Rockets from Cassiopeia

Archive for the ‘Pop Space’ Category

Down to Earth

Elon Musk was busy this week entertaining his fans with tidbits about future SpaceX plans, including the tweet below, as well as this picture on Instagram of a tool for their next larger rocket, the BFR.

And then land on a bouncy house

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2018

NASA’s Planetary Science Division Director, Jim Greene, is now the agency’s new chief scientist.

Check out this music video by Snow Patrol which uses imagery from the ISS and was partially filmed at ESA.

In Orbit

There were three orbital rocket launches since my last post:

• April 10 – A Chinese Long March 4C rocket carrying three reconnaissance satellites.
• April 11 – An Indian PSLV rocket carrying a navigation satellite.
• April 14 – A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying a U.S. Air Force satellite.

On Monday, April 16th, A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch carrying NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space telescope.

Around the Solar System

The International Astronautical Union (IAU) has approved official names for features on Pluto’s moon Charon, some named after iconic sci-fi figures such as Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke.

Because images of Saturn are just so damn stunning, here’s Saturn’s moon Dione as imaged by the late Cassini spacecraft.

Moon Dione and Saturn’s rings edge-on

Down to Earth

Mattell launched a new line of “Inspiring Women” Barbie dolls. The release includes a doll of NASA’s Katherine Johnson, made famous by the movie Hidden Figures.

JPL posted a 360-video from inside the InSight lander test lab (this is the next mission to Mars launching in May).

Westworld director Jonah Nola showed the below video during a SXSW panel this weekend.

National Geographic’s March issue features NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson on the cover and an article by Nadia Drake which profiles a handful of other astronauts.

In Orbit

Two rocket launches since my last post a week ago:

• March 6 – SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying two satellites for commercial companies.
• March 9 – Arianespace launched a Soyuz rocket from Kourou carrying three communications satellites for O3b.

There has been a lot of talk lately of China’s defunct Tiangong-1 space station, and it’s imminent uncontrolled plunge back to Earth. Predictions are for early April.

Around the Solar System

NASA released some new imagery data and science results from the Juno probe in orbit of Jupiter. Some of the intriguing mysteries uncovered include the strange polar cyclones and the 3,000 kilometer deep wind patters. Phil Plait has an excellent summary at his blog.

Out There

Another asteroid on an interstellar hyperbolic orbit has been discovered. This object is likely from the Oort cloud, which makes it different than ‘Omuamua, which is believed to have originated in interstellar space.

Down to Earth

Andy Weir, author of the smash hit The Martian released his second novel, Artemis.

Sierra Nevada released video of last week’s successful glide flight of their Dream Chaser space plan:

A long-lost Omega astronaut watch from the Apollo era has been recovered and returned to the Smithsonian.

In Orbit

The Cygnus cargo freighter that launched last week, arrived at the ISS successfully on November 14.

Captain, US Navy, Arriving! SS Gene Cernan joined our crew @Space_Station and greeted us when we opened the hatch. #Cygnus #OA8 pic.twitter.com/UQWnhqbDAc

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) November 15, 2017

Two rocket launches last week:

• November 14 – A Chinese rocket launched a weather satellite.
• November 18 – A ULA Delta II rocket launched carrying the JPSS-1 weather satellite for NOAA.

Around the Solar System

A new study in Nature analyzes Pluto’s hazy atmosphere and offers an explanation for the planet being colder than expected ( minus 300 deg F instead of minus 280 deg F).

Out There

A newly discovered exoplanet, Ross 128 b, is only 11 light years away and could be in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star it orbits.

Down to Earth

Skylab and Space Shuttle astronaut Paul Weitz has died at 85 years old.

The 2018 US Olympic Snowboard team will wear uniforms inspired by NASA spacesuits.

Saudi Arabia has agreed to invest $1 billion dollars in Virgin Galactic.

In Orbit

In rocket news, there were only two orbital launches since my last post on October 21:

• October 30 – SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket to GEO carrying a commercial satellite, and successfully recovered the first stage
• October 31 – Orbital ATK launched a Minotaur-C rocket carrying 10 satellites for the Earth-imaging company Planet

Around the Solar Systems

NASA’s robotic probe Dawn has received an official mission extension to stay in orbit around the asteroid Ceres.

Out There

Astronomers at an observatory in Chile have discovered an unusual exoplanet orbiting a dwarf star. The planet is larger than Jupiter and is 25% the size of its host star, the highest known planet-to-star ratio yet discovered.

The Pan-STARRS-1 observatory in Hawaii detected a small rocky body hurtling into our solar system from interstellar space. The asteroid (or should it be called something else?) poses no risk to Earth. Follow the link for a cool animation of its orbit.

