After spending 19 weeks working in one place while solar power was too low for driving during the Martian winter, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is on the move again. The winter worksite was on the north slope of an outcrop called Greeley Haven. The rover used its rear hazard-avoidance camera to complete the May 8 drive.
Since landing in the Meridiani region of Mars on Jan. 25, 2004, Universal Time and EST (Jan. 24, PST), Opportunity has driven 21.4 miles (34.4 kilometers).
This image is of Opportunity’s traverse map from Sol 2951 and shows the entirety of the rover’s travels to this point. A sol is a Martian day.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/University of Arizona
Observing Earth from far above, ESA astronaut André Kuipers is acting as a world ambassador for the WWF, which issued its flagship publication the Living Planet Report today.
The Living Planet Report measures changes in biodiversity by tracking 9000 populations of more than 2600 of the world’s species. André wrote the foreword to the report and is doing his part to show how fragile our world really is.
Aircraft trails
We only have one Earth
André has been concerned about our planet since his last mission to the International Space Station in 2004. He has been sending us images that show the impact humans are having on our climate.
“We only have one Earth. From up here I can see humanity’s footprint, including forest fires, air pollution and erosion – challenges which are reflected in this edition of the Living Planet Report,” said André.
The report illustrates how our demand on natural resources has become unsustainable. By 2050, two out of every three people will live in a city. Humanity requires new and improved ways of managing natural resources.
Night lights in Europe as seen from satellites
André’s Flickr stream: recording humanity’s presence
Using ESA’s new NightPod camera aid, André is taking sharper pictures than ever before of cities at night. Light pollution is a dramatic example of energy that humans waste.
View all of André’s images in his Flickr photo stream, or follow the astronaut on Twitter. View the links to the right.
Satellites spot invisible effects
The effect we have on our planet extends beyond what is visible to the human eye. To be able to understand and manage human impact better, ESA is providing data from a range of satellites.
Sea-surface temperature, May 2008
Satellites offer the only practical means of monitoring Earth as a whole. Sensitive spaceborne instruments gather precise data to unravel the complexities of our planet and track changes taking place. They have contributed significantly to the information in the Living Planet Report.
Apart from benefitting European research requirements, this also ensures that decision-makers are equipped with the information to tackle the challenges of climate change, secure a sustainable future and respond to natural and human-induced disasters.
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WWF Living Planet Report 15 May 2012 (http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report/)
‘The Rocket Man’ greets the ‘Rocket Men’ 15 May 2012
Continuing the celebration of André Kuipers’ music in space, British rock legend Sir Elton John sent a special message to ESA, André and the crew of the ISS on the 40th anniversary of his classic song ‘Rocket Man’.
The accompanying video was recorded during Sir Elton’s Million Dollar Piano Show in Las Vegas, on 17 April, 40 years to the day after his single Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long Long Time) was released around the world.
Sir Elton said, “When I was a boy Dan Dare was a comic book hero, and space travel just a romantic idea, not a reality. I was 14 years old when Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space; my songwriting partner Bernie Taupin was just 11. Bernie and I did not meet until 1967, and two years after we met, Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on to the moon.
“Our generation was smitten with the glory and excitement of space travel. ‘Rocket Man’ – and indeed ‘Dan Dare’ on the Rock of the Westies album – came from those boyhood dreams of travelling beyond the stars and looking back on Earth.
“Not long after the Rocket Man single was released, my band and I were invited to the NASA headquarters in Texas and shown around by Al Worden, Apollo 15 command module pilot. It was thrilling to find that real astronauts liked our song, Rocket Man, which was about an imaginary astronaut.
“Now, 40 years later, it’s amazing to hear from the astronauts at the European Space Agency that they like the song and that it has been on the playlist on the International Space Station. I send my best wishes to ESA and all the crew, and my thanks for keeping those boyhood dreams alive.”
André on ISS
During long stays on the ISS, many astronauts take music with them for listening in off-duty hours. For his six-month mission, ESA’s André Kuipers included Rocket Man in his playlist.
“This song has been an inspiration to many people who are interested in space, and especially those who wanted to become astronauts, including myself. It is certainly one of the most played songs here on the ISS, and we know it will accompany more astronauts into space in the future,” said André.
Jean-François Clervoy
Composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Rocket Man has had a special connection with generations of astronauts and many others in the space industry ever since, as well as inspiring and entertaining millions of people around the world.
ESA astronaut Jean-François Clervoy, with three Space Shuttle missions under his belt, said, “I took CDs from Elton John into space three times, and for sure Rocket Man was one of the songs I’ve listened to each time with great feeling.”
Frank De Winne
The first European commander of the ISS, Frank De Winne, said: “There is nothing more beautiful than to see our planet from space. There are no boundaries, no skin colours, no political sides, just one planet with one common future. As Rocket Men and Women, it is our duty to testify about it and to strive for a better world for all. I AM a rocket man! Thank you, Elton John, for your great music.”
Rocket Man appeared on Elton John’s album Honky Château, released also 40 years ago next week, on 19 May 1972.
You can download the full list of André’s music at: Playlist[web].pdf
The Soyuz rocket is seen in the monitor of a video camera moments before Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineers Joseph Acaba and Sergei Revin arrived to board the rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for their flight to join their crew mates already aboard the International Space Station. The craft successfully launched at 11:01 p.m. EDT, Monday, May 14, 2012.
The trio will dock to the station’s Poisk Mini-Research Module at 12:38 a.m. Thursday, bringing Expedition 31 to its full six-member complement.
We attended the evening lecture at the RAL, a standing room only event; a packed house with an audience of all ages. Tim gave a lecture of approximately one hour (it has been recorded and will be available ASAP on the STFC website).
Plenty of space images and a few short video clips interspersed with a well-informed presentation. Tim described being an astronaut as the best job in the world. He is excited with the challenges so far encountered the ones yet to come. His enthusiasm was infectious. He left Houston yesterday to be here today fresh from aquatic adventures.
A great Q&A session with most of the good questions from the younger members of the audience, as well as the recurrent how does one go to the loo in space? (All very English don’t you know).
Its sounds like he’d had a busy day starting at 8.00 a.m. with schools competitions and visits along with the 1.00 p.m. lecture and the one tonight.
Congrats to cS’er Ollie (now a proud Dad to son Connor) with the newborn’s space autograph collection officially started. Rob Synge was also present.
Tim stayed for photo ops, autographs and short conversations with all.
A great evening, thanks Tim and the staff at the RAL/STFC Talking Science Team.
Chaotic networks of dust and gas signpost the next generations of massive stars in this stunning new image of the Cygnus-X star-nursery captured by ESA’s Herschel space observatory.
Cygnus-X is an extremely active region of massive-star birth some 4500 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan.
Using Herschel’s far-infrared eyes, astronomers can seek out regions where dust has been gently heated by stars, pointing them to dense clumps of gas where new generations of stars are forming.
Bright white areas highlight zones where large stars have recently formed out of turbulent clouds, especially evident in the chaotic network of filaments seen in the right-hand portion of the image.
Here, dense knots of gas and dust mark intersections where filaments meet and collapse to form new stars, and where bubble-like structures are carved by their immense radiation.
In the centre of the image, fierce radiation and powerful stellar winds from stars undetected at Herschel’s wavelengths have partly cleared and heated interstellar material, which then glows blue in this representation.
The left-hand part of the scene is dominated by a pillar of gas whose shape resembles that of the neck of a swan.
Herschel’s swan, annotated
Below and to the right, a shell of gas and dust has likely been ejected from a supergiant star at its centre, but which is not seen directly in this image.
Strings of compact red objects scattered throughout the scene map the cold seeds of future generations of stars.
The image highlights the unique capabilities of Herschel to probe the birth of large stars and their influence on the surrounding interstellar material with a level of detail at far-infrared wavelengths that has never before been available.
Hawthorne, CA, and Las Vegas, NV– Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Bigelow Aerospace (BA) have agreed to conduct a joint marketing effort focused on international customers. The two companies will offer rides on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, using the Falcon launch vehicle to carry passengers to Bigelow habitats orbiting the Earth.
According to Bigelow Aerospace’s President and Founder, Robert T. Bigelow, “We’re very excited to be working with our colleagues at SpaceX to present the unique services that our two companies can offer to international clientele. We’re eager to join them overseas to discuss the substantial benefits that BA 330 leasing can offer in combination with SpaceX transportation capabilities”.
The BA 330 is a habitat that will provide roughly 330 cubic meters of usable volume and can support a crew of up to six. Bigelow Aerospace plans to connect two or more BA 330s in orbit to provide national space agencies, companies, and universities with unparalleled access to the microgravity environment.
“SpaceX and BA have a lot in common. Both companies were founded to help create a new era in space enterprise,” said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. “Together we will provide unique opportunities to entities — whether nations or corporations — wishing to have crewed access to the space environment for extended periods. I’m looking forward to working with Bigelow Aerospace and engaging with international customers,” Shotwell explained.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will be capable of carrying seven passengers to orbit. With the company’s Falcon family of rockets, SpaceX is working to create the world’s safest human spaceflight system.
The companies will kick off their marketing effort in Asia. Representatives from Bigelow and SpaceX will meet with officials in Japan shortly after the next launch of the Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft.
Discover more about our planet with the Earth from Space video programme. Join us every Friday at 10:00 CEST for an 800 km-high tour with spectacular images from Earth-observing satellites.
This image, made from data obtained by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, shows the mineral distribution in the southern hemisphere of the giant asteroid Vesta. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/INAF/MPS/DLR/IDA › Full image and caption› Image gallery
PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has provided researchers with the first orbital analysis of the giant asteroid Vesta, yielding new insights into its creation and kinship with terrestrial planets and Earth’s moon.
Vesta now has been revealed as a special fossil of the early solar system with a more varied, diverse surface than originally thought. Scientists have confirmed a variety of ways in which Vesta more closely resembles a small planet or Earth’s moon than another asteroid. Results appear in today’s edition of the journal Science.
“Dawn’s visit to Vesta has confirmed our broad theories of this giant asteroid’s history, while helping to fill in details it would have been impossible to know from afar,” said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Dawn’s residence at Vesta of nearly a year has made the asteroid’s planet-like qualities obvious and shown us our connection to that bright orb in our night sky.”
Scientists now see Vesta as a layered, planetary building block with an iron core – the only one known to survive the earliest days of the solar system. The asteroid’s geologic complexity can be attributed to a process that separated the asteroid into a crust, mantle and iron core with a radius of approximately 68 miles (110 kilometers) about 4.56 billion years ago. The terrestrial planets and Earth’s moon formed in a similar way.
Apollo 12’s Command Module Pilot Dick Gordon will be in Glasgow on WEDNESDAY 17th OCTOBER.
There are two opportunities to meet him.
Both events include a complimentary autograph and there is a discounted combo price if you come to both events.
At 11am we will have an unplugged question and answer session in Blackfriars Club in the Merchant City area of the city centre just minutes from Argyle Street. If you were at Al Worden’s unplugged session you will know how special an opportunity this was to get up close and personal.
In the evening there will be a lecture in the Glasgow Caledonian University at 7.30pm. This will include a short Q&A session, an opportunity to have a souvenir photo taken with Dick and an auction of special montage photos of Dick’s missions.
All auction prizes will be signed in addition to your complimentary signature!
Full details are on the website www.walkwithdestiny.com and tickets went on sale this morning!
