Do we still need a space program?

[jerseydevil]

Opportunity landed successfully and NASA seems to have fixed or on their way to fixing the problem with Rover.

Opportunity lands on Mars
Spirit 'upgraded from critical to serious'

Sunday, January 25, 2004 Posted: 1:11 AM EST (0611 GMT)

PASADENA, California (CNN) -- Opportunity, the second of NASA's twin rovers, has made the descent to the surface of Mars, touching down successfully at 0505 GMT Sunday (12:05 a.m. ET).

NASA now has two rovers on the ground, after Spirit landed on the red planet exactly three weeks ago on January 3. Though Spirit's landing was near perfect, the rover mission has had serious complications in recent days.

"We're on Mars everybody," mission scientist Wayne Lee declared as fellow members monitoring the landing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory burst into wild applause .

Dampened by the problems with Spirit, it had been a nervous few moments at mission control as NASA officials counted down and checked off the various descent maneuvers during what appeared to be a flawless six-minute sequence.

As planned, the airbag-encased craft bounced on the Martian surface and rolled gently for a few minutes before coming to a complete stop upside down.

NASA was awaiting further signals and communications from Opportunity, including images of the landing site.

There were "no fault tones" detected in the radio signals back to Earth, suggesting that the spacecraft arrived in good shape on Mars, a mission control official said.

Moments after the landing, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Vice President Al Gore walked through mission control to congratulate the workers there.

Opportunity is an exact replica of Spirit but was programmed to land about 6,600 miles (10,620 km) away on the opposite side of the planet, in an area known as the Meridiani Planum -- a smooth plain near Mars' equator, believed to be full of iron-bearing hematite.

The semi-precious mineral usually forms on Earth in the presence of liquid water -- leading scientists to think that water once flowed there.

The area is believed to be quite different from the reddish soil of Gusev Crater, where Spirit landed earlier this month.

Opportunity's site makes the landing more difficult than Spirit's, mission manager Jim Erickson said.

It is also the highest altitude landing by NASA on Mars.

In addition, Mars' increased distance from Earth would lengthen the time needed to communicate with the spacecraft.

Troubles with Spirit

Scientists are hoping the rover won't have the same problems that have hit Spirit this week.

That rover was set to use its tools to examine a nearby boulder when NASA lost contact with the vehicle.

But NASA engineers found a work-around Saturday for Spirit's problems, re-established communication and regained the ability to control it.

"This is very good news," project manager Pete Theisinger told reporters.

Spirit's condition, Theisinger said, "has been upgraded from critical to serious."

The rover is probably "three weeks away from driving," he said, as engineers study the problems and try to correct them with additional work-arounds in the meantime.

NASA engineers are working to trace the source of the problem as it could have implications on Opportunity's mission.

Spirit uses Flash memory to communicate with the flight software to establish a file structure and will shut itself down if the process is interrupted, Theisinger said.

Engineers guessed that Spirit's troubles were in its Flash memory and set about sending the rover a complex series of instructions to see if they could get it to bypass the corrupted memory.

Theisinger said engineers sent Spirit a command just before its daily "waking up," telling it to shut down and restart in what is known as "cripple mode," using RAM instead of Flash for its start-up instructions.

"That is precisely what happened," Theisinger said, and Spirit then sent an hour's worth of data back to Pasadena.

"Something in the flight software talking to the Flash memory is causing us difficulty," Theisinger said.

He said engineers did not know caused the problem, but if it is purely a software problem, it is likely fixable. If, however, a problem in the hardware is affecting the software, repair may not be possible.

But, "we have a vehicle that is stable now," he said.

[Insidious Rex]

This is great news. I tell you those guys at NASA must be aging years in just a few weeks. Talk about a rollercoaster ride. The stress must be out of hand. But lets hope Opportunity's time on Mars goes without a hitch. Ack! I better shut up I might jinx it.

Theisinger said engineers sent Spirit a command just before its daily "waking up," telling it to shut down and restart in what is known as "cripple mode," using RAM instead of Flash for its start-up instructions.

*laugh* who ever said the NASA folks were PC. Just had a southpark flash back.

*cartman voice* CRIPPLE MODE!!

[Insidious Rex]

Mars Rover Finds Evidence of Water

Enormous news. May not sound like much but this is really a big deal. We all know water is intrinsically connected with life. Well that instantly ups the anti to the potential for life having evolved on mars sometime in the past. Quite exciting stuff.

[Earniel]

*scratches head*

Funny, I was so sure we already knew that...

[Valandil]

Years ago I thought I heard about other indications of water on Mars... changes in color at different lattitudes based on the 'season' of the Martian year. Or was that just optical illusion? Smoke & mirrors?

[Insidious Rex]

The only known water on mars is on the caps. But frozen water isnt good enough. You need evidence of true bodies of sustained water. And they never had verifiable proof before. They only had observations from orbiting satellites showing what appeared to be possible dried river beds or water flow patterns from millions of years ago. And the Viking landers set down in places that werent on one of these areas. And they found the soil to be sterile. But NOW we have verifiable PROOF of chemical reactions involving minerals that can only happen under the presence of H2O. Thats massive. That then opens up the next Viking mission planned for 2007 that will land another vehicle capable of truly analyzing the martian soil for organic compounds. The original Viking landers couldnt actually do that (even though they gave use the "sterile soil" reading) and the two rovers arent equipped with this kind of thing so thats our next step.

[Insidious Rex]

Hey all you Hubble people. Possible good news:

NASA Weighs Robotic Mission To Aid Hubble

By Guy Gugliotta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 10, 2004; Page A01

Early this year NASA had all but written off the Hubble Space Telescope, but today a robotic mission to replace worn-out batteries and gyros, and even to install new instruments, suddenly seems so doable that the agency is likely to ask for proposals to do the job in early June.

"I'm not saying it's a done deal," said Edward J. Weiler, NASA associate administrator for space science. "A lot of water needs to go under the bridge, but it's looking a lot better than it did two months ago."

NASA will have to decide within seven months whether to make the trip, because it needs three years to prepare a mission by the end of 2007, when Hubble's batteries are expected to give out: "If we haven't made a decision [this year], we'll lose the option," Weiler said.

In an interview at NASA headquarters, Weiler said the Goddard Space Flight Center received 26 responses to a Feb. 20 "request for information," inviting ideas for a robotic servicing mission. Goddard, in Greenbelt, is responsible for the telescope's engineering and maintenance.

The replies came from individuals, government agencies, specialty contractors and aerospace giants such as Lockheed Martin, and they offered such schemes as rendezvous and docking, software modification, and robotic repair and servicing.

"There was no one silver bullet, no one right answer," Weiler said. "I was skeptical . . . but . . . the technologies we need are out there."

The proposals include the University of Maryland's "Ranger," a 25-foot sticklike robot that is tall enough to stand on a platform moored to Hubble and use its two mechanical arms to open up and reach every module and door on the telescope's bottom half.

The Canadian Space Agency's Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator or "Dextre," has two 10-foot arms that pivot around a central "torso." The Canadians designed it to assist "Canadarm," the robotic arm in use aboard the international space station.

And NASA's own Johnson Space Center is developing "Robonaut," a humanoid robot with five-fingered hands and human-size arms whose eventual purpose is to replace astronauts during spacewalks.

Weiler said Goddard expects to decide by June 1 whether to formally request bids on a robotic mission. He said he did not know whether NASA would choose one contractor or several, run the project itself or seek a private-sector partner.

"I suspect they're going to pick and choose to come up with a synthesis that's better than any of the individual plans," said aerospace engineer David L. Akin, who leads the Ranger project at the University of Maryland's Space Systems Laboratory. "It's the same with every mission -- the devil's in the details."

Five months ago, there were no details. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe on Jan. 16 canceled Hubble's fourth servicing mission, saying the shuttle could not fly to Hubble and still comply with new safety measures recommended after last year's Columbia disaster.

The decision provoked a national bellow of outrage from Hubble devotees. In March, O'Keefe asked the National Academy of Sciences to reassess servicing options, including a shuttle mission. The academy's findings are expected in late summer.

"I think the outpouring of public support helped NASA realize how important it is to keep Hubble's productivity at a high level," said Steven V.W. Beckwith, director of NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute, which sets Hubble's science agenda. Beckwith said he still hoped for a shuttle mission, but he acknowledged "great interest" in a robot that might be able to install new instruments.

