NASA Announces Asteroid Grand Challenge

Asteroid Watch.

June 18, 2013

NASA announced Tuesday a Grand Challenge focused on finding all asteroid threats to human populations and knowing what to do about them.

The challenge is a large-scale effort that will use multi-disciplinary collaborations and a variety of partnerships with other government agencies, international partners, industry, academia, and citizen scientists. It complements NASA's recently announced mission to redirect an asteroid and send humans to study it.

"NASA already is working to find asteroids that might be a threat to our planet, and while we have found 95 percent of the large asteroids near the Earth’s orbit, we need to find all those that might be a threat to Earth," said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver. "This Grand Challenge is focused on detecting and characterizing asteroids and learning how to deal with potential threats. We will also harness public engagement, open innovation and citizen science to help solve this global problem."

Image above: A sequence of radar images of 1998 QE2, a 1.7-mile wide asteroid, was obtained on the evening of May 29, 2013, by NASA scientists using the Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., when it was about 3.75 million miles (6 million kilometers) from Earth. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR.

Grand Challenges are ambitious goals on a national or global scale that capture the imagination and demand advances in innovation and breakthroughs in science and technology. They are an important element of President Obama's Strategy for American Innovation.

"I applaud NASA for issuing this Grand Challenge because finding asteroid threats, and having a plan for dealing with them, needs to be an all-hands-on-deck effort," said Tom Kalil, deputy director for technology and innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "The efforts of private-sector partners and our citizen scientists will augment the work NASA already is doing to improve near-Earth object detection capabilities."

NASA also released a request for information (RFI) that invites industry and potential partners to offer ideas on accomplishing NASA's goal to locate, redirect, and explore an asteroid, as well as find and plan for asteroid threats. The RFI is open for 30 days, and responses will be used to help develop public engagement opportunities and a September industry workshop.

To watch the archived video of today's event, visit http://www.youtube.com/NASAtelevision.

For more information about NASA's asteroid initiative, visit http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative.

Image (mentioned), Text, Credit: NASA.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

The fast winds of Venus are getting faster

ESA - Venus Express Mission patch.

June 18, 2013

The most detailed record of cloud motion in the atmosphere of Venus chronicled by ESA’s Venus Express has revealed that the planet’s winds have steadily been getting faster over the last six years.

Venus is well known for its curious super-rotating atmosphere, which whips around the planet once every four Earth days. This is in stark contrast to the rotation of the planet itself – the length of the day – which takes a comparatively laborious 243 Earth days.

Tracking clouds on Venus

By tracking the movements of distinct cloud features in the cloud tops some 70 km above the planet’s surface over a period of 10 venusian years (6 Earth years), scientists have been able to monitor patterns in the long-term global wind speeds.

When Venus Express arrived at the planet in 2006, average cloud-top wind speeds between latitudes 50º on either side of the equator were clocked at roughly 300 km/h. The results of two separate studies have revealed that these already remarkably rapid winds are becoming even faster, increasing to 400 km/h over the course of the mission.

“This is an enormous increase in the already high wind speeds known in the atmosphere. Such a large variation has never before been observed on Venus, and we do not yet understand why this occurred,” says Igor Khatuntsev from the Space Research Institute in Moscow and lead author of the Russian-led paper to be published in the journal Icarus.

Increasing wind speeds on Venus

Dr Khatuntsev’s team determined the wind speeds by measuring how cloud features in images moved between frames: over 45 000 features were painstakingly tracked by hand and more than 350 000 further features were tracked automatically using a computer programme.

In a complementary study, a Japanese-led team used their own automated cloud tracking method to derive the cloud motions: their results are to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

On top of this long-term increase in the average wind speed, however, both studies have also revealed regular variations linked to the local time of day and the altitude of the Sun above the horizon, and to the rotation period of Venus.

ESA's Venus Express spacecraft

One regular oscillation occurs roughly every 4.8 days near the equator and is thought to be connected to atmospheric waves at lower altitudes.

But the research also unveiled some harder-to-explain curiosities.

