NASA Rover's Images Show Laser Flash on Martian Rock

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) patch.

July 16, 2014

Flash from Curiosity Rover's Laser Hitting a Martian Rock

Video above: The sparks that appear on the baseball-sized rock result from the laser of the ChemCam instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover hitting the rock.

Flashes appear on a baseball-size Martian rock in a series of images taken Saturday, July 12 by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the arm of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover. The flashes occurred while the rover's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument fired multiple laser shots to investigate the rock's composition.

ChemCam's laser has zapped more than 600 rock and soil targets on Mars since Curiosity landed in the planet's Gale Crater in August 2012.

"This is so exciting! The ChemCam laser has fired more than 150,000 times on Mars, but this is the first time we see the plasma plume that is created," said ChemCam Deputy Principal Investigator Sylvestre Maurice, at the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology, of France's National Center for Scientific Research and the University of Toulouse, France. "Each time the laser hits a target, the plasma light is caught and analyzed by ChemCam's spectrometers. What the new images add is confirmation that the size and shape of the spark are what we anticipated under Martian conditions."

Image above: NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used the camera on its arm on July 12, 2014, to catch the first images of sparks produced by the rover's laser being shot at a rock on Mars. The left image is from before the laser zapped this rock, called "Nova." The spark is at the center of the right image. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

Preliminary analysis of the ChemCam spectra from this target rock, appropriately named "Nova," indicates a composition rich in silicon, aluminum and sodium, beneath a dust layer poor in those elements. This is typical of rocks that Curiosity is encountering on its way toward Mount Sharp.

MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator Aileen Yingst of the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona, said, "One of the reasons we took these images is that they allow the ChemCam folks to compare the plume to those they imaged on Earth. Also, MAHLI has captured images of other activities of Curiosity, for documentation purposes, and this was an opportunity to document the laser in action."

Image above: A Martian target rock called "Nova," shown here, displayed an increasing concentration of aluminum as a series of laser shots from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover penetrated through dust on the rock's surface. This pattern is typical of many rocks examined with the rover's laser-firing ChemCam. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/LPGNantes/CNRS/IAS.

Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, developed, built and operates MAHLI. The U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, developed ChemCam in partnership with scientists and engineers funded by the French national space agency (CNES), the University of Toulouse and France's National Center for Scientific Research.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about Curiosity, visit these sites: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA / JPL / Guy Webster.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

Cygnus Delivers Science, Station Supplies

NASA / Orbital - Orb-2 Mission patch.

July 16, 2014

The Expedition 40 crew welcomed more than a ton and a half of science, supplies and spacewalking equipment to the International Space Station Wednesday with the arrival of Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo spacecraft.

U.S. Cargo Ship Arrives And Grapples With The International Space Station

With Cygnus securely in the grasp of the Canadarm2 robotic arm, the robotics officer at Mission Control in Houston remotely operated the arm to guide the cargo craft to its berthing port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony module. Once Cygnus was in position, Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman monitored the Common Berthing Mechanism operations for first and second stage capture of the cargo ship, assuring that the vehicle was securely attached to the station with a hard mate. Second stage capture was completed at 8:53 a.m. EDT.

Image above: Intersecting the thin line of Earth’s atmosphere, the Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo craft attached to the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm of the International Space Station is photographed by an Expedition 40 crew member after the two spacecraft converged at 6:36 a.m. EDT Wednesday. Image Credit: NASA.

Cygnus was grappled at 6:36 a.m. as it flew within about 32 feet of the complex by Commander Steve Swanson -- with assistance from Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst – as he controlled the 57-foot Canadarm2 from a robotics workstation inside the station’s cupola. Wiseman joined his crewmates in the seven-windowed cupola to assist with the capture and help coordinate the activities. At the time of capture, the orbital laboratory was flying around 260 statute miles over northern Libya.

Orbital Sciences named this newest Cygnus vehicle the SS Janice Voss in honor of the NASA astronaut and Orbital employee who died in February 2012. Swanson paid tribute to his former colleague after the successful grapple as he remarked, "We now have a seventh crew member. Janice Voss is now part of Expedition 40. Janice devoted her life to space and accomplished many wonderful things at NASA and Orbital Sciences, including five shuttle missions. And today, Janice’s legacy in space continues. Welcome aboard the ISS, Janice."

Image above: Canadarm2 berths Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo vehicle to the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station's Harmony node. Image Credit: NASA TV.

After Wiseman removed the Centerline Berthing Camera System that provided the teams with a view of berthing operations through the hatch window, he pressurized the vestibule between Harmony and the newly arrived cargo craft and conducted a leak check. Once that was complete, Swanson and Gerst opened the hatch to the vestibule and outfitted the area for the opening of Cygnus’ hatch around 6 a.m. Thursday.

This is Orbital’s second cargo delivery flight to the station through a $1.9 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract. Orbital will fly at least eight cargo missions to the space station through 2016.

The Orbital-2 mission delivered almost 3,300 pounds of supplies to the station to expand the research capability of the Expedition 40 crew. Among the research investigations aboard Cygnus are a flock of Earth-imaging nanosatellites, hardware to enable a trio of free-flying robots to perform 3-D mapping inside the station and a host of student experiments.

Read more about the science aboard Cygnus: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/girl_scouts_orbital_2

Orbital's Cygnus was launched on the company's Antares rocket at 12:52 p.m. Sunday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Cygnus will remain attached to Harmony until a planned unberthing August 15. After it departs the orbital laboratory, carrying about 3,000 pounds of trash with it, the spacecraft will conduct additional tests for future missions to the space station before a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere.

For Swanson, it was a robotics-intensive day.  After spending his morning at the controls of the robotics workstation for the Cygnus capture, Swanson spent the afternoon beginning the installation of some upgrades for Robonaut 2, the humanoid robot aboard the station. Robonaut, which was delivered to the station in May 2011 during the STS-134 shuttle mission, was designed to test out the capability of a robot to perform tasks deemed too dangerous or mundane for astronauts. Mobility upgrades, including a pair of legs for Robonaut, were delivered to the station during the SpaceX-3 cargo mission in April, Starting with Wednesday’s work to install new helmet pieces and replace Robonaut’s shoulder and elbow covers, Swanson will spend four days upgrading the robot’s torso. Two additional workdays at a later date will see the installation of Robonaut’s legs.

Image above: In this photo posted to Twitter by Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman, Commander Steve Swanson gets set to install some upgrades for Robonaut 2.

On the Russian side of the complex, Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev downloaded micro-accelerometer data from the Identification experiment, which measures dynamic loads on the station during events such as Wednesday’s grapple and berthing of Cygnus.

Artemyev also performed the VIRU experiment, which seeks to increase the efficiency of training and experiment operations through the use of 3D virtual manuals.

Meanwhile, Flight Engineer Max Suraev performed an inspection of the Zarya module. Also known as the Functional Cargo Block, Zarya was the first component of the space station and was launched on a Russian Proton rocket in November 1998.

Flight Engineer Alexander Skvortsov continued packing the Progress 55 cargo craft with trash and unneeded items for disposal. Progress 55 arrived at the orbiting laboratory in April and will undock from the space station's Pirs docking compartment on Monday at 5:41 p.m. The cargo ship will undergo several days of engineering tests in orbit before being commanded to re-enter Earth's atmosphere for a fiery demise over the Pacific Ocean.

The departure of Progress 55 will clear Pirs for the next Russian space freighter. On July 23, the Progress 56 resupply ship will launch at 5:44 p.m. from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (3:44 a.m. local time on July 24), with about 5,700 pounds of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 40 crew. Progress 56 will make a four-orbit, six-hour trip to the space station and dock at 11:28 p.m.

Related link:

Robonaut 2: http://www.nasa.gov/robonaut

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

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credit: NASA / NASA TV.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Curiosity Finds Iron Meteorite on Mars

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) logo.

July 15, 2014

This rock encountered by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is an iron meteorite called "Lebanon," similar in shape and luster to iron meteorites found on Mars by the previous generation of rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.  Lebanon is about 2 yards or 2 meters wide (left to right, from this angle). The smaller piece in the foreground is called "Lebanon B."

This view combines a series of high-resolution circular images taken by the Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) of Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument with color and context from rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam).  The component images were taken during the 640th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (May 25, 2014).

The imaging shows angular shaped cavities on the surface of the rock. One possible explanation is that they resulted from preferential erosion along crystalline boundaries within the metal of the rock.  Another possibility is that these cavities once contained olivine crystals, which can be found in a rare type of stony-iron meteorites called pallasites, thought to have been formed near the core-mantle boundary within an asteroid.

Iron meteorites are not rare among meteorites found on Earth, but they are less common than stony meteorites. On Mars, iron meteorites dominate the small number of meteorites that have been found. Part of the explanation could come from the resistance of iron meteorites to erosion processes on Mars.

ChemCam is one of 10 instruments in Curiosity's science payload. The U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, developed ChemCam in partnership with scientists and engineers funded by the French national space agency (CNES), the University of Toulouse and the French national research agency (CNRS). More information about ChemCam is available at http://www.msl-chemcam.com .  The rover's MastCam was built by and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego.

JPL manages NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, and built the project's Curiosity rover.

For more information about Curiosity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity.

Image, Text, Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/LPGNantes/CNRS/IAS/MSSS.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

NASA's Van Allen Probes Show How to Accelerate Electrons

NASA - Van Allen Probes Mission logo.

July 15, 2014

One of the great, unanswered questions for space weather scientists is just what creates two gigantic donuts of radiation surrounding Earth, called the Van Allen radiation belts. Recent data from the Van Allen Probes -- two nearly identical spacecraft that launched in 2012 -- address this question.

Image above: NASA's Van Allen Probes orbit through two giant radiation belts surrounding Earth. Their observations help explain how particles in the belts can be sped up to nearly the speed of light. Image Credit: NASA.

The inner Van Allen radiation belt is fairly stable, but the outer one changes shape, size and composition in ways that scientists don't yet perfectly understand. Some of the particles within this belt zoom along at close to light speed, but just what accelerates these particles up to such velocities? Recent data from the Van Allen Probes suggests that it is a two-fold process: One mechanism gives the particles an initial boost and then a kind of electromagnetic wave called Whistlers does the final job to kick them up to such intense speeds.

"It is important to understand how this process happens," said Forrest Mozer, a space scientist at the University of California in Berkeley and the first author of the paper on these results that appeared online in Physical Review Letters on July 15, 2014, in conjunction with the July 18 print edition. "Not only do we think a similar process happens on the sun and around other planets, but these fast particles can damage the electronics in spacecraft and affect astronauts in space."

Over the last few decades, numerous theories about where these extremely energetic particles come from have been developed. They have largely fallen into two different possibilities. The first theory is that the particles drift in from much further out, some 400,000 miles or more, gathering energy along the way. The second theory is that some mechanism speeds up particles already inhabiting that area of space. After two years in space, the Van Allen Probes data has largely pointed to the latter.

Additionally, it has been shown that once particles attain reasonably large energies of 100 keV, they are moving at speeds in synch with giant electromagnetic waves that can speed the particles up even more – the same way a well-timed push on a swing can keep it moving higher and higher.

"This paper incorporates the Whistler waves theory previously embraced," said Shri Kanekal, the deputy mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "But it provides a new explanation for how the particles get their initial push of energy."

This first mechanism is based on something called time domain structures, which Mozer and his colleagues have identified previously in the belts. They are very short duration pulses of electric field that run parallel to the magnetic fields that thread through the radiation belts. These magnetic field lines guide the movement of all the charged particles in the belts: The particles move along and gyrate around the lines as if they were tracing out the shape of a spring. During this early phase, the electric pulses push the particles faster forward in the direction parallel to the magnetic fields. This mechanism can increase the energies somewhat – though not as high as traditionally thought to be needed for the Whistler waves to have any effect. However, Mozer and his team showed, through both data from the Van Allen Probes and from simulations, that Whistlers can indeed affect particles at these lower energies.

Together the one-two punch is a mechanism that can effectively accelerate particles up to the intense speeds, which have for so long mysteriously appeared in the Van Allen belts.

"The Van Allen Probes have been able to monitor this acceleration process better than any other spacecraft because it was designed and placed in a special orbit for that purpose," said Mozer. "The mission has provided the first really strong confirmation of what's happening. This is the first time we can truly explain how the electrons are accelerated up to nearly the speed of light."

Such knowledge helps with the job of understanding the belts well enough to protect nearby spacecraft and astronauts.

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, built and operates the Van Allen Probes for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The mission is the second mission in NASA's Living With a Star program, managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

For more information about NASA’s Van Allen Probes mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/vanallenprobes

Image, Text, Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center / Karen C. Fox.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

ISS - Blue Dot update

ESA - Blue Dot Mission patch.

15 July 2014

 Our blue dot

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst continues to thrive in his space habitat one month into his Blue Dot mission on the International Space Station.

Over the last few weeks, he’s been working on experiments from NASA, Japan’s space agency and, of course, ESA.

The orbital outpost is a fully equipped weightless laboratory and it shows in the variety of science Alexander has conducted, from experiments on skin and eyes to headaches and sleep patterns as well as studying the physics behind crystals, liquids and fire while testing ‘smart’ shoes and a new form of propulsion.

 Burning fuel in space

All astronauts train for 90 minutes every day to help them return to Earth healthy and mission designers are always keen on improving the fitness routine. NASA’s smart shoes measure the forces on the feet as their wearers run around the world on the Station’s treadmill.

The information will feed into improving the fitness equipment for future exploration missions, making them lighter and smaller.

The approach could be used in future satellite formations, saving fuel and weight. Alexander helped to set up the experiment with NASA colleague Reid Wiseman.

Keeping experiments running smoothly

Some experiments don’t need an astronaut’s involvement all the time, but still require maintenance: Alexander repaired a cable that could have led to problems for radiation readings being transmitted to researchers on Earth.

He also checked a water pump in Europe’s Columbus laboratory to make sure it is working smoothly. A number of pumps around the Station keep the module and its experiments at the correct temperature.

Alexander working on the Columbus water pump

Watch full video Keeping Columbus cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Clf8ljA1M&list=UUIBaDdAbGlFDeS33shmlD0A

For the third time, the entire 450-tonne Station was turned to track the Sun for ESA’s Solar package, a suite of instruments that monitor sunlight to improve computer models. The Station’s orbit means Solar cannot follow our source of life over a full solar rotation – lasting about a whole Earth month – without rotating the whole complex.

Preparing for traffic

Alexander teamed up with NASA shipmates Reid and Steve Swanson for a practice run of grappling the Orbital-2 supply vessel that is set to arrive tomorrow. Catching and berthing the spacecraft requires moving the 16 m-long robotic arm in six dimensions in a two-person job.

 Robotic arm test-run

Earlier, Alexander and cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov checked the control panel and video that will be used when ESA’s fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle docks with the Station at the end of this month.

Related links:

All about Blue Dot: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Blue_dot

Blue Dot blog: http://blogs.esa.int/alexander-gerst/

Connect with Alexander Gerst: http://alexandergerst.esa.int/

Where is the International Space Station?: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/International_Space_Station/Where_is_the_International_Space_Station

Alexander Gerst's personal homepage: http://planet3.de/

Space Station crew timeline: http://spacestationlive.jsc.nasa.gov/timeline/index.html

Images. Text, Credits: ESA / NASA.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

SpaceX launch Orbcomm on Falcon 9

SpaceX / Orbcomm - OG2 Mission patch.

July 14, 2014

Falcon 9 carrying six OG2 satellites launch 

After two months of delays, SpaceX says it will launch six second-generation Orbcomm communications satellites July 14 atop a Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket from Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida.

The launch of New Jersey-based Orbcomm's six OG2 satellites has been repeatedly delayed due to technical and weather-related setbacks, beginning with a Falcon 9 first-stage helium leak that pushed the initial May 10 launch date to early June.

Orbcomm OG2 Falcon 9 Satellite Launch

SpaceX has successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket on Monday, delivering six communication satellites to Low Earth Orbit for satellite operator Orbcomm. Falcon 9 made a thundering liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 15:15 UTC, 11:15 a.m. local time. The vehicle completed a flawless ascent mission, culminating in the release of the six Orbcomm Second Generation satellites beginning 15 minutes after liftoff.

Orbcomm OG2 satellite

All six OG2 satellites were successfully separated from the Falcon 9 launch vehicle into the proper insertion orbit.

Launching six relatively light satellites left Falcon 9 with excess performance which allowed SpaceX to conduct the next boost-back demonstration of the first stage in the company's ongoing quest to reusability. Sending the second stage on its way into orbit, the first stage conducted a boost-back/braking burn followed by atmospheric flight and a landing burn for a soft splashdown in the Atlantic on four landing legs deploying just before contact with the water.

This was the most ambitious return demonstration performed by SpaceX as it actually involved the stage landing closer to land than in any previous attempt - building on the success of the first stage splashdown in April that returned the stage intact to the ocean only to have it destroyed by rough seas. Chances of a stage recovery were increased by landing closer to the coast, however, the stage suffered damage when impacting the water.

For more information about SpaceX, visit: http://www.spacex.com/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: SpaceX / Orbcomm / Günter Space Page / Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

NASA Cargo Launches to Space Station aboard Orbital Sciences Resupply Mission

NASA / Orbital - Orb-2 Mission patch.

July 13, 2014

Image above: The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket launches from Pad-0A with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, Sunday, July 13, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Cygnus spacecraft is filled with over 3,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The Orbital-2 mission is Orbital Sciences' second contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

A multitude of NASA research investigations, crew provisions, hardware and science experiments from across the country is headed to the International Space Station aboard Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft. The cargo craft launched aboard Orbital's Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 12:52 p.m. EDT Sunday.

Launch of Orbital-2 Mission to the International Space Station

The mission is the company's second cargo delivery flight to the station through a $1.9 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract. Orbital will fly at least eight cargo missions to the space station through 2016.

The Orbital-2 mission is carrying almost 3,300 pounds of supplies to the station, which will expand the research capability of the Expedition 40 crew members. Among the research investigations headed to the orbital laboratory are a flock of nanosatellites designed to take images of Earth, developed by Planet Labs of San Francisco; and a satellite-based investigation called TechEdSat-4 built by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, which aims to develop technology that will eventually enable small samples to be returned to Earth from the space station.

An experiment managed by Ames called Smart Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) features a sensor and multiple cameras to enable 3-D mapping and robotic navigation inside the space station. In addition, a host of student experiments are on board as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program, an initiative of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and NanoRacks.

Cygnus cargo spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA

Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson of NASA, with help from Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, will use the station's robotic arm to take hold of Cygnus at 6:39 a.m. Wednesday, July 16. In August, the capsule, which will be filled with trash, will depart the station and burn up during reentry in Earth’s atmosphere.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has been continuously occupied since November 2000. In that time, it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

For more information about the Orbital-2 mission and the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA / Rachel Kraft / Johnson Space Center / Dan Huot / Wallops Flight Facility / Keith Koehler.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch