SPACE - random thread about space stuff

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 12:32 am

That camera is way cool. but imagine how out of date it is compared to what we have now. It took then 22 months to make it and another 9 1/2 years to Pluto. So basically thats a 2005 tech camera. So strange to consider it that way.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 7:29 am

Daehawk wrote:That camera is way cool. but imagine how out of date it is compared to what we have now. It took then 22 months to make it and another 9 1/2 years to Pluto. So basically thats a 2005 tech camera. So strange to consider it that way.

It's probably older than that. Space tech has to be extensively validated and hardened for the radiation/temperatures of space, so it's usually not the cutting edge. For example, the main processor on New Horizons is the same one used in the original PlayStation.

cheeba · Post by **cheeba** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 12:05 pm

New image(s) coming in an hour.

Bakhtosh · Post by **Bakhtosh** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 5:12 pm

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:31 pm

Breakthrough Listen

Yuri Milner was joined at The Royal Society today by Stephen Hawking, Martin Rees, Frank Drake, Geoff Marcy, Pete Worden and Ann Druyan to announce the unprecedented $100 million global Breakthrough Initiatives to reinvigorate the search for life in the universe.

The first of two initiatives announced today, Breakthrough Listen, will be the most powerful, comprehensive and intensive scientific search ever undertaken for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth. The second, Breakthrough Message, will fund an international competition to generate messages representing humanity and planet Earth, which might one day be sent to other civilizations.
Breakthrough Listen

Biggest scientific search ever undertaken for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth.

Significant access to two of the world’s most powerful telescopes – 100 Meter Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, USA (“Green Bank Telescope”) and 64-metre diameter Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia (“Parkes Telescope”).

50 times more sensitive than previous programs dedicated to SETI research.

Will cover 10 times more of the sky than previous programs.

Will scan at least 5 times more of the radio spectrum – and 100 times faster.

In tandem with a radio search, Automated Planet Finder Telescope at Lick Observatory in California, USA (“Lick Telescope”) will undertake world’s deepest and broadest search for optical laser transmissions.

Initiative will span 10 years.

Financial commitment is $100,000,000.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:42 pm

That reminds me.... The town where cell phones are banned

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:31 am

So many different threads this can go in, but I think I'll share it here -- a Kickstarter has been launched by the Smithsonian for Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit:

July 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, a feat so breathtaking in its scope and ambition that it captured the collective imaginations of audiences around the world. At the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, we use the power of real objects to tell stories like this one – stories of the vision, intellect, and courage of men and women who have overcome challenges and pushed boundaries to take the next giant leap for humankind.

For the Smithsonian’s first-ever Kickstarter campaign, we are proud to announce plans to conserve, digitize, and display Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit in time for this milestone anniversary. We want to preserve Armstrong’s spacesuit – and the story it tells of its incredible journey – down to the particles of lunar dust that cling to its surface.

While I think it's great way to raise awareness and a good PR move, it's a bit sad that we're now crowd-funding something that should probably be done at the Federal government level. At the risk of nosediving into R&P, I'll just leave it there. As a bonus, some of your KS pledge is tax deductible!

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:31 am

Smoove_B wrote:So many different threads this can go in, but I think I'll share it here -- a Kickstarter has been launched by the Smithsonian for Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit:

July 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, a feat so breathtaking in its scope and ambition that it captured the collective imaginations of audiences around the world. At the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, we use the power of real objects to tell stories like this one – stories of the vision, intellect, and courage of men and women who have overcome challenges and pushed boundaries to take the next giant leap for humankind.

For the Smithsonian’s first-ever Kickstarter campaign, we are proud to announce plans to conserve, digitize, and display Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit in time for this milestone anniversary. We want to preserve Armstrong’s spacesuit – and the story it tells of its incredible journey – down to the particles of lunar dust that cling to its surface.
While I think it's great way to raise awareness and a good PR move, it's a bit sad that we're now crowd-funding something that should probably be done at the Federal government level. At the risk of nosediving into R&P, I'll just leave it there. As a bonus, some of your KS pledge is tax deductible!

Museums do fundraisers all the time, don't they?

Besides, if the Feds paid for it it would be with tax money, and taxes are the original crowd-funding platform.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:37 am

Fair points.

It just seems like maybe we shouldn't be raising money via Kickstarter to help preserve one of the greatest achievements of mankind?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:44 am

Pledge $10,000

....

