Monthly Archives: June 2015

Activism, DIY space, Space Systems

The LightSail goes silent once more

After coming back to life and appearing to deploy its solar panels, the Planetary Society‘s LightSail  has gone quiet again, probably due to drained batteries. They are expected to recharge eventually and allow the spacecraft to resume communicating: LightSail Falls Silent; Battery Glitch Suspected – The Planetary Society –

If LightSail is suffering from a chronic undervoltage condition, help could arrive naturally, Spencer said. “The spacecraft orbit is in a geometry where eclipse occurs roughly 2100 seconds each orbit.  This is near the maximum eclipse duration that LightSail-A will experience during the mission. Over the next couple of weeks, the orbit will precess to a full-sun condition, where the entire orbit is sunlit.”

When contact with LightSail is reestablished, the sail deployment sequence will likely be triggered as soon as battery levels are heathy enough to proceed.

For the latest updates:

Activism, Events

SpaceUp Kickstarter falling short of goal to support 5 US Space Unconferences

The SpaceUP Foundation‘s crowdfunding effort to raise $5500 to support five space unconferences in the US is only about halfway to its goal with just two days left: Sci-Five: 5 New SpaceUps for 2015 by SpaceUp Foundation — Kickstarter.

I’m surprised. I thought they would way exceed this goal. Still time to help them out.

Events, Exoplanets

William Borucki, leader of Kepler exoplanet finder, wins $1M Shaw Prize

After leading a multi-decade struggle to get the Kepler Observatory funded, built, launched into space, and successfully finding exoplanets, it’s good to see William Borucki receiving well-deserved recognition and reward:

From Space News:

What’s cooler than discovering thousands of exoplanets?

Winning a prestigious $1 million astronomy prize for discovering thousands exoplanets.

Cooler, still, considering that the prize winner, Kepler Science Principal Investigator William Borucki, was in NASA’s dog house two years before his planet-hunting telescope finally launched in 2009.

Borucki won the $1 million Shaw Prize in Astronomy on Monday (June 2) for his work discovering extrasolar planets and studying solar interiors. Dubbed the “Asian Nobel,” the $1 million prize is funded by Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist Run Run Shaw, who also awards prizes in the life sciences and mathematics.

Kepler, a life-long labor of love for the 76-year-old Borucki, has discovered more than 4,000 exoplanets since launching in March 2009.

 

Activism, DIY space, Space Systems

Update on the Planetary Society’s LightSail

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The saga of the Planetary Society’s LightSail spacecraft (see earlier post) continues. The control team decided to deploy only the solar panels today (Wednesday) and, if that went well, unfurl the solar sail on Friday: LightSail Deployment Update: Panels Wednesday, Sails Friday – The Planetary Society.

Data indicates that the deployment of the solar panels occurred, though it has not been confirmed visually with a photo from a spacecraft camera: LightSail Solar Panel Deployment: No Pics, but Data Look Good – The Planetary Society.

They will decide on Thursday whether to proceed with the sail deployment.

The spacecraft is out of range until Thursday, with the next ground station pass expected to begin at 4:45 a.m. EDT. A team meeting is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. to discuss the latest telemetry data. With evidence mounting in favor of a successful panel deployment, and an itch to press forward on the solar sails as soon as possible, further test imaging may be scrapped. Providing battery levels return to normal, and any outstanding issues are resolved, a Friday deployment could still be in the works.

Follow the latest updates at

Living in Space, micro-g R&D, SpaceCasts

Video: The effects of weightlessness on vision

Here’s a new video in a NASA series about research on the Int. Space Station. This entry focuses, so to speak, on the effects of weightlessness on human vision:

From the caption:

Every month on StationLIFE, we’ll focus on a scientific area where the International Space Station is conducting groundbreaking research. This month, astronaut Tracy Dyson talks about a unique challenge to humans flying in space: vision impairment.

Even after 50 years of human spaceflight, we are still exploring the effects microgravity can have on human health. In recent years, a new trend was identified: some International Space Station astronauts reported vision degradation during spaceflight. Research has identified a possible link between vision impairment and the increased intracranial pressure caused by shifts in bodily fluids from the lower extremities to the upper part of the body in microgravity. This is an area of intense interest aboard ISS, with implications for future exploration missions.

There is also an Earth benefit to the vision research aboard the space station; these studies provide insight into structural changes that can occur in the eyes and nervous system, which could be relevant for patients suffering from a wide range of ocular diseases such as glaucoma. It also provides data that could be used to help patients suffering from brain diseases, such as hydrocephalus and high blood pressure in the brain.