“Our analysis of cloud motions at low latitudes in the southern hemisphere showed that over the six years of study the velocity of the winds changed by up 70 km/h over a time scale of 255 Earth days – slightly longer than a year on Venus,” says Toru Kouyama from the Information Technology Research Institute in Ibaraki, Japan.

Related links:

Looking at Venus: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express

Venus Express Press Kit: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM08K2VQUD_1_spk.html

Venus Express brochure (pdf): http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/VENUSEXPRESSLR.pdf

Venus Express in-depth: http://sci.esa.int/venusexpress

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / Khatuntsev et al, Cloud level winds from the Venus Express Monitoring Camera imaging, Icarus (2013); doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2013.05.018 / background image: ESA.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

EPFL presents a modular aircraft at Le Bourget

Clip-Air Project patch.

June 17, 2013

The Clip-Air project envisions an airplane consisting of a single flying wing onto which capsules carrying passengers or freight can be attached. More than a new type of flying device, its innovative concept could revolutionize the airports of the future.

Clip-Air modular plane

Go to the train station to take the plane. Board on a capsule to reach the airport by rail, and then - without leaving your seat - fly to another city. The Clip-Air project, being developed at EPFL since 2009, envisions a modular aircraft consisting of a flying wing onto which it is possible to attach one, two or three capsules as required. Its concept allows us to take a glimpse at the air transportation of tomorrow, which is meant to be more flexible, closer to our needs, more efficient and less energy-consuming. For the first time, a model of the Clip-Air plane will be presented at the Paris Air Show from 17 to 19 June 2013.

Despite its being a very futuristic project, the scientists behind it work under rigorous constraints to maintain its technical feasibility. "We still have to break down several barriers but we do believe that it is worth to work in such a concept, at odds with current aircraft technology and which can have a huge impact on society," said Claudio Leonardi, in charge of the Clip-Air project.

Clip-Air modular plane

The Clip-Air project’s main contribution would be to provide rail transport’s flexibility to air transport. On the one hand, the Clip-Air plane includes a support structure made up by the wing, engines, cockpit, fuel and landing gear. On the other hand, there is the load to be carried: passengers and/or freight. Hence, the capsule would be equivalent to a real airplane’s fuselage, but without its usual attributes. The flying wing can accommodate up to three capsules with a capacity of 150 passengers each.

New generation fuel

Theoretical studies show Clip-Air’s potential in terms of transportation capacity thanks to a more efficient and flexible fleet management, a more efficient loading rate, increased flexibility of supply and the possibility of no more empty flights. Further advantages would come from savings in maintenance, storage and management.

Clip-Air also aims to address current environmental concerns as wells as the objectives set by the ACARE (Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe) to reduce by 50% CO2 emissions by the year 2020. Clip-Air aircrafts’ conventional fuel consumption would be reduced since they can carry as many passengers as three A320 with half the engines. In other words, flying with three modules under the same wing in a 4000 km flight would be cheaper - in terms of fuel consumption - than three aircrafts of the same capacity flying independently and with equal speed and altitude.

Clip-Air modular plane

Then again, Clip-Air’s ambition also envisages other types of fuels, less polluting than the ones currently consumed. Several possibilities (liquid hydrogen, biofuels and conventional fuel) have been studied and have demonstrated the relevance of modular structures in terms of overall consumption.

A revolution in mobility

A Clip-Air aircraft could fit in an airport as it is conceived today. With its autonomous capsule, the size of a railroad car - about 30 meters long and 30 tons heavy - its design is compatible with rail tracks. Therefore, it could eventually revolutionize airport configuration and multimodal mobility. The boarding of either cargo or passengers in the capsule could be done not only at airports but also directly in rail stations or production sites.

Clip-Air modular plane - Passengers capsule in rail station

In technical terms, initial studies have shown that the project is feasible, even though there are still many challenges ahead. “The development of the concept requires performing more advanced aerodynamic simulations and testing a 6 meters long flying model powered by mini-reactors in order to continue to explore the concept’s flight performance and to demonstrate its overall feasibility”, added Claudio Leonardi.

For now, a 1.20 meters long model of the Clip-Air plane will be presented at the Normandy Aerospace stand at the Paris Air Show, from 17 to 19 June 2013. At the moment the project involves researchers from three EPFL laboratories (TRANSP-OR, LIV and ICOM). It is coordinated by EPFL’s Transportation Center.

For more information about École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), visit: http://www.epfl.ch/

EPFL Modular Aircraft Clip-Air website: http://clipair.epfl.ch/home

Images, Video, Text, Credits: EPFL / Anne-Muriel Brouet / Mediacom.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Titanic Sea

ESA / NASA - Cassini Mission logo.

17 June 2013

 Ligeia Mare

Ligeia Mare, shown here in a false-color image from the international Cassini mission, is the second largest known body of liquid on Saturn's moon Titan.

It measures roughly 420 km x 350 km and its shorelines extend for over 3,000 km. It is filled with liquid hydrocarbons, such as ethane and methane, and is one of the many seas and lakes that bejewel Titan's north polar region.

Many rivers can be seen draining into the sea. Cassini has yet to observe waves on Ligeia Mare but they may appear later, as Titan’s north polar region approaches summer solstice in 2017 and the winds gets stronger. While estimates of wind speeds on Titan vary, most scientists agree that winds are currently too calm to make waves at Ligeia’s latitude. Data for precise measurements of Ligeia Mare’s surface roughness were collected during the spacecraft’s recent flyby of Titan on 23 May 2013 and will provide more clues.

The mosaic shown here is composed from synthetic aperture radar images from flybys obtained between February 2006 and April 2007.

This imaging technique works by collecting the echoes from radar pulses sent to the surface of Titan by Cassini. By breaking the echoes up by time and frequency, an image of the surface can be constructed using a technique known as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). The overall intensity of the return echo is dependent on the roughness, structure, and composition of the surface. In the case of SAR imaging, smooth surfaces appear dark since most of the transmitted energy is reflected away from the spacecraft. In this image, smooth areas such as Ligeia Mare reflect little radar and are coloured black. By contrast, rough areas scatter more energy back toward the radar and are depicted here in yellow to white in the false color representation. Because the radar operates at a single frequency, radar images actually do not contain “color” (or frequency-dependent) information.

Radar provides a way to ‘see’ through the thick atmosphere that blurs Titan’s surface in visible and infrared images.

Cassini Titan flyby (Artist's view)

Several alternate versions of this image are available here: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17031

The Cassini–Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA and ASI, the Italian space agency. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and ASI, working with team members from the US and several European countries.

Related links:

At Saturn and Titan: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens

Cassini-Huygens overview: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens_overview

Cassini-Huygens in depth: http://sci.esa.int/huygens

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASI/Cornell.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Solar Impulse Across America 2013: From Cincinnati to Washington

Solar Impulse Across America 2013 patch.

June 16, 2013

Humor makes it happen

Image above: Across America 2013: 4th leg from Cincinnati to Washington DC. A. Borschberg waiting the landing on the runway. Solar Impulse / Revillard / Rezo.ch.

Bertrand gracefully touched down on runway 19L at Dulles International Airport at 00:15 AM EDT (UTC-4), Sunday June 16th. Bertrand had a chance to get some incredible shots above the Appalachians and the solar airplane was in great shape despite the quasi-shower it experienced this morning before take-off. The fog that lingered over Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport caused condensation to form on the wings which the Ground Crew had to meticulously wipe off with cloths and pipettes. But at least Solar Impulse is now shiny and clean, ready to show off to the public!

Image above: Across America 2013: 4th leg from Cincinnati to Washington DC. A. Borschberg and B. Piccard just after the landing. Solar Impulse / Revillard / Rezo.ch.