Still, it will be risky. "You can't underestimate the complexity and the dangers," said former astronaut Jeffrey A. Hoffman, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology aerospace engineer who made three spacewalks to repair Hubble in 1993. "Suppose you open a door but can't put in the new instrument. Now you've got a light leak, and you've lost your telescope."
…
The module would probably dock with Hubble using the same mechanism that enabled the shuttle to lock to the bottom of the telescope on past servicing missions, Hoffman said. And once docked, there would be no reason for the module to leave, because sooner or later it would be needed for de-orbit.

Hoffman noted that the docking gear includes "plugs" that enable the shuttle to supply power to the telescope during servicing. The unmanned vehicle could use the same connections to mate the telescope to a new set of batteries that would remain in the module, he said.

A similar fix might work for the gyros, but Hoffman suggested a better way would be to install them inside the telescope when -- and if -- NASA replaces the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 with Wide Field Camera 3. The wedge-shaped module holding the camera can easily accommodate the new gyros, Hoffman said. And replacing the module only requires removal and replacement of two bolts and making some electrical connections.

This is where the robot comes in. Akin said he has been working on Ranger for 20 years, much of the time under NASA contract, "with a basic design philosophy to do Hubble-type tasks in the same way that astronauts do."

Ranger, controlled with a joystick from the ground, selects tools from a "tool belt" and plugs them into a fitting on the robot's hands. "I can't say we can do all the tasks today," he said. "But here's the hardware, and I know it can do the mission you want."
Canada's Dextre was scheduled to go to the space station in 2005, but the Columbia shuttle tragedy has delayed shipment, and Dextre is available. Canadian Space Agency science and technology adviser Jean-Claude Piedboeuf noted that all the robot's components -- "right down to the cables and lubricants" -- were designed to withstand the rigors of space.

NASA officials declined to discuss Robonaut because of the potential bidding competition, but their news releases suggest the robot, with humanlike hands that can grip tools, could be ready in 2006 or 2007 -- in time for a Hubble mission.

Beckwith, at the Space Telescope Science Institute, said a robotic servicing mission would not be complete without installing the Wide Field Camera 3, capable of investigating the early formation of galaxies, and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which will be able to study the distribution of matter between stars and galaxies.

"New batteries and gyros are fine, but that isn't what's made servicing such a success," Beckwith said. "The reason Hubble looms so large in people's consciousness is that we've improved it every time astronauts go up there."

[Earniel]

*happy sigh*

*waves little go-hubble-flag*

[Insidious Rex]

Well for any interested, Cassini is finally in orbit around Saturn. Prepare yourselves for some seriously enlightening data over the next few years including photos of things weve never seen before. NASA's web site has the latest images if yer interested.

[Insidious Rex]

pretty cool stuff...

Astronomers Discover 3 New Planets
Discoveries Mark Important Step in Search for Extraterrestrial Life

By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 31, 2004; 4:09 PM

Three new planets have been discovered in other solar systems that are the closest ever found to Earth in size, scientists announced today, marking an important step in the search for planets that could support life elsewhere in the universe.

The new planets are significantly smaller than the many dozens found so far and might even be rocky, an essential platform for life to evolve. While the existence of Earth-like planets elsewhere in the universe has long been hypothesized, the new discoveries bring scientists to the edge of actually finding another planet like our own.

The scientists who discovered the three planets said they were probably too hot to support life themselves, although one has a lukewarm zone that could conceivably support biological organisms. Still, the discovery is significant because it comes a large step closer to transmuting hoary scientific theories and science fiction into fact -- rocky planets like Earth likely whirl around other stars and, given the number of stars in the universe, such planets might even be plentiful.

Many other conditions would need to be fulfilled before anyone can start asking whether other planets can support life. Candidate planets would need to be at an optimal distance from a star, neither too hot nor too cold. They would probably have liquid water, and would not trap harmful radiation like Venus. Given all those conditions, scientists could then ask the final question: Was life on Earth a miraculous quirk, or merely the inevitable result of physics, chemistry and celestial geography?

"The ingredients of life are abundant in the universe," said Geoffrey Marcy, a planet-hunter at the University of California at Berkeley, who helped make the new discoveries. Referring to rocky planets as "petri-dishes" where the ingredients of life could come together, Marcy added, "in the next five-10-20 years, maybe we will learn if there are microbes, furry creatures, even intelligent life on other planets."

Two of the planets were announced by teams of American scientists, and the third was announced earlier in the week by a team of European scientists. While the Americans and Europeans squabbled over whose discovery came first and which planet was the smallest, all agreed an important frontier in planet-hunting had been crossed.

The two planets discovered by the Americans were found orbiting around stars 33 and 41 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellations Leo and Cancer. A light year refers to the distance light travels in a year, and both these stars are relatively nearby in astronomical terms. The planet found by the Europeans is about 50 light years away, according to Didier Queloz, an astronomer at the University of Geneva, in the direction of the southern constellation Altar.

The Americans referred to the group of new planets as Neptune-sized -- Neptune has about 17 times the mass of the Earth. The Europeans took issue with the terminology, and described the planet they had discovered as "Uranus-sized" -- which is about 14 times the mass of the Earth. The smaller the planet, the more similar it is to Earth.

[Rían]

Oh, fun! The universe is amazing!

[eowyngirl14]

the genesis capsule that left two years and one month ago to collect solar winds form the sun was supposed to re enter earths atmosphere today where its parachute was supposed to deploy and be picked up by one of two waiting helecopters. unfortunetly when genesis was going through reentry something went very wrong and genesis's parachute never deployed. it crashed into the dessert injuring no one at a speed of over 100 m/h. scientists are hopeful that enough solar wind samples will be left in the collector tiles for scientists and astronomers to study. the data collected could help to answer such questoins as how the hell did the earth form out of clouds of stellatr dust? and other big questions...
this might be the wrong thread to post this, but w/e. oh ya and i think im back for a little while. the format changed.

[Earniel]

Genesis capsule, you say? So that was what I saw a part of on CNN, I couldn't place it. It's a bloody pity it crashed but considering the speed it crashed with, it sure is sturdier than I thought.

[Earniel]

I'm surprised no one mentioned this news. The European space probe Huygens has split of NASA's Cassini spacecraft earlier this month and is today entering the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan to land! *is excited*

Not to mention the gorgeous photos Cassini and Huygens have taken and sent beack during their yearslong trip.

Stardate
Sciences hope rides on Huygens

[Insidious Rex]

Indeed it is exciting stuff. Glad to see someone else out there actually gives a half a crap about this. It should just be a matter of days before some long standing mysteries are perhaps solved:

Scientists call Titan a "pre-biotic" laboratory, rife with the compounds that existed on Earth before life evolved but frozen in time by the surface temperatures that prevail about 900 million miles from the sun -- 290 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. But beyond these basics, Huygens's handlers do not know what to expect. Titan could have mountains of water ice, lakes filled with liquid ethane, hydrocarbon rainstorms, and glaciers made of pebbles and hydrocarbon slush. Or it may not.

[...]

Alphonso Diaz, science administrator for NASA, said Titan may offer hints about the conditions under which life first arose on Earth.

"Titan is a time machine," Diaz said. "It will provide us the opportunity to look at conditions that may well have existed on earth in the beginning. It may have preserved in a deep freeze many chemical compounds that set the stage for life on earth."

[Khamûl]

Hey, I care. I just saw the rings of Saturn with my own eyes for the first time a couple of weeks ago through my girlfriend's telescope. This picture of Titan's surface is extremely cool.



On a side note, the "No Duh" quote of the day award goes to Carolyn Porco of the Cassini Imaging Center. "There are river channels. There are channels cut by something ... a fluid of some sort is my best guess." I found that quote amusing.

[Earniel]

It was very exciting to see the first picture of Titan's surface taken by Huygens within the moon's atmosphere. Seven years of anticipation, finally rewarded.

I liked the way how one scientist sketched a possibly landscape Huygens would find: "A green clouded sky with a surface of stone-hard frozen water with rivers of lighter fluid."

Very alien imaging. It'd be interesting to see if that is what Huygens (and Cassini who will be transmitting the data) will find down there. If they both continue to work in perfect order, Titan may prove a just opened treasure box.

[BeardofPants]

Exciting stuff!!! Amazing pictures... can't wait for the processed ones!!!! [/fan-girl]

[Jonathan]

Ever since I read about the Cassini mission years ago, I've been very interested in the moon Titan. I've been following this news closely and am really excited

[Draken]

The Cassini Huygens mission has been a stunning success, well done NASA and ESA!

If you're interested, the official site is at

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html

There's a press conference this afternoon where they're planning to reveal some more findings.