Down to Earth

LEGO is releasing a “women of NASA” set.

The Apollo 11 capsule Columbia has started its around the country tour with a new exhibit at Space Center Houston: Destination Moon.

This Lyft commercial referencing the Apollo program is cute, but is missing a shout out to Michael Collins.

Jeff Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, conducted the first test fire of their new BE-4 rocket engine.

First hotfire of our BE-4 engine is a success. Huge kudos to the whole @BlueOrigin team for this important step! #GradatimFerociter pic.twitter.com/0gk6k6WuPx

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) October 19, 2017

In Orbit

The ISS Expedition 53 crew completed the second and third spacewalks in their October series. All planned tasks were completed successfully, leaving the space station with some new cameras and a repaired robotic arm. The rest of the year on ISS will be focused on science research, with some critical deliveries onboard a Cygnus resupply and SpaceX Dragon resupply.

Since my last post on October 9th, there have been four orbital rocket launches:

• October 11 – SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying two geostationary communication satellites. The first stage was a previously flown booster and was recovered on a droneship.
• October 13 – A Russian Rokot launched carrying an Earth obesrvation payload for ESA.
• October 14 – A Soyuz rocket launched from Baikonaur carrying an unmanned Progress resupply bound for the ISS.
• October 15 – ULA launched an Atlas V rocket carrying a national security payload for the NRO.

The Progress freighter docked successfully two days after launch.

Below are a few of the best pictures taken onboard the ISS from the past two weeks. If you want to help maintain the amazing archive of millions of pictures of Earth taken from ISS, now there’s a way! Check out Cosmo Quest’s new Image Detective project.

On a #spacewalk, the Earth never lets you forget you are 250 miles/400 km high. pic.twitter.com/dMrcQTB5FQ

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) October 9, 2017

A closer look at infinity in my visor reflection – the Yin & Yang of Earth & Space. Big thanks to @Astro_Sabot for this #spacewalk photo. pic.twitter.com/bBCglelurK

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) October 9, 2017

Остров #Муреа или #Моореа, который расположен во Французской Полинезии в Тихом океане. // #Moorea – a high island in #FrenchPolynesia. pic.twitter.com/cJgBhoYnte

— Сергей Рязанский (@SergeyISS) October 12, 2017

Наш космический грузовик #ПрогрессМС06 успешно пристыковался к #МКС / A few hours ago the #ProgressMS07 cargo spacecraft docked to the #ISS pic.twitter.com/P5zsiBk6UI

— Сергей Рязанский (@SergeyISS) October 16, 2017

The Togo, Benin and Nigeria coastline… And inland a little piece of Ghana! #Africa #citylights #VITAmission pic.twitter.com/XALkd35SRC

— Paolo Nespoli (@astro_paolo) October 17, 2017

Аделаида, Южная Австралия. Столица вина, литературы и искусства // Adelaide, Southern Australia. The capital of wine, literature and art pic.twitter.com/x50loeAKcF

— Сергей Рязанский (@SergeyISS) October 17, 2017

https://twitter.com/astro_paolo/status/920369795111051264

The #ISS orbits at an altitude of around 400 km above the Earth, but I still managed to photograph a tiny #airplane pic.twitter.com/XyQJhhAhd4

— Сергей Рязанский (@SergeyISS) October 15, 2017

#IssykKul is an endorheic lake in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the 10th largest lake in the world by volume pic.twitter.com/KlYnQFZoIc

— Сергей Рязанский (@SergeyISS) October 21, 2017

ISS astronauts tried to capitalize on a cultural craze down here on Earth with this recent video:

Out There

Hot on the heels of the Nobel Prize in Physics announcement, LIGO made another big discovery using gravitational waves: the first signal from the collision of two neutron stars was detected and confirmed. Phil Plait has a wonderful poetic post explaining what this means for our understanding of the universe.

Down to Earth

Retired NASA astronaut Terry Virts has published a “coffee table book” of images he took while aboard the ISS during Expeditions 42 and 43.

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the discovery of gravitational waves by the LIGO team.

Canadian company MDA has acquired DigitalGlobe and the new merged corporation will be changing their name to Maxar Technologies. MDA is the company that build the Canadarms and DigitalGlobe is a major provider of orbital imagery for users like Google.

In Orbit

Three rocket launches since my last post. All of them occurred today, October 9th:

• China launched a Long March 2D rocket carrying a Venezuelan satellite.
• SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 10 new communication satellites for Iridium.
• Japan launched an H-2A rocket carrying a native navigation satellite.

Things have been quite busy up on the ISS. Astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Randy Bresnik executed the first of a series of spacewalks last week to maintain the station’s robotic arm. They will go out again tomorrow, October 10th, to continue the work. Here are a few pictures from last week’s EVA:

Without the @space_station lights it would be really, really dark out there. #Goodnight everybody! pic.twitter.com/bS1KcSXNiY

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) October 9, 2017

Salute to the entire #spacewalk team for getting the robotic arm back in great shape. Image credit: @Astro_Sabot pic.twitter.com/RuuO8HoHCz

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) October 9, 2017

On a #spacewalk, the Earth never lets you forget you are 250 miles/400 km high. pic.twitter.com/dMrcQTB5FQ

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) October 9, 2017

NASA has announced plans to keep the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) on the ISS for longer than planned and use it as a logistics module.

Out There

A recent study of “Tabby’s Star” using NASA’s orbiting observatories Spitzer and Swift has a new theory for the unexplained dips in brightness: dust. The new hypothesis is compelling because the telescopes detected differences in the dimming at different wavelengths, which implies something transparent like dust.

Down to Earth

Leonardo DiCaprio is going to produce a new TV series based on The Right Stuff.

NASA’s new TDRS-M satellite had a mishap during pre-flight processing. Launch has been rescheduled while repairs are conducted.

Virgin Galactic conducted another drop test of their SpaceShipTwo vehicle at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

NASA’s fourteenth crew of the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) program started their 45-day mission yesterday.

Crew trained & ready! @HERA_XIV mission to simulated asteroid starts TONIGHT @NASA! Hatch doors close in 5, 4, 3, 2… engaging autotweet pic.twitter.com/Qst1G4p3v7

— HERA XIV (@HERA_XIV) August 5, 2017

Rocket startup Vector Space Systems conducted a test launch of their suborbital rocket on Thursday. Here’s a short video of liftoff.

In Orbit

The International Space Station crew is back up to 6 after a new Soyuz launched from Kazakhstan and docked just a few hours later. The three new ISS crew members, Sergey Ryazanskiy, Paolo Nespoli, and Randy Bresnik, are all spaceflight veterans.

There are now 5 active Twitter users on ISS, sharing their thoughts, activities, and views with us! Check out their posts at this feed.

Signing the wall at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum. You can even spot @StationCDRKelly on it! #SpaceflightTradition pic.twitter.com/NJDC55SKFj

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) July 25, 2017

Spied this cool view through the Japanese Airlock, great capability for us to pass science in & out to space! https://t.co/yKBNxgYJYq pic.twitter.com/ZTvCitMWtU

— Jack Fischer (@Astro2fish) July 26, 2017

Technology evolves: our Soyuz Procedure Books are now on a tablet (we still carry the paper versions, just in case…) #Poyekhali #VITAmission pic.twitter.com/1DfQOHxhpq

— Paolo Nespoli (@astro_paolo) July 26, 2017

Doing some arts and crafts tonight to prep for our 6-person crew picture next week. Can’t wait for the crew to bump up to 6! pic.twitter.com/Z4S3ChrW0O

— Jack Fischer (@Astro2fish) July 27, 2017

Got an interesting pic of the launch… @AstroKomrade, @Astro_Paolo & @Ryazanskiy_ISS are now on our six! See you in a few hours guys! pic.twitter.com/7wZn09oNjM

— Jack Fischer (@Astro2fish) July 28, 2017

638 days in space and the view is still amazing! Soaking up some sunset time in the cupola… pic.twitter.com/AiReQzkjJZ

— Peggy Whitson (@AstroPeggy) August 6, 2017

In addition to the Soyuz launch, the only other rocket launch in the past two weeks was a European Space Agency Vega rocket. The rocket launched on August 2 from French Guiana carrying two earth observing satellites.

Around the Solar System

In case you had forgotten that there are two active NASA rovers on the surface of Mars, here are some beautiful panoramas from Opportunity, on the edge of Endeavour crater.

Results are in of the stellar occultation observation of object 2014 MU69, and astronomers think it may actually be a binary, rather that single piece of rock. 2014 MU69 is the Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) that the New Horizons spacecraft will visit in 2019.

New evidence suggests there may be more water hidden beneath the surface of the moon than previously thought.

Out There

Speaking of moons, a new paper analyzing the light curve data from Kepler of a distant star shows the possibility of a large planet with a large moon in orbit. Hubble is scheduled to do follow up observations in October to confirm the finding.

Down to Earth

Legendary astronaut Gene Cernan has died at the age of 82. Captain Cernan had an incredible career in the Navy and then at NASA, where he flew on three important missions: Gemini 9, Apollo 10, and Apollo 17. Gemini 9 had Cernan’s harrowing spacewalk (the second for an American); Apollo 10 was the dress rehearsal for the moon landing, in which Cernan and Stafford got to within just miles of the lunar surface before a planned abort; Apollo 17 is of course known as the final mission to the surface of the moon. If you haven’t read Cernan’s autobiography or seen the recent biography about him (both called The Last Man on the Moon) you should put them both on your list.

NASA administrator Charlie Bolden resigned last Thursday – as is tradition for most presidential appointees – the day before inauguration of president Donald J. Trump. NASA is currently being run by acting administrator Robert Lightfoot.

Andy Weir, author of The Martian, announced on social medial that he will be working with CBS on a new show set in Houston’s mission control.

CBS picked up my TV show pilot! Working with Aditya Sood again (producer of "The Martian") again. Should be fun! 🙂 https://t.co/9EqCcZGF1P

— Andy Weir (@andyweirauthor) January 17, 2017

In Orbit

A small Japanese rocket, which would have been the smallest ever to make orbit, failed during a launch attempt last Saturday, January 14th. The rocket was carrying a single small cubesat.

However, two rockets did make successful launches within the last week. First, SpaceX had a spectacular return to flight on Saturday, January 14th, placing 10 satellites into orbit for Iridium after a flawless launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg in California. They even stuck the landing on the first stage recovery.

Lastly, on January 20th, United Launch Alliance launched an Atlas V carrying a USAF satellite, GEO 3.

Meanwhile, a failure investigation has narrowed down the loss of a Russian Soyuz rocket last month to an oxidizer pump, leading the Russian space agency to make some part replacements on both the next manned and unmanned flights. Hopefully we will see Soyuz rockets flying to the ISS again soon!

Around the Solar System

The Japanese probe in orbit of Venus, Akatsuki, has made observations of a massive standing wave in the planet’s atmosphere.

NASA exploration year in review (press release)

NASA space technology year in review (press release)

NASA commercial crew year in review (press release)

Best NASA photos of 2016 (via Universe Today)

100 best space photos of 2016 (by Space.Com)

ESA’s 2016 year in review video

ESA’s 2017 preview video

Space industry in 2016 (by Spaceflight Insider)

ISS ops in 2016 (by Spaceflight Insider)

The year in rocket launches, part 1 (by Parabolic Arc)

The year in rocket launches, part 2 (by parabolic Arc)

Down To Earth

American hero and original Mercury astronaut John Glenn died on December 8th.

Former space shuttle astronaut, climate scientist, and director at Goddard Space Flight Center, Piers Sellers, died on December 23rd. He was a fierce advocate of climate science. This open letter he wrote after his cancer diagnosis is worth a read.

Virgin Galactic conducted another SpaceShipTwo glide flight on December 22, the second of the month.

Actor Ryan Gosling is to play Neil Armstrong in a new biopic to be filmed next year.

In Orbit

It’s been a busy month since my last post on December 4th, with 12 more successful orbital rocket launches (check out this post from Parabolic Arc for 2016 launch statistics).

• A European Vega rocket launched on December 5th placed a Turkish military satellite in orbit
• An Indian rocket launched on December 7th placed an Earth observing satellite in orbit
• A Delta IV rocket launched on December 7th placed a U.S. Air Force satellite in orbit
• A Japanese H-IIB launched on December 9th carried an ISS logistics cargo craft as well as a slew of small secondary payloads
• A Chinese rocket launched on December 10th placed a weather satellite in orbit
• An Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket launched on December 15th (air launched from under an airplane wing) placed 8 new hurricane observing satellites in orbit
• An Atlas V rocket launched on December 18th placed a commercial communications satellite in orbit
• A Japanese Epsilon rocket launched on December 20th placed a Van Allen radiation belt research probe in orbit
• Another Chinese rocket launched on December 21st placed two Earth-observing satellites in orbit
• A European Ariane 5 rocket launched on December 21st placed both a Brazilian and Japanese communications satellite in orbit
• Another Chinese rocket launched on December 28th placed two satellites in orbit, but reportedly the wrong one
• Another Chinese rocket launched on January 5th placed a telecommunications satellite in orbit

The Japanese HTV cargo craft which launched in early December was successfully captured by the on-orbit ISS crew on December 12th.

Around the Solar System

There are some problems at Mars:

The Curiosity rover has a problem with its scientific drill. Flight controllers are troubleshooting.

The Mars Odyssey orbiter went into safe mode last week. It is expected that it will be recovered.