MARS ROVER “CURIOSITY” - A SCIENCE LAB (MSL)

Mars is recognized by many scientists as humanity’s next point of exploration after the Moon. The next missions to our natural satellite will help build capabilities to eventually send humans to Mars.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with other space agencies around the world has been working in a new generation of Mars Explorer Rover named “Curiosity.” It launched flawlessly in a 9-month journey towards Mars on 26 November 2011 on board a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Shortly after launch, March Science Laboratory (MSL) project manager Pete Thaisinger thanked the team at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for a professionally smooth launch operation. He also thanked the 250 scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 10 years of work putting together this unique piece of equipment.

The panel at the post-launch conference also included John Grotzinger, Project Scientist from California Institute of Technology and Doug McCuisition, Director of the Mars Exploration programme from NASA. These representatives reminded the media that this is not a life detection mission but an intermediate mission between Mars Exploration Rover (MER) which was sent to detect water and future missions to detect life. This mission is about looking for ancient habitable environments, when circumstances in Mars were very different than what they are today; therefore, selecting the landing and exploration site was crucial for its prospects of success.

Launch of MSL on board an Atlas V Rocket
On 26 November 2011, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket launched successfully carrying the MSL.
The following two videos cover from Count-down to launch and separation of MSL.
Farewell “Curiosity,” God Speed on your 9-month journey to Mars!

The strategy to gather images will be different than that of previous rover missions. During the MER missions, scientist would receive all static images from the rovers, and from those, build a selection and decide the locations worth shooting with the panoramic camera. This time, Curiosity will take pictures and store them in a memory buffer, then only send a set of thumbnails for scientists to select a meaningful sub-set and later downlink only the chosen full resolution images. This will allow for more efficient use of the limited communication channels.

During the mission, scenarios will be carefully assessed and practice runs will be simulated on the twin version of the rover at JPL. After this training scientists will send precise commands for the execution of those complicated manoeuvres.

The cost of the programme was also discussed and the panel reasoned that this is a bargain of an investment as the cost is close to that of a modern movie, not to mention the thousands of jobs maintained and created around this endeavour. The benefits will be immense and only understood and valued by coming generations of humans. We must not forget that all the money that goes into the programme is spent on Earth, not on Mars.

Curiosity, the Rover

The name of the project is Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), an all-weather, all-terrain vehicle created with the purpose of exploring Mars looking for an answer of the age-old question: Was Mars ever capable of sustaining life?

This multinational rover was put together at the Spacecraft Assembly Facility of Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena, California. Space agencies of France, Russia, Canada and Spain built a number of instruments which form part of the payload of the vehicle.

The following list of facts provide an idea of the work involved in sending Curiosity to Mars. This is one of the most complex projects of JPL to date with surprising innovations resulting from the accumulated knowledge of the planet, aeronautics and space travel.

• MISSION: The mission of Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), aka the “Curiosity” rover, is to search areas of Mars for past or present conditions favourable for microbial life. It will search for potential locations, acquire samples, analyse them and send reports back to Earth.
• DURATION OF MISSION: One Martian year, this equals to 23 Earthly months until the planetary positions re-align and the crew can return home.
• DEPARTURE: Launch is scheduled for 25 Nov 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an Atlas V 541 vehicle (rocket).
  This vehicle will place the spacecraft in orbit and use a slingshot effect to finally release it towards Mars.
  The MSL is at this stage surrounded by an engine that will provide propulsion and correct direction. This section has solar panels to top-up its energy requirements.
• ARRIVAL: The interplanetary journey will take eight and a half months. The expected date of arrival is 5th August 2012.
• LANDING: This ingenious and complex landing process aims to provide maximum protection to this new generation of rover.
  The entry capsule is fitted with tiles of a new ceramic material designed to efficiently shield it from the intense heat of entry as it plummets through the Martian atmosphere towards the ground at a speed of 19,300 km/h. At this speed it would reach the surface in 5-6 minutes and probably disintegrate.
  The capsule therefore needs to be slowed down.
  Friction against atmospheric particles is expected to reduce the capsule’s speed to 1,600 km/h. Soon after, a large supersonic parachute is deployed to slow down the lander even further.
  In the next stage called the Descent, a new aircraft, the Sky-Crane comes into operation, it will actively reduce the speed of the fall to tens of metres per second thanks to a set of 8 thrusters, which consume 400kg of propellant. The Sky-Crane then will find and hover over the landing site and slowly lower the rover with a 7.5m long bridal cable, until it touches the ground on its own wheels at a speed of 0.75m/sec. The Sky-Crane then flies away to land somewhere else completing its function.
• LOCATION: The selection of the landing site is crucial to maximise the chances of finding the right soil to examine. Considering that Mars is about 1/3 the size of the Earth, with a surface area similar to that of dry land on Earth, finding the right site for landing was a mission in itself.
  After 7 years of study of images sent by previous missions, a final spot was chosen from around 50 candidates. Curiosity will touch-down on a relatively flat zone inside the “Gale Crater,” close to the equator. This crater was possibly created by flow of liquid or possibly winds, the hills surrounding the valley seem to expose strata, ideal for gathering geological samples.
  There is a 5 km-high mountain nearby at the centre of the crater. The mission will attempt to climb up to the bottom 1/3 of the mountain
  in 2 years, reaching areas that look like clays and sulphurs.
• TRAVEL ON MARS: The Mars rover is expected to travel 5 to 20 km during the mission.
• WHO NAMED CURIOSITY?: The vehicle was named by Clara Ma, a 12-year-old student from Lenexa, Kansas after winning a Mars Science Laboratory rover-naming contest in 2009.
• BUILDING CURIOSITY: The MSL was built in a large clean room at JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility in Pasadena, California. In the clean rooms, all working engineers wear white "Bunny suits" that include booties and gloves to protect against Earthly contaminants. They also wear a grounding wire around the neck to prevent electrostatic discharge. Building in a clean room prevents contamination by biological particles, which may lead to false-positive results that invalidate findings. Clean rooms have a strict limit of tolerance of particles per cubic foot of air; the one at the assembly facility allows up to 10,000 particles greater than half a micron in size. To put this into perspective, a typical “non-clean” room may have 500,000 to one million particles per cubic foot of air.
• COMMUNICATIONS: Signals will be relayed by spacecraft orbiting Mars: NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey spacecraft. In addition, messages will travel through NASA's Deep Space Network, an international network of antennas that support interplanetary spacecraft missions. Signals travelling at the speed of light (300,000 km/sec) are delayed by 10 to 20min due to the distance to Mars, which is another challenge for remote operations.
• SIZE:
  • Body: This is the largest Mars rover to date, twice the size of the last rover “Opportunity” and ten time the size of “Pathfinder”. It is as large as a Mini Cooper car with a height of 2.2m, a width of 2.7m and a length of 9m. It weights 900kg. Mostly made of aluminium, its suspension and spokes are made of titanium. It has a ground clearance of 60cm. The core structure is approximately 1 meter wide and long.
  • Arm: Curiosity is fitted with a single 2.2m long arm designed to manoeuvre a 30kg Turret.
    Located on the front panel, the arm provides the dexterity required to acquire material and feed it to the lab. It was constructed by the same Canadian company that made the arms of previous rovers.
  • Turret: This conglomerate of instruments contains drilling and collecting tools. The drill head is of Rotary-Percussive or Hammer-Drill type and is designed to drill holes of up to 5cm in depth and collect the dust from the centre and the periphery of the hole. In case of a broken or jammed drill-bit, it can drop the bit and replace it with another; it carries 2 spare drill-bits.
    If biological material were found, the rover has 5 red tiles of Organic-Check-Material, which are biologically-free blocks that can be drilled to compare results and rule out false-positives resulting from biological material being carried from Earth.
  • Wheels: The 6 wheels of Curiosity are made of aircraft-grade aluminium, they are 50.8 cm in diameter and 50cm in width. Each wheel has 1.27cm thread dents and holes that leave imprints in the soil for visual odometry. The rover has a wheel-base of 2.26m.
    The solid wheels were designed to roll over obstacles of up to 75cm in height. Aluminium was chosen because it is a strong, yet light material that can tolerate denting without impact to driving ability.
  • Capability: Top speed of 140metres/h. One horsepower. Its torque or ability to drive up slopes is 3000 ft/lb (500 ft/lb on each wheel, similar to that of an average car per wheel), this is very high because the vehicle will operate in very low temperatures of -10 to -26 Centigrade (-50 -80 F). Curiosity will travel at a very low speed but with a lot of power being able to drive up 30 degree slopes.
• POWER SOURCE: Unlike its predecessors that use solar panels, Curiosity has a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) built by Boeing, which uses the heat generated by the natural decay of a small amount of Plutonium-238 and converts it to electricity. It generates about 110Watts of power continuously recharging a 40Amp battery. Plutonium’s capacity to generate energy is expected to decay in decades.
  Other spacecraft that use similar power source are: Vikings, Cassini, Voyager.
  The excess heat is used to warm up the vehicle through a network of heat exchangers or pipes, which can also be used to remove heat should it become too hot. The pipes contain Freon that circulates thanks to a pump to control the temperature, heating-up or cooling down the rover when needed.

SCIENCE PAYLOAD

1. Cameras
• Mast Camera (Mastcam): Two cameras for stereo imaging mounted on the Remote Sensing Mast: Telephoto, colour and video.
• Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI): A magnifier tool capable of looking at samples in colour even in the dark using ultraviolet light. This is mounted on the end of the arm.
• Mars Descent Imager (MARDI): This camera will be activated shortly after the separation from the heat shield. It will take colour High Definition images at 5 frames per second all the way to the surface. After landing it is turned off and remain available in case it is required later. Some of the images acquired will be sent to Earth within the first 2 weeks and in a few months all the images will arrive to create a movie sequence of entry and descent.
2. Spectrometers
• Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) (in collaboration with Canada): Bombards a sample with Alpha particles or X-Rays to determine its composition.
• Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) (in collaboration with France): A 2-piece instrument, one with a telescope. Uses a high power laser from 5m away that vaporizes the outer surface of the rock, then the camera's spectrometer analyses the resulting cloud of plasma to determine its chemical composition, this triage process singles out the interesting rocks to approach for sampling. A similar instrument is used on Earth to detect lead contents of wall paint.
• Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction/X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument (ChemMin): This is an X-Ray diffraction pattern detector that processes samples to find component minerals. It vibrates the samples to operate.
• Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite: Looks for Organic molecules from collected samples. This will find out if there are traces of past microbial life by searching for chemical isotopes generated by biological processes. It also looks for methane, commonly produced by biological processes rather than chemical ones. This is very sensitive, capable of detecting methane in parts per trillion and can find even methane produced on the other side of the planet. This is the largest instrument on the rover, the size of a microwave oven. The samples are processed in a small oven that heats them up to 1000 degrees, which removes all volatile substances before they are passed to other instruments.
3. Radiation Detectors
• Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD): A radiation detector with dual purpose: It defines the radiation in the environment at the moment of measurement and calculates long-term patterns for future missions.
• Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) (in collaboration with Russia): Detects sub-surface Hydrogen by bombarding the surface with a neutron generator and looks at reflected neutrons. Its purpose is to find Hydrogen or Water under the surface.
4. Environmental Sensors
• Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) (in collaboration with Spain): A weather station that detects atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind speed and direction and other meteorological measurements that will report back to earth in the future. These are mounted on booms or masts. Includes a UV detector.
5. Atmospheric Sensors
• Mars Science Laboratory Entry Descent and Landing Instrument (MEDLI): Determines atmospheric conditions and performance of the MSL during entry.

ChemMin and SAM analyse samples inside the rover
Pulverised samples are fed to a disk-shaped transparent chamber, of which various pairs are ready to rotate into position. The instruments analyse the material using X-Ray diffraction and determine patterns that represent chemical elements.

Watch the animation from Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Building the Mars Science Laboratory
The MSL Curiosity was built in a clean room at JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. See the engineers wearing white "Bunny suits" to protect the rover from Earthly contaminants.

Curiosity Rover on Mars
In 2012 the Mars Science Laboratory “Curiosity” will rover on Mars, seeking chemical evidence of life and attempting to answer many scientific questions for the advancement of humanity into space.

Humans on Mars

In preparation to humans visiting Mars, NASA is planning on building capabilities that exceed those achieved by the Apollo programme. They will first send 4 people to the Moon for gradually longer stays, starting with one week and gradually progressing to up to 6 months.

When all the problems about living on an extra-terrestrial environment are solved in a near base like the Moon, which is only 3 days away, the next step will be a manned mission to Mars.

As stated by Richard Gilbrech (Associate Administrator for Exploration System, NASA) in 2008, initial missions to Mars are anticipated to take 3 crew astronauts in a 30 month mission. Starting with a 6 month journey, followed by a required 18 months stay on the surface until the planets align and the mission can embark on a similar length of journey back to Earth.

From this point of view, the International Space Station and the Moon are experiments to build capabilities for longer missions. They will require a global enterprise with immense investments of time, people and money.

On this mission, an unprecedented 1 ton of equipment will be landed on another planet. It is expected that by the time a human mission arrives in Mars, the volume of equipment required to land will have a weight of 40 to 60 tonnes; so far we do not have the technology to handle that weight.

Humans on Mars
Humans will eventually arrive in Mars and expand the horizons of space exploration.

References

¤ ‘The Moon and Mars - the next destinations for humans’ (2008). The 59th International Astronautical Congress, Glasgow, Scotland. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 06 November 2011).
¤ ‘Curiosity Rover, FAQ’ (2011). JPL. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 06 November 2011).
¤ Richard Cook ‘Mars Science Lab Curiosity’ (2011). Theodore von Karman Lecture Series at JPL. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 06 November 2011).
¤ ‘Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover Animation’ (2011). JPL. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 07 November 2011).
¤ ‘Mars Science Laboratory Lifts Off for Red Planet’ (2011). JPL. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 27 November 2011).
¤ ‘MSL's Mars Trajectory Confirmed During Post-Launch Briefing’ (2011). JPL. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 27 November 2011).
¤ ‘MSL Atlas Launch MECO + Separation NASATV HD mars 11/26/2011’ (2011). JPL. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 27 November 2011).
¤ Vasavada, A (2011). ‘Mars Rover Power’ JPLnews. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 16 November 2011).
¤ ‘JPL Rovers’ (2011). JPL. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 06 November 2011).
¤ ‘Animation improvements’ (2011). Aniden. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 06 November 2011).

Images

¤ All images edited by ren@rt. Source: JPL, NASA.

ATLANTIS – FAREWELL TO THE SPACE SHUTTLE

Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Centre on 8th July 2011. Despite light rain and cloudy skies, meteorological conditions were safe for a successful departure into orbit.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is the last orbital vehicle of a fleet of five spacecraft that form part of NASA’s 30-year Space Shuttle Programme. The other orbiters are: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery and Endeavour. The first two lost in fatal accidents that highlight the dangers that the programme has to face at every stage of its performance.

Mission 135 marks the end of one of the biggest accomplishments of humankind; the construction of the International Space Station (ISS), an artificial environment that supports human life outside Earth’s atmosphere.

The end of the building phase is the beginning of the productive period of the ISS, a space post dedicated entirely to scientific research. A multinational collaborative effort in space exploration fuelled by the recognition that the future of our species may potentially rely on finding habitable solutions outside our planet.

Since the 1980s there has been an explosion of technologies that used the services of the Space Shuttle Programme, from transporting provisions to the ISS to delivery and retrieval of equipment and satellites from orbital altitudes.

On this mission, Commander Chris Ferguson and Pilot Doug Hurley teamed-up with Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim in a 12-day excursion to the ISS. They will have the following objectives:

• Transport of “Raffaello,” the multi-purpose logistics module (MPLM), filled with 9 tonnes of supplies, experiments and spare parts for the ISS. A combined effort of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana). This unit acts as a “moving van” to ferry cargo back and forth to the station. The crew will bring back debris and material no longer required at the station.
• Delivery of the Advanced Recycle Filter Tank Assembly (ARFTA), a titanium tank containing a bellows made of Hastelloy, the only materials known to withstand the corrosive effects of concentrated pre-treated urine/brine. Its function is to collect residue left over from extracting water from astronaut urine, a part of the station’s Water Recovery System (WRS), which produces purified potable water from crew urine.
• Delivery of the Robotic Refuelling Mission (RRM), an experiment to evaluate procedures of robotically refuelling satellites in space, even those not designed to be serviced. This mission as developed between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). This will lay the foundation for future robotic servicing missions.
• Transport of the Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC) that will be used to return a failed Ammonia Pump from the ISS
• Carry the cryogenic transportation freezer GLACIER to carry experiment samples.
• Transport many experiments including a materials experiment to be installed outside the station.

The crew of STS-135 will support a spacewalk carried out by members currently stationed at the ISS.

Flight Engineers Michael Fossum and Ron Garan will perform one spacewalk on the fifth day of the mission. On this occasion they will test a new procedure tried out by the previous mission in order to cut down the use of oxygen in preparation for the spacewalk. Instead of spending the night before the procedure in the low pressure capsule “Quest,” they will breathe pure oxygen for an hour while the pressure is lowered. Then they will put on their spacesuits and perform light exercise to increase their metabolic rate and purge nitrogen from their bloodstream.

During the 6.5 hour spacewalk the astronauts will retrieve the failed pump module, install the Robotic Refuelling Mission experiment and deploy materials for another experiment.

In addition to their activities, the mission is taking many experiments to the station and also bringing some back to Earth.

Update on the mission

The routine inspection of the heat shield using Canadarm2 on board the Shuttle revealed no visible damage to the tiles during launch. Similar results were found in the analysis of photos taken with the 3 ISS cameras (400, 800 and 1000mm lens cameras) during the Shuttle’s roll-over or “rendezvous pitch” manoeuvre.

After a flawless docking to the ISS, the 12th of Shuttle Atlantis, the crew of astronauts were welcomed by their colleagues at the station.

The team on the ground was watching a piece of debris travelling in an orbit close to that of the space station. They feared a “conjunction” or moment of maximum proximity to the station to happen on the day of the spacewalk. Interestingly, the docking of the Shuttle to the station resulted in a change in trajectory sufficient to avoid that of the approaching debris.

The spacewalk went well with almost all tasks completed successfully. Thanks to the live transmission, courtesy of NASA-TV, the world was able to witness the complexity and exhausting job that the astronauts have to do in those continuous 6.5hr in space. After almost 250 spacewalks in history, the delicate procedure now runs smoothly with minimal problems.

The morning after the spacewalk, the astronauts woke-up to the tune of the song “Rocket man” followed by a short message from its author Sir Elton John, who acknowledged the 3 decades of success of the Shuttle Space Programme. The crew also had the chance to show off their floating skills during interviews with the media, interested in the progress of the last mission of the programme.

Meantime on Earth, in the Atlantic coast at Cape Canaveral in Florida; a convoy of vessels conducted the final recovery of Solid Fuel Rocket Boosters in the programme, the only re-usable parts besides the shuttle. The recovery convoy was led by a boat marking the occasion blowing its sirens and shooting water towards the sky as they travelled to port for the last time.

The last duties of Mission STS-135 revolved around transporting cargo to and from the station, ensuring that the ISS is sufficiently supplied for up to one year.

Seven days after docking to the space station the astronauts on board ISS got together for a farewell ceremony before preparation for undocking.

Commander Chris Ferguson presented the crew of Expedition-28 living at ISS a signed model of the Shuttle that will stay next to the entry hatch, as a monument to the accomplishments of the Space Shuttle Programme.

The crew also left an American Flag that flew on the first Space Shuttle Mission, STS-1, which will be placed on top of the hatch that leads to Atlantis. The flag will be returned to Earth by the next American astronaut launching on a new generation US vehicle, marking the continuation of space exploration beyond the age of the Space Shuttle Programme.

The crew of Atlantis carried along their mission a symbolic national flag from the Miami Dade Police Department. It will be returned upon landing with the added value of having been to almost as far as humans can go.

On Tuesday 19th July, undocking proceeded without a hitch, followed by a flight around the station. This time the station rotated 90 degrees to allow viewing areas that are usually missed by this manoeuvre.

Two separation burns moved the Shuttle away from the ISS and closer to our planet. The crew then made another stop to inspect the heat shield for damage that might have occurred while docked to the station.

The next day, before preparations for re-entry burn, Atlantis made its 180th deployment: the mini-satellite PICO, its purpose is to take the last pictures of the Shuttle as it re-enters our atmosphere. This satellite weights 4kg and measures 12x12x20cm; it is covered with solar cells to test a new solar cell technology. During flight it was stored in a small canister inside the cargo bay, under Canadarm-1 and the KU-Band communications antenna (golden structure in the pictures), which helped downlink the excellent television images to the control room and NASA-TV.

On the same date, 20th July in 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Celebrating this occasion the astronauts had their last interview with the media and did a great job as ambassadors of the space programme. Their message was: “Take a look back at the landing of Atlantis and make a memory because you will never see the landing of a Space Shuttle again.”

Landing

Early morning on Thursday, 21st July 2011, Atlantis proceeded with the final de-orbit burn to slow down the spacecraft, which is done with the spacecraft moving backwards. Then it turned around and lifted the nose to expose the thermal shield to the zone of most friction as it entered the atmosphere. At that point, the heat shield was put to test when temperatures around the Shuttle -reached 13,800 degrees Celsius (25000 F).

In its descent, the spacecraft slowed down from 24 to 14 times the speed of sound as it travelled across the Gulf of Mexico towards Cape Canaveral. It flew by over Naples, Florida at 6 times the speed of sound; 5 minutes later, Atlantis went sub-sonic and everyone around could hear the twin sonic booms.

Pilot Doug Hurley took over control of the aircraft until touch down, culminating the mission at the official elapsed time of 12 days 18 hours 28min and 14 seconds.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

The Space Shuttle Atlantis was the fourth Orbiter Vehicle designed by the company Rockwell International in 1985. Since then it has served the programme in a large number of achievements and number first in the following:

• First to deploy a probe to another planet (Magellan towards Venus, also Galileo to the outer planets including Jupiter)
• First to dock to the space station Russian MIR
• First shuttle with glass cockpit

Some of the highlight of its many years of service include:

• 1985, 3 October: First flight carrying Mission STS-51j that deployed two DSCS-III (Defence Satellite Communications System) satellites into stationary orbit
• 1985 second mission STS-61b: Deployed 3 communications satellites: MORELOS-B, AUSSAT-2 and SATCOM KU-2
• 1986 Challenger accident: Grounds the Shuttle fleet
• 1988, 2 December: Deployed the Lacrosse 1 satellite, for the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
• 1989, 2 missions: The first one to deploy the Magellan spacecraft to capture images of Venus; and Galileo released towards Jupiter
• 1990, 2 missions to deliver satellites for the Department of Defence: The Misty reconnaissance satellite and a secret Magnum ELINT (ELectronic INTtelligence) gathering satellite.
• 1995, 29 June, the first Mission to dock on the Russian MIR, starting the cooperation of the two former enemy countries in the project SPACELAB/MIR
• 2000 start of the ISS assembly missions with the first component, followed by missions dedicated to this purpose.
• 2009, 11 May, Historic Hubble Space Telescope final Servicing Mission replacing and adjusting the optics to maximize its performance.

"Launching Our Dreams: A Shuttle Retrospective" and "STS-135 Mission Overview"

Atlantis Art

Last chance to see Atlantis from your backyard !

NASA offers a service to help you track the progress of the ISS and other satellites in the night sky. All you need is a pair of binoculars and ideally somewhere solid to lean on. The service is “Sighting Opportunities” and can be found here.

Find your country and city using the Search field and a table will tell you when, and where to look for the spacecraft in the sky.

References

¤ ‘History of the Space Shuttle’ (2011). NASA. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 08 July 2011).
¤ ‘Mission STS-135’ (2011). NASA. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 08 July 2011).
¤ ‘NASA HD-TV’ (2011). NASA-TV. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 18 July 2011).
¤ ‘Sighting Opportunities’ (2011). NASA. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 19 July 2011).
¤ ‘Space Shuttle Atlantis’ (2011). Wikipedia. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 18 July 2011).

Images

¤ All images edited by ren@rt. Source: NASA.

SUN FLARE – END OF “THE QUIET BEFORE A STORM”

On 7th June 2011, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (OSD) satellite recorded a medium-size Solar Flare. The event was confirmed by Coronagraphs captured by the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The graphs showed masses of plasma and high energy particles radiating from the Sun at 1400 km per second.

Is the Sun waking up from “The Quiet Before The Storm” as we get closer to the “Unprecedented Solar Storm” predicted by NASA for 2012?

The solar flare mapped to Sunspot complex 1226 and 1227, resulted in a spectacular Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) and a minor radiation storm. The large mass of particles was lifted off the surface of the Sun to fall back again responding to its colossal gravitational force. It spread almost half of the diameter of our star.

In 2006 the Sun went utterly quiet, a period known as Solar Minimum. Sunspots had all but vanished and solar flares were practically non-existing; an unusual event that alarmed scientists, aware of the cyclic nature of our dynamic star.

In March of the same year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) published an official warning as they predicted a burst of activity for the end of 2012, more than 50 years after the largest recorded storm.

Sunspots are a measure of solar activity. During Solar Minimum there could be as little as 10 spots observed per year. At Solar Maximum, this number can reach up to 201, as recorded in 1958, the largest in history.

The effects on our planet did not go unnoticed at that time, as testified by newspaper reports:

"Radio blackout cuts US off from the rest of the world. Aurora visible in Los Angeles, Tulsa, Boston, Seattle, Canada and Newfoundland. Voltages in electrical telegraph circuits exceeded 320 volts in Newfoundland. Intense red glow gave way to curtains and shimmering draperies" (New York Times, February 11, 1958, p. 62).

"Although not seen over New York, it was so intense over Europe that people wondered about fires and warfare" (New York Times, February 12, 1958, p. 16).

"Aurora borealis again seen here" (The Washington Post, February 11, 1958, p. A1).

Studies of the Sun’s behaviour have shown that it has an 11-year cycle of sunspots in addition to a conveyor belt of electrically conducting gas that flows in a loop from the Sun’s equator to its poles. This conveyor belt takes between 30 to 50 years to circulate and as it flows, it refreshes the appearance of periods of sunspots. The belt was turning relatively fast between 1986 and 1996, calculations since then point to an increase in surface activity between 2011 and 2013.

Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and high speed stream of solar wind coming from a Co-rotating Interaction Region (CIR) result in Geomagnetic Storms. These are shock waves of solar wind that cause a disturbance to Earth’s Magnetosphere.

Solar wind is composed of electrons, protons and a few heavier ions that blows continuously from the surface of the Sun, travelling at an speed of 400 km/second. This wind causes a loss of mass of more than 1 million tons per second but this is insignificant in relation to the total mass of the Sun.

Effects of a Geomagnetic Storm

In 1989, a severe Geomagnetic Storm caused the collapse of Hydro-Quebec power grid, leaving six million people without power for nine hours. Generators and Transformers have been known to heat up and even shut down. Power generating companies can minimize damage by momentarily disconnecting transformers and inducing temporary blackouts in response to alerts from the Space Weather Prediction Centre.

In 2003 the “Halloween Sun Storm” caused severe damage to Japanese satellite ADEOS-2 and interrupted other satellites. Global Positioning Systems could be affected with scintillation of signals and unreliable readings.

Radio signals are most sensitive to solar storms, in particular short wave broadcast below 30 MHz (ground to air, ship to shore, amateur and shortwave broadcast), not so television and commercial radio broadcast. Telephone lines, including undersea cables can be affected, with exception of fiber-optic lines.

Although the Earth’s atmosphere and the magnetosphere provide adequate protection to humans, astronauts outside the atmosphere could be at risk if only protected by a space-suit. Depending on the duration of the magnetosphere disruption, biological navigation systems like those of migratory birds and aquatic mammals could be affected.

Changes in the magnetosphere produce Aurorae that could be seen far away from the magnetic poles, even as far as the equator.

The Earliest Records

The effects of fluctuating solar activity are far from new to us. The earliest record of a solar storm or “Solar Superstorm” occurred in 1859, when two global aurora borealis events made the headlines of the time. The sunspot changes reported by Richard Christopher Carrington became known as the Carrington Super Flare.

"Aurora Borealis" - Early this morning, between twelve and one, a most brilliant display of the above phenomenon was observed extending from the western hemisphere to the north-west, north and north-east, and reaching to the zenith. The appearance in the west was that of a large fire, but in the north and north-east it was of a violet colour, and with great brilliancy. This beautiful display lasted for about an hour, and then gradually died away, leaving a serene and unclouded autumnal sky (The London Daily News. P. 2).

The Aurora Borealis"-From twilight until ten o'clock last night the whole heavens were lighted by the aurora borealis, more brilliant and beautiful than had been witnessed for years before….The light streaks shot upwards from the horizon and varied in width and length, and changed as long as the phenomenon was visible. It was a grand sight, and was witnessed by thousands of persons, many of whom never saw the like before (The Baltimore Sun, 1859, p.1).

”The City's Change of Weather” … Towards half past eight o'clock a singular phenomenon took place. The horizon from north to north east became of a deep crimson hue, which expanding slowly, made the sky appear as if lighted by a Bengal fire…At first it was supposed that some great conflagration had taken place on the outskirts of the city, but it was soon recognized that no natural firs could produce this particular hue…Crowds of people gathered at the street corners, admiring and commenting upon the singular spectacle. Many took it to be the sign of some great disaster or important event, siting numerous instances when such warnings have been given. Several old women were nearly frightened to death, thinking it announced the end of the world, and immediately took to saying their prayers. A fat old citizen tremblingly stated that this was the avant courier of a dreadful epidemic like cholera of 1833, whilst a French gentleman pooh-poohed, and gravely assured us that this was the well known sign of a revolution in Paris, requesting us to make a note of the date (New Orleans Daily Picayune, p.5).

In the past 10 million years there have been around 30 magnetic field reversals, periods during which the protection of the magnetosphere was minimal allowing solar particles to reach the atmosphere. During that time, human evolution has followed its course and there is a good chance it will continue to do so despite temporary inconveniences.

References

¤ ‘August – September 1859’ (Unknown date). Space Weather. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 17 June 2011).
¤ ‘Fire in the Sky’ (1999). Extract from New Scientist Magazine. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 17 June 2011).
¤ ‘Geomagnetic Reversal’ (2008). ASKaPHYSICIST on YouTube. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 17 June 2011).
¤ ‘Geomagnetic storm’ (2011). Wikipedia. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 17 June 2011).
¤ ‘The Solar Wind’ (2011). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 17 June 2011).
¤ ‘Solar storm of 1859’ (2011). Wikipedia. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 17 June 2011).
¤ ‘Solar Storms’ (Unknown date). Space Weather. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 17 June 2011).
¤ ‘Solar Storm Warning’ (2006). NASA. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 17 June 2011).

Images

¤ All images edited by ren@rt. Source: NASA, Wikipedia.

ENDEAVOUR’S LAST TIME THROUGH THE CLOUDS

Space Shuttle Endeavour launched on Monday 16th May 2011 from Kennedy Space Centre at first light of day. Within a few seconds she disappeared into the clouds in an uneventful flight into orbit.

Mission STS-134 departed on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour early Monday morning. They plunged into the cloudy sky on their way to the International Space Station.

The remarkable departure was the culmination of a long process of preparations that included many delays, the latest lasting more than two weeks. All precautions were taken as everyone followed the wise words of NASA administrator Charles Bolden when he said “Stayed focused, particularly now that the programme is coming to an end.”

Endeavour is the second orbiter to be decommissioned after Discovery. The beginning of the final stretch of the 30-year shuttle programme lead by NASA. An emotional moment for the thousands of people committed to provide outstanding quality work at one of the best facilities in the world, which has become synonymous of excellence in science and education.

Travelling vertically at 2000 km/h, by the time the spacecraft reached an altitude of 24km, it had lost half of its original 2000 tons of weight, solely by burning propellant at a rate of 5000 kg/sec.

Two minutes into the flight, the twin solid rocket boosters exhausted their fuel and separated from the spaceship to fall into the ocean. Relieved of their weight, Endeavour reached speeds of over 5000 km/h at an altitude of 59 kilometres.

Seven and a half minutes into the flight the mission reached 103 kilometres in altitude travelling at 21,700 km/hr, which generated 3G of gravitational force onto the ship and the crew. Shortly after reaching lower orbit the spacecraft separated from the orange external tank to continue its route to the ISS.

The Canadarm was essential in the inspection of the thermal protection system lining the underside of the shuttle. Particular attention was given to the leading edge of the wings and the nose-cap where the reinforced carbon-carbon panels are expected to be in perfect condition to protect the vessel from the tremendous heat generated by friction at re-entry.

The mission

Mission 134, formed by Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Mike Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel, and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori had a very busy schedule that required an extension to 16 days. They needed to coordinate sleep patterns to work more efficiently with their colleagues living at the ISS.

On the third day of the mission, the crew used the robotic arms to install the Express logistics carrier ELC-3 onto the space station. The next day was reserved for the AMS 2, also loaded in the cargo bay.

One of the most important goals of this mission was to install the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometre (AMS 2) onto the ISS. A particle physics detector that will help advance studies of the origins of the universe searching for antimatter, dark matter and measuring cosmic rays. The program extends up to 18 years using the space station’s unique position as an observation post.

The first spacewalk took place on day 5 when the astronauts retrieved ISS experiment material and secured it inside the cargo bay to return home.

On the sixth day of the mission, the crew of twelve on board the International Space Station got together in the Japanese module for a conference with the Vatican. They talked to Pope Benedict XVI, who in his address congratulated the crew for their courage and their work; an example of international collaboration for the common good. On the occasion the Pope also sent words of condolence to Paolo Nespoli for the loss of his mother, who passed away while he was at the space station.

On 23 May, Dimitry Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli and Cady Coleman boarded the Soyuz TMA-20 module to return to Earth. They form the crew of Expedition 27, who for 6 months, called the space station "Home". As they left the station, Paolo Nespoli recorded invaluable images in video and still photographs of the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked to the International Space Station, which was practically complete. The astonishing pictures and video were made available to the public by NASA.

The three astronauts from Expedition 27 landed safely on the step of Kazakhstan. Unlike the Shuttle vehicles, the Soyuz uses a large parachute to slow-down its descent and fires its soft-landing engines as a final breaking manoeuvre when the capsule is a few metres above the ground. Additionally, the seats inside the capsule inflate to provide extra cushioning. Despite all efforts, the sudden deceleration is a tough experience when compared to landing on a runway.

The crew were met by a party from the Russian Space Agency, the European Space Agency and NASA. Following local tradition, they were extracted from the capsule and manually carried to their chairs. It usually takes four people to carry an astronaut, in the case of Cady Coleman, it took a single Russian official to carry her on his arms. A spontaneous gesture that brought a smile to those attending the event.

After their landing, the crew was flown to Karaganda to attend a traditional Kazakh welcoming ceremony. Astronaut Coleman and cosmonaut Kondratyev (Paolo Nespoli did not attend the ceremony) were given ceremonial coats and souvenirs commemorating their landing, those included a special edition of chocolates depicting Expedition 27, traditional Russian dolls featuring their faces, a golden figure of a deity riding a horse and a book about Yuri Gagarin and 50 years of space exploration.

Coleman mentioned that she was feeling “wobbly” after landing and needed assistance to walk on a straight line. In a later interview, Paolo Nespoli confirmed that the re-entry experience was tough, especially for him due to his stature and the extremely limited room inside the capsule. “The sudden effects of gravity feel as if you were lifting a 200 kg weight when attempting to move; on top of that, you have the vestibular symptoms that affect your balance.” All those effects are part of the normal process of re-adaptation following six months of life in space.

On a different note, Nespoli also commented that when he returned to his family, it took a moment for his 2 year old daughter to realize that “the person in front of her was the same that used to live inside the television screen,” as she only knew her father via teleconference for a quarter of her life.

Meanwhile, at the ISS; the Orbital Boom Sensor System that was part of the Space Shuttle was transferred and installed onto the space station, changing its name to ISS Boom Assembly. Three additional space walks were conducted to complete repairs and maintenance and on mission day 12, the space station assembly was declared complete after 12 years of work. A pinnacle of human achievement with 15 countries working together for a common future.

Endeavour also tested the STORRM (Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation) Navigation System that will allow future spacecraft park themselves. This means that docking and undocking will be safer and more reliable. This technology is based on high definition cameras aided by lasers and high-reflective markers controlling the flight with specialized software.

Night-Landing of Endeavour

Shortly after 2am on 1st June 2011, after flying 196 million kilometres (122 million miles) in 13 years of service, 25 challenging missions and 299 days in space, Space Shuttle Endeavour landed safely on a runway at Kennedy Space Centre. The orbiter that carried the first US assembly module to the ISS returned with its last mission STS 134, which completed the US contribution to the Station. Landing was uneventful in ideal weather conditions with very little tail wind.

After the routine check-ups, the crew emerged from the modified people transporter to do the traditional walk around the Shuttle, where they had the chance to greet and congratulate the ground crew and all the technical people that look after the vessel. In a short media conference, Commander Kelly talked about the great experience he shared with his colleagues during the mission. All the astronauts seemed to be in good spirit, only Greg Chamitoff required assistance walking about the landing strip. He did not join the crew at the post-landing debrief.

Space Shuttle Endeavour will be prepared to become a historical display vehicle at the California Science Centre in Los Angeles.

Endeavour

Shuttle Endeavour is the youngest of the vessels in the orbiter fleet. Originally delivered to KSC Shuttle Landing Facility in May 1991, it was built to replace Shuttle Challenger, which was lost to a launch accident in 1986. Her construction was an opportunity to implement many improvements, including:

• A 12 metre diameter drag chute to reduce the rollout distance by up to 600 metres.
• Plumbing and electrical connections improved to allow Extended Duration Orbiter missions of up to 28 days.
• Updated avionics with advanced computers, navigation system and controls.
• An improved version of the Auxiliary Power Units that operate the hydraulic systems.

Endeavour was named through a national schools competition. The winners, Sanatobia Middle School in Mississippi, selected the name of the ship of illustrious 18th century British explorer Captain James Cook.

The HMB Endeavour, guided by Captain James Cook, left Plymouth on Aug. 26, 1768. The famous expedition travelled by way of the Madeira, Canary, and Cape Verde islands and Rio de Janeiro and rounded Cape Horn into the Pacific. Cook rediscovered New Zealand, originally discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642. Overall about 3,200 km (2,000 miles) of Australian coast was surveyed. Cook also confirmed the existence of a passage between Australia and New Guinea (the Torres Strait). By way of the Indian Ocean and the Cape of Good Hope, the explorers reached England on July 13, 1771.

Although Cook’s mission was to observe the transit of Venus, his unofficial secret orders were to claim the great south land of Australia for Britain. Cook was an unskilled writer but his journal, preserved at the National Library of Australia, describes his experiences and thoughts, including the near disastrous foundering of the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. He also mentions meeting Aboriginal Australians for the first time.

Congress woman’s visit to KSC

Before the launch, the tradition is that astronauts have a meal with their families at Kennedy Space Centre. Their children write messages to their parents, which are framed and exhibited at the centre. Spouses exchange rings, usually worn by the astronauts in a necklace during the mission.

Congress woman Gabrielle Giffords was present at KSC to see her husband Mark Kelly travel into space on this historic day.

On January 8, 2011, Giffords was shot outside a Safeway in northwest Tucson during her first “Congress on Your Corner” gathering of the year. At least nine others were injured when a man ran up to the crowd and began firing.

The Arizona Representative survived a life threatening bullet injury to the head. The progress since then has been understandably slow but promising. She underwent another operation on the first day of astronaut Kelly’s stay at the ISS.

Launch delays

Mission 134 was riddled with small problems that were found in time to delay launch. On 29 April everything was ready, even the astronauts were on their way to the orbiter on board the Astrovan when they heard: “Endeavour launch is scrubbed.” A failure of a heater circuit in an Auxiliary Power Unit meant that the mission had to be postponed.

The last launch of Endeavour was quite an occasion. The media was ready for a big day, even the folks from Spacevidcast were broadcasting live from KSC. In retrospect, there were signs of a scrubbed flight all along as "predicted by Ben's hair."

The initial four-day postponement was not enough as among other things, the external orange fuel tank had to be emptied in order to explore and fix the problem. In the end, it took more than 2 weeks for Endeavour to be ready. Everyone had to pack up and return on 16 May for the definitive launch.

References

¤ Dumoulin, J. (2005).’Endeavour (OV-105).’Kennedy Space Centre, NASA. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 16 May 2011).
¤ ‘Di nuovo a Terra, Paolo Nespoli parla in conferenza stampa da Houston’ (2011). European Space Agency. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 09 Jun 2011).
¤ ‘Endeavour’ (2011). NASA. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 16 May 2011).
¤ ‘Endeavour blasts off for next-to-last shuttle mission’ (2011). CTV Ottawa. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 16 May 2011).
¤ Humphrey, M. (2001) ‘Captain James Cook.’ Coo-ee Australia Calling [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 16 May 2011).
¤ ‘James Cook’s Endeavour journal’ (2011). National Library of Australia. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 16 May 2011).
¤ Kennedy, E. (2011). ‘John Gardner, marine artist.’ Scottishboating. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 16 May 2011).
¤ ‘Space Shuttle Endeavour’ (2011). ‘John Gardner, marine artist.’ Scottishboating. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 16 May 2011).
¤ ‘Station Flyers Mourn Death of Crewmate's Mom’ (2011). Florida Today. [Online]. Available here. (Accessed: 08 June 2011).

Images

¤ All images edited by ren@rt. Source: NASA, National Library of Australia, Spacevidcast.