Here is a NASA video on the scientific research and application development happening on the International Space Station by commercial businesses:
Alexander MacDonald of NASA’s Emerging Space Office gave an interesting talk at the recent Int. Symposium on Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS 2015) on the history of private space development and commercial partnerships with NASA.
Everyday Spacer hosts the latest Carnival of Space.
A new report from ESO (European Southern Observatory):
The Birth of Monsters
VISTA pinpoints earliest giant galaxies
ESO’s VISTA survey telescope has spied a horde of previously hidden massive galaxies that existed when the Universe was in its infancy. By discovering and studying more of these galaxies than ever before, astronomers have, for the first time, found out exactly when such monster galaxies first appeared.
Just counting the number of galaxies in a patch of sky provides a way to test astronomers’ theories of galaxy formation and evolution. However, such a simple task becomes increasingly hard as astronomers attempt to count the more distant and fainter galaxies. It is further complicated by the fact that the brightest and easiest galaxies to observe — the most massive galaxies in the Universe — are rarer the further astronomers peer into the Universe’s past, whilst the more numerous less bright galaxies are even more difficult to find.
A team of astronomers, led by Karina Caputi of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at the University of Groningen, has now unearthed many distant galaxies that had escaped earlier scrutiny. They used images from the UltraVISTA survey, one of six projects using VISTA to survey the sky at near-infrared wavelengths, and made a census of faint galaxies when the age of the Universe was between just 0.75 and 2.1 billion years old.
UltraVISTA has been imaging the same patch of sky, nearly four times the size of a full Moon, since December 2009. This is the largest patch of sky ever imaged to these depths at infrared wavelengths. The team combined these UltraVISTA observations with those from the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope, which probes the cosmos at even longer, mid-infrared wavelengths .
“We uncovered 574 new massive galaxies — the largest sample of such hidden galaxies in the early Universe ever assembled,” explains Karina Caputi. “Studying them allows us to answer a simple but important question: when did the first massive galaxies appear?”
Imaging the cosmos at near-infrared wavelengths allowed the astronomers to see objects that are both obscured by dust, and extremely distant [2], created when the Universe was just an infant.
The team discovered an explosion in the numbers of these galaxies in a very short amount of time. A large fraction of the massive galaxies we now see around us in the nearby Universe were already formed just three billion years after the Big Bang.
“We found no evidence of these massive galaxies earlier than around one billion years after the Big Bang, so we’re confident that this is when the first massive galaxies must have formed,” concludes Henry Joy McCracken, a co-author on the paper [4].
In addition, the astronomers found that massive galaxies were more plentiful than had been thought. Galaxies that were previously hidden make up half of the total number of massive galaxies present when the Universe was between 1.1 and 1.5 billion years old [5]. These new results, however, contradict current models of how galaxies evolved in the early Universe, which do not predict any monster galaxies at these early times.
ESO’s VISTA survey telescope has spied a horde of previously hidden massive galaxies that existed when the Universe was in its infancy. By discovering and studying more of these galaxies than ever before, astronomers have for the first time found out exactly when such monster galaxies first appeared. The newly discovered massive galaxies are marked on this image of the UltraVISTA field. Credit: ESO/UltraVISTA team. Acknowledgement: TERAPIX/CNRS/INSU/CASU. Music: Johan Monell (www.johanmonell.com)
To complicate things further, if massive galaxies are unexpectedly dustier in the early Universe than astronomers predict then even UltraVISTA wouldn’t be able to detect them. If this is indeed the case, the currently-held picture of how galaxies formed in the early Universe may also require a complete overhaul.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) will also search for these game-changing dusty galaxies. If they are found they will also serve as targets for ESO’s 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), which will enable detailed observations of some of the first ever galaxies.
Notes
[1] ESO’s VISTA telescope observed in the near-infrared wavelength range 0.88–2.15 μm while Spitzer performed observations in the mid-infrared at 3.6 and 4.5 μm.
[2] The expansion of space means that the more distant a galaxy is, the faster it appears to be speeding away from an observer on Earth. This stretching causes the light from these distant objects to be shifted into redder parts of the spectrum, meaning that observations in the near-to-mid infrared are necessary to capture the light from these galaxies.
[3] In this context, “massive” means more than 50 billion times the mass of the Sun. The total mass of the stars in the Milky Way is also close to this figure.
[4] The team found no evidence of massive galaxies beyond a redshift of 6, equivalent to times less than 0.9 billion years after the Big Bang.
An announcement from the Reach for the Stars organization:
NAR, AIAA, Estes and Homer Hickam Honor
Reach for the Stars – National Rocket Competition Winners at Space Camp
Three winners of the Reach for the Stars ~ National Rocket Competition: Kalli Riemer, Emily Schmidtlein and Maya Watson celebrated with their families at Space Camp in “Rocket City” Huntsville, Alabama. For the past 9 years – over 50 percent of the national winners have been girls! Girl Scouts have taken an amazing seven national wins.
Contestants in the competition had to build and launch their own solid-fuel powered rocket. The competitions were held in their area by schools, scouts, youth groups and Challenger Learning Centers. The closest average landing by parachute to a target after two launches wins the local event. Local winner’s results are submitted to the national competition headquarters.
In response to the nations call for more interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) activities – nearly 2000 kids across the nation participated in the ninth annual Reach for the Stars ~ National Rocket Competition. At the end of the competition those who had the “Right Stuff”* were victorious. The annual Competition, for ages ten to eighteen, runs continuously. More information about this and the Astronaut Hall of Fame Event is available at www.therocketman.net .
The national winners launched their rockets in celebration under an “October Sky” from Homer Hickam Field.** Most of the competitors and many of the family and friends have read his inspirational book, Rocket Boys or seen the movie,October Sky. Competition director, Jack Colpas says, “Getting the opportunity to launch their rockets from an exciting location is an important part of the celebration.”
In addition to the launch, the kids were awarded a Space Shuttle Challenger commemorative coin and certificate that honor the memory of the first Teacher-in-Space, Christa McAuliffe and the crew of the Challenger. The certificates are signed by Captain Jon McBride, who piloted Challenger on one of its earliest missions. They also received an autographed photo and letter of congratulations from author, Homer Hickam. Estes – the world leader in educational rocketry provided $200 to help with travel expenses and a model rocket for each winner.
Presentation was made by Vince Huegele, educational chair for the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), Matt Green – Space Camp Operations, US Space & Rocket Center and G. Alan Lowrey – Regional Director, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Matt Green put the winners through their paces as they experienced the Astronaut Training Simulators at Space Camp. They took turns walking in the 1/6 gravity of the moon, moved about mock space in a MMU (Manned Maneuvering Unit) and tested their intestinal fortitude in the Spatial Disorientation Simulator. Alan Lowrey photographed the kids throughout the day. The pictures are available at www.flickr.com/photos/OctoberRockets
Then they got to tour the US Space & Rocket Center with their friends and families.Two teachers, Tina Hackey and Dennis O’Connell – whose efforts produced a national winner – joined in the celebration. The group gets to visit the Space Shuttle Simulator – Pathfinder, see the amazing display at Rocket and Shuttle Parks, the Apollo Courtyard and the Saturn V Hall. “The U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) is a Smithsonian Affiliate and the Official Visitor Center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The Center has one of the largest collections of rockets and space memorabilia anywhere in the world.” (rocketcenter.com/museum )
This is a fantastic opportunity for a young rocketeer. Reach for the Stars ~ National Rocket Competition directors Jack and Kathy Colpas boast, “National winners receive memories to last a lifetime – and bragging rights for generations to come.”
Model rocket manufacturer Estes, the world leader in educational rocketry, provided $200 in prize money to the top three national winners. The prize money is provided to help with travel expenses. Travel funding is crucial. These kids have earned the right to attend the national winners’ celebrations.
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center and Hampton Inn – Huntsville joined together to provide unforgettable memories for the national winners of the annual Reach for the Stars ~ National Rocket Competition. Tickets to Space Camp, plus discounted lodging and free breakfast are being provided for four winners and their families. Without the generosity of these companies, this winners’ celebration would not be possible.
Corporate sponsors are needed to ensure kids nationwide have the opportunity to compete. Sponsors receive national recognition and the satisfaction of Helping Kids Reach for the Stars.
Jack and Kathy Colpas, co-directors of the Reach for the Stars ~ National Rocket Competition are retired public school educators. “Our goal is to give kids the educational experience of building and launching a solid-fuel powered rocket. Our purpose is to foster an interest in model rocketry, STEM subjects and aeronautics. Our mission is to keep alive the memory of the first Teacher-in-Space, Christa McAuliffe.”
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* Thomas Wolfe, The Right Stuff – (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 1979
**Homer Hickam is the author of the memoir, Rocket Boys. which became the inspirational movie October Sky.
A small sampling of the use of satellite earth observation imagery:
* Satellites help fight drought in Ethiopia – UNICEF Connect
Ethiopia is currently in one of its periodic droughts. Satellites are
One of the most affected areas in the country is the Afar Region in the Great Rift Valley where daily temperatures can exceed 44 degrees Celsius and there is less than 300mm of rain annually.
Most of the Afar region’s population of 1.5 million people survive mainly on herding (92 percent), and the animals need water. Water the existing wells aren’t providing.
This is where satellites come in. UNICEF analyzes information the satellites provide on ground vegetation, topology and morphology, combined with hydro-geological information on the region, and pinpoints the best place to drill wells.
![Ethiopia-satellite-1[1]](https://i0.wp.com/hobbyspace.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Ethiopia-satellite-11.jpg)
Just 84 km north of Afar’s capital of Samera, UNICEF put its remote sensing satellite plan into action. The government identified the district of Elidar as a priority location—shepherds head there due to water shortages elsewhere.
Currently, people rely on expensive commercial trucks to haul in water because most of the water found by digging wells is very salty. Deep underground, however, lies fresh water, and the UNICEF-directed remote sensing investigations have found just the right places to drill boreholes down between 250 and 300 metres.
Three boreholes will be drilled by end December 2015. These wells will provide more than 100,000 people with access to safe water. A contract has been awarded to a private drilling contractor at a cost of 9 million birr (US$ 433,264), and UNICEF will supervise the works with the local water bureau.
* Radar satellites to provide faster response to earthquake victims
Sang-Ho Yun and his team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed techniques to use satellite radar images automaticalluy to locate the specific areas that were shifted up or down the most by a large earthquake. Such information could be used by first responders to go to the places with the worst damage.
They recently tested the approach with radar taken of Nepal taken shortly after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake happened in April. They found that their analysis of the images matched well with independent determinations of regional damage by teams from the UN, the US Geological Survey, and the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
* Mysterious 8000 year old earthworks in Kazakhstan spotted by satellites
Using satellite images available through Google Earth, the amateur Kazakh archaeologist Dmitriy Dey in 2007 spotted unusual structures in the Turgay Trough region of Kazakhstan. The structures, visible only from high altitudes, were subsequently found to have been created in Neolithic times about 8000 years ago. He has now found over 260 such structures. Some excavations in the region have found some artifacts but what group built the structures and why remains unknown.
![30KAZAKHSTAN1-facebookJumbo-v3[1]](https://i0.wp.com/hobbyspace.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/30KAZAKHSTAN1-facebookJumbo-v31.jpg)
Credits DigitalGlobe via NASA
