Falcon 9 – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com Open Source Entertainment, on Demand. Wed, 17 Jun 2020 05:09:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.3 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cropped-favicon-32x32.png Falcon 9 – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com 32 32 Our Fragmented Favorite | LINUX Unplugged 358 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/141887/our-fragmented-favorite-linux-unplugged-358/ Tue, 16 Jun 2020 21:00:00 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=141887 Show Notes: linuxunplugged.com/358

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]]> Junk Yard Sale | The Friday Stream 5 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/131566/junk-yard-sale-the-friday-stream-5/ Mon, 27 May 2019 12:00:09 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=131566 Show Notes: fridaystream.com/5

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]]> Exoplanet Clouds & Updates | SciByte 105 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/44732/exoplanet-clouds-updates-scibyte-105/ Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:30:50 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=44732 We take a look at exoplanetary clouds, updating atomic weights, plastic on Saturns moon, viewer feedback, story and spacecraft updates, and more!

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We take a look at exoplanetary clouds, updating atomic weights, plastic on Saturn\’s moon, viewer feedback, story and spacecraft updates, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Direct Download:

MP3 Audio | OGG Audio | Video | Torrent | YouTube

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— Show Notes —

Exoplanet Clouds

  • Astronomers using data from NASA\’s Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes have created the first cloud map of a planet known as Kepler-7b
  • Kepler-7b
  • One of the first five planets to be confirmed by NASA\’s Kepler spacecraft, and was confirmed in the first 33.5 days of Kepler\’s science operations
  • Kepler-7b is a hot Jupiter that is about half the mass of Jupiter, but is nearly 1.5 times its size, and orbits its star every five days
  • Previous observations of Kepler-7b revealed that it could float on water
  • Temperature and Light Data
  • Kepler\’s visible-light observations of Kepler-7b\’s moon-like phases led to a rough map of the planet that showed a bright spot on its western hemisphere
  • That data was not enough on its own to decipher whether the bright spot was coming from clouds or heat
  • Spitzer can fix its gaze at a star system as a planet orbits around the star, gathering clues about the planet\’s atmosphere
  • Spitzer\’s ability to detect infrared light means it was able to measure Kepler-7b\’s temperature, estimating it to be between 1,500 and 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,100 and 1,300 Kelvin).
  • What the Temperature and Lights Measurements Mean
  • Those measurements are relatively cool for a planet that orbits so close to its star, within 0.06 astronomical units (one astronomical unit is the distance from Earth and the sun)
  • The measurements are also too cool to be the source of light Kepler observed.
  • Astronomers don\’t expect to see oceans or continents on this type of world, but they do detected a clear, reflective signature that they interpreted as clouds
  • What it All Means
  • By observing Kepler-7b with Spitzer and Kepler for more than three years, scientists were able to produce a very low-resolution \’map\’ of this giant, gaseous planet
  • Astronomers determined that light from the planet\’s star is bouncing off cloud tops located on the west side of the planet.
  • The patterns on this planet do not seem to change much over time, indicating it has a remarkably stable climate
  • The Future
  • Combining Spitzer and Kepler data together offers scientists with a multi-wavelength tool for getting a good look at exoplanets
  • This is bringing advancements to exoplanet science, moving beyond just detecting exoplanets, and into the exciting science of understanding them
  • 3D Visualization Tool
  • A fully rendered tool, available for download at eyes.nasa.gov/exoplanets
  • The program is updated daily with the latest findings from NASA\’s Kepler mission and ground-based observatories around the world as they search for planets
  • Also Pointed Out By
  • Paul Hill ‏@P_H_9_3 on Twitter
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • NASA Space Telescopes Find Patchy Clouds on Exotic World – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | jpl.nasa.gov
  • Clouds On Alien Planet Mapped for 1st Time | Space.com

— NEWS BYTE —

Updating Atomic Weights

  • The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, IUPAC, has changed the official atomic weights of 19 elements
  • Atomic Weights
  • Every atom of an element, silver for example, has the same number of protons
  • Silver has 47, but not every atom of an element necessarily has the same number of neutrons
  • Different versions of an element\’s atoms are called isotopes, Silver occurs as silver-109 and silver-107
  • Chemists calculate the atomic weight of an element that you see on the periodic table from the masses of its isotopes, giving more common isotopes more weight than less common isotopes
  • This doesn\’t necessarily mean every sample of silver on Earth has an atomic weight of exactly
  • Samples of elements vary from place to place, and the differences play an important role in many sciences
  • The differences help chemists trace the origin of different materials and help date archaeological findings
  • Not a Big a Deal, But Why Do It?
  • The latest atomic weights measurements differ too little from their predecessors to really change science
  • The changes in weights mostly come from continuing improvements in atomic mass measurements thanks to advances in the technology behind mass spectrometers
  • They can also change how they view the number of isotopes an element has
  • For example, the IUPAC had previously thought that thorium-230 was too rare to include in atomic weight calculations, they now recognize it
  • The last time international chemistry really altered the periodic table was in 2009, when IUPAC decided to list the atomic weights of some elements as ranges, instead of single numbers
  • The Changes
  • Atomic weights are relative, so they don\’t have units
  • Molybdenum, Losing 0.0122
  • Thorium, Losing 0.000322
  • Yttrium and Niobium, Tied, Losing 0.00001
  • Selenium, Gaining 0.0088
  • Cadmium, Gaining 0.0026
  • Holmium, Thulium and Praseodymium, all Gaining 0.00001
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Chemistry\’s Biggest Loser: Official Atomic Weights Change For 19 Elements | Popular Science
  • Periodic Table of the Elements | chemistry.about.com

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013

Plastic in Titan’s Clouds?

  • An essential chemical used in the creation of plastic on Earth has been found in Saturn\’s largest moon, Titan
  • Scientists used Cassini\’s composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) instrument, which measures infrared light given off by Saturn and its moon, made the discovery
  • Cassini Measures Propylene
  • NASA\’s Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn, found that the atmosphere of Titan contains propylene
  • Propylene is a key ingredient of plastic containers, car bumpers and other everyday items on Earth
  • Strung together in long chains it can form a plastic called polypropylene
  • Helps Explain Voyager 1 Data
  • This helps answer a decades old question
  • When Voyager 1 conducted the first close flyby of the moon in 1980, it recognized gasses in the moon\’s brown atmosphere as hydrocarbons.
  • Those measurement were very difficult to make because propylene weak signature is crowded by related chemicals with much stronger signals
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Clip | Plastic Moon: Propylene Detected On Titan | VideoFromSpace
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • [NASA Finds Ingredient for Plastic on Saturn\’s Moon Titan | Space.com](NASA Finds Ingredient for Plastic on Saturn\’s Moon Titan | Space.com)

Now There Are Robots Who Run …

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

Ice Cap Growing/Shrinking?

  • Nogal
  • In the chat room I brought up the fact that the ice caps have been growing, yet everyone called me a nut
  • Sorry, Staying Away From Hot Button Issues
  • First SciByte will neither agree or disagree with a highly hot button issue
  • Some studies can be made to agree in either direction you feel
  • There are studies that say the area of the Antarctic polar cap is expanding while the Arctic is decreasing
  • There are also studies arguing about the thickness of both polar sheets
  • Adding to the confusion and arguments is an article from National Snow and Ice Data Center showing significant shrinking of the area of the polar cap actually had an error
  • In addition there are arguments about global heating/cooling/climate change over what time span and comparing to historical data
  • For issues such as this it is important to find data from as impartial sources as you can, and to also look at the data that argues against how you feel

Food Science

  • Matt
  • Have you ever considered doing an episode on some of Chris\’ beliefs about nutrition and food?
  • Sorry, Staying Away From Some Food Health Science
  • While I might talk about what science is saying about how food interacts with the human body I’m not a dietician or a medical doctor so I’m going to stay away from dietary issue
  • Studies that talk about how one specific thing affects how interacts with your well being and health I view as somewhat bordering on fuzzy science
  • There are so many things that can affect your health it is hard to say anything specific about the general population
  • There are also many people with restrictive diets because of allergies or sensitivities that restrict diets that only affect specific portions of the population

— Updates —

Comet ISON

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

Private Space Travel – Orbital Science & SpaceX

  • Orbital Science – Cygnus Spacecraft
  • The Cygnus spacecraft initial docking was delayed a week due to an easily fixed communications glitch
  • After docking, the hatches to Cygnus opened on Monday, Sept. 30 after completing leak checks
  • Cygnus delivers about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food, clothing, water, science experiments, spare parts and gear to the Expedition 37 crew
  • SpaceX
  • Also on Sept 29 the Next Generation commercial SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket had its demonstration test flight
  • SpaceX Falcon 9 blasted off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California
  • They deployed Canada’s 1,060 pound (481 kg) Cascade, Smallsat, and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE) weather satellite and several additional small satellites.
  • Private Space Travel
  • Both Cygnus and Falcon 9 were developed with seed money from NASA in a pair of public-private partnerships between NASA and Orbital Sciences and SpaceX
  • With Orbital science\’s successful delivery there are now two commercial partner\’s with the ability to deliver supplies to the ISS
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Clip Cygnus Spacecraft Captured By Space Station | videoFromSpace
  • YouTube | [SpaceX] Launch of Inaugural Falcon 9 v1.1 Rocket with Cassiope! | SpaceVidsNet
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Doubly Historic Day for Private Space: Cygnus docks at Station & Next Gen Falcon 9 Soars | UniverseToday.com

Opportunity

  • Planning the Path to Prepare for Winter
  • The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) recently succeeded in collecting “really interesting” new high resolution survey scans of Solander Point
  • The new CRISM spectrometer survey from Mars orbit will vastly improve the spectral resolution – from 18 meters per pixel down to 5 meters per pixel
  • It will take some time, a few weeks, to review and interpret the new spectral data from the MRO and decide on a course of action
  • The new MRO data are crucial for targeting the rover’s driving in coming months.
  • Solander Point
  • Opportunity rover has begun the ascent of Solander Point, the first mountain she will ever climb
  • Solander Point is an eroded ridge located along the western rim of huge Endeavour Crater where Opportunity is currently located
  • Another important point about ‘Solander Point’ is that it also offers northerly tilted slopes that will maximize the power generation during Opportunity’s six month winter
  • Recent Science
  • The rover recently investigated an outcrop target called ‘Poverty Bush’.
  • The 3 foot long (1 meter) robotic arm was deployed and the rover collected photos with the Microscopic Imager (MI)
  • They collected several days of spectral measurements with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).
  • What is interesting about this location is that there are several geologic units that are overlapping and Opportunity is sitting on the contact
  • The east side of the contact are rocks maybe a billion years older than those on the west side of the contact
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Opportunity Scaling Solander Mountain Searching for Science and Sun | UniverseToday.com

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

  • More Autonomy
  • Curiosity has now used a new technique, in placement of the tool-bearing turret on its robotic arm
  • The technique, called proximity placement, uses the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) as if it were a radar for assessing how close the instrument is to a soil or rock surface
  • The rover can then interpret the data and autonomously move the turret closer if it is not yet close enough
  • This will enable placement of the instrument much closer to soil targets than would have been feasible without risk of touching the sensor head to loose soil
  • It will also save extra days of having team members check the data and command arm movement in response
  • Multimedia
  • Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
  • Social Media
  • Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Mars Science Laboratory: Images | mars.jpl.nasa.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • October, 18 1989 : 24 years ago : Jupiter orbiter Galileo launched
     : The Galileo space orbiter was released from the STS 34 flight of the Atlantis orbiter. Then the orbiter\’s inertial upper stage rocket pushed it into a course through the inner solar system. The craft gained speed from gravity assists in encounters with Venus and Earth before heading outward to Jupiter. During its six year journey to Jupiter, Galileo\’s instruments made interplanetary studies, using its dust detector, magnetometer, and various plasma and particles detectors. It also made close-up studies of two asteroids, Gaspra and Ida in the asteroid belt. The Galileo orbiter\’s primary mission was to study Jupiter, its satellites, and its magnetosphere for two years. It released an atmospheric probe into Jupiter\’s atmosphere on 7 Dec 1995.
  • Galileo Spacecraft Website | NASA

Looking up this week

<img src=\”https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/ISON_Comet_captured_by_HST%2C_April_10-11%2C_2013.jpg/250px-ISON_Comet_captured_by_HST%2C_April_10-11%2C_2013.jpg” width=250 align=right>

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]]> Exoplanet & Bee Venom | SciByte 86 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/33896/exoplanet-bee-venom-scibyte-86/ Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:47:03 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=33896 We take a look at an exoplanets atmosphere, HIV killing bee venom, ancient sundials, viewer feedback, and much more!

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We take a look at an exoplanets atmosphere, HIV killing bee venom, ancient sundials, viewer feedback, spacecraft updates, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Direct Download:

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Support the Show:

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Show Notes:

Exoplanet Atmosphere

  • A team led by an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, has found hints of ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide and acetylene in an exo-planets’ atmosphere in the sharpest spectrum ever obtained of an extrasolar planet
  • Searching for Exoplanets
  • In the past, astronomers inferred the existence of exoplanets and their gases by looking for subtle changes in the light streaming from the planet’s star
  • Now, with improved instruments, a team has detected light coming directly from a planet light-years away
  • The data have high enough resolution to reveal not only the presence but the abundance of carbon monoxide and water in the planet’s atmosphere
  • Such information could shed light on how the planet formed
  • Studies could also reveal the presence of life on a distant planet, but this planet’s size and orbit have already ruled it out as a habitable world
  • The System
  • In 2008 the first image of a multi planet system outside the solar system, showing three gas giants orbiting the star HR 8799
  • The results suggest the HR 8799 system is like a scaled-up Solar System
  • HR 8799 is about 130 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Pegasus
  • The planets are scorching hot, making them bright enough for astronomers to detect directly
  • In 2010, the researchers imaged a fourth planet around HR 8799, a new study focused on one of these planets, HR 8799c.
  • HR 8799c
  • Five to 10 times as massive as Jupiter, HR 8799c sits about eight times farther away from its star than Jupiter does from the sun
  • Because of that great distance, the astronomers could block the star’s light and record infrared light
  • Even with water present on this world, it is incredibly hostile to life
  • Like Jupiter, it has no solid surface, and it has a temperature of more than a thousand degree
  • The Studies
  • Because different gases absorb and emit light in distinct ways, the team could identify carbon monoxide and water but found no methane, which scientists had thought might be present.
  • In another new study researchers simultaneously collected infrared light from the atmospheres of all four planets
  • The chemistry of each planet varies different from anything in our own solar system
  • Although the teams looked at different wavelengths of light, which pick up different types of molecules, the two studies appear consistent
  • By peering at just one planet, one team obtained more detailed data that allowed the researchers to get a sense of how much carbon and oxygen is in HR 8799c’s atmosphere
  • Knowing the ratio of carbon to oxygen in the atmosphere may reveal how the planet formed
  • Planetary Formation Theories
  • Astronomers have two competing theories of how planets arise from the disk of gas and dust encircling a young star
  • In the gravitational instability model, some of the gas and dust suddenly clumps and collapses, simultaneously creating a planet’s core and atmosphere
  • In this scenario, the chemical composition of a planet should match that of its star
  • In the other model, known as core accretion, planets are built in two-steps
  • First, material from the disk accumulates into a core, later the core captures gases swirling in the disk to form an atmosphere.
  • In this case, the carbon-to-oxygen ratio of the planet may differ from the star because the accretion of cores may deplete the disk of certain elements
  • What This Planet\’s Data Tells Us
  • Compared with its star, HR 8799c appears to have slightly more carbon relative to oxygen, suggesting the planet originated via core accretion
  • It is surmises that when the disk around HR 8799 formed, water froze into particles of ice, the bits of ice then collided to form the planet’s core, leaving behind little water vapor, and therefore less oxygen, when the planet accumulated its atmosphere later on
  • Other researchers are not convinced by this conclusion saying “We don’t really understand planetary formation enough to make a strong case either way,”
  • The Future
  • Either Way the data from both new studies may help astronomers refine their simulations of planetary formation
  • Not that astronomers have directly imaged planets around three distant stars researchers are poised to capture light from many more planets
  • Project 1640, is looking for Jupiter-sized planets around some 200 stars
  • “Ultimately, with better instruments, people will be able to use these methods on Earthlike planets.”
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Remote Reconnaissance of Another Solar System | AMNHorg
  • Video Clip Nearby Stars with planets| AMNHorg
  • Video Clip HR 8799 System| AMNHorg
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Exoplanet Atmospheres Provide Clues to Solar System Formation | UniverseToday.com
  • Distant planets\’ atmospheres revealed | Atom & Cosmos | ScienceNews.org

— NEWS BYTE —

Bees Against HIV

  • Nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed
  • What it Does
  • Bee venom contains a potent toxin called melittin that can poke holes in the protective envelope that surrounds HIV, and other viruses
  • The new study shows that melittin loaded onto these nanoparticles does not harm normal cells, because added protective bumpers to the nanoparticle surface
  • When the nanoparticles come into contact with normal cells, which are much larger in size, the particles simply bounce off
  • HIV, on the other hand, is even smaller than the nanoparticle, so HIV fits between the bumpers and makes contact with the surface of the nanoparticle, where the bee toxin awaits
  • The advantage of this approach is that the nanoparticle attacks an essential part of the virus\’ structure. In contrast, most anti-HIV drugs inhibit the virus\’s ability to replicate.
  • Drawbacks
  • This anti-replication strategy does nothing to stop initial infection, and some strains of the virus have found ways around these drugs and reproduce anyway.
  • Where it does work, because it attacks the inherent physical property of HIV, theoretically, there isn\’t any way for the virus to adapt to this treatment
  • The potential for using nanoparticles with melittin as therapy for existing HIV infections, especially those that are drug-resistant
  • Other Uses
  • The hope is that in places where HIV is running rampant, people could use this gel as a preventive measure to stop the initial infection
  • Since melittin attacks double-layered membranes indiscriminately, this concept is not limited to HIV.
  • Many viruses, including hepatitis B and C, rely on the same kind of protective envelope and would be vulnerable to melittin-loaded nanoparticles
  • In addition to antiviral therapy, the paper\’s senior author has shown melittin-loaded nanoparticles to be effective in killing tumor cells.
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Nanoparticles loaded with bee venom kill HIV | MedicalXPress.com

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Worlds Oldest Egyptian Sundials

  • Telling Time in Ancient Egypt
  • During archaeological excavations in the Kings\’ Valley in Upper Egypt a team of researchers found one of the world\’s oldest ancient Egyptian sundials
  • During this year\’s excavations the researchers found a flattened piece of limestone (so-called Ostracon) on which a semicircle in black color had been drawn
  • The semicircle is divided into twelve sections of about 15 degrees each.
  • A dent in the middle of the approximately 16 centimeter long horizontal baseline served to insert a wooden or metal bolt that would cast a shadow to show the hours of the day
  • Small dots in the middle of each section were used for even more detailed time measuring
  • It was found in an area of stone huts that were used in the 13th century BC to house the men working at the construction of the graves, possibly used to measure their work hours
  • The division of the sun path into hours also played a crucial role in the so-called netherworld guides that were drawn onto the walls of the royal tombs
  • These guides are illustrated texts that chronologically describe the nightly progression of the sun-god through the underworld.
  • The sundial could also have served to further visualize this phenomenon.
  • Multimedia
  • Image Ancients Egyptian sun dial | Phys.org | Credit: University of Basel
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • One of the world\’s oldest sun dial dug up in Kings\’ Valley | Phys.org

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

ESTCube

  • Karl Sakrits
  • Estonia is sending up their first satellite, a CubeSat, made by University students to test the electric solar wind sail
  • CubeSat
  • The CubeSat standard for nanosatellites was followed during the engineering of ESTCube-1,
  • The CubeSat standard has three different sizes corresponding to size 1U, 2U and 3U. Base side lengths are the same but height is 2 to 3 times bigger than 1U CubeSats
  • Mass is also set in CubeSat standard, the highest possible mass for 1U CubeSat is 1300 grams, 2U CubeSat 2600 grams and 3U CubeSat 4000 grams
  • CubeSat base side length must be 100.0 +/- 0.1 millimeters and satellite height must be 113.5±0.1 mm
  • Purpose
  • Although its main purpose was to educate students, the satellite does have a scientific purpose.
  • On board of the satellite is an electric solar wind sail (e-sail) which was created by a Finnish scientist Pekka Janhunen, which will be the first real experimentation of the e-sail
  • Subsystems
  • ADCS – attitude determination and control system, determines and modifies satellite\’s alignment
  • CAM – onboard camera for taking pictures of the Earth and the unreeled tether
  • CDHS – command and data handling system, the satellite\’s main onboard computer
  • COM – communications system for up- and downlinks
  • EPS – electrical power system, provides electrical power for the satellite
  • PL – payload, the satellite\’s experiment module, that contains the tether and everything else related to the experiment
  • STR – satellite\’s structure
  • Solar Wind Sail
  • 10 meters of e-sail 50 to 20 micrometers thick wire of high-technology structure so-called Heytether will be deployed from the satellite.
  • The deployment of the Heytether can be detected by decrease of the satellite\’s speed of rotation or by a on-board camera
  • To control the loaded solar wind sail elements interaction with the plasma surrounding the earth and the effect it has on the spacecraft spinning speed the spacecraft has two on-board nanotechnologic electron emitters/gun
  • The electron emitters are connected to the e-sail element and by shooting out electrons it loads the e-sail element positively to 500 volts
  • The positive ions in the plasma push the e-sail element and have an influence on the satellites rotation speed
  • The effect of the e-sail is measured by the change in rotation speed
  • The camera is used to take a picture of Earth and the successfully deployed Heytether.
  • Mission
  • ESTCube-1 will be sent to orbit by the European Space Agency\’s rocket Vega in spring of 2013
  • Half an hour after the satellites deployment from the start capsule satellites antennas will be opened and radio transmitter and important subsystems will be switched on
  • The first days or weeks will be used to test the satellite and set it to work on full capacity
  • They will then orient the satellite so the on-board camera will be faced to earth so that they can try to take a picture of Estonia
  • They will rotate the satellite on an axis with a speed of 1 revolution per second
  • The E-sail element will deploy from the satellite by a centrifugal force and will confirm the deployment via the on-board camera
  • Then they will activate the electron emitter and loading the e-sail, measuring the e-sails and Lorentz force by satellites revolutions per second
  • If possible they will use the negatively charged e-sail to take the satellite off orbit and burn it in the earths atmosphere
  • Should everything go perfect the mission could be completed within a few weeks to a month
  • Communication
  • Communicating with the satellite will be held by two International Amateur Radio Unions three registered frequencies [437.250 MHz, 437.505 MHz]
  • The maximum possible connection speed is 19,200 bits per second, only to be used when the satellite has been given a specific order
  • Important satellite parameters will be transmitted every 3 to 5 minutes, and periodic but slow communication can be done on a telegraphic signal
  • A 9600 baud connection speed and AX.25 standard is used, a slower communication frequency which allow a maximum of 25 kiloherz bandwidth, fast connection will only be used when the satellite has been given a specific
  • Software
  • FreeRTOS on the satellite\’s Command and Data Handling System and camera module
    TinyOS on the satellite\’s communication module
  • Financing and costs
  • This option is the cheapest possibility to send a satellite into orbit is offered by European Space Agency
  • Estonia is an associated member of ESA most of the launch expenses (about 70,000 euros) will be covered from Estonian member fee for educational expenses
  • The total expense, with launch cost, for the project are approximately 100,000 euros
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube estcube dissection2 | taavi torim
  • YouTube Packing ESTCube-1 for shipping. Tallinn TV Tower 21.1.2013. | AjattaraQuad
  • ESTCube.eu | Video Library
  • Twitter
  • ESTCube @ESTCube
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • ESTCube.eu

— Updates —

Space Shuttle Atlantis

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

SpaceX’s Grasshopper Hops Higher

  • GrassHopper
  • Grasshopper stands 10 stories tall and consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure
  • The goal of Grasshopper is to eventually create a reusable first stage for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which would be able to land safely instead of falling back into the ocean and not being usable again
  • On March 7, 2013, the vertical and takeoff and landing (VTVL) vehicle, rose 24 stories, 263 ft / 80m, hovered for approximately 34 seconds and then landed safely, and more accurately than ever before
  • Previous Tests
  • This is Grasshopper’s fourth in a series of test flights, with each test demonstrating exponential increases in altitude
  • September 2012 | Flew to 8.2 ft / 2.5 meters
  • November 2012 | Flew to 17.7 ft / 5.4 meters
  • December 2012 | Flew to 131 ft / 40 meters
  • Multimedia
  • Ring of Fire | spacexchannel
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • SpaceX Grasshopper Takes a Leap Into a \’Ring of Fire\’ | UniverseToday.com

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

  • Analyzing the Drill Sample
  • Curiosity obtained her first drill sample and passed that sample on to her onboard analytical lab instruments, called CheMin and SAM
  • These powerful instruments can tell about what minerals are present in these rocks and whether they contain the ingredients necessary to sustain life as we know it.
  • When the rover science team combine the data from remote sensing and contact science instruments from CheMin and SAM, we get a picture of an ancient watery environment, which would have been habitable had life been present in it.
  • At that site of Opportunity rover, the sedimentary rocks record evidence of an environment that was only wet on a very intermittent basis, and when it was, the waters that were there were highly acidic, very salty, and not favorable for the survival of organic compounds.
  • CheMin instrument, tells us that the minerals that are present in this lakebed sedimentary rock at John Klein are very different from just about anything we\’ve ever analyzed before on Mars and was deposited in a freshwater environment
  • The SAM instrument is telling us that these rocks contained all of the ingredients necessary for a habitable environment
  • The science team found carbon, sulfur and oxygen, all present and a number of other elements in states that life could have taken advantage of.
  • Image Mosaic
  • The mosaic of images from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA\’s Mars rover Curiosity shows Mount Sharp in raw color as recorded by the camera.
  • This mosaic was assembled from dozens of images from the 100-millimeter-focal-length telephoto lens camera mounted on the right side of the Mastcam instrument
  • Raw color shows the scene\’s colors as they would look in a typical smart-phone camera photo, before any adjustment.
  • White-balancing helps scientists recognize rock materials based on their experience looking at rocks on Earth
  • White balancing yields an overly blue hue in images that have very little blue information, such as Martian landscapes, because the white balancing tends to overcompensate for the low inherent blue content.
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Curiosity Rover Report (Mar. 15, 2013) | Rover Hits Paydirt | JPLnews
  • Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
  • Social Media
  • Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
  • Further Reading / In the News

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • March 23, 2001 : 12 years ago : Mir destroyed : The Russian space station, Mir, ended 15 years in orbit by burning up in Earth\’s atmosphere as the way chosen to end its life. Mir, launched in 1986, had far exceeded its original planned five year lifespan. The Russian government decided in Oct 2000 that its poor condition could no longer justify the expense to maintain its use. A docked Progress tanker had been remotely commanded by mission controllers to fire rockets and lower its orbit and cause re-entry into the atmosphere. The debris that did not burn up during reentry fell harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean at the planned target zone between New Zealand and Chile. For safety, airlines had rerouted Pacific flights in anticipation of the event, and ships had been warned earlier

Looking up this week

The post Exoplanet & Bee Venom | SciByte 86 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> Spicy Foods & Mars | SciByte 74 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/28701/spicy-foods-mars-scibyte-74/ Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:43:52 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=28701 We take a look at why some people may like spicy foods, cracker sized satellites, spacecraft updates, and take a peek back into history.

The post Spicy Foods & Mars | SciByte 74 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

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We take a look at why some people may like spicy foods, cracker sized satellites, spacecraft updates, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

The Right Personality for Spicy Foods?

  • The low down
  • The science of spicy food liking and intake shows there’s more to it than just increased tolerance with repeated exposure
  • Personality, researchers say, is also a factor in whether a person enjoys spicy meals and how often he or she eats them
  • Desensitization to capsaicin, the plant chemical that gives peppers their burn, is well documented, there’s also evidence that the effect is surprisingly small
  • Researchers have also previously linked chili liking to thrill seeking, specifically an affinity for amusement park rides and gambling
  • Significance
  • Investigators found a relationship between chili liking and sensation seeking when using a more formal measure of personality called Zuckerman’s Sensation Seeking Scale
  • In both cases, however, the associations were fairly weak, and neither study looked at intake – how often a person eats spicy foods, versus how much a person likes spice.
  • A new study used an updated measure of sensation seeking that avoided gender- and age-biased questions
  • Ninety-seven male and female participants ranging in age from 18 to 45 filled out a food-liking questionnaire and rated the intensity of sensations after sampling six stimuli, including capsaicin mixed in water
  • Sensation seeking emerged as a much stronger predictor of spicy food liking than in the previous studies it also predicted how often a person ate chili-laden meals
  • Personality traits, however, were not associated with high liking of non-spicy foods, which reduced the possibility that thrill seekers are just crazy about food in general
  • Of Note
  • The study group may not have been large enough to show a desensitizing effect as there is a lack of evidence for desensitization in the study boosts the argument for personality as an important factor
  • For instance frequent chili eaters didn’t feel the burn from the capsaicin sample any less than people who ate peppers less often
  • A combination of factors likely influences who goes for the mild wings on Super Bowl Sunday and who reaches for hot
  • Childhood exposure and learning all play a critical role in liking for spicy foods also individuals who acquired an entirely [new] set of food preferences as adults once they moved away from home as may have been a disconnect between reported frequency of intake and actual dose
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Love Of Spicy Food Is Built Into Your Personality | Popular Science

— NEWS BYTE —

Public Funded KickSat

  • The low down
  • KickSat is set to launch more than 200 of these tiny satellites, nicknamed “sprites,” into low-Earth orbit
  • KickSat will hitch a ride in September 2013 (subject to change) from Cape Canaveral on CRS–3, the third SpaceX Falcon 9 flight destined for the International Space Station
  • The roughly 250 sprites will be sent into space the NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNA) program, will provides a free launch (normally $300,000) for university space research
  • Significance
  • The team raised nearly $75,000 as more than 300 people sponsored a sprite that will transmit an identifying signal, such as the initials of the donor
  • One person, who donated $10,000, Manchester added, will get to “push the big red button” on the day of the launch.
  • Of Note
  • The “Sprites” are the size of a cracker but are outfitted with solar cells, a radio transceiver and a microcontroller
  • A large part of the project is helping people track their own satellites with a simple software radio interface
  • From a research standpoint, the plan is to interested in the dynamics and behavior of the satellites, and plans to test how to track their positions and determine their orbits
  • It’ll look like hundreds of postage stamps fluttering toward Earth-each an independent satellite transmitting a signal unique to the person who helped send it to space
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube KickSat | KickSatInSpace
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • KickSat website
  • Kicksat: Crowd-funded, DIY spacecraft to float into low-Earth orbit | phys.org

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Smoking and Bone Density

  • The low down
  • Yet another reason not to smoke, especially as a teenager
  • Note that these tests were specifically aimed at women because there is a much higher incidence rate, but similar results might be a near direct correlation to men
  • Osteoporosis is a loss of bone density that predisposes people to fractures and leaves many elderly people – particularly women – hunched over
  • Significance
  • The teen years are crucial to developing a strong, dense skeleton, it is this age group is when you should gain about 50 percent of your bone accrual
  • A study recruited 262 healthy girls ages 11 to 17. The girls answered confidential questions about their nutritional habits and lifestyles and returned for three yearly visits to undergo bone density tests
  • Girls who reported smoking regularly showed nearly flat rates of bone density growth in the lower vertebrae and a decline in bone density at the hips
  • Nonsmokers showed normal, steadily rising bone density in both regions
  • By the time they reached age 19, daily smokers in the study had fallen a full year behind nonsmokers in bone mineral accrual
  • Of Note
  • The effects of smoking tend to be cumulative as the results also seem to concur with studies done in adults
  • It is estimated that smoking increases the risk of a vertebral fracture by 13 percent and hip fracture by 31 percent in women
  • It is still unclear, however exactly how smoking contributes to the reduced bone mineralization
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Smoking hurts teen girls’ bones | ScienceNews.org

Snapshot Serengeti

  • The low down
  • Researchers at the University of Minnesota have been trying to count and locate the animals of the Serengeti, and began placing automatic cameras across the park a couple of years ago.
  • They now have more than 200 cameras around the region – all triggered by motion – capturing animals day and night.
  • They have amassed millions of images so far, and more come in all the time. So they’ve team up with us here at the Zooniverse!
  • They need the help of online volunteers to spot and classify animals in these snapshot of life in Serengeti National Park. Doing this will provide the data needed to track and study these animals, whilst giving everyone the chance to see them in the wild.
  • Snapshot Serengeti

– SPACECRAFT UPDATE –

Opportunity and the Search for a Habitable Environment

  • The low down
  • Opportunity rover is currently studying clay deposits on the rim of the Red Planet’s Endeavour Crater
  • The clays imply that the area was exposed to relatively neutral water long ago, as opposed to harshly acidic or basic
  • This clearly show that the chemistry that would’ve been suitable for life at the Opportunity site
  • Significance
  • The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft spotted them from orbit, leading the rover team to point the golf-cart-size robot toward its current location, which is known as Matijevic Hill.
  • From orbit, scientists saw the unambiguous infrared spectral signature of clays along the rim of Endeavour Crater
  • At this point Opportunity has already circumnavigated Matijevic Hill and is likely stay at Matijevic Hill for a while, trying to understand how the clays were laid down billions of years ago
  • Of Note
  • While Opportunity is still going strong, it has some age-related issues, such as an arthritic arm, but the rover remains in good health
  • Part of the continuing work will involve investigating mysterious tiny spherules Opportunity has discovered embedded in the clay matrix
  • Scientist initially thought the BB-size gray spheres were similar to the iron-rich “blueberries;” however, initial analyses has shown that that’s not the case, leading the team to dub them “newberries.”
  • Currently the team isn’t sure exactly what the newberries are, or how they formed
  • Social Media
  • Spirit and Oppy @MarsRovers
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • NASA Opportunity Rover Does Walkabout of Crater Rim | NASA
  • Mars Rover Opportunity Exploring Possibly Habitable Ancient Environment | Space.com

GRAIL’s Lunar Gravitational Map

The Future Mars Rover?

  • The low down
  • NASA has announced plans to launch another mega-rover to the red planet in 2020 that will be modeled after Curiosity
  • To keep costs down, engineers will borrow Curiosity’s blueprints, recycle spare parts where possible and use proven technology including the novel landing gear
  • Significance
  • This announcement comes as NASA reboots its Mars exploration program during tough fiscal times
  • Many other details still need to be worked out, including where the rover will land and the types of tools it will carry to the surface
  • The science goals of the possible rover remains fuzzy, it will probably kick start a campaign to return Martian soil and rocks to Earth
  • A team of experts will debate whether the new rover should have the ability to drill into rocks and store pieces for a future pick up
  • Of Note
  • Curiosity ran over schedule and over budget, but with the engineering hurdles fixed the new rover is expected to cost less than Curiosity
  • One independent estimate put the mission at $1.5 billion, though NASA is working on its own figure
  • The Future
  • Next year, NASA plans to launch an orbiter to study the atmosphere
  • After NASA pulled out of a partnership with the Europeans in 2016 and 2018, it announced plans to fly a relatively low-cost robotic lander in 2016 to probe the interior but that it will contribute to the European missions, but in a minor role
  • Multimedia
  • New Rover to Mars on This Week @NASA | NASATelevision
  • NASA ANNOUNCES ROBUST MULTI-YEAR MARS PROGRAM; NEW ROVER TO COME | NASATelevsion
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • NASA Announces Robust Multi-Year Mars Program; New Rover To Close Out Decade Of New Missions | mars.jpl.nasa.gov
  • NASA aims to send another rover to Mars in 2020 | phys.org

Martian Mission Extensions

  • NASA plans to keep its Mars assets going as long as possible, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), the Opportunity rover and the Mars Odyssey orbiter
  • The Mars Odyssey orbiter is not expected to still be viable in 2021, launched in 2001 the orbiter has been showing some signs of age
  • Of particularly important for the 2020 rover mission will be functioning orbiters at Mars to help relay communications back and forth to Earth
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Mars Rover Curiosity Gets Mission Extension | Space.com

– CURIOSITY UPDATE –

  • Mission Extension
  • Curiosity’s mission was originally planned to last two years. It has now been extended indefinitely.
  • The radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), should be able to continue converting the heat of plutonium–238’s radioactive decay into electricity for an estimated 55 years of positive power margin
  • First Round of Tests Complete
  • Curiosity has wrapped up scientific study of Rocknest, which also means the team has completed the checkout and first scientific use of all the instruments on the rover
  • The ChemCam laser and APXS chemical sensor were used to do initial technical analysis of the soil
  • MAHLI, a hand lens imager is used to take close up views of the soil to look at different particle sizes, shapes and colors and how they change with depth
  • The team analyzed the X-ray diffraction instrument data to see they can identify minerals in the soil based on their unique crystal structure
  • A good amount of the material in the soil was not crystalline but that’s not a problem for the other laboratory, SAM.
  • First Round of Tests Complete
  • Curiosity has also found that the Martian surface is five times richer than Earth’s in deuterium, a heavy version of hydrogen that contains an extra neutron
  • Radiation probably blasted water containing the lighter version of hydrogen into space early in the planet’s history
  • The discovery will help scientists better understand Mars’ early atmosphere and climate.
  • Of Note
  • The overall results show a composition that is typical of Mars soils studied at other sites with perhaps some very simple carbon containing molecules and perchlorate salts.
  • Curiosity has not yet seen any complex organic molecules but sand isn’t the best place to look and there won’t be any single image or measurement that’ll answer everything.
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Curiosity Rover Report (Dec. 7, 2012): Rover Results at Rocknest | JPLNews
  • Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
  • Social Media
  • Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Mars Rover Curiosity Gets Mission Extension | Space.com
  • Transcript | Curiosity Rover Report (Dec. 7, 2012): Rover Results at Rocknest | JPLNews
  • Mars rover deploys final instrument | sciencenews.com
  • Orbiter Spies Where Rover’s Cruise Stage Hit Mars | mars.jpl.nasa.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Sir Patrick Moore

Looking back

  • Sir Patrick Moore (4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012)
  • An English amateur astronomer who attained prominent status in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter
  • He presented the BBC programme The Sky At Night for more than 50 years, making him the longest-running host of the same television show
  • The author of more than 60 books on astronomy geared toward the general public
  • His research was used by the US and the Russians in their space programmes.
  • Was a former president of the British Astronomical Association, co-founder and former president of the Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA)
  • In 1959, the Russians used his charts to correlate the first Lunik 3 pictures of the far side of the Moon and he was involved in the lunar mapping before the NASA Apollo missions.
  • Moore intended to be the first person ever to show a live broadcast of a direct telescopic view of a planet; the result was another unintended ‘comedy episode’, as cloud obscured all view of the heavens
  • He participated or presented for Apollo 8–17
  • Elected a member of the International Astronomical Union in 1966 and remains the only amateur astronomer to be a member of the IAU
  • Further Reading
  • BIOGRAPHY OF SIR PATRICK MOORE | bbc.co.uk

Looking up this week

The post Spicy Foods & Mars | SciByte 74 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> Red Bull Stratos & SpaceX | SciByte 66 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/25786/red-bull-stratos-spacex-scibyte-66/ Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:39:42 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=25786 We take a look at Red Bull Stratos updates, an apple a day, new GPS satellites, SpaceX, and warp drive!

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We take a look at Red Bull Stratos updates, an apple a day, new GPS satellites, a Space Station mission, Endeavours final leg of its journey, warp drive, SpaceX and Curiosity updates and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

Red Bull Stratos

  • Last time on SciByte
  • iPhone Nurse & “Warp Drive” | SciByte 64 [September 25, 2012]
  • Olympic Science & Red Bull Stratos | SciByte 56 [July 31, 2012]
  • Launch Requirements
  • Winds of less than 2 mph [3 kph] up to 800 feet [244 m] in altitude
  • An FAA regulation prohibits balloons from ascending if skies are overcast such that horizontal visibility is less than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers)
  • Atmospheric air cool enough to enable Baumgartner’s falling body to surpass the speed of sound
  • Delays
  • The original launch date of Monday, October 8th was delayed due to high winds and less than horizontal visibility of 3 miles (4.8 kilometers)
  • On Tuesday early morning although winds were calm problems in Baumgartner’s custom-built capsule delayed liftoff for hours
  • Later on Tuesday
  • The Balloon
  • Helium filled balloon
  • Constructed of strips of high-performance polyethylene (plastic) film that is only 0.0008 inches thick
  • All of the strips combined would cover 40 acres if they laid out flat
  • At launch the uninflated balloon measures 592.41 ft [180.6 m]
  • At 120,000 feet: Height / Diameter of 334.82 ft / 424.37 ft [102.1 m/129.3 m]
  • Requires approximately 8 hours of preparation immediately before launch, including about 45 to 60 minutes for insertion of the helium.
  • The balloon once “unboxed” can not be used again as they are very fragile
  • The Descent
  • Expected freefall of 5 minutes, 35 seconds or more
  • Felix will deploy his parachute at 5,000 ft [1,524 m], after which it will take 10–15 minutes before reaching the ground
  • The total time in the air from the edge of space to Earth is estimated at about 15–20 minutes
  • The combined parachute system components – Felix’s overall rig – will weigh about 60 lbs./27 kg. In comparison, a typical skydiving rig weighs about 20 lbs./9 kg., and a BASE jumping rig weighs 10 to 12 lbs./4 to 5 kg.
  • Thermosphere
  • The outermost layer of the atmosphere
  • Solar radiation bombards this layer, striking sparse air molecules and causing them to emit flashes of light, the auroras
  • Mesosphere
  • At 53 miles [85 km] it has faint clouds
  • Electrical discharge events called red sprites and blue jets
  • Stratosphere
  • Goes from an altitude of 6 miles (10 kilometers) up to about 30 miles (50 km) above the surface.
  • Air pressure drops from 10 percent of its value at sea level to just 0.1 percent
  • Absorption of UV sunlight by ozone causes the temperature to actually increase as the altitude increases
  • The temperature coupling of temperature with altitude prevents convection from happening, and so the air in this layer is dynamically stable.
  • Troposphere
  • Includes everything from an altitude of 6 miles down over most of Earth
  • Weather and jet stream
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Free Fall Jump Aborted Cancelled due to High Winds | Red Bull Stratos Felix Baumgartner Upset | TheRobotCinema
  • Interactable Mission Timeline | RedBullStratos.com
  • Image Gallery RedBullStratos.com
  • Social Media
  • Red Bull Stratos @RedBullStratos
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Home | Red Bull Stratos
  • Drop Zone | Red Bull Stratos
  • How Supersonic Skydiver Will Freefall Through Earth’s Atmosphere | Felix Baumgartner Space Jump | Space.com
  • Record-Breaking Supersonic Skydive Attempt Delayed to Tuesday | Space.com
  • Supersonic Skydive’s 5 Biggest Risks: Boiling Blood, Deadly Spins, and Worse | National Geographic

Stitcher Radio

— NEWS BYTE —

An Apple a Day

  • In a study the consumption of one apple a day for four weeks lowered levels of a substance linked to hardening of the arteries by 40 percent blood
  • The low down
  • The difference between eating an apple or not was similar to that found between people with normal coronary arteries versus those with coronary artery disease
  • Apples seemed to lower LDL, “bad” cholesterol, levels during the study [LDL, low-density lipoprotein]
  • The cholesterol LDL is more likely to promote inflammation and can cause tissue damage.
  • There was a tremendous effect against LDL being oxidized with just one apple a day for four weeks
  • Significance
  • The study also showed that simply taking capsules containing polyphenols, a type of antioxidant found in apples, had a similar, but not as large of an effect.
  • The researchers believing that polyphenols in the apples contribute to the effects and tried to extract them
  • The extracted polyphenols did register a measurable effect although not as strong as straight apples
  • Higher doses that used in this study may improve the results although apples themselves could be doing better if there are other unknown compounds contributing to the effect
  • These possible unknown compounds could also contribute to the overall effect by aiding absorption
  • Of Note
  • Eating apples has also shown some effects on antioxidants in saliva, which has implications for dental health
  • The study is funded by an apple industrial group
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube An Apple a Day May Keep Heart Doctor Away | OARDC
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • An apple a day lowers level of blood chemical linked to hardening of the arteries | MedialXPress

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

New GPS Satellite System

  • A Delta IV rocket launched on Oct 4th, sending a next-generation Global Positioning System satellite into orbit
  • The low down
  • The satellite will be part of the GPS system that is used by both civilians and the military
  • This system will replace a 19-year-old navigation satellite in the global system that includes 31 operational satellites on-orbit which broadcast position
  • This particular launch is the the third of 12 planned launches to provide improved GPS signals
  • This satellite system features improved anti-jam technology, more precise atomic clocks, an upgraded civilian channel for commercial aviation and on-board processors that can be reprogrammed in flight
  • The new satellite should be available by November
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Launch of GPS IIF–3 on Delta IV Medium Rocket | SpaceVidsNet
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Liftoff! Delta IV Launches Next Generation GPS Satellite | UniverseToday.com

A Year in a Space Station

  • The low down
  • On October 5th NASA and the international partners of the International Space Station announced an agreement to send two crew members to the International Space Station on a one-year mission
  • This type of mission is designed to collect valuable scientific data needed to send humans to new destinations in the solar system
  • The crew on this mission would be one American astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut
  • The mission is scheduled to begin in spring 2015
  • Scientists say that if the mission proves to be effective, they will discuss making year long missions on a permanent basis
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Year-Long Missions Could Be Added to Space Station Manifest | UniverseToday.com

