China launch Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft

CASC - Shenzhou-10 Mission patch.

June 11, 2013

 Shenzhou 10 launch

The Chinese have launched their fifth crewed space mission on Tuesday via the Shenzhou-10 mission. The launch of the Long March 2F/G rocket was on schedule at 09:38 UTC, taking place from Pad 921 at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center’s LC43 Launch Complex.

Image above: Mission commander Nie Haisheng (left), Zhang Xiaoguang (Right) and Wang Yaping (center) are the three astronauts that will undertaken the Shenzhou 10 mission. (Credit: CNS).

This new space chapter for the Chinese represents the final occupation of the Tiangong-1 space module and the launch of the second female “yu hang yuan” – the Chinese term for astronaut, as opposed to the more commonly used “taikonaut”.

Shenzhou-10 Launch, June 11, 2013

Once in orbit the craft will dock with a trial space laboratory module called Tiangong where over the next two weeks the astronauts will carry out various experiments.

The Shenzhou 10 was moved earlier this month to the launch area in the remote Gobi desert in China’s far west ready for launch at 11.38 Central European Time.

Shenzhou is based on the Russian Soyuz-TM spacecraft and can carry up to three astronauts inside its Re-Entry Module. This module provides a fully pressurised and habitable living space for all phases of the mission, but the taikonauts can also use the Orbital Module that provides additional habitable space for conducting scientific experiments.

Shenzhou-10 Mission description

This module is equipped with navigation, communications, flight control, thermal control, batteries, oxygen tanks, and propulsions systems. Total mass of the spacecraft is 8,082 kg, with a length of 9.25 meters, diameter of 2.80 meters and a 17 meter span.

Should the mission go to plan, Shenzhou-10 should dock with Tiangong-1 on June 13. The two spacecraft will remain docked for a period of 12 days which will include a second re-docking test, after which Shenzhou-10 will return to Earth on June 26.

For more information about the mission, visit: http://zhuanti.spacechina.com/n429412/index.html

Images, Video, Text, Credits: CASC / Newscn / ChinaNews.CN / CCTV / Xinhua, various Chinese media.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

The Sun Emits an M5.9 Solar Flare

NASA - Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) patch.

June 10, 2013

Image above: An M-class flare appears on the lower right of the sun on June 7, 2013. This close-up image was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in the 131 Angstrom wavelength, a wavelength of UV light that is particularly good for seeing flares and that is typically colorized in teal. Caption: NASA/SDO.

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 6:49 p.m. on June 7, 2013. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where communications signals travel. This disrupts the radio signals for as long as the flare is ongoing, anywhere from minutes to hours.

Image above: An M-class flare appears on the lower right of the sun on June 7, 2013. This image was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in the 131 Angstrom wavelength, a wavelength of UV light that is particularly good for seeing flares and that is typically colorized in teal. Caption: NASA/SDO.

This flare is classified as an M5.9 flare. M-class flares are the weakest flares that can still cause some space weather effects near Earth. This flare caused a moderate radio blackout, rated an R2 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s space weather scales, which range from R1 to R5. It has since subsided.

Increased numbers of flares are quite common at the moment, since the sun's normal 11-year activity cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum, which is expected in late 2013. Humans have tracked this solar cycle continuously since it was discovered in 1843, and it is normal for there to be many flares a day during the sun's peak activity. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (http://swpc.noaa.gov) is the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.

Updates will be provided as they are available on the flare.

Related Links:
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Space Weather: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/spaceweather/index.html

View Other Past Solar Activity: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/multimedia/Solar-Events.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Karen C. Fox.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Meteorites: the secret signs

Meteorite fall on the Earth.

June 10, 2013

 Meteorites fall on the Earth (Artist's view)

The international expedition to study meteorite catastrophes of the past - a joint Russian-American mission, headed by world-renowned scientist - Dallas Abbott. It belongs to her discovery of a number of such craters on the planet and the hypothesis about the impact of meteorites on Earth evolution. At this time, the scientists are going to dot the "i" in the origin of the two Russian lakes.

"Smerdyache" - the most enigmatic and mysterious lake in the Moscow region, near the Shatura. Even the name is scary. It is said that once there was a church. She went into the water together with the priest.

Truth or fiction, is not known. However, the landscape around adds mystique ... and unusual shape of the lake - a perfect circle.

Smerdyache lake

"This lake is the most suspicious of 30-40 lakes in Shatura, - said Vyacheslav Gusiakov, head of the Laboratory of the Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics SB RAS. - The origin of the remaining lakes are more or less clear. And here is flat terrain and suddenly there is a ring structure, surrounded by a rampart and further reduction ... "

But it is almost perfectly round shape of the lake and attracted fans of extraterrestrial stories. Their version: Lake meteorite origin. Formed ten thousand years from the fall of 20 meter outer body. Evidence of this hypothesis, a lot. However, he has not yet found a meteorite. A joint Russian-American expedition just to dot the "i" in the origin of this water body.

Vyacheslav Gusiakov believes that the main thing - to find the right place and to take samples under the ground, to see if there are rocks ejected from the depths, to study the geological section of the site at a depth of 50-60 meters.

Depression Svetloyar Lake - Crater meteorite origin

But the first round of the lake, and the most cursory examination of his right brings some interesting finds.

"There is a set of stones that just amazed how all of this - says a leading researcher at the Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Maccabees. - In some places there are pebbles on which surprisingly smooth parallel cracks. But these cracks occur when the subject put a lot of pressure and suddenly take it off. "

The task of scientists to take as many samples and conduct laboratory research to say for sure whether the Moscow region in the past undergone a meteoric bombardment.

"As part of any meteorite is metal, nickel - sure researcher Dallas Abbott, leader of the expedition. - On the ground, the soil is very little nickel. And if we find it in large numbers, it could be argued that it was the fall of the cosmic body. This is one way to prove that the lake appeared as a direct result of a meteorite. "

Image above: As part of an international expedition took part: Professor Dallas Abbott, a member of the Observatory-Doherty Earth Lomond, a researcher micrographs Dee Breger.

Renowned scholar American Dallas Abbott for the first time in the Russian outback. It belongs to her discovery of several craters on Earth. The most famous - underwater crater Mahuika near New Zealand. It was formed in 1447. Then, according to Abbott, fell into the ocean a huge meteorite, which caused a mega-tsunami, the wave height of over 100 meters. In 2009, she made a sensational new report: Little Ice Age in the 6th century, which lasted four years on Earth, too, caused by the fall of a large meteorite. It was followed by volcanic eruptions, dust emission in the atmosphere, crop failure, famine. The result - a global epidemic of plague. Dallas does not exclude that the Flood could also arise due to the fall of the celestial body.

In the history of mankind are many myths and legends about the raging elements. But not knowing how to explain the disaster, people attributed their otherworldly forces. A striking example - Lake Svetloyar in the Nizhny Novgorod region. From this place connects the mysterious disappearance of Kitezh City, according to the legend of the past into the water together with the people, not willing to surrender to the army of Batu. There are earlier - Mari myth.

Alexey Kiselev long held the view of meteoritic origin of the lake Svetloyar

Lecturer of the Department of Astronomy of the University Mininskogo Alexey Kiselev retells it: "According to legend, there lived a tribe pans. Goddess Turk angry with the tribe and sent fiery horse, and this horse has destroyed the rebellious lords ... "

But, there to have spoken, and the fall of meteorites - the phenomenon is not rare in our lives. But unlike a dead moon, where craters all at a glance, everything on Earth "space wounds" quickly tightened the winds and the rain. Search craters - this is one way to revive the memories of the past. Even after a century, the modern world reflect the cosmic threat not yet in force.

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=20141

Images, Text, Credits: Roscosmos TV studio (ROSCOSMOS PAO) / Dmitry Karabelnikov (images) / Translation: Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Galactic pinwheel

ESA - XMM-Newton Mission patch.

10 June 2013

 Pinwheel Galaxy in ultraviolet

The face-on Pinwheel spiral galaxy is seen at ultraviolet wavelengths in this image taken by ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescope.

Also known as M101, the galaxy lies 21 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It measures 170 000 light-years across – nearly twice the diameter of our own Milky Way Galaxy – and contains at least a trillion stars. About a billion of these stars could be similar to our own Sun.

More often seen in visible light, here the Pinwheel Galaxy glows at ultraviolet wavelengths. Massive, hot young stars streaming with ultraviolet radiation mark out the galaxy’s spiral arms with bright pockets of forming stars.

Pinwheel Galaxy seen in visible light (Hubble Space Telescope)

Since the largest stars are the shortest lived, with a maximum lifespan of a few million years, studying the ultraviolet radiation being emitted by a distant galaxy is a good way to measure how much star formation is taking place within it – and it is clear that M101 is still very active.

The galaxy has also borne witness to the death of stars, with four supernova explosions recorded between 1909 and 2011.

The Pinwheel Galaxy appears slightly lopsided, its arms wound tightly around the central bulge on one side but more loosely bound on the other. Its architecture is likely due to interactions with other galaxies earlier in its history, their gravitational attraction pushing and pulling M101’s arms in new directions.

XMM-Newton X-ray & UV images of M 101

This view of M101 is composed of images taken by XMM-Newton’s Optical Monitor telescope using different filters: red, green and blue.

This images is from our archives; it was first published in the XMM-Newton image gallery in 2002 with a complementary X-ray image of M101.

More about:

XMM-Newton overview: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/XMM-Newton_overview

XMM-Newton image gallery: http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_science/gallery/public/index.php

XMM-Newton in-depth: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=23

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / XMM & R. Willatt / ESA & NASA Hubble / Investigator(s):  L.P. Jenkins, T.P. Roberts, R.S. Warwick.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Mars Rover Opportunity Trekking Toward More Layers

NASA - Mars Exploration Rover "Opportunity" (MER-B) patch.

June 9, 2013

 Opportunity's View of 'Solander Point'

Image above: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to acquire this view of "Solander Point" during the mission's 3,325th Martian day, or sol (June 1, 2013). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

Approaching its 10th anniversary of leaving Earth, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is on the move again, trekking to a new study area still many weeks away.

The destination, called "Solander Point," offers Opportunity access to a much taller stack of geological layering than the area where the rover has worked for the past 20 months, called "Cape York." Both areas are raised segments of the western rim of Endeavour Crater, which is about 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.

"Getting to Solander Point will be like walking up to a road cut where you see a cross section of the rock layers," said Ray Arvidson of Washington University, St. Louis, deputy principal investigator for the mission.

Opportunity's View Leaving 'Cape York'

Image above: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to acquire this view looking toward the southwest on the mission's 3,315th Martian day, or sol (May 21, 2013). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Solander Point also offers plenty of ground that is tilted toward the north, which is favorable for the solar-powered rover to stay active and mobile through the coming Martian southern-hemisphere winter.

"We're heading to a 15-degree north-facing slope with a goal of getting there well before winter," said John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., project manager for the Mars Exploration Rover Project. The minimum-sunshine days of this sixth Martian winter for Opportunity will come in February 2014.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project launched twin rovers in 2003: Spirit on June 10 and Opportunity on July 7. Both rovers landed in January 2004, completed three-month prime missions and began years of bonus, extended missions. Both found evidence of wet environments on ancient Mars. Spirit ceased operations during its fourth Martian winter, in 2010. Opportunity shows symptoms of aging, such as loss of motion in some joints, but continues to accomplish groundbreaking exploration and science.

Opportunity's Traverse Through 112 Months

Image above: This map shows the 22.553-mile (36.295-kilometer) route driven by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity from the site of its landing, inside Eagle crater at the upper left, to its location more than 112 months later, in late May 2013, departing the "Cape York" section of the rim of Endeavour crater. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/NMMNHS.

Shortly before leaving Cape York last month, Opportunity used the rock abrasion tool, the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the microscopic imager on its robotic arm to examine a rock called "Esperance" and found a combination of elements pointing to clay-mineral composition.

"The Esperance results are some of the most important findings of our entire mission," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the mission. "The composition tells us about the environmental conditions that altered the minerals. A lot of water moved through this rock."

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Cape York exposes just a few yards, or meters, of vertical cross-section through geological layering. Solander Point exposes roughly 10 times as much. Researchers hope to find evidence about different stages in the history of ancient Martian environments. The rim of Endeavour Crater displays older rocks than what Opportunity examined at Eagle, Endurance, Victoria and Santa Maria craters during the first eight years of the rover's work on Mars.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. For more about Spirit and Opportunity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov . You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at: http://twitter.com/MarsRovers and http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers .

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

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Small Asteroid pass Between Earth and Moon

Asteroid Watch.

June 8, 2013

Image above: This illustration shows the path of the small asteroid 2013 LR6, safely pass within 65,000 miles (105,000 kilometers) of Earth on June 7 at 9:42 p.m. PDT (June 8 at 12:42 a.m. EDT). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Small asteroid 2013 LR6 safely fly past this evening at 9:42 p.m. PDT (which is June 8 at 12:42 a.m. EDT/June 8 at 04:42 UTC) at a distance of about 65,000 miles (105,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface. The space rock, which is about 30 feet (10 meters) in diameter, will be above the Southern Ocean, south of Tasmania, at the time of closest approach. Asteroid 2013 LR6 was discovered by the NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky Survey on June 6.

Small Asteroid pass Between Earth and Moon (Artist's view)

NASA's Near-Earth Object Program at NASA Headquarters, Washington, manages and funds the search, study and monitoring of asteroids and comets whose orbits periodically bring them close to Earth. JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. 



More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is available at: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch and via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/asteroidwatch

Images, Text, Credits: NASA / Dwayne Brown / JPL / DC Agle / JPL-Caltech.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Timelapse: Giant magnet flies through ALICE cavern

CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

June 7, 2013

 Lowering magnet Q5L8 ALICE cavern

The CERN accelerator complex is in its first long shutdown and undergoing a process called "consolidation," which means that engineers and maintenance crews are repairing and strengthening accelerator components in preparation for running at higher energy in 2015.

Image above: Engineers in the ALICE cavern supervise lowering the magnet onto the wheeled transporter. The large red doors of the ALICE detector are open, revealing the complex detector systems inside (Image: CERN).

As part of the shutdown, up to 18 superconducting magnets on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be replaced, including 15 dipole magnets 3 and quadrupole magnet assemblies. Quadrupole magnets help to focus the particles into a tight beam so they are more likely to collide in greater numbers as they reach the LHC detectors. Each quadrupole has four magnetic poles arranged symmetrically around the beam pipe to squeeze the beam either vertically or horizontally.

This week technicians lowered a replacement quadrupole magnet assembly down the access shaft to the ALICE cavern. The cavern provides a handy access point to get equipment in and out of the LHC tunnel.

Image above: The quadrupole magnet arrives, carried by a wheeled transporter to its final position on the LHC (Image: CERN).

In the timelapse video above, magnet is lowered, raised then lowered once again onto a wheeled transporter that will carry it to position on the LHC.

Note:

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel is an Associate Member in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.

Download a diagram of the main consolidations on the LHC: http://cds.cern.ch/record/1516031?ln=en

First long shutdown: http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2013/02/long-shutdown-1-exciting-times-ahead

Large Hadron Collider (LHC): http://home.web.cern.ch/about/accelerators/large-hadron-collider

ALICE: http://home.web.cern.ch/about/experiments/alice

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: CERN / Cian O'Luanaigh.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch