A mosaic of the position of the Sun above the Martian landscape over 11 sols (NASA/JPL)
Phoenix is still working hard on the surface of Mars, scraping and digging into the frozen regolith, preparing samples for the next TEGA bake. This next sample to be dropped into one of the eight on board ovens will intensify the excitement for the confirmation of water ice (in abundance) on the Martian surface. The Phoenix Mars lander has been working on the Red Planet for 57 Sols (a.k.a. Martian days) since it landed on May 25th, the robot has pretty much operated as planned, exceeding all expectations (to be honest, I was relieved it touched down in one piece, anything else was a bonus!). But today, the lander releases a stunning image from its Surface Stereo Imager that really brings the whole mission into perspective: Martian midnight Sun… Continue reading “Midnight Sun on Mars by Phoenix”
Russian firm RKK Energia's new manned space vehicle (RKK Energia)
NASA’s Constellation Program may be faltering, but the next Russia/ESA manned space vehicle set to replace the reliable Soyuz vehicle has been unveiled in the UK. It is designed to transport astronauts to the International Space Station and it has a unique soft-landing thruster mechanism that will make re-entry a little less dramatic. The new design has been designed by Russian manufacturer RKK Energia and a first look at the 4-6 man capsule was showcased at the annual Farnborough Air Show in the UK last week. ESA has been discussing the collaboration with the Russian space agency Roscosmos on the Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS) since 2006 and now it seems that this vehicle may rival the Orion/Ares system being developed by NASA. What’s more, the CSTS is designed to transport a crew of four to the Moon… Continue reading “New Russian-European Manned Space Vehicle Announced”
As we near the Large Hadron Collider’s (LHC) maiden relativistic collision later this year, speculation and excitement continues to mount. There are a host of possibilities as to what we may observe from the most powerful, focused collisions ever carried out in a laboratory environment. Fundamentally, the search for the Higgs boson will be taken to a new level, but there may be a few surprises for the particle physicists analysing the detector data. What if the LHC uncovers an alternative to the Higgs boson? What if the “standard model” of quantum theory isn’t to a universal standard? Putting the Higgs boson to one side, forgetting the exciting possibility of a micro-black hole (and confirmation of Hawking Radiation) and leaving the production of wormholes and stranglets in the “unlikely” drawer, what possibility intrigues me the most? The discovery of microscopic, curled-up dimensions the LHC may unravel as it focuses its energy on scales previously unthinkable… Continue reading “Will the LHC Peel Open Some New Dimensions?”
The EAS as photographed by the ISS crew in 2007 (NASA)
On July 23rd, 2007, the crew of the International Space Station did some orbital fly-tipping. They dumped a double refrigerator-sized piece of equipment overboard and sent it toward Earth. Mission control at the time assured the public that it would orbit for about 300 days and most of it would burn up. The first issue is that, a year on, it is still orbiting and it is expected to do so until the end of 2008 at the earliest. Second issue is that a large portion of the kit will survive re-entry. Uncontrolled re-entry like this is by nature hard to predict where it will impact. Although the ISS had little option but to dump the used Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS), was there a better, safer alternative? Continue reading “Huge Refrigerator-Sized Space Station Debris Observed From Earth – Where will it Land?”
Could the ISS be modified to travel to Mars? Credit: NASA/Ian O'Neill
Now this is a cool idea: Strap rockets and a steering system to the International Space Station and send it to the Moon. Is this an insane plan? Up till yesterday I would have said yes, in fact before yesterday I hadn’t thought of the idea. Then I read the Washington Post online and find a science writer has been giving this a lot of thought. What’s more it kinda makes sense! So why isn’t this an option in NASA’s mind? And what’s the point anyway? Continue reading “The International Space Station as the International Space Ship? Why Not?”
For this week’s push into the blogospheric cosmos, we swing by Jon Voisey’s space blog The Angry Astronomer. I’m not too sure what he’s so angry about – possibly those pesky student loans he’s got to pay back… sorry Jon, after two years of graduating from my postgrad studies, I don’t have a research job and I haven’t even thought about paying back any of my loans! Ahh the life of a scientist… As always, a great mix of space news and views from around the world, and for my part I entered an article about recoiling supermassive black holes – now that is something I’d love to see…
Mystery mounds - we know it's a mystery, but please give us a clue? (HiRISE/NASA)
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a stunning piece of kit. It is generating a vast quantity of images, all lovingly displayed on the HiRISE and other NASA websites. New views of the Mars landscape appear almost daily, with technical information on the projected scene, a polished display image, raw files and a little bit of text telling us what we are looking at. So far so good. That was until recently… Generally speaking, articles with compelling images do rather well online, plus I’m a big believer in “a picture speaks a thousand words,” so I jumped on the chance of running an article about some mysterious shapes that have recently been seen on the planet. Obviously the writer of the HiRISE image was of the same mind by letting the picture do the talking and… well, forgetting to mention where these mysterious features were located…. a mystery indeed… Continue reading “And This Mysterious Mound is Where?”
High-spatial and temporal resolution view from the Hinode SOT G-band filter (NASA)
Our Sun is often called an “average” or “unremarkable” star. This is a little unfair, after all this unremarkable specimen is responsible for generating all the energy for all the planets in the Solar System and it has nurtured life on Earth for the past four billion years. We are also very lucky in that the Sun (or “Sol”) is comparatively stable with a periodic cycle. What’s more, it is alone, with no binary partner complicating matters. We live in a very privileged corner of the Milky Way, within the “Goldilocks Zone” (i.e. “just right” for life – as we know it – to thrive) from Sol, where there is a unique and delicate relationship between our star, the Earth and interplanetary space. This is all great, but in the star club, how does Sol measure up? Is it really just an average, boring star?
I noticed in the comments of my article Observing an Evaporating Extrasolar Planet that some readers were discussing the classification of our Sun. This was in response to the subject of the exoplanet called HD 209458b orbiting the yellow dwarf star HD 209458 in the constellation of Pegasus. I happened to point out that HD 209458 was “…not too dissimilar to our Sun (with 1.1 solar masses, 1.2 solar radii and a surface temperature of 6000 K),” but also highlighted that HD 209458 was a yellow dwarf star. To be honest, I didn’t think about the connection until Jerry Martin asked why our Sun is never referred to as a yellow dwarf star? Helpfully, Dave Finton posted a link to Wikipedia that discusses this topic. For the full wiki treatment, have a look at Wikipedia:G V star, otherwise read on…
The Hertsprung-Russell diagram – stars plotted by their absolute magnitude, luminosity, classification, and effective temperature.
In the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram, all known stars fall into one of six broad classifications depending on their luminosity and surface temperature. Observed stars can either be classed as (from big to small) a super-giant, bright giant, giant, sub-giant, main sequence or white dwarf. Within those classifications are spectral sub-classes from “O” (surface temperature of 30,000K), “B”, “A”, “F”, “G”, “K” to “M” (at 3,000K). However, for the sake of keeping this article on-topic, we’ll focus on our star, Sol (which is Latin for Sun).
Granted, our Sun has a surface temperature of around 6,000K, giving it a spectral classification of “G”. On the luminocity scale, our Sun scores a “V”. So, the Earth orbits a “G V star” which is otherwise known as a Yellow Dwarf star (although their actual colour ranges from white to slightly-yellow). Why is Sol considered to be “average”? That’s because in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram, yellow dwarfs can be found right smack-bang in the centre of the chart, half-way down the Main Sequence. Using this chart gives an idea about where our star came from and where it is going. For the moment, it is a hydrogen-burning star, converting 600 million tonnes of hydrogen into helium per second. This “hydrogen burning phase” generally lasts for about 10 billion years (Sol is about half-way through this phase) until all the hydrogen fuel is exhausted. When this happens, a yellow dwarf will puff up into a Red Giant, eventually shedding its outer layer, producing a planetary nebula. Eventually, the core will cool and compress into a long-living white dwarf star.
So, to answer the question, the Sun is a yellow dwarf star… and it certainly is notunremarkable…
The physics behind the warp drive (Richard Obousy and Gerald Cleaver)
In science fiction, the “warp drive” helps Captain Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Commander Janeway and Benjamin Sisko potter around space with ease. Without warp speed, TV episodes of Star Trek would stretch into months and seasons would last decades. Alas, even science fiction succumbs to the laws of relativity: Nothing, not even light (or a Klingon) can travel faster than the speed of light. As I researched for a recent Universe Today article, the space between the stars is prohibitively large, even the nearest star is over 4 light years away (Proxima Centauri), so how could it be possible for USS Enterprise to flit from one star system to the next without putting a dent in Einstein’s theory of relativity? The answer comes if we realise that although light speed is a physical limit on how fast things can travel through space-time, there is no limit on how fast space-time can travel if it is warped. Suddenly we have a theoretically possible means of travelling between the stars by altering the fabric of the Universe in a warp “bubble”… Continue reading “Could Warp Drive Become a Reality?”
I don’t suppose he can get it right all the time. Recently, Buzz Aldrin, second man on the Moon and huge space development advocate, has been very vocal with his views about NASA and the agency’s position in the space exploration pecking order. Good man, the world needs more people like him willing to encourage a more positive attitude toward space. But today, I read that the NASA legend has dropped a clanger. Fair play, he’s entitled to his views, but for once (and hopefully the only time) I will say “Buzz, you are totally, and unequivocally wrong.” So what did he say? Science fiction makes space science reality look boring. Continue reading “Bad Move Buzz, Science Fiction DOES NOT Make Space Boring”
astroengine.com 