Skylab 4 Pilot William Pogue Dies

NASA logo / NASA - Skylab 4 Mission patch.

March 4, 2014

Image above: Pogue relaxes on the running board of the transfer van during a visit to the Skylab 4/Saturn 1B space vehicle at Pad B, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Image Credit: NASA.

William Pogue, pilot on NASA's Skylab 4 mission in 1973-74, has died. He was 84 years old.

Skylab 4 was the third and final manned visit to the Skylab orbital workshop, launched Nov. 16, 1973, and concluded Feb. 8, 1974. At 84 days, 1 hour and 15 minutes, Skylab 4 was the longest manned space flight to that date.

Pogue was accompanied on the record setting 34.5-million-mile flight by Commander Gerald P. Carr and science-pilot Dr. Edward G. Gibson. They conducted dozens of experiments and science demonstrations during their 1,214 orbits of Earth, including extensive observations of the home planet as well as the sun's solar processes. Pogue logged 13 hours and 31 minutes in two spacewalks outside the orbital workshop.

Image above: Skylab 4 lifts off on a Saturn 1B rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Nov. 16, 1973. Image Credit: NASA.

Pogue described the excitement of launch in a 2000 interview as part of Johnson Space Center's Oral History project.

"I didn’t think we were going to launch. You know, we’d had so many problems. I was sitting there, and finally when we were at thirty seconds, I thought, well, maybe. It's a lot of noise."

Pogue said he thought he was "pretty cool" on liftoff, but a NASA doctor later told him his pulse jumped from 50 to 120. "It was pretty exciting," he said.

Pogue was born Jan. 23, 1930, in Okemah, Okla. After graduating from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1951, Pogue enlisted in the Air Force, where he went on to fly combat missions in Korea. From 1955 to 1957, he was a member of the USAF Thunderbirds, the Air Force's elite flying team.  Pogue eventually logged over 7,200 hours flying time in more than 50 types of aircraft, including more than 2,000 hours logged in space flight.

Image above: The Skylab 4 crew snapped this view of the space station on Feb. 8, 1974, during their final fly-around before returning home. Image Credit: NASA.

Pogue earned a Master of Science degree in Mathematics from Oklahoma State University in 1960 and served in the mathematics department as an assistant professor at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from 1960 to 1963. In 1965, after a two-year tour as test pilot with the British Ministry of Aviation, Pogue became an instructor at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Pogue was one of 19 Astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He served as a member of the astronaut support crews for the Apollo 7, 11, and 14 missions before being assigned to his Skylab flight.

Image above: The Skylab 4 crew confers via television from orbit wit Dr. Lubos Kohoutek, discoverer of the Comet Kohoutek. Left to Right, Gerald P. Carr, commander; Edward G. Gibson, science pilot; and William R. Pogue, pilot. Image Credit: NASA.

Pogue was awarded NASA's Distinguished Service Medal in 1974, and won many other awards in his career, including the Air Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Robert J. Collier Trophy (1974) and Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy (1975).

He retired from the Air Force in 1975, and he left NASA in 1977.  Pogue later worked as an independent technical contractor for several aerospace and energy firms. From 1984 to 1998 he provided contract technical support to the Boeing Company for the Space Station Freedom program which later  evolved into the International Space Station project.

In October 1997, he was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at Titusville, FL.

Rest In Peace, William Pogue.

Related link:

Skylab orbital workshop: http://www.nasa.gov/content/40-years-ago-skylab-paved-way-for-international-space-station/

U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame: http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/the-experience/us-astronaut-hall-of-fame.aspx

Images (mentioned), Text, Credit: NASA.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Space Station Sensor to Capture 'Striking' Lightning Data

ISS - International Space Station patch.

March 4, 2014

Keeping a spare on hand simply makes sense. Just as drivers keep spare tires on hand to replace a flat or blowout, NASA routinely maintains “spares,” too. These flight hardware backups allow NASA to seamlessly continue work in the unlikely event something goes down for a repair. When projects end, these handy spares can sometimes find second lives in new areas for use.

Researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., developed a sophisticated piece of flight hardware called a Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) to detect and locate lightning over the tropical region of the globe. Launched into space in 1997 as part of NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the sensor undertook a three-year baseline mission, delivering data used to improve weather forecasts. It continues to operate successfully aboard the TRMM satellite today.

