June 12, 2008 — launch of GOES-O by NASA

Mission: GOES-O
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta IV
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 17
<!– Launch Time: **
–> Description: NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are actively engaged in a cooperative program, the multimission Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series N-P. This series will be a vital contributor to weather, solar and space operations, and science.

NASA launches new re-designed web site

NASA just launched their newly re-designed web site. It is very nice. Here’s a screen shot of the home page. I will posting a series of reviews on the site for the next few days. For now, I’d recommend just surfing over to the site and taking a good look around.

Here are my “first impressions” and initial observations of what one first sees on the homepage:
a. The site is clean, bold, and adventurous, just like space exploration should be.

b. The colors are vivid and pop from dark background

c. The graphics a very nice graphics, sometimes stunning.

d. The navigation – several areas – is easy

• Top items have pull down menus just rolling over
• Item splash pages (e.g., News); main content area windows scroll up on roll-over

e. The search tool is readily visible on the top right, also quite functional

f. One can see the Image of the Day

g. Easy access to NASA TV

h. The Popular Content Cloud on the middle right section is awesome

i. Interactive Features accessible from home page

j. The NASA Calendar – rollover a lighter block day and a pop-up window gives a little info with a link to get more info

Wally Schirra training suit for sale – $50,000!

Want to own a piece of real space history, and do you have $50,000 to spare?

Why not buy a blue training suit worn by Wally Schirra during training for Apollo 7?

Here’s the item on eBay.

November Star Chart (download in PDF)

Download the November Star Chart in PDF.

Source: Adventure Science Center

October 1, 2003 – Japan launches JAXA

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (宇宙航空研究開発機構, Uchū-Kōkū-Kenkyū-Kaihatsu-Kikō^?), or JAXA national , is Japan’s aerospace agency.

On October 1, 2003, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) and National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) were merged into one independent administrative institution: the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The consolidation of these three formerly independent organizations will allow a continuous and systematic approach to space exploration, from basic research to development and practical application.

This also means that the best of Japan’s advanced modern aerospace technologies are gathered together – a concentration of technologies that is expected to create new energy to propel Japan’s efforts challenges to space.

The new organization is also facing the challenge of meeting the aims of administrative reform. We are willing to tackle that too, by improving efficiency and raising staff consciousness.

As a leading industrial nation, Japan is responsible for taking the initiative in the creation of scientific knowledge. JAXA endeavors to add a new page to the history of aerospace development, putting Japan on the same footing as other space-technology advanced nations.

Source: JAXA web site

JAXA RSS service here

Read more on Wikipedia

September 20, 2000 – Cosmonaut Gherman Titov dies

Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov (born September 11, 1935 in the village of Verkhnie Zhilino) died on September 20, 2000. He was found dead in the sauna of his Moscow home. He died of a heart-attack. Titov was the second human to orbit the earth, preceded only by Yuri Gagarin, although Titov was the first man to make a complete orbit of the Earth.

Wikipedia says:

“Following his spaceflight, Titov went on to assume various senior positions in the Soviet space programme until his retirement in 1992. In 1995 he was elected to the State Duma as a member of the Communist Party. He died of cardiac arrest in his sauna at the age of 65 in Moscow. He was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery. Titov’s family has established a fund in Houston towards NASA’s research center”

September 19, 1998 – Israel launches first space satellite

Israel became a spacefaring nation just two months prior to China when it launched its first satellitle, Ofeq, on September 19, 1998. Ofeq was the first of a series of reconnaissance satellites.

In 1995 the Israeli Space Agency said:

“Space research and exploration is an essential instrument for the defense of life on Earth; the lever for technological progress; the key to existing in a modern society; essential for developing an economy based on knowledge; and the central attraction for scientific and qualified human resources.”

Israeli Space Agency – ISA (Hebrew: סוכנות החלל הישראלית Sohnut HaHalal HaYisraelit) is a governmental body, that coordinates all Israeli programs of Space Research with scientific and commercial purposes. The agency was founded in 1983 (Wikipedia).

August 27, 1962 – Mariner 2 is launched

NASA copy – http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/mariner1-2.html

Spacecraft
Launch (Mariner 2): August 27, 1962
Flyby (Mariner 2): December 14, 1962
Mass: 203 kilograms (447 pounds)
Science instruments: Microwave radiometer, infrared radiometer, flux-gate magnetometer, ion chamber and Geiger-Mueller counters, cosmic dust detector, solar plasma detector

Overview

As plans were getting under way to explore the Moon with the Rangers and Surveyors, JPL and NASA also turned their attention to the rest of the solar system. The Mariner series of missions were designed to be the first U.S. spacecraft to other planets, specifically Venus and Mars. Mariner 1 and 2 were nearly identical spacecraft developed to fly by Venus. The rocket carrying Mariner 1 went off-course during launch on July 22, 1962, and was blown up by a range safety officer about 5 minutes into flight.

A month later, Mariner 2 was launched successfully on August 27, 1962, sending it on a 3-1/2-month flight to Venus. On the way it measured for the first time the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles flowing outward from the Sun. It also measured interplanetary dust, which turned out to be more scarce than predicted. In addition, Mariner 2 detected high-energy charged particles coming from the Sun, including several brief solar flares, as well as cosmic rays from outside the solar system.

As it flew by Venus on December 14, 1962, Mariner 2 scanned the planet with infrared and microwave radiometers, revealing that Venus has cool clouds and an extremely hot surface. (Because the bright, opaque clouds hide the planet�s surface, Mariner 2 was not outfitted with a camera.)

Mariner 2’s signal was tracked until January 3, 1963. The spacecraft remains in orbit around the Sun.

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Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), a space probe to Venus, was the first successful spacecraft in the NASA Mariner program. The Mariner 1 and 2 spacecraft were simplified versions of the Block I spacecraft of the Ranger program.

The Mariner probe consisted of a 100 cm diameter hexagonal bus, to which solar panels, instrument booms, and antennas were attached. The scientific instruments onboard the Mariner spacecraft were two radiometers (microwave and infrared) mounted on a tilting platform, a micrometeorite sensor, a solar plasma sensor, a charged particle sensor, and a magnetometer. These instruments were designed to measure the temperature distribution on the surface of Venus, as well as making basic measurements of Venus’ atmosphere. Due to the planet’s thick, featureless cloud cover, no cameras were included in the Mariner units. (Mariner 10, a distant cousin of Mariner 2, later discovered that extensive cloud detail was visible in ultra-violet light.)

And

National Air and Space Museum Image Detail

Mariner 2

On December 14, 1962, useful scientific information was radioed to Earth from the vicinity of another planet for the first time. The unmanned Mariner 2 spacecraft, with its six scientific instruments, passed within 34,800 kilometers (21,600 miles) of Venus. Mariner 2 indicated that Venus is very hot and has no measureable magnetic fields or radiation belts. On the way to Venus, Mariner 2’s instruments detected and measured the radiation, magnetic fields and dust of interplanetary space.

Hubble Teams with Google to Bring the Cosmos Down to Earth

Imagine cruising the heavens from your desktop and seeing all the spectacular images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Exploding stars and faraway galaxies are just a mouse click away today through Sky in Google Earth. Sky in Google Earth is produced by Google, the company that hosts the popular Internet search engine, through a partnership with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, the science operations center for Hubble. To access the new feature, users will need to download the newest version of Google Earth, available free of charge.

Watch Video 

BALTIMORE — Imagine cruising the heavens from your desktop and seeing all the spectacular images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Exploding stars and faraway galaxies are just a mouse click away through Sky in Google Earth.

Sky in Google Earth is produced by Google, the company that hosts the popular Internet search engine, through a partnership with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, the science operations center for Hubble. To access the new feature, users will need to download the newest version of Google Earth, available free of charge.

With Sky in Google Earth, you can travel across the vastness of the night sky, making tour stops at all the popular Hubble images. Though these celestial objects are far away from Earth, you can reach them in a few seconds with Sky in Google Earth.

“You have seen the Hubble images of objects such as the Eagle Nebula, the so-called pillars of creation,” said Carol Christian, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and one of the developers of the Sky in Google Earth project. “With Sky in Google Earth you can see where the objects are located in space, including the constellations in which they reside. Then you can discover other cool objects in nearby regions of the sky. And you don’t have to know anything about astronomy to use the program.”

Travelers can begin their celestial tour by selecting “Switch to Sky” from the “view” drop-down menu in Google Earth. From here, an object, such as the Eagle Nebula, or even a category, such as colliding galaxies, can be selected from a menu. You will first get a view of the sky showing the constellations surrounding your selected object. As you zoom in, the constellations disappear and your chosen object emerges from the background.

The image is set within a background of real stars and galaxies taken by two powerful visible-light surveys of the heavens, the Digitized Sky Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The Digitized Sky Survey comprises photographic surveys of nearly the entire sky and contains about a million objects. The Sloan survey comprises images of hundreds of millions of much fainter objects and covers more than a quarter of the sky.

“This is a fun program for amateur astronomers, scientists, educators, and the public to explore space,” Christian said. “It is like having the heavens at your fingertips, or your own planetarium.”

Pretty pictures aren’t the only part of this versatile program. Click on the icon of the HubbleSite logo and information on the object taken from the Institute press release or photo caption will appear. Sky in Google Earth also will provide links to the Hubble news database and other Hubble information, including the Hubble Heritage project.

About 125 Hubble images, spanning the life of the telescope, are currently included in Sky in Google Earth. Over the telescope’s lifetime these images have been meticulously prepared for the public in collaboration between the Institute’s science visualization experts in its Office of Public Outreach, and the worldwide community of astronomers who use Hubble. The images have become iconic all over the world; gracing the covers of science journals, record albums, and pop culture, and even making cameo appearances in Hollywood science fiction movies.

Christian and her co-developer, Space Telescope Science Institute astronomer Alberto Conti, plan to add the public images from 2007, as well as color images of all of the archived data from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Newly released Hubble pictures will be added to the Sky in Google Earth program as soon as they are issued, Conti said.

To add even more interest and adventure, Conti and Christian hope to help other observatories, such as the National Optical Astronomy Observatory and other NASA missions, add their images to Sky in Google Earth.

Veil Nebula

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope photographed three magnificent sections of the Veil Nebula — the shattered remains of a supernova that exploded thousands of years ago. This series of images provides beautifully detailed views of the delicate, wispy structure resulting from this cosmic explosion. The Veil Nebula is one of the most spectacular supernova remnants in the sky. The entire shell spans about 3 degrees on the sky, corresponding to about 6 full moons.

Photo Release