA is already lacking some money to complete all their proposed plans and with the retirement of the shuttle programs they will have to save some more money to make up for the space agency’s upcoming project Orion. This lack of money has made NASA think of some unconventional means to keep space exploration going at a good pace. The space agency has now given new assignments to two robotic spacecrafts that have already done their actual work. These spacecrafts include the comet-watching Deep Impact spacecraft and the comet-sampling Stardust probe. The Deep Impact spacecraft was originally designed to fly past Comet Tempel 1 and send an impactor in its path in 2005. This spacecraft will now observe stars known to have planets orbiting them. Stardust on the other hand will be sent to Comet Tempel 1 in 2011. This spacecraft has already dropped off a sample capsule containing comet dust and interstellar samples as it flew past Earth last year. NASA has stated that these extensions have made the missions more interesting because this is the first time that the space agency is reassigning new missions to the spacecrafts which have already completed their original duties. These spacecrafts will now allow NASA to revisit a comet for the first time and explore some small planets around stars with known large planets. This reassignment of duties can accomplish new tasks for just 15% of the cost starting a new mission from scratch. NASA came to the conclusion of reassigning the spacecrafts with new missions after months of debate on what to do with the spacecrafts as they had completed their missions and their navigation and communication instruments were in good shape. NASA stated that the new missions reflect their creative thinking and planning and is also a prime example of getting more things done from the budget they have. The original cost of the missions was $212 million for Stardust and $333 million for Deep Impact. The extensions will now cost NASA a mere $35 million per mission and the combined cost of reassigning the spacecrafts will be just $55 million. These new assignments have been given new names that are EPOXI for Deep Impact and NExT for the Stardust probe. Mission EPOXI: The EPOXI mission is further a combination of two missions. This comprises of DIXI or Deep Impact Extended Investigation and EPOCh or Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization. The DIXI mission involves the flyby of Comet Boethin, a comet that has never before been explored. The EPOCh mission will observe several nearby bright stars, watching giant planets already known to be orbiting these stars. This mission will now try and look for some small planets orbiting these stars. During this mission Deep Impact will also observe Earth in mid-infrared wavelengths. This will provide NASA enough data for future efforts to study the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. Mission NExT: This mission will be carried out by Stardust probe. During this mission the spacecraft will visit Comet Tempel 1. This investigation will provide the first look at the changes to a comet nucleus produced when it passes close to the Sun. This mission will also mark the first time a comet has ever been revisited. Via: MSNBC