Tag Archives: NASA

NASA’s New Web-Based Solar System Orrery

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

NASA has introduced a web-based orrery showing a real-time simulated view of our solar system, with planets, moons and spacecraft shown where they are right now. Go to solarsystem.nasa.gov and click on the solar system icon in the menu. The orrery is a lightweight, mobile-friendly version of NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System software. “This snapshot of our solar system focuses on active NASA planetary science missions and select ESA missions. Showcasing the entire operating NASA fleet is too much of a data wallop at the moment (but we are working on it). International missions such as Japan’s Akatsuki (orbiting Venus) and ESA’s BepiColombo (en route to Mercury) are not yet available.” The orrery is a WebGL application – it’s performance will be better on systems with accelerated graphics. Related Tweet: Go to https://t.co/abXYSA6T9t – hit the hamburger menu – and hit Orrery. New WebGL experience from the ‘Eyes….’ team. Lots more to come from the new engine behind it – but … Continue reading →

Sunset for Dawn

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by
This entry is part 27 of 27 in the series The Dawn Misson to the Asteroid Belt

NASA’s Dawn mission has come to an end; the spacecraft has run out of propellant, and is no longer able to point its antenna at Earth. I’ve seen numerous posts online from distraught astronomers and space enthusiasts – this post will add to that cacophony. The Dawn spacecraft visited the two most massive bodies in the main asteroid belt: asteroid 4 Vesta, and dwarf planet Ceres; Dawn orbited both of these bodies – a first in spaceflight history. Dawn was propelled by an ion drive; with barely a breath of thrust, its engine operated for tens of thousands of hours; Dawn set the record for velocity change produced by a spacecraft’s engines. I’ve followed the Dawn mission since its launch; “The Dawn Mission at Asteroid Vesta” was the first topic I lectured about as a volunteer NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador. So much new and interesting information kept pouring in during the mission, I had to update my Dawn lecture continuously; I’ve … Continue reading →

NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

NASA’s Curiosity rover has found new evidence preserved in rocks on Mars that suggests the planet could have supported ancient life, as well as new evidence in the Martian atmosphere that relates to the search for current life on the Red Planet. While not necessarily evidence of life itself, these findings are a good sign for future missions exploring the planet’s surface and subsurface. The new findings — “tough” organic molecules in 3-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks near the surface, as well as seasonal variations in the levels of methane in the atmosphere — appear in the June 8 edition of the journal Science. Organic molecules contain carbon and hydrogen, and also may include oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. While commonly associated with life, organic molecules also can be created by non-biological processes and are not necessarily indicators of life. “Are there signs of life on Mars? We don’t know, but these results tell us we are on the right track.” – … Continue reading →

Br. Bob Macke is Collaborating on NASA’s Lucy Mission

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

Br. Bob Macke has become a collaborator on the science team for NASA’s Lucy mission Br. Bob Macke of the Vatican Observatory Foundation has recently become a non-funded participating scientist on NASA’s Lucy mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. The Lucy mission will be the first spacecraft to visit Trojan asteroids, which are asteroids that orbit at the same distance as Jupiter at its L4 and L5 Lagrangian points (60 degrees ahead of and behind Jupiter). Lucy is scheduled to launch in October of 2021 – it will perform several Earth gravity-assists, taking 12 years to travel to seven different asteroids: including the Main Belt asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson (named after the person who discovered the Australopithecus skeleton named Lucy) and six Trojan asteroids – two of those a binary asteroid pair! The Lucy mission will visit more independent destinations than any other space mission in history. Many of the Trojan asteroids are different from the main-belt asteroids, and may have been … Continue reading →

Marvellous Mars Castletown House Ireland

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

Updated Marvellous Mars memories For several years now I have been visiting Castletown House doing workshops for families. Mams, dads, granny’s, grandad’s and kids all working together. Everyone  learning together about planets and space missions. This year however COVID 19 has prevented that happening so far. So here is one from May 2018, my Marvellous Mars drawing workshop. Castletown House is a Georgian palace set in a magnificent landscape in Co Kildare. The building is full of grace and elegance of times long past. That splendour coupled with all that is required of a building for public events makes Castletown House a special place. It was a pleasure to be invited to do a workshop in this excellent venue. Particularly timely as it was on the eve of the launch of NASA’s InSight mission. The evening was set up for my Marvellous Mars drawing workshop. The audience were families, mams, dads and children, a perfect combination. It was beautiful, with late … Continue reading →

Spacecraft 3D: NASA’s Augmented Reality Smartphone App

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

NASA has an app for smartphones that lets you learn about and interact with several different spacecraft that explore our solar system, study the Earth, and observe the cosmos. You can hold a virtual Mars rover in the palm of your hand, or watch as a rocket’s boosters fall away, and its fairing separate! Seeing the Curiosity rover popup in my hand, and being able to rotate it, zoom, and deploy its mast – using my Android – just blew me away! I think students would LOVE this! If you have an iOS/Android phone,download Spacecraft 3D now and experience #AugmentedReality! https://t.co/gPQPe62z6k pic.twitter.com/8RuPfOZktS — : NASA_Eyes (@nasa_eyes) December 8, 2016 A photo target must be used for the app to generate the spacecraft model; the photo can be small enough to fit in your hand, or printed larger for use on a tabletop. The app can email you a link to the AR target (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/apps/images/3dtarget.pdf) which includes some cool Mars pics … Continue reading →

Space the final Frontier – World Space Week 2016

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by
This entry is part 1 of 12 in the series Exploring the Solar System

“Space: the final frontier. ” The opening line of the famous quote from Star Trek, the missions aim ” to boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before. ” During Spaceweek 2016 I had the opportunity to take 360 children and their teachers on an exploration of moons in our solar system and the very topical planet Mars . Through listening and drawing they experienced a small awakening to the robotic images which are unveiling the beauty of other worlds, increasing our understanding with every single pixel. My workshop Deadly Moons now includes the stunning New Horizons image of Charon Pluto’s largest moon. The children loved the Star Wars names on its craters . They enjoyed linking Charon’s features to familiar books and movies. The workshop also showcases the incredable images of Saturn’s moons taken by the Cassini Spacecraft. In order to make my workshop Marvellous Mars extra interesting for the groups I made a model of Mars … Continue reading →

NASA Tests Solid Rocket Boosters for its Space Launch System

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

NASA tested a Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) for the world’s most powerful rocket: the Space Launch System (SLS) on the morning of June 28, 2016. This was the second qualification ground test at Orbital ATK’s test facilities in Promontory, Utah, and the last full-scale test of the SRB before the first uncrewed SLS test flight in 2018. This flight will include NASA’s Orion spacecraft, and will mark a key milestone in NASA’s future plans for operations beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), and voyages and Mars The booster was tested at 40 degrees Fahrenheit –the low end of its accepted propellant temperature range. After ignition, temperatures inside the booster reached nearly 6,000 degrees. The test lasted for two-minutes, and provided NASA with data on 82 qualification objectives needed for flight certification. Solid Rocket Booster Details Length: 177 feet Diameter: 12 feet Weight: 1.6 million pounds each Propellant: polybutadiene acrylonitrile (PBAN) Thrust: 3.6 million pounds each Operational time: 126 seconds SLS Homepage: … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: Gift of Tongues

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by
This entry is part 73 of 191 in the series Across the Universe

This column first ran in The Tablet in May, 2012 “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” We heard that reading a week ago, celebrating the feast of the Ascension. At least, I think that’s what I heard; [in 2012], it was in Japanese, in the small cathedral in Niigata, during an international meeting on asteroids, comets, and meteors. Why do we astronomers stand about, looking at the sky? We heard a number of reasons. One scientist described Nasa’s ambitions to send astronauts to asteroids passing near the Earth. Their expressed reasons involve science (where do asteroids, and we, come from?); resources (commercial efforts to exploit asteroids); and planetary safety (how do we nudge an asteroid out of a collision path with Earth?). The unspoken motivation is political: astronauts at an asteroid is the kind of project that is both exciting and achievable, a reason for voters to support NASA’s budget. We know right now … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: The Still Voice in the Chaos

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by
This entry is part 58 of 191 in the series Across the Universe

This column first appeared in The Tablet in January, 2010. During the Apollo 17 walk on the Moon, the astronauts collected a rock for the specific purpose of providing samples to pass out to nations around the world. About 200 Apollo 17 samples were distributed in this way. But Robert Pearlman, who runs the space-news website collectspace.com, wrote in 2010 that NASA can now account for only 61 of them. (The one sent to the Vatican resides in our display case at the Vatican Observatory.) I’m not surprised; keeping track of samples is harder than it looks. The humor of the “Night at the Museum” movies comes from the conceit that the specimens in a museum’s display cases are alive, that they get up and move around during the night. Every collector knows that feeling. It’s surprisingly hard to keep our collections in order. One of the little breakthroughs in my own research was finding that a simple measurement of a … Continue reading →

NASA Announces Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO)

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

NASA has enacted a formal asteroid detection, tracking, and impact response program. = Finally! = This ought to make the folks at AsteroidDay ecstatic; I think I injured myself doing the dance-of-joy! After the Chelyabinsk impact event, I created a lecture about asteroids – what they are, how they formed, famous impact events, and the near total lack of any formal Planetary Defense plans in place. I was a pest to Br. Guy when I was writing this lecture – I asked him so many questions… I got so much good information! The year after Chelyabinsk saw an increase in discussions about asteroids – with testimony given to Congress, at astronomical conferences, multiple online discussions, and an interview with Dr. Ed Lu of the B612 Foundation on 60 Minutes. This was great to see happening, and I had to update my asteroids lecture continuously, but there still wasn’t anyone saying “We acknowledge asteroid impacts are a threat, and we’re going … Continue reading →

Travelogue: Orion Spacecraft ESA European Service Module Media Event at NASA Glenn’s Plum Brook Station

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

Launches and the conditions in space put incredible stresses on spacecraft components. Before a spacecraft takes flight, it must go through an exhaustive series of testing procedures. Many of those tests are done at Ohio’s NASA Glenn Research Center – Plum Brook Station; stresses akin to those experienced by spacecraft are simulated at this facility. I was fortunate enough to be “media guest” at the Nov. 30th ESA Service Module event – which was broadcast on NASA TV. Below is a NASA press release on the testing that will be done on the ESA European Service Module. After, I’ll share photos of the facility, and comments on discussions I had with NASA officials. NASA is about to begin testing the heart of Orion’s power systems at the world’s largest, most powerful space environment simulation facility early next year. Test engineers at NASA Glenn Research Center’s Space Power Facility (SPF) in Sandusky, Ohio, are preparing to put a full-size test version … Continue reading →