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What Would You Do with the International Space Station?

The International Space Station (ISS) is the epitome of human ingenuity. Through the collaboration of seven space agencies (representing 17 nations), the modular orbital outpost has been undergoing construction since 1998 and it is projected to be completed in 2011. By 2016, the ISS is expected to be retired.

The ISS has proven itself to be a long-term answer for manned habitation in space, where astronauts and cosmonauts are able to enjoy the relative comfort the spacious modules provide, often up to six months at a time. A vast array of experiments have been carried out on the station; from studying effects of weightlessness on the human physiology to understanding how plants and animals evolve in a microgravity environment; from observing the human impact on Earth’s environment to studying zero-gravity fluid dynamics. Pretty much every discipline has been investigated.

All of the experiences on the ISS go toward understanding how mankind can function in space, helping us understand where we fit into the Solar System. The work being carried out by the various expeditions being flown to the station will all be used when we make the great push to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

This all sounds amazing, but is it worth it? Is the ISS really living up to all its expectations? After all, the ISS will be bypassed if we do eventually make the trip the Moon (if the ISS hasn’t already been retired by then), it has never been a “stepping stone” beyond Earth orbit. Also, has the ISS done anything different? Surely other space stations such as Mir and Skylab aided mankind’s study on how zero-G affects the human body, how many biological tests do we need?

Astroengine Live Discussion
I am interested as to what people have to say about this issue. Is the ISS a worthy endeavour, worth the billions of dollars ploughed into it every year? Or should the station be re-vamped? Perhaps there is another application for the ISS beyond carrying out microgravity experiments in orbit?

For Astroengine Live on Wednesday 19th November, I will allot some time to discuss the International Space Station purely to talk about your views on the subject.

What would you do with/on the space station?

Feel free to leave your answers/discussion below (or email me) including your name/alias and I’ll include your opinion in Astroengine Live’s debut show this Wednesday, starting at 7pm EST (4pm PST).

(Information on how to listen in/phone in to WPRT Radio will be coming soon…)

Carnival of Space Week 79 – One Astronomer’s Noise

"*Ellie, still waiting for E.T. to call?*" Our CoS #79 host Nicole's tribute to Jodie Foster in the movie Contact.

“One astronomer’s noise is another astronomer’s data,” is the quote from Nicole’s One Astronomer’s Noise website and I can’t think of a better way to kick off this week’s superb Carnival of Space. You’ll find international plans to move mankind off-Earth, some impressive terrestrial craters, a singing Saturn and the uses for inflatable solar sails in space.

This week, I felt the need to chat about one of my favourite regions of the Solar System, the Kuiper Belt. The objects in this icy location are a source of mystery, bettered only by the Oort Cloud (which is probably there, but we can’t see it, thereby making Oort Cloud Objects even more mysterious). So I gave a quick run-down of my favourite five Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), and the number one slot went to a highly unlikely candidate (you’ll be shocked!).

Anyhow, great carnival Nicole! I love your site and your profile’s striking resemblance to a certain Jodie Foster film…

“Politics Has Nothing To Do With Space Exploration” – Debate (Wear Safety Goggles)

Today has been a strange day. Last night was much like any other. I wrote a fairly innocuous article for the Universe Today, about a contractor who allegedly ripped off NASA with faulty goods. I went to bed.

But then I woke up this morning to find a proverbial can of worms ripped open all over my little online world.

When I wrote the NASA article, I was keen to point out the legal proceedings were far from over and I wanted to get as many of the facts into the text as possible. It turns out the 60 year-old contractor could be going to jail for 15 years and face $500,000 in fines, so this is no laughing matter.

However, I flexed my blogging rights and added a little levity to the proceedings with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour. The humour wasn’t directed at the chap going through the legal system in Houston, it was an article opener I thought would be a fun read… I was wrong.
Continue reading ““Politics Has Nothing To Do With Space Exploration” – Debate (Wear Safety Goggles)”

Alien Worlds: Extrasolar Planets Imaged for First Time

Two of the three confirmed planets orbiting HR 8799 indicated as “b” and “c” on the image above. “b” is the ~7 Jupiter-mass planet orbiting at about 70 AU, “c” is the ~10 Jupiter-mass planet orbiting the star at about 40 AU. Due to the brightness of the central star, it has been blocked and appears blank in this image to increase visibility of the planets (Gemini Observatory)

The day has finally come. We now have direct, infrared and optical observations of planets orbiting other stars. Yesterday, reports from two independent sources surfaced, one from the Gemini and Keck II observatories and the second from the Hubble Space Telescope. Brace yourself for an awe-inspiring display of planets orbiting two stars…

The Gemini/Keck observations were carried out using adaptive optics technology to correct in real-time for atmospheric turbulence. The stunning images of a multiple planetary star system were then constructed from infrared emissions (the image, top, was constructed by Keck II as a follow-up to to the Gemini observations). The system in question is centred around a star called HR 8799, approximately 130 light years from Earth and in the constellation of Pegasus. The entire press release can be found at the Gemini observatory site, where they give the discovery a full run-down.

On the same day, the Hubble Space Telescope team also released images of one extrasolar planet, only this time in optical wavelengths. Although the exoplanet in Hubble’s images is less obvious than the infrared Gemini/Keck II images, incredible detail has been attained, showing a ring of dust around the star Fomalhaut (located in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus). Fomalhaut is 25 light years away and the star’s daughter planet (Fomalhaut b) is only a little under 3 Jupiter masses.

Estimated to be no more than three times Jupiter's mass, the planet, called Fomalhaut b, orbits the bright southern star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (NASA/ESA) — Estimated to be no more than three times Jupiter’s mass, the planet, called Fomalhaut b, orbits the bright southern star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (NASA/ESA)

For more news on these discoveries, check out the Gemini/Keck II press release and the Hubble announcement. I’ll leave the ground-breaking announcement to the guys who have spent many years working to achieve this monumental goal.

Wow.

Sources: Gemini, ESA

Astroengine LIVE Touches Down on WPRT Radio!

Astroengine.com is about to branch out into the world of radio…

Starting on Wednesday 19th November at 7pm EST (4pm PST, or midnight GMT), I’ll be hosting my own weekly talk show called Astroengine Live! The show will air for two hours where I will discuss all the best space news, including views, opinions, phone-ins and special guests. If you want to find out everything from the next NASA mission, the status of the International Space Station, progress with the Large Hadron Collider to breaking news from small research institutions around the globe, then Astroengine Live is for you.

Ultimately I want Astroengine Live to work in harmony with Astroengine.com, expanding the reach of the radio world into the vast resources available online. Because of this, all schedules, episode content and additional on-air information will be available through AstroengineLive.com, directing you to the category “Astroengine Live” on this website.

I will announce show specifics closer to Wednesday’s debut, but in the meantime, you can check out the new home of Astroengine Live at WPRT Radio, also the home of Paranormal Radio with Captain Jack!

Cheers, Ian

PS. I’m also getting my own theme tune… now that is the icing on the cake!

A Mystery Aurora above Saturn’s Mysterious North Pole Hexagon

Not only does Saturn have a mysterious hexagonal shape etched into the bands of cloud above its north pole, it also has a unique magnetic structure. This is suggested by recent results recorded by the NASA Cassini probe that passed over the pole to see a huge active auroral region, much larger and more dynamic than expected. Interestingly, the NASA press release has not linked the strange aurora with the long-lived hexagonal shape in the gas giant’s atmosphere. Could the hexagon be formed by a unique magnetic structure above Saturn? Or could both phenomena be connected in some other way?
Continue reading “A Mystery Aurora above Saturn’s Mysterious North Pole Hexagon”

Listen to Paranormal Radio, Tonight (Wednesday) at 9pm (EST)

Tonight for my monthly Paranormal Radio slot, Captain Jack and I will be having a discussion about the threat of asteroids and comets to the Earth. It’s not a question of if we’ll get hit by an extinction-level event, it’s a question of when…

This show was postponed from last Friday after Captain Jack’s computer system suffered a glitch. But even after a storm that ravaged Texas over the last few days, the WPRT station is back up and running and ready to go! It will be another great night of discussion and debate, I hope you tune in! Also, if you want to get involved, you’ll also have the chance to phone in and ask Jack or myself anything you like.

For more information, check out the Paranormal Radio homepage, or listen live by activating your default streaming audio software…

Phoenix is Dead, Spirit is Failing

Mars dust is a big problem for technology; it’s very fine, abrasive and sticks to everything. Airborne dust has been blamed for accelerating Phoenix’s death, and the hardy Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looks like it has finally met its match. The critical issue here is a build-up of the red powder over the surface of the energy-collecting solar panels our robotic explorers depend on to power their experiments and movement over the Martian terrain. If solar cells cannot receive light, electricity cannot be generated, hastening the end of of Phoenix, and possibly one of the rover twins…
Continue reading “Phoenix is Dead, Spirit is Failing”

Strangest Kuiper Belt Objects: The Top Five

The Kuiper belt is strange. Most of this strangeness probably comes from the fact that we are only just beginning to uncover this mysterious region of the Solar System. Unlike the Oort Cloud which (possibly) lies beyond 3 × 10¹² km away (over 20,000 AU, or a whopping 0.3 light years), we can actually observe the objects inside the Kuiper belt as, compared to the Oort Cloud, the Kuiper belt is on our interplanetary doorstep.

But that doesn’t mean it’s close. The Kuiper belt exists in a region of space 30–55 AU from the Sun; this is where Pluto lives (as Pluto itself is a “Kuiper belt object”, or KBO). As astronomical techniques become more advanced however, we are able to discover more KBOs in the zoo of icy-rocky bodies that live in this region.

Having just written about an oddball pair of “highly split” KBOs, I feel compelled to list my top five favourite KBOs. Here are my favourites, as some are really funny-lookin’ and others have some serious personal issues…
Continue reading “Strangest Kuiper Belt Objects: The Top Five”

Got It! Aftermath of Asteroid 2008 TC3 Impact Spotted

The long-lasting persistent train of the 2008 TC3 re-entry on October 7th (NASA)

At long last, we have visual evidence of the 2008 TC3 impact over the remote Sudanese skies. Admittedly, it’s not a video of the dazzling fireball ploughing though the upper atmosphere, before detonating with the energy of a small nuclear weapon, but it is a great picture of the smoky remnant after the explosion.

A noctilucent cloud after the launch of a Delta rocket (Flickr)

The meteorite train seen in the image above has been sheared and twisted by high altitude winds, leaving the snake-like pattern suspended in the air. The tenuous debris reflects the dawn sunlight, in a not-so-dissimilar way to the noctilucent cloud produced after a rocket launch (pictured left).

For more on today’s uncovering of the October 7th image (above), check out my Universe Today article. For more information on the first ever predicted asteroid impact, check out my collection of articles on Astroengine.com (tag: “2008 TC3”).