$9,981 (your total pledge minus the fair market value of the reward) is deductible from your pledge for federal income tax purposes. Please retain this document for your records.

$19 of fair market value? I think they're being dangerously generous with the deduction there.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:46 am

Agreed. Part of that is a membership to the National Air and Space Society. Minimum level there is $35.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:49 am

LawBeefaroni wrote:
Pledge $10,000

....

$9,981 (your total pledge minus the fair market value of the reward) is deductible from your pledge for federal income tax purposes. Please retain this document for your records.
$19 of fair market value? I think they're being dangerously generous with the deduction there.

The only thing with any market value is the membership. Everything else is just tours and recognition.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:50 am

Isgrimnur wrote:Agreed. Part of that is a membership to the National Air and Space Society. Minimum level there is $35.

You didn't see the Super Secret level.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:50 am

An Apollo 11 patch will set you back at least $4. And this one is specially made limited edition.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:53 am

I continue to be dually fascinated and awed by the existence and approach of Andromeda. How I wish I would be alive in four billion years to witness it....

"This Is What Andromeda Would Look Like At Night If It Were Brighter"

"This series of photo illustrations shows the predicted merger between our Milky Way galaxy and the neighboring Andromeda galaxy."

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:15 am

stessier wrote:
LawBeefaroni wrote:
Pledge $10,000

....

$9,981 (your total pledge minus the fair market value of the reward) is deductible from your pledge for federal income tax purposes. Please retain this document for your records.
$19 of fair market value? I think they're being dangerously generous with the deduction there.
The only thing with any market value is the membership. Everything else is just tours and recognition.

The $2,500 level has a framed flag from Discovery. And the patch and the membership. Same $19 market value.

In fact, every tier over $100 has the same $19 market value regardless of the rewards.

The T-shirt from the $46 level apparently has a fair market value of $0. I'll just wait for the t-shirt to go on sale.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:41 am

Smoove_B wrote:Fair points.

It just seems like maybe we shouldn't be raising money via Kickstarter to help preserve one of the greatest achievements of mankind?

I do not disagree with that sentiment -- I've been known to opine that the Apollo program is the greatest achievement of mankind to date. Sadly, I don't get to influence how your tax dollars are spent.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 6:15 pm

Ok, explain it to me like I'm 5.

Why is this image such a big deal, and why haven't we been able to take a photo like it since 1972? With our million bajillion satellites in orbit, why can't we take pictures of the earth any day we feel like it?

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 6:27 pm

See "four times farther than the orbit of the moon." You have to step back a long way to get the entire globe in a frame. Imaging satellites are typically much, much closer.

Hamlet3145 · Post by **Hamlet3145** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 6:33 pm

Because that one was taken from a million miles away and gets the whole planet in one frame. Our regular satellites in orbit are too close in to get the whole thing.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 6:37 pm

wonderpug wrote:Ok, explain it to me like I'm 5.

Why is this image such a big deal, and why haven't we been able to take a photo like it since 1972? With our million bajillion satellites in orbit, why can't we take pictures of the earth any day we feel like it?

We can take pictures of earth, but none of the satellites are out far enough to get the whole thing in frame at once. That one is out beyond the moon. For reference, GPS satellites are only at 12,550 miles.

Edit: Out beyond the moon means about 932,000 miles.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:16 pm

Explain like you're Calvin:

Kodak had NASA blackballed when they sent the 1972 Apollo mission was sent up with FujiFilm in their cameras. Kodak had laws passed that forced NASA to use US suppliers for all their film, then had the industry association collectively agree not to sell them any.

The old guard has finally died, and a new breed of film manufacturers is no longer playing by those old rules.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:00 pm

More mountains

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:20 pm

Announcement tomorrow about discovery of earth-like planets.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:07 am

Even if they're fairly plentiful, little rocky worlds are hard to find because they don't exert much gravitational tug on their stars (especially if there are gas giants in the same system), and because they only transit their sun once a year-or-so, and their orbital plane has to be aligned right for us to see that. Finding a potential Earth 2.0 with current detection methods is a big deal.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:37 am

I used to be excited by these discoveries but not any longer. We cant even see the planets and all we get are artists best guesses or more likely just their imagination..which we always had. Not to mention we wont go there in my life time...or most likely not in 50 lifetimes or more. I want funding for in solar exploration and undersea studies.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:36 am

Astronomers have begun designing the successor to the not-yet-launched Spitzer Space Telescope. That one will be able to image extrasolar planets...but not until the 2030s, optimistically.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 1:24 pm

First Earth-sized planet within the habitable zone has been found.

NASA said Thursday that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted "Earth's bigger, older cousin": the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

Though NASA says it can't say for sure whether the planet is rocky like ours or has water and air, it's the closest match yet found.

"Today, Earth is a little less lonely," Kepler researcher Jon Jenkins said.

The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It's about 60% bigger than Earth, NASA says, and is located in its star's habitable zone -- the region where life-sustaining liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:02 pm

Soyuz shrugs off failure of 1 of it's 2 solar panels, docks safely with ISS.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:15 pm

Good lord. Stuff seems to barely work if at all these days. Is it lack of funding or just plain crap being made now?

I never did get that patch

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:21 pm

Space is glitchy.

The Russians have been cranking out Soyuz with incremental updates for decades. They must've manufactured hundreds of them by now. It's about as tried-and-true as a spacecraft can be.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 8:59 am

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:First Earth-sized planet within the habitable zone has been found.

NASA said Thursday that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted "Earth's bigger, older cousin": the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

Though NASA says it can't say for sure whether the planet is rocky like ours or has water and air, it's the closest match yet found.

"Today, Earth is a little less lonely," Kepler researcher Jon Jenkins said.

The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It's about 60% bigger than Earth, NASA says, and is located in its star's habitable zone -- the region where life-sustaining liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet.

I read that this planet is estimated to be 6 billion years old. That gives life a lot of time to develop.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 5:06 pm

Plutonian glaciers (bigimg'd).

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 5:26 pm

Impossible' EM Propulsion Engine Confirmed by Scientists

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:16 pm

No, they haven't.

As reported in Hacked, the details of the new study are being presented this week by Martin Tajmar, a professor and chair for Space Systems at the Dresden University of Technology, and co-author G. Fiedler, at the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Propulsion and Energy Forum in Orlando. A copy of the study, which has yet to undergo peer review, has been made available prior to the conference: “Direct Thrust Measurements of an EMDrive and Evaluation of Possible Side-Effects.”
...
While the latest results surrounding the EmDrive are certainly interesting, there are many reasons to remain skeptical.

“The microwave cavity thruster as set-up by Tajmar continues to violate momentum conservation and thus does not work as advertised,” says Eric W. Davis, a Senior Research Physicist at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin. “Why he doesn’t simply capitulate to that very obvious well-known issue in this particular application of electromagnetic physics is unknown to me. Maybe he is playing the role of the ‘supportive skeptic’ that wants to test this incredible outlandish EM propulsion claim for himself to see what it does.”

Davis says the German researchers have fallen into an experimental pitfall by claiming to have identified all “obvious” sources of systematic artifacts that could produce the tens of micro-Newton thrust signals that they measured. He accuses them of playing “word games” through their claims that there are other possible sources of systematic artifacts that remain untested, while at the same time insisting that they measured the same level of thrust reported in previous separate experiments by Sawyer, NASA’s Harold White (at Eagleworks), and a team of Chinese scientists.

Davis noticed some problems in the experiment as well.

“I noted in [the study’s] conclusion paragraphs that [Tajmar’s] apparatus was producing hundreds of micro-Newtons of thrust when it got very hot and that his measuring instrumentation is not very accurate when the apparatus becomes hot,” Davis told io9. “He also stated that he was still recording thrust signals even after the electrical power was turned off which is a huge key clue that his thrust measurements are all systematic artifact false positive thrust signals.”
...
NASA aerospace engineer Marc Millis tells io9 something similar. The experiment, Millis explains, seemed to show thrust lingering even after the power was off, which would be indicative of a thermal effect.

What’s more, when looking at previous EMDrive experiments, Davis noticed that the alleged thrust was generated slowly, and not instantaneously, when the electrical power was switched on.
...
CalTech physicist Sean Carroll, who we’ve spoken to previously about the feasibility of an EMDrive, echoes Davis’ sentiments.

“My insight is that the EMDrive is complete crap and a waste of time,” Carroll tells io9. “Right there in the abstract this paper says, ‘Our test campaign can not confirm or refute the claims of the EMDrive’, so I’m not sure what the news is. I’m going to spend my time thinking about ideas that don’t violate conservation of momentum.”

Bakhtosh · Post by **Bakhtosh** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:34 am

I like that last line.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Aug 06, 2015 7:32 pm

The moon transits the earth, as seen from a million miles away.

They look a lot closer together from this perspective than they really are. Very cool to see he moon's far side fully illuminated.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:45 am

Young 'alien Jupiter' planet discovered

A planet 100 light-years away resembles an infant version of Jupiter, astronomers say. The new world, known as 51 Eridani b, is only 20 million years old - a toddler by astronomical standards. The alien world could yield clues to the formation of our Solar System, which has an unusual lay-out. The find was made by the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), which looks for faint, young planets orbiting bright, relatively nearby stars.
...

...
The new gas giant is roughly twice the mass of Jupiter. Until now, the gas giant planets that have been directly detected have been much larger - five to 13 times Jupiter's mass. It orbits a little further from its parent star than Saturn does from the Sun and has a temperature of 430C (800F), hot enough to melt lead, but still rather cold compared with other alien gas giants, which reach temperatures above 540C (1,000F).

The Gemini Planet Imager is installed on the 8m Gemini South Telescope in Chile. It began science operations in 2014. Other scientific instruments designed to detect exoplanets do so indirectly, by, for example, detecting the dip in starlight as a planet passes in front of its parent sun. GPI instead searches for light from the planet itself - referred to as direct imaging. The astronomers use adaptive optics to sharpen the image of a star, and then block out the starlight. Any remaining incoming light is then analysed, with the brightest spots indicating a possible planet.

I had not realized that direct imaging of exoplanets was already a thing.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:55 pm

stessier wrote:
wonderpug wrote:Ok, explain it to me like I'm 5.

Why is this image such a big deal, and why haven't we been able to take a photo like it since 1972? With our million bajillion satellites in orbit, why can't we take pictures of the earth any day we feel like it?
We can take pictures of earth, but none of the satellites are out far enough to get the whole thing in frame at once. That one is out beyond the moon. For reference, GPS satellites are only at 12,550 miles.

Edit: Out beyond the moon means about 932,000 miles.

Interesting correction on the site:

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story stated that it has not been possible to capture images of the entire sunlit side of Earth since Apollo 17 astronauts captured the iconic Blue Marble photograph in 1972. In fact, other satellites—including Galileo, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and geostationary weather satellites including GOES—have captured full-disc views of Earth since then.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 9:53 am

Cassini Commences It's Long Goodbye

The Cassini mission to Saturn has returned its final close-up images of the gas giant's Dione moon. The probe passed within 500km of the pockmarked surface on Monday - its fifth such encounter in the spacecraft's 11-year tour of the ringed planet.

Cassini is now engaged in a series of observational "lasts". And in 2017 it will put itself on a destructive dive into Saturn's atmosphere.

"I am moved, as I know everyone else is, looking at these exquisite images of Dione's surface and crescent, and knowing that they are the last we will see of this far-off world for a very long time to come," said Carolyn Porco, who leads the imaging team on the mission. "Right down to the last, Cassini has faithfully delivered another extraordinary set of riches. How lucky we have been."

The closest ever approach to Dione was in 2011, when the US, European and Italian space agency mission swept just 100km above the moon. Dione has a diameter of 1,122km. It has an icy exterior and a rocky interior. Cassini has detected a wispy oxygen atmosphere at the world, and has also seen signs that it may still be active, with what appear to be regions on its surface that have been altered by internal processes.

Next year, Cassini will begin a series of manoeuvres to put itself in orbits that take it high above, and through, Saturn's rings. Then, in 2017, once the probe's fuel has all but run out, ground controllers will command the spacecraft to plunge into the planet's atmosphere, where it will be destroyed. As Cassini hurtles towards Saturn, it will become incredibly hot, will melt and ultimately will be crushed by huge pressures. The mission is being disposed of in this way to be sure there is no possibility that debris from Cassini can one day land on Enceladus and Titan. These moons have been talked of as candidates for extraterrestrial life, and scientists would not want them contaminated by any Earth microbes that might still be on the probe - however unlikely that might be.

I like the website for the imaging team -- when the boss writes Captain's Logs and thanks "the great singularity in the sky" then I've got to think that's a good place to work. Plus I'm a fan of contrived acronyms like CICLOPS.