YouTube | 55 Years of Space Exploration, 1957 – 2012

– SPACECRAFT UPDATE –

SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft re-supply mission

  • The flight, referred to as Commercial Resupply Services–1 (CRS–1), is the first of a dozen resupply flights for which NASA is paying SpaceX $1.6 billion to fly.
  • Mission Patch
  • The first of NASA’s contracted cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station now has its own mission patch
  • The CRS–1 mission patch, which borrows its shape from the Dragon capsule, shows the solar-powered spacecraft grappled by the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm as it is being brought in to connect with the stations Harmony module
  • Almost camouflaged with the patch’s green-colored North American continent is a four leaf clover. The symbol for luck, the clover has become a regular feature on SpaceX’s insignias since the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company’s first successful Falcon 1 launch in September 2008
  • Embroidered versions of the patch may be in the mission’s Official Flight Kit (OFK) of mementos to be presented to NASA and SpaceX team members for a job well done.
  • Launch
  • Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, launched its second-station bound Dragon capsule atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket at 8:35 p.m. EDT (0035 GMT Oct. 8) from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
  • Engine Failure
  • 79 seconds into the launch one out of nine of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 suddenly lost pressure and was shut down [it did not explode as they continued to receive data]
  • None of the other 8 engines were affected and the Falcon 9 rocket re-calculated a new launch profile to arrive in the correct orbit
  • Careful analysis of all data to find the cause, identify the problem and find solutions for future missions
  • Eleven minutes after launch, when the Dragon was safely in orbit, two 15-foot (4.6 m) solar arrays were deployed to provide power to the spacecraft.
  • The ‘debris’ seen falling from the engine is most likely protective fairings around the engine from engine pressure releases
  • Theodore Kurita | SpaceX Falcon Engine Failure
  • @StarbaseUGC | SpaceX Falcon Engine Failure
  • Orbcomm satellite
  • Orbcomm operates a global machine-to-machine messaging service using a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit.
  • Its second-generation constellation is designed to provide faster and higher-volume messaging, and also to provide a global Automatic Identification Service on maritime traffic.
  • The New Jersey-based company had a piggybacked payload on the Falcon 9 launch, the OG2
  • The failure in one of Falcon 9’s engines prevented the OG2 to be deployed into an orbit that was lower than intended
  • Both companies are working together in communication with the satellite to determine if it can be raised into an operational orbit
  • No statement has been released as of the filming of todays show but it is thought that they will be able to get a few months work out of the prototype
  • Plans are still in place to launch 17 more OG2 satellites on two Falcon 9 rockets in 2013 and 2014
  • Sweet Treat for the Space Station Crew
  • GLACIER, or General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator, is primarily used to preserve science samples that require temperatures between minus 301 and 39 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 160 and 4 degrees Celsius)
  • The mini-fridge sized freezer has previously flown aboard the space shuttle and will be used to return frozen samples back to Earth
  • The vanilla with swirled chocolate sauce ice cream cups won’t melt on their three-day journey to the space station thanks to a freezer on board the Dragon capsule
  • The brand of ice cream flying in the Dragon’s GLACIER is Blue Bell Creameries, a Texas dairy that has a strong fan base in Houston
  • Blue Bell ice cream has been flown to the space station before. The creamery’s cups first launched to the orbiting laboratory in 2006 on board the space shuttle Atlantis
  • Of Note
  • The Dragon Spacecraft should arrive at the space station on Wed when it will be captured using the station arm
  • It’s two week visit will conclude on Oct 28 for a splashdown off the coast of S California
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Space X/Dragon Heads to ISS | NASAtelevision
  • Image Gallery SpaceX Dragon Launches on 1st Space Station Cargo Trip | Space.com
  • Social Media
  • Handle @
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Private Rocket Suffered Slight Glitch During Sunday Cargo Launch | Space.com
  • Astronaut Ice Cream: Frozen Dessert Launching to Space Station | Space.com
  • Station-Bound Dragon Spacecraft’s Mission Patch Unveiled | Space.com
  • Recovery Prospects Unclear for Orbcomm Craft Launched by Falcon 9 | SpaceNews.com
  • [SpaceX Rocket Launch Glitch Left Piggyback Satellite in Wrong Orbit | Space.com]https://www.space.com/17984-spacex-private-rocket-glitch-satellite.html)

Shuttle Endeavour Parade Coming

  • Last time on SciByte
  • iPhone Nurse & “Warp Drive” | SciByte 64 [September 25, 2012]
  • The low down
  • Nicknamed Mission 26, pre-dawn Friday morning [Oct 12] Endeavour will starts it’s 2-day 12 mile journey from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to its new exhibition at the California Science Center (CSC)
  • Mission 26 will take Endeavour through Inglewood and Los Angeles, including passing over the 405 freeway
  • Endeavour will make the journey atop a modified NASA overland transporter, driven most of the time by four self powered, computer controlled vehicles.
  • Los Angeles and Inglewood police departments have said that public viewing will be limited on Friday until Endeavour’s overnight crossing of the 405 is completed
  • Although original plans included a Toyota stock truck to tow the shuttle on its last quarter-mile (400 meters) to the science center. Instead, the pickup will be used to move Endeavour over the freeway due to its computer-driven transporters not being cleared for use on the overpass.
  • Travel Logistics
  • Police will have to shut down streets and sidewalks
  • Crews will have to temporarily remove and reinstall power lines, traffic signals and street lights
  • Although the route did involve the removal of several hundred trees, for every tree that was removed, up to four trees of higher quality will be planted in its place, in addition 2-years of of tree maintenance will be provided
  • Multimedia
  • Google Map of the Journey
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Space shuttle Endeavour to leave on L.A. road trip this week | CollectSpace.com
  • How to Steal a Space Shuttle | UniverseToday.com

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

Dilithium Crystals

  • A new fusion impulse engine could cut the travel time to Mars from six months to six weeks
  • The low down
  • Since the sponsors of the project have ties to military funding the project will first be available for military uses, possibly for nuclear testing equipment
  • The process still has a few things to work through such as a way to harness the fusion energy
  • Also in question is turning the power generated by the fusion into thrust for an engine
  • Any craft that used this system would need to be assembled in space
  • This technology also has applications far beyond military or space exploration
  • Even with these issues scientists on the project are hoping to make the system a reality by 2030
  • The scientists are hoping to make impulse drive a reality by 2030
  • Of Note
  • The fuel that they are calling “basically dilithium crystals” is deuterium [a stable isotope of hydrogen] and Li6 [a stable isotope of the metal lithium] in a crystal structure
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • ‘Star Trek’ fusion impulse engine in the works | Crave – CNET
  • Newest Fusion Engine Is Powered On Star Trek Like Dilithium Crystals | Business Insider

– CURIOSITY UPDATE –

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • Oct 10, 1846 : 166 years ago : Triton : Neptune’s moon, Triton, is discovered by William Lassell while he was observing the newly discovered planet Neptune. He was attempting to confirm his observation of the previous week, that Neptune had a ring. Instead he discovered that Neptune had a satellite, Triton. Lassell soon proved that the ring he thought he had seen was a product of his new telescope’s distortion. This picture of Triton was taken in 1989 by the only spacecraft ever to pass Triton: Voyager 2, which found fascinating terrain, a thin atmosphere, and even evidence for ice volcanoes on this world of peculiar orbit and spin. Ironically, Voyager 2 also confirmed the existence of complete thin rings around Neptune – but these would have been quite invisible to Lassell!

Looking up this week

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