Category Archives: Astronomy

Astronomy, Education, Space Science

So where exactly is Voyager 1 with respect to the Solar System?

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A reader points to this discussion of where the Voyager 1 spacecraft is with respect to our solar system, the heliosphere , the Oort cloud, and interstellar space, a topic on which recent reports may have left some people confused:  What’s the deal with Voyager 1? – The Maddow Blog

Has Voyager 1 left the solar system? from The Rachel Maddow Show on Vimeo.

 This plot is particularly helpful:

This artist's concept shows NASA's Voyager spacecraft against a backdrop of stars.
You Are Here, Voyager: This artist’s concept puts huge solar system distances in
perspective. The scale bar is measured in astronomical units (AU), with each set
distance beyond 1 AU representing 10 times the previous distance. Each AU is equal to
the  distance from the sun to the Earth. It took from 1977 to 2013 for Voyager 1 to reach
the edge of interstellar space. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

Astronomy, History, Space Arts

Earth from space, pre-space travel

Astronomy, Space participation, Space Radio

Amateur and student radio astronomy conferences for 2014

The Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA) will hold their 2014 conference in tandem with the conference for Radio Jove (Solar and Planetary Astronomy for Schools) at Green Bank, West Virginia.

SARA and Radio Jove Conferences to be held in 2014

The Radio Jove team has announced they will conduct a conference immediately following the SARA conference at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia. The SARA Annual Conference will be June 29 to July 2 and the Radio Jove Conference will be July 2 to July 4, 2014. Anyone interested in radio astronomy is invited to attend either or both conferences, membership is not required.

The SARA Conference will feature presentations on a wide variety of topics from beginner to advanced and radio astronomy projects will be set up on the lawn in the evenings. The Radio Jove team will have presentations on Jupiter and solar observations as well as hardware and software. A Radio Jove system will be set up on the lawn. Dick Flagg, Wes Greenman and Jim Thieman as well as other Jove team members are planning to attend.

Details on the conference can be found at http://www.radio-astronomy.org/node/124
Registration fees and forms can be found at http://www.radio-astronomy.org/node/153

Astronomy, Exoplanets, Space business

Surrey Satellite to design exoplanet satellite mission

An announcement from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL):

ESA selects SSTL to design Exoplanet satellite mission

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the competitive design phase of CHEOPS science satellite, which will improve mankind’s understanding of exoplanets – planets orbiting distant stars outside our solar system. The contractor selection for the implementation phase is planned by mid-2014 and the launch is scheduled late 2017.

The CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) will finely characterise known exoplanets and their parent stars with an unprecedented accuracy. The satellite will measure the orbit and radius of those exoplanets, enabling the scientists to assess their potential habitability. The mission will also act as a “scout” performing preliminary observations on targets for the future European Extremely Large Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope that will be capable of more detailed analysis.

CHEOPS was selected from 25 missions proposed in response to ESA Call for Small Missions in 2012, which was targeting innovative small science missions that offer high value at low cost. CHEOPS is jointly developed by ESA and a consortium of Member States led by Switzerland: The Swiss-built instrument using a Ritchey–Chrétien optical telescope will observe the stars and their orbiting planets, while ESA is responsible for the provision of the satellite platform and the launch.

Over the next 10 months SSTL will design the satellite platform, which will host the telescope payload. To provide the mission within a short schedule and at low cost, ESA asked that any solution be based on an existing, flight-proven, satellite platform. SSTL’s solution is based on a variant of the highly successful SSTL-150 platform, which has seen recent service in Canada’s Sapphire space surveillance mission and the 5-satellite RapidEye Earth observation constellation.

In awarding the contract to SSTL, Frederic Safa, Head of Future Missions Office in ESA’s Science and Robotic Exploration Directorate stated: “We chose SSTL for this study for a combination of reasons such as their proven ability to build reliable low-cost missions and their past experience with satellites carrying high-performance optical telescopes.”

SSTL’s Head of Science, Doug Liddle, commented: “We are delighted that ESA selected SSTL to design the CHEOPS mission. We will draw on our experience to design a low cost, but high value solution that will demonstrate that ambitious science missions can be launched both quickly and economically.”

CHEOPS is envisaged as the first in a series of missions in the ESA Science Programme that will utilise small satellites for low cost and rapid development, in order to offer greater flexibility in response to new ideas from the scientific community and complement to the larger missions of ESA’s Science Programme.

About SSTL
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) is the world’s leading small satellite company, delivering operational space missions for a range of applications including Earth observation, science and communications. The Company designs, manufactures and operates high performance satellites and ground systems for a fraction of the price normally associated with space missions, with 580 staff working on turnkey satellite platforms, space-proven satellite subsystems and optical instruments.

Since 1981 SSTL has built and launched 41 satellites – as well as providing training and development programmes, consultancy services, and mission studies for ESA, NASA, international governments and commercial customers, with its innovative approach that is changing the economics of space.

In 2008 the Company set up a US subsidiary, Surrey Satellite Technology US LLC (SST-US) with facilities in Denver, Colorado to address the United States market and its customers for the provision of small satellite solutions, applications and services. www.sst-us.com