Leg 4: Cincinnati KLUK – Washington KIAD

- Pilot: Bertrand Piccard, Initiator and Chairman

- Take off : June 15th 10:11 AM EDT (UTC-4)

- Landing: June 16th 00: 15 AM EDT (UTC-4)

- Flight duration: 14h04min

- Average ground speed: 50 km/h (27 kt/h)

- Highest altitude reached: 3048 m (10 000 ft)

- Flight Distance: 702 km (~379 NM)

Bertrand and André are thrilled to be in Washington D.C., the nation’s capital but also the first stop on the East Coast before going to New York City. It was also an emotional flight on a more personal level: it was Bertrand’s last mission flight in the cockpit of HB-SIA. What a wonderful way to say goodbye to the prototype that has exceeded all expectations! André will be taking the controls for the final leg of the Across America adventure, connecting Washington D.C. to New York City.

Across America 2013: 4th leg from Cincinnati to Washington DC. B. Piccard receiving some sweetness from Washington, exactly what he needs after such a long flight! Solar Impulse |Revillard| Rezo.ch.

The entire Solar Impulse team worked really hard to make this mission a success as well as to turn it into an unforgettable and symbolic final adventure of the solar airplane, HB-SIA, that’s so dear to all of us. The adrenaline and excitement are palpable as the mission is slowly coming to end and none of this would have been possible without the team. In fact, the key to success is a four letter word: T-E-A-M. From the Engineers, to the Meteorologists; from the Marketing and Communications team to the Logistics team; from the Press to Multimedia to the Ground Crew; from the ATC to the Analysts; it was all made possible thanks to professionalism, passion and especially humor! Between the intense moments of concentration, there is always room for fooling around and cracking a joke, an essential ingredient to keep us all going.

Solar Impulse Landing in Washington

Today, Sunday 16th an Open House will be organized from 1PM to 5PM. Everybody is welcome as the entrance is free while parking is $15 before 4PM. Just go to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center; for directions click here: http://airandspace.si.edu/visit/directions/directions_uhc.cfm

For more information about Solar Impulse, Visit: http://solarimpulse.com/

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credit: Solar Impulse.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

First Woman in Space: Valentina

CCCP - Valentina Tereshkova Mission patch.

June 16, 2013

Valentina Tereshkova was born in Maslennikovo, near Yaroslavl, in Russia on 6 March 1937. Her father was a tractor driver and her mother worked in a textile factory. Interested in parachuting from a young age, Tereshkova began skydiving at a local flying club, making her first jump at the age of 22 in May 1959. At the time of her selection as a cosmonaut, she was working as a textile worker in a local factory.

After the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin, the selection of female cosmonaut trainees was authorised by the Soviet government, with the aim of ensuring the first woman in space was a Soviet citizen.

Valentina Tereshkova

On 16 February 1962, out of more than 400 applicants, five women were selected to join the cosmonaut corps: Tatyana Kuznetsova, Irina Solovyova, Zhanna Yorkina, Valentina Ponomaryova and Valentina Tereshkova. The group spent several months in training, which included weightless flights, isolation tests, centrifuge tests, 120 parachute jumps and pilot training in jet aircraft.

Four candidates passed the final examinations in November 1962, after which they were commissioned as lieutenants in the Soviet air force (meaning Tereshkova also became the first civilian to fly in space, since technically these were only honorary ranks).

Valentina Tereshkova First Woman in Space

Originally a joint mission was planned that would see two women launched on solo Vostok flights on consecutive days in March or April 1963. Tereshkova, Solovyova and Ponomaryova were the leading candidates. It was intended that Tereshkova would be launched first in Vostok 5, with Ponomaryova following her in Vostok 6.

HHowever, this plan was changed in March 1963: Vostok 5 would carry a male cosmonaut, Valeri Bykovsky, flying the mission with a woman in Vostok 6 in June. The Russian space authorities nominated Tereshkova to make the joint flight.

Flight of the "Seagull"

After watching the launch of Vostok 5 at Baikonur Cosmodrome on 14 June, Tereshkova completed preparations for her own flight. On the morning of 16 June, Tereshkova and her backup Solovyova both dressed in spacesuits and were taken to the launch pad by bus. After completing checks of communication and life support systems, she was sealed inside her spacecraft.

After a two-hour countdown, Vostok 6 lifted off without fault and, within hours, she was in communication with Bykovsky in Vostok 5, marking the second time that two manned spacecraft were in space at the same time. With the radio call sign ‘Chaika’ (‘seagull’), Tereshkova had become the first woman in space. She was 26.

Valentina Tereshkova

Tereshkova’s televised image was broadcast throughout the Soviet Union and she spoke to Khrushchev by radio. She maintained a flight log and performed various tests to collect data on her body’s reaction to spaceflight. Her photographs of Earth and the horizon were later used to identify aerosol layers within the atmosphere.

Her mission lasted just under three days (two days, 23 hours, and 12 minutes). With a single flight, she had logged more flight time than the all the US Mercury astronauts who had flown to that date combined. Both Tereshkova and Bykovsky were record-holders. Bykovsky had spent nearly five days in orbit and even today he retains the record for having spent the longest period of time in space alone.

Images: ROSCOSMOS / Video made by Catherine Laplace-Builhe / Text, Credit: ESA.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

Europe's largest Spaceship Reaches its Port

ESA - ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" Mission patch.

June 16, 2013

 ESA's ATV-4 cargo vessel made contact with the ISS at 16:07 CEST yesterday. Credits: NASA/ESA

ESA’s fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein, completed a flawless rendezvous with the International Space Station on 15 June when it docked smoothly with orbital outpost at 14:07 GMT (16:07 CEST).

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is now connected to the Space Station.

ATV-4 docking sequence

“Bravo Europe, bravo ESA, bravo ATV. Thank you Member States, thank you industry, thank you CNES, thank you Russian partner,” commented Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA.

“With the fourth ATV now ready to support and supply the Space Station with essential supplies and scientific experiments, ESA again proves itself to be a reliable partner in the international station upon which the future can be developed.”

Gentle contact, amazing achievement

The 20-tonne ferry, the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by Europe, flew autonomously and docked with the 420-tonne complex with a precision of a few cm as both circled Earth at 28 000 km/h.

“Such a gentle contact between a spacecraft the size of a double-decker bus and a Station 20 times larger is an amazing achievement, highlighting the impressive level of control achieved by this European space system developed by our industry under ESA’s direction,” said Thomas Reiter, ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations.

ATV-4 approach

“These impressive technological capabilities will live on in the service module of NASA’s upcoming Orion crew vehicle.”

Autonomous docking at 28 000 km/h

The rendezvous and docking were performed autonomously by ATV’s own computers, closely monitored by flight controllers from ESA and France’s CNES space agency at the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France, and by Luca Parmitano and his crewmates on the Station.

Like its predecessors, ATV-4 is much more than a simple supply vessel: it is a space tug, a tanker, a freighter and a temporary habitation module.

To compensate for the natural decay in altitude of the Station’s orbit caused by atmospheric drag, it is loaded with 2580 kg of propellant to perform regular reboosts. It can even move the entire space complex out of the path of hazardous space debris. ATV also provides attitude control when other spacecraft are approaching the Station.

ATV Control Centre

In its tanks, it carries 860 kg of propellant, 100 kg of oxygen and air, and 570 kg of drinking water, all to be pumped into the Station’s tanks.

In its pressurised cargo module, it carries more than 1400 items packed into 141 bags, including 2480 kg of dry cargo such as scientific equipment, spare parts, food and clothes for the astronauts.

 Luca monitored docking from Station

During its four months attached to the Station, ATV will provide 45 cubic metres of extra crew quarters. On previous missions, the addition was welcomed by the astronauts as “the quietest place in the Station” and was often the preferred area for working.

At the end of its mission, scheduled for 28 October, ATV-4 will separate from the Station, packed with waste bags. The following day, it will be directed to burn up safely in the atmosphere during reentry over the South Pacific Ocean. 

Related links:

Automated Transfer Vehicle: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/ATV

ATV Control Centre: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/ATV/ATV_Control_Centre

ATV blog: http://blogs.esa.int/atv

Images, Video, Text, Credits:ESA / NASA.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch