More cameras see light on Mars

With the mast now upright Curiosity's main cameras are waking up to greet the day. The navigational cameras were first to the bathroom. There are four of these, a pair on either side of the main cameras (which are still calibrating). All the mast cameras point the same direction, to give stereoscopic views wherever the mast head is turned.

Here we are looking north, the rim of Gale crater rises in the distance. On the left, just below the centre line, are two apparent 'craters'. These were almost certainly blasted out by the thrusters on the sky crane as it hovered to lower Curiosity to the surface. Hi res colour must be soon. Grow into these trousers... >>

A birds eye view of Curiosity

After it captured Curiosity (MSL) parachuting down, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had another look at the landing site.

MRO was a lot further away on this orbit pass so the resolution isn't so high, however the components which put Curiosity down safely are all clear. The sky crane and parachute are to the left of Curiosity, some 600m away. The heatshield is to the lower right. In about a week the orientation of MRO will be more favourable and another image is planned. Such images will help determine the exact position of Curiosity and let the rover team plan the next move once all the systems have been checked out. Grow into these trousers... >>

Shadows of Martian Curiosity

OH WOW!

Curiosity stands in Gale crater, looking forwards to the east-southeast, in the late afternoon. The long shadow of Curiosity reaches out towards the mountains some 6km away (it may be further). Is this the central peak of the crater? I'm not sure but possibly not. If it's a foohill what will Mount Sharp look like?

This still just a low res hazcam, though a front one this time, with the original fisheye view  stretched out to look normal. The mast with the hi res cameras will be deployed tomorrow, also the High Gain Antenna has been deployed to give a direct link to Earth. It's working, but full speed comms won't come through till later. Data rates from MRO and Odyssey relays are to be increased so final data speeds will go up about 5x, maybe even to megabits/s ie slow broadband speeds in bursts. Stand by to be really amazed. Grow into these trousers... >>

Another view of Curiosity's heatshield

As MRO was passing overhead Curiosity took it's own pictures with a camera on it's belly. With the parachute deployed the camera began clicking at 4 frames per second when the heatshield was dropped. Here's one of the first frames:

NASA have put together a low res, 4fps video of the whole descent. You can see the heatshield fall away and watch for the dust cloud thrown up at the end by the thrusters. The high res images will come through in a day or two.

  Grow into these trousers... >>

Flash, bang, wallop, what a picture!

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has done it again!* As it passed overhead the mighty HIRISE camera had one chance to capture the scene; here is the result. From over 300km away not only is Curiosity clearly visible, dangling on it's parachute, but below is the heatshield!

But look again. There is no disturbance on the surface around the heatshield, no crater, no dust cloud.
Conclusion - it's still falling!

I stand in awe of these guys - well no, in truth I sit because if I stand I'll pass out due to lack of sleep. Fuck the Olympics, the real action is 14 light minutes away on Mars.

*Four years ago MRO imaged the Phoenix lander in it's descent to the surface. Grow into these trousers... >>

Bad Astronomy at TED

The highly entertaining Phil Plait gives a talk to TED^x about asteroid impacts on the Earth, and how we may be able to avoid them.

From the 6 mile wide rock which may have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago to the smaller, more recent, Meteor Crater and Tunguska impacts the Earth has been under continuous bombardment from space.

How can we escape the next big one? Phil Plait explains...

TEDxBOULDER - Phil Plait - An Asteroid Impact Can Ruin Your Whole Day. And Your Species


Visit Phil's award winning blog at Bad Astronomy. Grow into these trousers... >>

Stardust/NExT re-images comet Tempel 1

A couple of days ago the space probe Stardust/NExT zoomed past comet Tempel 1 and the images are being made available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/stardust/

5 years or so ago the probe Deep Impact smashed a massive (370 kg) chunk of copper into the comet to try to stir up sub surface material. Stardust/NExT has re-imaged that impact site, though it's difficult to see in the above image. Tempel 1 is 7.6 x 4.9 kilometres across so it's a pinprick somewhere between the two craters at the centre of this image.

Hopefully, as the images are processed and enhanced, it will become more visible.

UPDATE: Phil Plait has identified the site, see here. Grow into these trousers... >>

Science fiction comes one step closer

A vertical take off rocket engine which can hover, but then it shuts down and re-ignites the engine in flight! Truly awesome engineering to maintain control and attitude. I can't get over how important this is. Conserving fuel in the decent phase of a spacecraft lander is, well, crucial. Especially if you need to be able to lift off again.

Xombie flying rocket shuts down and restarts in mid-air


It's akin to one of these little babies:

Masten Space Lunar Lander Challenge Flight 2


I am impressed. Grow into these trousers... >>

Photographing our neighbor

Whenever I think of a classic spiral galaxy I think of something like this:

The Andromeda galaxy - M31

Andromeda, this swirling mass of stars, is a naked eye object - well, it is on clear, dark nights away from the glow of all or any street lights. It's the closest large galaxy to our own Milky Way, a mere 2½ million light years away, and is our sibling if not quite our twin. Together we are locked in an eternal dance of gravitation and it's thought that, at some time in the far distant future, we will pass through each other and perhaps even merge.

It is a beautiful thing, but looking with our own eyes can only reveal part of that beauty. Last December saw the launch of WISE (Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer), a space telescope designed to take images at wavelengths between 5 and 35 times longer than the human eye can see. It is discriminating between different sources of heat. The first results have just been released and are very impressive as this glorious new image shows.


Yes, that's Andromeda again. A little rotated compared to the top image but you get that in astronomy.

The bright yellows and reds are bands of dust, heated up by young stars forming within the clouds. The blue haze comes from older stars which have long absorbed or blown away any gas and dust. You can see the same dust in the optical picture as dark lanes blotting out the starlight. Now it comes into proper focus, beautiful.

----------------------------
Images from Big Cigar Astronomy and APOD. Grow into these trousers... >>

From the largest to the smallest

This seems to have been doing the rounds today but I will post it too. It's very clever.

Slide the slider to go from the largest things in the universe, or the 'estimated' universal scale itself, to the smallest. Atoms? Nah, keep going. Quarks? Nope, keep going down. And again. A bit more. Nearly. Nothing much here, down again. Ah, the Planck length, 1.616×10⁻³⁵ meters, nothing any shorter than that makes sense. Head bump with reality.

Click the link below or the image, endure the advert, click 'play' and then slide.

The Scale of the Universe by Fotoshop

Grow into these trousers... >>

Ethereal and haunting

Software engineer Jim Bumgardner, a visualization specialist, has created a piece which transforms the daily movement of the stars into restful, compelling music. Using satellite data the positions of stars in northern hemisphere sky is slowly rotated about Polaris (the north star). As each star crosses a line through the axis it emits a note dependant on the star's colour and brightness. The result is beautiful, wind-chime-like and quite absorbing.

Visit The Wheel of Stars.

Music of the Spheres? Maybe not.
The beginning of Star Trek? Definitely.

--------------------------
Universe Today has an interview with Jim Bumgardner. Grow into these trousers... >>

Wish Buzz Aldrin a happy 80th birthday

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, will be 80 years young on the 20^th January and the Planetary Society is to present him with a giant birthday card carrying the best wishes of people from around the world.

Follow this link to send your name and a greeting to someone who who inspired a generation (or more) and helped shape the 20^th century. Let's all just say thanks to a true hero. Grow into these trousers... >>

LRO re-images Tranquility base

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been in its final orbit for almost two months now and has passed over the Apollo 11 landing site again, but this time only 50km above. The full power of the camera is now revealed.


The Sun is almost directly overhead, so the surface seems 'flat' with no shadows, but look at the big bright blob. That's the landing stage of the LEM, the four dots around it are the landing pads. To the South are the scientific instruments they left behind and snaking around are the tracks left by Armstrong and Aldrin.

The whole image is little more than 100m across, if there were astronauts there now they would probably be visible. Amazing.

See Bad Astronomy for more. Grow into these trousers... >>

LCROSS to slam into the Moon

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will tomorrow experience a rather abrupt deceleration as it plunges into a crater near the South pole of the Moon.

Launched together with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO - the one with my name on it) LCROSS clung to the final stage of the rocket motor and fuel tank. In a long looping orbit, LCROSS has slowly pointed the spent stage on a suicide dive into a crater where the Sun never shines. Shortly before impact LCROSS with detach from the rocket stage but follow it down a few minutes later. As the rocket stage hits and throws up debris LCROSS will fly into the plume with all detectors on full. Wow!

The LRO will be watching from orbit and ground based telescopes too. Let's see what's thrown up, some people hope to detect water, maybe lots of it, I just want to hear the results. Grow into these trousers... >>

Something to watch out for

My head feels to be full of cotton wool this evening, so just a quick reminder to watch out for the Perseid meteor shower over the next few nights.

If the skies are clear after dark, look NE and let your eyes adjust. There's a good chance to see over ~60 shooting stars an hour, though this year the rising Moon will wash out the fainter ones. I hope you're lucky! Grow into these trousers... >>

I'm going to Mars next

Some folks were interested in my 'I'm going to the Moon' post, and the follow-ups about the LRO/LCROSS mission. The best is yet to come there!

Even more amazing is this:


How did I get my name on the Mars Science Laboratory? Easy, just like LRO I signed up online. You can do the same. Read about it and sign up here. Bookmark your certificate page to go back.

See you on the Red Planet. Grow into these trousers... >>

Going home

Grow into these trousers... >>

The accumulation of small steps...

Is what drives humanity forwards. May we never step backwards.

Apollo 11 One Small Step
Grow into these trousers... >>

You got a bunch o'guys about to turn blue.

We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.

Apollo 11 - Touchdown and Radio Transcript


I can never hope to express my original feelings about this event. I was young and impressionable true, but I was well aware of earlier space missions. Nothing though, nothing before, ever had this intensity. This compulsion. Watching the TV transfixed for hours. I didn't really understand but I somehow knew I was seeing an Earth changing moment.

I had similar feelings when the Berlin wall fell, and when Nelson Mandela walked from Victor Verster Prison. You can feel the importance. But Apollo 11 was far more than that. Much more than the petty squabbles of politics or religion.

However, for humankind to be able to accomplish such amazing achievements does take politics. In some ways it involves religion, an age-old inspiration to the human mind, but then science pisses on them both.

Apollo 11 - baby's first step into the unknown. Grow into these trousers... >>

LRO - oh deep joy!

"All time sometime deep joy of a full Moon scintillating dangly in the heavenly bode" - Happiness Stan, The Small Faces

In the week where everyone is celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the 1^st Moon landing (if you're not, then you should be. It's one of humanities greatest achievements), the LRO snaps this image:

Not much to see you may think; but what's that little, right-pointing shadow bang in the centre? I'll blow it up.

All is revealed below the belt...

It's the bottom half of the Eagle, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) on Apollo 11.

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

WOW!
LRO is still in the commissioning phase of its mission. It's not down to its working orbit yet, so the final resolution should be at least twice as good as this.


Remember, the last time anyone saw this object it was from a lot closer.

Buzz Aldrin looks back at his taxi home.
The LRO has captured images of all the other Apollo sites except 12 (coming soon). On the image from Apollo 14 you can actually see the path made by the astronauts as they trekked back and forth to some experimental equipment! Amazing.
-----------------
LRO images, credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University Grow into these trousers... >>