Monthly Archives: March 2014

Astronomy, Chinese space, The Moon

First images from the UV telescope on Chang’e-3 lander

International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) has been collaborating with

the National Astronomical Observatories -Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) & China National Space Administration (CNSA) to conduct Galaxy Imaging with the Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope aboard the Chang’e-3 lunar lander currently at Sinus Iridum on the lunar surface. In September 2012, ILOA signed a MoU with the NAOC-CAS. This was followed up with a MOU between ILOA and CNSA in August 2013. In exchange for the use of the Chang’e-3 LUT, ILOA will provide observation time to NAOC during its ILO-X and ILO-1 missions.

 – Mission Update January 2014: The start of permanet human operations on the Moon – ILOA.

Today they released for the first time some of the images captured by the LUT on the Chang’e 3 lander : Astronomy from the Moon: ILOA Acquires Exclusive Images from Chang’e-3 Lunar Ultraviolet / Optical Telescope.

Professor Jianyan Wei, principal investigator of the  LUT instrument, indicated that the testing and commissioning phase is complete and all the telescope systems are operating nominally. He reports that the LUT already has captured over 22,000 astronomical images. The 150-mm diameter, near ultraviolet telescope is the payload that has operated the longest and obtained the most data since the 14 December 2013 Moon landing of Chang’e-3.

While the telescope is small and won’t compete with the major UV space observatories, it is still an interesting demo. UV astronomy must be done outside of the earth’s atmosphere and someday UV astronomy might be one of the tasks for a lunar base.

VariableStarObsrvations

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

Video: NASA’s robotic refueling program

Development of an in-space infrastructure, which includes fuel depots, spacecraft refueling and repairs, etc., is essential for cost-effective space development. Here is a video about the Robotic Refueling Mission at NASA Goddard’s Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office:

Caption:

Goddard Space Flight Center’s Jill McGuire, the project manager for the Robotic Refueling Mission and Charles Bacon, Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office Systems Engineer explains the Robotic Refueling Mission. This is the weekly Payload Operations Integration Center segment from Marshall Space Flight Center and aired during Space Station Live on March 19, 2014.

Mars, Multiple media, Space Science

Mars orbiter spots newly formed ravine on surface

More evidence of a dynamic Mars:

NASA Orbiter Finds New Gully Channel on Mars 

A New Gully Channel in Terra Sirenum, Mars
This pair of before (left) and after (right) images from the High Resolution
Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter documents formation of a new channel on a Martian slope between 2010
and 2013, likely resulting from activity of carbon-dioxide frost.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona › Full image and caption

A comparison of images taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in November 2010 and May 2013 reveal the formation of a new gully channel on a crater-wall slope in the southern highlands of Mars.

These before-and-after images are available online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17958 .

Gully or ravine landforms are common on Mars, particularly in the southern highlands. This pair of images shows that material flowing down from an alcove at the head of a gully broke out of an older route and eroded a new channel. The dates of the images are more than a full Martian year apart, so the observations did not pin down the Martian season of the activity at this site. Before-and-after HiRISE pairs of similar activity at other sites demonstrate that this type of activity generally occurs in winter, at temperatures so cold that carbon dioxide, rather than water, is likely to play the key role.

HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project is managed for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information about HiRISE, see http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu . For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit http://www.nasa.gov.mro

Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Radio

$50SAT PocketQube satellite operating in orbit

The $50SAT (Eagle2)2 is a spacecraft launched last November and measures a mere 5x5x7.5 cm and weighs only 210 grams. This withing the PocketQube™ (PQ) class satellite standard of 5cm x cm x 15cm and weighing less than half a kilogram: $50SAT designated Morehead-OSCAR-76 – AMSAT-UK

The spacecraft is still operational and its ground track can be viewed at EAGLE 2 (13066W) – Satview.org.

$50SAT may be the smallest operational satellite in Earth orbit and cost less than $250 in parts to build, most of this being the cost of the TASC triple junction solar cells. $50SAT was built with standard off the shelf commercial components, no special radiation hardened parts were used.

The primary purpose of $50SAT was to create a cost effective platform for engineering and science students to use for developing real world skills. The PocketQube form factor has no precision mechanical parts and can be built from locally obtained sheet metal. 

$50SAT is comprised of two 40mm square circuit boards. The first is the processor/radio board with the PICAXE 40X2 processor, the Hope RFM22B transceiver module and devices for measuring temperature some protection devices.

The second board is the solar power control and monitor board. This board contains the maximum power point controllers as well as current monitors for the battery and summed solar power. The battery is a common 3.7V lithium ion camera battery.

$50SAT was n a collaborative education project between Professor Bob Twiggs,  Morehead State University and 3 radio amateurs, Howie DeFelice, AB2S, Michael Kirkhart, KD8QBA, and Stuart Robinson, GW7HPW.

A discussion group for the project is at $50SAT – Yahoo Groups.

Yaesu handheld receiver and the $50SATComparison of the $50SAT and a Yaesu handheld transceiver. (Hi-res image)

Living in Space, Mars, Space TV

Reality TV shows proposed for Mars One and Mars Society projects

The plan by the Mars-One project has always held media, especially reality TV shows, as the key to funding their effort to put a human settlement on the Red Planet. It appears that one television production company, Lions Gate is the first to give it a try: Mission To Colonize Mars To Become Reality TV Series – Deadline.com.

For the next several years, the series would be covering the different stages of preparation for the mission, starting with participant selection and the finalists — called candidates — undergoing an 8-year training protocol. The series’ cast will evolve as candidates in the mission drop out and new ones are brought in. “This is a social experiment that focuses on the people that would sign for something like this — they have to agree to participate and be willing to go on a one-way mission, knowing that if you go, you can never come back,” said Roy Bank, who is producing the project as part of his overall deal with Lionsgate TV.

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Robert Zubrin, co-founder of the Mars Society, was recently on The Space Show and he discussed Mars Arctic 365. MA365 involves putting a “crew” on the Mars Society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) at Devon Island for a full year rather than just a few months as in previous expeditions. Dr. Robert Zubrin, Thursday, 3-13-14 – Thespaceshow’s Blog

There might be a reality TV show based on this project as well: Mars Exploration Reality Series Shopped By Thinkfactory Media – Deadline.com.

The production company ThinkFactory Media has been developing

an unscripted TV project that would document Mars Society’s year-long Mars simulation in the Canadian Arctic. Thinkfactory had been working with the Mars Society on the project for the past four months. It took the series out to networks last week, with two outlets interested and currently in discussion with the production company. Tentatively titled Mission To Mars, the series is one of two Mars colonization reality projects in the marketplace, along with Lionsgate TV’s untitled series done in collaboration with Lansdorp’s Mars One, the international Mars mission backed by Dutch billionaire entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp.