NASA-- NASA will launch a spacecraft to an asteroid in 2016 and use a robotic arm to pluck samples that could better explain our solar system's formation and how life began. The mission, called Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, will be the first U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth.
After traveling four years, OSIRIS-REx will approach the primitive, near Earth asteroid designated 1999 RQ36 in 2020. Once within three miles of the asteroid, the spacecraft will begin six months of comprehensive surface mapping. The science team then will pick a location from where the spacecraft's arm will take a sample. The spacecraft gradually will move closer to the site, and the arm will extend to collect more than two ounces of material for return to Earth in 2023. The mission, excluding the launch vehicle, is expected to cost approximately $800 million.
The sample will be stored in a capsule that will land at Utah's Test and Training Range in 2023. The capsule's design will be similar to that used by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, which returned the world's first comet particles from comet Wild 2 in 2006. The OSIRIS-REx sample capsule will be taken to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The material will be removed and delivered to a dedicated research facility following stringent planetary protection protocol. Precise analysis will be performed that cannot be duplicated by spacecraft-based instruments.
RQ36 is approximately 1,900 feet in diameter or roughly the size of five football fields. The asteroid, little altered over time, is likely to represent a snapshot of our solar system's infancy. The asteroid also is likely rich in carbon, a key element in the organic molecules necessary for life. Organic molecules have been found in meteorite and comet samples, indicating some of life's ingredients can be created in space. Scientists want to see if they also are present on RQ36.
"This asteroid is a time capsule from the birth of our solar system and ushers in a new era of planetary exploration," said Jim Green, director, NASA's Planetary Science Division in Washington. "The knowledge from the mission also will help us to develop methods to better track the orbits of asteroids."
The mission will accurately measure the "Yarkovsky effect" for the first time. The effect is a small push caused by the sun on an asteroid, as it absorbs sunlight and re-emits that energy as heat. The small push adds up over time, but it is uneven due to an asteroid's shape, wobble, surface composition and rotation. For scientists to predict an Earth-approaching asteroid's path, they must understand how the effect will change its orbit. OSIRIS-REx will help refine RQ36's orbit to ascertain its trajectory and devise future strategies to mitigate possible Earth impacts from celestial objects.
The entire article is here:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/osiris-rex.html
Monday, May 30, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Heavy Lifting
I've been looking at NASA's proposal for a heavy-lift manned spacecraft for missions to the moon and Mars. Here is the pdf for those interested in such, my (completely underinformed) assessment follows.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/510449main_SLS_MPCV_90-day_Report.pdf
Okay, so. The gist of it is basically that Congress has given NASA a mandate and a $7-billion budget to create a space program capable of routinely carrying a crew and 70-100 ton payload to the moon and Mars (and if necessary the International Space Station, although this is a very secondary function), to be operational by 2016. It is not clear how many actual rockets Congress is envisioning, or if they are reusable or expendable, etc.
First off, for perspective, a single B-2 bomber costs about $1-billion, and adjusted for inflation a single Saturn V Apollo rocket would also cost about $1-billion.
Congress and the Obama administration gave NASA the green light to cannibalize as much of the space shuttle hardware and existing Constellation/Ares V hardware as possible. In many cases this is the same hardware; Constellation/Ares V was basically rebuilding Apollo out of spare space shuttle parts.
Respectfully to those far more knowledgeable than myself, building a moon or Mars vehicle out of spare parts from Low Earth Orbital vehicles seems like a fairly inefficient way to design a rocket.
I happen to own a 50cc 3hp scooter, which I enjoy a great deal on those rare occasions when it actually runs. It gets me around Seattle residential streets at about 30mph, and can do that at about 70mpg. If I wanted to build a 300hp truck to haul shipping containers from Seattle to New York, one way I could do that would be to use 100 scooter engines on a single cam shaft. And if all I had to build a truck with was old scooter parts, that's how I'd build a truck.
This is kind of what the Soviets did with N1, which was their answer to the Saturn V. They built four of them, and all four of them failed catastrophically. Which is kind of what you would expect from a truck built out of old scooter parts.
But then the Soviets built Proton, which was originally designed as an ICBM but was actually far too large for that task. After a bumpy start to the program, Proton proved (and continues to prove) to be one of the most successful heavy lift rockets ever built.
The American equivalents were and are the Atlas and Delta programs, with the Atlas V HLV and Delta IV Heavy being the current best heavy-lift rockets the US possesses, other than the remaining Atlantis space shuttle. Proton, Delta and Atlas have the advantage, like the Apollo rockets, of actually being designed from the ground up for long distance heavy lift.
It seems that Charlie Bolden is pushing to use the congressional mandate to create heavy-lift on-the-cheap as a means to restart the Constellation program under a different name. One salient point he makes in his report is that NASA had already looked at some 2000 different heavy-lift designs prior to Congress becoming involved in the discussion. With the implication that Constellation actually was the best and least expensive solution for heavy-lift, and if that's what Congress wants they need to get out of the way and actually fund it. Which is not entirely unreasonable, and a reasonable Congress might even be inclined to accommodate that. But the Congress we have right now, which does not want to fund disaster relief in Missouri and elsewhere because they have become so psychotically obsessed with the budget, isn't one which is going to hear that argument.
I happen to agree with Congress that learning from the Soviet "big dumb booster" concept is valuable, and can help NASA rethink its process of developing heavy-lift long distance space craft. But in doing so one needs to have a realistic understanding of what the Soviet program actually was able to accomplish, and how different the successful Soviet programs actually were from the US programs. Vostok, which epitomizes the BDB concept, was excellent but never intended for more than Low Earth Orbit. N1 was the biggest of the dumb boosters, but it didn't work. Proton worked splendidly, but could as well have been a US design.
What Bolden is basically saying is that to build a heavy-lift surfaced launched vehicle to reach the moon and Mars we need another Apollo, with Apollo funding. There is no time or money built into the congressional mandate for new R&D, so everything has to be accomplished with off-the-shelf parts. The Constellation/Orion MPCV capsule is already completed, so it's a no-brainer to use that. If we're insisting on leaving for Mars or the moon from earth's surface (as opposed to building and launching from the ISS) then duct-taping as many PBAN solid rocket boosters as needed to the outside of the main engines makes sense. The only remaining question is whether to use space shuttle main engines, Delta IV main engines or Atlas V main engines.
Either way, what you end up with is Constellation. By any other name.
Which, if it had simply been allowed to continue, over-budget and behind schedule as it was, still would have been completed earlier and cheaper than it will now, with all of this start/stop/start mess.
Because, at the end of the day, NASA has a much better understanding of what it takes to build a rocket than Congress does. Because being a politician isn't exactly rocket science.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/510449main_SLS_MPCV_90-day_Report.pdf
Okay, so. The gist of it is basically that Congress has given NASA a mandate and a $7-billion budget to create a space program capable of routinely carrying a crew and 70-100 ton payload to the moon and Mars (and if necessary the International Space Station, although this is a very secondary function), to be operational by 2016. It is not clear how many actual rockets Congress is envisioning, or if they are reusable or expendable, etc.
First off, for perspective, a single B-2 bomber costs about $1-billion, and adjusted for inflation a single Saturn V Apollo rocket would also cost about $1-billion.
Congress and the Obama administration gave NASA the green light to cannibalize as much of the space shuttle hardware and existing Constellation/Ares V hardware as possible. In many cases this is the same hardware; Constellation/Ares V was basically rebuilding Apollo out of spare space shuttle parts.
Respectfully to those far more knowledgeable than myself, building a moon or Mars vehicle out of spare parts from Low Earth Orbital vehicles seems like a fairly inefficient way to design a rocket.
I happen to own a 50cc 3hp scooter, which I enjoy a great deal on those rare occasions when it actually runs. It gets me around Seattle residential streets at about 30mph, and can do that at about 70mpg. If I wanted to build a 300hp truck to haul shipping containers from Seattle to New York, one way I could do that would be to use 100 scooter engines on a single cam shaft. And if all I had to build a truck with was old scooter parts, that's how I'd build a truck.
This is kind of what the Soviets did with N1, which was their answer to the Saturn V. They built four of them, and all four of them failed catastrophically. Which is kind of what you would expect from a truck built out of old scooter parts.
But then the Soviets built Proton, which was originally designed as an ICBM but was actually far too large for that task. After a bumpy start to the program, Proton proved (and continues to prove) to be one of the most successful heavy lift rockets ever built.
The American equivalents were and are the Atlas and Delta programs, with the Atlas V HLV and Delta IV Heavy being the current best heavy-lift rockets the US possesses, other than the remaining Atlantis space shuttle. Proton, Delta and Atlas have the advantage, like the Apollo rockets, of actually being designed from the ground up for long distance heavy lift.
It seems that Charlie Bolden is pushing to use the congressional mandate to create heavy-lift on-the-cheap as a means to restart the Constellation program under a different name. One salient point he makes in his report is that NASA had already looked at some 2000 different heavy-lift designs prior to Congress becoming involved in the discussion. With the implication that Constellation actually was the best and least expensive solution for heavy-lift, and if that's what Congress wants they need to get out of the way and actually fund it. Which is not entirely unreasonable, and a reasonable Congress might even be inclined to accommodate that. But the Congress we have right now, which does not want to fund disaster relief in Missouri and elsewhere because they have become so psychotically obsessed with the budget, isn't one which is going to hear that argument.
I happen to agree with Congress that learning from the Soviet "big dumb booster" concept is valuable, and can help NASA rethink its process of developing heavy-lift long distance space craft. But in doing so one needs to have a realistic understanding of what the Soviet program actually was able to accomplish, and how different the successful Soviet programs actually were from the US programs. Vostok, which epitomizes the BDB concept, was excellent but never intended for more than Low Earth Orbit. N1 was the biggest of the dumb boosters, but it didn't work. Proton worked splendidly, but could as well have been a US design.
What Bolden is basically saying is that to build a heavy-lift surfaced launched vehicle to reach the moon and Mars we need another Apollo, with Apollo funding. There is no time or money built into the congressional mandate for new R&D, so everything has to be accomplished with off-the-shelf parts. The Constellation/Orion MPCV capsule is already completed, so it's a no-brainer to use that. If we're insisting on leaving for Mars or the moon from earth's surface (as opposed to building and launching from the ISS) then duct-taping as many PBAN solid rocket boosters as needed to the outside of the main engines makes sense. The only remaining question is whether to use space shuttle main engines, Delta IV main engines or Atlas V main engines.
Either way, what you end up with is Constellation. By any other name.
Which, if it had simply been allowed to continue, over-budget and behind schedule as it was, still would have been completed earlier and cheaper than it will now, with all of this start/stop/start mess.
Because, at the end of the day, NASA has a much better understanding of what it takes to build a rocket than Congress does. Because being a politician isn't exactly rocket science.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Bad Judgment Day
Shockingly, it turns out that Harold Camping is a false prophet. Still.
But, no worries. Only 19 months left of the current Mayan Long Count, and then we can play this stupid charade all over again!
One good thing has come of this day. A whole new generation of music listeners have been exposed to Blondie.
But, no worries. Only 19 months left of the current Mayan Long Count, and then we can play this stupid charade all over again!
One good thing has come of this day. A whole new generation of music listeners have been exposed to Blondie.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Apocalypse Now
As I write this, it is a little less than one hour before 6pm in New Zealand, which will be the first major population center to experience the Rapture. The Rapture has already been happening in Kiritimati and the other Line Islands for about an hour now, no reports yet of a massive earthquake, angelic trumpets, airborne horsemen or 2000 year old rabbis. But then, the news out of Kiritimati always comes slowly, and the British nuked Kiritimati so many times the folk there may just be inured to it. But we're expecting live streaming footage of the festivities from Aukland news agency NZTV starting in just a little more than an hour, so stay tuned!
LATE BREAKING NEWS:
Undisclosed sources say that the archangel Gabriel has been replaced by the great Dizzy Gillespie!
LATE BREAKING NEWS:
Undisclosed sources say that the archangel Gabriel has been replaced by the great Dizzy Gillespie!
Flowers for Algernon
6 men on the current space shuttle Endeavor crew.
5 men and 1 woman on the International Space Station Expedition 27 crew.
This is the best NASA could do to preserve and repopulate our species after the imminent Rapture tomorrow? What ever was Charlie Bolden thinking?
How will they know when it's 6:00pm up there? Is Universal Time really "universal"?
Will the ISS be in any danger from the faithful rocketing up to heaven?
So many questions.
So little time.
5 men and 1 woman on the International Space Station Expedition 27 crew.
This is the best NASA could do to preserve and repopulate our species after the imminent Rapture tomorrow? What ever was Charlie Bolden thinking?
How will they know when it's 6:00pm up there? Is Universal Time really "universal"?
Will the ISS be in any danger from the faithful rocketing up to heaven?
So many questions.
So little time.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
CDC protocols for Zombie Apocalypse
Just in time for the Rapture this weekend!
No, really, they did. Because people are entertained by zombies, and it happens that most of the protocols for zombie apocalypse preparedness would serve you pretty well in a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster. Awesomeness.
The link is here:
http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/
No, really, they did. Because people are entertained by zombies, and it happens that most of the protocols for zombie apocalypse preparedness would serve you pretty well in a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster. Awesomeness.
The link is here:
http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/
Tagging
At the request of several of my readers I'm beginning the process of tagging different categories of posts here. It was originally my intention to NOT do this, because part of the point of the blog was to expose people from different fields to other interrelated fields. But it is helpful to be able to find other related posts. One reader related the difficulty she had finding my space exploration posts while "wading through page after page of Seattle weather reports". Which is a fair critique.
So, I'm working on it. Some categories are easy, like "Navigation" and "Weather". The ongoing series on human outmigration to other worlds is "Outmigration", and I've given "Project Orion" its own tag because I'm shamelessly wanting to attract more Project Orion folk to this blog. More categories are to come.
One category I've created is called "Best of Blog". I'm tagging this post with that label just so you can easily find which posts are tagged there from here, because I have not yet figured out how to make a hotlink to the tags. I'd really appreciate feedback on my selection of posts in that category, and hope to modify the list based on that feedback.
So, I'm working on it. Some categories are easy, like "Navigation" and "Weather". The ongoing series on human outmigration to other worlds is "Outmigration", and I've given "Project Orion" its own tag because I'm shamelessly wanting to attract more Project Orion folk to this blog. More categories are to come.
One category I've created is called "Best of Blog". I'm tagging this post with that label just so you can easily find which posts are tagged there from here, because I have not yet figured out how to make a hotlink to the tags. I'd really appreciate feedback on my selection of posts in that category, and hope to modify the list based on that feedback.
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