Tag Archives: NASA

NASA Orders SpaceX Commercial Crew Mission to the International Space Station

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

NASA took a significant step Friday toward expanding research opportunities aboard the International Space Station with its first mission order from Hawthorne, California based-company SpaceX to launch astronauts from U.S. soil. This is the second in a series of four guaranteed orders NASA will make under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts. The Boeing Company of Houston received its first crew mission order in May. “It’s really exciting to see SpaceX and Boeing with hardware in flow for their first crew rotation missions,” said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “It is important to have at least two healthy and robust capabilities from U.S. companies to deliver crew and critical scientific experiments from American soil to the space station throughout its lifespan.” Determination of which company will fly its mission to the station first will be made at a later time. The contracts call for orders to take place prior to certification to support the lead time … Continue reading →

Bright Mountains and Craters on Ceres

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by
This entry is part 13 of 27 in the series The Dawn Misson to the Asteroid Belt

NASA’s Dawn mission, is mapping dwarf planet Ceres from its high altitude mapping orbit (HAMO), and is returning more detailed images of the surface of this enigmatic world in the heart of the main asteroid belt. This 6 km (4 mile) tall conical mountain the northern hemisphere of Ceres has a bright, sharply defined perimeter, with almost no debris accumulated at the base. This image shows a portion of the northern hemisphere of Ceres. Note the crater with bright rim walls, and a splash pattern. I find the double-crater near the center-top of this image particularly interesting – there is little or no crater rim overlap, so it may have been a double-impact, and there appears to be a central peak in the center of the figure 8 structure.

Continue reading →

Dawn Mission Enters High Altitude Mapping Orbit Over Ceres

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by
This entry is part 15 of 27 in the series The Dawn Misson to the Asteroid Belt

NASA’s DAWN mission has entered into its High Altitude Mapping Orbit over Ceres; in addition to acquiring even higher resolution images of the dwarf planets cratered surface, Dawn will make use its color filters to gather more data about the nature of its surface, and its visible and infrared mapping spectrometer will collect spectra to help determine Ceres’ surface composition, temperature, and other properties. The DAWN spacecraft will remain in this orbit until the end of October, when it will engage its ion engine again, and begin spiraling down towards its Low Altitude Mapping Orbit – which it should achieve in mid-December. I’ve completed my spiral descent to my new orbit, #HAMO! Avg altitude 915 mi (1470 km) above #Ceres. I expect to start mapping next week — NASA’s Dawn Mission (@NASA_Dawn) August 13, 2015

Continue reading →

Send Your Name to Mars on InSight

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

Mars enthusiasts around the world can participate in NASA’s journey to Mars by adding their names to a silicon microchip headed to the Red Planet aboard NASA’s InSight Mars lander, scheduled to launch next year. “Our next step in the journey to Mars is another fantastic mission to the surface,” said Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By participating in this opportunity to send your name aboard InSight to the Red Planet, you’re showing that you’re part of that journey and the future of space exploration.” Submissions will be accepted until Sept. 8. To send your name to Mars aboard InSight, go to: http://go.usa.gov/3Aj3G The fly-your-name opportunity comes with “frequent-flier” points to reflect an individual’s personal participation in NASA’s journey to Mars, which will span multiple missions and multiple decades. The InSight mission offers the second such opportunity for space exploration fans to collect points by flying their names aboard a NASA mission, with more … Continue reading →

NASA to Test Experimental Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

Looking every bit like a stereotypical flying saucer, NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) would be used to safely decelerate larger and heavier payloads, traveling at supersonic speeds, in the thin atmosphere of Mars. Full-scale parachutes and drag devices will be tested high in Earth’s stratosphere – and you get to watch it streaming on the Internet! Testing will be continue through 2016. From the JPL article: Update, 7:45 p.m. EDT, June 2: Mission managers have postponed Wednesday’s scheduled launch of a high-altitude balloon carrying NASA’s Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) test vehicle because of unfavorable conditions. The next launch attempt is Thursday, June 4, no earlier than 1:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 a.m. HST). Latest LDSD blog update. Since Orville Wright first took to the skies over Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, experimental flight tests have been a relatively singular affair, with aviators taking their untried machines into the sky in search of good data and a great hangar story. But nowadays, … Continue reading →

Water, Water Everywhere

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on by

As NASA missions explore our solar system and search for new worlds, they are finding water in surprising places. Water is but one piece of our search for habitable planets and life beyond Earth, yet it links many seemingly unrelated worlds in surprising ways. “NASA science activities have provided a wave of amazing findings related to water in recent years that inspire us to continue investigating our origins and the fascinating possibilities for other worlds, and life, in the universe,” said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist for the agency. “In our lifetime, we may very well finally answer whether we are alone in the solar system and beyond.” The chemical elements in water, hydrogen and oxygen, are some of the most abundant elements in the universe. Astronomers see the signature of water in giant molecular clouds between the stars, in disks of material that represent newborn planetary systems, and in the atmospheres of giant planets orbiting other stars. There are several … Continue reading →