The team that created this hardware in the mid-1990s built a spare -- and now that second unit is stepping up to contribute, as well. The sensor is scheduled to launch on a Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) rocket to the International Space Station in February 2016. Once mounted to the station, it will serve a two-year baseline mission as part of a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program (STP)-H5 science and technology development payload. STP-H5 is integrated and flown under the management and direction of the DoD's STP.

Image above: This International Space Station Crew Earth image of storm clouds over California shows lightning as a white glow to the right of center. The yellow lit areas beneath the clouds are the night lights from the highly populated areas of Los Angeles and San Diego. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA selected the LIS spare hardware to fly to the space station in order to take advantage of the orbiting laboratory’s high inclination. This vantage point gives the sensor the ability to "look" farther towards Earth's poles than the original LIS can aboard the TRMM satellite. Once installed, the sensor will monitor global lightning for Earth science studies, provide cross-sensor calibration and validation with other space-borne instruments, and ground-based lightning networks. LIS will also supply real-time lightning data over data-sparse regions, such as oceans, to support operational weather forecasting and warning.

"Only LIS globally detects all in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning -- what we call total lightning -- during both day and night," said Richard Blakeslee, LIS project scientist at Marshall. "As previously demonstrated by the TRMM mission, better understanding lightning and its connections to weather and related phenomena can provide unique and affordable gap-filling information to a variety of science disciplines including weather, climate, atmospheric chemistry and lightning physics.”

LIS measures the amount, rate and radiant energy of global lightning, providing storm-scale resolution, millisecond timing, and high, uniform-detection efficiency -- and it does this without land-ocean bias.

The sensor consists of an optical imager enhanced to locate and detect lightning from thunderstorms within its 400-by-400-mile field-of-view on the Earth's surface. The station travels more than 17,000 mph as it orbits our planet, allowing the LIS to observe a point on the Earth, or a cloud, for almost 90 seconds as it passes overhead. Despite this brief viewing duration, it is long enough to estimate the lightning-flashing rate of most storms.

Image above: Optics in the Lightning Imaging Sensor telescope. Image Credit: NASA.

Since more than 70 percent of lightning occurs during the day, daytime detection drove the technical design of the LIS. From space, lightning appears like a pool of light on the top of a thundercloud. During the day, sunlight reflected from the cloud tops completely masks the lightning signal, making it difficult to detect. However, LIS creates a solution by applying special techniques that take advantage of the differences in the behavior and physical characteristics of lightning and sunlight signals. These allow LIS to extract the strikes from bright background illumination.

As a final step in processing, a real-time event processor inside the LIS electronics unit removes the remaining background signal, enabling the system to detect the lightning signatures and achieve 90-percent detection efficiency.

Once the sensor is installed on the space station, the LIS team will operate it remotely. They will then assess the data it produces and disseminate it to forecasters and researchers from the Global Hydrology Resource Center, one of NASA’s Earth science data centers.

This instrument also can help our lives on Earth in many ways. The LIS science team has received strong endorsements from several national and international government agencies and university science organizations. These include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R- Series Program (GOES-R). Operational users, such as NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS), Aviation Weather Center (AWC), Ocean Prediction Center (OPC) and Pacific Region will be interested in the data for their operational weather warning, forecasting and even validation applications. For other users, their science and application investigations will be improved and will benefit from the new lightning observations provided by LIS.

Image above: Discussing the Lightning Imaging Sensor engineering test unit are, from left, Bill Lopez and Jim McLeroy from the Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program (STP); John Davis from Marshall; Nathan Harnagel from DoD STP; and Mike Stewart from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Image Credit: NASA.

From a research standpoint, LIS data could be very useful to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Randy Bass, a member of the FAA's Aviation Weather Research Team, said the information obtained could help them with validation activities of several oceanic convection ensemble model products they're developing, either in real-time or archive mode.

"It could also be used for validation of detection of convection from other ground- and space-based sensors we will be using at the time," said Bass. "Any data we can use for 'ground truth' over oceanic areas will be extremely helpful in development of better observing and forecasting products used for offshore aviation, especially as we expand our coverage throughout the Atlantic and Pacific oceans."

The end result would be better short-term forecasts of thunderstorms over offshore areas, giving pilots and air traffic controllers a better ability to reroute planes around hazards such as turbulence and lightning strikes. Bass said that while pilots have weather radar aboard, they can only see limited areas ahead of them. The FAA wants to improve their capability and give controllers the opportunity to see the weather activity too, which they don't have right now.

 International Space Station (ISS). Image credit: NASA

As lightning flashes above our heads, there's a lot to be learned about this electrical phenomena -- and the LIS team aims to find the answers to a lot of those questions.

"Measuring lightning is important for knowledge about the weather and also operationally important for aviation safety. By adding an instrument on space station, we can add observations from higher latitudes covering the 48 contiguous states,” said International Space Station Chief Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D. “This is a prime example of science on the International Space Station benefiting our nation.”

For more information about International Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Related links:

Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS): http://lightning.nsstc.nasa.gov/lis/

NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM): http://pmm.nasa.gov/node/158

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program (STP)-H5: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=2ff65d8fe314b1ac5201ff52f556a5aa&tab=core&_cview=0

Global Hydrology Resource Center: http://ghrc.msfc.nasa.gov/

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center / Janet Anderson / Jessica Eagan.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Spiral galaxy spills blood and guts

ESA - Hubble Space Telescope logo.

4 March 2014

New Hubble image of spiral galaxy ESO 137-001

This new Hubble image shows spiral galaxy ESO 137-001, framed against a bright background as it moves through the heart of galaxy cluster Abell 3627. This cluster is violently ripping the spiral’s entrails out into space, leaving bright blue streaks as telltale clues to this cosmic crime.

This new Hubble image shows ESO 137-001, a galaxy located in the southern constellation of Triangulum Australe (The Southern Triangle) — a delicate and beautiful spiral galaxy, but with a secret.

Hubble and Chandra composite of ESO 137-001

This image not only captures the galaxy and its backdrop in stunning detail, but also something more dramatic — intense blue streaks streaming outwards from the galaxy, seen shining brightly in ultraviolet light.

These streaks are actually hot young stars, encased in wispy streams of gas that are being torn away from the galaxy by its surroundings as it moves through space. This violent galactic disrobing is due to a process known as ram pressure stripping — a drag force felt by an object moving through a fluid [1]. The fluid in question here is superheated gas, which lurks at the centres of galaxy clusters.

Zooming in on ESO 137-001

This image also shows other telltale signs of this process, such as the curved appearance of the disc of gas and dust — a result of the forces exerted by the heated gas. The cluster's drag may be strong enough to bend ESO 137-001, but in this cosmic tug-of-war the galaxy's gravitational pull is strong enough to hold on to the majority of its dust — although some brown streaks of dust displaced by the stripping are visible.

Studying ram pressure stripping helps astronomers to better understand the mechanisms that drive the evolution of galaxies. For example, it will leave this galaxy with very little of the cold gas that is essential for star formation, rendering the galaxy effectively incapable of forming new stars.

Panning across ESO 137-001

ESO 137-001 is part of the Norma Cluster, a cluster of galaxies near the centre of the Great Attractor, a region of space that earned its name by being so massive, and having a gravitational pull so strong, that it is pulling entire galaxy clusters towards it. This region is located around 200 million light-years from our galaxy, the Milky Way. Both our galaxy and its home group, the Local Group, are slowly being hauled towards this mysterious region. Hubble also imaged ESO 137-001's neighbour, ESO 137-002, which is also known to have a hot tail of gas extending outwards into space (potw1302).

3D visualisation of ESO 137-001 (artist’s impression)

Despite being relatively close by cosmic standards, catching even a glimpse of the Norma Cluster is no mean feat. Observed from Earth, the cluster lies close to the plane of the Milky Way and is obscured by a thick smog of cosmic dust. But Hubble is up to the challenge — using new data from Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

As with most images from Hubble, this is not just a pretty picture; it tells us a great deal about the harsh environment at the heart of a galaxy cluster, and the fate of galaxies like ESO 137-001 that find passage through it.

Fade between Hubble and Chandra images of ESO 137-001

A version of this image was submitted to the Hubble's Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Serge Meunier.

Notes:

[1] A quick and simple analogy for this effect would be to imagine leaning out of a car window as it travelled quickly along a motorway, or walking within a swimming pool.

Notes for editors:

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

The data for this image comes from HST project 12377, with prinicipal investigator Ming Sun.

Links:

Hubblecast 72: Clues to a cosmic crime: http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1404a/

Images of Hubble: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/category/spacecraft/

NASA release: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2014/14/related/

Hubble's Hidden Treasures: http://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/hiddentreasures/

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory: http://chandra.harvard.edu/

Images, Text, Credits: NASA, ESA/ CXC / Acknowledgements: Ming Sun (UAH), and Serge Meunier / Videos: NASA, CXC / ESA, M. Kornmesser / Digitized Sky Survey 2 / Acknowledgements: Ming Sun (UAH) and Serge Meunier.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Satellite Sees Winter Storm March Over Mid-Atlantic

NASA / NOAA - GOES R patch.

On March 3, a major winter storm brought snow to the mid-Atlantic, freezing rain to the Carolinas and rain and some freezing rain to the Gulf Coast states. NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured an image of the clouds associated with the winter storm on March 3 at 12:45 p.m. EST (1745 UTC)/ as it continued on its march over the mid-Atlantic.

Bands of snow and sometimes heavy snow affected the Washington, D.C., region, Delaware and central Virginia, stretching west into West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. Snow also stretched back into the Ohio and Tennessee valleys while rain and freezing rain affected the Carolinas, and while the Gulf Coast states received rain. National Weather Service Winter Storm Warnings remained in effect until 6 p.m. EST on March 3 for Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Md. In Richmond and Norfolk, Va., the Winter Storm warnings were in effect for six additional hours ending at midnight. 

Satellite Video Captures the Eastern U.S. Winter Storm Track 

On March 3, NOAA's National Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md., noted the late-season winter storm will continue to shift eastward through the Tennessee Valley and the mid-Atlantic today, making for hazardous travel conditions. NOAA noted that unseasonably cold temperatures more typical of January will prevail east of the Rocky Mountains for the next few days keeping winter around for a while longer.

Artist's view of the GOES-East satellite

The clouds are associated with a cold front that stretched from eastern Maine through Maryland and west into the Tennessee Valley. At NASA/NOAA's GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., the cloud data from NOAA's GOES-East satellite were overlaid on a true-color image of land and ocean created by data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites. Together, those data created the entire picture of the position of this major winter storm.

GOES satellites provide the kind of continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis. Geostationary describes an orbit in which a satellite is always in the same position with respect to the rotating Earth. This allows GOES to hover continuously over one position on Earth's surface, appearing stationary. As a result, GOES provide a constant vigil for the atmospheric "triggers" for severe weather conditions such as tornadoes, flash floods, hail storms and hurricanes.

For updated information about the storm system, visit NOAA's NWS website: http://www.weather.gov

For more information about GOES satellites, visit: http://www.goes.noaa.gov/ or http://www.goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Rob Gutro / NOAA / GOES Project.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

It’s a March of the CubeSats as Space Station Deployment Continues

ISS - International Space Station patch.

March 3, 2014

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a CubeSat! With so many small, relatively inexpensive satellites deploying lately from the International Space Station, it may seem like the area referred to as low-Earth orbit, between 100 and 1,240 miles above the planet, is full of these compact cubes. The miniature satellites, or CubeSats, conduct research and demonstration missions.

In the span of several weeks, 33 new CubeSats deployed from the space station. The NanoRacks Smallsat Deployment Program provides commercial access to space, via the space station, for CubeSats to perform Earth and deep space observation. The 28 Dove satellites that make up Planet Labs Flock 1 constellation began deploying in early February. Additional NanoRacks CubeSats released this week. These various CubeSats are conducting Earth observation missions, testing technologies and even tweeting from space!

Image above: International Space Station solar array panels, Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space provide the backdrop for the Feb. 11 deployment of the first of 33 small satellites using the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer. Image Credit: NASA.

“It’s exciting,” said NanoRacks CEO Jeffrey Manber. “Our company has been working with NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to open the door for commercial pathways to space. This is a really wonderful time for getting into the commercial utilization of space.”

Commercial opportunities for CubeSats and other research on and off the space station exist through a public-private partnership enabled by Congress in which the U.S. portion of the space station was designated a national laboratory. This laboratory, managed by CASIS, provides funding avenues for companies like NanoRacks to open up research and exploration in space for many more users.

One benefit of deploying CubeSats from the space station compared with a rocket is increased opportunity for launch thanks to consistent visits from various cargo resupply vehicles. Further, the launch condition of space station cargo vehicles is not as severe as other rocket launches, since the CubeSats are often launched as part of pressurized cargo. Another benefit is that after these CubeSats have launched to space, astronauts aboard the orbiting outpost can perform quality checks on the hardware to ensure the miniature satellites are not damaged before deploying into space.

“This is the beginning of a new era in space commerce,” said Manber. “We’re helping our customers get a two-year head start in space. They don’t have to wait around for a dedicated launch to space but can instead catch the next rocket to space station.”

One of the new CubeSats deploying through the NanoRacks program is SkyCube, developed by Southern Stars Group LLC of San Francisco. The primary goal of SkyCube is to “provide cutting edge outreach and use communications channels that the public use every day,” explained Tim DeBenedictis, founder and owner of Southern Stars.

Image above: Two of the 28 Planet Labs Dove satellites that make up the Flock 1 constellation are seen launching into orbit from the International Space Station on Feb. 11. Image Credit: NASA.

SkyCube is the first CubeSat to use a smartphone application to interact directly with the public. Southern Stars used its expertise in creating planetarium software to develop an inexpensive, accessible and easy but fun phone interface to communicate with SkyCube. The smartphone application, Satellite Safari, will be used to track SkyCube, provide updates on its mission and tweet messages from the public. A Twitter handle will communicate exactly what the satellite is broadcasting from space once it is on orbit.

“We also want to send a positive message to end our mission cleanly,” said DeBenedictis. To that end, SkyCube will be the first CubeSat to de-orbit itself using a balloon. The de-orbit of SkyCube will occur 90 days into its mission, when the seven-foot diameter balloon will inflate. Because of its size, it will be possible to see it with the naked-eye. Satellite Safari will help direct people where to look in the sky, with the goal of creating an unforgettable moment to inspire children and adults alike to become interested in space and the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.  

Another CubeSat, ArduSat-2, built and operated by NanoSatisfi of San Francisco, is an improvement upon software and hardware on ArduSat-1, which deployed from the space station in November 2013. ArduSat-2 also will use a NanoRacks deployer to send it off on its mission to test advanced electronics and hardware in the space environment that are only minimally adapted from their Earth configuration. This will help determine potential commercial applications for small satellite data collection and commercial, off-the-shelf electronics. A goal of the ArduSat-2 mission is to contribute to technological information that helps lower the cost of space applications that use low-Earth observation techniques.

Both ArduSat-2 and SkyCube used crowdsourcing methods for funding to have direct public involvement in their small satellite missions. “It is the perfect way to test public response,” said Peter Platzer, founder and CEO of NanoSatisfi. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are blown away by the interest in our ArduSat satellites.”

As ArduSat-2 tests technology to lower the cost of access to space, NanoSatisfi also seeks to continue small satellite missions that capture the imagination of students to advance educational space programs and promote student interest in STEM.

LituanicaSAT-1 and LitSat-1 are two Lithuanian satellites scheduled for release this month using NanoRacks’ deployers. LituanicaSAT-1 is the first Lithuanian satellite mission to transmit a Lithuanian message from space. LituanicaSAT-1 also will conduct technology experiments such as FM voice repeater operation, taking pictures of Earth and testing various controllers and sensors in microgravity. The data collected by the small satellite will be used to asses satellite health, attitude, operational modes and verify environmental and dynamic simulations used during the design phase. The downlinked data will be open for public use.

Image above: A close-up of the electronics stack for the LituanicaSAT-1, which will transmit the first Lithuanian message from space. LituanicaSAT-1 will launch from the International Space Station as part of the NanoRacks Smallsat Deployment Program. Image Credit: Vytenis Buzas.

“We want to involve the whole nation,” said Chief Engineer Laurynas Maciulis. “The first Lithuanian message to be transmitted from space will be a salutation from the Lithuanian president to all Lithuanians around the world.” A YouTube channel, a Facebook site, media outreach and school visits will help connect Lithuanian citizens, both in their country and abroad, to the historic LituanicaSat-1 event.

LitSat-1 is a technology demonstration to determine satellite attitude by measuring data from sensors and receivers on the satellite. The CubeSat is testing technology for a future Lithuanian satellite mission.

The NanoRacks deployers will also jettison a Peruvian satellite this month, controlled primarily by students at the Alas Peruanas University in Lima, Peru. UAPSAT-1 tests the function of electronic design communication and the implementation of the technology used in manufacturing the satellite. This satellite will study the impact of weather-related phenomena on Earth’s surface.

NanoRacks is fully booked with CubeSats on the next Cygnus spacecraft resupply mission from Orbital Sciences Corporation, currently scheduled for May 1. Through collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for use of its Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) and robotic arm that positions CubeSats for release, a permanent platform exists for commercial small satellite deployment from the space station. The companies and educational institutions that take advantage of this new access to space continue to improve space technology and inspire new generations in space exploration. 

For more information about International Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Related links:

CubeSats Initiative: http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative.html#.UqXkBsRDs1I

The NanoRacks Smallsat Deployment Program: http://nanoracks.com/products/smallsat-deployment/

Planet Labs Flock 1: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/flock_1/#.Uv0sjPldU1I

Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS): http://www.iss-casis.org/Home.aspx

NanoSatisfi - ArduSat-1: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1210.html

Southern Stars Group LLC - SkyCube: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1332.html

LituanicaSAT-1 and LitSat-1 are Lithuanian satellites: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1329.html

Smartphone application Satellite Safari: http://www.southernstars.com/products/satellite_safari/index.html

Orbital Sciences Corporation - Cygnus: http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/MissionUpdates/Orb-D1/files/8%20Cygnus%20Overview.pdf#search=%22cygnus%22

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency - Japanese Experiment Module (JEM): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/jem.html#.UqjBzPRDs1I

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA Johnson Space Center / Laura Niles.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

Earth from last night

ROSCOSMOS patch.

03/03/2014

On the basis of the Scientific Center for Earth Operative Monitoring (NTs OMZ) JSC Russian Space Systems opened a portal that provides the latest images of the planet Earth from the spacecraft (SC) Electro-L.

Electro-L № 1 satellite

Today NTs OMZ OAO Russian Space Systems is the Operator of Russian space systems for remote sensing (RS), as well as ground-based complex Roscosmos performing receiving, recording, processing and dissemination of information coming from remote sensing systems.

SC Electro-L № 1, designed to collect and relay weather information, launched in January 2011 into a geostationary orbit to the point of standing 76° Electro-L Specified lifetime is at least 10 years. SC Electro-L № 1 is the first of three spacecraft space complex hydrometeorological in geostationary orbit, which should be fully deployed until 2015.

Space complex is intended for operative imaging clouds and the Earth's surface, of heliogeophysical measurements, data collection and relay hydrometeorological and service information.

Hight resolution image of the Earth by Electro-L № 1

Comparative analysis of the characteristics and technical solutions used to develop the system, has shown that a geostationary satellite Electro-L № 1 on the technical parameters and capabilities of the best foreign geostationary spacecraft similar purpose GOES (NASA) and MSG (European Space Agency).

(In Russian) «Российские космические системы» открылся портал - "Russian Space Systems" website: http://electro.ntsomz.ru/

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: http://www.federalspace.ru/20278/

Images, Text, Credits: Roscosmos press service / ROSCOSMOS / Translation: Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Star factory NGC 7538

ESA - Herschel Mission patch.

March 3, 2014

Star factory NGC 7538

The billowing clouds portrayed in this image from ESA’s Herschel observatory are part of NGC 7538, a stellar nursery for massive stars. Located around 9000 light-years away, this is one of the few regions of massive-star formation that are relatively close to us, allowing astronomers to investigate this process in great detail.

Star factories like NGC 7538 consist mainly of hydrogen gas, but they also contain small amounts of cosmic dust. It was through this minor – but crucial – component that Herschel could image these star-forming regions, because dust shines brightly at the far-infrared wavelengths that were probed by the observatory.

With a total mass of almost 400 000 Suns, NGC 7538 is an active factory where stars come to life – especially huge ones that are over eight times more massive than the Sun. Hundreds of seeds of future stellar generations nestle in the mixture of surrounding gas and dust scattered across the image. Once they reach a critical mass, they will ignite as stars. Thirteen of these proto-stars have masses greater than 40 Suns, and are also extremely cold, less than –250ºC.

One group of stellar seeds seem to trace a ring-like structure, visible in the left part of the image. The ring may be the edge of a bubble carved by previous stellar explosions – as stars reach the end of their lives and explode as dramatic supernovas – but astronomers are still investigating the origin of this peculiar arrangement.

 

Image above: Herschel space observatory (actually out of service after its cryogenic reserve cooled mirror was exhausted, mission ended).

The image is a composite of the wavelengths of 70 microns (blue), 160 microns (green) and 250 microns (red) and spans about 50 x 50 arc minutes. North is up and east is to the left. It was first published in the paper Herschel Reveals Massive Cold Clumps in NGC 7538 by Fallscheer et al. 2013: http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/773/2/102/

For more information about Herschel mission, visit: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel

Images, Text, Credits: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE. Acknowledgements: Cassie Fallscheer (University of Victoria), Mike Reid (University of Toronto) and the Herschel HOBYS team.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch